The Apprentice [Job]

It was a silent, ruined city. There were no people in sight, well, no people except for one. ”How do you expect me to use this! To develop spells channeling a property of the universe?” she asked, taken to one knee. Lekuna was as frustrated as could be, and there was no one she could ask for help except for the man before her. That woman only spoke in riddles, of course. Why wouldn’t she? Being the old time wizard that she was, of course she would speak like that. The Eclipse Soul mage had only recently acquired the power of a goddess, the power to control time, because she felt in her that it was something she had to do, but she didn’t expect this. That very same goddess had sent her to the place where a single gem stood, which teleported her into this nightmare. Last Lekuna remembered, she was at the top of the Sky Tower and there was this, gem, of some kind. Upon touching it, as instructed, she was transported here.

”I’m sorry Leki, but we don’t have time to waste. Haha. We only have a week’s time for you to learn how to use this power of yours. I’d love to chat with you for as long as I could, but you need to learn how to access your newfound power. I know you can do it, or you would’ve died when that nice lady gave you some of her power.” the woman said with a smile as she froze Lekuna’s feet in place. ”No matter how hard I try, I can’t quite trick this pocket dimension we’re in that less time has gone by than actually has by normal standards. So we really have to pick up the pace. As much as I disagreed with dad’s method of training, you can’t argue that it didn’t produce results” she said with a sigh before kicking the young girl’s forehead.

”If you won’t remove those bandages stopping you from using your power, I’m going to do it for you” the woman said as she kneeled beside her daughter and froze her arms and legs in time, so that Lekuna couldn’t resist. ”Stop!” she exclaimed, trying to shake her head away from the insane woman’s hand. ”Sorry, but it’s for your own good” she responded, tearing the bandages away from the future time mage’s left eye and causing the visions to pour back in like the day she got this curse. Lekuna’s mentor threw an eyepatch just out of reach and gave her an ultimatum. ”Either unfreeze the pockets of time keeping you from moving or be consumed by the visions you sought after”. Lekuna tried her best to keep her composure despite the impossible task at hand. ”Just channel the energy granting your visions. Use them to your advantage” the woman said, trying to help her student out of this jam.

Only a couple minutes passed before her screams filled the air of the desolate battlefield. This had happened once before and it was just as bad then as it was now, but the only way to stop it this time was to do as she was told. In a burst of mental fortitude, she freed herself from the prison created for her and quickly put the eyepatch on before looking up at the woman in frustration. She shot off the ground with her fist cocked, ready to strike the woman who had nearly driven her insane, only for her hand to be caught by the woman. Not the one she was aiming for, but a copy of her. ”See, I told you that it was possible. You just had to believe that you could stop my magic, and then concentrate on that instead of that bombardment of visions that you’ll get. Eventually, you’ll be able to redirect all that energy into magic. You’ll only need that eyepatch to remind you that you have succeeded, but as you are now, you stand no chance against anyone or anything”.

”Let’s start with this. Time magic is only offensive if you can get creative with it. Otherwise, it’s very defensive, so you need to compensate with something. What’s that something you might ask? Well it’s simple. The bare basics. Just look” the woman said, known to Lekuna only has “mom”. Before Lekuna, fifteen weapons appeared. Three rows of five, each row being a different type of weapon. At the top row there were five rifles: a blue one with a long barrel and a sort of diamond point at the tip, a smaller one with a scope and medium sized barrel, akin to a hunting rifle, a single barreled, classic brown shotgun, another of the prior, except a double barreled one, and finally, there was a classic looking sniper rifle. In the middle row, there were five hammers: a very fancy looking one with a sort of lava aesthetic, your average ballpeen hammer, a massive sledgehammer, a technologically advanced two handed hammer which could transform into a cannon, and a colossal one that she wouldn’t even able to pick up.  The bottommost row was of swords, of course, because it’s always swords. There was a tall bladed, blue scimitar, a red longsword with a stylish cross guard, a yellow rapier that looked like it had electricity coursing throughout its hilt, a massive golden claymore imbued with fire, and a dagger.

”Pick three. They will be your offense. Your compliment to your defensive magic. They each have a legendary background, as they are weapons I’ve collected over time, so take care of them. Each are precious to me, but for you, I’m willing to give up any of them.” the mother said to her daughter who was scowling at her. ”You’re nothing like I remember you. You were much nicer about teaching me the ways of machinery, but this is torture” she responded. Lekuna had been long winded with only people close to her, and even then she tried her best not to be. So far, it had only been with those involving her magic, but she felt like she was getting slightly more open to people overall. ”That was a different time Leki. We actually had time compared to now, where we only have a week before the magic of that Sky Tower gem wears off, and we need to get you prepared to clear the way for yourself” More riddles, fantastic, that’s just what I needed today.

With a sigh, Lekuna chose her first weapon. Upon picking it up, she was bombarded with visions despite her protective eyepatch. Actually, no. This wasn’t a vision. It was as if she was living out some kind of event. ”Get me my Crosshair’s laddeh!” the man roared to his first mate whom promptly got his captain’s bright blue rifle from the beam supporting the crow’s nest. After the long blue rifle was thrown, the bearded man smiled and exclaimed ”I’ve got you now, sea devil!”. Captain Ahab pulled the trigger and a blue beam was fired from the weapon and into the flying whale, leaving all of his ship hands in shock. ”Brace ye’selves! That beast is comin’ down!” he yelled, causing all of his crew members to get into position.

Of course, putting a hole through a massive white beast with wings was not something that would go without consequences, so, naturally, it fell from the sky and into the water. Not long after that, a huge wave crashed into the boat, sweeping away most of the crew except for the Captain, his first mate, and a few deck hands. To the captain, the prize was well worth the lives of the majority of his crew. He had finally gotten his prize, that dammed, ever so elusive whale that he had been chasing for years. Then, Lekuna snapped out of it.

”Why didn’t you warn me that I would live whatever event highlighted the weapon I selected? I just had to watch a good number of men and women die because of a greedy captain” she said, posing the question to the lady who gave her the choice to begin with. ”Ahab’s Crosshair I take it? He was a good man when he set out to become the captain of a ship, but he was consumed by greed and was obsessed with capturing that flying whale. In the end, he got what he wanted, but the losses were very, very heavy. As to your question, what fun would it be if you expected it? Haha!” her mother said with a grin on her face, causing Lekuna to just roll her eyes at her elder. ”Let’s just get on with this” she said exasperatedly as she took the hammer that stood out to her the most, the one with the fiery red, lava feel to it.

Just as before, she was transported to a third person view of a key event in the weapon’s history. ”Your hammer is mine, Hephaestus!” the fiery mage said, demanding that the legendary blacksmith hand over his hammer. ”You’re going to have to pry it from my stone cold hands then. Your dull embers are nothing compared to my searing flames” the blacksmith responded, looking down at the mage. Hephaestus’ forge was situated inside of a volcano- the only place hot enough to melt what he needed to melt. Many mages had come for his legendary hammer, a hammer said to amplify the magic of fire mages beyond what any other mage could even imagine, though none had succeeded. ”Get out of here before you get burned. A forge is no place for children who play with fire” the gruff man said, giving one last warning before he inevitable would destroy the child who dared disrespect his home.

”I’m only leaving with that hammer you have, and nothing will keep me from it! Especially not a dirty old man who should be six feet in the dirt by now” the young mage exclaimed, running at the tower of flesh and muscle with fire burning in his palms. Hephaestus, being through this too many times to count before, simply pointed his hammer at the boy and casted a spell that would disintegrate the mage instantly. Not only was he a legendary blacksmith, but Hephaestus was also a monstrous fire mage. Nobody could ever defeat him to take his hammer because of this reason, though many came because they thought he was just some old coot who was incapable of wielding his own hammer. Normally, the fight ended as quickly as it started, but not this one. There was a bridge from the outside of Hephaestus’ volcano to the circular platform of rock that his forge was situated on, straight, and made of rock. It was about 3 meters across and the blacksmith would use this to his advantage, knocking mages off into the magma below to end their bouts fast so that he could get back to work.

The mage that challenged him today, however, seemed to welcome the challenge that the old man presented and didn’t make the common mistake of underestimating the blacksmith. He had propelled himself from the bridge with a burst of fire from his feet to avoid the searing inferno that was sent his way from the hammer. In another burst of fire from his feet, he propelled is body towards the old man while shooting streams of fire from his hands. This challenger did that over and over again, avoiding Hephaestus’ attacks while mocking and widdling down the old man’s patience. ”That’s enough! I have had it with you fools coming to take what is mine. Now, you’ll never have it!” the legendary fire mage roared as the whole volcano began to shake and his hammer was dropped to the ground. That old man is gonna bring the whole volcano down on the poor kid! Lekuna thought before watching the kid’s face contort.

He knew that there was only one way to stop Hephaestus from causing the hammer to be lost forever. The challenging mage had burst into the blacksmith with all the force his magic power would let him, and eventually, the blacksmith was pushed to the ledge and off into the lava below. When he thought it was finally over, the fire mage felt a large force pulling him down. The blacksmith of legend had grabbed his leg as he fell, not going down without taking that poor boy with him. His hammer wouldn’t be retrieved until way later, but before then, Lekuna snapped back to her reality. ”Ah, Hephaestus’ Inferno. Quite an interesting story about how I acquired that one, but you made a good choice Leki. Now there’s only one more weapon to go, and I have a feeling I know which one you’re going to pick. That’s gonna be a fun one” her mother said, causing Lekuna to exaggerate a sigh before picking her last weapon, her sword.

She went with the red longsword with was looked like it had an upside down, sharp cone as a cross guard as well as a frog looking structure right below the blade. Once again, she was transported to a key part of that weapon’s history. ”You made a great mistake coming here, mage. We’ll have to deal with you like we have every other one of your kind. Cowards. All of you. Hiding behind magic and tricks instead of real steel and honor. You sicken me” the woman told the coat clad traveler in the heart of one of the Pergrande cities. ”Oh? I was looking for a fun diversion while I visited your great country. Let’s see what your so called ‘legendary swordsmen’ are made of. Shall we dance, Captain Scarlet? Or should I call you the Crimson Judicator?” he taunted, recreating a simple katana that held worlds of meaning to him.

The traveler and his opponent, whom was known as the captain of the guard in this city, were surrounded by plenty of heavily armored guards. Pergrande was known for its masterful training and discipline in the ways of the blades and other martial arts. What she didn’t know, however, was that the man before her was forced to train with a sword for his life, and it wasn’t even his most fluent weapon. ”You’re not going to leave our great nation alive, undisciplined heathen” she said to him before charging the powerful mage with the weapon from which her title comes from. The woman was fast, the guild master, or ex-guild master, rather, would give her that, but not that fast. In the moment in which she was at the perfect range to strike him, he drew his sword from his sheath at nearly lightning speeds, causing a sharp shock wave of air to hit her and knock her back.

She obviously didn’t seem too fond of his “tricks” and again, rushed the mage with her blade in hand, this time knowing that there was no way he could pull that trick twice. When she swung for his neck, specifically his jugular, the opponent swordsman brought his sword up and countered her strike with equal force before giving her a powerful kick to the stomach, which she blocked her knee. ”Oh? Do we actually have a mage who knows how to use a sword? That surprising, but it won’t change your sentence” she said as she removed her sword from his and began swinging very quickly, but very precisely. This was top notch technique, he thought as he met every blow with his own in the opposite direction.

The clink and clangs of their swords could be felt by the guardsmen who began to back away from the duelists. They knew that if there was someone who could match the skill and grace of their captain, they had to be respectful at the very least. If there was anything about the Kingdom of Pergrande that the foreigner loved, it was the fact that even though they hunted mages, they respected the strength of whoever showed it. Zenshin, the man fighting the Crimson Judicator, hadn’t remembered the last time he had met his match in a pure sword battle. The only other time he could remember was when he was fighting his mentor, and that was a long time ago. Even as she got faster and faster, he kept up with her blows and sent more her way. Slashes from above, from the side, to her legs, using the pommel, his legs. Each was met and answered by the other and they were locked in the ultimate stalemate. ”I never imagined there would be such skilled swordsmen in Pergrande. Impressive” he said to the girl with a smile from behind his katana.

”And I never thought I would be evenly matched with a mage when it came to a fight. I’m used to your kind becoming helpless the second I’m within slashing distance, but you, you’re defense is superb. My men could learn a thing or two from you. Why waste your time with that cowardly magic when you could hone your skills here. I’ll exempt you from judicial punishment if you agree to stay in Pergrande and help me train the recruits” she said, proposing to him an offer that he could not refuse. ”How about this. I stay for two months and help you. And if by the end of the two months I can defeat you, I can take your weapon as a keepsake and become a citizen of the kingdom. If I can’t, I’ll stay here for the rest of my life and help the Pergrande army” he said, proposing his counter offer. Thinking there was no way she could lose, Scarlet took up his offer. By the end of the two months, he had won by a hair in an all-out battle with the captain and she upheld her end of the bargain, as did he, so the recreationist walked out of the kingdom an honorary citizen of Pergrande, as well as a nifty sword richer.

Lekuna once more snapped back to reality. ”Was that who I think it was?” she asked, a bit surprised at what she had saw. ”Yup! That was dear old dad fighting the infamous Captain Scarlet. That’s the real reason she had lost her weapon, though you’ll never find that in any history book” the mother informed her child before continuing. ”Well, now that you’ve picked out the three weapons, it’s time to get to work. You’re gonna want to store these in between the branches in your timeline so that you have easy access to the weapons. Now that you can more or less control the energy that your eye produces, you should be able to see the strings of time and all you have to do is focus on what your goal is and it will happen. Go ahead, try it”. Lekuna was still unsure on how all of this was going to work, but she trusted her mother even though she was mad at the woman, and decided to try just that.

She raised the eyepatch from her eye and focused as hard as she could on placing the image of the weapons before her in between where she perceived her current timeline was. It was pretty narrow, so it seemed that all of her timelines converged here no matter what path she decided to take. Wow, so this is just something that was destined to happen to me she thought before snapping back to focus. Her head began to hurt, but eventually a magical circle with clockwork instead of runic markings within it appeared and transported all three of her weapons into that pocket space of which her mentor had described. ”This is going a lot better than I thought! Like mother like daughter I guess, haha!” the mother exclaimed with much excitement as her daughter rubbed her head. ”You access the weapons the same way, though you may have trouble switching in fights with your magical power as weak as it is. Don’t worry, as you grow stronger you’ll be able to. Now, onto some fundamental abilities. As you know, with time magic, you won’t age. That’s a given. In your present I believe I’m still a baby, but as your mother, I’m telling you it can be hard to live forever. It’s why time mages are attracted to other time mages, or at least one reason why, but I’m rambling”.

”We also get the ability to travel through time, make changes and branches in timelines for ourselves, things of that nature. There’s also a point in every time mage’s life called the convergence. It’s a time in which all branches combine into one timeline which will no longer branch and remain until your death. It may seem strange but just trust me, it’s just what happens. Should you misuse time travel, the universe will find its way to kill you to warn past yous that what you’re thinking of doing, don’t. Try not to worry about that though, the universe has anticipated a lot of your time traveling already, so don’t think on it too hard” she said, not trying to scare her child, but instead trying to warn her of the dangers of her newfound powers. ”That being said, you have to learn how to time travel in order for you to make mistakes doing it in the first place. So I want you to focus on a time in your recent past that you would like to go to. Think hard, because you might not end up where you want to go if your mind strays”. Okay… The guild seems like a good place to go. Right after I left to go to the Sky Tower. Guild… Hm, I wonder how Venir is doing in my absence she thought before being zapped to a sunny location.

Lekuna was squatting slightly and opened her eyes wide after squinting to adjust to the sun. She knew where she was. ”Crap” she thought before looking to the right and seeing herself. This is that moment where I got really confused and rationalized it to be some kind of magic shenanigans. It was no ordinary magic shenanigans, it was time shenanigans! she thought in her head before being zapped back to that pocket dimension. ”Ugh… my head” she said aloud before getting down onto the floor and resting her head. ”I think that’s enough work for today. We’ll pick up on another key ability tomorrow. Good job so far honey” her mother told her before Lekuna knocked out. One day down, six to go.

She awoke the next day rested enough and ready to tackle the day, or at least she had hoped that she was anyway. ”How’d you sleep?” he mother asked politely as she looked down at her daughter from a standing position. ”I slept fine. Thanks. How about you?” Lekuna asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes as she got up from the floor. Her mother merely nodded at her and decided it was time to start the day as early as she could, not wanting to waste any time at all. The point was to get Lekuna to develop spells and hopefully master them by the end of the week, and there were six days to go. She obviously didn’t expect her daughter to master time traveling, but she did expect her daughter to at least execute weaker time magic perfectly. ”Before we move onto spells, there’s another ability which I should tell you about. Well, two, actually. One allows you to speed up the healing processes of your own body or the body of others every so often. It will allow you to heal yourself and your allies. Although it won’t start off powerful, as you get stronger, so will it. The second ability is one that allows you to age anything so long as it isn’t a sentient living being like a mage or animal. I’ve done this quite a few times, so I don’t quite need to focus as hard as you’ll have to, but you get the idea” she informed Lekuna before taking a dagger from her leather sheath and cutting her daughter’s upper leg faster than she could react.

”Ow! The way you’re teaching me this is terrible. Just wait until I become stronger, then I’m coming to the future and taking you down” Lekuna said as she tried to focus on speeding up her own metabolic functions. ”Now that’s no way to talk to your mother. I’m just trying to help you master your own abilities as quickly as you possibly can. Like I said, there’s only six more days we can train together, and I’d rather you learn from me than that tricky goddess from which you gained your powers from to begin with, or at least a way to use them” she replied, a little upset that we own daughter was in pain and threatening her. The newly christened time mage simply shook her head at her mother and sighed as she tried to speed up her own bodily processes. She was focusing on speeding up the natural process that healed cuts and bruises, but apparently that was way too much for her body to do for her and refused to do it like she wanted it to. How annoying. Why can’t my body just work can’t with me on this one she thought, a little frustrated that it wasn’t working out like she thought it would.

It seemed like it just wouldn’t work, and that upset her. She was supposed to get this done in six days, and she hadn’t even developed a single spell except for removing weapons from a pocket space to use in a fight, if you could even count that as a spell. So far she had touched base with time travel in the ways of abilities and that’s it. Why can’t I just do what I did the other day? I just need to concentrate she thought again before realizing what was wrong. Her eyepatch was still down, and of course she could still her magic if it was blocked, it was significantly more difficult. Lekuna’s mother giggled as she raised that small black piece covering her eye and tried again, speeding up the time of a specific part of her timeline, the one which dictates how quickly her body heals. The magical circle appeared again, this time over her leg and a bit smaller. Her wound closed almost immediately, being healed with time and not even leaving a scar. Wow. It looked like Lekuna was already getting a handle on diverting the energy from her eye into tasks she wanted to perform, excellent her mother thought before pointing to a ruined building nearby. ”Now that you know more or less how things thing get done, I want you to rewind that building to a point where it hadn’t been destroyed yet. You should be fine now that you know how to do things for the most part” her mother said as she waved her daughter off to go do the task.

Lekuna, being the obedient child that she was, nodded and walked towards the destroyed building. It was all torn apart, already crumbled from years of weathering and whatever else brought it down. She had a feeling that it was only time though, time which destroyed everything in this forgotten city. That’s why it was the best place to train her specific type of magic, or at least that was the idea she was sticking with. Putting her hand on the side of the ruined house, she concentrated on rewinding to a time where all the pieces were back together, and slowly, but surely, the bricks came off the ground and floated into place. The wooden supports became un-rotted and the frame of the home was back to normal. This was taking a lot out of her and eventually she stopped, leaving it half way done and beginning to breathe heavily. ”Take your time! There’s still the whole rest of the day to do it!” her mother reminded her from afar, causing her to shake her head once more. She felt like there was much more head shaking to go, but hey, at least she had survived one day.

Once again, Lekuna put her hand out in front of her and focused on rewinding the building to a point where it was at the very least presentable to anyone else who happened to look in its general direction. And once again, the pieces began rising from the floor and locking their place with the other bricks that also floated into place until the shattered glass and frames also came into play and before she knew it, the entire building portion of the house was done and all that was left were the roof panels. Eventually, those too raised from the floor and locked their place where they were before time weathered them away and the full building was done. All that remained was to go inside and fix up all the furniture. Lekuna walked to the front door and opened it, scanning the inside of the house. It was a quaint place with broken furniture everywhere, but she was about to fix that. For the last time today, she put her hand out in front of her and the pieces all started to come together.

Four legs of a chair situated themselves underneath a square of wood and a longer rectangle of wood that formed the back rest. Cushions and wooden frames came together to form beds and couches. Old carved done came together with other materials to form counters. Panels came together to form book shelves and moist, destroyed books rose from the dirt as if they were as good as new and all put themselves back into place. When she was finished, the place actually looked pretty spiffy in her opinions. It looked like a place she would want to live in if she could, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to. Less than a week from now, all evidence of her accomplishments would be in her memory, but she’d know that she had trained hard for what she would have. Hopefully she would have enough power to go on jobs again, because in her current state, anything like that would be hopeless. Katherine may have mentored her a bit in the ways of time magic, but her true mentor would always be her mother.

Her mother’s was the one who taught her about the world, about machines, about magic, about everything that she knows about today really. She had a good idea that her mother was a time mage, a few people did actually, but that was from a doomed future. A future in which most of her family and friends were in the grave and needless war was going on, stealing the lives of the innocent to fuel magic hungry greed. It was disgusting what they were doing just so that they could achieve their goals, but somebody had to do it. Unfortunately, it was a necessary evil that Lekuna did not want to see come to pass and would do everything in her power to stop it. ”The convergence? That sounds strange. I’ll always be making different decisions” she queried, curious as to what her mother was talking about earlier. ”Not when you’re all synced up. Don’t worry, you’ll only reach the convergence at around ten thousand years old, and you’ll always have an alternate timeline to fall back on, but normally, if you don’t make an effort, you’ll remain at one, so be careful” she said, responding to the question as best she could.

Although she expected to do more in the day, her mother said that they were ahead of schedule, reassuring Lekuna that they would finish their training and she would do whatever she had to do that her mom hinted at with time to spare. Lekuna wasn’t about to argue about doing more work than she already had to, so she listened and decided it would be best to sleep on the couch inside of the house she had repaired. As she lay there, she felt herself drifting off into a deeper sleep and eventually into a dream. In front of her, there was emptiness. To her left and right, more emptiness. She had a feeling that it was the same behind her. Why was she still standing? Well, she was actually standing on top of a massive platform, probably 50 meters in diameter. Upon looking down, she observed the creaking of gears pressing against each other and working together in an endless loop of turns.

I haven’t had a dream like this one before. Must have something to do with the time magic she thought before looking up and saw rusted gears struggling to turn in place of where the sky should be. ”So this is what your ‘inner world looks like’. Looks like you have a clock aesthetic. Fitting” her mother’s voice said from behind her, causing Lekuna to turn sharply and face her mentor. ”I thought I was going to rest! You can’t even leave me alone in my dreams!” she yelled, upset at the fact that there was no escape from her mother. ”Oh come on, I said to go to sleep, not that you were gonna get any. I did it because I felt that it would be easier to develop spells inside of your sleep, now come on, we have work to do” her mother said, taunting her daughter once more. It felt like it would never end, this nightmare she was in, but the sooner she got this over with, the sooner she could leave.

”Before we get into any of that magic business though, and I mean actual spells, I think we should actually work on your weapons training. Take out your rifle” she commanded, and Lekuna did. With enough concentration, she actually managed to take out her rifle with relative ease to when she put in the space outside of time. ”Okay, now try to hit me!” she yelled from across the platform. Instead of some thought like, “no, that ridiculous, you’re my mom”, Lekuna simply hesitated for a moment and thought instead, okay, I have no problem with that. After a moment of aiming, she fired her rifle, causing a blue beam to be fired from the tip and towards her mother. So much recoil! she thought, surprised as the gun’s barrel shot up. When she looked back down, there she was, clad in red and with a dagger in hand.

She’s fast the mage with the rifle thought with wide eyes before she received a slash to her middle chest. She kicked out, but her mother had disappeared and reappeared behind her. Another cut, this time to her back. Then another, and another, and another until Lekuna saw a pattern. When her mother inflicted another cut, Lekuna swung the butt of her rifle as hard as she could to where she believed her opponent would end up. Lo’ and behold, she was right. Lekuna clocked her opponent square in the jaw before pointing the end of the barrel at her mom’s head and pulling the trigger after a slight delay. Because of that slight delay, though, a clone appeared of her mother and pushed the barrel aside, causing it to barely miss its target. She wouldn’t let this stop her, though. As the barrel was pushed, she let go of the rifle to thrown the clone off balance before hopping back and claw kicking her right in the back of her head, knocking her out and dropping her weapon. Raising a fist, she hopped forward and attempted to swing at her opponent’s face as fast as she could. By the time she hit the floor, her mom was gone and standing a few feet behind her.

”That was good, but you’re going to need to get faster if you want to beat me. Or, not faster really, but more knowledgeable on how to control your timeline” her mother said as her clone was sent back to the timeline she came from. Angry at her mother for playing with her mind like this, Lekuna got up quickly and threw a back fast. This was no ordinary back fist though, it was one that was affected by her magic. Before her mother could react, “Leki’s” fist collided with her face and sent her to the ground, rubbing the impact location. ”Ow! That, I was not expecting. Seems like you really wanted to land some kind of blow on my, and hey, you did! Not only that, but you used magic to do it Leki! This is going along so well” her mom said, happy as ever while Lekuna picked up her rifle. ”What you need to learn is that you need to use your entire weapon, not just the barrel or the blade, but I’m sure that’s something you saw with dad’s fight with that Crimson Judicator girl in Pergrande. Those swordsmen are no joke. I don’t even think I’d be able to match up against them like this, haha” her mom said while getting up and healing her wounds using what seemed to be a more advanced version of Lekuna’s metabolic boost.

”What did I just do? How did I manage to land that hit on you faster than I could even know” Lekuna asked, wondering how she managed to inflict that painful looking attack on a woman faster than normal time could allow. ”Well, it’s simple. You just cut out the time in between the start of your swing and the end of it, so only the small window of windup really ‘played out’, so to speak. Next thing I know, there’s a fist hitting the side of my head with all he force that a swung hand would have” she explained, Lekuna listening attentively so that she could reproduce this ‘spell’ of hers whenever she so pleased. ”Anyways, I think that’s enough training with Ahab’s Crosshairs. Take out Hephaestus’ Inferno next” her mom ordered, and Lekuna followed once again. Now, with her hammer in hand, she charged her mom who had just been standing there, waiting for her daughter’s attack.

Gladly taking the offensive, Lekuna swung the end of the hammer onto her opponent from a jump, using that force to strengthen her strike. Right before her attack reached her mother, it hit some kind of invisible barrier, disallowing her hammer to go through. What in the world? she thought, baffled by the fact that it seemed as though there was an invisible barrier blocking her way. Lekuna swung the hammer overhead and tried striking again, only leading to the same result. Her mother was simply standing still, eyes closed as if asleep. Her daughter, on the other hand, squinted her eyes and attacked from different angles, all futile. Okay, so it’s pretty clear she’s using some kind of powerful barrier to stop my attacks, but it also looks like she’s meditating, probably to keep it from falling. Channeling spells aren’t that uncommon, and the mage always looks like they’re focusing hard during it. Time for your barrier to fall, mom the mage thought with a smile before bring the hammer up above her head and down onto the clear glass floor as hard as she possibly could.

The hammer cracked the ground beneath her and caused her mother to lose focus for a moment, evident from the fact that her eyes were open now. I have you know she thought with a smile on her face as she dashed forward swung her hammer right at her mother’s face. A frown then appeared when the hammer broke through the invisible barrier, but went through what she had believed to be her mother’s head. ”Right behind you…” she heard, oh no, she tricked me. Lekuna quickly turned around and looked at her mother about to slice her neck with the dagger. Upon bracing her the slash, Lekuna’s mentor’s hand stopped. Not because she was showing mercy, but because she could not cut through the barrier that had been formed by Lekuna, using her magic.

”You learn a lot better when you’re forced to fight for your life then you do otherwise, just like anyone really. When it comes down to it, you swim where most would sink. You get that from me” her mother said to her with a smile and a wink. ”What did I do this time?” she asked again, curious once more as to how she was pulling off such tricks. ”You stopped time in the shape of a rectangular box right in front of you, as large as your body. It then becomes an obstacle and indestructible to most things melee. Higher magic will overpower the magic you used to keep it together though, so keep that in mind when you’re in a bind and have to block some spell”. Wow. I did that just from observing something that a clone of hers did, if it even was that. I need to learn more of these tricks she does, they seem very helpful she thought as her mother summoned a giant structure. It was merely a pillar, but it was quite tall and then she teleported onto it.

Well, not quite teleport, but she sped up the time it would take for her to climb the thing. Now that she was exhausted, Lekuna’s next test was to bring the giant pillar down. She didn’t need her mother to tell her that. Somehow, she just knew it. Lucky for her, there wouldn’t really be any fighting involved, just problem solving. Lekuna had to use her magic to bring down a colossal, indestructible looking pillar which her mother had summoned and was now resting on. Whether she realized it or not, she had slept through the entire third day of her training, as she was busy in this dream world. It didn’t matter though, everything was going according to schedule according to her mother’s actions. The fledgling time mage didn’t know how long it had been since she had gotten here or how long there was to go, but she had a pretty good guess. She figured that dreaming really messed with her internal clock, literally. The massive clockwork structure she was standing on powered what seemed to be her internal clock, and the hands were going haywire.

They moved in random directions and switched occasionally, but they weren’t doing it too quickly, just fast enough for it to be noticeable. There’s no way that this hammer is going to bring down that giant quarts looking pillar. It looks way too dense for me to take it down the old fashioned way. I know I have to use my magic, but how… she thought before getting an idea. Lekuna had to concentrate on it, though. She remembered how she rebuilt the house by rewinding the time on it, perhaps, she thought, she could fast forward the time on the base of this quartz pillar. Setting her hammer down, Lekuna pointed her left hand’s palm towards the bottom of the pillar and gave it a single command. A command that would then become the name of the very spell she was casting. ”Age”. After a moment, the base of the pillar began to erode at an exponential rate, so fast actually, that within minutes, it was withered down enough to make the entire thing crumble and fall.

As she looked up to see what her mentor’s reaction would be, she noticed that the gears in the sky got a little less rusty and began to rotate faster. They were making less noise too, it just seemed as though they had gotten smoother. I wonder what that’s about. Are they reflecting my progress thus far? How interesting she thought before the pillar fell onto the surprisingly strong glass platform and cracked a large portion of it. ”You figured that one out faster than I expected you to. Well played. You’re getting good at this” her mentor commented, just causing Lekuna to roll her eyes. ”Don’t patronize me, but if you really meant it, thank you. What’s the time? It feels kind of uncomfortable not knowing it. The dreaming has thrown me off a bit” she said, and then asked ”It’s the fourth day. We’re making good progress, but you’re not at the level you should be quite yet. Soon though, you will be, should we continue at the rate we’re going” her mother responded, causing Lekuna’s eyes to nearly bust from her socket.

”It’s been ‘that’ long!? I didn’t think I would have slept through an entire day and not noticed! Wow, how time really flies when you’re dream training” she exclaimed, surprised that it had been so long and she hadn’t even noticed. ”Yeah… you should probably wake up. Your body by now is most likely dying from dehydration and hunger. I’ll be waiting on the other side with a meal” her mom said before disappearing, leaving Lekuna alone to sigh to herself. Before she left, she removed the downed pillar and eroded base and fixed her nearly shattered glad platform. I would hate to leave my ‘inner world’ a mess before I woke up was her last thought before awaking in the couch she had comfortably slept in. Although her sleep was filled with training, she felt rejuvenated and ready to take on anything! Well, at least she would if she wasn’t busy starving to death.

Before she knew it, her mother came in through the front door with a tray of food, putting it down next to the couch on an invisible platform that she’d probably created by freezing the time in that fixed location. ”How practical” she said, her mother just returning the comment with a shrug. Hey, if you could make your life even slightly easier through the use of magic, even magic that messes with a fundamental part of reality, you should go for it. In front of Lekuna was a plate of steak and mashed potatoes with a bowl of spaghetti alle alfredo right next to it. It smelled delicious and enticing, so she did not hesitate to dig into the food. Lekuna, although hungry, was quite a slow eater, so it would take her a bit of time in order for her to finish her meal. That was just fine with her and her mentor, as they both felt as though she needed a break from all of the training that she had been put through the last four days. This is delicious. Mom really hasn’t lost her culinary touch I see she thought with a smile as she stuck another piece of cut steak into her mouth.
”I’m not going to question how you got here or what sort of pocket dimension this is, but thank you for doing this for me. I’m sorry I was so rude to you earlier, in the week, you just caught me off guard because I didn’t expect to see you again. The food is delicious” she said after swallowing, remorseful at how she treated her own mother for only trying to help. ”It’s okay, I understand. I’m not the ‘alpha’ version of your mother, which is to say I’m a branched off timeline from the original which will eventually merge in a couple thousand years, but I did so because I knew you would need a teacher after Katherine imbued you with that eye of yours. I’m also running you pretty ragged, so any mean words are justified, just enjoy your break, you’ve earned it” she said, happy that she and her daughter had reconciled. ”Oh! That reminds me, I need to go get your drink” she said, remembering what she had forgotten before standing up and exiting the room.

By the time the lady returned, Lekuna was halfway through the spaghetti topped with that creamy white sauce that she loved so much. A medium sized glass of lemonade was put down on the corner of the “time table” and Lekuna grinned a bit. This felt like old times, back when she was learning the ways of machinery and machinery make. Her mother would do the exact same thing, so she wasn’t bothered too much by the fact that this one wasn’t quite the “alpha” timeline version of her mom. Once she was done with the bowl of noodles, she moved onto the glass of lemonade that her mother had so selflessly brought to her. The condensation on the outside of the glass made her hand slightly wet, but she didn’t mind all that much, as it was simply a sign that it was ice cold. Lekuna didn’t need droplets on a glass to tell her that though, as there were three ice cubes floating gently within the glass, the lemonade as calm as an undisturbed pond. All the nostalgia was making Lekuna feel like a kid again, a feeling she didn’t quite get often, or ever, really, so it was quite a nice change in pace.

She was sure that her mother also felt younger through an equally present nostalgic feeling within her. It was a nice and tranquil time they spent together inside of the house that she had fixed up earlier, and it was quite nice. ”It’s been really fun so far, for me anyways. I finally got the chance to see my only child again. I feel like we’re back when you were thirteen and I was teaching you all about those machines that you were so enthusiastic about. You still seem pretty interested in machinery to this day. I’m proud to say that you’re my daughter. You would’ve made grandpa, grandma, and dad proud” her mother said as their fourth day came to a close. They practically only had three days left together, and it was going to dawn on Lekuna a bit too late how fast their time had gone by. With all the training she was being subjected to, she hardly had time to keep up with the, well, time.

”Well, if you don’t mind, mom, I’d like to actually get some real sleeping time. Not just dream training, as that doesn’t do anything for my need to sleep at all. I’ll be ready for action when I wake up, got it?” she said to her mother, who simply nodded at her request, silently approving as she put the bowl on the plate and carried the dirty dishes away and shutting the door on her way out. Lekuna closed her eyes again, this time to drift off into the land of dreams and not wake up until the sun rose about 8 hours later, a healthy amount of sleep if she did say so herself. Eventually, she did awake and the sun blasted through the windows, causing her to get up from the couch and walk outside. When she saw her mother, she then walked towards her as well, asking her what they were going to be doing today. Before she reached her mentor, though, she was charged by her. That’s one day to start a day she thought as she focused quite hard on removing her sword out this time, as it was the only weapon she hadn’t practiced with yet.

”Going with Scarlet’s Ribbitar today, see how I fare with a blade after watching grandpa fight off the original owner of this thing” she said, proclaiming the name of the sword. It was actually a pun on the weapon’s structure on its base. It looked a lot like the head of a frog, while the sword itself looked akin to a scimitar. Not only that, but she also wanted to keep to the theme of naming her weapons after the original owners, hence the Scarlet’s Ribbitar. Lekuna thought it was quite a funny and clever play on words, but her mother simply shook her head with a smile on her face as she charged her daughter with a black longsword. When she brought it up to clash with Lekuna, Lekuna met her blade with a strike in the opposite direction. Before she could realize it, her mom brought her leg up and kicked her in the gut, sending her backwards and she leaned forward a bit. ”That blade isn’t your only tool to beat me Leki. If you let me I ‘will’ inflict some serious bodily harm on you. I’m a time mage, so any wound of yours can be healed over, and over, and over again” her mother said with a smile before rushing her once more.

Wow, what a sadist she has become Lekuna thought as she brought up her guard and began to meet her mother’s blows with her own. She blocked her mentor’s kicks by bringing up her legs and even managed to catch her in the act of disappearing and reappearing somewhere else by simply ‘feeling’ where she was going to end up. Creating a break in time isn’t something that goes unnoticed or unfelt, she realized. At least not by time mages anyways. It was a mambo of swords clashing, first her mother going on the offensive, then Lekuna. Back and forth and back and forth, it was quite a vicious cycle of weapons colliding with each other for the sake of training. Both were prepared to seriously maim the other, despite their heartwarming reconciliation the other night. This time, however, there was something different. Lekuna didn’t fight with anger and aggression, she fought with pride and honor. No longer did she feel like she had something to prove to the woman that had raised her all those years ago, or into the future actually…. Still, the point remained that there clash was indeed one to be impressed with instead of something to think less of.

While fighting, Lekuna even tried to use some of the things she learned from both Captain Scarlet as well as dear old granddad. Although she failed miserably when she did, she wasn’t punished for it as her mother could have easily done. Out of respect, her mentor decided not to attack when she failed to use a move that was created by two of the most skilled swordsmen in the land. ”Wow, so you really were paying attention to dad’s and Scarlet’s duel. I’m impressed that you even managed to try what they were pulling off. It takes serious confidence in order to do that, even at the slow speed you were going. One day you’ll get it Leki, I’m sure of it. Well, that’s if you keep practicing your sword techniques. You know what they say, if you don’t use it, you lose it! Haha” her mother said as they fought.

It was incredible that she could even speak while they fought. Lekuna, on the other hand, wouldn’t even imagine doing something like that, as she was focused solely on trying to succeed in this duel of theirs that appeared to be a lot more one sided than she originally thought. There was no way that she was going to win this alone, and the intense bodily harm was a good reason to not lose. Only a miracle could help me at this point, but I’ve got to try! she thought before an alternate version of her appeared behind her mom and cut at her back. Surprised by the fact that Lekuna was even capable of this feat, her mother looked back behind her shoulder and was open to an attack from the front. Another cut appeared on her mentor, this time her front. Another and another as they took turns attack both sides before sticking their swords through at the same time, piercing several vital organs for survival.

”I’m impressed Leki. I didn’t think you could even summon a paradox clone. Not because you’re a bad mage, of course not, you’re quite the fast learner, but this is something that I thought was just beyond your magical capabilities. How much magical power did this cost you?” she asked curiously to her daughter, who was huffing and puffing a storm at this point. ”More than I usually do, that’s for sure. No doubt in my mind that this was a spell I wasn’t meant to cast” she said with a smile before she and her paradox clone rushed her mother and attacked in unison. They each knew what each other was thinking, so they were naturally going to be quite coordinated. One went for a sliding slash and Lekuna went for a jumping cut, her mother jumping over the sweep but being knocked on her back by the jumping attack, as it hit her while she was in the air. This is good! At this rate I’ll definitely win the fight she thought happily as she drove the sword into her mother’s chest, only to see her disappear once again predictably enough.

Her mother was deep into the line of spells dealing with time and its defensive uses, making it dam near impossible for Lekuna to get anything more than a surprise attack in, but it was still progress nonetheless. Again, her mom disappeared, but this time, Lekuna just ‘knew’ where she was going to be, and stabbed in the location where her opponent would appear, and when she did, she had a sword going through her. ”Oh my, that was no instinct. That was another spell Leki! But let me see to what extend you have used that” her mother said as she pushed Lekuna away from her, the mage taking her weapon with her. Why didn’t she feel anything from that sword going through her? Is that another spell of hers? I’ll need to remember that one Lekuna thought, surprised at how easily her mother took the wound. She and her paradox clone were then surrounded by four of her mother, including her of course. Two were going to attack each of them, and this was to test how far Lekuna’s oracle ability really went in the ways of predicting the future. The mothers took no time in waiting to attack between each strike, forcing Lekuna to attack in the opposite direction of the incoming slash to block it.

Unknown to the student, there was no way she could be blocking such fast attacks without ‘knowing’ exactly where they were going to be and when they were going to be there. Lekuna seemed to have developed an affinity to telling the future, but not too long into it, it seemed, as after about twenty minutes of that onslaught she was beginning to get sloppy and her paradox clone was sent back to the time where she came from a long time ago. It was back to one on one, as four on one tired mage would be way too much for anyone. Finally, after quite an arduous battle, Lekuna fell to one knee, conceding to her opponent once again. There was no beating her in this sorry state, but on the plus side, she did, in fact, developed a new spell. ”You did pretty well today Leki. You’re improving at such a good rate! You’ll be able to get to where you should be in two days. But the day isn’t done yet, there’s still one more thing we have to do” she said, helping her daughter up from the ground and providing her with a means of regenerating her magical powers. ”I’m going to force you to develop a spell I think you have, so don’t be too alarmed in a second, okay? Just let your instincts take over” she said softly as she took Lekuna’s weapon and thrust it into her chest.

The mage’s eyes bulged as she began to cough blood, looking to her mother with pleading eyes, hoping that she would help her, but no. This was a situation she would have to get out of on her own, and she would. Listening to her mother’s advice, she let her instincts take hold and cast a spell that would later be called, “Rewind”. In an instant, she was back to where she was before, without a sword through her chest and instead with it in her hand. She decided it would be best to store that inside of her pocket for safe keeping, lest her mentor get any more stabbing tendencies. ”Sorry about that Leki, but it was just something I needed to try, something I needed to test because I knew you had it in you. I knew you have it in you and that’s going to be a very useful skill down the line, as it gives you a second chance. I would know because I have a spell just like it, though it’s a bit more advanced than yours, haha! her mother explained as she smiled.

It was quite impressive that her mother had mastered a spell like that. That gave the user a second chance. It was also something that Lekuna aspired to do someday. ”Don’t worry, one day I’ll actually be able to land enough hits on you to actually defeat you” Lekuna said, confident that one day, she would do just that. ”I’ll Lek, I look forward ‘till the day you do, because that’s when you’re entering a realm of serious power. But please, I need you to promise me that you won’t let the power take over you. I need to have the peace of mind in knowing that you won’t lose sight of why you’re acquiring all this strength. Please promise me you won’t abuse what you’ve learned here and what you will learn” her mother said, completely serious in that moment. ”You have nothing to worry about. I’ll only use this power for good, or at least what I think good is, haha. You have my word” Lekuna responded with a smile, trying to assure her mother that this power she gained wouldn’t go towards evil doing. To be honest, the thought had not once crossed her mind. To use her powers for evil, not her machine make and not this. She knew that it was too dangerous to use as a means of hurting people or assisting the dark mages, so Lekuna was aware of the weight of her mother’s words.

I can’t imagine what happens to the evil time mages…. They must be disgustingly dangerous to the balance of the universe. That’s definitely not what I’m going to end up doing… she concluded as she used her metabolic boost power in order to heal herself. Then, her mother used her variation of the same ability to rejuvenate her daughter before telling her to go back to the house and that she would prepare another dinner. How exciting. I could get used to this, but if I’m not mistaken, it’s already the end of the fifth day. How time flies when you’re having fun, or getting beaten and thrown around she thought before sitting in the chair that she had fixed along with the house. It was a lot more comfortable than it looked, much to her surprise. Lekuna believed that it was going to destroy her back the second she sat down, but she felt an obligation to sit in in regardless as she had turned it back into its former state, back when it was fixed. Before long, her mother walked in with another try and created another time table, this one for both of them. They would eat and laugh through the meal which would take quite a long time, as they both were slow eaters, but just like last night, that was okay. Their time together was running out and ironically enough, there was nothing they could do about that, so they made the best of their time while they could.

They were catching up with events in each other’s lives and laughed about different happenings in Lekuna’s mother’s life. Not much had happened since Lekuna had returned to the past, but it was still fun to speak of what had happened. Eventually, she went to sleep again, and that’s when it began. Lekuna stood in her dream world, confused as to why she was here again until she saw her mother again. ”It’s time Lek. Time to test what you’ve learned. You need to last in a fight with me long enough for me to deem you okay to proceed with the powers you’ve acquired here. Don’t be afraid, because I just know you’ll be fine. Maybe a scrape or bruise here and there, but all in all, you’ll be fine. I’m ready when you are. Pick your weapon and we’ll go” her mother informed, Lekuna now surprised that the time for her final exam was already here.

She had no warning at all, but the time was finally upon her. Lekuna took a deep breath and reached for her hammer in the pocket dimension that carried it and got into a fighting stance. Before she realized it, she activated Oracle and rushed in to attack her mother who stood calmly with her black longsword in hand.  With a jumping slam, Lekuna initiated the fight, her mother only blocking quickly and kicking her back. Or, she would have if Lekuna had gone through with her plan to jump. Instead, she slid and grabbed her mother’s leg with her hammer, surprising her mentor and bringing her down onto the floor. ”Interesting, I expected you to go with a jumping attack like you normally do with the hammer. It looks like that Oracle spell of yours sees more than I thought” she said before getting up and appearing behind Lekuna, only to be blocked by the hammer which now belonged to her daughter.

”Now that you mention it, the spell it quite a handy one” she responded, smiling at her mother before colliding in different places, blocking kicks sent her way as well as slashes that would be too fast for any mage to block normally. Luckily, Lekuna had activated her other spell as well, “Speed”, as she’d call it, which allowed her hammer to be anywhere it needed to be as soon as she needed it to be there. They collided many times before realizing that they had reached a stalemate. ”Looks like someone’s gotten faster~ So, how about we kick it up a notch?” her mother told her as an alternate version of herself appeared and began fighting her alongside her mentor. Although she was fast, she wasn’t fast enough to stop an onslaught faster than she could block by herself, she needed two of her. In that instant, another version of herself entered the fight and fought off one of her mother’s alternate selves, leaving the two to fight in peace. Eventually, the alternate selves disappeared, but Lekuna began to tire. ”What’s wrong? Getting tired already? We’re just beginning!” her mother said as she kicked her daughter down to the ground.

When she was about to inflict the finishing blow, Lekuna smiled and looked her mom dead in the eye before saying, ”Sucker”. In that very same moment, her mom’s sword shattered into pieces as Lekuna blocked the blade from entering her body. She then quickly got up and grabbed her mentor by the neck and slammed her down into the ground. ”What a dirty trick, but I should’ve seen through it. Good job, but….” she began, her voice fading as her body did as well. Lekuna then felt a sharp pain shoot from her back. ”Not good enough…” she heard while losing consciousness.

Lekuna had just become tall enough to open doors, and with that, came such a great feeling. She went to go see her mom and dad working in the garage. She’d been there a couple of times before, but this was the first time she could go on her own. Her mom and dad always told her that it was dangerous to go into there alone, but she sometimes would sneak in anyway, when the door was open of course, which it rarely was. They did a pretty good job in keeping her in check, then again, she was a toddler so how hard could it possibly be. ”Oh hey honey! Did I accidentally leave the door open again?” her father asked her as she entered through the garage door that was connected to their main house.

”Jake, how many times do I need to remind you to shut the door? Our daughter isn’t stupid you know, she can get in if it’s even slightly open” her mother scolded, causing the child to giggle a bit. ”Nu uh! Daddy didn’t leave the door open! I’m big enough to tip toe and pull the handle” she said, obviously proud of her accomplishment in the ways of going from room to room with seeming impunity. ”Well, that’ll do it. I think we’re gonna need to start child proofing the doors honey” he said to his beloved wife who was helping him fix this machine up for the Bosco military force. They had a monster warning not too long ago and this machine would definitely be the difference for them holding it off and not.

Jake was known as the greatest mechanic in East Bosco. In the ways of machines, his skills were far more advanced than many of Bosco’s top mechanics, and in a country where technology reigns supreme, men with his set of skills are highly coveted. Hailed as “higher class” even, but Jake didn’t let that get to his head. To him, he was just a guy who loved being a mechanic, and just so happened to be dam good at it too. He got up from under the craft and patted his daughter on the head before going inside. ”I’m gonna work on making the doors inaccessible for adventurous children!” he called from the other room with Lekuna simply wandering around and looking at all the flashy lights in amazement. Coming to the garage while her parents were working was like going to the carnival. So many flashing lights and new things to see, it was never a boring time.

Cut to a few years later and Lekuna would be sweating in that garage with her dad as her mother got called to some other country for some work…. Fiore, if Lekuna remembered right. It was apparent from the start that she had a natural affinity to all things machine related, and she loved it just like her dad. Probably a learned behavior, but that didn’t weaken her love for all things wiry and metal, it may have even strengthened it. ”Hey dad, I’m gonna take a quick break in the kitchen. All this work is making be ache all over” she said with a smile and her plain shirt drenched in sweat. ”That’s fine Lek, I’ll just keep on working here. Come back as soon as you can! Two get work done faster than one and these laser lock-on systems aren’t going to fix themselves!” he said loudly, making sure his words got to his daughter who was already out of the garage and fixing herself and her father something to eat and drink.

It smelled of grease and sweat, a pleasant smell to her as it simply meant she had been working hard, but not so good when she tried to eat something. It had something to do with the way smells affected taste. She simply shrugged at the thought and continued to work on her sandwiches and lemonades. Once those were prepared, she carefully brought all four items into the garage and set it down on the workbench close to where her dad was working on the machine. ”We must get paid a fortune compensation from the government for this” she said with a chuckle. ”Yeah, tell me about it, haha” her father followed suit.

They laughed together and discussed machines among other things all the time. Lekuna couldn’t have had a better relationship with her father. He and her mother would go on to make her a powerful, independent mage whose dreams exceeded staying in Bosco.

Cut another few years and Lekuna was standing in her virtual reality training room with her mother’s kind words cheering her on. She hadn’t been so motivated since working on machines, and now that her ability to actually use magic had been discovered, she was working hard to tap into it. Since she loved machines so much and had heard about some magic in a neighboring country that allowed mages to create whatever their imagination desired from her mother, she had decided that she would channel her powers fort his very purpose. Lekuna wanted to become the best machine mage she could possibly be in order to represent her great nation accurately and show others that Bosco had power.

According to her mom, mages were never born in Bosco, but because she was the daughter of the daughter of a very powerful mage, she had innate magical talent. She’d always heard stories of her grandpa from her mother, whom she visited every so often in Fiore. He was always up to something to better himself, but by this time, he could croak any day. It would be a sad day for the nation when that happened, as he was a very well-known mage and an ex-guild master of one of the largest legal guilds in Fiore, according to her mom. The best thing that Lekuna could do for him, she was told, was to use her powers to acquire knowledge to help people with. Not just any knowledge, but higher knowledge that few had access too.

Then, and only then would she be able to make a large impact on the world around her. Lekuna would listen attentively and practice her magic vigorously until one day, a war broke out in Bosco. It was brutal and came out of nowhere, but apparently there was a rebellion planning an uprising for years right under the noses of the peacekeepers. Coupled with the fact that this month’s monster attack was twofold, the peacekeepers couldn’t keep up and were overwhelmed by the rebel force which took her father away, much to her dismay. She really didn’t want to be robbed of one of the most important people in her life, but the rebels had plans for people like him, so at least she could count on the fact that they wouldn’t kill him.

She remembers running out in the streets and screaming for him to come back before fighting off many different rebels using magic that they just did not expect. They didn’t want to hurt her or else her father would be less than uncooperative in their ventures, so they were simply knocked around and all over until she got to her father and fled. ”I won’t let them take you dad. We’re going to get out of here” she said as they ran back to their house. Once they were in, Lekuna shut the door and locked it shut with a wall of wires. That goes for every single entrance to the house, as per her father’s direction. ”Lekuna, get your mother! Tell her that it’s time to test it” her father said before running into a spare room they had for guests.

Lekuna did as instructed once again and her mother was shocked when she said what she did. ”We must really be backed into a corner if we have to resort to that thing” she said aloud before grabbing Lekuna by the hand and going into the spare room which seemed to have a new escape hatch since the last time she was in there. Must have been invisible were her initial thoughts before feeling her mother tug her into the hole. After a series of tunnels later that seemed like a maze but Lekuna’s mother navigated like someone who had memorized each little piece of steel inside of these tubes, they came across her dad who was turning on what seemed to be a large machine.

”Lekuna, this will take you somewhere safe. It’ll take you to a time where grandpa was still young, haha. But you need to go in without me. Someone needs to stay to destroy this machine. It’s far too dangerous to be taken by those dammed rebels” he said as her mother took her near the machine. ”Dad please! Come with us! I can get a robot to work the dials!” she said, pleading for her father to come with them. ”Sorry Lek, but your machines are too primitive to understand how to work these machines. This is something I have to do myself. When you get there, find a guild called Eclipse Soul and a girl named Katherine. She’ll help you and they’ll take you in. I’m sorry” he responded as the portal came to life and she was pushed closer by her mother.

When her father gave the thumbs up, her mother shoved her into the portal screaming and crying, and just like that, she was gone. ”I’m not leaving you Jake. If you’re going down, I’m coming with you” she said, walking over to her husband who had activated the self-destruct switch. ”I don’t even know why I’m surprised. I was going to just wait for the end if you had gone, but now that you’re staying, let’s try to make it out of this in one piece, for her” he said as he grabbed his wife by the hand and ran towards the maze of pipes and turned enough times in the right directions to reach the emergency exit. He could hear the troops getting lost and activating the laser traps, but it served them right. Jake told his wife to go up the ladder first, but when she tried leaving through the hatch, she realized it was locked.

Not locked, but blocked rather, and she knew they were in real trouble. By her count, the portal only had thirty seconds before it exploded and took out everything within the tunnel. She desperately tried banging on the door but nothing. Twenty… nineteen. She was beginning to panic, but she realized that this was going to be the end of them. Thirteen… twelve. Jake sighed. At least they gave it their best shot, and that’s really what counts, but it seemed like their best wasn’t quite good enough this time as it had been many other times. ”It’s been a fun ride honey. I loved every minute of it, and hey, at least we can hope that our daughter made it safely to the past” Jake told his wife with a smile and tears in his eyes. Eight… seven. A sound could be heard from outside the hatch, getting the attention from the two mechanics.

Three… two. Light shone in from above and a mysterious figure helped the two patriots up before the countdown his zero and everything within the pipes was incinerated. Nothing remained, not even ash. A massive stream of fire shot up out of the hole in the ground from which they escaped from, but when they went to thank whoever opened it for them, they hesitated. They froze. It was impossible, they had just… ”Lekuna? But how?” ”There’s no time to explain dad, but long story short, mom even eventually trains me on how to use time magic to my fullest potential. We get into this final exam sort of fight and she almost stabs me in the back, but before then, just as the sword pierced a bit of my skin, I blacked out and came here for some reason. I guess it was the place I felt most safe. Home. I’m glad I did, or you two would’ve been toast. Well, I need to go now, but I’ll try to visit soon. Bye guys, and don’t forget mom. So you know when I know, I’ll tell you a key phrase or something like… long live Bosco! Cya she said, disappearing back to where she was before.

”Long live Bosco!” she yelled before her mother could go for another attack. ”Haha, so you finally made it then? I had a feeling this would be when I did it. You really saved us back then Lek, thanks for that. I’m going to say that your exam was a huge success! You’ve finally learned how to use your magic to the best of your current abilities and I couldn’t be more proud of you” her mother told her as she dropped her guard and gave her daughter a hug that was long overdue from her perspective. ”Really? Time is so strange, but I’m glad I could save you two. You wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t and I never would’ve learned about time magic. I thought I was in a dream until the very end of it. It’s like I lived my life out all over again until you sent me through that portal. Then I sort of woke up as Lekuna near the escape hatch. I used that Age spell to turn the rubble to dust. That’s how I did it in case you wanted to know” she said out of impulse.

”I’m happy Lek, I really am. You grew up to be quite the strong woman. Being able to make it this far is a feat that not just anyone can claim they can even do, truthfully. But you… you actually did it and it’s just so exciting to see that I didn’t fail as a parent, hehe! Your father would have loved to be here too, but unfortunately he couldn’t quite make it” her mother said as Lekuna woke up from the dream world and exited the house she took temporary residence in. ”Lekuna!” he mother exclaimed with such emotion that only a mother could have for her child that she now viewed as an adult.

This wasn’t just a test to see that Lekuna had mastered all of the training they had done over the course of the week. It was also a sort of rite of passage from girl to adult in her mother’s mind. This was the time in which the little bird she’d known and raised all her life since hatching was thrown from the nest and told to fly. Although it took more time than expected, Lekuna spread her wings and soared through the sky better than any of the birds before her. She flew higher and faster and all it took was a little more time and her mom couldn’t be happier. ”I’m guessing my little detour took a day? That means that there’s not much more time we have together before we have to part ways for good” Lekuna said, beginning to sound upset at the fact that the time she had to spend with her caretaker or ex-caretaker had come and gone.

It was a nice surprise, though it didn’t seem that way at the beginning since she harbored negative feelings towards the woman for shoving her into the portal and leaving her alone in the snowy wilderness within the Phoenix Mountains. That was definitely not a fun time at all. I can still remember my desperate attempts to fight off those dammed wolves during those particularly cold nights… I had no idea where to go and I didn’t really have a map. I was weak from the time travel and I was scared I would freeze to death. What I had to do to survive I blamed on my mom, but she really just hurried my growing up along, as there was no time to hold my hand forever. I suppose this just confirmed that I was ready to face the world for her Lekuna thought, reminiscing in those old memories she had of being stuck on that god forsaken magic.

It was there that her bloodline really took effect. It was there when she was forced to summon four hell hounds from the pits of that very place to keep herself warm. She couldn’t use her machine magic and sort of lost trust for people, but she had a feeling that those hounds wouldn’t ever leave her, even if they wanted to. Nor would they hurt her, as they recognized Lekuna as their new master, or at least their temporary one. The ex-machine mage remembered how they would hunt for her, sleep next to her, provide her companionship when no one else would. She felt as though she really owed a lot to those dogs from the pits of hell.

I guess that’s why I love summoning the hounds from hell, specifically those four. I’ve grown such an attachment to them because of what they’ve done for me, I can’t help but want to see them again I suppose she thought again, snapping back to reality for a second instead of her flashback. Before she realized it, she was back to reminiscing. There were bushes of berries that made her sick all over the mountain, but she didn’t know how poisonous they were until she ate them. There were also more than just wolves on the side of the mountain, causing her to really fear for her life at times. Before she realized that she could summon those beasts from the pits of hell, she was all alone, scared, resentful, and vengeful.

The more time that went by, the more she hated her mother for leaving her to suffer this fate alone. She knew full well that Lekuna didn’t have the power to summon beasts from unholy scriptures, which was simply luck. Maybe she did, thinking about it now.  Impossible… but still… it was better than the alternative of getting captured by those savage rebels and being tortured through experiments to use my magic against my nation she thought, mentally defending her mother. Besides, I eventually did make it out of there thanks to the help of those silly mutts. They helped me find the way to the town that Eclipse Soul was in and I made my place there. I wanted to ask Katherine for help sooner, but I knew that I should most likely make a little bit of a name for myself before asking one of the most powerful members in the guild for a favor Lekuna continued, lost in thought at this point.

That all didn’t quite matter now. What mattered now was that her mother was very much alive and somehow found a way to train her in the ways of time magic. Come to think of it, I never once asked what magic mom had. I just always assumed she just didn’t have one since she never spoke about it… eh. I think it may be better that way. It’ll ruin the mystery if I find out what kind of powers she wields. Not just that, but Lekuna didn’t have much confidence in her mother’s ability to give a straight answer to her, even if she insisted that she wanted to know the answer to whatever query she had posed. Like everything else her mother had done and does do, it’s probably for the best. From shoving her through the portal to force Lekuna to survive in the chilling wilderness of the Phoenix Mountains to giving her this final exam that turned out to be the event that saved their lives to begin with.

”I’ve been through a lot since you first shoved me through that primitive time machine, but I think I turned out better because of it. I blamed you when I was crying alone in the Phoenix Mountains with nobody but my dogs to keep me company a month after I had arrived, and even they came out of necessity. I was on the verge of dying, but I suppose they wouldn’t let me have that, so they came and helped me. They hunted for me, and I took care of them. It was like that for a while until we finally found the town in which Eclipse Soul was located. Then, I did as I was told and made my home there. I made a little bit of a name for myself, I got stronger, and then I went to Katherine like you guys said and I got the potential for this power. I don’t even want to know how complicated the time shenanigans must have been for you two to orchestrate something like this, and I’m sure I will find out eventually, but I just wanted to take the time to apologize for blaming you and say that I forgive you and love you for what you did for me” she said, tears welled up in her eyes as she had been the most long winded she had been since she was a child.

”And I want to apologize for putting you through that Lek. I didn’t know you’d be stranded, hell, I didn’t know what would happen to you when we put you through that portal. It was a gamble to ensure your survival, because we hadn’t actually tested it. You don’t need to apologize for anything, I do, but I’m happy you’ve grown up like this” she said, tears welling up in her eyes as she hugged her only child. It was just about time to go and the sun was setting on their final day together. ”Well, I guess this is it then, it’s been a lot ride. I’m going to miss you more than you know” Lekuna said as her final parting words to her mother who had nothing else to say. In an instant, the world collapsed around her and she awoke atop the Sky tower, where the tip scraped the clouds. It’s finally over. Time to go use what I’ve learned