I decided to call it a day as I had become too weary to continue. I needed to take Link’s advice, it would be bad if I faced the one who had brought this darkness here and the only one, I knew could do it, the only one capable to transcend the waters – Cutter.

As Fiske headed back to shore, the waters seemed calmer than they once were, and I felt hopeful about freeing them of the darkness preventing them from gathering the fish which were the source of their income and the visitors who came here for fun.

I was sat next to Link, closing my eyes to feel the swaying of the waters. I would have fallen asleep then but refused to in front of Link or Fiske.

The boat suddenly shook as if hit by something, I thought it must have been a strong wave, but a few seconds later it happened again, then again. Link and I rushed to our feet to look over into the water.

“What the heck was that?” Link looked around, searching for whatever it might have been.

“Not again.” Fiske’s voice quivered, his body shaking, his eyes filling with fear. “It’s him.”

“Him?” I repeated, ready to jump back into the waters. “It has to be Cutter.”

“No.” Link grabbed my arm as the boat was hit again.

“I have to.” I was surprised.

“You don’t have enough energy to fight something right now.” Link was right, but if I didn’t do something the boat would be torn apart, it was already in a bad way. “Let me go.” He was about to grab the pendent around his neck but hesitated.

“You promised, remember.” I gazed at him seriously.

We were rammed again; hearing the cracking of the hull and she began to take on water. I quickly held my hand up, using Mila’s power to stop the flow of water, coming into the boat.

“We need to get Fiske to safety first,” said Link. “You cannot fight and protect him at the same time.”

“Right.” I nodded.

The boat was knocked again, then Cutter jumped out of the waters, his body gleaming with dark energy, his eyes wilder than I had seen in any Animalia. He leaped over the entire boat, then bashed against the other side.

“It’s Cutter, but something isn’t right.” I quickly stood at the edge of the boat, holding out my hands I manipulated the waters into a frenzy, to disrupt his attacks by causing the waters to become bubbly. “Now for.” Next, I used the winds, creating a tornado funnel, it wasn’t very big as I didn’t have much power left, but it would do. Roughing up the waters even more, also sucking up the water. “Mila get us out of here.” With my remaining power I propelled the boat back to shore.

We hit the docks hard, flying up straight onto the shore. I ended up laying on the ground, looking up at the sky, unfortunately creating the tornado and sucking up all that sea water made it start to rain.

“We got away.” Fiske was shivering as he came over to us. “That was too close.”

“Did you see who it was?” asked Link.

“I am sure it was Cutter, but something is wrong with him,” I responded. “We’ll have to go back.” I tried sitting up, but Raziel dove down, landing and putting his paw on me.

“Rest a moment master,” he said.

“Raziel.” I looked at him.

“The two techniques you unleashed were of a high level, you know this, but never have you used them simultaneously before. Quite surprising considering you already used most of your power on the purification.” Raziel sat down. “You must rest as planned; only then will you be able to save this village.”

I wanted to argue back. My target was out there right now, but I lacked the strength now to face him, so listened to what he had to say. “Got it.” I nodded. His advice was something which had helped me on multiple occasions. It was always good to listen to their advice, after all they were far older than I was. “Raziel, did you see him?”

“Yes, but he disappeared within the waters before I could get a proper look at what the darkness has done to him,” answered Raziel.

Link stood up. “I will go scout from the cliffs to make sure no one is around the waters.”

“Good idea.” I nodded as he headed off.

“What now Fang?” asked Fiske.

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“I will return once I have regained my lost strength and take him down,” I answered. “Once he is gone, things will return to normal and you can return to the oceans once more, to your home.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” I nodded Raziel finally letting me sit up. I climbed on to his back. “You should get your boat fixed up ready for when the oceans are fishable again.

“You really believe you can save us.” I could tell by the tone in his voice that he couldn’t quite believe their nightmare would be over soon but made me wonder how long this had been going on for, perhaps far longer than Queen Daz thought.

“Yes, I do.” Raziel opened his wings. “It is my duty to free this world from the darkness.” Raziel took off, taking me back to the inn.

Once there I slept for a few hours, it was all I could sleep for as the nightmares woke me up this time it finished with me getting struck down. I woke gasping, touching my head.

“Will these nightmares ever end.”

“Master.” Raziel had spoken, but all my talisman spirits were present.

“What’s up guys?” I looked at each of them.

“Raziel thinks it’s about time he taught you a special technique,” answered Larana.

“It’ll be amazing if you can do it master,” smiled Mila.

“After much discussion I have decided the situation here must be dealt with quickly before that Animalia has a chance to reinfect the waters you’ve so painstakingly purified,” said Raziel.

“I doubt he’ll master it,” snarled Arata, still having such little faith in me.

“What is it?” I asked, getting up, then sitting on the floor in front of them.

“As you know, using our power comes from using yours, of which every Animalia has a limited supply, once this limit is reached you can’t use our power and a strain is put on the body, some have even died from overusing their own power.” I nodded listening intently. “Our first master was gifted at many things and one of those was a technique to draw in the spiritual energies from around him to refill his own.”

“Awesome,” I commented.

“It is something only he has been able to do, but since you are from his blood line and his reincarnation, I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to master it,” continued Raziel.

“Master Yamato can use it to an extent,” informed Larana.

“Really.” I was surprised, to think my father had been as gifted to use the legendary Fangs technique. I wanted to hear more from him later.

“Your father was also an exceptional warrior from what I have heard from Larana, having his awakening at quite a young age,” said Raziel.

“Enough talk.” Arata was growing impatient. “Just show him how to do it already.”

“I am getting to that,” snarled Raziel.

“Okay, teach me Raziel.” I bowed.

“Very well.” Raziel nodded. “First you must enter a state of meditation, so you can feel the spiritual energy around you, it is much like the light you can see.”

“Right.” I nodded, closing my eyes, and letting my mind just go blank.

“Only you need to do is listen,” said Raziel. “Much like when you summon our power when you feel it and hear it. The blowing winds of Larana, the flowing waters of Mila, the clapping thunder of Arata and my crackling fire. This is all spiritual energy brought forth through you, it is what this world is comprised of.”

As he had said each of their powers, I could hear the gusting winds, the falling waters of a waterfall, the clashing of thunder and the spitting of fire.

“Once you feel the spiritual energy of our power, you will begin to feel it everywhere,” said Larana. I could feel her fly around my head, releasing small amounts of her power.

I could feel the flow as she summoned forth her power, it was pure, ancient, and filled with energy.

Sitting there for I don’t know how long, staying focused in the silence, searching for the energy Raziel wanted me to find. He said it was like the light I could see. In the darkness of my eyelids, I began to see little specks of gold. It rained down in front of me.

When I heard Larana flying around me again I could see more flowing within her power, then even more. I was surrounded by this gold stuff, which floated around like dandelion seeds in the wind.

“I think I see it,” I said.

“He thinks,” snorted Arata.

“Now you must draw that spiritual energy into yourself,” said Raziel ignoring his brother.

“How?” I asked.

“Like I said it is much like when you use our power, feel that energy like you do ours, fuse it with your own,” instructed Raziel, who I thought didn’t really know how to do this.

I lifted my hand, figured if I visualised it like when I summoned a sword from Larana’s wind, it would come to me. I focused my power into my arm, then expanded it enough to touch the little specks of gold energy, once I had absorbed the first speck, I understood how it felt. It almost felt like the wind Larana was always expelling.

I put my arm down, expanding my own energy around my whole body, where I began to slowly absorb the specks of energy. Quickly I had figured out what I was doing, and it simply flowed into me.

“I think he’s got it,” whispered Mila.

After a few minutes I could feel my power increasing, what I had used up was quickly restored. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes, my whole body glowing from the process.

“Most impressive master.” Raziel seemed pleased, glancing at Arata, who simply looked away.

“Keep practicing and you can even draw on that energy when you are in battle,” cheered Mila.

“Now that would be handy.” I thought about having unlimited energy. “Mind I struggled with just doing that.”

“I’m sure you’ll master it,” encouraged Larana.

I stood up. “Let’s go fishing.” Each of my talisman spirits nodded, it was time for me to expel the darkness from the village of Dagan. I would not show him mercy for attacking us.

With my talismans beside me I left the inn, prepared for a fight to save this village. I’d never had to fight in the water before, so this would be interesting.