We all sat in Miss Orica’s class after a very sociable lunch in the cafeteria. I was feeling sleepy after spending the first part of the day focused in the Forge and then stuffing myself at lunch while putting up with Blue’s antics. I really needed to develop better eating habits. Miss Orica started off the class with an explanation of the morning meeting.

‘I will start off by reemphasizing that the student’s safety is our priority as faculty. You are the future saviors of this world. We have taken this last event very seriously. It has come to our attention that there was a flaw in the barrier by the gate. We are investigating the cause of this flaw…’

She paused and stared directly at me. It then dawned on me that my previous night’s exploration at the gate might have caused the said flaw. I grinned and looked her dead in the eyes. I rubbed my hands together and put them out like I was heating them up in a fire. I then thought as loud as one can think; it sure is starting to get warm in here. Her face turned a cute shade of red and she continued her speech.

‘Ahem…From now on, no one will be allowed within twenty yards of the gate without permission to leave and a teacher present. We expect you all to continue to follow the rules as we provide the best education to prepare you for your future. Now, if you could open your textbooks to today’s assignment…’

I spent the remainder of class attempting to find opportune times to project distracting thoughts at the teacher as she attempted to focus on her lesson. It was somehow cathartic to make a faculty member struggle as much as she was. I was beginning to wonder if she had the ability to even turn it off. More than likely she was given an order by Victoria to always be snooping for any of my schemes. I wasn’t about to give her anything.

As the class came to an end, we began to clean up our space to have Green show me how Aura is used. I put away my book and started to walk out of the class when Miss Orica called out to me.

‘Samantha, can you stay after so that we may talk?’

‘Not today, Teach. I have an appointment with some other students and I find that meeting immensely more worth my time than anything you could say right now.’

‘I was saying it as a teacher to her student. You should learn to respect your superiors.’

‘Maybe you should focus on getting me to accept you as a superior then? Go have a chat with Miss Wintry. She seems to have a solid head on her shoulders. I have places to be. See ya tomorrow, maybe.’

I turned and walked out of the auditorium. She looked like she wanted to say something, but didn’t. I met Green and Blue in the hall and I followed them around the corridor and into a round room. The room was a dome made almost entirely of black metal and glass. Some of the panes of glass were colored and the metal twisted and branched like some sort of plant. There was a cobblestone pathway from the door to a center stone circle which held an ornate lectern. Around the path were a collection of plants and mosses and several small pools of water. The end result was a very fancy looking greenhouse.

Blue stayed at the door as Green walked me to the lectern. It was made of various woods spliced together and had ornate carvings of ivy and other plants. The podium on the top was a stone tablet held in place by root looking branches from the base. It contained a carving of a circle with runes around it as well an etching of a wide tree.

The picture of the tree was ornate and looked massive with clouds around the base. Each of the branches seemed distinct and had a different colored marble embedded in the center. The etching pulsed with a green energy that caused the marbles to flash with a bit of colored light.

‘This is the Altar. When we place our hand here, we are brought within our mind to a place where we can communicate with our fairies and use Aura to augment ourselves. The Aura is absorbed by the Altar as a sort of payment for the augmentation.’

‘So the Aura doesn’t directly charge the augment? Where does it go then?’

‘All I know is it gets sucked into the Altar. We have never been told where the energy goes after that.’

‘Alright, how do I do this then?’

‘I have to leave and the door has to be closed. Only one person can be in the room when it is activated. You place your hand on the World Tree and push the Aura into it.’

‘That's it? I guess now is as good a time as any to give it a try.’

‘I’ll wait for you in the hall with Marina. Good luck.’

She walked down the path and closed the door carefully so as to not make much noise. I got the feeling that the girls treated this place as a sort of sacred grounds. The air was calming despite the nervous ball in my stomach. The only sound was the trickling of water from the pools.

I took a deep breath and placed my hand on the carving of the tree. Nothing. I stood in silence for a moment waiting for something to happen. Nothing. I began thinking through everything I knew up to this point. Maybe I did need a fairy? Could I give the Aura to Apocolyptia? Would that even do anything?

I decided now was as good a time try out what I had worked on in the Forge. I reached down to my locket and removed a metal cuff bracer. I had combined a bracelet with a piece of a discarded gauntlet with the help of one of the little robot guys. Turns out they understand normal speech and can do a variety of simple tasks. I flattened the curve on the front plate and then spent a considerable amount of time etching into it the circle from my bracer in my memory.

I clasped the cuff on my wrist and placed my hand on the etching again. I had worn the bracer when I had first completed it and felt a slight draw to it, but it had no visible effect. Maybe it would have some effect here? Nothing.

I began to get frustrated. There had to be a reason Victoria didn’t want me to have Aura. It just didn’t feel that dangerous to me. Figuring out this last piece might be the propellant that I needed to burn the rest of her plans to the ground. Nothing.

Then it hit me. How would I be able to push out my Aura if it was bound inside me? I almost hit myself in the forehead. How could I be so dense? I couldn’t afford to make mistakes like this. It was time to pop the bubble.

I reached inward and touched the barrier just as I had with the Psychic Veil. It was similar but had distinct differences. It was a very rigid feeling, almost crystalline. Hitting against it was more abstract. It is almost natural to push against something in your mind but harder when trying to hit something you can only just sense within you.

I had a moment of hesitation, worrying that breaking it might actually cause some damage. But, hey, desperate times and so such. I focused my pressure like a needle and pressed. At first it resisted and then I felt the now familiar gelatinous feeling of passing through.

Almost in an instant, the Aura rushed through the hole. Like a high pressure nozzle, it burst out and rampaged through my body. My heart skipped a beat and I broke out in a cold sweat. My knees felt weak and I did everything I could to keep from falling. I braced myself on the Altar. Had I made a mistake?

I tried to think of a backup plan, but the Aura was pulsing against the Psychic Veil and was causing flashes of white to corrupt my thought processes. I thought to call out to Blue, but my mouth made no sound. My arms were getting weak from holding me up and I was ready to fall to the ground when suddenly it stopped.

I felt the energy drawn toward my wrist and everything returned to normal like nothing had ever happened. The only signs left were my elevated heart rate and a cold sweat dripping from my forehead. I stood and looked at myself, assessing the damage.

On my right wrist was a glowing circle on the makeshift cuff. The now blue energy seemed to hover just above the etching and was scratchy and uneven. Nowhere near as elegant as it had been in my memory, but the thing had apparently absorbed all the Aura and converted it into some sort of blue energy instead.

Once more I placed my hand on the tree. I focused on pushing mentally outward with the energy that was now in my wrist and placed my left hand on my right wrist for good measure. I felt the energy pass through my wrist and into my palm and through the Altar. The tree switched from green to blue and let out a brilliant light.

When I reopened my eyes I was standing on a giant leaf. The leaf looked like it stretched for miles. Other normal sized plants and trees were growing out of the leaf forming an oasis like landscape around a small lake. I looked to the sky and noticed the leaf was just one in an uncountable mass that was attached to a colossal branch. The branch, along with innumerable others, connected to a tree that stretched downward as far as I could see. Each leaf was unique in shape and color. Each branch looked as though it was made from a different type of wood.

‘Well aren’t you just adorable now? So different from the last time you were here.’

I turned as the sweet voice startled me from behind. It had come from a tall slender girl who looked like she was in her teens but her deep emerald eyes seemed to hold ages of wisdom. Her hair was a pale green and scraggly like lichen. Her ears were large and pointed and stretched outward instead of backward. Her dress was a simple robe which looked to be made from pieces of bark and leaves.

‘Last time?’

‘Not that you would remember, Psychic Veil and all, but you use to come here time and again. We've had some fun together.’

‘And you are?’

‘I believe you called me Iggy before, so we will stick with that. Your penchant for nicknames was always fun. Especially when it got under Amoura’s skin.’

‘Well if you know me, then what is my name?’

‘Magus is what I called you, and will continue to call you. Revealing anything else would spoil the fun.’

‘You call any of this fun? I’ve been ripped from my world and put in this body and stripped of all my memories.’

‘Aww. I like your new body. I thought I did a good job on it. You’re so cute.’

‘You?! You did this too?!’

‘Don’t get me wrong. I just supplied the body for your soul. The Headmistress supplied the spell and fairy magic is very specific on its outcomes. I did the best with what I was given. And I did a fine job if you ask me.’

‘Then send me back. All I need is a name and this nightmare can be over.’

‘It hasn’t been that bad. You’ve made friends already. That's saying a lot coming from you. Look, I may not like the methods, but I can’t agree that you're not needed on that world, or that you don't need it too. Treat it as a sort of vacation. Relax a little and enjoy yourself. Everything will be right where you left it when you return.’

‘What do you mean? It’s already been several days since I left and I have a nagging feeling I need to get back.’

‘It’s true that you will have quite a mess to confront when you return, but time away doesn’t really matter here. When you return, I will return you to the exact second you left. Nothing will be lost and only your experiences will travel back with you.’

‘And if I root?’

‘Ah! I’m glad you caught that. I was worried for a while. Rooting on a leaf binds you to that leaf, so while you can’t die on that leaf, you can’t leave it for long either. So don't do that if you want to go home. I doubt you will need to anyway, though.’

‘Leaf?’

‘Indeed, each leaf you see is another world. This leaf was one I created for you. The Magus Leaf. Come here and look.’

She motioned me to follow her as she led me toward the oasis. Within the trees was a small white marble temple. Its lines were sharp and boxy in opposition to the nature surrounding it. Inside was a single room with a stone tablet that was at least twenty feet tall. It was blank except for a one inch blue marble in the center at the bottom and a three inch yellow marble to the right of it. The girl frowned as she saw it.

‘It’s so empty. I guess that's to be expected, new body and all. We’ll start from scratch I guess.’

‘What is it?’

‘The Magus Stone. It represents you inner power and your connection to Mana. This temple is the physical manifestation of your mind palace. You can use the Mana you have accumulated to strengthen yourself, much the same way as the Fairybond use the corrupted Aura. Your restrictions are less severe however.’

‘So then what are the orbs?’

‘Points of power. They represent tangible knowledge and abilities you have gained. As you learn more about shaping Mana, they will grow and more will appear.’

I reached forward and touched the yellow stone. It glowed slightly and I felt it hungrily draw in looking for more Mana. I also intrinsically now knew that this was the orb that represented my resistance to binding magic.

‘Ah, I see that one stuck around out of spite. Before you go dumping all of you Mana into growing that one, know that it would take at least ten times the amount you have to break the Psychic Veil. I suggest you explore some of the other orbs. Specifically that blue one. Besides, if you are going to collect and purify large sums of Mana, you are going to need some more strength.’

I resisted the urge to pour in all this mysterious new energy I had accumulated and reached over and touched the blue orb. More information then I was ready for came pouring into my mind.

‘That orb is your key to restarting your life as a Magus. The Keystone. Spend some time expanding on its principals and the nature of the Mana within you.’

Without hesitation I pushed Mana into the stone. It grew in size and I grew in understanding. A line formed from the stone and branched into three colorless orbs. Iggy walked away out of the temple as I became engrossed in the giant tablet.

‘Welcome back, Magus. Let’s have some more fun adventures together.’