'The southern sea?' Vero pondered the direction where he felt his bond's faint presence. 'Did he grow fond of water?' A faint smile surged on his lips. 'Guess he's enjoying himself a bit.'
"What's so funny?" Criela interrupted.
Vero brought his attention back to the room.
He was in a mandatory interview issued by the empire. The office was rather casual compared to his previous interviews, with a sofa where he lay and Criela sitting opposite of him on an armchair.
His previous interviews had all been at military complexes, with a strange window to another room and no furniture besides two chairs and a table.
Criela was also not from the military. He couldn't tell what her job was, but he had been discovering many things ever since he returned to his hometown.
Regardless, when she explained it to him, Vero gathered she was a sort of mind shaman who ensured he wasn't a danger to others. Or as they called it, a psychiatrist.
He wondered if all the other people from the undergap had these pointless meetings.
With a slim figure that fit perfectly in her formal suit and brown hair fashioned in a bob cut, Vero had no doubt she would be the target of many men from his previous residence. At least before the cleansing took place.
"Sorry, I got distracted." Vero excused himself. Closing his eyes and emptying his mind.
***
A slender ethereal stingray emerged from Criela's sleeve and hovered over Vero again, emitting slow waves of energy toward Vero.
"Have you readjusted well?" she asked, carefully observing the creature.
"Everything's different from when I left, but essentially yes." His eyes remained closed, and the stingray pulsed faintly it's translucent skin reflecting different colors.
The stingray was Criela's spirit, one of its abilities worked as a sonar but on a spiritual level essentially allowing her to fulfill the role of a mind shaman.
"How did it feel reuniting with your family?" Criela took notes as she listened attentively.
The stingray pulsated slower, its colors grew darker, and a few moments later, Vero answered.
"Painful." Criela frowned, looking at the stingray. The colors were consistent and aligned with his emotions, but the energy behaved uniquely.
"You'll be attending the Imperial Academy. How do you feel about departing from them again?" She scribbled remarkably fast.
"Mathias is also attending." The colors regained their normal speed and lightness.
"Do you feel safer with him there?" She put down her pen and carefully scrutinized the stingray.
"No." The pulsating and the colors were incredibly stable as he answered, but Criela saw through it, deeper.
Criela closed her notebook and pulled the stingray towards her arm. It smoothly sailed towards her, entering her and disappearing. She cleared some beads of sweat from her forehead and recomposed herself before addressing the young Vero.
"Very good! You're free to go for today! I'll contact you soon about our next appointment."
Vero stood up, and both headed to the exit before he turned to her.
"It's a beautiful spirit. May I ask about the race? I'm not familiar with deep sea spirit animals."
Criela stopped, a bit startled. Her spirit used a cloaking technique, and most spirit users wouldn't even be able to feel it.
Vero always kept his eyes closed when she had it out, but he still saw through it.
She tried her best to hide her surprise behind a polite smile.
"It's a sort of stingray, although it has long since deviated from its original form." She put a close to the conversation and headed back inside.
The boy appeared oblivious to how intimate his question was. It is safe to assume the level of privacy in a death arena at the edge of the world wasn't high.
She stood by the window and observed Vero as he left the building.
He wore loose-fitting casual clothes in plain colors, and to most people, he seemed unremarkable with his brown hair and eyes.
Criela herself saw nothing wrong with the boy at first. But her spirit, after analyzing him for hours on end, became extremely conscious of him. Inducing her to be more vigilant.
His strong and muscular physique, deliberate movements, high level of alertness, and sensitivity to spirit fluctuations were all traits of a warrior. None of that was out of the ordinary, considering his circumstances they were mandatory. But her spirit's attitude towards him still bothered her.
The only inconsistency was the boy's situation, more specifically his crippled spirit sea. After all no spirit cripple would survive in that place.
It took Criela a great deal of effort to finally get his crippled sea under a semblance of control.
It was astonishing that only after several hours was she able to completely sense his spiritual fluctuations, elongating the questionnaire greatly.
She returned to her office and sat at her desk, where she wrote a final assessment.
Grabbing a semi-circular object, her finger traced one of the many groves on its surface and she read out her conclusions.
"Subject final interview took 7 hours interrupted at the 5th hour as the subject got distracted," she said, stopping and awaiting some sort of affirmation.
But none came.
"Subject did not in any way resist the spirit effect nor spoke any falsehood. The subject's damaged spirit sea showed no difference from previous sessions. The main points of concern have been addressed. Requesting continuance in checkups to further analyze his story and corroborate with other versions." After a brief pause of silence, a voice finally came from the semi-circular object.
"Agent Samantha's request has been denied. Mission terminated. You may discard identity." Samantha ripped apart the face mask, revealing her true face with a bothered expression. She took a last look at her notebook before erasing a few sentences at the bottom of the last page.
'Spiritual connection... A contract?... or a bond?' She wanted to investigate more.