L [o/i] ve is a journey

Sleep, Eat, Study, Repeat | A Light Of Magic

Disclaimer: Now, we are in the realms of time jumps. And we are FINALLY at the part how I wanted to write. Loosely. Focused on small happenings. And still developing a relationship. 
Y'all now have a break of me, writing long texts and going into details. Probably :D

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The day went into days, days into the week and weeks, weeks into three months.

Lunaris woke up, ate breakfast with Nerivie, they went to the libary together, then stayed there until the sun went down, ate dinner, and his teacher explained the steps with her fire magic in the desert, for him to try with his light affiliation.

Slowly but steadily, he did start to understand the theory of it, and to see the practical use of it. Lunaris had Nerivie asked plenty of times how to take the most basic of her affiliation. The small, dancing flame at the palm of her hand was the thing he remembered that she used to guide them through the dark corridor into the guild of shadows.

He saw her focus, the small flick of her finger before it rose from her hand. As the forming of mana would prickle, or tickle. It couldn't be pain, pain would make one wince a bit, and her fingers rather spread out a bit more, as she tried to make space for the mana to form.

So the crafting was visible, but the emotional state, the heart, was something he could not understand completly. They talked about how you had to use it like air blowing over a flame: not to much, but also not too little. Which, in terms of actual fire made sense, but how is wind- or, in his case, light- a flame?

He stated that question on paper, with the thought he had before that, and Nerivie looked at him: „Hm, maybe, you think to close to elements?" she asked, and he cocked his head to the side, trying to ask without saying or writing something.

„Well," responded his fox masked lady and teacher, „you're forging your mana, right? Like a blacksmith forges a blade, and they don't do it with bare hands, they use tools. And one of these tools is immense heat and fire. The fire isn't what the blacksmith wants to conjure, but his skill and knowledge that allows him to turn different kinds of metal into a durable, and flexible blade that cuts through everything. That my fire brings forth another flame is just coincidence."

She repeated the showcase of her fire, and looked on her hands, trying to think of something, „Maybe, if you think of the light a flame prodces, and take it like the blacksmith needs the fire to heat up the metal hard enough to craft it, it can be of help for you?"

Lunaris stared in the darkness of the desert. They sat on their usual spot, and he had tried, at the end of every night, to make the ball of light, the most basic form as the book he got from the priest told him, in his hand appear.

Nothing.

He stared at his hand, and got more and more frustrated, before he sunk his hand with a sigh again. This time, Nerivie was next to him, with some quick steps and took his wrist to Lunaris' surprise. His heartbeat fastened a little bit, and he felt his cheeks getting warmer.

„Take your time! Mana is all around you! It flows in the most basic of things, even matter itself. You are made of this matter, the wind, the rocks, the trees, the water, the sun, the stars, the moon. You have to feel it first. This is gathering your focus!" she held his hand and pointed to his boots: take them off!" she ordered him and he looked confused, but did as he was told. Then, Lunaris felt how she took his wrist again, opened his hand as he was trying to catch a small stone, and held it outstretched.

„Now, close your eyes, and feel the air you breath in. How it enters your nose, your lungs, and fills you with air. Leaving a small bit of mana, and then, when you exhale, leaves your body back through the same way. You're surrounded by that air. Like you're in an ocean you can breath."

He listened to her quiet voice, feeling the gentle breeze of the night, and the touch of her hand near his, his eyes closed.

„Now, bury your toes into the sand. Like you want to feel every single grain of it, the small area your feet cover up stretches out in every direction, connecting the sand with rocks where it once was part off, before the force of the elements grinded it into smaller pieces." He followed the sound of her calm voice and felt the tiny pieces of sand, small rocks falling in between his toes as he dug them into the fine dust of the desert.

„You're now rooted to the ground," Nerivie continued, „like a tree, and like a tree stretching its root in every direction to take in water and nutrients, you allow the flow of mana to enter you. And like the tree doesn't force it up,you just direct it to the branches where it's needed, to create a magificient canopy of leaves."

Her hand stroke his side in a guiding manner, up to his shoulder, on the side to his arm and under Lunaris palm.

„Good. Now, to decide the form of the leaf that is about to grow, you say the word of the spell in your head." She murmured, as she was focusing with him, „and let it grow throw the branch of the tip of your finger."

Lunaris had felt something strange slowly rising within him, and as he carefully worded out the spell in his head, he felt the flow connecting with the tip of his fingers, rising and connecting to something outside of him. It was part of him, but somehow...not.

„Look!" Nerivie said excited, yet calm, and he opened his eyes: a ball of pure light was hovering over his hand. It flickered, and then vanished.

„You did it! You just need to remember how it felt! Then, the more you can call upon your basic form, the more easy it gets, and we can focus on crafting different forms!" Nerivie was more excited for him that he was. She hopped and clapped her hands.

Finally! Finally he had one success! I was getting worried he might get frustrated and stop learning! Nerivie thought.

Lunaris felt surprised, happy, and quite exhausted. He hit his tummy with his flat hand and looked very cheeky doing that. He needed food! It has been a long day and he was super-hungry!

„You're right! It's kind of late! Lets get something to eat! Tomorrow, we can push a little bit further. One step after another." Nerivie giggled.