Chapter 1: A Glimpse To the Past

“Mariana, where are you?” Marina called.

The sun had reached its zenith when Marina noticed that her sweet granddaughter had disappeared.

‘Where did that child go?’

They were just about to hang their finished laundry outside and it’s the perfect time to do it. Naturally, she knew Mariana couldn’t reach the clothesline since she’s only seven. However, her old bones wouldn’t allow her to do the work anymore. So she needed her to lean down to fetch the clothes inside the basin, and hand them to her so that she could finish the work.

“Dear? Come out now, grandma needs help,” she yelled.

With her carried basin, she decided to look for the girl in their backyard. Their house was not that big. They also do not have a second floor. Their yard, however, was quite spacious. Only a few families are unfortunate enough to live far away from the capital city, Magna. The bright side of this situation is that her village has a lot of free lands which the villagers could just own — provided that they are diligent enough to put fences around them.

She headed toward their backyard. She slowly paced the narrow walkway which leads there. Just before reaching the end of the path, her eyes were already squinting in the girl's direction.

“There you are, Mariana. Didn’t you hear me?” Marina said, calling Mariana.

Mariana, however, didn’t answer. The young lass still facing away from her. Not moving an inch, something fixed her face towards the sky and it almost looked like she was under some sort of trance.

“What are you even staring at, sweetheart? Aren’t we supposed to finish our laundry?”

“Grandma, what is that?” Mariana finally said, pointing in the direction above them.

Unthinkingly, she looked at what the kid was pointing at. That was when she suddenly realized how foolish she was for not noticing that the sunlight above them was now gone, but not because of some clouds. It was something else. Something that was not supposed to be there.

‘Atmos!’

A roof usually shaded the path that she just took most of the day - out from their wall and the canopy of a large tree next to their house. Without a clear view of what was above her, she never had a clear vision of what was approaching.

Like a rodent caught between a battle of two warring nations, she hastily scurried towards Mariana and quickly grabbed her raised arm. She felt like her body lost all the weariness she gained through aging, as her speed significantly improved and her aching muscles were almost nonexistent.

“Let’s go inside, dear,” Marina commanded While Dragging Little Mariana from her dazed state.

She looked up once again and noticed that she cannot even see the sky anymore; the approaching colossus was even closer the first time she noticed its arrival. The clouds before were now replaced by hanging sky vines, the roots of the sky tree, and stalactites which all seemed to be pointed in their direction. Also, they had also been completely blocked by the sunlight.

“But grandma, I want to look at it! It’s so big and beautiful and how is it flying?! It’s so amazing!” Mariana exclaimed.

If it was a different scenario, Marina would have smiled wholeheartedly. Not in this case, as she doesn’t know how that ‘thing’ will affect them.

“Mariana!” said Marina firmly.

The young lass took the hint and never said another word.

They ultimately reached their house’s front door. Marina, still with Mariana in her hand, entered without conducting her usual ‘ceremonies’. She didn’t wipe the soles of her shoes; didn’t open the door carefully so that it wouldn’t unhinge from the wooden wall; she did none of those. She just forced it open while Mariana was still in her tow and locked it, then she pulled back all their windows back inside. While doing this task, she saw, although vaguely, that their neighbors were doing the same as well.

‘What could that be doing up here?’ Marina thought.

After she has shut every nook and cranny of their humble home, Marina’s body seemed to remember once again that she’s not young anymore. That brief outburst of activity took a toll on Marina’s legs more than she expected. She wearily sat on a wooden chair in their living room and let out a deep sigh.

“Grandma? Are you okay?” Mariana said, breaking the silence.

“Yes, sweetheart. Come here.” She waved her hand, signaling the girl to approach her.

That’s what Mariana did. Then she hugged her — tightly. Marina always did this, but this time the act also calmed herself. She may have overcome her husband’s death, but seeing anything related to magic still terrified her. She did not hate magic, for she finally understood that it would only be pointless to hate a natural force. Yet, its presence had always led her to think about the tragedy that made her a young widow.

After a while, she released Mariana. Then the girl spoke.

“Are you really okay, Grandma?”

Marina smiled. “Yes, I am. How about you? Are you not scared?” Marina asked, trying to stray the topic away from her.

“No, grandma! That big rock is so pretty! What is that?! Why is it here?!” Like a beast that was released from its cage, Mariana’s curiosity spewed out enthusiastically.

Marina chuckled. She thought it really was wonderful to be young.

“That big rock is called Atmos. The flying island where most of the Elven people live,” Marina said.

This new information seemed to have overjoyed young Mariana. With a loud WOAH, her smile quickly reached the tip of her ears. Marina noticed this, so she indulged Mariana some more.

“You see, we humans are not the only races who live in our world. There are four more!” Marina showed her hand to Marina with four of her fingers raised. “You already saw them in your picture book, right?”

Mariana’s excitement spill out once again, doing a few jumps this time.

“Those people are real?! Do they live on those flying rocks too?!” Mariana asked eagerly.

“Of course, they are real,” answered Marina. “And no. The earth-dwelling dwarves, the little people, live underground. There might even be some living under our village! The sirens, the fish people, live in vast seas and oceans.”

“Seas and oceans?” Mariana tilted her head as she heard an unfamiliar word.

“Seas are like big basins of water. Imagine our village is a basin. Then, fill it up with water. Lots of them! Seas, however, are bigger than our village, my child. Seas are a lot of villages put together!” Marina exclaimed.

Marina was usually the one who taught Mariana about simple pieces of knowledge in life. She knew Mariana best learned from comparing what she was trying to teach to what her grandchild usually saw around her. Mariana was very bright, so it wasn’t hard to teach her.

“Woah! How about oceans? How big are they, grandma? Tell me!” Marina asked impatiently.

“Hmm, oceans are just many seas put together. So, they are even bigger! Even if I stretch my hands, it still won’t be enough to reach both sides!” Marina showed Mariana a my-hands-won’t-stretch-anymore expression. Mariana bounced on her toes as she giggled.

“How about the ‘dagons’, grandma? The big scary people with wings?” Mariana asked.

“It’s dragons, sweetheart. Those big guys, they say, live in volcanoes. Big mountains that release fire on top. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if that’s true, dear, I’m sorry. The dragons like to play hide-and-seek, so we humans don’t know a lot about them,” she explained.

“They don’t get burned from fire, wow...”

Mariana fell silent for a while. Her thoughts seemed to fly somewhere.

“Grandma, can we go there? To that island? Please!” she asked, suddenly.

This startled old Marina. Never in her life did she ever think her granddaughter would be interested in other races or their homeland. Although not proud of the act, she even deliberately portrayed those races in Mariana’s book as scary, bad, and hateful individuals to not give her any weird ideas.

She thought about what to say carefully. She didn’t want to lie, and being careless with her words would only ignite her grandchild’s enthusiasm even more — the scenario she was trying to avoid. But suddenly, she had a wonderful idea. With Marina’s plan, she wouldn’t be hurting Mariana’s feelings.

“Mariana, we humans can always go there. There’s just one thing we need — magic. Magic will let us do impossible things! Flying, for instance, will be a piece of cake. Your grandpa could fly too when he was alive,” she explained, the image of her late husband flying was on her mind.

“How do I get magic then, grandma?” Mariana asked.

“Now, this is the most important part. To get magic, you have to be a good kid.”

“Eehhh! You’re lying to me, grandma!” Mariana grumbled.

Marina chuckled. “Silly kid! Why would I lie to you? It’s true. You see, only the elemental spirits can grant you magic. Actually, there are two more ways, but I wouldn’t want you to do that. Anyway, those four spirits grant their magic differently.” She paused for a bit, then continued. “Wind spirits can be found on those same islands above us. They will give it to you if you just ask, but you have to be there in the first place. So that is out of the question.” She stopped once again as she noticed Mariana nodding from time to time.

‘Goddess Invidia, please guide her.’ She prayed in her thoughts.

“Earth spirits give challenges. I’m not sure what those are, but you little brat would surely not finish it,” she teased Mariana, her cute little nose crumpled.

“The water spirits are your best bet. On a rainy day, they travel all around Paradis and on a rare occasion grant random individuals with their magic. They give them to strong, wise, or kind people. So how will you be chosen by water spirits? You’re not strong or wise enough yet since you’re just a child, so your only option is to be a good kid.”

“Hey grandma, there’s one more you haven’t told me. You said four spirits.” Mariana squeezed my hands.

“Ah dear, the fire spirits are impossible. You have to participate in some kind of ritual. That ritual involves you touching their bodies. The problem is, if you touch them, your body will melt like a candle. So no human has ever been a fire mage. Now, do you understand? Just be a good kid and maybe, just maybe, a water spirit will grant you his magic,” Marina said with a smile.

Mariana’s browed furrowed while she scratched her forehead. Then, her eyes displayed a lovely glow, and said, “Okay, grandma. I promise I’ll be a good kid from now on.”

Marina blew a defeated sigh. If Mariana would strive to become a better person, why would Marina even dream of stopping her?

She hugged Marina once again and gave her a peck on the forehead. After Marina let go of Mariana, she checked outside if Atmos was still above them. She wiped her forehead in relief, as it was nowhere in sight.

“Now Mariana, do you know the first step to being a good child?”

“What is it, grandma?” Mariana, puzzled, asked.

“Helping your grandma finish her chores, of course! Come, it’s safe now, let’s hang the clothes outside.”

“Oh right, let’s go, grandma!” And they went out.