Retrieval

"I'm sorry! Please let me go! I didn't know that they were your servants," the banshee begged Haro to release it.

"Ah, settle down already, will you," Haro yawned. "You always break your promises, and no amount of pleading will get you out this time." Haro waved his wing and a layer of wind surrounded the banshee's mouth, gagging it. "Now then." Haro turns over to Kies who is still lying on the ground. "The Aeos excel in magic recovery. You should've recovered enough magic power to get back up by now." But Kies did not respond. He continued to lay flat on the ground and was absolutely still.

"Hoo, that's strange," Haro mutters to himself as he slowly descends from the tree and lands next to Kies. Haro examines what the problem was and immediately recognizes what was wrong. "Hoo, how reckless." Haro places one of his wings just over Kies's head and pours some magic power into him. Kies twitches and then slowly rolls over to his back.

"Ugh, what..." Kies still felt extremely drowsy. He wasn't sure what happened but he suddenly collapsed for some unknown reason.

"Child," Haro called out. Kies looked over at Haro and suddenly recalled what he was doing.

"Huh? Oh! The banshee!" Kies shot up and looked around but couldn't find it. Did it escape?

"You don't have to worry about that. It's right there." Haro points his wingtips at the banshee which was behind a few trees. "Now then, I'll free your friend's soul, and after that, we have much to discuss, practically about the weaknesses of an Aeos," Haro told Kies.

"What do you mean?" Kies wasn't sure but did something happen to him? Did he screw up somewhere during the fight with the banshee?

"You used up all of your magic power and collapsed. That is very dangerous," Haro explained to Kies. "I'll tell you about it later, once we're somewhere safe."

"Alright." Kies rubbed his head which was still dizzy from using up too much magic. Kies got up and slowly walked to the banshee which was completely under Haro's control. It wasn't struggling at all as it had with Kies. Actually, it was more like that it couldn't even struggle at all. The winds binding it were so powerful that they prevented the banshee from even being able to move even a tiny bit.

As Kies got closer to the banshee, he sensed that the winds were fierce and unyielding but at the same time, tamed and obedient. Kies examined the winds to try to figure out how exactly they became like that when Haro flew up from behind him and landed next to the banshee. He saw what Kies was curious about and asked him, "Are you interested in how I am able to make them behave this way?"

"Yes, the winds that I called upon before were hard to control and it felt like they didn't want to listen to me."

"It's simple. You need to have the winds obey you."

"Sorry?"

"You see, the winds are like wild beasts. In order to tame them, you have to show them that you are the one in control. Or in simpler terms, you just need to get stronger," Haro explained. "Now then, enough chit-chat, let's start." With a wave of Haro's wings, the winds that were gagging the banshee mouth dispersed. And before the banshee could say a word, Haro jammed his talons into the banshee's head and its eyes rolled up.

Kies watched silently as Haro was concentrating on whatever he was doing. Some time passed as Haro and the banshee continued to be frozen in place. A bit more time passed and suddenly Haro pulled something out of the banshee's forehead and wrapped the object around in a sphere of wind before giving it to Kies. Kies took a closer look at the strange glowing sphere. It was small and weightless but at the same time felt very heavy. It was a feeling that Kies couldn't describe. What was this thing?

"That's your friend's soul," Haro told Kies. "Now then, we're done here. Let's go back to your friend's body."

"Wait, what about the banshee?" Kies pointed at the banshee who was still unconscious after whatever Haro had done to it.

"Issie."

"What?"

"The banshee name is Issie. What? Are you surprised that she has a name?" Haro asked.

"Oh, that's what you mean. Wait, how do you know its name... ah nevermind. Anyway, what are you going to do with her," Kies asked again.

"Leaving her here will be fine. She'll get the punishment she deserves." Haro waved his wings around them. Kies didn't understand what Haro meant but then saw all the undeads and spirits hiding in the trees around them. They had come to see what all the noise was, and they were all eyeing the banshee hungrily. "Actually on second thought..."

Haro placed his talon on the banshee's forehead again. There was a bright light as the banshee shrunk into a small wisp. Still unconscious, Haro picked her up with one of his talons. "I rather not have something devour her and evolve into a greater undead. It would be a nuisance to deal with. The forest already has enough of them causing trouble," said Haro. "Okay, shall we?"

"How do we get past all of them?" Kies pointed at all the undeads and spirits surrounding them.

"Don't worry about them child. They dare not harm you with me here," Haro assured Kies. The owl flew over to Kies and landed on his shoulder and motioned his wing for him to start moving.

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