The soft rustling of the trees awoke Mana from a sleep she didn't know she was in. Her eye lids slowly opened to reveal clear crystal blue eyes. One by one Mana's gaze followed the slow moving cloud. She positioned her hand above her head in an attempt to block out the sunlight as she sat up. After thoroughly surveying her surrounding she then slowly proceeded to stand up and leisurely brushed herself off. With a swift turn she moved her head to her left, but there was nothing there that is when she noticed a necklace laying on the ground. She stared at it as she found herself becoming enchanted by its hollow radiance until finally it enticed her to pick it up. Gingerly she lifted the necklace from the ground brushed off some of the dirt until she could clearly see it. Slowly she examined it tracing her hand along the silver chain till it met with a clear crystal ball encased in silver. After staring at its splendor she then turned it over in her hand that's when she noticed the inscription written on the back. As she brushed away some of the lingering dirt she froze when the words became discernible. On the back in a small curvy script was the engraved word, 'Mana.' It was then that she realized she had no memory of who she was. Softly she placed the necklace around her neck as she tried to look for anything that might offer her clues about who she was or where she came from. Mana glanced down at her clothes to check if they looked familiar to her, but neither the peach colored robe nor the light pink dress brought forth any memory. She slowly reached into her pockets to see if they held any clues but they too offered her no answers. Finally, she gave up and glanced around once again at her surroundings. Her long purple hair swished side to side as she turned her head trying to get a good look at the landscape. Regrettably there was mostly just trees and grass. That is when she noticed the small town nestled behind her. It was farther away then she would have liked but, it would have to do as she saw no other alternative. Wiping away all the remaining dirt on her, she then proceeded in the direction of the town. Mana walked until she saw where the field met the road but as she reached approached it she could see something moving on the other side of the trees. Mana slowed her pace till but, kept walking towards the tree. To keep from being seen she crouched down in the overgrown grass and inched forward till she was against the wooden fence that separated the road and the field. That is when she started to hear the voices. Instead of jumping out for help Mana kept to her instincts and stayed hidden. Then she slowly pushed away some grass to get a better look at what was going on. There was one boy, who looked about Mana's age, and two other guys, one was a taller bald guy and the other guy had a scraggly beard.
The boy looked as if he was being harassed as his faced gave of a little bit more than worried looked as the other two crept closer to him. Mana slide closer till she was able to clearly hear what they were saying. "Hey, kid you can't just go crossing through our road when you feel like it. You have to pay a safe passage fee," smirked the thug with no hair as he approached the boy.
"Look guys, I am just a poor boy trying to strike it out on his own," the boy said as he put both of his hands up in a jester to show he had no interest in violence.
"Poor? Then what is that pretty little pouch at your side?" asked the other thug as he pointed to the blue and silver silk pouch that hung from the boy's waist.
"Oh, this little thing," the boy said as he pulled it from his side. "This is where I keep my sand!" the boy said enthusiastically as he held it up in front of his golden yellow eyes. At first the thugs just stood there staring at him until finally they both burst out into a loud obnoxious laughter as they glanced at the pouch. "What?" the boy said obliviously as he lowered the pouch.
"If you were going to lie to us couldn't you have come up with a better lie?" the bald thug said in between laughs as him and his partner tried to calm down.
"Well, since you went to the trouble of lying to use to protect it that must mean it has value," the bearded thug said as him and his partner closed in on their pray.
The boy began backing up as he found himself cornered. "L-like I said it only has san-"
Both thugs held out there hand and conjured out fire before the boy could finish his sentence. The boy's yellow eyes widened in surprise as Mana suddenly jumped out from the grass and perfectly placed herself in the narrow opening between the boy and the thugs. "What's this? A little girl thinks she can protect this twerp?" the bald thug smirked as he reached his flame enveloped hand towards Mana. Before he could touch Mana her pendent filled with water and in that instant Mana involuntarily swiped her left hand in front of the thugs dowsing them in water. Not only where the others surprised but, so was Mana as she looked down intently at her hand. "Think you can make a fool out of US!?" the bald thug angrily yelled. Before anything else could happen the boy darted around Mana and held out his hand in front of his face. Cupped in his hand was sand which he then blew the direction of the thugs. This stopped the thugs as their eyes began to fall shut. "Wha-t did you d-," the thug was cut off as him and his partner fell to the ground asleep.
The boy quickly grabbed Mana's hand and made a mad dash towards the town. "Quickly before it wears off," the boy said rushing as he pulled Mana along. His short brown entranced Mana as they ran until finally they had to stop to catch their breath. "That could have been dangerous," the boy said in between huffs. "Thanks by the way," the boy said after he caught his breath. "My names Pix. Pix Andofilia," Pix said sticking his hand out for Mana. "What's your name?" Pix asked as Mana took his hand.
"My . . . name?" Mana said letting go of Pix's hand.
"Yeah, what everyone calls you," Pix said letting a huge grin slip as he waited for Mana's response.
Mana stood thoughtfully for a moment as she fiddled with the necklace. She hadn't really thought about what her name was but if she had to guess it would be, "Mana . . . probably."
"Probably?" Pix let out a laugh as he heard Mana but stopped as soon as he saw that Mana wasn't joking. "Um, could it be you don't . . . remember anything? Could it?" Pix asked half expecting Mana to be joking.
"Yeah," Mana replied as she looked at Pix.
"Then, how did you use magic earlier?" Pix said as his face flashed amazement to her answer.
"I don't know it just . . . happened?" Mana said unsurely as she looked back down at her hand.
"That . . . is so amazing," Pix said as his face filled with excitement. "You're a natural!"
"At what?" Mana said her face filled with confusion.
"Magic!" Pix said as he clasped Mana's hand. "Will you join my guild?"
"I'm not sure I would make a good member," Mana said as she tried to pull her hand away but, Pix wouldn't let her.
"No, you would be the perfect member! And in exchange if you join I will help you get back your memories!" Pix said his eyes ablaze.
Mana thought for a minute until finally she said, "Am I . . . really okay to recruit?"
"Welcome to Pixie Dust, Mana!" Pix said excitedly as he shook Mana's hand up and down.
"Pixie Dust?" Mana said a little intrigued.
"Yeah, that's the guilds name," Pix said as she laughed. "Although, we aren't an official guild yet, we still need a name right?"
"Not an official guild?" Mana asked wondering what exactly she had gotten herself into.
Pix laughed a little embarrassed as he explained, "Actually, I was just on my way to town to recruit people when I was suddenly harassed by those guys back there."
"So I'm," Mana said looking at Pix a little doubtfully.
"Yep, the first real member!" Pix said as he beamed at Mana. "Oh, before I forget what was that you did earlier?"
"What? With the water?" Mana asked looking back at the direction they had come from.
"Yeah," Pix said letting his curiosity seep through. "It looked like normal water magic but, your conjuring time was really fast!" Pix squirmed as his excitement took hold all at once. "Could you do it, again?"
"I'm not sure but, I can try," Mana said as she swiped her hand in front of her like she did last time except all that followed was silence. Mana and Pix both looked at each other with silent confusion.
Finally having given up on a reasonable explanation Pix said, "Well, it will probably come back to you as you start to remember stuff. Guess we should just continue our voyage to town," Pix said smiling at Mana.
After walking a ways Pix suddenly stopped at said, "Oh, that's right! Since I don't know how much exactly you remember could you tell me?"
"Everything I can remember?" Mana said a little surprised by the very general question.
"Yep, everything you remember," Pix said as he continued to walk.
"Well, my name is probably Mana and I am a girl . . ." Mana said as she began to walk again too.
"That's it?" Pix asked a little dumfound at her response.
"That's it," Mana said as she gave Pix a sympathetic shrug.