It was a sunny November day. The forest outside the Amellan Walls had shed its dense leaf cover, laying it softly on the ground like a blanket ready for winter slumber. The mixed woodland near their spot by the creek was bare, while higher up the mountains, the greenery of tall conifers stretched toward the sky, above them, snow-capped peaks were cutting through pristine white clouds. Winter was at their doorstep.

The water in the creek was purling peacefully, crows were nesting in the trees, and the wind was howling gently—a serene and peaceful atmosphere.

Suddenly, the steady flow of the mountain creek was interrupted by someone's foot splashing right into it, followed by water forcibly being spurred into the air and whipped around without visible force ever touching it.

There was a battle playing out.

It was Elena's foot, and her worn-out, tortured Docs she wouldn't spare from water damage if it required that sacrifice for the win. A water whip, solidifying mid-air into ice shards, was cutting vines that, like possessed, slithered toward her and rose like snakes in the air. Focused Linda controlled them.

With her unique ability, unlike any other earth mage, Linda incited plants to do her bidding. Usually quite a delicate and gentle power, it showed its diversity in a fast-paced battle.

Her stash of suitable seeds would sprout in mere seconds, as if time was somehow forcefully sped up for them, and grow in the direction she decided—tendrils reaching out and gripping with frightening mobility, ready to swamp you and tie you up.

Although it wasn't without cost. Linda, of course, couldn't create something out of nothing. Plants that were forced to sprout, grow, bloom, and die in mere minutes still sucked up the nutrients they would consume in their lifetime from the soil, but never gave back what would have been returned through their normal life span.

This 'plant-bending' would deplete the fertile soil, leaving it barren and lifeless. At times, Linda's briefly flourishing sprouts would greedily consume nutrients meant to sustain the natural vegetation, or even directly leech from them, causing nearby plants to wither and die to fuel her ephemeral creations.

The idea of using the existing vegetation for resources might've been inspired by Elena's water manipulation method of gathering liquid from the surroundings. Whether it be ground, air, or plants, if it was made out of water, Elena's pull was strong enough to drain it.

Curious by nature, Maya would observe and theorize about the intricacies behind the unique magic of her friends. With the idea of nutrients being used as a medium, Maya liked to imagine Linda's magic as earth manipulation on a micro-scale—Linda's own secret technique, just like Elena's ice-creating ability.

These battles outside the Amellan Walls were a common occurrence. Repeated every weekend, sometimes despite bad weather, to keep their skills refined. They had solid proof it was working, as their levels were advancing much faster than their peers who did not use their own time to refine their techniques.

The old wooden plank that Elena had one day arbitrarily dragged up to their attic dorm room became their gateway to adventure. This makeshift bridge became their secret passage to the massive stone walls surrounding the town. From there, they would descend and continue to their cherished training ground in the wilderness beyond—even Andrea, who braved her fear of heights to join them. Their only limitation was daylight; they knew better than to tempt fate against the creatures that emerged after darkness fell.

Their actions took a heavy toll on the environment. The earth manipulation churned the ground inside out, destroying the grass and leaving only a muddy mess. The creek's natural flow suffered from the constant shifting of the ground. Maya's reluctance to use her fire powers—fearing she might harm her friends—spared the ground from being scorched as well.

Typically, before departing, they would try to rectify the situation to some extent. Linda, sorrowful for having hurt precious plants, would attempt to regrow the grass, but it would be a feeble version of its former self—malnourished and weak from the lack of nutrients in the already depleted soil.

However, that time wasn't upon them just yet.

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Maya jumped into the air, avoiding lumps of dirt flying at her. They were projectiles launched by Andrea, which Maya combated by creating a shockwave that burst them into particles, making dust fall everywhere.

"Hey!" Elena yelled in complaint, upset that the shockwave destroyed her creation and her flow, then tried to splash Maya with a wave of water.

Grounded again, Maya reacted by creating a dirt shield to protect herself from the onslaught of water. But that wasn't the extent of Elena's attack.

Maya winced, fearing what troublesome thing would Elena come up with now, but was saved by Linda's sudden intervention that caught Elena's ankle in a snare and pulled her to the ground where she fell chest-first into muddy grass that was just soaked with a cocktail of dirt and water deflected by Maya's dirt shield.

The girls couldn't suppress a chuckle at Elena's unexpected fall. They were paired up for the battle, so if Elena was willing to fight on all sides, she should expect the same from others.

Elena, however, got off the ground in one swift manoeuvre, simultaneously utilizing her element manipulation to slap Linda with water from the creek by her entire length, making Linda stagger and almost lose her balance from the overpowering wave.

Then, Elena proceeded to quickly create a couple of water globs that engulfed oncoming clogs of dirt made by Andrea, and overtook their control as the dirt mixed with water, making them land on Maya.

Maya only managed to deflect one. Another hit her directly, and one more landed right next to her, splashing her with mud.

Elena continued and froze the vines Linda sent after her, making them brittle and rip themselves into pieces by their own inertia, and, somehow, extracted what was left of water out of the ground to throw icicles toward Andrea.

They were paired up at the start, but now it was all against Elena.

Although the furthest away, Andrea clearly panicked when sharp objects were hurled her way and mustered to create a weak dirt shield to protect herself. As it didn't seem sturdy enough, Maya got scared for her and blasted those spikes off their trajectory with air pressure.

No one was hurt in the end, but it sure gave them all a fright.

"Havens, Elena! You always go overboard," Maya exclaimed.

"Please. They weren't even going directly at her." She brushed it off while attempting to shake the mud from her jacket.

Linda stared at Elena, completely stunned by her talent. What Elena did was take them all on in quick succession, but on the outside, it might as well look like she did it all simultaneously, defeating each.

Elena might have been advancing too quickly in comparison. Her techniques were beginning to break fundamental laws of elemental manipulation.

The amount of water in mass she could control was surpassing her own body weight, and the distance she could reach was becoming ridiculous. Added, her quickly changing between styles and forms she'd use, and how she could change from one move or attack into another right away with ease, was making them all secretly envious. Maya could never tell if she possessed forethought or could simply flawlessly adapt to the flow of movement.

"How do you do that? How do you move so fluidly?" Unlike Maya, Linda was impressed by this.

"How do you move plants but suck at dirt manipulation?" Elena deflected automatically, expecting Linda's words to be an attack, not admiration.

Linda's eyes shook for a moment, and she lowered her gaze.

"Come now. Don't be so insensitive." Andrea jumped in to scorn Elena. "We don't need to rub her insecurities in her face. It's not her fault." Her attempt to defend Linda came across as rubbing it in deeper.

"I didn't mean to insult you," Elena turned toward Linda. "I just meant that it comes naturally to me as plant thing does to you." Though, she didn't put too much empathy into her words as if she didn't feel she should be justifying her skill.

"I believe you can do everything with practice," Maya tried to sway the conversation in a positive direction.

"That's why we are doing this," Andrea put her hands on her hips. "So the two of you should focus more on elemental manipulation that isn't a forbidden craft."

"You want to waste this chance on something you already do at the academy every day?" Elena pivoted to Linda's side.

To her, this was a rare moment of freedom to use her magic however she liked. For someone so overwhelmingly talented, it would be a waste of time indeed to just repeat what she had already mastered long ago.

"Because we don't want to get hurt, Elena," Andrea said.

Suddenly, the sky screamed. They all covered their ears at the deafening sound. Maya looked up toward the shadow in the clouds. It created an odd feeling inside of her.

She twitched and woke up in her bed, her parents smiling at her from the photograph pinned over her head. Confused by this sudden transition. She rubbed her forehead.

'My dreams are warping with reality.'

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