Starstruck XD's Secondary Training[Private]

Sakuramori, a place that lies within the territory of the Black Rose guild, a place of solitary peace, danger, beauty, allure and seduction. The flowers are ever pink throughtout whether rain or shine, snow or hail and the wind forever a calming breeze that sweeps across the beautiful pink canopy of the forest. But the Sakuramori, was no place to relax and meditate. Powerful, magical, mysterious creatures roam the forest. Danger is always around every corner, assuming you disturbed the peace. But even if you are peace with the animals, the forest is said to be a maze, countless get lost within the pink shroud of petals. But it's many dangers however attract much attention from the great magical community of Fiore, beyond Fiore and even beyond Earthland and beyond the beyonds of Earthland. The beasts, hold much magical power, making them an excellent but risky choice for beast tamers around, and a big challenge for hunters. Some are even rumored to be sentient, establishing small communities within the pink forest. This place also served as a magnet for Necromancers and practitioners of the Spirit arts, countless souls ready for the taking, those unlucky to enter and get lost, eventually dying of hunger or thrist, even fatigue become restless spirits within the Sakuramori, or those who died trying to take on the dangers of the forest.

Haia is attracted here for a different reason, she overheard the people in guild back in the Siren's Song talking about this forest, and how its many mysteries and dangers made it hard to study and document well. Not surprisingly, Haia's curiosity grabbed hold of her once more and she took off on a boat. She made a stop of at her house in Talonia to refill her exotic collection of icky, slimy, scaly creatures food supply, stopping her salamander from trying to get out of the glass tank again and grabbed a fresh notebook with a ink and quill, she was going to study this place to the best of her ability, and who knows, maybe something there she may find interesting like a new species of animals. She packed her bags with enough food and water and heads off to Rose Garden on foot. As she walked, she wrote down what she heard in her notebook. Beasts the size of cars, spirits of the long forgotten, even creatures like dragons and chimeras. They all sound so interesting, so special, so cool. Haia wrote her thoughts down, often stopping her a second to correct her writing, before bumping into someone. She apologized and went off quickly, embarrassed that she was too engrossed with her thoughts to notice the road she walked.

She was surprised that such a beautiful cherry blossom forest could be found in the territory of the Black Rose. When she first entered the Rose Garden, the place was a mix of beauty, nature and modern. She would have never expected to see this place untouched. Then she remembered more and wrote them down in her notebook. Sakuramori was what they called the place, and due to how powerful the beasts are and that it seems protected by a mysterious force, so they could not do construction or even get their machines close. Haia scratched her head, usually such a thing would happen if there is something really deep in the forest that is powerful, like a really strong dragon or god. Haia hopes she doesn't anger it. Haia slowly reaches the edge of where the city ends and the forest begins. There is beginning at the end they say. Haia inspects the dirt, so far no one has actually walked in recently. She stands up straight again, thinking to herself of the possibilities of what may happen.

She takes a step in, and suddenly feels a great force, it was incredible, more powerful than she thought. This place screamed danger in her head. She staggered back out. She needed time to breathe. She could not believe how scary the Sakuramori is. She took note of it in her notebook. She wipes cold sweat from her brow and keeps her notebook. She is not going to learn anything by standing here, but that first experience rooted her to the ground she stood on. She takes a deep breath and looks up to the sun, she quickly draws light from it and wraps it around her hand, the light enveloping her hand like a glove. 'A glove on a glove' She thought and giggles. It lifted her spirits, and now she feels like she could take on the world. She takes a deep breath and walks in. The force appeared again, but she continued walking forward, her hand covered in light forward. It seems to disappear soon. She hugged her hand and continues forward, cherry blossoms falling around her as she made her path through the forest.

Haia looks around, the trees look healthy and fresh, the trunk was thick but not so think to call it over a 50 years. But she had only tread the first few meters of the forest, that meant she still had much to explore if the trees around are young. She touches the bark and feels the rough wooden texture, it feel like home again. She puts her head on the bark and sighed. She looks up and sees a horned squirrel, the rodent staring down at her with its big black eyes, shiny like the back of a black beetle, filled with curiosity at the sight of Haia. She guess it must had made its home in the tree.. It climbs down, cautious but curious. Haia slowly moves up a hand, and gave a friendly smile. It moved its tiny paw onto Haia's hand and crawled on to her arm. Haia pulls her arm close to her and pets the squirrel. She then sets the furry horned rodent on her head took her notebook as she slowly settled herself on the green grass, littered with cherry blossom petals. She takes out her notebook and sketches the horned squirrel, she decided to call her notebook 'Sakuramori: Study of Mysterious Forest'. She laughs when the squirrel brushes his fluffy tail across her nose. She discovered her first inhabitant of the forest, a horned squirrel. She keeps her notebook and feels a weight on her hood. She glances back to see the rodent had settled itself in her hood. She laughed louder and made her way through more of the forest.

Haia looks around, the place was getting dimmer, the trees were thicker and bigger. If anything they look huge compared to Haia. Haia felt the squirrel shift uncomfortably, it was agitated. She waves her hand and light went out, attached to her hand like the hair on a paintbrush. She sweeps the creeping darkness carefully as she made her way deeper. She thought that the place was inhabited, but so far she only found the little guy in her hood. Her sharp eyes swiftly skimmed the visible areas. She got worried, she forgot to leave a trail. She hoped the little guy at least knows its way home with no problem. She then sees a flash of blue. She quickly spread her feet and whipped out her bow, the rodent in her hood shifted deeper into the available space in her hood. She knocks an arrows and keeps her eyes and ears open. She did not like what was coming, it gave her the creeps. The wind blew slowly, no longer a gentle breeze but a gale. She grit her teeth, the tension increasing. She needed to leave, but she could not risk running into it. Then it happened, she heard the rustling of bushes behind her and quickly turns. A cat, bigger than a lion, moved at amazing speeds towards her. It was not the size that surprised her, she had seen bigger before.

The cat was made entirely of blue fire. The grass beneath its feet turned black and caught fire in small licks. She quickly rolled out of the way as the cat made a leap for her. She felt the earth shake and the dirt scratched as the cat missed and its claws dug into the dirt. Her breath grew quick, she quickly wrote down as much visible information she could write before it got its claws out and shook, dropping embers everywhere around it. Haia was surprised that the squirrel still stayed in her hood. It sets its yellow eyes on Haia. It crouched and its tail swished about. Then it shifted out of its position and got on all fours. A roar erupted and Haia had to cover her ears as the roar shook the trees. The cat roared back and it got another roar, louder than before. Haia would be laughing, it was like listening to a child trying to ask its mother to buy the toy it wants, but she was not considering how dangerous of a situation she is in. She watched the cat shift its flaming body away from her and towards the roar. She slows her breath, just what was that. She quickly wrote down what she experienced and quickly moved out of the area she is in.

After what felt like a good few meters, she sighed seeing she was in no danger anymore. She then makes a quick check, before dropping to the ground. She reached for her bag and took out a loaf of bread and took a bite. She then felt her hood shift, the horned squirrel moved out of her hood and crawls onto her shoulder. She looks at it and sighed. She broke off a piece and gave the rodent. It wrapped its tiny paws around the piece and nibbled. It gave Haia a clear view of its teeth. Haia drew the teeth down and stroked the rodent. She always wondered what the horns were for. She finishes her bread and stood up. She needed more information of this place, but she thinks it is enough time for now. She takes a step forward and hears a branch crack. She looks down to see there was no twig beneath her, just lots and lots of pink petals. The wind blew a mighty gale and she sees blue embers past her. She quickly turns around and sees the cat again, accompanied by another. It looked tiny compared to the new one.

The cat was the size of a house, its paws the size of a large dustbin lid. She looked at it in the eyes. Unlike the smaller one, this one had one yellow eye and one blue eye. Haia found it rather odd, but did not want to find out why. It shifted its paws and black claws, the size of doors and looking as sharp as a freshly sharpened sword. Blue fire licked the body of the cat. It looked mature, and a definite predator. Haia could see it was not entirely fire, but rather covered in fire. It was actually a blue black striped cat, with white highlights around it's face. Black stripes ran across its body in a flame pattern and the fire seemed to dance as if the stripes were the origin of the flame. It stared back, Haia could feel an incredible force, it was benevolent and graceful in looks, matched with its mighty muscles and tone. If it was friendly, it would be a great ally in battle. But right now, it was her possible enemy. Haia stood still, not making any movements as the giant cat approached, blue fire seemed to come out of its mouth instead of saliva.

It got really close, its eyes still locked with hers. Haia's eyes watered as smoke went up her nostrils and stung her eyes. She could see its saliva was not fire, but oil. And it was dripping all over. The oil caught fire slowly. The cat looked down and licked up the fire and breathed out, noxious fumes enveloped her senses and the squirrel in her hood shifted and it felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders. She turns to see the rodent leave before her vision blurred. She can't seem to stand straight anymore, she wobbles and drops to the ground. As her vision blurred, she could see the blue shapes of the cats go over her and she felt like she was lifted off into the sky.

Haia opens her eyes and looks around. It was her room, back when she lived back in Seven. She watches herself run in and grab the bed, she was crying. She could remember that day well, she reaches out to herself slowly. She then retracts back when she heard someone walking to the door. She remembers. Her aunt had a whip in hand as she unlocked the door. She had a greedy look in her eyes as she reached out to herself. The moment it happened. Haia could not remember anything that day. Not one thing. All she knew was she woke up to the sound of villagers ordering each other as the village nurse looked at her for injuries. She remembers. Everything was white and black around her where her aunt's house used to be.  Like paint came down under the sky and destroyed her house in the process without harming her or her bed. She remembers how they said they could not find any trace of her aunt at all.

She woke up. She felt warm. She shifts herself and feels soft fur. She touched something, a pelt with the fur still on. It was nice and soft, the fur was like silk and awfully smooth. She looks around. Stalagmites hung from the rock ceiling and stalagtites made up oddly what seems to be furniture, the place looked big enough to put a whole house inside. She sits up. She finds herself in a dent in a cave wall, covered by a soft pelt. She looks around and sees a woman, dressed like a village housewife, tending to something. Whatever it was it gave a blue glow to the cave. She shifted and heard a rock drop. She froze and quickly laid down and faced away, using the pelt to cover herself. She heard footsteps, they sounded sharp and quick, like a woman on short heeled shoes. Then suddenly the footsteps turned slow and heavy.  She then felt the breathing, heat brushed over her and cold air rushed to what is behind her. She then feels a tap on the shoulder, like a friendly woman's tap.

"It's okay child I'm not going to eat you," A woman's voice spook in a cheery tease. Haia shifted and face a woman. She was beautiful, well shaped with her hourglass figure and sizable assets. Her hair was blue and had white highlights. Haia stared into the woman's eyes. She was heterochromic. Blue and Yellow. Haia suddenly saw the image of the cat and backs away. The woman does not seem to take offense though. Instead she laughs and hands Haia a bowl of soup. Haia, was astounded. She takes the bowl from her and takes a whiff. It smells amazing. She blows it to cool it before taking a sip. Haia felt the warmth of the soul take over her body, her tongue stung for a bit from the temperature but the tastes overwhelm it in just a short moment. She looks at the woman and then the soup before the woman again.

"W-who a-" Haia gets cut off by the woman immediately. The woman pressed her pale finger against Haia's lips and smiles.

"I know who you are child, the whole forest knows," The woman says. "I'm Taiga. Haha I know weird name for a cat thag is on fire but hey there is a first for everything. So Haia, what brings you to the forest?" Taiga puts her hands on her hips, now that Haia inspected her more, she is surprisingly well dressed. She wore a whole dress, not so tight against her body. She basically looked like a village woman. Haia then blinks and realized she zoned out.

"O-oh, I was just trying to study this forest..." Haia responded and then touched her back. She quickly around hastily and looks at Taiga in total panic. "Where's my notebook?" Taiga pats Haia's head and bent down, picking up Haia's bag and pulling out a book with a leather cover. She then hands the bag back and the notebook. Haia took them and quickly checks everything. Haia sighs in relief as she finds everything is there. Taiga smiled and goes back to attend the blue fire.

It took a while for Haia to take in everything. Haia tried to trace everything back to the beginning. So the forest had tried to stop Haia from entering, because she was seen as a threat. Seeing that the scare tactic did not work. They shifted tactics to spying on her. So the horned squirrel was sent to check her out. Because she treated him nicely, they were a bit unsure. So they had Taiga and her daughter check her. Seeing that she showed no harm, Taiga took her to her cave. Haia shakes her head, wondering what the heck is with the forest. She then looks into the fire, it was blue and black, just like Taiga's hair.

"What is this fire?" Haia asked, she felt like it was alive, ready to turn into something.

"This fire is vile, harming and deadly. This fire is called Fiend Fire," Taiga said nonchalantly, her tone as her finger moved across the flames and it gathered around her hand like a coiling snake before going back to looking like normal fire as her hand moved away. "Fiend Fire... can only be put out by one of my kind,  or with Holy magic. Then again, only my kind can be killed with Holy magic so... I know your intention, I can smell it." Taiga smiled.

"You wish learn it!" Taiga stood up laughing. Haia blinked and jumped in realization of what Taiga said. She waved her hands frantically in front of her but it seems like there was no stop the cat. Taiga grabs hold of Haia and throws her into the fire. Haia screams loudly, then stops awkwardly, she was finding it rather ticklish. She giggles and laughs as the fire tickled her all over. Taiga then pulls her out laughing.

"Now look at yourself," Taiga smiles. Haia looks at herself in pure astonishment. Blue fire trailed up and down her hand like a snake. Her hair was no longer brown, but blue and on fire. Taiga holds up a reflective stone and Haia could see fire shaping cat ears on her head. She touches them and watched her fingers touch it. She knows it is fake, she still had her normal ears, but they felt soft and so real. She then scratches them like she would with a cat and jumps realizing she could feel it. She then sees something wiggling behind her, she spins to see she has a tail made of blue fire. She looks at Taiga and then herself, the fire made her looks like a cat, even the way the flame travels up and down her arms are like stripes on her. She looks at Taiga, Taiga was beaming.

Just how did Taiga do it, Haia has no idea. Haia watched the fire slowly travelled to her fingertips and grasp it and watches it disappear. She feels her hair has gone back to normal and that the cat ears and tail have gone too. Taiga pats Haia on the head. Now that Haia was much closer to the tiger woman, she could see she was towering over her. Haia then watches Taiga walk away and towards more cave, she sees the woman wink at her, her blue and yellows eyes glowing. Haia follows and blinks, her eyes could see in the dark, Taiga was beaming as she walked on.

They arrived into a flat part of the cave, the place was neatly shaved and formed. Haia looks down and could see her reflection prefectly. Taiga slides across the terrain like it was an ice rink and skids to a halt. She puts her hand behind her and stays solid straight where she stands. Haia takes one hesitant step and slides forward before toppling and sliding on her belly across the floor, to be stopped only by Taiga's strong legs. Haia gave her a goofy grin before hearing another voice, another girl, this one younger. Haia is helped up by Taiga and she sees a small girl, who looks barely older than 5 get on the rink and slides across, and in a similar fashion tumbles over, slides on her belly and is stopped by Taiga's legs. The girl giggles and pulls herself up using Taiga's dress. Taiga then slides across and stops at the edge. She calls out to the girl.

"Okay dear! Just do it!" She exclaimed. The girl smiled and gave Haia a push, and it felt like no little girl push, it felt like as if Haia got towed by a truck. Haia slides across and stops herself at the wall. The girl giggles and suddenly a rush of blue fire rushed towards Haia like a tsunami. Haia quickly got to her feet and slid away and watches the blue fire crash into the water, like water crashing against the cliffside. Haia gets low and by putting her hand on the ground she manages to dodge another rush. Haia watches the girl manipulate the fire as if it is part of her body. Haia watches the girl flicked her hand and blue fire flew towards Haia like bullets. Haia jumps and wobbles as she lands. Haia looks at Taiga and gave her the help me face. Taiga smiles and shouts.

"Just imagine! It would do the rest!" Taiga said as she leaned against the wall.

Haia felt it was not of good help as she saw another rush, this time it looks like a horizontal vortex, coming at her. Haia slides once again and she could see the damage now that she had gone a full circle around the rink. The fire had molded the prefectly smooth walls and floor into what looks like some froze water while it hits something. Haia stares bewildered. Blue light caught her eye and she gets a face full of another rush of fire. She slams against the wall and sees the fire melt the walls almost immediately and it froze just as fast. She drops to the floor and tries to stand again. The girl then does something with the fire. She made a bow and arrows with fire. Haia then looks at her hands, she could do anything her heart desires with the fire.

Haia conjured a bow and arrow made from the fire. She could believe her eyes as she watches the girl aim and miss by a long shot. Haia smiled and aims at her, and watches the arrow land, pushing the girl back. Taiga and the girl cheered. Haia quickly makes more fire, this was beautiful, this was such a priviledge. She feels like she could do anything with this fire. She makes a ring of fire around her and watches ring of fire form hands and it swipes the nearby area. Then she suddenly stops. She falls to the ground. The vision went black.

Haia finds herself in a dark void. She could hear footsteps, loud and ringing. She took a step back, she feels afraid of those footsteps. She felt afraid of everything around. She drops to her knees and puts her hands on her head. She could hear whip cracks, echoing and pounding her head. She then sees a light, a small faint light. It swirls and dances from a distance, before becoming a huge tornado of black and white. She screams.

She gets awaken once again, breathing rapidly, cold sweat running down her forehead. She sits up, her vision goes into a blur and a huge squeeze on her head drops her back on to the ground. Slowly it went back into sight, she was still in a cave. But light, she could see light dancing on the ceiling. She shifted her hand further from her body, trying to make sense of her surroundings. She felt a familiar feeling, a cool rushed over her fingertips and sent a shiver up her spine. She brought her fingers together, like she was pinching something. Water. She scoops some and splashes her face with it. She takes a deep breath as the cool washed over her and wets some of her brown hair. She puts a hand on her face as she sits up and wipes the water of her face. She blinks a few times to clear her vision and looks around. She was sitting on something, something smooth like marble. She sees the familiar blue tail and the flames that came off it. She follows the tail to the the body and then the head. Taiga was sleeping, her head rested on her giant paws. Fire trailed off her body as she breathed in and out. She looks down, she was sitting on limestone, the surface was smooth that she could slide her finger across it. She then looks closely, it was reflecting her image. But something was off.

The reflection below was not hers. The skin was pale, like snow. The eyes that were looking back, they were blue and sometimes flashed orange. The face, it had a heart tattoo below the left eye, and ear rings shaped like a golden t hung off her ears. She reach for her ears and felt nothing there. Fear starting filling her. Haia turns around and gets on her fours. The hair was black, much more thicker than her current one. A single tuft of long hair hung from the top of her head. She could she further down her hair seems to split into red tufts. She shakes her head and the red hair seems to follow like it was actually hair on her head. She touches her hair, grabs a few strands and looks it. It was still brown and normal. She was getting confused. Haia starts to feel more confused than she is scared. She still feels the weight of her cloak, but yet sees none on the girl below. As she stared, the girl stared back. She felt the familiarity. It is her. Why does she look so different. So many questions ran through her head as she thought to herself how the girl below her is her. She was going nuts and back off. She then slips and drops into water. She swims back up and sees that Taiga woke up and looking at her. Haia comes out and looks at the beast in the eyes. It seemed to say 'Are you okay?'

Haia somehow felt that experience made her feel more confident. Every time the reflection flashed in her head, she felt her reflection give her spark, the eyes full of determination as she steps back into the ring, Taiga's daughter sitting on the ground, obviously bored. Haia struts in and throws her cloak to Taiga. She lets loose her hair, its volume surging forward like a tidal wave. She somehow was not sliding across the place anymore. Taiga and her daughter definitely seemed happy with this increase in confidence. Taiga's daughter got to her feet and started with her feet bursting into flames and she leaps forward, hands enveloped in fire. Haia smiled with confidence as she slides away, stopping herself from sliding too far as her own hands get enveloped in fire and leaps, punching the tiger girl at her stomach and sending her flying across the room. The girl crashes, the room trembles. Haia then saw something, water was flowing from the ceiling. She looks down, she could see the look again, the blue eyes that flashed orange. She saw what the reflection did. And she did the same.

She clasps her hands together, fire erupted like an explosion. She pulls her head back and blows into her hands. Magic energy surged forward and into her hands, blue fire burned across the battlefield in a wide cone, rising up like a wave towards Taiga's daughter. She saw her shield her face as the blue fire crashed into her and the wall. She then discovered something. She recognized a property of that water. She could sense the presence of Holy Prowess. It was holy water. The fire seemed to turn into a black stone, almost like it froze into thick purple ice. She could see a convex shape as it bursts into flames. It seems that Fiend Fire becomes this black thing upon contact with Holy Water, and returns to its natural state upon contact with Fiend Fire again. She watches as a fireball flies towards her and she hits it aside with her hands.

Wait did she just smack a fireball away with the back of her hand. She jumped over joy before getting a punch to her stomach and she hits the ceiling. She felt looks and sees a crater formed. Just what was the power of these beasts. She wondered as she pulled herself of the ceiling and falls. She then saw her reflection on the walls. It spun and turned into a tornado of blue fire. She grasps her hands together and spun and gets enveloped in flames. It was beautiful. The flames seemed to dance around her and spin. Then her hand touches the ground and she felt she knew what to do. The flames around her burst forward in a dome shape before disappearing into embers. She looks up and sees Taiga's daughter bursting forward. She rolls beneath the girl and makes fire in her hands. She could see to her side that her reflection made a hand with the fire and slams the girl in. She smiles as she felt the fire grow in her hands and became a giant hand. She swings her hand and the hand slams Taiga's daughter to the wall. She watches a huge crater formed where she had slammed. The hand disappears and she grabs her composure quickly. She watches Taiga's daughter now in her cat form. It may be a cat form, but it was bigger than a tiger.

Haia watched the claws effortlessly dug into the ground as she watch the giant cat leap off the ground and she could see out of the corner of her eye, the reflection turned into a fire. She wonders what that meant as she raised her arms over her face and closed her eyes. She felt nothing, she felt like she had no longer hands nor feet, no heart was beating and no pain to be felt. That feeling was alien and it was over within seconds. She discovers herself still standing in the same spot, but Taiga's daughter was behind her this time. She stared at herself in disbelief. It was like she was a ghost. She snaps back into existence as Taiga slammed herself into Haia's body and sent her flying.

Haia uses the fire to create claws to dig into the ground to prevent herself from flying too far. Haia smiled, her eyes filled with determination. Everything about this place fills her with determination. The water that trinkles down the walls, the blue fire that burns the battlefield, the beat of her heart. It makes her want to keep fighting. She looks to her reflection, she smiled, it smiled back. It gave her a thumbs up and before going back to being a normal reflection but remained the image Haia is stilled confused about. She stands up and dusts herself, she watches her reflection. It was teaching her. She felt so natural. Then Taiga called for a time out. Her daughter turned back into a human and grabbed her mother's hand as Taiga leads her daughter and Haia out the cave.

The smell of roast meat fills the cave, the warmth of the fire surrounds them. Haia bites into the juicy flesh and crispy skin of a boar. She made note that certain normal animals live in the Sakuramori, like the delicious boar she is chewing on. She swallows the warm cooked flesh and sighs as the feeling of warmth fills her stomach. Taiga may be a house size cat, but she sure knows how to roast rather well. Her daughter, appropriately named Shifur, was a rather cold person, Haia could not believe the 5 year old that was excited to battle was the emotionless girl with her back on the log they sat on. Haia looks away from the girl and looks into the fire. She was still beaming with what she did, she managed to use the Fiend Fire. She looks at her hand, covered in juice and oil, and ignites a flame. All she had to do was will the fire and it was there for her. She could feel staring and sees Taiga with a rather exhausted smile. She smiles back, then her facial expression changes to a question face.

"Hey Taiga sensei," Haia said, it was rather appropriate to call Taiga her sensei after all. "What happened to me during the spar? My head was just getting mind blown with everything I was doing."

"Well... To start off, you fainted, blue fire surrounded you and it seems to dance around you, like vipers, I quickly grabbed when I realize they wanted to consume you, I brought you to a special fountain, you see Fiend Fire turns to crystals upon contact with Holy Water, regular water would not even work. This water stopped the fire from appearing to harm you but it did made a giant mountain under you. You were sweating, having a bad dream. I honestly did not know what to do. I'm nothing but a Spirit Tiger after all, well before... I have no recollection," Taiga looked a bit downcast, as if trying to recall something long gone. She looks back at Haia with a smile. "All I know I'm glad you got back on your feet after that, and very glad to see that magnificent skill in battle, how did you do it? You were rather confused at first, but after that it is like you were a whole new person." Taiga hands Haia a cup of water, which is taken silently.

"I honestly... Have no clue, they seem to come to me naturally, like it was already in my brain," Haia said, smiling as she stared into the cup, her reflection back to normal, she could see her brown locks, her brown eyes. And her most prized possession, the Mother of Pearl necklace. She wraps her fingers around the smooth surface of the white beads and runs her fingers along a crease, indicating it could be opened. She keeps it closed however. She stands up and takes a full swig of the cup before smiling, grinning with confidence. Taiga, looking both bemused and confused, looks to her daughter, now fast asleep. Taiga gives Haia a look and flicked her head to show to do it in the arena.

Haia clasps her hands together, her knuckles crackled as she loosens herself. Taiga stood firm and strong, water trickles down the walls of the cave that was the Arena. Haia then takes a deep breath, holds it in her lungs, and breathes out, small licks of flame coming out. She stretches out and bend her knees before dashing forward, she channels her magic energy into her hands and fire envelops it, flames dancing as it grew into a huge claws hand and Haia leaps and crashes the hand of blue fire into Taiga, the ground cracks and splinters of rock flew everywhere, ignited by the Spirit Fire. Haia pulls her hand away and continously swipes at the unharmed Taiga. Spirit Fire did not harm her, but she had to maintain ground as hands swipe her left and right, knocking her a few inches each time. She lets Haia maintain her momentum, unfazed by Haia's fierce assault. It was training, but she is going all out. Taiga grinned as she covered her face from an attack and skid backwards by a few inches. She was happy to see such a determined spirit. Made her life a bit lively. Taiga grabs Fenghuang's Fire Claws and tosses her towards a wall, hearing the walls crack once more. Haia rolls to the floor and quickly gets up. Haia thinks what else she could do. Then she sees her reflection once more, it was that again. She irks in disgust as she watches the reflection sprays oil from her mouth. Haia then shrugs as she watches Taiga make her advance. She breathes in and sprays oil from her mouth like a hose. Oil covered the floor and Haia immediately seemed to know what to do. She lights the oil on fire and it immediately burst into flames, but it was not hindering Taiga's advance. Haia felt like an idiot but now she knows she could actually cover the place in oil should she battle. She made a mental note as she watches her reflection fly away.

Fly away? Just how? Haia smacks her face realizing that she can. She spreads her hands and wings of blue and black fire appear on her back and takes over with a flap of the wings. Haia could not believe her abilities anymore. One moment she was spewing fire and oil everywhere, the next she is rushing towards the ceiling in an amaing rush of wind. Haia then realized, she only knows how to go, not how to stop. Haia did a full spin and her boots slam against the ceiling. She shivered as the force travels up her legs. She watches Taiga staring up, amused by Haia's sudden ascent. Haia shifted her feet, her wings are keep8ng her to the ceiling, they clung to the rocky surface with a spider's web. Haia stared at the wings before looking down at Taiga, she bends her knees once more and kicks off, doing the fire claws again and slamming Taiga with it.

Haia lands on the ground, losing her footing a bit as she made the wings disappear. She slowly regains her balance as the smoke where she slammed Taiga begun to disappear. Taiga was still standing, feet spread apart and arms over her head as if shielding herself from an attack from above. Haia smiles, Taiga smiles. Taiga was not going to go down easy. Haia steeled her legs and watches her reflection do a back flip and a crescent of fire cuts through the ground. Haia shifts her feet back, she moves it forward and kicks off the ground, fire trailing behind her feet and it rockets forward as she lands on her twp feet once more. The fire travels forward, like a serpant, hissing as it cross the ground towards Taiga. The mother takes a step forward and kicks it back, this time with a higher intensity. Haia quickly moved away and watches the fire burst as it hits the wall behind her. She needed to watch herself, she was dealing with a woman who gave her the ability to use the blue fire in the first place, she still could not believe how she was standing here fine after being pushed into a campfire made with that fire and coming out with fire trailing her body like creepvine. She looked at her reflection once more, it was using the fire like a whip, then a sword to throw aside a fireball and then a bow to shoot arrows made of fire.

Haia channeled magic energy into her palm and gripping it like it was a whip handle. Fire grew out and laid itself like a snake on the floor. She takes a moment to take it in before raising the whip, the tip rising like a snake as Haia lashes it forward, the tip turning into the fanged serpant. Taiga moved out of the way as it cracks the ground, a loud snap echoed across the room. Haia saw the woman clutched her hands together and thrusting her palms towards her in a lotus shape, a great big fireball of blue and black rocketed towards her. Haia immediately shifted the whip to a sword, it seems to magically become more stiff and rigid, almost solid looking as Haia slices the fireball aside. Haia examines the sword in her hand, it had no weight at all, yet it was solid, her fingers moved smoothly across the flat side of the sword. She looks back up to the fight to see Taiga preparing another fireball. She watches the sword lose its shape and shift into an arc in her hand. A bow. Haia raised the bow the same way she always did when using the bow and pretend to draw an arrow. Haia felt as if she was holding an arrow, she sees a clear straight line of fire, it was a prefect replica of an arrow, just without the head. She smiled confidently, and fired multiple arrows at Taiga. Taiga had to stop channeling to move out of the way of the arrows. Haia got her on the run. Or she thought. Taiga turned into her real form and arrows did nothing to her. Haia had no time to get away before a huge paw forced her to lay belly face up. Haia knew that Taiga was keeping herself from squashing her but she could still feel the huge weight the house size demon cat had. Her chest felt relieved as Taiga removed her paw of Haia. The little spar was obvious over. Haia moved to her feet and followed a very satisfied Taiga out.

Haia decided to leave the forest by herself. Unlike Haia, Taiga and the other forest creatures knew exactly how to get out without being lost. Taiga did offer to help Haia get out, but she refused the offer. After all she still has yet to meet her main goal of coming here, to study the Sakuramori. After much much persuasion, the reluctant Taiga lets her go by herself. Haia guessed that spending time with her and her daughter made Taiga feel protective of her, like the mother she is. She was given a pendant by Taiga, it had a special gem made from the teeth of Taiga's mouth. Apparantly Spirit Cats grow gems from their teeth that house magic energy. Taiga explain that if she ever needed a pinch of magic power, simple chant into the gem and it would supply you with magic power.

Haia made her way through the forest, she made herself a small torch from the fire. It seems as if the fire obeyed her very commands, become her thoughts and even protect her. It had a nature of its own. Haia then thought back to when she first got the magic. 'Wait,' Haia thought, stopping in her tracks in the clearing that she was picked up. 'What should I call this magic?' Haia then proceed to walk again, absent mindly moving past trees and trees of pink. She then stops. She stopped pondering. She stopped thinking. She topples to the ground.

Haia finds her once again in the black void, blue fire seems to be forming a ring around her. On the other side of the ring, was her reflection that she saw back in the cave. It smiled, and reached a hand out to Haia. Its lips moved, "Don't be afraid, I'm here to help you."

"H-help me with?"

"That power, you have a hidden power inside of you, I'm here to help you." The reflection pointed to its heart, Haia could feel a finger press her chest.

"W-what power?" Haia asked, stumbing on what to say.

Haia woke up once again in cold sweat. She was breathing heavily again. She was no longer in the clearing, she was no longer in Sakuramori. She was in a house, lit only by moonlight, dolls were laid neatly on the shelf, stuff toys lined the bed. Haia was in pajamas. She recognized the design. It was the design her Aunt made customly for her. She looks around, she remembers, this was her room, this was her Aunt's house, this was the night before her birthday. She hears heavy footsteps, she quickly looks towards the mirror, her reflection was there, the one she saw in the cave. It was telling her to calm down. Haia could not calm down, she was afraid, she did not want to be a slave, she did not want to leave her home. She. She sees her reflection, it was telling her to calm down. Haia somehow feels herself calming down, her breathing returning to normal. It was then her Aunt walked in, whip in hand. The reflection mouthed 'Let it loose'. For some odd reason, Haia knew exactly what her reflection meant.

White light enveloped the room, it spirals into the air in a beautiful array of light. Her aunt becomes nothing but ash, the whip disappearing as if it never existed. Haia stared at the spectacle around her. Her reflection was before her now, it was smiling, it gives Haia a kiss on her forehead before fading into a blue fire and slowly proceeding towards Haia. Haia cupped her hands on the blue and black fire. It danced in her hands, with the energy of a small child. She brings it close snd watches it sink into her chest. The white light is then followed by blue and black fire. They moved in harmony, they were one. Two magics of different properties, one of the Unholy and one of the Holy. But born of each other. Fire creates Light, Light create Fire. The sun was her source of power, but it also is fire. Haia watched them spiral to the sky in harmony before it slowly dies down.

Haia wakes up once again, it was a dream after all. But it felt so real. She sees that she was still in the clearing, the grass around her leaning as the wind blows sweeps across them like a broom. She picks a blade of grass up and whistles with it, it was a fine tune. Her father taught her this before his untimely death. She then throws it into the air and watches it surf the wind. Haia then made a gun with her fingers, closing one eye. She pretends to fire and a fireball comes out swiftly, burning the grass to ash and watches the ash color the wind. She gets up slowly, she looks to the ground. The petals seem to snake across the ground. Haia then scratches her head. She snaps her fingers and burns the petals. A small trail of fire was made, slowly but progressively moving. She follows the trail slowly. She needed time to understand what just happen. She came into Sakuramori to study the forest. But it seems as if the forest wants to keep its properties secret. She reaches into her bag and pulls out the notebook she used to take down notes. She keeps it, she would not reveal its secrets. She follows the fire once again as it slowly burns the petals that trail across the ground.

Eventually she got out, the pink petals falling behind her. The blue and black fire jumps back into her hand and disappears into her skin. She looks at the looming forest, it is huge for a forest in a city. And very dangerous. She prays who ever goes in there does not incur the wrath of a Spirit Tiger and her daughter. A pink petal drifts into her hands. She stares are the petal and opens her notebook, inserting the petal in the front page and closing it. Then she opens it again, the pages were full, written in a feminine writing. It explains the Sakuramori clearly and shows indeed great experience of the forest, something that would take Haia years of study to do. She then flips to a page.

Spirit Tiger. Once human, when the Sakuramori takes souls, it turns people who they kill into powerful creatures. The Spirit Tiger is blessed with lost magic known as Spirit Fire, an extinct form of fire that burnt the books that once holds its properties and studies. It is a fire with a life of its own. Rarely do humans is shown capable of obtaining this fire, and when they do, they face the Trials of Fire. Spirit Tigers may grow as large as houses. Gems that grow in their teeth contain magic power. Just a warning, clean the oil of the gems, as Spirit Tiger also produces very volatile and flammable oil from their mouths. The oil is used to mark territory and make extremely powerful quick explosives. Simply having one drop is enough to blow rocks apart. Thought experience with dragon slayers is minimal, Spirit Fire according to the dragons that eat fire that come to Sakuramori will not recommend eating Spirit Fire for its gut wrenching putrid oily taste, like over used grease that has gone through motor oil.

Haia stares at the content. It was Taiga who wrote this. She could not help but smile. She looks at a shop window as she strolls through the streets. Her reflection was back to normal, but she could not help but feel like she missed it. Haia looks at herself, she could honestly do with a makeover. Maybe she could grow out her hair and dye in black and red, style her hair a bit. Haia drew down what her reflection back in the cave. She sighed. She honestly did not know what to do. She looks at her hand and made a small flicker of fire in her hands. The fire danced and it made a yes shape. Haia looks back at the mirror, with new found confidence. She just learnt a cool new magic, she made progress in her life. And she discovered something amazing about herself. She punches the air above her and cheers. She stops realizing a small crowd was staring at her weirdly. She slowly drops her hand and sheepishly starts walking away. She makes a clear course for Hargeon Town, walking like she always did, but made a small detour to get herself a makeover. She bought new clothes that match her reflection, crux earrings and got herself a heart shaped tattoo her face. She stretches herself as she looks at herself now, she was an exact replica of her reflection. She looks in the mirror. She looked beautiful and gorgeous, more powerful than before. She lights a blue fire and uses her finger to make it trail behind. She draws light from the sun and makes them dance in unison. It was just a beautiful sight to behold as she watches herself make them move. It was like she was the choreographer of two dancers, finally watching a grand performance after much practice paying off beautifully and spectacularly

She arrives in a mountain side, just of Hargeon Town. She looks towards the horizon, a wide confident grin on her face, she could not believe herself today. She stretches and sits on the rocky edge of the mountain path. She cups her hands around her mouth and shouts into the horizon, "Hello! I'm Haia Illie Starstruck! And I became more than I was before!" She slowly puts down her hands down, listening to the echoes with a peaceful serenity to it. She dangles her legs over the edge, staring at the sun slowing setting. Just how long was she in Sakuramori, does time past differently there, or is it the same and she just lost track. She does not want to bother herself with that question now. She picks up her Ilac, she almost forgot she had this and puts it away. She wanted to see was going on with the world, but thought maybe it was best she figured it out on her own, after all it would be more interesting that way, to explore the world without an ounce of the possibilities that could unfold before her ws she travelled. Thought she was much of a bookworm and preferred to stay indoors but somehow she always always comes out to explore the vast world before her.

Haia looks down at her feet, staring into the drop below into the forest, watching the green flore slowly lean with the singing wind, the leaves its dancers. There was more to the world than she thought, more than she will ever think, and with her newly obtained magic, Aspect of Spirit Fire is what she finally decided to call it, she will definitely see more of what the world has to offer given the ability of flight and added abilities to her fighting style, she dan definitely get past any obstacle that comes along. She looks down at her mother of pearl necklace and smiles. She better be heading back to the guild, she did just go to the Sakuramori without informing anyone after all. She scrambles to her feet, the rocky ground making its shifty sounds as she got to her feet. Black boots looked nice on her slim legs, the red going really well with it. She spreads her arms and black and blue flames sprouted from her back once more, she takes a few steps back and gives herself a running start before leaping of the edge. Wind rushed past her as she took flight towards the Divide Island, her black and blue wings flapping and gliding in the cool air, licks of fire trailing behind like feathers from a bird.

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