It had not taken too long to set up his room. Other than putting away the things he was provided at the processing center, he only really needed to make his bed that night. Once everything had been put away, and he was finally able to rest; Zain unceremoniously plopped on top of his bed.
Hopefully, he would finally be able to process what had transpired that day during his slumber.
Except, his dreams had other plans.
He did not dream of the futuristic world he was revived in, nor the underwater realm he was now a part of, he instead replayed memories of his life in the past.
Most of the memories which resurfaced all played in a nonsensical mishmash, with random snippets and reels from his life: From riding his bike, to playing in his neighborhood with his friends in middle school, there was no real rhyme or reason to which memories replayed in his mind.
That was until a particular memory, that had been buried in the folds of his brain, resurfaced.
The TV played in the background on the free educational channel, the smell of potpourri filled the air, and air conditioning blared loudly in the window. He was a kid, maybe 4 or 5, and he was under the table, crying. The reason why he was crying, he could no longer remember, but what he did remember was his mother finding him.
She gently lifted the lacy table cloth, letting the gentle rays of the afternoon sun spill under the table. Crouching down to his eye level, she asked if she could join him in his little hiding spot. He of course nodded okay, and she quickly scooted close to him.
She tenderly looked at him and wiped his tears away.
‘Hey, sweetheart. What you crying under the table for? Were those kids in the park mean to you again?’
His cheeks were hot, his eyes were blurry from his tears, and he held his knees close to his chest. No response came from him as he buried his face in his arms.
His mother sighed, then proceeded to lift his head up so they could meet eyes. A melancholic smile played on her lips as she started to pet his hair.
‘I’m your mother, you don’t have to hide your tears from me. Whether it be sadness, happiness, or anything else, I want you to share all of your feelings with me. I’m here to listen. You trust me don’t you?’
Still very much emotional, he nodded silently in affirmation.
His mother let out a light chuckle and gave him a soft hug, continuing to stroke his hair in an effort to calm him down.
‘Zain, I know it may not seem like it right now, but you will find others you can share all of your feelings with. People you trust. Good people. Your mama ain’t always gonna be by your side when you go off to explore the world, so you’ll need to find those people by yourself. It might be scary, and you might be wrong a few times, but as long as you find at least one person, you’ll be alright.’
She gently held his face with both hands, brushing away the few remaining tears left on his face with her thumb.
‘Promise me, that you’ll try.’
He recalled frowning and staying silent for a good amount of time, but finally he answered his mother’s request. ‘Okay mom, I’ll try. I’ll try my best.’
The window brightened, indicating that the morning had finally arrived. Zain woke up in his bed, which was a hard mattress probably no better than the floor.
He laid there, staring at the ceiling for an extended period of time, with his eyes warmer than usual after he recalled his dream.
Once he finally willed himself to sit up, he pumped himself up for the start of the day.
I need to try my best!
In his mind, he materialized his worries and fears into something pliable and tangible; he proceeded to roll it into a wad, then throw it into the trash, now ready to start his day.
Brayden had provided him with an alarm clock as his first ‘roommate gift’. It was rather helpful as Brayden noted that without a sun, it was hard to get used to the sky simply turning to ‘daytime’.
Zain decided to make his way to the living room, where he found Brayden making some pancakes. With a smile on his face, he offered to make some for Zain.
They sat on the couch, food in hand, and with some more notebooks stacked on the coffee table. There were copious amounts of post its and tabs marking the pages, with handwritten personal notes written in the margins.
“Sooo… what are these notes about?”
The now spectacled teen took a swig of his orange juice, then lined out the notebooks in question. Once he was satisfied with the order, he began to speak in response.
“These are the notes I created for someone just starting out. It starts from enrolling in courses at the college to finding employment. “
Zain grabbed the notebook closest to him and flipped through the pages, the attention and care for each subject was palpable.
“Who did you make these for…?”
Adjusting his glasses and straightening his back, the boy started to nervously explain himself. “Well…even in my old life, I wanted to become a teacher. Lucky for me, the college funds the education of future educators, but through my discussions with the other transmigrants, finding footing is actually pretty difficult. If I’m going to be an educator, then I need to be a guide for those still discovering their way through life.” He looked at Zain for a moment, then puffed out his chest with faltering machismo, “I need to be reliable if I am to become the teacher I’ve always wanted to become.”
Even though Brayden lacked some self confidence, Zain was thoroughly impressed with the amount of work he put into his notes; he felt quite fortunate to be placed with a roommate like him, who would guide him when needed. In response to Brayden’s declaration, Zain reflexively began to smile and he let out an amused snort of air.
“I can tell just by looking at these notes that you would be a great teacher. You’re pretty impressive, dude.”
The complement seemed to embarrass Brayden to a degree, but he quickly recovered. “Thanks man, that means a lot. But enough about me! We have to get your classes in order, before the weekend is over, or else you won't be starting for another week.”
Apparently, only one mandatory class was taught a week due to the fact that transmigrants (or ‘ethereals’ as they called them here) would come randomly throughout the year, so the lessons were taught in no particular order. There were just a lot of supplementary materials for someone to complete, but otherwise the mandatory classes were rather easy.
What would take most of the week would be job searching, extra classes, or working. There were few occupations that you could obtain a scholarship for, but most of the time most people had to do apprenticeships and get lower skilled jobs to get by.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“What about people who have had experience back home? Can’t they just find the same jobs here?”
Brayden looked slightly dejected as he picked up a particular notebook from the ones splayed about. He flipped through the pages with a slight frown on his face, as if recalling a sad memory. “Some things don’t translate well here. I’ve received first hand accounts of some who had degrees and successful careers in their past life, but they were still unable to find a job here. You basically have to start from scratch, not knowing anyone in a world that is more advanced than your own.” He placed the notebook down, lightly brushing the cover as if he was being respectful to the contents within. Heaving a big sigh and returning his gaze to his pancakes, he began to eat once again. “Plus, the concept of magic and all that mystical stuff doesn’t help with the confusion.”
Zain began to process the information he was given. Reality was not as kind as he thought it would be, and being transported to a new world was starting to sound less and less worth it. He was starting to dread the coming days, when Brayden’s last statement finally hit him.
Wait….Magic!
Instead of being sad and worrying about the future, he chose to be dazzled by fantasy!
Being unable to quell the excitement welling within him, he immediately began to ask about what new laws of nature ruled this world.
“I didn’t know that this world had magic. Can you explain some of it to me?” Zain could feel a deranged smile creep on his lips, so he tried his best to suppress it and play it cool.
Mid-chew, Brayden looked up slightly surprised. He quickly swallowed and began to speak again. “Oh yeah. You got here at night so I guess that you didn’t see too many people. If you saw certain people, then you would be able to tell immediately but I guess it can’t be helped.” Looking back to the stack of notebooks he had prepared ahead of time, Brayden began to think for a bit before settling on a particular one. “I was pretty excited when I learned that this place used magic, but the people from here think of it as a normal part of life. I had to go to the library to research it because most people don’t think that much about it and don’t explain it very well. ”
“What? How do they not know that much about it? They lived their whole lives with it, they should at least know the basics, right?”
“Yeah, I get what you mean but thinking about it, it kinda makes sense…I guess. Like, imagine you had to explain electricity to someone who had never lived with it or explain how the internet worked to someone who has never had it. Most people don’t think about it on a daily basis and it is apparently hard to describe to those who have never experienced using it. Someone once told me that it would be like describing what an egg tastes like to someone who has never eaten an egg before. It's just like, one of those fundamental things, I suppose.”
They both shrugged their shoulders.
It was weird, but as long as there was information readily available, they could just look into it themselves.
Brayden pulled out a small whiteboard he could write on and began to explain the things he had learned about the magic there.
“From what I have researched, there are three categories of magic. It all whittles down to those that enhance the mind, body, and spirit. It is rather hard, because they use different terms to describe what the magic here is, but a lot of people mainly describe it as life energy. I would say, for a beginner, the best place to start would be learning about the fundamentals and the basics. You have no idea how deep this goes.” He briefly pointed to several notebooks which seemed to be volumes on this topic, before he continued with his lesson. “The easiest thing to get is the concept of the attributes of someone's magic.”
On the whiteboard, he wrote out six elements: Water, earth, fire, wind, lightning, and light. There were six contents in this world and each one tended to have a particular attribute most of the local population possessed. As Brayden got further into his explanation, he started to go on some tangents about the cultural significance of the elements, the subcategories of the elements, and the real world applications of each element. Zain had to gently remind him to stay on topic about the basics as all of this information was flying over his head.
“Excuse me. In short, a lot of locals have a particular element based on where they are from, though, it is not unheard of for them to possess access to two elements. But that does not necessarily apply to us outlanders.” He drew a big circle which encompassed all of the elements, and he looked at Zain with a grin on his face. “Ethereals have access to all elements and they tend to have a larger capacity for magic. The scientific reasoning for this is unknown, but many speculate that it may be where we come from.”
“Interesting… So what you’re saying is that we’re all basically the avatar.” Zain clenched his fists, thinking about the possibilities of using different elements. “Of course, with great power comes great responsibility.”
Brayden let out an amused laugh, “I hate to burst your bubble, but in domesticated areas, most people don’t really use their powers for that. The most you will see someone use their mana for is maybe their auras or maybe if their job has some application for it.”
“Dang it… At least it's still cool though. But wait…what do you mean aura?”
“Hmm…I think it would be better if I showed you. I haven’t quite grasped the concept myself, but we’re gonna be using some public transportation today when we’re getting the stuff for the apartment, you’ll see then.”
That statement was quite mysterious, but Zain decided to look forward to their later excursion.
“Have you been able to use some of the basics? Like, what is it like to use mana anyway?”
No doubt having prepared for this question beforehand, Brayden reached under the table and pulled out a few items: a piece of paper, a cup of water, some pebbles, and a flashlight. How ever these things would be used, eluded Zain.
With a more straightened posture, Brayden cleared his throat and began to teach this foreign concept to Zain. “Everyone has an attribute that they are more in tune with. Even us, who are capable of using them all. They usually use special tools to determine such things, but in light of the fact that I do not have access to them, I have come up with some substitutes that may help us determine what yours is.” First, he placed the cup of water forward. “Since a good amount of people who come here have water affinity, it would be best to see if that is the case with you. Think about shifting the water within the cup. Imagine taking a spoon and swirling the water into a small whirlpool or something of that nature.”
Brayden took it upon himself to demonstrate, as he grabbed the glass by its rim and closed his eyes. Soon, the water within began to ripple, as if reacting to vibrations all around it. The longer he concentrated, the more the waters became unsettled and finally began to move in a more artificial manner. Like a puddle undulating as it rained outside, except there was no other water source to be found.
As quickly as he disturbed the water, he immediately stilled it as he willed. He smiled as he completed his demonstration and motioned his hand, beckoning Zain to try as well.
Zain did as instructed, closing his eyes and envisioning moving the still waters within the cup into a small vortex, focusing on the tips of his fingers, trying to push out whatever magic laid dormant within him. He opened his eyes.
Nada.
He tried again.
Again, nothing happened.
After some silence, with them both looking awkwardly at the glass of water, Brayden decided to move on.
“Hmm, I guess water isn’t where you should start. Let's try electricity.”
Brayden added some salt to the water and explained what needed to be done to see if he held affinity for electricity. Zain dipped his fingers into the water, keeping them submerged and a small distance away from each other. Imagining the sparks of a lightbulb, he tried to connect his fingers with a spark of electricity.
Nothing.......
Moving on to the piece of paper, he first tried to move it by imagining it flapping in the wind.
Nothing happened.
Then he tried to imagine the edges of the paper turning to embers as if a fire was consuming it.
Again nothing.
With the pebbles, not one moved or showed any change. With the flashlight, he could not dim or brighten the light.
Nothing was reacting.
Creases formed on Brayden’s forehead as he struggled to think of new things to try, a slight frown accentuated the dimpling on his chin as he pondered for quite some time.
Finally, he let out a defeated sigh as he plopped on the couch, grabbing one of his notebooks, and looking through his notes. They tried a few more things, but nothing bore any fruit.
Zain had slight dejection singe his heart as he wanted so badly to play with some magic.
Maybe it wasn’t meant to be, I guess…
These demeaning thoughts were interrupted by Brayden closing his notebook. He let out a small breath and returned his attention to Zain. “I guess we’ll have to ask a medium or something at some point. It’ll cost some money, though, so I guess you’ll have to save for that. I wanted to avoid that, but it’s probably the best option because it’ll be hard for you to get the concept for using magic if you don’t start with the one you have the best affinity for.” He had a slight pout on his face. It would seem like he truly wished to find a way to determine his affinity without the use of tools, but this failure filled him with slight bitterness.
Zain let out a small laugh as he consoled his roommate. “I’m glad you tried so hard for me, man. It means a lot. If I learned anything from this information session, it is that you are someone I can count on.”
Brayden looked down for a few seconds, recalling what they needed to do in order to continue on with what was planned for that day.
“Yeah…we should probably sign you up for your classes before I forget.”
Oh yeah, I forgot about that too...
Zain internally sighed, having reality enter his thoughts once again.
