"Ah, finally!" A voice resounded in Adam's mind, high and sharp like a bird's chirp. "I was tired of just being able to watch!"
He froze. 'Was that a voice?' his eyes darted to the window where some sparrows could be seen perched on a nearby roof. 'Must have been my imagination.' Reasoned Adam as his body relaxed.
When he heard something clattering against the floorboard, he turned and noticed a small pile of rough, weathered tiny bones the color of old parchment.
'Where did this pile come from?' His eyes lingered on the pile and widened with a hint of prediction. 'It couldn't be...'
Slowly, and with a clattering sound, the bone pile reshaped itself in the form of a small, skeletal bird. "Wasn't expecting flying to be so difficult" the bird mused as it unfurled its wings. "Still, feels so good to be able to move."
Lowering his gaze in resignation he understood the reality, what he feared most actually came true. 'Seems this little bird is my summon. Looks like I'm a mage now.' A dry laugh escaped his lips in disappointment.
'Hah... the aptitude test said I had a high chance of becoming a fuser. I was really looking forward to it, sigh...' A wistful look took over his face, only to be replaced by a motivated one as he clenched his fist. 'Guess life doesn't always go as planned, just have to make the best of it'
As the bird stretched, a soft sound of bones popping into place could be heard, which snapped Adam out of his thoughts.
Refocusing his gaze on the bird, he couldn't help but notice the strangeness. 'But that's strange, from what I know summons don't talk and this one clearly did.' In the end he dismissed it, with the infinite number of manifestations one could awaken, it wouldn't be strange that his just happened to be somewhat quirky, to say the least, but there was still a hint of wrongness that he couldn't quite let go.
"I guess I should give you a name. Let's-" But before he could finish the bird spoke again.
"Oh, dear brother," said the voice with a clear, teasing tone, as the bird covered its beak with one of its wings. "Wouldn't it be presumptuous of you to change your big sister's name? It looks like you don't know any manners at all!" Scoffed the bird with a totally unserious tone.
It wouldn't be strange to think that Adam didn't know what was going on, as confusion was clearly painted on his face; the only thing he was able to understand was that the voice really belonged to this small, quirky bird.
But big sister? Heck, he didn't even have a younger sibling!
"Hey, isn't it rude not to answer me when my heart is beating for you?" Said the bird with an even more amused tone, and a tiny smile forming on its beak.
Adam's confusion was even more evident now! 'Her heart was beating for him? If she called herself big sister, would that even be allowed to say? Does she even have a heart when all she is made of is bones?' As Adam remained with his mouth agape, his emotions clearly etched on his face, the little bird started laughing its metaphorical lungs out.
"HAHAHAHHH, I CAN'T RESIST ANYMORE, YOUR FACE, IT'S SO FUNNY, HAHAHAHHH." The bird started pounding the ground with its wing, looking like it was one step away from death. Actually, considering how it was made of bones it wouldn't be that strange.
Curious about this little summon of his, Adam quickly regained his bearings and started poking the bird out of curiosity and annoyance with his index finger.
He decided that asking would be the best course of action since the bird was clearly able to speak.
"What are you?" He asked with deadpan eyes and a serious face, afterall a problem with his summon would be a problem with his soul. The bird responded with an annoyed expression by narrowing its brows at his poking.
'How can I tell it's annoyed when it doesn't have any sort of face for me to see that?' As he furrowed his brows in thought, the bird, with a teasing expression and hurt pose, with a wing on its forehead and almost falling on its back started speaking.
"Oh, brother, it hurts me so much that you've already forgotten about your dearest big sister!" said the bird while still acting dramatically.
"YES, I GET IT!" Shouted Adam, brows furrowed and starting to lose his cool, realizing this he took a deep breath to calm down.
"Could you please stop fooling around and explain what's going on?" he asked while pinching his brow, trying to get back on topic.
The bird, stifling another laugh in its throat, calmed down and started explaining.
"Of course, dear brother!"
"But before that, why don't you try meditating to check your manifestation?"
When someone awakens in this world, their soul takes on a specific form, commonly that of a beast, influenced by their personality and experiences, known as manifestation.
And by meditating, people can visualize their manifestation in their mind and progress on the path of cultivating their soul.
But still, everyone had just one soul and one manifestation.
So you can imagine Adam's shock when two manifestations started to take shape in his mind. 'Two souls? ...No- that's impossible.' And it wasn't all, he could tell that one was that of a mage and the other that of a fuser!
People either awaken as a fuser, someone who can channel the soul inside their body, or a mage, someone who channels the soul outside of their body.
'How do I have two souls?' Forced to accept the impossibility he moved on to take a closer look.
Choosing the manifestation he identified as a mage's as the first to check, he saw the image of the strange bird and having already seen it in the real world he quickly moved on to the fuser's. As they say, leave the best for last.
It was in the shape of a common carp, around 70cm in length, its mustache-looking mouth made it look angry and sad at the same time, its smooth scales were mud-colored, with a hint of sea green at the edges. 'Do carp's scales usually have this shade of blue?' he wondered, hopeful this carp might be something more.
But still, it was a very silly creature overall!
Adam slumped his shoulders in defeat, as he really wanted to become a fuser, but never once in a million years would he have ever expected to get such a silly manifestation! Still, a smile couldn't help but form on his lips at the revelation that he could still become a fuser.
'Huuu, breath in... breath out'
Adam quickly reined in his thoughts and calmed down, just as he had been taught in meditation class. One needed to maintain absolute calm in meditation, else they would lose focus and need to restart.
As his lips formed a faint smile his hopeful gaze settled upon the carp.
'Even if it's silly now, there's still a chance that after it evolves it will become cooler... hopefully'
As he opened his eyes, he found the quirky skeleton bird flying in front of his face, every flap of its wings accompanied by a faint sound of bones rubbing against each other.
"Soooo... what do you think about that silly fish?" Said the bird, deliberately intending to lighten Adam's annoyed mood.
As Adam's brow twitched in annoyance and before the bird could react, he swiftly moved his hand and caught the bird in his grip, feeling the rough and light bones scraping the inside of his hand.
"Don't you dare change the topic, you still have quite a lot of explaining left to do." He said, intending to get answers out of this bird.
The bird's teasing smile disappeared, giving way to unwavering eyes
"Alright, just ask away and I'll answer to the best of my capabilities."
Adam kept his focused gaze on the bird, almost as if trying to shoot lasers at it and started his barrage of questions. "What are you? How can you speak? Why do you keep saying you are my sister? Why do I have two souls?"
"Alright, starting with why you have two souls, it's because you have my heart beating inside of you."