Sitting inside my bed, I think about the dream I had. I don’t remember much, but I know I met someone and helped him… I think an arm was involved, maybe an injury? I can’t recall, and trying to do so would probably only lead to problems and waste of time.

Moment, aren’t mom and Luna inside my mind? Maybe they saw something. Acting upon this thought, I retract my consciousness and enter the void of my mind. Still, unless I am truly about to sleep, I need more concentration to actually enter my own mind.

Inside, I am greeted by a warm hug from mom. She then cuddles me and holds me in her arms, holding me dearly. I am not so fragile, but I still thank her for caring for me that much. I am truly blessed, having a mom who really loves me this much. I talk with her for a while, asking how she is doing and how far her soul was able to grow.

To my surprise, mom’s soul is already at a level of a human soul, and even surpasses it in Magical-capacity and affinity. Maybe because the soul’s hull is born from me, she also has all elements, I wonder?

After talking for a while, I finally ask her what is on my mind.

“Mom? Did you by chance know what happened tonight? I can’t remember anything.” (Arin)

Being dejected, mom just strokes my head a bit to cheer me up. She then begins to speak in a sweet voice, as though trying to blow away my worries.

“I don’t know exactly either. What happened was that suddenly an extremely white light shone all of a sudden and you woke up. Yet in the next moment everything was white and we could neither see through your eyes nor hear your voice. We did realize though that you were talking, but when suddenly all the mana in your body began to move, we became worried.” (Mom)

So, I talked with something and I used massive amounts of mana… hmm?

“But then, after you lost consciousness from mana-loss, suddenly a weird power entered your mind. It didn’t seem to do anything and left as quickly as it came, but after a while, suddenly a beat, like the one of a heart, resounded and in the next moment your mind became unstable for an instance. Nothing happened since then, but… I am worried you know!?!” (Mom)

So she is worried because all this happened, but why a heartbeat and an unknown power? I don’t understand, but I am safe and sound and so is my Mom, that is enough for me. After hearing her explanation, I just continue laying in her embrace while the flower around us keep blowing in the wind. And yes, my mind-space has wind since I started practicing wind-magic, so I can simulate it in my mind.

I enjoy my time with Mom, when she suddenly speaks of an interesting fact.

“Little Arin, I think I forgot to tell you, but you should train your space-magic a bit. I saw you train the basics and advanced ones, but not your space one, why?” (Mom)

Asking this question all of a sudden, Mom points something out I have forgotten. True, I unlocked space magic back in the caves when I saved the wolf-mother and her child, as well as my third form, the Fox-form. But how should I train this? I understand some principles of the elements, but space?

Mom just laughs at me for making a sudden confused and weird face, but then hug’s me once more, whispering into my ears…

“Little Arin, You look cute when you think, but I believe you should just play more and have fun, alright?” (Mom)

Showing me a warm smile surpassing the sun in radiance, I just smile back at her. She is right, I should just enjoy myself together with my family. After that, I just stayed in the warmth of my mother for a while, smiling in her embrace.

After a while, I returned from my mind’s void and take a look around. Saria is not to be seen, but next to my bed is a small stack of paper on the table, as well as some ink and charcoal.

Using a small puppet formed from my earth-elemental mana, I create a small table for my bed. This way I am capable of drawing whilst staying in bed.

After finishing my preparations, I pick up a piece of paper. The paper is rough with slight impurities, but it is more than enough for my purposes.

Using a small stick of charcoal, I begin to draw some fine outlines. Using charcoal leaves my hands black, but I don’t care much about this. Actually, I’m stumped, what should I even paint? Thinking about any ideas, I suddenly remember how I and mom were hugging. I think I will draw exactly that.

So, I rearrange the charcoal in my hands and begin to draw on the paper. First some outlines before greater details are added. I begin making further lines for the hair and bodily features and figures. I sometimes even use my finger to wish the coal-color a bit, making an effect like shadows.

Before I can start working on the face, suddenly Saria enters the room, asking me to come for lunch.

Uncle Black and Cyan are already sitting at the table, the moment I come down the stairs. The moment I try to sit down, suddenly my left arm lights up and in the next moment little Luna is there, coiled around it.

“So, Mas... Arin, I'm Hungry. Let's eat!” (Luna)

Whoa, since when is Luna so direct? Anyway, it doesn't matter, so me and the rest begin to eat the food that is being served. The chef cooked a lot of things that help restore mana, mostly for me so that I can get better faster. But, even if it is meant for helping me get better, it is still extremely tasty.

Being told by Uncle Black, it seem that the meat comes from a certain bird known as the silver-eagle. They seem to resemble bald eagles, but their feathers are purely silver in color. On my question if they are intelligent, Uncle Black assures me that they count as animals purely intelligence wise.

Relieved, we continue enjoying lunch before I return to my room and Uncle Black takes care of business. Cyan follows me upstairs and once there, he begins to tell me what happened today at the school volunteer-training.

The girl seems to have actually come, but because I was not there, Cyan explained her what happened. Afterwards, it appears that the girl wanted to blame herself, but thanks to Cyan repeatedly telling her it isn't her fault, she finally calmed down. Cyan also taught her how to find her mana, the way Uncle Black told us, so afterwards she could still learn. Hopefully, tomorrow I can leave bed and teach her myself. Because I want to hold my promise, plus, there is something I want to find out...

So, after explaining the circumstance, Cyan played a round of chess with me, of course with him losing, before he then went training with Uncle Black.

I on the other hand continued drawing the picture I was working on. The face, body, arms and legs. Every part with details, then the eyes, clothes and to end it all, the hair. I mostly do hair last just because it makes it easier for me afterwards.

The Picture is finally finished, it shows me in the arms of Mom, while both of us are in Demi-Fox Form with ears and tails. I tried making both of us smile, but my smile somehow ended up crooked, so I had to correct it. Sadly, I don't have any colors on hand, so I can't color the whole picture, but I still added a background with the massive tree in my mind with Luna coiling around it.

Luna, who is still here after lunch, is rather impressed with my drawing, but she complains for being in the background. But she didn't dwell on it, and shortly afterwards retreated back into my mind-space.

So, after completing the last finishing touches, I return both paper and charcoal back on the table, use a small napkin to clean my hands and lie down on the bed once more. Uncle Black said that I shouldn't leave the bed as much as possible when I want to go to school tomorrow.

So, having nothing to do, I begin thinking about the circumstance of the girl. Her aura somehow interacts with others magic, making it... complicated, but why am I not affected? As for Luna's aura, it is like it combines everything, making it peaceful. Actually, after the contract, wasn't I able to combine water and fire without problems? Shouldn't that be impossible?!?

While breaking my head over theories of magic, my eyes slowly close before darkness takes over my mind.

A sleepy feeling stretches through my whole body, so I just let it through and slowly drift off into the darkness...

…

…

Awakening because of the songs from the birds outside, I greet the sunshine coming through the window. I get up from the bed, pick up some fresh clothes and dress myself. Actually, I don't want Saria to help, so I have to hurry up.

Just as I am about to leave the room, suddenly the door swing open and Saria stands there. She first looks at the bed, but after realizing that I am not there, she looks around until she finds me.

She just sighs after seeing me fully dressed, but still takes a few steps towards me. Is something wrong?

The moment I though so, Saria just says in a amused voice...

“Young Master, I acknowledge that you don't want me to help, but please at least wear you shirt the right way around.” (Saria)

Realizing my mistake, I hastily take of my shirt and rearrange it to wear. So embarrassing, even my face became red.

While still lost in thought, I already arrived back in the kitchen for breakfast, before me and Cyan went for training.

Arriving there, I am given a quick rundown on how everything works here. It seems that you can choose what you want to do. There are teachers for magic, combat, martial arts and even crafting professions. If there are enough students and a willing teacher, it is even possible to travel to a certain craftsman or artisan to directly learn from an expert.

Still, I can't find the girl anywhere on the plaza. Looking around, I see about three teachers as well as about two dozen children and teenagers. Some are my age while others are older than me, or even Cyan in this case.

The field is about the size of a simple soccer field. On one end are multiple aiming and hitting-targets while there are multiple devices that remind me of body-builder equipment. Some of the dragons can even be seen doing flight-training above the field and city, flying by instructions and in weird maneuvers. Still, the black haired girl remains to be seen.

Just as I want to go looking for her, suddenly Cyan nudges on my clothes to get my attention, pointing into a certain direction. In that direction, the girl from my class with black hair and tail enters the field. She seems to be walking with her head down while making her way through the groups of people present. Weirdly enough, many of the other people evade her, making way for her.

Is this because of her constitution or her aura? In my eyes this just looks like bullying, but I can't do anything.

When she finally reached us, she greets us in a shy voice, so I also greet her with a smile.

“Uhm, are you alright... I herd that something happened from cyan...” (Girl)

Timidly she asks me how I am doing, so I answer her positively. So after a short conservation, the three of us leave the main field and go into a corner to not disturb the others. There I begin circulating my mana and try to teach her how to do it herself.

After a few minutes, Cyan left to train with the other dragons while I keep teaching the girl. But still, teaching someone is harder than training myself. Sadly, her flow of mana often breaks down and goes into weird directions, making her and me confused.

We tried many things, forcing it, maneuvering it from outside or even pushing my own mana to guide hers. Sadly, all of them failed. Just as we are about to give up, I suddenly have an idea.

“Couldn't you just let it take it's course? You know, only hold the mana a bit, but not control it.” (Arin)

Hearing my Idea, she only nods and let's her mana stream freely through her body. Watching her with my eyes to make sure nothing out of the ordinary happens, I see how the mana begins accumulating and moving along her body. Unlike me or the others were it mostly follows the veins, hers jumps from body part to body part, making it highly ineffective.

I realize now why it doesn't work. Her mana-stream is unstable and can't follow the common route, making it dangerous for herself and the people around her. This causes it to evaporate from her body which results in this weird aura. Having another idea, I add my own mana to hers and begin to guide it. This time, it seems to not repel me, but rather encase my own and follow it's lead.

I begin with moving it along the common routes before it ends back at the mana-pool of hers. Arriving there, my own mana get's swallowed by hers and 'dies' while the stream becomes more stable.

Actually, while leading the mana, I found certain spots that were closed, kind of like an overly thick spider web, a chaos of energy. So after pressing through them, there weren't any greater problems.

I don't know why no one ever tried fixing it like this, but at least she should now be able to control her mana. After a while, she finally opens her eyes, first looking down on her own body before looking at me with tears in her eyes. It seems that regaining control of her magical-aura really meant a lot to her.

As her aura weakens until it is completely gone, even her atmosphere seems to lighten up. She then, for the first time, showed me a smile. It was a small one, but it still showed how relieved she was about losing said aura. Seems that her aura was actually a weird version of her irregularly released mana, making other peoples mana irregular as well. Still, with her tearing up, she suddenly pulls me into a hug and thanks me in a crying voice.

Being suddenly surprised by the hug, my face becomes hot and I tell her that it is not a problem. S-still, I don't know, but what is this feeling? ...it's warm and fuzzy... weird.

Anyway, after finally letting go, she realizes that she hugged me without permission and hid her face behind her tail. She seem to be embarrassed as well, but doesn't want to show it. Laughing lightly at her behavior, I hold out my hand to help her stand up...

“See, you aren't a calamity. You only didn't understand yourself...” (Arin)

Telling her this with a slightly embarrassed tone, I help her get up. She then bows and says thanks again. Well, I am happy I could help...

While we were talking, some students have actually noticed what happened back here, so when they saw the dark aura around her vanish all of a sudden, many exclaimed in shock. Some were surprised while others had confusion written on their face.

Well, seeing them stare at me who is being thanked by a girl in front of them, I don't know how to react. Still, something happened then, something... unexpected, pulling everyones attention towards the other end of the field.

“Yo, shithead! You will pay for what you have done!!! I Challenge you to a dual, show me your Worth!!!” (???)

Yes, the one screaming at the other end of the field was no one else than an enraged fox by the name of Rune. I mean, did he change? Even his face is as red as his fur, and what kind of problem is it this time?

Never would I have guessed, that the true chaos would begin that day.