When I finally woke up, my eyes were greeted by the harsh sunlight. The window curtains were wide open, and outside, was the familiar Atlanta scenery. I quickly adjusted to the light, noticed that my arms were no longer tied down to the bed. Taking my time getting up, I slowly made my way to the door, but not before putting on a shirt that was in my bag--we still haven't fully moved into the new apartment. 

I opened the door, and saw Kolt in the kitchen cooking up some food to eat. He noticed me enter the living room, and came out to check up on me. On him, was an apron that said "Kiss the Cook", and I snorted out laughing at him.

He looks down at the apron and quickly takes it off.

"I hope you would believe me, when I say this was a gift." he said.

I shook my head. "Nope." I sat down on the couch, "You looked like a complete idiot wearing that."

"Glad to know that you still have your sense of humor still attached to you." 

"And why wouldn't I?" I asked smugly.

"Because you almost died."  

My heart sank below my chest. 

"I'll explain everything, just let me fix breakfast first, okay?"

--

For breakfast, Kolt had fixed us an assortment of food--Bacon, sausage, toast, cheese eggs, and pancakes with blueberry syrup. Surprisingly, I ate just about everything he cooked, not bothering to breath. That caused me to choke on my food, and Kolt handed me a glass of milk to wash it all down.

"Eat slowly, Okay? You body hasn't been fully recovered yet." he warned.

I take a sip of my milk and slow my pace down a little. 

"So what happened while I was asleep?" I asked.

Kolt took a couple bites of his eggs before explaining everything to me...

"After the black coin dissolved into your skin, you began to scream in pain. That was when I knew you entered stage one of the training. While you were convulsing, I made sure to ice your body down, as to make sure you didn't die of a heat stroke."

"Okaaaay, what about stage two?"

He chuckled under neath several bites of food. 

"Well, after stage one was complete, then came stage two. And that's when things became a little hairy. You broke into a high fever, and started to go into shock. Luckily," he sighed, "you came thru, and I didn't have to bury a dead body."

"Well damn, thanks for almost killing me. So what about the dog?"

"Hm?"

"The dog." I repeated, "You didn't tell me I see a talking dog."

Kolt finished chewing the food he had, and took another sip from his drink before saying another word...

"That wasn't a dog--well not exactly--but a Guardian spirit, or G-spirit for short."

"G-spirit?" I repeated confused by what the hell that was.

"Yep. See, back in the 1700's there was a boom in Monster populations. Back then there wasn't as many Seekers as there are today, so the guild devised a solution to the problem. Rather than take the time to train new Seekers, they took a method from a native tribe in America to infuse a human soul and a spirit to one."

"No way!" I exclaimed. 

"Yes way, and it worked. The Monster population died down, and the guild saved the day. But, it came at a cost. The total of deaths caused by the coins went up to the thousands, and the guild deemed them illegal to use, and banned them worldwide."

"How'd you get one?"

"Don't ask."

I took another pancake of the plate they were sitting on and began to munch on it, along with the fifty-pounds of sausage I had on my plate. 

"So can I do all that "Mana manipulation" stuff or what?" I asked.

Kolt nodded. "Yeah, just hold out you hand."

I didn't understand a first, but shrugged and followed Kolt's directions. 

"Now focus you Mana at a single point and let it rip."

I did just as he said and without a moments notice my hand lights up in a blue aura. It startled me at first, causing me to drop all my food, but it wasn't painful, no. In fact, it was kinda calming, like I had just discovered Nirvana.

"It can't be this easy?" I said in disbelief.

"Oh, it's easy." Kolt assured me, "And it's all thanks to the G-spirit inside you now."

"The dog?"

"Yes, the dog." Kolt sighed.

I look at the blue aura around my hand, and wondered about it for a moment. When that moment was up, I decided to press Kolt on about it.

"So what's a G-spirit do exactly?" I pressed on, "How dose this work exactly."

Kolt tossed a rag at me pointed to the spill't food on the ground, telling me to clean it up before sitting back down. 

"The way it works is simple, the G-spirit actually feeds of the Mana inside you, and helps the user control it. Using the G-spirit as a conductor, the user and amplify their magic powers tenfold with out extensive training. Basically, a Seekers steroid."

"But it lives inside of me?"

"Yep, and it will for the rest of your life, until the day you die."

"Well shit, didn't think it be permanent." I sighed, "So can I shot fireballs out of my hand yet?"

"No." Kolt said, "But that's what I'm about to teach you. The G-spirit acts as a steroid, but you still need to know what the crap your doing." 

"So when do we start?" 

Kolt smiled and got up from his chair. He then headed for the door, and looked back at me again.

"Right now."