Chapter 2. Departure

As the sun goes over the horizon, the sounds of nature also become more apparent. The chickens, the ducks, the birds as well as our sheep start making their noises. As if nature wakes up at the same time as the sun hits the landscape. It is the second quarter of the morning, and as soon as I stand up from my bed, the sudden smell of something good enters my nose.

"It cannot be," I say to myself, "May doesn't wake up this early.”

I walk through the hallway of our small country cabin, the wooden floor slowly creaking as my footsteps trudge over it. I see May by the stove ー an iron stove of some age cooking a porridge of some sort by the smell of it, probably something with sheep's milk. May stands in the main room of our cabin. The cabin does not have a lot of rooms, three to be exact. One is where I sleep, big enough to have a room for a bed and a chest where my belongings are. Another is where May sleeps, slightly bigger than mine, and finally, the main room where we all spend our time mostly inside the house. It is a room of relative size where we cook, sit by the table, and eat.

May slowly turns her head over to my direction, probably hearing my footsteps coming over.

"Good morning" I greet her with a gentle morning voice and then followed by a yawn.

"Good morning, Aura" she replies with that sweet smile of hers, her black hair cascading from the top of her head all the way down to her shoulder blades. "How are you, did you sleep well?" She asked. "The carriage taking you to Dirya will arrive in about forty-five ticks from now."

"I slept well, although as you saidー," I reply followed by a pause as I come speechless as to how to describe the phenomena that came last night.

"The shock, I know, it may be hard to take it all in right now. But I am very happy to tell you that you are now able to manipulate mana. Maybe before you leave, I can teach you a basic incantation," She says, soon added by her beautiful smile that leaves me dumbified. But not only that, I also drew a smile on my face when I heard that she would teach me something.

"Yeah, you are right. I don't know where to start though. Thank you, May. You have always been by my side" I say, quite softly, as I am afraid of saying such embarrassing lines in front of May. But I do sense the feeling of gratefulness, that this person has given me a life worthy of being proud of. A life that is already longer than my previous one, that is.

May replies: "Well, a good start would be a good breakfast. I made some good porridge and hot milk. Take some fruits outside so that we can put it on our porridge.

I go momentarily outside to take out some strawberries from our generous garden. Next to it is our pen where we have two sheep and a few chickens. When I come back from outside holding some strawberries, which I washed in a bucket of water, I sit down by the table as she places our bowls and spoons ready for eating. She then soon comes with the pot of the porridge she was preparing and soon with the hot milk from our sheep. We then start eating in silence, mixing some strawberries with the porridge, sometimes putting generous amounts of sugar.

I know that we do not live prosperously, but compared to my previous life, this is more than enough for me. A life that is slow, a life that is beautiful. Having someone that cares for me and someone I truly care about. This thought has been in my mind since my twelfth year in this world. Although I have retained my memories from my past life, I do not possess the mental strength to properly move on. But one thing is for sure: I can say that I am happier here than I was there, and whoever gave me this second chance I am thankful for.

Some time went by as we finished eating, the porridge was delicious, but the hot milk was less satisfactory, as I do not necessarily like the taste of sheep's milk. I like cow's milk more, but it is more expensive. No one in Orma owns a cow and thus it is harder to purchase its milk, as we have to wait for a traveling merchant.

"The carriage should arrive in around twenty ticks, more than enough time to teach you an incantation that might help you with self-defense, Baer Kur,” says May, putting emphasis on the name of the spell.

"What's that?" I ask.

"A spell in which your enemy will momentarily be experiencing a slight headache of some sort. I have never used this spell on myself but apparently, from the ones who did, it gives you a sense of being rocked back and forth. Some fall unconscious," she replies.

"Seasickness?”

"Yes, that. Something similar, but not quite. Anyhow, do remember what I said to you last night?” She said with clear sternness. Her face is serious, making her point with emphasis.

"I understand,” I say with a serious face.

Feeling the seriousness of my answer she replies: "Very well." With her usual smile. "To start off you should know that mana flows through your enemy and that the way you feel that, is to feel their presence, their breathing, their heartbeat and as well as their movement. Once you have this, you can manipulate the flow of mana through a series of incantations. For Baer Kur, you only need one line. Other more complex spells comprise of many lines, although one can shorten such spells by making it more compact but giving off the same impact as the original. Baer Kur is as follows: Baer Kur Nae La Kelamie Pada." She said with such beautiful pronunciation. “Ocean Brings a Strong Calamity on the Body.”

"I don't understand," I say, astounded with the great mystery of such incantation, as well as the way she said it.

"You will soon feel for it, but anyway, I think we ran out of time. I must pack you a good amount of food for the trip."

She walks outside. I go back to my room to take my sack of things I need for my stay at the school. As I go out to the garden getting ready to be fetched by the carriage, I see May gathering some fruits from our farm for me to snack on during my trip. She put the fruits in a small sack for safekeeping alongside a corked bottle of drinkable water from the well.

"You will have my blessings for the trip as well as for your education. I know you will do great. I believe in you." May says her blessings. She took out what seems like a small pouch, with something metallic jingling inside of it. "Here," she says, "for yourself to enjoy!" I soon realize that it is money, and a significant amount of it, from the weight of when I took it from her.

"Thank you, May," I say, as I see the carriage finally making its appearance within a reachable distance from our house. May also sees the carriage by now.

"There it is. Tell Olen that I have paid for your travels through his wife. He'll let you ride right away." She smiles at me as she tries to tell me to go. "Go, go, go!" She is now at a relative distance.

"Goodbye!!" I scream from a distance and wave towards her. She also waves back as well.

I wonder how she'll be without me. A thought came by my head but soon shrugged it off. I do not need negativity. Her silhouette soon vanished from the distance and soon realized that she went back inside. "She'll be fine," I thought to myself, keeping a smile as I faced Olen, the traveling merchant of our town.

"She'll be fine."