A girl was sitting on a rock, within a small clearing. She was in a meditative pose, surrounded by trees in all directions. Her body was toned and had nicely defined muscles that didn’t look out of place on her slim figure. It was completely dark, but it appeared to have no effect on her. The two moons above showered her with their light indiscriminately.

For hours she sat there, until eventually the sun was rising up. Yet she had not moved. The surrounding landscape was deathly silent. Besides her was a a sword, ornately designed to a fault, an orange gem inlaid within. Finally, one of her eyelids opened.

“Grandfather, do you have something on your mind?“

An old man appeared from the shadows of the trees behind her. His hair was a vibrant brown, completely devoid of any signs of age. And his beard was long and well kept. He hardly seemed to be old enough to be someone's grandfather. The man had a light smile on his face at his granddaughter’s sight.

“I’m afraid Kella, we should leave soon." His eyes gazed upon the globe of fire that peaked it's head above the horizon.

Exhaling deeply, she stood up.

“Already? I’ve barely had enough practice.” She mumbled quietly.

"If I don't stop you, you will be here forever." Her grandfather chuckled. She humphed but didn't rebuke.

“Let's head back to Inops.” He continued speaking.

"I'm getting close, I can feel it. Why don't we wait until the sun reaches its peak?"

The man contemplated for a moment before nodding.

"Fine, but no more after that. It will take some time to get back, considering our current location."

"Thanks, grandfather."

Calming herself down, she sat on the rock again. Her eyes closed. The man sighed deeply before entering his own meditative pose, floating just above the ground.

***

Alex reluctantly woke up. After the nightmare, he barely slept a wink. His body was covered in sweat too.

'And I thought I had gotten past it.' Alex thought, reflecting on his dream. It wasn't his first time experiencing nightmares, but this was by far the most unnerving one yet. Deciding to forget about it for now, he yawned as he got up from bed.

‘Why do we only get one day off a week?’ He complained to himself. Sunday was considered a holy day by ‘The Church of Lumen’. As the most dominant religion in Lutum, it had many adherents. It had an especially strong impact on the culture of much of society. As such, Sunday was the only guaranteed day people got off work, outside of certain holidays. It all depended on the employer beyond that.

‘Well, another day rested is another 500 fewer Aes to make.’

He encouraged himself. It would be some time before he had to leave, and he couldn't waste it. Besides him, his siblings were sleeping soundly with their adorable faces.

'I'll wake them up in a bit.'

After getting himself cleaned up and ready, he headed towards the door. Just as it hit 8am, a drone landed in front of his apartment's entrance, dropping a package before flying away. Alex picked up the ingredients, heading to the kitchen, before neatly packing them away. He paid 300 Aes per day, for 9 meals worth of food. That's 3 meals covered for 3 people each. And that was the cheapest choice.

He had to skimp on the quantity and quality of the ingredients. It wasn't very nutritional either. And precooked meals? Forget about it. Buying straight from a grocery shop was the same price, so Alex couldn't even utilise that. Not to mention their increasing rarity.

Auntie Helena had taught him some cooking skills previously, but he was limited to some simple dishes. Slowly, a thin fragrance spread around the house. Atop a weak flame, Alex slowly made scrambled eggs on his frying pan, throwing in items here and there. He was tall for his age, despite the bad nutrition, so didn't struggle too much with operating the electric stove.

'I really need to find some crystals. Otherwise, I can barely sustain us on my measly income.' That was the only way to accrue capital to get his family out of their situation.

Over the previous year and a bit, the youngling had saved up around 26000 Aes. This was after finding an average of 3 crystals per month, of which there were 13 in a year. After removing his expenditure, that was all he was left with. It was in preparation for the expensive high school fees, and necessary costs that he would incur because of his plan.

It was simple, and no doubt the same as the vast majority of people when young. Yes, it was to become a mage. A frontier mage, no less. It was a risky endeavour, but the monetary rewards were proportionally high. Just thinking about it excited him.

'Be patient.' The boy told himself.

Alex heard a massive yawn coming from his bedroom.

'That must be Archie.'

Walking in, his suspicions were confirmed. Gently tickling him, he woke the youngster up. Archie started laughing, begging Alex to stop. With the smell of breakfast slowly filling the room, Archie did not need much further encouragement. The noise also woke Zara up.

Sometime later, the siblings were sat around a small table in the kitchen, digging in.

"How are you two getting on in school?" Alex spoke up.

Archie attempted to speak through a stuffed mouth, prompting a scolding from his older sister.

"Archer, how many times have I told you? No speaking with food in your mouth." The little kid immediately shut his mouth. When Zara used his formal name, that's when you knew things were serious.

'He never learns' Alex ruefully shook his head.

"What about you Zara?"

"Fantastic. We are learning lots of interesting things, it's much more fun than in previous years. I particularly enjoyed history. We were learning about Mrs Albus, from the original party. Despite being a healer primarily, she battled on the front line against the beasts of chaos." Getting riled up, Zara seemed to be ready for a long rant.

A snort from Archie made her look over angrily.

"What's so funny Archie?" She asked.

"Nothing. Just you calling school fun." Archie replied cheekily.

"Honestly Archie, you need to learn the importance of school." Alex spoke up. He would receive reports complaining about the boy's behaviour all the time, but the situation never improved. He was pretty helpless in what he could do.

"I know." Archie waved his hand, speaking empty words.

After breakfast, Alex headed to his computer in the spare bedroom. It was his most expensive possession, outside of his apartment. Even then, it wasn't great by any means. A screen flickered on, and Alex began his research.

***

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

After thinking for a bit, his fingers hovered over the keyboard, and he began typing rapidly.

'I am an orphan, and I keep getting nightmares about my parents.' Alex thought as he wrote. He entered his query into a search engine. Lots of results came pouring in. He entered one of the more famous forum websites, where someone had already asked a similar question. There were all sorts of answers, ranging from professional to just rude. The boy's eyes swept through the top few results.

'It is quite normal to have such dreams after such a devastating event, especially when it happened during your childhood. I have some recommendations of psychologists you can meet.'

'Sorry for your loss. I had a similar thing with nightmares.'

'Imagine not having parents.'

'Have you tried the Blue Spotted Mushroom? I heard it's a magical herb that stops nightmares, among other things.'

'I know people with the mind element can give you certain dreams.'

Alex's mind immediately focused on the last comment. He knew a bit about the mind element. It was rare and hadn't existed for as long as some other elements. That is to say, no human had awakened the mind element until much later than when the first humans awakened the basic elements, like Earth. But he had thought people used it to control objects, not people.

'Isn't that what the Illusion element does?'

Deciding to look more into it, he went into a deep rabbit hole for a few hours. He learnt that the element could also be used to manipulate other people' mind, including to induce dreams, although this was more difficult to pull off.

'That nightmare felt far too real to just be trauma. There has to be something deeper. Could this be it?'

His research also suggested that the user had to be close to their target to properly make use of their element. That did not line up with Alex's experiences. He dejectedly shook his head.

'I must be looking too much into it.'

He also found some information on Illusion. His impressions of it were wrong. It did not target people's minds but rather distorted their surroundings. Thus, it affected more people than a Mind attack, which was more targeted towards an individual. Nevertheless, that didn't match either.

Realising the time, Alex decided to spend the rest of it researching about the Arbor forest, in preparation for tomorrow. The animals that lived there, the plants that were safe to eat and other essentials. He had learnt the majority of it in school, but with no practical lessons to back it up, the information had a hard time staying in his head. It was somewhat ridiculous that there was a practical aspect to the high school entrance exam, yet the school didn't actually provide lessons directly.

"Just another way to differentiate the rich and the poor." Alex muttered. But then again, the exam was heavily moderated and scripted, not like the real experience at all. As long as you kept your wits, you were likely to pass. Excelling is where the true difficulty lies. They couldn't actually risk a substantial amount of students getting injured. As the time for work approached, it was time to close up and get ready.

'Should I research on necromancy? Better not risk it, I could get flagged for that.' With that thought, his monitor blinked away and he stood up.

At the apartment's entrance, the boy was getting ready.

"Zara, I'm heading out. Look after Archie will you?" Alex called out as he put on his jacket.

"Understood, come back soon." A voice rang back.

"Remember, never open the door for anyone." Wishing his final goodbyes, he then headed out.

***

Walking every now and then was beneficial to your physical and mental health. At least that's what Alex felt every time he did so. Even if you were travelling through the polluted streets of a city like Inops. But that was a mere side benefit. Indeed, he did as he did because it was much cheaper than taking a train. And unlike his school, his home was much closer to the wall, making such an endeavour feasible. Being a Saturday as well, he had more leeway to leave his apartment earlier so that he could make it in time.

But still, none of that changed the fact walking was fun. Hover cars continued to fly above his head, the vibrations caused by their movement travelling through the air and patting Alex's head. The boy couldn't help but notice all the people walking around him, staring into their holographic phones oblivious to their surroundings. At times, the distinction of who was using what was blurred. Were the people using the phones? It seemed more like the contrary. Like zombies, they continued moving through the same everyday routine.

Yet who was Alex to deny them of what they desired? Such a societal problem was all but guaranteed under the advancement of technology.

'They are lucky their paths don't intersect with the cars. Otherwise, an accident is bound to happen. '

It was best to leave that musing to someone else.

Besides the main streets, countless alleyways lead to myriad destinations. If you looked enough, you were bound to see homeless people or someone high on drugs or drunk on alcohol. A great diversity of unsavoury characters. For the greater the city, the deeper and darker its underbelly. Alex looked away to stare ahead, alerted by some noise. Someone was on the side of the streets, trying to sell some of her wares. No doubt if she didn't disappear soon, the authorities would be here to clear everything up. Seeing him look over, she called out.

"Hey you, looking for some herbs? I have loads here, and for a cheap price too." She was instantly advertising her products. Sensing his hesitation, she continued. "Look here, it's a White Stripped Red Rose. It's great for your height, even if taken raw. How about it, only 1199 Aes?"

Alex searched through his mind for a suitable way to reject her. He wasn't great when instantly pressured by strangers.

"Well, seeing your age, I'm sure you have a great future. How about 10% off? I guarantee their quality!"

"Uhh, sorry I am not interested."

"Tsk. If you are poor, just say it." She snorted. "Poor brat wasting my time."

Alex was speechless. Anyone could tell by his clothes that he didn't have a lot of money, but she still approached him.

A device on her wrist beeped before a voice spoke out.

"Emily, I spotted some cops. They seem to be heading towards your direction. Clean up." Another beep followed, and then silence.

"Oh come on." She expressed annoyance but her hands were already moving. Within moments, all her wares vanished and she was away.

"Come back with money next time loser." She called out to Alex, before disappearing into the depths of the alley, the darkness obscuring her.

'Hopefully, there won't be a next time.' With the minor setback out of the way, he continued on his path.

Sometime later, he was just before the wall. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed a man walking with what was presumably his daughter. The guards were around them, ushering them forward respectfully. Clearly, they had just come from the outside. Their attire screamed rich, attracting the attention of everyone around them. Especially the sword by the girl's side.

"Is that Kella Griffin?" Someone shouted. Instantly, a crowd started to gather.

"The genius from the Griffin family?"

"Look, it's the Griffin family patriarch, Arthur!"

"Stay back!" One of the guards aggressively screamed.

'The Griffin family huh?' Alex thought to himself. 'Such exalted figures are out of my reach.'

Deciding to ignore them, he took advantage of the crowd's diversion to get in line, which was now significantly smaller. In no time, he was through the checks and heading to the other side.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I require my distance." The middle aged man said.

The crowd thus gave the pair their space, as they were forcefully pushed back by the guards. A sleek hover car then landed beside the duo, the family's insignia displayed proudly on the side. Once inside, it rose into the air, much higher than what was allowed for most other hover cars.

Kella sat disapprovingly on her seat. The car's luxurious interior hardly quenched her mood. She hadn't gotten as far as she would have liked in her earlier training, and it annoyed her.

"These people have no manners." She complained.

"It's to be expected when they catch a glimpse of us. We don't appear all that often." Her grandfather chuckled back.

Outside, the car was pointing towards the city's centre. The next moment, only a blur was left behind.