“I will fight you right now despite what you might think” Arika warned, the anger and intent to kill in her voice was palpable.

“Go ahead” He held his smile, not missing a beat against her threats.

Arika chrouched lower and whipped her knives out of their sheaths, she looked ready to charge. But before she could, Oraki put his hand out in front of her to stop her. His face looked equally as pissed as hers but he seemed to maintain some sense of reason in his eyes.

“Stop, this is what they want.” he gritted his teeth as he spoke. “If you do this, then taking you too will be no problem.” She seemed to understand what he was saying but it wasn't any easier for her to back off. As they all slowly eased up on the tension the room seemed to physically get lighter, the floor and walls creaked as they released the strain they were put under by the pressure in the room. The people who had collapsed began to move again slowly.

“Thank you for controlling that animal, I was worried the bystanders here would get hurt if she really went at it.” He taunted in an innocent tone, playing the victim of the situation. Arika tensed up again but Oraki pulled her back toward the door.

“Lets go” He began walking out. As he passed by me, still on the floor, he grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet, then led us out. A few seconds after the doors closed behind us the noise inside began again.

I was very confused and all I knew was it probably wasn't the right time to ask for answers. The only thing I knew for sure was that Shina was taken by the water goddess church. I'm not sure what that entails, what they want, or why they did. I don't know who that weston guy was or why he stopped them. It all seemed really serious and dangerous.

_______________________________________________________________

We were heading back to the inn that they brought me to before. It's around noon, and there are more people on the street doing business now and all the shops are busy. The atmosphere of the town was good, but the three of us could hardly enjoy that feeling. When we entered the inn, there were only 2 people in the main room of the inn, one was the bartender/innkeeper, and the other was a man sitting at a table near the far wall, asleep with a mug still in hand. As the doors closed behind us the loud street noise faded until it was only muffled background noise. It felt as if we could finally focus on what happened for the first time since the guild.

“You found em kid?” the innkeeper called across the room.

“Oh… uh yeah I did” There were no words exchanged the whole way back so It was a little startling when I was spoken to.

He seemed concerned when looking at our faces, as if he could tell something happened. I guess he decided not to press the matter because he went back to cleaning the few dirty dishes left. “Do you guys want anything?” almost acting entirely out of courtesy.

“No, we will be alright for now.” Oraki answered, “Were gonna head up to the room we got for the kid.'' It felt like he wanted to get to a private area as fast as possible. Because he was already leading us to the stairs before he had finished his sentence. I looked at Arika, she looked like she was in a daze almost, like she couldn’t hear the words being said at all.

We got back to the room, the slight orange tint through the window was gone, the fireplace completely dead, and the air seemed thick. Oraki entered the room last, closing the door behind him. As he did he let out a long sigh.

“Arika you’ve got to calm down,” He started, trying his best to choose words carefully, “If you lose control in this place you know that it won't stop with just Shina.” She had sat down on the bed and was sitting with her arms propped up on her legs holding her head. She looked tense and dejected. It felt like she was about to explode, it looks like it was all she could do to hold it together for the walk here.

“I say that but '' Oraki chuckles a little to himself. “I was about this close to tearing up the street myself. Screw this town, screw that church, i'm done with this”

This all felt very familiar to me, that feeling of helplessness against the people with power that continuously manipulate and bending those below them to their will. I knew their feelings because I had lived that. I began to get angry, I didn’t know who or what I wanted to fight exactly, I just knew that I had to do something.

This line of thinking was something common for me, I had gone down the path it leads and lived throughout it for years on end. Though I put all my effort into it nothing ever came of it and I would always end up back at square one. So when I began to think about these things again, I could see the end of the road before I even started down it, and it only held despair. Then I realized something, the situation, the path ahead of me, although it was similar, it was also fundamentally different. The reason? Magic, I had no idea how it worked, but I could tell that it was powerful and that with strong magical power I would be able to gain authority. Something that was never possible in my old life, I could clearly see a path to the top. A path that rose above the oppression and control that had been ever present and unbreakable in my life. The rules of the game had changed and I was ready to play.

“I'm not sure who it is you guys are fighting but, I want to help.” Blurting that out without thinking too far, I just knew that I needed to interject my way in somehow.

“Kid this is beyond you, the people were fighting, well it's hardly even a fight.” My words didn’t reach Oraki and he just brushed me off. I didn’t think it would get a good reaction immediately, I mean technically I am a kid to these guys.

“Then we just need to make it a fight.” I said trying to show my determination “We can just get stronger until those people aren't all powerful anymo...”

“The world is bigger than you know, It's not that simple.” Arika cut me off “There is nothing we can do.” This time I was getting angrier, “Nothing you can do? No, there is something you can do, you don't know what it's like truly having no power in your life.” These thoughts steeled my resolve to push through these guys.

“Nothing you can do? Nothing you can do huh? Sure that's how you should think” I half chuckle as my voice starts to shake more and more. “Do you know how it feels to be truly helpless? Working for years, trying everything you can to save the people you love. But in the end it's all useless? knowing there was truly no way to escape, not even from the very first moment?” I start to tear up. I look down to the floor and angrily wipe the tears off my face “BUT THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT, THIS TIME THERE IS SOMETHING I CAN DO. YOU GUYS HELPED ME FOR NO REWARD, AND YOU WANT ME TO ACCEPT THE FACT THAT I CAN'T DO ANYTHING AGAIN?” I don't even know what I was thinking or what I was really feeling at that moment, All I could see was the way forward. I was angry that I was letting myself hope again. I was angry that they were shutting it down immediately, and I was angry that I couldn’t do this on my own. All these feelings that were stuck inside me, colliding and convulsing, exploded out of me with a shout that rang from my lungs. “I'M NOT GONNA LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!!!”

This time it looked like what I said actually got to them. Oraki looked stunned at me, then back at the floor again, “Even if you say that, it's not so easy to follow up on. There really isn't much we can do…”

“Teach me magic” I cut him off, trying to hold my voice steady through short breaths, filling my voice with all the honesty and conviction I have. Both Oraki and Arika look up at me “That's what I need, that's the difference, if I had magic before things would have been different. I don't want to be useless any longer.”

“You want to learn magic?” Responding in unison. They look intrigued but also concerned at the same time. “Do you know how long it takes to learn even the most basic steps?” Oraki continued.

“No I don't but I can guarantee that I will cut that time down.” If there is one thing I'm confident in, it’s my ability to study and improve myself for the sake of progress. It may have returned no fruits in my last life, but here is a different story.

“We were considered prodigies of our generation and it took us around a year to activate our cores. We don’t have that kind of time.” He tries to scare me off the idea with how long it took to reach the basic steps for a “Prodigy”.

“I said what I said. All I need is for you to show me how to start.” He looked at Arika, then back at me.

“I don't know what you think you're capable of, but sure i’ll show you the basics.” almost sounding defeated he agrees.

Arika stands up quickly “Are you serious? Magic is the whole cause of this situation in the first place! Your just gonna end up subjecting the kid to the same thing we all are dealing with now!” She yelled at Oraki and then proceeded to push past him, not waiting for an answer. She threw the door open and left as it slammed against the hinges and bounced back almost closing again. He watched the door for a moment, and had an almost sad look in his eyes. The story behind this all was probably more complicated than I had imagined. He turned back to me.

“Just so you know kid, all the things you mentioned there, we know them just as well as you. That’s why I agreed, I can see the fire within you, because it reflects the fire within myself.” He sounded sad as he was speaking, but there was also respect in there too. It was complicated trying to grasp what these people were really thinking. “You seem to have an idea of what's going on already, but let me fill you in properly. You will need to understand it to be able to keep yourself safe.” He led me over to a small table that was sitting in the far corner of the room. Pulling it out from the wall to make room, we sat down on the two chairs that were there. “The people responsible for this are members of the Water goddess church...” We had just begun a long discussion.