Samuel had been enduring several days of back and forth training with Alsian and his entire body felt sore. He still had a hard time imagining how he was supposed to balance out training like this with studies.
So far the third year was quite a calm event, all because of recent events and having lost too many people to bad mistakes. The odds of any big things happening were quite low, which meant that most of the year indeed would be studies like the professor had said.
Samuel had made his heading towards the regular training chamber and walked into an empty hall, surprised to not find Alsian there already. "Maybe he is just late?" Night asked out loud as she jumped forth.
She had gotten more comfortable around the halls again, since all the recent scares had made her a bit more paranoid of mages. She didn't want them to find her out, even if she could probably pose as a familiar since there were plenty of third year mages that had magical familiars.
"I have a hard time seeing him being late, but I guess you could be right!" Samuel replied after finding no skulking figure in any corner. But the door on the opposite side of the hall opened and closed with nothing but the find making it's presence known.
"Wait just a second..." Samuel quickly focused on the magic within and set his body ablaze and when he opened the eyes again there were three figures standing there. One was Simul the first companion, the others he did not know by name.
He hadn't exactly been introduced to all of them, "Eh Hi?" Samuel quickly greeted them and Simul was the first to smile. "You are getting better and better at that!" She made a point about him using the eyes to see them and Samuel nodded.
"So whats for training today?" He quickly asked and felt his bruises thump with his pulse. "Nothing so difficult like what Alsian puts you through. Besides it's not like we can interact even if you can see us!" Simul made her point by walking up to him and trying to put her hand on him.
All it did was pass through him like a ghost, but he did feel the presence of something passing through. He looked at her with some concern and she simply smiled, "We have dealt with our own immortality, undeath, whatever you want to call it. Alsian can let our souls rest if we ask for it, all he needs to do is break the bond."
Samuel couldn't help but feel sad, "Sorry to hear that!" His reply was filled with sadness enough for Simul to give him a few imaginary touch headpats. "Do not cry for us, dear Alsian has already done so, and he has given us all a chance to help out one last time!" Her smile was wide and it extended well to her eyes.
"Alright!" Samuel replied with a sigh... "So what are you going to be teaching me today?" His voice turned to a more excited tone and the children of mana all chuckled. Simul turned to her companions and pointed at them, they both looked quite human - more so than Simul did with her long horns that betrayed her nature as probably being part devilkin.
"Rhozos Belli and Adler Uthryn here were both masters of channeling our magic, and since you seem to have an issue connecting they are here to help you master it!" Simul replied with a smile and started hovering around the air upside down.
"Perhaps it is because of your dying part or something else blocking the connection... but we are here to find that out. Properly!" Simul smiled and descended to Night and sat down next to her.
Samuel turned back to the new two people, and without further ado they quickly got started. To the outside world it was just Samuel sitting alone in a large training hall with his legs crossed and eyes closed.
Samuel was told to focus on the connection by looking at it like a thread or chain, it took him several hours to find the slightest thread that was as thin as a single hair. He was taught how to strengthen that connection by sending his mana specifically through the thread.
The thread grew slightly in size over the course of his training and thats where the day ended. What felt like an hour of training was almost an entire day of training and when he came out it all hit him like a truck.
He was sweating in waves of water and gasping for air all of a sudden and wound up on all fours when he tried to get on his feet. "You should take it easy tomorrow young one!" Simul said as she knelt down next to him.
She had spent all that time talking with Night, and they had had a long wonderful conversation about all kinds of things. That much Samuel could tell through the bond that connected them, but he chose not to pry for any information.
The children of mana quickly left him as his breathing got under control, he felt more exhausted than he could ever describe as he slowly started tumbling homewards.
Meanwhile the children of mana returned to Alsian who was sitting around in an empty office writing reports. He eagerly looked up in anticipation when they came back, "So how did it go?" He asked and Simul shook her head with a sigh.
"It is going to take a while, his connection was severely damaged and almost cut off. He started strengthening it up today, and was left exhausted. So I told him to take it easy tomorrow." Simul replied and hovered in front of Alsian.
"Our bond to our magical nature is like our connection to our own soul. It needs to be strengthened properly, which is why we probably need to spend quite a few more lessons with him!" Simul spoke slowly trying to find the correct words and Alsian slowly nodded along.
"Well! Let's keep an extra eye on him!" Alsian replied and went back to his work as the children of mana returned to their resting domains using the doorways inside his mindscape.
Samuel had finally reached back to his house and literally collapsed on his bed without the energy to make any food or do anything else. "Don't worry! I will stay watch!" Night giggled and patted him on the head as he quickly fell asleep with a sense of security.
He slept in a very strange manner as he felt that there was something tugging at his very soul and when he opened his eyes he was inside an astral sea of purple mist, it was like his mindscape but a lot more filled with mist and he could see what looked like the moon far away.
He focused on his inner magic that flared up and he saw the small thread connected to him slowly grow stronger and stronger until it looked like a strong chain rather than a smal thread. "What?" He slowly whispered.
He felt like he was being watched and when he turned down he saw a weird creature covered in shadows that was staring at him. Slowly a chain from the creature extended and was cut off from the creature.
But the chain seemed to act like a snake as it slowly swam upwards and wrapped itself around Samuels chain. Strenghtening it and filling him with a strong warmth as he fell back asleep with the white moon standing proud off in the distance.
The next time he opened his eyes he stood on a beach, he felt the sandy grains through his toes and the slightly cold and gentle wind filled his lungs with fresh air. The sun was setting slowly on the horizon as he saw it reflect it's last light on the surface of the water.
He had no idea where he had seen this place before or how it was important. But he felt like there was something familliar with the place that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
The white moon and blue moon both were visible in the sky, showing brigher than ever before. But suddenly he felt a great vibration as everything stirred, slowly walking up to his side was Ulma that looked at the same scene as him.
Together they stood in silence and looked at the silent but beautiful setting.
Ulma eventually leaned into him and thats where Samuel finally woke up to a bright early morning. "Damnit..." He whispered to himself as he felt a slight headache pain him, but it was bright outside and the day was well in on it's way.
He didn't know what to make of the dreams as per usual, mysterious and weird without any clear reason or answer. Samuel slowly sat up and saw Night sleeping on the bed and he smiled before patting her head a bit.
"Time to begin another day huh?" He whispered to himself as he started getting out of bed.