Meeting With A Shaman

Quirrel was someone whose fighting style depended on his speed. He would move around the battlefield searching for an opening, and once that occurred he would do one swift strike that dealt a terrific amount of damage. As long as you were slower than him he would be practically untouchable. He would play the defensive game until the time came for him to finish the battle.

Iselda, on the other hand, was someone who focused more on their strength. She didn't run around the battlefield. Instead, she firmly planted herself and used deliberate and precise strikes to fend off her enemies. She kept her stamina in mind, as she would try to stay in a defensive stance until the moment of her attack.

The best comparison I would be able to think of is comparing them to benders in the avatar universe. Quirrel was like a fast and light Airbender and Iselda was like a strong and sturdy Earthbender.

"Alright, try to push me back." Iselda said as she raised her nail and swung it down on me.

The main thing she was trying to teach me was to break my opponent's balance with a parry before sending a strong strike at them while they are staggered.

At first, this was supposed to just be a short teaching session. But it seemed Iselda really missed wielding her nail. So she got to beat me up using her nail and I got to learn her fighting style.

Though I had to admit I was slightly jealous of her nail. Compared to my dull chunk of metal her nail was actually sharp and capable of cutting through stuff. She had actually reprimanded me for letting my nail get into such a bad state. But well, the nail had been like that since I first grabbed it.

After continuing her lesson for a while she stabbed her nail to the ground before wiping off the sweat on her face.

"Alright, I think that is enough for now. You should practice what I taught you before the next lessons. I should probably get back to the shop. But you are pretty good at this whole nail-fighting kid. You are learning stuff faster than I expected. If you keep learning at that pace I won't have much left to teach you in a couple of lessons."

"Alright, thank you for your lessons! I should probably head back to the Forgotten Crossroads to practice what I learned. Plus, I should probably try to look through what is left to map before heading over to Greenpath." I said as I imitated her by stabbing my nail onto the dirt.

Iselda only let out a small chuckle before saying.

"Take care kid. And you better not slack off!"

— — —

'If this thing wasn't so absolutely massive I would definitely consider using this as a spear…' I thought as I picked up the mace the false knight had been using.

For some reason the head of the mace had vanished in the time it took me to come back to where I had defeated the maggot. And another thing that had changed was the fact that the maggot's body had vanished from the corner I had thrown him to.

'Good thing I didn't leave the armor here. Bunch of robbers down here…' I thought jokingly.

'Well… this thing is probably built from the same metal, so I will probably drop it off over to Ori and then continue.'

After leaving Ori to safeguard the handle of the mace while I was gone I continued to head down the hall past where I had fought the maggot.

It was one of the areas that had been left uncharted since Cornifer had realized how dangerous it was. Though it would have been nice if he had written danger on the map instead of drawing a cool-looking helmet.

Heading through the different rooms ahead of me I quickly began to see torches lighting the way. Which was strange since so far all of the lights came from little lightning bugs being trapped inside glass orbs.

And pretty quickly I was shown a far more worrisome sight. There were skeleton heads and masks hanging on top of sticks.

"What the hell am I walking into…"

I debated whether I should turn back or continue moving this way but I could feel a build-up of soul not so far away from me. I didn't know how to describe it, but it felt similar to how the fake Hegemol used his soul to send a shockwave at me.

Eventually, curiosity got the better of me and I continued moving toward the strange murder den. Except now I was trying to be as stealthy as I could. Moving quietly past the torches that lit the way I arrived at a strange building with light coming from within.

The entirety of the floor I could see and part of the walls were covered with bones and remains of different creatures. Most of which did not look familiar.

In the center of the room, was a dark-skinned man with a collar made out of bones and a staff with an insect skull. The same one that was covering the floor of this palace. Resting on his head as if it were a hat was a large snail-like shell. And around his body was a pitch-black robe.

I saw him stop for a moment before sniffing the air and turning to look straight at me.

"Oho! Who's that creeping in the darkness?" He asked as he looked at me with a curious expression.

"Hey…" I said before coming out of my hiding place. I was ready to draw my nail and fight at any moment. But with the way he had greeted me, he at least looked like he could be reasoned with.

The strange shaman-looking man approached me with a friendly smile before walking around me in a circle while giving me analyzing looks and sniffing at the air.

"Well, aren't you a strange one?" He said before a large smile appeared on his face.

"You have been manipulating soul, haven't you? I can feel traces of it around your body. And what is that I see in your eyes? It seems like you have a connection to it!

What a shame, it seems I can see the emotions on your face. That means your connection to it is weak. But don't worry, I am sure you will be able to draw from its power once you understand it and accept it. After all, even though it might be weak the connection is there." The shaman said with excitement.

"Ah…. thanks? Do you know how to use soul? I felt it when I was on my way here… Oh, and yeah, I have been using soul." I said before quickly coating my hand in the aura for a moment.

"Wonderful!" the shaman said before raising his arms in excitement.

"I do not know what caused you to come here. But perhaps we were fated to meet! Maybe it was the very void inside you that drew you to me! Say no more, my friend! I will give you a gift! My family would be very disappointed in me if I didn't help such a talent grow." The shaman said before quickly raising his staff and moving it in a circular pattern.

From what I could see this shaman in front of me was someone who appeared to rush to stuff. Even the way he spoke was quite quick, speaking with such speed that I could only barely understand all that he said. He hadn't even introduced himself before he was jumping over in excitement ready to give me some sort of gift.

I felt the soul in the air gather in front of the shaman. Creating white orbs of light in the air that were being brought together to form something right in front of me.

I heard faint whispers in the air as the soul gathered together in one place. And before I knew it the amalgamation of soul launched toward my body passing straight through my armor and into my chest. I felt the surge of soul in my body for a moment before my vision went black.

'Shit… I should have just attacked him…' These were the last thoughts that passed through my head before I passed out.

~A/N~

After watching mossbag's video about the shamans I decided that they were not made of void.