Chapter 10: Hesitation
Niara was handed a silver badge by the woman, who then turned around and left. She didn't need to explain anything else; Niara already knew the steps and everything she had to do.
The two of them left the great hall. Niara glanced at Darian, a little awkward, and slowly placed him on her shoulder.
He wasn't entirely physical, so he didn't feel sticky. His current form was just a basic physical manifestation, which, in theory, could evolve and change with time and resources.
He was only a few centimeters long, with a delicate white body. Around him, there were lots of multicolored plumes. The plumes gave off a subtle elemental energy... which, for stronger people, was actually pretty impressive.
His eyes were round and dark, expressive, and he had two tiny antennae on top of his head. To Niara, he looked like a super cute little creature.
Darian had no clue how he'd pulled that off. He just used the power of the two rings on his fists and everything started getting drawn into him. It was impossible to stabilize the elements that kept being added to his body.
Since he didn't have much time, he just gathered the elements around his body and left them in their most basic form... and so, a weird colorful slug was born from the chaos. But at least he knew that, even if it looked underwhelming, he could always change in the future.
Darian could feel Niara's warmth and determination. Even if they were physically apart, their souls were still connected. She walked quickly through the halls, heading straight to the library.
Celestia Academy was huge, and they were only in the outer region. Along the way, they passed a bunch of people.
That's when Darian realized—he was like a beacon in the middle of the night.
Everyone around turned to look at her, staring at the glorious Spiritual Guardian resting on her shoulder. Most just widened their eyes, confused and shocked.