Spiri Raia
Year 913
Year 1406 in Manegia
"I can sense the Mother Soul, it should be close by," Ronald narrowed his eyes as he marched through the land of the water spirits once again.
"Yes," Rose Bloodlight, the vampire Fire Court Wizard beside him, confirmed. "I wonder who our new Master will be?"
It was one loss to the next. The fifth generation of Court Wizards had a good run, but it's now coming to an end starting with the Earth Guardian's death five years ago. The Earth Guardian was replaced by Xiao Yong Gang, a kid from the Eastern Dynasty - there's always one Guardian from the Four Nations of Manegia. From then, the rest of the Guardians slowly died one by one from old age.
Today's no different. A few weeks ago, just the year before, Gertrude died peacefully with the Fire Court Wizards at her side. At the turn of the new year, they all sensed the Mother Soul of Fire had picked her next host.
To ensure that there's no trouble in recruiting the new Guardian, the Mother Soul always find a host in worlds Court Wizards had already encountered before and sent a [Telepathy] which world it had gone into to her Court Wizards. And the Fire Mother Soul happened to pick Spiri Raia, the site of the last operation before the start of the sixth generation.
That was why Ronald was here again because he was familiar with these lands - his first mission was even in this world. Joshua would have come too for the same reason despite being an Ice Court Wizard, but recent events before Gertrude's passing prevented him from going, so Rose came instead, being the most experienced Court Wizard still showing up for work since the fourth generation.
"But I wonder why we're picking the signature in the middle of nowhere," Ronald said, feeling there might be something wrong in the crossroads of the Kirash kingdom, the location of the signature.
A lot has changed since Ronald and Joshua saved the Illyers all those years ago. For one, there was a literal ocean splitting the two nations of the water territory. Technically, it's an oversized pond, but that didn't stop people here from calling it the 'great sea'. It was his and Joshua's idea to the greater water spirit as the last-ditch effort to prevent prince Van from having his war with the Fichs seeing the countries of the water territory don't have warships, ironically.
Speaking of prince Van, he did become king, so it should be king Van, but his throne was shaky at best. Ever since the greater water spirit denounced Van, he spent most of his reign trying to keep his power. Many of his allies were afraid to work with him fearing the greater spirit's wrath. It's only because Van had laid out a solid foundation there wasn't an open rebellion.
Even so, the Court Wizards were able to manipulate behind the scenes to get a Bell Conglomerate-aligned (or was it Otherworldly Court-aligned?) magistrate to take over Illyer's former territory as promised to the Illyers. The Bell Branch so far was also doing pretty good, albeit stuck in its territory and have to rely on traveling merchants for information.
"Yes," Rose nodded in concern. "Even without tensions in this kingdom, I highly doubt our new Fire Guardian would go out to this fields, not when they are experiencing what we had when we received our Maneg Souls."
Furthermore, this was still the middle of nowhere, its routes not leading to the nearest town. No human would waltz around this place, especially with tensions in the Kirash kingdom. The only being who would walk around these parts were only spirits...
"What the...?" Ronald froze in place.
"Oh my!" Rose gasped with her hand over her mouth.
In front of them was a middle-aged woman with a long wavy hair wearing a roman toga along with two spherical liquids floating around her. Now normally, her skin would be glowing blue, however, what Ronald and Rose were seeing now was a red spirit who was definitely the greater water spirit, Aquarius.
"Hello, you two," she greeted but not in a jovial manner with her arms crossed with one finger tapping her upper arm. "Do you mind explaining... what in the cursed dragon has happened to me!?"
Talk about escalating too quickly fifteen years ago.
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Manegia
Year 1421
"Do you know what it feels when you are in the annual meeting with the other greater spirits when suddenly, your skin turns red!?" Aqua ranted as her red skin flared up from the couch. "It was right in the middle of my talking concerning the fake ailments befalling me when the Mother Soul decided to take me over!"
"LMAO!"
"Eheheh..." Alicia smiled wryly.
"My... condolences," Jillianis Speris, a knight from the world of Irongrad, stifled a burst of laughter.
"Fufu," Rose giggled from her wheelchair. "I still remember you pulling Ronald's shirt, you were quite unamused with the situation, Aqua."
"Of course! Ignis could never stop teasing me being red like him ever since!" Aqua exclaimed. "Even more so when I never noticed the Mother Soul merging with my soul when it is the only thing I have left! Now I feel what we have been seeing in you Court Wizards."
"And it's a pretty interesting phenomenon too!" said the voice coming from the balcony.
"Aah! Evil Mad Scientist Lady!"
"I'm the Maneg Scientist," Amelia Rickens tutted as she waltzed into the chamber. "Not some inane egghead, [Avatar] construct."
"Amelia, please do not call Voice as if she is a robot," Alicia complained. "Also, how did you come from the balcony?"
"Yes," Aqua stated curiously. "There were no sounds of [Eject] and yet your signature suddenly appeared in the balcony."
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"I got my ways. Way better than big brother's!" Amelia smirked. "Want a demonstration?"
"I do not wish to know about it," Jill immediately shook her head.
"Boo, anyway," Amelia continued as she pulled the whiteboard to the center of the room.
Where did she even get that!? was everyone's thought.
SHRAK SHRAK SHRAK
"As you know," Amelia began, drawing a crude approximation of Aqua on the left before crossing a line in the middle. "Aqua is one of those people who own part of their world's Fantasy Law." She circled the Aqua and wrote the word 'origin' above it. "We informally call people like her the 'origin' of that part of the Fantasy Law. We still haven't found a term that sounds good."
"Ah, yes. I remember Aqua told me about it before," Alicia recalled, never minding the last remark Amelia gave. That was during the Fantasy and Scientific Law lesson Aqua gave to her and Rin Fujiwara.
Speaking of Rin, the little girl was still gathering her thoughts back in her homeworld, Rakarok-Earth World Merge, ever since the mission in Geron Yor. Alicia was still worried for her.
Then Alicia remembered, "Oh, I also recall something about a copy of the Fantasy Law or something..."
"Yeah," Amelia nodded, having already written 'Spiri Raia' on Aqua's side of the whiteboard. "Aqua's the type that when applying part of the Fantasy Law as an origin, she gets one on her person too." She dragged a line from Spiri Raia to the word origin.
"Yes, it was after our war with the cursed dragons and the subsequent reformation of our former world into Spiri Raia that we had an opportunity to reform the Laws of the world to our liking," Aqua explained. "This includes our nature as spirits itself."
"Wait a minute! Didn't you say you and the boys and girls created Spiri Raia!? Not just slap your world a new name and Fantasy Law and leave it at that!"
"Does that not count?" Aqua asked with a straight face, a figurative question mark popping above her head. "I and the greater spirits did rewrite our reality, after all. Granted, we based it off of the old Fantasy Law our former races used before becoming spirits, but it is still our own. Is there a problem with that?"
"No," Jill replied. "But when you worded it that way, it sounded less impressive than what you boasted before, I will be blunt."
"Yes," Alicia nodded. "The impression Rin and I got was much grander when you left the details out."
"I agree," Rose nodded. "You should be more specific like that next time."
"Boo..." was all Aqua said in response.
"Anyway," Amelia drew an arrow from Aqua to the other side that's been labeled 'Manegia' and explained, "thanks to this, when Aqua goes over here, her spirit arts aren't degraded or upgraded weirdly trying to fit in with the Laws of this world much like our Orders though not applied to the world. This includes her being a spirit for the same reason." She wrote the word 'Same' at the end of the arrow.
"Yes," Aqua cupped her cheek. "It was actually a cause for concern, you know? That my existence here might be jeopardized because of differing Fantasy Laws."
"Yeah," Amelia grinned. "Heck, you can even bring other water spirits here as long you exist to provide the Laws. And since you don't force it on the world, the native Fantasy Laws wouldn't even do anything to it as long they don't contradict, unlike our Maneg System," she rolled her eyes.
"Yes," Aqua continued. "It was fortunate that was the case, but I highly doubt it will be the same for Layla once she takes my mantle. I might even be the only spirit Court Wizard.
"Speaking of Layla," Aqua looked to Alicia. "You should visit Spiri Raia sometimes, Alicia. She is raring to see her namer's daughter."
"I see," Alicia nodded. Of course, after the masquerade fell, she has been hearing stories of the spirit named by her mother who was quite ecstatic to hear the spirit was nominated to be Aqua's successor. "I will look forward to it."
"Yeah! Yeah!"
"But Layla could inherit your Law segments," Amelia suggested after yet another detour in the conversation. "We all know the Mother Souls are the 'origin' of each of the Elements making up the Maneg System and all instances of the System in every world is tied to them." Then on Manegia's side, Amelia wrote the word 'Null' which was immediately crossed out. She also did the same on Spiri Raia's side. "And we all know what happens if a Mother Soul gets destroyed," she looked at everyone.
"Yes, a very unpleasant consequence," Jill said sarcastically.
"Of course, I do need to keep this Mother Soul safe," Aqua cupped her cheek. "Lest we all die."
"True." Rose calmly sipped her tea as if the topic wasn't all serious.
"And what happened to Null, and its Users, really screws ordering a lot since maneg is supposed to return to that Element after an Order," Amelia continued. "Even the Mother Souls we have today are totally kaput, screwing our privileges. Kinda a surprise the Fire Mother Soul was able to assimilate you pretty quickly, Aqua. It took years for Master Zekie's hammer to be his Cherished Armament."
"True," Aqua sighed. "It must be my age, or the Laws we built was weak. Both of them are not good thoughts."
"And I am still uncomfortable seeing the legendary hammer violated like that," Jill sighed too. She stretched her arm and willed her Armament to existence. "Much like mine that was forged by it." Then, she dismissed it.
"And who knows, if the hammer gets destroyed, the Law part where everything that thing touches disintegrates to atoms if it's remotely a weapon is gone forever," Amelia suggested. "Much like if something happens to you, Aqua, before passing your title and part of the Fantasy Law to your protege, water spirits and arts cease to exist."
"Let us not believe it will come to it," Aqua smiled wryly. "I am only one of the first few examples of 'origins,' after all."
"Yeah! Don't be so scary, Evil Mad Scientist Lady!"
"Yeah, yeah," Amelia waved it off. "Anyway, I really need to finish that project of mine. Really hate saying part this part that."
"Hm?" Alicia perked up. "What project?"
"Oh, you know," Amelia explained. "A better model to classify Fantasy Laws so we don't have to vaguely call one part of it as well as to make a rough standard how someone following one Law react to another. It's just the degradation, for now, anything new that gets tacked on in a similar Law is a whole other can of worms."
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Manegia
Year 1406
"Okay, I'll put your name as Aquarius," Ronald said as he began to type on the old computer.
"First Greater Water Spirit Aquarius of Spiri Raia," Aqua stated.
"Um, what?" Ronald looked at her.
"First Greater Water Spirit Aquarius of Spiri Raia," Aqua stated again. "Write it as such."
"Aqua, that'll be too long on the sheet," Ronald explained. "I can put it on the archives, but on the card, it's usually first name and last name. Anything else is omitted."
"Put it on both," Aqua insisted. "There is no problem with that, is there? I am the Guardian, after all"
"Wha..." Ronald leered at the screen then back at Aqua. She's still not happy with her recruitment...
"Fufu," Rose chuckled. "I do not think our new Master will take no for an answer."
"...Fine," Ronald relented, entering the unreasonably long name.
"Thank you," Aqua puffed her chest.
"Alright, how old are you?" Ronald then asked.
"Make it nine hundred and thirteen," Aqua replied.
"The same year in Spiri Raia?" Ronald raised his eyebrow. "Aren't you older than that?"
"Well, we never keep track of our ages before when we were fae," Aqua explained. "So just assume I was born when Spiri Raia was as a spirit."
"Okay then, and I'll assume the date is at new years," Ronald typed that in. "Obviously, you're female."
"Actually," Aqua interrupted again. "Ever since we are spirits we are physically genderless, but we do still identify in one as you can see. It is just that writing only female is wholly inaccurate."
"...Ugh," Ronald groaned, slowly slamming his head on the keyboard. "This is going to be a long day. Is this why everything is manual typing?"
"Fufu," Rose giggled. "What an interesting Master we have."
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Name: First Greater Spirit Aquarius of Spiri Raia
Age: 913
Sex: Mentally female (technically genderless)
Species: Body-less Soul (Greater Water Spirit)
World: Spiri Raia
Element: Fire
Element Color: Red
Cherished Armament: -
Rank: New Wizard/Guardian
"Body-less Soul?" Aqua read. "What is this?"
"How the Otherworldly Court tries to make a universal naming for similar races," Ronald deadpanned. "Also, only the First Guardians get to use their race names. Besides, what you call yourself is already in the parentheses and that's what we will call you. We never use the Court term."
"Do not worry, Aqua, I know your pain as well," Rose consoled her.