Flashback: The Spirit World
The sky was a swirling vortex of purple and grey. A younger, spirit-form Magnus lay panting on the ground, his spectral body flickering.
"Damn it... at this rate, I'll just keep losing," Magnus gritted his teeth. "Rina! Why won't you protect me? Sometimes you just charge into battle and leave me to fight monsters ten times my size!"
"Heh... having trouble, brat?"
Magnus looked up. A short, hunched-over old man hobbled out of the mist. He had wild white hair and leaned heavily on a crooked wooden cane. He looked like a strong breeze would knock him over.
"Great," Magnus sighed, standing up and raising his sword. "An easy win. I'll take you down!"
He lunged at the old man.
WHACK!
In a blur of motion, the "frail" old man shifted his cane. It struck Magnus squarely on the head with the force of a falling tree.
"Owww!" Magnus rubbed his head, tears welling in his eyes. "You crazy old geezer! That was a cheap shot! I'm just learning how to use a sword! You pretended to be weak!"
The old man stared at him for a second, then burst into laughter. "Bwahahaha! Cheap shot? That's a wonderful excuse! I came here because I sensed a massive power source. Turns out, it's just you. The Fountain Kid."
"Fountain Kid?" Magnus blinked. "What the hell does that mean?"
"You fool!" The old man poked him with the cane. "To the spirits and monsters in this realm, you aren't a warrior. You are a walking, talking fountain!"
"I'll stay by your side for a while," the old man mumbled, inhaling deeply as if smelling a delicious meal. "Just standing near you makes me feel fifty again."
"What are you babbling about, old man?"
"Don't call me 'Old Man', Fountain!" the geezer snapped. "I'm not old. I haven't aged a day in centuries. Call me Uncle. Yes, Uncle! When a Fountain like you calls me 'Old Man', I actually start to feel like one, you idiot!"
Magnus stared at him, bewildered. "You are one of the top five weirdest people I have ever met. Why a Fountain? What part of me looks like water?"
The old man grinned, revealing a row of jagged teeth.
"Your Vitality, you moron!"
"Vitality?"
"Yes! Your life force! It's not just full; it's overflowing! It's erupting from your soul like a geyser, spraying everywhere! If you keep leaking energy like this, every spirit within a hundred miles will come to feast on you in a matter of days!"
The Present
Magnus's eyes snapped back to focus. The memory faded, but the lesson remained.
He looked at Gakeru, who was rushing toward him.
"Let me show you," Magnus whispered, "what a leaking fountain can do when it focuses its flow."