Mito opened his eyes and saw a wooden ceiling. The ceiling looked as if it was made of one huge plank. After a few minutes of snoozing he got up and looked around the room. It was a big oval room completely made out of wood. There was the bed he was lying on, a nightstand and a mirror beside it and a wardrobe right behind the bed. A bit further was something that looked like a couch. And near the entrance was a table and four chairs. The room was decorated with pictures, swords and other personal stuff. On the table was some food, a glass of water and a note. Hungry as Mito was, he stood up and went to the table. He couldn't read the note since it was in another language. He assumed that the food and water was for him and he started to replenish himself. As soon as he finished eating and almost as if they were just waiting for this moment, Ewu came into the room with six other humanoid wolves. Mito recognized Cram and Ramoc.

Ewu raised his voice and said “Good, you already ate. We would like to discuss the events from yesterday. But first I’d like to introduce you to our four Elders. Mito this is Elder Niti, Elder Rica, Elder Terga and Elder Langia. Four Elders, this is Mito Sirova from the country Earth.”

Mito saw that Ewu had his hand again below his mouth and a light was shining in his palm. He wondered if this was magic or a translation device. Since he saw the wolves transforming Mito was sure that he was in another world where magic exists. Mito bowed and said “A pleasure to meet you”. The four elders smiled and also bowed slightly. Mito was glad to see this, because he wasn't sure if this is also a custom here. In the worst case he could have offended them with the gesture. Ewu guided them to the couch where they sat down. Then he gave a nod in the direction of Mito and said “Mito we would like you to start and tell us what happened and how you ended up so far away from any civilisation in front of our sacred forest.”

Mito nodded in acknowledgement and started to talk about the events that brought him here “Allright, I would like you to to only listen to my story and don’t interrupt, please hold your questions for afterwards. I will start now. First of all I am from the planet Earth, not the country Earth. It seems I was transported here. I have no idea how and why. The last thing I remember is that I was at a friend's home. We drank some alcohol and talked. On my way home I was about to take another step, but this one didn’t end up on the walkway. Instead I stepped on grass. And that’s already everything I know on how I ended up here in the middle of nowhere, with a sky splitting headache, dizzy and nauseous. I definitely feel that something happened in between the step from Earth to this planet. But I can't remember, what remains is just the feeling that something is missing from my memories. At first I thought this was alcohol induced and I am hallucinating or something. But I realized pretty fast that’s not the case and this is real. After this realization I thought about how to survive. The first thing was to get a weapon, find water, food and shelter. So I ripped out a small tree and started walking. A few moments later Ewu, Cram and Ramoc found me. Again sorry about that. That was also the point where I got to know that this is another world and not Earth. Because in my world something like shape shifting is not possible. I assume that this is done using a power that we would call magic. A power that only exists for us in fantasy. A power to overcome the limitations of the body.” Mito made a short pause and then continued. “And one more thing, I am twenty eight years old. I thought I was reincarnated into a child. But as I looked at myself in the mirror over there I realised that it's not a reincarnation. Instead my body got reverted to my eight year old self.”

After that Mito told them a few details about the earthly civilisation, technology and the absence of magic; the others looked less shocked than he would have expected.

It took quite a while until they responded. Ewu was the one who spoke first “This....is actually not the first time we heard of someone from another world. We have never seen one, but it is said that in ancient times there was once someone from another world. It is said that he was the one who liberated the Estara and established the Estarian Kingdom. Also you called the shapeshifting ‘Magic’. It is actually called ‘Arts’, those are body specific. But the communication I am doing right now is magic and we call it the same as you. I think I speak on behalf of all of us if I say that we believe you so far. But we want to know your intentions and what you plan to do.” He waited for all the others present to respond, who then nodded one after another. Mito looked at them with a serious face and said “My intentions...that’s a rather wide subject and yet narrow. Since I know nothing of this world I don't really know what to do. But for starters I'd like to get a good relationship with everyone. For what I want to do I'm pretty clear about that. I want to get back to my world. But since this is not an option at the moment, I would like to live here with you. You saved me and treated me well, so I trust you. Also if possible I would like to go to a school or get personal training in knowledge about this world, speech and writing used here, weapon mastery and especially knowledge and the use of magic. I know I am not in such a position to demand anything, but I will definitely repay any favor given in double.”

Ewu and the other six were silent for a few moments. Then they started discussing in the wolven language. After a few minutes Ewu looked at Mito and said “These demands are at least not too much. This is something every child is taught here. But the problem is that our standing with the Estara, which you resemble, is not very good. You would have a really hard time in our schools, maybe even get killed. That's why we decided to assign a private tutor for every subject you stated. We will also assign a warrior that will always be at your side. This is of course for your protection, but also since we can’t completely trust you for now, for our protection. You are free to wander the city and even go outside but you must obey our laws. I will get you a list of these laws. But the three basic ones are ‘You are not allowed to harm anyone neither physically, magically or bully anyone.’ ‘Stealing is prohibited’ and ‘Never harm the sacred forest’. I assume this is alright for you?”

Mito bowed respectfully and answered “Yes this is more than I hoped for. Of course I understand the bodyguard assigned to me, so this is also fine. I am very grateful to you and you have my deepest thanks.”

The six of them looked relieved and Ewu stood up after exchanging looks with the others. Then he focused on Mito and said “I will prepare a room for you to live in, for your magic training you need to take a magic aptitude test. It is possible that you don't have a mana heart and then you wouldn't be able to use magic. And your look tells me you don’t know what that is. A mana heart is the mana storage it is to the right of your normal heart. To cast magic you need two things: a mana heart - the storage - and a mana core. The mana core is in your brain. It is like a translator, it translates your thoughts into commands for your mana to execute. Ramoc will guide you to the mana aptitude test and afterwards to your room.”

With that everyone left except Mito and Ramoc. Ramoc then pointed to the exit and left after Mito. It was still in the middle of the day when they left the room. Mito found himself on a huge tree about thirty meters in the air. He looked around and saw himself standing in a big city made of trees and connected with stairs and walkways. The city extended from the ground up to about thirty meters high. Every house or room was molded to the trees, almost like the trees were asked to grow that way, even the walkways looked like they wanted to grow the way they are. The city had about eight floors which were all connected with stairs. Mito looked in astonishment at the sight in front of him. Civilisation, this closely connected with nature, is something he only ever saw in films where the elves had this role. “Welcome to the city of the blue moon” Ramoc shouted from behind with a smile. He then took the lead and guided Mito to the first floor into a pretty big hall. On their way down everyone looked at him with either interest or disgust. Mito assumed that this won't change much in the future, since he is not from the wolf race.

In the building were a lot of people, they all looked like some kind of adventurer, with weapons and armor. Ramoc explained that it is their military hall where trained warriors can take on requests to earn some extra money. It is the only place with a device to check the magic aptitude and measure the size of the mana heart. They moved to the front of the hall where a little glowing ball was floating in the air. Ramoc explained how the device works “You walk up and place both hands on the device it then sends out a mana pulse which travels from your right hand through your body and back into the device at your left hand. The travel time of the impulse determines the size of your mana heart. The longer it takes the bigger it is. After that you need to wait a little bit and then it will display a number right above the ball. Values go from zero - which means you don’t have a mana heart and won't be able to use magic - to I think the highest number so far was about two thousand two hundred here. Alright then go ahead and place your hands on the device.”

Mito stepped up and placed both hands on the device. He then felt a strange tingle moving through his body, it felt like an electric current flowing through his body. The feeling lasted for about two minutes. He then stepped back and saw that Ramoc had a strange look on his face but decided to ignore it for the moment. After a few seconds the ball began to shine and some writing appeared right above the ball. Since it was the language of this world, Mito was not able to read it. So he looked at Ramoc to ask him what the result was, but Ramoc stood there with eyes wide open in disbelief. It took a while until he reacted to Mito’s question. He exhaled loudly, sighed and then said “Your mana capacity is eighteen thousand two hundred sixty five. I thought something might be strange with you, either you had no mana or a huge amount. But this surpasses my expectations by far. Even geniuses among geniuses only reach about five thousand. And you are in the body of an eight year old so this is not the maximum. This is too outstanding. We need to leave right now”.

Soon others nearby who saw this began to whisper. The whole hall was filled with intense whispering and some even tried to force their way to the mana measurement device to see if it was true. Ramoc then placed his hand on Mito´s shoulder and guided him out of the hall to the next tree. On the other side of the walkway, connecting the buildings on the trees, there was another big hall which remind Mito of a canteen. After getting closer he saw that it was indeed a canteen. The two of them walked to the next free table and sat down. Mito looked calm and a bit happy while Ramoc looked exhausted and deep in thought. After ordering they both ate their meals in silence. During the meal, Ramoc contacted Ewu telepathically and told him about Mito’s test and that they should meet up to discuss what to do now. Afterwards Ramoc guided Mito to the outskirts of the city. There they met up with Ewu and three others who Mito had never seen. They went into one of the smaller rooms on the ground floor and sat down around the table. “Let me get straight to the point. As I heard from Ramoc your mana heart is way off the charts. Due to that fact and that we barely know you, we decided to have two guards watch you and we ask you to attend once a week a session with someone of our specialists who then judges you if you are harmful to us or not. But this would be only for a while. I am sorry.” Ewu stated and bowed slightly. Mito, who didn’t show any sign of reaction at first, sighed and began to speak “I have no objections to this. I understand your situation and I would definitely do the same. A person with too much power and a strange background needs to be deemed trustworthy first. So don’t worry, I will not take any offense in this and will gladly accept your terms.”

Ewu looked relieved at Mito and said “Thank you for your understanding. Then let me introduce you to everyone. To your left is Usplar Secross, to your right Yfedy Sodes and to my right is Ecivos Rodera. Usplar and Yfedy are your two bodyguards. But they will also be responsible for your training in hand to hand combat as well as weapon combat. Ecivos is your teacher in things about this world, language and magic. You will start your training tomorrow. Every day you will have combat training in the morning and knowledge and magic lessons in the afternoon. This room here is yours, you can arrange it as you want and if you need anything just let me know. For food and water you can go to the canteen Ramoc brought you to, everyone below the age of sixteen doesn’t need to pay. I think this is everything for now.” He then stood up and was about to leave with the others. At the door he turned around and said with a smile “Oh and in the evening Ramoc will pick you up to show you why this city is called ‘City of the blue moon’”. With those words they left.

A few hours later, Mito was in his room lying on the bed and thinking about what happened and what he was going to do, when someone knocked on the door. Mito went and opened the door, as he expected it was Ramoc. Ramoc then guided Mito to the center of the City. From there they went to the left until they came close to what looked like a cut in the city, the trees suddenly stopped. Right in front of them was a vast glade with a small hill in the middle. On top of that hill was a tree, larger than anything Mito had ever seen. It was about 100 meters tall and had beautiful blue-violet leaves. “Ah we came at the perfect time” Ramoc whispered.

Mito was stunned at the sight. But what left him out of breath wasn’t the huge and beautiful tree or the hundreds of thousands of people in the slightly foggy glade. It was that moment, a few seconds after they arrived, when the moon slightly raised above the peak of the huge tree and tainted the whole glade and the city behind them in blue light. The blue light gave the whole scenery a surreal touch. It was the first time Mito truly realized that he was in another world.

Later that night Mito was still awake in his bed, in his mind the beautiful sight of the blue tainted landscape and city. He also thought about his friends and family back on earth. For him it felt like weeks have passed even if it were just two days. He thought about what was going to happen to him and if he will be able to go back and what would happen if he comes back after years have passed. Feeling anxious but yet excited for the next day he finally fell asleep.

On the next day a loud knock on his door woke him up. Someone outside shouted to wake up. Mito, still half asleep, shouted back that he is awake and will be there soon. After getting up and getting ready for the day he had a strong longing for a coffee. ‘I have no idea how I can survive the day without a coffee. And it is still dark, way too early to be awake’ he thought to himself. After walking through the door like a zombie he followed Usplar and Yfedy. They walked him to an empty training ground. The training started with running a few kilometers and then some body strengthening exercises which reminded him of calisthenics from his world. After that they went on to hand-to-hand combat moves and then to weapon training. He learned how to use all kinds of weapons: Sword, spear, bow, halberd and so on. In the beginning he would train with a lot of different weapons and later on specialize in one of them.

Later that day when he was completely beaten up and exhausted, Ecivos came around and took him with him to his magic and common knowledge lessons.

He learned that the continent he was on was divided into two nations: The Ethphilia empire and the Omerlis empire. These two nations were opposed to each other. The empire he was in was Ethphilia. Ethphilia was further divided into three different kingdoms: The Estarian Kingdom, ruled by the Estara, a human like race; The Narethen Kingdom, a federation of races who all have a high affinity towards earth and the Ceris Kingdom, a union of all kinds of spirit beings which have a high affinity towards nature. While there is a peace treaty, all three of them still have some tensions between each other. The tensions are the worst between the Estarian Kingdom and the other two.

He was also about to learn the language, diplomatics, common knowledge and the code of conduct for all three kingdoms and the little bit of information that was known about the Omerlis kingdom.

Regarding magic, Mito was disappointed. His teacher only talked about the pros, cons and risks. As well as the impact on the current world and the magic’s history.

This was the routine he had from now on. Getting up early with body and weapon training and in the afternoon theoretical lessons about everything.

But not what he really wanted to know: How to use magic.