"Hello?" The voice of Melissa bounced between the trees.

"Did you ever go this far?" Sheepishly asked Mark.

"Not in the direction of barbarians."

"What... what barbarians?"

"The ones that live in Betweenlands. They don't believe in Divine Twins, so their magic is weak, but I heard they eat people."

Mark squeaked in fear. They left the road where Father Gregor told them to and were slowly moving towards the World Tree.

"Sirius?" Once again called out Melissa.

Suddenly they heard the sound of falling tree in the distance. It cracked and whined, as the trunk split into pieces, scaring the birds in all directions.

"Was it barbarian?"

"I hope not. Let's go towards the Tree. If Sirius here, we will meet him at the roots."

They went closer towards the trunk, and was a small shed made out of stone bricks. It had cloth instead of the door, and roof made out of thick foliage. A couple of paces to the side they saw a deep pit with a fallen trees chopped into twenty-elbow long pieces. They were rather thick, so carrying them was out of the question. They heard the rustling sound, which scared them. In fear they hid behind the shed, and listened to the rustling getting closer and closer.

Then they heard a hissing. Mark, shivering like a leaf, slowly looked upwards and came face-to face with sky-blue eye with thin, black pupil. His nerves gave up.

"AAAAHH!" He shouted on the ground, scaring Melissa out of their hiding spot.

"What is that!?" She cried out, looking at Mark.

"A snake! It was here!" He pointed at the shed's roof.

"There is no snake!"

"It looked at me! It hissed at me!"

"Calm down! They will notice us!" She tried calming him down, remembering that they were hiding.

"Well, hello, I guess." Sirius said while looking behind the shed.

After calming down, they sat on the roots, while Sirius was shuffling around with a pack of chalks and kindled a campfire with a quick scribble of a diagram.

"Since when are you here?" Asked Melissa, while looking at the dancing flames.

"Since... I don't know, maybe five days or so." Sirius was holding a bag with dried herbs, a pot and a small ceramic jug.

"Five days? All alone?"

"Not alone of course." Sirius put a pot on top of stones over the fire and began pouring the water out of the jug. "I am here with Seth, my pet, and in the evenings I come back to Rivervale. I still attend the sermons, and do some healing here and there when needed."

"Who is Seth?" Asked Mark.

"A manasnake. I believe you saw him, a pearly white with deep blue eyes. Come out Seth!" After his call, a manasnake appeared on his collar and slithered closer to the fire, giving Mark shivers.

"How much does this jug carry?.." Absentmindedly asked Melissa, noticing that the water flow must have stopped long ago.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"That... my recent thing I asked mister Brown to make. It converts water into mana and stores it instead. As a nice bonus, it recharges over time, but the taste is inferior to the river."

"Did you show that to the church?"

"Not yet, I was busy here, building a new place to stay."

"So it was indeed you who chopped down that tree?" Asked Mark.

"I did, yes. But I have to return the axe soon, so I need to think of a way to cut down trees."

"Only to cut down? How did you carry them?" Mark pointed at the stack of logs.

"Magic." Shrugged Sirius. He stopped stirring the pot and stood up to get cups, finally noticing the doubtful gazes of his friends. "What? Do you want me to describe all the theory?"

"Please don't." Mark cut him off before he could continue.

"Yes, I am afraid it is a secret of the church." Confirmed Melissa

"I know... It's a shame really, the church did so much for the people, but still saves the best for itself." Sirius lamented and handed the cups."Be careful, the tea is still hot."

He poured a cup for himself as well and, unsatisfied with its temperature, scribbled some circles and lines on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Asked Melissa with concern.

"I want the tea now, so I am cooling it."

"Using ritual?" She was concerned beyond limits.

Sirius took a breath, but stopped, carefully picking words so that not to divulge any forbidden knowledge. In the end he gave up. "Oh well, you'll know this when you become a priestess anyways. It's just a spell in the form of drawing."

"It's... a spell?" Now she was lost.

"Yep, just a spell. You will be able to cast anything you want at the slightest move of your hand since you both have an Astral Body. But not me." He said while holding a cup over the diagram, making it glow a bit when converting the heat of the tea into mana.

"Is that why?..." Stammered Mark.

"Why I studied rituals?" Sirius sighed. "That's right. I am not allowed to become a mage, or I will be executed. So I have found my ways around that." He sipped out of his cup.

"It's a spell..." Melissa said in a daze. She put the cup over the diagram and strained her mind to feel the details. "It really is..."

"Oh Gods, we shattered her world." Said Sirius, a bit worried, but otherwise amused. "Did you really not notice?"

"The mana is contained in these very lines. It does not spill outside, so I can feel that only by focusing directly on them." Explained Melissa, disappointed in herself.

"Don't be ashamed, be happy. I felt that right away and offended the Silver Order." He said with a giggle. "Also..."

Sirius stood up, picked a plain piece of chalk and drew a fifth mark on the wall of the shed. Taking a couple of steps back, he nodded in satisfaction and returned to the campfire.

"What is that?" Inquired Mark.

"The amount of times I nearly killed myself. Not including the times when the Inquisitor held a blade over my neck."