Another morning came with Ana waiting for the sunrise due to the lack of sleep, but for some reason, she felt fine. Sleep deprivation wasn’t new to her but she didn’t even feel tired, it was just weird in so many ways and Nathaniel had suspected that it most likely had to do with her time exposed to chaos itself.

It had become her excuse for many things, and she went with it in fear of a mental breakdown. Every time she closed her eyes there was hope that she would wake up on her own bed with Nicole by her side, only for that hope to be shattered. So she poured her all into training and spending time with others. When she couldn’t sleep she even went to talk to the guards that were on rotation.

After a few days of training and spending the nights avoiding depression her stress had built up. But there was an easy way to deal with such stress, one evening with Borka, several bottles of yet unidentified liquor, tears and sobs, and her stress was lifted. It felt good just to talk, and she got to understand the menacing bear more. While the circumstances were different between the two, both had been through their own crucibles and had survived.

The friendship with her felt like a lifeline to Ana, this new world was crazy but at least she had someone to guide her. But the feeling of freeloading didn’t go away and instead of sulking Ana decided to do something about it.

But there was little she could do at the moment besides finding a job, an idea which was outright refused by others. In the end, she chose to think about her situation like her college loan, accepting it now, and paying it back later.

A week had passed with little change, except that Nathaniel had other responsibilities and was leaving Madeline to do the language teaching on some days. Ana didn’t mind as the old lady was more than skilled enough and the man was a part of an advisory body to the king. Looking into the political structure of the kingdom Ana was surprised how much it resembled some historical cultures from Earth.

But it was also different in so many ways, with women having an equal part to play in politics. Ana suspected that to be the result of the mixed racial population and the merge of the cultures that mix had brought in the old empire. The most surprising thing was that the kingdom wasn’t an inherited monarchy, but a king would be elected by the advisory body. The structure was reminiscent of the pre-republic roman kingdom in some ways.

The funny part was that even if a woman got elected, she would be a king and not a queen, adopting the name of the first emperor. While Ana never really cared much for modern politics, she still took her duty to vote seriously and kept up to date with political events.

Nathaniel had explained that in order to be a part of the Divenii, which was the name for the advisory body similar to the roman senate, you had to be either popular or wealthy to get voted in. It was easier if one was popular with the people, as they could rise through the ranks more easily. But wealth meant one could quite easily become popular.

Another way to gain popularity was through military service, and with both monsters and warring neighbors, it really was an exciting place to be. Military service was also the only way for non-citizens to gain citizenship. Those were freed slaves, foreigners, and the like.

Monsters was another thing, it was a term used for any abnormal beast that was influenced by magic. They were dangerous as none were similar, the changes almost always unique.

Ana was quite interested in the subject but the only way for her to explore her questions was to join the military and hunt the monsters herself. Not even close to her to-do list.

After almost a month had passed, the most important and heartbreaking realization she had, was that returning home would take years of research if at all possible. The aptly named war in the heavens had torn that possibility from her. There were several debates as to what the war entailed and when it happened as all the accounts told their own versions of the story.

A war between gods, demons, nightmarish invaders, all the different worlds. The stories were all over the place, the only common thing they had was that travel between worlds was prevalent then as many races had migrated between different worlds.

Her heart was still dead set on returning home, even if it took decades, and so she focused on her studies and training. In the simplest form knowledge indeed meant power. For magic, it meant that a person with weak aptitude could rival those with strong aptitudes as long as their understanding was better.

The more one understood how a certain system worked, the more influence they had over said system. That was a blessing to Ana like no other, as for some reason she had crazy high aptitudes, and when she combined them with her knowledge the potential she had was enormous.

At least that was true in theory, magic still went against everything she spent 20 years working on. Her insomnia came in handy as she found herself spending more and more time combining what she knew and what this new world was offering. She was still going over basics that made no sense to her, It was hard to unlearn decades of culture and belief.

Diving into subjects she was familiar with and her company with Borka was keeping her mostly sane. The lack of everyday luxuries was hell with her modern habits, something simple like the lack of a clock was especially nasty.

One thing she learned fairly quickly was that the ability to utilize magic was a rare gift, and every talent was different in some ways. So two mages throwing a piece of rock would go about doing it differently. And while her understanding of physics was centuries ahead of anyone in this world, some basics she just couldn't wrap her head around. Using invisible force to create a shield around her was such a weird concept she didn’t know where to start.

Learning that psychokinesis is a thing was also hard to swallow. It meant that some of the laws she was familiar with, were either wrong or incomplete. Instead of ripping her hair, she focused on what she could understand. Learning the language, laws, and culture of the city she inhabited currently, and treating the magical stuff as a theoretical problem to be solved later.

Even without the full understanding, she found enjoyment in the late-night experiments she conducted. One thing Nathaniel had only mentioned was conjuration, promising to return to the subject later on in one of her lessons, but it piqued Ana’s interest that she started experimenting on her own. The warnings she had received stuck with her and she limited her experiments to basics.

She was successful with some elements, creating a marble-sized piece of sodium after a week of trial and error. But to her dismay, the marble slowly turned to dust and disappeared after a few minutes. Where it came from and where it disappeared to was a mystery, but she was able to confirm that it indeed was sodium metal. A small bucket of water proving that easily enough.

But when she asked Nathaniel about it, another round of scolding came. In some ways she felt like she was sixteen again, being rebellious and thinking she knew better. Conjuring something was easy but never done as it posed a danger. Every time a mage was playing around with it, it opened a way for all kinds of nasties to go through.

So her next lessons were on the history and knowledge of magic users, the laws that were prominent in the old empire, and the state of them now.

“So those who could use magic were once a part of a council that enforced these laws?”

Nathaniel leaned backward on the chair, taking a few sips from his cup. “Indeed, and now there are dozens of smaller ones, each following their own rules and guidelines. And before you ask no I have no part with any, not anymore. The Divenii and the king dislike those who practice magic, not because of the magic itself, but because of the arrogance of those who practice it. I am but a small exception.”

“So those gatherings are like countries themselves? I’m guessing conflict isn’t a rare occurrence.”

“Sadly yes, but nothing to be worried about now, we will get to that lesson in time. For now, I was wondering if you would be up for more travel?”

Ana thought about her answer for a moment. “I… I don’t want to be an inconvenience, so whatever you think is best.”

Nathaniel gave her a soft smile, more with his eyes than lips. It was strange how useful she had become spending time with someone who wasn’t human. “I might get the opportunity to head north on an assignment, It is up to you if you wish to stay here or to accompany me.”

“Honestly I don’t know what I want besides going home, I don’t know what I can do or what I should do.”

“I would recommend accompanying me, as It will give you the opportunity to see this world and for me to continue teaching you.”

Ana nodded. “If I don’t pose an inconvenience to you, sure.”

Nathaniel clapped his hands with a smile. “Excellent, we’ll have to travel by ship for a part of the journey. Do you have any issues with that?”

Considering for a moment Ana shook her head. “I traveled on a boat before so I have no issues with it.” Thinking about the time she took a ferry while on vacation.

“Excellent, it will be at least a week before anything is confirmed, so in the meantime I would recommend you visit the town without the amulet, to practice what you learned so far. But please do not leave by yourself.”

Ana nodded to that idea. “It would be fun to see the city.” And so the lessons continued, her grasp of the language was firm but she lacked the practice to make it fluent. The amulet had cut the time she needed to learn the language by months, and while it felt like she was cheating it didn’t bother her too much as she had spent most of her life in academics.

A few days later on one of her sleepless nights, someone had knocked on her door, confirming that she was awake Nathaniel entered.

“How goes the...” Frowning for a moment he tried finding what word to use, giving up with a shrug. “Well, that.” He waved over the papers on her desk.

Ana was sitting next to the window, looking at the night sky. “No idea to be honest. If I could do some experiments it would help to determine if I’m on the right path or not. What brings you at this hour?” Still looking at the night sky she had a small smile on her face.

“Nothing serious, just something I forgot to mention during dinner. There will be a festival tomorrow if you are interested in seeing the city. The problem is that I will be busy while our mutual friend doesn’t enjoy such happenings. But Miss Eva is quite fond of them if you are interested in accompanying her.”

“Sounds like fun, why not.”

“There are several reasons why not to do so, but I believe the risks to be minuscule.” Chuckling she waved him off.

“I was being sarcastic, one of the habits I find hard to let go of. I’m in if it’s no trouble for Eva.” The moonlight shining through the window washed over her as she continued watching the sky.

“Is everything alright?” Nathaniel knew that she had a hard time but recently she seemed better.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine.” Beckoning him over with a smile, she pointed upward through the window. “Back from where I am from you couldn’t see the stars clearly as you can here. Quite the enjoyable sight.”

“Ah, indeed the night sky is full of beauty. I’ll take my leave then, Eva will come for you unless you change your mind.” After wishing each other a good night, Nathaniel left her chambers. She continued watching the skies, using the opportunity to put some things in perspective.

With the rising sun, she had returned to her calculations until Eva came by her room so they could agree on when they would go. The little elf was excited which in turn excited Ana. Agreeing to go after lunch, they both returned to do their own things. Lunch was served at noon, and afterward, they departed.

Ana was wearing plain pants and a shirt, which was a topic of many debates. But just like with Nicole, they had no hope of changing Ana’s choice of wardrobe. Along with if the new came the old, in the form of her boots and coat. Socks and underwear included. Before they left, Ana noticed a bag of coins in the pocket of her coat. Nathaniel knew she would never accept money from him so he hadn’t asked.

She wanted to leave the money behind but thought better of it, as she would be only hurting herself by doing so. So the two left, leaving the house they joined the colorful mix of people on the street. The festival was personally sponsored by a man named Carvolus, and it entailed several different things.

The streets were filled with merchants selling food and drinks, with scheduled gladiatorial battles, and chariot races being the highlights. It reminded her of an annual beer festival she liked attending, where groups of people went from vendor to vendor to try new and exotic brews.

The prices were quite low for almost everything, with quite a few free offers. The man had clearly gone all out. As Eva got a drink herself Ana almost blurted out that she was underage, but stopped herself before she could voice her thoughts. She didn’t even know the girl’s age, only that she looked young. So instead she joined her new friend in liquor tasting.

Seeing a large group of people going between stalls where merchants displayed their products wasn’t new to Ana, as she had been to a few flea markets in the past, but seeing so many different races was something else. She had elected not to think too deeply about things like that, instead, she just accepted what she saw as is.

After an hour or so they had found themselves entering the largest hippodrome Ana had ever seen, more than a hundred meters wide and almost three times as long, with stone benches for the audience.

On the track several chariots were racing, each flying a separate color. The racing chariots were quite the sight to see, especially to Ana who had never seen a horse in person before. The audience was divided by color as well, each rider having their support. The cheering peer pressure forced her to join her voice, even if she didn’t know who she was cheering for.

While the race was quite interesting to watch, Ana had no desire to watch gladiatorial battles, but Eva did, so she ended up tagging along out of morbid curiosity. Having seen swords and fighting only in movies, she was quite curious to see what it was like, but at the same time, her stomach had churned in opposition to such brutality.

In the end, it wasn’t as bloody or gory as she had imagined, no one had died and the gladiators were more focused on fancy maneuvers than on murder. And she had found herself enjoying the show. There were several, from what Eva had told her, famous fighters that really had the crowd going.

They didn’t linger at the arena as daylight was slowly fading, so instead, they left to get a few spirits for the household. But as Murphy's law is a thing, her day didn’t end so peacefully.

Walking home in the early twilight the duo was caught up by small talk, turning the corner they ran into a large crowd split into two sides that were in a heated argument.

Everything happened fast after that, Ana only noticed that the two opposing sides had different colored clothes before the first punch was released.

After that the crowd devolved into a battle, fists were replaced by clubs, chains, and other common items, the blows intending to be lethal and within a few moments, while Ana and Eva stood shocked, several people or just their bodies had fallen on the ground.

The fighting looked bizarre to Ana as if she was watching a slow-motion documentary on tv. Her heart started beating faster as a sudden joy and urge to join the fray crept up on her. It felt as natural to her as breathing was, the desire only growing as she felt her lips peel back to reveal a grin.

Her feet started walking towards the chaos, her fingers curling into fists. Ana had never been in a fight before, she never even took any martial arts or self-defense lessons for the simple reason that she didn’t have any time to spare. Going to a gym was Nicole's doing, and even then she barely went once a week.

Still, her body moved as the edges of her vision filled with the same shapes and colors that had haunted her nightmares, but this time they had only sped up her heart rate as excitement made her almost giddy. Before she realized it, her fist had struck a face, the man falling down and not getting up as blood started covering that part of his face.

A punch here, a kick there, and soon she was lost in the frenzy of the fight. She stopped when the crowd had thinned to the point that the fight had lost its momentum, and the first thing she noticed was her heavy breathing as she took in her surroundings.

Bodies covered in blood surrounded her, some still moving while others were missing limbs and were bleeding out. A lone head was staring its dead eyes at her and a sudden memory of ripping the poor man's head from his shoulders invaded her mind and made her sick.

She wanted to grab her head but noticed the red liquid had soaked through her hand through her elbows, her fingernails long, sharp and dripping with blood. Panic gripped her heart as another memory came to her. Ripping someone's throat with her teeth and eating the flesh, the metallic taste of blood still in her mouth. It made her sick and she dropped to her knees as tears and vomit escaped her.

In the panic and the confusion she couldn’t even breathe, so the screaming Eva next to her had escaped her notice. She was moving a moment later. No, she was being dragged. Looking up she saw the pile of corpses that had been around her and it was just too much to handle as her vision went black and her body numb.