“Ow, ow, ow.”

As Maria groaned from the pain of muscle cramps, the memories of her father's last farewell resurface, and tears silently roll down from her cheeks. The pain of muscle cramps no longer bothered her, but it still greatly hindered her movement. As she crawled to the lake to wash away the tear, her face, reflecting upon the clear lake reveal a blank expression that contrasted with the feeling of grief. In her frustration, she slapped it with her slender hand. To what seemed like a harmless action to calm her tantrum, somehow turned into a disaster as the water got split cleanly in half, all the way to the horizon, temporarily revealing all inhabitants inside the lake before crashed back down from the sky.

“Eh?”

A voice of surprise escaped from Maria's throat after the realization of what she just did. She sat back down looking at her skinny pair of hand that just somehow split the lake in half and wondered what happened. Just as she was about to try for another slap, a voice stopped her dead on track.

“If you want to destroy this planet, go ahead and try it again.”

Surprised to hear another voice, she looks up and down, around and around but there was no sign of the voice’s owner.

“If you want to find me, just close your eyes and you will see me.”

The voice was very familiar and soothing. It softened her doubt and she calmly closed her eyes.

“You can open your eyes now.”

When Maria opened her eyes again, what appeared before her was a glittering white space with a crimson throne sat in the middle of seemingly nowhere. Sitting on the throne was a girly figure that shined brightly, preventing Maria from seeing her details.

“Surprise?”

The girl figure asked.

“Yes.”

The girl figure seemed to be disappointed and ask:

“That’s it? That is your response? No question? What happens to “where am I?”, “Who are you?” Are you a doll or something?”

Maria replied calmly:

“No, I am not a doll. It just that it seems like you will answer all my doubts without me asking the question.”

The shiny girl figure turned around and sat on the crimson throne.

“Well, I suppose you are right. I apologize for the arrogant display earlier. As you can see, I have no form except this imaginary figure drawing from your belief. You can call me the Advisor. This space is a corner of space that you constructed subconsciously during your slumber. The power that you display earlier is a side effect of increasing power without knowing. That power is not dangerous to you, but it will for everything else. While you were sleeping, I was able to seal off most of your power in preparation for your awakening but it seems that I make a blunder and it resulted in giving you more power than you can control, hence the earth-shattering result you witness earlier. I fixed it just now so your power right now should be that of a normal girl. You can use it once you receive enough training to control your power. Any questions?”

After a long speech, the girl's figure slowed down and catch her breath while looking directly at Maria. After properly absorbed the information that got dumped down by the Advisor, Maria asked

“Well, If that’s the case, Miss Advisor, can you tell me what I should do right now? I am lost at the moment.”

The Advisor seems troubled and replied:

“I am sorry, I can’t decide for you. However, I can list some options for you to choose from. Up North in the opposite of the lake, with two hours of walking time, there is a hidden Fairy village that seems to have a pretty friendly environment. To the right, if you keep walking for around two days, you will be able to reach a dragon lair, there is a lot of commotion over there but mainly just the human being slaughter by the dragons. It probably won’t be an issue to you but since you can’t properly use any power, I advise you to not go there and cause a ruckus. To the left, you can walk for five days and you will be able to reach the fort of Beast man. I don’t have enough data to determine if they are friendly or hostile. Well, that’s all I can give you right now. When your knowledge expands, I will be able to help you more so please remember that.”

“Wait, Fairy, Dragon, Beast man? Are we in a fairy tale?”

“Well, I can neither confirm nor deny the possibility.”

“How did you get this information?”

The Advisor pondered about it for a while and then snapped her finger like she just came up with a brilliant idea:

“This could be a good opportunity for you to learn about your power. To demonstrate it to you, please go back through that door behind you.”

Just as the Advisor finished her sentence, a loud creaking noise comes from behind Maria. She turned around just to see a pure jet-black door that was slowly. The darkness within the open door quickly blocked out her vision. When Maria opened her eyes again, she had returned to the forest. The surreal white space that she visited before felt like a dream, but in the next moment, a familiar voice convinced her that it was all real:

“Please put out your hand and imagine the shape of a creature…”

The voice from before appeared within Maria's head, instructed her step by step and her body respond naturally with each instruction.

----Half an hour later----

“…Now, you should be able to hold the energy near the tip of your finger and release it.”

Just as the instruction finished, a ball of glowing light materialized from Maria's finger, rapidly forming into a blackbird, the shape were similar to what Maria chose during the process. Maria can feel an invisible link between the bird and her.

“This is how I acquired the information earlier, this creature that you just help created will store all information that it collects into a data bank. You can access the bank anytime you want but you will need concentration to do so. Of course, you can also ask me to relay the information directly to your memories bank. To control it, you just need to give it a thought command and it will automatically find the safest way to the destination.”

Listening to the advisor's instructions, Maria let the bird fly above and concentrate. Just as the Advisor said, Maria saw the memory of the bird from a bird's eyes view around her location. The images were clear and precise as if she is looking at them with her eyes in real-time.

“So, Fairy huh? Miss Advisor, where is the village that you were talking about?”

“You can’t see it due to some mystical barrier intervention, but if you walk on a specific path that I have drawn out for you, you should be able to enter their village.”

Maria paused as she received the information image streaming into her brain. Through her eyes, she saw the new memories overlap with the scenery creating an imaginary path that urge her to walk on. Mystified by the experience she is feeling, she followed that path to the tees.

Everything was going well until...

"-Snap" A leaf that Maria step on made an unusual noise. Before she knew it, she was upside down hanging by a rope tied to her ankle.

"Is this..." Maria was at loss for words when she thought of the possible scenario for such a random trap to appear in such a random place "a fairy's prank?".