Now the Hard Part

Ethan turned his head to the side and extended his arms out, holding the soft grey kitten and its deafening bellow away from himself.

Seeing itself high off the ground the kitten continued to yell at Ethan.

"DON'T YOU DARE DROP ME HUMAN! I WON'T HELP YOU IF YOU DO!"

The kitten glared with its silver eyes as it shouted its demand. But it struggled and wriggled in Ethan's hands as he tried to not drop it. Ethan gave in to the clawing and simply let the kitten sit in his hands.

"Yes, human! Good human! This is how you should properly treat a spirit envoy of the Divine! Now raise your arms high and worship me! Bow down to the great Lionel!"

Now it was Ethan's turn to be annoyed.

"Hey! Lionel or whatever, you're a cute kitten, but I'm not worshiping you. That's only for my parents that passed, got it?"

"Stop calling me that! I'm not cute! Wait until you see my true majestic form. You'll be worshiping and prostrating in fear! Your parents would most definitely approve! They may even know of me!"

"…I doubt that... How would they even know about you? They've been gone so long. Anyway, all I see is a cute furry kitten right now. I won't believe in "majestic" until I see it."

"Hmph! Just you wait! You know nothing! It's part of a spirit guide's job to guide! All the deceased are guided by a spirit of the divines like myself."

"…I still don't believe it…" Ethan looked at the small cute kitten unimpressed. "Prove it."

"You question my words?! Me? A spirit envoy of the Divines?! I'll let your ignorance pass, you country bumpkin. But I'll tell you now! I'm going to be the biggest and baddest King Spirit there ever was! I'll even become a Divine! I'll make you eat your words human!"

"Alright, whatever. Anyway, it's Ethan. Not human. Call me Ethan. I don't know about you or your words, but shouldn't we get this whole training thing going? Aren't I limited in time?"

"You started it human! And you're still questioning my authority! Besides! It's not just you, but me too! We're both stuck together now. Good to be working with you, partner!"

"What! What do you mean, "partner"? Aren't you just going to show me through the training?"

"Yes, but we'll also be bound together. Every human will be paired and bound to a lower spirit. It was in the memo."

"Not the bounding part!"

"Well the Divines, we spirits serve, don't have time to constantly message all of creation. And especially now with another whole universe full of creation, do you know how many individual notification windows and personal conversations they would have to make? Infinite! That's a lot! Even for the Gods!"

The kitten gave a disdainful look at Ethan.

"You do know they're busy holding off the Corrosion right? Them doing this much for creations not of their own, already shows their grace. Be grateful, human! You have a fighting chance BECAUSE of the help of our Divines!"

Ethan took a moment to digest Lionel's words.

"Then what are the divines or gods of our universe doing?"

"You ask them! How could I know what godly beings do? But I did hear what your gods can do is limited. To what extent, I don't know. You got lucky our divines are merciful, human!"

"It's Ethan! My name is Ethan! Fine! You're right! I admit it, can we move on now?"

The kitten showed a pleased look on its grinning face.

"Yes, human Ethan. Now you understand your position. Revere all that we are doing for you and your universe!"

"…" Ethan just remained quiet, not wanting to stir the kitten on.

"Alright, we don't have a second to lose!"

Ethan was screaming in his mind. "But you just wasted a whole good 15 minuets!!!" Ethan wasn't sure, but the back and forth felt long.

"Ok, by me being led here already implies you have affinity for the space element. I serve a lower Divine called Melaton. Don't judge him because he is a lower Divine. Divines ruling over the essence of space are more powerful than the others."

"Okay…but wasn't I supposed to feel-out the essences or something?"

"You didn't let me finish. All creation has affinity to all essences of creation. You need all 10 to create, but some may have more of one over the other, thus the affinity. We will test to see your affinities for the other elements."

"Okay… how?"

"Again! Let me finish! I will bring out 10 orbs with high concentrations of pure essences. See if you can feel the energy or a connection... Meow!"

The kitten meowed and 10 swirling colorful orbs appeared out of nowhere on the ground. Ethan was surprised. He thought it was a cool trick.

"Hey! How'd you do that?! Can I do it too?!"

The kitten meowed a chortled laugh.

"Meow! Meow! Meow! This is nothing compared to what I can truly do! Everyone can do at least this much! Now you starting to see my awesomeness?!"

Ethan ignored the boisterous kitten but was rather excited. He looked forward to using magic or superpowers.

"Ok, hold each orb and see if you can feel anything. The results will be recorded on your status window."

Ethan proceeded to touch the brightly burning glow of a red orb.

"Do you feel a pulsing fire raging through your veins? Can you feel the overwhelming essence of fire!? Its ability to burn and destroy, yet also being soft and warm? Can you feel how it changes as it nurtures and helps life grow? All essences are dual in nature."

The orb stayed pretty much the same. There was barely any reaction, maybe a few flickers from gradients of red light.

Ethan tried hard to feel what the kitten was saying, but all he felt was a simple cozy warmth like he was basking in the sun.

"…"

"Looks like you don't have much affinity for fire."

Ethan felt bummed. He wanted an awesome over overpowered skill that he could use to protect himself. Fire would be one of the most ideal in Ethan's thinking.

"How would you know! Maybe I can rain down meteors! You never know until you try!"

The kitten looked at Ethan like he was a fool.

"…The orb didn't do much. There was no outburst of mana."

Ethan was crestfallen. Noticing its partner falling into depression, it hurriedly tried to pull Ethan's spirits back up. After all they were partners and would affect each other.

"Meow! Meow! Meow! Don't be too bummed! Not everyone has a strong affinity. Actually a lot of creation have an average or even not much connection to essences at all. Besides, affinities can grow! Albeit slowly."

"So I can still throw down meteors!!??"

The kitten shook its head.

"Well, no. Sorry."

Ethan's shoulder drooped again.

"Hey! Well?! Yea! Maybe if you practice! Like for a century?"

"Ugh. I'd be dead once the fighting begins. There has to be one that I have affinity for."

"You do! Space! Didn't I already tell you?"

"But I want a cool power? What can space do?"

"Didn't I say even though the Divine I serve is lower in authority, that he still rivals others due to the essence of space? Doesn't that say it all?!"

"Fine, you're right. You're always right! But I'm going to get an awesome skill to blow everything away on my own!"

Ethan was hot-headed and stubborn when he got mad.

The kitten shrugged. It knew the awesomeness that Ethan already had. More affinity to other essences would only be better. He let Ethan do as he pleased.

Determined, Ethan grabbed the bright blue orb, closing his eyes as he tried to sense anything.

"There should be a cool soothing that flows through your body. The water can be calm and mellow, but also strong and heavy pushing in its way all aside."

A pulse of energy fluctuated out from the orb. The area rippled with a slight translucent blue from the mana reaction of the orb.

"I feel something. Stagnant yet heavy weighing down on me. Like as if I was submerged deep below water."

"Alright! Nice! You have a slight affiliation with the water essence. That's good!"

A beaming smile was plastered on Ethan's face. It soon warped to a greedy grin and he went through all the orbs.

The kitten was surprised. There seemed to be a slight reaction from all the orbs. With water, wood, light, time and space being the most reactive. Especially time and space.

"You're an interesting one human Ethan. Not many have a decent affinity for as many essences as you do. Maybe you are blessed by your Gods?"

The question made Ethan recall his life so far. He didn't consider himself so blessed. He lost his parents as a late teenager. He paved his way through sheer effort. Though his fate was nothing in comparison to the trials of others, he wouldn't say he had it easy so far either.

Ethan shrugged acknowledging his uncertainty.

"Who knows? I don't feel that way. So what's next?"

"Now for the hard part. The most important part. You will now decide your path. I will guide you through this, but even I don't know what's best for you. Think and choose for yourself. Open your status window."