I'm in the middle of the road, I'm currently running while grabbing Mary's arm with one of my hands, were scrambling for a place to hide but there's none, every building just leads to a dark room with a single door, the don't budge no matter how hard we kick them, I try every door, only to be met with deafening silence, Mary is scared and crying, she is scruffed and has dust all over her school uniform, I try to calm her down and comfort her, loud thuds are heard constantly going of in the background, I take a peek to my watch, it is still there but I can't read it, is just a bunch of illegible scribbles.

[What is happening??] I thought to myself.

I'm getting scared as well, I feel a presence watching me from every single building, wherever I try to see I only see a pair of light blue dots following my movements, we try to make it to another door, the street is heavily damaged with burn marks all over the place, we run, and run, and continue running from 'something' I'm not looking back out of fear, we encounter a body lying on the pavement, is Vera, I collapse in front of her.

"VERA, SAY ANYTHING... please... I beg you" Mary is crying hysterically, I can't contain my despair and begin crying while cursing at the world, whatever is happening is truly the worst day of my life.

"Why, Why, Why, Why, Why, Why, Why, Why".

I can't help but repeat those words over and over until my throat can't make plausible words, I'm in complete shock, Vera is not breathing but she is crying, the sun is moving rapidly across the sky, the loud thuds become clearer and clearer, I turn to face mary, I only see her silhouette, it is shadowed by a big bright ball behind her, I know what it is, my face distorts into pure panic.

"MARY WACTH O.." before my words reach her, a big explosion engulf Mary whole, I see Mary charred body slide along the pavement, I can no longer cry as I have wasted all my tears, I see another bright explosion coming my way, But I'm completely spent, My body is refusing to move all expect my mouth to wail at eh top of my lungs.

 

---

 

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH".

I feel fear, anxiety and extreme sadness punch my body as soon as I wake up, I stare at the ceiling for a few minutes before I notice my alarm going off, I reach with my hands and turn it off, I notice that I'm sweating enough to leave my pillow slightly wet.

"It was a nightmare".

I sigh in relief, my memories of the nightmare are already becoming extremely foggy, but the emotion that I felt is still being processed by my brain, I hug myself as if trying to hold my emotions together so I don't cry.

"Nothing happened, It was surely just a bad dream, so don't worry".

The words my mom said to me when I had nightmares as a child, I haven't had them since I was 6, but this felt so vivid that I needed a few more minutes to get a grip on reality, I slowly got up and went to bathe, I don't have the tendency to take a bath so early in the morning, but I needed to turn my mind off for a few minutes.

"Nothing happened, It was surely just a bad dream, so don't worry".

I repeat the words one more, but they are not helping me anymore, the emotions continue to whisper to me about constant tragedy even if I don't remember most of the dream anymore apart from the words 'explosion' and 'Mary and Vera', but I can get a small idea of what it was and imagining it was dreadful.

[But what if it wasn't, It could happen for real].

I'm a mess at this point since I can't function as a normal person in this state I try to tug that problem aside, it only partially works because I got distracted while having breakfast with my mom and I was talking to her, she noticed my mood but didn't comment on it, I have made a point clear that if something happened to me my mom wouldn't bring it op unless I do it first.

[I absolutely can't talk to her about it can I?].

I put that rule in place because my mom was a bit overprotective, but this time I wanted her to comfort me for a bit, I decided to try to take my mind off it, but I remembered something decent, I was going to train with Sauriel with my newfound magic, it was supposed to be exciting but it didn't feel that way anymore.

[I NEED to learn to use my powers, that fight just showed me how utterly helpless I am].

I now completely forgot the events of the dream but had solidified my determination on a single thing 'Not being weak anymore', my thought process was pretty simple, the strong can protect what they have, it was a rule of society, I didn't need to be strong before since I didn't have enemies or many people that I cared about, but now this is different.

[I have responsibility with myself, I can't fall on the ground unless I tried my hardest].

I'm taking Akari's advice to put more effort into things, but I'm applying it to being a magical girl since it is now more important than school in my eyes, I get ready and make my way to Stanly park, our unofficial 'training grounds'.

When I get there, I do the usual, set a 'Picnic situation' with a basket with some snacks and juice boxes, then I begin my work out of stretches and some light punches, then I ask Sauriel.

"So how is this training going to work?" I'm a better shape than this morning, but not by much.

"Since I can't teach you magically by example, I got you a person to demonstrate some things," Sauriel said, he seems happy about my mood getting a little better.

"Is it Vera?" I say I guessed her because Aqua has been away for 3 days now, supposedly she was investigating rumors about a series of incidents that have an unconfirmed correlation between each other, so Vera is the only one left.

"Vera is occupied with work right now, since you got your magic recently I decided to train you first before making you help Vera" He explained.

"So who is it?" I ask, I'm a bit surprised.

[Another Magical girl!!! I didn't expect to meet so many, even though some of them are evil].

"Amy?" A familiar voice.

I turned around to be met with dark purple hair and amber eyes, I think first of Aqua, but she is too short and her face says to me that she is curious.

[Wait..].

"Class rep?" I asked in disbelief.

"Indeed" Akari says, she was analyzing me with her eyes from top to bottom.

"You know each other?" Sauriel seemed puzzled in his voice, his face wasn't any better.

"Sauriel care to explain?" I solicited Sauriel.

"Umm, she is Aqua's little sister, she is a magical girl as well, do you know each other" He said, still surprised about the whole ordeal.

[WHAT?].

"Well..." I hesitate to answer.

"We are classmates at school" Akari said confidently, she turn to face me "I didn't know you were a magical girl?".

"I could say the same thing class rep!!!" I snapped back at Akari, she is unfazed at the question.

"That is true" Akari said, "is this the reason you skipped class?" she tilted her head.

"Yes" I say, I'm mentally tired about everything that's been happening since this morning, I connect some dots and ask, "So when you said that I was suspicious you meant that you suspected me of being a magical girl?".

Akari froze for a second, "I ... uhmmm.... yes", she didn't sound convincing at all, but she look relieved of something and sighed.

[Does that sigh mean that she suspected of something else??? what does she even think about?].

"Still, I don't know how I didn't connect the dots, you certainly look like Aqua in her untransformed state" I say.

"Aqua?" She is a bit lost at the name.

"Katrina, that's what I call Aquamarine as a pet name" I explained, Akari got lost in thought for a second.

"Can you give a pet name?" she asked.

I'm confused about that, but I reply "Can't do~ I already have given you the pet name 'Class rep' to honor your skills at work" complete fabrication, I just didn't want to come up with a shorthand of Akari, since I liked the name, "Now that I think about it, your last name is?".

"Isolde" Akari replied instantly.

"Akari Isolde and Katrina Isolde, I'm really dumb" I say out loud, is obvious that my brain is rotting and only works to remember magical girl stuff.

"You probably got confused because my sister's hair changes color when she transforms," Akari told me, I nod in acceptance.

[That makes sense, I do see Aqua in her transformed state more often].

"Well, Sauriel how is she gonna help me with my magic?" I asked Sauriel, who is playing in the grass.

Sauriel explained, "Akari knows simple magic, so she can teach you how to use it properly, I would do that but I can't at the moment since I don't have my powers on earth".

[That raised too many questions, but I'm already fed up with surprises so I'll ask later].

I tell Akari, "So can we begin class rep, I'm kind of excited to use magic".

"Okay" Akari closes her eyes, her clothes begin to glow and shapeshift.

[Transformation, I wonder how she is gonna look like].

her clothes transformed into a buttoned white shirt, a black skirt with black thing high with black shoes, she gets a top hat with a red ribbon at the base, the hat has the same pin that Vera had, she also now has a black cape with a red inner color, the cape had a big collar that almost topped her head, her hair changed into a dark blue color and got a bit longer.

[She looks like a magician].

Even though is not something new, it still fits her rather well, her hair also became a bit longer, and now reaches her butt.

"We can begin when you're ready," Akari said in her usual monotonous tone, she indeed resembled Aqua in her transformed state, even with the magician getup.

I transform into my magic getup, Akari is observing me trying to get every detail of my transformation, am getting to the point that I feel her gaze burn into every inch of my clothes.

"I'm ready... I think" I say, I'm still not sure how is Akari gonna help me, but she is Aqua's sister so she must be good.

"Ok, first show me your magic" Akari said.

I do, first imagining what I want, a rock wall, then pour Aether 'somewhere', a rock wall raises itself from the ground, I'm still unsure of what I'm doing but it just works so I don't pay much attention to it.

 Akari inspects the wall, then turns to me and says, "I see, it seems to be some type of manipulation magic, I have a question about this Amy".

"What is it Class Rep?" I reply.

"How long have you been a Magical girl?" she asks.

"Uhmm, it is Saturday sooo~  1, 2... 8 days" I say as I'm recalling, yeah it's been not that long, although it feels a bit longer, it is probably because I do more things than before.

"Sauriel told me you also battle some Devils, and that you didn't have a weapon, is that correct?" Akari questions me.

[What the hell, why is the class rep questioning me for, is it that lame?].

"Yeah I fought them before, but I only had my magic for a day" I say, I'm kinda ashamed about that.

"That's impressive" Akari says.

"What?" I look at her.

"Most Magical girls should not be able to beat anything without a weapon, but you even managed to do it without magic, so you're impressive than most magical girls" Akari explained.

"Is that true Sauriel?" I ask Sauriel.

"Yes, your average magical girl could not have done what you did" Sauriel said in a kind tone, I look at my hands and begin thinking, if that's true then I was already at my limit, so the only way to progress was unlocking my magic.

[Well, I feel a bit better, but it is still not enough].

"Okay, I get it, I'll try to master my magic or whatever" I brush off my impotent feelings and focus on the lesson.

"Okay, I can guess that the reason Sauriel choose me as your 'instructor' is that our magic types are similar" Akari says, she pulls out a magic wand, it's a black stick with one of the ends colored white.

"What exactly do you mean magic types?" I'm asking since neither Sauriel nor Aqua has taught me anything about magic apart from Aether manipulation.

 Akari Proceeded to explain, "Magic can be manifested in many ways, this is because each individual has a 'unique magic' that they control, so angels decided to classify their powers depending on how they behave, but even then they can't have an exact definition so they can be misinterpreted".

it's a bit hard to understand, but from what I can gather, It seems that everyone has unique magic, and it can't be classified but angels still try to classify them and keep failing at it.

Akari continued, "So we have only 2 usable classifications, Casters and Manipulator, Casters can create elements from nothing while Operators have to use existing materials".

"That doesn't sound very different" I remark.

"That's the only notable valid difference between magics" Akari answered back.

[So in theory, That is the only common difference between magics, just how many ways to use magic are there?].

"With that out of the way, Let me show you my 'unique magic' since it's pretty simple" Akari said, she then proceeded to move her wand, I don't see anything happening but something touches my shoulder so I look back.

"Ah, I see" I reply, a bunch of floating rocks is gliding around the air, they start floating towards Akari, they are slowly circling her, she stops moving her wand and they stop moving while remaining suspended in the air.

"I have general telekinesis as my magic, so I can move any existing thing with my powers, so it resembles your earth manipulation" Akari said, it made sense why would Sauriel choose her, I clap in awe.

[It's a simple power, but they use it could have is amazing].

And so we begin our training.

The first thing we did is to understand how to correctly use magic, you can use 2 methods to use magic and they have advantages and disadvantages, method 1 required imagining the result of your magic, so for example a rock spike, then pouring aether into the 'concept' or 'idea' of a rock spike in the place I wanted it, that would automatically make the thing I imagined.

Method 2 was imagining the entire process, so with the same Rock spike, I had to imagine the earth moving in a way to raise the ground, then eroding molding into a sharp surface that was above ground level, while imagining the process I had to pour aether into those ideas, it would then happen in realtime.

So in short, Method 1 was easy and automatic but it cost a lot of aether to make it useful, while method 2 required brain power but it was aether efficient and was generally faster.

After learning that I tried a lot of things, the rock spike shooting out of the ground, it worked well but it was painfully slow, it did cut into things because it was sharp, but unless I used method 2 I couldn't make it fast enough to be used as an attack, I tried throwing boulders or blocks made of rock, it works fine if I put enough aether, but they were really simple, then I begin just trying random stuff, moving rocks from really far away, with that I discovered I needed a lot more aether to move rocks that are far away, I can move t least 3 things at the same times, I can make rocks change shape, it's like trying to uncrush an aluminum back into its former glory, but I managed to make a cat face indented into a rock.

After the initial tests, I just tried to accustom myself to use magic, it is exhausting to use constantly, but over the course of 5 hours I managed to make simple moves without much thinking, we made that progressed solely in watching Akari move rocks in an interesting way, apparently her power involved applying different types of forces to or into objects, so she could bend spoons with her mind which was weirdly awesome and completely useless.

Also, we began sparring, it wasn't anything cool, it boiled down to an intense game of tennis, in which I launched a rock at Akari and she returned at me with double the force, that repeated a couple of times until the rock traveled at absurd speeds until it hit one of us, the scores settled on 7-2, 7 in favor of Akari, the entire training took 5 hours, once we decided it was enough, we waved goodby at each other, I left the park exhausted, I remembered what Akari said in school and I realize something.

[Wait... did Akari say she was busy today because of me?].

That was the most likely explanation, so I take a bit of liking to Akari, seems like she knows a lot about Magical girls and made time for us to train, which I didn't expect, I have no idea how this discovery will affect our current relationship, but knowing her she will just treat me normally.

[It's was fun, but I feel bad knowing that Mary's football tournament was pushed back because of me].

It was unintentional but it was still somehow my fault, but I'm too exhausted to think too deeply about that, on the way home I asked sauriel about why I felt so exhausted, he told me that aether manipulation wasted a lot less magic than my 'unique magic', but it was a good thing since if I depleted my entire aether reserves they would regenerate a bit bigger, so that way I could get to filling my aether pool.

[I guess that's good, but filling an entire ocean cup by cup is not that easy].

 And so another day ends without major incidents.