Jasper's jaw remained clench as he began throwing his essentials into a bag. He could only bring a few sets of clothes and some memoriabilia. He stuffed his notebook into the bag and grabbed a pair of hiking boots.
His room turned messy quickly as his belongings became strewn about. As he finished packing, he came across the book again. Quickly he pushed it into his pack and slung the large bag over his shoulder. His muscles were quite strong for a kid his age, courtesy of the years of physical training.
His messy green hair was pushed down as he put a beanie on over his outfit. He had removed the quality garments from the Ceremony the day before. Now he wore loose fitting tan pants and a loose pine green shirt. It was flowy and the sleeves were pinned at the elbow.
The collar exposed a lot of Jaspers clavicle. His thoughts were just focused on getting away from this building, and preferably, everyone in this territory. As he sped down the hallways, anger began rising in his chest. This wasn't fair. 'I'll put your legacy to shame. I'll be free.' Jasper thought to himself.
His fist clenched at his side and his eyes were tunnel visioned. "Hey." A man's voice said. Jasper hadn't noticed his oldest brother leaning coolly against the front of the manor. He had bright blue hair and wide shoulders. Jasper and him had the fewest interactions just because of the age difference. His older brother was 28 and had recently became a Spirit Knight.
"What Leonel?" Jasper said. There wasn't much room for affection in this family. Everyone was pretty straight to the point.
"I've got a necrotic spirit I tamed years ago. Never touched the thing so it's still Pygmy. Thought you could use it." Leonel said. His voice was deep and slow. He held out his hand where a large caterpillar suddenly appeared. It was about the size and thickness of a rabbit and sat in his palm.
Jasper's eyes instantly softened as he got closer to the creature. It had two big eyes that blinked at the young man. It's caterpillar skin was dark grey and had segments separated by small purple lines that glowed.
It moved by inching its body forward and pushing itself. It had a little caterpillar mouth that clicked. Jasper held out his hand his golden eyes trained carefully on the spirit. This was his first time interacting with one so intimately.
Clayton watched his youngest brother curiously, though his face remained hard. Jasper put his hand close enough to Clayton's for the spirit to crawl onto his. After a little hesitation, it slowly inched onto Jaspers hand.
Jasper gently pulled his hand closer to his head so he could get a better look. There were a bunch of tiny furs all over the caterpillar, and it was actually quite furry. He felt the spirits energy reach out to his and interlock with it in a feeling he could never describe. He closed his eyes and the caterpillar spirit disappeared from his hand into his spirit arsenal.
A spirit arsenal is a space that spirit tamers can store and call upon tamed spirits at any time. It can be reached by looking inward toward their spirit. He opened his eyes with a wide smile on his face. 'That was all I needed.' He thought.
His older brother shoved a small key into his hand. "Here's the key to the storeroom. Stop there and take everything you need. Don't be stingy." He said.
Jasper looked confused now. "Why are you helping me?" He asked.
His older brother sneered. "Just a goodbye gift. I've seen a better life. You can still be normal. Not everyone is like our parents. Don't tell ANYONE I did this. Leave the key in the gutter above the door." His brother said. His straight face convinced Jasper this was a moment of weakness, nothing more.
Jasper quickly saluted and sped walked toward the storeroom. There was no one who would stop him at this point. Only his mother and father could, and they had no interest in seeing him ever again.
He quickly unlocked the storage room door and took to the shelves. There were tents and plenty of survival equipment, as well as specialized space shrinking backpacks. Using special spirit spells one can enchant objects and apply characteristics. Their family could afford the best, but this wasn't top of the line.
They were just extras for one of his siblings to take, should they need it. He was able to store a wild cooking kit as well as all the essentials. He had a small pot and a good store of dry rations. He grabbed a large water canteen and strapped it around his shoulder.
He had grabbed his short sword but he wanted extra for a little more security. He grabbed a spear and small circular shield and strapped it to the back of his pack. Finally he got to a little metal case that held something called a Spirit Box. He flipped the locks and opened the case.
His father always kept a spare Spirit Box in the storage room if his siblings broke theirs. He believed it to be the most important tool for a Spirit Tamer. He keeps his on him at all times. It was functionally a phone with capabilities of sending messages to registered spirit signals.
He pulled out the black tablet of crystal like material. It felt smooth beneath his finger tips. He turned it on and inspected it for any sort of obvious signs the device could be tracked. If it was just a standard factory issue Spirit Box it wouldn't be, but it was possible his father had already tuned them to be family spirit boxes.
He shoved the box into his pocket and turned around. As he hustled out the storage room door he jumped and tossed the key into the gutter. He fastened his backpack and calmly took his last walk through the property.
The compound of buildings and beautiful gardens felt alien as he remembered himself running through them just years before. He'd grown up here, but this place was foreign still. In the back of his head he knew he wasn't leaving his home.
Jasper stumbled outside of the front gates. He had said bye to the guy who sits at their gates for the last time. Jasper thought the dude was pretty ok. Now, he was standing in the capital city of Fetherland, Fetherland City.
Their house was in the nicest section of the city which meant it was the most center part of the city. Walls surrounded the population to protect the people from spirits. Spirit waves wipe towns off of the map and over the years most large towns at least have a low wall.
It makes defending from enraged spirits easier and provides a buffer for the defenders to act. There were only three exits from the city. The northern, eastern, or southern gates were where spirit tamers and transport vehicles would get on the road and travel between towns. Then, once on the road spirit tamers would venture off into the wilderness while remaining by the road to not go 'in too deep.' The first thing Jasper wants to do is leave the territory.
The news had already traveled to every corner of the territory. The Lords youngest son has a necrotic affinity. It's a bad omen. There was a territory north, south, and east of his home territory of Fetherland. He thought for a moment before choosing to travel east. The territory east of them has a lot of abandoned towns and areas.
There had been great mining before but the mines had dried up. This killed the towns that survived on the money. However the bigger towns and cities survived and now focus their efforts on other industry.
These abandoned places tend to have more necrotic spirits. Something about the death of a place creates spirits as well. Jasper scratched his head as he set off into the city. He'd never actually walked the city before, in fact he mostly sees it from the inside of a vehicle.
He knew he was about to learn a lot of new things. His footsteps disappeared as the bustle and hustle of city life drowned it out. There were a lot of people walking on the street. Some, with carts being drawn by horses and large spirits. A 6 foot tall spider was pulling a wagon behind a farmer as Jasper crossed the street.
The wealthy people could purchase vehicles and then powerful enough spirits to power those vehicles. Cars came by on the road occasionally. Trucks were more common as they transported goods across the territory. Jasper made sure to not bump into anybody or do anything out of sorts.
He felt like everyone was watching him but all he could do was keep walking. People were recognizing him, but his paranoia was out of control. As he turned a corner on a street, a large brigade of spirit tamers appeared in his face. He backpedaled as the group glanced at him.
The world of Spirits was dangerous, so many people end up joining clans. Clans are organizations for Spirit Tamers to join and contribute to. There are rewards for clans to do work for the kingdom and they're like military militias that heavily contribute to the security of the towns and cities.
Many times clans are run with the hopes of profits in mind. They may try to tame large amounts of spirits, or collect large amounts of spirit spells and sell them to the highest bidders. The money trickles down the clan and everyone eats a little. The really elite clans control more than just a group of people.
There's social status to clans, with the top few being hundreds of years old with rich histories. They're a critical component in defense against spirit waves, as they're the best way at organizing large groups of powerful spirit tamers. Many times you'll see individuals traveling alone be much weaker than the average clan member. Individuals were much more rare than groups as well. It's just easier to grow in a clan.
People normally get to line up their clan before their ceremony. Usually through a connection or testing system of sorts. This clan all had a little fire symbol somewhere on their outfits. As Jasper passed them, he heard one of them say, "Isn't that the Lords youngest son?"