"Hurry up!"

"Yes, yes, I know," Lila said in her mind.

She was too winded to speak aloud even if she wanted to. Her face was wet with sweat and water. She had been working at Roland's shop for two weeks by now, and this was the first time she woke up late. Well, it wasn't entirely her own fault. For a long time, she could only sleep with one eye open, and she always woke up whenever a sound, no matter how big or small, came from the hall. Now that she had been here for half a month with nothing dangerous happening, she was finally starting to feel safe. However, lack of sleep coupled with tiredness from hard work finally caught up to her today. If Crystal hadn't splashed her with water, she probably would have slept until noon. She might have cussed at Crystal due to being woken up in such a way. When she realized what time it was, she quickly forgot her anger in favor of getting ready for the day and then blazed through the streets of Cimia. By the time she reached the shop, the sun was fully up, and Roland had already started his daily routine.

"What do you think you're doing? These logs aren't going to carve themselves. Get to work, you slacker!" Roland yelled at Lila when she entered.

"I-I'm s… I'm sorry for being…" Lila panted, "For being late. I was—"

"It doesn't matter; grab them tools and get to that log! Hurry, hurry, hurry. Come on, chop chop!"

Hearing Roland's command to stop wasting more time, Lila took off her hat and went over to the counter, grabbing the peeling spud and the dull knife. When she first started working, she proved Roland right because she was too weak to lift the huge logs off the ground, which almost got her fired on the spot. She asked him to let her prove that she knew what she was doing, even if she didn't have the arm strength to raise the logs. She debarked the logs and cut them with a saw to get them roughly into the needed shape. Roland then smoothed them out with the wood planer and did the final touches with a chisel. He still had to do the heavy lifting himself, but her help made making wooden beams much faster. Roland gave her a raise too after her first week since he managed to deliver his orders faster than expected, all thanks to Lila’s efforts.

For Lila, using metal equipment was an eye-opener. They made things so much easier and more accurate compared to their flint counterparts. Compared to the amount of labor and time she spent on a single log with the equipment back at Gladeside, this was nothing. Also, since she was eating well and working at the carpenter, along with her private magic training with Crystal, she built considerable muscle mass in just two weeks. Her entire body was getting toned at an unprecedented pace. She suspected that it was due to her faster digestion since she spent mana on top of carpentry.

After grabbing the tools, Lila immediately got to work. She might have been hot-headed and rebellious but she didn’t dare to make Roland grumpier than his usual self. She quickly debarked the log, and Roland came over to draw the required shape with a piece of charcoal. She then grabbed the whaleback saw and cut the log accordingly, making sure to stay outside the lines.

"You’re still lacking accuracy, greenhorn. These are all slightly curved," Roland said after taking a look at the pieces she made.

"How can you be sure? You didn't even check them properly."

"I don't need to. When you get to my level, you can tell just by looking," he continued, "Now, help me get them on the table and roll another one."

This process went on for hours until Lila was too exhausted to continue. Her muscles were tired, and her limbs felt like they were about to fall off. Roland was still good to go but decided to call a break to let the girl catch her breath.

"Before you leave for lunch, we gotta talk," Roland said.

Lila got curious. What could he possibly talk about? It’s not like they knew each other very well, and Roland wasn’t talkative at all. Oh no, he was going to fire her, wasn’t he? He probably found someone with much better skills for much less.

"Mr. Roland, please don’t fire me," Lila begged. "I swear I’ll work even harder. I’ll work on my accuracy, just like you said."

"What? If you want to work harder, that’s fine with me, but I'm not firing you just because you were late once."

Lila tilted her head in confusion,

"If I’m not fired, what is it?"

Roland sat down on a stool and pulled another one in front of him, gesturing for Lila to do the same, which she did. With her taking a seat, he began to talk,

"You know, my son never wanted to be a carpenter," he spat on the ground. "It didn't matter how I tried to teach him, he just saw it as an annoying chore."

He looked lost in memory for a moment, then continued after collecting himself,

"But our family has been here since Cimia was founded. My father, my father’s father, and his father’s before him... We have all been carpenters. We helped build Cimia from nothing. Even now, all the beams for the new district are made here. Yet, all that knowledge will go to waste after I pass from this world. Unless…"

"Unless what? Unless you have a successor?" she asked. She knew this story from before.

"Exactly. I had many workers come and go. Muscular ones, small ones, eager ones, you name it but none of them worked as hard as you. You keep pushing yourself to the limit every day without any complaints. That’s why I decided to train you as my apprentice. If you agree to it, that is."

"You mean it? You’re actually offering me to be your apprentice, Roland?" Lila asked, her eyes widened in disbelief.

"You got cotton in your ears? That’s what I said. Don't make me repeat myself. I’ll take you up as my apprentice and teach you everything I know. You may even buy this shop from me once you learn the job. Trust me, you can with the money you’ll make."

Lila was beaming from ear to ear. She still couldn’t believe what Roland said, but he wasn’t one to make jokes, and his face was dead serious as usual. She might have started working here just for the money, but she also didn't want to disappoint Roland by half-assing her duty. His acknowledgment of her efforts filled the young girl with pride and joy.

"What of your son or your family? Won’t they object to this? You’re talking about selling your shop."

"Blast them all! If they cared about this place or the legacy of our family, they’d be the ones here, not you," he added. "Besides, my son would be happy to hear that I’ll be letting him go."

He muttered in a much lower voice. "I shouldn't have carved that damn lute for him."

Lila was relieved to hear this. The last thing she needed was more enemies lining up to get back at her. She considered the offer. Should she accept it? If she settled down in this town, maybe the ones chasing her wouldn’t be able to find her. After all, there were many people in this town, she could blend in without anyone noticing. Yes... This would work. This would work magnificently! No more running from town to town without any money to spare. No more surviving off of bits and scraps!

"Now hold your horses. I can see your head steaming from overthinking. You don’t need to answer yet, greenhorn. Go have something to eat and think real good," Roland said.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Okay. Then I’ll be back soon!"

"You better be. Now scurry off before I change my mind. That smile’s pissing me off."

Lila nodded excitedly and hurried to the cheap restaurant she found a couple of days ago. Funny… She fought with her mother against being a carpenter two months ago and ran off to the mountains in retaliation, which resulted in finding a cave and subsequently a talking crystal within it. After that...

But now there she was, happy to get the same offer from a complete stranger in a completely different place. Maybe this was a sign from God the preacher kept mentioning. Maybe she was destined to be a carpenter, no matter where she was or whom she was trained by. With these thoughts on her mind, an elated Lila found herself at the town square before she knew it. The preacher was on his soapbox again, still screaming about the end of the world. Come to think of it, did he ever take a break? Lila never saw him anywhere else other than his spot in front of the church. Surely he needed to eat, drink, and sleep from time to time.

"Heed thy Lord’s warning and rep—"

"Hey, Mr. Preacher. Do you ever rest?" Lila asked.

The Preacher cleared his throat after being abruptly interrupted by the young girl. It wasn't uncommon for the sinful unbelievers of this town to interrupt his sermons just to annoy him, but this girl always stood and listened for a little while whenever she was passing by. It was an innocent question, so he decided to answer instead of ignoring it. If he ignored her, it would make him no different than the townsfolk who ignored the message he was trying to spread.

"Aye, young one. I, the lord’s messenger Proth, hast the want for such worldly desires, for I am human like thou."

"Ah, okay. But, why do you always talk funny like that?" Lila asked, with innocence shining in her eyes.

Proth was starting to regret not ignoring her. "I shall grant thy ignorance to thy youth. The Lord hath compelled I, Proth, to address sinners of Cimia in such a way, for this is the language I hast read in his scriptures!"

He was definitely a weirdo, Lila decided. But she knew better than to judge people based on that. Crystal too had a weird personality. It took her a while to get used to how it spoke and how it reacted to situations. At certain times, it spoke immaturely. In some situations, it was borderline unhinged. But sometimes, it sounded incredibly wise and mature. While Proth was in a talking mood, Lila had another thing she was curious about. Proth kept mentioning how magic disappeared and how God was punishing them for their sins, but Crystal clearly used magic. She herself was still learning magic. If Proth wasn't lying, then there was something she was clearly missing. Her face got serious, and she finally asked what she actually wanted to ask in the first place.

"You keep talking about how magic disappeared, Proth. Did it truly disappear?"

"On that fateful night two months since, our glorious lord hath taken away what he granted many centuries ago…"

"Wait, that doesn’t sound right. I—"

"Stop, Lila," Crystal’s voice suddenly echoed in Lila’s mind.

"But I want to hear him out, Crystal. He’s is wrong; we are the proof of it!"

"I will tell you everything. Let’s get out of here before you expose us," Crystal replied in a worried tone.

“I… I understand Mr. Proth. Thank you for your guidance!” Lila continued where she left off, though Proth was clearly confused by her sudden stop mid-sentence.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You asked me if I were but you sound troubled and you’re sweating.”

“I’m fine mister, thank you,” Lila said. “Hold on… What happened to your usual tone?”

“And now, I shall continue to spread His word! Repent sinners!” Proth nonchalantly continued his overly dramatic preaching, ignoring the girl.

Deciding to leave him to his duties, Lila made her way to the restaurant. Her eyes landed on her usual spot by the window and she quickly took a seat when she reached the restaurant. Once seated, the waitress came up to her with the smile she always had but Lila just ordered a meat broth soup and a small mug of ale without any chit-chat. She was hungry but food wasn’t the main thing on her mind nor she had time for common courtesy.

“So, are you going to tell me, Crystal?” Lila thought.

“I suppose there is no point in hiding it anymore,” Crystal continued. “What that man says is true. Magic did disappear from the grasp of the human race two months ago.”

“But, we saw those people use magic back at the cave. You even told me about Long-Range Something-Something.”

“Long Range Teleportation.” Crystal corrected Lila. “And no, that is different from casting magic. Scrolls or stones that were enchanted previously still work. But it is now impossible to produce more. The main problem is that the human race as a whole can’t use the magic they learned. Not anymore.”

“How do you even know that, Crystal?”.

“It’s because I'm the reason their magic existed,” Crystal dryly answered.

Was this a joke? It was powerful, that much was true, but this was too much even for the vain and proud Crystal no matter how strong it was. There was a guy out there saying that magic was given by a God and she knew that Crystal was no God.

Lila looked at her hip with a puzzled face and continued,

“Look, I know you are powerful, but aren’t you overestimating yourself a little bit?”

“That cave was a spot where magical leylines overlapped and I sat there, being the bridge.”

“What bridge? And what is a magical leyline?” She hastily asked.

"Think of them as veins of the world. Instead of blood, they pump mana."

“Okay, but that still doesn’t answer my question. What bridge?” Lila kept on prodding.

“There is no avoiding that one, huh?” Crystal continued. “Remember what I told you about wizards that came before the mages? The way they used magic was hard to learn and even harder to teach. They had to use strange mindsets, strong emotions, and a staggering amount of mana even for the smallest effects. Everyone had mana, but only a few could become wizards."

“Okay but—”

“Let me finish,” Crystal cut her off. "In order to fix this issue, I was created. A spell that was cast at the crossroads of leylines connected me to the collective consciousness of humanity. Their emotions, thoughts and most importantly, demands, all flowed through me. They no longer had to burn themselves to learn about fire or drown themselves to learn about water. They just used the previously decided incantations and poured out their mana, then I would translate those words into the thoughts and feelings needed for that effect. I was the bridge between the mages and the world.”

Cogs were turning in Lila’s mind. What it said was too coherent and detailed to be a falsehood. But if Crystal was speaking the truth, that would mean…

“No, lassie. I am not the one that caused the slaughter in Gladeside. I didn't have a mind of my own when all I knew was how to be a part of the collective. Yours was the first mind close enough for me to feel without the spell I was connected to. Until that point, I was alive, but not aware. The moment I knew what it felt to have a separate mind of your own, the spell broke. But the shields that kept the cave inaccessible were already broken by someone else.”

“Alara…” Lila blurted out under her breath.

“Most likely. I do not know how she managed to undo that spell. It’s properties are hidden even to me.”

“Wouldn’t placing you back there work? It should, right?” Lila asked.

“No, it wouldn’t. The only person who could fix this situation, the one who created me, is long gone.”

They both went quiet after Crystal's reveal. Her food arrived whilst she was focused on Crystal but the only thing she could do was stare at it. It all made sense now; the cave, the massacre, Nure and his people. They knew about the cave and Crystal but apparently, they didn't know enough. That's why they were after them, they had the same idea as her. And they killed everyone for something that wouldn't even work…

Lila exhaled as she reclined her chair. This was too much for her to wrap her head around it. As she was emptily staring out of the window, her eyes met someone who ground her thoughts to a halt with paranoia. A beggar was across the street, sitting right where he could see her through the window.