Vitmori POV

The walk through the woods was a rather quiet and peaceful affair, the sounds of birdsong in the air as the voices of Jack's crewbirds intermingle with the calls of truly wild birds. It wasn't long until I could hear the distinct burbling of the river I had seen so long ago, and soon we found ourselves in a clearing that had signs of heavy traffic coming through here. Footprints of all sorts wander the clearing, coming and going from the various patches of brush and clearly handmade traps that had been set up in the water.

Reyvyre had taken a moment to look around before nodding to herself as she looked over at me and flashed a smile. "Alright, this looks good enough." She said simply before walking towards the center of the clearing and sitting down cross-legged, beckoning me to join her as she rolled her shoulders and settled in.

"So how are we going about this?" I asked as I made my way over, sitting just a few feet away in a similar cross-legged style while facing her.

Reyvyre hummed in consideration, tilting her head from side to side before flashing a sheepish smile. "Honestly? I'm not too sure where to begin for you, you've already performed considerable feats of mana control with almost contemptuous ease." She said as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe we should actually see about getting you a spell focus? I don't need one anymore thanks to you, but with that in mind, you probably don't need one either since the vessel within your avatar is already a spell focus for you." She pondered before snapping her fingers and nodding to herself. "Show me how you gather mana, and we'll see how we should move from there." She said as she watched me expectantly.

I tilt my head in consideration as I had to think for a moment about how I gathered mana, it's been a while since I had to actively do that, though if I remember correctly, it all started when I tried my breathing exercises to clear the musty air in my cave. "Sure, let's see." I reply as I shift around, shutting my eyes and lowering my head. Taking a slow, deep breath, I exhale slowly before starting to breathe in a steady, calming rhythm. Without actually needing to breathe, it was an odd sensation to actually focus on and intentionally do, but things were happening and I could feel the air coursing into my body and out through my wooden skin and mouth. More than that, I managed to replicate what I did all those weeks ago as I could feel the natural mana in the air around me start to circulate through my vessel. However, it felt more like filling a cup that was already full instead of increasing and developing my current mana capacity.

I could feel Reyvyre's eyes focusing on me rather intently, studying my breathing before speaking up after a couple of minutes. "If I didn't know better, I would have insisted your world had some kind of magic, that breathing technique of yours is one of the better methods I've seen for mana recovery and stimulation. Not the best mind you, but it's rather effective for a technique developed in a world without magic." She enthused warmly.

I couldn't help but flash a bit of a smile as I stop the breathing exercise and shrugged a bit. "Maybe there was some kind of magic somewhere, there were people who pushed their bodies to the extreme in ways that most normal people never could. The world was a big place after all, and there were no doubt countless secrets." I considered before scratching my cheek. "So what now?"

Reyvyre nodded after another moment of thought. "Let's start small, I want you to create a small flame, no bigger than your index finger." She requested as she sat a little straighter, watching me closely and studying what I'm doing before speaking up once more. "Actually, could you share your thoughts with me? I want to follow your thought process as you try this."

"Sure, I don't mind." I reply as I mentally reach out to her, tapping into our bond with relative ease. I then set about considering how to make a flame, there were many mundane methods on how to make fire with many differing effects. Should I try to vibrate the air until it ignites? Perhaps if I snap my fingers, I can use the friction combined with mana to create a spark or...

"Stop." Reyvyre said simply as she shook her head. "You're thinking too much, in battle, you won't have the time to think about all these things in the heat of the moment. You just need to do it, it's as simple as that for someone with such a high affinity with flames." She explained; though she looked thoughtful as she decided to approach this from a different angle. "I've seen you manipulate the dirt and stone with ease, creating staircases that trailed along your mountain within seconds. What were you thinking about when you were doing all that?"

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I blinked a couple of times as I had to consider that, reflecting on what I'd already done. "I... I just wanted the dirt and stone to take the shape I wanted and willed my mana to manipulate the materials to take the shape as if I were using my hands to make it happen. I've also done this for ores now that I think about it." I mentioned as I looked over at her. "I used my mana to clean up unrefined ores before causing them to vibrate until they glowed and shaped them into ingots for later use."

Reyvyre nodded intently. "While that is indeed a valid, if not overly complicated method for heating something up, it's not what we're looking for. As I said, you don't have time for such complicated methods if you're in combat. Think about what you did when you shaped the stone, and how you willed your mana to affect the world. In practice, you should be able to conjure stone from your mana itself, though manipulating existing stone is a valid and thrifty alternative." She explained as she offered a bit of a reassuring smile. "Just will the flame into existence."

That's easy to say, however, if what she's saying is right, then it should really be as easy as that. I go ahead and bring up my right hand, staring down into it as I focus. I picture a flame, a small, innocuous little thing. A candlelight's inviting glow and warmth in the palm of my hand. It takes a minute, but almost as if a match was struck, a small flame suddenly ignited in the air. I'm briefly consumed by childlike wonder, despite everything I've done already, the mere act of creating a flame from nothing just delighted me for some reason. I can't really explain it, but a smile was plain on my face as I looked to Reyvyre who smiled as well. "I... I did it." I say with hushed excitement as if my very breath would put out the magical fire floating above my palm.

Reyvyre beamed with obvious pride, though I could sense she was amused by my reaction. I couldn't fault her for that though, I must look like a fool getting excited about something like this, but I also don't really care. "Good work Vitmori, now let's move to the next step and try to make a second flame and then make them both bigger." She suggested as she watched closely.

I nodded in understanding, holding up my other palm, and began to focus on conjuring a second flame.

Rita POV

Rita found herself in a small clearing a little ways from the Haven, practicing her own spell-slinging as she re-trained herself. Between her newfound freedom and additional mana ring, she had to rediscover her limits and figure out just how precise she can be with her lightning and wind. Energy crackled in the air as she launched sparks and bolts of lightning into a tree trunk while being mindful of snuffing out any flames and embers using controlled bursts of wind. As she finished up her routine, she flared out her wings and flapped them hard, riding a gust of wind she conjured; taking to the skies she hovered above the ruined tree that she used for target practice and called down a powerful bolt of lighting which raced straight down and caused the tree to catch fire from the inside. "Ah, crap..." She murmured to herself, only realizing she got carried away after she launched the lightning bolt. Descending and carefully touching down, she conjured a massive ball of air around the smoldering tree and did her level best to suffocate the flames before they got too out of control.

That was until the ball of air got hijacked, much to her confusion, as swirls of water were mixed into it, dousing the flames to greater effect. She looked around for a moment before spotting Jack swooping in and touching down at a nearby tree, accompanied by a few of his crewbirds. "Weren't you taught to not play with fire?" He asked, a tone of vague amusement in his voice as he flitted down and landed before her.

Rita's cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she brought one of her wings out in front of her, clutching it as she fiddled with one of her feathers. "I uh... Got carried away." She admitted before sighing and releasing her wing. "Thanks, Jack, I appreciate the help." She said as she respectfully lowered her head in appreciation.

"Think nothing of it, Lass. It's only my job." He tweeted amicably as he looked back over at the now waterlogged and charred tree before looking back up at Rita. "I do have to say, that's a mighty powerful dose of lightning you were throwing out just now. All I ask is you try not to burn the forest down when you practice next." He mused mischievously.

Rita chuckled sheepishly as she sat down beside Jack, hugging her knees and watching the oversized sparrow. "I'll do my best. It's just... Well, it's been a long while since I could use my magic without restraint, and now I'm even more powerful than I was before. I suppose it quickly just went to my head." She considered as she flexed her wings.

Jack bobbed his head thoughtfully. "Understandable, you'll have no judgment from me about any of that. From one bird to another, a sense of freedom is something that is intrinsic to us, it's part of our souls to be able to do what we want when we want it." He expressed as he started slowly sauntering about.

Rita smiled a bit, though she then glanced at the ring of green under his wing and looked at her own mark on her shoulder feathers before looking back at him. "You say that, yet you serve Vitmori, aren't you trapped in his control, doing whatever he wants?"

Jack stopped his pacing and looked up at her before chuckling a bit. "Oh, I'm not trapped in his control. He's my boss, sure, but I do whatever I want. All he asks is that I protect his forest and his people, how I do so and what I do when I'm not doing that is entirely up to me. He treats me with respect and genuinely cares for me and my well-being. He's someone I'm happy to work for because he makes it worthwhile to work with him." He enthused, though he tilted his head thoughtfully. "I don't think he actually gave me a choice when he brought me back from the dead, but that was probably more out of necessity. He needed someone like me and was very generous with his mana when he brought me into his service." He considered as he bobbed his head before looking up at her.

Rita smiled a bit as she watched him before sighing softly. "I suppose you have a point, and the first thing he offered me was independence and the means to go wherever I wanted to go... I dunno, I guess I'm just anxious about the future since I didn't think I would really have one after so long." She admitted as she flared her wings out before looking back up at them with a smile.

Jack tweeted cheerfully enough. "The future is what you make of it, all you have to do is open your wings and ride the wind."

Rita nodded some more before moving to stand. "You're right, I'll just have to keep a more open mind. Thanks for the talk Jack."

Before Jack could respond, a massive burst of fire illuminated the evening horizon. "Well then… Looks like Boss is getting in the swing of things." He chirped with surprise.