“Mmm—ancake…” … “Huh?” Oh, I’m in bed. Wait, wasn’t I just in the cave?

I look around. Yeah, I’m definitely back in my room. Well, that can all wait for now—it’s time for mana training and breakfast! I throw my covers back and jump out of the bed. Woah, everything is spinning!

“Careful, there,” I hear as a couple of hands grab onto me.

“It’s spinning,” I say as a lady sits me down on a chair.

“You must have had an interesting time in the dungeon!”

“Oh, yeah, it was awesome,” I agree, “we fought monsters, and Tim did this spinny stuff, and Fezrah killed this monster with one slice! Oh, and I fought a slime. Did you know that you can’t kill a slime with just a sword? And, and…”

“Hold on there, missy. You will have plenty of time to tell us all about it, but first let’s get you settled and have some breakfast.”

“Oh, breakfast!” I like breakfast a lot. I also like lunch, though. And I like dinner.

Oh, I don’t feel as spinny, and I can see again. I look at the girl that was talking to me, and then stare. I know I shouldn’t stare at people, but I just can’t help it! “Your eyes are so pretty!” They’re red and glow like fire!

She looks surprised. I finally look away. I-I’m sorry I-I-didn’t—

“Aww, thanks! What do they look like to you?”

*Ermpf* Again with the hugs! I think I kind of like them though… But just a little!

“They look like fire!” I whisper.

“Oh? You really are something special!” Air? Oxygen? Please? “You know, my eyes are actually hazel colored,” she says before finally releasing me from her death hug.

“Oh.” But they totally looked red!

“You are probably seeing my mana! I have what you call a perfect flame body. I’m still working on controlling my mana, so you are probably seeing some of my mana coming from my eyes.”

“Oh,” I say again. I think she should keep things like that. Her eyes are so very pretty!

“Enough of that, though, how are you feeling now?”

“Things aren’t spinning anymore,” I reply.

“Alright, let’s stand up. Slowly. There we go! Let’s get some breakfast!”

“I haven’t done my work, though!”

“No ‘buts,’ young lady, your body is exhausted, and if you were to do any exercises right now, then you might end up hurting yourself! Do you understand?”

“Y-yes ma’am!” She’s kind of scary… Who even is she? I haven’t seen her before. I hope I didn’t make her angry!

“Good girl.” She pats my head before walking me to the cafeteria. I guess it’s ok?

“Two!” She yells out as we sit down.

“Coming right up!” we hear from the kitchen, then a few minutes later Lannie comes out of the kitchen carrying a couple of plates.

“Susan is out?” Asks the girl that I still don’t know the name of.

“Yeah, she’s taking the day off to visit family, so I’m afraid you’re stuck with my cooking for today,” Lannie says with a laugh, before noticing me. Oh, Chalia!” She says before putting down the plates and sitting next to me.

*Oomph*

“So, how is the Illustrious Zalli visiting our guild again?” Lannie asks while messing with my hair.

Oh, is her name Zalli?

“So I was just passing through to get to the Dedge hex, when I saw—*munch*—Thelaena wolkin’ out’ve ze—*munch*—prithon hou—”

“Zalli! Please, just eat first, I can wait! And you! Chalia, why aren’t you eating?”

“I-I haven’t done my…”

“Haven’t done what?”

“Etheritheth!” Zalli sounds out.

“Zalli! Don’t speak when you are eating! Chalia, it’s ok! You need to eat to have energy to work, so get to it! It’s getting cold!”

“Oh, ok?” I guess no one has hit me yet in here. Not even when I spilled my food… I take a bite.

*Gulp* “So as I was saying, I saw Selaena coming out of the prison house. To make the story short, she told me a bunch of craziness went on in the dungeon and asked me to watch after Chalia for a bit while Auris was busy with some other stuff, so here I am! And I’m so happy to be here, even if it puts me behind my schedule. Nothing important haha.” *Munch*

Zalli and Lannie kept talking for the rest of the time, but I didn’t really understand what they were talking about, so I got really bored and started doing mana exercises until we were done eating.

“So Chalia, Selaena wanted me to help you out with some training, and that’s what we are going to do today!”

“Oh, like with swords?” I ask. I like practicing with swords! They are shiny, and, uh… pretty?

“Nope! I’m going to help you practice using auras! Like your—” she bends in to whisper “—dragon realms.”

“Oh, ok!” That sounds fun too! I’m not very good at using my dragon realms, but I like them! They make it a lot easier to fight, and I don’t want to have my head hurt in the morning, either.

“Good girl! Let’s go to the practice field,” she says, leading me out behind the guild.

“Now we can’t have you using your, erm, dragon auras in the city, because it will scare people, so I’m going to start by teaching you a basic strength aura. This aura will increase your strength by about 2% to start with. It isn’t very much, but it will become more useful if you practice. Also, a lot of people use it, so it shouldn’t cause any issues. So, are you ready?”

“Yeah!” I get to learn a real aura! They say my dragon realms are like auras, but are actually not. Now, though, I get to learn a real aura!

“Ok, to start with, I want you so sit down on the ground and close your eyes. Good, now I want you to tell me when you feel something on your skin. It will feel kind of like the wind, but a little different.”

I’m closing my eyes tight! And I’m focusing. I wait for something to touch my skin.

Nothing. Still nothing. “Ugh.” I don’t feel too good.

“Chalia! You should have told me!”

“I-I didn’t feel it on my skin! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” I duck down.

She puts her hand on my shoulder, and I flinch.

“Oh, Chalia! Are you ok? Do you hurt anywhere?”

“N-n-n-no.”

“Oh, I’m so glad! I put out so much aura I was afraid. But anyhow, what happened?”

“I-I felt sick, in here,” I say, pointing to the side of my belly.

She crunches her eyebrows before putting her hand on my belly and closing her eyes.

“NO WAY!” Umm, Uh, you’re scaring me even more now! “Daughter of Heltrina! IT’S A FUCKING AURA GLAND! NO FUCKI—” *Boom!* *Crack!*

She punched Zalli. Into a tree. Auris did. And it was the TREE that broke.

“Zalli!” Auris called out. “Selaena said train her, not traumatize her!”

“B-b-b-but Auris! She has a FUCKING AURA GLAND! Do you know how many decades it took me to create a pseudo aura gland? Daughter of Heltrina? More like Heltrina and Fortunia had a daughter together!”

Zalli just stood there staring at Auris for a bit before turning and fast walking back to me.

“Chalia, how does this make you feel?” Zalli asks.

“Um, it feels heavy.”

“And now?”

“Kind of cold, but also not.”

“Woohoo! You are going to be an aura master! No, the best fucking human aura master in all the hexes!”

“Ok?” I mean, it sounds really cool, but what even is an aura master?

“ZALLI! Calm down! And please, watch you language—she’s eight!”

“Ok, ok, Lady Auris.” Zalli said with a glare.

Uhh, they are still staring at each other. What’s happening? It’s weird, and I don’t like it!

…

*snort* “Bwahahaha!” They burst out laughing. I’m really confused. They’re so weird!

“Zalli! You still remember that?” Auris choked out while still bent over and tearing up from laughter.

“Of, course! How could I forget your coronation?”

Auris snorted again, catching her breath after another moment of laughter. “Ok, but seriously Zalli, this isn’t a tavern,” she finally got out.

“Oh, alright, alright haha. Back to business.

“Chalia! Come over here!”

I walk over carefully, still confused.

“Oh, don’t make a face like that. Auris and I go way back. We’ve had a lot of experiences, like the time she was invited to a dance by a—”

“ZALLI!”

“Aww, ok. I’ll have to tell you later, but it was an experience!

“Anyhow, first things first! Can you feel this?”

“Mhmm.” I feel a kind of energy. It’s light, but also kind of heavy.

“Alright. Now I’m going to put out some other auras.”

Woooah. I feel five different auras. Five! All at the same time!

“Now, I want you to tell me when you feel the aura I showed you a moment ago.”

“Ok,” I say, closing my eyes and focusing on looking for that same feeling again. There are times I think I felt it, but I’m not sure, because she keeps changing her auras!

Think. Think. Feel it Chalia! I’m still searching for it.

“Now!” I almost scream out.

“Alright, good job!” Zalli says, but her smile is kind of weird.

“Zalli? Is something wrong?” Auris, who has decided to stay and watch, asks.

“Yeah, no, I mean, I don’t know. She has an aura gland, but her sensitivity to aura differences is completely average, even for a person without an aura gland! Well, it doesn’t really matter for now. I’ll do some research this evening.

“So, back to the lesson. Do you remember how the aura felt?”

“Mhmm.” How many different feelings did it have?

“Two!” I say. Kind of light, and kind of heavy

“Good! Now there are different levels of ‘light’, so we aura masters use a number system to differentiate the kind of ‘light’ feeling. That one you just felt would be a light 2 component. And this would be a light 1.”

I feel another aura wash through me, but it is only light, not heavy. Also the kind of lightness is more, uh, light.

Zalli spent the rest of the time teaching me to be able to tell the aura feelings and levels apart for light and heavy. Then she taught me how to imagine and push out a “light 2” and “heavy 1” aura, which increased my strength!

“Congratulations Chalia! You are now on your way to becoming an aura master! And to celebrate this first step, I have a gift for you!,” She says holding out a silk bag.

“Thank you!” I say, accepting the bag.

“Open it up!” Zalli says, and I do so.

I let out a gasp as I pour ten rocks into my hand. “So pretty!” Five are a very light green and five are dark brown, and all of them are sort of see-through-able.

I hear a sound and look up. Why are you laughing, too? People really like to laugh a lot around here.

“Chalia,” Zalli says while covering her mouth and trying to look like she isn’t laughing. “Put a little bit of mana into one of the rocks.”

“Ok,” I say before picking up one of the light green rocks. I push a little bit of mana into it, and wow! An aura is coming out of it!

“That is a set of aura trainers. They look nice, but their real value is that you can use them to help you memorize how strong each aura strength is.” Auris explains. “For example, the rock you are holding has the number “3” written on it, so when you put mana into it, you will feel the “light 3” aura component. You use it to practice by putting out what you think is “light 3,” but then you use the stone to make sure you got it just right!

“Now these are very expensive, so be sure to take good care of them, ok?”

“Ok!” I say to Auris. I then carefully put the stones back into the bag and turn back to Zalli and softly say “thank you” again.

This is the first time someone has given me something really expensive ever! So I will make sure to take very good care of them!

“You are welcome Chalz!” She says, before turning away and having a hiccup. “Now it’s about lunch time, so go get something to eat!”

Auris looks at Zalli with a warm smile before turning back to me. “Alright Chalia, let’s go eat!”

“Yay!”