03 ~ The Nine Generals

Are you still with me? It looks like you’ve fallen asleep.

Am I honestly that boring?
Ah, it doesn’t matter, if you fall asleep that’s your loss.

Theran was there the day I was formed.
He’s the reason I was formed.
Revisiting what we talked about a lot not too long ago, spirits can form other spirits - Torig only ever created so many, while the rest that exist are from the formation of other spirits. Technically just about any spirit could form another spirit, but some of them are better at it than others - the builder spirits, or Mothers.

Familiar?
Well, Theran was the exception to this rule. Theran simply could not form other spirits, but Adriel could form energy from nothing - granted, this was seldom enough to make another spirit. Nor did the energy last very long. It did result in several artifacts that got scattered amongst your world, but it’s unlikely you’ll ever run into one of those.

I briefly explained how Adriel and Theran came to be - Torig imbued more than breath, but a piece of his soul and energy into nine spirits - his nine generals. Adriel and Theran were the first at this, and thus the closest to Torig.
They were followed by Enirah; “the one who vanishes.”

He was like what you might call a scout. He could vanish into enemy territory completely undetected. He wasn’t designed for intense combat, but he could defend himself when he needed to. He was usually the first on the scene, but the first to also get away from the scene too.
The fourth of the Nine was Firrum; “the skin” is the direct translation of her title, but it would be easier to call her “the shield.”

She was a protector deep in her core, and she could only ever create shields or barriers. She would use these to control battlefields - trapping empties in place or forcing them into one of the fighters. She was one of the defenders of the seedling - of you during the Battle of Atalan; that is why the Nymphs call you Fir. You are of Firrum.
That’s another thing I take offense to, considering Adriel was the reason you had life, and she fought really hard for that life - but Firrum got the credit in the history books.

Well, your twisted history. I suppose that’s why I’m here talking to you, no?
Perhaps I spent too much time around Theran.
The fifth formed was Kierrih; “the shaper.”

She was a very interesting fighter as the more damage she took, the stronger she got. She was usually on the front lines along with Theran. There were only three of Torig’s generals that could fight in close combat against a hoard of empties, and Kierrih was one of them. Other than that, Kierrih had the gift of “allu moc tallus” as we would describe it, “bend the world.” She was capable of shaping terrain - changing the world around us to her design. It’s because of her that you have the world you do.
Rimnur was the sixth of the Nine; “the sound.”

She was light-hearted and quick-footed. She brought dancing and music to spirits; well, not really. We always had it, but she popularized it you could say. On the battlefield, she was more known for her distance and trap creation. The battles often favored the empties in numbers, but her traps would dwindle them to a far more fightable number. She was quite excitable and a little trigger-happy.
Yes, she and Adriel got on quite well. She was also known for… well let me get there first.
The seventh to be created by Torig was Laminan; “the shapeless.”

 He never had a set form, and often changed between them frequently. He was a strength fighter and fought from the front lines. He moved quickly, struck down foes quickly, and his changing-form made him quick to move from target to target. For this explanation though, I’ll try to keep his form similar seeing as you cannot feel the spirit the way we do.

I never really dug into that, but on a side note, the reason spirits do not have names is because we recognize each other by other senses, in a way. It would be difficult for you as a mortal to comprehend, but try to think of it like morse code. It’s not, but I’ll use that as an example. Say you had a light, and it flashed three times when you were near one person. It did not matter what shape they were, they always flashed that light three times and they were the only soul who ever did that.

If you spoke to one of your friends and referenced them, you would refer to them as the one who flashes the light three times. That is how we sort of refer to each other. It’s important to keep in mind that everything I’ve explained here - while entirely true - I have humanized it. I’ve given everyone a face, a gender, and am using their titles as their names so that you might understand better, but I do want to be clear that we have none of those things naturally. When we leave the spirit realm, we take human forms naturally, so that’s where this is coming from.

I think I’ve gotten my point across, I need to return back on track. We were talking about Laminan.

Laminan completes the trio of the generals who could fight in close combat with empties. Empties absorb and destroy energy, and spirits, by default, are made purely of energy given form. Coming into contact with an empty can have devastating consequences up close, but because of their circumstances, Theran, Kierrih, and Laminan could easily withstand the touch of an empty - well, to an extent, of course.

Remember how I said Rimnur was known for something else? Well, she and Laminan were sort of… romantically involved.

No, no. Let me explain, I can see you already getting confused and jumping to conclusions. Of the Nine, the only two spirits who were capable of bonding with another spirit - having a nyenni - was Adriel and Theran, and they were bonded together.

All spirits are unstable when they are formed - missing pieces of themselves. Think of it this way, you have… well… flesh to maintain your souls. We do not. When a spirit is formed normally, they do not have all key components required to make someone “complete.” Yet in their first courses of business after formation is to find the person who completes them so that they can be stable and happy.

I cannot heal without Myra, and I have no sense of direction; Myra has no voice and she is easily injured, despite healing quickly without me.
This, however, is not the case for the Nine, as they were formed by Torig with a piece of himself. They were solitary and stable. Adriel and Theran were the only ones with a bond and that was only because Torig found them that way. So when I say that Laminan and Rimnur had a thing it wasn’t because they were drawn together to be stable, but simply because they enjoyed the other’s presence more so than anyone else.

Now that that’s been explained, let’s carry on. We made it to the seventh of the nine, that leaves two remaining.
Icnuna was the eighth chosen by Torig; “the mender.”

His abilities were in keeping spirits stable and formed. Injuries sustained by spirits could have lasting effects if not treated - including everyone losing their form. Icnuna stayed out of the fray and focused his abilities on the sidelines. He worked closely with Adriel and I would argue that the two of them made up the backbone of the Nine.
One last spirit to introduce.
The ninth and final general of Torig was Hecate; “the eyes.”

She was the long ranged fighter. She could sense things farther off in the distance than anyone else. Her senses were stronger, and she had a particular talent for looking into other dimensions to see things even before they happened.
She’s… well she and the Nine aren’t exactly in a good place right now. I have no pity for her, as she earned her reputation in my mind - she deserved a lot worse than what she got.

I say this because Hecate took a stance against Adriel that would be the end of her time in the Nine.
It would be the end of three of the Nine.
It was just after a strong battle against a large horde of empties. Torig had slumbered for this battle, and it was the last battle where all of the Nine fought together with their cohorts.

I’m just… not ready to talk about that day just yet.
We will come back to it though, this I’m absolutely certain of. It was the beginning of a very long downfall that we’re still struggling with to this day.
I never did explain how Adriel and Theran fit into this group of generals - they were the first created, and they were Torig’s head generals.
Adriel would’ve been the first formed of the Nine.

She lived to help others, so anything that enabled her to do so was where she specialized. She was ‘the giver,’ and her title in the Nine was Onetha, though most would’ve recognized her as Adriel, being that she was claimed by Torig before she was the Nine. She could create energy from nothing and this was her great advantage. She was an invaluable healer, as she could replace energy lost in others with her own.
This is different from someone like Icnuna, who could only mend wounds to make it seem like you weren’t missing anything.

Say you were fighting in a war, and the enemy chopped off your leg. Someone like Icnuna could save you from losing all your crucial liquids and help you to function without your leg. Adriel, on the other hand, could restore your leg almost perfectly.
She could do anything with her energy… with a cost.
Yes, Adriel could create energy from nothing, but not on command. It would happen randomly and in bursts - her energy overload.

When she was alone they were very painful and difficult to witness. You could not get near her, for she could injure you with stray energy gone violent. That is where Theran came in.
Not only could he go near her, but he would absorb the energy she would expel. This prevented it from being painful for her.

Her other downfall came in that she could not heal herself. When she would heal others, she would use pieces of herself which would weaken her slowly and significantly. The only way she could be restored was through Theran. Theran absorbed her energy and could return it to her when she ran low or was in need of help.
Together with Theran, she was unstoppable.
Theran’s title in the Nine was Ango, which is rough to translate, but perhaps similar to ‘the dragon.’

Like Adriel, though, his more known title was Theranadriel, or Theran, as that was what was given to him first. His gift came from his absorption of Adriel’s energy. He could use that energy to fight harder than any other. Spirits generally fought using energy to wield their weapons made from Yaisango, Theran fought using energy as his weapon.
He could store a large amount of Adriel’s energy and use it in many ways.
One of the most important ways was that he could use it to create the material spirits would use as weapons: Yaisango, or ‘dragon-steel.’ It was a sort of energy residue that was tailored to each spirit. Normally it would take a great amount of time and energy sacrificed for a spirit to create Yaisango from themselves, whereas Theran created it in sheer excess.

There is probably even more irony in the fact that he didn’t even need it to fight.
He was great with crafting and he shaped a majority of the weapons we used. He even taught me how, though I’ll never understand how he has the patience for such craft. It’s a lot of meticulous work and waiting, things Theran were always strangely good at.

I’m impressed you’ve survived this long. I know I’m certainly not the best storyteller and it doesn’t help that these topics are fairly foreign to you and even a little bit to me.
Thankfully from here on out are topics I’m entirely familiar with, and it all began when I was formed.

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