It was early.

Ethan's room had a gentle ray of sun dripping on him and warming him up, seeping life energy into his cold body like a reviving potion, bringing him back to life in the gentlest of ways, with birds chirping outside of his window. Everything was mellow. A small, confused smile was on Ethan's face as he worked his jaw a few times, smacking his lips and rolling his tongue.

He was undeniably still on a high from the day before and as soon as the room came into focus, he knew he hadn't dreamed it all. His smile grew larger as he stretched in the middle of the bed. Nature was calling him to order and he snailed out of bed.

As the young man entered the bathroom he sat on the toilet, not registering that it felt kind of weird. When he stepped on the chair he had left in front of the sink though, all he could see in the mirror was his navel.

Still, it took him to try and reach for the sink's handle to fully grasp that something was not quite the same. His hands were bigger, his skin different and less green, more human like in fact; worried, he looked at his bottom, where his tail still was as perky and floor-steady as usual.

He was so happy of still owning a, now hairy, tail, he took it in his hands and hugged it like a little kid would have done a teddy-bear. He stepped down from the chair and looked in the mirror: he had a more human face, with dark lips, eyes that still had little of his old self, a nose, a full head of spiky hair, with his crests having become red hair in the forest of otherwise sepia colored strands.

His head hadn't changed in shape: he had still the same pointy chin and fine jaw, but his teeth looked less sharp and human. More than anything, he was taller, probably still less tall than Simone but more than enough. A little surprisingly, his clothes had grown on him during the night the same way they had shrunk the day before when he was done putting them on, still fitting him quite nicely.

He wanted to scream his approval and joy, but he felt the need to surprise the others: he simply washed and went down the two ramps of stairs, turned left twice, tiptoeing, and stopped near the kitchen entrance, where thanks to his ears he knew, someone was already busy at work.

Ethan was about to enter, when he heard fast steps coming rattling behind him: he only had the time to turn around when something hit him right in the middle, sending him flying. Crash landing on the floor, his already empty lungs were deprived by all air when Hugo came down thumping on his chest. The other Rokian took Ethan by the neck and then started letting out a high pitched scream, in order to call his master.

Ethan felt the need of breathing, but really couldn't.

He tried to break the iron clad grip around his neck open, but Hugo was way stronger: the poor boy struggled for a few seconds, then it all went black. When he came to, his head was hazy, like somebody had shoved in it a painful cloud of cotton candy. Simone was slapping him on the cheek, beautiful as ever, but as he smiled and went to talk, she took one of the kitchen's knives to his throat and said

-Good, you are awake: care to tell me who you are and what you are doing in my house?

-Damn, and good morning to you too, Simone.

His husky voice felt more manly, but Simone was still not moving and was nowhere closer to lower her knife. He looked at her a little more serious and said punctuating every word

-I am Ethan, okay? I used one of the skills I learned yesterday. In case that isn't enough, let me refresh your memory: you bought me yesterday from a man named Samson whom thought it a good idea to cripple his partner, Tommy, which named me. Today we are to start training with you. Now, can you help me get up?

-A skill did this to you? Which one?

She asked sounding slightly less angry, but yet umoving.

-After we were done patching Tommy up, I learned a passive about human anatomy that had an active aspect as well and... You are looking at it.

-Let me see it.

She simply said and he did just so, not wishing to get slashed first thing in the morning.

When she was done reading, she said to Hugo

-It's alright, my friend, you can relax: he is who he says he is.

Hugo looked at her a little vacuously through his leathery brown mask and returned to his chores. Ethan couldn't help but think he looked like a serial killer with that thing on, but as he had learned the day before, Hugo's previous master was an abusive one which had deemed funny chemically burning good part of his face off.

Simone had given him the mask because every time Hugo would catch a glimpse of his own ruined face in a mirror, he would start moaning and screaming in a painful way. Ethan had been grateful for his good stars when he heard the story.

Simone helped Ethan up and told him

-You know this skill you can also deactivate, right? It is simply fascinating. This has so much potential.

-Can anyone come and help me with the stairs?

Tommy called out loud from the upper floor.

-On my way, man.

Answered a still wobbly Ethan.

-Whoa, dude what happened to your mug now?

Asked Tommy when the other young man had arrived

-Cool, huh? And I still have a tail.

-Magic is awesome!

Whispered Tommy, then he added

-This is not an illusion, right?

-No, it isn't. Oh, and Hugo knocked me out cold because he didn't recognize me!

-You probably deserved it.

-I was sneaking behind Simone...

-I rest my case.

Later, after their breakfast, they went to the backyard.

In order to get to what Simone considered being a suitable spot for what they had to do, they didn't need leaving the protection of the house. A mention should be given to the fact that even if he was almost bursting out of his skin with excitement as well, Tommy didn't allow himself to let it show, while Ethan couldn't stop smiling like he had strings pulling at the sides of his mouth.

The backyard, just like every other square inch of the grounds was totally barren and unsightly, with rusty metallic scraps, burnt remains... not fit for what Simone had in mind. After a short walk, they reached a corner of the house where a golden colored, mushroom shaped, piece of metal was resting in a seemingly casual manner.

The woman whispered something, then knelt by the oddly shaped plaque and put her hand on it.

-Please, sit down, close your eyes, mouths and ears. What comes next could be a little unpleasant otherwise.

Ethan, now as tall as Tommy, helped him down in a circle Simone had indicated them, then they both did as told. What came next still felt very unpleasant, like someone had pulled them by the head hard and made them spin. It only lasted for a few seconds, but Simone sure wasn't kidding.

Still, at the end of it all, Ethan felt a little chilly; the air had changed. He could smell something very nice, like fresh grass, green undergrowth, tree bark. When he opened his eyes, he did it slowly, just to peek, in case whatever was going on wasn't over yet.

He couldn't believe it, but what he had smelled was actually all around him: the trees, and the lush green... The full forest package. Simone had just closed the golden cup, hiding back whatever it protected and gestured Ethan and Tommy, who had opened his eyes as well, it was okay to remove their fingers from their ears. They did so and got back on their feet.

-Very well, time to start, boys.

-Wait a second, aren't we even going to mention we are not where we were before?

Asked Tommy, a little afraid.

-What is there to say? You already summed it all up. I am a businesses woman that needs to go around a lot and wants to do it in the comfort of her own house: we left a magical empty copy of my humble abode back in Yeokia and transported all that was under the dome here.

The young man replied a little sarcastic

-As simple as that... Of course: silly of me to be surprised. How?

-Money, naturally. A lot of them, to be precise, but on the black market pretty much everything is on sale, if one is willing to pay the price.

-Thank goodness for human greed, then.

Tommy whistled with admiration.

-Precisely. Ethan is there something you would like to ask?

-No, not at the moment, I just wanted to say: you rock.

He gave her a thumb up.

-Thank you very much. I don't want to keep you standing for too long, Tommy, so I will try and be short: we are here to teach you how to sense and emit mana through exposure to your own element.

She had taken a very martial and serious posture, squaring her shoulders with legs slightly spread and hands behind her back, underlined by her thick hair pushed together in a sober low tail.

-In your case, Tommy, this involves you getting deep into the Life, while for you, Ethan, the Shadow.

-And how do we do that?

Asked Tommy, slightly concerned for himself.

-The ideal situation would be for you to be swallowed by a gigantic animal, but that would imply for you to be digested and for me to be punishable for animal endangerment.

She shook her head with a sigh

-So, we are going to settle for the next best thing: I know of a hollow tree which is still alive in that direction.

She pointed towards the east with her right hand.

-You will enter its trunk and try and have the mana flow from him to you and out. Ethan, you will help lowering him in and then you will do the same in a nice shadowy place. Now, follow me to the tree.

-Did you really consider the idea of feeding me to an animal?

-Come on... It was a joke. Unless you know where we can find a Mega Pommel, or similar, that doesn't like eating humans.

She didn't sound too convincing. A Mega Pommel, by the way, was a gigantic round sea clam, native of Havenrock, as big as a tennis court and always hungry.

-Funny, really. I am laughing, on the inside. Just waiting for the outside to catch up.

Said Tommy bitterly dragging his words.

After about a minute, they had reached a tree of the dimensions of Earth's average baobab, with a fat middle and widely spread branches, which had a serious crack in its bark, wide enough for a crouching man to step in, probably the former hovel of an oak bear, a big red furred omnivore rodent.

-This is where you young gentlemen will be sitting for this exercise. Before you do that though, I want you to listen to me for a moment. You are both already awakened beings, which means, to a certain degree, you should be able to feel the energy of your element.

-This exercise is not unlike dipping yourselves into a river, how strong the current will be, depends on how strong you are able to feel it, but just like for a river, its flow could be strong enough to carry you away and even drown you. That is why I want you to never lose grasp of your concept of self and on your surroundings.

-Finding something strong enough to anchor you to reality is the best way to go. It can be a smell, a sound, an object you touch... just take something from this wonderful lush forest and bring it inside your experience, alright? Something that, for you, is unquestionably real.

-Why, you make it sound very dangerous.

Said Ethan.

-Well, it really can be: the mana is by all means like a living thing. It is part of us and an energy residing into all things. It is your first time and you don't know how to float in these waters yet, let alone swim. I would like to avoid accidents, that's all.

She looked at him encouraging and yet seemingly very concerned.

This was not a joke.