"Ugh..." Jon softly groans as he tries to turn his body around, feeling that the cold ground was uncomfortable to lay on.

A moment later, he feels the ground softly shaking and the wind blowing harshly causing the leaves and branches to violently flail as it almost breaks off from the tree.

He suddenly opened his eyes and got up from the ground. When the violent wind would brush past his skin he would also feel a sudden threat of death.

Jon anxiously observe the area around him then finally noticing the trail of broken and fallen trees behind him. One leaving a straight trail to an unknown distance and another trail diagonal from the straight trail leading to a bright blue light shining from the horizon.

"Vernack!" As if a thought rushed inside his mind, he immediately searched for Vernack around him, but he only found Lutar's body.

He then approaches Lutar and check if he was still alive. Moments later, Jon's expression went dour as he could not feel the warmth on Lutar's body nor any pulse when Jon checked on his wrist.

Not believing his first thoughts, Jon shook Lutar's lifeless body as his mind flitting with a thousand prayers to Nerrus hoping that the renowned "Vitality King" would be able to bring him back to life.

'Controlling mana does not only mean you can use it to only strengthen oneself.' Pyrlord lectures as he watches Jon struggle to remove a stick impaled into the ground.

'Like how Lutar can communicate with Ryden and how I made the stick immovable, one can use mana in various ways.'

'Gah!' Jon exerts all of his energy to remove the stick but a moment later trips himself and falls to the ground. 'I already told you, it is almost impossible for me to control mana, many moons have passed and you have seen that none of it moved inside of me!'

'Child, it is impossible that someone cannot control mana, in theory you are probably a child born without a mana soul but that is physically and magically impossible!' He said, unperturbed by Jon falling to the ground.

'None that I have read in the library of Grenhutr spoke of individuals born without mana soul.' Pyrlord recount his memories, scratching his head when nothing came up.

'Well whatever, I still have to teach you mana control as if the world is forcing me to do it.' His voice slowly fades away as Jon struggling to pull the stick was last heard.

After remembering that specific memory, Jon places his palm over Lutar's chest and tries to feel the movement of mana within him. He tries to redirect the mana in him into Lutar but he could not feel anything pouring out of his hand.

"Please, anything, save him!" Jon sobbed as he repeats the technique taught to him by Pyrlord when controlling mana.

Raa! While Jon repeatedly attempts to pour his mana into Lutar's mana soul, the intensity of the ground shaking slowly increased and a loud blood-curdling roar slowly fades in, halting his continuous attempts.

Tears running down his face, he quickly turns to the direction of the roar and remembered that Vernack is not around them. He turns back to Lutar and made a short prayer to Ansi the ruler of Solvana, the realm of the dead.

Wiping away his tears and barely covering Lutar with a patch of leaves and broken branches, he then slowly heads towards the origin of the roar. As he trails onward, in his mind Jon constantly cursed himself for not being able to do anything most of the time.

Raa! The ground shook violently as another blood-curdling roar was heard from the horizon and a strong wind pushes Jon down to the ground. The moment he fell to the ground, his eyes shone in a faint green light and a scenario appears in his mind.

He sees two torbirs, one that had its 'wavy tattoo' while the other was only a blue light, and he sees Vernack and a dark muscular horse lying beside each other. Then a second after that a flash of light changes the scene, now the torbirs are about to strike at them and Vernack was struggling to stand.

Soon after, the visions faded and the next thing he sees is the night sky and the branches of the trees harshly swaying.

"Verna!" Sensing the danger of losing someone close to him, he jumps up from the ground and sprints towards the horizon.

****

Raa! Vernack awakens from a loud roar of the torbir in front of him. He instinctively tries to move but he suddenly feels a sharp sting of pain below his back pulling him back to the tree behind him.

A moment later he feels the warm sensation of mana spreading all over his body and the pain below his back was slowly relieved. Feeling energized, he rose from the ground and faced the torbir in front of him.

"Come at me, beast." He taunts the torbir as he directs the mana within him towards his right arm.

As if responding to his taunt, the torbir raises its arm and covers its whole body in a layer of blue light then attacks Vernack even faster than its previous attempts.

Confident in the amount of mana he has in control, Vernack redirects some of the mana within him to his feet then quickly dodges the giant claws of the magical bear. However, as Vernack dodged the attack, the ground beneath him rumbled and light is seen escaping from the cracks of the ground.

Sensing danger approaching beneath him, he once again directs some of his mana to his feet but instead of moving away from the torbir, he lunges himself towards it. Taking out the dagger from his hilt, he directs his mana to the dagger, imbuing it with his mana.

The torbir's eyes gleamed seeing that Vernack was about to attack it, it then poured out a bright blue light and injected it to the ground. A second later, when Vernack was about two meters away from the torbir, out of thin air light erupted from Vernack's side and pushed him ten-some meters away from the torbir.

"Gah!" Vernack spreads his mana all over his body but it did not lighten the damage from the fall.

Rumble! As he was about to recover, the ground beneath him intensely shook and another bright light was seen through the cracks. Without thinking twice, he uses his mana and jump out of the way, but before he could jump, the sense of death rang in his mind.

Behind him, the torbir viciously swiped at Vernack. Not able to dodge out of the way, Vernack uses his mana to strengthen his body and hoped that the mana fortifying him will help defend against the attacks surrounding him.

Boom! Before the claws of the torbir reached him, the ground beneath him erupted and forcefully pushed Vernack into the air.

'How did Balak even kill this thing?' Vernack wondered as he glares at the torbir mid-air.

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Raa! The torbir could not wait for him to land so it stood on its hind legs and attempted to furiously swipe at Vernack, sending out sharp waves of light. Feeling useless in mid-air, he imbues his dagger with his mana and attempted to block the torbir's attacks.

'Lahar, can you teach me how to send sharp waves of mana like how chief does it?' Vernack asks Lahar while she was tanning leather.

'I wish I could, but unlike Arguhn, I am no master of any weapon as only masters of wielding any weapon could imbue their mana into their weapon and releasing it as a mana wave.' She replies.

'So, Balak can also send sharp mana waves?' He asks as he sat on a wooden log beside her.

'Well, he can, but instead of using it to send waves of mana, he imbues his bowstring and arrow with his mana to make his shots move so fast that it blows its own wind.' She stops tanning the leather and explained.

'H-how is that possible?' He stammers as excitement shows on his face.

'Mana is versatile, it can be used in many ways than one, but to use it as such one needs to masterfully control their mana through years of practice and experimentation'

'Is it possible to shoot out bolts of mana, just like the knights that fired bolts of fire at my previous home?' He asks after a moment of pondering.

'The Grand Magus of Wesout did say that mana is versatile, so that is likely possible.' She chuckles as she returns to tanning the leather.

'You met the Grand Magus before?' Surprised by hearing about the famous Grand Magus of Wesout, he almost yells out his question.

'We did; he was actually my--'

'Vernack! Stop yer chatting and help the others check the traps in the forest!' Lutar yells out, cutting Lahar off from finishing her sentence.

Vernack then directs more of his mana into the tip of the dagger and the tip shone in a bright green light as if charging a bolt of green fire.

Boom! After charging a lot of mana into the tip of the dagger, he stops imbuing the dagger and the bright green light shot out of the dagger. Releasing the bolt of mana while in mid-air recoils him backwards.

Crash! The bolt shot out by Vernack crashes against the mana wave of the torbir, then the two competing light dissipates in an instant.

"I did it!" He yelled in excitement, then he moves the mana within him to his legs as he lands on the ground safely.

Grr! Seeing that Vernack was unscathed, the torbir quickly swipes against him once again and light erupts out of the torbir's body causing the ground to shake and the winds to blow viciously.

Vernack once more charges the tip of the dagger with a green bright light and aims it directly at the torbir's head. Before he could release the bolt of mana, a light suddenly erupts behind him and throws him towards the torbir.

Without thinking twice, he instantly spreads all of his mana all over his body and endures the damage that he received. Although mana lessened his pain, but his body was covered in bruises and wounds some even opening the wounds from his burn scar.

Not even a second later, being closer to the torbir allowed the magical bear to gain initiative to freely attack him with his back exposed for him. Sensing the imminent danger, Vernack directs his mana to his palm and charged it up, then a bright green light appeared from his palm.

"Hope this works." He mutters to himself then he releases the bolt of mana to his side. Boom! The bolt of mana shot out of his palm and knocks him ten-some meters sideward, barely escaping the claws of the torbir.

Not noticing that when he shot out the bolt of mana more of his wounds from his scar burns opened. He steadies himself back up and imbues his dagger with some of his mana again.

"This getting tiresome now." He mutters, panting as blood trickles down his opened wounds.

Grr! The torbir growls as it attempts to furiously swipe at Vernack, sending out sharp mana waves each swipe it makes.

Vernack sees the incoming waves, so he boosts his legs with his mana again and evades the waves while hastily approaching the torbir. As his senses continue to sharpen while battling the magical bear, he feels that he is gradually losing stamina, sometimes he would lose his footing as he evades some of the mana waves from the torbir.

About two meters between him and the torbir, his vision starts to blur and his strength would dwindle, he tries to direct his mana around his body but he could barely feel any more of his mana to move within him.

When he was about to collapse, a burst of light erupts behind Vernack and knocks him toward the tree where he and Bale once were.

"I... could not... even hurt it once..." Vernack tries to gather air as his body ached, struggling to even open his eyes.

Raa! The torbir roared at the downed mortal in front of it, then out of the cracks of the ground a bright blue light escapes the ground and surfaced beside the torbir. The light beside it would shift and form some sort of shapes then eventually the blue light took form in the shape of the torbir beside it.

Mustering up the last of his strength, Vernack forces himself to stand against the torbirs in front of him. He tightened his grip on the dagger feeling powerless against the monstrous figure that towers over him.

"Take this you hunk of meat!" A pitchy voice yelled out as a rock struck the torbir's back.

Grr! The torbir quickly turned to its back and growls at Jon who was standing ten-some meters away from it. In response to the rock hitting it, the fake torbir beside the real one fades into the cracks of the ground.

The ground around them shook as light escapes from the ground beneath Jon. As if knowing beforehand, Jon jumped backward and a second later light erupts from the ground then a claw swiped destroying the foliage around him.

"Jon... W-what are you doing here?" Vernack tries to shout but without enough strength, his voice only seemed like a whisper.

Raa! Annoyed, the real torbir charged at Jon as the ground around him would erupt as claws appears and attempts to attack him. As the fake torbir would swipe and stomp, sharp waves of mana would be shot aimlessly.

Jon's eyes would glow a dim green light every time he tries to evade each sharp mana waves. He jumps and rolls as the nature around him would be chopped down or broken as each attack of the torbir lands around him.

"Here here glowing ghost!" Jon taunts the fake torbir as he slides down a steep land and sprints further.

A quick vision appeared in his mind that a light would suddenly erupt in front of him, acting as soon he saw the vision, he jumped to his left which outbalanced him and instead he rolled down the steep land. A second later, light erupted from where he previously was, destroying the land behind him.

"That was not part of the plan." Jon mutters to himself as he brushes the dirt off him, but a second later another light erupted in front of him and knocked him back to the steep land.

"That... as well." He coughs as he struggles to stand back up.

Raa! The ground shook around him and a loud threatening roar was heard behind him.

"What else can I do?" After he managed to stand back up, he runs away from the incoming torbir as he wonders on about his ability than just seeing visions.

****

"Halungr! Where are you?" A sweet voice echoed from within a cave and light would slowly fade in from the distance.

"Halungr, if you were hungry you could have just called for me!" A moment later, a tall and slender figure appears wearing a long blue velvet robe and a ball of light following behind her.

Silence. She grimaced as there was not an even a grumble was heard. As she trailed closer to the entrance of the cave she finally sees a broken trail of fallen logs and sliced foliage.

The slender figure exits the cave and sees the large paw prints of Halungr and claw marks on the ground and on some of the thick trees around the path made caused by the torbir. She extends her hand and a violet magic circle appears out of her palm.

"Halun Sirsi." She chants and a faint violet light poured out of the magic circle then her vision shifts and in front of her she sees Halungr the torbir furiously chasing a child along with its light-counterpart.

"Aye Halungr, you were angered by some brat?" She chuckles as she watches Halungr destroying more of the forest. "These children are no harm; I will have to get you home now."

Her vision returns to normal and the magic circle on her palm disappears. She gazes at the sky as the gentle wind of the night brushes past her skin and her robe lightly flowing along the wind.

"Foot of the wind." She chants one more time, then a gray magic circle appears beneath her.

When she took one step forward, at one second she was there but next only the gentle wind of the night was left on her position.

****

"I have been running for half of my life now, yet this bear is still not tired!" Jon could not help but complain as he could not do anything other than easily dodge the most of its attacks due to his visions.

Masked by the loud thumping and roaring of the torbir, a sound of clopping can be barely heard behind the torbir. Bale was galloping along the trail made by the magical bear and riding on its back was Vernack who barely could open his eye due to exhaustion.

Light would occasionally erupt in front of Jon but he would roll and jump out of the way a moment before it hits him. Beads of sweat trickled down his head and his tunic was drenched in sweat, his confident expression could not be compared to his pale expression and the turmoil that his mind was in.

"Bale, get the bear's attention." Vernack whispers to the horse before succumbing to his exhaustion and falls asleep atop of Bale.

Neigh! Bale seemed to nod in response as it hastens its gallop and moves closer behind the torbir. It followed the torbir for a few seconds before jumping on its back and gaining its attention in a split second.

Raa! Feeling the horse atop its back, the torbir stops on its chase and tries to reach its back using its claw while flailing around recklessly.

Not having any fingers to hold on to the torbir, as the torbir flailed around, Bale and Vernack were flung away and landing hard on the ground causing Bale to whine in pain.

"Oi, bear! Why did you stop?" Jon returns to the torbir after noticing that both the fake and the real torbir stopped on their chase.

Raa! The torbir looked back at Jon and attempts to attack him. Boom! Jon was preparing himself to block the attack but before he could prepare himself, the bear's claw clashed against an invisible force in front of him.

"Are ya alright child of unknown origins?" A silvery voice was heard in front of him. "Apologies for the rashness of my Halungr."

Then the dust settled and there revealed a stunning slender figure that looked to be in her mid-20s, her palm glowing with a red magic circle blocking the large claws of Halungr.

"Who are you?" Jon softly voices his question as he was enchanted by the person in front of him.

"The name is Meyvil." She replies and wholesomely smiles.