Chapter 4: Mageia (1)

"Everyone!" A loud voice rang from the outside. I scratched my eyes, trying to get up from the bed. I let out a morning sigh as I see the other children wake up from the loud voice that echoed through their ears.

"What's happening?" Ei said while scratching her eyes. "My sleep was paused."

I looked at her for a moment and quickly focused my attention on the door. It felt like I had the obligation to step out and see what will unfold behind that door rather than waking up. My body fell on its own and I had to control my eyes from closing.

"EVERYONE" A loud voice echoed through the cabin, waking everyone up with the loudest shout. I quickly discarded the sheet that was covering a part of my legs and decided to stand up.

"I want to end things here," I said jokingly.

Before I knew it, everyone was looking up at me.

'Aha…' I thought. Sweat began to form on both sides of my head. I softly grabbed a piece of blanket and wiped the nervousness.

"I- I think we should go." I timidly said to the children looking at me. "Hey! Really, let's go."

I walked through every one of them and helped them wake up while scolding them. "If you don't wake up, I'll lock you here."

"But there's no lock in the cabin," Luin said half-asleep.

'This kid," I closed my eyes angrily "Just wake up!" I shouted.

"Fine, fine." A bubble bloated on his nose and popped.

"Disgusting!" I pushed him off and started to walk out with my feet buried in the woods of the cabin. "What are we doing today, my sleep hasn't been that good lately. Tsk." I said while swaying both of my arms sideward in anger. When I passed through the door, the image of the teacher and the other kids on the plain grass ground appeared before me. The usual routine… I feel like I have seen this once.

'Ah!' I ran back to the wooden cabin I was in and cheerily encouraged everyone to wake up and step outside. "Come outside, quick!" I said with an excited smile.

"The teacher will teach again!" I jumped enthusiastically.

"It's too early and what will the teacher teach?" Ei replied to me while scratching both of her eyes two times.

"Just go and you will know!" I said while taking my step outside once again, smiling.

-

"Everyone. Is everyone here?" The teacher said while scratching his head with his index finger. "1, 2, 3, 4… 8. Good."

"I assembled you all here today to discuss the basics of an aether, again."

"Teacher, didn't we have that back then… when the village was all okay?" Phix said. Looking at him, at the young age of 8, it is sad to hear him reminisce about the painful past.

"But did you all listen that time?" The teacher raised his eyebrow while seriously interrogating everyone. He looked at me for a slight second and I avoided his gaze with guilt.

"No, right? Then let's continue." He withdrew his hands from his pocket and raised them to the level of his chest while his palms were facing up. After then, energy wrapped the teacher's hand and it went up like a burning fire.

'Seeing it once again, it sure is cool.' I said while looking at the teacher's hands.

"Well, that's it."

"Before I begin teaching the basics of aether that I know, I want you all to know what aether is and how it fundamentally works." He said. "Ah right, I am a novice myself. You'll need to learn it by yourself if you ever go to a school." He continued.

"Basically, aether is an energy that allows Magus' to cast spells Mageia (magic). Aether circulates throughout the body of a Magus' and the Magus decides how to use this energy by regulating the aether inside their bodies. In addition, Magus is divided into several ranks and classes. Of course, nothing is fair in this world. Aether is also divided into several ranks depending on their colors: white, yellow, orange, green, blue, violet, and red, to black. Might as well say that Mageia can be unique, but surprisingly, it isn't ranked or classed compared to being a Magus and your aether." He said while smiling and with his eyes closed. He looked so happy to share it with us without interruption.

"Are you done-" Kaian asked when suddenly the teacher interrupted.

"Moreover, aether works possibly because of your Aether Matrix – which stores your aether in a compressed state. It is located here." He said while pointing at his chest.

"Ah! Then what if it is destroyed, teacher? "Kaian asked.

"You lose it, you recover it."

"But well, I do not know how this works literally. I've read some books before but all of them are gone now. Maybe it was burned also."

Suddenly, it went silent.

He then looked at me trying to tell me to ease the atmosphere. "Now, now, I think we should try forming one, right?"

"Y-yes." He looked at me with ease. 'Thank you.' No sound came out of his mouth but I clearly knew what he was saying. I looked at him with a smirk telling him that it is an owed favor.

-

"Pour your aether into your hand and try to maintain it for 5 seconds!" The teacher shouted while looking at everyone. From Ei to Kaian, and then his eyes turned to me. "You should be doing more than they could. You had your aether days ago, right?"

I nodded while pouring my heart's content into compressing the mana in my hand.

I looked at my hand fiercely, my hand shook a bit, water started to appear in my eyes and the veins in my hand started to appear. When suddenly, my hand was pressed down by an unknown force. My body followed the fall of my hand and I lost control of my actions.

"Argh." I groaned in pain.

"Are you okay?!" The teacher catechized.

"My hand... it suddenly got pushed down. I don't know why."

"I believe it's your aether... no, if it managed to push your hand down. Then it must be your Mageia?" He quizzed himself looking at the situation. "What did you do?"

"What?" I replied while touching my scratched hand.

"What did you do just now before you fell?"

"I just looked at it seriously -- I poured my focus on my hand."

Once again, he fell into deep thought.

"Ah!" His eyes shone. "Your eyes!"

I touched my eyes, checking if something is wrong.

"Ei, is there something wrong with my eye?"

"No?" She asked back. I looked at her dumbly. Looking at Ei, I just realized that this incident caught everyone's focus.

"No, your eye. Your aether is in your eye." The teacher interrupted while thinking. "This is rare... I never heard of aether being normally placed in eyes."

"I'm unique then?"

"Don't get your hopes high, I have limited knowledge on everything, even this. But it sounds awesome." The teacher said with his eyes glowing with interest. He offered his hand to help me stand up after then.

"Now, now, everyone focus. Go back to your training." He continued.

"I thought it was strange that day that the energy was coming from your eyes. I believed it was aether but seeing how it brought you down, you must have developed a Mageia too."

"Though, I do not know what Mageia. I lack the resources to look for matches."

"I-it's fine, teacher. Let your curiosity sit for now." I said, disturbed while letting out a little sigh.

"Haha, this is amazing." He let out a dignified laugh. "You should try to control it sooner. It might be put into use."

"Yes. I think I should."

-

Time passed and it was evening night already, everyone was gasping for air while some had fallen on the grass, tired of the intensity of the fundamentals of Mageia.

"It looks like only two managed to showcase their feats and talents today." The teacher proudly said. "Well, it is totally not bad for everyone."

"Come front, Exi and Ei." The teacher welcomed our presence beside him. He clapped as we walk to him. "These two have performed a great feat today and I want everyone to be like them and learn from them." Everyone clapped as the teacher announce our success.

The day continued with everyone having a warm feast. The teacher collected wood trunks and chopped them into pieces. He snapped his fingers and a lighter-like scale fire appeared in his hand, lighting up the woods in the middle. The remaining trunks were used as a chair. Everyone sat, waiting for the teacher to come back and get the fishes he had caught hours ago.

"Ah. Finally, after horrendous training, my tummy will once again taste pleasure. It feels like a reward." I said.

As I look at the fire burning upward, my eyes got directed to the stars. I admired the sparkling dots intensely that I lost my balance and fell back.

Everyone laughed at me. Instead of feeling awkward, I felt relieved. Their laugh was back. "This is a reward."

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