--------///----Eclina's POV----\\\--------

When Mr.Garris asked for their help in finding Mr.Fenrir's skull, the dryads all seemed to look more shocked then when they were told about the rifts. The dryads that came with Ms.Ordellia had ended up going into a small circle and seemed to be talking amongst themselves. Eventually they broke out of it and walked back up to us.

(Ordellia) " Before we give an answer, we must know why you're asking this of us. "

(Garris) " The reason we need to find Fenrir's skull is to bring him back. However you all deserve clarification on what led to this. We recently held council with the progenitors themselves and learned that by finding Fenrir's skull, we would be able to bring him back in order to help defend Astrum. These spontaneous dimensional rifts are not the only problem that Astrum is faced with. I know you all see and recognize the life force that is coming from Eclina. She is not the only one. There are three more new progenitors and they are all here for a reason.

Around Astrum, there are four dimensional rifts that are big enough to destroy a continent. The new generation of progenitors have been tasked with defending Astrum againts them. However, with these spontaneous rifts and as of right now, only Eclina being capable of instinctively locating them, they won't be ready to defend against these rifts. So it was decided to have Fenrir return to help in not only defending Astrum from these rifts, but also to help incase us Elders would not be able to handle the first rift. However, Fenrir will not be able to return immediatley. It will take a few years for him to actually return. "

The dryads were all paying rapt attention to Mr.Garris and what he was saying. Even after he was done they all kept staring at Mr.Garris until they suddenly exploaded into a frenzy. Some of them dashed over to us while some others started kneeling. The contrast between the two groups of dryads was fun to look at but quickly got annoying. Eventually the 5 original dryads who walked up to us calmed them down and started to bring back order.

(Ordellia) " I'm... Sorry you had to see a sight like that. But i believe that i speak on behalf of all of my sisters when i saw we would gladly assist in the revival of the progenitor of the lycans. "

(Garris) " It's fine. If i told other kin what i told you all, i would expect a similar reaction. But firstly who will be leading the dryads seaerching for his skull? "

(Ordellia) " That answer is simple. I'll be leaving it up to our eldest sisters who were born first and experienced the progenitors more then any of us. I'll be focusing on protecting the forest by searching for any rifts that form here. We'll divide the roles of searching for lord Fenrir's skull and defending the forest from rifts, among our sisters. "

(Garris) " Thank you Ordellia. For now we'll check around the forest for any rifts and then we'll return to bring the dryads towards the Grand Silver Arbor. "

(Ordellia) " Very well. We weill await your return. "

After Mr.Garris said that, he montioned for us to get ready to fly. The dryads saw that and waved us goodbye while some others bowed. When we took off, Mr.Garris motioned for the side of the forest where the ocean started and we followed.

(Garris) " You know, i was expecting you two to say more during that. "

(Eclina) " Well... I wanted too... But the whole thing felt too serious for me to say anything. The air was too heavy... "

(Bird friend) " Yea! Yea! It was like... Umm... A pressure? It felt like saying something would be a bad idea... Or something like that. "

(Garris) " Hmmm... I think i can understand what you're saying. But Eclina, you've spoken up before while the progenitors have talked haven't you? "

(Eclina) " I think? But it was different. I didn't feel that much weight in the other conversations. And i could say a lot during the other conversations. So even if i said something with Ms.Ordellia, i wouldn't have been able to say much else. " 

(Garris) " Hmm? And what makes you say that? "

(Eclina) " Umm... Instinct? "

(Garris) " Hmmm? And what about you Falcon? Was it instinct? "

(Bird friend) " Yea! But i didn't really want to say much in the first place. I don't know anything about the dryads or much else about what's going on. I wouldn't really have much to add in the first place. "

(Garris) " ... You two find the oddest yet most appropiate moments to act wiser then your age. "

(Eclina & Bird friend) " Huh? "

(Garris) " What i'm saying is you both acted more like adults then children. It may be a result of the forest's influence or it may just be natural. The point that you both are acting like children less and less still stands. "

(Eclina) " Oh... I didn't think of that... "

Thinking on what Mr.Garris just said, i couldn't help but see that he was right. There've been a few time where i've ended up thinking differently a few times. Especially back with the lynxes. Even though i couldn't completly remember the experience, i know i thought differently. It felt like things had to go my way and if they didn't i would force it to happen. Maybe the forest had something to do with it, maybe my change had something to do with it or maybe it's all normal. But i knew that i was definetly changing. I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, the only thing i knew was that whatever happened, i'd go with it.

We ran for a bit more and covered the area past mountains where the ocean started. I knew what an ocean was but seeing it for myself was something completly different. The sound of the waves and the smell of the ocean air was so nice and calming... I really liked it here. When we couldn't find any rifts we left the ocean side and went on over to the side that we didn't check yet. The last side of the forest didn't really have much to look at and just seemed to be another normal place in the forest. After we confirmed there wasn't anything serious happening anywhere we went back to the big tree and decided to rest. Between all of my running and my bird friends flying, we were tired.

Mr.Garris saw that and decided to go off and get the dryads himself. While we waited, me and my bird friend talked about nicknames. At first we went a bit back and fourth about why he'd need it but eventually we started making progress on them. We threw a bunch of random ones out but we narrowed it down to three names he liked. But that was where we got stuck.

(Bird friend) " I don't know... Falcon, Ember and spirit all sound cool... I don't know what to pick. "

(Eclina) " Ughhh... Now what do we do? "

(Bird friend) " I don't know... "

We sat around for a bit and just thought about what we were going to do about his nickname. Eventually Mr.Garris came back with two dryads on his back. and brought them to the tree. When the dryads got off, they turned to me and bowed.

(Rosaline) " The dryad Rosaline greets the future progenitor. "

(Livillia) " The dryad Livillia greets the future progenitor. "

Rosaline had red flowers along her dress and a necklace of red, white and blue roses around her neck. She had thin red vines flowing from her head down to her shoulders which looked alot more like actual hair then Ms.Ordellia's. Livillia's hair shared that quality but her hair was in a pony tail that fell a bit passed her neck. Livillia herself had a yellow floral dress with yellow flower braclets on both of her wrists. Rosaline looked a bit taller then Livillia but it was maybe an inch or two of difference. If i had to take a guess, then Rosaline would maybe be just a few off of two meters? While Livillia was just an inch shorter then her? Other then that there wasn't much else to see.

(Eclina) " Hi. I'm Eclina! And that's... My bird friend... He doesn't have a name or a nickname yet... "

(Bird friend) " Um...Hi. "

He waved over to them and they smiled and waved back.

(Garris) " Now that we've gotten that out of the way, i'd like it if you two started now. "

(Rosaline) " Very well. "

Rosaline and Livillia split up to start searching for Mr.Fenrir's skull. Rosaline took the area infront of the tree while Livillia went to the back end and started searching on that end. I could feel them sennding out waves of nature through the trees roots and the ground around them to try to find Mr.Fenrir's skull. While they were doing that, Mr.Garris ended up joining our nickname conversation.

(Garris) " Really? If you're having a hard time picking between the three then why not just take parts of the three and turn it into a single name? "

(Eclina & Bird friend) " What? "

(Eclina) " We can do that? "

(Garris) " Why wouldn't you be able to? " 

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(Eclina) " ... "

(Bird friend) " ... "

(Garris) " Haaah. How's this? Espiral? Letters from those three nicknames all in a single name... Which seems too good to be a nickname. How about keeping that as your actual name after you manifest your elements? "

(Bird friend) " Really?! Can i big sis?! Can i? "

(Eclina) " Yea! It sounds great. Thanks Mr.Garris. "

(Espiral) " Yea! Thank you Mr.Garris! "

(Garris) " Think nothing of it. However now that we've got that settled, i think it's time for you two to spar for a bit. When you're done... l'll have you two go on a hunt together. I want the both of you to get used to fighting together. I've seen the both of you spar and grow for a while and i think i know what i should have the both of you hunt. Though i'll decide what it'll be after your spar. " 

(Espiral) " Did you hear that?! We can hunt together big sis! "

(Eclina) " Yep! I'm going to hunt the stronger thing though. "

(Espiral) " No! It's going to be me! "

(Garris) " *Ahem* You'll have to spar first. "

(Eclina) " Oooh... Kay. "

We were still excited to hunt together but we had to get our spar out of the way first. Since Espiral hadn't manifested yet, we would always have me handicapped by not alowing me to use my earth or darkness elements for attacking since it would hurt him too badly if he got hit by them. We seperated and got ready to spar. We were about ten meters away from each other and waiting on Mr.Garris' signal. He raised his paw high up in the air and after a few seconds, his paw hit the ground and we went off. 

He took off to the sky and made small sparks of fire and lightning shine off of his feathers. I used my air to make platforms to catch up to him but he's gotten used to that since he shot out a short burst of lightning to strike at my paws. Despite how many times we spar i can never outspeed his lightning. The best i could do is react just a split second before it hits. And even when i do dodge i still feel a bit of the spark, which in itself is annoying. Espiral already knows that if he can keep me away from him, he'll have a better chance at winning.

Another advantage he had was how natural flying was for him. I might be able to jump and run in the air, but he could fly and manuever in the air way more smoothly then i could. Even when he couldn't use his wing for a bit, as soon as he was able to fly again it was like nothing was wrong. I could catch him but he's gotten used to my air bursts and slashes towards his wings. I've even been working on trying to use the air around his wings against him to try and make shackles, but air shackles were way more difficult since even if he was shackled, he wouldn't exactly be anchored to anything with weight behind it.

I was trying to pick between what i would use to slow him down but then he started to get agressive again. It was a thing that i noticed was he would attack more then i thought he would. When we first met and whenever we meet someone new, he gets nervous, but whenever we fight he gets confident. It's been happening more and more every spar. Birds are weird. 

He shot off a few more bursts and even a small spear of lightning. Despite not manifesting, his control over his innate elements was getting way better. During our first spar, he could hardly shoot his fire or lightning a few feet away. Now, he could shoot either of them way further then ten meters away. He was definetly getting harder to fight while i was handicapped. I had to close the distance between us to win and he knew this.

He charged his feathers with lightning so even if i got close to him, i would have to deal with constantly getting shocked, which sucked. I had to keep coming up with different ways to take him down since he would always learn to counter or evade what i would do. I turned on my fire tail and decided to charge right at him. He saw that and easily avoided me by swooping down and using that moment to shoot out a few quick bursts of fire and lightning. As he was now, his bursts or spears couldn't hurt me that much and he couldn't pierce my hide without using his talons or beak.

The point of our spars was mostly to work on our stamina and wear the other out, but occasionally we would spar just to see what we could do against each other. He was getting better at using what he had to try to take me down but he wasn't winning in the majority of our spars. One of the things i found out the hard way was how deep his talons could tear into my hide despite how durable i got. Ever since we found that out, he would find moments where i wasn't capable of reacting and tear into my side with them. The worst of it would be when he put lightning onto his talons and tear into me with them. The shock that would course through me was actually painful.

Since i've gotten used to him diving under me, i was able to jump up and turn towards him but when i did i was met with a face full of fire which blinded me for a quick second, which he used to flew at me and tear into my side with his lightning talons. The shock was difficult to deal with but i've slowly been building up my tolerance to it... Slowly. It still kept me paralyzed for a second or two but i could atleast do something to protect myself. I coated my body in fire so he would atleast hurt himself if he tried to tear into me again, which made him fly back and get some good distance.

I was able to shake off the paralysis the lightning gave me but now we were at a stalemate.

~ I could try to get closer but he could easily dodge or counter me... Umm i could maybe try to hold him down with fire... But since he has fire he might be able to counter that. Maybe i could use air to pull him towards me? I could tether the air to me so it'd have some weight... Haven't tried that before... Might as well see if this works. ~ 

I started by making the air around my tails solidify and clamp onto them as i slowly pieced chains of air together and made them into long chains of air connected to all of my tails. He obviously saw something happening and started to fly around to make it harder for me to hit him with the chains. I chased after him and made some small balls of fire pop up in whatever paths he would go, which made it easier to get him to slow down since he had to start worrying about fireballs suddenly popping up infront of his face.

He knew what i was doing and decided instead of flying around, he would dive right after me and face me head on, which was a bad idea on his part since as soon as he got close enough i shot out my chains and had two of them get his legs which stopped his dive and gave him whiplash at the same time since i was still running. I looked down to him and he looked... Out of it. He was groaning and seemed to be a bit nauseous so i brought us down to the ground and let him lay down. Mr.Garris walked over walked over and started to heal the both of us.

(Garris) " That was interesting. Almost seemed like he would've won. "

(Espiral) " I-i-i alm... Ugh. "

He tried to say something but then he started throwing up... Oops.

(Garris) " Hmm... Let's... Wait, until he's better. "

(Eclina) " ... Yea... That sounds like a good idea. "

We took a while to relax and wait until he was ready to get up. While we waited, i watched Rosaline and Livillia search for Mr.Fenrir's skull. Feeling for the pulses of nature they sent through the tree was a weird experience. I could feel it and track it but i couldn't interact with it at all. I wanted to work on getting Nature as one of my elements but i would have to devour a lot of things that had nature. The time flew by and the sun started to set. There were even a bunch of clouds starting to cover the sky. With us waiting around eventually Espiral was better and ready to hunt. He walked over to me and sat next to me infront of Mr.Garris.

(Garris) " Now that you two are ready, it's time you know what i'll be making you hunt. Since you'll be hunting together, you'll be hunting beasts that live in the same area. In the forest there are some juevenile spark wolves that have been making trouble for the other inhabitants in that area due to them failing to manifest. However it seems the pack they belong to is protecting them. So despite the hunt itself being focused on the jueveniles, if the pack gets in the way you have permission to fight them. However if you believe you'll lose you can run away and regroup. "

(Espiral) " We'll be fighting wolves? Sis, you used to be a wolf didn't you? Are you going to be ok? "

(Eclina) " Yea i used to be a wolf, but why would them being wolves bother me? "

(Espiral) " Eh? Really? "

(Eclina) " Yep. I don't really see why that would bother me. Mama and papa would just say it's fine to kill wolves just don't eat them... But i'm not a wolf anymore... Does that mean i can eat wolf meat now? "

(Garris) " I-... Actually... Maybe? Despite being born as a wolf you are currently no longer a lycan. I don't see what would stop you from eating lycans now... A somewhat disturbing thing to say but a fact nonetheless. "

(Eclina) " Huh... I'm gonna try wolf meat then! "

(Espiral) " Me too! I wonder if it's juicy... "

(Garris) " *Ahem* Anyway, the portion of the forest you'll be going too is the last side we checked in search of rifts. That area beasts that prefer packs or herds given it is more spacious then other areas of the forest. The last time i checked on that pack, they had six adults and four children. The other two should have manifested correctly so be aware of them aswell. "

(Eclina) " But why them? Are they stronger then the drakes? "

(Garris) " Individually? No. As a pack? Yes. Just because you both can fight beasts one on one doeesn't mean you won't be situations where it won't be one vs many. You've already had similar situations Eclina. The deer you brought back and the lynxs are great examples of this. You struggled to fight against multiple enemies at once. Starting now, i'll be putting the both of you in situations where you'll be fighting against multiple beasts in order to help you get a feel for those kinds of situations. "

(Espiral) " ... I think i get it... But it still sounds dangerous... "

(Garris) " Oh, it is. However with the growth that you both have had, i have no doubts that you both can handle them. However, remember that you can run incase things seem dire. "

(Eclina) " Ok. We'll be going after them now! And we'll be fine! "

(Espiral) " Yup! We'll be fine, bye Mr.Garris! "

(Garris) " Bye. Stay safe. "

We finished saying bye and took off towards the area he told us to go. But after a bit of flying / running, Espiral asked me something that made me think for a bit.

(Espiral) " Sis? What do Spark Wolves look like? "

(Eclina) " ... "

(Espiral) " ... Sis? "

(Eclina) " Umm... From what i know, they should have red fur and white claws... Umm... I think they should be 4 feet tall... But other then that, i don't know. " 

(Espiral) " How do you know that? Have you seen a Spark Wolf before? "

(Eclina) " No. And i just know. Remember what Mr.Garris said about the forest changing us? "

(Espiral) " Yea... But what about it? Isn't it just making us mature faster? "

(Eclina) " Nope! Mama told me about this, the more we grow the more we naturally learn. But thanks to growing up in the forest, we naturally learn about stuff that we normally wouldn't. "

(Espiral) " ... I never noticed that... The forest is cool. "

(Eclina) " Yep... I think we're almost there. "

(Espiral) " Yay! We're going on our first hunt together! This is going to be awesome. "

(Eclina) " Yep! But we'll have to find the pack first. Let's go down and look for tracks. "

(Espiral) " Kay! "

We started to head down but i made Espiral stay higher up so he could warn me incase there was anything coming up on me. When i got down to the actual ground, i started to look around and started smelling around hoping to pick up a scent but i didn't get anything helpful. All i got was that smell before it rains. I checked around the path i was on, which was actually really wide and looked like a full pack could run through here without an issue. Even the trees were spaced differently, which made it easier to see past them and look around. But despite all the looking or smelling, i couldn't find anything.

(Eclina) " Nothing around here! Let's look somewhere else! "

(Espiral) " Kay! Where are we gonna go? "

(Eclina) " Umm... Let's go closer to the edge. When i used to be a wolf, we lived near the entrance to the forest so maybe these wolves are doing the same thing. "

(Espiral) " Ok! I'll follow after you sis! "

We started running towards the edge of the forest but i didn't really pick up any Spark Wolf scents. I could smell some other beasts around but they didn't really get in our way. Despite how much we ran, none of the beasts i smelled were anywhere near us. The more we ran the more annoyed i was getting that i couldn't pick up the scent or tracks of any of them. But right when i was about to change direction, i finally found a scent.

(Eclina) " I found a scent! "

(Espiral) " Really? Where? "

(Eclina) " Follow me! It's time to hunt! "