SWNOVELXO Chapter 304: Origins of Spirits.
Rasmus was sitting on a log in front of a campfire while Aris was sitting across from him, still with Yur on her lap. He slowly looked at his right shoulders and saw spirits sitting on it. Not only on his right shoulder, the spirits were sitting on his left shoulder and on his head. The spirits began to be fond of him because they felt safe around him, rather than being around Aris.
Yur was still sulking, scared of Aris of what had happened earlier. Yur's eyes when they met with Rasmus's were like pleading eyes, hoping him to let Yur free from Aris's grasp. However, Rasmus didn't want to since he didn't want to command Aris when she seemed to enjoy Yur's presence.
"So, what are nature spirits? Where are you coming from?" Rasmus asked Yur, trying to see if he could communicate with spirits like how he communicated with humans.
"We are not immortal like Orthias or True Dragons. But we can rebirth infinitely as long as there's no intervention," Yur answered, hoping that if Yur answered all the questions, Rasmus would help Yur from Aris.
"What about the beginning of spirits?" Rasmus asked as he raised his brows, trying to be friendly after he found out that Spirit's innocence was similar to a child.
"We are residue... born from the Mana that created the Orthias, or from True Dragons' breath of life," Yur answered, finding it scary to rest its hands on Aris's arms. "Since the True Dragons have disappeared, and Orthias has been hiding themselves from the world, the numbers of spirits are declining around the world. Especially with the current situation, those demons that tried to devour everything that we have built for thousands of years..." Yur continued with an angry face.
Rasmus thought about it for a moment, and grasped the origin of spirits. It was similar to evil spirits that existed because of the residue of their unreleased overwhelming emotions that manifested into a spirit. As Aris had said, every living being in Neva possessed Mana, and that same Mana was the fuel to turn them into vengeful spirits.
"How many spirits are there?" Rasmus asked.
"I don't know because I have been in this place for quite a long time. However, there are spirits that came here because they have lost their domains," Yur answered, staring at the spirits that hid in Rasmus's hair.
"And what happens if all spirits die?" Rasmus furrowed his brows.
"An endless disaster," Aris answered as she looked down at Yur on her lap. "Spirits is the law of nature, they control the amount of Mana that this world produced. If they all died, nobody controlled the Mana flow," she continued.
Rasmus raised his brows, finding it hard to correlate between Mana and a disaster.
"We control the weather, the quality of the soil, the plants, and even the volcanoes indirectly. If we don't control the amount of Mana that escapes or enters those things, floods, extreme heat or cold, wastelands, hurricanes, and even eruptions will happen nonstop," Yur explained with a serious expression.
Rasmus hummed, and remembered how the winter in South Neva was quite harsh. There were a lot of barren lands there as well because Aris said the spirits had abandoned that continent. In the surface, it might look normal to humans, but the truth was the continent was dying.
"Spirits feed on Mana?" Rasmus looked at Yur and Aris.
"Yes, we are eating Mana to make us grow stronger and maintain the balance. We will also release the Mana we have absorbed back to the world in a controlled manner," Yur nodded repeatedly, feeling proud.
Rasmus couldn't believe that spirits were so crucial in this world and yet nobody knew about them. There was barely any information about them, and it seemed spirits could hide their presence and existence to humans' eyes. It was as Aris said to him that spirits had chosen to stay away from humans, and it was both a good and a bad thing.
"Have you seen any demons around here?" Aris asked as she tightened her arms around Yur's small body.
"Demons? Yes! They were around lately! We tried to cleanse their energy so it won't corrupt this forest!" Yur looked up at Aris. "But... we are scared to fight them if they choose to come in here and corrupt everything..." Yur muttered, sulking as Yur played with its fingers.
Rasmus could understand how scared Yur and the other spirits were. They were powerful, but they would choose to avoid any confrontation because they prioritized their own existence over anything else. However, there was a question that made him curious as to why Yur and the other spirits chose to stay in the forest even though they knew demons were around.
"You don't want to abandon this forest," Rasmus said as he stared at Yur.
"No, we don't want to... we don't have anywhere else to go, and this forest produces a lot of Mana, so we can't let this place be taken by them," Yur answered, shaking its head repeatedly like a child.
Rasmus still couldn't feel any Mana because of his awakening process. He didn't expect that the forest he was in was abundant with Mana. Rasmus and Aris looked at each other for a moment, and they both seemed to understand each other without having to say it.
"If we choose to help you, what can you offer to us?" Rasmus asked with his head tilted.
Yur's eyes brightened like a child seeing a colorful lollipop in front of them. Yur then took its time to think while dangling its feet like a child. Yur thought really hard, playing with its long curly hair.
"You're not a mortal, but an Orthias. However, the reason I called you a mortal was because of your life essence. Your life is dimming, barely showing any light from within as if you're dying," Yur said, staring at Rasmus's eyes. "It appears that Lady Aristoria already knew about this and there's nothing she can do about it. However, I have something that can help you regain your power," Yur continued with a serious expression.
Rasmus and Aris looked at Yur with a curious look on their faces.
"You have it with you? You? A spirit?" Aris asked, staring into Yur's eyes. There was suspicion and anger written in them.
"I didn't steal it! I swear! I just found it and I have been keeping it close with me all the time!" Yur answered with a panicked expression, shaking its head and waved its tiny hands quickly.
Rasmus looked at Aris and noticed how she felt disturbed by something that Yur possessed. He wondered what it was, but he let Aris deal with it and tried to understand it from their conversation.
"I keep it safe! Nobody knows about it! I promise! I wouldn't dare to use it or carry it with me!" Yur said with fear written on its face.
"Where is it?" Aris said as she gripped on Yur's sides tightly.
Yur's eyes glimmered in tears, completely terrified by Aris's words and gaze. The spirits were squirming in fear, hiding behind Rasmus's back. Rasmus knew that it was time for him to interfere, and decided to stand up and approach Aris. The spirits that were hiding behind his back immediately scattered and hid behind the trees.
"We will help you get rid of the demons, but what is this thing that you're talking about?" Rasmus asked as he sat beside Aris and held her left wrist.
Aris slowly loosened up her grip on Yur, loose enough for Yur to free itself from Aris's grasp. Yur immediately flew and hid behind Rasmus's back, wrapping its small arms around his neck. Rasmus was startled and he didn't expect he could feel the softness and the coldness of the spirit's body. It felt like fluffy clouds around his neck and on his back, weightless and yet felt soft.
"It's the Crystallized Dragon's Breath..." Yur muttered, staring at Aris with fear and guilt. "I was entrusted by the Ures to protect it... I didn't know anything about how we had it, and I couldn't ask them because we were being hunted by demonic beasts. I didn't know anything, so please... don't hurt me..." Yur's voice trembled like a child trying to hold their tears.
Rasmus looked at Yur from over his shoulder and felt pity. He found it disturbing for a great spirit to be like this, so many faces, and yet truly innocent. He then looked at Aris, wondering why she was so hostile about the Crystallized Dragon's Breath.
"What is it that terrifies you that much about it?" Rasmus asked with a serious expression.
"It's not what, it's when..." Aris answered as she stared at Yur with a cold expression.
Rasmus raised his brows, finding Aris's words to have deeper and terrifying meaning behind it. There was a slight concern and fear in her eyes, something that he had never seen in her.