(I recently finished the series, so this is an opportune timeskip
)
Miko looked up from her book, taking in the time with gradually sharpening eyes. With a sigh and a sweeping movement, she got to her feet, closing the book, and strode off to return it. As always, as she exited the library, she looked around with hopeful glances, lips pursed. It had been five years, but that hadn't stopped the young adult from expecting to catch a glimpse of a familiar face. She had nearly died that night, being ambushed by a group of bandits as she slept, and the fire warrior, Aerin, almost
had, much closer to death than she had been. She hoped she'd been alright, considering how her supine body had been hurriedly whisked away in anxiety and palpable fear. That was the last she'd seen of the company; departed, with no more than a fleeting 'goodbye'.
Biting her lips before allowing them to part slightly, the female's eyes softened as she looked down at the book in her hands. One had to be rich to live in the city, so she chose the power she required to live in the forest. It was out of the way, perfectly isolated, and she had taken to teaching herself the skills she needed to survive - magic. She had since made a realization most made much later; that those who taught themselves couldn't rely on the endless manuals that existed on the plane, one could only rely on themselves. Miko had always loved to read, so when she made her monthly trips to the closest town and made a beeline for the library, she always only glanced over the manuals available for reading. It was the best when methods were learnt and customized for her own use. After all, everybody's prowess was different. So, slowly, painstakingly, the mage had learnt the basics of magic, learnt incantations when she could, and guaranteed a peaceful life in her surroundings. She'd even formulated a few of her own incantations when she could understand them, and was scrutinizing what she'd later learn to be the Profound Truths of Sound.
Considering her surroundings, where there were ample amounts of wind-type magical beasts, Miko had taken to watching them almost exclusively, learning from them, their techniques, their lifestyles, their secrets. She'd always had a connect with nature, and by further strengthening them, she realized just how much nature had to offer. Her insights in the laws were solely based on what she learnt from the magical beasts, and customized for her use. In fact, based on understanding itself, she outstripped her rank, and so tended to passively absorb elemental essence while focusing on other tasks, such as reading or watching the creatures of the forest. She sketched concepts she had difficulty understanding, such as the wind blades Windwolves could form, and had compiled together a small spellbook to refer to and learn; the one that she leafed through now, even as she walked.
She paid little attention to her surroundings until she found herself in the fringes of the forest, and tucked away her books, rummaging in her bag for a small dagger. Closing her eyes, she exhaled slightly, whispering the words for the low-level spell, Windscout. An elusive, intrusive wind rustled through her immediate surroundings, revealing to her where life lurked, and Miko decided to speed through the area altogether. She was a fairly powerful magus, and not many magical beasts confronted her these days. However, every so often, she had to go foraging for what she could scrounge together; perhaps some herbs, or the rare magicite core. Every so often, she needed gold coins as much as the next person. But for now, dagger held at the ready, she cautiously paced through the forest, before breaking into a speed spell - Supersonic.
She found herself at her house almost instantly, and blinked, beginning to climb up to her arboreal house. Less threat of night-time beastial ambushes that way. Today Miko had brought back the volumes of Advanced History of the Yulan Plane, and she was eager to begin reading them. She paused and turned; she thought she saw a flicker of cyan from the corner of her eyes, but when no further movement attracted her attention, she turned and resumed her climb. She could have floated her way up, but there was something about the excitement of a climb up a vine that left her aquiver. Hauling herself over the window, boots securely landing against the sturdy wood, Miko gave a little feline stretch and curled up on the windowsill, eyes running over the words. But today, they blurred into unintelligible dashes of black and white. She frowned, finding herself unable to extract her thoughts from that fateful day five years ago. And she dreamed she encountered that familiar smile once again.
(I'm so sorry; this is what happens when you try to rush a large post ^^' Also, I wondered if one could find a Windripper fox in the Yulan Plane. Would it be possible?)
