Prologue: Echoes in the Mist

Kira sat up in her infirmary bed and looked around, eager to awake in her own bedroom. But to her dismay, she woke up in the infirmary once again. Her side was wrapped in gauze from TarTar's sanitized blast. Her close friend Chili asleep in her lap, her mother and father, Celeste, Mint, and Akari asleep on separate beds, Aero and Aurora asleep as well, and Alaric keeping watch.

"You're up early, sweetheart.." Alaric said quietly. "I was worried about you."

"Heh, thanks pops."

Alaric pulled up a chair and sat next to Kira. "You know, I wanted to teach you more about your powers, but with the attack-"

"Yeah... We'll be eliminating TarTar soon." She replied.

Alaric grinned a bit. "When your mother and I were part of Neon's ol' prophecy, we learned how to summon animals from our powers known as Seishin."

Kira's eyes widened in awe as she listened to him. "Really?"

He nodded and summoned a cobra, making Kira flinch a bit. "This here is my Seishin. An ice cobra named Korib. He spits poison that can freeze his enemies."

"So what's my Seishin?" She wondered.

Alaric helped her carefully slide out of the bed and grinned at her. "Come with me and I'll help you."

The fields were quiet as the morning dew kissed the grass. Their quiet footsteps echoed softly throughout the area as they suddenly stopped.

"This should be good." Alaric commented. "Now, to summon your Seishin, you need to think deep. Think about them coming to you. About you needing them. If you need them, they will come to your aid."

"Okay! That should be easy enough." Kira replied as she rubbed her hands together.

A soft glow came from her hands as she focused. Thinking about her Seishin, she took deep breaths, and then the signs of life hit her, as she felt a cold breeze hit her like a tank.

"What the-?"

The Seishin had appeared before her. A horse with black skin and purple eyes, it's curved ears twitching. The mane of it being black with glowing pastel green stripes, with a large twisted horn coming out of it's forehead. It's mouth was a beak and its dragon wings raising up. It's tail was a lion's tail with the tuft being black with purple tips and instead of hooves, it had curved hoof/paws with long black claws sticking out. It screeched/whinnied before eyeing their summoner.

"Holy shit..." Kira breathlessly whispered.

"I'll be damned." Alaric declared. "Your Seishin is a Venom Walker."

"Venom Walker?"

Alaric walked up to the horse and stroked its mane. "Venom Walkers are sacred Seishin to control. They require a lot of patience and trust."

Kira got up and held her hand out to pet it, to which it went straight to nuzzling her, making her laugh.

"See? They like you." He told her. "Why don't you give them a name?"

Kira made a face before smiling at her new comrade. "I like the name Nimh."

Hours passed and Kira returned to the field to meet her father again. "Father!" She called out. "Nimh is amazing! They can do so many things! They're fast and have special powers!"

"Good. But you both need to be ready for the war ahead. Can you do that for me?"

Kira and Nimh were silent.

"...Alright, how about for Chili?"

"O-Of course..."

Alaric gave Kira a hug and rubbed her back.

"I know you're scared... Scared you will fail him. But he's willing to risk his life for you. So it would be nice for him to know you'd be willing to do the same for him."

Kira stared off into space as she looked at the fading stars and sighed. " I refuse to let him down. And I refuse to let Chili die... I will be the one who dies. I will be the only one dead by the end of this war.

Watashi no chi wa kare no karada ga sore ni ataru mae ni jimen o nurimasu

Final War's first chapter will be coming out soon!

Translation for the final sentence: My blood will smear the ground before his body hits it