*** Kiara ***

  The last two weeks had been difficult. It took me a while to come to terms with my skills and what it meant for me in the long term. I threw myself into my glyph training. Magdalena’s sad looks told me a story of futility, which I was incapable of accepting.

  I reread the stories of the twins and the magic spring. Why were they not punished for their foolishness? They grew into powerful heroes of justice and righteousness. Fairytales!

  She had avoided Sia, and her family gave her space. Push-ups and running helped her to get her head free of unwanted thoughts.

  At least I have gotten lucky with the tiers of my skills. The foundational or first tier was where most people started their journey, and it wasn’t uncommon to find adults who never left this stage in some of their skills. Next came Novice or second-tier awakening, a skill in this tier was considered lucky. Frequently used skills normally reach this tier, and a competent craftsman often has several high-level Novice skills. The advanced tier is where things became rare. To awake one was nearly unheard of, and yet she had done it twice. Expert skills were kept secret and rumored to be the realm of master crafters and truly gifted individuals.

  “Yeah, am I not a lucky one?” she mumbled.

  Slaying monsters, crafting, or even farming allowed one to raise one’s overall level. It made one tougher and improved overall. Stamina, Mana capacity, strength, and dexterity were all improved, but not by the same amount and not in the same way for everyone. The more you used it, the more you gained when leveling up.

  There was also a religious component to the whole system. With her mother now on board, she suddenly had access to more advanced scrolls (mostly brought over by Magdalena). Several described the system as she called it, as the gods’ blessings. Which gods exactly were responsible differed. Gods were real, or at least there was a much better case in this world than she had ever found in her last.

  Physical training was the only option she currently saw to immediately start improving and work on her deficits.

  Tomorrow, she would start her Magic training back up. Her time out was finally over, and she was eager to try out her new skills. Except for Mana Sense, all of them were passive in nature, enhancing her existing abilities, but nothing flashy. There were real wizards in this world. Fireball-throwing wizards! Less flexible than a weaver, but I would have given at least a little finger for the ability to throw fireballs around.

  “Let’s start with reviewing the basics,” Magdalena said, placing the hourglass and a familiar number of cubes before her on the table.

  An audible groan escaped me. I had hoped for things to turn out differently for once. My grandmother just smiled and flipped the hourglass. I scrambled to get started.

  Touching the first cube was eye-opening. I finally understood why certain things were not attempted before initiation. I could feel the pathways clearly, and a simple mental command was enough for my mana flow precisely the way I wanted it to. Where before I had to struggle and pay close attention, I now just needed to think of it. One cube after the other, the cubes lit up as completed. By the time I was finished, there was still quite a bit of sand in the hourglass remaining.

  I smiled and, for once, saw it mirrored in my grandmother’s face.

  “I thought this might lift your mood,” she said, “normally, I would have continued with light and heat, and you forming your very first glyphs, but somehow, I have gotten the feeling you will get yourself into trouble and might even pull me into it. So, we will be working on the easiest form of a Mana shield.”

  I was listening closely. Seldom in my life have I paid more attention. Yes, of course, heat and light glyphs were closer to a fireball, but it might be a wiser course of action to first learn how not to singe my long red hair or even set it on fire.

  I am learning real magic for once. Who cares what spell I learn first!

  “Focus on your hand and command Mana to flow into it and form a small sphere above your hand. Activate your Mana Sense and form the Mana slowly into a pancake. Flatten it as far as you can. Perfect. Now there is one small problem.” Her finger reached out and punched right through her prototype Mana shield.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “You have to adjust the Mana characteristics to push objects away. Depending on how you are attacked, you might also need to reflect light or other radiation or be careful to repel gases as well, but for now. But I am going too far. Just concentrate on pushing my finger away.”

  I could see her finger was coated in a thin layer of Mana. Way thinner than my thick pancake version at the moment, but it was a start.

  I thought about what I wanted to achieve and how the barrier in my crib all those years back had felt. The smooth, slippery, and yet unrelenting texture pushing me back.

  Her grandmother’s finger neared her barrier once more, and she could feel her Mana working on pushing her back. It worked, not as well as she had hoped. It seemed more like a barrier formed out of jello. It was a start.

  “For your first try, a remarkable result, but you will have to train this until you can coat your whole body in several layers in the blink of an eye and adjust to different attacks. This is a skill that will keep you alive. But as a warning, early on, a Mana shield or Mana skin is both mana hungry and far from infallible. Even I would not be able to take an empowered strike of a sword, and there are specialized arrows designed to punch through those simple shields. They are quite common, and so are the ways to deal with them. There are more complex shields that eliminate a lot of those weaknesses.”

  A complex structure of honeycomb shields layered and tinted in different colors appeared before her.

  “Again!” she instructed.

  I did my best. Shield after shield was pierced, but it took Magdalena more effort. She pulled out a bag of marbles and smiled.

  “Let’s start working on your speed!” She picked up a single marble and threw it in my direction.

  I hurriedly tried to pull up a shield, but was too slow. The marble flew through a half-compressed sphere of Mana without being slowed at all. It impacted my upper arm painfully.

  “Again!” A marble flew again through the air.

  I dodged to the side without even trying to put up a shield.

  “Sometimes, that’s the right choice,” Magdalena nodded approvingly. “However, we are training your Mana shield, so for now, no dodging. I will slow down the marbles a little.”

  They suddenly lit up in her Mana Sense. Her grandmother picked up another marble. She smiled and said, “Again.” It flew slower through the air, but still too fast for her to put up any real defense against.

  The training lasted until I was breathing heavily. My Mana source was nearly depleted, and my arms and legs were covered in small bruises.

  “I am sorry for pushing you so hard, but I fear it is necessary, given your situation,” Magdalena mumbled.

  “I want you to spend the afternoon meditating and getting accustomed to your Mana sense, and I would like you to visit Sia. She has been worried about you and is full of regret. I mean, she should never have given you the potion, but maybe go by her shop and let her know you are alright? “

  The reason I had avoided Sia was not that I was angry with her. I was ashamed of what I had done. It hadn’t been my intention, but she had warned me it might not work, and I had been unwilling to accept that fact, even though I had promised her and pushed myself too far.

  “I will visit her. I promise. Maybe not today, but soon. Mum wanted to start her training with me and Petro this afternoon.” I assured her.

  Petro came home from school. He had had a lot of fun on the recent trip with their mother and was eager to learn more from her. School was not the right way for him to learn, and it often bored him.

  Honestly, I was also a little bit afraid of school. Pretending to be a normal child sounded daunting, especially when she could finally be herself around her family.

  Her mother was waiting for them in the kitchen. We ate a quick meal before she asked them to follow her outside. The three of us walked along the winding roads of Northwing. We came to the gate and for the first time in my life, I passed the town walls.

  The view was amazing. Northwing sat upon a hill at the very edge of the Titanfall mountain range. A huge mountain range on one side and the other a river and lots of untamed forest. The fields surrounding the town had been cleared. Wheat and grains were grown in a large part of the cleared area. Our mother took us to an open field. The grass was about knee high, and on the far side of the field stood a single tree. She put down her large backpack and pulled out several bundles of arrows and two small unstrung bows.

  “I'm planning to take you on a few short trips this year—just a day or two to gather herbs or hunt easy prey. But first, you need to learn how to take care of yourself and stay safe. We will start with archery, then herb collection, and basic survival skills. Under no circumstances are you allowed to use your bows without my supervision. Those are not toys, they are weapons!” A stern look drove her message home. Both Petro and I were nodding eagerly.

  We were shown how to string and unstring a bow. Something I struggled with because of my lack of strength. Maya instructed us on how to take care of the bow first before coming to the more interesting part of how to aim and fire it. The right form was essential. The bow string snapped against my arm several times, adding to my collection of bruises.

  Neither Petro nor I were very talented when it came to shooting, but both of us enjoyed the lessons. Maya seemed content with our effort and results.

  When we arrived home, I was tired and just wanted to sleep, but my mother reminded me to cook dinner. I had nearly forgotten about my punishment. In the end, it turned out to be a punishment for everyone.

  I was deeply ashamed of the half-burned mess I had produced, and Petro’s constant complaints did not really help. I missed a modern kitchen. Cooking with a stove which used wood fire was way harder than anticipated.