Master Of None

”Why do you rest alone? You arrived with others.” The single voice came from the larger echidna that the party had run in to first. Su looked at him wondering what he would approach her.

”I just wanted time to myself. I need to think about what I will do while the others meet with your people. I have not decided yet.” Su gave a somewhat vague answer but it was still true in many ways.

She had seen Onyx show off his growth and she was incredibly proud of him. Just as he was Walker and Midnight’s younger brother, he was her family too. Her younger brother too. But in a way, she was jealous.

All of her goals to protect people and those she cared for had seemed to be foolish in the sense of real danger. The thoughts of Walker being held in stalemate against a powerful undead had rocked her mental stability. But when she saw Onyx struck down and on his death bed, it had shaken her heart.

”You are a warrior, a guardian, are you not?” The echidna warrior clearly saw that Su was not the same as the others. She did not carry a bow or perform magic. She carried shields and moved around the others as they had walked. Something only those with protective instincts would do.

”I am a draconic guardian. That’s the system the world gave me after we completed our quests. It changed everything.” Su did go in to much detail. She felt that it would be odd to recite the entire life story of starting off as a guardian then turning in to something that literally altered her body and race and affinities. It would be too much to handle.

”You are similar to what our ancestors were. Part dragon. Influenced by another race until they discovered the path of nature and reunited with our ancient blood. But you are not embracing your nature. You are fighting your instincts. Relying only on your past values.”

The calm statement made Syuu immediately feel angry. She turned with a glare toward the echidna warrior. She was sure that this was some kind of mocking, some form of taunting that would be enough to solicit a battle of some kind.

Yet, when Su looked at the echidna warrior, she saw nothing. No hatred or jealousy. Not a single bit of malice at all. He had stated it calmly and without trying to look in to any other form of battle because of it. It was genuinely an honest response.

”It is right to be confused. As a child, I wanted to follow the instincts of my ancient blood. I thought that they were what makes me closer to nature. But as I learned from those instincts, I learned that I was not trying them at all.” a somber mood seemed to grow around the two as the echidna warrior spoke.

”I was following my views. They were of one eye, not of two. I followed the one path that I had imagined made my blood and path clear. When I failed over and over to become a warrior worthy of nature’s blessing, I realized that I had failed myself by keeping one eyes open and one eye closed.”

” Venturing in to nature without any weapon or armor, I learned of what my true instincts were. The silent flow of nature all around me. The fact that I could take in some of that and carve my own warrior path. I can sense things better with my ancient blood. Smell, see, and feel things. I have not accepted those properly because I focused on the achievement, not the path.”

”We may be of two races, yet we both exist within the world and the flow. You just need to take to them to reflect on what you are now and where you must go. Find the path between them. Use the things you already have and let them act openly instead of controlling them. Then you will find your true potential.”

Su’s eyes gleamed with understanding. She knew there was more. The exact reasons she would need to find would be more than what she imagined. However, she was sure that just these words would be enough to make a dent in what she needed to do. As she stood up, the echidna guardian seemed to relax more. It was clear that Suyu had accepted his short story and was willing to take a gamble of allowing herself more freedom from her own control. From the rigidity of the earth affinity, she had begun with.

It wasn’t normal at all for Su to feel so accepting of some strangers words. But she did. Especially as she noted that the flow of mana around the warrior was more than it had been just a moment.

”Can you sense the mamas around you? I’m out home nature provides us a way to find the paths we must travel. You are very much like the respected young dragon. The bond you share is clear to us. You both can feel every part of nature. Yet you have limited yourself.”

The echidna warrior struck a stance. The large staff he held gathered mana and showed the spear like form of earth that gathered on one end and water blade form on the other. ”Both mamas are equal yet flow around me still. Your shields could be the same if you opened your eyes.”

While it appeared that this was more than just a show of strength, Su felt that there was something else deeper. A bit of proof that this warrior could sense her mana as well as his own. He clearly showed he could move both earth and water which Su could not. She was closer to earth and had focused on it.

”I would be-”

”Your partner would not disapprove of this. The elemental spirits are the embodiment of nature’s aspects. Deeply connected to the world. You are one of the chosen by earth. But you are more than that. It does not limit you. It gives you a rock to stand on. The same as how we build our huts.”

Su opened her mouth to respond after being cut off but she couldn’t respond at all. She felt her spirit mark thrum with a little extra earth mana. As if the slumbering grand earth spirit she trusted so much had still heard the echidna speak.

”Fine, I will copy you and see what I can find in your jungle.” Su set the twin shields aside with great worry. She always had a shield. It was part of who she was. An extension of herself.

”May the world bless you, hero.” The echidna warrior smiled. His thoughts a total mystery to Su. Yet, she felt that it was more than what he said and did. That he was somehow completing his own quest and looking at someone who was about to grow. The very same way that Su liked at the children in the cathedral.

As Su felt a slight pain from leaving her shields next to the trees, she also felt light. As if she had been carrying an added weight. She had put an insane amount of pressure on herself when it came to carrying the shields. Weapons that protected those around her.

This weight had been holding her back from experiencing what had truly been going on with her body. She had been limited to defending and attacking with shields only. Other aspects of her training falling being held back, limited by her ability to understand clearly.

As a mist rose I’m the jungle, the hot air proved to be easily ignored. Even the sweat that gathered on Su’s skin was something she barely noticed. Her resistances to the environment well above anyone else’s.

Her mind resting on the simple fact that she had not flinched at journeying in to a wilderness with no knowledge. But she could sense it all. Different mamas around her just out of grasp.

Su felt the differences between the city, villages, and even the broken flow of mana in the undead ruins. This place allowed everything to exist as it should be. Even the system she had felt less attached. She felt more free than she ever had.

A slight tingle around her body began to become clear to her. It was mana she had never let come so close to her Naturally flowing toward her. All manas, the manas she had affinities for because of her system and bonds that she had not pursued as of yet.

A clear picture of who she was started to form in her mind. Not just a draconic guardian, but of someone meant to protect more than just a dragon. The truth of a true draconic guardian and a nature dragon that had appeared for the first time in a great many years. What she needed to learn to stand beside them and fight for their values.

….

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