-Caelum: Five minutes after the incident-

What soon followed after that horrific experience was thankfully a simple awakening from that decrepit world. I sat hunged over on Lunar’s bed, detailing the events I was met with. He stood before me, his arms crossed, nodding in acknowledgment.

“…I see. So you were essentially pulled outside of that realm?”

“Yes, I can still feel those hand things clutching onto my body…”

He let out a deep sigh, resting his chin on his fingers.

“That makes things quite tough. It seems that we’ll have to brute force our way through.”

“…What’s on your mind?” I asked, slowly raising my head.

“We’ll battle, simple as that,” he responded, turning back to the corner full of objects and fishing out a wooden sword. “I’ll just have to provoke you until we get a reaction.”

“So something like a sparring match?” I spoke, enthusiasm slowly brewing within me. “I can do that!”

Once more, that moment when I found myself in that desolate realm started to feel like a regular nightmare. Before explaining what I saw, Lunar had told that I never moved an inch, nor did I emit any sound. It really did appear that everything I experienced happened inside of my head, or… soul…

Because of how safe I felt, as well as how everything seemed as if nothing ever happened after I stepped foot into this room, I could push the questions and feelings I initially had aside. That young woman I saw, her voice, the hands that clutched onto me, that world of complete darkness…

…I was aware of all of those things. But they were not a priority for me right now. All that mattered was for me to learn what my abilities were. I decided to treat it like how I treated encountering that mysterious woman in that strange cathedral. A dream.

“Remember how you summon your Grimoire?” Lunar sounded, turning back to his objects-filled corner. “Performing second conjurations is practically the same, but you’re going to want to imagine shooting arrows made out of your soul pressure.”

The sounds of metals clanging against each other reverberated throughout the room. After just a moment, he managed to fish out an old-looking brown book.

“I made sure to borrow a Hex Archive from the academy. Here’s where all known kinds of Hexery are detailed. For your sake, we’ll have to go to the Smuldra section.”

He took a seat next to me with the Archive on his slender legs. The cover appeared quite intricate; it was embellished with three circular carvings, surrounded by various of mythical emblems. At glance, one would assume this was yet another one of his occult books, but it truly was a lot more than that.

He skimmed through the pages. Each one seemed like a story of its own; with drawings of people, weapons, Grimoires, potions and foods, serving to provide the necessary explanation of certain topics. It ranged from molding Infinite Arcana cards in order to create powerful potions to brewing, or crafting special food, to actual demonstrations of Hexery.

He eventually arrived at the Smuldra section. The first page had the symbol of the Holy Spirit etched on the header area; the ouroboros dragon. Below it were contents specified for close ranged Grimoires, something we weren’t looking for. He would skim a few more pages until we landed on the right category.

“…Ranged. There we go.”

“What does it say?” I asked, leaning forward.

We were looking at a single spreadsheet page that consisted of a man with a bow shooting arrows. With small descriptions about the bow and the arrows surrounding the figure.

“One of the description repeats the belief that the Smuldra Hex has the most forms of second conjurations. The most common second conjuration for your type of Grimoire is… air manipulation.”

“Air manipulation?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. Lunar glided his finger across the page and pointed towards the man shooting arrows. He then sighed through his nose, and turned to the next page, where the actual information regarding this form of second conjuration were written. He took a few moments to read before answering.

“…It says that the base Sequencer ability consists of what I spoke to you about. Shooting arrows made of air.”

He closed the book and threw it on his pillow.

“Once we confirm this, we’ll know for sure that this is your second conjuration.”

“Alright, let’s do it!” I nodded.

***

We both made our way to the back cliffside courtyard of the building that was connected to a staircase at the back end of the bedrooms hallway. The wind breezed quite strongly, causing our hairs and clothes to flutter as we stood adjacently to each other. Lunar nonchalantly held his sword on top of his shoulder as he began speaking.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Remember, this is only going to be a friendly battle…”

As he said this, he slowly pointed his wooden sword towards me.

“…However, I don’t mind lowering the bars of restrictions if that’s okay with you.”

“Heh!” I chuckled, frowning, as I summoned my silver bow. “I’m all in!”

“Perfect. Let us go.”

With a strong kick to the earth, Lunar propelled himself forward with great speed. That alone could have been the decisive blow. I narrowly avoided his destructive slash, as I could literally see a wall of wind right in front of me. I took a big leap backwards, chuckling as I groomed my hair over my scalp, my head lowered for a prompt moment.

“Not bad! We’ve only sparred three times with each other so far, haven’t we?”

“And its bound to become much more!” he exclaimed, his voice thrilled with energy and pride. I raised my head, trying to locate the source of his voice, however, I was already too late.

His voice boomed from behind me. As soon as I turned around, he twirled and landed a devastating hit with his sword on my chest, causing me to propel backwards.

“Ngh!”

Midair, whilst flying towards the other end of the cliffside, I began to think about his words.

It’s the same, he said, right…?

Then… this should be easy!

Focus, Caelum, focus!

I gripped the earth with my right hand, and attempted to position my bow in order to shoot, but Lunar mercilessly was already right above he, preparing for yet another slash. I hurriedly dashed and rolled forwards to throw him off guard and turned back towards him, trying to shoot out an arrow, yet I couldn’t find myself getting a good hold of my bow, causing me to tick my tongue and frown.

“Damnit! I don’t think this bow is for me!”

“False, Caelum!” he spoke with a serious tone, pointing his wooden sword towards me. “Anyone’s Grimoire is intricately bound to one’s soul. It doesn’t matter what kind of Grimoire you have; may it be a gun, a sword, a flute, a musical instrument, you should be able to use it regardless. You only need to get used to it!”

“But, how?!”

“By taking advantage of your talent!” he responded, instantly propelling towards me. Thrown off guard, I accidentally let go of my Grimoire as I nearly avoided his incoming slash. I soon realized that, my bow wouldn’t fall to the ground, as if the laws of gravity didn’t apply to it. As I leapt backwards again, it followed me as it was some sort of tracking drone. Despite not holding the bow, I could still feel a layer of soul pressure on my hands.

With trembling hands, I began to breathe deeply whilst maintaining eye contact with Lunar. ‘Each one of us is talented’, he said… So… pretending as if I was shooting an arrow would have to be possible for me.

I concentrated on the soul pressure on my hands, and positioned as if I was firing off an invisible arrow. As soon as I pulled my right hand backwards, a strong gust of wind exploded around me, causing my hair and clothes to flutter, and I could see a singular wind current soaring towards Lunar.

Yes… it worked!

However, my enthusiasm was short lived.

He held his wooden sword with one hand, and easily parried the incoming arrow as if it were nothing. He smiled, slowly raising his head to meet my shocked eyes.

“Oho? You’ve realized it already, huh?”

“…Shoot!”

“Not bad! Now do it again!” he responded, running towards me. “Your enemies won’t let you have any moment of rest before they’ve destroyed you!”

This was my first time ever displaying magic.

Of course, just like everyone else, magic was something completely normal to us. It was as usual as seeing the morning sunrise after waking up. However, actually performing magic was slightly different. Despite having been taught about Hexery, and knowing about Sequencers, I felt both amazed and shocked to see how truly talented I was.

To put into perspective, I was never “taught” how to use magic. So for me to suddenly shoot out a magical arrow made of air would make anyone understandably question the situation, despite me, a person with naturally-born Sequencer characteristics, being the one in question.

Even though I considered this, still… displaying magic felt surreal. It seemed that Lunar and the others were already given the chance to be amazed at their own magic. This was my ‘moment of awe’, but it was sadly short lived.

I was momentarily frozen in place, making me as free of a target as a deer standing in the middle of a highway. Lunar didn’t hesitate to land a clean kick to my abdomen, sending me flying towards the high, stone platform leading back into the building.

“Make them more powerful. Use as much soul pressure as you can!”

“…That… is possible?” I muttered, coughingly, as I mustered the courage to stand on both feet.

“Yes. The more soul pressure you use, the stronger your abilities get,” he responded. “Each ability has a base strength depending on their significance. However, they get accentuated the more soul pressure you put into them. Our base Sequencer abilities are the easiest to enhance.”

He pointed his wooden sword towards me again with an eerie smile on his face.

“So try and put as much soul pressure as you can into a single arrow… and shoot!”

It was only after he said this when I realized my body feeling a lot… lighter. A feeling similar to when one unshackles themselves from lifting weights and heavy chains, causing them to feel a lot more dexterous. I inspected my arms and bawled my hands into a fist as I remembered that I was an Enhancer…

…Meaning that I should be able to enhance my body!

But… how should I do this?!

Think! It should be… yes, it should be the same as performing a second conjuration, but on yourself…?

I channeled the soul pressure I had left throughout my entire body, engulfing it whole. Right as I did this, Lunar began reaching for me once more. As soon as his sword was about to make contact with my face, I spun, and landed a clean, wrenching punch on his abdomen. Due to being enhanced by my soul pressure, the force was great enough to send him flying…

…off the cliff.