Since I don't know who reads this, I'll thank you now. Thanks for reading.

Graduation is upon me, and I can't help but think, why can't I not age? I don't want to grow older...

Anyways, here's the deal in Mana's Emporium. Enjoy.

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Endless darkness. That’s the only word to describe what I could see. Or couldn’t, as it’s hard to tell when there is nothing to see. The way I moved across the floor because of the unknown force really didn’t sit well with me, but there was nothing I could do but flail my hands around me.

But all things must come to an end, as I feel something press against my bottom, my tail striking what I could only guess as the floor. My back rests gently against something hard, and I let out a sigh of relief from the experience I just went through. It felt short, but being in a dark place, a person can never find out what time it is.

“Well well, look what the cat dragged in..” A disembodied voice echoes through my right ear, and I turn that way to find only the dark space before me. A chuckles comes after my quick head turn, and I turn back to what I thought was straight.

“Now now, no need to be afraid. It was Borin who brought you here after all.” The voice becomes more feminine, and I raise my eyebrow at the voice.

“If you know that, why don’t you show yourself?” I ask out loud, and the voice chuckles.

“That is only something you can do yourself.”

“Something I can do myself? I can’t see in the dark!” I reply in earnest, and the womanly voice laughs, but nothing else comes after.

I spend a moment mulling over what she said, and I try to think of a way to get rid of the darkness. She, the voice I heard, is telling me to dispel the darkness. Doesn’t that mean I’m the only one who can’t see? Maybe, just maybe, I’m in an actual room, as my bottom testifies. If that is the case..

I stand up on the floor, or at least I think it is, and do one simple motion.

I kick in front of me.

I hear a gasp of pain, and a solid thud on the floor. The darkness around me starts to become lighter as I continue to look straight ahead. I begin to be able to make out simple things, like a figure on the ground, a couple tables, a chair, a bed, etc. I make out another figure on a chair as well, and the hulking figure brings to mind one person.

Borin.

I walk over to where Borin sits, and he turns around as soon as he hears my first step. With a hairy smile, Borin gestures to the one person on the floor.

“Yer know, yer should greet this shop owner more properly. She might die at any second.”

“I AM NOT THAT OLD!” the woman shouts from on the floor, and lifts herself off the ground. Her arms shaking, she stands on her feet and brushes off nonexistent dirt, and the visible wrinkles on her clothes.

She glares at me sullenly, and I look back to Borin, who gestures to the woman once again. I turn around and sigh, bowing at my waist.

“I greet you, mam.” I blandly say to her. I attempt to stay as monotone as possible. Her reaction was to laugh at my greeting though.

“You, haha, can’t even greet a stranger properly! You suck at it!” She clutches her small stomach as I look down at her, no longer bowing to her small figure.

Dressed in all black clothes, she grins a smile that shows a contrasting white. Upon her body was simply leather black jacket, leather black pants, leather black gloves. Does she have an obsession with leather? Or the color black?

Turning towards Borin, she sticks out her tongue and lifts up her middle finger. A universal language, indeed.

“You’re such a bastard, Borin. I am not that old, I’m only…” She tilts her head cutely, as her black hair shifts along with it. She sticks out her tongue, “Hehe, I can’t remember my last birthday.” Her eyes narrow, “Borin, why haven’t you thrown my birthday?”

Grunting, Borin gives the woman a look over, from head to toe, his eyes pausing near her chest… or lack of chest. “Well, that’s because yer an immortal bi-”

Borin doesn’t finish as he goes flying into the wooden wall, armored and similar to a bullet, his head gets stuck in the wall, the rest of his sentence lost. The woman/girl quickly hides her fist from sight, and glances at me, more specifically at my left side, and right arm. She bows at me now.

“Greetings, newcomer, to Vernier. I am the hostess of Mana’s Emporium, and although I have many names, just call me Mana.” She smiles brightly, as her aura shifts to the dark side. I shiver slightly, as she continues.

“I’m Mana the entrepreneur, the illusionist, the wicked woman, the-” She continues to build up her confidence with many, many titles. My feet begin to ache after the 300th self-acclaimed title, and so I sit down on the chair I had begun on. Borin managed to get his head out of the wall after the 100th title, and was drinking out of a tea cup meant for little girls, pink and flowered. A pleasant and pleased smile was on his face for some time.

She finally finishes at 350th title, the self-proclaimed Dark Seductress of Men. I chuckle slightly, just enough so she doesn’t hear, but she still ends up giving me a little glare.

“So, I can make a guess as to why you are here. But I’m curious, why do you think you are here?” Mana asks, and I suddenly find my mind blank. Borin was the one who led me here to Mana’s Emporium and I merely followed.

“Well, I mainly followed Borin because he’s the one who found me in the desert.” I shift my eyes to Borin, but he makes no sound at the mention of his name, and still has the blissful expression on his face. I look back at Mana to find her arms crossed and looking at me intently.

I scratch my cheek, “Well, I want to find my Mother and my friend, but I don’t know where to begin.”

Mana smiles at me, and uncrosses her arms. Walking closer to me, she places a hand on my forehead, muttering something that I couldn’t even hear, despite how close she is to me. After a few minutes of silence, she backs away from me and looks directly in my eyes.

“You will need to be stronger in order to find them, and after looking for and finding them using you as the centerpoint, only one of the two people you are looking for are on this planet. The other one, she isn’t on Vernier.” Giving me a pat on my shoulder she walks towards Borin’s blissful form, and swiftly kick him out of his stupor, using her foot on his head.

With a crash on the floor, he groans. I smile slightly at the sight, but could only think over what she said on their locations. At least I knew that one of them was on this planet, but where? I get off the chair and walk towards the two who begin to throw punches at each other.

Slightly wondering at their relationship, I could only ask another time.

“Will you give me the direction she is at?” I ask Mana, as she throws a punch at Borin. She looks at me with indifference, although the hint of a smile appears each time she throws a punch that hits Borin’s face.

“Can’t do that quite yet. You need training.” A few fleshy smacks later and Borin stands next to me holding a swollen cheek. He glares at the woman who did this, and Mana only smiles at his predicament.

“What type of training? I think my body is fine as it-” Holding up a finger, Mana shuts my mouth. “No no, you don’t understand. That isn’t really your body anymore, so you as you are now isn’t fine. Also, you have to train your radiation ability.” She removes her finger and wipes it on her pants.

“I have a radiation ability? What is it?!” I speak a little louder than I should, but she flippantly waves her hand at my question.

“The generic, and most bland type. Body strengthening. You can only enhance your body’s natural,” She looks at my right arm, the light seemingly being absorbed by the black metal that makes up it’s entirety. “and unnatural abilities and capabilities.”

I nod at her words, but then suddenly I remember that I should still have my liquid manipulation ability, right? Was there something wrong with my head? Did I not have it anymore? Or maybe I do... “How do you know that?” I ask casually.

She waves her hand, and Borin dodges it. She tsks slightly, “I’m not like you, I can manipulate the radiation particles in the air to look into your head, and make you see illusions.”

“Illusions?”

“Yes, Illusions. As in this might not be my real body at all, and you might not even be standing.”

I nod at her explanation, but I could care less about her body. It wasn’t even appealing to my libido.

Borin rubs his swollen cheek slightly, and begins to speak. “Just to let you know, you also have to get used to your body too. And your ability to control that tail of yours.”

Mana nods, and continues, “That is why Borin will be working on that, and I will be helping you train your ability to manipulate radiation and use it for enhancing.”

“Alright, but I have a question.”

“Go ahead, but if it’s about Borin’s way of speaking, then it’s a no, since I can’t use my ability on brain dead oafs. He’s talking normally because there IS something wrong with him.”

“I already knew that… But when will training be done? I have to find my family.”

In response to my question, Mana points up. I look at the roof, then look back down at her.

“The roof? That isn’t really time sensitive..”

“No, you imbecile. Your training will be done when you reach the Upper City.”

In the background, Borin nods his head in approvement, although he is shaking slightly. I hope this isn’t going to be devilishly hard… Wait, what's the Upper City... Is it the floating part of the city?

Seeing my face pale, Mana's laughter becomes horribly wicked. Just what have I done...