“This sucks.” Cole sighed, bored out of his mind.

He’d spent the last few hours trying his best to replicate the feeling of mana coursing through him, but to no avail. The determination he’d had was sucked out of him as fast as it’d been instilled. Cole wanted to make progress on his own, but what couldn’t be helped couldn’t be helped.

Turning to Lucy, Cole saw she was still tucked away in bed, her head facing the other direction. He placed his arm on the side of the couch, pushing himself up to wake her. All he wanted was a little refresher on what he was supposed to be doing.

“Giving up already?” Lucy asked.

“Uh,” Cole said, taken aback for a second, “yeah… I am.”

“I guess it can’t be helped.”

Lucy swiftly sprawled out of bed, making her way to the couch. As she sat down, she signaled Cole to join her once again. Cole had at least expected Lucy to be groggy and annoyed by him interrupting her short nap. Was she even sleeping?

“Alright,” Lucy said. “Let’s do the same thing as before, only this time, you’ll be the one controlling the mana.”

“What do you mean?” Cole asked, his thoughts still focused on Lucy’s robot-esc awakening.

“I’m going to pour a small amount of mana into you. You’ll be able to feel it the same way as before, but it will continue to flow inside of you instead of turning to ice. While it does, I want you to try to move it on your own.”

“Where should I move it?”

“Nowhere in particular,” Lucy replied. “You could first try to make it stop. Mana is always in a state of flow, so making it stop would be an easy way to tell if what you’re trying is working.”

“Okay,” Cole said, determined to get it right. “I’m ready.”

Lucy placed her hand on Cole’s shoulder as he closed his eyes to concentrate. He felt the same coldness as mana slowly entered his body through Lucy’s hand. It was less than before, cut off as Lucy stopped pouring mana into him. Her hand remained on Cole’s shoulder as he tried to focus. Attempting to stop its motion, Cole honed in on the mana as it made its way up and down his arms, torso, and legs.

Some time passed, resulting in only unsuccessful attempts to stop the flow of mana. Furthermore, the mana had started to feel uncomfortable as it coursed through him. Cole even began to feel a subtle stinging pain from the mana, making him wince. While attempting to stop it again, the mana made its way back to his shoulder, abruptly retreating from his body into Lucy’s hand.

“Are we taking a break already?” Cole asked, opening his eyes.

“Only momentarily,” Lucy replied. “You looked like you needed a moment.”

“Yeah, it felt kind of weird near the end.”

“That’s to be expected,” Lucy said. “Foreign mana will inevitably be rejected by the body. Let me know whenever it starts to feel uncomfortable.”

“Gotcha.”

“Are you ready to go again?”

“Sure am,” Cole replied, ready to put in as much work as it’d take.

Once again, Cole felt the subtle chill of Lucy’s mana. He’d grown more accustomed to the feeling, making it easier to follow as it flowed through him. Closing his eyes, Cole returned to his state of heavy concentration.

A few hours passed as Lucy helped Cole train. They’d taken many short breaks, allowing for the pain of foreign magic to reside before continuing. Cole had made little progress. He thought he’d felt the mana slow down here and there, but was unsure of whether or not it was a product of his own will. Nevertheless, Cole didn’t lose faith in himself. As long as Lucy would keep going, then so would he.

“Hey Cole, think fast,” Lucy said.

“Hu-AAH.”

Cole opened his eyes to see Lucy tossing the empty bowl of strawberries directly towards his face. His right hand reflexively moved to stop the bowl, barely catching it in time.

“What was that for?” Cole asked, slightly annoyed.

“Your training, of course,” Lucy replied.

“I thought we were training my magic, not my reflexes.”

“Both are very important, but yes, we’re training your magic.”

“Then why’d you throw the bowl at me,” Cole asked, confused by Lucy’s logic.

“Were you not paying attention to the flow of my mana when you caught the bowl?”

“Of course not. I was too busy thinking about getting smacked in the face with it.”

“Well,” Lucy said, “when you caught the bowl, for a split second, the mana stopped moving.”

“It did?”

“It did indeed.”

“But how could it? I wasn’t even thinking about it.”

“Exactly,” Lucy said. “I think you’ve been too focused on the process of stopping my mana to actually stop it. You can’t just think about it stopping until it does, you have to stop it through action.”

“Okay... so, in this case, that action was my hand moving to stop the bowl?”

“Correct. You were so focused on trying to stop my mana, that when you abruptly took action to stop the bowl, you inadvertently restricted the mana enough to stop it. Remember that your hand didn’t move because you imagined it would. Your hand moved because you told it to.”

“Alright,” Cole said. “I’ll try my best.”

Closing his eyes, Cole refocused on the mana that was still flowing through him. Instead of imagining the mana slowly halting, Cole imagined his hand stopping the mana, as it had with the bowl. A few moments passed, but nothing happened. Cole took a deep breath before trying again. When he did, he put a far greater emphasis on the motion of stopping the mana with his hand.

As the mana moved to where he wanted, Cole hit his hand against his chest. The mana abruptly stopped in its tracks. It immediately began to wiggle side to side, but remained within a small area around where Cole had placed his hand. It was as though Cole had reached into his chest and forcibly stopped the mana from moving.

“I did it!” Cole shouted in excitement.

“Try moving it,” Lucy said.

“Ok.”

Cole calmed himself down. He’d finally managed to interact with Lucy’s mana, but turning it into something usable was another story. His hand still pressed against his chest, Cole started by moving his arm to the right. Lucy’s mana was quick to follow. Cole brought his arm towards his shoulder. He planned to bring the mana along the same route it had flowed earlier, leading into his hand. The mana continued to follow, though its jittering side to side hadn’t stopped.

“Good,” Lucy said. “Keep going.”

Cole could feel the mana compress as it moved from his torso to his shoulder. Previously, the mana had flowed in a long stream going through his arm. Now, the ball of mana he’d gained control over was being forced into a tighter space. Surprisingly, the mana obediently condensed into a smaller ball as Cole squeezed his hand tighter. The only difference Cole could notice was the uptake in the jittering of the mana. Finally, the ball reached his hand.

“Try spreading the mana around your hand,” Lucy said. “Slowly let it fill up more space, but not so much that it leaks back beyond your wrist. Then, when you're ready, try to let the mana leave through your fingertips.”

“I’ll try,” Cole replied.

Loosening his grip, Cole could feel the mana attempting to spread out as far as it could. He tightened his grip as the mana tried to flow down to his wrist. Intuitively, Cole tilted his hand to direct the mana toward his fingers.

It worked. The mana flowed from a loose ball in his palm to a steady stream that flowed into his fingers and thumb. However, the mana didn’t immediately leave through his fingers as he’d expected. I guess it needs more direction.

In one swift motion, Cole moved his hand to ‘shove’ the mana from his fingertips. To Cole’s surprise, the mana did leave his body, but not in the way he’d expected. Instead of forming a ball, thin needles of ice rapidly shot from each of his fingers. These needles of ice hit the wall his hand was aimed at, frailly shattering against it in a blue mist.

“Uh,” Cole said, “that’s not what I meant to do.”

“What’d you expect?” Lucy laughed. “I told you to slowly form a ball, not rapidly shoot out projectiles.”

“I’m a little new at this if you didn’t know.” Cole joked. “I’m still surprised I was able to do anything at all, to be honest. To think all I had to do was use my hand...”

“Physical actions are very useful in visualizing and producing magic,” Lucy explained. “For this reason, many people add physical moves to their magic as they use it. Without doing so, it can become much harder to use complex magic with consistency.”

“Oh,” Cole said, “I guess that makes sense. Why didn’t you tell me at the very beginning?”

“You’re a bit of an oddball,” Lucy said bluntly. “I wasn’t sure if the same logic would apply.”

“Thanks?” Cole awkwardly laughed, “Should we go again? I think I can do it properly now.”

“No.”

“Huh?”

“After what you just did,” Lucy said, pointing at the wall he’d just shot at, “I think you’ll be able to do it on your own.”

“You think?” Cole asked, visibly uncertain, “I still don’t understand how to create mana like yours.”

“You’re not creating mana. You’re simply collecting mana into a tangible form. When you were moving my mana around, you condensed it into a ball, right?”

“Yeah.”

“You have to do the same thing, only starting from a far less tangible scale.”

“How?” Cole asked.

“Just imagine creating the same stream of mana I sent into you. Once you do that, and maybe incorporate a physical motion, you should be able to produce more ice.”

Once again, Lucy put out her right hand. This time, she cupped her left hand beside it. The subtle blue mist that left Lucy’s hand had become more apparent to Cole than it had been before. He watched as the magic Lucy produced with her mana slowly spiraled from each of her hands. The ice that formed was far more complex than before.

When Lucy was finished, she held a small sculpture of ice. Lucy brought her hand to Cole’s, placing the sculpture in his. Bringing it closer to his face, Cole realized it was of him. She’d gotten all the details right, down to the minor details.

“Thanks,” Cole said. “How long did it take you to learn to do stuff like this?”

“It’s easy once you get the hang of it.” Lucy insisted. “Try for yourself.”

“If you say so.”

Cole placed the figurine-like sculpture of him down on the table. He placed his hands together, interlocking his fingers on his lap. Closing his eyes, he imagined forming a stream of mana. He’d grown accustomed to the feeling from the hours of practice with Lucy, making him confident in identifying whether or not he was making progress. He continued like this for a while, simply focusing on that flow.

When he was ready, Cole began to squeeze his hands together, slowly moving his wrists closer. As he did, the image in his head became a discernible feeling within him. It wasn’t as much mana as Lucy had produced, but he could definitely feel a small stream of mana that wasn’t there before.

Not wanting to lose progress, Cole quickly quelled his excitement. He loosened his grip, tightening it whenever the stream of mana seemed to diminish. This helped him get a grasp of how much control he had, while also forming a denser stream of mana. Rotating his hands, Cole tried to shift the stream of mana towards his shoulder. The collection of mana felt like an eel as it flowed past his chest.

While he wasn’t fully in control, Cole was becoming more confident in himself. Once the mana was corralled towards his shoulder, it started to flow swiftly down his arm. The stream of mana began to pool in his hand, spreading itself evenly past his wrist.

This better work. Cole thought to himself. He’d managed to collect mana in his arm, all on his own, but he was only halfway there. Cole slowly pulled his hands apart, making space to form the sphere. He could feel the mana trying its best to flow freely, back up his arm. However, Cole was able to keep it stabilized, even as his hands got farther away. Resting his right hand on his knee, Cole tried to recreate the same blue mist he’d seen radiate out from Lucy’s hand.

Instead of forcing the mana into his fingertips, Cole let it seep out from his entire palm. Surprisingly, he was able to do so without an accompanying physical action. The blue mist slowly rose from his hand, staying close to its surface. Cole brought his left hand closer, trying to touch it.

He started to move the blue mist in his hand. As he willed it, the mist spiraled slightly upwards. Though it was different from how Lucy had done it, the blue mana mist collected to form a small sphere of ice. Expending the rest of the mana he’d collected, Cole added additional layers of ice to the sphere's exterior. It rested in his hand as the blue mist faded away.

Cole had successfully formed the sphere in his hand. He was happy, but it seemed lackluster in comparison to the sculpture Lucy so easily made. Lucy had mentioned trying it for himself, but he was confident he didn’t have that much control over his magic. Basic shapes were the only thing he planned to try. He thought for a moment of what he could make, but was drawing a blank.

I’ve got it! Cole thought, remembering something simple he could form. Centering the sphere back in his hand, he slowly began to add to it over the next ten minutes, forming another shape below it. In the end, it wasn’t much. It was just a collection of the sphere, a cone, some thick, donut-like circles connecting them, and a flat base. Altogether, it served to form something he was all too familiar with.

“Huh,” Lucy said. “What’s that?

“It’s called a pawn,” Cole replied. “It’s from a game called chess.”

“Chess?” Lucy asked curiously.

“Yeah. It’s something I used to play a bunch when I was a kid, but not so much anymore. Sure brings back a lot of memories, though.”

I’m gonna miss them. Cole thought he’d known what being summoned to another world would entail, but he hadn’t fully processed how depressing losing all his friends would be. He was headed to college soon, anyway, but this was different. He’d never be able to talk to them again, let alone stay up all night playing games. He’d just used magic for the very first time, but he couldn’t help but feel a great deal of sadness.

“Well, this is just one piece, anyway,” Cole said, rotate the piece in his hand. “It’s nothing without the whole set.”

“That’s a great idea!” Lucy said, surprisingly excited.

“What is?” Cole asked, still down on himself.

“You can practice by creating the rest of the pieces. Once you’re done, we can take a break for you to teach me how to play.”

“I guess I’ll need to rest between practicing. You really want to play? A lot of people find chess to be pretty boring.”

“Didn’t you say you used to play it a lot?”

“Yeah, but-”

“Then I’m sure it’ll be fun enough. ‘Everything in life is worth experiencing, especially if you’ve never heard of it before.’ That’s what my master used to say, at least.”

“Your master sounds wise.”

“He is,” Lucy replied.

She may not have even realized it, but Lucy had brought up Cole’s mood. Even if he’d lost all of his friends, at least he had someone like her to keep him company.