Adion opened his eyes, immediately feeling the pain in his left arm.

  What the…Why am I injured?

  Adion quickly got out of bed, trying to gather his thoughts. He looked down on his bandaged arm, feeling a bit strange.

  What did I do yesterday? Why is it so incredibly blurry? Am I getting worse?

  Adion looked around his room, trying to go through yesterday’s events.

  He found himself in front of the empty desk. He started looking through the drawers, but they were all empty.

  Am I remembering incorrectly? I could have sworn I was writing something last night. And it feels important.

  He soon felt someone approach the room, but it wasn’t Narvar. It was a non-mage.

  “Oh, you’re up,” The servant girl said with a slightly nervous smile.

  Should I know her name?

  “I brought you breakfast,” The girl said as she left a plate of food on his bedside table.

  Better not to ask, in case I make it awkward.

  “I’ll let Gold mage Narvar know you are up,” The girl said, excusing herself and leaving the room without ever expecting a response from Adion.

  Whatever.

  Adion shook his head, trying to focus on what had happened the day before once again.

  I went up to the surface with Narvar…And then…

  Why!? Why is it still so blurry?

  Adion couldn’t help but feel worried. Something seemed wrong.

  I’ll ask Narvar about it. He should be showing up soon.

  Adion decided to eat first.

  He grabbed the plate of food and carried it over to the desk.

  When he sat down to eat, grabbing the utensils, he couldn’t help but get a strange feeling. He looked at the knife in his hand, trying to catch that piece of his memory that had sprung up.

  Wait.

  Adion looked down to his wounded arm.

  Did I do that? Why would I injure myself?

  “Adion, I heard you were awake,” Narvar’s voice sounded from outside the door, snapping Adion from his thoughts.

  “Narvar,” Adion turned around and called out.

  Narvar opened the door and stepped inside, a gentle smile on his face as always.

  “How do you feel today?” Narvar asked.

  “It’s a lot worse,” Adion said with furrowed brows. He was starting to really worry. He still remembered his family and his past fairly well, and a few bits and pieces from the last year or so, but he didn’t seem to be able to hold onto any newly formed memories.

  “That’s not good,” Narvar said with a concerned expression. He approached Adion and put a hand on his forehead. Adion couldn’t help but pull back slightly, feeling uneasy.

  That’s strange.

  He looked at Narvar and found him to be slightly off.

  Did we fight yesterday or something?

  “Is it just your memory? Do you feel healthy otherwise?” Narvar asked.

  “I do,” Adion said with a nod as Narvar took his hand away, “Well, except my arm, I guess.”

  He lifted his bandaged arm up for Narvar to see.

  “Of course,” Narvar said with a wry smile, “You told me you got injured while training yesterday. Do you still remember?”

  “Nothing,” Adion said, hoping for Narvar to have a solution.

  “That is quite worrisome indeed,” Narvar said, “It seems you have trouble forming memories after your accident. Here, take this healing pill. I brought it for your arm, but maybe it could help with your memory loss as well.”

  Adion looked at the pill in Narvar’s hand and grabbed it without hesitation.

  Hopefully, this helps. Otherwise, my injury seems really strange. I would need to…

  What was it called again?

  Adion knew he had a very powerful healing pill back home. No matter what, that should be able to cure him.

  “I wouldn’t worry too much,” Narvar said in a comforting tone as Adion swallowed the pill, “I’m sure you’ll get better with time. And if your condition doesn’t improve, I might have a way to heal you.”

  “Really? What?” Adion asked. He didn’t want to keep feeling like this.

  “You might have forgotten, but I will be leaving in a few days, as I’m only staying here temporarily. You have agreed to leave with me at that time, to get back home. I’m sure you’re still keen on that idea, right?” Narvar asked.

  “Of course,” Adion nodded. He had a strong urge to return home.

  “Well, I’ll be going to what can be called the headquarters of my organization,” Narvar said, “It is on the way to your home, so you’ll still be with me at that point. I have collected quite a fair amount of contribution points lately. I could exchange those for a far more potent healing pill. A little memory loss would surely be fixed in an instant with one of those.”

  “That’s good,” Adion nodded slowly, thinking that it would be better than waiting until he went home to have his healing pill. Who knew what could happen on the way? He wanted to get back to normal as soon as possible. “But is that fine? Don’t you need those contribution points for something else?”

  “Not really,” Narvar said with a smile, “But we’ll see. Hopefully, you won’t even need it. It will take us a few weeks to get there. By then, you should have started feeling better.”

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  “Right,” Adion nodded. He felt traveling in the fresh air would be nice.

  “Do you want to go up for some fresh air?” Narvar asked, “It would be good for you to get used to the conditions outside before we set off.”

  “That sounds good,” Adion said with a nod.

  “Good,” Narvar said, smiling, “Finish your breakfast and get your daily training done. We might be out there for a while.”

  “Alright,” Adion agreed.

  “Come by my office once you’re done,” Narvar said, leaving Adion alone to eat.

  “Haah,” Adion sighed. This should be fine. At least I’ll be on my way home soon. Everything will be okay once I get back.

  Still, I should try my best to get better. Maybe meditating will help in some way.

  Adion ate his breakfast and drank the delicious iced tea that he usually had with his meals, feeling more energetic.

  After that, he sat down on his bed and started meditating, focusing on pulling the space mana around him into his core.

  A few hours later, Adion finished and went to find Narvar. The two climbed back up to the surface together, and Adion once again recalled just how unbearably hot it was.

  “Surely we’ll travel through the night once we set off?” Adion asked Narvar as they walked down the dirt road, where a few collapsed buildings were on either side.

  “Hehe,” Narvar chuckled, “It’s not so bad once you get used to it. The wind will cool us somewhat, traveling on the senba.”

  “The senba?” Adion asked.

  “It’s a desert ship used by the Sabamin to travel the desert,” Narvar explained, “I have one for us to use. Otherwise, traveling across the entire desert would take forever.”

  “Oh,” Adion nodded, relieved that they wouldn’t have to walk the entire way.

  I’m lucky to have encountered Narvar. Who knows how long it would take me to get home if I were alone?

  “I was thinking we could go practice operating it, so we don’t waste any time once it’s time to leave,” Narvar said.

  “Sure, sounds good,” Adion agreed.

  They continued walking for a few more minutes before Adion spotted a couple of senba lined up outside the base.

  They weren’t anything compared to real ships, looking more like rafts. They were made of wood with a few enforcements made out of steel. A large sail was tied against the mast in the middle of the ship. Behind it was a small and simple cabin that Adion guessed was mainly used to take shelter from the sun.

  “This is it,” Narvar said, stretching out his hand grandly with a joking smile, “I know it doesn’t look like much, but it does its job.”

  “It’s a bit small,” Adion said, “But I guess it doesn’t need to be any bigger.”

  “Yes,” Narvar nodded, “Any bigger, and it would be impossible to get it to move through the sand. Water and sand are quite different elements, after all.”

  “That makes sense,” Adion said, “But will the wind blow enough to move something like this?”

  “No,” Narvar answered with a smile, “But fortunately, I’m a wind mage. Otherwise, I wouldn’t dare suggest taking a senba for a journey this long.”

  “Oh,” Adion said. He didn’t know Narvar’s element before this. For some reason, he hadn’t thought about checking with his aura sense.

  “Let’s go for a ride, shall we?” Narvar suggested with a smile.

  “Sure,” Adion said, slightly excited. He had been doing nothing but train down underground, struggling to recall his fading memories basically every day for quite some time now. He was looking forward to experiencing something new.

  Narvar jumped up on the senba, and Adion followed. He watched as Narvar untied the sails, humming a happy tune.

  “Do you like sailing?” Adion couldn’t help but ask.

  “I suppose I do,” Narvar said with a nod, “But mostly, I just like doing practical things hands-on. No matter what that might be. It reminds me of my youth, a simpler time.”

  A simpler time?

  Adion spotted a broom leaning against the cabin and grabbed it. He started sweeping away the sand that had blown up on the ‘deck,’ wanting to contribute somewhat.

  “What did you do during your youth?” Adion asked as he cleared the sand away.

  “Lots of things,” Narvar answered while coiling the rope that had bound the sail around his arm. “I didn’t come from a family of mages, so I didn’t have any dreams or expectations of becoming one myself. As I grew up, most days were spent doing odd jobs to have enough money to eat. I had three younger siblings back then who needed me.

  “I suppose it should be a dark period in my life, but I can’t help but look back at it fondly. It felt good to be needed, to work my body hard, and to see the reward of my efforts through the smiles of my siblings every day. I didn’t need to think too much. Just work, eat, sleep.”

  “Sounds awful,” Adion couldn’t help but comment.

  “Haha!” Narvar laughed aloud when he heard Adion’s response, “I suppose it doesn’t paint the prettiest of pictures. I guess I look at it in such a way now that I know everything worked out. At the time, perhaps I was more miserable than I recall.

  “Anyway,” Narvar said, shaking his head wistfully, “What about you? You grew up in a family of mages, I suppose?”

  “Yeah,” Adion said, “But I grew up sparkless, so I guess it’s a little from most people’s experience.”

  “Sparkless? Then how did you become a mage?” Narvar asked, surprised.

  “Who said you couldn’t become a mage just because you didn’t have a spark?” Adion asked with a slight smile.

  “You’ll have to tell me more about that later,” Narvar said with a chuckle, “Anyhow, get ready. I’m about to start this thing up. Grab a hold of something. There might be a jolt.”

  Adion did as asked and watched as Narvar started controlling the wind around them, pushing it into the sails.

  Is he conjuring wind, or is it easier to grab hold of the wind around us?

  And how long can he keep this up?

  I’ll ask him about it later.

  Adion watched curiously as the wind got hold of the sails, and they started moving faster and faster. It wasn’t long before the base disappeared from view behind a sand dune.

  “You can grab the rudder. Get used to steering,” Narvar instructed.

  “Right,” Adion said, walking over to the rudder and sitting down. He found that he had to exert quite a bit of force to change direction. Fortunately, the rudder stayed in place once he let go.

  Adion closed his eyes and found himself enjoying the sensation. The heat from the sun didn’t bother him as much now that he could feel the wind against him.

  “How is it?” Narvar called out, still focusing on controlling the senba.

  “It feels nice,” Adion said. The ship’s friction against the sand caused a bit of noise, so he had to raise his voice slightly.

  “I quite like the feeling, too,” Narvar said with a smile.

  Adion couldn’t help but feel it looked strange. The wind caused Narvar’s robes to flutter, so Adion could see that the old man was basically all skin and bones. But he didn’t carry himself like a dignified elder at the moment. He had a childish grin as he urged the vessel to move faster and faster.

  “Haha,” Adion couldn’t help but laugh.

  “I hope you’re not laughing at the expense of this gallant Gold mage,” Narvar said with a grin.

  “Sorry, sorry,” Adion apologized, shaking his head. “By the way, doesn’t having the wind under your control push you back as much as you push the wind forward?”

  Adion felt like that should be the case. He himself felt himself pushed down as much as he carried when he controlled something to float in space.

  “That’s the tricky part,” Narvar said, “I have to let go of the wind right before it hits the sails. Otherwise, I’d be pushed right off. It definitely takes training to control one of these.”

  “I see,” Adion said in a low voice. I guess letting go doesn’t impact the force that much. Wind likes to blow, after all.

  Adion looked out over the vast desert. No signs of life could be seen in any direction.

  The desert sure is vast.

  It would be nice if we just kept on going.

  But I guess it’s just a few more days, then I’ll finally be on my way home.