Using my pencil, I drew a big circle on the sheet of paper before me. Then another smaller circle. Then I lined up runes in between the two.

The first rune was a containment rune, which was actually what the two big circles were. Despite what one might think they were not an aesthetic choice.

The inner and outer rings were meant to hold the power of the runes in place. Like lines on a paper holding sentences and paragraphs. While the other much smaller containment rune, set at the beginning of the rune script, both shaped and contained the effects of the spell.

I added in the connector rune next. Then a wind rune. The wind rune provided oxygen for the spell. It was also kind of swirly looking.

From there I added another connector rune and then an amplification rune. The amplification rune gave a boost to the effects of the runes before it, making them stronger. It also looked a little like a multiplication symbol only with an extra horizontal line and two dots on a diagonal axis, on opposite sides of each other.

I then added a delay connector rune followed by a heat rune. The heat rune injected heat aspects into the spell. Turning the wind aspects into fire aspects. It looked a little like the amplification rune, but less dots and more lines.

The delay connector rune, made it so the heat rune wouldn’t activate right away. As explained by Lorie earlier today.

Following that rune was another connector and amplification rune to increase the power of the spell even further.

I added another connector rune with a short delay. This would allow the fire to grow a little before the momentum rune activated, which was the next rune in the magic circuit.

The momentum rune was what turned the spell into a projectile. It was also what made the spell hit with concussive force. Thus causing it to act like an explosion, despite not really having any way to create a violent reaction.

I didn't really like the way the momentum rune looked. It almost resembled a pizza with only one peperoni slice on it. Seeing it brought back memories of my brother stealing the peperoni off my pizza slices, when I wasn’t looking and then gas lighting me into thinking I had accidentally gotten a slice of my sister’s cheese pizza.

Anyway, from there another connector and amplification runes were used. Followed by an end connector rune, thus closing the magic circuit.

It wasn’t that difficult to understand. Everything else was up to the spell caster. Intent mattered. Intent was the reason I was able to get the spell to manifest in the first place. It filled the holes in my mistakes and lack of knowledge. A skillful mage, could use it to craft impossibly powerful spells.

As for why the fireball spell worked in my inner world. Well, sometime after lunch, Lorie said since inner worlds are hyper dimensions, spells created there are far smaller, meaning you needed less power and less Intent to make it work.

That’s why mages aimed to make their magic circles as small as possible. I had noticed Lories magic circles were less than a foot wide and her runes were so small compared to my child like scribbles.

She also mentioned that, that was why enchantments were so gentle on materials. The smaller the rune script. The more focused and stable the spell was. Of course bigger magic circles also meant more powerful spells.

Now that I thought about it, in-game spell upgrades would make your spell circles smaller when upgrading cast time and bigger when increasing their effects.

This also explained why the meteor spell wasn’t that different from a fire ball spell. It was only the cast time and size of the circle that changed.

In other words, in my inner world. I could have used water aspects to cast fireball and it would have gone off without a problem. Intent could have easily made up for it. The whole thing was still so bizarre to me, but if it worked it worked.

What was really pissing me off was with all this knowledge. I was still unable to cast the fireball properly. Intent couldn’t make up for lack of skill. Though my magic circles weren’t bad at all. I was still missing something. Something important to spell casting.

It was so annoying. I’d spent most of today learning what the runes meant, yet I still couldn’t figure out how to cast a simple fireball. It wasn't that powerful of a spell. Mages could unlock the buy option after using ember a few times to bring their fire magic proficiency up to 8%.

Lorie was no help. She just wanted me to learn the runes. She doesn’t even know about all the failed attempts I made at casting. There was no way I was going to learn magic in the short amount of time I had left.

I decided to call it quits and go talk to the lore keeper. I don’t need to learn all this extra stuff. I just needed to be able to cast a spell or two. A spell that would round out my build. Cover for my weaknesses. Something that would give me an edge against Squirmy.

Forget learning each note. I could always learn magic later. For now I needed to learn how to play Seven Nation Army on the flute, so I could impress my friends at Brian’s little brother’s bar mitzvah.

That metaphor almost seemed to silly to be a metaphor. I closed the book and put my notes under it. Then headed out of that dark room and up to the mountain top.

It looked to be well passed midday. Maybe around 4 PM considering where the sun was in the sky. It was nice not having to breathe that old book smell anymore.

The air was fresh and breezy. For whatever reason it made me pretty happy. I stretched and even did a cart wheel for good measure.

That was when I heard Zubu curse from somewhere. Feeling a little curious I snuck my way towards the sounds of her suffering. She couldn't be mad at me still right? I did apologize after all. Wait, was that Aku talking or me?

I headed through some double doors. Went down the hallway, and found myself standing in front of a door. I ended up having to use my Qi sight to find her and now that I was here I didn't know what to do.

“Come on work you stupid crap!” She yelled.

Her voice made me feel a little scared. I didn't want to knock or anything. Maybe I should leave her alone. She never really liked me to begin with, so it's not like we were friends.

She isn’t always a big bully. She might be grumpy most of the time, but she can also be really nice in a rude way. I was stuck on what to do.

The Isaac in me told me to leave her alone, but the Aku in me really wanted to go talk to her. Zubu sounded like she was doing an undertale genocide run and had been stuck on Sans for the past two hours. If I go in I might be able to help her, or I could just make things worse.

It was getting hard to hold Aku back. She no longer needed to waste quintessence to make us do stuff. With her mortal rank soul, she had some control over our actions now. Of course, I still had a stronger soul and could veto her, but that took focus. I couldn’t stay focused all the time.

It was like taking a kid to a candy store. You constantly have to scold them, or hold their hand just to keep them from running around and touching everything. It was exhausting.

While I was distracted with another metaphor, Aku took control of our hand moving it forward and knocking on the door without consulting me. Apparently she didn't care how Zubu felt because she had already apologized and you were apparently supposed to forgive people when they said they were sorry.

Immediately, I could hear movement on the other side. To my surprise Zubu said, “Come in.”

I opened the door and was assaulted by a flying book. The book was thick and sunk into my forehead just above my right eyebrow. It had so much force behind it that it knocked me back and onto the floor.

I immediately started wailing uncontrollably as Zubu yelled, “No! Get the fuck out!”

She didn't look afraid. The wannabe samurai was more angry than fearful. I felt something warm running down my face. It got in my right eye.

I tried to rub it away as I sobbed and trembled, but only ended up smudging it all over. My cries called for comfort. Zubu was the only one there so I ended up looking to her for warmth. I saw a mix of regret and frustration there.

-Yukio-

“Come in.” I said.

The door to my room swung open and to my surprise that little psycho was standing at the entrance. I got so pissed that I threw the book I was reading at his face. It slammed corner first into Isaac’s eyebrow.

It felt really good to cause that idiot pain. At first it did. At least up until I saw their face. The blood and tears. The look of betrayal. The fear etched into every body motion and expression.

Especially the heart wrenching cry. It was so different from the way Isaac normally cries. So loud. Nothing like the whiny brat I was used to. Like there was something actually wrong.

For a moment I was reminded of the torture Isaac’s mom put him through and the fact that there was an actual kid in that body. That didn’t excuse what they did… but they were both crazy.

I didn’t feel bad! I couldn’t! Isaac nearly killed me, but that face and that horrible wailing. It was hard not to feel a little guilty. Especially with the fountain of blood coming out.

The final nail was how he looked at me, as if begging to be held. I wasn’t this dude’s mom or older sister. He should cry to lore keeper, not me. She was the one looking after him. Maybe he should cry to that stupid gorilla.

Why did he have to be so small and fragile. It’s like a natural defense mechanism to force people to be nice to you. It was so unfair!

Now that I thought about it. I may have tried to take advantage of those traits when I first ascended. Tried being the highlighted word there.

Okay, so maybe throwing a book at his head was a bit much, but he did nearly kill me. I think I need to talk to him. To both of them and find out just what the hell was wrong with them.

Picking up a few tissues off my desk. I made my way over to the crying baby. Kneeling down I started to wipe away the blood and tears from their face.

“Sorry about that. Hold still.” I said.

Isaac followed my orders, as if I hadn’t been the one to hurt him. Trembling under my gaze, he looked so scared of me. When did I become the scary one. I used to be a much kinder person. Kids used to love me.

“Come on, you’re a big girl, heal up.” I instructed as I held the tissues over the small cut on his forehead.

The slightest hint of a healing aura came to life as the wound slowly closed. Pulling the tissues away I helped him to his feet. “There, it’s all better now, so stop crying.”

It was a bit awkward for a moment as I had sent one too many mixed signals. This prompted Isaac to ask, “Are we… even now?”

Feeling somewhat annoyed at him. I shook my head. “No way. What you did was way worse.” I said.

Isaac looked like he was about to cry again. I couldn’t tell if they were real tears or the fake cries of a psychopath. He then pushed past my arms and hugged me. I was stuck between pushing him away, or letting it happen. In the end I couldn’t make a decision and froze up.

“I thought… I thought you were dead. I didn't know what to do. Mr. Brutus was gone and I was sure I had killed you… just like Jack.” He said that last part so low. I could hardly hear him.

Despite my anger I still managed to ask, “Who is Jack?” Isaac backed away and held his head. His tears starting up again.

“I can't!” He cried. Before I could stop him he ran out the door and down the hallway.

There was no way that idiot managed to turn this back on me. How could he be the victim when I was the one that got buried alive. It pissed me off, but at the same time. I’ve never seen him act like that.

I ran after him. Last thing we needed was for Isaac to do something stupid and I had to admit I was a little curious.

Thanks to my much longer legs, I managed to catch up with him. grabbing on to the back of his shirt, I pulled him into my arms. He struggled in my embrace, until he suddenly gave up and collapsed into me.

He didn't say anything. Instead he just cried a bunch. I couldn't help but wonder what had happened. Lore keeper told me the abridged version of Isaac's past, but she never mentioned a Jack.

Great, was I going to have to look after this dumbass until he was feeling better. I had better things to do than babysit a crazy cocktail of multiple personalities and sugar.

Later

I was back in my room. Isaac was laying in my bed sleeping. So far he hasn't said a word since he mentioned jack. It was almost time for dinner too. I hope he doesn’t expect to sleep here.

Since he was inconsolable the best thing to do was to make him comfortable. I even made sure to retrieve Snowball from his room. It was a bit strange not to see him carry his doll around. Isaac had probably moved passed that phase. Or it could have something to do with the calming effects of the trees.

When Isaac first got here, he was like a ball of pure anxiety. As time went on his mind seemed to calm down somewhat. Don’t get me wrong, he was still a nut case, but at least the rougher parts had been dulled down.

I peaked over at the sleeping child. He was hugging his push doll. Thanks to it, I didn’t need to hold him. Snowball was all the comfort he needed. I really didn’t want to play big sister right now. Not only was I busy. He was also annoying as shit. Clingy little snot nosed kids were the worst.

I sighed and continued my studies on plasma. Well, I tried. Isaac woke up just then and looked around the room. “I’m sorry.” He mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

“I haven't forgiven you.” I said bluntly.

“I know. I just wanted to say I’m really sorry and that I’ll leave you alone now. “ He crawled out of bed carrying that dumb cat plushy in his arms, and made his way to the door.

“You don't have to go that far.” I said.

“Huh?” He mumbled.

I sighed spinning my chair around. “Tell me who Jack is and I might forgive you.”

Instead of crying like last time Isaac looked annoyed. I was surprised by that.

“Fuck you. Either forgive me or don't. Don't use forgiveness as a bargaining chip. It's worthless that way.” He said as he opened the door and left.

Meanwhile, I was left wondering when I had become the bad guy. He was kind of right. Forgiveness wasn’t something that could be used as a bargaining chip. The moment it was used that way, was the moment it became meaningless.

-Aku/Isaac-

“No child, I told you to learn the runes.” Said Lorie as she mixed the contents of a steaming pot.

“But Lorie, I don’t have time for stuff like that. Please just teach me to cast spells. I can always learn the rest later once Squirmy is dead.” I begged.

The lore keeper tasted a spoonful of broth. “Ooo, not bad. Do you think it might be too salty?” She held a spoonful up to my lips.

I took a sip and was met with a delicious mix of flavors. There was something about fresh ingredients that made it so much better.

“I boiled some chicken bones to make the broth.” She explained.

“it’s delicious!” I said. I couldn’t wait for dinner. Wait, she distracted me! “lore keeper! You can’t change the subject like that!” I argued.

“Okay, Okay. How about I show you how to cast one spell. After that it’s back to the books.” She offered.

“Deal! But it can’t be fireball!” This caused her to raise an eyebrow.

I giggled. She thought she could easily get my fireball spell to work. Well now she had to teach me a whole new spell from scratch.

“Alright, fine. What spell are you looking to learn.” She asked.

This was actually something I’ve been thinking about. “Do you know the wind spell platform?” I asked.

Her face seemed to soften. “Such a simple spell. Are you sure that’s the one you want to learn?” She asked.

I nodded.

“Really? Not something more flashy and destructive? Like death ray? Or winds of destruction? What about scorched Earth. The new students always gravitate to that one.” She suggested.

I turned them all down then reiterated the one I wanted. “I want to learn platform.”

“Very well, but why that one? I figured a bundle of chaos such as yourself would go for something more exciting.” She said.

“Just because I look like a child doesn’t mean I am one. I’ve thought it through.” I said.

“You have? Well, explain your reasoning then. I’m curious.” She said.

“I’ve been practicing with Mr. Brutus and during those fights. I realized what I was lacking. I’m pretty nimble, but I’m also pretty small. When I fight I have to move around my opponent and look for weak points. That becomes an issue when I jump in the air. I’ve been able to somewhat negate the airborne opening I create when jumping, by parrying incoming attacks and using my caterpillar aura to move along the surface of my target, but I need to be able to take advantage of my speed while airborne.” I explained.

“I see. That’s some serious thought you put in. Do you really think you can cast the spell fast enough to make use of it?” She asked.

“The part that takes the longest is gathering the essence, but wind aspects are all over the place, so it’ll only take a second.” I said.

The lore keeper patted my head. “You are a smart child. Let’s hope it all works out.”

I smiled up at her. “Can we eat now?” I asked.

“Soon. Why don’t you set the table. I think Yukio is sticking to her room so don’t worry about setting a plate out for her.” She said.

I nodded and as soon as I turned around I saw Zubu standing there. Like a grumpy goat standing up on their hind legs. What I meant by that was her presence intimidated me. She kept her eyes away from me.

I moved around the room shifting my body into strange positions to try and make eye contact. She kept avoiding me, but I wouldn’t let her. Finally I did a handstand and stared right into those violet pink eyes of hers.

She went wide eyed before bursting into laughter. “What is wrong with you?” She giggled.

My hand cramped up and I fell over. I felt a bit awkward initially, but with that display of ridiculousness it had faded a little.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I should have just explained Jack to her. After all these years I still wasn’t comfortable with that subject, but it wasn't like she couldn't find out. There was a super detailed file on me, or so I'm told.

Regardless of files, I didn't really feel like talking about him. Besides, explaining jack didn’t excuse what I did to Zubu. All it did was make me look crazy and I couldn’t have that.

“Why are you here?” I blurted. Why show up and make me feel uncomfortable. I thought we were fighting.

“I have my reasons.” She blushed. “lore keeper. I think I’ll be eating dinner at the table tonight.” She avoided eye contact with both of us this time, while fiddling with the ends of her hair like a nervous school girl. She was almost cute.

For a moment I felt like flipping the ends of her kimono and getting a peek at her underwear. Then making fun of her for whatever reason. Just to get her to act like her normal grumpy self and not this shy timid girl I saw now.

I bet she wore kiddy panties like me. Something silly like yellow with a monkey eating a banana on the front. The temptation was palatable. I almost couldn’t control myself. It was Schrodinger's panties. You didn’t know what they were until you flip the skirt up.

While distracted with another metaphor, Aku's curiosity got the best of her, causing her to reach over. Flipping the bottom of Zubu’s kimono up. Underneath was a pair of black silky lace panties.

I was in shock. Meanwhile Aku was jealous she didn’t get to wear such nice underwear and only got some cheap dollar store bundle junk.

This horrible action caused me to get the worst spanking yet. Which was strange considering burying someone alive was far worse than flipping a skirt.

I was hoping Lorie would stop it, but she seemed to agree with Zubu’s parenting style. In fact, once Zubu was tired she tagged in, choosing the wooden spoon as her weapon of choice.

By the end, my tushy was burning so hot, that you could use it to finish cooking dinner. I couldn't even explain the situation, because I couldn’t get a single word out through my tears.

The table was eventually set and I ended up clinging to Zubu’s side. “Leave me alone, piss baby! Go sit over there!” Yelled Zubu.

I sniffled and sobbed as I wiped my tears and snot on her kimono. “I didn't mean to. it was Aku I tell you.” I cried.

She looked annoyed at the state of her clothes, but decided to keep punishing me by ignoring my distress.

“I don't care who it was. It was still wrong.” She said.

“Your not mad?” I cried. She didn't answer. “Your mad.” I answered for her.

“Can't you just sit in your own seat already. Am I going to have to get you a highchair or something?” Complained Zubu.

I shook my head. From my perspective all I wanted was to clear my name. From Aku’s perspective all she wanted was for Zubu to be nice to her again. Well, as nice as she rudely could.

Aku’s behavior was odd to me. After being punished by Zubu. She then went to her for comfort. It made no sense to me. That was like getting burned by a stove and then hugging it in hopes of it healing your burns.

Aku wouldn’t leave Zubu’s side until the not-teen gave her a hug, or a head pat. She was probably going to cry herself to sleep on her lap. Any time I tried to pull us away, she would overpower me with raw emotion. In the end I felt pretty bad for her and wished I could comfort her myself.

That was when Mr. Brutus showed up and I found myself grateful to have another man around. “What’s going on? Did the brat bully the kid again?” he asked.

“Oh, quite the opposite actually. Isaac was being a little pervert is all.” Said Lorie as she brought in the food.

That little accusation let my emotions overcome Aku’s, giving me back control. “I was not!” I cried “Mr. Brutus you have to believe me!”

He let out a sigh before pulling out his flask and taking a seat at the table. “Go on then, let me hear it.” He said.

That was when I gave a detailed explanation on what happened. He listened and nodded along making sure to hear out the whole story. I felt like I was finally being heard and Aku seemed to think Mr. Brutus was going to be nice to us.

Zubu seemed to rest her chin on her hand looking off into the distance. Lorie kept bringing in the rest of the food.

At the end he just started laughing. “So you did the old flip and run huh! Man that brings back childhood memories.” He laughed.

It turned out Mr. Brutus was also a scoundrel when he was younger. “I told you it’s not like that! Aku did it. She was curious and flipped her kimono.” I pleaded.

“Ata boy. You stick with your story. I’m sure if you throw it out there long enough someone will believe you. Just make sure to never change the details. Keep it consistent every single time and ask for a lawyer.” Said the brut before sipping his flask.

He was clearly drunk and probably wouldn't remember this conversation. I kept clinging to Zubu in hopes that my cute child-like mannerisms would break her down. “Zubu, please don't ignore me. It makes me feel bad.” I begged.

“I don't care that you flipped my kimono. I'm still upset with you for burying me alive you dumbass.” She said.

I pulled away realizing the situation. “Okay.” I squeaked. Backing away from her, I seated my sore bottom on the seat reserved for me. It was cold, soothing my backside.

I glanced over at Zubu who seemed to look away from me. The whole skirt flip incident did anger her, but it also reignited the frustration she felt from when I nearly killed her.

It was pointless to soak in this feeling of un-want and absent affection. While I understood this, Aku clearly did not. She thought she could be forgiven if she acted all cuddly.

I was feeling pretty tired at the moment. How many hours did I sleep again. 1… 2? I did sleep a few more minutes on Zubu’s bed. It was too bad Jack haunted my dreams. It didn't matter. I went ahead and created a one layer aura of apathy.

It really wasn’t enough. I felt like I was about to fall asleep, so I increased it to three layers. This helped a lot. I could still feel the tiredness and soreness of my body, but it didn’t bother me as much. Both mine and Aku’s emotions were also better controlled since they no longer fed off of each other.

Feeling upset and agonizing over being upset, created a loop that fed itself. With apathy I could detach myself from my emotions to the point where they didn’t effect me as much. thus stopping the endless loop.

With a clear head I could now explain the situation better. Removing your emotions from the equation gave ypu the bottom line. I didn’t want to be seen as a mental patient, but being transparent would help them understand me better as a person.

Clearing my throat I tried again. “I’m sorry. Sometimes it’s my brain with Aku’s feelings. Other times, it’s just me. Aku can sometimes be in full control when her emotions are strong enough, or she can take advantage of my distracted mind. That last one was what happened, but it wasn’t all Aku’s fault. My mind was thinking ridiculous things and Aku became curious, so she flipped Zubu’s skirt to see what kind of underwear she was wearing.”

“I knew it. You are dirty minded.” Said Zubu with disgust and hatred.

That hurt but it wasn’t wrong. While I felt shame, Aku got upset. She lashed out at her. “It’s not fair! How come you get pretty underwear. I want some too!” I couldn’t stop her so instead I sunk into the corner of my mind.

Zubu looked like she was about to yell but instead asked, “Aku?” Once she realized who was talking she got a smile on her face. “No, you are too little for fancy underwear.”

“Well, well… why do you get to have them! You don’t even have a boyfriend!” My adopted daughter cut deep with that one making Zubu blush in embarrassment.

“The kids got you there.” Said Mr. Brutus before taking a sip from his flask.

“Shut the fuck up Brutus!” She turned her attention back to Aku. “I will once I get off this stupid world you little brat!” She yelled.

That was the end of that conversation as Aku decided to ignore Zubu like she’d done to her.

During dinner we all got to talk about our day. Mr. Brutus said he was out shooting Rum Robin’s in the forest. The lore keeper told everyone about how my training was going. She made me feel all blushy and warm inside by giving me lots of praise.

I had to translate for Snowball, because no one else spoke catanese. She said she was busy decorating her new room in the castle.

I talked about a drawing I made of the dead chicken Lorie killed coming back as a chicken wraith. I even pulled the drawing out of my pocket to show everyone and even taunted Lorie with it. To which she pointed out we were currently eating that same chicken, and that I was being disrespectful to it’s sacrifice.

Zubu didn't feel anyway towards my drawing saying it was fine. While Mr. Brutus said it was really cool and even asked if he could have it. I gladly gave it to him and got lots of praise and head pats, and even another cherry lollipop. This made Aku very happy.

After that, Zubu talked about her studies to find a new cultivation technique. It turns out she was looking through science books to figure out how plasma actually worked. She was going to invent her own cultivation technique based off of science. That sounded like a cool project.

Mr. Brutus called it an advanced cultivation technique. Apparently his cultivation technique was a basic one. That to me sounded crazy.

From the way Zubu explained it. It almost sounded like she was going to turn her dantian into a plasma globe. Mr. Brutus said that was dangerous because if she messed up her body could explode, but Zubu called him a fat ugly gorilla and he shut up.

It was such a strange feeling hearing them all talk and laugh like that. It reminded me of back when my family was still together. Back when we would all eat and talk at the table.

My sister playfully teasing and embarrassing me. My brother joining in. Mom telling both of them to cut it out. Dad sipping his beer and telling insane stories about work.

The food was gone pretty quickly and soon Mr. Brutus had to go. I gave him a hug. “Be safe Mr. Brutus, also I wanna fight you again. Once I figure out how to use a few spells.” I said.

“Sure thing kid. I expect you to at least scratch my cheek this time. We’ll call it your graduation fight.” He said before patting my head.

With that goodbye the man I knew as my master turned and left. It was too bad. I wanted to play with him a little, but right now he couldn’t help me. The only one that could do that was Lorie.

I turned my attention to her. She was putting everything away. “Come on then child. Let’s do the dishes before we start learning magic.” She said.

I didn’t want to do dishes. That’s why I loved paper plates and styrofoam cups. Yay convenience! “Can’t you magic them clean?” I complained.

My complaint got a laugh out of Zubu who quickly shut up when Lorie glared at her.

“Isaac, washing dishes is a discipline. The moment you use magic for everything is the moment you become lazy.” She explained.

Zubu chimed in, “Don’t try to fight her on it piss baby. I’ve been arguing the same thing for years now. If you complain one to many times she'll make you wash dishes by yourself for a week. Well, for the rest of your stay.”

“Yeah… One issue though. I’m too small.” I said hoping to save myself the boring task of clean up.

“I have a step ladder for you.” Said the lore keeper bursting my bubble. “What? I have thousands of ascendies pass through here every few weeks. Do you really think I wouldn’t have a way for them to pitch in? If there were a few more of you, I’d let you all do the cooking and cleaning.” Said Lorie.

I panicked. “What about Mr. Brutus! How come he doesn’t have to wash dishes!? Just because he’s a man doesn’t mean he gets to leave all the kitchen work to us ladies! We’re not his slaves!” I suggested.

“Nice try child, but he helped me last night after lady Cosmo left. Yukio has also been helping out every other day. It’s your turn.” Said Lorie.

I was contemplating whether or not to breathe fire to get out of it, but then remembered how annoying it was to get over that sickness. The question was. which situation would be less work?

I held both hands up using them like scales, while I stacked cons and pros on each side. The pretend scales dipped one way. Then the other, until I gave up, because I’d forgotten most of the stuff I’d put of them.

Figuring out which one was more work was actually more work than simply doing one. “Okay fine!” I said stomping my foot into the floor.

“My goodness, so much defiance. Keep that up and I’ll bring out the wooden spoon again.” Said Lorie.

I shrunk under her threat. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be so rude. Aku really doesn’t like doing chores.” I could still feel the frustration Aku felt in my gut. She was like a feral kitten ready to lash out at the most inaudible mentions of work.

In the end I helped do the dishes and somehow ended up with water all over the front of my shirt and jeans. This always happened when I did dishes. I still wasn’t sure why.

Alice never got wet, so why was it different for me? Even Lorie was dry. This made me think it was some kind of prank and everyone was in on it.

As I washed plate after plate I made the universal symbol for “Okay” with my right hand and managed to get the thin membrane of a bubble to form. A smile born of pure glee began to bloom across my face. I began to blow air into the glossy looking sheet.

The air began to stretch and pull, until it became a giant bubble. I quickly closed it off and with my other soapy hand I was able to hold it.

I started giggling and turned to the lore keeper. “Look Lorie, I made a big one!” I cheered.

She turned towards me and saw my giant bubble. “How did you manage that? Never mind get to work or we’ll never finish.” She said.

I felt unappreciated. “Lorie, you don’t like it?” I nearly cried.

“It’s a fine bubble. Now get to work.” She said sternly.

“Hang on! I wanna show Zubu!” I ran off into the other room as Lorie called for me to come back.

“Zubu look! Look! Isn’t it cool!?” I said excitedly.

She gave the bubble one look. Then popped it. I was immediately hit with a wave of shock. followed by sadness. Before I could start crying though, it turned into anger and I yelled out, “You asshole! Why would you do that!?”

This got her to lean back like I was about to hit her. “Calm down. Just make another one.”

I turned around in a huff and said “it was still really mean.” Then headed back to Lorie who scolded me for running off.

She said a bunch of stuff about not running in her hallways and how I shouldn't abandon a task just because I was easily distracted.

I tried to explain to her what Zubu did but she wasn’t having any of it. It was so unfair. How come I was the one in trouble? I came back and besides, what Zubu did was way worse. She should be the one getting the spoon.

Since my clothes were now soaked in dirty dish water, Lorie had me change into my PJs instead. I wanted to keep wearing my jeans, but Lorie insisted I change.

The PJs were at least comfy and they came with pants, so I wasn't that heart broken about it. It also looked like they had been cleaned. They had that functioning member of society smell.

Together we sat at one of those low tables. I still wasn’t sure what they were called. Zubu even joined us. The lore keeper poured us all a cup of tea. I tried it expecting it to be sweet or something, but it wasn’t at all. It was actually kind of bitter and at the same time underwhelming.

This was just dirty hot water. It was nothing like the sweet stuff Aku gave me in our soul. Then again, now that I thought about it. Neither Aku or I have ever in our lives once had real tea, so how would we know what it tasted like. My mind was blown.

“I’ve decided I don’t like tea.” I said before pushing the leafy juice away from me.

This made Yukio laugh again. She sure found a lot of stuff I did funny. I stuck my tongue out at her. She mirrored my action. Causing me to gasp. Greatly appalled by her childish behavior, I held a hand up to my open mouth in shock.

This only seemed to amuse her even more. “You idiot. You didn’t even mix anything in.” She reached for a sugar cube on the tray and grabbed four of them. Then dropped them into my tea cup. Next she added a little honey and milk. Mixing it all together gave off a very enticing aroma. The amber liquid turning into a pinkish tinted white.

I was left wondering if I should have asked for warm milk with honey mixed in. That would have been delicious. Actually, if I did that then Zubu would probably try to give it to me in a baby bottle or sippy cup. I could handle this. I was also an adult.

“Honestly you children have terrible palettes.” Said Lorie before taking a long sip of her sour hot puddle juice.

“Will it taste better now? I asked suspiciously. For all I knew those were salt cubes, expired milk, and… huh, what looks like honey but tastes awful? Tree resin? Whatever, point was, Yukio could be really mean when she wanted to bully someone.

“Try it.” She said.

I shrugged my shoulders and gave it a try. It was far more tolerable now. Not as bitter as before. Very sweet with an after taste of… almost wheat but more herb like. It was almost spicy, but in an itchy sort of way. I didn’t dislike it at all, but it left me craving for something with a kick. “Can I get coffee instead?”

The two of them said, “No!” in unison.

“Okay, geez. Sorry for asking.” I gave the milky leaf juice another sip.

It wasn't that bad. Still I preferred coffee… did I prefer coffee? I haven't tried it in this body. With these taste buds. Shadow refused to give me any this morning… or was that a couple days ago?

When I examined time through my real body. It had only been a minute or two. Maybe a little longer. I wasn’t sure anymore.

“Isaac pay attention for a moment.” Said Lorie, snapping her fingers.

I didn’t like that. “Please don’t snap your fingers at me. My ADHD isn’t that bad.” I said.

“I’ve been trying to talk to you for almost a whole minute!” She scolded.

“Oh, sorry. I spaced out.” I apologized.

She sighed letting go of her anger. “Now that I have your attention. Try to gather momentum aspects and wind aspects.” She instructed.

Nodding I got to work. The two aspects were easy to get, seeing as we were surrounded by air, and momentum. It might have taken a minute before the lore keeper told me to stop.

It was a lot of aspects for such a simple spell. My best guess was she expected me to mess up and need extra building blocks.

“That was pretty quick. Your not even wearing the special clothes for training.” Said Zubu almost with a hint of jealousy In her voice.

“Wearing them makes it easier to move aspects around, but I won’t have that in the field so using it now will only make it harder for me when I actually have to fight my way out of a death trap. Besides, I haven't worn pants in a while.” I explained.

Zubu thought it over, coming to the same conclusion. “That's a good point. It might be useful for beginners. When first learning to move aspects, but for you. It’ll just make you lazy.”

“Now then. Why don’t you try Qi sight.” Said Lorie.

Plucking a few strands of Qi, I cycled them to my eyes. My eyes glowed as the hidden world came to life. I turned my focus over to Zubu. She glared at me and tried to cover her no-no square.

“Don’t look at me!” She yelled.

My body jumped in fear. I looked at the ceiling instead. “Isaac, I’ll cast the spell now, so keep an eye on it.” Said the lore keeper.

I looked her way and watched as momentum and wind aspects poured in. It was different from the way I cast spells, but how was the question.

That’s when I noticed it. The momentum aspects were being used on everything, but the wind rune. I felt kind of dumb now that I thought about it.

This whole time I was pouring fire aspect into the entirety of the fireball spell. I didn’t realize I had to form each rune with the corresponding aspects. And apparently connector runes and containment runes were supposed to be built out of momentum aspects.

I’d deal with that issue later. Right now, I needed to learn this spell. Let’s see… containment, connector, wind, delay connector, uh… mystery rune, then the rest of the space is full of connectors and an end rune. “Got it!” I said.

I tried to do what the lore keeper did and built the runes with the corresponding aspects. They formed nicely. The mystery rune took longer but I eventually got it.

“Wow, you actually did it.” Said Zubu in surprise.

Lorie cast the spell, but it was different to how I did it. Instead of pouring power into it. The spell pulled power in on its own. I wouldn't have been able to see it, if it wasn't for my Qi sight.

“What the hell?” I stood up trying to get a closer look as the lore keeper activated the magic constructed within the circuit. Glowing emerald wind swirled through the room forming a circle over our heads. That’s when the mystery rune activated solidifying the wind aspects.

“How did you do that? You made the spell power itself.” I interrogated her.

Zubu didn’t seem to understand the situation. She kept looking at the spell like it would tell her something and when she didn’t get what she wanted out of it. She went back to drinking tea.

“I think I understand what you are getting at. From what I saw with your fireball attempt with lady Cosmo. You tend to power the spells with raw essence. While that isn’t wrong, most mages use the void to power our magic. All we really provide is the building blocks.” She explained.

“Void? Like that blue thing between worlds!?” I asked excitedly.

She nodded. “Magic is far more grounded in reality than you think. Each rune has its own code of numbers. They in tern interact with reality allowing things to happen. I’ve told you this before.” Said Lorie.

“So, like are we in a simulation?” I asked fearfully.

“Heavens no. Reality is nothing more than math. It is all vibrating energy. You can manipulate it with the right numbers. Even cultivators like yourself can bend it simply by moving essence around, or by molding your auras.” She said.

That number thing held true. Physics was all about numbers. With math many unseen things have been discovered. If the math works out, then it must exist.

“How do you power spells using the void then?” I asked.

“They do it naturally. All you have to do is power them to the point where they activate. From there, intention does the rest.” She said.

Suddenly this whole magic cultivator build didn’t seem so impossible. I no longer needed to power the spells myself. All I needed to do was refill the missing aspects.

That begged the question… “How did Mr. Brutus refill the momentum aspects on his life hack?”

“Oh, its not that complicated. That gorilla simply filled each rune with enough aspects to last as long as he needed it to.” She said.

That was the most brut force thing I’d ever heard. Was that what he meant by getting the timings right? To think that guy really gathered enough momentum aspects to keep the rune script working for an entire hour. I doubted I could do that.

Wait, don’t get distracted again. The important part of the conversation was that I no longer needed to power the spell manually. That was a whole lot of essence gathering out of the way. With my new understanding of magic. I bet I could make that fireball spell work now.

“One question!” I raised my hand.

“yes.” She responded.

I put my arm down. “What’s this rune here do?” I pointed to the mystery rune in my magic circuit.

“That there’s a suspension rune. Think of it like stopping time. That’s what makes the air harden like it does. Otherwise you would just fall through the moment you stepped on the platform.” She explained.

The rune did look a little like an hour glass. I thought it was an infinity symbol. Maybe both?

The lore keeper undid her spell. “Go on then. We don’t have all night.” She motioned for me to activate the spell.

I thought of the void. I thought of making a platform. Intent mattered so I filled the gaps in my skills with pure intention.

Surely enough, the spell activated and to my astonishment it powered itself. I almost messed up when not providing it with more building blocks, but I somehow managed to fill in the missing aspects and kept the spell working.

Before I knew it a wind platform appeared over the table. Even Yukio was surprised. I couldn’t believe it was that easy.

This whole time I’d been casting spells the hard way. When they could have been powered externally. I felt like I actually stood a chance now.

Granted, I might still lose, but at least I knew I gave it my best shot. A wave of happiness hit me and I couldn’t feel more grateful to have Yukio and Lorie with me. Somehow sharing this moment with people I kind of liked made me feel pretty good.

I wish Mr. Brutus was here. He would probably pat my head right about now and tell me how good I was being. “Is this good?” I asked.

Lorie didn’t react much, but I could tell she was in shock. Yukio looked like she’d just seen me grow another head and it started telling horrible dad jokes.

”Your really something else you know that.” Said Yukio.

“No, this is nothing. Compared to my goal, this is just the first brick towards building a house.” I said.

She seemed to clench her fists. The wannabe samurai got up. “Yeah, I need to go.” She said before walking away.

Before she could leave Aku reached for the back of her kimono. “Yukio! Can we have a sleep over?” asked Aku. I hated the idea of spending another night with her, but Aku really wanted to hang out. So much so that she took advantage of my distracted mind.

“Sorry, I don’t plan on sleeping tonight. I got a lot of work to do.” She said before finally leaving us behind.

Aku was very upset and wanted me to go after her like in the movies. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to make Yukio feel better. In fact what I wanted to do was help her with her project. It was a cool project and helping her build it would give me an idea for building my own cultivation technique.

For that reason I took a step towards the rooms exit. That’s when Lorie stopped me. “Don’t worry about her. This is the most motivated I’ve seen her.”

“I want to help her. She’s trying to make a technique right?” I asked.

“She is, but you must let her do it on her own. Maybe you can look it over later, but for now leave the girl alone. She is obviously shaken by your progress. Trying to help her will only make her angry with you, and then her progress will suffer.” Said Lorie.

I understood. Sometimes it was important to let people accomplish things on their own, but still. I really like Yukio and wanted to be helpful. I didn’t want a rivalry. I wanted a friend.

Lorie went over the runes with me. It wasn’t anything complicated. It was just details I might have missed. Like the timings of when to add power or building blocks. Even showing me an easier way to form the runes.

It was a bit like those kindergarten books that showed you step by step instructions on the order in which letters needed to be drawn. I felt like a little kid learning their ABQs for the first time.

Lorie looked to be having fun. She was a really good teacher, even going as far as to make simulations using colorful aspects. They were very good for keeping my attention.

She would show a smaller version of me casting the same spell. Then showing me the correct way of casting the spell using the same simulation.

I found myself poking the holograms. Lorie made them react to my input. It was pretty funny when aspect Aku ran around the table in fear of a giant version of herself.

I was so interested in the aspect holograms that I created my own little Aku. I made her do a little twirl. Lorie seemed happy about it and we ended up playing a game.

Lorie created a whole castle with many kinds of demons inside it. I fixed my Aku avatar up so that it was the berserker version of Aku. The game was on.

My little guy was in the sewers fighting through rats and making their way towards the dungeon under the castle, but before getting there I encountered a rat king mini-boss. We played like that for a while and forgot all about magic.

Eventually it became very late. Lorie to my dismay insisted on bed time. “But Lorie, I wanna play some more.” I cried.

“No child. Go to bed. It’s late. I can’t believe you got me to play these silly games with you.” She said.

“Didn’t you have fun? You made such a good demon king.” I said.

“Yes it was fun. I just… I’ve never done anything like that with a disciple.” She said.

This brought a smile to my face. I Snuck my way passed her arms and gave her a hug. She jumped in surprise before putting a hand on my back in an attempt to simulate a hug. “Child… you should go to bed now.”

I pulled my head away and looked up at her. “I will. I just wanted to thank you for being really nice and playing with me.”

For a moment it looked like Lorie was genuinely happy. So much so that her hand ruffled my hair. “You’re a good girl. Let’s get you to bed now.” She said.

Oddly enough her praise made me kind of happy. I was a good girl! I was the best girl even though I wasn’t actually a girl.