18 Spirits III

What? The he-goat was a she-goat? What a sudden turn of events! And if I'm not mistaken Amalthea is the one who's horn was broken off to create the Horn of Plenty, also known to be the Cornucopia. The water goat sure was older than I thought...

I inquired with the Amalthea about this ''Are you the Satyr from the old myths? The one with the Cornucopia?'' Amalthea nodded and puffed out her chest proudly. She was clearly happy with being noticed ''That I am my boy! Zeus broke off my horn and gave it to that boy… What was his name again?''

Amalthea rubbed her goatee in thought ''I'm sure it was… Dorkules or something like that, anyways that Jerkules became a great hero. All because of me.'' Amalthea said proudly.

I was pretty sure that Amalthea had nothing to do with Hercules' training. I'm pretty sure that was Chiron. I just nodded and stood up. Lux put Lucifer on the ground and turned to me to say his goodbyes, but before he did that he had a serious look on his face.

''My child, before I go retreat and go back in my slumber I have some additional things to talk to you about. Heed the Demon's calls. They're a very dangerous version of Spirits that consume other Spirits. They are maniacal beings that kill and feed off other Spirits. If you encounter them I advise you to run into the other direction. They're not to be trifled with,''

Lux put his hand on my shoulder. ''But I'm sure you won't have to worry about them. I haven't felt a Demon under my domain in a long time. But I still advise you to watch yourself, they like the shadows after all.''

Lux turned around and headed towards Lycan. They exchanged looks and it seemed like they had a full conversation without even speaking words. Maybe it's possible to speak to your contracted spirit without even using words.

''Goodluck with your future endeavours my child, I know you have the willpower to change your destiny. I'm sad we couldn't talk more but it's tiring to remain in my full body form. It's much easier to funnel my power into Lycan.''

Lux turned around and looked at me, I smiled at Lux and he returned it. There was another loud boom and light flashed anywhere, but this time Lux was nowhere to be found. He had returned into the runes on Lycan's neck. ''Sure are flashy those Godly spirits, they like to show off.'' huffed Amalthea.

Amalthea turned to me and began to introduce me to the premise of contracting Basic spirits. ''Listen boy, Basic spirits don't have a real domain. They're just Spirits who live on the domains of Advanced or higher Spirit's domain. They often don't have a physical body and just are pure Spirit energy-''

Amalthea coughed and it seemed like she was going to choke to death when suddenly a fish flew out of her mouth. The fish flew straight into the river under the waterfall and calmly continued its journey.

''Sorry about that, sometimes being a river Spirit has its downsides, but where was I… Oh yes! Contracting Basic Spirits. Just call them out like you did before to contact me and then I'll also contact them at the same time. Then I'll put in a good word for you and we'll get you contracted to some lesser spirits.''

I was just about to start concentrating when Amalthea broke my concentration. ''One last thing, some spirits have different natures than the original four. There are some that have the ability to control trees or lightning which are a combination of different natures. A spirit chooses the nature of its host that it's most comfortable with.''

This made me think, which nature was I? ''How do I know which nature I am?'' Amalthea picked up a leaf and put it in my hands. ''Concentrate with your magic on that leaf.'' She said in a commanding tone.

I did what I was told and not long after that there was a strong wind. The wind cut the leaf into two halves. Lycan looked at me with a shocked expression. ''You have an air nature! Those are rare… very much so. And the power you had on your first try was quite admirable''

Lycan said with pride in his voice. He was clearly happy with my progress in such little time. Amalthea raised her eyebrows. ''A wind nature huh, not bad.'' She walked over to me and put her hand on my shoulder.

Once again my back was completely drenched. I wouldn't have minded if it was the summer but now that it's winter I was bound to catch a cold. ''Now concentrate on calling spirits. I'll do the same but we need to be in physical contact for it to work.''

I nodded and we both closed our eyes. I concentrated and I felt the air swell around us. The wind calmed down and I opened my eyes. Suddenly there were a lot of little balls floating in the air. They all had different colors and all had different energy signatures. Some seemed to be very energetic and bounced around a lot and some slowly floated around me.

Amalthea pulled her hand back and spoke to the spirits. I couldn't fully understand but apparently she was getting me acquainted with the other spirits because she was pointing a lot at me and pointed back to the spirits.

Suddenly a lot of spirits left until there were only 3 left. ''I'm sorry kid, but a lot of Basic spirits are frightened of getting contracted to a wizard that already has a rune bestowed on them by a higher spirit. They're frightened of receiving the fury of Oni, but don't dwell on that. You have 3 spirits left that are interested, I'll introduce you.''

She pointed to the spirit on the left. ''She's a water spirit. Your natures don't really match but she's really loyal and has a lot of promise. She could easily become an Advanced spirit in the future when she has found another domain to challenge.''

Amalthea sat back down again and I followed her example. The spirits floated right in front of my face. The left one was blue, the one in the middle was red and the one on the right was a purplish-blue kind of color. I could comprehend that the one in the middle was a fire Spirit but I was kind of lost what the right one would be.

Amalthea continued talking. ''You see, kid, spirits can achieve a higher rank when they challenge another spirit for their domain. If they win they take over the other spirit's domain and become stronger.''

I nodded, so the left one could become an Advanced spirit. But I personally didn't think that was good enough. And that wasn't the only reason why I hesitated to pick the water spirit. Apparently our natures didn't match as well which meant we wouldn't be a good duo in a battle.

Amalthea nodded to the spirit in the middle. ''He's a fire spirit. Not much to him, you'd be a good match with him because wind can make fire stronger. But it could also try to take over your body, if the spirit manages to take over your nature the spirit would be able to control you. But it all depends if you pick a good rune to contract him with. If you're smart you'd be alright.''

So the middle one was a high risk high reward situation. But taking over my body didn't seem like a great idea. I'd be a walking spirit zombie, and that's something I definitely didn't want.

Amalthea pointed at the spirit on the right. ''He's a lightning spirit, but he can also use a bit of wind and fire nature. He's a spirit with a lot of potential but he has a temper. His potential is a mystery. It could be anywhere from remaining to be Basic to Godly. He just needs a lot of training and the motivation to succeed. But I can see in your eyes that you have a fire in you, and a ton of willpower to go along with that. So I advise you to choose this spirit.''

The last spirit really piqued my interest. Such a strong spirit would really help me in the future and if it only took motivation then I certainly could help the spirit. Training wouldn't be a problem since I needed training as well so we could help each other. The only problem was his temper… I didn't want him blowing stuff up constantly or smiting anyone he doesn't like.

''Fine, I'll pick the Lightning spirit. What's your name, friend? I inquired. The spirit hummed a little but it didn't seem to be able to talk yet. It was like a baby learning how to speak. So I asked Amalthea to tell me and she told me it's name was 'Raiden'

Raiden came closer and I stretched out my hand. Raiden sat on my hand, well sat, I couldn't really tell since it was a literal ball but my hand got a little heavier so I assumed it was sitting. ''I like your name, we shall become great friends Raiden.''

Lucifer meowed from beneath me in agreeance. He apparently was also happy with Raiden joining our group. Now I had to pick which rune that would symbolize our contract. I decided to pick the same rune as Oni picked. The rune 7, the one of the Unknown.

Since it's powerful I wouldn't have to be scared of being overpowered by Raiden. But I also felt that he didn't desire to do something like that. Lycan carved out the rune in my neck with his nails. Which hurt like hell by the way. Lycan had very sharp nails, even for a vampire.

''It is done.'' Lycan said. Raiden got the memo and flew into the rune. I could feel immense strength entering my body and for a second there was a flash of lightning in my eyes. The air seemed to energize around me and there was this metallic scent in the air. Just like before lightning hits.

Suddenly there was a loud boom and a light blinded my eyes. I could feel the lightning surging inside my veins, I had been struck by a lightning bolt but it didn't hurt. I felt powerful. If I felt like this I wonder how Lycan felt when he had a contract with Lux. He must've suffered a lot.

When the light faded I felt the power leave my body and I dropped to my knees. ''Are you alright boy?'' Lycan said. He tried to get on his knees but one of his knees popped due to old age and he stood back up. He picked me up from the ground and I struggled to find balance.

But after a little while I could feel my strength slowly returning. My magic veins in my body were widening to try to compensate for the extra spirit magic that was in my body now. And that hurt a lot. I could feel my veins widening and it felt horrible. My magic in my stomach had a much higher quality now.

It was way more refined, I could feel now other sorts of magic in the air. Not only spirit magic but traces of older magic that had been casted here a long time. When I turned I could see a faint blue color around the manor. That must be the wards that protect the manor.

Suddenly I heard a voice in my head. ''Hello Besto Friendo!'' Raiden said loudly. It was so loud that it almost deafened me. It was like listening to my own thoughts except they were not my own but Raiden's thoughts. I definitely need to fix that in the future…

'You can talk now?' I said in my thoughts. 'Yeah of course! Now let's defeat another spirit and fight for their realm! I'm sure we can take that old goat grandma down!'

He sure was bloodthirsty… 'Let's not do that for now okay. I bet the goat grandma would whoop our asses.' Raiden thought for a minute but he agreed with my words. 'Yes she sure seems to have a lot of spirit energy, exactly why we should battle her in the future! Our battle will be legendary!'

This multiple thoughts at a time thing got really annoying real quickly. But luckily Raiden said he needed to sleep. He had wasted all his energy on the bonding. Apparently it's hard for spirits to bond with a powerful rune because they need to penetrate the rune.

Finally I had bonded with a spirit… Raiden. He seems powerful and to control lightning has always been my dream since I was a kid in my past life. Thor was my favorite superhero in the Marvel franchise.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Lycan. ''It's getting late boy, we should return to the manor.'' Suddenly I felt my stomach ache, but it wasn't from magic but hunger. I didn't even notice how hungry I was because of how much had happened today.

I nodded to Amalthea and Lycan and I walked back together to the manor. I couldn't wait to eat anything, I could even eat garlic. That's how hungry I was.