The Spiritguard

We have been training for three months, and in that time I feel like I've learned…well…

It's not that I haven't learned anything, but I don't feel like any of what we learned was useful. Like…I know now what a Spirit's body is made out of, what their favorite foods are, and even how to calculate the percent likelihood that a Spirit will appear in any given area. But why does that matter? I have no idea, still, but I'm chugging along just fine. I'm not even at the bottom of my class, surprisingly enough. Studying and working with Kael really pays off, I guess.

Over the last three months, Kael and Natalia have grown really close, but what I mistook for romantic feelings on Natalia's part was actually feelings of sisterhood. I learned that Natalia has a younger brother who looks a lot like Kael, and the reason she took to Kael so much was because when she was around him she felt like she was able to reconnect with her family. Those two have a brother/sister relationship now, which is really great.

 Marc and I have continuously hung out every day over the last three months, along with Kael and Natalia. It's usually just the four of us. We train together and study together, and it works out well. Natalia and I are able to spar against each other and improve our skills against someone who is in our skill level, and Marc gets to practice fight with Kael as they are both learning the basics. I've still never beaten Natalia once in these three months, but each and every time we duel I find that I'm able to go on longer and longer before losing. That gives me some encouragement because I can see how much I am improving.

We don't see too much of Mira these days, at least not like we used to. She and Kavella have developed a close friendship and spend most of their time with each other. Mira isn't as chipper as she used to be, I've noticed. I think her lack of study skills and battle skills is wearing on her because she's one of the lowest-scoring students out of the whole bunch. It can't be easy on her, and if she doesn't improve she's likely to get kicked out soon. Kavella's been helping her tremendously, though…and the yellow-haired girl is just as aloof and mysterious to me as ever.

I haven't talked to Lance yet, but I notice he and Kael exchange words every now and then. I still don't understand why Kael would ever try and reach out to him, but…it's his choice.

Today is a special day for us here at the Spiritguard Headquarters because today is the Day of Darkness.

Yep. It's September 9th, and that means today is the day that Spirits will unwittingly breach our world from all over. We are not allowed to participate in combat yet, because we are still untrained to the extent required. We are, though, required to monitor a professional group to get a feel for the day. We were all broken up into groups today to go off and watch. Right now, I am with Instructor Bella Borden and three other recently graduated Spiritguards. They threw me in my group with Mira, Lance, and Kael. While Mira is acting friendly toward Lance, I decide to keep my distance and stay with Kael for the day.

We are sitting on top of a hill, some three miles out of town. This is one of the designated 'hot spots' near Arcona Village, so the scouts have been sent here to cull any Spirits. Every Day of Darkness, some Spirits get through, or they appear in an abnormal spot. That is one of the main jobs of the Spiritguards. To find those Spirits that get away, and to eliminate them.

At the bottom of the fairly tall and steep hill, the four certified fighters are prepping themselves for the battle. They all have shining eyes because they are using the Animus technique 'Bright Eyes' to ensure they will be able to see any and all Spirits that breach. I look up to the sky. As with every day of darkness, the sky is locked in an unending sunset. I suppose our world just simply stops moving for half the day, to create that phenomenon. When the sun finally disappears, the moon will rise, and it will be blood-red. That is when the Spirits will begin to appear.

All of us trainees sitting on top of the hill are equipped with weapons, just in case a Spirit gets past our superiors and tries to attack us. We have all learned an Animus technique that allows us to bind a Spirit in place for a short amount of time, which is what we're supposed to do if one comes close, but…but I think I'd want to try my luck and fight it myself. If they get mad, I'll just be honest and say that the Animus techniques we've been learning are too hard for me to do effectively.

 I spend the next hour talking to Kael when the red moon finally appears. That means the Day of Darkness has officially begun.

I pull out my sword and stand on top of the hill, looking around aggressively. If anything comes within a hundred feet of me, I'm charging in.

"Sigmund, be careful," comes a deep voice behind me. I turn and see it is Lance. He's still sitting down on the grass, and there is a look of concern on his face.

"Who're you telling to be careful?" I growl. This is the first real interaction I've had with him since we started training. Already I can feel the anger boiling up within me. It's strange, though, because I don't see any of the usual anger on Lance's face.

"Well, we're not warriors yet," he goes on. "We should try to restrain the Spirits and avoid combat if possible. They're a lot stronger than you think."

I glare at him some more, half expecting him to come up and attack me, but he doesn't. After a few tense moments, I falter.

"I guess you're right," I groan as I sink to the ground. I look down the hill and I see that the first Spirits have broken through. I watch in a daze as there is a flash of red light and a winged creature lands on the ground. I'm quite far away from it, so I can't get a good look, but it is a bright red creature and it's about the size of a toddler. I can detect tiny horns in the darkness, and what looks like fire surrounding its body.

Before I can get too much of a look, one of the graduate soldiers, the female one, points her hand at it. I assume she's using some sort of Animus technique. I see that she is using Animus, and I look in awe as the creature turns blue and then shatters. The body then sublimates and becomes nothing more than smoke.

"That was uneventful. Where's the sword fighting?" I say.

Lance slides over to the edge of the hill where I am and sits next to me. "Spiritguards aren't to use their swords unless they have to," Lance notes quietly. "Using Animus techniques is safer because you don't have to get near a Spirit to use them."

"That's a load of crap," I sigh. "I don't like all of that Animus garbage."

"Honestly, neither do I," Lance states. "When I graduate, I'm going to take on every Spirit that comes with just my sword, and kill them all."

"Not if I'm there, with my sword," I point out. "Because then I'd kill them all first."

"As if!" he says. It isn't mean, though. For some reason, his voice sounds amiable.

 "When we graduate, we'll have to see," Lance says as he stares down at the soldiers who are fighting another one of the Imp Spirits. "We'll have a little contest. Whoever kills the most Spirits with just their sword wins."

"Wins what?" I ask. I'm a bit mortified that I'm getting along with Lance, but I won't let that bother me.

"I dunno, we'll come up with something when we're there," Lance supposes. "Let's just watch and see how it's done for now."

On those words, all four of us continue to watch the Spirits be slain down below, and somehow I start a friendly rivalry with what used to be my worst enemy.

At midnight, the moon sinks back into the sky and we are surrounded by darkness, which means the time of Spirit infiltration is over. The graduates, along with our Instructor, march up the hill to greet us.

"Nice, easy year," Ms. Borden says with a smile as she reaches us. Her eyes are still glowing from her Animus technique. "What did you guys think? Not so bad, huh?"

Mira yawns rather loudly, and I turn around. Come to think of it, she was awfully quiet today. Was she sleeping the whole time?"

"It was relaxing," Mira winks. Yeah. She was sleeping the whole time.

"We only got seventeen Imps here," our Instructor says. "That's odd, this valley is usually one of the more active ones. Last year, I think we were at thirty-two Imps and one Plant Spirit."

"Plant Spirit?" I ask. I didn't think they were around here.

"Yeah, we get those now and then. The one last year was a giant pitcher plant that scooped up one of the graduates. He was scared out of his mind…you can't break free from those things from the inside, but it takes them a few weeks to dissolve you, so chances are you can find a way to escape or someone will cut the thing down before you die. And when you die…it's probably for thirst or hunger before anything."

Our Instructor puts away her sword and makes one last comment. "The flytrap Spirits are the ones you have to watch out for. They have teeth."

We begin our walk back, and while the day was short and uneventful, I am glad it happened, because today Lance and I are getting along.

It is a long and tiring walk back to town, and by the time I'm all settled in and ready to go to sleep, it's about two in the morning. Tomorrow is one of our break days, thankfully, so I won't have to wake up at seven like I normally do. I'll also be able to go home and visit my mother, which will be nice. Hopefully I can eat a lot when I'm there, because I feel like all of the meat I have to ingest here is slowly killing me. It takes me no time at all to fall asleep, because I'm extremely tired, and the day was much too long.

…

There is a meadow of tall grass, and I am standing in it within my dream. I am alone in a circle, where there is no grass. It is just a simple dirt mound, and the tall grass surrounds me on all sides. The grass is lightly blowing in the breeze, and I can hear the faint rustling of it around me. I am at peace.

 I turn around, for no particular reason, and I see something in the distance. It is smoke, billowing out from beyond the fields of grass. Huge tufts of blackness are spilling into the air, and the sky is growing dark and gray because of the profuse smoke.

 I begin to walk in the direction of the smoke, and I enter the thick, tall grass. The grass is nearly up to my knees, and it is incredibly itchy. I look down and notice I am not wearing any shoes, or socks. I am simply in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. It is the same outfit I went to Commencement Day in.

I look down, suddenly, in the grass. I find that I am surrounded by snakes, but they are all about the size of my finger. I figure they must be babies. I keep wandering toward the smoke as I feel the hidden baby snakes slither all across my feet and legs.

For some reason, my body does not take notice of them, even though I know they are all around me. I figure there must be hundreds, maybe thousands of the little snakes creeping in the tall grass. They are concealed, and yet they are obviously present.

I arrive at the place where the smoke is originating, but once I get there I no longer see any smoke. All that is there is a snake, one that's about as wide as I am, and as long as…well, I can't tell, but it seems that the body stretches as far as the eye can see. It is the same color as the grass, and while it is perfectly concealed, I am aware of its presence. It is a presence that was always there, even before I started walking through the tall grass. Certainly I must have known about this snake before. Why did I not think of it before? Why am I not afraid?

I realize that the reason I am not afraid is because I don't know how the snake can hurt me. When I look at it closely, I see it has no fangs. It moves too slowly to catch up with me. That is the reason I do not fear it. The snake doesn't move, it only stays in this one spot. The snakes crawling on my feet move, but they are too small to do anything.

When I look down, I find that the baby snakes are no longer small. They are the size of boas, and they begin to wrap around me and constrain me. The giant snake comes into view and bares its fangs at me. I realize the snake has been able to hunt and kill me all along, and there is nothing I can do about it. I underestimated the small snakes crawling around my legs, and now I can no longer move. The giant snake lashes out as if to bite me, and the dream ends.