Mat woke up with a soft smile on his face, thinking back to the previous day. Other than the fight with those boys, Mat had had a great day.

  Spring was extremely funny, as well as being one of the kindest people he had met. He couldn’t get too close to her though.

  Mary had started out that way, and she had done… what she’d done.

  Realistically, Mat knew he should have seen it sooner. Mary had been distant for months, but he assumed that was just him being paranoid, or maybe just because he was so busy with work and school. The thought of Mary made his heart hurt. He didn’t want her back, but he still missed her. Mat rubbed his face with his hands and was shocked to find water on them afterward.

  Shaking his head, he rolled out of bed, looked through the wardrobe and got dressed, and left the house. Eritandellion had told him that Spring would meet him at the house and then guide him to the meeting location for his first day of training.

  Despite Spring having shown him the day prior where he had to go, he still waited for her. Afterall, she would be coming this way anyway so it wouldn’t save time. Plus, it would be a more enjoyable walk with a friend.

  Twenty minutes later, Spring arrived at his house. She was wearing what looked like a martial arts robe, making Mat question his clothing.

  It was very similar to the outfit from the day before, but with a green coat instead of blue. Was there a robe in there for him? He hadn’t seen one. It was too late anyway, as Spring was already here.

  “Good morning.” She said cheerfully. “How did you sleep?”

  “Good, what about you?”

  “I slept great!” She said. Gently taking his hand, Spring began guiding him toward the training location. “You know I was thinking,” She began, “once we’ve finished for the day, we could hang out again. If you aren’t too tired, that is.”

  “That’d be fun. Did you have anything in mind?”

  “We could go to the amusement park.” She suggested.

  “I haven’t ever actually been to one before.” Mat admitted. Spring looked shocked.

  “We have to remedy that. It’s so much fun. Trust me, you’ll have a great time.”

  Mat grinned at her.

  “Why not?” He said.

  Not too long later, they arrived at a wide clearing with tall metal fences surrounding it. The gate in was unlocked, so Mat and Spring easily got in. The ground was made of concrete, with a circle in the centre of the clearing. At the other end Eritandellion watched them enter, an unreadable look on his face. Mat was feeling nervous, although he tried not to let it show. People were often cruel if they knew you were scared. Spring, although she seemed nice, could be the same. Going through that again would hurt. Eritandellion stood up, waiting for them to arrive before him.

  “We’ll start with something basic today, so that we can start Mat off strong.” He said. “Spring, I want you to cycle for a bit. Mat, you will do the same, but you’ll have to follow my instructions.”

  Mat nodded and looked over at Spring. She was sat cross-legged on the ground, eyes closed. Following suite, he listened to Eritandellion’s guidance.

  “First, you need to centre yourself. Block out everything other than the now.”

  Mat followed, albeit with some difficulty, focusing on himself in the moment. It was a bit like meditation.

  “Now, I need you to look deep inside your spirit. You should get an image of a set of spiritual channels.”

  In Mat’s mind, something appeared before him. There was a large shape that reminded Mat of the human heart, with a set of four tubes, two on the left and two on the right, all of which connecting to either the back or the front. All four of them were pulsing with a white power. Mat made a grunting noise when he saw it, alerting Eritandellion that he could go on.

  “Perfect. Now, you should feel an energy radiating from it.”

  Mat did feel something.

  “You need to grasp it gently and begin circling it around your Core.”

  Even though Eritandellion had just introduced a new term, the core, he didn’t lose focus. Summoning power he wasn’t aware he possessed; Mat took hold on the energy and began cycling it through his Core. It was intense for the first few moments, but Mat got into the swing of it after a while. The energy, the Toh he assumed, began feeling… denser. Stronger.

  Mat wasn’t sure how long it was when he felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him out of the trance he had been in. Looking up, Spring’s face hovered in front of him, her purple eyes bright.

  “How did you find it?” She asked softly, wiping some sweat away from Mat’s forehead with another cloth.

  “Why do you have so many of them? Surely there aren’t many daily situations calling for cloth.”

  “You’d be shocked.” Spring said lightly. “I reckon this is the most valuable thing I own. Did you struggle at all?”

  “The main difficulty is keeping all my focus and strength on it. Imagining it’s much easier.”

  “That’s what I thought when I first did it. It gets easier with time. And if you need any pointers ever, we could always practise together.”

  “I’ll keep it in mind.” Mat promised, stumbling to his feet. The world looked like it was spinning around him, and Mat thought his legs might give out. Before they could, Spring rushed over and supported him, helping him get to a bench at the far end.

  “You’ll need a bit to recover, so you can just sit here. Do you want to see my combat training?” She asked, sounding instantly excited.

  “How could I refuse?” Mat said, grinning as he leaned back.

  As Spring stepped away from him, wooden dummies raised up through the floor. Mat leaned forward, eager to see what Spring could so. All the dummies turned to face Spring in unison, charging at her with a variety of weapons. Spring’s face changed from excited to focused instantaneously; the Sword of Eternal Flame appeared in her hands as they got closer.

  She shot a ball of fire out before they reached her, taking one of them out immediately. Putting her sword up, she impaled the closest one as it couldn’t stop itself with the momentum. An attack come from behind, but she blocked it and in one fluid motion chopped its head off. Four metal daggers rose out of her pocket and slammed into a dummy each. That didn’t stop them, but they were slowed down, giving Spring a moment to deal with another one of the dummies. Then she turned her attention to the wounded ones, shooting four balls of fire, one at each. That destroyed them, and Spring lifted her hand, the daggers following her control. Turning around, she didn’t even bother to watch as they all slammed into the chest of one dummy.

  Mat had no trouble admitting that Spring could kill him if she wanted too. It still made him feel weird that magic suddenly existed but it was something he would have to get use to. While wondering if this actually was a strange dream that was taking a while to end, Eritandellion sat down next to him.

  “She’s impressive isn’t she.”

  “Definitely.” Mat agreed. “I don’t think I could ever do that.”

  “Well, you won’t have to. You don’t have the same powers as her.”

  Mat had already decided to bring up his freezing time power to Eritandellion, and this seemed like an opportune moment.

  “Spring and I got into a fight yesterday.” Mat started. “They were harassing her and it escalated. Anyway, during the fight, I think time froze somehow. I could still move but nobody else could.”

  “I see.” Eritandellion said. “You have some sort of manipulation over Time. How interesting.”

  “But I don’t know how I did it!” Mat argued, a little loudly. “Maybe it was a fluke. Last night I tried again when I got home but nothing froze.”

  “You’ll need training. I’ve never come across this before, so I can’t help with that. You’re other power though…”

  “My other power?”

  “How did you think you kept dodging those attacks?” Eritandellion asked, a smirk crossing his lips.

  “Well -”

  Mat couldn’t explain it though.

  “Couldn’t it have just been instinct?”

  “Not the way you were moving. You have some sort of sixth sense. Now that, I can train.”

  Mat didn’t even bother asking how Eritandellion knew about it. Obviously, he was powerful, and he probably had people around the city who told him things.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “What are you going to do about my time powers?”

  Mat could see a man in a white robe walking toward them.

  “I believe the answer is approaching us now.” He said, standing up.

  The white robed figure, that Mat could now see was a man, looked anxious as he got closer to them.

  “Good afternoon!” Eritandellion called out, startling the man. “Are you the one that the Academy sent?”

  The man nodded nervously, glancing around the space. Meeting Mat’s eyes, relief spread across his face. Eritandellion walked out to meet the man, gesturing for Mat to follow.

  “What’s your name?” Eritandellion asked kindly.

  “Sammuel sir.” He squeaked out. “My friends call me Sam.”

  “Well then Sam, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Seeing Sam up close, Mat assumed that he might be a year or so younger than him. His hair was bright orange like a sunset, and he had a lanky body. If he didn’t look like he was about to wet himself, he would be extremely handsome. Mat glanced back to look at Spring and could see that she was now leaning on a pole, catching her breath. There were no more dummies attacking her. Seeing Mat looking at her, she gave him a small wave, which he returned.

  “I need your assistance Sam.” Eritandellion was saying. “My new student here has a power I’ve never seen before. While I could train him, I thought it might be beneficial for him to speak to a member of the Academy. If you make a breakthrough with this, which you undoubtedly will, you’ll become one of the most famous figures ever produced by the Academy.”

  Sam brightened a little at that.

  “What type of power, if I may ask sir?”

  “Time manipulation. All he’s done so far is freeze time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he could do more than that.”

  Mat felt a presence next to him and turned to see Spring standing next to him. She didn’t say anything, listening to the conversation.

  “I could try sir, but I believe you’re severely overestimating my ability.”

  “Well, I don’t.” Eritandellion said confidently, patting him on the shoulder. “I’ll leave my students in your capable hands. I assume you will want to stay, Spring?”

  As Eritandellion expected, Spring nodded. Excusing himself, Eritandellion walked away from them, entering a tall building on the far side of the clearing. Sam looked unsure what to say, but thankfully Spring took charge.

  “Let’s get to it then. What would you like us to do Sam?” She asked gently.

  ***

  Eritandellion looked out off the window at his two young students speaking to the boy from the Academy. It hadn’t taken much to arrange this meeting, as the High Educator in Kandala was a connection that owed Eritandellion. Hopefully, Sam would be able to teach Mat more about his powers, while also growing closer to the two of them. He would be a valuable member of their team.

  After a little bit of speaking, Mat stepped away from Sam and closed his eyes. Eritandellion leaned forward a little, now resting his arm of the window. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Mat looked irritated but didn’t give up, and Eritandellion could feel the Toh cycling around his Core.

  ***

  Hours passed and Mat had achieved nothing. Time hadn’t frozen once. Spring watched the annoyance cloud Mat’s face, but after a moment he calmed down and tried again. Spring was sitting next to Sam on a bench, her watching closely and Sam rapidly flipping between a textbook and a notebook he scribbled frantically in.

  “What are you writing?” Spring asked curiously. Sam gave no response to the question.

  “Sam?”

  He looked up, a blob of ink on his nose.

  “Yes?” He said.

  “What are you writing?” Spring asked again. Sam looked down at his notes and back up at Spring.

  “They’re notes on his cycling technique and his progress in his trials. So far, it’s minimal but my books have some sparse sections on similar powers, so I’m comparing what they say to what Mat’s doing.” Sam said, his eyes lighting up at the chance to talk about his work.

  “There are other powers like this?”

  “Somewhat,” He explained. “While time manipulation has never been recorded before, there are powers which can have an indirect effect on time. For example, Speed powers, once advanced enough, can slow down time for the user. Time itself isn’t actually affected for everybody else, but for the user it is. I’ll need to consult some more advanced books, but I think I can adjust his cycling technique to make it possible for him to activate his powers.”

  “I see. That’s very impressive.” Spring said. Sam looked surprised.

  “Do you think so?” He asked.

  “Of course I do. Barely anybody could do that, especially for an unknown power.”

  Sam didn’t know how to respond to that but seemed very pleased.

  Mat walked over to them tiredly.

  “I give up. It’s pointless.” Mat said, sitting down next to Spring.

  “You’ll get it.” Spring said. “It’s just going to take some time.”

  “How come I can do it accidentally during a fight but now, when I actually want to do it, I can’t?” Mat asked, irritation clear in his voice. Sam looked at him curiously.

  “You did it during a fight?” He asked. Mat nodded. “I see. I’ll have to look at my books. We can talk more on this tomorrow.” Sam stood up, packed up is books and pen, before excusing himself.

  ***

  Spring and Mat walked back in the direction of Mat’s current housing. As they were nearing it, Spring laughing at something Mat had said, she turned shyly to face him.

  “Would you still like to go out?” She asked. “I promise it’ll be fun!”

  Mat looked at her brightly.

  “That’d be nice.” Mat agreed.

  It took a quarter of an hour to reach the amusement park, and Mat admitted that he was a little scared.

  “I’ve never been on a rollercoaster.” He said shakily. “I don’t really do well with things like that.”

  “We don’t have to go on it.” Spring said, a little crestfallen. It was her favourite part of the park. The rush was exhilarating, only beaten by battling monsters. Mat gave her a shaky smile.

  “No, it’s fine. There’s no point living if you don’t take risks.”

  They didn’t go on the roller coaster as soon as they arrived. Rather, they went to play some of the fair ground games first. The first one they went to had a moving target which the players needed to shoot three times to win. Spring went first, managing to hit it twice. It got faster with each hit, however, and she just couldn’t get a shot in again.

  Mat went next, keeping his the metal weapon, which shot balls of fire, aimed directly in the centre. He got the first two hits, like Spring, but got a bit concerned about the last shot. He closed his eyes, keeping his finger on the trigger, until he got felt a strange prickling that returned every time it passed by the final target. Unsure of how he knew this, he unconsciously shot when he felt the sense.

  Opening his eyes, he saw that the target and gone down. Spring looked at him with interest; the game runner looked a little more shocked. Regaining his composure, he went over to the prize rack, asking Mat what he would like.

  After debating for a moment, he decided on a large teddy bear. It looked like the most valuable thing there. Plus, it might make a good present for Spring. Teddies were always nice to receive. The man clapped his hands together.

  “Apologies sir, but you have to get four shots with it moving at the fastest speed to win that.”

  Clearly the man was confident it was impossible. Mat walked over to Spring.

  “I want to get you that.” He whispered. Spring blushed a little.

  “It’s fine.” She said. “It’s impossible anyway.”

  “I think I can do it.” Mat argued confidently. Spring thought it over then nodded. Mat gave her a cocky grin, walking back over to the man.

  “I’d like to win that bear please.”

  The man nodded and put the target on its fastest speed. Mat picked up the gun and aimed it directly at the middle.

  Closing his eyes, he waited for the prickling sensation. Without a second thought, he shot as soon as he felt it. A ding rang out, proving that he had gotten the first shot off. Waiting for the prickling sensation, he managed to pull it off twice more.

  All he had to do was get this last shot. Centring his focus on the present moment, he felt everything slow down as the sensation returned. Firing the weapon, he heard that last, satisfying ding ring out. The man looked angry when Mat opened his eyes, but he couldn’t get away with keeping the bear. Irritation clear on his face, he took it off the rack and handed it to Mat.

  “Enjoy you’re reward sir.” He said, keeping up the friendly game owner act. Mat thanked him and took it over to Spring.

  “Would you like it?” He asked. Spring nodded and Mat handed it over. Idly wondering how she would carry it on the roller coaster, he watched as the huge bear vanished into her pocket.

  “How big are your pockets?” Mat asked. “No wonder you always have so many cloths on you, that pocket must be the size of a house.”

  Spring snickered.

  “It’s not actually in my pocket silly. It’s just common etiquette to not show off your spatial storage.”

  “Spatial storage?” Mat asked. Looking around, Spring pulled him in close and pulled out an emerald necklace. It was beautiful.

  “This is my spatial storage. If I press down on the jewel,” she said, gesturing to the large emerald, “it opens up a pocket dimension I keep my stuff in. They’re actually quite common.” She said, slipping it back in her pocket.

  “Can I get one?” Mat asked.

  “I’m sure Eritandellion will give you one soon.”

  They played a few more games and stopped for an early dinner, before coming to the part Mat was the most nervous about. The roller coaster. The line was short and they arrived at it within a few minutes. They sat down next to each other in one of the carts, strapping themselves in.

  “Sure you’re okay?” Spring asked. Mat nodded, mostly because he worried that if he spoke his voice might not even come out. That would be embarrassing.

  Once everybody was strapped in, the ride began to move forward. It was slow at first as it began ascending a steep climb. It reached the top and started coming to a sharp drop. Mat felt his stomach curl.

  That was a long way down. And they would be moving quickly. The ride moved so slowly to the edge. Mat could feel sick bubbling up in his gut.

  A warm hand touched his comfortingly. Spring gave him a reassuring look, a look that promised safety. The ride shot downward, faster than Mat had ever travelled before in his life. It flew across the tracks, bumping up and down and flying around corners.

  Then it came to the loop. Mat barely had time to mentally prepare himself as he went upside down.

  After a second of worry about getting stuck, it was done, and they continued flying around the track. After the initial fear of the roller coaster, Mat had to admit that he was having a great time, and he found himself laughing.

  ***

  Spring felt the adrenaline rushing throughout her body as she and Mat stumbled off of the ride.

  “That was great!” Mat exclaimed. “I can’t believe I’ve missed out on so many opportunities to experience this.”

  Spring was smiling equally as widely.

  “See what I mean. Roller coasters are the best part.”

  Legs shaking beneath her, Spring leaned against a sign. Mat joined her, breathing loud and fast.

  “We should do that again some time.” Mat said.

  “Yeah, this has been really fun.” Spring said, resting her back on the sign. They stood quietly as lights flashed throughout the park. Spring leaned closer to Mat.

  “I’m really glad we met.” She said. “Everything has been so much more fun with somebody to do it with. My only other friend is usually busy with some of her other friends, so we don’t see each other often. I’m just… really happy that you’re in my life. I hope that doesn’t make you uncomfortable or scare you off or anything but it’s how I feel.” Spring said softly. She met Mat’s eyes shyly, taking a step closer to him. They were soft and caring, and Spring felt her heartbeat increase. Raising her hand, she briefly touched his arm.

  “Can I kiss you?” Spring asked quietly, leaning toward him. Mat’s breathing was uneven as he croaked out a shaky:

  “Yes”.

  Spring used her hand to pull Mat closer, closing her eyes as she leaned in to kiss him. Meeting his lips, she felt his arms wrap around her body, holding her close.

  Mat’s lips were soft and she felt warmth radiating from him. He was a great kisser, and Spring found herself kissing him more passionately. While it was her first kiss, she was certain it wasn’t Mat’s.

  That didn’t bother her right now: She just wanted to be with Mat.

  It was slightly disappointing when he slowly moved away from her, although his arms remained around her.

  Looking up at him Spring could see that his ears had turned bright red, and his breathing had become ragged.

  “You look really cute.” Spring said. Mat stuttered before being able to speak.

  “You look beautiful.” He said shyly, brushing a little bit of hair out of her eyes.

  “I really like you.” Spring whispered.

  “Me too.” Mat said without thinking. When he realised what he had said, he backtracked a bit. “Not that I like me. That’s not what I meant. I just meant that I feel the same way about you. I’m not that self-centred.”

  Spring giggled as he corrected himself.

  “Shall I walk you home now?” She asked.