(5 years old)

I take a deep breath taking in the crispness of the morning air. As I breath out I force my mana out through my feet into the ground, as I spread my hands out to my sides I feel it spread out in an sphere around me. A feeling like my muscles burning sets into my chest as I reach my limit and I slowly draw my mana back into myself with another deep breath. I've only just recently reached the point where Zara is comfortable teaching me actual magic; he says he expected my mana to reach this level around my tenth birthday so he's still wanting to take everything slow to keep me from hurting myself regardless of my quantity of mana.

Normally around this time I'd only be getting up but today I was so excited to start training I got up early to do my breathing practice. I'd been out here for about half an hour before I heard steady foot falls approaching the house. I peak through one eye and see Ed already in his training gear jogging down the path.

"Hey, you're up early. Starting your real training today right?"

"Morning, yeah I barely got any sleep last night."

"Nightmares?"

"No, I was just to excited. Did you sleep alright?"

"Yeah, Mrs.Miller made me some warm tea with honey and that put me out like a wick."

"Oh, good that means the hives are working."

"Yep, we should go see them after training!"

"You sure are excited for some wooden boxes."

"Are you kidding me, honey is soo~ good! We don't even need to get stung a bunch to get it now."

Before we can take off I hear the door swing open and mom comes out with a pair of boxed lunches. "Hey you two, want to bring some left overs with ya?"

"Thank you." Smiling even with his eyes averted he accepts the lunch.

"Thanks mom, we're going to head out now, want me to bring anything home?"

"Nope, could you ask Mr.Smith if he has any free time to knock out a few dents in my plate?"

"Sure thing, I'll swing by on the way home. Tell dad I'll be home before dark so he doesn't spend all day waiting around for me."

"You know you're dad's still going to hang around and wait. You might be bright but you're still our little girl."

"Yeah Mari, you shouldn't be so careless you never know what's in the woods."

"Oh that's rich coming from you, you jog down here every morning even when it's foggy and spooky out."

"Thats because I'm fast enough to run away from anything scary!"

I can't help but laugh at his honesty, "well atleast you aren't dumb enough to try and fight when your still learning to fight."

"Ok ok you two, head on out before Zara sends the Koda looking for ya." 

Just as the house is out of sight Ed turns to me with a giddy smile. "Wanna see something cool I learned?"

"Duh, whatcha learn?"

He crouches down like a cat about the pounce and on a whim I activate my mana sight and watch as his mana flares up and a moment later sheaths his body with an Aura that looks almost like glowing fur. I turn off my mana sight and sure enough he still glows. "Woah, that is cool."

"I'm just getting started, watch this!" He launches forward the dirt under his feet explodes as he sprints down the path. His claws dig into a tree and he spins around it coming sprinting back towards me stopping just in time to flick me in the forehead.

He pants as the Aura dissipates and he has to sit down clearly out of breath. "Ok I'll admit that's super cool, but it looks exhausting." 

"Yeah, it's, really, tiring."

I help him up and we continue walking towards town. As we walk I notice his exhaustion seem to fade by the time we get to town. A quick look shows me his mana is still low but he himself seems fine.

Eri gives us a small wave as enter town. I learned recently she's actually one of the only other mages in town; she's a bit of a shorter girl a few years younger than mom with a surprisingly strong build. Her mother, a dwarf was one of the people who took an interest in bee keeping once I brought it up.

One day when mom made some sweet bread I asked where she got the honey and explained bees won't build between gaps of certain sizes. Unfortunately I'm not a beekeeper in any life so that's all I knew but in less than a year a few of the towns carpenters managed to nail the right distance and with a bit of trial and error we've now got fresh honey coming in outside of the eight month winter and fall.

As we walk past her Eri spots our lunches, "ohh did Kona make those!?"

"Yeah, mom always makes extras"

"Yep she's a super good cook."

"But dad's better at making sweets"

"Could, could I get some?" Eri's practically drooling as she asks.

"Sure thing, I was planing on snagging some jerky from the base anyway." I hand her my box lunch holding it back at the last second, "but, can you show me some magic later?"

"Absolutely, just don't go doing anything to piss of the boss. Oops, sorry don't make him mad." 

"It's fine, I won't go repeating your bad language. And if i do I'll forget where I learnt it."

She pats my head and laughs, "well thanks for not throwing me under the horse."

Zara is waiting behind the building  as always, though today he's wearing oversized armor with sheets and I think straw stuffed inside."What are you wearing!?" I can't help but laugh at how ridiculous he looks.

"Padding! every time I think I've got a grasp on your abilities you exceed my expectations and I don't plan on getting my ribs broken today."

"Fair enough, I guess I just assumed I'd be practicing on targets."

"You will eventually, for now I want to get a gauge of how strong your magic is. Edwyn, go ahead inside you'll be shadowing my son Zan today."

"Shadowing?"

"Just following him around and learning from how he does his job."

With a stiff nod Edwyn heads into the building walking like a wind up toy. "Are you sure he'll be alright working under someone else?"

"Of course he will, he's a strong kid. I know he's been through worse than most of the people in the village but if we constantly walk on egg shells around him he'll never grow. Besides Zan might look grumpier than me but he's got a good head on his shoulders."

"He better, if he's mean to him I'll kick his butt."

"Ha! you do that, but not until your trainings finished. Start with some breathing exercises."

I start my breathing exercise controlling the flow of my mana in and out of my body like the ebb and flow of the tides. When he's assessed I'm calm enough Zara speaks clearly, "Magic involves three steps, first you draw your mana to the surface just like with your breathing. Once you can draw your mana to the surface you must give it a command, for this exercise we will use the command Creo. Creo means to create, you give your mana a form. Aqua is water therefore..." 

"Creo Aqua will invoke mana into the form of water."

"Correct, the next part would be the activation of your magic; the command you give to the invoked mana. In this case we will go with the simple command to shoot forth, I give it two months and you'll be able to shorten this to simply shoot."

"So the full command is create water and shoot it forth."

"Correct now go ahead and do your worst."

I take a deep breath drawing mana into my hands imaging a ball of water floating in the air. "Creo aqua; Shoot forth." I stare at the empty air for a long long moment. "What did I do wrong?"

"Figure it out."

"Okay, got it."

Starting from the top, the first real step is creating the water from my mana. [Shit how do I turn mana into water. I thought the command would do that part..okay, I just need mana to become water simple right?]

I take another breath gathering my mana around my hand imagining the feeling of holding my hand under water and the feeling of this much water weighing down my hand. I focus closer down imaging all the molecules like an infinitely large mesh around my hand. "Creo Aqua;.." I open my eyes as I the imagined feeling becomes real and I look to see my hand covered by a large sphere of water the size of a basketball

"Like I said, above and beyond my expectations. You turned a lot of mana into water there, think you can still send it flying?"

[Okay now how do I send it flying? I already know the commands only the easy half.] I mean we used pressure on earth so I guess imagining it blasting out like a hose might work. With that imagine in mind I finish the spell "..Shoot forth!" as soon as the words left my lips I was splashed by water as the sphere went jetting off going wide of Zara splashing against the building.

"Thais an odd result. Would you like to keep trying or do you need to dry off."

"I'm fine. I'll try again." I take a deep breath and imagine a hose from the start, a single continues stream of high pressure water. "Creo Aqua; Shoot Forth!" A burst of water comes from my hand soaking Zara. It only lasted a second but it worked this time.

"That wasn't what I was imagining but it seems like you've got a decent grasp on it already. Starting at a walk I'm gonna walk back and forth and I want you to try and knock me off my feet with a blast of water."

My brain immediately goes to some authoritarian police useing high power hoses on their citizens but I don't think I've got the mana to pull that off. Then I think about beanbag rounds for a shotgun and get an idea. Holding my hand out my mana takes the form of a small sphere about the size of a golf ball. "Creo Aqua; Shoot Forth!" With that my hand is knocked back as the sphere of water invokes and explodes forward whiffing past him.

"That was close, keep at it."

This time as I repete the process I move my hand with Zara back and forth waiting for the moment he turns to walk back to release "..Shoot Forth!" The waterball soars across the courtyard and catches his shoulder as he's turning knocking him off balance but he still remains standing if just barely.

"Ouch, that was a good shot if it was stone you would have proably put it right through my shoulder." He stretches and rotates the arm checking his range of motion. "Okay, got two more shots in a row and we're done for today."

"Really? That's it?"

"Just because you started at a sprint doesn't mean you'll be able to keep this pace forever. I want to get it into your head that no mater what consistent training and practice can cut down any problem in your way." 

Sure enough I miss my next shot and it takes me another hour to land three in a row. Because I switched to smaller shots I'm not out of mana but I am getting close. After taking off his ridiculously padded armor Zara hands me a small barrel. "Whats this for?"

"Three days out of the week we will focus entirely on training your mana. For now you will fill the barrel, freeze the water, evaporate it away and repeat. Once that becomes to simple for you, I'll add in some more steps and eventually we will move on to different elements." 

I take the small container and put it in my pack. "I assume that means I'm allowed to train at home as well?"

"Absolutely, though I'll ask you to avoid using the spell I taught you outside supervision, at least until you've gotten a better handle on how it feels to be low on mana. In time you'll always have an accurate idea of how much mana you have."

I promise to only train responsibly and we head our separate ways for the day. I wrapped up quicker than expected so I've got time to kill. While wondering the town I hear the sound of metal being beaten into shape. Heading towards the pinging I spot Mr.Smith outside at his forge swinging away; being a bear type Beastkin he is a giant of a man so watching him ping away on horseshoes smaller than his shoes is quite funny looking.

"Hey there Mr.Smith! Need a hand with anything?"

Dunking the horseshoe into water he sets his tools aside and gives me a big toothy smile, "afternoon Mari-Ana finished your training already?"

"Yeah, mom wanted me to swing by anyway so I figured I'd offer a hand."

"Ahh! I appreciate it, your ma needs her plate repaired I imagine."

"Yeah how'd you know?" I climb between the fence and head up to the forge.

"Well if it's not her armor she'd probably need work done on her mace but, she treats that thing like a second child."

I notice a large empty mug sitting on a nearby table and pick it up. "Makes sense, think you can a fit the repairs in sometime soon? Also want a refill?"

"Give me two days to wrap up this shoe order and I'll get right on that, and yeah I'd love the help."

I hold my hand over the mug and send mana flowing out and into it, "Creo Aqua; Fill" the mana flowing from my hand becomes water filling the mug to the brim.

"Well I'll be, you make that look easy, Thank ya. Hand me those tongs please." 

I hand him the tongs while he takes a swig from his mug. I play gopher for him for about an hour when I hear a familiar voice carried on the wind, "...me alone!" 

Instantly I know that voice to be Edwyn's. It looks like Mr.Smith heard it aswell as he's giving me a look to go on and help him out. "I'll be right ba-"

"Don't worry about it I'm just about finished here for today, go on and see what he needs."

I take off at a jog already knowing where to go. As I'm nearing the school house I see three of the kids who still pick on Ed teasing him. Ed seems to be holding it together not running but I can see from his white knuckles he's close to breaking. Something about the sight makes my blood boil and I grab a thick branch from the side of the road and start walking towards them only to get stopping in my tracks. Coming from inside the school house I see Zan, being Zara's son they look quite similar. Zan has his father's dark red skin and straight hair with two dagger sized horns peaking through it. With his clean shaved face he's always scowling and looks closer to a drill instructor than a grandfather like his dad.

With one hand he lifts the middle bully by the scruff of his shirt untill their eye to eye. "The boy you hooligans are tormenting is a future member of the Koda, those that guard your punk asses while you sleep, in the back of the house the room with the cracked window." He drops the kid who stumbles and falls on his butt. I wish I could see if he was crying as he ran off. "Come on, your little friend has probably already finished up." He walks by Edwyn giving his head an agressive pat as he does.

"Yes sir!" Ed breaks into a teary eyed grin as he follows behind dutifully.

I loop around the long way and get to the Koda's hall a couple minuets after the others. I expected to see dad waiting here as well but it's Zan, Eri and Ed I see out front. Eri had the late shift so I'm surprised to see her still up. "...I'm not saying she's wrong but I think we should just do an early loop around the forest to check."

"Check for what?" I ask approaching the group.

"Monsters." Eri gives me a serious look that seems to be pleading with me.

"She had a nightmare that somethings out in the forest."

"Okay, shouldn't we check to be safe?"

"Your mother's barrier should keep natural monster generation from happening near the town and if anything gets close she'd now about. We do biyearly checks to be safe and we just did that last month."

"Mari, Please just ask your mom to be extra careful for a few days okay?" 

"Sure thing, I really don't wanna end up monster chow. What was your dream anyway?" 

"I was lost in the woods and this dense fog was setting in. Every tree looked identical spanning out in ever direction, only one thing stood out of the fog. A single tree towered over the others with blood red bark. When I approached it it felt like their was a dense cloud of mana around the tree that slowed my footsteps and weighed on me like a hundred sets of plate mail." She's spaces out for a moment shuddering before she continues. "When I finally made it to the tree, I touched it and was suddenly unable to breath or move as I watched the world from where the tree was."

"So when you touched it you got trapped in the tree?"

"I think, I was so panicked trying to breathe I woke myself up before I noticed anything else."

"Try not to get yourself worked up over her dream, between your mothers barrier and us it'd take more than a monsters intellect to get the jump on Ekki village."

Zara steps out of the building with dad, they both look tired. "You're mostly right. Even if her dream is true we train to counter any threat including those that sound impossible at first. If a monster had appeared in the woods it'll be drawn here and we will crush it then."

Holding up a folded paper dad gives Eri a gentle smile, "Don't worry to much, I'll give Kona your dream here and she'll keep an extra close eye on the barrier okay?"

"Thanks, I'll try not to get to worked up about it till something happens." She doesn't sound convinced but I also get she respects their opinions.

That night I can't help but think of Eri's dream while I try drifting off to sleep. I guess growing up out here along with knowing about mom's barrier protecting us I stopped fearing the unknowns that exist out past the threshold of my home. The moonlit shadows of the forest seem to grow longer and more twisted the more I think about it. Rolling over, away from the window I try and shut these creeping feelings out.

A knife dripping a sickly green blood like liquid stuck into the side of a tree. A hand reaches for the knife but decays as it closes in on it. The forest looms over like an army of giants and yet the fear comes from behind me. Turning to face it I see a human looking man with no visible features, a living silhouette. He waves his hand not towards me but across the horizon behind me. I turn again towards the forest as it shutters and rumbles. Splintering wood raining death around me I stand unharmed watching the trees shift into monstrosities.

I snap awake breathing hard and covered in a cold sweat. I stare out my window expecting someone to come crashing through. I don't move for a long time, before I know it I can hear birds chirping outside and see the dawn peaking through the trees.

When mom comes to wake me she comes in as I'm finishing up my training, sending a cloud of water vapor out the window. "Oh, are you turning into a morning person on me?"

"No, at least not intentionally."

"Well go ahead and get changed Edwyn will be here soon."

"It's still a bit early isn't it?"

"Nope, Zara and Zan told him to start coming a bit earlier so you aren't training outside alone."

"I appreciate it but what about Edwyn if there's danger out there?"

"He's got a better sense for danger than most adults do, and when they asked he immediately agreed so it's fine."

"Are you worried about Eri's dream?"

"Yes, I've not felt any changes yet so all we can do is watch and wait."

I meet Edwyn outside and notice he has a new bit of gear; a small sheathed dagger. He smiles when he sees I spotted it. Carefully drawing it he holds it out to me, "check it out! Zan told me he'd train me in dagger fighting!"

"Really? He looks like such a grumpy guy."

"Oh he is! But he's also super nice."

"Well I'm glad you hear it." I can't help but remember him scaring the snot out of that bully. "I've already warmed up so let's head on into town and get to work."

Today's training consisted of filling a full sized barrel to the top freezing it and turning it to steam sending it away. While I grind away at this task Zara paces around talking about the diffrent elements and how they behave. "Fire or igni is my focus and specialty. What makes fire burn?"

"Air and fuel...Imperium aqua;Steam" I answer as I turn the ice to water and into steam.

"Good good, fire created by mana can burn mana as fuel. That's why losing control of igni is far more dangerous than other castings. If you lose control of igni, it can begin rapidly burning your mana away untill you're drained and all that's left is for the fire to consume you and your surroundings for fuel like any other fire."

"Creo Aqua;Fill...can you get hurt losing control over the other elements?" The barrel fills slower with each attempt.

"Yes, useing Aqua to create ice can cause frostbite after awhile and I've heard of mages asphixating while useing ventus in closed of areas."

With each subsequent fill of the barrel I feel more and more of a tug from my gut. It's a few hours past noon and the cramping in my stomach has reached my limit. "Okay, I can proably do two more before I need to stop."

"Good, your feeling out your limits. Give me three more if you can manage it then we'll be done."

"..yes sir."

I pour my mana out into the barrel invoking it into water. My eyes are shut tight as I try to keep standing with each passing moment. The tugging grows and spreads from my stomach to my chest my whole torso aching as I finish steaming away the second barrel. [One more, just have to finish this.] As I pool my mana the aching spreads to my limbs and head. I pull more and more at my mana willing the barrel to fill allwhile my vision begins to grow blurry.

Despite knowing I've not got enough Mana to fill the barrel I invoke it anyway and feel a sudden violent burst of pain behind my eyes. I wince and stumble back, I flail trying to find purchase on something only to feel Zara's iron like grip on my arm.

When I open my eyes I see I was inches away from slamming my head against a table. "What was that...?"

"What was what?"

He moves out of the way and points to the barrel; sticking a good four feet above the lip of the barrel is a tower of ice. "Oh...I didn't think I had that much left in me."

"Neither did I." He scratches his head looking bewildered. "How do you feel?"

"Actually really good I felt like I was having full body cramps but after losing my balance I just feel tired..." Closing my eyes I take a deep breath and feel that I have the tinniest amount of mana left.

"Mari, can you try one more thing for me?"

"Sure, I don't have much mana left though."

"You know your breathing exercises right? When you breath in you draw your mana back into yourself. I want you to try doing that now."

I have an idea where he's going with this. I take a deep breath pulling my mana inwards like the air I'm breathing. With breath I can feel the panic fade and my senses returning; with my mana sight I can see the air glowing faintly filled the mana I've used up today. I pull on that mana and imagine it joining back up with me like hundreds of tributaries feeding into a single river. The glow in the air fades quickly and I feel some of my strength return. "It worked I feel a bit better now."

He rubs his face frustrated, "Mari, that was Mana recovery; A skill that requires journeyman level mana control to pull off. And you can practically do it like breathing. If it wasn't so frustrating I'd call it amazing."

"Frustrating?" 

"Nothing you've done of course,it's just it took me about four years to get good enough mana control to pull that off."

"Oh? maybe because of my extra sight makes it easier for me to conceptualize and manipulate mana."

"Probably, or it's just another part of your blessing. I imagine you might just keep getting stronger."

"I hope not." When he gives me a concerned look I hold up my hands "I want to get stronger with my own abilities."

"Your blessings are your own abilities."

[You can only say that because you didn't meet the goddess. I know if she's giving me power it's not for any good reasons.] "I won't turn it down but I just don't have what it takes to be anyone important enough to be blessed."

"Good, are you feeling back to normal?" 

"More or less."

"Then I've got some questions, you aren't just smart, you talk and carry yourself like an adult, not a kid playing adult, an adult. So do you remember your past lives?"

"...Just the last one, I lived in a world without magic or atleast none I was aware of."

"Just one, and how would the morals of that world compare to ours."

"Scarily similar, though there are only humans in my world, and they're still bigoted towards each other without elves and demihumans around."

"And what kind of person where you in that world?"

"I was born in one of the richest countries in the world with the least protections for its lower class. I managed to claw my way up to stability by the time I died. I wasn't anyone important if thats what you're wondering."

"Well it doesn't sound to me like your lieing...have you told Kona or Yanji yet?"

"...no, not yet" I keep my mouth shut for my own safety but that doesn't mean I don't regret hiding things from them.

"You should tell them. You should know by now they won't react negatively." 

"Ofcourse they wouldn't!...it's just I was hoping to enjoy being a kid a bit longer."

"Only those with boundless regret or endless desire can keep themselves onto the otherside."

"Hmm?"

"I've heard of reincarnation happening before with people who's will extends beyond themselves. But most people only retain vauge memories and the main desire they held in life." 

"You think I had regrets in my last life?"

"It's likely that your desire for a better shot at life was what pulled you over to here where reincation can actually happen. That would also go to explain why you have a blessing." 

"Why is it so rare for humans to have blessings?"

"Ever since humans created the beastkin it's as though mana has rejected them, instead of blessing them. More kids are born with next to no mana then those born with excess mana like yourself."

"Wait humans created the beastkin!?"

"Yeah, during the last war with the elves the emperor at the time sacrificed many citizens and through a ritual only they know bound those souls into their bodies and flooded them with natural mana causing them to change and mutate like an animal becoming a monster."

The idea of a society turning their citizens into weapons of war reminds me of reading about the forced kamikaze pilots during the second World War. I want to get angry thinking about how they must have treated Edwyn but I know it's not unique...my original country treated their vets similarly, leaving them to die on the street after their usefulness was past.

"Thats horrible. And Ekki doesn't stand with the empire right?"

"Ofcourse not, though it's more the choice of King Wara, given he governs this land."

"The Koda manage this land."

"And the kings armies keep our southern neighbors and the empire at arms length."

"Sorry, it's just going to take alot to get used to the idea of a monarchy. My original country claimed to use democracy to decide our leaders."

"You will proably never need to worry about it as long as you live Here. Unless the Kingdom goes to war we never hear from them."

"Not even for taxes or tribute?"

"Sometimes we get emissaries from the king but they've always asked for food or medicine and bought it at market price."

"So king Wara isn't a tyrant?"

"Nope. He's arrogant but he's smarter than your average noble, only really exercising his control over Silvermyst and the rainbow fortress."

"The rainbow fortress?"

"A military encampment on an island a bit northeast of here. That's where the standing army stays while on duty. The lake reflects light making the walls look like the bricks are made of a rainbow of colors."

"Woah, that sounds amazing."

"It is, it's a beautiful work of architecture."

"Actually I meant having a standing army, in my world before technology reached a favor pitch having a standing army ment either your country had excess wealth or that your leader was a despot forcing people to fight."

"It's not entirely crazy for countries to have standing armies, magic and magic tools make agriculture and physical labor jobs much easier and safer."

I hadn't realized it but we've been talking for so long Zan has returned with a Edwyn in tow. Ed looks battered and bruised, his armor is entirely covered in mud. Despite looking like he's been through the ringer he's smileing like an idiot. "Hey!...Mari!...Guess what!?"

I can't help but giggle at his excitement trying to talk between deep breaths as he's still exhausted apparently. "What? You look like you've been swimming in mud all day."

"I was! Kinda; Eri made a mudpit...and I got to try fighting Zan...all day. He keep throwing me around like I weigh nothing!"

"You sound like you where playing around."

"It was fun but I took it seriously, promise! I was really trying to stab him, but he's to fast for me."

"Wanna see what I was learning today?"

"Oh!? Magic!? Absolutely!!" His eyes light up

I walk over to him and hold my hand above his head, I draw the mana into my hand and imagine a shower head with many small jets propelling the water outwards. "Creo Aqua;Rinse" water pours from my hand soaking Ed, when he tries to escape I grab the collar of his armor and spray off as much of the mud as I can. soaked to the bone Ed glares at me.

"Not cool, I really hate you right now."

"You were more mud than man, if you laid down here you'd have vanished. Here your majesty i'll dry you off as well. Imperium Aqua!" I raise then flick my hands downward willing the water to come splashing down around Ed's feet.

"Oh woah!! That's way cooler than soaking me." he rolls his eyes at me as he finishes his complement.

"Oh come on, making water from nothing is way harder than just pulling the water out of your clothes."

"What ever, you want to go to the church with me?"

"Zara sir, is there anything else for me to learn today?"

Zara thinks for a moment and shakes his head. "No I think you've surprised me enough for today."

leaving the base we make our way and Edwyn tells all me about his training. I listen but it's hard to get much detail from his excited rambling. He seems to be enjoying it though so that's good. He's also gotten better at small talk thanks to Zan taking him around town on his patrol. "Hey, what do you and Zan do on patrols?"

"Well mostly we just walk around, but sometimes we get to help people out around town! Yesterday I got to help Mr.Smith carry ore around."

"Carry ore around?"

"Yep, his hand cart was broken so I hauled it from where he kept it alll~ the way to the forge."

[Oddly convenient he got to help someone and get strength training.] "I bet you do a lot of heavy lifting on patrol since things are so calm here." 

"Oh it's calm but we still get to keep the peace to! one day we had to help Mrs.Tanner and her wife settle an argument!"

"Oh yeah? what where they arguing about?" 

"I don't know, couple stuff." He shrugs, not caring in the least, "We just asked 'em to be a little quieter since it was getting late."

"You've been going on patrol with Zan even in the evenings?"

"Yeah, normally on days where we train I join him in the evening until night falls."

"That makes sense, it seems like you really enjoy working with the Koda."

"Yeah, when I'm wearing my gear and on patrol I get to help people and get used to talking to them too." 

I wonder how well he'd handle someone not from the village though. It didn't take long to get him to warm up to me so hopefully he can open up more with this. Rounding a corner near the church I notice movement out the corner of my eye, pausing I stare out into the wood line "Did you see that?" I point off towards where I saw it.

Taking a step in front of me Ed peers out, "Nope." He takes a deep sniff of the air and shrugs, "besides some burnt food I don't smell anything odd either."

"You can smell burnt food?"

taking another quick sniff he points back to a house we passed, "Yep, smells like meat."

I'm honestly amazed at his senses but before I can be suprised anymore I spot more movement over his shoulder. A shadow about the same size as Edwyn moves from the ground up into the branches. Thr movement was quick and to me silent. I got to point but Edwyn spins on his heel and looks out. "Did you hear it?"

"Yeah something rustled the trees. It sounded bigger than a glider." Glider is the short hand name for the greater auburn flying squirrel; a housecat sized flying squirrel with dark redish brown fur and tail strong enough to hold them up and assist in throwing them from branches for long distance jumps.

"Maybe it's baby bear?"

"Nah, this was to light it'd shake the heck outta the branches."

"Should we tell anyone?"

"It can't hurt. Let's swing back to Zan and Zara."

Starting back the way we came Eri rounds the corner and gives us a wave, "Hey guys how's it going?"

"Not bad, saw something moving in the woods though."

She pauses mid step and stops in front of us, her expresion deadly serious. "What did you see? Was it an animal or a plant?" 

"Plant, no I doubt it. It was something bigger than a glider, smaller than a bear cub."

"Oh, okay good. Want me to tell the others?"

"Could you please? Guess we can head for the church then."

"Absolutely, keep your head on a swivel okay? Don't need to have you two dissapearing on us." We agree and relay what little info we have to her on the mysterious shadow and leave for the church.

I'm suprised to see the head priest Strayus outside sitting in the sun. He's an ancient looking man with a suprisingly tall lanky frame. Despite being a devout worshiper of the hunting God Sven he has about 14 different holy symbols hanging from his single necklace. With such a diverse population he's apparently the only person at the church who knows the rites and rituals of all the towns religious residents.

Standing with a serious of clicks and pops from his back he yawns loudly. "Aye there little ones! Have ye been busy today?" Despite his wirey appearance he speaks with a booming voice from years of preaching.

"Yes sir, we just wrapped up our training recently. Did you need help with anything?"

"I just got off patrol with Zan." Edwyn makes an effort to not make me do all the talking.

"Good good, it's always wonderfull to see the next generation studying so diligently. Ye know when those two told me they planed to take a pair of children as their apprentices I was a bit taken aback. That Zara's beena grumpy old man since he was a teen and his sons the same way."  He trails off seemingly remembering days past.

"Yeah we're super excit-"

"They've not taken on apprentices once in their time working." Cutting me off as he regains his train of thought I shrug it off and listen to his story. "Whenever I tried to suggest they take on apprentices, both of em told me theyll stick to just training the Koda as a whole! And yet here ya are, not even old enough for apprenticeships, and yet! ya got them talking like proud parents." He laughs and his necklace jingles loudly.

"Wait they've been talking about us?" Ed looks so proud it's like he's glowing. 

"Ahh yes Zan was telling me you've improved on all fronts and ya even have yourself an Aura."

"Yeah he said I've got to practice it more but it's still really good."

"That it is! And you miss Mari-ana have the makings of a brilliant mage. I remember when he first started learning magic that boy Zara had to start with fire of all things. Only once we exhausted all the other possible elements did we try having him control a candle and that little...That boy lit my pants leg on fire, he swears to this day it was an accident as he still laughs about!" Even with his booming voice he has a gentle air to him as he laughs warmly remembering his days teaching.

"Should I get him back for you sir? I can already produce water to put him out." I say as innocently as I can manage.

"No no, I've actually already thought of a way to get back at him. Give me just a moment children." He has a mischievous grin as he heads into the church.

"Have you talked with him much before this?" Edwyn speaks up in the ensuing silence.

"Once or twice when visiting mom while she was here, mostly just small talk thought. Maybe he was like Zara and Zan for his generation?"

"Oh! Maybe he's super skilled like they are!"

"That'd make sense, I know mom draws power from prayers to the divine mother so maybe he can draw power from all the gods he prays for."

He returns with a thick book bound closed with thin leather bands. Holding it up he asks me in an all to serious voice, "would you like some homework?"

So far all my 'homework' has been magic or history related so I nod with genuine enthusiasm. "Absolutly sir!"

He hands me the book holding onto it as he explains more "this book is a chronicle of diffrent techniques and theories on magic. Consider it a follow up to Zara's teachings. Though it is all in Elvish so your homework will be to translate it before you start can learn anything."

"I don't even know where to start...but I'll get it done!"

"Good good, and Ed my boy I'm no fighter so the most I can do is suggest you practice that Aura of yours until your confident and then double it!"

Smileing ear to ear he gives an enthusiastic response, "yes sir! I'll learn everything I can!"

Strayus and Ed chat about how he's doing and his plans for the future while I flip through the book I've been loaned. Only one thing is in the human language, a name; Lilliana of the frozen fear. [Well that's a terrifying name. I think I read somewhere that elves use titles instead of family names once they reach adulthood.] I can't help but wonder what this Lilly women did to get that nickname.

"Did you get this from the original owner?" I find a moment to hop back into the conversation.

"Hmm? Oh no your mother actually had the book but left it with the church since she doesn't dabble in magic."

"Oh really? I'll have to ask her about it tonight."

We spend the last couple hours of our day chatting with Strayus and others. Strayus even breaks out some of his treasured sweets; what looks like coco powder that he mixes with honey and spreads on toasted bread. Dad comes back with a complicated expression. He gives me a quick smile when he notices my stare. "Hey guys, it's about time to head out but do you mind if we can have a moment here alone?" 

I shrug and pull Edwyn away from the sweets and off around the corner. Stopping there I put a finger to my lips keeping Edwyn quiet. Whispering low "Can you hear them?" 

Closing his eyes I can't help but smile at the way his ears twitch and turn searching out the sounds of voices. He nods and starts relaying it all to me. Yanji, "Eri came to us saying the kids saw something in the woods."

Strayus, "They are kids after all It's likely just an overactive ima-"

"No. Zan and Zara also saw something at the wood line watching them after the kids left."

"Then Kona must sense it?"

"Not if it was something that was born in the barrier. We're prepping to do another sweep in the morning, but I have a feeling we're missing something."

"It's all right my boy you've gotta good head on ye shoulders. Just take ya self a few deep breaths, this ain't the first time somethin' slipped our sight."

"I know but if I'm honest Eri's dream has me freaked out. With Mari having a blessing and everything I'm worried maybe the mana of the forest is changing and we won't be able to handle it."

Ed does his best to convey tone but I can tell the fear in dad's last comment there is also his own. Strayus replies in what Ed thinks is a reassuring tone, "Hunt not the fear for you'll only kill yourself. Fear is but a loyal hound listen to it but remember who the hunter is."

After being reassured and given an actual moment away, once we had our curiosity filled. Dad calls for us and we come running pretending we hadn't heard anything. "All set?" He looks better more confident than a few minuets ago. "We best head out before the sun sets. Ed buddy, I'm actually gonna walk Mari into town so mind meeting her in town tomorrow?"

"Sure, see ya tomorrow Mari, be safe!"

"You too, peace!"

The walk home is peaceful and calm. I try not to worry dad so while staying a step ahead of him I'm watching the woods with my mana sight active. While I'm doing this I also notice I can sort of feel dad's mana behind me. We make it back to the house without being attacked much to dad and my relief. As I'm getting ready to go to bed I can hear dad asking mom about the barrier and if she's sensed anything. I try to listen in but laying in my warm bed I feel the exhaustion from training weighing me down.

While I had expected to dream I awoke with a single thought on my mind, calm. I normally remember bits and peaces of my dreams but today all I can remember is that one word. I sit up in bed and decided to take my premonition seriously and start my day with some meditation. I try to sense my parents mana and can feel them moving about down stairs. I try to expand the area and notice three other sources of mana close by nearest to the side between us and town.They stay unmoving yet still a far more wild presence than mom or dad downstairs. I stand up and walk down stairs taking deep breaths to not lose them. Coming down stairs mom and dad greet me with a smile. 

"there are three things; or monsters outside the house. posted up by the trail to town." I said it hoping nothing would alert the creatures I knew they where there.

"Are you sure?"

"I can feel them with mana sense...it's like an erradic source of mana diffrent from mine or yours."

"Mari go up stairs, if it's only three we can handle it. Just stay safe and wait it out." Mom gives me a confident smile and a thumbs up.

Dad stands up streching his back, "Glad I told Ed to stay in town. Mari, I trust in your senses so keep them looking and shout out the window if more show up okay?"

I feel warmth spreading in my chest as I give a whole hearted nod and head up stairs ready to play suport.

The door opens a few minuets later mom in her plate and dad in padded leathers come stroling out already armed. The moment the door closes behind them they make their move the monsters appear from the wood line; three chimpanzee like monsters with six arms eight eyes. The moment they appear charging from the wood line they hurl stones that soar like a fastball. Dad dives and rolls to his feet dodging the volley. Mom held her holy symbol in her off hand and with a flash of golden light she simply covers her neck and lower face as the rocks explode into gravel upon impact with her armor.

The moment the closest one looked down to grab another rock it's fate was sealed; as he recover from the roll dad spots the opening and throws his spear hitting it square in the chest. The beast dies trying to wrench the spear free from it's chest collapsing on the ground. The other two haven't noticed as they charge towards mom. When the first one leaps she catches it with a swing of her forearm sending it flying. The second catches her mace, arm and right leg as it uses its free hands to pry at her fingers and armor. With the return swing from deflecting the first she slams her fist into the beast's face once twice, the third swing misses as the bloodied beast leaps back screeching at her.

"Big mistake." I swear I can hear her laughing voice from here. She pursues the beast as the first returns only to get caught again; it's face grabbed and slammed into the ground with thunderous force. As she runs over the first she pays it no mind as by now dad has come up behind her driving his blood soaked spear right into the beast she just grounded. 

I feel an instant chill up my spine as I sense three more appear only moments after the wounded beast screeched. "Three more behind the house!" I shout and duck to avoid catching their attention.

Peaking back out I see the one mom wounded has escaped into the woods as the new three draw their attention away. Dad half catches the first to attack with his spear but it catches the shaft and is flung to the ground by mom who unceremoniously stomps on the beasts head twice rendering it motionless. The next one leaps at dad while he's off balance but he twists as he lowers his center of gravity and sends the beast rolling off his shoulder. He brings the spear down like a scythe across the beasts neck.

As mom bludgeons the remaining one with her mace a piece of her plate armor is ripped free and used like a club by the beast. She brings the mace down again stopping the beasts movement. As she drops its to the ground she misses the sound of rustling leaves that dad spots. The moment he heard it his mana surged as he sent as much flowing towards mom as he could, "Imperium Terra; Phalanx!" The ground under and around mom warped as it took on the shape of a shield wall complete with spears, merely lacking soldiers. The beast missed the spears but slammed into the stone shields that exploded with a golden light as mom swung her mace through the stone and into the beast's chest sending stone shrapnel riddling the nearby trees.

I feel a chill in my limbs as the adrenaline fades. I start down stairs and yell from behind the door, "Can I come out?"

The door creaks open and mom steps in closing it behind her. "Dad's headed off to join the Koda so it'll be a long day." She sits at the dining table examining her left arm; she several gashes on her arm where the monster's nails dug into her arm. "Luckily it was only a small pack of them this time."

"What where those things?" I grab some salve from her medicine and bring it to her.

"Arachnamates or simply spider-monkeys, ugly things aren't they?"

"Yeah they where really creepy looking."

"It's the eyes right? they've got to many of 'em." she winces a bit as she rubs the salve into her wounds. "Hand me those linens please. Since we're stuck inside today want me to help with your training?"

"Here. Oh that does remind me Strayus gave me this yesterday and I meant to ask you about it." I pull out the book after I pass her the linens.

"Oh, of course he did." She binds her arm with efficiency and gives me a tired smile. "Yeah I know somethings about it but I can't use magic like that so I just handed it over for safe keeping. I never thought he'd end up passing it right back to my own kid."

"So you know who's book it was originally!?"

"Oh? If that's what you want to hear about lets get comfortable it's a long story."

While mom makes a pot of tea I get comfy with some blankets on the couch like when she used to read me stories before bed. She pours us a couple cups and sits down beside me. "So who's Lilliana of the frozen fear?"

"She was my first rival. An elf from Faewynd though she lived in the kingdom of Neliph at the time a ways south of us by the way. I was under contract at that time working with the guild in Savalta trying to root out some bandits who overtook a border town. It was meant to be a kind of diplomatic mission to assist their neighbors in Nelph but we had been misled." I can see regret painted on her face.

"Misled? by who?"

"Nelph. The bandits we where sent to root out where no other than the residents of that border town. Our first couple interactions with them where rough. our representative from Nelph was a plant" She practically spits the word out when thinking about the experience. "While we traveled to the town we encountered their guards on patrol. However they had patchwork armor made from what they could find making them easily pass for bandits. When they approached and demanded to know our reason for approach that fat...man shot the man and declared the group bandits to be put to the sword. We had no choice but to fight at that point. We skirmished with them once more before we arrived at the town. When we got there the Nelph representative tried ordering us to burn the village to smoke out the bandits, when we refused he attempted to use his own magic to burn the town. But his magic was like a match in a blizzard against her. All at once the planes between us and the town froze motionless as the reps puny flame was extinguished. She led the charge at the head of a group wearing no armor and wielding farm tools. At that point we already realized our mistake and wanted to make peace but she just wouldn't listen. After she cut down the representative I ended up having to hold her off while everyone else in my party restrained the towns people." mom laughs as she lifts up her shirt to reveal a long scar right under her ribs that cut half way across her torso. "She really knows how to handle a sword for someone so skilled in magic. I'm probably only still alive because her magic froze my wounds and keep me from bleeding out. When she saw we hadn't harmed the villager she finally calmed down and listened to me. She explained the towns leadership was corrupt and starving it's people so she trained their better fighters and led them to throw out their leaders. They even wanted to let them leave alive but they insisted on fighting and where quickly taken care of."

"Whoa she's that strong? I've only seen you fight a little and you seem super strong."

"She's one of the few people I've met who can rightfully claim to hold master rank in multiple areas of study. Zara's actually one of the others."

"Oh woah, and there's still two ranks past that?"

"Yep, noble and divine. Though I've yet to meet anyone with a rank that high. Now despite comeing to peaceful terms Lilly and I had still not fully settled our match, so with training gear only we'd fight everyday. Eight times out of ten she'd beat me, but I made sure it was never an easy fight. Three months we stayed in that little border town untill the King of Nelph finnaly sent a royal decree apologizing for the misunderstanding and personally thanking Lilly for leading the charge to clean up the town. I don't know when, but over those six months we became really close, she told me all about her homeland in Faewynd; forests so old even her great grandmother lived with them towering over her."

I pour us two more cups and flip through the pages of my book. "How'd she get her title?"

"Oh right, ofcourse you'd wanna know about that. Most elves get multiple titles as they grow into the person they want to be, Lilly however only had two, when she was only an apprentice in her home land she stopped an attempted kidnapping by freezing the kidnapper, his face stuck screaming silently." She lowers her town as she finishes making her story as creepy sounding as possible. "Thats when she got the title in your little book there. By the time I met her she earned her second title; the winter witch."

"Woah! Okay that's way cooler."

"It was actually given to her by an enemy. Heh, there was a group of people who attempted to invade Faewynd and actually gained a small foothold and built a fort to launch attacks from. It was in that fort her own apprentice found a notice for all soldiers." She leans in and makes her voice as mean as possible, "300 gold and a promotion for whoever brings me the head of that winter witch!" The way she smiles makes me think they didn't call her a witch.

"They didn't call her a witch did they?" 

She tossles my hair, "never mind that! Here let me read you the first bit here but then your on your own alright?"

"Absolutly, I had no idea where to start but that'll help alot."

She reads it aloud in elvish first speaking slowly and sounding out the words. "Mana Recovery, magic once released will eventualy return to the atmosphere around us. There is a small window of time where the mana from your magic exists in the same form it does inside yourself. By learning to feel that detached mana one can learn to draw it back into yourself recouping your lost power."

"Oh! I think I can do that one!"

"Honey these aren't as easy as the invocations Zara's been teaching you. I think you'll be able to do it eventualy but it's not good to get over confident."

"No no, Zara had me try pulling my mana back after I got tired during training and he even said I shouldn't have been able to do it but I did."

She stares at me blankly. "You've already managed that huh?" She sighs and laughs to herself. "One of these days you're going to give that old man a heart attack."

"Could Lilly do all the stuff in this book?"

"Yes...Well, maybe. if I'm honest I barely have a handle on my own mana levels since I only use it when I share it or heal someone directly. All my normal prayers convert mana in the atmosphere into power the whole process is done automatically so I never really learned how to properly control mana." Sounding genuinely regretful of her shortcomings I pat her arm reassuringly. To me having her level of status and power with just her own strength and prayers is impressive in itself.

"But you're still super strong, and everyone seems to respect you so don't be to harsh on yourself."

"Thanks sweetie, I appreciate it. You know I almost left the guild back then. Lilly asked me to join her but I couldn't walk that path with her."

"What paths that?"

"She wanted to travel the coast looking for suffering towns to free and dirt bags to put to the blade. I wanted to follow her but I hated killing people, I joined up with the guild to slay monsters and protect people. She left thr next day just like she said she would. I haven't seen her since."

Mom reminisces telling me more stories about her short time with Lilly, the winter witch. We talk most of the day, even while I train she sits back and regales me with stories of her time adventuring. When dad returns home he calls us outside; covered in mud and blood he's breathing deeply but it's clear he's mostly unharmed so hold my hands out and pool my mana above him, "Creo Aqua; Shower." The invoked water takes form spraying down like a shower head blasting the mud and blood off.

He shakes and scrapes clumps of mud free and by the time my provided mana runs dry he's as clean as he can get with just water. "I'm surprised you already know how to control the temperature. That's pretty impressive."

"Huh? Oh I guess I did it reflexively." [I wonder if understanding basic thermodynamics makes that part easier]

"Well I'm gonna grab a dry set of clothes mind helping me with a few nicks and scrapes." Mom lends him her shoulder and heads into the house. I join ready to play gofer if mom needs any supplies.

"So how many more where there? They can't have gotten a nest set up yet right?" It's clear she feels responsible for anything that slips past her barrier, even things she couldn't notice.

"Twelve more where found. They all moved in groups of three and even weirder was this." He pulls out a thin rope with an empty sheath tied to it. "Each group had at least one of these all empty."

"Did they throw the daggers at you guys like they did with the rocks and sticks?" I turn the sheath over in my hand looking for any clues. "Do spider-monkies use weapons?"

"No, they use sticks and rocks but I've never heard of them arming themselves before. I don't even know how they'd get weapons if they formed in the forest."

"Maybe they found a way in? I'm covering a huge area so maybe something in the topography changed and made a break big enough to slip through."

"Then they'd definitely be scarier than a D rank right? If they can plan that much they've got to have a ring leader right?"

"If they had a nest perhaps, we need to sweep the area nearby the barrier and see if there's a troop growing." 

"A troop?"

"When enough of em gather up the healthiest female evolves becoming an Ape-Queen cappable of issuing orders and creating more Arachnamates. Taking out a nest with a queen would typically be around S rank in terms of difficulty." He sighs the idea of dealing with a troop weighing heavily on his mind. "I told Ed to give you one more day before going back to normal so just hang out here with me while mom and the others do a lap of the barrier tomorrow alright?"

"Sounds good, can we practice some magic?"

"Absolutely sweetie, I keep hearing about how impressive you've been getting."

The next day, mom headed out early armed and armored to check the barrier with the Koda. Dad keeps his promise and after cleaning up breakfast we get ready to train. He creates several thin stone circles for me to try and break, setting them up against trees or hanging from branches swaying in the breeze.

To use water as a weapon you either need alot of it or a smaller amount under extreme pressure. With this in mind I begin pooling mana into my right arm condensing as much into my forearm as possible. Imagining my palm to have a tiny opening for the mana to shoot out of. "Creo Aqua;Spray!" The mana invokes shooting from my palm and soaking the stone. [That was closer to a super soaker than the cutting jet of water I expected.]

"Well you managed to hit it. Try the same amount but all at once and it might break it."

[If I lack the control to make a high pressure jet, I'll have to try a condensed blast like a riot hose.] I create a sphere of mana and pour more and more into it. I will the basketball sized sphere to condense untill its no bigger than a softball. I point my hand at the target and take a deep breath, "Creo Aqua;Shot!" The sphere invokes and I send mana into it propelling it across the yard like a fast ball crashing into the target shattering it against the tree. 

"Woah, immediately figured that one out. Okay leave the hanging ones and get all the others first."

I follow his advice and repeatedly this spell five more times shattering the remaining five stationary targets. I can already feel a bit of fatigue and decide to try recovering my mana. I can see it with mana sight making it way easier for me to reconnect to it and draw it back into myself. Because I had my eyes closed before I never noticed that I began to glow ever so lightly as the mana rushed back into me. When I look back up I see dad staring slack jawwed. "What?"

"That was definitely mana recovery right? Zara mentioned you did it but i thought it had to be a fluke." 

"I dont know if its less impressive but being able to see my mana makes it easier to draw it back to me."

"That makes sense but I wouldn't down play it to much that's still impressive. I still can't do it without meditating for a few minuets first to get that connection. If you're still up to it try taking out the hanging ones now."

"Right, Creo Aqua;Shot!" I fire off another blast and it strikes the first hanging target sending it looping around the branch getting wrapped up but remaining unbroken. Dad fixes it and I try again...and again. The force wasn't enough to shatter it on its own the others all hit the trees and backing behind them shattering from that.

[Fine, if the water is spreading out on impact I need a way to keep it all together...oh I'm so dumb] I repeat the process from before but once I invoke the water I drop its temperature freezing the sphere rock hard before I send it flying "...Frost Shot!" My icy sphere hurdles across the yard and explodes against the target both come raining down as shrapnel.

"Great job! Even the most basic spells can be changed up with a bit of creativity. Now try again but remember this isn't just ice, you're manifesting your mana, your will into a weapon the more you will it the stronger it can become."

[Right, it makes sense something made with magic can have it's other properties altered with more mana.] I take aim at the next target drawing forth my mana and invoking it into the form of a blade of ice. I pour more mana into it reinforcing it like tempering metal. "Creo Aqua; Blade!" 

The blade launches from my hand sinking into the target splitting it in half before sinking into the tree behind it. I felt a chill running up my arm and my fingers feel numb. I can tell I'm pretty close to damaging my hand "Ouch, you alright?" dad jogs up and takes my hand looking it over, "You've started to get frost bite, here lets call it for today you don't want to lose feeling in your hand permanently."

Inside dad starts a fire and preps us some tea. While he pours it he gets a surprised look on his face. "Hey, when you made that ice blade did you have any mana around your hand?"

"I don't know, maybe...I do remember I poured a lot of mana into making it as solid as possible. So I might not have had much if any around my hand."

"When your mana invokes it can effect you just as much as anything else you hit with it, to prevent that from happening you need to get a feel for keeping a protective layer of mana around your hand when you're casting spells."

"Is it just any amount of mana? What's the proper ratio?"

"...right, uhhh I'm not exactly sure. I've always just done it by feel."

"Ok, I'll just have to practice it then." I sip my tea and enjoy the warmth and hint of honey.

Later that evening when mom makes it home she comes in and plops down on the couch with a creak from her armor. Without needing to ask dad helps her out of the heavy plate while I grab our leftovers from dinner and bring them over. "Did you figure it out?" She takes the dish from me and answers between bites. 

"Yeah.. You'll never guess what it was...so there's this big~! Tree right? Dead through and through...Well it was split at the base making a small tunnel through it."

"And that made a break in the barrier?"

"Yep...the barrier passes right through the tree...but it must have split after I put up the barrier." It wasn't a huge plate but she finished it at a rapid pace.

"How'd you fix it?" Dad asked, returning from stowing her armor.

"We almost cut down the tree since it was already dead but since we had to examine the rest of the barrier we just made note of the direction and moved the barrier a few feet so it was infront of the split."

"Did you all find anything else weird?"

"Nope, nothing besides that for the entire circumference of the barrier...Oh we did spot a Dwarven fleet heading south along the coast."

"Svalterheim is to the far east right?" 

"Yep, I was wondering what they where up to but they just passed by uneventfuly."

"So I can start training like normal again right?"

"Ed first and now you. Both of you are way to commited for kids. Though I think Ed's only following your lead."

"Right...that kinda reminds me. Zara said I should proably say something."

""Is everything okay?!"" Both of them reply at once.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just there's something you need to know. I'm not really a kid atleast not mentaly."

"Well we know you're deffinitly a genius-"

"No, I'm not really. I've just got the knowledge and experience of living over twenty years in a world without magic." I talk faster cutting her off, if i back down now ill never reveal it. "I'm not sure how I died but besides my last few months I remember who I used to be in my last life."

Mom's eyes like watery and dad seems to be watching my own reaction. I want to keep talking but really that's it. We sit like this in silence for what feels like an eternity. I don't notice how worked up I got untill mom reaches over and hugs me tightly. With that I realize I was starting to hyperventilate. "As much as we want you to be our baby girl if you want to keep being the person you where we won't blame you. But can we ask you for a small favor?"

"Absolutly." I choke the word out.

"Can we still be your parents in this world?"

My eyes watering and voice catching in my throat I nod into her shoulder trying to talk, "thats...That's all I...I could ever...ever want. Thank you."

I feel dad wrap his arms around us and he gently pats my head helping me calm down. I hadn't realized how stressed this was making me, in that moment I cried myself out, falling asleep still held in their arms.

After today life feel back on track, in the mornings I'd meet with Ed and we'd go train untill the afternoon. We'd explore the village and occasionally run off the bullies when they'd get confident. In the following months I finished Aqua and even got the basics of Ventus and Terra down. Despite my best efforts I've only just started grasping Elvish so I made no progress on the notebook.

If my parents hadn't asked me what I wanted if not even have remembered my birthday was coming up. We only celebrate for milestones which works for me. I never was fond of my own birthday. When I headed down stairs this morning I knew something was diffeent. No breakfast made and both mom and dad are dressed to head into the village.

[Six years old]

When we arrived at the church people had already been setting up, a spread of food and snacks along with several people hanging decorations. While I'm observing the decorations I feel my hand tugged towards the door. "Come on Mari, it's not ready yet! No peeking!" Of course it's Edwyn. I shrug and join him after letting mom know we'd be back around noon.

"Thats alot of effort just for me."

"It's not just for you goof. We all celebrate when someone makes it to the next milestone!" He leaps up in a exaggerated way.

"Yeah I guess that's fine. If it's an excuse for everyone to have fun then it's alright. By the way your eight by now right? Whens your next milestone?"

"Oh yeah, I think it's at ten."

"Oh your almost there then, so beastkin are every five years?"

He shakes his head, "no its five ten and then twenty."

"Why's that?"

"I guess for us we hit our growth spurt around ten and can grow our brains and bodies fastest during this time. Side effect from being made for war..." 

[Right, where humans take nearly eighteen years to reach peak physical strength beastkin can easily match that before even being a teen. I wonder just how much stronger Ed is compared to Mr already?] While I'm pondering the growth and origins of the beastkin we run into Zara and Zan. Zan gives me a nod but keeps on walking while Zara stops to chat with us

"Happy birthday! Your first milestone and you're already as trained as I was when I got my apprenticeship. Here take good care of this." He passes me a small box tied shut with twine.

"Creo Aqua;claw..." I mutter to myself invoking a small sharp claw of ice to snap the twine. "Oh woah...I can't take this...can I?" Insidetthe box sits a small golden bracelet. As I turn it over in my hand I spot engravings on the inside in a language I don't recognize.

"It's fine, this is a protective bangle. When you send mana into it the runes activate and it'll give you protection equivalent to padded leathers." He pulls out a necklace hidden under his shirt with a small bronze flame with the same symbols engraved on the back. "I have a friend in silvermyst who owed me so it only cost me for the bracelet. I hope it's not to bland."

"No no, it's beautifuly made, there's no seams or hammer marks anywhere. It looks like something made in my old world honestly." [It's a relief that no one's freaked out about that yet, Edwyn included.]

"You can thank Mr.Smith for that, he told me he wanted to work on his precision work and this was the result."

I slip it on and am suprised when the metal shivers and shrinks down to the perfect size for my wrist. "Whoa!"

"Yep, not gonna lose it if it fits perfectly right? That was my suggestion since so you don't have to worry about growing out of it either."

"Oh try it out Mari!" Ed excitedly asks bouncing on his toes.

I feel a distinct tug as I send mana into it and a very hazy and then Aura spreads across my body like a weightless body suit. I brace my shoulder and tell Edwyn to slug me in the shoulder. It takes bribing him with extra cake but he agrees and pops me in the shoulder.

"Whoa that felt weird. It was like I hit you before I hit you." Sure enough Ed's fist struck the Aura and it served as a buffer between us.

[Atleast I know ow how much stronger he is...ouch ] I rotate my shoulder and stretch my arm out. "So that's how it works."

Zara laughs and shakes his head, "Kinda it's better against slashing like from a monsters claws or a swinging blade. Though I guess it might serve to dull a punch aswell. Alright I've got to get back to work, you kids enjoy yourselves today."

We say our goodbyes and keep up our walk. I can't help but feel warm and fuzzy as almost everyone we pass waves and wishes me well. We make our way over to Mr.Smiths and after thanking him for the beautiful bracelet he just waves it off as an excuse to practice. Right when we were about to head back out he remembers something. "Hey Edwyn, could I borrow you for a minute?"

"Uhh sure thing sir how can I help?" They walk off towards the forge.

Straining to listen I can barely hear anything from this distance. Mr.Smith askes him something that makes him shake his head vigorously. "It's not like that." Ed sounds strained.

"Alright alright, I get ya. Here either way this'll help ya out." He hands him something wrapped in linens.

After this they're voices get lower again with Ed telling him something making him laugh hard. He tussles his hair with his giant hand and pats his back sending him off back towards me. 

"So what'd you guys talk about?" I tease him abit seeing he's blushing from their chat.

"Nothing"

"Oh really? Nothing at all?"

"Yep...atleast nothing important."

"Well I won't twist your arm about it. Wanna swing by the guild?"

While we walk Ed unwraps his gift and gasps looking at them; a pair of metal bracers. He puts them on and throws a few punches. "These are soo~ cool! Look look." He throws a few more punches ending his combo with a spinning backfist.

"They look awesome, wanna try them out?" Arriving at the guild I grab a wooden sword and take a basic stance.

"Absolutely, don't take my head off but give me your best!"

With his agreement I step in immediately lunging with a strong but obvious swing. He counters with one arm and swings with the other. I duck back and jabbed at him to make space.

I try to chain together strikes like dad taught me but it's clear which of us is the fighter as he easily blocks my strikes and closes the gap between us slamming his shoulder into me knocking me on my butt.

After helping me back up we keep at it, while it's mostly me helping him try out his bracers there's no reason not to get some training in myself.

Eri along with Zan hang out watching us spare. I leap back with a feint swing as he closes the distance I swing my leg wide and twist the momentum into a huge swing. I already know he's going to block it...As I make contact I release my sword and throw my shoulder into his chest as hard as I can. I expected to knock him back at least but after deflecting my attack he twists his torso and I'm sent tumbling along the ground. I lay back and stare up, "ugh, you're way to fast for this to be fair." I laugh and hop back up.

"You did great Mari, but it'll still be a few years before you can do much with a weapon. Magics a different story but it's almost party time so why don't you guys wrap it up." Eri offers me a towel and tries cheering me up.

"For someone so skilled in magic you've done well to keep up on your physical training as well." Even Zan offers me a word of praise."You did well to, I've got to say your blocking and countering have improved well." Zan pats Ed on the back hurrying us along.

While we walk to the church I try to get Ed to reveal what he and Mr,smith where talking about but he stubbornly refuses to tell me a thing. 'It's nothing important' [Yeah right like I believe that. Had to be teasing him about something...Oh wait, eww.] It hit me once I thought about it seriously. Mr.Smith just sees me as a polite little girl, he was probably teasing ed about hanging around with me. I don't think Ed's ever seen me that way and I hope it stays that way. Despite him being older than me in this world I still only see him like a younger sibling. [If it ever comes up I'll have to politely stomp it out.] I decide to drop it and hope it never comes up again.

Outside the church I notice many of the older residents are sitting out enjoying the sun and some of the sweets. Each of them makes sure to wish me a happy birthday while also insisting I try their sweets. Both Ed and I agree to try all their dishes as we slip past them inside. I'm surprised at how many people showed up but it's clear that most of the people are here to visit with my parents and eat. We make our way up front and start digging into the spread of food.

It's been a long time since I had been to a party and even longer since it was one ment for me. I remember Ed's party; four or five of us and a decent cake. It irritates me for a moment but it didn't take long for me to get why. Even as I wondered where ever I felt drawn to Ed never left my side since we came inside. He's still smiling and enjoying the party but I get the feeling if it wasn't my party he'd avoid this like the plauge. 

Before the party wrapped up I was brought up front and mom and dad passed boxes of gifts; a beautiful silver and bronze necklace, a bound leather notebook with a quil and ink, and the biggest suprise was small dagger only a tad bigger than a steak knife. Mom and Dad saved their gift for last; a small wooden box with a bronze hinge. When I opened it I was suprised to see five rings and second bracelet. The artistry was entirely diffrent from the one Mr.smith gave me. It wasn't blocky but the metal looked like it could be a carved gem with the way the metals been shapped. The rings each have a diffrent gemstone the size of my pinky nail, red, green, blue, silver and finnaly the thumb ring was clear. 

They explained later each gem could hold a moderate amount of mana that was automatically shifted into its elemental form based on the gem color. The clear gem being a blank that you'd need to invoke when you cast it. After the gifts Ed and I where told to go play while they cleaned up. After everyone else had left and the church was cleaned up  we said our goodbyes and headed for home.

While walking home dad asked how I felt about the party. "It was fun, I hadn't expected so many people to show up. I haven't had a birthday party in forever. I stopped trying when people never bothered showing up."

"I'm glad you had fun, anything you where disappointed by?"

"Well, no not disappointed but..."

"What was wrong? Did you eat to many sweets?"

"No no, it might be selfish but there was actually something I wanted to ask for..."

"Sweetie, you've rarely even asked us for seconds at dinner I doubt it's as selfish as you think."

"Would it be possible for our family to adopt Edwyn? I know he doesn't have to sleep outside thanks to the other villagers but he really deserves a stable place to sleep. I know this is kinda sudden but I've actually been thinking about how to help him for awhile. I'm even willing to offer up my gifts to cover any money we'd need."

"Mari..." mom cuts me off in a gentle tone. "We've actually thought about it ourselves. Ever since you two became friends, we've been considering it in fact. We don't know if he'll accept but if you're already on the same page as us we can get things started as soon as tomorrow."

"Really!? I thought it'd take more to convince you guys..." I'm suprised at how easy that went. I knew they cared about him but I wasn't aure they'd be okay with taking on this responsibility.

"Really. We actually had considered adopting him before we were blessed with you. The only reason we didn't do it earlier was to see how you two got on, and what kinda relationship developed. And given what you told us recently we know we won't be messing anything up by making him family." Mom is overly straight forward, if this was my original world she might have ended that statment with banjo sounds.

I sigh and shake my head "Ed's only a kid, even if he's technically older than me I still see and treat him like a younger brother."

"I know, I know, I'm only teasing you. Though I think atleast one of us is relieved you don't want to date till you're an adult." 

"I won't say I'm relieved, I just think we should support your choices. And, if you decide you don't ever want to date that's fine too!" Dad's quick to interject.

I shrug, "no promises on that. I just won't date untill it stops feeling creepy."

"Creepy? Because you have your memories?"

"Yeah, in my world reincarnation was more a myth than fact  so I never really thought about it but mentally I still feel like an adult-"

"Ahh creepy like that. Yeah we also have creeps like that in this world...though none of them would survive long in this town. Even the traders that pass by have been thoroughly vetted."

Later that night unbeknown to me mom and dad have a serious discussion. Kona tired from the long day leans into yanji's shoulder. "Do you think it was wrong of us not to tell her everything?"

"I know your feeling guilty but they became close on their own. Even if things worked out this way it's not like we planed it this way..."

"No, we didn't...but we knew he'd get attached if they did become friends and we did talk about convincing her to accept a brother."

Yanji sighs and runs his hand though her hair lovingly. "I'm just happy things worked out like this and not the other way."

"Listen I didn't want to push them together either so we're on the same page, atleast now that I realize how much of her memories she still has...do you think mentaly she's older than us?"

"Maybe? She's so bright I can't tell if it's because she lived a long life before this or if she just had some amazing teachers before coming to join our family. You know she can already preform mana recovery?" 

"Our girls a genius..." Closing her eyes she sighs and sinks further into Yanji's arms. "...and that's why we need a strong sheild for her." 

The following morning I jump out of bed and throw on my clothes excited to start on making Ed my brother. I don't want to day anything to him till everything settled but I'm still excited so I find myself outside a few minuets early. I know he's gonna be heading this way soon so I'll just do some easy training. Sending mana flowing into my eyes I set my sights down the trail searching for Ed's mana jogging down the trail. Instead I sense a foreboding Aura that stretches out of the forest like hands grasping for me. I step back triping over my own feet trying to retreat from this malicious Aura. I shake my head violently, trying to shake off my own mana sight. I push against the ground and pull myself up and away from the forest. [What the f...] I turn and run inside.

"Guys somethings in the woods...I saw-"

As soon as they registered what I said both moved at once grabbing their gear. "Hun, I'm going to run into town and stop Edwyn from coming."

Dad only uses light armor so he's dressed in a moment heading for the door. "Wait let me come too, I can see it's Aura so I can tell if it's nearby I think..."

"Tsk" Dad clicks his tongue. "Fine. Bur stay right behind me and explaine what you mean by Aura. Like Ed's?"

"It's like mana but I get emotion from it, it's like even seeing it I can feel the creatures intent. I felt a desire to kill from it and it seemed to react to my presence."

"Okay two things one, you keep your protection up as soon as we walk outside. And secondly if I tell you to do something do it right then, you might not have time to debate it."

We take off from the house, between my sight and protection. (Braclet) I've got no mana to spare and I can feel my reserves slowly draining. The Aura slicks back into the woods retreating from sight as we run down the trail. As we hit the town a wave of relief hits me as I see Zara walking about with a cup of steaming tea. [If he's still calm things must not be to bad.]

Ofcourse things are never that simple. "Isnt Edwyn with you? He just left a few minuets ago."

My stomach dropped and I felt my limbs going numb. I must have turned to run into the woods because the next thing I felt was dad grabbing my wrist and pulling me back. "Calm down Mari! We will go look for him just take a deep breath."

I take a deep breath more responding to the command than trying to calm myself. I feel a tug in my mind like my mana being drawn away faster and faster. The woods glow faintly like a mist catching the sun a beautiful sight tainted by a thin strand of crimson snaking towards me...no toward the town. [The barriers keeping it from finding the town, so it's looking for people.] I point toward the far end of the Aura as it fades from my sight. "I see it again, that way...woah" I stumble but Zara grabs my arm and keeps my standing.

"You're burning up. What's happening?"

"Mana sight everything, is glowy and I can't force it off..."

"Here drink this." He hands me a glass vial with a purple liquid.

I down it, the purple liquid moving only slightly faster than syrup. I feel my stomach twist from the bitter drink and as the cramp passes my body feels light and I can feel myself breathing easier. "What was that?"

"A secret. Now stand up we're going to need your sight to find him before its too late."

"Right, Mari we're gonna meet mom incase this thing is still hunting the woods near the path."

Agreeing to meet halfway to the house Zara runs to grab reinforcements. We meet her and while we waited I noticed something. A familiar presence the faintest of mana near by the path. "There's something just over there. It feels like Ed..."

Mom walks through the foliage over to a tree where she leans down and picks up Ed's dagger. She runs her hand along the tree and plucks a peice of parchment out of a small slit in the bark. "I think he left a note here. But I don't see anything here."

I hear dad gulp behind me. [What's so scary about a note?]

"So it hid the evidence of Ed passing by? It has to be atleast an A rank threat. Mari, no mater what if you feel in danger I want you to use every drop of mana to get away even if we get in the way. Okay?"

I nodded even if I had no plans of abandoning my real parents even to save my own skin. If we are dying it'll be together. Zara arrives a couple minuets later with Eri and the rest of the morning shift. They look like they'd just woken up but each on had a determined glare as they looked out into the woods.

We set off the group following my directions. What ever Zara gave me was enough to steel my nerves as I can feel my control over my mana sight returning to me as I dial it up and down as needed to guide us. As we get closer the Aura enwraps us and glows, it doesn't harm us or slow our approach so I'm not sure what it's doing besides creeping me out.

Zara however knows the answer, "it's searching for us, or more exactly it's searching for prey, and it likely thinks it's found some."

The group keeps moving with me in the center protected on all sides. I notice a stinging acidic smell that gets stronger as we approach. I peak past my guards and see a single tree responsible for the scent and twisted Aura. It's bark gone replaced by a shiny metalic coating, green under the morning sun. The wood beneath the bark is twisted morphed looking like roots or vines strangling eachother as they reach towards the sun. No leaves remain on the branches that seem to sway and move towards our party.

Mom takes point with Zara backing her up. Dad leads all but three of the Koda in a slow move to circle the tree. I could see a largr knot of vines near the base covered in sickly green sap. I notice something psst the vines, a familiar mana. "Ed's in that ball of vines!!"

"Sprigs, it looks like it just awoke recently too. Must have gotten wounded snatching Edwyn up. Eri get ready to sheild everyone, I'll try and cut him free first." Mom draws Ed's dagger and approaches with soft footsteps watching the tree with each slow step.

Grabing the vines she pulls and gasps as the vines crumble and break Ed laying uncomfortably wedged in the mess of dead vegetation. Before we can celebrate his freedom the tree closest to the one holding edwyn splinters sending wood shrapnel flying towards us. "Imperium Terra; Wall!" Eri creates a wall of dirt that stops the deadly spray.

As it collapses I can see mom and Zara where both caught in the attack. Luckily for him Zara was cover by mom who interposed herself between the exploding tree and himself. He extends a hand "Creo Igni;Flare!" A ball of fire soars past mom striking a humanoid figure standing atop the fresh stump. The creature leaps into the tree branches above us skittering around like a squirrel.

While we regroup. Eri joins the three guarding me and I can see she's ready to cast Terra magic at a moments notice. Mom and Zara being our heavy hitters they watch the tree tops above us.  Both giving us distance to draw the creatures attacks towards them. Dad leads the remaining Koda in guarding the surroundings from a sneak attack. All at once the stale mate broke as the creature lunged from the tree tops towards me! Eri grabs my shirt collar and yanks me back thrown behind her. She slammed her hands down and invoked a wall of stone that should have stopped the creature. Instead it broke the wall like it was nothing slamming into her and pushing her back several feet. 

There only a few feet from me stands a Sprig, an A rank monster native to the Elves continent. Skin like tree bark with glowing green sap like blood that shines from between the cracks across their body. Six long gangly arms with hooked talons they can easily tear iron armor like a sheet of paper. Despite the immense bloodlust pouring from the creature none move to attack instead everyone patiently awaits for Kona to strike.Mom explodes past us her mace glowing with blinding light that she smashes into the creatures face. It hits the ground bouncing up and sliding to a stop on its feet. Green sap pours forth from a mouth like opening on its head. It has no eyes yet I can see it searching for something. It's gaze lands on me, glancing. Ehind me I hope yo see it's true target but in that moment two things happened, one I realized it was glaring directly at me, and two it launched forward towards me.

It's lanky form let it slip around the Koda getting half way to me as I see three of its clawed hands swinging down at me. I freeze unable to react simply wanting to be torn to spreads. The creatures body buckles and folds as a spear slams into its side like a rocket. Even after slamming into a tree it leaps to its feet wrenching the spear out and tossing it aside. "It's after Mari!" I can hear dad's voice as Eri grabs me again and pulls me to my feet putting  her and the other Koda between me and Sprig. Two Koda move from behind it tossing ropes that only slow its attacks down as it continues moving towards me.

It pays no one else any mind simply reacting to their attacks or swatting them away at most. Even the ones trying to restrain it are simply drug along with each of its forcefully steps. "Creo Aqua, Imperium Terra;Churn!" Eri stomps sending a wave of Aqua mana through the ground. Suddenly with its feet digging deeper and deeper into the mud the Sprig collapses clawing towards us. "STONE!" She calls out another command making a fist with her hand.

The creatures lanky limbs struggle in the mud slowly turning to stone leaving the Sprig stuck waist deep in her trap Eri calls out to the others. Mom and Dad cross in the center his blade strikes its neck from the left and moms mace impacts its head from the other side. They hit it and split apart leaving it separated from the others. The head like appendage gushes sap like blood and despite it being mostly removed by their attack it shakily stares me down.

The wind whips up and I feel a chill down my spine from a sudden rush of mana. "Imperium Ventus, Creo Igni; Blazing Spire!" The air around the Sprig ignites from his magic as he controls the air drawing it all in and down to the base fo the flame spiraling upwards in a towering tornado of flames concentrated on on the Sprig.

I can't tell if it's the sap boiling in its body or the creature itself but something screams from inside the flames. It writhes in the flames yanking at its trapped limbs. I'm glad it's mostly plant as it smells like a campfire as it's body is carbonized by the intense heat. I watch the flames shift from orange to blue as the heat intensifies and my bringing his hands down and together Zora ends his spell collapsing the flames into the center of that pillar causing a bright flash and thunderous explosion.

I look up and see a circular hole In the canopy with light breaching through it highlighting the blackend earth and the charged remains of the Sprig. After collecting Edwyn Zara and dad remain behind with the others leaving Mom and me to bring Ed home. As we walk back I can't help but be amazed at mom. She's walking without a limp back straight as she caries Ed and yet I know I can hear the sound of dripping against metal. When we get to the house she lays him out on their bed and starts to examine him but I stop her.

"Check yourself out first, he's breathing and not bleeding...but you are." I point to the small dribbling trail of blood leading from the door way up to her feet where a small amount of blood has started pooling.

"You're right...just give me a minute."

She sounds exhausted and it takes her a full ten minutes to undo her armor fortunately I was around to help otherwise it would have taken even longer. As I handle it I notice her armor has several holes through out it. Her under shirt and linen greves are also tattered and soaked in blood. I help her into the bath room where I see just how wounded she is. I wince as she gets down to her under clothes. Her back is riddled with small holes and bits of wooden shrapnel. "That doesn't look good." I can't help but voice my concerns.

"It's fine sweetheart. I know it must look scary but really I've had much worse than this. Like this one here." She lifts her right arm and just below her ribs around her torso to her back is a pale scar from some huge slash. "This one was the worst if the blade wasn't so cold it froze my blood I'd probably have bleed out before I could even start my prayers."

"Wait so that was from Lilly?"

"Yep, ouch." She reaches back and takes the largest chunk of wood by the base and pulls it free.

For the next hour I help her remove wood shrapnel and pack her wounds with gauze like cloth. She hands me a salve, thick as clay I apply it to the wounds on her back. She looks over to the tub and I hold my hand out; releasing the magic stored in my ring, I fill the tub with warm water.

She lowers into the water wincing as it passes over her wounds. She asks for her supplies and adds a full handful of turquoise colored powder to the water. In a moment I see many of her bruises fading away the smallest cuts ignored until now vanish leaving faint scars behind. Mom assures me she'll be fine so I leave her and go to check on Ed. After seeing how hurt mom got I can only imagine what would have happened if that thing got a hold of me.

I start looking him over, I'm surprised he doesn't have any wounds. "Shit. You are hurt." I curse myself for jinxing it. As soon as I get him on his side I see a line of crimson down the center of his back.

Peeling the shirt off I almost scream; starting from the base of his neck down his spine hundreds of little roots are weaving in and out of his back. His face twisted in pain when my hand brushes the roots. [They're basically squeezing his nerves directly...I can't imagine how painful this is for him.]

Mom returns a few minuets later no longer bleeding everywhere but still sore and hurt. She doesn't say anything about his condition...But I can tell from her pale complexion he isn't in the clear yet.

Through out the day we get visitors, some people bring food and supplies for mom to heal up, and others come by to check on Ed. Zara tells me they found another tree about to become a Sprig so they torched it and plan to do another sweep of the forest to find any others.

Ed wouldn't wake up for a long time. And when he finaly does; is it still him?