“Once you start meditating don’t lose focus. We will protect you so take your time and have a successful breakthrough.”

Lara takes a deep breath and nods, “Got it Judith. I am ready for it.”

Increasing rank does not have a dire consequence, you will either breakthrough or you will stay at the same rank and can try again. There will always be a second and a third chance but for some reason Lara was nervous, she wanted to be a rank two mage as soon as possible. It may be due to the fight with the black wolf which showcased her weakness to protect herself and those dear to her.

Judith could see the uneasiness, so she tries to calm her down, “Don’t be nervous, you won’t fail. I can sense that you are right there, I am here to help if needed.”

Susan and Mary have already started training, they are swinging their swords and executing their moves. As they are warriors, they need to train their body and continuously break their limit to have a successful breakthrough and increase in rank; not only that they have to meditate as well and absorb the mana in the air to nourish their body. This is the only way to gain strength for people that are not blessed to be mages; for people that don’t have aptitude to magic.

Once Lara was deep into meditation, Judith leaves her and heads towards the two girls and tells them to stay quiet and not make any unnecessary loud sound. Susan and Mary decide to stop their practice and call it a day, the three girls gather and head towards a large tree.

Oh man. How long has it been? Are they done with their bath yet?

Rustle……Rustle

Rex hears rustling of bushes behind him, he quickly turns back and takes out his Kukri. A deer dashes out from the bush and runs away, Rex immediately follows the deer as he heads further away from the group.

Two fairies are flying above Lara and are discussing something. One of the fairies is around seven inches tall and she has a golden wing along with a golden hair and even her dress is golden. The golden fairy gives a majestic aura which exhibits her unfathomable power whereas the other fairy is five inches and she has a blue hair with light blue wings and a blue dress that fully covers her body.

“Are you sure my child?” The golden fairy asks giving a disappointed look at Lara.

“Yes, mother she is the one that I choose to be contracted to. She may not be the best, but I have no time, maybe it is fate that brought us together.” The blue fairy replies with an enthusiastic nod.

The golden fairy gives a warm hug to the blue fairy, “As you wish, I will establish a link with her. The rest is up to you my child.”

“Thank you for everything mother.” The blue fairy replies with tears on her eyes.

‘My sweet child that is what mothers do. Once you establish a contract with her, I won’t be able to contact you anymore. I hope that you do well in your life, you know you can always come find me.” The golden fairy wipes the tears from her daughter’s eyes.

“I will. I promise.” The blue fairy sniffles.

Lara is in deep concentration as she is trying to focus on the ample amount of mana in the surrounding, ignoring the red and the other colored orbs she is trying to gather the light blue orb around her. She has been unable to gather the light blue orbs as they are pushed away by the dark blue orbs, she is not able to break through because of this hinderance.

“What is happening? Why am I unable to absorb these auras?”

“Because you are a dual mage.” A voice whispers from the surrounding.

Lara is startled by the voice, she feels at unease, so she tries to wake up from the meditation, but she is unable to do so. Her heart starts beating fast and her breathing quickens due to the unknown situation.

“Don’t be afraid, we are our soul is linked right now, so you cannot not wake up. I mean you no harm.” The blue fairy appears with a friendly smile.

Seeing the blue fairy appear out of nowhere she is surprised, and her mind goes completely blank, she may have not seen an actual fairy in her life, but she does know vague descriptions of them from the books. She is thrilled as meeting a fairy brings good luck.

“A real … fairy. Am I dreaming?” she asks, her voice quivering from excitement.

The fairy flies closer to Lara, her eyes still red from the tears of farewell, “I am for real, but I only have few moments with you right now so listen carefully and decide.”

“As I said before you are a dual mage and you have affinity to ice magic as well. The reason you cannot reach rank 2 is because you need to train in ice magic and get it to the same level as your water magic.”

Lara trembles from the ecstatic news, her face glows with happiness and all the negative emotions that she felt from before vanishes, relaxing her mind and soul. The red, green orbs floating in the space disappear and only the blue orbs remain.

The idea that the fairy could be lying didn’t even appear in her mind, she felt sincere gratitude towards the fairy. “Thank you so much.”

“No need for formalities since we could be partners for life.”

“Partners… what do you mean?”

“I have an affinity towards ice magic as well and I see the potential in you to be a great mage. If we establish a contract of partners where we are of equal footing, then you will not need to train for months in ice magic. Once the contract is established you will immediately reach rank 2 as an ice mage.” The fairy forms an ice crystal on her hand and throws it towards Lara.

Lara hesitates as she is unaware of the effects of contract, so she asks, “Can I discuss it with my husband and answer you.”

“Lara, you don’t need to be afraid of me. I will bring you no harm in fact you will gain a lot from establishing a contract with me.”

“How do you know my name?” Lara questions her with suspicion.

“I have been looking and observing you for a week. I always wanted to contact you, but I couldn’t because of your husband.”

“Rex… what did he do?”

“It’s not because of what he did but because of who he is.” The fairy shivers from fear.

I still remember the moment when I tried to look inside his soul. Ever since then I have been unable to use soul linking magic to form a contract.

Lara shouts at the dazed fairy demanding to know answers,” What do you mean by who he is?”

The fairy awakens from the trance and she tries to explain the situation but feels the presence of Rex approaching them.