"Can you take the matchbox out for me?" Ken's head lolled from side to side, and bits of saliva stuck to his cracked, bloody lip. "Backpack, front pocket."

"Matchbox..." I stared at him, incredulous, but when he didn't crack a smile or laugh, I complied. The matchbox was coated in dust and bits of hair as I fished it out of the backpack, and I handed it to Ken. With trembling fingers, he carefully flipped the top of the matchbox out and pulled out a match, scraping it on the side of the box to reveal a small flame that quivered in the wind.

And then, Ken took the match and gently placed it on the tip of his index finger, letting the flame consume his flesh. I gasped, taken aback at what he was doing, but he laughed again like when I first inhaled the vapor.

I studied him closely and his features seemed more prominent now, his eyes clearer, and his posture straighter. Even the cracks in his lips had started to close.

"You know how I was talking about the mana pool?" Ken said. "Well, in short, it's what allows you and I and every mage to do what they do."

I nodded slowly, taking in his words.

"The thing is, it's not infinite. You can spend years, decades even, training to build up its capacity, but you can never go too long with replenishing it."

"What happens if you don't?"

Ken glanced away for a moment, before lowering his voice to a whisper. "You suffer the fate of mana starvation. In other words, you die a slow and painful death as your body consumes itself in its last efforts to stay alive."

We sat there, silent, before it suddenly dawned on me that Ken could have died in the rail yard. His tattered appearance wasn't only a result of the attacks, but also a depletion of his mana pool. I felt guilt creep into my cheeks and I sat there feeling a sense of helplessness.

Ken must have noticed my somber expression and seemed to read my mind. "You know, the only thing that matters is that we're alive. The past is what it is, but be grateful that the present is here."

I said nothing as I thought about my past, shrouded in mystery, and the restaurant. Dwelling only on the past would be a deadly mistake, but focusing only on the present and future wouldn't show the full picture.

I turned to my right, where Ken sat. The match he had taken was almost extinguished, its flame desperately eating at the disintegrating match head, and he pulled another one out after tossing the remains of the match to the side.

He caught my peering eyes and lit the match, tossing it straight to me. I cringed, shut my eyes, and put my hands in front of me as if they would protect me from the flame. To my utmost surprise, the match bounced harmlessly off my hands and onto the ground where the wet planks snuffed it out immediately.

"What in the world..." I sat there, slack-jawed, unable to put into words what I had just witnessed.

Ken smirked, and slid another match out of the box, giving it a quick scrape on the side. He lightly pressed his finger against the flame, which seemingly started to be absorbed by his flesh, as if it were water and his finger was a sponge. "It's not much but it's efficient and gives you a quick boost to your mana pool."

Still terribly confused, Ken just tossed the match to me again, the flame casting eerie shadows along the car wall as it landed on my palm. Strangely enough, though I had seen it with Ken, the match simply sat on my hand, inflicting not pain but pleasure almost. Before I even looked down, the flame had completely dissipated, leaving only a match coated in ash.

I felt rejuvenated, as if I had dipped myself into a hot spring and sat there for hours on end listening to the sounds of nature and immersing myself in the emptiness of my mind.

Ken spoke up, breaking my feeling of euphoria. "Speaking of which, how in the world did you do that?"

"Do what?" Then I realized he was talking about my confrontation with the three workers, where I had seemingly manifested my powers to a substantial degree. A deep hue of red crept up my cheeks and I grinned sheepishly. "I just... did it. I thought about everything that got me mad and let it out."

Now that I thought of it, even I wasn't quite sure how I had conjured the flame, and then somehow blasted the three a few paces away.

Ken stroked his chin thoughtfully, deep in thought before speaking up again. "Emotional magic is quite potent, as you've shown, but can be dangerous if not properly controlled. The thing I'm not sure of is how that didn't take a significant toll on you. Unless..." He trailed off, his eyes landing on the snuffed match on my hand.

"Do it again."

Make a flame? It sounded straightforward—just channeling the energy from my mana pool—but when I extended my hands and closed my eyes, I felt the same coldness wrap itself around my hands. Scattered raindrops flew into the open car, smacking mercilessly into my face. I cringed and opened my eyes, only to be bombarded by another onslaught of raindrops in rapid-fire succession.

"Close your eyes," Ken said softly, his voice barely intruding on my focus. "And imagine yourself raising the pool to your chest, connecting with your arms, and letting the energy flow through it like a running river to your hands."

I shut my eyes and concentrated on the mana pool that was supposed to be in me, but I felt nothing of it. Only emptiness and the rumbling of my stomach.

Ken's laugh resonated through the car as he pulled a thick slice of bread from his backpack, breaking it in half before handing it to me. "Here, your magic won't function properly on an empty stomach."

I graciously took the slice of bread and tried not to immediately shove it down my throat, nibbling gently on the flaky crust. The bread tasted of lazy Saturday afternoons by the fireplace as I sunk my teeth into the soft crumb of the bread, savoring every bite as I chewed slowly. This would be great with a warm cup of coffee, I mused and stared longingly at the outside. The restaurant was beyond me and as I looked at Ken, I knew that it would be a long time before I would even have a chance to lounge.

I suppressed a burp as I swallowed the last bit of bread in my mouth, a bit regretful that I had finished the entire thing. Then again, there was an entire loaf in Ken's backpack, but butterflies fluttered in my stomach at the thought, and I pushed it away. A moment of bliss was not worth a lifetime of regret later on. With limited supplies, and the future hazy like the moon on a foggy day, it was best to expect anything.

A prolonged belch nearly made me jump and Ken chuckled, wiping a few crumbs off the side of his face with the back of his sleeve. "Try again."

Darkness enveloped me as I closed my eyes and I searched deep within my body for any sign of magic and the mana pool. The more I thought about it, the harder it was to remember how exactly I had done it back there. It was more of a reaction, rather than a controlled and conscious effort.

Ken must have noticed me struggling, and his gentle voice coaxed me to keep trying. "Forget about the mana pool, just wrap your mind around a blanket of emptiness. Free it from its confines and the flame will come to you."

But how?! I screamed inwardly. All this complicated talk just left me feeling confused and frankly, stupid. How was it that I could do it before, but now, when I simply wished for a fraction of my power to manifest, it stubbornly refused. My mind twisted and turned in my head and angry thoughts bombarded it from all sides, racking my concentration and soon, I couldn't bear it anymore. My eyes burst open, my heart racing and I gasped for sweet air.

"You alright, Wallace?" Ken was immediately by my side and patted me on the shoulder comfortingly. "Perhaps you're just tired. It is getting late, anyways."

It was late, but it would be impossible to get any sleep with an endless stream of questions flowing into my mind. "Can I just ask you one question?"

Ken shook his head and gave me a sad smile. "Tomorrow. The body doesn't function well without rest, and nor will your magic."

I opened my mouth to protest but then stopped, slumping my head back against the car wall. I had to trust him—the truth was, I had no one else to lean on. Everyone but Ken was against me; the capital agents, Dave. And then there was Benjamin, always there for me and willing to listen to my unintelligible rants about how bad my day was, even though his day had been worse. Maybe if I had talked to him, opened up a bit more, and trusted him, he would have found a solution.

I couldn't risk missing another chance, as only taking the first step will lead you anywhere. Whether that be good or bad would be as foggy as a rainy night, but then again, would I have been better off hunkered in the restaurant, the slightest noise triggering paranoia? This was a gamble, I knew that, but at least there was a glimmer of hope somewhere past the rain, past the dark clouds, and over the rainbow.

I closed my eyes, and let my body relax against the cool wood, the rain drops now acting almost like a meditation rather than an annoyance. Just as I drifted off, I felt a strange sensation in my chest. It felt like an expansion of something. Before I could think about it anymore, I succumbed to fatigue and my body and mind fell limp.