CHAPTER 5, THE DESIRE TO GROW STRONGER

I stood there, as tears dripped down my cheek. I wasn't sure if they were tears of fear, sadness or joy. I gathered up all the strength I could and let out a trembling voice. "T-thank you." was all i could say.

"Shield the one that I will, by the power of the Shield Familiar, I command you. Pure Shield." He says and creates a capsule around Aria and Neph's bodies. "Inside those they will be safe, I have done the same to the rest of your fellow members. I shall protect those my Master hold dear."

"All that's left is them." Leo says after returning to the shores, he is soaked and dripping wet. "Yo, long time no see Scutum."

"What about the illusions?" I asked him.

Leo is dripping wet, he points to the sea where now a giant swordfish fights the illusion. He must have convinced Dorado that we aren't his enemies. With that the only enemy left are these guys. "Master, please close your eyes. I'll use an extremely bright attack." Leo says.

"Shine, light of the Lion Constellation, Regulus." I hear him say as my eyes remain closed. Leo then gives me the okay to open my eyes so I do to find, no more enemies nearby. "Leo what was that?"

"My strongest attack, Regulus, it shines so bright that all enemies will be driven away with the bright light." He says and I tell the others that we're fine to open our eyes now. "Master, Dorado is headed here."

"Okay." I say and look at the giant fish swimming our way, the illusion has disappeared as well. "Hello, are you Dorado?"

"Yes. Nice to meet you, I hope to get along with you." He says and changes into a human, he has light brown skin, he's wearing swimming trunks and nothing else. "Pardon me for a second Master."

He gives me a kiss and disappears. All that's left is a small ring with a swordfish on it. Scutum grabs me next and takes a kiss then disappears, he leaves me a small shield that's fashioned into a broach. "Leo, what did you say to convince Dorado?"

"Since it would be difficultto explain things to him, I told him that the Hero was here." He says.

I turn my head and see Storm badly injured, he's bleeding badly, along with Aria and Neph. They're all in horrible conditions, so are the other members. "Everyone, please hang on." I say and check my bag for healing medicines.

"Master, please summon Lyra, her song Vega can help." Leo says and disappears.

"Okay." I say wiping my tears. "Come, my Harp Familiar, Lyra."

"Master?" She says appearing beside me and just then she sees why I'm in tears as I look at my friends."I understand. Vega."

She plays a song and everyone in our guild is wrapped in a warm light and slowly their wounds begun to heal. Aria, Neph and Storm begin to regain consciousness and they notice the light wrapping around them. "What about the enemy?" Storm says trying to get up.

"Calm down, Leo was able to drive them away." I say helping him lie back down. "Your wounds may be healed but you still need rest, for now just lie down."

"What about Dorado?" Master asks me.

"Leo managed to calm him down." I say holding the ring I got from him. "I'm very sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" Alexi asks.

"If it wasn't for me being powerless you all wouldn't have been injured." I say.

"Now, now, nobody here is at fault. Haru dear, these people wanted to hurt you, of course we'd protect you. That's what family is." Master says patting my shoulder. "But, those people, Shadow's Order, I've never heard of them before. They must be a dark guild."

"Dark Guild?" I turned to Aria.

"Guilds that operate illegally, without the consent of the Guild Order." Master says.

After that we all get some rest in town, the waters are now safe to cross. I also talked to Dorado to explain everything to him, after some time he said he could try to give humans a second chance. Scutum was apparently unsure whether or not I was a good master, but when i said that Familiars aren't tools he was convinced I was a good person. With that I have four familiars in my hands, Leo, Lyra, Dorado and Scutum. I hope I can meet more of them.

The ships that sail by seem so carefree now, I wonder where Pisces could be. From what i heard, Pisces is here... but where? Leo said that he did feel their presence here but where exactly in this vast sea are they? I walk peacefully on the shores looking at the ship where everyone is on at the moment, it's owned by a friend of the master and they let it to her apparently. They were a guild, they were...um...what was their name again? Oh! Shooting Star. They're a guild located in the city called Goshenite. Their main base is across the sea from here, so they lent the ship to our guild. "Leo." I say and wear his jewelry.

"Master how may I help you?" He asks looking at me.

"Hey Leo, how can be stronger?" I ask him.

"What do you mean?" He asks hugging me.

"I want to be able to fight too." I say clenching my hands. "I don't want to hold anyone back."

"You could try that." He says.

"That?" I am him with a puzzled look.

"Awakening." He says. "You could Awaken your magical power, which is the Hero's magical power."

"I can do that?!" I exclaim.

"Well it is difficult." He says.

"How can I awaken?" I asked him. "If I can at least be of help to everyone them tell me!"

"Find out what your 'calling' is and what your 'spirit' is." He said. "That's all i can tell you. Only you can find out what they are."

"Leo, what should I do with these?" I ask him and hand him the magical jewels. I'm having troubke carrying them around. "I don't have anywhere to store them."

"Your necklace should be able to store the and equip them whenever you need to." He says and touches my necklace, with a small blue glow it takes in the four jewels. "The key word is Reveal then name of the gear, and the storing word is Hide."

"Thanks." I tell him and try the new it out.

"Reveal: Lyra's Medium." I said and touched the necklace. and Lyra's Medium appeared.

After a making sure it works I hid their Mediums and returned to the ship where eveyone was talking. "What are you all talking about?"

"Well, we found a stagnation of magica power down below. It seems to be Pisces." Master said. "Haru dear, what will you? Will you meet with them or leave?"

"I'll meet with them. On our way to the Royal Capital I want to collect rge spirits we come across and ensure that they're not taken by Shadow's Order." I said. "They aren't tools for people's benefit."

"And on that note, I've located Pisces." A man says, he has the guild emblem on his neck, so he must be a friend. He had dark green hair, with white skin and golden eyes... he reminds me of Neph in a way. "Yo, the names Jadeite, Jade for short. I'm Neph's older brother."

"Nice to meet you, my name is Haru." I say holding my hand out for a shake. That's why I felt like he was Neph.

"No need, hahaha. When you become a member of this guild you are family." He says then hugging me. "Looking forward to working with you."

"Same." I say. "So what do you mean you've found Pisces? Didn't Master already find it?"

"All beings tend to release an energy that is very unique, my magic allows me to sense that. That said, what we detected was a giant lump of magical power at the bottom of the sea so..." He makes it a suspense. "Pisces is somewhere out at sea. They are in there pretty deep too, I doubt we can reach it."

"I think I can, but for now let's return to the others." I say considering using Dorado's ability.

"So, you're saying that Pisces is at the bottom of the sea?" Storm asks Jade. "We already detected them out in the waters but to think they'd be at the very bottom..."

"Yeah which is why I'd be hard to get to him." Jade says.

"I might have an idea." I say. I've noticed taht there are only a few members on this trip.

"How?" Aria ask.

"Dorado and I can get to Pisces at the bottom of the sea." I say and explain, Dorado can bend water to make it possible for me to breath under water. "If all goes well, I'll be able to talk to them."

The ship moves and head for the area where we know Pisces is located, Jade serves as the compass and we follow his directions until we reach a spot where the water is an extremely dark shade of blue and then I feel it. A spirit, it's directly below us but I feels extremely weak, as if the spirit is too deep for me to feel it's full power. "Master, I'll go now " I say.

"Okay but be careful." She says.

"Understood. Reveal, Dorado's Medium. Come, my Swordfish Familiar; Dorado." I say and Dorado's ring appear on my right ring finger, and he appears beside me in his human form. "Let's go."

"Okay." He says and picks me up princess style.

"What are you doing?!" I exclaim.

"It's safer this way." He says and jumps into the water and soon see why, he can swim in the water without the need to use his hands. "Are you fine master?"

"I'm fine." I say and we soon see it, the figure of two kids playing in the water, a guy and girl. They are paying bear corlas that grew on the ground, with seaweeds around them. The guy is wearing swimming trunks that reach his foot while the girl is wearing a female swimsuit. "Um, excuse me."

"Huh? Dorado!" They exclaim. "It's Dorado, long time no see."

"Yes." He says. "This is my master, he wishes to speak with you."

"Hello, my name is-" my sentence is cut by the girl panicking.

"Fomalhaut, hang in there!" She exclaiemd as she shook a girl that was lying at the sea bed.