Approaching Danger

"Mia brogt items to broter." The voice of the girl rang after a moment had passed. Items hitting the floor echoed in the cabin. Slowly opening his eyes, Otto saw the items in front of him.

'Now that the items are here, we can leave this place. I can get away from this haunted location.' Otto felt a bit strength coming to him. Now they were finally able to test Mira's Magical affiliation.

Standing up with some difficulty, they quickly picking up the items and putting it in a satchel. Not wanting to stay a moment loner in the cabin, Otto rushed out of the building. Mira did not understand the rush, however Otto did not want to linger any longer in that house, as it kept on haunting him.

Making their way back towards the forest, they walked next to the burned remains of the workshop. There was a sadden look in his eyes as he looked at the ashen wooden remains. Small happy memories filled his eyes. His father chopping the wood that he had gathered, his mother, brining refreshments to them.

As his eyes scanned through the area, it landed on the chopping block. On it, there was an axe stuck on the trunk. Walking a bit closer, he saw that it was his favorite ace to use. A small tear formed up on his eyes, as he moved towards it and picked it up. When he gets older, he would have to change his axe, so using his father's axe would also have some value in his hearth.

After having gathered everything, the two walked back to the old shack in the woods.

Arrived at the destination, Otto did not want to waste any second. The earlier he was done with his promise, the faster he would be left alone once more. Because of this, he quickly pulled out all the items from the satchel and put them on the ground. Looking over the items, he called Mira over.

Having not much experience himself, he had to follow the method that Iarra used. Trying to repeat the teaching to Mira, he first explained about how the magical works in the world. The information was missing, as Otto did not remember everything. As he could not read, the papers that they brought with them were also partially useless. The only part where the paper was useful for was when he started to explain the elements. Showing the elements with help of the drawings, Otto explained the twelve different elements, as best as he could remember.

With a quick and badly formulated explanation done, it was time to test which magical affiliation Mira has.

"Mira, sit in front of the item and concentrate on them." Otto said rather bluntly. These items were the same he had used. The lit candle, a fan, a bowl of water and a piece of rock.

Without any reply, Mira sat down in front of the items and picked up the fan. Closing her eyes, she started to concentrate on the fan. Occasionally, Otto gave some puzzling advice, "You just have to take that feeling in your stomach, and uhm… put it in your hands. It is not that difficult."

Mira took one of the items and closer her eyes. She tried to follow the incomprehensible instructions that Otto was explaining. However it felt more as if she was getting further away from her goal.

Looking at the little girl concentrating deeply, Otto was expecting results. As time started to progress, there was no change visible. 'Why isn't there any result? I even am explaining things to her.' There was an irritation on Otto's face.

Opening up her eyes, Mira felt defeated. With annoyance on her face, she threw the fan onto the ground and took the next item.

The same process repeated itself. After having used all the items, there was still no difference. Looking at the face of Mira, Otto saw that her lips started to curl into a frown. Even her eyes started to water up. "Mia want magic, Mia cant magic." It seemed as if she was at the point of crying. Looking over at Otto with her big watery eyes, Mira asked. "Broter, wy Mia cant magic?"

Not sure how to reply, Otto kept silent. He did not know how to respond. 'I even explained everything correctly. Why isn't she getting it? Is it that she got a secondary element? Or maybe she possesses one of those special elements that master talked about?' The only thing that he thought about was that maybe Mira possessed one of the secondary elements. Or even the special elements.

However, because he was able to use one of the four primary elements, he did not know how to test the other methods.

Trying to figure out an answer, Otto directly brought over the paper with the drawing of the elements. Even though he was not able to read, he was still able to understand a bit because of the coloring. Pointing at the drawing, Otto explained, "Look Mira. As you can see there are more elements. Not being able to use these four does not mean that you have no magic. Maybe you can use the other elements."

There was a clear disbelief in Mira's eyes as she was looking at the picture. She clearly did not trust the explanation provided by Otto. With a mocking voice she said, "Wy broter not help Mia wit oter magic?"

"Because I do not know h..." Otto decided not to speak the rest of the sentence, as he saw the look on Mira's face. Instead he kept silent and thought for a moment. 'I am able to lead the magi inside of me into an arrow. So if I put some Magic into Mira, maybe she will be able to follow its lead and awaken her own magic?' Making up his mind, Otto continued with talking, "There is maybe a way that I can help you. However, I do not even know if it will work."

Otto did not have to doubt the resolve of Mira, as she regained her composure and looked with bright eyes at him. It seemed as if she did not care about anything at all. She only wanted to achieve her goal, no matter the path. But then again, she is still a child.

"Wat need Mia do?" She asked with bright eyes.

Regretting his decision, Otto knew that there was not chance to go back after this moment. Instead he had to make sure that nothing went wrong. For this, he had to actually rebuild his own resolve.

Sitting on the ground with crossed legs, he signed to Mira to sit opposite of him at the same manner. He then stuck out his hands and asked Mira to put them on his. Moreover, she also had to close her eyes and follow his every instruction.

After seeing that Mira followed his orders, he also closed his eyes and started to instruct her.

First, Otto decided to pull out a bit of magical essence and lead it to his hands. As the essence was flowing a patch and made its way towards his hands, he spoke up, "Mira, concentrate on your hands. Do you feel a weird power making contact with them?"

There was no sound for some moment. After a short while the girls voice rang out, "Mia have warm feel in hand."

"Good concentrate on that feeling. Try to lead it into your own hands."

Again there was a moment of silence. "Mia not understand? Mia feel wird tikel in hand."

Otto imagined that this was the magical essence that was entering her body. With that he continued, "Good. Try to lead that into your body and follow it closely."

"Mia folow tikel feel to bely." She responded. After a moment, Mira replied with a saddened voice, "Mira feel tikel feel no more. Wy tikel gone?"

"Do not worry. Do you remember where that feeling disappeared to?" After hearing the confirmation, Otto continued, "Now try to concentrate at that area and try to draw out the same tickling feeling."

Not sure it will work, Otto could only hope that Mira would be able to draw out the magical essence. Worry started to build up in him as the girl did not respond after a moment. Just when Otto was prepared to open his eyes to look if the girl was still alright, he heard the girls voice again, "Mia able to feel tikel again."

The worry in Otto disappeared as it was replaced with happiness. Even a smile was building up on his face. "Now lead that feeling back to your hands."

Before Otto could hear anything, he felt a shock in his hands. Instinctively drawing his hands back he opened up his eyes, just to be met with a confused girl sitting in front of him.

"Wat hapen broter?"

Regaining his composure, Otto fixed his eyes on the hands of the girl and asked Mira to concentrate again on drawing out the essence from within. As the girl was concentrating, Otto was surprised at the scene that unfolded in front of him. A small lightning storm started to emit from the hands of Mira.

"Mira. Look." Seeing this marvelous scene, he spoke up to Mira, asking her to open her eyes slowly, while concentrating on her hands.

"Tis? Is tis Mia's magic?" The girl asked in disbelieves.

Hearing this, Otto nodded slowly. Until now he only witnessed three different magical elements. Two of which were primary elements, fire and wind. This was his first time to see a secondary element being used. Looking back at the girl, Otto saw that she was not able to hold her excitement. The last thing that he noticed was that she jumped towards him with her hands wide.

Landing on top of Otto, she hugged him and started to thank and praise him. It was clear that the girl was excited by the changes. Patting the girl on the head, Otto returned a hug. Seeing the happiness on the girl's face, Otto felt that there was weird warmth that crept into his heart. It seemed as if a wall was slowly being broken. Slowly forming a smile, he felt proud at the progress of the girl. 'Maybe, if it is Mira, she might help me.' A thought went into his mind.

Speaking up again, Otto said, "Now you have to train your control. That will require a lot of time. Are you prepared to train a lot?"

Feeling the hug being released, Otto followed the girl who stood up and nodded drastically. Seeing this, Otto stood up as well. "Good, now let's start." With that, Otto returned back to his training. However he had to adjust his schedule, as he now also had to include Mira into it.

Thinking back about the development, Otto felt actually rather relieved. After two long and difficult years, he finally had someone by his side. Even though she was a curious little girl, it still made him feel at ease. The wall that hat build up around his heart, slowly started to shatter. 'I have finally found someone that I could consider as family.' He thought to himself.

'As you wish…' again, the mysterious voice, who was silent for some time called out ones more.

The rest of the day, the two of them focused on training. Because Otto spent a long time in this place, he had hoarded some food. Because of this, they could keep at the shack without any problems.

As they were still children, as a break, they decided to play tag. Because of the age difference, Otto was the one that kept on winning. Initially, he wanted to lose on purpose, however seeing the cute face that Mira made when she got angry, he decided to keep on teasing her.

…

Time passed by rather quickly. Looking up, Otto could see that the sun was slowly setting. Deciding to call it a day, they got ready to head back towards the village.

Making their way back to the village, a loud screeching sound was heard from the skies.

Because the trees obscured the view, they were not able to see what it was. Trying to find an opening in the trees, Otto led Mira towards the north, the way they were coming from.

Finding the clearing, they both looked into the sky. What they saw next was stunning. There were two gigantic beasts fighting witch each other. Trying to take a closer look, Otto noticed that one of the beast looked like an oversized bird with various colors. As for the other, he had never seen such a thing before. The beast, which was colored dark green, had gigantic wings and four legs. Its two long arms were scratching the bird like beast.

As the battle progressed, the two looked with amazement to the sky. Not long passed, and the winner of the fight became clear. The beast with two arms could overpower the bird like beast. Stretching its long arm, the bigger looking beast made a finishing move, as it tore open the wing of the bird creature.

Losing its balance, the beard like creature started to plummet down. Its trajectory was towards the forest where the two were located.

Seeing that the bird was falling towards them, Otto pulled Mira towards the side to make sure that they could hide.

With the fall of the colored bird, the ground shook a bit. With that, Otto's grip on Mira slipped away. Before Otto could react, Mira was already gone from his grip and rushed towards the place where the bird fell. Otto started shout after Mira, "Mira! What are you doing? Come back!" However, she did not react and continued making her way towards the crash point.

Rushing after Mira, Otto soon caught up. Grabbing her by the shoulder, Otto was about to drag her back. However, the moment he looked towards the location where Mira was staring at, he froze in the same way as Mira did.

The colorful bird, which was lying on the ground, towered them. The blood from its wounds started to spread everywhere. The colored feathers were slowly being dominated by the red of its wounds. Looking in its eyes, Otto could see hint of sadness.

Even Otto could feel the sadness that the beast was feeling. That such a majestic beast was lying on the ground in such a shape made him feel rather sad. As he was lost in this trance, he felt that the grip he had on Mira fading. Looking over, Mira was slowly making her way towards the beast. Not wanting to leave Mira alone, Otto followed right behind her.

As he started to get closer, the atmosphere started to become warmer and warmer, as if he was walking towards a fire. Closing his eyes to embrace this warmth, Otto felt a drastic change in the atmosphere. Shaken by this, he opened his eyes, just to be met with the majestic bird standing up and facing them. With its wings spread wide it gave out a loud screech.

Right after the screech, the wounds that the bird contained started to catch on fire. Wings widespread, it was approaching Mira and Otto while spreading the immense heat. Its body slowly going on in flames.

Instincts kicking in, he pulled Mira towards him and turned around to protect her from the flames. Before Otto was able to turn around, the whole body of the beast was engulfed in this fire. Fearing of getting burned, he closed his eyes in fear.

…