The Frozen Past
11 years ago, on the island of which Yggdrasil resides, Fenrir was placed in the forest of spirits because Yuki was unable to control despite being half Yuki-onna. Yes, a Yuki-onna, a yokai mentioned in Japanese culture. In this world, the Yuki-onna race is controlled by a queen, her name is Yukimi, the strongest Yuki-onna to ever live. She holds a seat in the immortal council but rarely shows up.
She was the only one separated from Yuki because a half Yuki-onna cannot control the ice in them. Since she was half-human, she could be killed by the ice inside her, so I had to be separated from her so she could grow up until she was able to possess me again.
Anyway, when she was placed in the forest of spirits, she was placed a day after another batch of spirits. There were eight of them, 7 out of the 8 had already awoken but one was still in rest. This was the spirit of light that Fenrir mentioned.
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{Fenrir POV}
"Why hasn't this one awoken yet?"
Me and a small dark panther were staring at a small glowing orb. Though it was small, I could sense a large amount of energy trying to spill out.
"I have no idea. Usually, we are all supposed to wake up at the same time, but this one just never did."
"Could it possibly due to the amount of energy it's emitting?"
"Maybe."
When I woke up, this panther, well, she didn't have a name since she wasn't a legendary spirit like me, is a spirit of darkness. She woke up as soon as she arrived and had to calm her comrades down when they awoke. This was the only spirit that never woke up.
"Should we come back tomorrow?"
"Yes, I believe it will awaken tomorrow."
If spirits don't wake up a week after their separation from their possessor, they will eventually fade away and then die. Then when they wake up, they only have 4-5 years to live until they have to return to where they belong. That goes the same for legendary spirits like me.
Crack!
That was a crack. I immediately turned my head towards the small orb. A small crack had appeared.
"It's going to awaken."
"Yes, it is."
More cracks started appearing. How powerful will this spirit be? Once the orb breaks, its power will pour out and it'll attract every spirit on this island. When I woke up, I was surrounded by almost every spirit on this island.
Snap!
A branch on a tree snapped off.
!
This is bad, it's going to fall on top of the orb. If the orb is destroyed from the outside, the spirit inside will die, no matter how strong they are. Our shells are extremely delicate so we can be easily destroyed, but once we awaken, our power is what will be protecting us.
I dashed towards the orb and snatched it away just in time to avoid the branch.
"Nice save Fenrir."
"Thank you."
Crack!
The orb was full of cracks now. I carefully placed it down, and we waited till it awoke.
Shatter!
The orb had now broken up, but what happened was unexpected.
Emerging from the orb was not this tiny creature, but it was a dragon, a huge one to be in fact. Though it could be smaller than the leviathan spirit that awoke in the spirit of darkness' batch.
And then the dragon let out a screeching roar.
"ROAARRRRRR!!!!!"
Its cry echoed through the entire island. The effect of his roar had blown the surrounding trees away. Its aura was spilling all over the island, the spirit of darkness began choking due to the amount of energy it was scattering. Luckily, the tree of life, Yggdrasil, was able to suck in the overflowing aura and soon the island returned to its normal state, except for the trees.
After that, the spirit of darkness was able to calm the spirit of light.
"Do you know what your name is?"
I asked the giant dragon. His golden and white scales glittered with this effect of dominance.
"Yes, I am the d-"
He fell into silence. He couldn't remember his own name or who he once was. He only knew that he was once an important dragon before he became a spirit. When a legendary spirit awakens, if they don't know their own name, that means they were forgotten in history. Even if they were forgotten in history, their powers are the same, so it didn't really matter. But a name is what defines the spirit, and if their names are forgotten, they can never really let out the full potential in them.
"Where am I? Where is this...place?"
I explained to him where we were and what we are. I also explained to him the purpose of why we exist. When I got to the part where we are separated from our possessors, he started to gain some memories.
"Do you know who you are now?"
"Yes, but I don't know my name, why do I not know my name?"
"You may have been forgotten."
"I was forgotten?"
"But you can live a new life now, well, for 4 or 5 years that is. You may have been forgotten a long time ago, but you can now live a new life as a spirit."
"...I see, thank you."
"Anytime."
4 years before my departure, we had a small sparring match. I expected him to be powerful, but not that powerful.
Doooooom!!!
"Sorry about that."
"I-it's alright."
His power was higher than what it was when he awoke. Now that a few years passed, we were acting as leaders of a spirit faction. I was the acting leader of the ice spirits while he was the acting leader of the light spirits.
"So, we're done with sparring right?"
"Yes, I believe we have another meeting."
"Yes..."
"What's wrong?"
"I-I have to return to my possessor soon."
"I see, it's that time already."
"Yes, I believe that you have to go earlier than me, right?"
"According to Regina, I have one more month."
"I only have a week left. I guess this meeting will be my last. I'll have to choose a fitting replacement."
"Yes."
After that 5 days past, I left the island and headed towards the kingdom of Kori. When I met Yuki again, she had grown up into a respectable girl. She had already become 4 years old, her birthday was on the 31st day of the 1st month. When I came back to her, her heart had become frozen in ice, in a figurative manner. She had no feelings whatsoever. Even when the queen tried talking to her or treat her in what a manner of a mother would, she would not respond. The only thing that could treat that was her younger sister, Asahi.
Asahi was one year younger than her, and she was this cute little thing. Yuki had loved her more than she loved herself. When Asahi fell ill, she did whatever she could to help her get better. Asahi was the key to thawing her heart. Yuki never once cared about what happened to her, and this worried her mother. So she personally came up to me and said that I need to protect Yuki no matter what.
That was my order. But sadly, she forgot one more thing to add, to protect her other daughter, Asahi.
5 years after I reunited with Yuki, someone from the dark legion kidnapped Asahi. We did not know why, but we tried our hardest to locate her. No luck, and after that, Yuki's heart had frozen once more. This time, she gave no care to anyone. If she hurt someone on accident, she would apologize, even if she hurt herself, she wouldn't care. This caused her mother to join the immortal council, to find her missing daughter.
At this point, Yuki's entire mind was filled with dark thoughts, her heart was still frozen, there was no hope.
Now that she has grown into a fine young woman, she has loosened her heart a bit. She started taking care of herself once more and her attitude gradually changed. But her heart stayed frozen. She put no effort into her feelings. Then just when I thought that all hope was lost until this boy came. White hair which gleamed in golden light, eyes different than the other, and deep inside, I saw his spirit. The spirit of light that I met in the forest of spirits.
Not just that, he had 7 other spirits. The spirits that I knew back when I saw on the island. His intensifying aura, it rested in him.
But that wasn't the only thing that was shocking, Yuki, her heart had thawed once more, it wasn't her sister this time but the boy.
I asked myself, was this fate? That I would eventually meet this boy who possessed the spirit of an old friend and that he was able to thaw my lady's heart?
I told Yuki to walk up to this boy and ask for his name.
His name was Lucian Caelum.
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