"Raven! No! I'll help you, so don't go!" I start to walk in the direction she went. Two arms then wrap around my stomach and pull me back, stopping me from following her. "No! Let me go! I have to help Rae!" I yell, choking back some tears.

"No. It'd be pointless to follow her now. If we go after her we'd both wind up dead!" She yells in my ear as I continue to try and get out of her grasp. "I'm out of magic energy and you don't know how to use magic! It would be pointless, ok!"

"No! Rae is running right to the enemy!" I yell, tears forming in my eyes

Ari grabs me tighter, "no, Lux, we need to do as she says and get out of here quickly!" I keep struggling trying to get free to stop Rae from doing something stupid. "God damn it Lux!" Ari grunts before chanting something and then forcefully closing my eyes.

I feel my body be picked up and then Ari begins to run. I've lost the ability to control my body, maybe it's some kind of magic that Ari used?

My mind then begins to drift into a deep sleep, realizing that my body feels exhausted. In the darkness of sleep I suddenly see a light and I follow it, the brightness waning and changing with every step. Suddenly I hear a voice behind me and I turn around to face a wide and vast field of flowers.

"Addie!" I hear a warm voice call. I start to walk to it not knowing what awaits me. I then begin to hear more voices call my name, and I can distinguish five voices in total. All of them sound young, warm, and... familiar in a way. I smile and laugh, spinning and falling down into the flowers.

Then out of nowhere I hear Raven's voice call out my name in desperation and I jolt awake. A sharp pain plagues my head and I begin to rub my temples. I take in my surroundings and realize that I'm in a thickly wooded area, confusing me for a second. Then I remember everything since I came to this world.

"Ah!" I hear Ari say, "you're up!" Tears well up in my eyes and silently stream out.

"Rae... she's..." I silently say, not wanting it to be true.

"Hey, hey," Ari says to console me, "don't worry, Raven is strong and tough! Plus I'm sure that Glaide won't kill her."

"Glaide?"

"Ah he's... the one who has taken control of our country. But you're really the rightful heir to the throne, ok?"

"Oh," I say, my tears finally beginning to stop.

"Well come on let's get you cleaned up, follow me."

I stand and follow Ari to a small tent. "It's not much but it's what I had on hand," she says, lifting the flap of the tent for me.

I crouch and walk in, surprised by what now surrounds me. I see a small living space with a couch to the side and a fireplace in front of me. On either side of the fireplace are doors, both made of a dark colored wood. "What..." I whisper in shock, "magic?"

"Oh! Right you don't have your memories... umm so this is a form of magic to make certain things have a larger space in them, it's called spacial magic and it's the same magic used on these bags we carry around. It's actually quite difficult magic so not many people have objects that have spacial magic," Ari explains.

"Alright," I simply say, feeling that if I say more I might begin to cry again.

"Hey why don't you wash up and then we'll talk? And I'll set clothes out for you, ok?" Ari says in a motherly tone. "Just go through the door on the right and then there's a bathroom in there for you to clean up in."

I nod and without another word I go into the room which turns out to be a bedroom. I then enter the bathroom and am glad to see the bath tub. Once I get it working, the tub quickly fills to a certain water level and stops on its own. I don't question it and get in, taking in the relaxing warmth.

Everything that has happened since school let out weighs heavy on me. "It's all my fault, isn't it?" I whisper to myself, letting the lower half of my face sink below the water. If only I hadn't tried to butt in and fix the situation with those girls... I'm sure Rae could've handled it herself so why did I have to try and stand up to them?

I pull my legs in close and close my eyes, not wanting to cry again. I'm the reason that Rae had to be captured so that we could escape, I'm the one who caused us to have to leave earth I'm the only one to blame.

A sharp knock on the door startles me and disturbs me from my thoughts. "Hey Lux, you okay in there?"

"Yep," I quickly answer.

I hear a sigh of relief from the other side of the door, "that's good. I've laid the clothes on the bed, and there should be a towel in the cabinet."

I nod and remember she can't see me, but she's probably gone already... I stand and leave the warmth of the water, the tub beginning to drain on its own. I find the only cabinet in the room and open it, seeing the towels on the shelf.

After drying myself off I get dressed in the clothes left for me, a white loose turtleneck long sleeve shirt, and stretchy yet tight black pants. There is also a brown corset laid out and knee high black boots, which I choose not to wear in the name of comfort.

When I walk into the main room of the tent I notice a knee high table has appeared in the middle of the room. It's the same dark brown wood of the doors and very simply designed.

Ari isn't in the room but I can hear her moving around outside of the tent. As soon as I take a step towards the front of the tent, Ari comes through the opening carrying two plates of food. "Ah perfect timing!"

"Umm, thanks for the clothes," I say, watching Ari put down the plates and sit on the floor.

"Yeah It's nothing, anyway, come on eat up. You must be very tired," Ari smiles at me warmly and pushes one of the plates in my direction. I silently sit at the small table and eat, not knowing what exactly it is I'm eating, but also not caring at the same time.

Once I've cleaned the plate of food in front of me I sigh and let myself fall backward. I look up at the ceiling of the tent which seems to be made from the same material as the outside. "So how does magic work anyway?" I ask, wondering how it's even possible for this tent to exist.

"Here let me start from the beginning," Ari says, "magic is something as normal as breathing for mages. There many spells out there that can do amazing things, you just have to train to be able to do them. Within every mage is a muscle, kind of like a small heart, that is small and disk shaped called a corde. It's located in the lower back of all mages and produces magic energy and distributes it throughout your body equally. So, keep in mind that the corde is a muscle and like any muscle the stronger you train it the stronger you'll get as a mage."

I sit up and process everything I just heard, and process the fact that I am one of these mages. "So I have a corde? So that means I can do spells? Like the ones you and Rae used back in the village?"

"Yep, you're a mage. Oh! But I should mention that there are different types of spells and depending on your corde it's harder to do some of them than others. So each corde has a different affinity, which just means your magic energy is better at doing some spells than others. There are five affinities from the most common: water, air, fire, life, and light which is the least common. I myself am a water type and you are light."

"So, does this mean that I couldn't use a water spell?" I ask. I get a weird feeling, just a few days ago I thought magic was something of fantasy stories... but now it's very real.

"No, it just means it's harder for you to do magic with water than me. Oh and it also means I can turn my magic into water," Ari raises her hands and begins to weave water into the air, the water somehow floating there without falling to the ground. Then ari somehow makes the water disappear as quickly as it appeared, "but you can make light with your magic, and that's much cooler!"

I crack a small smile, "so does that mean you can just drink some water and get more magic energy?"

Ari begins to laugh loudly, small tears coming from the corners of her eyes, "definitely the same old Lux," she says. "You asked that same question when you were first learning about magic back when you were a kid. And when you got tired in training you'd complain about how you can just soak up the sunlight and get more energy."

I fake smile, as it pains me that I can't remember that. I can't remember ever being on this planet before I can't remember magic or training or Ari. All I have are memories of earth and Rae and parents that are probably not even my real parents. "So what's going to happen now? Are we just going to stay in this tent forever?" I ask.

Ari stops laughing and her face turns solemn, "I knew you'd ask something like that. Look, Glaide is a very powerful mage and he uses a powerful kind of magic. He's not one to mess around with, ok?"

I sigh, knowing she'll probably not want to go rescue Rae....

"With that being said, it just means we'll have to give you thorough magic training before we go rescue her," Ari says, crossing her arms.

"Wait. Really?" I ask in disbelief.

"Yep. But before we go you'll need to be strong and a master of the basic spells. So when we go all depends on you and your determination to learn magic."

"Thank you!" I say, excited that I might be able to do something for Rae for once.

"Of course, otherwise you'd probably go on your own with no training," she says in her usually soft voice.

"Wait then I've got to start training now! The more time we take the more danger Rae might be in!" I say, standing up.

"Wait, be patient at least wait until tomorrow," Ari says with a giggle. "We just took the seal off of your corde so it probably hasn't circulated magic energy completely through you. Magic energy can be used up and the only way to replenish it safely is to eat food, sleep, and wait."

"But, you said that we get to go when I master the thing you show me, what's wrong with wanting to try and master it now?"

"There's nothing wrong with it, but you need to train safely, there are many ways to get injured if you practice magic the wrong way. Especially since your corde has been inactive for a long time now," Ari explains, standing and taking the two plates out of the tent.

I follow her, "isn't there anything I can do now? I've been resting since... since a little after the seal got taken off so I'm really energized." I then look up to the sky and realize that the sun is starting to set.

"That's true and you slept for almost a full day," Ari adds, "Well if you want something to do start strengthening your body up, some spells also require muscle strength."

"Alright!" I say, determined to get strong soon.

Ari hums while washing the plates in a small bucket of water, drying them and putting them into a bag that lay by the tent. "Well, then, how about this, I won't let you start training in magic until you can do at least 25 pushups in a row. Oh! And you should also probably learn to use a weapon..." Ari hummed.

"25? That's so many! I can probably do 10 at most," I sigh.

"Oh! And when you can continuously get a bullseye with the bow and arrow!" Ari adds. "You were training in swordsmanship before but I only know how to use the bow and arrow so it'll have to do."

"What but I've never picked up a bow before!"

"Well there's always the option of sitting around and waiting until Rae escapes," Ari says in a mocking tone.

"Fine! I'll do it and I'll do it quickly! Just you wait and see," I tell Ari with enthusiasm.

Ari laughs and nods, "Yep can't wait to see what you can do." And with that Ari enters the tent and leaves me by myself.

A/N:
Hello hello my peeps!

Well, you're starting to get to know Ari! She's based off of someone I know, so she's kind of the mom of the group and tries to keep everyone safe and on time.

I realllllly hope you like her since she's gonna stick around for a while, and you'll even get to meet her sister!!

Anyways, please comment, vote, and keep reading! 🧡