“Come to the river… to the river…” The voice circled around his skull for a while now, “Come to the river now… please…” Daiko’s, or rather Hyōen’s dream was coated in the void of the human mind where the voice constantly repeated itself. It was a familiar voice; exactly the voice of the spirit near the riverside of Orchidia where he met with the blue sphere that turned out to be the deceased spirit of an old person. Many mysteries were bound to the riverside ghost, and he felt like that he had to solve it, not only for Dacol’s sake and command, but also for his own curiosity’s sake.

He quickly made it out of bed and prepared his gear. The long, green jacket along with everything else, and of course with his companion Coda, accompanied him as he went out of the door. The apartment was small, but it suited him as he wasn’t familiar with tall houses like these yet. Back in Worth Woodsea, he lived in a cottage that was only two floors. There were 3 meters up to the first floor, so it was smaller than normal, two-floored houses. He didn’t bump his head into the ceilings here, which eased his troubles. Coda wasn’t feeling home, though; the poor girl missed the good-old cottage that smelled like nature’s pinnacle. Hyōen could clearly hear the saddened whistles and songs from the bird and began nuzzling its forehead. “Hey, don’t be down like that, it’ll be better. Trust me,” he assured it as he made it out of the door.

“Hm… wait, there was this Nilan guy, weren’t there?” he asked himself. Dacol had mentioned him to go and search up Nilan, an investigator that would- yes, the damn sabbath, that was it! There was this real investigator that Dacol had asked Hyōen to meet, and it was that guy! Oh, Hyōen couldn’t wait to meet him! “Finally, a literal investigator! Dex will be so jealous of us, Coda..!” His fists almost clenched out flames by the excitement, but his hair grew out fire a long time ago. People even looked at him from the street, gawking at the burning hair. Some even tried to call for firemen, but Hyōen heard nothing as he strolled to find Nilan.

At the middle of a forum, he found a jacket belonging to a tall, black-haired male with a tall face and expression. Walking towards him, Hyōen found obstacles in form of people and crowds, but eventually, he made it all the way to the investigator. “Hey, i-is it you?” he asked out. The male looked down and smiled calmly. “You must be Hyōen? I’ve heard about you. My name is Nilan; you might’ve heard me from Dr. Dacol.” The man gave his hand out and shook Hyōen’s, while Coda shrieked in curiosity. “I’d like to ask you a few questions. I wasn’t with you yesterday, so I don’t know much about the ‘spirit’, but if you may, then perhaps I can get some clear information about the situation?”

Hyōen looked at Nilan with a strange look in his eyes. Why? He was just curious about what happened at the river last night… where he got the visions. Perhaps he had to face it; years of locking away that event was no more. He had to tell the investigator what happened with the memories in the back of his head. “Okay… it all started with a blue ball in the middle of the river,” he started informing the detective, using his hands to illustrate the size of that ball, “Dex found it, but whenever he touched it, he was knocked away. I could touch it without losing my consciousness, though.” Holding his chin with a thumb and index finger in thoughts, he continued: “Oh, and it turned out to be a spirit of some sorts. A young person; not to mention that it was really creepy being nearby it, damn..!” Nilan kept his eyes in Dacol’s notes as he listened, thanking the fire wizard for his information with a quick nod. “Alright, may you care to come with me to the river once again? I’d like to see it with my own eyes, and with support…” The fire boy nodded with a smile and followed the man in charge, the very detective himself. His voice was quite cool, befitting an investigator that wasn’t sick in his mind.

Walking towards the river, Hyōen had a bad feeling. Something was odd with the atmosphere in the background, but Coda seemed as lively as always. Perhaps there weren’t need for worry? Hyōen, though, wanted to trust his instincts at times like this, so what was he going to do? Although, his thoughts ere interrupted as he accidently bumped into Nilan, causing the male to step a few steps forward in surprise. “H-Hey, watch it..!” the detective quickly grabbed his foothold out of anxiety for what was going on before them; the familiar spirit that Hyōen and Coda had met twice in the past was on his knees? “H-Hey, spirit guy..!!!” the wizard shouted, catching the poor deceased’s attention. He slowly lifted his face up and pointed towards someone else that stood before him; a large, dark figure on the river. It slowly turned towards Hyōen and the others, revealing its nasty atmosphere and ghastly appearance. It was far from similar to the spirit that he had got to know a little now, its appearance was much more hostile. “What the hell..!” he mumbled in shock, clenching his fist. Was this the cause of the blue spirit kneeling? Did it hurt him? Just thinking about that made Hyōen angry to the point that he was ready to jump in and give it some beating. However, could he even hit a ghost? Weren’t they, like, unphased by physical attacks; as far as he remembered, didn’t all of his magic focus on physique? He had to think about that for a brief second. “That is it. That is the tainted spirit,” the ghost proclaimed, preventing him from thinking any further as it attacked.

The spirit made it closer towards Hyōen and Nilan. It was gray and appeared like a humanoid being, but its hostility was great. It made a huge leap and suddenly found itself before the two males, before Hyōen even caught his breath. Shit, it’s fast!, he thought as its fist was planted into his cheek. He was slammed back, causing Nilan to throw himself to the side in order to avoid getting hurt. The battle had begun already, which was surprising for the Lamia Mage. He felt like the one to initiate a battle like this, but what was with its speed? It was faster than him, so dodging seemed almost impossible. Standing on his feet, though, he felt as if its punch was a little soft in it. It hurt, but combined with speed like that, shouldn’t it have hurt a little more?

Smiling a little, he prompted it to attack again. This time, it sent off a blast of pure mana, which was also to his surprise as he quickly burst up using his own magic; flames erupted from his feet and levitated him up in the air, letting him approach it while jetting to the sides for dodges. He quickly clenched a fist and dove towards the ghost, letting out: “Disappear!” Although, as fast as he tried to go, the punch only phased through it without even a flinch, causing him to land on the ground. What?! I knew it, I can’t hit ghosts at all, what an idiot I am!!!, he rebuked himself, but looking at it at that moment, the flames got caught on its auric garments. That gave him a hint to its weakness; magic.

He rose up on his feet once again and called: “This is getting boring, aren’t you supposed to try and scare me away from the river or what?” It reacted even before his words ended, having a blade of aura towards his neck. However, it quickly dashed to the side by the impact of Hyōen’s flames that smashed into its hip as he sent a small flame from his hand through. It clearly got hurt and all, but it wasn’t enough. Thinking about that, he quickly sent another flame towards its arm before it recovered and smashed it towards the trees nearby. Then, he swung it up to the sky; its speed wouldn’t function well while tied by that one, flaming rope that Hyōen created with a finger. He began inhaling, and as embers filled the air around his head, they all were sent flying from his lungs and covered the ghost in glowing wounds. The fire rope ended and let it land on the ground again, in which it quickly surprised him by having a knee sent up his chin. Hyōen was sent back, but as he landed with his cheek on the ground, he smiled. The scorch had hit the ghost and caused its body to change dramatically, the dark silhouette and cloak turning into that of a more humanoid… human?

Spells Used:

Spitting onto the ground a few meters away, Hyōen noticed that the friendly spirit was sitting beside the collapsed body. He was smiling peacefully, finally free of the terror that the tainted spirit had caused it. The fire mage and Nilan approached it slowly, before it turned its face towards them with a friendly look. “I must give my thanks, thanks a lot,” it spoke in gratitude. Its face was at the verge of having tears, but did ghosts cry? Given by the ghost stories, Hyōen didn’t think so as Coda kept pecking his head during the moment. “… Who was that?” the fire mage asked in curiosity, “A friend of yours? He was quite hostile… perhaps-“ “Uhm,” the ghost suddenly mumbled in awkwardness, turning its face away, “… Nevermind that. Actually, now that you’ve helped me and all, then I have to reward you. Come closer.” The two males were assured by the atmosphere that the ghost wasn’t planning on anything dirty and approached it, before it laid a hand on Nilan. “I’ll revive a memory for you. Make sure to enjoy it in its fullest, because it won’t be relived again,” the ghost spoke to Nilan, before sending him to his lost memories. For Hyōen, he just saw the man stand still, his eyes closed and with a peaceful face. “I have to thank you too, fire wizard,” the ghost spoke to the Lamia Mage, “If there are any lost memories that you wish to relive through, then come and take my hand.” Watching it, he felt like that it was a second chance; a chance to see her again. Without hesitating, he grabbed it and suddenly found himself in the woods, far, far away from Orchidia…

“… This is…” he mumbled quietly. The Worth Woodsea, his home where he used to live with his mother. Everything felt real, the smell, the feeling of waving one’s hands across the leaves as he walked across the shrubbery. He couldn’t see Coda on his shoulder as usual, but… something’s voice called to him in the distance. “!” He couldn’t but quickly turn up the speed and rush over the bushes, until he reached his cottage. “My home… wait, that means-“ His voice was cut off by the view of a very familiar person walk out of the front door, looking over at Hyōen with a worried face. “You shouldn’t walk out so late,” she warned him, “You can get lost. Then the wolves might eat ya.”

When he opened his eyes again after a while, tears were visible trickling down his cheek. He smiled. Nilan was feeling the same way as he was writing down notes, his tears hitting the wet paper. “T-This is… oh, Hyōen,” the detective spoke to the fire mage, ”Thank you… thank you! I can’t believe what blessing that I’ve received because of you..!” He held his cheek with a hand and wiped the tears off, while Hyōen’s boiled off his skin. “Yeah… I feel much better now, too,” he replied to the detective.