Chapter 2

I'll teach you how to manipulate souls...

Dawnni entered through the giant doors of the castle. The large gray bricks surrounded him as he took a left and walked down the long dark hallway. Along the hallway there were painting mounted. Some of wildlife, some of the village, and some of the entire land of Visthalin. 

The echoing of his footsteps and the crackling of the torches, mounted on the walls, were all he could hear. Soon he had reached an open field surrounded by castle walls. Already Cecilia, Meryln, and Blissalra were there, training.

"Look out!" a voice suddenly screamed. 

Dawnni looked forward and saw an arrow heading straight towards him. He swiftly pointed at the arrow with two fingers and a blue force field appeared around him that deflected the projectile. 

"I'm so sorry Dawn!" Cecilia said from afar. 

Her green and red archery uniform was easy to spot, by the dummies that were covered in arrows. Dawnni laughed and waved.

"It's fine! Do you know where Elder is?" 

"He just left. He said that he would be back very soon." Meryln said as she walked towards Dawnni. 

The golden chest plate and her long red hair reflected the sunlight beautifully. A thick sword, almost reaching the ground was mounted diagonally on her back. 

"Oh, there he is right now."  She pointed down the hallway.

Verdin was pacing quickly towards Dawnni. Chevalier was following right after. 

"Sorry Dawnni, I had some quick things to take care of.  Let's go ahead and get started." 

"Alright." 

The trio walked towards the small staircase leading to two big doors on the side of the training area. Chevalier sped up and started walking backwards to face Dawnni. 

"I have something very interesting to teach you." 

Dawnni smiled in excitement. 

"Since you have almost mastered the art of transmutation, healing, and defending, I think it would make sense If you knew spells that would do the opposite. So, I am going to teach you how to cast curses and how to purify and manipulate the souls of your opponents so that they can do the attacking for you. Hey, why not? I'll even teach you how to capture souls as well!" 

Dawnni's eyes grew wide in astonishment. 

"Do you think I'll be able to learn so much? I mean, the 'evil power' could be here any minute."  

"Trust me.." 

They stopped right in front of the staircase. Dawnni looked as his crystal blue eyes. 

"You have time. You're a very fast learner as well. Now let's hurry with the time that we have now."

The trio entered through the doors. At the same time, Arestasia had walked into the area. Meryln noticed her and walked towards her. 

"Hey, your boyfriend left already." She taunted. 

"What? I'm not even here for him...and he's not my boyfriend!" Arestasia retaliated. 

"Oh really? Because he seems like YOU would put a ring his finger any moment!" 

"Shut the hell up! You're just mad because he turned you down three months ago! Plus, we're just friends anyways." 

"Please... that s**t is so obvious! And you better watch what you say before I shove this sword down your throat! Shouldn't be hard at least..." 

Meryln smirked. 

"Alright b***h...let me suit up and I'll meet you here in ten minutes!"  

 Meanwhile... 

Chevalier handed Dawnni a brown metal gauntlet with a big clear orb in the hand and several small orbs along the arm. Dawnni put it on. 

"That large orb is called a Soul Orb. That is what you are going to use to capture souls with." Chevalier said. 

"Oh, cool!" 

"But please note that once you capture a soul, you may only release it once, it can't be recaptured so after you end the manipulation the soul will disappear." Chevalier explained. 

"Well that sucks.."

"That is why you will learn how to manipulate spirits."

"Spirits and souls aren't the same?" 

"In a way, yes and in another way, no." 

Dawnni hung his head in confusion. 

"Souls are masses of life energy without a conscience. So evil souls won't be a problem to collect if they are from weak monsters. But with strong ones, they'll still be evil spirits because they are much smarter than weak monsters so they'll still be holding onto their consciousness. To capture souls, you direct your palm to the dead monster and imagine the soul coming to you like a vacuum. To use souls, you simply hold your hand out and chant, 'Soul Release', and a soul will appear before you as the shape of the body it had lived with before and it will fight alongside you. In order to know which soul to use, you must focus on what it looked like. Good souls disappear instantly so they cannot be captured. Are you still with me?" 

"Yes, but I'm hanging by a threat..." 

"Good enough! Now... Because you can't capture an evil spirit, it's best that you leave it to the goddess to handle its fate. As for good spirits, they can be used as an aid in your battles. That is what the smaller orbs are for. Those are Spirit Orbs. The good thing about spirits is that they go back to you after they have been used, but there is a catch. You cannot force the spirit to go inside the orb; you must let them go in freely." 

"This is so much..." 

Chevalier chuckled. 

"Don't worry, we're just about to get to the point where you practice what you have learned! I have two spirits with me now as we speak. Tichi! Bon!" 

A blue transparent man along with a orange one levitated from the floor.  

"That was scary at all..." Dawnni said sarcastically as he kept his balance after being petrified at the eerie sight. 

"What do you want?" Tichi said. 

"Tichi! Quit being so rude! You know why we're here!" Bon retaliated. 

"Dawnni," Chevalier started, "These are the spirits of past magic users that I have once worked with. I'm very sure they will be of good use to you but there's only problem." 

There was a small pause. 

"You have to prove to them that your worthy of using their power." 

"Did you have to be so dramatic...?" Dawnni thought. 

"Oh! I almost forgot!" 

Chevalier ran to the side wall where there was a broken pillar and picked up a shield connected to a strap. He quickly came back and handed Dawnni the equipment. 

"Just for extra protection in case you don't have time to cast shield spells." 

Dawnni put on the strap and wielded the shield. It felt as of it was custom made for him; not too light nor too heavy. It had an image of a yellow sun on a black background with a white outline.

"Your abilities from the spirits are very limited since they don't have a vessel to hold all of the knowledge. So you'll be granted with a special enhancement. But I assure you that the enhancement that you will be able to use will be of great help!"

"Understood." 

"Okay, your first trial is with Bon. Good luck." 

Bon slowly walked towards Dawnni. Dawnni readied his shield. When Bon reached him he held out his hand. 

"Hi! I'm Bon!" he said sweetly. 

Dawnni was at a loss. He hesitantly reached for Bon's hand and shook it. 

"H...hello...?" 

"Well done! You passed! My ability can help you with your offensive spell power."  

Bon swiftly flew into the first Spirit Orb on Dawnni's gauntlet. 

"What?!" Tichi yelled. 

"You're making it that easy?" Verdin added. 

"I trusted him from the start. He seems like a good kid." Bon replied. 

"Alright, here's how you use a spirit. Raise your hand into the air and chant, 'Come to my aid', and then call out the spirit's name. It's that simple." Chevalier explained. 

"Okay." 

"Don't get too excited kid, this is where you have to work for your food." 

Dawnni readied his shield.

"I'm ready!"