In this new, more spacious training ground, Alessia and Secessus begin their mana training.
Secessus begins with showing a bit of his own mana. Creating a mana made weapon and spells such as fireball.
"To begin, it should become normal for you to see and feel magic. That's why I will be surrounding you with my own mana. Perhaps those slumbering senses will return that way." The human looking shade demon explains.
"I get what you're saying. However, I just don't know how you "feel" it. I have no recollection of using anything magical before." Alessia explains, feeling her teacher going a bit too fast.
"You just feel it. I don't know how to describe that." The demon who's naturally good with mana says from his experience.
"Keep in mind, it's another life force. You will feel reinvigorated or, when depleted, feel worse for wear. In your case, you have to find the reason for your frail constitution." Cornelius explains a lot more detailed and nuanced, but still very complicated for the female human who's really only familiar with swinging her sword.
The dark magic of Secessus starts to crawl around Alessia's body. The strings of darkness that normally look pitch black rather look like the darkness that a dim light creates.
This unfamiliar new force engulfs the dark greened hair woman. Even more she feels her body react, it seems to crave this feeling. At the beginning it was simply intriguing, but now it has become far more.
This feeling starts to transform into that of a terrible hunger, the longing is excruciating. Her body wants magic, it wants what it has always had.
However, her mind is different, clouded memories and unrecognizable screams fill her head. Flashing past one and another. The volume ever shifting, going from deafening screams to complete silence. Her emotions a mess as fear, anger yet also love is connected with these blocked hazy memories.
'What is this? Let me remember. I want to live... Let me see. I'm ready' Alessia almost begs in her mind.
The memories shatter in her mind, like glass crashing against the ground. There remains only 1 thing.
Darkness.
Only darkness.
No sound.
No feeling.
Nothing.
Then as this pitch black darkness seems to have shallowed the memories. Blocking her plea to watch what happened.
"MAMA!" the voice of a young girl yells. Alessia subconsciously turn to the voice, a familiar feeling, a faint memory. She turns and sees herself when she was 9… or maybe 10. For some reason, it's hard to remember.
That darkness that engulf all is it Sol's or is it hers? She wants to reach out to her former self. But she has no physical shape to do so.
"Show me, show me." Alessia begs, her voice shakes as she pleads to her younger self. Her younger self slowly approaches with teary eyes, hugging a small rabbit doll tightly.
'Did I ever have such a doll?' The woman realizes. The more she looks at the child, the more she seems to be looking at a stranger. But it cannot be, that dark green hair and the sapphire eyes and the same mole next to her nose.
"Ale…."
"H…."
"Wak..."
A male voice far away yells. This world of darkness shaking as everything begins to disperse slowly.
The vision of her younger self also fading. Seeing the world shaking around her, her younger self, instead of being scared, looks relieved. Jumping around in joy as everything including herself is starting to disappear.
"No! NOOO! No more secrets..... Please…. I cannot bear them any longer." Alessia says as tears also fill her eyes. She desperately continues to reach out to her younger visage.
"HEY! WAKE UP!" The familiar voice of Sol yells.
Opening her eyes, the bright sunlight of the dawn feels even more blinding than when she was hungover. Slowly looking around, she seems to have returned to the training ground where they just started their training. Sol has his hands on her shoulders as she seems to have collapsed.
"Are you alright?" Secessus yells in a panicked state.
"Yeah… I'm fine." She replies, trying to sit herself up. Secessus sees her trying to do so and quickly helps.
"What happened?" Alessia decides to ask, hoping that nothing truly weird happened.
"I want to say you fainted. But it was more like you just fell limp. My mana had just surrounded you, and instantly you feel down. You were still breathing evenly, but we just couldn't get you to wake up." Secessus explains the situation as he hands over a towel, to the recovering woman.
She's drenched in sweat and clearly recollecting her thoughts. Confused herself about what transpired. Her mind still feels uneasy, but the craving is gone. The sapphire eyed woman looks around as her gaze lands on Sol.
He feels different, more oppressive, more grand. There is this something around him that she can now see. Before there was already this feeling, but now it is so far more prevalent.
Secessus who has in the meantime turned around is busy telling other bronze ranked adventurers who were also training that everything seems to be fine. The adventurers seem relieved, as they were worried about the situation.
She continues to look around, and now her eyes fall on another adventurer that was training. He also seems to have this presence. Yet almost nonexistent compared to Sol.
A hand covers her eyes, whilst it doesn't feel hostile. There is a certain force behind them, not giving her a choice.
"What you're seeing is aura when it isn't actively used during combat. Normally this shouldn't happen with such inexperience." Cornelius's voice explains, still covering her eyes with his hand.
"What is this? What is next?" Alessia asks, whilst generally still more dazed than usual, her mind has mostly regained its sharpness.
"What's next? I guess congratulations. I must say, I didn't expect much from one of your kind. But it seems that I'm mistaken. You've successfully found your magic again."
Cornelius's other hand grabs one of Alessia's hand and brings it before her eyes. For a short time, he shows Alessia her own hand. Now there is this white-grayish aura around her, almost transparent.
"Magic." She says before her eyes get covered once again. Feeling different, feeling more whole, she brings her hands to her cheeks.
"I truly have magic."