He saw the tree was looking for just ahead as he ran forward.  He carefully pushed his soul into position in his legs and while running a silent countdown in the back of his mind tried to calculate the appropriate amount of power.  The moment came, he bent his knees, activated his sorcery, tried to jump, and was suddenly flying up.  He extended one leg forward to try and catch himself on the branch and almost lost his balance in the landing.  He immediately crouched down with both feet planted on the branch, reached between his legs with his left arm to grab a hold of the branch and hold on, and used the claws of his right hand to dig into the tree itself that was just next to his shoulder.  He kind of hoped he looked like a tree hopping ninja or something.

He felt a little of the burning in his legs along with the tired feeling in both his soul and mind from the exertion of attempting this for the past half hour, yet he still took a few moments to revel in his success.  Finally deciding to adjust himself for a better rest, he twisted a bit and swung one leg over to drop down and straddle the branch while leaning his back against the tree trunk.  He had used lightning sorcery in very small ways across various muscles at just the right moment to give him such a boost of power in his jump that he had managed to jump and land on this branch almost three stories high.  Getting back down was going to be a small hassle, sure, but that was for after he was rested.

He had actually made some pretty good progress with his lightning sorcery in this past year.  He finally managed to keep his claws coated in electricity, although if he made it strong then instead of electricity cackling over each claw or finger in the cool looking way he had hoped for it instead arced between his fingers and looked kind of weird.  The next big thing he had managed was a directed zap that hit only his intended target, though still through touch.  He had started by zapping each of his fingers one at a time using his other hand to test out various things.  Eventually he had asked his master to aid him as a test subject.  His master had actually been quite excited about the explanation of what Marik intended to test on him and hadn't seemed to care much when Marik patiently explained that when he aimed for the nerves it would probably hurt a lot.  Instead of seeming afraid or reluctant his master had instead started rushing outside excitedly to try it out immediately.  That was the only time Marik could remember ever hearing his master make any noise from pain much less scream loudly as if he had fallen into the fires of hell itself.

They both decided that such experiments should be put on hold until they found a safer way to conduct them.  The look of embarrassment on his master's face almost became a source for Marik to tease him with.  Somehow his master had guessed the future awaiting him and had promptly cut it off by making a deal to temporarily pause in his usual furious writings to fully focus on teaching Marik a few new spells of Marik's choice in return for never mentioning the embarrassment or the screaming again to anyone.  He had tried to make the deal include erasing such memories but Marik had argued that holding such memories would help with knowing what he should and should not do in his lightning sorcery training.

That whole experience had actually paid off in the end.  Marik had started focusing on his muscles instead of nerves.  It had taken a lot of work and focus along with some past life memories to make it to the point where he was at right now.  Focusing just the right amount of lightning sorcery into just the right places at just the right times would result in a quick burst of speed and power in return for using up a lot of stamina in his mind, body, and soul.  There was still a lot of work to do in order to perfect it to a point where it was actually usable in any real world scenarios.  Even jumping up this tree had taken almost ten tries and made him too tired to bother trying to get back down immediately.

Wind sorcery had not seen all too much work.  He had kept up with it enough to do what he was used to doing with it, which was increasing or blocking his senses of hearing and smell, but the only real advancement was something he had actually had his master help him learn in replacement of a spell in their little deal.  He could now create a temporary air cushion bubble around him for about half a second or so to soften impacts between his body and whatever other physical things.  This had become a necessary use of sorcery when learning how to use lightning sorcery to jump so that he wouldn't get too badly hurt on landing.  It was also a useful type of defense which was something Marik always strove for, so there were no real complaints in learning it.

He couldn't quite use the air cushion and movement burst sorceries at the same exact time so he had to quickly switch between them.  The reason he couldn't use them at the same time wasn't because he still hadn't figured out how to do two different sorceries at once but was because he now always had another sorcery going and couldn't quite pull off three at once yet.  Yes, he had finally achieved using two completely different sorceries at once and had almost ran proudly to his master to boast before holding back and deciding to wait until he could do three just so he could use two that were more obvious and noticeable for his master than the one he kept up at all times now.  At least he thought it was up all the time.  He couldn't be absolutely positive it was going while he slept.

The sorcery that he kept up at all times was his evolved mind wall, now a mind shell close to what he intended.  He was still having some trouble with the spinning and rotating part.  There was nothing else really fancy about it nor was there too much more to it other than just being and eggshell shaped barrier that he kept up all the time that should protect him from mind sorcery attacks.  His planned future improvements still included making it move as he wanted as well as making it thicker and stronger.

His darkness sorcery, contrary to the rest, had taken a bit of time on the shelf, so to speak.  In all honesty he had kind of forgotten it for a while.  He had woken up one day after a normal dream, compared to the past life dreams at least, that reminded him of Omega Gilik and the things he had taught.  Marik spent breakfast that morning feeling a little guilty towards his old benefactor and had decided to start putting his old training back into use.  After a couple of days remembering and relearning his old skills, he suddenly remembered darkness sorcery again and how he had chosen it to help with hand to hand combat and stealth.  He felt like punching himself in the face over how silly he felt he was being.  His only real excuse, mostly to himself, was that he was technically a child and should have a relatively short attention span.  That he was able to stay as focused as he was on certain things should already be considered amazing.

Marik had pulled his master out of his research work for a bit to talk about setting up a whole new schedule.  He felt that his typical studies, supported quite a bit by his past life's memories, were doing far better than okay and other than a test or review once a month that he could and should cut back on quite a few of them to instead focus on his training.  His master had argued with him over it for a while before he finally manage to make a compromise.  Every other week he would spend at least half a day on reviewing what he knew or being tested on the things he should have learned on his own.  Evening studies would continue like normal except more intensely and he would have to be doing several things at once, such as constantly alternating between using the two languages he know while listing the names of all the countries across a continent.  Marik was also going to start learning a third language, Serulin, after his birthday.  The only reason that language was on hold at the moment was because his master had decided to brush up on it a bit first during his usual excursions, which he would be taking to those places for now.

His new training schedule included practicing some hand to hand combat against imaginary foes who always won because they were faster and stronger, various hunting and tracking exercises, trapmaking and craftsmanship practice, and all the stealth techniques he could remember.  Things he could do continuously he tried to keep doing at all times while he did the rest in the afternoons now while his blindfold was off, rotating through the more time intensive ones each day.

When it came to his magic there were some small improvements and two exciting new additions.  Create Water (which really should be Call Water or something) and Magic Wave were still the same.  It's not like there was a lot to improve on there anyways.  He could cast the memory fuzz spell a little faster, which reduced some of the lag time for when he tried to constantly cast it on something in order to be kind of not noticed.  That whole idea was still a work in progress.  He had helped his master create the new version of a water shield spell shortly after his last birthday and that had led to him finally deciding to try making one himself.  Since he didn't really have a great repertoire of spells to reference and as far as he knew his master didn't have any scrolls or books in the house he could look at for help he decided to just combine and minorly alter two of the spells he did know.  

After he combined the memory fuzz spell and Magic Wave he managed to create something closer to what he was looking for.  Kind of.  It pretty much just made the memory fuzz spell an area of effect spell.  At first it just centered on him but with a little bit of tinkering he could adjust it to either center on him or get focused in a kind of cone.  Now he could fuzz a certain memory within a certain timeframe to make it seem hard to remember and kind of unimportant.  All of the downsides he found after that had him feeling slightly depressed for almost a whole month over it.  Magic Wave flew out at what seemed about the speed of sound, making it almost imperceptible even for those who could see it normally.  The new memory fuzz wave was about the speed of a water ripple.  Meaning that he could use the spell similar to how he had been using the regular memory fuzz one but unless he started early and designated a future memory then it was pretty useless against further targets as a recognition inhibitor and since he couldn't really figure out how to make a memory a target when it didn't even exist at the time he used the spell it ended up feeling like a completely useless spell.  He did believe that he was at least on the right track, he just needed some other bits of knowledge that he didn't have yet.  He had soon come up with a new use for the spell, though.  He had a past life memory of some people who flashed a light to mess with people's memories and, realizing that this could probably be used in a similar manner, started trying to adjust it more in that way.  Of course, anyone who had magic defenses on their mind and memories or anyone who could see or sense an incoming wave of magic would probably not be affected and anyone who had sorcery defenses up would be able to at least detect that some kind of magic had hit them.  It wasn't perfect but it was the first spell he had made and he was kind of proud of it.

He had also learned another new spell as part of his deal with his master.  He had thought about it for some time and had decided that he wanted to learn something fairly simple in spellcrafting that dealt with either teleportation or communication.  The corresponding spell his master had suggested was Quick Transfer which was a simple spell that teleported one small touched object up to about the size of a water jug a short distance, maybe far enough for a quick jog, away.  The better someone got with the spell the bigger the object they could send, the further they could send it, and the more accurate the sending was.  There were a few other restrictions and such but it was actually a fairly useful spell.

Now that Marik had caught his breath and felt somewhat rested he carefully stood back up on the branch and crouched in preparation for jumping down.  Once he was sure his soul was set just right and his wind sorcery was ready he lightly jumped forward and watched the ground approach.  When he assumed he only had about a second of less before he hit the ground he used his sorcery to create the wind cushion which made contact with the ground first and rapidly decelerated his falling speed until his feet touched the ground.  There was still a little bit of shock made worse from the muscle pains in his legs but it wasn't bad enough to even make him grunt.  The wind cushion immediately dissipated after landing and Marik headed home for his evening studies.

---

As soon as his master dropped the pile of tomes and caused more scowling from the old foxkin, just like normal, Marik decided to try a little something to see if he could surprise anyone.  Using his arms to try and hold the books more than his hands, he started using his latest spellcraft to try and teleport the top tome his chin was resting on to just above the table.  As the top tome suddenly appeared and plopped down on the table, both his master and the old woman showed a hint of surprise.  Success!  Both the spell and making them surprised.  He failed to make it work on the next book immediately but got it on his second try.  After he was done teleporting each of the tomes he held one by one to the table he made a small bow as if to say his act was over.

His master, who knew how many of his small jokes and pranks went while even joining in on them on occasion, clapped in a one man applause.  Marik straightened back up and smiled at his master.  The old foxkin woman sighed loudly.

"Yes, yes.  I'm sure you'll make a wonderful performer some day.  Is there something you need from me this time as well?"

"No ma'am.  I'd like to just practice out in the courtyard if that's okay."

"Go ahead.  Matilda, I'm sure the boy remembers the way.  I have some things I need you to go get for me, instead."

The bearkin maid bowed, opened the door for Marik, then walked up to her employer.  Marik didn't wait to see or listen to whatever else was happening in the room.  He did feel a little curious like the child he was but he was always just wise and polite enough to not try and snoop.  He did, in fact, remember the way to the courtyard and made his way straight there.  After opening the door and feeling the fresh breeze flowing around the always empty courtyard he stepped forward so he could close the door and heard a tap tap tap sound behind him as if someone were running in his direction.

He turned around just in time to take a flying tackle to the chest which made him fall backwards onto the grass right outside of the door to the courtyard.  Pinning him to the ground was a young foxkin girl about the same age as he was.  She was straddling his stomach with her tail swishing back and forth across his legs in an excited manner.  Her arms held his shoulders down as her face loomed directly over his.  He could see her ear perked straight up in curiosity that matched the excitement he felt from her tail.  Her light brown hair, tinged with the hint of a kind of honey-coloring enough to shine in the sunlight but not enough to be called blonde, matched with the color of fur over her ears and was long enough to fall off to the side of her face and tickle his cheek.

"Hey there.  So who are you?  Have I seen you before?  Do I know you?  Why are you here?  Are you here to play?  Do you have any candy?  Do you like games?  Do you know about sex?  What's your name?  Have you seen my sister?  Is your tail soft?  Wanna touch my tail?"

The rapid fire questions came from her mouth as if she had no intention to even try and breath.  Her rather cute face had a full smile that showed her sharp canines as she continued speaking without letting Marik have a chance to answer anything.  He was also sure he heard a disturbing thing or two amidst the questions.  Her eyes practically sparkled as she stared straight at him the whole time.  Her right eye was bright golden color that almost shined by itself and her left eye was a gorgeous bright blue that could be considered bordering on a light grey.  Overwhelmed by the sudden tackle, lack of movement, barrage of questions, and look in her eyes that he felt drawn to as they stared into his own, he could only let out a few words.

"So beautiful..."

The girl's mouth suddenly clammed up.  She continued to stare at him as he stared back.  Her ears were now twitching slightly and he could no longer feel her tail moving.  Neither one of them made any attempt to move as they stared at each other.  Soon the sounds of someone else slowly walking in their direction came to his ears from the direction of the still open door.

"Sai!  Sai?  Where are you, Sai?  You know I'm not allowed to run!  Oh!  Umm...hi?"

Marik finally managed to pull his gaze away from the eyes that were still locked on him to look in the direction of the door.  Another girl stood there with one hand behind her back and the other raised up slightly in a waving motion.  Her hair was cut short, coming only to the top of her shoulders, and the color of her eyes were mirrored from the girl on top of him with the left eye gold and right eye light blue, but otherwise she appeared to be an identical twin.  Thinking that was probably the case he could tell that the girls' hair matched their tails as well as their ears, with only a bit of white that matched the fur on the inside of their ears at the very tip.  

"Umm, Sai?  Don't you think you should get off him now?"

"Huh?  Umm.  Oh yea!"

The first girl, whose name was apparently Sai, finally stood up and stepped slightly away from him.  Her tail was still barely moving and her ears kept twitching making her look like she might have been nervous.  Marik sat up but decided not to stand fully.  He looked at both of the girls for a moment longer and remembered something about some girls being around that the old lady had told him to be nice to.  Since the only other person he had ever really seen was the bearkin maid, Matilda, it was reasonably safe to assume these were the girls in question.

"Well.  Hi, I guess?  Quick question, here: is it okay to leave the door open like that?"

Both of the girls tilted their heads at the exact same time and exact same angle in confusion making them appear a little cuter and providing extra proof that they were twin sisters.  Technically most of the beast race were born as either twins or triplets but it was pretty rare that they ended up being identical like this.  Both of their heads went back to the normal position at the same time as they both came to their own realizations.

As the first girl, Sai, turned around and started closing the door, the second one let out a small and light giggle while looking at him.

"You got tackled by my sister and that's the first thing you say?  You're kind of weird, aren't you?"

"Although it might have been the first thing I said after I sat up, I think I might have said something shortly after getting tackled.  As far as my being weird...hmm...I guess I can't really deny it.  I'd like to claim that I'm not the only weird one here, though."

The short-haired girl laughed a little more while her sister, having already closed the door, stood behind her as if she was hiding.

"I'm Marik.  I gathered that the one who was so full of energy at first but is now hiding and refusing to say anything is Sai."

"I'm Kiara.  If you're here to visit Master, she's upstairs.  I can show you the way if you need?"

"No thanks.  I came with my master and he's the one visiting yours.  I was told I could come out here to train like I usually do when I'm here until it's time to go home."

"Wait.  You've been here before?  Hmm.  I don't remember ever seeing you before, though."

"I come here on my birthday every year.  I think your master said something about you two being asleep last time, if I remember correctly.  Wait a second.  Didn't I spot one of you right as I was leaving last time?  I swear I saw someone watching me from the doorway..."

Sai peeked out from behind her sister's back, finally.

"That was me.  So it was you I saw that one time entering the shiny sparkly sliver spot in the air.  That was so cool!  Can you make another shiny sparkly thing?  Can I see it right now?  Can you read minds?  Can you fly?  Do you like bugs?  Can I sniff you?  You're a boy, right?  Can you fight?  Do you kill people?  Is your favorite color purple or red?"

Sai seemed to get excited again and started approaching him with every question.  She even dropped down to her hands and knees to start crawling towards him, her eyes gaining more and more of that excited sparkle as she approached.  Marik was pretty sure he heard a few more disturbing questions mixed in again but chose to ignore it.  He was also pretty sure that if this continued much longer that her face would slam into his.

"Time out!  I can answer your questions if you really want but not at that kind of speed.  I mean, isn't it fair if I get to ask questions, too?"

"Huh?  You want to ask us something? "

Marik took a small breath and prepared himself.  He was told to treat them nicely, sure, but he was also pretty sure that at least Sai was a little crazy.  He had some memories of his past life self being a little crazy for at least one dream's worth and he was pretty sure he was getting close to the realm of crazy around the time he had met his master.  Pulling on those memories, he let himself slightly sink into that feeling of letting loose for the first time.  After all, sometimes it took crazy to deal with crazy.

"Do you like flowers?  Is your tail fluffy?  Can I touch your ears?  Are you crazy?  Do you eat meat?  Where are your shoes?  Do you sleep together?  Do you live here?  Do you each get your own maid?  Do you meet people?  Do you sleep naked?  Are you itchy?  Do you know how to fight?  Can I hold your hand?"

He pulled himself back away from the depths of insanity, thinking he might have asked some weird things himself, and looked at the girls.  Sai had a massive smile blooming across her face as if she were a treasure hunter who had just found the greatest and largest amount of hidden treasure ever discovered.  Kiara stood behind her, ears and tail pointed straight out and frozen, hands covering her mouth without hiding how much her jaw had dropped, and a look of total shock plastered across her face and wide open eyes.  Sai suddenly leapt forward, almost like a cat pouncing, and grabbed his hand then started to stand up while trying to pull him up with her.

"I am crazy.  You can hold my hand.  I live here.  My tail is super fluffy.  I don't sleep naked.  Usually."

Marik obliged her pull while listening to her answers.  After standing up he used the hand not being held to wipe of his back as much as he could.  He noticed Kiara slowly walking towards them as he did so but decided to turn towards Sai for the moment.  It would only be fair to answer some of her questions since she answered some of his.  Including what was obviously a weird one he probably shouldn't have asked.

"I prefer black but I don't mind red.  I don't know how to do the sparkly thing right now.  I know about sex.  I can't read minds or fly.  I do like games and wouldn't mind playing around."

"I can't believe it," came Kiara's voice from behind him.  "Hold on, I'll help brush your back off.  You can actually talk with my sister, though.  You're amazing.  Even Matilda can barely have a conversation with her."

"Uh, thanks?  I think?"

"Pfft.  I was calling you crazy.  That's not really a compliment."

"It's not really an insult either when it's true."

"C'mon.  I wanna play now," Sai suddenly shouted.  "Kiara can't play with me anymore and everyone says I'm too exciting so I'm always so bored.  Let's play tackle!"

"I'm pretty sure people say you're too excited, not exciting.  Although you seem to be pretty exciting as well.  Also, I don't know how to play tackle and why can't Kiara play?"

"Kiara...umm...can't get hurt?  She gets hurt really easy, though."

"Uh.  Sorry to hear that, I guess?"

"So let's play tackle.  I chase you and if I tackle you, I win.  Then we switch."

"Wait!  Doesn't that mean it's already my turn?  You already tackled me once."

"Oh ya!  Okay.  And GO!"

Marik spent the rest of the time running around with Sai while Kiara stayed off in the shade as if she were copying how the maid usually acted.  By the time his master showed up both he and Sai were breathing hard.  He had to admit that although he intended to work on his mystical arts out here originally, this had actually been good exercise.  Maybe he should increase the amount of physical activity in his normal daily routine.  Before they left Marik told them that he'd be back in a year and would play with them again if they wanted.  Sai's face grew a smile at that and her eyes grew sparkly when his master opened the portal to go home.  He waved goodbye to the two girls as he stepped through watching the happily jumping Sai and calmly waving Kiara turn into the silver wall of the portal.