The past and present

The town is bustling, with the people gathered at the plaza connecting with old friends or making new bonds with others in the street. Merchants shouting for attention for their wares and peddlers in the alley staying quiet. A line of tables with games on top welcoming any of those to come challenge them. Here is where Ana is currently at.

“Dammit! You have to be cheating!” She shouts at her chess opponent. She came in arrogantly believing it would be an easy victory after all she hasn’t lost in a game of chess in years. She hasn’t considered that her Master and Mark are terrible at the game.

She storms away from the chess table and having lost the money she used to bet she decided to just take a stroll around the town. Having absolutely no money left in her savings, she spends her time the only way someone with no money can. Watching the townspeople go on about their daily life. She watched in envy as people made purchases that she wished she could afford. She also watches with a smile as a thief is caught by a guard. She watches as a little girl chases for her elder sister, running for her attention yet left ignored. Stuck in her shadow.

Ana’s family is on the impoverished side in the Magic Kingdom of the World. The kingdom valued magic above all else, boasting the greatest number of mages and the greatest school of magic in the world. To any family, a child born with a high amount of mana is seen as their ticket into a greater life. Ana wasn’t that ticket.

Her elder sister was born with the greatest amount of mana in recorded history. Far surpassing even those in elite families. She garnered so much fame from the kingdom that every mage wanted to become her personal teacher. Her birth changed her parents' lives forever.

Her parents, seeing how much their lives have changed, tried again hoping to catch lightning in a bottle, yet she came out ordinary. Her mana supply was completely average for her worth and so she was always ignored by her family while they gave her sister everything she needed. They relied on her sister and sang her praise to bring them great fortune while all little Ana could do was follow her elder sister's shadow.

“Mom, look at what I made!” Little Ana shouted walking up to her mother with cheer. Presenting her a little painting she made of them together. Yet instead of the praise or even a smile from her mother, she saw anger in her face. Her mother was angry that she used the paint from her elder sister.

“You’re not allowed to use any of your sister’s belongings! That paint is for HER class alone!” She shouted berating little Ana before punishing her by locking her in her room. If she couldn’t bring her parents money then she was just worthless to them.

Ana lets out a sigh having remembered her negative past. She decides to end her day of people watching and help Mark with the stall but stops seeing a book left on the ground with everyone stepping past it. Upon closer inspection it was a children’s book that speaks of a legendary wanderer who wandered into a kingdom and freed the residents from tyranny. This takes her back to when she once found an old book on the ground when she was a child.

Ana decided to sit outside of a cafe as she likes the smell of coffee in the air although she can’t afford a cup right now. She opens a page of the legendary wanderer to take a gander at it. “This story is so cheesy. The princess fell in love at first sight? HA! It’s a riot!” She says her laugh catching everyone’s attention around her. It’s quite the odd laugh.

“Huh?” She reads the following pages of the story and teared up. Confusing those around her after her hysteric laugh and now into warmhearted tears. She stands up from her seat wiping away her tears before remembering the first spell she ever learnt.

Little Ana walked around the Market square on her lonesome since her parents are too focused on her elder sister to ever notice when she’s missing. She makes her two usual stops. The fruit stand, where a kind old man gives her a basket of mangoes for free just for her to enjoy on her own. After the joy of mangoes passes she heads down to the public library to study on her own.

She isn’t allowed to use her elder sister’s books and she has no money for the magic library so she had to rely on the old outdated textbooks to catch up. Yet no matter how much little Ana reads about magic and how mana works, she can’t do anything to test herself as the library doesn’t carry grimoires.

After Little Ana left the library for the day she spotted something on the ground. A grimoire! The owner of which doesn’t seem to be around. Seeing it as a lucky break, she took the grimoire home with her. The knowledge that this grimoire offers is vast, greater than all the books in her library combined, and the spells it holds are all powerful. It was nothing like she has ever seen before, this must be what her elder sister reads on a regular basis.

Even though this grimoire has brought her great happiness she wonders about the original owner. If she has lost a book like this then she would be left crying and searching for it.

Ana shakes those memories away having finished tracking the owner of the children's book. She stops at a small brick house and takes a deep breath before knocking on the door.

“Excuse me, I believe your daughter happened to have dropped this book” Ana says handing her the Legendary Wanderer. The mother calls her daughter over with the exciting news that her book was found. The daughter’s gleeful smile as she celebrates the return of her book brings a nostalgic warm feeling in Ana.

The feeling she had when she first gave the grimoire back to a man who would become her Master.

Little Ana finds the man running a merchant stall in the town’s plaza. She places the grimoire down on the table to the confusion of the merchant.

“Is this the grimoire I lost?” He says. He looks at little Ana who's smile was beaming wide in joy in having done the right thing. “What! The corner got slightly smooshed! Oh man that sucks. The only people who buy these are rich folks with a stick in their ass.” He says tossing it to the side to the dismay of little Ana who thought he would be gleefully smiling on having his grimoire returned.

“YOU MEANIE!” She shouts as she begins to punch on the merchant's leg. “I shouldn’t have given it back! The only spell I learned was tracking one just to find you.” She says in tears although her words caught the merchant by surprise.

“You used the tracking spell?” He looks at her wondering how someone who’s mana isn’t impressive in the slightest was able to use such a complex spell. “How did you learn the tracking spell?”

Little Ana sniffled before answering. “Your book explained that I needed to focus on the most recent mana to find the person who last wielded it.” She speaks as if it was just a simple instruction that needed to be followed but the truth of its complexity lies deeper. Every action someone makes leaves a single drop of mana. The tracking magic requires you to find the most recent drop and its difficulty increases the more people who have come across the item.

The merchant knows, he knows the many hands this book has been with and how finding his mana is like finding a needle in a haystack. Her ability to sense mana in this advanced manner at her age impressed the merchant.

“Hey kid, I have a pile of grimoires here. Feel free to read them while I stay in this town for a while. They’ll appreciate the company of a talented mage reading them.” That was when her journey in the world of magic truly began. Even after he left town she followed him deeming him her master. The first person to have praised her talent.

Ana was welcomed in the home but the time has gotten late. She walks back to the stall although she thinks it may have been in vain expecting Mark and Dasa to have left for an inn already.

“Ana! You’re back.” Mark says excitedly welcoming her with a wide smile. “You've been gone so long that I almost sent Dasa to come find you.”

“He did tell me to find you. I said no” Dasa says coldly to her. Seeming to have grown an attitude towards her.

“You idiot, why didn’t you just go to the inn. What if there’s no vacant rooms left!” Ana reprimands him.

“There’s no point in going to the inn without you.” Mark's words surprise Ana. “We’re always on the move so resting in one is like a special occasion. A reset before a new adventure begins. It just won’t feel special without you.”

Ana’s shock turns into a heartwarming smile. Whenever she thinks back to her childhood, the only answer that comes to mind is that she has no regrets.