Atem's head shoots up from the book he is reading after the door bursts open, revealing a very enthusiastic looking Mana. Her eyes are beaming and her lips are curled in the biggest smile as she inhales and exhales heavily after running as fast as she can and barging into the study room.

"I got it!" Mana exclaims.

Atem blinks, still trying to recover from her sudden appearance. "Got…what exactly…?" he asks hesitantly. His eyes slowly begin to trail back down to the book. Apart of him is curious as to what Mana is talking about, but on the flip side, he knows he should be studying.

Two small hands appear on the top rim of his book, causing a gasp to escape his lips as she slams the book down on the table. Her face is only inches away from his now and he can feel his cheeks turning red. In just a few short seconds, she has managed to climb on the table, resting on her hands in knees as she stares at him intensely. Her grin becomes even bigger and he can practically feel her energy radiating off her.

"I'm going to be an all powerful sorcerer!" she proudly announces to him, raising her hands in the air.

"You are…?" Atem asks.

Mana nods enthusiastically in response. "Yup! And I'm not giving up until I do!"

Atem scratches the side of his head with his index finger. While he's happy she's in better spirits and has seemed to find an interest in something, he's sure she isn't aware of certain obstacles that would make her aspirations harder, or even impossible to reach.

"Being a sorcerer is hard work," Atem starts off. "And those who are chosen to serve in the palace as sorcerers have to go through rigorous training."

Mana chuckles, placing her hands on her hips confidently. "Is that all?"

Atem averts his gaze. "Well—"

"You're not of age," Mahad's voice comes from the doorway, causing Mana to flinch. She turns her head to him, seeing him stand there carrying what appears to be a spell book in his hand. "You have to be at least sixteen in order to go through the initial trial."

"What?!" Mana whines with a pout on her lips. "But that's so far away!"

"Not only that," Mahad continues as he steps up to the table she and Atem are at. "Everyone isn't capable of becoming a sorcerer."

Mana tilts her head. "What do you mean?"

"Sorcerers are born with their abilities," he reveals to her shock. "And unless you have any history of anyone in your family possessing magical abilities, I'm afraid you'll be unable to fulfill that dream."

Mana can feel her heart plummet into her stomach. If what he says is true then what will she do now? Nothing else in the palace interests her. And unfortunately her parents did not pass down their cooking talents onto her either. So now what? What other option is there?

Atem looks to Mana with a sad expression. He can feel her disappointment and he wishes there is something he can do to make her feel better. Before he can open his mouth to speak, she suddenly darts off, but not before snatching the book out of Mahad's hands and making a run for it.

"Hey, wait!" Atem calls after her, jumping to his feet.

"It is alright," Mahad assures him and Atem looks up to him with surprise. The older teen only stares calmly at the door Mana ran out of.

Hugging the book close to her chest, she leans on an outside pillar, sliding down until her legs can no longer hold her up. She plops on the floor with her legs outstretched, not even flinching from the firm impact. Tears begin to form in her eyes, but she quickly wipes them away with the back of her arm.

Where to go from here? That is the question that keeps floating in her mind.

Her knee jerk reaction is to run away. Far away from the palace. No, that would be foolish. She shakes her head before looking up to the orange sky as the sun begins to set.

Although she has decided she will not run away, there's nothing she wants more than to run and find her dear friend Bakura and vent her frustrations. She can only imagine what his reaction would be. He'd probably shake his head at her and chuckle, which would only annoy her more. Then he would tell her to get up and brush it off, reaffirming to her that she is strong. Despite her being the youngest in most situations, the smallest in size compared to her peers and the most disadvantaged in some people's eyes, he always lifted her up.

She allows a few tears to trickle from the corners of her eyes as she stares blankly into the sky. Her dear friend is but a memory now. He was the older brother she never had and now he's gone.

Sniffling, she uses the back of her arm again to wipe her tears before opening up the book. It is inscribed with many different symbols, illustrations and text. Flipping through the pages, she becomes more and more frustrated, only being able to decipher a few pieces here and there, having never being fully taught to read. She turns the pages a few more times until she lands on a spell that seems different than the others.

Unlike the other spells in the book that contain paragraphs and paragraphs of writing, this spell only has a few sentences and appears to be fairly simple.

"Freeze spell…" she reads the title at the top of the page. Her eyes squint as she tries to comprehend what it's instructing her to do. Simply focusing on her target, all she has to do is imagine it frozen in place and the spell would activate.

Her eyes lift up from the book, just as a green frog hops over one of her legs. 'Perfect,' Mana thinks to herself, believing this to be a good opportunity to test out the spell. She'll show Mahad. She'll prove to him she is capable of doing magic, whether she has sorcerers in her bloodline or not.

Concentrating, she stares at the frog who continues to hop along without a care in the world. No matter how much her stare intensifies, the frog doesn't stop moving. She finds herself picking up the frog physically, moving it back to its starting point in order to buy herself more time. But each outcome is the same.

Growling inwardly, she grabs the frog with one hand until it slips out of her grasp, attempting to make its escape. "Hold on! I'm not through!" she yells, grabbing it again and again as it tries to avoid her experiment. It tries to jump out of her reach, but she lunges forward, catching it with both hands and setting it down.

Hovering over it, she narrows her eyes at it. "Now you stay right there, mister frog!" she orders it. She then puts her index fingers up to her temple. "Focus. Focussss. Come onnn."

"There you are," a voice from behind her says.

She scrambles to her feet, whipping around only to be met by Mahad once again. "Oh…it's you…" she grumbles,, looking away.

"You're healing rather quickly," he says, noting how freely she has been moving her arm around.

She shrugs. "Yeah? So?"

"You're certain you don't have anyone in your family who have abilities?"

"My mom worked a lot of magic in the kitchen," she brings up and a pearl of sweat appears on his forehead.

"Not quite what I meant."

She sighs before picking up the book and handing it over to him. "I'm sorry I took it from you," she apologizes. "I just saw you doing magic and got so excited. I thought maybe if I could do that…how cool would that be?"

Mahad tilts his head slightly.

"Anyway…I should get going. I'm sorry again." She briskly walks past him and he looks over his shoulder, watching her leave. Then he prepares to leave in the opposite direction until a strange sight catches his eye.

A green frog in a mid-hop position, completely frozen in place and surrounded by a light pink aura. His eyes widen and his head whips back to see if Mana is still within his view, but she is gone. He crouches down to the frog, giving it a light tap to free it from the spell cast on it before cupping his chin thoughtfully.

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Dazed and confused, a young boy drags his feet in the sand. His half lidded eyes are low to avoid the small particles blowing in his eyes. The shirt he was previously wearing is now wrapped on his head in an attempt to protect himself from the sun's harsh rays.

Only a few more feet until he reaches her village. His village is no more, reduced to practically nothing aside from destroyed buildings that barely stand. Though he lost his home, he remains hopeful that his friend's village hasn't met the same fate.

As he gets just over the horizon, he drops to his knees and tears form in his eyes. The stench of burned wood and flesh fills his nostrils. His eyes frantically scan the area for the home in which Mana resides. He pleads in his mind, praying her house is the exception to all of the destruction before him. Maybe she was spared.

Not wanting to accept what has more than likely happened, he uses the last bit of his strength to get up and sprint in the direction of her house. But the moment he reaches the destroyed home, a painful realization hits him.

She's gone.

Her and the rest of the villagers must have perished the same way his fellow villagers did.

This time, he drops to his hands and knees, allowing the tears to fall freely. His shoulders tremble and his heart beats quickly as he sobs loudly over the loss of his dear friend.

"No…Mana, not you…" he cries. His eyes slowly lift up, seeing the palace off in the distance. The sight of the large structure immediately fills him with an indescribable rage and he balls up his fists.

"They…they did this…" Gritting his teeth, the last glimmer of light left in his eyes completely fades as a dark aura surrounds him. Unbeknownst to him, his own shadow morphs into a tall mysterious silhouette behind him.

"I'll make them pay…somehow…They'll pay!" his screams sound throughout the windy desert.

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It is something he has never witnessed before in a child so young in all his years of being a doctor. After removing the little girl's wraps and bandages to replace them with fresh ones, he is shocked to see there is no wound, nor a scar where the injury occurred. It's as if she hasn't been cut at all.

Sitting on the bed, Mana watches as the doctor's mouth drops and his eyes nearly pop out of its sockets. She scratches the back of her head with a bored expression. Then she looks over to Atem who sits in a corner with his head buried in his book.

"Can I leave now? I wanna go play," she says to the doctor.

"Y-Your wound…it's c-completely healed!" the doctor stammers while pointing at her. "D-Do you know what that means?" He has only seen such miraculous things occur in certain people. But the girl seems to be totally oblivious, nor does she know what she's possibly capable of.

Atem lifts his eyes from his book, viewing the area in which her wound once was. He thought it was strange that she was moving around so freely earlier, but he figured she just had a high tolerance for pain. 'Could she be…?' he thinks to himself.

"Well you are a doctor. Isn't that what you're supposed to do? Heal people?" Mana asks with a shrug before jumping out of bed.

"N-Now hold on…!"

"It's a brand new day! If I spend any more time in here, I'll miss out!"

Hearing a commotion, Mahad walks in carrying his spell book underneath his arm. "Is something wrong?" He asks before looking over at Atem who quickly ducks his head in his book. Mahad sighs with exasperation. The prince sure has taken a liking to Mana since she got here.

"Come on, I wanna play," Mana continues to whine with a pout. "I'm all healed up right?"

Seeing Mahad enter, the doctor clears his throat and steps to the side, allowing the sorcerer to walk up to her. "Perhaps he can explain it better," the doctor says.

"Huh?" Mana raises an eyebrow. Then she gasps when Mahad suddenly extends the book out to her in a giving gesture. "You're giving it to me? But why?"

"I had my own suspicions that you might be extraordinary," Mahad starts off, looking down to her shoulder. "Not only did you survive such a brutal attack, you were able to recover in such a short period of time."

"It's because of the doctor," Mana insists. She lowers her eyes, thinking of her failed attempt at performing a spell. "I'm not special at all. So…you can keep your book. It's not like I can do anything with it anyway. I guess I'll just have to find something else to—"

"Only sorcerers are capable of speeding up the healing process of physical wounds…" Mahad cuts her off. "…And able to successfully perform a freezing spell."

Mana sighs, growing agitated. "I already told you, the doctor did it, not me and I—wait…" Realization sets in. "What did you just say?"

Mahad smiles warmly. "You're a sorcerer Mana."

Her eyes widen with surprise. "You mean I…?" Her spell was successful after all?

Mahad nods his head.

Mana clenches her fists excitedly and grins brightly from ear to ear. She is filled with so much joy that she hops on top of the bed, much to the doctor's protests. "Yay! I did it! I really did it!" she exclaims.

"You have plenty of time to study and practice before you're old enough to do the trial. So use this time wisely," Mahad tells her.

As she continues to cheer, Atem finds himself smiling as well. This is the happiest he's seen her since she was brought here. And he's glad that she has found something that she will strive for.

He can only imagine how powerful she will become if she starts early. Looking down to his own book, he thinks about his future as well. One day he will be the Pharaoh and rule the kingdom, just like his father and the kings before him. He can only hope he will live up to everyone's expectations. Especially his father's.

A faint pain in his head brings him out of his thoughts. Thinking too much into the future is sure to give him a massive headache if he continues. He must have been in his thoughts for a while because he never noticed Mana walking up to him and jumping up and down with excitement, wanting him to partake in the excitement with her.

He returns a smile, deciding to stay in the present and cherishing this happy moment.

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AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Leave a review! And thanks to those who are following and favoriting the story! Until next chapter!