The forest leaves and ferns scraped against my fur. I sniffed the air in distaste, my prey having managed to elude his very own scent.

Clever. I thought and chuckled. They had coated themselves in the autumn soil, masking their presence. My whiskers tickled my face in the wind, bringing soft ash and smoke from the near trading roads.

My prey forgotten, I turned my head towards the source, only finding more ferns and leaves. My ears picked up on distant screams, carrying on the wind whispering into my ear. The forest souls were active tonight. Kankaar only knows…

I shook my head and padded with grace only a fox could manage. I thought as I wondered, thinking of my one surviving pup and his brashness. The playful look on his face as he chased mice.

I chuckled. I knew it wasn’t normal for a 2-month old fox to wander around, playing with mice, but it was perfectly normal for spirit beasts like ourselves. Our cores were sturdy and our numbers high.

As they should be. I thought with amusement. For who am I, if not Viralya the fox of whispering death?

My amusement quickly turned sour at the taste of burning flesh. My mana enhanced tongue and nose could taste them. Humans. I thought. Such a troublesome species. They live in high walls and big stone towers, cowering from the natural elements and wilds, with only a rare few venturing forth.

Their foolish species could barely put two spells together, let alone use mana. Their magic’s pathetic, at least, from what I had seen. But I would never underestimate an opponent. Nor an entire species. I had rarely been out of this forest, only seeing glimpses of massive stone walls, and hearing stories of greed, and gold.

They couldn’t truly manipulate mana, having to subconsciously convert them to text and ‘skills’. Barbaric, if you ask me.

Regardless of my musings, when I came out of the clearing, my majestic and sleek red fur shining in the sun, I found a burning carriage, with swirling flames that reeked of death and spite.

I didn’t know what to think at first. I had heard stories but this… Kankaar only knew. I could feel the death and fire mana, twirling around the remains of people, corpses. A dance of mana, harmonizing and rising. I knew what happened when creatures die, the mana they release turns to death mana, which was not to be confused with cursed mana, which warped the dead into the undead.

But even if 20 or 30 people had died in that small carriage, there should be only 1/1000th of the mana density and scale that I was witnessing. There were a couple of reasons I could think of.

It was possible that someone had crushed a death mana crystal, releasing its contents, or someone invoked a ritual. It was also possible they had stumbled on two lesser elementals fighting it out, which would be bad because the nearby forest would be affected.

But that only explained the death mana. The fire mana… Well, that is much more common, adding in so many more possibilities that could even be a spirit beast itself. Though I doubted it because of the death swirling there, they would have to be dying or dead and I doubted a group of humans could do that to a spirit beast

But most explanations and reasoning fled my mind when I heard a piercing wail. The wail and cry of an infant, seeking destruction and death. There was only one way a being could cause that much death mana to swarm.

Spirit. I thought. This wasn’t a beast or a human. No, this was a being of pain and agony, one whose soul had not been able to be converted into the mana that birthed them. They were very rare and very dangerous.

I could make out multiple charred human corpses, rapidly burning in embers. The death aura was fading, leaving a sense of grief and pain.

It hurt me more than I cared to admit, as a mother of one, seeing a child cry out in pain like that. I could feel the heat approaching, closing in to devour and consume.

I sighed. This was not what I had in mind for today. My young was hungry and the forest spirits were already lively, stirring up a fuss, and scattering prey.

I called on the winds, pooling mana from my core into the mana around me and infusing my will into it, thrusting a powerful gust forth. It battered the flame and pushed it down, unrelenting.

Even if the massive amount of mana was huge compared to humans and most creatures, I was a veteran spirit beast. I had a couple of centuries to practice my art of wind and air. This was big, yes, but it was a bucket compared to a well.

The fire dispersed and left only ashes, floating down. The death mana had all but disappeared, and the charred ground was cracked. Smoke still steamed off of the remains of the wooden carriage and dispersed into the sky.

I huffed and the winds blew most of it away, revealing the small young boy, barely two months old in the center of the ashen pile. Corpses that were all but skeletons surrounded it, likely trying to protect the young boy.

A foolish notion. I thought as I steeled my heart. This was a spirit. And it had possessed a body, willingly or not. It was volatile, unknown, and had a Fire affinity for Kankaar’s sake. The fire just consumed all. There was no alternative. This was true, especially for spirits.

This child had to die.

I parted the ash in a path towards the infant, smelling the potent fire affinity and surprising traces of wind and mind. I padded through the broken wagon, feeling the forest swirl around the ash playfully.

I doubted it knew what ash was. There were no forest fires, or really any fire here. The only ones who could set fire to an enchanted forest were either powerful spirit beasts or elementals. Or a young spirit, in this case.

Discarding his infant body, his mana tasted of a single level. A single age. That stopped me in my tracks. What? I thought. How could a spirit so powerful live only one life? They usually take decades to reach this kind of mindless power!

I stared at the child, my eyes unbelieving. I had seen many strange things, stranger than this really over the ages, but to see a spirit of this power with only one measly level to back it? Unheard of. Even searching my mind for the stories the elders spoke of came up blank.

I stared into the child's tear-stricken face, coming to a decision. I needed to know. I pierced his flimsy barriers of mind, reaching his tiny core only to find…

BURNING.

SCALDING.

SCORCHED SKIN.

FIRE.

BOILED BLOOD.

HUR-

I threw my mind out of the childs, gasping in horror at the death. Death mana was circling around me, in faint whispers, calling to me before I banished it. Set aflame, to burn in pure and utter insanity. The taste of the rest of the child's life of grief and insanity did not help either.

I calmed down, circling the mana around my core, feeling the wind tease the back of my ears, and the chirps of ignorant prey, full of mana and life, not like what this child has. Staying in that state of calm for another five or ten minutes, I opened my silver eyes to the young one, staring at me with a deep red, all-consuming, all burning, all-

I growled, infusing the sound waves and vibrations with mana. The child's eyes go wide in fright, but they do not cry out, staring at me in confusion and horror, silky tears sliding down their cheeks.

I breathed in, feeling the air mana, not caring if I agitate the ashen energy that had begun to seep back in, due to the child's influence.

I knew the safest option, for the forest and its inhabitants was to get rid of the child before they became a threat. They were mindless terrors, destroying everything in their grief, souls come back from the pure manifestation of regret and anguish.

Yet, Those eyes were not mindless. I had never met a spirit before, so I couldn’t be sure. The stories all spoke of them as mindless killing golems, but…

Fear. I identified. Instinctual fear of predators. I didn’t even need to sense the mana, I could smell the child's fear just as I could smell anyone else's.

I let out the breath slowly, letting the air mana dissipate in wisps. I lowered my eyes to the child, smelling his hopes and dreams, little power yet such powerful and potent mana. His red eyes met mine, before closing, like they were once again accepting death.

Their body trembled. Just sadness escaping now. The sense of all-encompassing grief was gone.

I made my decision. May Kankaar watch over my soul. I thought in silent prayer as I picked up the child in a hammock of air, and hoisted them into my mouth, carrying them to my home, praying I hadn’t made a mistake...