There are many kinds of spirits, all divided by their functions and abilities. The commonly known ones in Svarga were the Messengers, wild spirits, guardian spirits and evil/ calamity spirits. But there were more categories in the higher Lokahs, like the vimanas or transportation spirits and the good spirits who lived amongst humans in their own homes and some others.
And while the appearances of the classes of spirits other than messengers were distinguishable, good, evil, and guardian spirits could take on the form of any of the other classifications. Hence why it was very hard to tell which was which in most situations. It could take a second for a deceptive evil spirit to tear down its prey before they even realised it was an evil spirit.
Nevertheless, there was one common trait all spirits must possess: Spirit Crystals.
———
The vast room was lit in dim golden light, falling from the high ceiling. There were stairs spiralling on the tall walls from the floor, up, filled with collections upon collections of books. The room was a huge library, a couple stories high and very wide. But on closer inspection, those books were just boxes of different sizes arranged in order. As for the content of these boxes, they were weapons and charms.
The golden light wrapped gracefully around Izel's sweaty skin, highlighting and reflecting against the smooth brown surface of her sturdy body as she leapt across the room.
Her casual outfit revealed that the woman had not prepared for this fight earlier. She had on a black shirt beneath her copper coloured overall that revealed a cute silhouette.
Nonetheless, her defense was tightly locked, aided by her swift movements and the powerful swings of her jet-black katana. Her strikes and slashes sent the spirit back, forcing it to constantly reposition itself.
She was with an unfaltering aura, as daunting as the golden coiling-dragon near the blunt edge of the sword in her hand.
The spirit swung its tail at her stomach, albeit only to be struck away by an upward slash from her blade. And quickly tearing out one of the paper talismans gathered like a jotter and strapped to her waist, she plastered it to the side of her sword and ordered,
"Axe, light it up!"
The small white scaled, blue bellied salamander on her shoulder seemed to gather spiritual essence in the glowing halo above its head, before spitting out fire on Izel's sword.
Watching the blade burn into gold with her excited hazel eyes, Izel let out a high pitched laughter and held the sword to the side with both hands.
The spirit charged at her with a burst of speed that left a look of shock on Ikky's face. But just as the two beasts were about to clash, Rick called out to the woman.
"Izel!"
Her ears perked up at hearing that voice.
"Rick?"
CHOMP!
The spirit swallowed her whole, and burped smoke. The magnificent creature soon calmed down afterwards.
This mighty spirit looked like a lion with the physique of a bull. It was just like a nian from ancient folklore. But this beast was no ordinary spirit.
"Ah, Rick. How long have you just been... standing there?" It spoke, its voice booming with power, yet for some reason sounding a little nervous.
Rick stared at the spirit with warning unimpressed eyes.
"You saw that, didn't you?" It asked again, but got the same stare as an answer .
"Ughh! Fine." The nian opened its maw and regurgitated Izel.
"No fair! Lion!! You cheated!" She laughed.
"I did no such thing. You lost your focus, so you lost the fight. Simple." The nian licked the back of its paw, perhaps to rub off Izel's taste from its tongue.
Izel scratched her puffy hair bun and adjusted the copper coloured scrunchie tying it up, before recalling why exactly she had lost their little sparring match.
"Rick!" Crawling on the slippery flat ground, Izel quickly rushed over to him. But as soon as she got close enough for a hug, her body suddenly froze in the air.
"Hold it. I'm not getting any of that slime on my body." Rick held his hand up in front of her face. He continued,
"Besides, why would I be in the mood for hugging you right now?"
Izel's bright grin soon receded, as Rick gave her back control of her body.
'Uh oh.'
"Your aunt told me you entered your second Ordeal days ago. So you got out, and didn't even think to check on her first, huh?"
"Ah... well, I um, leveled up see?" She lifted her arms into the air to flex her biceps. "So I was just going to check how much stronger I'd gotten. I really was going to meet her soon though."
Rick's frown loosened a little. He knew Izel's behaviour. She loved her aunt a lot, so the fact that she had decided to spar right after a big event like an Ordeal happened, instead of going to meet Arley, only meant that there was something she really wanted to forget.
Well, it was understandable. She had just come out of her second Ordeal to become a Believer Prophet— and near 'night time' where omens were strangely more nightmarish than the past. Rick realised that she needed a break from the horrors she'd faced.
What better remedy for an adrenaline powered Prophet such as her self, than a spar with a strong opponent.
Laughing nervously, the need to change the topic brought her attention to the person Rick had come along with.
But the man himself was already on the third step of the library of weapons behind them, poking his head into the boxes.
"Holy—" A torrent of flames suddenly burst out of the box Ikky had open up, the force knocking him from the height of three storeys.
"I got it." Izel fist bumped Rick's shoulder as she got set to rush towards Ikky. However, Rick interrupted, suddenly pulling out a sword from a talisman he had squeezed in his pocket.
"I got a job for you." He tapped Ikky's white sword on her shoulder, while taking off his now spit covered jacket.
"Wait—" Izel had taken a step forward, when Ikky's body flipped so his leg would face the ground.
And without bending his knees to reduce the force his legs would take from the fall, he landed on the ground with a bang. What he had just done was try to copy how Rick had landed the first time they had met. However,
"Ugh..." Right after landing, he later fell flat on the ground.
"That was a stupid idea."
Izel turned to look at Rick with an expression that said, 'Is this guy for real?'
"Are you taking the steel, or should I give it to the spirit?" Rick ignored her questioning gaze.
"Oh okay. I'll take the job." Izel answered, taking the white sword off his hands and rushing over to help the groaning man.
"Try not to mess this one up like the last charm I left in your hands." The nian advised. "But if that boy is just riffraff that happened to stumble upon soul steel... then have fun."
"Hey!" Ikky reacted because that was exactly how he happened to get a hold of the white blade. "I'm a paying customer, you know?!"
"Technically." Rick added.
"Yeah! I mean, I don't have the money right now, but I'll give it back to Rick as soon as I do."
Izel laughed, "Well he does look like riffraff, so thanks for the job, Lion."
Not taking the hand Izel was stretching out to him, Ikky leapt back on his feet and dusted his clothes himself.
"I went through hell before I got that blade." He warned, seriously thinking that neither the nian nor Izel was taking his request seriously.
However, unbothered by the amber-eyed man, Izel took a closer look at the longsword and scoffed,
"We've all been there, genius. It's what Prophets do. Now come on, let's get to work. I think the guys want to do some bro-talking." She squinted her eyes with a sneaky expression before tip-toeing out of the hall for some reason.
Ikky followed. "What the heck is, 'bro-talking'?"
"Hm? What else do you call a conversation between a couple of men talking about their day? Trust me, I know the slangs, little man."
Ikky thought for a second before shaking his head. "I don't know, but something tells you're wrong. Also, I'm like twice your height for you to be comfortable with calling me little."
Izel blew out air from her lips as she chuckled, "What are you, a hundred and eighty one? I'm only a centimeter shorter. And trust me, man. I'mma teach you all the big boy words. "
"Ookay?" Ikky was skeptical if this woman actually knows what she was talking about.
"The first word of the day is, dog-water. Say it with me, dog-water! You use it when you as an adjective for something you find really trashy, like— these are dog-water shoes man! Or like, if I'm being honest, your cooking skills is actually, as a matter of fact dog-water!"
Her voice echoed through the tunnel as Izel continued to run her mouth while Ikky was continuingly trying to figure out if this person was telling him the truth.
Taking his eyes away from the direction Izel had gone, Lion turned to Rick.
"Really, Starlight? You tied red on the kid? How low is your opinion of me?"
"As low as all the others of your kind down in hell." Rick replied.
"I'll give you credit for your charm-smith skills, nian. But if I EVER catch Izel in your mouth again, I will turn your body into a conscious fountain of blood, and make you regret having a beating heart."
"..." The nian blinked with surprise, then sighed. He stood up.
"What I regret is what I once was. But if you trust Arley with all of your own heart, then you'd know I'm a different creature now. So stop being so paranoid already."
"Clear your own image, and stop falling back on my wife's name when you've got nowhere else to go."
The nian never had won any of their arguments.
"By the way, June was here, not too long ago, wasn't he?"
The nian replied, "You mean that otherworlder? Yes, actually. He came here looking for you, and a lost child named Equinox."