We followed Mercy in silence. The mana around me was having a field day going in and out of me, taunting me to follow it and just let go. It was so hard to resist. It was such a beautiful feeling. The freedom it could give me. The life I would feel around and inside me. I let out a sigh of bliss and I hadn't realised I stopped walking until someone touched my arm.

My eyes snapped open, I had no idea they closed, and looked to see Sylvia's worried face. "I did it again." I frowned and shook my head trying to shake the mana from it.

"Are you sure you want to keep going. We can turn back now and go inside." Sylvia suggested not taking her hand from my arm.

I placed my hand over hers. "I'll be fine. Only one way to resist temptation and that's being surrounded by it."

I groaned inwardly as the life and peacefulness of the mana seemed to grow as we followed the path into the forest. I looked through the trees with my senses slightly raised. I could hear the heart beats of Mercy and Sylvia along with the animals in the forest around us. I could smell their scents along with the natural aroma the trees and plants gave off. I followed a small grey bunny with my eyes as it ran into its burrow. The scent and feel of the forest was a physical taste on my tongue. The mana everywhere just made everything that much sweeter. This truly was the ultimate temptation.

"We're here." Mercy stated as we came to a clearing. I felt like I was slapped in the face. This place, the mana inside it, is something totally different from anything I've ever felt before. It was actually becoming harder to breathe. I looked around as my breath came out in light gasps, a physical weight pressed down on my chest making it ever more difficult to take air in. Two stone benches sat in the middle of the clearing with a stone table sitting in between the two. Stone slabs made a floor around the clearing but had grass and moss growing from the cracks. Running through the clearing in an odd circle around the stone benches was a thin river that looked more like a moat around the stone table.

I stepped forward more and knelt beside the water that surrounded the benches. It was crystal clear and I could smell its crisp freshness. I didn't realise I was trembling until I saw my own hands shaking when I was about to dip my fingers into the water. I was only a finger-width away from the water when I quickly pulled away from it and stood up turning away to face a confused looking Mercy and a worried looking Sylvia.

I swallowed nervously. "What is this place?" I asked through the weight on my chest.

"It's the mountain garden." Beatrice answered as she walked into the clearing holding three large leather-bound books. "It's been here even longer than Aviva and I have been alive."

I rubbed my hands together my eyes on the books she held. The mana around us seemed to be drawn to the books, and there's a hell of a lot of mana in this place. "This place is different." I said looking around again. My attention was caught once again by the water that surrounded the benches and the table.

"How so?" Beatrice asked stepping over the water to place her books onto the table and sat down on the bench.

"The mana in this place is over powering. Really strong." I said my voice wavering and not just from the hurt I felt from looking at Beatrice who looked blank. The mana was seriously a thrumming in my head and body. I felt more energy fill my body than anything I've ever felt before. I seriously couldn't stand still, so I started to walk around the benches, not once stepping over the water. "This place is amazing, but I can't seem to concentrate on one thing."

Beatrice watched me walk around and I swear I could see concern in her eyes but only curiosity filled her face. "Really? How about you come here and sit down and we can start teaching you how to use mana?"

I stopped walking and looked at the empty bench across from Beatrice then at the water that seemed to be a barrier for me to walk over. I stood the nervously looking at the water. "Are you afraid of water?" Beatrice asked with a raised eyebrow. How does every action she makes seem so perfect?

"No I'm not." I shook my head. Still eyeing the water. I have no idea why I feel so nervous about stepping over it. "Okay, alright." I sighed feeling my hands beginning to sweat. Why do I feel so distressed? I breathed in and breathed out slowly trying to calm myself. I rubbed my hands down the sides of my pants and took a leap of faith. I stepped over the water and I swear I had a heart attack when everything seemed to disappear from around me. A pure white light filled my vision. I couldn't see anything but light. Warmth filled my mind and body and it was a heat I've never felt before, a peacefulness no amount of mana could give me.

The light began to fade away and large stone buildings and people walking around suddenly surrounded me. I couldn't move, I was in shock. Where am I? How did I get here? Where's Beatrice? Mercy? Sylvia? What's happening? The people walking around me seemed to ignore me or not even see that I was standing here. They just walked right by without a glance and I realised that every single one of them had mana running in and out of them. Each had a unique type of mana but it was stuck inside them like it does with Beatrice and my Mistress. No, it was free and flowing in and out of them like it does for me yet I could tell that some mana belonged to one person and another belonged to someone else.

I looked around at the buildings and realised that I was in the middle of a market place. Stone slabs covered the ground and water ran through them in swirls and twirls that the people just walked over without a glance. Stalls were set up selling fruits, vegetables, ointments in glass bottles in shapes and sizes I've never seen before, jewellery and fabric that looked out of this world and absolutely beautiful. Nothing in this market place looked normal to me. I was finally able to move my body and when I turned away my breath was caught by the sight of something amazing. It was a stone tower that went so high I couldn't see the top because it was covered in clouds. Running through the stone was the strange water but it didn't look like it was moving but just staying in place.

Something small and soft filled my left hand and I looked down quickly to see a little girl holding my hand. She was so young, looking about seven or eight years old, with long wavy black hair and silver eyes. I was taken aback by how much this little girl looked like Beatrice. She looked up at me and smiled as she squeezed my hand. "I'll be waiting up there when I go." She whispered confusing the hell out of me.

"What? What do you mean?" I asked surprised I couldn't even speak.

"When I go, when I'm taken away from you, I'll be waiting up there for you to bring me back." She said pointed up at the tower. "You have to bring me back."

"I don't know who you are. What do you mean when you're taken away from me?" I asked totally confused. The little girl then let go of my hand and started walking towards the tower away from me. "Hey! Wait!" I called after her but everything was fading out back to the white light. I tried t run after the girl but she and everything else had faded out and I was suddenly back in the clearing with Beatrice, Mercy and Sylvia.

I turned around quickly trying to look for the little girl. My knees became weak and I collapsed to the ground breathing heavily. "My lady!" Sylvia exclaimed running to me. "Are you okay? What's wrong? What happened?"

"I... I have no idea what just happened." I answered her shaking my head trying to push away the confusion and mana that was filling my head. "I was suddenly somewhere else."

"Where did you go?" Beatrice asked and I only just realised she was kneeling down beside me when she spoke.

I looked at her and was taken aback once again by how similar that little girl looked like her. "She said that I have to get her back. I had to get her from the tower. She said when she is taken away from me I have to go get her back."

"Who? Who do you have to get back?" Beatrice asked back looking worried, confused and curious all at once.

"I don't know... I don't know there was this little girl. She told me that I had to get her back. We were in a market place somewhere where I've never been before and this large tower was so tall I couldn't even see the top because it was covered in clouds. I had know idea where we were." I looked from one person to another. I shook my head again and sighed. "Oh man I'm so confused as to what just happened."

"I'm sorry but I don't know what just happened to you." Beatrice frowned.

I shook my head. "No... no it's fine." I whispered and looked at the water I was kneeling in front of. The same water that was curling up along the side of the tower and along the ground of the market place. "I'm sorry, I'm wasting time." I stood up with the others feeling nervous and embarrassed. "I think we should get started with this lesson."

"Are you sure?" Beatrice asked looking at me closely and I just realised that she was touching my arm and standing pretty close to me.

I stepped slightly away from her and nodded my head. "Yes my lady, I'm sorry for what just happened."

"No... ah, no it's fine." Beatrice replied awkwardly before she went back to her bench and sat down. I breathed out a breath and sat down on the other bench across from her.

"Are you sure you're okay my lady?" Sylvia asked standing beside me and looking worriedly down at me. "You haven't had blood today either. I knew I should have asked if you needed some."

"No Sylvia, thank you but I don't need it right now. I'll be fine for now." I tried to reassure her with a smile. I looked over at Beatrice and nodded to her. "I'm ready when you are."

"Okay." Beatrice nodded. "Well you already know what mana is and how it works so now I'm going to show you some words that help with the exchange of mana." Beatrice opened one of her books and I saw words that I couldn't read written on the paper. "I've been studying mana for many many years and I have collated a set of books with all the words and spells I know that allow us to harness and use the mana in and around us. Here have a look." Beatrice slid the book over the stone table towards me.

Much like when I was learning to read and write I could feel the mana in each word my fingers brushed across. The longer the spell was the more mana I realised resided in the actual word. It was crazy to look at and feel.

"Can you show me something?" I asked Beatrice not looking up from the book as I flipped through the pages quickly trying to memorise the strange words I could see.

"Yes." Beatrice agreed and I looked up when she stood. I felt her gathering mana from around her and inside her. Beatrice placed her hands together, palm-to-palm, out in front of her "Jesh zhalia." she stated and I felt the mana flow into her hands. Something grew from in between her hands and when she pulled her hands away I gasped at what I saw. Ice in the shape of a butterfly sat on her palm. "Jadat thir." She whispered and suddenly the butterfly came to life and started fluttering its wings. It flew around the clearing and I lifted my hand. It landed on my hand and I felt the mana inside it. It was cold. "Ivisat." Beatrice said and the butterfly suddenly melted and dripped from my hand.

"That was amazing." I whispered in awe still looking at my hand. "How did you do that?"

"First you gather mana inside you and then you picture what you want, in this case a butterfly, and then you say the words. Keep the image of the butterfly in your head so that the mana knows what it's trying to form and then release the mana to form." Beatrice answered me.

I nodded my head and held out my hand palm up. I felt the mana around me and pulled it towards me. There was a lot of mana in this clearing so I knew taking some wouldn't upset the balance of life here. I pictured the butterfly in my mind and felt my hand become slightly heavy. "Jesh zhalia." I whispered keeping the image of the butterfly in my head and I released the mana that was weighing down my hand and slowly an ice butterfly grew from my palm. "I did it!" I grinned excitedly but suddenly it shattered making me confused. "What happened?"

"You used too much mana. Of such a small and frail thing you can't over load it with too much mana or you'll lose control and what you're trying to make will break." Beatrice explained and I nodded my head.

"Okay, then how much am I meant to use?" I questioned.

"As little as possible. Now if you were going to make more than one butterfly you'll need more mana but you need to equally distribute the mana into each butterfly."

"Alright." I held out my hand and tried again and again and again, but each time I was using too much mana making the butterflies smash and disappear. "This is a lot harder than I thought."

"How about you try multiple butterflies if you're taking too much mana from around you?" Beatrice suggested.

"Okay." I agreed and did as I was told. I held out both my hands and concentrated. I tried to take as little mana as I could from around me and placed it into my palms. "Jesh zhalia." I whispered. Two ice butterfly's grew from my palms and they didn't break. "Thank god." I sighed feeling tired for some reason.

"Good, now if you want to make them move, place a little bit more mana into them both and say jadat thir." Beatrice ordered.

I nodded my head and once again took as little mana from around me as possible slipping it inside the butterflies and whispered the order. "Jadat thir." I smiled in amazement as the butterflies started moving and took up from my palms to fly around the clearing together. "Beautiful." I couldn't help but whisper.

"Yes it is." Beatrice agreed with a soft smile, which made my attention go to her rather than the butterflies. She really is a beautiful woman. Such soft lips I remember tasting, smooth skin I remember holding, and the silkiness of her voice in my ears. But I could only hear and feel such things because she tasted my blood. It meant nothing to her other than a confused pleasure she remembers but doesn't want a repeat of. I sighed in sadness and turned away from the woman in front of me. The butterflies suddenly melted and fell to the ground as water.

"That was very good." Beatrice told me and I nodded my head. "Okay, now I want you to go through these books. I want you to memorise and practice each spell till you have it perfectly."

"Yes my lady." I nodded my head and picked up the book she had slid over to me the first time. Time went by and the sun was now on its way back down towards the horizon. "My lady." I said gaining Beatrice's attention from where she was reading one of the books. I was still on the first one and nearly halfway through. I know it's been a long time already and I'm still on the first book, but there's heaps of spells I need to try and memorise. "Are all these spells in this book to do with ice and water? Because they all seem to have jesh or eveth in them." I questioned.

"Yes. That book has all the spells to do with ice and water in it while this book," she indicated the one she was reading, "has the spells to do with fire, vorsa, in it along with any spells to do with light, shekhikh, and dark, cheyaoven. This other book has spells to do with earth, sorfosor, and air, chaf, in it."

"Ah, I get it." I agreed and started back to reading.

I looked at one of the spells before placing the book down and standing up and walking away from the others. I placed my hand on the ground picturing a spear, nothing fancy, just a long piece of wood with a blade at the end. I gathered mana in my hands as I kept the picture in my head. "Jesh zhani." I said and released the mana in my hands. Slowly ice crawled out from my hands and formed the plain spear I was picturing. I picked it up and looked at the others who were watching me curiously. "Some of these spells are used for fighting too right?" I asked Beatrice.

"Yes, Galen will most probably train you in how to quickly create a weapon during a fight and teach you how to use it. I'm just here to make sure you memorise all the spells I know and that you can use them when needed." Beatrice answered me.

"Ivisat." I muttered and the spear melted away. "Okay. I'll take it one book at a time and try to accomplish each spell in each book."

"Alright. Tomorrow you can start doing that, but for now we should head back for dinner." Beatrice stood from the bench and Mercy and Sylvia who were sitting and talking under a tree near the edge of the clearing stood up too.

"My lady, do you still wish for me to help you expand your senses?" I asked Beatrice before she could start to walk away.

Beatrice stood there for a second before she sighed and shook her head. "Not today, but we can try another time."

"Yes my lady." I replied not knowing if I should push her into trying again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jesh - ice Vorsa - fire Sorfosor - earth

Zhalia - butterfly Eveth - water Chaf - air/wind

Jadat thir - come alive Shekhikh - light Zhani - spear

Ivisat - melt Cheyaoven - dark

Please comment and vote if you like the story so far! Thank you!