A Breakthrough

A couple of hours later, Aayla checked her pocket watch. The time read almost midnight. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. Just as she placed the last book back on the shelves, she felt a tiny tug on her skirt. Matcha was back. With shiny eyes, Matcha waved its fuzzy hand as if to follow.

Aayla grabbed her bag then followed the green fluffball down into the basement. As soon as she stepped foot on the cold stone floor, several pairs of glowing eyes locked onto Aayla's figure. They followed the girl and gremlin duo all the way until the last room down the hall. Aayla instantly recognized this room as the room that she found the gremlins in before the welcome party.

When she followed Matcha into the room, a few books were piled in the center. A familiar pink gremlin sat haughtily on top of them. Aayla internally frowned. This is just great. Mayhem is involved.

Mayhem puffed himself up underneath all of his bling. He waved his arm as if allowing Aayla to come forward. Matcha had already disappeared by the time Aayla had noticed. Tch. That little traitor ran off at the first sign of trouble. Aayla made sure her bag was firmly shut and tightened the straps.

Grumpy slid over one book to Aayla. Keeping her eyes on Mayhem and his minions, Aayla slowly bent down and grabbed the book. The dust on the cover was partially wiped away. The title read "Children's Magic". A bit insulting for a college student, but this one looked a bit more promising than the others.

Aayla returned her attention to the other books. Some were tattered and falling apart, while others looked barely used. A couple even looked crinkly, as if they had been soaked in water. Dormi should have stopped them from stealing the residents' books, so where did the newer ones come from? Mayhem tapped the books below him then rubbed his fingers together.

< (￣^￣) > -- Alright, you've seen the goods. Now pay up cookie hooman! --

"Cookie hooman?"

Aayla carefully studied the books some more. There was no way that these rascals wouldn't try anything suspicious.

"You didn't steal these right? I won't take things that you've stolen from the residents. And some of these look really damage. I can actually read them, right?"

\( > o < #)/ -- Hmph! These are top quality goods, okay?! Top quality goods for top quality yum yum cookies! Stupid cookie hooman! --

Taking the gremlins seriously was so hard when could look so darn cute. Even when they were angry gremlins were extremely adorable. The walls faintly groaned and the lights flickered. Dormi seemed to share some of Aayla's concerns.

\( *o* )>* -- We didn't steal! Didn't steal! We got them from the basement or the humans threw them away. --

Mayhem held his up his tiny paw as if he was about to give sworn testimony in court. Dormi calmed down, but the lights still subtly focused on Mayhem as if scrutinizing him.

"Fine. I'll give you a couple of cookies per each good book book. Half now, half after I leave the basement."

Mayhem angrily screeched then hoped up and down on the books. Several other gremlins started screeching.

\( > o < #)/ -- No! One bag of cookies per book! And cake! Lots of cake! All up front! Still really good books. Best quality! No human money needed! You take all of them or none of them! --

"No. How about one bag of cookies for all of the books? One third now, one third after I check the books and one third after I leave the basement. And I'll CONSIDER baking something better than simple cookies IF you all behave this week."

< (￣~￣) > -- Hmph. One bag of cookies now and one large cake later! With chocolate! Or no books! Let's see how you pass human class without books! --

"Don't press your luck. You know the rules. No chocolate for gremlins. Dormi's already letting you get an entire bag of cookies made with sugar."

The lighting intensified on Mayhem. He gnashed his tiny little teeth and seemed like he could explode from anger at any second. Aayla took out the bag of cookies and carefully waved one around. The surrounding gremlins began to drool with greedy, eager eyes.

"Why don't you verify the taste yourself? I can almost guarantee with 100% certainty that no one in all of Tellus makes cookies like me. It's a recipe passed down through my family."

Aayla delicately tossed the cookie over to Mayhem. He sniffed the cookie, then took a small nibble. The cookie was instantly devoured the next second. Mayhem guiltily licked his paw clean under the glares of the other gremlins.

(￣A￣) =3 -- Tch. Fine. One bag of cookies. Half now, half when you leave the room. –

A small gremlin unsteadily rushed out of the crowd with a large plate balanced on its head. Aayla put half of the cookies on the plate. As soon as the small gremlin got back with its friends, cookies were immediately stollen. Mayhem screeched in rage then attacked the offending gremlins with the others. Aayla grabbed her books and ran towards the door. She slammed the door behind her. Before heading back to the first floor, Aayla slipped the remaining cookies back inside and gave one to Matcha, who had conveniently reappeared to pitifully beg for her finder's fee.

Aayla was exhausted by the time she arrived back to her room. The gremlin cookie war was still going strong. Faint shrieks could be heard from her bedroom. Before she knew it, Aayla was fast asleep on her bed.

****************************************************

Several days later on the afternoon of Flare Day. On Terra, it would be a Friday. Many residents were basking in the sun and chatting with their friends. As top tier students who hadn't undergone their first university exam baptism, they were all extremely confident in their abilities. All except for Aayla who had locked herself into the empty music room. One of the many perks of controlling the keys to the dorm was that she could reserve any public room to herself practically whenever she wanted.

The books that Matcha found were definitely what Aayla needed. With a few pointers from Ramona, she should at least pass the written portion of the Magic Theory exam. There was no way to get around the practical exam though. Aayla began to read through her current book again.

"Mana is the energy that powers nature and life itself. All humans have an affinity for mana from birth, though not everyone has an equal affinity. To cast a spell, one must gather mana by absorbing it from around them.

Those who can manipulate mana to cast spells can become wizards. Wizards are divided into five ranks: novice, adept, expert, high and archwizard. A wizard's rank mostly depends on the highest ranked spell that they can cast.

The spell ranks are as follows: lifestyle, basic/novice, advanced/adept, expert, high, grand and legendary. Currently, the highest known rank that can be cast today are grand ranked spells. Strive hard, young novice, to reach the peak of magic!"

Bleh. The author of this book can be too cheesy at times. Aayla leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling. She had read all of her new books countless times. No matter what she did, Aayla could not seem to gather mana at all. She tried every trick in her books and each tip that Ramona gave her. A few times there was some odd events, like a faint breeze or a candle flaring but nothing seemed to work. Terrans must simply not be compatible with mana at all.

Aayla gently rubbed the artifacts on her wrists. Aren't these supposed to make using magic easier?! They haven't done anything since that incident in Forest Waypoint. Her gaze flitted over the silver and black bracelets. Even that light purple jewel hasn't changed.

Wait a minute –

She looked at the black bangle. Instead of a faint purple tinge, the translucent middle gem was now light purple completely through to its center. The color was only slightly deeper, but the change was still distinct. Aayla was ecstatic. Until she realized that she had no idea what triggered the change.

Her eyebrow twitched as she gnashed her teeth. Aayla has spent over a month on Tellus. Not a single day went by that she lived in fear of exposure. People constantly gossiped and spoke in whispers behind her back. Aside from Ramona, Aayla was usually treated with disdain or like she was an infant unable to take care of herself. She hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep since classes started two weeks ago.

These stupid bracelets still wouldn't come off or make themselves useful. They became an eyesore to Aayla. She glared at the tiny gem. The tiny gem that seemed to mock her by only changing colors. Aayla felt like she would finally explode from anger and frustration.

As she raised her hand to slam the bracelet onto the table in rage, Aayla felt a shock running through her body. Her limbs suddenly felt like lead and her emotions drained away. Aayla was very confused. She feared that a blood vessel finally burst in her brain, causing a stroke.

She widened her eyes in shock when her gaze fell onto the black bangle. The center gem was now an opaque light purple. According to the books, the more vivid an artifact's gem the higher the charge. But Aayla couldn't detect mana no matter how hard she tried. Was this related to her sudden weakness? How could this have possibly happened?