The darkness was pretty hard to navigate through but Sply's swirling aura made it easier for me to walk, but it left me unsure of how Sply was managing to navigate this crazy terrain.
I heard a rustling sound ever now and again but when I turned my head in that direction, my eye didn't catch a hint of aura in my view.
"How long will we continue to walk?"
My voice grew scared, afraid of the unseen that lurked in these forests.
"Just quiet down boy, when there is a forest more than likely there will also be a clearing in the trees."
I listen to what she says and squint my eye toward the back of her head, my brain slowly trying to process what she said.
"You mean that you're trying to find an empty patch of trees in these parts?"
"No, I'm trying to find an empty spot with no trees."
I shake my head in confusion.
'So what I said?'
"Why?"
"That's where I plan to train you."
"You're going to train me?"
Sply nods, but her voice is still stern, making my hairs stand at the back of my head.
"You are a…?"
"I'm four, or five?"
She stops to turn to me. Her face damn near in impossible to even get a good look at. But her aura is doing its job of showing me, that it's going to her head, like she's trying to come to terms with what I said.
"You don't know your age?"
The tree rustled when she asked, making me look around, but only darkness clouded my vision.
"I'm not Steel's real son, a few months ago, Steel found me at his front steps and I had only gained memories from there."
"So what, you don't know your age?"
I shake my head.
"Regardless, you're young, making it very easy for me to be able to strengthen your body and teach you things that'll be useful in the future for you. So if I find a clearing and you are able to follow through with the training I'll commit my time to you.
Nodding along as I understand what she says, she turns around and begins her walk again.
We don't speak for a little, but with the quiet nature and the rustling trees my heart begins to do gymnastics with fear, to anxiety to, stress.
Sply continues to walk and turning toward the left side of the trees, making me follow right behind her.
I step onto something squishy and I immediately retreat my foot.
"Ew, I step into something."
I want to scream but with both the time of night and the unknown terrain, I'm to afraid to do so.
Sply turns around and looks at me with confusion aura flooding her head.
She begins to walk towards me. Her magenta aura gets closer and she crouches next to me, touching the squishy thing that I stepped into, the shoe that was on my foot, ended up suffocating in whatever it is.
She reaches her hand out and touches the thing.
She gets up, swinging her hand free of whatever it is.
"You stepped into shit."
She says, her voice sounding indifferent to what she had just touched, but for me I release a small groan and jump out of the poop.
"What poops that big?"
She looks up at me, a grin of aura appearing on her face.
"A Soul Bear."
Her voice is somewhat happy, like this is a raising moment of ever coming here.
"Change of plans. You'll find and kill the bear."
She says to me her tone, shifting slightly from happy to devious:
"If you don't, I'll leave you and you won't receive any training from me, but if you manage to do so, I'll think about training you."
"Wait, no? You want me to fight a bear."
My hand grips my bow tight.
"Not fight…"
Now my hand slightly relaxed on the bow grip.
'Thank god!'
"…kill."
I nod in disbelief, my hand grips it even more.
'Fuck you god.'
"That's not possible?!"
My voice was high without trying to alert anyone, or thing in the forest.
"Doesn't matter, because you'll be stuck in these woods regardless."
"What?"
After saying that to me, it's as if she wasn't even there, her entire aura is gone, like it had made her disappear completely.
I look around and don't even see the slightest hint of her aura.
Or any aura for that matter.
As I spin around looking for any sign of a living thing, I begin to feel myself hyperventilating.
'No, no, this can't be true.'
The thoughts jump around in my head as my breathing pulls in and out.
Then like a saving grace for all those times.
A clicking sound navigating through the entirety of the forest, making me catch my breath ever so slightly.
The clicking makes me think that I'll be safe as long as I follow them.
Without a minute to my thought I hold my hand out in complete darkness and walk around, my bow being held in my other hand as I try and navigate these trees.
Sometimes walking into things that I didn't see, make hand tapping against other trees, the now in my hand being held tighter and tighter.
A think a see a faint aura in the sky, only for me to look up and see the moon breaking lightly through the smallest hole that is in the treetops.
My mind get blank staring at the moonlight, the shade of blue that it has, the only light I've seen in what feels like forever.
Staring at the moon. I get and idea:
"My arrows."
I hold the bow as close as I can to my eye, to see the faint aura resonating off of the upside down U sigil.
I tap it, then a blue light flashes off of the bow, I hold the bow up in front of me to light my way in front of myself.
"Okay, light source now acquired, now I have to somehow find and kill a bear."
I pause, my body shudders in fear.
"That's going to be easy… maybe I should have just stayed home that day…"
My memory flashes of that little girl.
"Nevermind… plus now I'm with a family that cares about me, a little more than usual."
I chuckle to myself, like a guy high off of crack.
"Who am I kidding, they care about me a whole lot."
I use the light like a very bad glowstick. Barely able to light the ground good and my eyes having to struggle through looking, only being able to see better a slight bit better.
"God, why'd she have to find bear poop?"
I shake my head.
"Why'd I have to step in bear poop."
My mind goes back to the giant pile of crap.
I shudder.
"Ah this sucks."
Another clicking sound, this time it sounds louder.
I hold my arrow in front of my face just to see even if it's slightly bit better.
As I continue to walk, I feel myself grow weak, like, I've been dehydrated for a few hours.
'Shit, I haven't ate yet.'
I was just playing with my food I never ate it because of the way it looked reminding me of blood.
Then I feel my blood grow cold.
'Is this really because of not eating?'
My hand trembles as the arrow waveringly holds it forms, blinking in and out of its blue hue.
I continue to walk, then I feel my legs lock for a second, then spaghetti legs, making me drop beside a tree.
The bow drops to my side as the arrow disappears, instantly my body feels it's warmth crawl back into my skin.
'Did I just experience Soul Exhaustion?'
I wipe my forehead, damp with sweat, behind my hand is wet.
'Okay, I need..'
I try to get up but my body doesn't move.
I just stay seated. Next to the tree.
'Okay, I'll just relax for now and get back up later.'
I take deep breaths. My mind finally clears itself.
Two sounds ring through my ear drums, giving me two different feelings.
First is the clicking, something that makes me feel happy to know I'm not alone.
Then a growl, a snarl more of, a scary sound, but a sound that I've learned about when I was a kid in elementary.
The sound of a bear, but this one, doesn't sound small enough.
It growls again, and as if it had been close to me, the ground begins to tremble as large footsteps are heard.
The bow had fell out of the hiding spot of the tree I was using.
'I have to kill that bear.'
In my mind I reached for the bow, and tapped the sigil, but that wasn't true.
My body couldn't move, even if it wanted to, human or beastman, I wasn't afraid, but now, when threatened with a danger I haven't seen or heard of before, I'm too scared to even look around the corner.
'But, I need to be trained by Sply…'
My finger trembling, but I slowly, reach for the bow…
The growl grows louder, it makes me stop moving.
'It's moving closer!'
As I get ready to run.
As if from heaven, the familiar oranage aura drops into my lap, after sliding down the tree behind me.
She holds her finger to her mouth, it's covered with tree bark, but it's soft.
The same girl that I saved when she didn't have any Soul Energy.
She moves her mouth close to my ear and speaking in a soft low whisper:
"Don't speak."
My mouth clamps shut when she says that.
"Don't move. My dad will move the Soul Bear away."
I nod.
The growling does get any further away, actually it gets closer and my heart feels to heavy and if it doesn't change direction soon, I'll run away, regardless of what this girl tells me to do.
After I feel it's about beside me on the other side of the tree being the place that the Soul Bear is at.
Clicking sounds come from the polar opposite direction of the place we are in.
Making the Soul Bear turn its snout and start to pounce in the direction of the clicking.
"Okay, Follow me."
The girl grabs my hand, I grab my bow and stand up, I'm taller than her by a few inches.
Her hand is soft and we begin to steadily run away from the Soul Bear.
She runs fast for a girl that's as young as I am.
She looks back a few times as she continues to guide me to what I think is a clearing, a clearing that Slly would have used to make me train, not only that, but it allows the moonlight to shine down and show the girl that I've saved along with the same girl that had just saved me.
"I'm Apatite."
Blue hair, flowing from her head to her neck, the moon shining down on it. Her ears pointed, peeking out from her hair, just like Marcilene's, but she doesn't hide it in the public.
She wears all black leotard, most likely to make it easier for the light to not reflect off of her and to not snag on anything, as she jumped from tree to tree.
On the side of her black boots, that are about about shin high, is a stick that peeks out from above her boots, a brown color, reflecting off of her ash colored skin.
Her skin, mocking the color of the moon.
And her aura, it's the same color but the way it moves, the way it looks, it's way more vibrant now.
"You need to leave through there."
She points towards a few trees, but there looks like a path, slightly carved but hidden very well.
I turn my head back to her.
My feet ready to run, but then I remember:
'Kill the bear and I'll train you…'
My feet drop back down.
"I can't leave yet."