Finally, I breathed a sigh of relief, after a long and arduous day of studying, chores, and verbal assault by my mother. Closing the door and eagerly eyeing my bed in anticipation of a well-needed night's rest, I swiftly changed into my sleepwear. Funnily enough, when I was younger, I was afraid of falling asleep, but after the last few days, I found myself in a world of wondrous dreams.

These dreams started two nights ago when the ice storm shattered the window and the glass contained an otherworldly vision. With that thought, a cold bite seemed to snip at my spine and searing heat poured across my skin. Even though it was just a reflection.

However, that night, I saw a world of splendor and I remembered it all too vividly; I sat in a carriage of some sort, rocking side to side, as beams from an eternally watchful ball of fire pierced through towers which tore over the treeline and touched the sky. The dream brought with it understanding. That ball of eternal fire, a star named Sol. Those towers that tore across the skyline, were skyscrapers. The carriage that I traveled in, was similar to magically-propelled-cart was a car.

With my sleepwear now on I carefully remove the covers to my bed, looking out my window as I do. The Ice storm a few days ago was now long gone and instead, a crystal-clear pitch-black night sat above. It was nearly pitch-black because of the sporadic distant tiny lights that dotted the sky.

The second night after the ice storm, I dreamed I was between two lakes on a grassy strait that separated the lakes. The lakes themselves were filled with a sea of stars and those stars were a mere reflection of the grandeur above. They poured across the sky with uncertain delicate purpose. I knew now that they were trillions of miles away. I knew now that they were echoes of ancient furnaces that may no longer live. I knew now that they each had their own worlds that were too alien to describe. I knew now what world I visited in my dreams, a world called Earth.

Pulling the covers to my chest, I closed my eyes and drifted into slumber.

…

The sweet yet sickly sour smell poured across the room. With a pull and tug, I tried to move my vision to view across the room, but it gave no ground as my perspective was firmly locked in place. Twisting and turning my body returned me nothing. Why couldn’t I move? This dream was different from the ones previous in that I was able to look and move as I wanted. Instead, my view was solely fixed, and my movements were not my own as I watched as I placed a liquid vial into a warm bath of boiling water. Chattered chorused across the room, the voices themselves spoke with a smooth drawn-in alien accent, and as their alien speech crossed my ears I found understanding.

“I think it needs to be heated a little longer…” One said while another screeched out, “Woah! Watch it!”

All while another voice, closer this time, expressed concern. “I think we missed a step?”

My vision snapped upwards towards the last speaker. The view was fuzzy like it wasn’t fully realized. He looked to be a lanky man with brown eyes and red hair. He was looking down at the notebook, his eyes darting left and right across the page. The room around him, now partially in view, was large and filled with people. While its edges were fuzzy I found some recognition in the environment. It contained glassware, some bubbling with water, and others set aside. From the looks of it, and from what my mother had described in the past. It reminded me of an Alchemical lab. Wait, Alchemical? Something about those words didn't feel right. Like a joke was sitting on the tip of my tongue about fools gold.

I felt my mouth move, and words that I didn’t form poured out, “Have we?” As I spoke, the edges of him started to sharpen little by little. What was his name again? I swear it started with an R, maybe Ronald, Riddle, Ripley? A dry sand-like grit filled my mouth; What was my name again? How could I forget it? It was right there, I knew it started with an A, maybe Abel, or, Al?

“Did we add the acetic anhydride?” He asked while turning his whole body to look at me with a notebook in hand and eyes of uncertainty. My name was missing, but it didn't feel like it was just my name something else, something more important was missing and I couldn’t remember what it was. Something that meant more than just my name, something similar to my core was missing.

“I am pretty sure we did?” I responded, unconsciously as my view turned and my body snapped to a notebook, whose entry I could not read. “I think we did. I mean if we didn’t then we are just boiling water.” I started to smile while my gaze wandered back to the man whose name was on the tip of my tongue.

With an expression of amusement, he repeated, “Just, boiling, water.” He and I started to chuckle. That's right his name was Jacob, I think. Jacob from my Chemistry class. Like an ocean wave surging into a broken damn, it all came back. My name is Samuel and I study Physics, how could I forget?

The world shuddered and began to shake violently. Similar to a watercolored painting the colors started to bleed into each other. The ground underneath me broke as I grappled onto the desk keeping me from falling. My grasp was slipping my grip faltering as I heard a loud siren begin to burn the world with her words. I finally let go and awoke.

…

“Wake up Allay! I cannot believe that you are still sleeping at this hour!” A woman’s voice filled with scorn and anger exploded throughout the room. Groggily I lifted myself out of bed. My body is slow to act on my intentions. The room itself was well-lit as light poured from a window behind me. There were crude drawings posted on the walls and clothes were strewn all across the floor. The woman herself stood at the arched entrance into this strange bedroom. She beamed into me as if she was trying to set me on fire.

“Um…” I wavered for a second or two, “Who are you?” I asked as I didn’t recognize her. Something wasn’t clicking, wasn’t I just doing a chem lab, didn’t I fall as the ground broke? Am I still alive?

With a sound of annoyance, she continued, “I am your Mother, and if you don’t get yourself up and ready for the day this instant you will never leave this house.”

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I stared at her as I shifted from side to side. My Mother? Here? Why was she here? My open stare at her caused her to falter. Her expression quickly changed to worry.

“Allay, are you alright, do I need to come over there and knock some sense into you?” Allay? Who is Allay? It took a few more tense moments before it clicked. I am Allay of Rivaelet. I am not Samuel he wasn’t real. It nagged at me a bit, who is Samuel, and why do I remember him? Wasn’t he only a dream?

“Yes, Mom I am alright. I was still waking up. I think.” I re-affirmed.

“Are you sure you're alright? We can take today off if you aren’t feeling well, but it will set us behind.” She reassured as her head cocked to the side, watching me carefully.

“Yes, I am good, I thought I was still dreaming,” I confessed, a little embarrassed.

“Alright, you won’t have any chores today, but we need to start studying immediately. We are still behind, and there is a lot more to cover. So get dressed and meet me in my office.” She turned leaving me to my thoughts.

Last night's dream, was different than the rest, and unlike a normal dream that fades with dawn, I lost myself. Well, maybe, I had found myself? I remember that morning, the taste of toothpaste, the sweet smell of a morning waffle, and the hours spent studying chemistry and calculus. No, that can’t be me it was just a dream, and with that, I took in a long breath as another day of studying awaited me.

…

Again, I found myself in my mother's office it was an addition attached to the side of our house, and its interior was filled to the brim with books, movable boards of chalk, and magical scrolls. Along the walls were magical artifacts each sealed away by glass. I wandered over to a little desk that held my notebook, pencils, and books.

“So, let us start with a bit of a review.” My mother said, beginning today’s lecture. “How do you form a spell?”

I thought for a second and prepared an answer, “If I remember correctly when casting a spell, you will the magic in the environment to…” I faltered for a second before continuing. “Vibrate in a known pattern?”

She looked at me with a smile and returned, “That's partially right. A mage casts a spell by willing their environment by extending their desire out onto the world and, as you said, cause it to vibrate in a pattern.” She paused for a moment, “However, especially with magic, there is always more to the story, but because you are a fledgling mage that explanation will work for now.” She brought her hand to her chin while humming some tune. “Now, what are the lifelines of magic that flow through our world, and more specifically, what are their names?”

I know they're called leylines, but naming all of them. I am not sure I remember them all, but I can certainly try. “They are called Leylines and they are named… Leyline of Air, Leyline of Earth, Leyline of Light, and the Leyline of Fire?”

She spoke with a chuckle and spoke, “Close, you added one and removed another. The Leyline of Light isn’t a Leyline. Instead, it's an intense burst of magical energy, that emanates somewhere outside the world whose path changes every day, referred to as radiance. This is where we get Radiance Day as it's when Radiance flies over our town.” She spoke while turning towards a close chalkboard and swiftly wrote down a question while repeating, “What makes a Leyline a Leyline?”

“It being a source of magic?” I questioned.

“Hmm, that is fair, however, Leylines aren’t a source of magic.” She paused before continuing. “Although a lot of people see it as a source of magic, interestingly enough, they are just high concentrations of flowing mana.” With swift precision, she flipped the board around and an entire chalk drawing of the world came into view. “Here, look at this map, and with it tell me what you think makes a Leyline a Leyline.”

The map itself was pretty barebones. There were no cities labeled, no villages mapped, no borders drawn. There were Leylines and surprisingly enough rivers, lakes, and mountains. The Leyline of Air started in the West and ended in the East. The Leyline of Earth started in the South West and ended in the North East. The Leyline of Fire, wrapped nearly the whole world starting in the South East crossing the Leyline of Earth, and ending in the North East. Although there was one point, which was helpfully circled, that every Leyline crossed.

“Is a Leyline a permanent structure that crosses the area that was circled?” I questioned.

With a nod of glee, she challenged, “What is that point called and more importantly why is it there?”

I could feel it at the tip of my tongue and I could almost make a guess. What was it? Yesterday she related it to a river or a lake. I was looking back at the map with the leylines, rivers, and lakes. I made a guess, “It is a massive lake? Are the Leylines acting like rivers that flow to a massive lake of mana?”

“Exactly, this point is called the Nexus point and you may ask why there? Well, the traveling from the bottom of the world to the ice sheets above there is another Leyline. The Leyline of Space.” She paused and flipped the board back over again, writing as she spoke, “The Leylines are, like you put it, rivers that flow to a lake. That lake is the Nexus point. Again, like everything, there is a more in-depth reason why, but--”

“What is it?” I jumped in before she could continue.

Turning around and eyeing me curiously she pushed further, “Well, basically, like rivers everything flows to the lowest point. Leylines are filled with tremendous concentrated magical energy and they also flow to the lowest point or lowest level of energy. The Leyline of Space, which holds together our entire world, creates a region of extremely low energy density. ” Her head turned a little to the side as she paused. “I’m glad you asked that. If you pass the entrance exam and you continue asking a lot of questions your professors will love to tell you about their research.” She turned back to the board. “Now that we are thoroughly off today’s lesson plan let us start talking about magical foci.”

Weirdly enough, I was excited about today and beyond curious about today’s lesson plan. Which was an abnormal feeling, in the past I had always hated her lectures, but I was learning magic how could I not be interested? Maybe it was because of the dream I had last night? Either way, it didn’t matter, back to learning magic.

…

Closing my notebook and resting my exhausted hand I stood up from my desk. My mother was erasing the board as I stood to exit.

“You did very well today.” I heard behind me. “I’ve never seen you so studious. So, I’ve put some thought into it and I will give you a break tomorrow. Now that doesn’t mean you can leave the house. It’s just a day to relax.” I turned to see her still wiping away the board. I moment passed before she turned to meet my gaze, “Also, just to check in, are you alright? While you did amazing, you did seem distracted. Anything you want to talk about?”

“Last night I had a scary dream,” I replied while staring at the chalkboard. I don’t think scary was the right word. I don’t even think dream was the right word. It was like a memory. It couldn’t have been a memory, right? Whose memories would it have been? Samuels?

She gave a nod and returned to cleaning the board. Should I tell her? What would she think? No, not yet at least. While it had been scary to forget, I am still me right?

…

The smell of freshly baked bread and sweet roasted chicken overflowed from the kitchen into the dining room. The dining table was, of course, covered in scrolls, books, quills, and ink. I, along with my mother and father, were sitting at the table. Mother was scribbling away at some drawing while eating and father sat there reading some recent news.

Picking away at my food instead of just eating it I practically set my plate on fire from the stare I was giving it. What would I dream of tonight? Would I lose myself again? Have I already lost myself? Information that was entirely alien to me keeps finding me. Earlier when I stared into a board of magical formulae I saw the patterns and series of mathematics. When a question was asked about the world I found information regarding elements, chemicals, and atomics. All information that meant nothing without its contexts.

With a plate half eaten, I stood up drawing everyone's attention, “I don’t feel all too well, may I be excused to get some rest?” My mother's look at me was filled with deep worry as she gave a nod while my father, busied with reading, gave the go-ahead.

…

My room was cold and entirely too distant. Something about the cold darkness seemed to spill into my room and create an aura of darkness. I took my time changing into my sleepwear and crawling into the bed that was frozen to the touch. It was only when I was buried in my covers that a sound of light tapping prodded my window. Slowly opening my eyes and gazing at the window a branch and mighty wind was the sound's cause. Closing my eyes once again, I ventured back into the depths of sleep.