"What do you mean, the former hero?" asked Juan, a bit confused, clenching his fists.
Luckily, Juan hadn't been hit by anything when the Spirit threw us all back, so he only had bits of leaves stuck to his clothes.
"Not important right now," said the Spirit inside me arrogantly.
"And you're only showing up now?" said Kayne as he stood back up.
His uniform was slightly torn. I figured it was from all the branches snagging him since we'd entered the forest.
"Of course. The kid only lets me take over when he has no choice left but to save his friends," he added mockingly.
"How long have you two known each other?" asked Komi, still a bit stunned as she tried to get up.
"Long enough. I even fought him once!" he replied with a wide grin.
"Oh yeah? And who won?" asked Katia, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"Me, obviously," Kayne said, running a hand through his hair.
"You didn't even touch me," the Spirit shot back, narrowing his eyes.
Juan burst into laughter but abruptly stopped when Kayne shot him a death glare that could've killed a bear.
"Alright, I'll handle this Spirit. While I do, you try to free your master. Don't worry, I'll catch up with you once I've exorcised it," declared my alter ego.
"Got it!" the four of them said in unison, clearly happy to pass the job on to him.
I was eager to see how he'd handle this powerful Spirit.
"I'll charge it head-on. You take a different path and try to circle around without being seen," he explained.
"Let's go!" shouted Katia.
And with that, they all took off running.
"Hey! I'm not ready!" cried Komi, chasing after them.
"You should be able to hear me now. Try to talk to me, kid," he said casually.
Talk to him? How? I wondered.
"Exactly like that," he answered smugly.
"Huh? But how did you hear me?" I exclaimed mentally.
No answer. Was he ignoring me? I wondered again.
"I'm not ignoring you. But I think I figured out how to communicate outside our shared energy. From what I understand, when you speak, I can't hear you from outside. But your thoughts... I hear them as if they're mine," he explained.
"So if I call you a rabid mutt, you'd hear it?" I thought with a grin.
"Don't push it. Or I'll let your friends die," he snapped bitterly.
"Hey! That wasn't part of the deal!" I yelled in my mind.
"No need to yell!" he yelled back, ironically.
"Anyway, I want you to pay close attention to how I use your power. Technically, you can use mine too," he added, stretching.
"Alright!" I thought.
After a quick stretch, he leapt forward and reached the Spirit in just two jumps.
"You shouldn't have come!" the Spirit roared, blowing a gust of wind.
It was so strong I thought it would blow my body away but my alter ego didn't even flinch.
He closed my eyes to activate his power, then opened them and locked eyes with the Spirit.
"Watch closely," he whispered.
I wasn't sure I understood, but I focused, trying to absorb as much as I could.
"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COME HERE!" the Spirit shrieked, so loud I thought my eardrums would burst.
It tried to blow another gust of wind—but nothing happened. Confused, it tried to flee, but before it could, my double landed a brutal punch to its stomach. He moved so fast it looked like teleportation.
"Oh no, you're not getting away!" he grinned, eyes glinting with psychotic glee.
The impact was so powerful that the Spirit exploded on contact. I couldn't believe he was doing all this with the same body I used.
"Whoa, that was insane!" I thought, completely awestruck.
"Thanks for the compliment, but technically, you can already do this. You just have to imagine yourself with that kind of strength at all times," he said, clearly proud of himself.
"What do you mean?" I asked mentally.
"I wasn't even using one percent of my strength. With no real effort, you could've exorcised a Spirit like that in one shot," he clarified.
"I hope you'll teach me!" I thought, smiling even though he couldn't see it.
"Yeah, yeah. We'll see," he replied with a slight smirk.
"Alright, time to go find your friends. They've probably reached your master," he added.
In just seconds, thanks to his insane speed, this 'Vens' caught up to the others. They were all locked in battle with the Spirit guarding the cage where our master was held.
They looked exhausted.
"Looks like the party started without me!" my alter ego shouted.
"Finally! We need your help to beat this thing!" Katia called out.
"Oh? And your leader Kayne can't save you?" he teased.
"Don't mock me! The fight would've been over if I had Seth's adaptation!" growled Kayne.
"Wow, looks like the exorcists of this era got soft. I should put you all through some training," he chuckled.
"Enough with the bragging! Just exorcise it already!" shouted Juan.
"That's no way to speak to your elder. But hey, I'm bored—so I'll do it," said my alter ego.
He calmly walked toward the Spirit. The Spirit didn't understand why this human wasn't trembling before its power. At the same time, I felt my alter ego activating his power.
The Spirit swung a powerful, psychically charged punch at my cheek—but it was like he didn't even feel it.
"That's it? I thought you were as strong as your ego. Now disappear!" he snapped.
With a simple slap, the Spirit exploded. Just a slap.
Kayne, Juan, Katia, and Komi were stunned. So was I, watching the scene through his eyes.
"Let's go free your beloved master," he said.
He walked up to the cage and split it in two with a single swipe of his hand, like slicing paper.
"Thank you, former hero," said the master.
"How did you know?" my alter ego asked.
"From the day Marvens passed out and began losing his half-Spirit traits, I knew there was another Spirit conscious inside him. But the energy you give off made it clear
"you're the former hero of the prophecy. What's your name?" asked the master.
"Heroes' names don't change with generations. So yes, I'm also Marvens. The heroes before me had the same names as those of your generation," he replied.
"I see... Would you mind if we called you Vens for now? It'll help us avoid confusion," asked the master politely.
"Fine. But try to find a new nickname soon," he replied.
After that, Vens carried everyone and brought us back to the academy. He returned control of my body, saying he'd always be there if I needed him—but not to call on him for every little problem.
...
A week passed. Since then, we'd resumed training with Kayne. Of course, the training was way more intense than before so much that Katia and Juan were knocked out after every session. Kayne even trained with us now. I guess what Vens said back in the forest really got to him.
Today was Saturday, and Kayne had an announcement that was going to change everything.
"Good morning, my dear students! I have great news to share with you!" Kayne said cheerfully.
"Day off!" shouted Katia.
"Of course not!" Kayne shot back, visibly annoyed.
"You're taking us to a five-star restaurant to reward our hard work?" asked Komi.
"Yeah, right!" he said, even more irritated.
"Then just tell us already!" Juan snapped.
"Okay, okay! No need to get all worked up!" he laughed.
"I'm thrilled to announce... someone new is joining your training!" he declared enthusiastically.
"Really? Do we know them?" I asked.
"Oh, you know him alright. You almost fought him once," Kayne said with a sly grin.
Oh no... don't tell me...
"Your new teammate is none other than the famous Seth!" he shouted.
Seth walked into the room, hands in his pockets, and said with a cocky grin:
"What's up, losers? Hope we all get along."
Great. Just great... I thought. And I was pretty sure my friends were thinking the same thing.