Nearly fifteen minutes after the training session in the library had ended, I found myself standing in front of a wooden arena in the middle of Shugiyo Forest. Raised wooden benches rose up in a perfect circular shape, giving a good view of the arena below. The wooden planks of the arena were painted a stark crimson color, which contrasted nicely with the various Japanese characters that were inked onto the wood with a black color.

"Kanji,  to strengthen the magic," Sora said as she made her way over to me, noticing my inspection of the Japanese characters.

The other trainees filed into the arena in an orderly fashion, each taking a seat on the raised wooden benches and waiting silently for the lesson to begin.

"We'd better take a seat or Sensei Denji will not be happy with us," Sora whispered hurriedly.

Soon after we were seated, a man strode into the arena, his silken robes billowing out after him. He fixed each of us with a piercing stare and, just for a moment, I felt as if he could read my mind and pick apart my thoughts. That feeling ended the moment he gave us all a kind smile.

"Good afternoon, my name is Sensei Denji. Today you will be learning how to harness the energies that reside in your body and how to convert those energies into magic," he explained. His voice reverberated across the entire arena and I felt a tingle of excitement at the lesson to come. I had read so many fictional books about magical worlds, but now finally, as I had always dreamed, I was in one.

"Magic takes a lot of energy to perform. It will deplete your strength unless you have something to channel it through," Sensei Denji said. He held up what looked like a necklace. "I will be passing these around to you. They are traditional amulets that we give to trainees so they can learn to harness their energies. In time you will learn how to harness your energy without amulets, but for now we will use these."

Sora handed me a handful of amulets, taking one for herself and motioning for me to pass it on. I did so and glanced down at the necklace that I held in my hands. It was a small thing, just a piece of string with a jade bead hanging on the end. A single Japanese kanji was etched into it.

"The kanji means strength. It will empower you as you attempt to cast magic today. Now, I want all of you to please clasp the amulet around your necks so that we may begin," Sensei Denji instructed.

I gave the kanji on the amulet one last look. The air around it shivered slightly, like heat coming off of a stove. Magic, I realized with a start. Clasping the amulet around my neck, I felt something stir inside my body. And it definitely wasn't my breakfast.

"Today we will be learning about kotodama," began Sensei Denji once everyone's amulets were fastened around their necks. "Every object and person in this world has a name of power. Kotodama is the art of using those names of power to cast magic."

I watched in fascination as Sensei Denji strode over to a nearby Sakura blossom tree and plucked a cherry from the branch, holding it up for everyone to see.

"Sakuranbo, rise!" he commanded. He let go of the small crimson fruit and it hovered there in the air for a moment before slowly floating above his head.

I'm sure I must've looked like a dunce, what with my mouth hanging wide open and all. I had never actually considered the fac that magic was more than a superstitious belief among these people. If anything, I had wanted to take the path of a magic-user out of nothing more than curiosity because, after all, magic couldn't be real.

Guess I was wrong.

It seemed like I was the only one having to re-think my entire life after Sensei Denji's show of magic. Clearly the people here were used to it, probably had even grown up around it. I turned to Sora, my eyes wide and she flashed me a grin.

"You should see your face," she teased, giggling. I snapped my jaw shut and shot a glare at her before turning my attention back to Sensei Denji.

"What I would like you all to do for our first exercise is to create your kotodama. Your name of power must be unique, encompassing everything you are, and it must be secret. No one else but you must know your kotodama. Take several minutes now to create one for yourself."

"How do I know what to make my name of power?" I whispered to Sora, my confusion probably showing on my face.

"Sometimes the universe assigns a kotodama to a person and sometimes a person has to choose their own kotodama. You must figure out which applies to you," she replied in a hushed voice.

I closed my eyes, letting the silence envelope me, but before I could even so much as think of a word, a sharp crack of thunder reverberated across the forest and a rumbling growl met my ears. I snapped my eyes open, looking for the source of the sound. The other trainees were glancing around warily, the low hum of their uneasy whispering disconcerting me.

"What is it? What's happening?" I asked Sora. She turned to me, fear written on her face.

"Banzai has several magical barriers protecting it from bad weather and evil creatures. Someone must've--"

But before she could finish, another flash of lightning illuminated the forest clearing, washing everything in a bright light. The wooden spectator stand beneath me began to shudder as another crack of thunder rumbled across the forest, this one louder than the first.

From where I stood, I could see the figure of some lithe creature in the distance, hopping its way from tree to tree, moving so fast that it was only a glowing blue blur against the now-darkening sky. It let out another ear-splitting growl, its electric-blue eyes trained on me. It slowed down as it got closer, allowing me a glimpse of its form. A glimpse I wish I had never received.

It was a lithe wolf-like creature that emanated some sort of blue energy from its body. With every leap, its long claws buried themselves into the wood of another tree, sending a flash of lightning dancing across the sky. Its long fangs dripped with saliva and I could almost picture foam forming at the corner of its mouth. If it really wanted to, it could easily rip me in half.

Suddenly chaos, absolutely chaos erupted all around us as trainees stumbled out of the way of the beast, tripping over eachother in their haste. Sensei Denji began shouting orders, but I couldn't hear him over the rumbling growls of the monster.

Rain began pouring down from the sky and soon enough my clothes were sticking to my skin. I could feel Sora tugging incessently on my arm, trying to get me to flee back to the village with the other trainees, but my feet wouldn't move. I felt rooted to the spot, paralyzed, as if I were in some sort of nightmare.

Suddenly, the creature was in front of me, its glowing blue eyes inspecting me hungrily, no doubt deciding how best to make a meal out of me. It opened its maw and gave a thunderous roar that shook the entire forest. My heart began to race inside of my cheset, beating out a frantic rhythm as I stood there, waiting for my death to come.

Before the creature could so much as lunge at me, the sound of pounding footsteps broke me from my reverie. Several samurais poured into the forest clearing, shouting a battle cry to the probably-most-definitely carniverous monster in front of me.

The monster gave a loud shriek of fury at the new arrivals and, with another flash of lightning, swept his billowing tail at them, knocking several onto their feet.

Well, this training session was not going as planned.

The creature leaned back on its haunches, poised as if to pounce upon the downed samurais ont he ground. My mind raced, trying to come up with a plan. I was very certain that if I didn't do something soon, these people would become monster chow.

And that just didn't sound like a fun time.

As if by its own accord, my body moved forward so that I was standing in front of the samurais. I clasped the amulet that Sensei Denji had given me and suddenly I felt a tingling feeling envelope my entire body. It was slightly uncomfortable, like the feeling you get when your foot falls asleep.

Suddenly, a low humming noise filled the forest and it grew in intensity until I could feel it vibrating inside of my chest. The air around us began to shimmer, as if it were heat coming off of a stove, and then a blue hue began to creep into the air, enveloping everyone in the clearing.

A magical barrier. I had somehow cast a magical barrier.

With renewed confidence, I turne dback to the monster in front of us, who was regarding us with some sort of curiosity in its eyes, and stepped forward. A name sprang into my mind, unbidden and before I could stop myself, I blurted it out.

"This place is protected. Begone, Raiju!"

The Raiju gave a loud wail, as if I had physically pained it, and fixed me with a glare, giving me one last menacing growl before turning and bounding away, lightning crackling in the sky with each step it took.

All at once, a wave of exhaustion rolled over me and I collapsed on the ground, my eyes growing heavy.

"Lisa-San, are you okay?" Sora asked, kneeling beside me. I raised myself up on my elbows and groaned, but before I could answer, Sensei Denji spoke.

"She's lucky she isn't dead. This was your first time casting magic, yes?"

I nodded.

"She used up the magical reserves in her amulet and, when that was gone, it looks like her body drew from its own magical reserves. If it weren't for the amulet, she'd be dead. She needs to get to the infirmary right away," he said to Sora, his expression solemn.

Before I could protest stubbornly that I was fine, everything went black.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~