“This is a catastrophe! The forest spirits are wailing! What in damnation could have happened here?!”

  An elven man with his head wrapped in flowery vines shouted as his knees sank into a thick layer of ash. The forest he had sworn to preserve alongside the rest of the Forest Rangers had just suffered tremendous damage.

  Now, all rangers knew that destruction was a part of the cycle. To them, nature had also created plagues, parasites, and all sorts of highly destructive things, but this fire had not been the result of a natural chain of events.

  As far as the elf could tell, at least two monsters or beasts who had nothing to do here had fought, and one of them had apparently been closely aligned with the fire attribute…

  “This is a bit unusual, Eldewun… The fire resulted in ambient energies taking fire attribute qualities, but it seems like the original flames that burned everything down had nothing to do with any energy or particular way of power… It just looks like the result of regular flames to me”

  “So, the creature is one who can manifest and control actual fire? As in, it is so skilled at magic that it can create the ‘real’ deal?”

  “No, I think it literally just created the fire as it was, without any magic. A bit like how some draconic species can do it”

  “Mmh… That is indeed unusual, but that should make it easier to figure out what sort of creature it could have been”

  “Are we going to bother with that? It seems to have left after presumably winning the fight. It would probably be best to just start working to help the forest regenerate”

  The other elf was shaking her head as she spoke, unlike her fellow, who was wrapped with flowery vines. She was covered in moss and had flowers seemingly grow atop her shoulders and head. Only some of her hair and ears were visible.

  These two were just about as committed to being druids as was possible without literally being an entity crafted from pure nature energy. They weren’t usually around, too busy communing with a part of the natural world, but the flames and chaos from the night before had not only greatly disturbed them, but there had been many deaths.

  For one, several of their fellow Forest Rangers, some of whom they had taught and initiated themselves, had been slain. But also, the family that managed the farm had been utterly and cruelly wiped out.

  They could reason that the Forest Rangers would be targeted, becoming a ranger wasn’t exactly risk-free, and the dangers of having to face beasts and monsters were explicit, but the farmer family? They were just bystanders.

  They were people who were supposed to be protected here, and clearly, that promise had not been fulfilled.

  “Relewen, let us not be too self-centered. That creature is dangerous to anything flammable. Can you imagine the amount of destruction it could cause if allowed to freely rampage?”

  “Very heroic, Eldewun. How do you propose that we find out its whereabouts, though? The flames had warped and wiped out all possible residuals it might have left behind, and clearly, since there isn’t any straight line leading out of here, it can choose not to burn down everything”

  The mossy elf sighed.

  “We have no lead whatsoever”

  “...I suppose you and your incredibly pessimistic views are right, but you have to admit that this is rather upsetting. I can accept the death of fellows. We all lay down our lives to protect this forest… But this innocent family had been here for generations. They were the beating heart of the forest. There were children here”

  “I do not think monsters see much difference between adults and children. Especially not one who burns down large swaths of a forest during a fight”

  The two elves looked through the ruins carefully, using their magic to move rubble. They knew very well that no one had survived. They couldn’t feel any source of life in the area, but since the farm had far fewer trees, and the structures were somewhat spread out, they hoped to at least find the corpses and give them a proper burial.

  …They found absolutely nothing. The house had not burned down completely, and yet, they couldn’t even find a single trace of any remains. The same was true for the Forest Rangers and even the farm animals.

  The latter was especially strange. There were so many of them that it was highly unlikely that the fire could have consumed them all to the point of not even leaving a single bone behind.

  “The winner of the fight must have taken some time to claim the spoils…”

  “I don’t know what I was expecting… Of course, a monster would be hungry after a fight… But isn’t this level of attention strange? It had to have moved debris and sought out the corpses for a little while at least”

  Most predatory creatures wouldn’t be so bold or reckless as to feed on the exact spot where they slew their prey. Most would carry it a distance away at least, and even if they were of the variety that was strong enough to just eat wherever they wanted… Feasting on so many corpses after causing such a large commotion was nothing short of madness.

  Either the monster in question was one that needed to eat in great quantities, or it had enough intelligence to be greedy and gluttonous.

  This was simply bizarre.

  “In any case, there is nothing we can do other than mend the damage that has been done. All that ash will serve as great fertiliser for the new life that is to come. Take my hands and let’s perform a ritual”

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  ___

  I had left the forest quickly after collecting my spoils, not too intent on discovering what my accidental act of arson might attract.

  After walking for a while outside of the forest, I stumbled upon a small cabin whose owner was kind enough to relinquish his property to me, on top of providing free food. A great guy.

  So this was where I was staying for now.

  I sat on the cabin’s bed. Turns out it was sturdy enough to handle my iron weight.

  After making sure that the door and all windows were properly shut and locked, I draped the covers over my head and entered what I liked to call my inner world, which at the moment only featured the furnace room.

  Assuming my human form in this mind palace of mine, I walked up the furnace, placing Ophelie’s soul within it. This girl had a radiant, most luminous soul. If I didn’t know who it belonged to, I would have assumed that it was that of an angel.

  “Ophelie. Can you hear me?”

  Souls couldn’t quite speak in the traditional sense, but I could understand them to an extent. At least, I understood perfectly well when they begged for mercy and pleaded with me.

  “It might hurt for a little while, but don't worry one bit. Once this is over, you’ll be reborn… Then, we will be together forever and ever. You still want to be my little sister, right?”

  The pure soul was a bit nervous, but still trusted me wholeheartedly.

  How adorable…

  “Very well, it will soon begin. Stay strong”

  The door of the furnace came shut, and I carefully calibrated every controllable aspect of the furnace.

  Alright, so normally, if I add some of every negative emotion that I own and make the flame neither too weak, nor too strong… If the ‘bond’ that unites me and Ophelie is good enough, then her soul should be of the right quality to become a spirit akin to the quintet, right?

  Correct

  You sound more nervous than usual, Nara.

  It… I worry that my new sister will not turn out correctly, that's all…

  Aww… You too? You girls are all so adorable!

  Don’t worry, even for a second. Your big sister will make sure that Ophelie won’t turn out like my lesser servants… If anything, your worry for her should have made her soul of even greater quality! After all, you are all a part of me at the end of the day, aren’t you? So your love should count as my love as well.

  I am uncertain if this is truly how this works…

  Have faith, Nara. I have a good feeling about this…

  Without hesitation, I activated the furnace, and as expected, Ophelie’s soul was in immediate pain. She was a strong girl, though, and she knew that I was there for her, so she held on like a champion even as the process extended throughout thirty whole minutes.

  Every single sort of negative emotion was used in the fuelling of this flame. It was the most neutral inferno I could manifest with the furnace. As such, none of the emotions could be considered the ‘main one’. They all neutralised one another.

  This should allow for the creation of a balanced spirit whose powers and capabilities were more based on the individual the soul belonged to.

  At least, that’s how I understood it.

  This was only possible because of the quality of her soul, though. I did not have the means to even attempt something like this with the souls of people and creatures I did not care in the least about.

  Mmh… Is something wrong, or…?

  I think this is a good sign

  Something unlike anything I had seen before was happening, but I guess it was to be expected since this was the first time I was actually trying to create such a spirit. The quintet had manifested itself into existence due to the strong bond that united us, which had made their souls into ones of high quality.

  I had not been present for their rebirth. And after that, I only put them in the furnace for the purpose of enhancing and maintaining them as good little ghosts.

  Only lesser servants had been created since then… But still! The furnace room was shaking, and the strength of the flames was increasing on its own as greater amounts of negative emotions were being drained from me than I had intended.

  It was like the furnace was aware and perfectly adjusting everything in real time.

  But that wasn’t even the strangest part…

  Nara… Why are more souls showing up? Some of them aren’t even coming from my stock!

  I could tell the difference between souls that I owned and souls that were not mine. And here, an absurd amount of souls were being brought into the mix without my accord. I didn’t even know where all these extra souls were coming from.

  My sight was soon lost as the flames grew too bright, and I could have sworn everything was going to blow up in my face–Until everything suddenly stopped and the furnace room returned to peacefulness.

  “Whoaaa! You look so pretty! Can I be as tall as you one day?”

  Ophelie was now standing in front of me, though, looking just as delightfully adorable as she did before, only that now, she was one of my loyal ghosts. This simple fact suddenly made me feel several times more friendly toward her without having to act.

  “Silly girl. You are a spirit now, you are likely to stay just as painfully cute as you are now”

  Ophelie was now the youngest of the troop, but despite that, she and Gigi were actually about the same height. The difference was more visible in the former’s exceptionally soft features and pinchable cheeks.

  I picked Ophelie off the ground.

  “You might have abilities already. Would you mind showing me how strong and cool you are?”

  “Sure! But I don’t really know what I can do…”

  “That’s of no concern, we can figure it out-”

  A door slammed open, almost making me leave my mind palace and return to my real body, but it wasn’t the door of the cabin that had been flung open.

  A new door had just manifested.

  “Did you do that?”

  “I didn’t do anything…”

  “Mmh…”

  It seems that your successful creation of another great spirit has caused your inner world to expand

  By the way, you’ve also completed one condition for a new form

  A new form, so not one whose name was already shown to me?

  The name of this new form is ‘Pure Spirit Form’

  I see… So another form that I started to unlock…

  No point in focusing on that for now. I need to check out where the hell this new door leads to!