The sound of rain comforted me in my sleep. The breeze poked at my cheeks, and I brought my blanket closer towards me. I hated when the wind got into my cot. Wait. That’s not right.

I opened my eyes. Something was wrong in my room. shouldn’t be feeling a breeze. Stars stared down at me from up above, and the wind buffeted my side. I let out a soft cry and the rainfall stopped. Something moved in the darkness, and my cot trembled.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I looked at the wooden bars keeping me inside the cot. There was something on top of them. Two yellow eyes stared at me. My fingers trembled and my heart sparked with fear. The creature hopped closer towards me and let out a mighty squawk.

A squawk?

A long, dark beak nibbled at the edge of my blanket and feathers brushed wind into my face. It was the puffer. The black and purple bird stared at me curiously.

“Get out of here.” My words still came as a gurgle. I waved my hand at the bird, but it dodged me and continued to peck my blanket. “I don’t have time to feed you. My parents have the food, they just give it to me to throw at you.”

My parents. I looked around to see if they’d heard the commotion the bird was making. I was greeted by gently rustling plants, and the lone tree in the clearing waved at me.

Huh.

That’s strange. When did a tree get into my room? And plants. My walls were also gone. The last vestiges of drowsiness washed away at the strange sights. I was outside. Someone had dragged my cot out of the house and into the middle of this clearing. A wave of panic rushed through me and I swung my head from side to side until I spotted the house. It was only a few meters away.

The culprits of my mysterious abduction were standing in the doorway.

“Good. He didn’t explode.” My father’s voice reached me.

Explode? I’m a baby. Of course I didn’t explode.

Unless… are exploding babies common in this world?

I didn’t want to know the answer to that question. What I’d been through was traumatizing enough. First, I died, then I saw something attacking the sun, and I just got back from unlocking my new skill.

Oh. My new skill. I giggled with joy when I remembered it. The puffer waking me up had distracted me, but I’d succeeded. I could do magic now. I think. I didn’t know how to activate it.

“What did he say?” My mother was the first to reach my cot.

“I don’t know, I was asleep.” My father brought a comforting hand to my head. “What was your first word, champ?”

“Earth creation.” I tried to get the words out of my mouth, but it came out as ‘Eth Cwtn’.

The puffer jolted away from me when I spoke. On my side my father and mother took in a sharp breath, and my father pulled his hand away. I felt something on my chest and legs. It didn’t feel like my blanket, and it wasn’t a bathroom accident. I patted my chest with a stubby little hand. My fingers passed through a thick mist. I drew back at the sudden resistance, and then stared at my hand curiously. My fingers were covered in a dark brown powder. It looked and felt like dirt. I licked it.

Yep. Definitely dirt.

I clapped my hands together in happiness, spreading dirt across my cot. I didn’t care. It worked. This spattering of dirt across my body was proof that magic existed, and that I could use it. Earth creation hadn’t worked how I imagined. I thought it would be more rocks and stones. I grabbed at the dirt again and lifted a handful of the substance towards my face. It really was pure dirt. They were no worms, or bits of grass. It was a powdery and dry substance that clung to my skin. Come to think of it, I don’t even know what dirt is made of. Is it just a substance in and of itself?

I thought there were dead bodies in it.

Time would tell. Maybe they have Wikipedia in this world as well. Then again, I haven’t seen a computer yet.

A shadow was cast over me and I looked up to see my mother’s smiling face. It was a genuine smile, not like the one she’d given me when the lights in the sky had appeared. I reached out and grabbed her hand. My fingers wrapped around her pinkie. I really was too small to make a difference.

It also gave me some perspective on how much dirt I’d made. It looked like a lot to me, but it couldn’t fill a cup in my old world.

“We’ve been doing this the wrong way.” My mother scratched my belly and cooed at me. “He’s a nature lover. We shouldn’t be keeping him inside.”

“You’re right.” My father looked at the house. “I really thought he’d go for the fireball.”

I smiled in response and let out a happy squeal. I’d finally be able to get out of the house. I could only stare at a wall for so long before going crazy.

“What skill do you think he got?” The cot lurched as I was lifted into the air. My mother patted me down and my father took a look at the dirt falling off of my clothes.

“I don’t know. Dirt manipulation? I’ve seen magicians at work, but they usually have to have some of the element there to work with.” Then his eyes lit up. “He probably got it out of the air.”

I gurgled in indignation. This wasn’t a cheap magic trick. I genuinely created dirt out of nothing and I was covered in the evidence. Strands of auburn hair flew into my vision as my mother swung me around.

“A magician from our family. I would never have imagined it.” Her smile dropped. “I’m not imagining it, am I?”

My dad patted her shoulder reassuringly. “It’s rare, but not unheard of. Some of the guys in Zodiac started out with magical abilities, and the only difference between them and the royal mages is the amount of training they got.”

My mother stopped spinning me, and I could see her concern.

“Training? How are we going to pay for that?” She placed me gently down into the cot.

“For a magician?” My father shrugged. “I guess I can ask the guys at work. What was it that Jackson said again? A magician should be surrounded by their element at all times. I’m pretty sure that’s how the nobles raise their kids.”

“You’re sure this is dirt, right?” my mother’s eyes were sparkling again.

“I think it is.” My father squinted as he examined the powder. “Do you think we should leave him here tonight?”

Wait.

No.

This isn’t what I want. Somebody call child services; these parents of mine are crazy. I stared at my parents with what I hoped were puppy dog eyes.

“Don’t be crazy, Teral.” My mother scolded him.

Yeah. I raised my hands in celebration. At least one of them wasn’t crazy.

“We just have to fill his cot with dirt.” My mother immediately blew my hopes out of the water. “If his bed is dirt then he’ll still be surrounded by it.”

That’s how I ended up neck deep in dirt before I could protest.

The same old ceiling greeted me, my father taking down the pictures he’d drawn. Except now there were clumps of dirt everywhere. Even a couple of stones. My cot was the worst offender. The floor of the cot had transformed into a wiccan’s dream. Dirt covered me at every angle, and my mother made sure no spot was left undirtied.

It wasn’t as uncomfortable as I thought it would be.

In the corner of my room, sitting on a stone, was a small bird. Its stomach bulged over the top of the rock and a crooked leg stuck out from its side. My parents had allowed the puffer to make a home here. I was wrong to assume it lived in a tree. It had gathered up dirt from my cot and taken the stolen goods to make a nest on the stone. My mother thought it was a good omen that I’d gotten dirt magic when there was a bird nearby and that made nests out of stuff.

Yes, dirt magic. That’s what they thought I had. I’d tried to correct them and tell them the name of my skill, but that led to more dirt being created and it had gone straight into my dad’s nose and hair. My fingers clutched the piles of dirt surrounding me. It was nice and cool, and acted like a natural pillow around my whole body.

I could understand pigs a lot better now.

I examined the material around me. Some of it had been created by my skill, and despite my hopes there were no pebbles in the clouds of dirt. I checked. Not a single stone or rock to be found. This was why my parents thought I was using dirt magic. I knew better. I had visualized stones turning into a mountain. Eventually my skill would expand to things other than dirt.

I hoped.

I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated on the skill.

Earth Creation (Active): Level 1: Experience 1%

1%. It was a good thing I decided to unlock my skill early. If I could already raise the experience bar in less than a day, then a few years without a skill could have been catastrophic.

I shot another cloud of dirt and it rained uselessly onto the floor. I was trying to aim for the puffer.

[Warning: You are running low on mana.]

A blue light interrupted my thoughts. I stared at it and then looked at the dirt covering my body. I didn’t feel tired. It turns out that I wasn’t making something out of nothing. I was using mana to do it, just like in a video game.

What would happen if I ran out of mana?

It didn’t seem like a good thing to test. Not until I had more information. My father and mother had been jabbering about magicians as they put me to bed. My father knew some at his job, but I’d never seen him leave the house for long enough to prove it actually existed. He only had a bench that he used to draw the pictures. It must be his workbench.

If magicians were real, and they had jobs, how much did they get paid? It was an interesting thought to add to my list.

Other thoughts on my list included how to walk, what the strange glowing cube was in my father’s workbench, how many elements there are, and the existential dread of knowing I was in an unknown world where magic was real.

No.

Thinking about that would put me in a downward spiral and I’d be crying for days. I clung to the dirt around me to forget about that thought, and another puff of dirt escaped my palms.

[You are out of mana]

Uh oh. That didn’t sound good.

The world around me turned dark and my wrists seized and cracked. The pain travelled under the skin of my arms, and into my shoulder. Then it hit my throat. I tried to let out a scream, but nothing came out.

Is this how I die? I didn’t even make it to my teenage years.

[Mark of the Crijik has activated.]

I blinked, not sure if I was just imagining the words or if they were really there. I thought it was a passive.

Then I saw something. A light in the ceiling. It crawled through the planks of wood and weaved around the sleeping puffer. I stared at it weakly, my vision almost gone, and I raised a hand towards it.

The golden light shot towards me. I raised my hand to intercept it and a cool sensation pressed against my palm. The light brightened, and then disappeared completely as it melted into my hand. The pain disappeared, and an overwhelming sensation of drowsiness replaced it.

[Mana Pool’s Maximum Mana Count has increased.]

The message blinked to life, but I was already too far gone to read it. The last thing I saw was another faint golden light buzzing through the air.