The way of Magic- I Mean Mana

The air slowly warped and shaped where I looked. At first a small ember formed barely noticeable but soon totally changing my vision in that one spot. Soon my gaze met a light, a light so small at first It could be reasoned it was a hallucination.

This small light only grew and grew its flame getting more apparent and strong as it increased in size. This flame then gathered in on itself gathering in one spot over and over again. Other very small flames also collected into this area.

This area of collection grew into a rounded shape. The colors orange and yellow were the most prominent on the surface resembling a miniature sun.

This marvel of human creation was no other than the most basic skill my new friend had just demonstrated.

"Uhh, could you stop staring at it like it's gonna bite you? Its just fire mana"

But as quickly arrived the magical scene I had just witnessed slowly disappeared before my eyes.

"Geez, you might have burnt yourself or something a spell like that one shouldn't be played around with." Maras' face filled my vision as she said that.

I get out of my kneeled position next to Mara who had twisted her body to be at eye level with me.

"So are you going to actually teach me or keep showing off?"

Mara places her fists on her hips confidently and smirks.

"Mhp! it takes weeks of knowledge to even grasp the fundamentals of how to use magic. You just wouldn't get it." She says in a joking voice.

"Really? Cause it looked like you just said a few words." I say joking around as well.

"That's only because I've mastered the technique required for something so complicated."

I get up to leave.

"Ok, I get it I'll stop. If you wanna learn so bad just get over here."

I make a triumphant smirk and walk to the spot Mara suggested, next to her.

"Now normally we would check for your capacity and all that but since someone broke our capabilities to that well just brute force it."

I look at her questionably. I understood I wasn't being taught by a master from the start but it's starting to seem more and more like a back-alley thing as we continue.

"Hmm ok let's start with this. Akari put out your hand palm facing that stump over there and I want you to say 'thou with divine power please bless me with a drop of your power to cast water drop.' "

"And then I'll be able to cast it?"

"Well, kinda if it worked like that then I would've just casted it right now. I'll just help guide you when it's needed. Ok?"

Without replying to her unsettling comment I ready myself trying to relax. But can tell it won't work.

"Thou with divine power please bless me with-"

Just then I felt something. Something strangely familiar but then again something I've never experienced.

"If you feel anything strange try and focus on that."

These detailed words of great knowledge are surprisingly not helpful.

"A drop of your power-"

Once again the strange feeling flows inside me as if I could feel my bloodstream.

"To cast water drop."

Suddenly I could feel that feeling rush in my body its direction seemed to be my hand. I continue to put all my focus on maintaining that whatever was happening kept happing, not sure If I had succeeded yet.

"Akari!"

Startled I open my eyes. The first thing I see Is a cat girl pointing at my hand with the most surprised face I think I've ever seen. The second thing I see is a floating ball of water on my hand.

Did I just!? This is it right?! I did this?!

"Ah?" I try and say something.

"Ok now just relax and try and maintain it" I hear in an excited voice.

OK. sure. easy. Just try and keep doing the thing I've never done before. Seems realistic. Looks realistic to me as the ball of water starts jiggling uncontrollably.

"Pop" I hear a popping noise and the feeling of water on my hands.

I get half way through showing my dramatic disappointment when I see Mara jumping up and down.

"Oh, my divine! I can't believe this! I've never seen anything like this before! We have to continue with the spells!"

After she said that we did continue trying out all the different elements that she knew. And I don't want to brag or anything but your boy passed them all with flying colors. Water, earth, fire, and air. There was also nature and mana manipulation for some reason.

There were some like healing and light magic that she didn't know how to summon but who really cares? What matters is that I can use magic! Haha! It's too bad I have to use that long chant to use them but that actually brings us to where we are now.

"What do you mean take off the training wheels? There's not really any other way." I hear as I try and focus.

You see I had claimed that the whole 'chant' thing was just some training wheels feature and she seems to be refuting it. I can't tell if she's incompetent or she's trying to hide it. For either reason, I'm still going to try to use it without chanting.

Once again I stand there trying to remember the feeling every time I had casted something. That odd feeling from before, a weak feeling surrounding my entire body.

"Im telling you it's not going to work. Look we can try tomorrow if you really want to but it's starting to get late."

Then that feeling would all conjugate into one spot onto my hand.

"I might leave you behind~"

And finally depending on the element the feeling was different so let's try and go with water. That little water drop should be easy enough.

With that, I feel the same thing I had the first time. The water drop. I open my eyes confident. Sure enough in my hand was the water drop. It soon disperses but still I'm glad I was able to get those annoying chants out of the equation.

"Alight i'm ready now," I say as I grab my light brown jacket.

I only walk halfway out of the training area where I come to Mara. Since casting the spell she hadn't moved or anything. Ya, I'm cool.

"Come on Mara. I might leave you behind~"

Mara, who had been standing in the same spot this whole time finally snapped out of it and started following me.

She didn't say anything and continued to not say anything for most of the trip. Instead of Mara leading this time I was the person in front, for some reason Mara had stayed a fair amount behind me the whole time.

When I looked back at her I could only imagine she was thinking of what I did. Ya, I'm cool I know.

She only took the lead once we reach town when we were hurried along by some guards. We had reached it all the way to my house when she finally spoke to me.

"Hey, Akari?"

I turn to look at her.

"Remember that tomorrow is your turn."

I give her a nod and she walks away from the house after whispering something to herself. I finally in my own house lay down in my bed.

YES YES YES!

In my bed, I finally put off the badass facade and start acting like a little kid. A bit of air boxing and exclamations into the pillow are all had. I roll around in my bed for a bit when I raise my hand to the ceiling.

"Magic huh."

"Not quite." I hear a voice that isn't mine.

The sudden intuition of the voice makes me sit up in my bed in a panic. Looking around my entire field of view is black the only thing resembling my room is the bed I was still on. A strange situation like this would normally make anyone terrified.

"They actually call it mana transformation here."

Oh, it's just this dumb guy again…

"Hey what's up my second mental buddy," I say flopping back on my bed.

"Honestly neither I nor that thing is even mental, sure we might mentally communicate with you but neither of us occupies your mental space." Akari two says walking around the bed.

Bored I respond "Uh ha."

"Oh, common after I came to congratulate you too. Why must you be so rude? The way you used that girl to learn magic was expertly done."

"Ya? And that way you convinced a teenager to kill a bunch of goblins was also well done." I say not trying to be clever but trying to take a few jabs at him.

After I say that the area I was stuck in stayed silent for a few seconds longer than it should have.

"I hope you continue your stat-gaining and your magic learning in my absence." He says speaking a bit farther away this time.

"I would do that even if you weren't here."

"Understood, I will take my leave then. One last thing though silent spell casting is almost unheard of so I recommend you don't go too wild with it when other people are around."

"Ya that makes sense I guess," I say pretending to be exhausted.

Just like that my room quickly transforms back to normal.

Man, I really don't like that guy. It's true I thought I could be buddies with him. As it turns out just because you look like a guy doesn't mean you think the same. Plus I feel like he just does whatever he wants. I never asked to be taken to his void realm but he did it anyway.

At least my other metal friend doesn't do that. All you do is make a comment every now and then. I can't even tell when you're here or not unless you say something.

I sit there for a second expecting to hear something but don't.

Huh being a bit shy I see? It's either that or i'm insane. However, I do remember someone saying if you can ask yourself if your insane then your not insane. Since they wouldn't have the self-awareness or something, I don't know.

What I do know is that it's going to get dark soon and all I want to do is test out this magic a bit more. I'll remember to not use any fire magic so as to not burn anything.

Dude! Even the fact I have to contemplate the type of magic I should use is crazy cool!

I CAN USE MAGIC!

???

Oh uh, yea my bad I'll chill out.