-Day 2-

“Emily, can you help me with this? I can’t seem to get it.”

“Hmm, Let me see...” Emily inspected my scribbling. “I see. You wrote this part wrong. This line should be connected here. You should make a circle here.”

“But... I did put a circle there.”

“Really? But Hiiro, this is an oblong.”

“O-Oh. I-I see. Sorry. Thanks.”

Ahhrrrggg. This is really hard. Memorizing and Art are my two worst skills. Even my penmanship is bad. I am a genius in Math and Computers though. Who needs memorizing when you could simply search it on the Internet? Who needs drawing when there’s photoshop? Who needs writing when you have a keyboard? Sadly, they don’t have computers in this world. Ahhrrrggg. I wish these were all numbers.

“Calm down Hiiro. All you need is to adapt… Adapt, adapt...” I said to myself as I went back to my concentration. “...Okay, let’s do this again,”

“Ahm. Hiiro, who are you talking to?” Emily asked.

“Myself. I’m talking with myself.”

“I-I see.”

I know, I’ll just imagine them as computer codes.

“Let’s try that.” Calmly, I imagined myself writing a computer code in paper. After the rune is finished, it still didn’t glow.

As if imagining this as a code will help me improve my drawing. If that was the case then I should be able to perfect my art classes back in my school.

“Ahm. Emily, can I practice my penmanship and drawing skills first? I don’t think I can write a good rune with my current self.”

“Okay, Hiiro, if that’s what you want.” Emily blushed for some reason. “T-Then, I guess, I should help you.”

“Thank you.” We spent the whole day improving my drawing skills.

-Day 3-

Exhausted, in the meantime, Emily and I decided to take a break from practice.

“Hiiro, I can’t believe your penmanship is this bad.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Come to think of it. You told me that you were a writer before you died, right?” Emily asked.

She remembered? That was when we first talk. Well, I avoided further question by telling her to go to sleep

“Yes?”

Actually, I was a programmer. I just didn’t know how to explain it to her, so I just said “writer”.

Well, both programmers and writers create something using a “language” so I think they’re almost the same.

“Hiiro, I’m sorry if I would offend you but, how did you... became a writer with this penmanship?” she asked as I stared at her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything bad.”

“You don't need to apologize... I… I use a tool that lets me write a story without using a pen.”

It’s called a keyboard.

“Really? What a wonderful tool it is. I want to see it,” she replied.

I don’t think it would exist here.

“Ahm... Then, Hiiro?” Her eyes sparkled. “How… How long have you been writing?”

“I… I started when I was 13 years old. My father taught me everything I know.”

Technically, I’m not lying this time. My father is a programmer, and he really did teach me.

“One day, I saw my father sitting beside the table (in front of the computer). I got curious, so I watched him write (a program). He then noticed me and asked if I want to learn to write (a program). I accepted his offer, and he's been teaching me (how to code) since then.”

“I...I see. Your father... really loves you,” Emily looked down.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

I forgot she doesn’t have a father.

“It’s okay. You don’t... have to worry.”

I need to think of something… I know.

“Emily, would you like to hear one of the stories I made?”

“Really?” She smiled. “Yes. I want to hear it.”

Well, it’s actually the plot of a game I created.

“Then I’ll start. The story is entitled, The Master’s Familiar.”

Once upon a time, there was a genius mage. His talents in magic were extraordinary; he was one-in-a-million... the Chosen One. The other mages treated him as some kind of king and praised him every time they met him. Yet, he didn’t have anyone he could call a friend; he lived all alone in his house. It all changed when he could no longer endure the loneliness, and decided to summon a familiar. It was a female dragon who could transform into a human.

The two of them lived together, while taking up quests and missions from the kingdom. As the two of them embarked on their adventures, their relationship with each other eventually grew until the two of them fell in love and became lovers.

One day, invaders attacked the kingdom. The king then instructed and sent the two of them, with some warriors, to defend the kingdom in the front-lines. However, their enemies were too many. As the day went on, their allies died little by little; either by battle, disease or some other incidents until only a few remained. The king, however, couldn’t send any more reinforcements because the other warriors were also busy defending the other parts of the kingdom.

“What happened then?” Emily asked.

“Well... The mage… I mean the two successfully defended the kingdom until reinforcements arrived. The king then awarded them as the savior of the kingdom.”

“Wow. What a nice ending.”

“Yes?”

Actually, that’s not the real ending:

The mage was mortally wounded in one of his battles. The dragon then came to save him, but the mage begged her to protect the kingdom at all costs. The mage also knew that if he died, the dragon would also die, so he held on to his life while the dragon was fighting. Finally, reinforcements came, but they were too late--the master and his familiar had already passed away. Touched by their efforts, the king informed his people that they will conduct a hero’s burial for the two of them.

I just can’t tell Emily things about death, considering her mother died.

-Day 4-

The rune I wrote on the ground glowed.

Yes. Finally, I can write a decent rune.

“Emily, it glowed.”

“Congrats, Hiiro. You finally did it...” Filled with joy, I jumped and hugged Emily.

Wait, a minute.

Realizing what I just did, I separated from her. “I’m sorry Emily. I... got carried away.”.

“I-It’s okay. I-I don’t mind.” She blushed. “A-Anyway, Hiiro, you are now ready to use magic. Now, we can go to the final step.”

“Yes.”

“This time, you will write the rune in the air.”

“The air?”

“Yes. Even though you can still cast a spell on runes written on a solid surface, in an actual battle, it’s impractical to do.”

I see. She’s right. In a battle, mages tend to move while fighting. Going to a solid surface each time to cast a spell will make you predictable.

“Remember Hiiro, writing in the air is harder than writing in a solid surface. You need a great amount of concentration and imagination for it since you can’t see the runes until you complete it.”

Ooh, so that’s what the meditation is for.

“Now, I will show you again how to cast fireball.” Emily wrote a rune. “Oh, Goddess of fire, descend and lend me thy strength... !!!” The spell exploded into the swamp.

I’m so excited. I can’t wait to do that.

“Now, Hiiro it’s your turn. You just need to imagine there’s a wall in front of you.”

-First Try-

There’s a wall in front of me. There’s a wall in front of me. There’s a wall in front of me.

Raising my fingers, I wrote the rune in the air. “Oh, Goddess of Fire, descend and lend me thy strength... !!!” However, nothing happened.

I tried it again and again, but, it produced the same results.

-Sixth Try-

“Hiiro, you need to concentrate more. You also need to imagine the rune you’re writing and not just the wall. You need to picture it. The words, shapes, lines, everything.”

Calm down Hiiro. You can do this. First, imagine the wall. It’s in front of you. It’s hard and smooth. Now, start writing. Imagine every words, shapes and symbols. Write it all in the wall. They should be properly placed and perfectly connected. Concentrate on the image.

The rune appeared in front of me. It was glowing. “Oh, Goddess of fire, descend and lend me thy strength... !!!” Unfortunately, my hand exploded into flames.

“Waaaah. Emily, help!” As fast as she can, Emily cast some sort of water magic to put out the fire.

“Hiiro, You did it.”

“But... I failed.”

“No, you almost did it. You just wrote the rune too slow; the fireball couldn’t be released on time. You just need to hasten your writing.”

“Gotcha.” However, the results stayed the same for about five times.

This is harder than I thought. I need to move my hand faster. Okay let’s do this again.

-Twelfth Try-

“Oh, Goddess of fire, descend and lend me thy strength... !!!” This time, the fireball exploded in my legs. Emily then cast the water magic again to put out the fire.

“You’re almost there, Hiiro. This time your incantation was too fast. You need to time both the writing and the incantation.”

Future results stayed the same.

-After so Many Tries...-

I am covered in smoke. My bones are charred black. I guess I need to take a bath later. However, I refuse to let go of my training. I’ll try it again one more time.

“Oh, Goddess of fire. Descend and lend me thy strength. !!!” Unfortunately, I still failed

“I guess, this is it for the day. You can still try tomorrow.” Emily suggested.

“Yes.” A smoke then came out from my mouth.

-Day 5-

Hours passed, I tried and tried, each having a different result. However, all of those were failures. A lot of times, I almost hit Emily.

I need to be careful. I don’t want to hurt her.

“Oh, Goddess of Fire, descend and lend me thy strength. !!!” A fireball burst forth from my hand and hit the swamp.

“Yes… Finally, I’ve done it!” Brimming with happiness, I jumped and hugged Emily. She also hugged me.

“Yay, Good job Hiiro!” We then noticed that we’re hugging.

“I’m sorry. I did it again. I got too excited.”

“I-It's okay. I-I got too excited too.” Emily paused for a bit. “Ahem. Anyway. Hiiro, I never thought you would be this good. It took me one and a half month just to cast a fireball.”

“Really? I guess because I’ve meditated for a long time or I could just be a genius. Haha~.”

Suddenly, I heard a grumbling sound coming from her stomach.

“I-I’m sorry. I forgot, I haven’t eaten yet.” She blushed.

“It’s okay... I know I’ll cook something for you. I’m a good cook after all.”

“Really?”

Emily seems excited.

“Yes. You seem to be excited for a moment.”

“Yes. Honestly, this would be the first time I would taste someone else’s dishes other than my own or my mother’s cooking.”

“Let’s go to the kitchen, then.” Walking back to the house, Emily realized something.

“I forgot. We’ve run out of food.”

“O-Oh. What should we do?” The sounds from her stomach became a bit louder.

“Hmm.”

This is hard. Animals don’t wander in this part of the forest and the trees don’t seem to bear any fruits.

“Hmmmm… I know. Is there a village nearby? We can buy ingredients there.”

“There’s a.... There’s a necromancer village nearby,” Emily said in a gentle voice.

“Really? Let’s go then. I want to see it. I want to know more about it.”

We’ve decided to go to the necromancer’s village. My mind was filled with excitement, I didn’t notice Emily’s distressed expression.