A week of training had left my muscles aching and my stomach unsettled. Groaning, I eased myself up, careful not to wake Kiyara, who was still snoring softly beside me. Her blonde hair stuck out in every direction, with a few leaves tangled in which gave it a strange but oddly fitting look for her. I slipped out of the tent, letting the cool morning air brush against my skin.

  It seemed like the end of spring had finally arrived. We would return to the village this evening, so there wasn’t much time left to train. During this week, Layla and Kiyara had done their best to prepare us for what was about to come. Shizuka and I had spent the first two days training with Kiyara, who taught us how to release our mana more efficiently. After that, Shizuka, Ryu and I took turns receiving sword training from Layla, which I thought didn’t do much for me. Kiyara’s training had been very helpful though. On the first days whenever I was thirsty, I had to go and collect water from a small river nearby.

  Now I could just use my magic to get the water I needed directly from the air, which was a lot more convenient for me. I looked around but couldn’t see any of the others around anywhere, which meant that Layla had taken both of them to train with her on this last day. Out of us three, Shizuka had made the most progress overall, which made me very happy. A smile crept onto my face every time I imagined the three of us together as an adventure party. My attention turned to Kiyara stirring inside the tent. She sat up and let out a loud tired yawn, not even having enough decency to cover her mouth with her hand.

  “Hey sleepyhead, you should really learn some manners and cover your mouth when you yawn.”

  Before I could finish laughing at my own joke, something slammed into me, knocking me clean off the rock. I hit the ground with a thud, the impact knocking the wind out of me. From somewhere behind the rock, I heard Kiyara’s giggle.

  “And you should really learn to stay vigilant,” she called out. “You never know when an attack might come.”

  It was a painful lesson, but I knew she was right. In the real world, anyone could be your enemy. I got up and rubbed the painful bump on the back of my head. She had used an intermediate level wind spell, “Air bullet” to knock me off the rock. It had been one of the first spells she taught me since we got here. If I had known it was coming, I could have easily deflected it with a simple mana barrier. I already knew many spells, so I was pretty powerful in magic terms. While it was one thing to know the spells and something completely different to master them fully, I had spent a long time studying magic with Kiyara and building up my knowledge. I watched her as she removed the leaves from her hair and splashed some water onto her face to shake off the tiredness. When she got up, her tiredness was completely gone. She took a few steps away from the tent and stretched her arms.

  “Kuro, I will teach you a final lesson today.”

  The final lesson. The end of our training. While it was sad on one hand, it sparked a lot of joy in me on the other. I followed her for a few steps as she walked away from the tent and onto a rocky and sandy area of the hill. I could hear the sound of wooden swords clashing from where we were standing now.

  “I’m ready, please teach me!”

  My reply came out a bit more enthusiastic than I had planned. I wanted to show her how much I had learned and grown over the past week. Even though I was so eager to prove myself, I got caught off guard by what she said next.

  “Your final lesson,” she said, her voice firm. “You’re going to fight me. No holding back.”

  Before I could even process her words, a blazing lance of fire streaked toward me. Instinct took over, I threw up my arms and shouted the first spell that came to mind.

  “Protect me from any harm that might come my way! Simple mana barrier!”

  I deployed a shield of mana right in front of me to protect me from the scorching heat that would have turned my very bones into ashes. It was hard keeping the barrier up against the continuous stream of fire, but I somehow managed to do it. When the flame subsided, I saw that the sandy ground between us had been molten into glass. She wore a serious expression on her face that I had already seen in the forest before. That meant she was not playing around, and there was no use talking her out of it. She had decided that she would test me this way, and there was no way to change her mind.

  In a real battle, you didn’t have time to speak the incantation of your spells, which reduced their power significantly. If she had used an incantation for her spell, it would have penetrated my barrier with ease. If I wanted to have any chance, I had to switch to the offensive, and not let her get any rest. I didn’t know any long range spells, so I had to close the distance if I didn’t want to be stuck in the defensive. I cast a mana barrier without incantation in front of me and started running to close the distance between us. She immediately knew what I was trying to do and raised a stone wall between us, trying to keep me away from her. I used wind magic to propel myself into the air and landed on top of the small wall. What looked like a smart move in my head was actually one of the dumbest things I could’ve done. The instant my feet touched the wall, it started crumbling, which made me lose my balance.

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  Half jumping half falling, I got off on Kiyara’s side of the wall and positioned my mana barrier between us again. The distance between us had decreased significantly, finally putting me in range to cast my own offensive spells. I started off by throwing a small fireball, the most basic spell, in her direction. It didn’t even come close to her, but that wasn’t my plan in the first place. While she was distracted by my fireball, I spoke the incantation of an advanced earth spell.

  “Surprise my enemy from below. Split the earth and let my foe be skewered by the earth’s teeth. Stone spikes!”

  I was just barely in range for this spell, and had to focus my full concentration to not actually wound her with the spell. It was the most malicious spell I knew, letting stone spikes grow out of the ground beneath your opponents’ feet. When I cast the spell, I made sure that the spikes would not come out directly beneath her feet, but rather in front of her, leaving her only with a few scratches. She seemed actually surprised that I managed to hit her. According to the rules we set up at the beginning of our training, I had won our sparring match by landing the first hit. I ran over to her to see if she was okay. Once I made sure she was fine, we shook hands. This was the moment when the kid that Kiyara saw in me finally turned into a young man. I had fought her and earned her respect.

  Kiyara smiled as she shook my hand, her voice soft but full of pride.

  “You’ve come so far in just one week, Kuro. I know you’re going to become an incredible adventurer, just like Layla. Maybe even better someday. I’m sad that we had such little time together.”

  Why did she say it like that? It sounded like she was saying her goodbyes already. The travelling merchants would leave town tomorrow, so there was plenty of time left for exchanging goodbyes.

  “We still have time left, you can say your goodbyes later.”

  She squeezed my hand gently and a sad look crept into her eyes.

  “I won’t be going back to the village with you,” Kiyara said, her tone suddenly somber. “This is where we part ways. I need to return home. But I want you to know how proud I am to have been your teacher. Watching you grow this week has been incredible. When you come back to Greenwood someday… I will be here, waiting for you. So please come back and make sure you have some stories to tell. And please be careful, the world outside this village is a dangerous place. You’ve seen it in the forest, life can be unpredictable sometimes. Also… take good care of Ryu and Shizuka… As a mage, it will be your job to have their backs. Make sure all of you come back safely.”

  When she said it like this, it was a huge responsibility that weighed upon my shoulders. But I would give my best to make her proud. Her, and everyone else. I gently returned a gentle squeeze of her hand and smiled at her.

  “I will come back, I promise. You can count on me, I will make you even more proud than you already are. Who knows, maybe I will be able to teach you something for once when I come back.”

  Both of us giggled, as the thought of that was just so hilarious. We spent a few hours talking and joking, reminiscing about the old times, and imagining the times to come. We sat in the tent when we heard footsteps approaching around late afternoon. I listened for any other sounds and could hear the cheerful laughter of Shizuka and Layla, and a tired grunt from Ryu. They dropped the training swords just outside of the tent and sat down for a quick rest. We exchanged a few words, talking about our final lessons. Shizuka told me that she and Ryu fought a tag team sparring match against Layla, and that they lost miserably despite being two against one. That explained why Ryu had been so silent.

  We sat around the fireplace, lit one last fire, and chatted merrily. The time flew by so fast, it was hard to tell how long we actually sat there. We started to pack all of our things and took down the tent. I had carried the tent when we made our way up the hill, so it was up to Ryu to carry it downwards. We made our way down the hill, and exchanged our final goodbyes with Kiyara before she split up from us and returned home. The sun had already set, and the evening became pretty chilly. I wanted nothing more than to spend my last night at home in my warm bed, knowing that I would start a long journey together with my friends on the very next day.

  As we strolled through the streets of Greenwood, many memories of my childhood came up. Ryu, Shizuka and I used to play in the streets a lot, and every corner of the village was home to a memory that we shared. I would miss this town and its people. I never really hit it off with the other kids of my age, but I would still miss them. Maybe I’d write a card to them once in a while.When we arrived at home, it struck me like a bat in my face. The dream of spending my last night at home in my bed would stay exactly that. A dream. I couldn’t sleep in my bed and let my friends sleep in a sleeping bag. Because Ryu didn’t have a real home, and Shizuka’s home was destroyed and tainted by a horrible memory, I couldn’t send them away either. We ended up sleeping on the floor of the living room again, with the only difference this time being that Layla joined us. I didn’t know why she didn’t sleep in my bed, but it felt nice to have someone that suffered with you. I was pretty nervous when I thought about tomorrow, but after turning around restlessly for an hour, sleep finally approached me.