Resting her body atop a boulder, Rielle was seated with her legs crossed. Her hands were planted on her knees and her eyes were shut. A flower petal floats down and lands on her nose, but she maintains the same level of concentration. Ether having accumulated around her body, a blue aura envelops her, ether begins creeping in from the forest itself, and adding onto her own.

“When Mikhail attacked me, I lost a sizeable amount of ether, somewhere around 40%. Not only that but some of my spells are just gone. It’s like he completely took my knowledge of several high-level spells. Fire, dark, earth, and light. That isn’t as big of an issue, for me, since I specialize in ice magic. But just what does he need all the extra spells for?” She thinks. 

“She looks so serene,” Gowan says.

“That’s my wife, after all,” Maira says proudly.

“Former wife.” Rielle mutters.

Maira and Gowan’s bodies jerk, hearing her response.

“That remains to be seen.” Maira remarks while wagging her finger.

“She can hear us?” Gowan questions.

“Of course I can. It's not like I’m asleep.” Rielle opens her eyes and gets down from the boulder. “It seems like this training method doesn’t suit either of you.”

“It's so boring!” Maira exclaims.

“I actually, fell asleep a little when I tried it…” Gowan trails off.

They look over at Artorius and Erica who are intently focusing, watching the aura surrounding their bodies grow with each passing second.

“Those two are probably more suited for this type of training than the both of you are. Which is fine, because there was a time when even I wouldn’t have done this training either.” She states.

“So you have another method of training?” Gowan asks.

“It’s rough, but with a bit of willpower, you can get some great results,” Rielle says.

“What would you have us do?” Gowan says.

“Fight me. The more you push your ether to its limit the more it will grow, it's similar to a muscle’s growth. I’ll only use semi-long casts.”

“But you didn’t teach us any spells yet.” He says.

“When I was alive there, there was a huge emphasis on learning spells, but the real emphasis should be on being creative. I believe one’s spells should be created by themselves. No one knows your style more than you do.” Rielle says. “Visualizing is a huge proponent of using spells, if you can’t envision yourself doing something, then your spell will fail ten out of ten times.” 

“Alright, I’ll give it a go then.” He states.

“Great, then let's get it going. 

“Hold on for a second,” Gowan says.

Gowan pulls Maira to the side.

“She’s going to kill us,” Gowan whispers.

“What gives you that impression?” Maira asks.

“Look at her demeanor. She’s pacing back and forth, grinning like a maniac, and now she’s kicking a water orb around like a ball.” Gowan Whispers. “She’s gonna do that with our corpses. I don’t wanna die and get sent back into the cycle of rebirth yet.”

“Come on. What’s the worst that could happen?” Maira asks before walking off

“She’s doomed us with that phrase.” Gowan thinks.

Maira starts walking toward Rielle.

“Looks like you’re ready. Are you sure you wanna be that close? Close range is difficult for mages after all.” Rielle says.

“Don’t worry about me,” Maira states.

Gowan steps up and starts cracking his neck.

“Screw it… If I die, then at least I don’t gotta pay my debt.” Gowan states.

“Uh… Don’t worry, no one’s dying today…” Rielle says with a wry smile.

“It’s so easy to earn coin here, how do you have debts?” Maira questions.

“I got in with ten coins. I can barely afford to eat. Unlike most of you, I’m not someone who did anything big.”

“That’s okay neither was I. You just have to start now.” Maira says with a smile.

“Let's… focus on the fight.” He says to change the subject after finding himself entranced. 

Gowan finds himself entranced by the smile and turns his focus back to Rielle.

Maira starts clapping her hands rhythmically, to an imaginary beat. Gowan stood confused, but Rielle readied herself as Maira dropped low on all fours, her shape began morphing in an instant to that of a wolf. Her fur was green just like her hair and her eyes were yellow. Several sharp fangs filled her mouth like pointed blades. 

“What the hell is this?” Gowan questions.

“I’m a shapeshifter,” Maira explains.

“You can still talk like that?!” He questions.

“More or less.” She says. “I’ll attack up close and you attack from afar.”

“This seems a bit unfair,” Rielle says. “This is supposed to be a magic training.”

“Don’t worry, transforming and maintaining them takes ether too.” She says.

“Alright then. If you guys manage to damage me, I’ll pay for your dinners tonight.” Rielle says. 

“Wooooh!” Gowan shouts while pointing at Rielle “No taking that back now!”

“Then it’s settled. Let’s get started.” Rielle says. 

Gowan gathers up the bangs hanging over his face and ties his hair into a small ponytail. Rielle begins chanting, catching Maira’s attention. Seizing the opportunity, Maira rushes in, pouncing toward her. Rielle jumps back, slipping around a thick tree. As Maira lands, she quickly rushes around the side of the tree and Rielle’s finger is pointed in her face. She is blasted by a bright explosion of light.

“Call forth explosive brightness, Flash.” Rielle finishes casting.

Rielle raises her finger and begins casting her next spell while moving around Maira, who thrashed about. Gowan slips in from behind moving to the side of Rielle, and her words replay through his mind.

“Imagery is everything,” He thinks.

From the dark of his mind, hands reach out endlessly.

“Dark Hold!” He exclaims.

Shadowy hands reach out and grab Rielle’s raised hand. They forcibly pull her toward the ground, putting her off balance.

“Great spell!” Rielle exclaims while breaking her chant. She resumes the chant as Maira recovers from her blindness and rushes toward Rielle with another pounce, Maira is poised to take Rielle down. Allowing the hands to pull her down, Rielle collides with the ground, and Maira passes over her, but her shadow becomes smaller in mid-air. Rielle looks up to see Maira back in her regular form. Practically hovering over her with her hand facing her.

“Call down the heavens! Bring down the rain of judgment upon my foes!” Maira exclaims.

“I know that incantation… That’s one of the ones used a long time ago when I was still learning…” Rielle thinks. 

“Uh… Maira… That spell…!” Rielle exclaims

The sky began to darken as a hole began to open up in the sky made from even darker clouds that were practically black. A giant orb of water fell from the dark space in the clouds. About the size of four homes in Aitura. The orb came hurtling down from the sky and Rielle freezes the hand grabs her and breaks it, then shoots a giant ray of freezing energy at the giant orb. But it didn’t freeze entirely like she wanted and ended up bursting filling the entire area with water. Everyone was washed away by it, including Erica and Artorius. After all the water dispersed, everyone began walking over, their clothes soaked through and through. As if that wasn’t enough, the guard at the gate began giving them all an earful.

Afterward, Rielle and the gang were seen walking through town while dripping wet, their clothes sticking to them with wetness and their hair clinging to their faces. A squishing noise resounded each time any of them took a step. A heavy silence filled the air as people big and small watched them march through town.

“Damn… It’s cold tonight.” Gowan says while shaking. 

“Y-you’re telling me…” Maira with a shiver.

Maira notices Erica surrounding herself with several small floating flames.

“You’ve got heat over here, and you’re keeping it for yourself?!” Maira exclaims.

“You’re the one who caused this!” Erica exclaims.

“Let's put that to the side for now and focus on getting warm,” Maira says. 

Maira squeezes herself closer to Erica and everyone else does the same, crowding Erica for warmth.

“Goodness, I’m practically being crushed!” Erica exclaims. “Please space out, I’ll make flames for everyone!”

While walking home, Artorius looks at the others.

“Why don’t we take a warm bath, here first?” He suggests drawing everyone’s attention to the local bathhouse.

“I’ve never used a bathhouse,” Rielle states.

“Seems like a better idea than just walking like this,” Erica says.

“I could use a nice warm bath,” Maira says.

“Sounds good to me,” Gowan states.

“Then it’s settled,” Artorius states.

They enter the bathhouse together and decide to stay the night too so they get one giant shared room. The room was eastern-styled and spacious with a large table in the center of the room, but no chairs. In the back room, there was a sliding door that led to a large shared outdoor bath.

“We’re all gonna share a room?” Maira questions. “Tch.” 

“Of course, it’s the fairest way to keep this,” Rielle says. 

“It’s better than staying in an all-girls room and having them try to get ahead of Artorius.” Rielle thinks.

“Then does that mean we’re all bathing together, then?” Gowan thinks.

The words fill the air and multiple faces turn red. Gowan watches all of their reactions and sighs.

“I thought we were all adults here…” Gowan thinks.