18 days had passed since Deliora's attack. Gray, Karissa and Lyon were currently at home minding their own business while Ur was out. In order to earn a living, she often took on job requests as a freelance mage. Whenever she did, the three of them would take the day off and stay at home since they couldn't go with her. It was dangerous. She usually wouldn't be gone for more than half a day but if she did, there was some food that was at their disposal. They weren't going to starve. They were also allowed to go train on their own outside if they wanted but they weren't allowed to go higher up the mountain, they need to stay within the house's perimeter for safety reasons.

Gray and Lyon did a bit more training on their own since they had nothing better to do while Karissa just stayed inside the house to draw. Ur had gotten her some art supplies from town a few days ago ever since she learned that Karissa liked drawing. She kept grabbing some paper she found and usually doodled with a pen that was sitting somewhere. She figured it would be better to get her some things that could let her have fun on her own. It was better than letting her and Lyon run around together since she didn't like sitting still and was always curious.

Because of how absorbed Lyon and Gray were in their solo training, they didn't come inside to eat yet so Karissa just ended up eating a sandwich by herself.

They came back while she was already back at drawing again.

"You're still drawing?" Gray said flatly when he saw her so focused on the piece of paper.

Karissa lifted up her head and looked at him, "Yeah, why?"

"Nothing." Gray said tiredly before going upstairs to change into some comfier clothes. Karissa just watched his back disappear from her sight as he climbed up the steps. She was worried about him. He wasn't exactly easygoing as he used to be before his world went to hell that night but that didn't stop her from trying to talk with him. Of course, she knew that he was angry that his parents died because of Deliora, she knew that Gray was still somewhat the same despite his grumpy attitude lately, she could see it, but she couldn't help but worry about his narrow mindedness on revenge lately. He was really itching to learn to powerful magic to beat Deliora. It was like it was all he thought about. She was just glad he didn't know where that monster was at the moment or else he'd be running off if he didn't know better.

He should lighten up a little bit.

Lyon, who came inside after Gray, saw the slightly dejected pout Karissa had before she went back to her drawing. He pursed his mouth when he glanced at Gray, just in time to see him disappear behind the door. He was always so crabby. The bluish silver haired boy cheerfully bounced over to where Karissa was and sat on the floor like her. He sat in front of the table on her right side so he'd be able to see her draw properly without having to sit next to her. There were several drawings on the table. He noted that most of them were of people. The one she was current drawing was one of her ice creations from the previous day. He saw her sitting on a log while he and Gray sparred in front of Ur. She was playing around with her molding magic to pass the time; she was passing the time with her imagination. An eight-pointed star surrounded by four pinwheels.

"Wow!" Lyon picked up a drawing of a boy sitting on a bench with a little jelly monster at its feet. "You're so good at drawing, Karissa."

"You think so?" Karissa looked up from the paper and gazed at him a bit startled by his sudden appreciation for her creativity. Lyon nodded vigorously he held up the drawing in front of her and pointed at it. "Better than me. I can't even draw like this." He held up the paper in front of him at arm's length to look at it once more.

"Hey, do you think you could draw me?" Lyon asked her with a grin.

"What, you mean like, you pose in front of me and I draw?" Karissa asked quizzically. "I can't do that." she shook her head rapidly. Gray, in a new set of clothes, came down the stairs since he was wondering what Lyon was boasting about this time. Karissa saw him come down and smiled at him a little before turning her attention back on Lyon.

"Nah, I mean like this." Lyon motioned his hands over the other drawings on the table. "I want see how you would draw me." Gray dropped himself in the couch behind Karissa. The girl was taken back by the sudden request, she never really drew a person before. She was used to drawing out images from her mind, and she felt more confident in doing so.

Karissa hunched a little and rubbed the back of her neck. "I dunno…"

Lyon frowned a little. He scooted a bit closer to her and held his hands up. "Come on, pleeease?"

Karissa felt nervous about the proximity and just leaned away a little. She pinched her sleeve and looked at her starry drawing. "Why do you want me to draw you?" she wondered curiously since he was so insistent.

"Because you draw so well! I'll be happy to get a drawing from you."

Karissa could feel her face get a bit warm from his bluntness. Lyon was friendlier than Gray and he was always smiling. It was pretty rare to see Lyon sad or depressed. He was always so eager to learn more from Ur, she had never seen someone like him before, so determined. She didn't know what it was but she thought he was pretty cute.

Gray, on the other hand, just scoffed when he saw the two interact.

"Um… I'll think about it."

"Aww—"

Just then Ur returned home from her job while carrying a bag of hygiene supplies. Upon seeing her, Lyon immediately got up and went to see her, asking her question about her job and how it went, he wanted to hear the details. Lyon was such a fan of Ur that he wanted to hear about her exploits on her jobs whenever he got the chance. Lyon had told them both confidently that he it was his dream to become strong mage and surpass Ur one day. According to him, Ur was the best mage to ever exist, and he wanted to be her successor.

In the morning, Lyon woke with a jolt when he felt an arm smack his face. With squinted eyes, he shot up in a sitting position and whipped his head around in a slight panic as if he was under attack. When he heard the soft snoring coming from next to him, he rubbed his eye and looked at Gray and found him in a messy sleeping position.

"Stupid, droopy eyes." Lyon complained before taking Gray's arm and flinging it back to his side. Startled awake, Gray narrowed his eyes at Lyon in annoyance. "The heck was that for, pointy eyes?!"

"You hit me with your arm!"

"It's not my fault, you were close to me!"

"I sleep here!" he pointed at his side. "You got into my space!"

"Well how was I supposed to know?! I was sleeping!"

Lyon huffed; he didn't see that as a good enough excuse. "Why do I have to sleep next to you!"

"Ask Ur!"

Karissa, who had her back turned on the, was gazing at Ur's empty space with immense irritation. It was one thing to have to deal with Lyon and Gray's arguing during the day but it was another when she had to deal with it first thing in the morning. Slowly, her patience was thinning as they kept on arguing with each other. Then she had enough. With a growl, she grabbed the pillows that belonged to Ur and herself before twisting around and chucking it at their faces. Gray's voice was muffled when Karissa's pillow collided with his face.

Gray ripped the pillow away from his face and glared at her. "What's the deal, Karissa—?! Oh… uh…"

Karissa just glared back at him. "If you guys want to fight, then do it in the living room! Or you can go outside to do it." she said lowly with her hoarse voice that just made a chill run down their spines. "I was sleeping." she hissed. "But you two woke me up…"

Lyon's lips formed a thin line and he looked away. "S-Sorry…"

"… Yeah… sorry." Gray muttered.

She's scary…

They could practically feel an aura of suppressed rage radiating off her.

"If you guys are done, then come down and eat already!"

The three of them looked at each other in silence.

Then they started running to the door, pushing each other.

"Move!" Lyon groaned.

"Get out of the way, you whale!" Karissa tried pushing Gray away from the door.

"Who you calling whale?!" Gray barked.

Down in the kitchen, Ur facepalmed and sighed. The two boys were often enough of a headache together but having three was sometimes too much. A few seconds later, Karissa came racing at the table with a smirk on her face. Gray and Lyon came into the kitchen afterwards but not without rubbing the back of their heads. She pulled their hair. It was a gentle tug, but it still hurt.

…

…

…

Lyon and Karissa wandered off together in their underwear while Gray was reviewing a lesson with Ur. He couldn't quite grasp something and Ur needed to go over with him one on one. Instead of just sitting there, the two decided to look around since they never go the chance to. Karissa always wanted to check out the places she passed by while they ran but Ur just told her not to since she didn't want her getting lost.

They ended up watching the Vulcans hanging out below. Karissa decided to be mischievous and decided to drop a small block of ice of one of their heads… which resulted in them running around, trying to look for them. Needless to say, Lyon and Karissa bolted back to Ur out of fear of getting discovered. They were laughing on the way back.

Obviously, they earned themselves a scolding from Ur for leaving her sight without saying anything.

It had been practically a month since Karissa and Gray were taken in by Ur. Their teacher had taught them the basics of ice molding magic which allowed them to eventually produce their own ice creations. Gray's type was Static Ice-Make magic while Karissa's was Static and Semi-Dynamic Ice Make. Static Ice-Make magic allowed the user to create inanimate objects and affect the environment around them while Dynamic Ice-Make magic permitted the user to create animated ice sculptures that did their bidding, that was Lyon's type of molding magic. Karissa's ice was like Gray's with the exception that she could actually move her ice around in an inanimate state for a while. Ur came to that conclusion when she made an ice boomerang that just flew around for a while. Apparently, her kind of Ice-Make magic was pretty rare since it was usually one or the other.

Ur had also taught them some hand-to-hand combat since it was also important to know how to defend one's body from close range when they couldn't cast magic fast enough. They were no experts at it but she made sure to teach them slowly like a good teacher.

…

…

Ur and Lyon watched from the sidelines as Gray and Karissa sparred together. Unlike the time they first trained with Ur, she was wearing her clothes this time since she didn't need to strip for today's training.

"Ice Make: Hammer!"

Karissa side stepped away from Gray's hammer and slammed her palm in her fist. "Ice Make: Four Blades!"

Four blades appeared behind Karissa in the shape of long diamonds, each with one longer side. She pulled her arm back and swung down. The four blades that levitated in the air followed her movement and pierced into Gray's ice hammer. The dark haired boy flinched when he saw how easily his hammer fell apart. He was frustrated that she was slightly better than him, but that never stopped him from trying harder.

"Ice Make: Shield!" He quickly cast his spell when he saw her point her arm at him. His shield was made up hexagons. Thankfully, he was just in time and they shattered upon impact.

Ur narrowed her eyes when she felt how much Karissa's magic power was being spent. It was obvious too by the way she was starting to get sluggish. "Karissa! How many times do I have to tell you? Ease up on the magic power, you're being careless!"

I know that! I know! I'm trying!, Kairssa thought sourly.

"She never listens." Lyon chuckled at her side.

Karissa just panted heavily and stared at Gray who was watching her carefully through the other side of his ice. Gray noted how tired she looked from casting magic. He could probably use that to his advantage.

The rules for Ur's sparring matches were simple. They could win the spar in two ways; the first one was to physically pin down the opponent while the second one was the land four hits on the other person using magic. Gray was already hit three times by Karissa while he only landed two hits on her. However, the state she was in right now made him confident enough to think that he could win by pinning her down. So, he made his move.

Gray dashed around his ice shield and started running towards her while letting out a shout.

Karissa grimaced and took a step back. She needed to make something to stop him from reaching her. It wouldn't count as a hit but it would help her stall time so she could just catch her breath. No, that wasn't going to work. He wasn't going to let her rest. She should just find a way to land another hit on him and get the match over with. When he started getting closer, she hastily put her fist in her palm and summoned up more of her magic power.

I feel dizzy...

"Ice Make: Wall!" She swung her arms upward and a wall rose up from the ground, stopping Gray in his tracks.

"Ahrg!" Gray ran around the ice wall and put his fist in his hand to prepare another spell.

Karissa was barely able to keep her eyes on him. She felt slower. Everything felt slow. She felt so drained. It was different compared to the first times she felt drained from spending too much magic power. Why was that? She felt lightheaded. The black haired girl pivoted around her heel to try and guard against whatever her friend was trying to throw at her. Unfortunately, her body didn't seem to agree with her sudden movements since the next second she felt herself falling forward.

Uh oh...

Gray stopped when he saw her crash on the snow, his magic power generating the ice around his hands stopped.

Lyon uncrossed his arms and dropped them when he saw her fall.

Alarmed, Ur quickly went over to her and went to check on her. "Karissa!" she kneeled down to grab Karissa's shoulder and shift her so that she could see her face.

The woman's eyes widened in shock.

Karissa was panting from her spar with Gray but she was doing so in a way that wasn't due to because of physical exertion or magic exhaustion. She was panting like she was sick. Immediately, Ur placed her hand on Karissa's forehead to check her temperature. Indeed, she was sick and she was having a fever.

Karissa groaned and just closed her eyes. "I feel… dizzy and tired." She mumbled. It was weird. This was the first time she felt like this during a training session. Did she seriously overdo it again after Ur told her so many times to be careful? Why couldn't she just do what Ur told her to do? She felt somewhat guilty.

"Is she okay?" Lyon asked worriedly. "What happened?"

"Karissa?" Gray called her name in concern. He was especially concerned when he saw how shaken up Ur was. Was it bad?

"Training is over for today. We're going home." Ur said urgently while looking at the two boys that were at her side. "Lyon, Gray, go get dressed. Lyon, give me her clothes, fast." Ur turned and walked back while carrying Karissa's body in her arms.

Her oldest pupil didn't need to be told twice since he was already running back to the pile of clothes. He snatched the girl's clothes and met Ur halfway to give her the clothes. Gray was jogging back to get dressed. He glanced at Karissa's face when he passed Ur. Her eyes were closed and she was still panting.

After putting Karissa into bed, she gave Gray and Lyon some clear instructions on what to do while she went out for a bit. They needed to give her some water and a cool towel for her forehead as it would be enough for now while she was absent. She needed to head down to town to get something to help treat her fever. Gray and Lyon were a little flustered at first about receiving the sudden instructions but they made sure to listen carefully since their teacher looked so serious about the matter.

Ur shut the door behind her and started running down the mountain. It was at that moment that she wished she actually lived a bit closer to town.

Honestly, she never thought she'd face this dilemma once more. The symptoms were the same as her daughter's. At first it was just a hunch, but now she was certain that she was dealing with the same problem. Karissa had been born with too much magic power. It wasn't that she couldn't control the amount of magic power she spent during training; she couldn't regulate it like the average mage due to the abnormal amount she had. She just didn't understand why she became ill now.

Ur would never send Karissa to the Bureau of Magical Development. She couldn't take the risk of handing her student over to the researchers who couldn't cure her own daughter in the past.

She was glad that the town now sold a formula in case of magic power inducing fevers.

…

…

…

Lyon gasped in horror when he dropped the glass of water. He had been so flustered about the situation that he lost his grip on the glass right after pouring it. He just stood there with his mouth open as the water spread on the kitchen floor and the shards of glass just sat there. Gray, who was in charge of getting a cool towel, appeared around the corner when he heard the glass break. He gave Lyon a look of disbelief, "Are you serious?"

"Don't just stand there! Help me!" Lyon carefully picked up the shards of glass after dragging the garbage bin next to him.

"Use the broom, It's faster." Gray put the towel on the kitchen counter and went to the storage closet where Ur usually kept her cleaning supplies.

"Aw, man… Ur is going to get mad at us…" Lyon groaned when he took the broom while Gray just angled the dust pan for him. The dark haired boy gave the older boy an incredulous look. "Yeah, right. That was your fault."

"You dunce, it's called collective responsibility!"

"Collective responsibility, my butt! Hey, you missed some."

After they cleaned up the glass, Lyon grabbed the towel that Gray had brought a few seconds ago and started heading for the stairs, saying that he would give her the towel while Gray cleaned up the water which Gray yelled at him for ditching him. He kept complaining until Lyon came back down to help him clean the rest of the mess. After that they gave her some water to drink. She drank it but then she quickly went back to sleep due to how weak she was. Afterwards, they just sat in the room and kept an eye on Karissa until Ur came back. Both were equally worried about her as she just kept breathing hard during her rest. Lyon kept fidgeting while Gray kept staring outside the window to check if Ur came back yet.

Gray frowned when Ur didn't show up in five minutes. He knew it a long way from town but he still couldn't but feel a tad bit impatient. He didn't know much about fevers but his mother once told him that it could get bad if the fever got worse. The last thing he wanted was his friend dying from a fever. He looked away from the window and slowly walked towards her before sitting down at her side where Lyon was.

"Is she going to be okay…?" he mumbled to himself.

"… I hope so." Lyon bit his lip as he stared at her face. The older student reached for the towel and flipped it around. "Hang in there, Karissa. Ur will be back soon."

"Hnng…"

…

…

She returned home twenty minutes later and went to check on Karissa before going down on preparing some food for her. Lyon and Gray tried to help any way that they could.

They didn't go back outside to train for the next two days for Karissa's sake. Ur kept a close eye on Karissa and made sure she was well. On the third day, her fever finally went down. But as a precaution, the four of them went to visit a doctor to make sure everything was okay with her. Gray and Lyon sat on two chairs next to each other while Karissa sat next to Ur in front of the doctor.

Karissa blinked when the doctor told her to step closer to him after he noticed something. Slowly, she slipped off the stool and stood straight. The doctor motioned with his finger to turn around and she did. She felt his fingers tug down the back of her shirt so that he could look at the bottom of her neck.

"Take a look at this." He told Ur while motioning her over. Ur stood up and looked to where the doctor set his fingers on Karissa's skin. The girl was just staring at the wall ahead, wondering what the doctor was seeing on her. She had to stop herself from turning her head to see since they wouldn't be able to see what was wrong with her.

Do I have some kind of infection or something?!

Just below the back of her neck was a faint black marking.

"Is it something I should be concerned about?" Ur asked as she stared at the marking on her student's neck intensely as she was obviously concerned.

"Before I became a doctor, I actually studied sigils, ancient writings and magic circles. This marking along with the scriptures on the side looks like a seal I once saw in one of my books."

"A seal?" repeated Ur, "What for?"

Karissa had a questioning look on her face as she stood still. Her eyes darted around the wall in front of her.

"If I remember correctly, these scriptures on the side here translates to the word 'power'. The marking over here is the main symbol for seals. I suppose that means that this seal was meant to seal away magic power within her. I guess you could say that your hunch about Karissa's magic power was correct. It's possible that her body just couldn't contain the sudden surge of magic power contained her body." The doctor pulled away his hand from Karissa and gently told her to sit back down. Karissa sat down obediently and just fiddled with her fingers nervously. She glanced at the other side of the room where Gray and Lyon were. Gray was just looking at some picture on the wall while Lyon was watching and listening to what was happening. The older boy smiled at her, making her smile back a little.

"It's possible that Karissa's parents must have placed the seal on her when she was younger." Ur said while looking at her. "You said that your parents used to be mages, right?"

Karissa nodded. "Yeah."

Her mother and father were quite skilled as mages, at least that's what she heard. She could never actually see for herself how strong they were. They only demonstrated their magic to her on several occasions that were usual for fun and for her own curiosity.

"The seal was probably meant to be broken at some point when she used her magic power."

The black haired girl looked at the doctor as Ur sat back down next to her.

"I don't think it's something to be worried about. The best advice I could give right now is to continue to let her train so that she can have a way to expel the magic power that her body isn't used to. There is no way for me to guarantee that she won't get sick again but she will get better if she does. With time, she should be able to handle it. When she grows older, she won't even have a problem with it since her body would be able to contain it."

Ur gazed thoughtfully at Karissa. The thing that piqued her curiosity was the question of how much magic power did Karissa's body possess in order for the eight year old to collapse so suddenly. If only she could measure it.

...

...

...

"So, am I like abnormal or something?" Karissa suddenly asked curiously in a blunt manner as they climbed up the mountain to head back home. She was staring Ur's back when she asked this question. The woman just chuckled when she heard her question and turned around to put a hand on her head.

"What, no." Ur ruffled her hair. "The doctor just said you're a bit different. It happens."

"So, she is abnormal." Gray said flatly. Karissa whipped her head in his direction and just flicked his ear harshly. He yelped and covered his ear. "Well, you asked!" he grumbled.

"I didn't ask you, weirdo."

"The doctor said you have more magic power than the average person at your age, I think that's pretty cool." Lyon piped up next to her. "I wish I was like you." He said with starry eyes. "I think it would help me achieve my dream!"

Gray rolled his eyes. He was so sick of hearing the same thing over and over again.

Karissa scoffed and gave Lyon a skeptical look. "I don't think you'd want it after getting sick. It's annoying."

"Well, you heard what the doctor said. You'd get used to it and then it would be no problem!"

"I guess…" she muttered. "But I still don't see the big deal in it though." She looked up at the sky above her and sighed, her breath coming out in a puff of white. She felt bad that training was stopped because of her. That sparring match between her and Gray was practically hers too. Now that she thought about, having more magic power than necessary might actually be beneficial since it could help her last longer in a fight. That brought an smirk on her face.

Lyon put an arm around her with a laugh, causing her to stumble from the suddenness. "But I'm just glad you're okay. I was worried about you when you suddenly collapsed on the snow."

Gray laughed mockingly at Lyon on her right side. "Yeah, you looked like you were about to cry or something."

Karissa sweat dropped. "Um—"

Lyon narrowed his eyes at Gray, "Oh yeah, droopy eyes? You looked like you were freaking out every time she made a sound in her sleep when Ur was gone! It's like you thought she was poisoned or something." he told him as he slipped off his arm off Karissa who just stared up ahead nonchalantly, already used to their bickering. She was standing between them but now she was standing on the left as Gray and Lyon went into another of their bickering sessions.

Not again, geez.

"Shut your mouth, pointy eyes!" Gray shouted, mortified for being exposed like that.

"Ha!"

Ur groaned, "Ugh, you boys are so noisy."

Karissa sighed. "You guys are so annoying sometimes." she complained before walking ahead to walk next to Ur instead, ignoring the two boys behind her. She tugged her arm and pointed at the two boys behind her. "They're so annoying, Ur!" she whined loudly with a grimace since the two of them were getting louder.

Ur shook her head with a small smile. Despite being headaches from time to time, she wouldn't trade them for anything else.