Let's get this started.

Thank you to all who read this far, and I'll say now that any reviews that are left will be responded to in the next chapter. ^^

eyelovefantasy: Thank you! :3 I hope you keep reading, I really do. ^^


My brow furrowed as I struggled to grasp the magic, which seemed to be just beyond my reach.

"Concentrate, Magiya," Warlic urged quietly in that soft, composed tone of his. It irked me to no end, how he could just sit there so calmly while I had to endure this mental battle to be able to call upon my hidden magic whenever I wished. "If you can do this, it will open the doorways to sorts of magic that Mages of a higher renown than you don't know. Overwhelm the barriers."

"I'm trying," I grunted in response, feeling my tendrils of thought slip around the bubble of magic like a granite orb covered with oil. It seemed to be impossible, but I wasn't giving up this easily. I gritted my teeth, realigning my mind so it flew at the little ball of magic in my head like a javelin. It simply bounced off, and my breath came out in a huff if disappointment and frustration. I crossed my arms, scowling at my mentor.

"This is so difficult!" I complained briefly, sighing before gathering my mental weapons, ready to renew the assault on the magic that seemed to lie just outside of my reach.

"Would it be any challenge to learn if it weren't?" questioned Warlic rhetorically, and my complaints subsided to a series of grumblings as I closed my eyes again, my mind abandoning the head-on attacks and slinking around what seemed to be a marble in my head, and as slick as one, too. There has to be a hole somewhere. No barrier is impregnable. All around me, there was utter silence as Warlic simply stood there in the near-empty field with me, allowing me to fight my own battles. A faint breeze twisted around me, toying with a strand of deep brown hair that had fallen loose from the braids I had pinned up on top of my head.

There! A slight smirk tugged at the corners of my lips as I discovered a slightly weaker part of the barrier surrounding the magic I was so desperately attempting to get. A faint snarl curled my upper lip as my thoughts again hardened into a spear of sorts, and drove through the wall as though it weren't there. I exhaled suddenly at the exertion, and my eyes flew open.

"Got it!" I hissed, twitching slightly with the mental effort to hold the wall open to the magic, and not letting it snap back. Warlic smiled at my words, and dipped his head fractionally.

"Well done," he said in a perfectly neutral, unflustered tone, his amethyst eyes glittering. Warlic may have been the most powerful mage I knew (as well as my mentor), but he had, without doubt, the strangest appearance I had yet seen in Lore. Cobalt blue robes, complete with small trinkets and decorations (all of which had some function, I had soon discovered), and both a large glass ball of sorts and a long wooden staff set with a large emerald, based in gold. Silvery hair fell lightly across his face, covering one eye most of the time, though it sometimes was visible in brief glimpses. I grinned. Praise of any sort from Warlic was high praise indeed.

"So… what next?" I asked as I exhaled slowly, allowing the bubble of magic to slide shut. I was starting to get a slight headache. If all went as it typically did, then within an hour or so this small headache would result in a migraine that sent me into my house with all the curtains drawn. However, recently they had begun to grow less, so I was in the hope that they might eventually fade away all together with my increase of my use in magic.

"For now, nothing. Work on that until you can call it up subconsciously," Warlic told me, and I nodded once, understanding his reasoning for once. There was really nothing more advanced I could learn in the ways of magic and spells until I had mastered this. Of course, that didn't mean I had to like it. "We shall test your progress in one week. Are we agreed?"

"We are," I replied, dipping my head to him. He was still my elder, and as such commanded respect.

"Until then, Magiya."

"Master Warlic."

With that, we parted, and I calmly strode to the portal with the glowing orange symbol over it. I cast a last glance behind me at the field where Warlic and Nythera had pitched their tents. I loved this place; it was just so peaceful. There was never any change to it, and… well, it seemed to be the only constant in my life. I could see the faintest tinge of orange in the sky over the hundreds (if not thousands) of treetops to the West, and realized with a start that I had actually been training with Warlic for longer than I had thought. I shook my head slightly, and took a single step through the portal.

There was that familiar feeling of weightlessness, and I reveled in it. It was strange, that feeling; it was as though one had been turned into the wind, and all of the particles of one's being had been swept along by an invisible current for a few miles before coming back to one's self, and then your foot was landing on the ground on the other side of the portal. I shut my eyes for a moment, still remembering the feeling of the strange, ancient magic that flowed between the portals. A strange, rumbling purr almost seemed to shake the ground next to me, and I glanced downwards on my left with a knowing smile.

"Kai," I greeted, kneeling down to be eye-to-eye with my huge Pridemaster, though when I kneeled it actually brought me somewhat below his line of sight, his size being what it was. His huge, almond-shaped emerald eyes watched me, and yet again, I could discern no expression in them. I ran a slim hand over the multicolored, spiky fur on top of Kai's head, and that ground-shaking purr was heard again. I almost smiled as I stood again. "Ready to go home?"

Yes, I talk to my pets. Sue me for wanting something that can't necessarily talk back. It's not like I asked for trust issues with people! The only people who were in my (small, albeit existent) circle of trust were Warlic (kind of a given, seeing as I had to trust my mentor), Nythera (she isn't all bad, honestly!), Elysia (it's thanks to her that I survived that last attack by Sepulchure), Rolith (he's perfectly honorable and trustworthy; I can't help trusting him) and Cysero.

I can imagine that you're likely wondering about that last name. Surprisingly, Cysero is actually quite sane. It just takes a gifted mind to understand the workings, whys, and wherefores of the man. Also, it seems that I am the one person from whom he has not stolen a left sock. Why is still a mystery to me, though you will never find me complaining about it. What you will find is a female Mage who has seen much of the world of Lore in her nineteen years, and feels as though she has seen enough, if not too much of it. I have seen sad things, horrifying things, and things that would make your hair curl. But on the other side of all of that evil, there is a sort of haven; and this is what people often tend to miss. For every bad thing in the world, there is more than one thing that is nothing but good.

It's truly amazing how often people miss that.

As I walked through Falconreach with my huge golden pet by my side, there were multiple calls of greeting from both people I knew and people I didn't. Perhaps I was a major, seldom unheard-of hero, and perhaps not. In any case, I simply nodded to each greeting and continued on, in no mood to get drawn out into a conversation.

Upon arriving home, Kai immediately slunk over to where his bed was (at the foot of my own) and curled up. Giant Pridemaster or not, he was still feline, and still slept almost sixteen hours a day. When he wasn't out with me traipsing through the towns, taking out whatever monsters we saw, that is. Leaving him inside, I went out on the front porch (small as it was) and sat down, happy to just enjoy what little light was left in the forest outside my home.

When I opened my mind to all sorts of possibilities, magic wasn't too far out there. Reflectively, I lifted one hand, and studied it curiously. Warlic said… that when I managed to call upon the magic subconsciously, that I would be able to take things to the next level. What if I… no, I'm not that strong yet… could I, though?

I flexed each of my fingers in turn, frowning. What if I just… Biting my lip reflectively, I recalled what it felt like to breach the bubble of magic, and the manner in which I'd done it. My dark brows lowered over the dark sapphire eyes under them, and I tentatively poked at the little marble in my mind. It seemed just as impenetrable as ever, except that now, I was aware of it, and knew how to break the little ball. I frowned slightly as, with no small amount of difficulty, I hardened my thoughts into something that, instead of a spear, felt more like a battering ram. Grimacing slightly, I hurled it with all the mental force I possessed at the little orb of magic. Still it refused to budge. Frustrated now, I tried again, but there was still no difference. It remained just as solid as ever.

I continued my assault on the little pebble of magic until sweat beaded my forehead, and the sun had reached the horizon some time ago. It was almost down entirely when, weary beyond belief, I tried again, and this time, the little sphere burst. A gasp slipped past my lips when I once again held the flow of magic, but instead of drawing out of it as I had previously in Warlic's field, I pushed in further. A grimace contorted my face as I attempted to force the flow of the magic to my will.

My hand.

To my hand.

Go to my hand.

Now.

After quite a bit of coaxing and shaping of the small, simple stream of magic that I now controlled, I forced it upwards, to wind around my left forearm, and then to my palm. In my mind's eye, I could almost see the chain of the magic twisting around my left hand, and my brow furrowed again as I tried to command the magic to take a shape visible to the naked eye.

However, this proved to be too much for my mind at this stage to manage, and with a sudden snap like an elastic band, the bubble pushed closed again, and the exertion made me exhale in a huff. I grumbled crossly to myself at the loss of the magic, before I looked at the sky to see it was nearing dark, and I had been out here for longer than I realized. With a quiet grunt, I rose from the small front porch of my house, and went inside.

Once I got inside, I went straight to the sturdy wooden table right inside the door, and flipped open a huge, worn, leather-bound book that must have been six inches thick. The corners of pages stuck out at odd angles here and there throughout the book, and now and then a fancy bookmark was visible with tiny decorations hanging off of them. As I flipped through the pages, the occasional ink splatter (as well as droplets that didn't exactly look like ink) was glimpsed, and nearly all of the pages in the book were yellowed to some degree or another. Finally, I came upon the page I was looking for; a page that was still moderately white, and marked with a purple satin ribbon decorated with little gold stars and a small crystal hanging off of the end coming out of the book.

"Quests," I read in a murmur to myself, and a slid a slim finger down a list that was clearly written with an elegant hand at some point in time. "Fire War… No, I can't do wars… Creepy Undead Forest? I don't think so, I'll get carried away…100 Room Dungeon… Hm." At the last one, I paused, reading the description. "Insanely huge fire dungeon… maze… Eh, why not?" With a quick nod, I absently cast a hand around the main room of my house, lighting the candles there.

The way magic worked, I was able to cast the smallest of spells without straining the little marble of magic in my mind. I could also master extremely weak offensive and defensive spells, but the more I cast of these against real monsters, the better I got at them. You get better with practice, as was commonly said. But as was witnessed in my training only a few hours ago, anything larger required me to breach that little bubble that contained magic that had the potential to be accessed.

"Kai," I said quietly but cheerfully to my Pridemaster, who was still curled up on his large bed at the foot of my own, "Tomorrow, you're going to have to stay at home. I'll be fighting fire beings, and I can't have you accidentally healing them."

A rumble of a purr answered me, and the faint glow from his emerald eyes was easily visible. I turned back to the book, reaching over it for a different slip of dark grey ribbon and sliding it into the page so it partially poked out one side.

That done, I finished up the small tasks I had left to do around my house (most of which consisted of a small amount of cleaning and preparing for the next day), washed up, and extinguished all the candles that I had lit. In order to do this, I held my hand up to my face with my palm facing the ceiling, and blew. Due to the intensity of my focus, every one of the fourteen candles' small flames went out at once. In the sudden darkness of my house, I carefully made my way to my bed (careful to avoid treading on Kai's tail—that would not have boded good results) and slipped under the covers once I had removed my deep purple Mage's robe. In the darkness, I fussed with my hair for another moment, taking out the intricate braids before sighing quietly, allowing my body to rest, as my mind, weary as it was, never could.

My innermost thoughts continued to turn themselves over and over, restless though exhausted, and I quickly grew frustrated, which led to further invisible turmoil. My thoughts flew at miles a second, one thing leading to another which led to another which invariably led to yet another.

I'm going to the 100-Room-Dungeon tomorrow. I can't take Kai, because he would heal the monsters. Like he did the huge dragon I was fighting under Lady Celestia's orders. I miss her, so much. She was so kind. Elysia seems to be doing well as her replacement, though, I hope she wins good favor with the knights. And what's up with their names? I swear, some of their names remind me of something, but I can't think of it. Like I'm thinking of this now. DAMMIT.

I huffed exasperatedly as I turned over, facing the wall blindly. I couldn't sleep.

Again.

More often than not, I was awake. Out of every night, I only managed to snare about three hours of sleep, if I was lucky. It got old, to say the least. Therefore, I resorted to the one method that had put me to sleep before; reciting an old verse out loud that I had been taught when I was younger. I didn't know where it came from, but I liked it, for some unknown, probably issue-filled reason.

"When you try your best, but you don't succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need
When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what
you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you"

After reciting that, I fell silent, the tumult of my thoughts quieted, if only temporarily. When I was young, I used to puzzle over those verses for hours, trying to dig deeper into the meaning. Only recently had I stopped, partly because being older now, I understood the message, and partly because I had more important things I had to turn my attention to. Strange though it may seem, with these less chaotic thoughts crowding my head, I sank into an uneasy, restless sleep.

I woke at dawn feeling as though I had not slept at all.


The song (rhyme?) was Fix You, by Coldplay. Go listen to it if you don't believe me, best beloveds.

Anyways, things begin to pick up a little bit in the next chapter. Hang with the story, guys!