The Crystal Cave

"Maruna. Is there a fairy sitting on that rock over there?" Ryuma asked pointing at the red creature. It looked like a gopher with the wings of a bat. It had a sharp horn on its head. Just like everything else here, it would fade in and out of existence.

"You really can see them! Aren't they cute!?" Her cheeks flushed.

Ryuma folded his arms and thought on it for a second. It looks like he can to an extent see something. Of course, it didn't feel like he gained anything to do it. It was probably something outside of himself that's giving him this ability. Like this place. It's temporary, limited to this space.

He turned his attention to Maruna's smiling face. This little girl was the anomaly. She didn't need this area to have this ability. It's obvious she was born with it. Not only is she too young to think about honing her abilities, those abilities manifested itself further than his temporary ones. He could only see them and barely at that.

Not only was she able to see them clearly, but she can commune with them as well. How far was her level of interaction with these… invisible creatures.

"Maruna. Have you ever touched the fairies before?" Ryuma asked. The creatures so far have been nonchalantly passing through anything, including him. Was Maruna different in that regard too.

"Ummmm… Maybe…" She began looking through the corner of her eyes. "I don't know," She hid the answer through obvious smiles.

{She picked quite an area to be playful.}

Ryuma sighed. "Oh well. If I can't get you to tell me, I guess I'll have to take the ability myself… BY EATING YOU!"

He jumped on her and started fake biting her right on the nape of her neck. "AAhhhh! Stop! Stop! You're mouth tickles!" She tried to push him away but he was much larger than her.

"Tickles!" Ryuma thought for a second. "I forgot about that," Instead of biting her, he glided his fingers all around her small body.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!! OK, OK! I GIVE UP!" Maruna said.

"Oh really. Then can you tell me if you can touch them?" Ryuma asked once again.

"Yeah! I can touch them," She said.

Right on cue, one of the creatures flew up to her and gently landed on her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek.

Ryuma went closer to her and lightly swiped his hand through it. Despite it still being in contact with her, his hand went through it.

What exactly are these things? He looked around and each one of them looked different from the other. "And they said I have a fairy with me?"

"MMhhhmmm," Maruna nodded her head.

Ryuma put his finger on his chin. If they had to inform her about it, it must not be a fairy she could see. "Can you see this fairy?" He had to ask anyway.

Maruna tilted her body back and forth trying to look all around him. This time she shook her head back and forth.

So it was a fairy that neither of them could see despite Maruna's gift in seeing them. Only the fairies themselves.

"Maruna. Is there something the fairies wanted me to do?" Ryuma asked. For one reason or another, he didn't think he was being called here just because he was friends with the girl.

Maruna looked around. Ryuma couldn't hear a thing being said from them. She turned towards the direction of the red gopher-bat and pointed. "They want you to touch that crystal rock,"

So he had it right earlier. These things are aware of their limited communication, so they're speaking with action over words, also communing through Maruna. These fairies possess intelligence.

Ryuma inched closer towards the rock. As he got closer, he could feel the breeze of wind get slightly stronger. He knelt again and put both hands on the wind crystal. He felt a surge of wind gust circling all around him. It was as if he activated his whirlwind spin wind Artes move.

But he didn't do anything.

The blessing of wind itself were stirring up from within him. His clothes fluttered and his hair lifted. He closed his eyes and searched within himself. His wind energy was spiraling out of control.

Ryuma immediately sat down crossed legged and began focusing his energy. He had to stabilize it otherwise he could end up blowing a powerful gust. In an enclosed area like this, the pressure would be too much for Maruna to handle. She could get seriously hurt.

Inside his own mindscape was like a raging typhoon of which controlling it was something he's never done before.

"Think Ryuma, think. I need to calm this down," He said.

He created another typhoon that blew in the opposite direction and crashed it into the current typhoon. The crash in wind volume caused both typhoons to halt and create an area of null wind.

Though it was tranquil in the middle, the sides all around him still spun. This time, not as vicious as it previously was.

"Wind Artes: Burst!"

He blew up the space inside him to stop the flow of wind. It finally became tranquil again. Ryuma breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't raging out of control, he now could handle the changes going through his body. After a moment of null and tranquility, a small and gentle breeze started blowing through his body.

He did a few breathing exercises and began controlling the flow of this new wind he had. It felt gentle and pure.

With everything finally stable, Ryuma opened his eyes back up and he was back inside the crystal cave.

"Wake up Ewin! Wake up!" Maruna kept shaking him.

"Calm down Maruna. I'm all right," Ryuma said.

She stopped shaking him and looked into his eyes. She buried her face into his stomach and hugged him tight.

"Maruna. Is everything all right?" Ryuma asked.

"Ewin kept ignoring me. Ewin wouldn't speak," Maruna's cheeks puffed as she pouted.

He kept ignoring her? How long was he gone? Ryuma looked around and realized that the room that was previously icy blue was now hollow and shaded. Did he managed to suck the wind out of the room? What's going on?

"Maruna. Are the fairies saying anything right now?" Ryuma asked. He stayed silent to hear what she was getting.

"They said, keep fighting," She said.

Ryuma put his finger on his temple in thought. If they wanted him to keep fighting, then clearly they must've viewed him as an ally over an enemy. Plus whatever path he was on, they were in full support of. It would seem they know the cause and effect.

Thing is… Ryuma couldn't understand what was in it for them.

If they couldn't see or hear the majority of the fairies, then these fairies should be divorced from the politics and suffering of the residence of Straissand. Why such an interest to change the status quo? After thinking, Ryuma decided to drop it. Nothing he could come up with would change anything anyway. He had to deal with the here and now.

"Maruna. You've trusted me with this secret. I want to tell you a secret of mines," Ryuma said. Against his better judgement, there was nothing to gain from telling her, but her revealing this to him has done something to his wind energy. He didn't learn any move, but he could feel how pure it is now. Something was different about it. Something no normal White Dragon member could get.

"A secret?" She asked.

He put a finger up against his lips. "My real name is Ryuma. Just don't tell anyone,"

"Ruma?" She asked.

"Ehhh… close enough," He decided to let it go right there. Hell it was better that she butchered his name like she normally did. At least in that way, nobody would still know who he was. "Just keep calling me Erin if you want. You'll understand when you're older," He smiled at her.

His smile became contagious as she smiled back. Though she didn't understand anything, seeing him smile was enough to let her know that everything was all right now.

"Come on. I think we should get out of here now," He got up and led the way outside.

Once they were on the road again, the walk was silent. It was about time Ryuma should tell her. "Maruna… There's something I need to tell you,"

Maruna looked up at him with innocent eyes as they held hands. "Is Ruma gonna tell Maruna another secret?"

Ryuma stayed silent. "No Maruna. Ryuma is going to go away for a while. There's something I need to find," He said.

Her smile faded when the words finally processed through her mind and her body froze. "Ruma's leaving…" Her eyes darkened and her hand fell away from his.

Ryuma sighed. "Yes. Ruma has to go look for something. It's too dangerous for me to stay here,"

Tears silently spilled out of her eyes and she ran and hugged his leg tighter than she ever had before. "Maruna doesn't want Ruma to leave. Ruma has to stay with Maruna forever," Her voice cracked as she spoke.

Ryuma knelt and hugged her even tighter. He knew this was going to be hard for her. What he wasn't expecting, was how much harder it was going to be for him.