The Reflections Saga - The World Through the Mirror

Part 8

 After watching Quatermain march out, Nox in hand, Sage is taking a moment in the library with Cassandra questioning where to start with his assignment, "so I need to turn a bottle of water to ice?" He asks aloud.

Cassandra returns the look as she tries to think what to say, she can see a hint of panic in Sage's eyes and reaches her hand out to him, "it's okay, like he said, we'll help you," she explains reassuringly. She is able to snap Sage out of his thought before he descends to deep and is lost to the panic and anxiety. "First of all, we're going to find the others and relax for the evening and do something to take your mind of this, then tomorrow we can focus on it because you'll need to talk to Beatrix so she can explain the basics of how sorcerers use their magic," she explains dutifully. After watching the panic leave Sage she takes his hand and lifts him from the chair, "so that's tomorrows plan, lets just relax for tonight, okay?"

Sage answers her question with a soft smile and a nod. He watches as Cassandra leads him from the library and they head out to the grounds. They manage to locate the others by the lake as Viktor's group aren't a fan of the water. Sage sees Eliza and Snow having a conversation and runs over to join them, "hey guys what are you talking about?"

The duo stare towards Sage as he speaks and smile softly at him, they are both relieved he's fine and stand to face him. Before he can say another word Eliza hugs him, "nothing important, you okay?" she questions with a tone of concern.

Sage is taken back by the sudden hug and question expecting it more from Snow's gentle demeanour, compared to Eliza's cold and withdrawn one. He returns the hug and just sits there a moment. He lets go upon hearing the voices of Cassandra and the others and they all just gather round and find a spot by the water to sit and chat. Sage watches in amazement as Kai starts a fire with just a snap of her fingers and they enjoy the evening talking with one and other as Sage starts getting to know his new friends properly.

Sage takes solace in the humanising fact that he's actually able to act like a normal teenager for the first time ever. He curiously looks next to him at Eliza before leaning over and resting his head on her shoulder and slides closer to her. He rests there watching the fire enjoying the peace of the moment before his mind is brought back to the thought of Rain and Viktor.

The following morning Sage and Kai try to locate a peaceful place for Kai to begin teaching Sage basic mana control to help him with his assignment. Sage is following with an excited glint in his eye, and a skip in his step. He chirps up excitedly, "Kai, since you're a sorcerer as well, what does it feel like when you try to control the mana within your body?"

Kai's brash demeanour from her heritage rears itself as she sighs loudly before stopping suddenly and turning to confront Sage, "I'm not going to lie, it's the hardest and easiest thing to do. If you have no prior experience of trying to control it then it is the hardest thing in the world and if you don't concentrate it can run wild and cause damage to you and those around you," she explains harshly. She turns around and begins to move again as she explains something else, "if you let emotions take over you could unleash your spells without discretion, and that's why I ended up here." Kai conjurors a small flame into her hand and stares into the heart of it with a bitter expression.

Sage notices her look and his instincts wish to learn more, but he refrains from asking what happened. He suddenly looks over and notices a little outcropping near the place he went to find out what type of magician he was. He gets Kai's attention and leads her over to inspect the area to see if it would be good enough to practice. The inspect the little secluded area surrounded by hedgerows, and find it to be a decent distance away from the main activity areas of the grounds and deduce that this would be a good place to begin their practice.

Kai looks at Sage and sits him down upon one of the stone benches within this little outcrop, she the sits on another bench across from him and takes a deep breath. She lifts her hand and with a sudden wave has created a small pit and lit a fire within, "okay, to start you're going to ignore the bottle for now and focus on trying to sense the mana within yourself. I want you to breath slowly and try and feel the energy flowing through you and direct it to your hands," she explains looking at Sage. She takes note of the surroundings and keeps her eyes open because she doesn't know if other students use this area.