My dream from before continued. I saw Hannah use every tool that had been prepared for her to use on me once again. I saw myself puking all over the room and get punished harshly for it. And throughout the entire thing, I just hung there, completely silent except for the screams that would occasionally escape my lips. The dream went on for what felt like an eternity. It just wouldn't end and by the time I woke up I was drenched in sweat, I felt sick, had the worst stomach ache I could imagine and just wanted to throw up, which I did shortly after. I almost jumped towards the bathroom door, ripped it open and just managed to open the lid of the toilet.

All my muscles tensed up as I threw up, nearly making me scream from pain. Somewhere in between throwing up and listening to Ira trying to comfort me I began chuckling, chuckling at how pathetic I was. A few months ago I thought that I might have finally been able to somehow deal with the dreams but then I went to Titan's Footprint where I was surrounded by humans... and now, now I was in a place with so many human mages that it was almost unbearable for me to do anything. When I coughed up the last bit of food and spit I had in me I flushed, took a cold shower, dressed in fresh clothing and sat down at my desk, staring out the window at the slowly rising sun in the distance.

I noticed something black quickly approaching. Knowing who it was I opened the window, letting in the cold air. Luckily for me, there was no wind at the moment. M landed on the desk, right next to me, his beak stained with a single drop of blood and his eyes looking colder than I was used to.

"Did something happen to you?" I asked, tilting my head with confusion as I looked at the drop of blood, something I had never seen on him, even when he had returned from a hunt he was usually clean.

"Don't worry, just... got into a little trouble with an... old acquaintance. The reason I have returned is... well, I will have to leave for now," M said.

"What? Why? I thought you were going to investigate that weird stuff in the tooth or whatever," I said, confused by the fact that my partner for the past six-plus years had suddenly decided to leave.

Even if we never talked much we still went everywhere together and helped each other whenever possible.

"Don't worry, I'll return at some point, it's just that I have... remembered something, and now that I remember that I need to go somewhere, or at least try to get there," M said.

"So you remembered who you are?" I asked.

"Indeed... indeed I did," M responded.

"For how long will you be gone then?" I asked.

"Dunno, a few months, years, decades, centuries?" M answered.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I don't know, it's not something that can just be done over the course of a few days, alright. It's complicated, but I will return as soon as I can," M said.

"Alright then, not like I can keep you here," I responded.

M nodded, which looked sort of strange when he did it... since he was a raven and all. He slowly walked over to the window and turned his head around to me before taking off.

"Oh yeah, before I forget it. My name is Muninn, don't forget that," M said.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I chuckled.

"Alright then, Muninn, have fun or whatever," I said as M flapped his wings and immediately disappeared in the distance

Muninn huh... somehow familiar...

At that moment my arm ring began vibrating.

'Guess you'll have to go see that woman again,' Ira stated.

"Yeah, but we won't be alone this time," I said as I walked out of my room, closing the door behind me.

I quickly descended the stairs that led down to where I had to be. When I entered the room filled with spirits and such a few people were already there, older looking mages, some dressed in clothing similar to mine while others wore robes that ranged from being white, similar to Elsa's, to being dark blue or brown or dark red and one had a robe that had such an ugly combination of green, brown, blue and gold that it was enough to push me over the edge and make me throw up again, only minutes after I had already done so.

A few of them stared at me as I walked towards a tree, sat down and closed my eyes. I only got a few minutes of rest.

"Oi, you're sitting at my spot, stupid!" someone said.

I opened my eyes and looked up at the tall, lanky human male with short brown hair, slight stubble and grey eyes. It was nigh impossible for me to tell how much mana he had so I honestly just had to guess that he was as pathetic in terms of mana as he was in terms of appearance.

All I did in response was raise an eyebrow.

"You deaf or something?" the man asked, now also raising an eyebrow, although most likely just to mock me.

Without saying anything I slowly rose from the ground. It didn't take long for me to stand up fully, taller than the man by more than a head. I looked down, onto the top of his head where his brown hair seemed sort of thin, and I simply smiled as he took a step back. Now was also the time I noticed that no one dared to approach us, one person, some young looking girl, was even shaking her head, funnily enough, she was shaking it while staring at me, with a look that cleary tried to tell me that I had made some kind of mistake.

Either all of them are pushovers or I just fucked up.

'Pretty sure all of them are pushovers...' Ira stated.

"Think you're all though cause you're taller than me huh?" the man said mockingly.

I rolled my eyes as I grabbed his left shoulder, instantly tightening my grip. He let out a gasp as I increased the pressure on his shoulder. Then I pushed him to the ground. For a moment he resisted but just as quickly he just fell onto his knees as I crouched down to keep him at around eye level.

"Think you're all though cause you've been here longer?" I said, imitating his mocking tone.

Before anything else could happen I heard a loud cough and looked up, only to see Elsa standing by the door, the small spirit fox that lived in this room on her shoulder, emanating its usual orange glow.

"What's going on here?" Elsa asked, her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

I saw the man in front of me smile.

"This newling just attacked me out of nowhere!" he said loudly.

From the corner of my eye, I could see a few of the other people here nod.

So that's how it is huh? Interesting, this fellow seems to be quite the person...

"Is that true, mister Altair?" Elsa asked, sounding a little less stern than before.

I shook my head.

"That's what I thought. You, what really happened?" Elsa demanded from someone standing close to us.

He coughed and I saw him fidgeting a little.

"Well... Smoke... I mean, mister Sarl wanted to sit in that spot... so, well, he... insulted, mister Altair," the man said, his voice filled with fear.

The eyes of this Smoke or Sarl or whatever his name was got narrow as he glared over at the man that had sold him out to Elsa.

"That so, and tell me, mister Sarl, what entitles you to sit at that spot?" Elsa asked.

"Well, I've been here longer, and I always sit there, so I thought..." He began but he was interrupted by Elsa.

"So you aren't entitled to that spot?" Elsa asked.

"N-No," Sarl admitted.

"Thought so, now everyone, please get in position I'd like to begin!" Elsa said loudly as she walked to the other side of the room.

Sarl scoffed as I let go and he walked away from me, getting into a meditative position. I just leaned against the tree again and closed my eyes.

"Now, begin!" Elsa said.

I could feel the mana being drawn away from me as I tried to take it in, just like yesterday. And just like yesterday, it was difficult to draw in any mana but I still managed. After a few cycles, Elsa ended the lesson and everyone left. As I was about to leave I was stopped by Elsa, who had grabbed my hand.

"Can we talk?" she asked.