A red shadowy figure emerges from the emptiness.
Aki struggled to recognise where he was. He squinted his eyes attempting to capture the face of the emerging stranger. Around him was darkness. Pure darkness except whatever was Infront of him.
"I told you once foolish boy."
Aki attempted to speak but his lips could not move, just like the rest of his body.
"If you die again, i will not save you". The shadowy figure said as it dissipated into the darkness.
Aki screamed as he quickly sat upright. He had awoken from sleep. He had slept on a large log of wood.
Awia, Lee and Merlin stared at him in suprise as the lights from the fire shone on their faces.
Aki turned his head around to observe his guild members.
"Sorry." "I had a strange dream". He said as he rubbed his eyes.
"Here!!". Lee yelled as he threw a bottle of water. Aki caught it and immediately drank great amounts of it's water even using some to wash his face.
"I need new clothes". "Merlin needs a new shield, armour and axe". Aki said to them. "We can't go on half-cocked". He added.
Aki was wearing his black trousers, a plain brown shirt with a single button and a pair of sandals. "Stupid cloaked man burned my clothes". He said with a grunt.
"Okay. Clothes with we can get but armor and weapons, we have to be calculative with our gold and gemstones. We need to eat to stay strong". Awia replied him as she placed her hands closer to the fire and burning wood in which they surrounded.
Merlin stood up from the large stone, he sat upon.
"She's right. I can get underarmor with what we have. My sword alone is an adequate weapon". Merlin suggested and returned to sitting upon said rock.
"Awia is right". We have to manage what we have until we get another big job. Hopefully we can find one around Industrial City, it's close to a New Frontier." Aki noted as he continued with his topic.
"I don't know about you guys but where we're going, we are going to need all the weapons we can get." Lee added as he pulled out a large bag from his horse. He proceeded to pull out a string of fishes from the magical bag.
"I got us food from the market, this should last us a couple of days." lee said as he handed each person three fishes, which they salted after they placed stuck them into the fire with sticks. He also took part in the dinner as he pulled out another bottle of water and gulped to his satisfaction.
It was almost midnight and group had travelled three days since they left the western port. Lee and Merlin had stood watch in those days and this time Aki and Awia had to do the same while the two slept.
Awia sat on the large stone, a change from the log of wood she and Lee sat on earlier that evening. Aki decided to stand as he leaned on a nearby three.
"The other day. At the shore. I noticed something strange from you." Awia curiously inquired. "It.. it was a reddish energy".
"What?". Aki blurted as he swiftly turned his eyes and head away from the moon. "That doesn't make any sense, I can't use mana so i don't think there's any way that I can give off any energy." He responded to her in disagreement.
"It's true. You have off the same.." she immediately stopped.
"The same what?". Aki pressed on.
"The same energy from those cloaked people." "You can't seek mana so you can't tell these things but i know what i saw and felt". She continued. "It felt dangerous". She said with worry.
The confused Aki, slowly sat upon the floor of the small part of the forest, the group had made their home for the night.
"This isn't possible". "So i can't use mana all my life and now you! A Holy Magi is saying i gave off a dangerous energy". Aki stated as his eyes blinked multiple times in frustration.
"This isn't fair". Aki said as he punched the nearby tree. "This isn't fair". He said in a melancholic gloom.
"I felt it too". Merlin chimed in as he got off the log. "I don't sleep for long, it's fine". He calmed the two down before they insisted he return to his slumber.
"I don't know what it is but i heard the big one say you weren't ready after he set you on fire? Whatever they have, i think you have it too." Merlin continued. "Maybe not on the same scale but whatever magic they have, I believe you have it". He said as he walked towards Aki.
"What does any of this even mean?". Aki scratched his head in frustration as Merlin finally approached him. His large gauntlet sat upon Aki's back as he said to him. "Get up, now you have to learn the fundamentals of magic".
"What's this about?". Aki asked as he slowly straightened himself, then proceeded to use his hands to clean the dust off his trousers.
"Everything in this world boils down to mana". Merlin said out loud as he folded his arms. The fire reflecting on the remaining of the dark armour he wore from his waist down.
"If it's has mana then you can wield it". Merlin elaborated and continued.
"Firstly you need to understand what mana is". "mana is the.."
"blood of the world". "And magic is it's heartbeat". Aki blurted out.
"We've all heard that before. From knights and scholars". He added.
"True but what you also need to know is that, magic is it's heartbeat." Merlin elaborated as he stretched out his arms to his sides.
A purplish energy began to flow upwards from his body. He quickly places his palms together. The thick obsidian on his gauntlet create a loud noise as they clash and the energy begins to calmly settle upon him like a river after a ripple.
"there are a few things you must understand about me magic before you wield it." Merlin said to Aki with his palms still together.
"Well, i never had any magical tutors because i never awakened. Most people awaken in their preteens but i didn't so my mother decided it was best to learn about the workings of the council and it's policies. Which i didn't like".
"I got to learn navigation tho, maps are great". Aki rambled on as he began to get lost in his own voice.
"Focus!". Merlin yelled out. "Okay. Okay, i just got carried away." Aki looked at him, his mind leaving the long memories of his childhood.
"Firstly, you must understand that mana is the fundamental current of reality. Connecting the body and soul."
"it is the universal life-energy, the spiritual essence that exists in the land, the skies and all living things". Merlin further explained.
"And magic is the art of shaping it". Merlin said as all the mana surrounding him flowed into his hands. He slowly split his palms apart revealing a ball of purple darkness.
"You must understand these four fundamentals. Mana capacity. This is how much mana someone can safely contain."
"Mana reserves, which is how much mana a person currently possesses."
"Mana control, which is how precisely and effectively someone manipulates mana and finally."
"Mana output. This is how much mana someone can release or channel at once".
"Did you feel the mana i released earlier to manifest the darkness?". Merlin inquired of him.
"Yes i did." Aki responded immediately. "How is that important to this lesson?". He followed with a question.
"Mana detection is the basics of seeking. Seeking is a broad term for a set of abilities in sorcery but if you can sense mana then you have mana, just like the wizards said back at Zo. You just couldn't channel it for whatever reason." Awia added as she crossed her legs. Her hands were steadily clutching her staff as she always stayed on alert for any wild beasts or outlaws.
"She's right." "So what we're going to do is work on a gradual release. I'm going to help you force out your mana". Merlin said with a smile on his face. The light shone on his face, with the light from the flames below highlighting the scar on his face.
"Thanks, Merlin." Aki said as he scratched the back of his head. He walked towards the log and sat beside Awia.
"It seems i have a long way to go". Aki said to hair as he turned his head to face her. "We, have a long way to". Awia graciously replied him.
"Isn't that lovely. Everyone's getting comfortable." Lee's voice rang out from the direction of the second log.
He sat upright and looked at the rest of his companions. "Tomorrow we head for industrial city for Aki's mission and we're going to take The Blinking Trains." he added as he opened a jug and chugged down some rum.
"Lee's right. We can't get to the city with the path we are on, we will need to pass through the eating woods and we can't do that in our current state." Merlin contributed.
"What's soo bad about the eating woods?". Aki asked. Awia looked at him with a concerned expression as she said to him.
"it's in the name. The forest literally eats people".
"Wow." Aki said to himself as he stared at the fire. "Lee, Merlin. You guys get some extra sleep before morning, we're going to need it." Aki said to the two.
Aki and Awia remained on guard as the Lee continued to sleep on the log. Merlin decided to sit on spread an empty bag, using it to sit on the floor as he leaned on the same log.
"What do you miss most about home?". Awia asked Aki as he was now standing on the same tree from earlier. This time his scepter was in hand. He looked to his left and watched as the horses layed.
"Me?" "I miss my mother. I also miss the friends but other than that, i never really felt at home there at the capital." Aki responded to her as he kicked a rock into the dark shadows of the woods.
"How about you?". Aki asked her. Awia's face brightened with a large smile as she thought back to her found family at the church.
"I miss everyone at the church. They were the only family i ever knew but i guess, just like you i felt i needed to do more not for myself but for others?". She replied him with a calm tone. Beauty and sorrow filled her voice as she thought back to the day and night she met the guild.
"You can get some sleep too, you really need to rest. We can't get far without a healer. I'll keep watching." Aki said to her with concern.
"Thanks but i can't really get back to sleep." Awia muttered as she swung her feet closer to the fire.
Aki smiled and looked at the moon once again before looking at his guild.
"I have to make this work." He said to himself.
Morning had come. The fire had been put out and the horses were on the move. Birds were flying about and chirping as the guild departed for the nearby station, their destination was industrial city.