Restart Again: Volume 1 by Adam Scott (pocket ebook reader TXT) 📕

right now, I’m still very interested in this Unity Church. What does it have to do with magic?”

“Right, of course!” She nodded. “The Unity Church says that, a long time ago, the world was created by the Primeval Elementals, or big powerful beings made purely of the elements. The Primeval of Earth made the ground, the Primeval of Water made the oceans, the Primeval of Wind made the air, on and on until the whole world was made.” Lia was telling the story with fervor complete with emphatic hand gestures and voice changes, seemingly repeating words she had heard all her life. The whole scene was pretty cute, our present situation forgotten.

“Finally, all the Primevals came together, and by combining all of the elements, they made the living creatures that live throughout our world. With their jobs completed, they all got together and went back to their home, far away from here.” Satisfied with her storytelling, she smiled at me. “Does that help at all?”

“Well, it was a very good story!” I gave a small round of applause. “I don’t really see how it relates to magic, though.”

“Oh, I forgot the best part!” Lia said excitedly. “Even though the Primevals left, they still like to watch and listen to the things we do. Sometimes, if people practice and train hard enough, they can ask the Primevals to give them a part of their abilities, and then the magic happens!”

I cocked an eyebrow. “So, if you pray hard enough, these Primevals will give you the ability to do magic?”

“It’s not like that!” She sounded slightly frustrated. “You work really hard, making sure your body is strong enough to handle their energy, and then you ask for their help. If you’re good enough, they’ll give you the energy to cast a spell! Sometimes, you can even cast two or three spells, if you use the right words.”

There it is. I nodded. “I think I understand now. Do you happen to know what the words are?”

Lia shook her head. “I’ve never met anybody who could do magic before, so I’ve never heard the words.” She reddened a bit. “Well, actually, I do know one thing, but it’s probably not even real. It’s the words from a story my father used to tell me when I was little.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Anything is helpful at this point. You’ve already taught me a lot today!”

She looked up at me, and then away again. “Alright. I guess…” Lia cleared her throat and shifted around nervously. “The story says that a long time ago, the country of Kaldan was under attack by a giant dragon that nobody could defeat. The greatest wizard of the city of Yoria went on an adventure to try and get the help of some of the Primeval Elementals. When he returned to the city, the dragon was attacking, so he cast a giant spell…” She trailed off for a moment, then took a deep breath.

“PRIMEVAL OF ICE, I BESEECH THEE, CAST THROUGH ME THE MOST POWERFUL STORM TO FREEZE AND BLAST AWAY THIS BEAST, SO I MAY SAVE MY BELOVED CITY!” Lia shouted with a theatrical, booming voice.

Laughter burst out of me, completely taken by surprise by Lia’s commitment. She scowled at me. “Don’t laugh! It’s just a silly kid story, and that’s always how Father did it!” Her face went beet red and she ran to her cot, hiding her face in her hands.

It took a while for my laughter to subside enough for me to talk clearly. “I’m sorry, that was just unexpected is all!” My words did little to assuage her embarrassment. “Really, Lia, it was good! It was good! And I definitely think it will help me learn about magic, too!” She was sitting on the edge of her cot now, knees drawn up in front of her with her arms crossed on top. Cautiously, she peered over her arms, brow furrowed.

“It better have!” Lia pouted at me. “And you better remember it, because I’m not gonna tell you the story again!”

“I promise, I will!” Chuckling, I paced over to my cot and flopped down onto my back. Despite everything, I was enjoying my time here with Lia. The looming dark clouds of what was to come later still lingered on the periphery of my thoughts, but for now I kept them at bay. I’ve got to get her out of here. No matter the cost. I promised, didn’t I?

***

8. A PLAN IN MOTION

The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully. I chatted with Lia on and off about various things: favorite foods, weather, fond memories, whatever came up. If she was feeling apprehensive of the future, she was doing well to hide it. Any time that wasn’t spent on conversation was used to formulate a plan to escape my cell.

Not knowing when, or if, the guards that imprisoned Lia would come to see her, it was difficult to come up with an effective strategy. I had no doubt that given enough time and energy I could break through the bars in front of me, either through fire or force. But if the cell were broken when our usual guard came to deliver our next meal, I would no doubt be moved, questioned, and watched. On the other hand, using any sort of magic on the bars themselves would take far too long in the moment itself, and I couldn’t be assured I would succeed at all.

My plan was to somehow manipulate the lock of my cell door before any danger were to happen, but in such a way that wasn’t noticeable by our regular guard. Over the course of the afternoon, I had spent a long time meditating with my hands on the metal lock, trying to analyze it from the inside by channeling mana through it. I had originally expected it to be a somewhat easy task, having already succeeded in my tests on wool earlier, but it was giving me trouble.

I found that