Stellar Echo: Heart of the Myst

Time passed, and the day finally arrived when Erik and Ignis were supposed to meet. Eleonora and Sigrún were in the garden of the latter’s mansion, sipping tea around a beautifully carved glass table, while Erik ate his cookies without a care in the world.

“Well, Erik, do you have everything ready?” Sigrún asked calmly, looking at her disciple who seemed completely relaxed, even though he was about to find out if he could secure a contract with a spirit or not.

“Yes, master.”

“Fufufu, I never expected an ancestral spirit to want a leather bag,” Eleonora commented with a cheerful smile, finding the situation incredibly amusing.

“Now that you mention it, master, I’ve been wondering lately, are there other types of spirits besides the ancestral ones?” Erik asked curiously, to which Eleonora responded with a smile.

“Yes, there are several types of spirits. In fact, spirits are entities that exist in a parallel dimension to ours. They are not only incredibly skilled in using magic and connecting with the Myst, but they also usually possess unique, strange abilities.

Their strength and status levels depend largely on their age. The most powerful and respected are known as ancestral spirits, like Sig's contracted spirit, but there are also newborn spirits, which are very young spirits just beginning to understand their existence and power.

Next are the juvenile spirits, who already understand their power a bit and can control it to some extent. After them are the mature spirits, who have gained a solid understanding of their abilities and have amassed considerable knowledge.

The next in line are the ancient spirits, which have lived for hundreds of thousands of years. They not only possess an impressive level of power but have also acquired a vast amount of knowledge, which they use to improve their own powers and affinities, refining and enhancing their special abilities.

Lastly, there are the ancestral spirits, which are incredibly ancient. No one knows exactly how long they’ve lived, but what sets them apart from all others is that they not only have an incomparable amount of power but have also taken their innate special abilities beyond comprehension. 

For example, Sig’s contracted spirit, the phoenix of mystical fire, Ignis Caelestis, has, as you might imagine, blue flames as her special ability. These flames are not only terribly destructive, but also make her practically immortal. There is no wound or curse that her blue flames cannot heal, something Sig, as her contractor, can also use.”

Eleonora’s explanation left Erik utterly astounded. After all, that was real immortality, which inevitably led him to look at Sigrún with surprise, who was elegantly and calmly sipping her tea, as if they weren’t talking about her. However, the slight smile on her lips revealed how pleased she felt.

“Are you immortal, master?” Erik asked Sigrún with evident surprise.

“It’s not that I’m exactly immortal. I can still die when my lifespan ends. Moreover, that power entirely depends on my mana, so if I run out of energy, there’s nothing I can do. Therefore, it’s more accurate to say that I’m immortal in battle, as long as I have mana to use.”

“That’s impressive…”

Erik commented in a voice full of awe, looking at Sigrún as if she were a superstar, which greatly boosted Sigrún’s ego, making her smile smugly. But the starry-haired young man quickly turned to Eleonora and asked with anticipation.

“And do you have a contracted spirit, master?”

Erik’s question brought a bitter smile to Eleonora’s beautiful cherry-colored lips, who gently shook her head as she explained.

“No, I don’t have one. Contracting a spirit is quite rare. If you don’t belong to special clans that have ancient pacts with spirits, it basically depends on luck. So, even though at the university you can find people who have a contract with a spirit without belonging to one of those clans.

The vast majority are newborn or juvenile spirits, and only a minimal number of people in the order have contracts with a mature spirit without belonging to a clan. Beyond that, it’s directly improbable. Sig was practically a statistical anomaly.”

“I understand… I was really lucky that Ignis was willing to introduce me to a spirit…”

"You have no idea how much. Many people will go crazy when they find out and will ask anyone with a contracted spirit to speak on their behalf to get at least a chance," Eleonora nodded with satisfaction, seeing that her disciple was now beginning to understand the importance of the opportunity he had obtained.

"Well, enough complicated talk. It's time to call Ignis, what do you think, Erik?"

Sigrún spoke a bit hurriedly, as Erik seemed to be lost in thought, and that was not good, since she could more or less guess what might come to the star-haired boy's mind. It had already been an incredible stroke of luck that Ignis wanted to introduce him to a spirit; asking for more could offend her.

"Okay, master."

Erik snapped out of his thoughts and nodded to his master, who immediately summoned Ignis, causing a flare of blue fire to appear out of nowhere near the table, a flare that soon took the form of a beautiful phoenix.

"It’s a pleasure to see you again, Erik."

It seemed Ignis greeted warmly in her characteristic elegant and sophisticated style, to which Erik responded with a smile as he stood up from his chair.

"The feeling is mutual, Ignis, and look what I made."

Erik immediately took out from his storage ring a beautiful bag of sophisticated elegance and intricate bird accents, sculpted in soft, durable leather of a medium blue hue reminiscent of phoenix feathers.

"What do you think? In the end, I decided not to use the black bison leather I told you about and instead bought some leather with this beautiful blue shade that resembles your flames. Moreover, I made it so it has two modes of use. You can hang it on your back..."

Erik took out two beautifully decorated straps made from the same type of leather and showed the back of the bag, which had two blue metal hooks, cleverly hidden in the bag's design, and continued.

"...you just have to attach these straps to these hooks, and it's ready. You can carry it on your back, or you can cross it over your body using just one of them and attaching it to these hooks on the sides. And look at the interior."

Erik quickly opened the bag to reveal a cream-colored satin lining, dotted with delicate gold and silver bird embroidery, evoking a starry sky in broad daylight. This caused Ignis to come closer and look at it from all sides, feeling pleased. Then she spoke in a satisfied tone.

"It’s beautiful, I love it. Can you cross it over my body?"

"Of course."

With fluid movements, Erik quickly attached the strap to the side hooks of the bag and hung it over Ignis's body. The bag looked exquisite on Ignis, gently contrasting with her flames and feathers, appearing as an emblem of sophistication and seeming to echo her graceful movements.

"It looks great on you, Ignis. I didn’t know Erik had such a talent for this; maybe I should ask for one," Sigrún commented gracefully, while looking at the bag with some envy.

"Don’t worry, master. I made one for each of you as well."

(Hehe, I saw this coming from miles away...)

Without wasting a second, Erik quickly took out two more bags from his ring, which were no less impressive than Ignis's. One was made of tanned leather in a rich honey color, with bright blue embroidery resembling flames dancing over a log. The other was made of metallic gray leather, embroidered with pure silver threads forming complex, stylized patterns resembling lightning bolts.

With a swift motion, Erik handed his masters their bags, which they received delightedly. They quickly hung them up and started posing with them in front of large floating mirrors they had summoned from their storage rings.

"Hey Erik, it's not fair that you make more bags. Mine was supposed to be a thank you for introducing you to a spirit," Ignis protested, slightly dissatisfied, seeing the whole scene. To which Erik quickly responded in a calm tone with a warm smile on his face.

"I know, Ignis, and I’m truly grateful to you for that. But I’m equally grateful to my masters. They’ve given me everything, taught me many things over the years, and treat me very well. They’ve literally given me a dream life. I can’t just make you a bag and give them nothing."

"Well, you have a point there..." Ignis commented in understanding, though still a bit dissatisfied. But She quickly recovered and added, "But let me introduce you to the spirit who will form a contract with you."

With Ignis's words, a large black lightning bolt manifested out of nowhere not far from her. It soon took the shape of a black snake about a meter long, with a powerful appearance, a large, sleek jaw, and big, robust scales.

"This is Ebonique, a lightning spirit."

With this brief introduction, Erik looked at Ignis with incredibly grateful eyes and quickly ran towards the snake Ebonique, asking in an excited voice.

"Hello, Ebonique, I’m Erik. Would you like to form a contract with me?"

The snake looked at Erik for a while, almost as if analyzing him carefully, then quickly glanced at Ignis, who discreetly nodded.

"Hello, disciple Erik. As you have been told, I am Ebonique and I am already informed of everything, so it would be a pleasure for me to form a contract with you."

The snake spirit spoke with a magnetic female voice, something that excited Erik immensely, who quickly asked with bright eyes.

"That’s great! I just need to give you a drop of my blood, right?"

"Yes, that’s correct, disciple Erik."

The group of two spirits and the young man moved a bit further away on Ignis's recommendation. Erik quickly bit his index finger and then let a drop of blood fall onto Ebonique’s head, who bowed respectfully.

The moment the drop of blood touched Ebonique’s head, a powerful black light enveloped both Erik and her, then began to expand rapidly. This phenomenon was immediately contained by Sigrún and Eleonora, preventing it from being seen from outside.