Today was my first lesson on magic from Alice. She took me to an empty field of hers next to her house, where we would try it.
"Here, I'll demonstrate it to you."
I take a few steps away from Alice as she raises her hand. Her eyes close and I feel a sudden change in the atmosphere around us.
I watch her carefully, ignoring the goosebumps all along my arms. It was freaky seeing someone who's normally so endearing, seem so intimidating.
After a moment, something began to happen on top of her hand. Streams of what looked like water drew towards her fingertips, forming a clumsy sphere above it. The ball kept getting larger and larger, as even more blue streams joined it. And then, as I tried to relieve myself of the shock, the temperature of the surrounding air dropped a multitude of degrees.
'Is she going to freeze it?'
And I was right. The ball of water levitating in her hands started to compress and turn paler. The surges of water stopped appearing but the ice was getting bigger.
Alice opens her eyes and the ball of ice fell down into her hands.
I stand still, stunned. But, I manage to bring myself to clap.
"Haha, this is nothing. It's on different the most easiest spells to use!" She selflessly claims.
"Really? My god."
She throws me the ball of ice and I catch it. I immediately drop it though, mainly because of how cold it was.
"Do you want me to teach you it?" She questions.
"If that's okay, then yes please!" I exclaim.
'Okay... Maybe I am a bit too excited for this.'
She grins and walks next to me.
"So, first put your hand out. You can do this with any body part really, but the hand is the best since it's easier to control." Alice explains.
I nod and put out my hand. 'Its really happening - I'm learning magic!'
"And you see, mana exists all around us. It's in every particle in existence. To be a mage, you must have the ability to change that mana into whatever you want. That is magic."
Alice glances at me, wanting my confirmation. I just give her a abashed smile.
"Now, just imagine all of the mana around you gathering around your 'contact point', your hand." She says.
I close my eyes and do as she said. I imagine there being mana in the fresh air surrounding me and it's being captivated by me. And that all of it is getting sucked into my fingers.
"You're doing awesome! One of the beginner spells is to make a water ball. There are multiple ways to do this, but I'll tell you the easiest. All you have to do is to make the mana cold, which will condense the water vapour around you."
So, I imagine all of the mana I gathered is cold to touch. And, my hands start to feel cold as well. 'Woah, this feels so weird.'
"Keep your concentration, you're almost there!" She encourages.
I regain my composition and focus once again. But, I was getting a bit curious to see what I was doing. So, I slightly open my left eye.
In my hands was a small, yet excited ball of water. I open my eyes fully in astonishment.
'Did I really make this?'
"A-ah, don't open your eyes! You'll lose focus!"
But Alice looks at my hands, and the water hasn't budged a bit.
"Oh, nevermind. I guess geniuses don't need to!" She says, sheepishly. "Do you want to turn it to ice now?"
"Yeah, that would be fun. Do I just make it even colder?" I ask.
She enthusiastically nods and I force my concentration back to the water ball.
All I do is imagine the mana getting cold, and the area between my hands start to feel frosty.
And, believe it or not, the ball of water had transformed into ice.
"I-I did it!"
I felt intoxicated with achievement and joy, and honestly, who wouldn't be?
Alice puts her hand up for a high-five, and I instantly hit it.
"You did great! Scarily good, actually." She says, adding a slight giggle at the end of sentence.
My ears heat up and I mutter a thanks. I then just drop the ice ball on the floor to melt away.
"Would you like me to start teaching you that song now?" I ask.
"Yes, I'd love to!"
She gleams with happiness and we sit down in the grass. And by grass, I mean the dead grass. The field we were in was completely the opposite of their flower field. It was baron and dry, probably meaning they would occasionally put livestock here.
"Here, I brought the recorder!" Alice reaches into her pocket and pulls it out.
'That must be one deep pocket...'
"To hold it properly, you put your fingers here..."
I demonstrate it to Alice, who was watching me eagerly. I got a bit flustered though, and quickly handed the instrument back to her.
She fiddles with it for a second or so, trying to hold it like how I did a moment ago.
"So like this?"
"Close. Just swap these two fingers," I tell her, leaning in to fix her mistake.
I gently remove her pinky off one of the holes and replace it with her index finger. 'Her fingers are soft.'
My heart stops and I briskly turn away, my face a blushing mess. 'W-what are you thinking?? Stop it, me!'
"Ah, thank you! It definitely feels more natural like this," She giggles.
"Yeah, no problem." I clear my throat.
I was about to show her the first few notes of the song, but my thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice.
"Miss Alice! You must come back inside now,"
I look over at her house, where there was a young woman standing. She was wearing black and white, and had her hair done up in a tight bun. 'Is that her maid?'
Alice hesitantly stands up and her maid approaches her.
"Why?" Alice asks.
"Your father is going to be here in not too long. You need to prepare yourself!" The maid explains, meekly grasping Alice's arms.
"Really? Father's coming?"
"Yes, now come on."
Alice looks at me with sad eyes.
"I'm sorry, we'll have to continue another time." She apologises.
"N-no, it's okay. Don't worry about me." I stammer.
The maid starts to take Alice by her wrist, leading her to their house.
"Bye! Come back another day, okay?" Alice calls out.
The maid glances at me and furrows her eyebrows in disgust. 'What did I do wrong?'
I shake it off and start to go home, humming. 'I can't wait for our next lesson.'
-
I open the door to my house.
"I'm home!"
"Good timing, Rei! We have some guests!" My mother chirps.
'Guests?' I look up, and see a pair of strangers. One was a beautiful middle-aged woman, and the other was a small girl with purple hair.
'Wait... Is that...'
The girl looked at me surprised as well.
Yep, I was right. It was the young girl from the other day.