Macaria opened her eyes; she was standing in the middle of an open grassy field filled with different color glowing flowers. Along the sides of the field were rows of trees and in the distance were mountains. The sky was dark and was filled with millions of bright twinkling stars. She began looking around feeling confused, wasn't she in a dark alley in the city? How did she end up here?
In the distance, she could see a figure standing under a large tree. As she began walking through the tall grass and flowers, small orbs of lights began to fill the air where she had walked. The lights reminded her of fireflies. As she approached the figure and noticed they were turned away from her.
"Macaria!" a female voice called. The voice sounded familiar but couldn't recall whose voice it was. She "Macaria!" the voice called again; this time it sounded like it was coming from behind. She looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was there, there was no one. She concluded that she was hearing things and looked back to where the figure was standing, they were gone.
"Macaria! Wake up!" the voice sounded closer. Where was the voice coming from? Who was calling her? Why couldn't she remember whose voice it was?
Macaria opened her eyes a bit, the light above her was so bright, she shut her eyes tightly. Her body hurt all over and she felt exhausted. She could hear voices, but they sounded far away and muffled.
"I know you're awake, open your eyes," said a familiar male voice. Again, she opened her eyes a little, but shut them again due to the bright light just above her.
"You're an idiot," said a female voice. The light above her went dim. Once more, she opened her eyes, this time she could fully open them without being blinded by the light. She then slowly sat up and began looking around, she was in the coffee shop with Natsuki and Simon kneeling on each side of her with worried looks on their faces.
"What happened? How did I get here? I thought I left," Macaria began sounding sleepy. She was lying on some cushions that were placed on the floor near the corner of the store by a booth. The store was empty, making her, Natsuki, and Simon the only people in the store.
"You did leave," Natsuki began, "I offered to walk you home and you said you were fine. You then texted me a bit later and said you were getting a few things from the store. Simon found you unconscious in an alley on the other side of Anecaster."
"After I found you, I used your phone to call Natsuki and we brought you here so I could heal you. It's faster than going to a hospital. Do you remember anything, anything at all?"
Macaria was silent, she didn't remember much. The only thing she remembered was lying to Natsuki about where she was going and then being dragged to the other side of the city by Renley and then somehow using magic. She explained everything she could remember to Natsuki and Simon who listened carefully.
Once she had finished her story, a confused look appeared on Natsuki's face, "Let's start from the beginning. You saw an unknown with fox ears and a tail? There are no unknowns like that. Are you sure they weren't a cosplayer or something of the sort?"
Simon remained silent. Natsuki turned to him and shot him a look, "What? No comment?"
He put his hands up and shot her the same in return, "I'm thinking. I've heard of something like this before, just give me a moment to think where I've heard it. I can see why you and Klein started fighting earlier."
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Natsuki said in a sour tone. "But what about those people you said were chasing her, do you remember what they look like?"
Macaria shook her head, "They were covered in black. One of them had shadow like abilities while the other had ice. I'm not sure about the other one."
Simon removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes while Natsuki pulled out her phone to check the time. "Tired already? It's only half past three in the morning. Aren't you normally here by this time doing prep work or something?" Natsuki asked.
Simon yawned before putting his glasses back on, "That doesn't matter right now," he said as he looked at Natsuki. He then shifted his gaze back to Macaria, "That makes sense, I did find traces of shadow, ice, and wind mana in the area. There was something odd about the wind mana scattered around the place, it was, pure," he said before looking at the ground and going silent for several moments. It seemed like he was lost in thought.
A confused look came across Macaria's face, "What do you mean by that?" she asked.
He shook his head, "Sorry, I was thinking out loud on that last part. It just seemed different than normal. But as for you suddenly being able to use wind abilities, you probably have some unknown blood running through your family, and it now just decided to show. Not every unknown will gain their power at birth. Some have to wait years until they're able to use their abilities. It's not very common though and I assume that's what happened with you." He then stood up and looked at the clock hanging on the wall behind the counter on his right, Natsuki was right about the time. He looked at Natsuki, "If you'd like, you can head home and get some rest before your exams. I can keep an eye on Macaria until I'm finished with my prep work."
Natsuki hesitated for a moment as she narrowed her eyes at Simon. "Alright, but you better walk her home and make sure nothing happens to her," she said bitterly. Simon could tell she didn't completely trust him.
Simon nodded, "That was my plan. Go home, I'll take care of the rest."
"Alright," Natsuki said as she stood up and turned to Macaria who was still sitting on the floor. "Call me if you need anything."
"I will," Macaria replied. She watched as Simon lead Natsuki to the door and unlocked it. He held the door open for her and once she had walked out, he closed the door and locked it. He sighed as he reached into his pocket and grabbed a shiny red prism that sparkled in the dim light. Simon looked at Macaria from the other side of the store and gave her a soft smile as he walked to the counter, "I have to do some prep work in the back. I'll be done before the store opens and then I'll walk you home. In the meantime, Mochi will keep you company."
He tossed the prism onto the counter. The prism shattered into glittery white shards that materialized into a cat like creature. It had fluffy off-white colored fur with a black stripe on both ears, front paws, and two large stripes on its tail. It even had a red silky ribbon tied around its neck with a bow on the left side and a small bell attached to the center of the bow. The cat sat on the counter and stared at her with big purple eyes.
Simon gestured to the cat, "This is Mochi. She's, my helper." The cat shook its fur causing the bell attached to the bow to jingle. She then stood up and began to stretch.
"Is that a familiar?" Macaria asked. She had heard of people having familiars, but only a few lucky people have one due to how rare they are. There was maybe one or two people that she heard of having a familiar in the city.
Mochi looked back at Simon who placed his hand on her head and began to stroke her fur, "Yes and no. The answer is quite complicated really. But anyway, if you need anything, just let this bundle of destruction know." Mochi watched as he walked behind the counter and through the door leading to the backroom. Once he disappeared behind the door, Mochi huffed before turning to Macaria who was now on her feet. Her body still ached all over. She picked up the cushions and set them next to the window seat.
The black and white cat jumped off the counter and walked to Macaria who reached into her backpack and grabbed her laptop. She wasn't tired anymore, so she decided to try to finish some schoolwork while she waited for Simon. All her classes were online which was perfect because she didn't have to worry about going to campus.
While she was setting up her laptop, Mochi jumped onto the table which caused Macaria to jump. Her startled reaction also made Mochi jump and her tail becoming twice as fluffy. Macaria laughed at the cat's reaction and then apologized as Mochi slowly approached her and laid next to her arm so she could see what was on the computer screen. When she noticed it was a long document filled with textbook questions, she narrowed her eyes and watched as Macaria began to scroll through the document. Once she reached the end of the eight-page document, she began to slowly scroll up as she scanned each question.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small yellow green flash of light from the window. As she turned to her right to see what it was, Mochi sat up and looked behind her, curious to see what had caught Macaria's attention. Outside was a lone firefly hovering by the window. It then landed on one of the plant's leaves outside of the window and began to crawl around.
Mochi moved closer to the window and pressed hernose against the glass as she continued to watch the firefly. The bug reminded Macariaof the little white orbs of light floating around the flowers she had seen inher dream moments before she woke up. Then she remembered the figure standingby the tree in her dream. Who could it be?