With laughter filling his ears, Owen watched the children race off to explore the camp. Owen chuckled as they got to the gate and fought over who got to unlatch it. As he watched, Selia slid up next to him.

“Owen…I thought you were a SpellBlade. What. How did you do this?” Selia asked, dumbfounded by the sight before her.

“I am a SpellBlade. Technically. Come on, I’ll give everyone a tour.” Owen said as he held his hand out. Confused, Selia uttered a few unintelligible words before she conceded and lent Owen her hand. Owen closed and latched the gate behind him as they walked into the camp before he began loudly explaining the area. “All right, the gate stays closed unless you need to go outside to do your business. If you must go outside, you must take either myself or Miss Selia. Does everyone understand?” Seeing that all the kids stopped playing around and were listening, Owen continued.

“This tent over here on the right is where everyone will sleep.” Owen walked over to the large beige tent; bending over, he grabbed the edges and rolled them all the way up. Velcroing them in place, he showed everyone the inside. It was plain white with eight evenly spaced cots, each with a pillow and blanket folded. Next, they walked over to the next tent, which was much smaller. “This is my tent; I’ll be sleeping here. It has magic, so it will wake me if anything scary is nearby.” Walking over to the last tent, Owen stopped before it and asked. “Alright, and who’s hungry?” Owen opened the flap with all the kids cheering in agreement and led everyone into the Mess tent. Excited, everyone took a seat and began talking amongst themselves. Laughing, Owen walked over to the corner and hefted up one of the MRE boxes. He waddled around and placed it on the floor near the kids. Even Selia was watching in some kind of anticipation. As Owen tore the box open, he stood up.

“Does anyone have anything they can’t eat? Like anything that makes you sick?” Seeing everyone shake their heads no, he continued. “Alright, what about meat? Everyone okay eating meat?” With nods from everyone, Owen began handing out MREs. Everyone looked at the package confusingly until Owen explained how to open them. After showing them where the water was, Owen showed them how to use the heaters and make their drinks. He was sure to take any that were the coffee drinks and instead rat-fucked the rest, looking for a standard powdered drink mix. With the kids all situated, Owen looked at Selia, who was standing around. Feeling like an idiot, Owen ran back and grabbed a cot for her to sit on. Bringing it back into the Mess tent, Owen saw Selia staring intently at the MRE in her hand.

“Hey Selia, I brought one of the cots over and a pillow. I’m sorry, I didn’t think about you needing more cushions.” Smiling, Selia thanked him as she laid her lower body along the entire length of the cot, with the tip of her tail swishing over the edge. “So. Is there a reason your staring so hard at the food?” Owen asked as Selia stared at the MRE she was holding earlier.

“Oh. Well, I can’t read it. Is this food from your country? Is it preserved magically? What is this strange alchemical substance that cooks it?” As Selia bombarded him with questions, Owen couldn’t help but laugh, wondering if this was how Todd felt. Owen sat down with her as he answered the questions he could, with the others chiming in with their own every now and then.

“So this is food for soldiers, from where I’m from,” He explained to everyone, “It’s all packaged and sealed, then placed in boiling water to kill the germs in the food. Once the inside is cooked all the way, since it's sealed, it’ll stay good for a few years.” He then explained how the water sets off the chemicals, releasing steam that cooks everything inside. After everyone got all their questions answered and was stuffed full of food, the young ones headed over to their tent. Watching the kids' surprised faces as they sank into the cot was well worth the mana cost. After everyone had gotten situated, Owen reminded them he would be in the tent next door. As he left, he headed into the Command Tent, where he had a table, chair, and an extra pillow. Sitting at the table, Owen looked at the large map spread out on the table; he could see everyone as their little green dots. Thankfully, there were no red dots in sight; Owen watched as one of the green dots left the tent. Moments later, Selia walked in carrying her cot and pillow.

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“What’s wrong, Selia?” Owen asked

“I was hoping we could talk some more; I’m not tired. Is that okay?” She asked as she fidgeted at the tent entrance.

“Yeah, of course,” Owen answered, smiling Selia glided inside and set the cot down next to Owen. Sitting on her pillow, she looked at the table before asking.

“Owen, do you have Soul Magic? I can’t think of anything else that could do any of this. Is that how your Captain knows Dawn?”

“Yeah, that’s what Fell called it. I don’t really know. Honestly, it’s just one of the Skills I have. I don’t know who Dawn is, so I’m not sure, but the Captain had a lot of secrets, so it's possible. Who is Dawn anyway?”

“Dawn’s one of the Guild masters of the Magus Guild. I’ve heard about her from my sister, so I was surprised to hear that your Captain also knows her. So this is Soul Magic, huh,” Selia said as she looked over the table, then back towards Owen, “That doesn’t explain why I couldn’t read the food. Owen, I have Divine Knowledge; it’s an Elite Skill that allows me to read anything from our world. I won’t pry, Owen. I just don’t want to hurt you again.”

“I thought you weren’t supposed to tell people what your Skill does, especially not its rarity,” Owen asked, remembering what Fell had told him.

“Umm, right. I just, I want to earn your trust back, Owen. I don’t like knowing that I hurt you, and then you show me this amazing magic. I’ve never seen soul magic; I've only read about it. The scholar in me can’t help but want to know more.” Realizing what it sounded like, Selia flusteredly said, “I didn’t mean to use you or study you or anything. That’s not what I meant. I just meant it as-.” Selia was cut off as Owen couldn’t contain his laughter.

“It’s fine, Selia. I know you didn’t mean it negatively. Having a scholar helping me out with my weird magic is probably for the best.” As the two sat together, the questions flowed both ways. “So how does your Magic work? Does it just allow you to create things?”

“Pretty much. I have a few Skills that use my mana and thoughts to create things. Is that how it’s supposed to work? Fell told me about a king who could create magic steeds; that’s all I really know.”

“That’s right,” Selia said, nodding in agreement, “Most soul magic is characterized by the ability to create something from pure mana. Whereas Alchemists or Crafters require a base and components along with the mana, Soul Magic only needs mana. It also has its downsides; you can only create things that align with your Soul. An example you are familiar with is the Lord of Kha’rag; he was able to create horses. Granted, these were crafted from magic; they came in many elements, but all he could make were horses. He couldn’t make armor nor weapons, but even with his Skill being so limited, he ruled an entire country.”

“Dam,” Owen said after he let out a short whistle, “I mean, it makes sense. If you could create horses, you would have unlimited calvary, all the transport covered. I can definitely see how he ruled a whole country.”

“Is. Is that what you want, Owen? To rule?” Selia softly asked

“HAHA. Oh, Gods no, fuck that. I don’t think I can ever be in charge again.” Looking at Selia, Owen could tell she was baffled, her face scrunched up in thought. “I’m not lying, Selia. I was in charge before, and my choices led to losing the people closest to me. I don’t want to ever be in that position again. I just want to live a good life that my family would be proud of. I just want to be happy.”

“I’m sorry, Owen. I understand. I had just assumed you would, since throughout history, people with Soul Magic have always ruled.” Selia smiled at him as they continued to talk throughout the night.