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Dream Spirit

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The sky was sunny and clear. A soft breeze blew and gently rustled the grasses of the low hills that Hana Belrune and her group were traveling across. They were heading towards the southern mountains, the border between the shadow-like race of Jiikzun, and the humans.

Hana was a young woman (only just 18 years old) who had been burdened with the task of being the anchor of her country's living weapon. A part of the weapon's soul had been placed within her. They were then linked together with an invisible chain. The weapons body had been made so that the only way it could be harmed was if she were killed. His body could break and reform near instantly, shifting around matter, always avoiding death, only half-real, and she was the one thing that kept it still linked to reality.

Becoming the anchor had brought a lot of changes to Hana's own body as well. Her once brown hair had turned silver and her body was covered in countless white symbols filled with magic, some even going beneath her skin. Her face was the only area not covered. She could feel the energy in them throbbing slightly. They were not visible though, as they were hidden beneath her clothes. However, her silver hair was not hidden and it was done up into a long braid that went down to her waist. She was wearing a greyish brown cloak that had a hood, but the weather was too nice and they were still a ways away from enemy territory for her to put it up.

Currently though, she was too concentrated on what she was doing to think about the past. Her hands were gripped tightly to the reins of a grey-spotted horse. The reason for this was she was not particularly used to riding horses. She knew that she was safe though, for on either side of her were her bodyguards, behind her their commander and some warriors, and ahead, their champion.

She was curious about many of these individuals, especially the champion, as she had never yet had the chance to talk with him, at least for not any lengthy amount of time. They had both been too busy training and preparing for the journey. Her bright teal eyes stared forward as she wondered about them.
 
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The invisible beams of the sun star peacefully warmed the soil, and blessed the eager travelers with a fine feeling of welfare on their journey. Kuno, or at least that was the name everybody know him for, was on point in the group he was in, traveling south to meet some of those warring Jiikzun.

Built to offer absolute offense, Kuno was quite different from the regular soldiers you could see in the royal army. A few cloth pieces to hide his skin from the sight, and as armor, he was barely wearing some leather pieces that had more use to hold pouches than to actually protect from incoming blows. Instead of handling a shield and sword as the bulk of the army did, he carried a couple of great-swords in his back; a silver one, proven exceptionally great against all kinds of animals, and a iron one, heavy and sharp, able to break bones and cut through humanoid enemies with ease.

Even with the blessing of immortality upon him, curse maybe, his body had suffered its life in the army, and had now many scars and marks from past battles. The most notable across the left part of his face, coming from the forehead, eyebrow, and all the way to his cheek. Besides that, his long hair, rinsed because of the magic, was waving free under the breeze, his bright yellow eyes taking into account every detail of the land ahead of him.
 
"How are you feeling, m' lady?" asked Blake, who was riding beside her on a black stallion. Blake was one of Hana's bodyguards. He was a fairly handsome man with jet black hair, matching that of his horse, and brown eyes and was clothed in a blue tunic and chainmail armor adorned with their king's crest.

Hana turned her head to the face him and answered, "I'm doing well.", and gave him a warm smile. Blake was one of the people in the group who she had spoken to the most. She still didn’t really know him that well though, only a few bits and pieces of information about him. She knew that he was older than her, by about three or four years if she remembered correctly, and that he had trained to be a guard since he was very young. There were rumors as well that he had been against the magic ritual between Kuno and Hana. She wasn’t sure why though.

"Really, ah, that's good then." he said nodding slowly.

He seemed like he wanted to say more but but couldn't think of what to say. They traveled a few minutes again in silence. Hana started to feel bored. They had been traveling for hours on horseback and she felt she needed something to do. She decided to go see if Kuno wanted to talk. She wanted to know more about the person whose very life depended on her. Her hands quickly flicked the reins and her horse trotted up beside Kuno's, her bodyguards following closely behind, watching her movements carefully.

"How are you, Kuno?" Hana asked cheerfully.
 
Kuno was buried deep into his thoughts, leaving barely enough space in his mind for him to focus on his surroundings and what was ahead of him. Silently, he looked at Hana and nodded. "Doing fine, lady." Replied him as his attention returned to the path ahead of them. Kuno wasn't to blame for being a little bit cold, for in the end, for him Hana was almost an stranger. He had almost no time to actually know her or even a choice in their whole relation.

They were slowly riding as they passed next to some trees, slightly different from the rest of the woods they had been traveling next to. Kuno slowly stopped, causing everyone else to do the same. There was something that didn't felt right at all, something that smelled odd. "Alright! So it looks like we got a smart ones here, lads!" Announced a pitched voice as some men walked out of the woods, just a few meters away from them.

Between those bandits there were all kind of scum, human or not, looking fairly threatening and surpassing them by a couple of men. Kuno quietly got off his horse and gave a few steps towards the bandits. "Maybe a shower would be in order." Said Kuno at the bandits, who laughed and got ready for battle. "Oh, so you and your bigmouth believe you're tough?" Said the leader of the bandit group. Kuno took a hold of his humanoid killing sword and got in combat stance. "Come on, let's plunder those bastards." Said one of the bandits.
 
Kuno answered Hana, but his thoughts seemed elsewhere. She was slightly disappointed that he didn't want to continue conversation, but she supposed they would have time to talk later anyways. Perhaps he found it too awkward. It wasn't like he knew her anyways, and they were both so different as well. He most likely spent many hours of his life outdoors fighting and training while she had spent most of hers within castle walls learning magic and literature. There were certainly a lot of battle scars on him, but her own skin had been unmarked till before the ritual. Her life had probably been much more pampered than his. Hopefully they could find something they held in common.

Hana's thoughts were soon interrupted when they past by some strange trees. Kuno had began to slow down and stop, the others following his motions. She held back her reins to stop her horse, her bodyguards stopping on either side of her. To her left side she saw Blake place a hand on the scabbard of his sword and stare in the direction of the strange trees.

A voice shouted out from the trees and a variety of mean looking individuals stepped out from hiding. Hana tightly clenched the reins of her horse tightly as fear began to well up inside her. Judging by the appearances of the newcomers, and the dialogue between Kuno and them, these were not friendly people. She had never been in a real battle in her whole life and wasn't sure how to react. Her face turned towards Blake for guidance, her eyes wide with fright.

"Don't worry m'lady." Blake reassured her, "It'll be fine." His hand then went down and quickly pulled out his longsword from its sheathe and put a small shield on his other arm. On the opposite side of her the other bodyguard pulled out his weapon as well, a large crossbow.

Seeing the others readying their weapons, Hana prepared herself as well. Magic began to flow thickly through her veins, some of it coming from collections of it hidden within amulets around her neck. A soft glow emanated from the marks on her body, but only a little light filtered through her clothes at her neck. She might not have fought a battle before, but she did know a few spells that could help if need be.

Around her, all of the guards began to take formation according to their commander's instructions as the bandits charged towards them. Most of them seemed to go towards Kuno because of his attitude, but there were many of them so some went to the troops to fight them.

Blake looked up to notice a few bandits hiding in the treetops holding bows. He motioned to their hiding place and shouted so the others would notice. The other bodyguard shot one of them down with his crossbow while a few of the militia in the back readied their bows.

Hanna could barely focus in all the chaos. She mostly just cast wards to block the attacks of the bandits focused on the soldiers. Her cautiousness was mainly because she had never killed anyone before, and she was rather afraid that she might have to.
 
Even with his invulnerability, Kuno still felt uneasy being hit, it felt like a sign of weakness. At the first bandit who got near enough, Kuno slit his throat taking advantage of the extra length of his great-sword. As for the rest, he played with them, avoiding their blows, punching their faces and jab them like meat when the chance appeared. His combat was quite technical, having in his mind the whole battleground surrounding him in mind at all times, somehow it felt like he was even able to see behind him.

An arrow coming from a sneaky archer who died just a few seconds later few straight into Kuno shoulder, who became momentarily blinded by the pain, giving one of the other guys the chance to strike him badly. The enemy sword hit Kuno strong enough across his chest to actually leave the sword nailed to his chest. Kuno had to use his great-sword not to fall to his knees because of the huge pain. but it was worth the face on the enemies around him, unable to actually believe Kuno was taking a hold of the sword nailed to his chest and pulling it out.

"It still hurts." Muttered him as he was able to slay a couple of the bandits in awe, barely able to defend themselves. It wasn't surprising a couple of minutes later all bandits were on the run or laying dead on the dusty ground of the road. Taking a deep breath, Kuno dropped the enemy sword to the floor and walked back with the rest. "May someone be so gentle to remove this?" Asked him pointing to the arrow in his back that still kept him from putting his great.sword back in its place.
 
Hana felt a horrible sensation run through her shoulder. It felt like pain, yet it was not at the same time; it felt unnatural. She could feel the magic reacting strangely in her body. Suddenly, she realized what the feeling meant. Her eyes quickly searched the battlefield for Kuno. When she did see him it was a moment before the sword was plunged into his chest. Suddenly, she felt the same sensation as before, except intensified greatly. The pain spread through her body and it felt like the symbols on her skin were burning, the same as when the ritual had first been conducted. Her vision started to blur and her body slumped forward on her horse. Faint voices echoed in her mind as she drifted into unconsciousness.

Blake had noticed Hana acting strangely when Kuno had first been shot and had already dismounted his own horse to go to her aid. He grabbed the reins of her horse to stop it from running off or moving so she wouldn't fall over. His expression was very grave. He wished he could somehow ease her suffering.

Luckily though, the battle was soon over. The soldiers cheered as the bandits fled. A healer was quick to help Kuno with removing the arrow lodged in his shoulder, congratulating him as they did. There were a quite a few pleased faces in the crowd, as well as those looking quite surprised, for nobody had yet seen how fully effective the binding ritual between Hana and Kuno had been.

Blake led his horse and Hana's towards the rest of the soldiers who were gathered around Kuno in celebration. Hana was starting to wake up again as well. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she sat up properly on her horse. She felt very disoriented, but better then she had a few minutes before. Carefully, she dismounted off of her horse, Blake giving her a hand as she did, then went to join Kuno and the others.

While going to join them she noticed all of the bodies littered in the grass. She held her sleeve up over her nose to keep out the smell of the blood and averted her eyes from the bodies, trying to pretend they didn't exist. She tried to force a small smile as she approached the others, but her sad looking eyes gave away her true feelings.
 
Well, this was quite a new level of immorality right there. Sure Kuno had been damaged before, most of the times to "try" the effectiveness of that spell he had been cast on, but so far, nothing like a sword to the chest. But it was comfortable none the less. Knowing that not even a balista projectile could kill him felt... Wrong. But everybody around seemed quite happy for it, so it wasn't like Kuno was going to water down their party.

So, after a few pats in the back and some weird words of encouragement, 'Walk 'em down the plank!' What do we have as escort? Pirates?. Anyway, after the men calmed down in their excitement, the group kept going forward, not finding any more threat in their path as they kept advancing. "Hey! Look! is that a bear?" Asked one of the men as they crossed a wide forest. "Since we left your mother back in town, I bet it is!" exclaimed another soldier. The rest of the men seemed to have their fun, something that varied depending on who you looked at.

The commander tried to keep a serious stance, in the end, he was the one giving orders in there. As for Kuno, well, is nice to have someone immortal around, but being such a monster doesn't grant you many friends.
 
((Long post is long. :I))

Hana didn't quite understand the excitement that the other soldiers felt. She was of course relieved that they had won, but she felt that she never could feel happy about the deaths of others, even if they might have deserved it. Soon enough though, the commander was able to calm them down a bit and they set back out on their journey.

The soldiers continued to joke and laugh while they continued towards their destination. However, Hana was the opposite. She remained completely silent and stared vacantly as she held on loosely to the reins of her horse.

As the sun began to set further down in the sky the commander ordered for three scouts to spread out and look for a good place to set camp. It wasn't long before they returned and the rest of the group headed to the spot that one of the scouts had found. Everything about their journey had been carefully planned out and arranged, making it so that they were able to set up camp very quickly. Their camp was set within the woods in a small clearing located not far from a small stream, giving them an easy way to get fresh water.

Hana's tent was located at the centre of the camp nearby the commander's. Both of her bodyguard's tents were located closely beside her own on either side so that they could easily protect her if need be. However, Hana was not in her tent. She had gone to the tent of the Magus Adelais. It was Adelais's job to check Hana's health and make sure the symbols across her body were functioning properly, as well as collect data on how she was feeling and any strange symptoms she might have. The other Magi, Thaddeus, was in charge of keeping track of Kuno's progress and any symptoms he might have. His tent was located at the opposite side of the camp to hers.

Hana was practically naked in Adelais's tent, wearing only her undergarments. Adelais was carefully examining her body, looking over the arcane symbols that covered her skin.

"Does anything hurt?" Adelais asked her in a serious tone.

"No, I feel fine at the moment." Hana replied.

"Hmm...that's good. Well then, you can put your clothes back on. Everything looks fine to me."

Hana obeyed and began sliding back on her robes. Adelais then began to question her again.

"So...Did you feel anything when Kuno was injured? I want you to describe everything to me in as much detail as possible." she said sternly.

Hana was silent for a moment before she began to explain her experience to Adelais. She looked a bit uncomfortable while doing so.

Adelias listened silently while writing in a large, leather-bound notebook. When Hana was done talking, Adelias made a few short notes before answering her, "Well, we expected you would experience something like this, as others that attempted the ritual before experienced similar symptoms before they...well...you know..."

Hana nodded slowly. Really, she knew nearly nothing about what had happened in the previous trials, only that they did not end well. The two of them sat there for a moment in awkward silence before Hana spoke. "Well, are we done then?"

"Oh, yes. You may leave now." Adelias replied hurriedly,"Go eat and rest up as we'll be leaving early tomorrow morning." She gave Hana a friendly smile and wave as she opened up the cloth door for her.

Hana nodded, her expression neutral, and then threw on her cloak and went out the door. She held it around her tightly as felt the chill evening air seep in through her robes while she walked towards a small fire where the cook was serving food. As she walked she wondered what the future held for her. She had known that becoming the anchor was a great responsibility, but only now was she beginning to see exactly how great it truly was. Likely, she would have to experience the pain that she had felt before many more times, as well as potentially see even worse sights. The thought of it made her cringe. However, she knew she would have to learn to be strong, for wallowing in despair would not help anything. Her thoughts were soon inturped though. Due to her distracted mind, she had ended up forgetting about her surroundings and walked straight into another person.
 
"H... How are you feeling?" Asked Thaddeus, trying to get some words out of Kuno who seemed more focused on his training. A soldier's mind hardly changes its habits, and if it was training time, he had to train. "Fine." Replied Kuno as he waved his great-sword in the air, concentrated in his breathing, his surroundings, fighting an invisible enemy, moving and avoiding its imaginary attacks.

"Nothing else? Feeling any heavier, or maybe thicker?" Asked the magi once more. But again, he received just another bland reply as Kuno kept focused in his things. "Could you stop for a minute?" Asked Thaddeus still not used to Kuno behavior. Taking another deep breath, Kuno stopped and looked at the magi. I guess nothing comes without paperwork nowadays... Thought him.

Then, the questioning proceed with more ease, at least for the magi, who seemed quite proud of the results of their little experiment. So far, everything was going smooth as silk. "Mmm... yeah, I think that'll be all. For now." Said Thaddeus a he picked up his few things and got up. Kuno nodded as a way to say goodbye and felt glad to finally be left alone with his thoughts.

Of course, mortal or don't, he still felt hungry like everyone else, so eventually, he decided to go take a look and see if someone had already prepared something nice to eat for the soldiers in that place. As he walked, he wondered if he could survive without eating. In the end, he was immortal, right? But everything he got for getting lost in his thoughts was to run into someone.

"Oh, sorry, lady." Said Kuno looking at Hana. Guess their magic had a particular way to bring them both together.
 
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