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How to Seer, Part 11

copyright comidacomida 2020

Unlike most Spirits, which find a place for themselves within the world based on some higher purpose, Raskshasas spontaneously came about as a manifestation of mankind's primal fear of the wild, the unknown, and the prospect of being prey. Although they were far more common millennia ago, they can still sometimes manifest in today's age... though if I understand them correctly, such a thing is incredibly rare in most first world countries.

Still, on that trip back home for the holiday season I found myself face-to-face with one, and it was truly frightening. That fear, I realized, only made it stronger, which was a bitter pill to swallow when I have my four companions and a fifth Spirit standing between me and it. In that moment, realizing that I was making our enemy stronger, I'd never felt more like a traitor, and I had to do SOMETHING to change the status quo. It was Mishupishu who helped the most as he stepped up beside me, sticking a water reed stem first into the ground next to my feet.

He spoke plainly in English. "Chant with me."

The Lynx began a ritualistic prayer that he'd used to help teach me his native language, and it was one I'd come to know fairly well; it didn't take a lot of effort for me to focus on it, and I did as he bade me. Still within my field of attention, however, the Rakshasha came at me, charging Kon, Raven, Talapus, and the Bat, apparently more than willing enough to take all of them on if it meant that it could get at me. Rakshasa had little use for other Spirits and, to it, they were only an obstacle.

Raven attacked first, striking out with razor-like feathers to keep the Tiger-like Spirit at bay, but it accepted the blow and responded with a powerful swipe of its claws, tearing our a large section of Raven's plumage. The damage wasn't so much physical as it was symbolic; if given a chance to regain Spirit Energy, Raven's feathers would come back almost immediately... but that wasn't true if the Rakshasha got to me. My concerns started to rise and the words of the prayer stopped coming from me but, again, Mishupishu's voice called for my focus. "We are not done yet, Seer."

Talpaus was the next to take on the Rakshasa, letting out a warcry as he led the way with a short spear in one paw and a knife in the other. Although he succeeded in scoring several blows, the black, Tiger-shaped Spirit didn't seem greatly concerned, and a third arm emerged from its chest to grab him by the throat. Hoisting him off the ground, the Rakshasa began pummeling him with blows from its main two arms. At that point I interjected, shouting "Talapus, I need you to fight back!"

It was a selfish statement, but it wasn't for not; making that request empowered the Coyote, and his weapons shone with vibrant light as he brought them both up, cleanly severing the third arm from his foe. Talapus landed on his own two feet, but I could see that his eyes were no longer shining; he wasn't a warrior Spirit and fighting the Rakshasa had taken its toll. He fell back as Kon and the Bat charged the dark creature together. The Fox shouted out something in Japanese, but it was the Bat's battle cry that I recognized most prominently. "LEEEEERRROOOOOYYYYY JENKIIIIIIIINNS!"

As a pop culture Spirit, the Bat had the enviable position of gaining Spirit Energy every time a Human was able to place one of his many references and, being such a reclusive teen, I had been all about modern entertainment. He was not a Spirit of War, or a Guardian Spirit, or a Sentinel, but, with me as a near endless battery of Spirit Energy for him, he definitely made good use of having me in his corner... and even helped me forget about my fear of the man-eating manifestation of horror.

Kon came in low while the Bat struck high; the Fox's weapon of choice was a long katana, though, as he struck, the blow was blocked by the Rakshasa's arm, causing no damage. The Fox's other paw disappeared into his yukata and drew out a small straight knife, which he used to drag across the back of the Tiger's leg. While it amounted to little more than a distraction, it was enough for the Bat to bring his attack the fight: a large crystalline, blue-bladed sword. The Rakshasha took the hit on the shoulder, and it stumbled back as a result.

Suddenly pincered between the Fox and Bat, the horrific Spirit disappeared into the ground, flowing down through the street as a pool of blackness. I took a step forward in surprise. "Is that it? Is it gone?"

Mishupishu stepped forward with me, placing an arm across my chest as he pulled me back. "No. It is still here."

A moment later it exploded out of the ground in front of me; the Lynx pushed me back, and then was blown backwards by the force of the strike that had been meant for me. Kon and the Bat were on it again in an instant. The three exchanged several blows, with most of the Rakshasa's aimed at the Fox and, after several seconds, Kon was pushed back, knocked head-over-tail toward the road. He arched his back, snapping his body back to a standing position in one fluid move, but he was too far away to offer me any protection from the next blow coming at me. What happened next, though, was probably one of the zaniest, kookiest, silliest things I'd ever experienced... but it was still somehow SO cool.

The Bat sprang toward me, leaping toward a gun that was laying on the ground with one outstretched paw even as his legs soared over his body in a sideways cartwheel. Out of nowhere, a noise flowed through the area and I watched in rapt attention as all of the Spirits slowed down to a near crawl, almost as if time itself had practically come to a stop. Strangely enough, I wasn't slowed down like they were-- an effect I learned about later but, in that moment, I was able to casually walk out of the way of the Rakshasa's attack.

The Spirits, though, were another story. I saw the Bat's body rotating through the air as he cartwheeled, reaching for the gun; Kon had begun to sprint toward me; Raven had picked up several of his bladed feathers from the street and was readying to throw them; Mishupishu was just getting up off the ground. Once I was out of the way, everythig sped back up, and that amounted to the Rakshasa being hit by thrown razor feathers, shot repeatedly by a fully automatic gun, and then hit by a zephyr-fast Fox katana strike. Incidentally, that's what I later named Kon's attack... which only made it more powerful for future use.

The combined attacks was enough to stun the Rakshasa, giving it enough pause that my four Spirits could form up again on me, with the Bat standing alongside them. He pointed a sword (which came out of nowhere) at the thing, declaring "Hasta la vista, baby."

Suddenly infused with a second-wind, the Rakshasa sprang forward, accepting the Bat's sword strike to its abdomen, but not before bringing its teeth and claws to bear, clenching down and tearing into the young Spirit. I was aghast, unsure whether the savage strike would completely take the poor fellow's head off but, instead, the Tiger phased through the Bat, who blinked rapidly in and out of existence, responding to the mauling with a simple "Ah!" I also watched as three cartoony-hearts appeared over the Bat's head... and one disappeared.

I'm not sure what came over me in that moment, but I called out. "Enough playing around, Link!"

The Bat's follow-up strike was befitting of any young Hylian hero, empowered not only by his desire to defeat his foe but also, I realized, by the fact that I'd just given him a name. The Rakshasa was defeated, and it faded away like a water droplet on the sidewalk during summer, and that just left the Bat. It's was a complicated situation added onto an already complicated situation, but that was the day I named my first Spirit... and gained my fifth companion, a Bat Spirit named Link.