Shift.

  Aries shifted his serpentine body so that Alice had space to sit comfortably and had her sit in a meditative position.

  “First thing’s first, you must learn how to sense chi. I hope you don’t have poor talent as I will only be helping you for a week.”

  Alice leaned on his feathery body and looked up into his eyes then asked:

  “Why only a week?”

  “Because a week from now I will start school for the first time, you should be too.”

  Alice froze in realization and a dejected expression appeared on her face.

  “I forgot that we were six year olds.”

  Aries ignored her complaints and continued to speak in a flat tone.

  “After the week is over you’ll have to train on your own, or if you choose to do so, learn as you follow me.”

  Alice nodded, then turned serious and sat up straight, placing her hands on her lap. “Alright, since I have limited time, I'll make the most of it. How should I go about sensing chi?”

  “Alright.”

  Aries moved and shook his feathers, causing golden dust to fly off of them, then he placed his forehead to Alice’s back.

  “First, memorize the way the dust from my feathers look, how it floats in the air, how it glistens.”

  Alice followed his instructions and looked around at the cloud of gold that surrounded her with a focused gaze, trying to study each and every part of it, even the individual dust particles. She studied how the cloud blew in the wind, how each particle reflected a bit of sunlight causing it to shine. She found and tried to memorize each one of its traits.

  Aries allowed his feathers to settle, causing the cloud of golden dust to disperse. He then spoke up and gave her the next instruction.

  “Now close your eyes. Imagine the world around you completely made of the dust. You must replicate its every property.”

  Alice closed her eyes, allowing her world to be consumed by darkness, lightened only by the sunlight hitting her eyelids, causing some red to invade her vision. Ignoring this, she imagined what the world around her was like, the giant feathered snake wrapped around her and with its forehead to her back, the expansive field of the park around them, the forest nearby, the town not too far from here, and the unending sky and the sun that hung in it.

  After this, she imagined a yellow ball, then imagined a metallic material for it, then she imagined it as small as a particle of dust. She imagined how the sun would reflect off it, and how it would sway in the wind. She then multiplied it in her mind and over lapped it with her imagination of the world around her.

  Using the dust she imagined as bricks and the world as the foundation, she began to recreate. Starting with the serpentine Aries, she imagined the golden particles of dust stacking onto each other.

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  She created the bare body then meticulously created each feather for the body and wings. She then moved on to the field, but as she extended her imagination to form the ground, her thoughts dispersed and became chaotic. At the same time, she felt a prickling sensation on her skin.

  “Ggh…”

  She held her head in her hand and groaned. She felt a banging sensation in her head from an oncoming headache.

  “A.rgh.e..sh.”

  She tried calling for Aries but with her mind in disarray only nonsense came from her mouth. Even so, Aries understood what was happening and quickly sent a stream of chi into her head. Alice felt a cool sensation in her head which jolted her mind back to normal.

  Hoooo… Letting out a deep breath, Alice turned to Aries and asked:

  “What just happened?”

  Aries closed his eyes and stood silent for a moment, before opening eyes and answering.

  “You likely weren’t able to hold on to your imagination completely so your natural chi went wild and threw your mind into chaos.”

  Listening to Aries’ explanation Alice realized the problem, after she began to imagine the field, her imagination of Aries’ serpentine form became hazy.

  “So meticulous.”

  “You didn’t think it would be easy would you?”

  She scoffed, “As if.”

  ***

  — Year 1550 (Gaia calendar) 2:00 PM, Sunday, July 3

  Lios Town

  “FINNALY!”

  Sporting blue overalls, a white shirt and a pony tail, Alice leaned back back on the serpentine Aries and shouted in excitement.

  “Calm down, you only completed one of three steps. You still need to learn how to actually sense chi then awaken.”

  Alice immediately deflated and became frustrated and kicked her legs in a tantrum.

  “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.”

  Pfft— Ehem, Ehem.

  Alice froze and slowly turned to look at Aries with a dumbfounded expression.

  “Did you just laugh?”

  Aries looked away.

  “You did! Oh solaris! He can laugh!”

  Ehem. Ehem.

  He fake coughed and patted Alice's head with his tail.

  “Anyway, you did good, better than most.”

  Blush.

  A blush appeared on her cheeks as she processed what was just said to her. She puffed up her chest and rubbed under her nose, feeling a sense of pride.

  “Heh.”

  “Now that you are capable, it’s time to move to the next step.”

  Hearing this, Alice sat back into a meditative position and awaited instruction. Aries stood silent for a few seconds, giving her time to get ready. Then he spoke.

  “Imagine the world of your creation once more…”

  And she did. She closed her eyes, then she imagined golden dust flowing out from her and building the world around her. Then Aries continued to speak.

  “Feel the wind blowing around you, gently hitting your body. Imagine that wind as filled with an invisible energy and you’re trying to see that energy, feel it, but do not see your eyes, but with your soul, do not feel with your body, but with your heart.”

  Though confused, Alice tried following the instruction anyway. To better grasp what she was trying to do, she visualized the wind that blew around her as a visible, tangible force. Then, she tried looking into it, trying to see a special energy within it. And she did, she saw a glistening white energy hidden within the wind.

  She never expected it to be easy but nevertheless she was happy. She felt happy, but she knew it wouldn't be that easy.

  She didn't truly succeed. This was her mind, her imagination, of course it would do what she wanted. This was merely a figment of her imagination.

  This was the issue with a mundane mind, there was no way to truly limit her imagination.

  Nevertheless, she had to try again. And she did, the same thing happening.

  Thus, she tried again.

  The same instance happening over and over and over and over and over.

  Eventually, just like when she was imagining the world around her, she lost count.

  Then, something happened, something new, to be accurate, it was that something didn't happen.

  After hours of imaging, she could prevent her mind from subconsciously conjuring up the fake energy.

  Now came the hard part.

  She had to do the seemingly impossible and see th

  rough her soul and feel from her heart to truly begin sensing chi, then she could finally awaken and become a mage.

  ‘how exciting.’