Subspace, where art thou?

"Hey! My name's Vamyr, and this is Lilium! Wanna play with us?"

"Sure, what are we playing?"

"Mm.. we were playing 'cook' earlier, but maybe we could do something else instead."

"Oh, how bout a game of tag?"

"Tag? What's that?"

"Well, the rules are..", as Avel continued explaining the rules of tag to his newly met friends, he was being observed under the watchful eyes of a Winters' guard. Then, came an arrival of a feminine figure.

"Give me a report."

"No changes as of yet, Lady Winters."

"Nothing? Not even a burst of mana?"

"None, Lady Winters."

"Haah. How strange. He was met with a solid-yellow, mana user the other day, yet he stood his ground wanting to protect me. I can't tell if it's due to his willpower or, somehow.. he's hiding his strength. He should've been in an unconscious state the moment he was hit with the Mana Pressure... maybe it was his deep love towards me that kept him standing?

Never-mind, how're things going on the other end?"

"Subject is still under torture, Lady Winters. There's been no signs that the subject initiated the attack under orders of someone else. However, we will continue to examine the subject even if there's a small chance that he doesn't give in."

"Hm, he won't live long for what he did towards me and my baby. Very well, as you were."

"Yes, Lady Winters." Not long after, the figure who discretely came and approached the guard, vanished as if the step of speed in which the figure took, was impossible to see under the naked eye.

"Sounds fun! Let's play! What do you think, Lily?"

"Yes! Then who woul-"

"Tag, you're it!", Avel announced as he patted Lilium's shoulder and running off right after. Vamyr was quick to react and ran off as well, hoping to not be the one that's tagged.

"Hey! That not fair!", she protested as she began chasing after Avel, who placed her in the position of the tagger.

"Hehe. Can't catch me!", he mocked as he strategically ran in a way that positioned Vamyr closer to her than himself.

"Tag, you're it!", she happily announced catching Vamyr off guard when he realised that she had stopped chasing Avel mid-way, and had sneakily caught up to him.

"Hmm, Vamyr Elitrask, son of Frenir Elitrask and Sjolmi Wayfern. Short golden hair and emerald eyes. Currently wearing a white tee and black shorts." The guard reported to himself as he wrote on what seems to be a piece of paper.

"Hahaha! Tag, you're it!", Vamyr happily trotted off as Lilium was too exhausted to continue running away from him. She was at the present, slightly bent over, catching her breath as she tried to regain her stamina.

"Lilium Voxwrafh, daughter of Welmyf Voxwrafh and Cassandra Loftbern. Silver hair, twin tail. Blue eyes similar to her father. Currently wearing a brown dress." He noted to himself again, eyeing the individual and her surroundings.

"Hey, can we take a break and play something else?", she panted heavily, hoping for a miracle that someone would give her a glass of water.

"Okay, what do you suggest we play? Maybe we can work on your stamina during the next time that we play together."

"Stamina? What is stamina? You.. still want to play with us next time?"

"Hmm, stamina simply means how long you are able to run for, without stopping.

Of course, aren't we friends?"

"Friends..? Yes! We are friends! You're so smart!! But.. what is your name, friend?"

"Yeah.. What is your name?" This time, Vamyr jumped in, showing a curious expression.

"It's Avel."

-

Months passed and the end of the year had finally approached. Presently, the weather was filled with snow, causing most of the residents in the village to stay at home. One child however, was currently in the backyard of the Winters' cottage, practicing his swings with his training sword.

'Hmm, from the novels that I've read, it's best to familiarise yourself with your equipment. Only after, are you allowed to practice using the equipment itself.'

'I've started off with running and doing exercises while carrying my training sword in its sheathe and, having it slung by my side as well as my back. Reason being, I can't decide where I'll position it when I travel with it. Hence, I tried to get accustomed with it in various positions.'

'If only I had a subspace... then I wouldn't have bothered with a routine such as this..

Oh well, it's not too bad, I've made it to the point where I'm able to gauge the reach of my training sword however I swing it.'

'With the belt that fits around my stomach, courtesy of Harley's craft, I now train by swinging my sword while having a bayonet strapped at the back. It's positioned with its grip protruding downwards towards my right, as it's secured with a clip. This would be my 'safety' or 'hidden' knife that I'll always carry with me.'

'Only after familiarising myself with its weight, will I practice the use of the bayonet. It's not much of a difference, but sometimes the smallest weight may affect your overall perceived stamina.'

'In terms of combat.. I lack experience. Don't get me wrong, my family knows that I train with the sword. Yet, they always believed that I would soon give up on it and make progress on magic instead.'

'I wonder why can't I do both? Is having both, 'Aura' and 'Mana' impossible?'

'However, sometimes my father would bring me out to hunt with him. To a certain degree, I'm learning on how to read tracks that are made from both, beast or monster and, differentiating them from tracks that are left by humans.'

'At first, it was like trying to tell a difference between dog poop and cat poop. Nevertheless, I was able to somehow figure out that cats tend to hide their poop once they're done while a dog would leave it be.'

'I wouldn't do anything but watch as he does everything. I assumed that he expected me to act as if I was impatient, and try to go about hunting myself, thinking how a kid would usually act. Which I proceeded to perform in that manner at first, just to give him the impression that I was a pure and innocent child. When he told me the dangers that an aggressive monster could unleash, I then gave him the image that I understood and from then onwards, I observed, as he hunted.'