Kai accompanied Aina through the giant manor, walking through dark corridors lit only by candles, creating small sources of light as their footsteps echoed on the soft carpet. Aina slowly reached toward a large door at the end of a long hallway. Gently pushing, it creaked and groaned as it opened, and the room it hid illuminated with a snap of the woman’s fingers.

The warm light revealed a library, simple in nature, and looked like any other. Rows upon rows of bookshelves stacked upon one another. Each bookshelf seemed to encase one subject, some of them were mixed but most of them presented a wide variety of information. Ranging from the vaguest subjects to so specific it felt like a programming question on weddit.

“You had this entire place… hidden here?!” Kai’s shocked voice echoed in the silent library.

“Yeah, I don’t use it as often but it’s regularly cleaned so there shouldn’t be any dust.”

Kai swallowed as he walked inside, followed by Aina as the doors closed behind them. “Do all doors here close automatically?” He chuckled as he looked inside the nearest bookshelf.

“Not really, only the ones I don’t wanna close.”

Aina’s casual reply made Kai look at her with a weird expression, however seeing that she didn’t go into any detail, he didn’t find it appropriate to ask. Instead, he focused on the books within eye level, however, although he could see the letters not even one word made sense to him.

“Not here kiddo, come with me.” Aina grabbed him by the shoulder and walked toward the center of the room. There, hidden between walls of books lay a table surrounded by two chairs.

“Well, this seems familiar,” Kai said in a low voice, walking next to the chair, getting a feel of its material.

“How come?”

Kai let out a light sigh as he reached around his neck, and took out the necklace given to him by his parents. “My dad put a library they used to teach me inside this thing, and the layout is… eerily similar.”

For the first time since Kai met her, Aina’s pupils widened, and she reached toward the spherical jewel. Squinting her eyes, she sucked in a breath of cold air. However, before she could take a closer look, a sharp electric current spread from her arm and she suddenly let go, letting it fall to the ground with a soft thump.

“Fascinating…” A soft murmur escaped her lips, however her expression instantly became serious as she turned toward Kai. “Kid, did you show this to anyone else?”

Quickly shaking his head, Kai picked up the necklace from the ground and placed it around his neck again. Dad put protection over it but couldn’t put a fail-safe to ensure I have enough mana?...

“It’s hard to believe… how did he do this?” She sat down on the chair, resting her head on the table with her hands support. Shaking her head, a wry smile creased her lips as she reached for a book on a close by bookshelf. “Forget about that… that rascal for now. Take a seat.”

Kai sat down as the pages rustled as Aina placed the book in front of him on the third page. There, on its white sheath lay the picture of an apple, below it, written in Elvish was a three-word sentence.

“What…?” Kai asked, unsure about this entire ordeal.

“Ana…” Aina placed her finger over the first word, slowly transitioning to the other “are…” and, with a final stroke of her finger, she articulated the last word with a certain accent, “mere.”

“Ana has apples.” She said the full sentence all at once, her eyes shining with a purple light that stared into Kai’s soul as he did so. “Now, repeat after me…”

…

Hours passed, and the sun finally set, allowing the moon to settle on the open canvas. Inside the library, Kai’s head felt like it might implode from all the information stuffed into his brain. “Well, today’s lessons are done,” Aina said just as the doors to the library slammed open, followed by rapid footsteps that got closer faster and faster.

“Mom!” Elizabeth’s anxious voice rang inside the room, and her hand flew to her face upon realizing she was too late. “Mom. for Goddes’ sake!”

“What is it dear? I’m just teaching Kai our language.”

“That’s the issue! Look at him! Oh no, not that book… how far have you gotten?” Elly picked up the book, closing it shut, running her trembling hands over the cover, which read <>

Her head snapped toward Kai, whose unfocused eyes rested on the table as he kept murmuring words in Elvish. “Ah damn it.” Elly sighed and slammed the book on the table, angrily turning toward her mother. “I thought we discussed you wouldn’t do this again?”

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“What? He wanted to learn, who am I to say no?”

“No… even if… just… no! I still remember the hell I went through, it was traumatic!”

“Oh dear it wasn’t that bad…”

“It was! All the sleepless nights, the constant grammar rules… the poems! I can’t let him go through that same suffering!”

“Oh you’re just being a drama queen,” Aina said, pointing toward the mumbling Kai. “Look he’s already learned the alphabet and a few sentences.”

“Mom… he looks like some kind of ghoul…” Elly said dejectedly, pulling Kai into a tight hug. “Look at him, he can’t even see me!”

“That just means I did a good job,” Aina said in a most prideful tone as she stood up, returning the book to its rightful place before leaving. “Take care of him now, I’ll make sure he speaks fluently within a few months, you never know when he may need it.”

I’d rather not… Elizabeth said to herself as she started chanting a spell, bringing some focus to Kai’s dilated pupils.

“Hm? What’s …going on?” He murmured as he rubbed his eyes, slowly waking up. “Ah! Ana are mere!”

“Pfft.” A light chuckle escaped Elly’s lips as he separated herself from Kai. “Looks like my mom did a number on you, I can’t remember if I had the same reaction but it definitely took me longer to wake up. I’m impressed.”

“Ah, thank you?” Kai said as he stood up, balancing himself with the table as he gained balance. “I… what just happened?”

Elizabeth sighed, bringing her right hand to her face, and propping it up by the elbow with her left hand. “My mother, she cast a spell on you to help you learn faster… that’s how she teaches us. It happened to me and some of my cousins… I swear she can’t use traditional methods to save her life! Old hag…”

“Huh? What was it… that last part?” Kai asked with a gleam of excitement in his eyes.

“Hm? I said Old hag. Wait, you understood that?!” Shock manifested on her face as soon as realization dawned upon her. “How is that possible? It’s only been a few hours! Here, how about this? I plecat la my home to adun apples.”

“I understood… about half of it I think.”

“Amazing… are you some kind of genius?”

“No, no way. It must have been your mother’s spell.” Kai fidgeted with his fingers as he looked around, as even he couldn’t figure out how he had picked up Elvish so fast. Elizabeth’s shock remained obvious on her face, however, she didn’t comment on the subject anymore as she remembered why she looked for Kai.

“Come on, it’s time to start your training. Your muscle mass has improved quite a bit over the past few days but not nearly enough to start forming your core. Kai nodded gently and followed closely behind her, curious about the new torture methods Euphy had cooked up for him.

…

Back in the Elvish training ground, Euphridia waited next to a few dummies and a rack of wooden swords. Kai took off his shirt, revealing his skinny, pale skin, and decided to tie his hair in a ponytail to ease his training. Nervously walking up to his teacher, he stopped exactly one meter away from her with a straight back. Like a soldier, he didn’t move too much, doing his best to be as straight as a statue while waiting for orders.

“Kai,” Euphridia said in a serious tone. “Up until now I’ve only just tested you to find out what kind of training routine suits you best. You surprised me time and time again.” A soft smile creased her lips as she looked at his almost perfect stance, however it quickly disappeared. “Despite your muscles, or lack-there-of, and your low stamina, you pushed through your limits with your will and knowledge alone. From that, I created a temporary training regiment until Old Nick and his forge finished your toys.

So, your basic training will be: A hundred pushups, a hundred situps, and a ten-kilometer run every day! In addition, you will do one-minute planks between each set and at the end of the day a short sparring session with the sword, understood!?”

“Yes ma’am!” Kai replied without hesitation, looking forward as a bead of sweat dripped down his face.

“Good, start warming up then!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Without further ado, began doing the routine Euphy had taught him to warm up his muscles so as to not contract or twist muscles, and shortly after finishing, he fell to the ground. His entire body trembled as he began doing the push-ups, sweat dripped down his now blazing skin and he grit his teeth under Euphy’s gaze.

“You’re doing great, come on, you already did ten! Do that again and you can begin doing the plank!” Her voice filled the emptiness surrounding them, along with his pants.

…

The hours slowly passed, each minute feeling like ten for Kai, who dragged himself through the last kilometer. Buckets of sweat ran down his blazing skin, creating small puddles wherever he went. With a last heavy breath, he collapsed to the floor, looking at the sky unable to stand up or even speak. A muffled set of footsteps approached him, accompanied by Euphridia’s stern yet warm voice. “Good. You did everything well, just as I expected. I’ll give you a one-hour break before we spar, then you can go to sleep. Understood?”

A weak groan escaped Kai’s lips as he struggled to move his head, however, the intense fatigue did nothing to aid him in replying to Euphy. “Well, I got it. Here, drink this.” She pulled out an orange vial from her pouch and opened it, releasing a bitter-sweet aroma in the air. She brought it to Kai’s lips, and he slowly swallowed the liquid as a wave of warmth spread throughout his body.

“It’s a minor stamina potion, should help you recover within the hour. I’ll keep watch over you.”

With that said, she leaned against a wall and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she felt the breeze brush against her skin.