Love Far Beyond the Ashes

Keeper Of Nature's Method

Ina pov: I shot forward quickly and looked around. Sana, look out!" I hissed, only calming down as I saw that there was no more danger.

"I healed you with my golden apple; it was honestly a grave misuse of it, but anything to get answers, that's what Mumei has told me," Fauna stated.

I panted and wiped the sweat from my face. "I don't remember much," I told her.

"Anything shall do," Fauna replied.

"Well, I recall energy raining down, and then I protected Sana, then nothing," I told her.

"Ina!!!" Sana yelled as she ran to me and pulled me into a bear hug, "I was so worried!" She cried out at me.

"Sana, you were supposed to be watching Irys," Fauna claimed.

"I did, and she passed out again, so I wanted to at least check in on Ina and see how she was doing!" Sana loudly said:

Fauna glared at the speaker in space and wrapped roots around her so she wouldn't be able to move.

"I need to train Ina, and I don't want you getting in the way." Fauna growled

"Wait... why would I-" Sana was cut off by Fauna, who sent thorny roots my way. They slammed into me badly, cutting me.

"You could have blocked that," She stated.

"No, I couldn't have," I told her.

Sana was clearly angry. "Fauna, not too rough!" She yelled at the woman.

"Sana, I need results," She told the girl before she retracted the roots and healed me with the golden apple "again!" She yelled

I summoned my tentacles and threw them at her. She plucked a blade of grass and threw it. The grass didn't even hit any of my tentacles, but they still sliced apart instantly. The blade of grass flew through my body, causing me to fall over.

"Dang, what the heck is that made of?" I asked as I saw my blood exit my body.

"We are going to keep going at this until you get it right. I hope you understand that," Fauna told me as she healed me.

"What does she even have to do?" Sana asked

"She needs to master the power of the active ones; she is literally the strongest one in that group of six, yet she is also the most disappointing." Fauna stated

"Yeah, I get that she has a lot of latent potential, but because of that, she needs to learn slowly; she can't just speed run while getting stronger!" Sana stated

"Well, we don't have time," Fauna replied.

"What do you mean?" I asked

"Supposedly the end of this world may be near, and Mumei at least wants to prevent at least one of the incoming issues," Fauna explained.

"Do any of us even care?" Sana asked

No, but still, we need to stop Omega somehow, and these six are the ones that are being targeted first before council since they stopped her last time!" Fauna stated

Fair, but please be gentle with Ina; she's a sweetheart!" Sana stated

Fauna snarled with annoyance since she didn't want Mumei to be mad at her for failing. "You will get this right!" She stated

She just sent normal roots my way. This time I closed my book and threw it to the side before running at her and saying, "No!" I yelled at her.

"You... pick up the book and fight me for real!" She hissed

I dodged the incoming roots and managed to punch her in the face, knocking her back. "I am fighting seriously!" I told her

Fauna sat back up and spit blood onto the ground. "You can't be serious." She stated

"Last time I lost control, I hurt Sana, and I will not lose control again." I told her she understood what I was getting at, but at the moment all she cared about were results.

"We need to continue and end this," Fauna said.

"I agree..." I huffed

I ran over to Sana and broke her out, and then she swiftly incapacitated Fauna, who was squirming. "Stop it..." is all she said.

Look, Ina needs to get stronger!" Fauna said

"Then let her get stronger in her own way; don't keep pushing her beyond her limits; she isn't someone you can keep playing with like this; she is a human!" Sana said

"I don't know if I'd call her a human; she has pointy ears like an elf," Fauna said.

"You created her; you should know!" Sana stated

Well, maybe Mumei made humans, I think," Fauna said.

"Are you not taking credit? They're animals anyway," Sana said.

Well, that could be debated. Humans are kind of stupid and too savage to be animals. For starters, you eat meat like carnivorous beasts!" Fauna sighed

"Yeah, and there isn't a problem with that," I said.

Well, you're hurting nature," Fauna claimed.

"To be fair, we could say the same about you manipulating plants to do your bidding, which we classify as hurting nature," Sana said.

Touché," Fauna mumbled.

Look, just listen to me. We will find another way to get Ina up to code, but we need to do it in a safe way that won't hurt her, right?" I asked

"Sure, but I don't see the problem!" Fauna stated

Sana let Fauna go, and she stood up, using her apple to heal herself before putting the dirt off herself.

"Ina, please use the ancient ones," Sana said.

Okay, but I will only use it minorly; I won't overuse it," I stated.

Sana gave me a thumbs up, and she walked towards my tome, picking it up before tossing it to me.

I summoned my tentacles back out and suddenly felt chills fall down my spine. "What the heck?" I sighed.

Look, don't use the tentacles if you don't want to or can't use them!" Sana told me

"No, I'll do it; I won't disappoint you!" I said

Fauna exhaled and sat down on a tree stump, looking at us. "Get to it then," She said. "Before I go bald..." She then said for some bizzare reason

We both looked at each other and sighed. I guess we need to show results.