Rematch

Kies walked through the forest, heading towards the direction of where the banshee had flown off in. Since Kies couldn't change into spirit form, Haro, which was the owl's name, had come up with another plan. Kies didn't want to keep referring to the owl as "you" or "owl," and so he asked for its name. The owl told Kies that its name was Haro and that he was a male and to stop Arc from referring to him as an "it" whenever Arc spoke of him since he didn't like being treated as an object.

Haro explained to Kies what he needed to do. The plan was to have him bait and stall the banshee long enough for Haro to arrive. Haro would then swoop in and enter the banshee minds and free Ammine.

The reason why Kies was tasked with stalling the banshee is that, according to Haro, the banshee would be able to sense his presence if he was nearby. Since Haro was quite powerful, he emitted an aura that would cause the banshee to flee the moment that it sensed that he was nearby, and because of this, Kies would need to find some way to keep the banshee on him long enough for Haro.

Kies didn't know how he was going to hold the banshee for Haro to arrive, but he decided that he would figure something out once it happened.

'Make a turn left and you will find it just a few steps away,' said Haro's voice through Kies's head.

'Okay, got it,' Kies said back with his mind. The first time that Haro used telepathy, Kies was so surprised that he almost walked into a tree. He remembered Arc mentioning it before and doing it as well, but he has still yet to learn how to use it. Haro tried explaining how it worked to Kies but he didn't understand a thing he said.

'Maybe I should ask Haro if he could teach me it later," Kies thought to himself. 'I need to tell Ni-' Kies suddenly felt a spike of pain in his chest. He put his hand on his chest and the other on a tree to support himself so that he didn't fall over. Kies closed his eyes and clenched his teeth in response to the pain. "Ugh..."

'Are you alright child?' Haro asked Kies in a concerned voice. 'I sense discomfort coming from your mind.'

The pain continued for another few seconds before it mysteriously disappeared. 'Yeah, I'm fine. My chest just started hurting for whatever reason.' Kies told Haro. It was the second time that something like this happened. Kies made a mental note to himself to ask Arc about it later. Maybe Arc had an answer to why this was happening to him.

'Though I really wish that Arc would just stay with me.' Arc was busy going through the archive to try to find any hidden or lost information about the Stormcaller. 'Anyway, what was I thinking about again? Why did I want Haro to teach me how to use telepathy magic?' Kies shook his head and could not remember why.

The other time this happened was when he saw the necklace. He felt that it was something important but he couldn't exactly grasp what it was. But he knew one thing for sure and it was that it was related to whatever it was that he was thinking before that sudden spike of pain came had a connection with the necklace? Kies wasn't sure but that was the only explanation that he could think of. He will have to figure out why this was happening later. Right now, he needed to focus on the task at hand.

'You're very close to it. Be careful,' Haro gave Kies a heads-up. 'You should be contacting the banshee any moment now.'

Kies slows down his pace and quietly approaches the area where the banshee is said to be. He carefully looks around his surroundings to make sure that he does not accidentally miss it. A minute passes and Kies makes it to the designated area and searches around for the banshee. 'I don't see it,' Kies tells Haro.

'Hoot, that's strange. Wait... it's under you, dodge!' Haro shouted in Kies's mind. Kies immediately tumbles away from where he was standing just in time to see the banshee burst out of the dirt.

"You again!" it hissed.

"Wait, you could speak?"

"How ignorant, of course I can. I just didn't have the energy before to do so," the banshee told Kies. It then smiled and said, "That demon is filling me up quite nicely."

Kies remained calm and watched the banshee as it flew around. The banshee's provocation didn't work on him since well, he didn't exactly feel much emotion. Kies couldn't tell whether this is a good thing or not since not feeling emotions has both its merits and downsides. But for fighting, he guessed that it is a good thing to be able to calmly assess the situation.

'Hoo, it looks like that banshee absorbed quite a bit from your friend. It's much more powerful than before,' Haro told Kies. 'It won't be an easy fight.' Kies looked at the banshee as it flew around him. To him, it didn't look any stronger than it was before but Haro is better at sensing magic than him so he'll trust his word.

The banshee circled Kies and examined him and said wickedly, "I don't know why I couldn't take your soul before but this time I'll make sure I do."

---

Grammar errors, story errors, other errors, and advice, email flightless05@gmail.com

Thanks!