Before we left, I covered the body of the woman with a nearby cloth. Now that I had the torch, It was so much easier to move around. I was also able to see Akai now. She was like a ghost walking around with me. When I asked her why, she just said that we were connected now, I didn’t pry. She had white hair and red eyes, along with a set of horns on her head. She really did look like a demon. She even had a tail. She was wearing the same thing as me, a black hoodie with khaki pants.

“Here should be good.” Akai said while pointing at the ground. It was relatively flat and nothing seemed to be nearby. “I'm going to teach you how to manipulate mana. It will be pretty hard, after all, you’ll be moving something that isn’t a part of your body.”

We both sat down. I copied the way she was sitting, I assumed it would help.

“Close your eyes.” I did as she asked. “Try to feel the energy inside your chest. It should feel like you're next to a fire.”

I sat there, focusing on myself. After a few minutes, a warmth seeped from my solar plexus. It was strange, It felt like I grew another arm. I could move it like an arm too, I had to get used to it. At first, I focused on moving it too much. After all, when you move your arm, you don't think about it, you just do it.

“What color is your mana?” Akai asked. I focused on the energy even more than before. My eyes were covered in a teal glow, kind of like when the sun is on your eyes while they’re closed.

“It’s teal?” I answered, a bit unsure if this was the color of my mana. “That means that you have water and wind attributes. You can't use fire magic.”

“Oh.” I was bummed out. I was looking forward to shooting fireballs, not water balls.

“Hold up your hands. You can open your eyes now.” I opened my eyes, seeing the orange glow from the torch.

“Focus your mana into your hands and say ‘WaterBall’.”

I did as she said. “WaterBall.” A ball of water formed in front of my stretched out hands and just hovered there. “Eh? Is it not going to shoot?”

“Push it with your mana.” Akai directed.

*Slosh*

“Woah! I'm doing it!” The water ball floated away from my hand. It wasn’t as fast as I thought it’d be, but it was a start.

“Wow, I'm surprised. Most people have a much harder time doing this.”

“Do you mean…. I'm special?!”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, your mana pool is practically a puddle.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’ll pass out if you use another water ball spell.”

“What?! I don't believe you. WaterBall.” I felt all of the energy in my body fly out into a water ball, this time, I used more mana to push the water ball faster and further. Suddenly, as I was pushing the water ball, it just stopped moving and then evaporated.

“Hah! I didn’t pass out.” I said, seconds before falling to the ground.

The dream I had while I was asleep was strange, to say the least. I was surrounded by dark shadows, they were circling me, looking for an opening to take my head. I wasn’t able to control myself and ran at them, full speed.

It was weird, I was able to see, smell, taste, hear, and feel everything happening. It was a vivid dream. Something else I felt was an insanity, gnawing at the back of my mind. An itch that seemed to never get scratched.

I had killed all of the shadows, aside from one. It was bigger, and more intimidating than the other smaller ones. “That has to be ̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶, I’ve finally ̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊ ̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊.” I wasn’t able to understand all of my thoughts, they seemed fuzzy, like they were covered by a thick fog. All I know is that I felt an extreme rage whenever I saw the shadow.

I charged it, hoping to hit it, to kill it, anything. I needed to relieve this grief and anger. The sword I was holding just passed through it, causing no damage to the creature. Tendrils of shadows shot at me from the giant shadow. One of them took my left arm, the pain was unbearable, I wanted to scream out, to cry, but nothing would come out. I just picked up my dropped sword and charged the shadow, despite the protest my legs were giving.

I felt blood enter my mouth, I had also been hit in the stomach without realizing. I didn’t care and just kept running. The distance seemed to never decrease, it actually looked like I was getting further and further away. My rage and frustration grew with every step I took.

“Don’t do this to yourself, please stop and just rest.” An unfamiliar yet nostalgic voice spoke out to me. Their few words seemed to calm me in an instant. A bright light shone onto the endless abyss I was in, washing away all of the shadows.

“But ̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊, It’s all my fault.” I began to break down into tears. My vision blurred and I fell down onto my knees. The light moved over to me, casting a warmth over my body, seemingly washing away all of the previous fatigue I had built up.

“̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊⫶⫶̊.”

I couldn’t understand anything anymore, no words registered in my mind. The light that was once bright dimmed and dimmed until it was faint. With the orb now hovering just in front of me, I reached out to it, gently holding it in my hand. After just a few seconds, It went out, and I was left to be consumed by the darkness.