Faelyn knocking on the door woke me up. I checked the time and jumped to getting ready because I was already running behind. I was so grateful that Faelyn was still there. I got everything and opened the door, and Faelyn smiled and waved, before we hurried off to find Yaoba.

Yaoba was sitting in the commons, checking the watch on her wrist. When she saw us, she stood up. “Follow me. You are late.”

“Thank you for your patience. I’ll be better.”

“Good. A late fighter can never protect anyone.” Her words stung, but they were true.

She led us to the same training room that Faelyn and I had sparred in. The room was different than before, the dummies were set up, the weapons on the wall were now staves and other weapons that didn’t look very threatening, and on another wall was a large mirror. I had no idea how to use any of it.

“Alright,” Yaoba put her hands together. “Today, we start at the root of magic, how to use it and how to make it manifest.

“Magic can come from any living thing, which includes your body. Magic can take many shapes, and, if you’re creative, it can do just about anything. The way it manifests is through words of an ancient language, called Luhitau, which came from the first people who spoke magic into being. Using magic from your body will tire you out, using it from around you is much less taxing. Be careful to not push your limits. You could die in battle or just from overcasting.

“Let’s begin with a simple spell, and make your swords project a slash at those dummies. The words to do so are ‘noro satei’ and they mean ‘sword forward’.”

“Sounds simple enough.” I said as I went to face the dummies.

Even thinking the words to cast gave me energy, and I could feel it extending to my arms. “Noro satei!” I shouted as I swung my sword at the dummies. I got to see the magic come off of the sword and slice through the dummy I swung at.

“Beautiful! On your first try, too. Now, let’s see if Faelyn can do it.”

Faelyn came up next to me and paused for a moment. Then she turned towards the dummies. “Noro satei!” She successfully shot magic and sliced the dummy in half, horizontally.

“Excellent. You have a good aim, too.”

Faelyn’s smile stretched from ear to ear; she really seemed to be happy about her new-found ability.

“It’s nice to see progress so quickly. Though, I do want to remind you that this is the very beginning and the next step is harder, at least it should be.

“You, now, will try casting with energy from around you, instead of being from within. It will instead feel like it’s coming up and into your body.

“The words used to do this are said before any spell where you intend to bring in energy, and they are ‘on mat’ meaning ‘the world’. So, go ahead and give it a try with the slash spell.”

Faelyn went first, this time, and tried the spell: “On mat noro satei!” As she slashed, a much larger projectile was made and chopped the other dummy, vertically.

I tried like earlier, but I couldn’t feel the energy. I tried going from one spell’s energy and back to the new one, but it was no luck. “I am struggling with this one,” I said so the anticipation would stop building.

“Alright, you two can work on this together, and when you get it come and find me.” Yaoba then stepped out.

“I am not sure why I ended up teaching, but let’s give it a shot.” Faelyn shrugged at me.

“WIll you walk me through the way you do it?”

“Uhm, I think about protecting myself, and then when I say the words I feel energy tingle inwards.”

“Okay. Let me try this, again.”

I thought about my reason for fighting, my modus operandi, to protect others, people like Faelyn or the many lives lost to the umbra. I thought to myself about a cleansing fire, like when Rafael and I got here.

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“Fire blade slash!” I roared as I swung my sword. A billow of flame took over the whole side that the dummies were on.

“Holy shit…” Faelyn spoke, and the surprise rolled off her tongue.

“Is everything okay?” Yaoba came through the door and stared at the fire. She then snapped her fingers, which made the flames disappear, leaving the dummies behind.

“Who did this?” She looked at me, after Faelyn pointed, and I was ashamed.”

“I am sorry…” I said, looking at the ground.

“Don’t be. Do it again.”

I pulled on my feelings to protect others and cleanse the umbra.

“Fire blade slash!

Yaoba stared in awe while the flames continued. She snapped the flames away, again, and walked to us. “How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Use such a powerful spell and without the words of magic.”

“I am not sure…”

“Here.” SHe pointed for me to come closer. “I want to see how far this goes. Cast Ice Breath.”

I felt the energy come through my body. “Ice Breath!” I repeated and exhaled towards the dummies, surrounding them in frost.”

“Joey, you are no ordinary caster, and I want to see you practicing. I am sure that I don’t have more to teach you, especially if you can create such strong spells without ever being taught the words.” Yaoba said and then slightly bowed to me. “I will let Rafael know that he can take over your training, and I am sure he will want to see your skills, too.”

“Thank you, Yaoba. I am still trying to figure out what’s so strange, but Rafael will probably explain it.”

Yaoba left and it left just Faelyn and I.

“Joey, that was incredible! I’ve never seen a caster who didn’t have to learn the words!”

“I couldn’t have done it without you helping me, I swear.”

“That’s sweet of you to say, but it doesn’t change how cool that was.” Faelyn smiled at me, melting my heart. “Let’s go back to my room, for now.”

I followed Faelyn and she left the training room and started heading to where she has been staying.

“I am going to ask Rafael if you can come with us. Are you certain that you are okay with that?” I said as we closed the door to Faelyn’s room.

“Yes, I am certain. I want to see what you are capable of, and I want to travel with you guys.”

“Lovely! I will make sure to let him know how important that is to me.”

Faelyn and I were talking in her room when Rafael came in. “I need to borrow you, it shouldn’t be long.” I got my stuff together and followed him back to the training room.

“Yaoba told me that you have the skill to cast without the words. I want to see it, but I also need to teach you some more things before you use magic in combat. I, lastly, need to tell you that we will be leaving tomorrow, now that you can use magic.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, but can Faelyn come with us?”

“If they can carry their own weight, then they are a welcome hunter.”

“Thank you. I will let them know, after we are done.”

“Then…” Rafael walked to the other side of the room and turned back to face me. “Let’s begin. We have to teach you all of the basic combat spells, you need to be able to cast without saying anything out loud, and you need to know how to access the mirror realm.

“I first want to see you perform the lightning bolt spell.”

I mustered the feelings from before, but the image that came to mind for who I want to protect was Faelyn with a smile. I thought the words and held my hand up to cast a lightning bolt at one of the dummies, which exploded with bits of fire left behind.

“Good work. Now I need to see a ‘beyond shield’.”

I focused and thought the words. When I casted, I was surrounded by a dome of shimmering sparkles.

“Good. The last spell that you must know is healing light.”

I thought the words and cast the healing light at Rafael, and I noticed he stood an inch or so taller, now.

“Good. Thank you. Now we have all of the basic spells down, faster than any other mage that I’ve ever taught. Your abilities will make you an incredible fighter, if you use it and accumulate magic knowledge.

“The last thing we need while we are here, you have to create a mirror and use it to access the mirror realm. I need you to cast mirror create and mirror open.”

I quickly made a mirror, the size of a person, and I cast the mirror open. Rafael then walked first into the mirror and I followed.

“This is the mirror realm. It is a plane made for casters to protect themselves, since umbra can’t get it. This realm is very important because it could save you in an instance.”

The mirror realm made everything look more blue, but I could still see everything as they were before I stepped through. I started thinking of ways to save myself with the mirror realm and was pulled back from my thoughts when Rafael started walking back to where we came in. I quickly used the mirror open spell and the doorway that we came in opened back up.

Rafael smiled at me before walking back through. “You opened it and I didn’t even tell you how to. We are done, though, and you can go tell Faelyn that she can come with us.”

“Thank you!” I said back with a smile, and then, without missing a beat, I ran to tell Faelyn the good news.