Bamboozled by storms, abandoned sky temple stood below clouds above clutched whispers of wind outside it.
"These are the Spirit Fruits," Kaito said as he wiped dust off an altar where four glowing fruits lay inside ancient crystal casings.
They were all pulsing with power. Each one seemed to call to someone.
"Only the worthy may claim them," Kaito warned. "Once eaten, your fate is sealed forever."
Earned in his step- Riku felt that tug at the very soul of him. One fruit, a most curious blue fruit, bore spiral designs and seemed positively springy with energy.
"This one," Riku said and seized it in one smooth sweep.
With a big mouthful, he chewed it. Rubber slime, that is how it tasted for him. Gross.
All at once, he could feel the lightness of his body that welcomed a bit of springiness. His arms somewhat stretched when he raised them! He had eaten the Rubber Fruit.
"Dude.... I feel weird like.... I can stretch!?"
Mira was next. Her hand was suspended over a golden fruit, alive crackling within with wee bolts of energy.
"This will be it," she whispered.
She sunk her teeth into it, and at that very moment, sparks danced across her skin. Her hair frizzed slightly in static energy from the stimulation.
She took a little bane called the lightning fruit.
Electricity was now within her.
"I can feel-it's like my body is charged!" Mira said, grinning as she flicked off a spark from her fingers.
Taro looked over the last two.
One rolled like fresh dough, warm and thick. The other flashed like dragon scales.
"This one feels... like home," he said, and picked the Dough Fruit.
He ate it up, and he could feel that heaviness sink into his arms, though they were flexible, just like soft, strong dough.
He might mold his limbs into giant shapes!
"Sick!" Taro laughed, punching the air and watching as his fist expanded like a giant dough hammer.
And here finally came Kira next.
Her eyes narrowed towards the dragon-scaled fruit.
"Dragons were the ancient guardians of Aetheria," she murmured. "It fits."
And without a second thought, she gobbled it up.
And immediately upon eating that, waves of heat were coursing over her body and a brilliant low rumbling roar within her heart.
She had dwelled into the Dragon Fruit. Now, she could morph herself into a dragon hybrid, summoning wings, scales, and breath of pure elemental fury.
"I feel... unstoppable," Kira said, her voice rumbling deeper.
Kaito had them all in sight, a rare serious expression crossing his face.
"All of you have stepped on the path beyond which there is no return. Your powers will grow... but so will the enemies, hunting you down."
The wind howled through the broken temple.
Far at the ends of a distance, within the deepest shadows of Aetheria, the Umbral Hand stirred. It had sensed it too.
The awakening of new Spirit Wielders.
And they were already on the move.