After a delicious lunch, she felt much better. And after a good night’s sleep even better. But the next morning was hell. Nathaniel woke her up before the first light of dawn was even out, got her to put clothes on, and follow him outside. Being in the middle of the city they only had the yard around the house to train in, neither of them wanting to waste time on leaving the city.

So far her training was mostly in theory, with examples in practice. She was awesome at theory, her mind trained to think that way. She soaked knowledge, improved some wrong areas, and generally impressed Nathaniel to the point of questioning everything.

But now that changed, as it was not a meaning of how good you are, but how much work you put in. Repetition being king once again, it was all about practice and perfection. But they started slow, with elemental manipulation.

Nathaniel’s forte was fire, he excelled at it. That made Ana subconsciously lessen her awe of the man, but he was just as good at manipulating earth. Earth magic took time, moving and shaping the ground beneath them was a difficult task and required a level of concentration that Ana wasn’t used to.

In a few hours as the light slowly crept up over the horizon, he taught her some exercises that looked like a slow ballet dance, to help her relax her body and to focus her mind. There weren’t precise movements she had to copy, as the style was quite personal.

Soon after he left for the fort, his duties required his presence elsewhere. It was for the best, she had to figure out her own way to do what he did. The morning went by slowly as she did her exercises, Lia helping quite a lot with tips. While not knowing magic, the spirit was an expert when it came to honing your body.

With the duo tackling the problem it only took the rest of the day to get a hang of it. But she hit a wall that Nathaniel told her to expect. She couldn’t focus and make a clear enough image to make the spell large enough beyond a certain point. Only experience and years of repetition could move that wall back.

She got so focused on herself and the party from before that it had slipped her mind to talk to Lili. After dinner, she asked if the girl had free time to talk. She could see that the girl was shy and not used to the company.

Speaking to the family members in charge of the house she learned that Lili was adopted as a child, her parents dying in the service of the country during the failed invasion that the kingdom barely repelled. She also learned the reason why she hadn’t seen more members of their race, and what it was called in this world. Mertwalans. Not similar to Terwehan, but sounding similar. And the big reason for them not being prevalent in this world, was a curse.

You didn’t think to mention that on top of everything I also have a curse?!

Relax Little Silver, you’re not cursed. And the curse isn’t a curse.

After waiting for several moments, Ana started to pace in her room screaming in her mind.

What does that mean?

It means that mine, or now our race used to be one of the most powerful ones, except for not having magic. But with power came arrogance and after the war when the different tribes were separated it made life difficult. Interbreeding with other compatible races lowered the individual might. Some called it a curse, but after spending time in your memories and learning about genetics it becomes clear what the so-called curse is.

Still, I had enormous power so perhaps my family wasn’t big on that idea. And you heard what else they told you about us. We tend to stick with our own so there are most likely several groups in this world, hell maybe even a city or a country somewhere.

Genetics does seem like a more plausible reason than a curse. Still, with all the talk of curses, we are not held in high regard huh?

Quite the opposite, at least in my world. Even after all that our connection to the spirits of the wild was the strongest, even after interbreeding.

Nathaniel explained the spirits to me, but I didn’t get much of it.

The spirits are just manifestations of something. When someone dies they leave a shade behind.

Like you did?

Oh no, I was alive when this happened. Long story but I was able to ascend. A topic for another time.

We have the strongest connection to nature, and the spirits it manifests. There are theories that our race descended from spirits long, long ago. What’s important is that in the future I could teach you how to contact spirits, enlist their help, use their powers, and so on.

Why don’t you do it now?

Sweety, magic is the reverse of spirits. When dealing with them there is no certainty, there is no control. With you being you I suspect it would take years before we get anywhere.

Years huh. Damn. The main reason I am focusing on magic is so that one day I could go back home. But I doubt it would be worth going back when I’m old and wrinkly.

Old and wrinkly? What are you talking about?

I’m talking about growing old. It will take me years and decades to find a way home if there even is one, and I’m already entering my third decade. Not sure I want to go back when I’m fifty or older.

Why not? I was over two thousand when this happened. I don’t get what’s the problem.

After picking up her jaw and figuring out the difference in time between the worlds Ana whistled.

How did you get to be that old?

Ahhh, you are still thinking like a human. Darling, we don’t age. That was part of the thing that most members lost and were blamed on the curse. I knew several Terwehians that were older. Those that died, did so fighting.

And didn’t Nathaniel tell you about wizards and their lifespan?

What do you mean?

I mean that it doesn’t matter what race you are if you are a wizard, your lifespan increases significantly.

I just figured that his lifespan was a lot longer. I haven’t met other members of his race yet, and I didn’t want to pry.

That is a story best told by him, as my perspective isn’t with this world.

So I will have a longer lifespan?

As far as I see it I doubt you would age at all. Maybe after a few centuries but that depends if we ever get separated.

The bombshell that aging wasn’t an issue anymore took some time to swallow. This meant she got over one hurdle. She had time. But another problem was that returning after so long wouldn’t mean anything, and she knew that going back meant staying there normal and without magic, preferably human again.

That got her thinking, as time travel was theoretically possible. And now she lived in a world where the impossible was the reality. If she could learn to manipulate time and send herself back home right after leaving. It would be like she never left. The theatrics she could blame on a magic trick she learned to impress Nicole. Her thoughts wandered as looked out the window, thinking of home and imagining going back before sleep took her.

Another morning came early when Nathaniel woke her for another round of practice. And so it continued for days, and then weeks. But in the afternoons she made breaks to practice with Lia and Borka. After a month she had settled on fighting with a staff. Magic was deadly and it was hard to make it less so, so she wanted an option of defending herself that didn’t include lethal force.

Sure a large stick may break a few bones and give a lot of bruises, but it didn’t kill outright. And what kind of wizard walked around without a staff. Hers did look like a stick made for knocking on heads instead of having crystals or whatever the movies shown, but still, it added to her arsenal and it looked good.

Learning elemental magic only increased in speed after she knew enough about manipulating earth. Fire was the easiest, as combustion only needs fuel and oxygen to get started. With the abundance of oxygen in the air around her, it was easy to create and manipulate flames. But she steered clear of it as much as she could. The thing about not playing with fire unless you want to burn yourself.

As much as using fire was easy, it became harder to control than the earth on a larger scale. There Ana applied her knowledge of heat transfer. It was a lot faster to summon flames if you used magic to transfer heat instead of creating more. And with conduction and convection, she was able to craft some nifty spells. She didn’t have much interest in fire, so Nathaniel continued.

Water was in the middle between earth and fire. With earth it took time to start but became easier the longer you kept the spell up and with fire the reverse. Controlling water was best when you already had some moving around you, like in the rain or next to a river, but also became progressively harder to do the more water one tried controlling.

Summoning water was out of the question as it fell under conjuration, and the conjured water would quickly dissipate. A skill only useful in putting out fires, and even then usually the damage from the fire was preferred to opening the gates for some monstrosities to enter the world. The small amount of water vapor that could be pulled from the atmosphere was rarely useful, and very hard to do.

Manipulating wind came last and was at the same time the hardest and the easiest element to handle. It all depended on what you tried to achieve. She already used air manipulation to control her flames, so it was easier to separate oxygen from the air than to summon a gale storm. But with enough practice and mastery over air it was possible, but highly discouraged as changing the weather had consequences that were usually worse than whatever the spell was used against.

It took her over a month to get a good handle on what she later learned were the basics of elemental magic. Her training with the staff progressed much faster when compared. In between lessons, she continued asking her teacher all kinds of questions related to magic, one of them being about using magic to manipulate time.

“Manipulating time.” He repeated with a somber look before shaking his head and continuing. “Many theories and stories are out there, but I suspect that if possible those that succeeded are either keeping it quiet or were rewarded for their troubles with death. I suspect the latter. Time isn’t something meant for us to tinker with. But if anyone could do it, it might just be you.” He chuckled.

“You impressed me in every other way, why not in that as well.”

It gave her hope that there was a possibility, but it also opened some doors. If manipulating time was possible, what else was possible? Could she manipulate spacetime as a whole, creating wormholes and making teleportation possible?

“From throwing rocks and lighting candles to instantaneous travel, you are jumping a bit ahead.” He joked as they were returning to the house after a lesson.

“I’ve heard it done, so yes. But the knowledge to achieve something like that eludes me. I heard it done by going through the sea, or as you call it, the entropic dimension.”

“Who was able to do it?”

A small smile or remembering something fond bloomed on his face. “The person who taught my master. Granted it was the last time he was seen but after centuries of research he was able to do it.”

“So I should keep away until I get better?”

“I would recommend not trying at all but that has never stopped you.”

If teleportation was a thing, what else was? Could she achieve a fusion reaction with just magic? All she needed was heat and pressure. An absurd amount of heat and pressure, but the premise was simple. Not wanting to explode in a nuclear reaction she tabled that experiment for never. It was dangerous enough without magic in the mix.

But she continued her train of thought as she practiced. What about gravity? After another round of questions, he confirmed that indeed it was possible, and he even did it as an example. Lowering the gravity for a few moments making them feel a lot lighter.

It was a hard thing to do, but Ana was stubborn, and once she saw that it was a possibility she was on it like a bloodhound. Everything she learned so far felt like nothing when compared to a spell like that. After another month of her putting elbow grease into practicing in the free time she had, she was able to do it. Once she broke that wall it became easier to increase the scale of her manipulation. Same with earth magic it took a while to get started but then it became easier to change and manipulate.

Showing Nathaniel her progress proved to be an excellent idea, as for the first time she got to see a look of shock and awe on the usually collected and calm man. Two months had passed, and each day was easier. Instead of garnering despair about never going back, she held hope and determination. It made her being trapped in this world feel like an extended vacation.

Every piece of knowledge she learned and every skill she got made her feel less homesick. Would she want to give all of this up? Yes, she had a rocky start, but now things were different. Now she understood and got into magic, and after two months she found herself craving the luxuries home less and less.

Deciding to cross that bridge when she comes to it, she continued her practice. But those two months weren’t uneventful. As Nathaniel had said, she received several letters and even more guests trying to either enlist her or hire her for a certain amount of time. Besides the army, a collection of merchants wanted to get her to travel around protecting ships. While a lucrative offer, she didn’t like ships much past the shanties she could sing.

Good and bad offers were rejected the same way, explaining that she was just a student and would decide after completing her education. She imagined that knowing she was only a meager student and not an actual wizard would deter many offers, but instead, it was in reverse. Everyone hoped to get the student while she was young and didn’t know better, as she would get better with time.

It was akin to getting a child to sign a life binding contract, and if it wasn’t for Nathaniel she most likely would have taken one of the offers. Lia was still unchanging in her mind about joining Silv, as even if they filled the spot another would be made for a wizard, being how rare they were.

And Lia’s constant pleading was slowly grinding away at Ana’s walls. The major hurdles were out of the way leaving only her not liking having to fight monsters. She understood that the experience would raise her skill, that the traveling would allow her to meet other people, some of whom may have insight into the topics she was interested in.

So as time went by so did the pros, reducing the cons to only a petty few. But learning that she had time also meant that she could prolong the decision, and she would only get more skilled in the meantime. At least that was in theory.

In truth both her physical and magical training was hitting a dead end, and she needed actual fighting and life and death situations to improve. While she could continue to practice magic and it would slowly increase her strengths, it was an agonizingly slow process that would take decades if not centuries to reach Nathaniels’ level.

Discussing other options with Lia always ended in an argument, resulting in Ana calling her bloodthirsty, while Lia called Ana a coward. Sharing a brain didn’t mean that there were no fights, only that they got past those fights. Deciding not to talk to each other just made life harder for both so their fights didn’t last. A few even going so far that either Lia appeared to Ana or Ana went to meditate just so they could scream at each other.

After another three months of practicing and learning a safe way to use conjuration among other things, Nathaniel reluctantly told her that she had learned all the basics. A thing that took years and in some cases decades to learn, she got in half a year. But alongside the magic, he kept repeating to her every day not to let her knowledge and skills go to her head, and now every time she used a spell his voice was there to ground her ego.

Pride goeth before a fall.

The day she officially finished her training they held a small celebratory dinner with just the three of them, four if one counted Lia. It was there when Nathaniel dropped another bombshell on Ana, during a casual conversation after she asked him what his teacher’s teacher was called, the one who disappeared.

“Merzhin?!” She got up from her chair, food spilling out of her mouth.

“Yes?”

“You mean like, Merlin!?”

“I guess, depends on what dialect you use. Why?”

“Because if he really is Merlin, I’m pretty sure I know where he went. How long ago did he disappear?”

Nathaniel thought for a long moment.

“Well, I guess around millennia, my master was but an apprentice at the time. ”

Ana promptly fell in the chair and started laughing. After a few moments, she calmed herself and continued. “There is a very famous legend in my world, about a wizard named Merlin. A work of fiction as there was little evidence to support the claim that the stories were true.”

Her eyes widening in realization she leaned on the table and continued. “He is described in many different stories as either a wizard or a druid, but always using magic. If he indeed ended my world it means he kept using magic even if there was none there.”

“If that is indeed the case, why not return here?”

“Who knows, maybe it’s not him, or maybe it was and he claimed to be a wizard and the stories got written as such. There isn’t a way to confirm but it would be cool it is indeed him.”

“Destiny perhaps.”

After Ana tilted her head in confusion he explained.

“He went there, and you came here. Out of all the worlds out there.”

“Not destiny but Adrasteia, being a deity she knew. Either way, it makes you think.”

“Indeed it does.” They finished their dinner in more conversation, discussing Ana’s plans and what the future held.