Dual Wielding

Corrin’s off-key voice sung out across the plains. “… So I bathed myself in a dragon’s flame! You might think it’s kind of lame, but you should sing this walking song with me! Now your turn Wyn!”

Wyn didn’t know this one, he tried to think of something on the fly. “Through—through mountains deep, and valleys high, I walked under the endless—"

“Mountains deep and valleys high?” Corrin interrupted with a smirk.

“How do you know so many of these in the first place?” Wyn defended himself.

“Used to sing them with my siblings all the time.” He snickered, “But I made that one up myself.”

Wyn pointed an accusing finger, “That’s cheating then!”

Corrin shrugged, then ducked under Wyn’s slap aimed for his forehead. “I like the lyrics though. Yeah, valleys deep, mountains high… I’ll remember that one.”

Wyn looked up at the brewing clouds above. The once bright sea of blue had become blanketed in a veil of gray. “Maybe I should’ve said dreary instead of endless though. I guess the good weather couldn’t hold forever, right?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look like it’ll storm though, probably just rain. What’s the plan for that?” Corrin asked, gazing at the sky as well.

Wyn broke his eyes from the sky to survey their surroundings. They’d walked quite a distance over the past week, but the environment hadn’t changed much. An expanse of green stretched out in all directions, and while there were hills, and even a huge ridge miles to the east, the lack of trees in the surrounding area gave them visibility for hundreds of yards.

“If it’s still raining by night, I’m fine just walking through it, sleeping in it sounds like a pain. We can push through and take a nap during the day if it does.”

Corrin groaned. “That sounds awful, but you’re probably right.”

Wyn hummed a thoughtful note, “We probably won’t need to eat for a few more hours. What do we have left?”

“Almost everything. We’ll make it to Wind’s Rest before we run out of any supplies.”

“We’ll eat whatever’s easy then. No point resting tonight. Pass me some bread, I’ll have some now before it starts raining.”

Corrin reached into one of the side-pouches, handing him a chunk. Of course, it immediately began to rain, though it was only a light drizzle. Wyn pulled the hood of his cloak up and hunched over the bread, trying to keep it from getting soggy.

They walked for a while, not speaking as they enjoyed the sound of the rain. Looking at the sky, Wyn suspected it would pick up before long. Eia came back after a while and alighted on his shoulder, humming the spirit song faintly.

As the rain fell, water spirits began to gather in the air, most taking the shape of shimmering blue raindrops which fell slowly upwards instead. They were always sparse in rain, likely because it wasn’t a true body of water, but the way they interacted with it was always interesting to watch. Wyn was pretty sure he could drink dirty water and be just fine, but Corrin was different, and thus finding clean water on the journey was still something they had to worry about. The water spirits in Straetum kept all the water in the valley drinkable, but they also tended to take the forms of spectral fish and other creatures.

Is there a difference between types of water spirits other than just their power? Can they all purify water? And if so, why don't all of them do so?

Wyn? Eia’s voice entered his mind, and he jumped from the shock. Beside him, Corrin’s hand went to his sword, but Wyn shook his head.

“Sorry, it’s nothing.”

Can you hear this? He heard her again. It was a familiar sensation, Iillia had done the same thing back in the spirit glades.

Um… Yes? He thought back, trying to reply mentally.

Hmm, no luck still? I thought for sure I had it this time.

“I can hear you.” He replied out loud.

“What?” Corrin turned, confused. “I didn’t say anything.”

“No. Sorry, not you. Her.” Wyn pointed at his shoulder.

“That is so weird…” Corrin mumbled, but he turned away, looking back towards the mountains in the distance as they were slowly obscured by the haze.

Wait you can hear me? Eia asked.

“I can yeah.”

“Yes!” She shouted aloud, flying out in front of him and spinning in the air excitedly. Corrin didn’t react to the outburst though, still unable to hear her even when she spoke. She claimed she could choose who could see her, and for whatever reason she didn’t like his friend.

Wait… I meant yes! She repeated herself into his mind.

“How are you doing that?” He asked, still trying to ask questions mentally to no avail.

It’s hard to describe, but you know how you can get my attention through our bond?

“Yeah. I don’t really know how I do it, I just think really hard about getting your attention.”

She affixed him with a flat stare. When you do that, what you’re doing is basically just shaking our bond, which I can feel. This is similar, but more precise and less jarring.

“Huh… can you shake the bond like I do?”

“I can try.” She reverted to speaking out loud. Her face etched with concentration.

Wyn tried to focus on sensing whatever she was doing, and he began to feel a very faint tingle in the back of his mind. “Maybe… yeah wait I think I’m starting to feel it!” The tingle grew into a piercing buzz, higher and higher pitched until it was almost painful. His whole body sprouted goosebumps as he felt a chill shoot through it.

“All right all right! I feel it, that’s enough! Spirits! How have you not complained about that before?”

Corrin looked back over with an eyebrow raised, “Are you good over there?”

“I’m fine. Just testing something with Eia.”

Corrin squinted at the air in front of Wyn, still annoyed he couldn’t see the spirit no matter what he tried.

Eia meanwhile, smiled smugly in front of him. “I might’ve been a little bit less subtle than you, but it’s similar. Consider that my revenge. I’ve been giving you a pass because we’re both still new to this, but I would appreciate if you could learn to be a little gentler.”

Wyn winced as the ringing left his ears, “Yeah, I can learn. Being able to communicate without words could be helpful. What do I need to do?”

“Hmm…” She grinned. “Maybe if you tell me how awesome I am ten times I’ll consider teaching you.”

Wyn called out through the bond, aggressively.

“Ow! All right! Five times, five times!” She pleaded.

Wyn glanced to the left and then mumbled out the affirmations quietly enough that he hoped Corrin wouldn’t hear over the rain.

“See?” She said, a bead of sweat rolling down her face as she recovered. Wyn hadn’t even known spirits could sweat. “Now to start, you’ll need to be able to feel the bond—”

A loud screech, almost like a howl cracked the air as a shape dove down from the clouds above at incredible speed. Without a word both Wyn and Corrin had drawn their blades—Corrin’s steel, and Wyn’s wooden—and taken a defensive position. An instant later, he summoned his spirit fire, sharpening his vision as his drowsiness evaporated. Ghostly purple flames gathered on the edges of his sword.

“Oh, hells yes!” Corrin let out a war cry. “I was just starting to get bored!”

The creature’s dive flattened out as it shot towards the two of them from above, splitting the rain before it like a rock diverting the course of a stream. Wyn barely had time to register the size of the monster before his body dodged on its own. Whatever it was, the beast was huge, easily the size of a horse, with feathers of crystalline blue. As it shot past him, he slashed across it with his sword. Against a normal creature, it wouldn’t have pierced the skin, but spirit fire cut into monster flesh like hot butter. So, against this creature it should—

The blade thumped against the feathers like… well a wooden sword against feathers, nothing more than a blunt blow.

Is this fire good for anything outside the damn dungeon?

The creature shot up into the sky again, out of reach and unharmed. Wyn shook his head, reevaluating that. The dirt path had a spray of blood coagulating atop it. Corrin had landed a blow.

Switching his wooden sword for his real one, Wyn looked up and finally got a good look at the beast, which had stopped to hover in the air.

Six large, feathered wings stretched out from its body, each smaller than the one in front of it. The wingtips were a darker shade of blue than the rest of its body, with four large plumes shaped like a candle’s flame overshadowing the rest of the feathers. Despite his initial thought though, Wyn realized the main body of the beast was actually covered in fur, long and almost serpentine, but with four hawk-like legs protruding from its white underside. Its face was something akin to a fox, with glowing blue eyes. Opposite its head was a set of tails, feathered on the ends while undulated lazily as it bobbed with each flap of its wings.

Be careful Wyn. Eia’s voice spoke to him. Those spirits seem dangerous.

Wyn looked, but didn’t see any particularly abnormal spirits, but there was no time to ask for clarification. The creature reared its head back, and Wyn felt the air temperature drop around him as its eyes began to glow an even brighter blue.

Dodge! Eia cried as its head whipped down towards him.

Wyn wasted no time diving to the side as he felt the temperature drop even further. A freezing wind blew past him, catching his sword hand for a split second as it lagged behind the rest of his body. There was a clattering sound, like hundreds of rocks falling to the dirt, and he landed in the mud with a sickening squelch.

When he looked back, he saw the ground where he’d been standing littered with tiny shards of ice.

The raindrops… They’d been frozen in midair from the sudden cold.

“Corrin! Can you reach it?” He yelled out, inspecting his hand. It was covered in frost, and he quickly brushed it off. It wouldn’t have time to progress to frostbite, even if the chill was a bit painful.

“I can’t!” His friend called back.

The monster seemed almost in range, but it was stubbornly hanging just out of reach. If Corrin with his mana-enhancement couldn’t reach it, then Wyn couldn’t either. So, what to do… “The trees then!” Wyn called

Wyn pointed to the trees over on the hills in the distance. Flying creatures weren’t something they could handle very easily yet, and this one, with whatever ranged freezing attack it had was even worse. It could pelt them over and over from outside their reach. But if they could make it to a more forested area, they would take away its main advantage.

Corrin shook his head though, grinning as he looked up at the thing. “Not yet. Give me a boost!”

A boost? What is he—

The look on Corrin’s face gave it away. Wyn considered it for a moment, it wouldn’t be the first time they’d done this, but it had been a while. He knew his best friend well though, Corrin wasn’t going to let this go.

“Drop the pack.”

The beast flew around in the air, content to stay just high enough to avoid them. It hadn’t used the gust of cold air again for reasons Wyn didn’t know, but he wouldn’t complain. Corrin let his pack fall to the ground and took a few deep breaths, no doubt channeling mana to his legs. Wyn looked up at the creature out of the corner of his eye, waiting for it to draw just a few feet closer, as it would have to if it wanted to attack again.

Finally, it did. Corrin reacted an instant quicker, sprinting towards Wyn and jumping a few feet into the air. Wyn bent his knees, as Corrin landed on his palms. Wyn threw him skyward at the same time as Corrin jumped again, and he soared up to the beast. It managed to beat its wings hard enough to avoid a killing blow, but Corrin still cut a large gash across its chest, and it howled in pain, dropping several feet before regaining control of its flight.

As Corrin landed in a roll on the ground, the creature stared down at them. Its tails now flicked anxiously as it hovered, perhaps reevaluating how dangerous they were. Wyn glared back, trying to intimidate it with the message that the two of them weren’t prey. After a few long breaths, it screeched again, beating its wings as it rose back into the sky, flying into the clouds out of sight.

The rain continued to fall quietly, until it was interrupted by the sound of Corrin’s laughter.

“That boost move totally worked! Man, are we awesome or what? Seriously did you see that thing though? It was so cool, I counted nine tails, nine! And was that an ice-breath or something it hit you with…”

Wyn took a moment to steady his breathing following the battle. It had been much more sudden than their encounters on the plains so far, and he hadn’t really given much thought to the dangers of flying creatures. Something to think about as they went.

Corrin’s enthusiasm was contagious though, and soon Wyn found himself laughing and chatting as well. Still, they didn’t have time to waste, so they quickly gathered themselves and continued along the path, discussing the things they’d do if they ran across such a creature again.

***

The rain fell through the whole night, and they walked through it, following the road though they couldn’t see more than a few feet on the moonless night. Walking was a low enough intensity that in this case, spirit fire actually worked better than mana, and Wyn could tell Corrin was tired, even if his body wasn’t. When the sun broke through the clouds and the rain stopped, Corrin turned towards the forest without a word, and Wyn followed.

As soon as he found a shaded corner, he dropped his pack and pulled out their tarp, laying down atop it. They had bedrolls that they usually used, but they’d want to keep those dry. Once he was down, Corrin wasting no time in closing his eyes.

“Fine,” Wyn said, letting his spirit fire drop. As soon as he did, a wave of his own exhaustion washed over him. “We’ll get a couple hours and then get back to it. I’d rather not mess up our sleep schedules over this.”

Corrin grunted some sort of affirmation, and rolled onto his side, placing a cloth over his eyes.

Wyn lay down on the tarp across from him. “Eia, can you keep an eye on things? Wake me in a few hours, okay?” He'd had no luck communicating through their bond yet, but she promised he should be able to with practice. It was something to keep him occupied while they walked though, so he was happy for it.

He heard some mumbling from the air above him, but he took it as a yes. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t actively get him killed or anything, and she’d woken him up before when he’d asked.

The ground beneath them had softened from the rain, creating a sort of cushion for them to sleep on. Though it wasn’t anything compared to a real bed, Wyn was soon taken by his dreams, and drifted off.