6 A New Pe

Sovereign Realms- Divine Domain.

East of the Usoa Continent is a vast sea. The waters here have been given the name, The Living Sea. The sea was as smooth as a mirror that only reflected the sun, stars, and the clouds that drifted above it. Only when a human attempted to cross it would it change. Those brave souls would be faced with a powerful storm of wind, lightning, and unnatural waves that seemed direct at them. When those whose power exceed the storm tried to cross it, gigantic water monsters would rise from the depths of the ocean and battle wit them. After thousands of years an unspoken census came to be that this sea and anything inside was forbidden for humans to travel to. What lays beyond the storms and beasts was unknown to mankind.

One would have to travel hundreds of thousands of miles before they see the first sight of land. Here lays an archipelago made up of about a hundred islands. Each island was habited by a plethora of animals, beasts, and mystical animals thought to have gone extinct. The human population here is two. The story of those two is for a different time.

On one of the islands there is a cave located towards the peak of the mount. Inside the cave there is a small griffin cup no more than 3 months old is sleeping next to two fully grown griffins. The cub's feathers on its head and neck were pure white without and defect. Its hindquarters are covered in a light brown fur that is as hard as diamonds. Its two forelimbs are talons while its hind legs are those of a lion. Its ears were elongated and pointed. Everything about this cub seemed perfect except for one thing. It has no wings.

Eos's mother and father were once well respected in the Central Ait. After his birth, they were shamed and were forced to become outcasts and live in seclusion.

At this moment Eos raised his head and looked out of the cave. A pillar of divine light was casting down right outside the cave. Aegaeon, his father, and Celeono, his mother, both noticed the occurrence and looked at each other.

They knew that this was a common occurrence in the world. If a human gave birth to an animal soul spirit, that meant that there was said animal connected to them by fate. If that fate was good or bad, only time would tell. Only on a few instances a year would a beast attempt to go against their destiny. Upon the birth of the soul spirit that contains anything that would have sentience, a bond be established. This bond could turn into a slave, friendship, companion, lover, or mutual agreement depending on the personalities of the human and the beast.

Cel glanced at Aegaeon with a worried look in her eyes. Tears started to stream down her face as she started to guide Eos towards the light. They both know that this is the best thing for their son. As hard as it is for them to let their cub go, they know it is the only choice. A light filled both Aeg and Cel's eyes as they look at Eos. Two different lights entered Eos body and headed straight for his soul. Upon reaching there they met and turned into two strands that spiraled around one another.

Eos is both hesitant and excited about the feeling he is getting from the pillar of light. He has a slight feeling that he will leave his parents, and that gives him an uneasy feeling. He felt a little nudge from behind and turned to see his father motioning for him to step into the light. Eos animal instincts kicked in as he noticed the concern from his parents which caused him to pause for a couple seconds. He is not ready to leave his parents. Eos disappeared into the light.

Celeono rubbed her head on Aeg's neck before just resting it on him. They both watched the light disappear. Tears flowed out of their eyes. They could only hop that his human would treat him well.



"Utterly exquisite." Haoshe exclaimed.

While the two were fighting Arbor could feel the essence in his body slowly building up. He has a faint idea of what is happening. Thalli had taught him that training was a way for cultivators to increase their prowess. 'This is the essence that she told me about. I can feel the energy in it. I have only just started on this path. I can't get left in the dust by any would be genius out there in the thousands of realms…I can finally live the life I always wanted.' Arbor happily thought to himself.

"This were we stop. Arbor look up." Telum interrupted the fight.

When he looked up, he noticed the tree and felt an extremely familiar feeling with it. An extremely big grin crept up on his face. A pillar of light shone down from the heavens connecting to the translucent tree. His soul spirit started to shine with an exquisite light.

"Woah, woah, woah, what is going on?" Arbor questioned his seniors.

"Looks like you are going to get yourself a pet. You see that little guy towards the base of the trunk? You have a fused soul spirit. You will be meeting your companion any second now."

Half a minute later a little creature popped out of tree as if it had been living inside. Arbor reacted swiftly and took a couple of steps back and caught it. A low caw came from Eos beak as he landed in Arbors arms.

"Senior Sol, you're a divine beast, right?" Arbor questioned. "This looks like a griffin, but where are its wings?" Eos seemed to have understood what had been said and burrowed his head into Arbors chest. Those watching could tell the

"It does seem to be a griffin, he might have been born without wings. How unfortunate. And to answer your question, yes, I am a phoenix."

"Arbor there are a couple of things you need to know. First, never ever show your soul spirit to anyone. The only acceptable circumstance is in a life and death battle. And make sure that you kill the other party. Second, that griffin is no pet. You make him your best friend and he will return the favor. You two have been brought together by destiny. Lastly," Haoshe paused due to an uncontrollable laughter, "you have a year left before I kick you out of my forest. In the mean time all of you must conclude your lessons with him. Ill be teaching you the art of healing."

And just like that 9 months had passed.

"Alright kid, you might not have the natural ability towards forging, but having the knowledge is always useful. You can always help a blacksmith improve his craft, thus, getting better equipment. Who knows, maybe you will be able to make a friend who has a talent in forging and can help nurture them. This does not apply to just forging. Alchemy, fighting, or any knowledge that you have learned from us can help built friendships. Be careful who you surround yourself with, the world of cultivators is not like the one you grew up in. People are more vicious and only have their own self interests in mind. Do not trust anyone too soon." Vulcan lectured Arbor.

"Thank you very much for teaching me these years. I will take what you have said to heart and keep a close eye on those who try to get near me. I know I don't have any ability now, but I hope one day I can pay you back." The student respectfully bowed.

Scenes like this one occurred with Sol, Telum, and Pona. The only exception was Thalli. She instilled in Arbor to always continue learning. She only hopes that Arbor can understand that knowledge is power.

His time with his teachers was not a breeze, but it was not excruciating either. Except for the days when he visited Haoshe. The begging days were all learning, but they slowly started to get more difficult. Arbor was beginning to dread his days with Master Mo. He was not able to grasp how someone who seemed to be easy going and allegedly 'one with nature' could have such a high standard for perfection.

The next three months for Arbor was the hardest span of his life, including the one on earth. During this time Arbor was directed on how to cultivate by his elders.

"After the mortal realm, is the kuwa realm. The purpose of this realm was to carve out the meridians inside their body. In total, there are a total of 108 meridians, 54 that send essence away from your dantain to different areas of your body and 54 that bring it back. You have ten in each leg, sixteen in your torso, eight in each arm, two in your head. You will open every single one of these in the kuwa stage before you advance to the next one. Every ten that you open you will have a small breakthrough and you will get an incremental rise in power.

The order you open them in will depict your power in the early stages. Say you open the pathways in your legs first, you will have an advantage in speed over those who do not. Your arms will give you more strength and the body will give you better defense. Granted all of these give increase all of the areas but those specific areas will yield higher results for those specific areas." Pona was lecturing.

"That's all easy to comprehend, but I have a couple of questions first. What about the meridians in the head? What about this little cub? Do they follow the same path as us humans? Or do they just need time mature?" Arbor interrupted Pona.

"As for your cub, all you need is to give them time to mature. As they grow, they will gain new abilities that are passed down through their lineage. Sometimes, there special ones that can evolve. Specific kinds of pills and herbs can aid each beast's growth. Consult Sol and Thalli about that. As for the meridians connecting the brain, I would recommend doing them first. They will allow you to think more clearly and precisely. Having a strong mind can help lead to a stronger foundation." Pona answered.

Arbor and Pona continued conversing for a couple hours, before he left to inquire about Eos's future development. Sol and Thalli already had information ready and handed him scripts for pills and herbs useful to Eos.
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