6 GAINING TRUST

It has been full hour of running and sprinting through the streets and alleys of Orstone, Jaxith kept following the scent of Irene in the night, the moon light was his only guide, but he couldn't just leave her like that, of all the people in the world, he's the one that understands her feelings now, that's why he can't drop this, her scent is getting closer, finally, Jaxith started calming down while approaching her destination.

Irene was sitting, leaning her back against the wall, her knees close to her chest and her head buried in-between, she was still sopping, the scene was just horrible for her, she still can't process what happened, Flen, Leo, Michael and everyone in there, they weren't just friends, they were her only family, all of her life she didn't know a family except them, now all of them are gone, brutally massacred by an unknown assassin, because of her, that's what made things worse for her, she even thought about why she ran away, no one will help a demon hybrid out there, why not to give up, maybe suicide will end this horrible nightmare once and for all, she raised her head and looked at her dagger by her side, before she felt someone's shadow, she raised her eyes to find him, the man who was stalking her earlier in the local market, the same person who interfered and prevented that killer from reaching her, she looked surprised and afraid, she still doesn't trust him, why would he do that for her? She doesn't know him, but she thought he was killed, she heard horrific voices of some sort of an animal just as she ran away, she was too afraid to look, she just ran aimlessly.

Jaxith stood there for a moment, relieved that she is safe, he took a step forward before she raised her dagger threatening him, she was still sitting, she had just turned her side facing him, her face was full of tears, her hand was shaking from fear and covered in blood from the wound earlier in the shadow seekers house, she was confused and vulnerable.

"I will do it this time, I don't care about you being strong or not, I have nothing to lose, DO YOU HEAR ME?.", Said Irene while screaming, tears started falling down her cheeks again.

Jaxith stepped closer again boldly, knowing what he is doing.

"Are you deaf or what? Don't you understand, step back you idiot, I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP OR ANYONE'S HELP, JUST LEAVE ME ALONE.", Shouted Irene, she was falling apart, in all her life she was somehow confident in herself although being a demon hybrid, she knew that people can't accept her, but there were some who did, now they are dead, slaughtered and butchered because of her own mistake, she just can't forgive herself or trust anyone now.

"Wasn't their death enough?", Asked irene innocently in a low voice while shaking, she wasn't able to stop her tears.

Jaxith stood for a second, that girl in front of him, reminded him of that kid long time ago, crying alone in a dark cave in a rainy night, carrying that knife in his hand threatening a dark haired man in his forties, he was shaking from fear just like her, lost and confused, he was even younger than her, his red eyes were filled with fear, when this man extended his hand to him, he somehow felt safe after it.

"You won't kill me, I know that you won't.", Said Jaxith in a reassuring manner before stepping again towards her.

Irene stepped back, he's right, she won't do it, she hasn't killed a human ever, even in a state like this she would never do it.

"You're right, I can't do it, but I can do something else, my life has always been a mess, but I kept pushing through it with the people who loved me the way I'm, but in the end, they were killed by my own mistake, I don't know if you are good or not, but I think ending this miserable life would be the best solution for all parties.", Said Irene calmly before she took deep breath while looking directly in Jaxith's eyes before closing her eyes and instantly raised her dagger directly towards her neck!

Irene waited for the shock of the stab, but nothing happened, she opened her eyes to find this man right in front of her holding her hand wielding the dagger, she couldn't understand how he could reach her in literally just a blink of an eye! There were a few meters between them that she was sure he won't reach her on time, there was also a strange black vapour behind Jaxith that she didn't notice.

"You don't want to do it, believe me.", Said Jaxith whose eyes were wide open from fear he won't reach her on time.

"And what do you know about me?", Said Irene angrily while trying to pull her hand away.

"Enough to tell that suicide isn't the solution.", Said Jaxith calmly while holding her hand tightly.

"LET ME GO!", Said Irene while shouting, crying and pushing Jaxith as hard as she could from his chest until he let her go, but without the dagger, he was holding it in his hand.

"Satisfied now?", Said Jaxith in his confident and bold tone.

"No I'm not, why do you even care? I don't even know who you are, why do you even bother to help me? Just give me the damn dagger and leave.", Said Irene angrily, she was still confused and afraid, her personality was aggressive but in the core it's obvious how soft she is.

"Irene, I know how you feel now.", Said Jaxith calmly.

"No you don't.", Said Irene angrily.

"I do, you need to trust me, I have been with much worse than you.", Said Jaxith calmly.

"What's worse than what happened there? Are you insane or what? I've just lost my only family now, the only people that accepted me the way I'm, I'm so confused right now that I don't even know why I'm still standing here with you, and you say that YOU'VE BEEN WITH MUCH WORSE THAN ME.", Said Irene angrily while shouting her last words, she didn't like how that Jaxith thinks he passed with worse than that.

"Yes I'm, I've lost everything before, everyone I loved, every place I used to have fun in, everything was taken away from me In minutes, I heard their cries and I couldn't help them, I was much younger than you, but I stood up, someone told me that the best way to heal these wounds is to become stronger, so you could prevent something like that from happening again, what happened there isn't your fault.", Said Jaxith calmly, his confidence is just exceptional, he was handling the situation perfectly.

"If it's not my fault then it's whom?", Asked Irene as she started looking calmer after hearing him.

"That's what we will find together, all what I need from you is to trust me, Irene, I promise to bring this person but you need to stop blaming yourself, or you will keep failing, I know it's hard, but remember this, whenever the life throws problems at you , just catch, if you don't know how to catch, then learn to catch or bring a catcher.", Said Jaxith.

"And I assume you are the catcher.", Said Irene who started calming down more from Jaxith's words.

"Or the one who will teach you how to catch, who knows?", Said Jaxith with a smile before he extended his hand holding the dagger to Irene.

Irene looked at him for a few moments before she took the dagger back, he was giving her the choice after he told her what she really needed to hear.

She can't do it now after what he told her, he's right, although the pain in her heart is intolerable but she can't give up easily, she put the dagger back in her small bag by her side and looked down.

"You made the right choice.", Said Jaxith.

"I hope.", Said Irene while still looking down, she will never see them again, she dropped on her knees, covering her face with both of her hands before crying again, but quietly this time, mourning her friends, no, her family.

It was the right time for Jaxith to give her what she really needed, he came closer, kneeled before her, took her head and approached her to his chest, she needed a warm hug, someone to cry on, someone who understands her, he looked at the moon thinking about what just happened, he was happy that he could calm her down, for some reason he felt that he was doing the right thing for the first time in his life.

"Help me.", This rescue call, he can't forget, was that assassin the only danger or it's just the beginning, Jaxith thought it's the second expectation, and that dream.

"Why was that roar present in this dream?", Thought Jaxith while looking at the moon and Irene gradually started calming down and feeling, heavier?

The sun has just risen above this high, rocky mountain, birds started singing, but this beautiful scene didn't last long enough as suddenly the weather changed and the wind became very strong before a storm was formed in just mere seconds! Fire erupted from the middle of the storm, the scene was just like there were two storms intertwined together, one from very strong wind, the other from strong flame waves, suddenly two figures jumped out from these storms, flying with their wings, one was green while the other was red, they flew away from each other, the green one was striking green wind-like slashes through the air while the red one was shooting quick fire balls, both of them dodged each others attacks perfectly.

They landed together smoothly on a cliff together, the red flaming figure hit the ground hard, some smoke is produced from him, his red flaming eyes with that large head with horns would kill someone from fear as his mouth was exhaling fire, his large black and flaming red body was just terrorizing like he was a demon and also it looked tougher than metals, those large flaming wings with three bones distributed regularly through each wing to maintain balance and support its large size, the temperature around him was unbearable, it's like hell opened its gates!

The other green one landed faster, but much smoother than him, it was obvious she is a female with a leaner body than the other fire one by her side, her green form was much lighter than him but was still tough covering all her body, her head was green and white in color with those thin wing like extensions by the side of both her eyes, her completely emerald green eyes was captivating, her green wings were lighter and a bit longer than him giving her more agility in the air than him and also quick maneuvering in close combat.

Her strange helmet-like head started shining green strongly before it disappeared completely revealing her human head, her beautiful features, emerald green eyes, dark black hair in a braided bun style, her white ethnicity was the icing on the cake, she was about 6 feet tall or less by some inches, she looked confident at the fire one by her side.

"Don't you think that your armor is causing a great change in temperature in here, that thing is a walking volcano!", Said the woman before her armor started emitting the same green shining then disappearing too revealing her training clothes underneath.

"Says the one who changed the weather of the whole region, look at the sky, it's going to rain because of your playing with wind habit.", Said the fire one in a hoarse high voice because of the strange form he's taking before his total body and head erupted in flames then suddenly his armor and helmet disappeared like her, as it's some sort of calling off for those forms, there was a metal armor under his fire one, his medium red hair, blue eyes and calm features were offensive although his handsome look, white ethnicity too, it was clear he is a soldier of some kind with a strong built like that, a 6.4 feet is surely a great height.

"Fine, we're even tough one.", Said the woman while smiling.

"Anyway, you've improved a lot, princess Leonora, your control over your holy bound spirit have grown much through the past several months, told you that the dragons don't choose wrong, they know who they are choosing, the strength of your own soul that will guarantee you to control this strong spirit, the purity of your soul so as not to use this enormous power in nothing else than good.", Said the red haired man calmly.

"Thank you, Scaldris, general Scaldris, given your position in Legnica.", Said Leonora politely.

"At your service, and no need for formalities, putting our powers aside, you are still a princess and I'm a general.", Said Scaldris.

"Scaldris, you are not even a general in my kingdom, at least some formalities should be kept, and you've told me before that the three holy bound spirits are nearly of the same strength so you aren't much less than me, in fact you are equally important as me.", Said princess Leonora.

"I'm satisfied by this.", Said Scaldris smiling.

"Now, I think that I need to thank you for your help, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have been able to develop myself, I needed an expert like you.", Said Leonora thankfully.

"Princess Leonora, please don't say something like that, I respect you since I've met you, and it's my duty to teach you how to get ahold of your power since we are alike.", Said Scaldris politely.

"I know about that, but thanking you is a must, now I wanted to ask you something.", Said Leonora.

"Of course.", Said Scaldris.

"Do you think I'm ready? Can I be a beacon of hope for my people like my father?", Asked Leonora in worry.

"Leonora, please, be confident in yourself, first of all, your value as a future queen isn't related to your strength as a spiritual knight, second thing, Imperos choose you, no one except you, when he decided that the next storm holy spiritual knight would be you he wasn't trying his luck, those three holy dragons are the strongest beings in our realm, blessed by the gods to maintain the balance on our realm, on Plistura, when Sear choose me as the next infernal holy spiritual knight he wasn't trying his luck too, look at me now, the same thing about Ramiel, look at him now, it is even told that he is the best thunder holy spiritual knight to come in history, those dragons choose only to bind with a trustworthy human soul, a strong one too, you are strong, Leonora, you just need to trust yourself, you should know that your simple wind slashes are a Killing machine, you could kill an entire army just by those, we aren't a normal spiritual knights, we are the great holy spiritual knights.", Said Scaldris in a positive attitude, raising Leonora's confidence.

"Two years and I still don't know how you impress me each time like that, I really appreciate you, Scaldris.", Said Leonora warmly.

"You are just welcome princess.", Said Scaldris politely.

"By the way, I haven't heard about Ramiel in a while, is he okay?", Said Leonora.

"You know Ramiel, he is the quiet type, that blonde elf is much boring than a wooden log, but he's a good person, I really mean it.", Said Scaldris while smiling.

"I think that we should call him the old elf.", Said Leonora while smiling.

"Well, a 62 years old elf is just as young as you, but that's a good one.", Said Scaldris sarcastically.

"Anyway, I heard that you are planning to leave, you are ready for that, but you will be missed.", Said Scaldris.

"Just fly over Kozelsk and pay a visit, it's not that far, and I still need to improve my connection with Imperos.", Said Leonora.

"How is that going?", Asked Scaldris.

"I only could talk to him for a few seconds, that full interaction between my soul and him is hard, really hard.", Said Leonora.

"Don't push yourself too much, establishing a complete link between our souls and the bound spirits isn't an easy task, the complete fusion between our souls and them is something that's reached by experience and age, a full fusion means the maximum potential a spiritual knight could reach with his bound spirit, that's a something that Ramiel reached a few years ago making him the strongest spiritual knight right now, and one of the best holy spiritual knights to ever come, when someone reaches that level he could even summon his bound spirit to fight by his side for longer time, there's even a fewer normal spiritual knights who reached that level, so yes it's a very hard thing to accomplish, you are still 23, so just a simple connection with Imperos will be enough, about 10% fusion between your soul and him will be enough for you, I still haven't passed half the road for a complete fusion between me and Sear and I'm doing just fine as you see, no need to worry about that, Ramiel told me before it's about time, hardworking and pure trust in your bound spirit.", Said Scaldris in a reassuring manner.

"Okay, I will do my best.", Said Leonora before she raised her right hand, the winds started getting calmer and the clouds started dispersing away, she just controlled the weather!

"You've gone far to say you are still hesitated princess, I think that the first female holy spiritual knight will be one of the greatest.", Said Scaldris in a praising manner.

She lowered her hand again and smiled with hope, her green eyes shinning bright while using her powers like it's a small torch.

In a small quiet room, Irene opened her eyes gradually, she was sleeping on a comfy bed, the wooden ceiling was odd for her, it didn't take long to remember that she's not in the shadow seekers hideout, her memory was blurry, she can't remember how she got here, the last thing she remembers is that she was crying over the silver haired man's chest, she somehow felt safe with him although she even doesn't know his name, like a young girl would feel with her older brother

She raised herself and sat in her place in bed to see him cleaning his sword from blood with a cloth, his back was towards her.

"Finally awake.", Said Jaxith calmly as ever without looking back.

"How did you notice? I didn't make any sound.", Asked Irene incomprehensibly.

"I got my talents.", Said Jaxith while still cleaning his sword, Irene was confused by his quiet attitude and confidence.

"Where are we? How did I get here?", Asked Irene in worry.

"We are in an inn room, you passed out while crying yesterday, that's completely normal by the way in the state of shock you were in.", Said Jaxith while still cleaning his sword and his back to her.

Irene was surprised to hear that, she felt a pain in her heart again after remembering what happened at the shadow seekers hideout, but she had a lot more questions for Jaxith too.

"So, what's your name?", Asked Irene while trying to gain some confidence.

"Jaxith"

"Well...., nice to meet you, Jaxith, I think I owe you a thank you, at least, but you can't blame me for what happened yesterday, I couldn't trust anyone, but since you brought me here safely then I think I can trust you, for now.", Said Irene in hesitation.

"that's fine, I understand your situation totally.", Said Jaxith calmly while still cleaning his sword, he hasn't looked at her yet.

"So...., is that blood on your sword?"

"Yes."

"For whom?"

"Probably the demon that killed your friends, if that was the only one he got, and I doubt that.", Said Jaxith boldly, Irene remembered what happened and Jaxith bold replies were making it harder on her, but she decided to act stronger, she has shown much vulnerability last night.

"Wait, wasn't he the one that did that? There was no one there except him.", Asked Irene while looking confused.

"No human could do this, at least a normal one, I thought at the beginning he is a spiritual knight or he has some sort of a tamed beast, but he wasn't, he's just a scarlet summoner, not even a dark caster as he didn't use any spell against me.", Said Jaxith confidently.

"I think that I heard those terms before, but I still don't understand.", Said Irene incomprehensibly.

Jaxith put the cloth aside and let his now cleaned shiny sword by the side of his coat on the sofa, he turned to her and pulled a wooden chair to sit in front of her bed.

"That's not important now, you said you could trust me, right?", Said Jaxith calmly, his red eyes made Irene a bit worried.

"Y-yeah, I just need to get away from here, I know someone who can help me, but I need your help to reach him, you can take whatever you need after that, you said you are a monster hunter, consider this as a bounty if you want, but I know no one except you now.", Said Irene in hesitation.

"Don't worry, I will help you until you reach your destination.", Said Jaxith to calm her.

"And I promise you that when Lance knows that you've saved me he will reward you generously.", Said Irene but Jaxith looks like he's not even interested in money and ignored her last statement.

"Fine, first thing is to get rid of that assassin, I know how, but I need you to focus and tell me the exact details, I know it's hard on you, but if you want to avenge them then you have to tell me exactly what had happened before I arrived.", Said Jaxith seriously.

Irene nodded while looking at the end of the bed before looking back to him.

"Fine, avenging them is the least I could do.", Said Irene seriously.