“Ugh wrong,” Faye sighed, dropping her head on her palm. She tiredly rubbed her forehead and sought for some kind of relief for the gradually growing headache. She was out on another mission given by her guild. Blue Pegasus was starting to send all sorts of help towards people in order to help them survive against what they say is a great evil about to descend. Faye didn’t know much about it despite keeping up with the news. Most of it seemed distorted in a way, too. Not just Blue Pegasus but most of the legal guilds recognized under the power of Magic Council were doing the same thing. While she saw young and hopeful mages play hero by leading the people around for training and whatnot, Faye honestly just wondered what it is that they are fighting for. She understood it in a moral sense, but she didn’t understand it as an individual. She did not think she would want to go for all this trouble only to help others that probably would not even know her name at the end of it all. Seemed very irrelevant though she guessed that someone like Snowflake would be happy to help.

In front of the partially angered Faye stood a bunch of young boys, all looking confusedly around at each other. None of them seemed to understand why this mage was mad at them. They were training and they thought they were doing exactly the same thing as what she taught earlier, yet, the bubblegum pink haired woman seemed more and more at cross with them. She was even audibly sighing now. One of them, a braver one of the lot, even raised a hand to ask her whether they were doing something wrong. Faye wanted to say that they were indeed not really putting much thought into their actions and movements and that every time the drill got remotely tiring, their stance dropped. But she did not know how to walk complete amateurs over all those complex topics. Earlier, she told them to try and get a natural feel to the movements. But again, every time it started hurting their arms and legs, they relaxed their posture and threw the whole balance of it away. They were not really syncing their body and mind with their actions. She had to wonder just how she had to teach them in order for them to understand. It was not like she could just move them to her every whim like she could do with her puppets. They had no mind of their own unlike these wide-eyes young ones that was still partially inside their protective shells. What made it worse was that not a single one of them looked like they really wanted to do it. Initially, they were quite taken to the idea of learning magic –since all of them that Faye was currently training had magical talents within them- but just as she told them they would start strengthening their body first, their face fell and what it resulted in was this half hearted attempt at learning to fight.

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With more and more of them looking more and more lost, Faye really started getting annoyed. She had been trying incredibly hard to not lose her temper but these bunch of protected kids had absolutely no idea of what they were asking for. In fact, some of them were even starting to talk between themselves about how interesting the lessons would be if they were learning to use their magic. When she heard them, Faye’s countenance dropped further into an icy shadow, a solemn silence surrounded her that quickly crawled over the rest of the boys and made them shut up immediately. Even they with their ignorance and innocence could feel that Faye’s annoyance was hitting new heights. They went back to staring back and forth at each of their faces. Fine, she thought. If they wanted to learn magic so much, fine, she would teach them just that. She would show them why magic or spells should not be treated lightly. Perhaps at the end of this training, they will learn to respect and understand the difficulties of being a mage. She wanted to give them a new perspective towards the profession of mages that are usually taken lightly.

Getting up from her spot below the shade of a large tree, Faye curtly told them to follow her and started going in the direction of the mountains. She easily hiked up the steep path, not even looking behind to see if all of them were following her. She could hear them, their labored breaths and whenever it got to the point it seemed like some of them might faint, she stopped, but again, did not look back. She left them to fend for themselves, knowing that some of them were well equipped with water bottles and food. At least, she thought, they would not die. Once they were done catching their breath, Faye would start walking up the manmade path up again, ignoring the groans and screams of protest. Each time they started making too much noise, she would speed up her pace until they went completely quite. Some of them, she could guess, were already starting to curse her out. They all must have been wondering how this would help them train. If anything, it was making them incredibly tired. Halfway up, a couple of kids were even starting to use others to support their tired body. Faye immediately made note of them.

She would go a bit easier on them later when they actually start the training session since it was obvious that they couldn’t take much more of it. Faye definitely was pissed off at them, but she did not want to kill them. That would be digging quite a big of a mess for herself. All these kids’ parents had entrusted them with her earlier in the day, looking quite content and pleased that they had a mage to help them out as well although they couldn’t hire any for escort services like the upper class.

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Just as it seemed like they would lose half their life upon the winding path, Faye and the boys reached their destination. The cold breeze that blew over them played with her pink hair, letting it dance behind her. She did not even have to look back at the kids to know they were both silently and audibly hurling abuses at her. She wanted to ask them if they could not even take that much of physical labor, how they planned to become powerful mages that turned the world upside down or protect anyone. But in the end, verbally asking them for an answer was not going to do these kids any good. They wouldn’t understand it even if Faye was to write a whole essay on it, three hundred words or more words. No, what they needed was experience and what she needed was some rest. But that will have to wait since she was in the middle of reaping some experience for herself. Perhaps in just two days, she could become a completely different person. Fate worked in such mysterious ways after all. Only a few months ago she had a talking doll with her and now it is possessed by some demon or another.

Just as she was lost in thoughts, one of the boys called out to her, looking for her attention. She turned almost absentmindedly, having forgotten for a moment that she was in the middle of training new recruits. “you all have potential,” She lied, seeing their faces light up. An inner voice was already sneering at the ignorant faces, wanting to oh so badly tell them that this world was not as easy as anyone thought it was. The world was ruthless and the mortal beings in it was even worse. Even beasts had certain purpose and integrity to their life. But what was it that she was doing again? That’s right! She found that they have gotten ahold of their breaths, Faye began laying down their training program in front of them. She knew she had to be careful lest the young boys lose control of their magic and cause something she did not want to happen. Yet, something in her head was telling her to teach them a lesson they will never forget, a lesson as to why they must always keep their physical might in check along with their magical powers. They were all part of the same order, both having to be led hand in hand. Being trained in physical strength meant they had some amount of mental power and capacity, too. Having such a capability would later easily facilitate the surge of mana within one’s veins. All they needed was a good feel for it. Pausing her thoughts for a second, Faye had to wonder if she was rambling on about things without thinking much. Anyhow, it was time to start their training and the first thing she had to do was split this herd of sheep in teams of two.

As they neatly filed down in front of each other, Faye started mixing their teams up in odd pairings. Her reasoning was the fact that they will not always be facing an opponent similar in strength to them, that in fact, sometimes the fights could go beyond their ideal fantasies. The real battlefield was a platform to seize victory and it only chooses the side of the worthy. Because she knows it all too well Faye was determined to teach them the first unfairness of the world; no one was born the same. Some people could only stand behind an invisible fence of poverty. But again, her thoughts were running wild and Faye had to reign them in. She started staring down at the kids as they once again looked around them and at each other to see what they were about to do. Some of them had this look of uncertainty, as if they had already given up on the whole training. As for the few kids that she had earlier taken note of to be quite behind physically, she assigned them to just train on them own, essentially giving up on those. They, although are blessed with magical talent, she knew wouldn’t really go that far in the cruel world. She wouldn’t beat down their spirits, but she wanted to give them hints that they should not aim for much unless they are ready to work harder for it instead of complaining about the harshness of the world.

Once the kids started sparring, Faye once again found a good spot somewhere up in the mountain and took seat. She looked over the kids from her place and simple got lost in thoughts again. She wasn’t sure if training little ones like this would do anything for the great catastrophe that is about to befall them. The war was just around the corner, it would descend upon them anytime yet here they were, the real mages that could actually do something, looking after children like this instead of strengthening themselves. Faye sighed. She also understood that she needed to try harder in order to gain more strength. Faye as she is, was far too weak. She wanted to have more power, more and more. If she went to war with this little experience she had, she wondered if she would become nothing more than a burden to those that are fighting with her. Ever since Hana had left with that demon, Faye has simply not been able to move forward. She had hidden herself away by making puppets. She thought it was enough, to put some of her feelings into those lifeless things so that she could slowly forget her own emotions. To forget the sadness, uncertainty, and self hate. The world was starting to lose her interest. She was starting to close in on herself, just her and her puppets. It bothered her sometimes how she could only think of making this world disappear, to just leave Faye alone.

“Ms!” Faye was suddenly awakened by one of the kids calling for her. She was startled, not really expecting someone to have disturbed her. Looking up, she saw that almost everyone was staring back at her as if they have seen something scary. She wondered if her emotions had run so wild that it showed on her face or aura. Ah, they must have been scared, Faye thought as she jumped off from where she sat and started coughing with a forced smile. She apologized for the lack of care she showed and began to ask them about the results of their sparring. The winners have already been decided, and she specifically began picking them up from the group. She asked them to go ahead and practice their magical skills while the rest of them go back to physical training. She smiled at the look of satisfaction and triumph on the winners faces, noting inside her head that it would not last long. All she wanted was to make an example out of them, and that’s what they will become. They thought it was fine to simply just learn how to cast spells? Well, they will have something else coming their way, she thought.

Taking back her seat, Faye rested her head on her palms as she looked down at the smiling kids ready to unleash their magical powers. She told them to just go ahead and do it all at once. One of the kids, she could tell who had fire magic from the red tint that coated his magic circle, was already starting to look pale. Ah, he has finally had his run in with his mana. Magic like fire was already extremely difficult to control, and this kid had gone ahead and began with a rather high level spell –well, high for his age and experience, to her it was merely a C rank spell. The others must have soon sensed the tension because they all stepped aside, looking worriedly at the boy that was now starting to sweat and visibly appear scared as if he was already battling something horrible. “No, I can’t control it!” the boy cried as the magic circle in his hands began growing wider until it looked like it was ready to explode. At this point, knowing she did not actually want a disaster, Faye stepped in and stabilized his mana control for him. She easily took down the growing magic circle and gave the boy a warning glare, just as she practiced to do. “oh so now you’re scared?” She asked him before dismissing the shaking boy with a wave of her hand. Faye took a look at the other boys now. They were now looking uncertain about learning magic first, the previous boy having been one of the best. Yet, there were the arrogant ones as well who thought that they could do better, that they could control their magic well. She didn’t argue or force them to stop. Instead, she let them go ahead and play with their magic. Let them feel it for themselves, she thought. One of them had wind magic and the other had water magic like herself. She kept a passive face as they took their stance and began summoning their magic to the front. Just as she had expected, things began to go the same direction as with the previous boy. They quickly began losing control of their powers and started feeling afraid. Not a single one of them, she thought, thought of staying calm and control their mana. Sighing, she once again got off her seat and stopped the two young mages.

Finally, knowing that they have learned their lesson, she began to tell them why there are some mages even younger than them that could cast magic. It was experience and a good foundation. Especially they had trained their physical foundation in order to support their magical powers. Mana worked in a number of ways but all mages agreed on the fact that if they did not have the physical and mental strength to control their mana, it eventually began to feel as if it would consume them alive. She even gave them the example of the famous cursed child, a child that had lost control of her dark magic, which took her to another subject. Depending on the type of magic one had, they were either least likely or most likely to lose themselves. The calmer magic like wind and water were the easiest to control although they could also easily gyrate into a disaster if not careful. Then there was magic like darkness and light and nature. Now these three were the most difficult to train as well as control. They were the most likely to go out of hand, as it was in the case of the cursed child. Thus, she simply warned them against training their magic alone. They needed the physical fortitude to control their mana. Finally, it looked like they were starting to make sense of Faye’s words. Some of them even apologized for their earlier behavior which Faye just shrugged off. She was only doing her job. If it was some other day, even if she had seen them doing things wrongly, she wouldn’t have intervened. That was just not the way it was with Faye. She did not care that much for anyone or anything unless they were a select few that she truly liked, like Snowflake. Now with that training and a good lesson in mind, Faye told them to go back the mountain before it started getting too late. She would stay up there for a while longer, looking over at the horizon that the Seraphims have sworn to destroy. Again, she did not know what she truly felt about this world. She had once wanted to be around people the most because she found them interesting. Now, she wasn’t so sure. But did she really want to destroy this world? She didn’t think so either.

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