The elf who had golden hair had visited Gilly often. This was Ephini Valmor’s daughter and Zin’s twin sister. She called out to Gilly from afar, smiling as . She was floating midair in the library beside one of the floating shelves. She began her descent, landing gracefully while bowing to her father. Gilly was stunned, as she was sure even if the memories were not there that people could not fly. Gilly only had one thing in mind.

"What was that?"

She said while pointing at Ephini. She was confused at first but understood after a few glances from Gilly's confused face. One word said it all:

"Magic."

She was stunned, not knowing when she repeated those words.

"Magic."

This was a concept foreign to her. Magic was simply an effect of mana interacting with the world. Now, Gilly even became more confused as these were all non-familiar terms to her. Ephini wanted to go on, but her father shook his head.

Valmor stretched out towards the confused girl. She grabbed it and suddenly felt a strange flow from the old man's hand to hers. It was warm, like the summer sun on a rainy day, with a hint of an electrical feel to it.

"This is mana."

Valmor released a bit of his aura along with his statement, which Gilly could see; a green tint had enveloped Valmor like steam rising from a pot. Her eyes lit up as she had a new experience of the world. Zin, for the first time, smiled as she saw Gilly's face glow in happiness from the feeling. Valmor suppressed his aura, leaving her hand alone, and continued towards the center large ball. Gilly followed closely, smiling while holding her right arm. Behind them was Zin, who approached the desk area, leaving them alone as they approached the ball.

The sight of the object in front of her was catchy because of the rings orbiting the sphere and the stationary one at the base where the large ball stood. Valmor pointed at the silver ring, indicating to touch the ring plated in silver. He stood a bit behind her as he explained. A test for magic was done in every town, and in this world it was essential. It was as important as money.

She stood in front of the giant sphere. It was transparent, reflecting her image as she stared at it. Touching the silver ring as Valmor gave her the final tip.

"Try and replicate the feeling from before when you touched my hand."

With her hand on the ring, she closed her eyes, trying to recreate the feeling in her head. A recall the memory of a woman who looked like the reflection she had seen in the mirror. She looked up to the women, for she was small like a child. The woman patted her head and smiled at her, a smile similar to what Ephini had on her face all the time.

When she touched it at first, there was no response from the orb. A few moments later, a faint white glow came from the orb center. Ephini was nervous, for this meant she had little mana. Valmor was about to shake his head when he felt a huge aura now visible Lighting up the entire room, which made the tree trunk at the center of the library glow, giving off a faint golden glow followed by a loud shockwave, which blasted Valmor and Ephini back a few meters and kept pushing them.

Looking up, Valmor could see that all six rings had responded, glowing different colors. Zin felt the cold sweat drip down his back. He only knew two people with such a frightening aura: one was his master, and the other was his master's friend. She had floated slightly in the air as the aura increased in volume, like a pressure pot being opened for the first time.

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Everybody present in the room was holding onto an object for their lives, and books flew around like a hurricane tearing through a field. Her aura raged for seconds before finally calming when she opened her eyes. All she could see were books lying around, and the people standing by her were now a few meters away from her, sweat on their faces and breath heavy.

"Did I pass?"

She smiled at Valmor. He could not help but chuckle with nervous expression. Ephini, on the other hand, knew one person who had such a beautiful and elegant aura: her mom, who had defended the elves she had rescued forty years ago. She summoned a staff of wood and golden rings at the bottom and a purple orb at the top.

Slightly tapping the tip of the staff on the floor made all the fallen books arrange themselves on their respective shelves. Followed by the murmuring and chattering of people who had to hold on for their dear lives, Valmor took Gilly by the hand, leading her towards the staircase that led to the upper room of the library.

---

Seated on the floor was a woman who had golden-colored hair similar to Ephini's at the center of the room. The room was big and had a different floral scent compared to the library, whose scent was mixed with that of old books. There were arrays of sitting pillows with sunlight coming in from right where the window was. Nothing significant was in the room, and the woman sat alone.

Gilly felt a sense of nostalgia seeing this woman; there was a sense of familiarity as Valmor made them sit on the set of pillows she asked for. She was not young but not old either; middle age was the right word. Her eyes were hard to describe, but stars could be seen in them. Turning and looking at Gilly made her presence all too familiar.

"Have we met before?"

The woman smiled as she reached out and held on to Gilly's hand, rubbing gently.

"Ah, I see."

Gilly wore a worried look on her face as the woman answered her question with only an odd comment.

"What's your name, Child?"

She was sure but spoke up as Valmor sat beside, looking excitedly at the pair.

"Gilly."

"Seras is my name."

She nodded, raising her hand to touch Gilly on the head and patting her. She began a short story.

A pack of wolves sought a new leader even though the old was the best to bring all together in equality. One day she was cast out by another taking her position; she was left alone, fleeing because she had a child to protect in this cold winter blizzard. The others could not hunt for days, and the leader, anxious, made the pack chase after their former leader, who was now weakened, with the aim of eating her to gain strength.

She ran for her life each second, the pack drawing closer. The weather was in her favor as it had not snowed for days, making her tracks less visible, but they soon caught up, for she too was weak. The scouts of the pack had come back fighting against the new leader leading the chase for their friend who was going to be killed. The battle ended in the pack's favor, but now the old leader had already disappeared, never to be seen again.

Gilly understood the moral of the story, for it was one of injustice and sacrifice, Valmor nodding beside her.

"Child, make sure to learn all you can, keep your friends close. You must learn to look at things not as the world sees them."

She let go of her hand, and that was the end. Gilly knew she would get no more answers as the woman had turned to lie down on the floor. With Valmor leading the way she followed him closely, leaving the room. Ephini and Zin tagged along as they escorted her. It was night, but the sun was still up and had even changed color to blue. She looked up, then shook her head. Ephini could not help but chuckle before Zin had said everything.

The world had a day cycle and a night cycle, seven days of total sunlight and eight days of total night with moons as its sources of light. This was the fifth day in the day cycle and the twentieth day of the month. Ephini promised to get her books from the library that would help her get to know the world better, and they both chatted on. Valmor posed a question to Gilly,

"Would you like to learn magic?"

The group went silent, the two knowing how important this decision was and the last being oblivious. They had not yet recovered from the shock they faced at the library. Though they did speak to her, they still had this sense of caution when talking to her. Ephini continued.

"In this world, you must be strong to survive; we can teach you that since you have nowhere else to go and I know you would love to explore this world."

She paused and then pointed at Zin's sword that was strapped around his waist.

"You want to learn swordsmanship?"

She nodded, Gilly jumping on her shoulder with a pouting face.

"I will also learn magic."

Ephini smiled, then ran off to a distance. A man was waiting for her, which she held hands with and left the scene, waving back at them.

"So you will start tomorrow."

Zin said, patting Gilly on the back rather strongly as she coughed from the onslaught of friendly gestures. She could not help but smile. She knew nothing of this world and had to learn about it because knowing people would not last forever.