Long Road Home (Private)

OST:

The outskirts of Hargeon Town.

Far from, yet still in view of the enormous Lamia Scale guildhall, this was the outer most part of the town, busy with merchants coming and going into town. Walking out of town, a certain gray haired mage was moving in the direction of his place of birth, when a merchant in a wagon came to a stop next to him. "Going somewhere, friend?" The middle aged man asked. 

Dmitry Kazakov looked up at the man from underneath the tattered, wide-brim hat on his head, as if appraising him. The medium was more on edge then usual, the task he was setting out on something he had been dreading along time. 

"I'm headed out Mount Hakobe way," he said with a grim voice. "Got some...family business to take care of." The merchant scratched his head at this, not sure what kind of family anyone would have in that area. However, he thought it best not to ask and decided to bring a bit of luck on his trip with some charity, an old merchant's tale back where he was from. 

"Well, I'm stoppin' by Magnolia," the merchant said, showing his hospitality. "Your welcome to ride along with me 'til then." Dmitry simply nodded and climbed into the back of the wagon, making room for himself among the various merchandise. "Sorry if it's a bit cramped back there; I just got started on this trip, so I got plenty a merchandise left."

"That's fine," Dmitry said, not needing much comfort anyway. "I appreciate the help."

"Ah, don't worry about it. Not like your imposing or anything, right?" Dmitry said nothing, but leaned against the wall of the wagon, hoping to get a little shut eye before he had to get out and walk again.


[Enter Dream]


Here I am again.


In this place, this darkness.


Why does it follow me, only showing in my dreams.


These dreams are always dark, until I see the light of tomorrow.




Pink hair and white feather.


Gray hair under the caring eyes.


I am warm, safe, and yet so lost and confused.


She holds me in her arms and wraps me in her wings.

[Exit Dream]


Dmitry's eyes slowly drifted open, the world around him returning to his senses. He placed a hand on his forehead and sighed, tired of these visions as this one was by far the most peculiar. Who was that girl? Was it somebody he knew already? And what does she mean to him? The image was to vague and he couldn't tell who exactly that was that was holding him in his dream, his only detail being the feeling of comfort that he got from her. Still, perhaps it was better than the other images he has seen, if twice as confusing.  Dmitry closed his eyes again, thinking back to those images.

A massive black dragon and a machine built into a mountain that could wipe out everything or at least seemed like it could. And who was that person he fought in that dream? At least there was one thing he knew, a detail gleamed from the fight against the Priory of Worm.

That dragon was none other than the harbinger of the apocalypse.

Acnologia.

"Hey back there," came the voice of the merchant, snapping Dmitry back to reality. "Just wanted to let you, we're at Magnolia." 

"Uh, thanks, just gimme a second..." The mage hopped off the back of the wagon and headed to it's front. "Thanks again for the lift, most folks'd just keep goin'." Though he still had a way to go, Dmitry was a great deal closer to his destination.

"Don't worry about it," The merchant said with a friendly smile, likely new to his job or he would probably know the crueler aspects of the world. "And good luck with whatever business you got in those mountains."

As the wagon of goods rode into town, the driver waving back at Dmitry, he looked to the direction he was headed in. Despite it's distance, the Hakobe and the peaks beside it were visable from Magnolia, giving the medium a clear path to follow. Unfortunately, this trip would give Dmitry quite a bit of time to think about what it was that he was doing and where it was that he was going, leaving him with a higher probability of changing his mind. Once he arrived at that lonesome valley, there would be no turning back. However, until then, there was nothing stopping him from abandoning this quest, save for his own regret deepening.

Still, perhaps it was better this way, thinking about his endeavor. Maybe it was better that he ponder and accept this before he did what he had to do, before taking on that burden.

'It's been a long time, hasn't it boy?' The voice of Hati spoke out to him, pointing out what was already on his mind.

'Ten years...' Dmitry replied, leaving out the usual banter that occurred between the two. 'Ten years since it happened, nine years since I left...'

'You still remember eh?' Hati's voice was solemn for once as he said this, having been with Dmitry since his life changed course forever. The events that were so powerful in there magnitude, so heavy in burden, that it forced a little boy to a point where none should tread. A point where his most fond memories of the people he loved became that which may cause his life to end. And when these precious moments became his enemy, he did what he did to all of his enemies: he eliminated them. More accurately, he unconsciously allowed the spirits of that place to respond to his will and tear the memories from his mind, leaving him with nothing of the family and friends he had known up to the time that he was eight years-old.


"Mitry?" Despite his many dealings with this woman, Dmitry's current state mind prevented him from fully recognizing the danger that this voice represented. Thus, he ignored the lessons of the past and turned to ascertain the identity of the person addressing him, leading him to a familiar and potentially deadly experience. As Dmitry faced the direction opposite of Mount Hakobe, he was immediately pulled into the suffocatingly well-endowed chest of one Veronica T. Banfield, owner and president of the Banfield Trade Company.

Veronica Banfield:

"Oh Mitry, I knew it was you!" The excited woman shouted as she affectionately smothered Dmitry half to death. "I never get to see you anymore!" Finally, the mage broke free of the strange lady's death hug, gasping for air as if he'd been held under water for thirty minutes. 


"Ever heard of the word 'hi'?" Dmitry asked sarcastically, knowing from experience that this woman was incapable of greeting him and several other people any other way, especially after long periods of time apart. 

Despite appearing to be only in her mid to late twenties, Veronica was in fact 42 years-old. several years ago, when Banfield Trade was one of the smaller outfits in the business, Dmitry was hired by the busty blonde to serve as a guide and escort in some of there expeditions. This allowed the company to safely map out the trade routes that would give them an exclusive edge on their competition, one of the things that rose them to the ranks of the most productive trade Company's in all of Fiore. Dmitry and Veronica had seen very little of each other since he left the company, leading the blonde to show her excess affection.

"Ah c'mon, I haven't seen you in, like, forever!" She said to the mage who was resisting her attempts at another hug. This was no romantic endeavor on her part, nor was it an attempt to have a night with a younger man. The woman was simply to affectionate for everyone else's good.

Dmitry's eyes narrowed at the woman's statement, being in no mood for such a diversion. However, he knew her well enough to realize that he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, not until she was satisfied with their exchange at least. 

"I saw you in Magnolia about a week ago!" He said, proving her statement entirely false, though she cocked her head at him all the same. "Remember that party? The fireworks?" The mention of sky flowers seemed to have jogged he memory as she dropped her fist into palm, signalling she understood what he was referring too. 

"Oh, that." She said with an air of sudden clarity. "I was too drunk to remember any of that." Dmitry, as well as all the employees of Veronica's that were currently present let out a collective sigh at the woman's statement, frustrated that the owner of a massive trade outfit could do something so irresponsible. "You are so hopeless woman..." The currently travelling mage could hardly believe that he used to work for this person, that she used to actually give him orders. Than again, as he recalled it, it was her ridiculous persistence that one him over, almost to the point that he accepted her offer of employment just to keep the woman from talking about it any more.


'Just like old times, right boy?' Hati said, always getting a kick out of the look on Dmitry's face when Veronica decided to start babbling or show her affection.

'Yeah, I'm gettin' tingly inside...'

"And how's Hati been?" Veronica asked, giving Dmitry a bit of a start. After that he just kind of glared at her for about twenty seconds, before finally opening his mouth and saying what exactly was on his mind at that moment.


"I'm not calling him out." Short, sweet, and to the point, Dmitry said his peace and there would be no debating it. Of course, whether or not she could get anywhere with a plea had never actually stopped Veronica from opening her mouth and she certainly wasn't about to let it stop her now. "Aww, c'mon Mitry," she pleaded with him, as if he were withholding chocolate from her. No, seriously, she's actually said that to someone because they had chocolate and weren't sharing. "I just wanna talk a little, catch up a bit, you know?" Regardless of what she said, Dmitry wasn't going to have it. "No way, you crazy old bat." He said sternly, not intent on giving in to her demands.


'Oh come now, boy, what could it hurt?' Hati asked, half hoping to talk to an old friend, half hoping to tease his protege some more. 'She just wants to chat, it's not as though our conversation will get...out of hand.' Now Dmitry's eyebrows were beginning to furrow as a vein made itself clearly visible on his forehead, the irritation of this conversation already bugging him to no end. 'Not gonna happen, old man.' He shot back, picking up on precisely what Hati was trying to do, not wanting to give in to this sort of tactic.

"Please Mitry?" The woman continued to beg with her hands clasped together, throwing dignity out the window and furthering the wrinkles in Dmitry's young face. "Pretty pretty please? With sugar and love and rainbows and a big, delicious cherry on top...and more sugar?" Dmitry was on the verge of snapping now, unable to take much more of this nonsense, especially on a day like this one. It was about this time that Hati delivered the finishing blow, breaking the mage's iron will and leading him to fold under the wait of potentially greater annoyance. 


'You she's not going to let you leave until you call me into being, don't you boy?'


"Fine, I'll call him, just stop talking!" Dmitry shouted, having finally reached his limit in terms of sheer annoyance and caving in to the collective will pitted against him, making him feel a bit used and somewhat filthy. Wanting to get this over with already, the spiritual medium closed his eyes for a moment as he needed a bit longer than usual to focus his will, thanks to the trial he was just put through. He held out a hand to his left, focusing his magic power in the spot directly next to him, causing a silver colored magic circle to form in that spot.

"I invoke the Great Wolf:..." Dmitry's eyes shot open, revealing his pupils to be of a silver glow and his irises to be pitch black. "Hati!" Something akin to smoke converged on the circle and began to form into the shape of a wolf, only twice the size of the normal kind.

When the process was complete, the fully manifested spirit wolf stepped out of the spot where the magic circle used to be, walking straight up to Veronica without a care in the world. Her staff of course remembered Hati from when Dmitry used to work for the company and a few of them even patted the mage on the back in sympathy, knowing full well who the old friends would inevitably talk about. The gray-hair cringed as he saw Veronica go straight in for the hug, the wolf not resisting in the slightest.


"Oh, Hati it's been so long!" She said with glee, burying Hati's muzzle in her chest as she did with everyone she greeted and/or met. Thankfully for the spirit, he had know internal organs to oxygenate, so the that which would normally suffocate anyone else was just simple affection to him. "Ah, Lady Banfield, your as lovely as ever." Hati said, making no effort to hide his flattery, to which Dmitry simply rolled his eyes.


"Stop it! Your gonna make me blush!" Despite saying this, the surprisingly middle aged woman was blushing furiously, not taking much to embarrass, especially when it came to her looks.


'Nasty, pervy, old fart...' Dmitry said this little bit through he and the wolf's spiritual bond, which allowed him to summon Hati in the first place. 'You see boy, this is how you charm a lady.' The wolf responded in a manner that implied he was doing this just to prove a point, which he most certainly was.

More specifically, Hati's actions and the flirting he committed with Veronica in the past was all to drive home the already valid point that Dmitry had little to no hope whatsoever with the opposite sex, a point of which the importance usually flew right over the young man's head.


"Only you could get charmed by a wolf spirit, Banfield." He said, mocking the woman for her reaction to the wolf's 'advances'. Of course, he knew full well that it didn't mean all that much to her and that she certainly wasn't attracted to his mentor, the idea of which being quite disturbing, even to Dmitry. Veronica simply loved being complimented, no matter what form those compliments took. It didn't matter if you were telling her that her eyes were like oceans that you'd like to swim in or that she had very nice pretty laces in her shoes that day, her reaction would always be to blush and say 'Oh stop you.' Veronica finally broke away from her hug and stood up, beaming at Hati.


"So, how's guild life treating my little Mitry?" She asked the wolf, ignoring not only the fact that Dmitry was taller than her, but also that he was standing less than ten feet away from her.


"Honestly, his lifestyle hasn't much changed at all, aside from the fact that he sleeps in the city more often." Hati answered her, ignoring the mage's presence as well, not to mention the fact that he could have answered that question himself.

Veronica looked at Dmitry like a mother who just caught her son smoking crack, causing the mage to once again roll his eyes, knowing exactly what kind of complaint she was about to make.


"Mitry! You're still sleeping outside?" She questioned him as if it were a matter of life and death, another of her typical, exaggerated reactions. "What's the big deal?" Dmitry responded, answering a question with another question. "It's what I've always done and I don't see no reason why it shouldn't be what I keep on doin'." His explanation fit his personality to a T, not explaining why he does it, but rather why he will continue to do it. Veronica simply groaned and whimpered, a childish response that much suited her own odd personality.


"If you'd just find yourself a nice girl, you could move in with her and the whole problem would be settled." She said, seemingly exasperated by the knowledge that Dmitry didn't sleep in a bed, a sentiment that made absolutely no sense to the gray-hair whatsoever. 


"I'm afraid that isn't very likely to happen anytime soon, my dear." Hati said, butting to the conversation like he always managed to do. "There is this pink haired girl that just recently joined Lamia Scale that seems to hold some affection, but it would probably take a miracle for him make any kind of move on her." This statement actually caught Dmitry's attention, sparking a bit of curiosity in him as there was only one pink haired member of the guild.

"Who, you mean Evia?" The mage inquired bluntly and obviously, his own curiosity making him completely forget how nosy the person standing among them could be when presented with a juicy morsel of information.

"Oooooh, who's Evia?" she said with a mischievous look on her face, signalling to all except Dmitry precisely where her mind had gone with the mention of the poor girls name. "Does my little Mitry finally have someone he came have a whole bunch of kids with?" Yep, her brain took the shortcut straight to baby making. "No, no, I'm afraid not." Hati interceded, setting the woman straight. "As I said, the boy has yet to make any kind of move and this girl seems like a difficult catch at that." The survivor mage's mind was immediately filled with the image of Evia being pulled in with a fishing net, something that seemed strange to him no matter how he looked at it. 

Still, Dmitry had stayed long enough and was done humoring Veronica and her curiosity; it was time to leave. "Look, we've been standin' around way too long, alright?" He said it to the woman straight, hoping for once she would get the picture and let him be about his way. Dismissing Hati's physical form, he began walking past veronica and her employee's. "Look, I gotta get goin' already. It was nice seein' you and everything, but I can't stick around any longer." However, before he could get past her, Miss Banfield grabbed him by the arm.

"Where are you going, anyway?" Veronica asked, a sudden seriousness in her tone that was uncharacteristic of the usually bubbly merchant. Dmitry tried to shrug it off and move on, not wanting any more delay's in this trip. "It's none of your business, bat." He replied rather curtly as he walked past her, trying to end the conversation quickly, knowing that she would ask to many questions. "Dmitry!" She almost shouted, using his proper name for once, fully intent on getting an answer out of the mage. "Where are you going?" Veronica's voice was sharp now, letting him know that she wouldn't simply be brushed aside on this issue.

Dmitry wasn't sure why exactly he stopped, not moving another inch after hearing the question in a new tone. Perhaps he was worried that she'd follow after him if he didn't answer or maybe he thought she deserved it, having shown him a kindness that other's did not. He turned around and looked to Veronica, choosing his words wisely so as to not delay himself any longer.


"I'm going home." Dmitry's answer was swift and simple, reinforced by him pointing to Mount Hakobe. "That's all there is to it." He could tell she wasn't satisfied by what he said, but at least it seemed she wouldn't stop him. "Wait here," she said as she went to her wagon and retrieved some goods and put them into a sack, returning shortly and handing the sack to Dmitry.


"Some food, water, and a blanket, because it's cold around there and I don't care how warm that coat is."

Dmitry, who had never actually needed any of the things Veronica had just offered him, would have preferred to turn her down on that offer. Unfortunately for him, this was offer and he knew better than anyone, that knowledge leading him to grab the proffered sack and the supplies within. Seemingly satisfied with Dmitry's response, Veronica smiled warmly at the mage and gave him a normal, non-suffocating hug, surprising the medium. "Thanks Mitry," she said softly, using a tone he couldn't recall coming from her mouth, almost as if somebody else was talking. And then, in a move that surprised even himself, Dmitry brought up his hands and hugged her back, eliciting a slight jump from the woman who was clearly not expecting him to be hugging anyone.

"Thank you," he echoed Veronica. "...you crazy old bat." Eventually, the two broke away from the hug, the woman with a sad smile on her face. She looked like a mother who's child was moving out, an odd look for her seeing as she and Dmitry hadn't worked together in years. Still, the medium got a comforting feeling from her at this moment, something he couldn't say he felt very often, given the kind of mindset he usually kept. He smiled, a rare smile that he had always kept tucked away for the people he cared for, the people that gave him more cause to commit to this trip to begin with. Dmitry turned and walked away, throwing up a hand to bid his former employer farewell.

"Be seein' ya...Veronica."

'We're going to have to make up for lost time,' Hati said as Dmitry departed. 'That one should be quite pleased, eh boy?' Dmitry grinned, stopping in his tracks and holding his hand out to his left, another magic circle forming next to him. "I invoke the Lunar Horse: Alsvinder!" 

From the circle, the smoke-like stallion came forth, stooping a bit so Dmitry could more easily lift himself onto it's back. When he was mounted on top of his new ride, he gave the mental signal he now had down pat and the horse took of like the wind, obviously happy to be running in the physical world again. The grasslands that surrounded Dmitry seemed to blur now, as his speed dramatically increased and he wind blew threw his hair. 'Seems you're enjoying this as well, boy.' Hati teased, able to tell that his adopted child was having fun even without the link between them. 'What can I say, old man?' Dmitry asked, answering a statement with a question. 'Not like I get to ride like this every day anymore, ya know?' 

Hati was silent for a bit after that, glad that things had started off the way they did and his boy could at least enjoy the early portion of the trip without thinking about where they were going and what they were going to do, a peaceful thought indeed. Part of the spirit wished that they could simply keep going like this, the way they used to do when Dmitry was still growing up.

But he knew that it was a selfish desire, one that wouldn't truly benefit the young mage he had taught.

It was several hours until Dmitry stood before his destination, the mountain range that started with the great Hakobe and the true start of his journey. Or was it the end? He didn't know anymore. 'So it's finally come to this, eh boy?' Hati asked, unsure if Dmitry should even be doing this, though he wouldn't say. He knew how important it was to his pupil, whether he agreed or not. There wasn't a chance in hell that Dmitry was going to turn back now, so Hati would just have to deal with the risk. After all, this wasn't just a matter of moving forward, it was also about his magic and getting stronger. "Might as well get started." The lone mage said in an uncharacteristically solemn voice. 

Having already dismissed Alsvinder as it was safer to travel by foot, Dmitry stepped forward. The cold wind bit into the flesh that was uncovered by his trench coat, but that did very little to stop him. How could it, when he had made this journey in the opposite direction when he was only nine years-old? Even after that, he spent many nights shivering himself to sleep because he hadn't mastered fire-building, something that undoubtedly helped to speed up the learning process. Dmitry Kazakov was no stranger to the cold and despite the discomfort he was feeling as he trudged the path alongside mountain in front of him, his pace did not lessen in the slightest. As the he moved past Mount Hakobe and into the mountains that flanked it, Dmitry thought back to what led him to this point, the event that started this journey.

The mistake.

Ten years ago, in a valley beyond Mount Hakobe, there was a tribe of spirit worshipers. Isolated from the rest of mankind, these people carried out there lives unaware of the concerns that businesses, nations, and magical guilds held. Their homes and tools were primitive, but they made do using knowledge and skill, passed through generations. Unlike most of humanity, they did not rely on magical implements and advanced architecture to survive, living with the land instead. To these people, some of whom could feel the beyond, being in balance with the spirits of nature and keeping ones family well fed was enough. 

However, despite they were hidden behind the mountains, even this tribe fell victim to the greed of others. A band of treasure hunters, hungry for wealth and violent in their methods of obtaining it, were led to the valley by an ancient tale of power. For whatever reason, the marauders were led to believe that there was something for them to plunder, hidden by the tribals that lived in this place. Needless to say, they found the way into the passage, sacrificing many to get there as was there way. But when they arrived, the people had nothing to offer them except food, trinkets, and hospitality. This enraged the invaders, and they took out this anger on the residents, deciding to plunder whatever they could to make up for the wasted trip. The tribe was eradicated and it's village was burnt to the ground. 

Only a single, eight year-old boy was left alive at the end of this tragedy.

At the edge of the valley, a decade later, that boy now stood ready to reclaim himself. The massacre of his tribe not only left him orphaned, but the swirl of emotion had fueled a will that reached out to the spirit embodying all that exists of the wolf and manifested it in the physical plane. Upon that breakthrough, the bandits were wiped out entirely. Those who were not slain by Hati's fangs were picked off in there escape through the bitter mountains, the elements doing all the work. Little Dmitry himself killed the man in charge of these fools, stabbing him with his own blade during the confusion. 

After that, the boy was buried all sixty-two members of his tribe, including his father. Naturally, as he was just a child and none of this time was spent gathering food, the task caused him to lose a fourth of his body weight. At the end, he was tired, hungry, and full of more grief than any child should have to face. He was at his absolute weakest and he simply wanted his pain to go away. Dmitry wanted to forget this anguish and be without the haunting faces of his people. Having already called forth the Great Wolf himself, his will would now be heard by even the weaker spirits. 

And so, they came to him as he slept. They came and they took all that he had of anyone he had known from his mind, pulling pieces of his psyche with them. When Dmitry awoke, he felt neither pain nor joy for that place.

That was what brought him here, this place that was overflowing with spirits. No matter how much he wanted to leave that past behind, a part of him was waiting here. Dmitry could not be a complete person until he reclaimed what he left behind. 

However, this was something he had to do alone. What this place could do to him, what coming here would do to him, it had the potential for catastrophe. A place with so much spirit activity would be far more heavily effected by the bonds between Dmitry and the beings he commanded. It is for this reason that he hadn't come back here sooner, believing that living was better than having all his memories. Now, he had a guild to protect, as well as people outside that guild that he also cared for. If he couldn't progress as a mage, he would never be able to fully protect them. But if he brought them here now, in the emotional state that he's going to be in when he receives those memories, Dmitry could destroy them along with himself. 

Because of all this, he walked alone through the burnt remains of the village he was born in, passing the grave where he buried it's residents. This place did not hold the absolution he sought, but it still felt a bit nostalgic. Even if he couldn't remember those that lived here with him, he still felt something in this place. Whether it was fondness, regret, or hatred, he wouldn't know until this journey was finally over.

And there it was.

The place where he would undergo that which would make him whole again or destroy him entirely, whichever destiny prevailed in the end. A grove further into the forest that surrounded his village. A seemingly meaningless place, save for it's beauty, this area was the center for the spiritual activity that flowed into this valley. Like the eye of a storm, this spot was where all the phenomena converged. It was because of this massive amount of activity that so many of the tribes members, including Dmitry of course, were more sensitive to spirits than the vast majority of humans. And it was in the grove that the born medium would be able to contact the spirits that pulled away his memories, allowing him to take them back. 

Unfortunately, that meant that he would have to tap into the full mass of that activity to find these spirits, meaning he would have to bind them all at once. Most of these spirits would be useless in a fight, many of them having no form to represent them. But binding these spirits would further connect him to this place and would give him an enormous leap in spiritual sensitivity, raising the potential for a disaster.

Soon, Dmitry was at the foot of this grove, prepared to go through with this, though he'd be lying if he said he absolutely wasn't the least bit scared to walk in to this place. 


'Go on, boy,' came the voice of the one he met here. 'It's time you went ahead and ended this.'

Dmitry stepped into the grove, immediately able to sense the increase in activity around him, like the difference one feels upon stepping outside on a snowy day. This place was awash in spirits as it always had been, confirming that this was the place he needed find. The young man closed his eyes, walking blind for a while and letting his feet take him to the best spot to properly appraise the infinite number of presences in the vicinity, eventually finding a place just slightly North-East of the direct center of the grove. When he stopped at that spot, his back straightened up and his head began to face the sky, palms pointed backward at his sides. Dmitry focused all his attention to the maelstrom of spirits in the valley, their activity focused around this one spot.


'Remember what I taught you, boy,' Hati said, reinforcing his lesson at the most crucial moment. 'Your will is an extension of who you are, what you feel and intend. Wrap that in the perception you've been gifted with and hurl it into the abyss. Call out to those spirits with your mind, just like you called out to me. Drag them out of their track and pull them into your world.'

Dmitry knew these lessons all to well. They're the reason he's still alive today, along with every other lesson Hati taught him. Survival, combat, language, medicine, navigation, these were the things that kept him from being just another dead orphan on the side of the road.

Dmitry opened his eyes, glowing like they were before. Only this time the glow took up his pupils and irises, leaving what were the whites of his eyes to become black as night. His head lowered back down to face in front of him and his arms rose up so that they were in front of him, palms facing the ground. His feet spread apart to the width of his shoulders, allowing him to more easily brace himself in the case that things went wrong. What seemed much like glowing smoke seemed to circle above him, likely a reaction between his magic and the spirits of the valley. 

The wind picked up significantly as Dmitry felt his consciousness reaching out into the world, guided by the sixth sense that been with him his entire life, even before he had the use of his magic. He could feel them moving all around them, those beings that defied explanation, beings that were there, everywhere, and nowhere. Dmitry allowed himself to be stretched, drawn out, and expanded, until he knew all that was in this domain. This grove was his now, his mind as a spirit. Pushing out with his will one last time, he unlatched the doorway of his mind and let the abyss pour in.

Having been pervaded by his presence, the spirits swarmed in around him, entering his mindscape. When they were just within his grasp, he clamped down and closed the jaws of his mind upon them, entering a world only he knew.

The most spirits he had ever bound to him at the same time was two; Dmitry had just bound over one hundred at the same time. He grit his teeth as his mind was suddenly pushed to it's limits, a cold sweat running down his face. A light growl escaped the back of his throat as blood pumped faster and faster though his veins, muscles contracting from sheer reaction.


'Hold fast, boy!' Hati shouted at him, his voice almost lost in the storm of spirits. 'Your at the threshold now, your almost there!' The mages saving grace was the grade of the spirits he was bonding with, mostly minor animal spirits and wisps, spiritual fragments that either were or will be fully fledged spirits at some point. However, the sheer number was exhausting, bearing down on him and wearing his mind away like it was on a grindstone. However, he had done this enough times to know that Hati was right. He could feel that the bonds were almost complete, pushed not by Magic power, but by pure willpower. And then, faster than it had begun it, everything ceased and Dmitry fell to his hands and knees, panting heavily as the smoke-like material above dissipated. 

And then, everything came to bear, nearly breaking him. His world returned to him and it was almost more than he could bear. Tears began to form in his eyes as that which he had forgotten came rushing back, his body shaking with every heavy sob.

A mother puts her hand on a gray haired boy's head, rustling his hair a bit after mending a scrape on his leg. "That's my little pup." She says in a comforting tone, a warm smile on her face.

A group of children throw pebbles at a lone boy, mocking him his strange hair and eyes. He doesn't let them see the look on his face, one of fear and sadness.

A father sits next to his son on a log in the woods, handing him a small, bone handled knife with a five inch blade. He shows the boy how to bend his surroundings to his needs.

A little girl sits next to a boy, watching the sun set behind the mountains. "Mitry?" She asks, somewhat embarrassed. "You think when we grow up, we'll get married?" The boy is flustered and does not know how to answer.



Dmitry rose his head to the sky and cried out to the heavens, unleashing a pillar of the same smoke-like substance that forms his spirits. Unlike his spirits, this pillar glowed silver like his eyes, piercing the clouds high enough for anyone just outside the valley to see. It engulfs Dmitry and the grove itself, annihilating the trees as it grew. The worlds faded from his eyes, no longer focusing or caring about what was around him as the dead faces of his loved ones fills his thoughts. 


'Do not forget,' the wolf said to him. 'Do not forget everything that you have known since that day.'

                                "Don't call me spazz. It's not my name... and thanks for the pep talk." 


    "Don't you humans have something better to do?" 

"I won't leave,"





Dmitry's eyes finally opened, the storm now calm. He stood up and looked around him, eyes widening at what he saw. In the center of the grove, replacing what had been wiped clean, stood a massive tree, made up of something similar to the pillar earlier.

Yggdrasil:

"Yggdrasil..." Dmitry said, in awe of what was in front of him, now in full knowledge of what it was. Then his face became a bit more solemn as he turned to face the spirit wolf that had been formed in the midst of what just happened. The wolf merely stared back, waiting for the mage to speak before he said anything himself.

"Your dying, aren't you?" Dmitry could tell, now that he was in control of himself. The wolf merely nodded, staring up at the tree instead of explaining anything. "This one always confused me, Becoming so attached to these people. But then, it's not like us animal spirits or even the elementals for that matter. You could say that it's your people's legacy."

"Why didn't you tell me?" A foolish question, he knew, but one he felt he needed to ask. "You didn't need to know, not at the time. Some time ago, I was wounded, believe it or not. But that doesn't matter anymore." The wolf began to slowly disintegrate, that which made him up flowing towards and surrounding his pupil. "With this, you will have all that I can give and teach. You will know everything that exists around you, but you will be even more shunned for it. You will be a spirit walker and few, if any, will be capable of understanding you." The wolf was almost completely gone now, in the process of saying his final peace. "If you agree, you have my blessing...my son." With that, the wolf was no more and what was left of him was absorbed into Dmitry's being, a sign that he accepted. 

Soon after that, the tree dissipated, leaving the grove barren. Dmitry walked towards the valley's exit, well aware that this places plant life would soon grow back. Before he left, however, he took one more look back at the spot where his mentor once stood, the very place where he first met him. The spirit walker smiled and turned back to leave the place of his birth.

"So long...Hati."