7

I settled down to sleep for a few hours. I wondered if I would actually go to my inner world now that my mind had balanced out. At least I was pretty sure Regala had probably been the one disturbing the process. I hadn't been to my inner world in a while so I was curious how it might have changed in my absence. I closed my eyes, and allowed myself to fall asleep.

I opened my eyes to find myself in a large field within a much larger densely packed forest.

"That's interesting," A familiar feminine voice startled me.

I turned to face the athletic looking woman with dark green hair braided down her back. She wore a tight fitting outfit that looked like the kind of clothes a woman might wear to go to the gym.

"It seems I go dormant whenever you're not in the inner world," She continued as I stared at her, "That, and I no longer have the energy required to maintain my original form. Human form will have to do. Although I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to maintain this form as my soul fades."

"Regala?" I cocked my head.

"I thought that much was obvious," she replied in a deadpan tone.

"My friends told me that you think I'm stupid, but talented," I replied in that same deadpan tone.

"Compared to me," she placed her hand on her chest, "You are a complete, and utter moron."

"I'm not that stupid," I tried to argue.

The look on her face was all it took to shut me up.

"You want to teach me more about magic?" I dropped my eyes.

"Want isn't the correct word," she looked up at me, "If I don't teach you proper spell craft then you'll die sooner rather then later."

"I'm not that weak," I scoffed.

"That elf you fought," she snapped her fingers at me, "The one that almost killed you. Remember him?"

I nodded slightly not quite understanding what she was getting at.

"That was a weak lower elf at best," Regala's eyes turned more draconic in her irritation, "A weak child who though he could come to earth, and blow off some steam by fighting some weak opponents. The wyvern he was riding couldn't have been more then a few months old. Do you understand what I'm saying yet?"

Realization dawned on me. That was just an overconfident child, and his pet. I didn't think I was fighting the strongest elf, but I didn't think the gap was this big.

"I used the strength you currently have to escape the priestess's trap," Regala continued, "You could have escaped her had you used your head as anything more then a doorstop. You can't just think in a straight forward manner all the time, and hope everything works for the best." she sighed, "Your mind needs to be able to bend, and flex to the scenario. Currently you cannot do that. You just bash your way through the obstacles that stand in your path. Hoping that whatever is behind them isn't enough to stop you."

I tried not to feel insulted at how correct she was.

"I can't make you smarter," Regala stood up, "But I can improve your situational awareness, and teach you more of magic so you waste less mana." she scanned my inner world, "First task for today will be to slow down time in your inner world. You have a time affinity so you should be able to control how quickly time passes in here. I would like you to slow time enough that one hour is a whole day in here. Until you can do that there is no point in me teaching you anything else."

"You're not going to teach me any new spells or anything?" I snarled.

"It's much easier to manipulate your inner world then it is the real world," her eyes returned to looking more human, "If you can't control how much time passes in here then you have little to no chance of using the foresight ability that the time element grants you."

"But," I wanted to argue, but I was cut off with a single raised hand.

"I can only teach you so much in a short time," she rubbed her face, "You're about to wake up already, and we've only had time for one conversation. I didn't have time to teach you much of anything. When you figure out how to manipulate time in here then I will have more time to teach you what you need to know."

She wanted me to extend the amount of time that I was in the inner world, and doing so should allow me to use foresight. I woke up in the warehouse. Well rested, and far less sore then I had been when I'd gone to sleep. It was the middle of the night for the others, but I didn't really feel like staying in the warehouse right now. Savannah had told me there were reporters around so it would be a bad idea for me to walk around the guild in my dragon form like I'd gotten in the habit of.

I switched to my human form, and punched in the code for the small door before walking out into the silver moonlight. Funny how the moonlight here was silver like on earth. You'd think the light of the blue sun would change the color. Part of me wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Everything that had happened in the last few weeks was too much for one person to process at one time.

I guess it was a good thing I wasn't just a person anymore, but that didn't make me feel any less overwhelmed. I pushed my hair back out of my face with both hands. Just to occupy my hands for a second. Dropping my hands after I was done with that as I stared up at the moon. I wanted to talk to someone.