126 I'll make a mage out of you

Evlin, Ellie, and Lilith were walking away from the hotel and moving towards an empty open field, far from curious eyes.

Ellie was shaking with excitement. She was finally going to become a real mage just like the crossbow girl, just like her aunt.

Her appearance consisted of a small grey hooded jacket, long black shorts with a white stripe on the side that went all the way to her knees, and her long black hair tied up in a single ponytail, as well as a pair of sneakers. She was looking like she was about to join a marathon for kids.

Evlin was still a little worried about the whole thing. She always held a big dislike for magic due to not feeling it was a power that should be allowed in people's hands so easily, so picturing her young niece playing with such a dangerous thing was filling her with worry. She needed to bring her best teaching skills to properly make Ellie understand just what kind of power she was dealing with.

On top of that, Evlin really didn't want to bring her niece to the battlefield, but she assumed it was too late for that and that at this point it might be better if Ellie knew how to defend herself.

Evlin was wearing a red tracksuit that also had white stripes on the side. She also had a whistle for some reason, a backpack, and a trucker hat, making her look like a gym teacher. Underneath her clothes, she had her wooden bracelets hidden to avoid attention. Ellie looked at her and wondered if she was going to start screaming "Shut up! Get on the ground and give me twenty!!" or something.

Lilith, on the other hand, kept looking left and right, trying to spot any kind of danger lurking in the shadows. Mia could attack them at any time so Lilith understood that Evlin had asked her to follow them in case they needed some extra battle power.

She was also rather curious as to how Evlin was going to approach this. Evlin would always talk about how she wanted to become a teacher, so Lilith was intrigued by just what kind of method she would use on a student.

She realized that using her entire armor might not be the best idea because of the different circumstances of how this world lacked magic energy, and she didn't want to waste too many absorbing crystals, so her only piece of gear was her usual sword tied up to her waist and two silver bracelets.

As for the rest of her attire, she was wearing a speed vest and leggings, clothes made to facilitate movement in case she needed to fight at any moment. Lance was with Daren and Marcus right now, while East was continuing her research.

The two and a half ladies finally reached a far enough location and decided to start.

"Alright... This should be a good place..." Said Evlin as she inspected her surroundings. The place was wide enough and deserted enough so that they could practice with freedom. "OK Ellie, start by doing some stretches and doing a small sprint until that tree over there and back again."

"Eh...?" Reacted Ellie, confused that this was how they were going to start the training.

"Don't 'Eh...?' me... You will be moving a lot, we need to warm up first and make you connect yourself with your body. Doing magic is all about understanding yourself. Both your mind and your muscles."

"I- If you say so..." Ellie still wasn't fully convinced but she didn't feel like it would be a good idea to try to argue with Evlin. She began to extend her arms and legs and after that, made a little sprint like her aunt asked.

Lilith came closer a little curious about Evlin's method of training.

"So... What's the plan exactly Evlin...?" Said the woman with speed attire and long black hair.

"Well... I never taught magic before..." Started Evlin. "But I have taught kids before and I have used magic before...I'll just try to combine both into one..."

"I see..."

"First I need to understand Ellie better, see what she can do, how much she can do, find out what she lacks, what she needs, and figure it out the best way to give it to her..."

Lilith continued to listen to Evlin's explanation as she saw Ellie beginning to return from her sprint.

"As for the magic stuff... I need to figure it out how Ellie is making those blue diamonds without a staff... You think she might be a master-class mage?" Said Evlin while looking at Lilith.

"Master-class? You mean those mages that can use magic with their bare hands? Mmmm... That would be the most logical explanation... But how did she use blue diamonds as her fist spell? Even you could only do that after years of practice..." Responded Lilith.

"Oh!! Maybe my little girl is a genius!!?" Said Evlin with eyes full of sparkles.

"Maybe... But still..." Said Lilith while thinking to herself.

She began to find it too much of a coincidence that Evlin was so good at using magic despite being from another world, and now finding out that even her niece seemed to have some kind of hidden talent as well.

Was it really a coincidence? Could it be that perhaps Evlin's bloodline was just naturally good with magic? Or maybe not her bloodline, but perhaps something else.

"Ok!! Nice work baby girl!" Said Evlin once Ellie finally returned to their side while gasping for air and holding her knees.

"Arf... Arf... Than... Ks... Aunt... Evie..." Said the girl just barely avoiding falling into the grassy terrain.

"Good. Now that you're warmed up, try to control your breathing a little."

"... Is this really magic training...?" Ellie asked.

"Trust me... Being able to control when your body is active and when it's inactive will help you a lot in the moment of truth."

"... Ok..." Ellie obeyed her again and tried to relax while controlling her breath.

"Good. Now first, show me what you can do."

"What I can do...?"

"Yeah. Try to make a blue diamond." Said Evlin giving a thumbs up.

"Ok... I'll try..."

Ellie extended her hands and tried to aim at the grassy terrain beneath her feet. She tried to focus to make a diamond appear. She managed to make a diamond when her aunt was attacked, when she got mad at Marcus, and when she felt threatened by Detra. These were all results of the heat of the moment, but now she needed to do it by her own command.

She kept trying for a couple of minutes but nothing happened. Evlin and Lilith just kept staring at her as if she was trying to push an invisible wall against the ground.

"Ok Ellie, you can stop now..." Said Evlin.

"Ugh... Sorry Aunt Evie..."

"It's ok honey, don't worry." Evlin looked at Lilith and they both thought the same thing. "Looks like we are starting from scratch."

Evlin approached her niece trying to think of the best way to make her understand magic the same way she herself did.

"Ok, Ellie. You heard my stories a lot of times. Tell me... What do you think magic is?"

"What magic is...?" Ellie said as she crossed her arms and looked at the ground.

She tried to remember everything she heard from the crossbow girl's tales. All her adventures, all her powers, her abilities, skills, the ways she would use magic to defeat her enemies.

"Magic is the power that is inside the body that mages can release with a staff to make amazing things happen, like using the elements, flying, reading people's minds, and a bunch of other stuff. And when you mix it with strong emotions you can turn them into different kinds of powers that the gods and demons use to-"

"Ellie!" Said Evlin, interrupting her niece.

"Eh?"

"You're complicating it too much. Try to keep it simple."

"Simple...?" Ellie was confused about how she was supposed to make something so deep and delicate like magic be resumed in a simple way.

"What is the world, Ellie?"

"... The... The world...?"

"Yeah, the world. Tell me what it is in a simple way."

"... Huh... It's a place where all the animals and people live and coexist? The third planet of the solar system? An agglomeration of water, earth, and air?"

"Simpler! Try to make it simpler! Talk to me like I'm stupid."

"... Huh..." Ellie began to wonder just what exactly her aunt expected her to say and tried to give the most dumbed down answer she could think of "Is... Is it a big ball?"

"Yes!! Perfect!!" Said Evlin doing her usual thumbs up.

"... Really...?" Reacted Ellie as she started to develop some doubts about her aunt's teaching skills.

"The world is just one big ball. Sure, it has a lot of stuff in it like land, people, animals, and stuff... But at the end of the day these are all just details. Magic is about knowing how to forget the details, and just focus on the basics, on the core of what it is."

Ellie still didn't seem convinced.

"My magic is all about transformation. Once I understood this simple fact I began to find many ways to explore it in different directions. But I still needed to understand it to take my first step. To help you develop your magic we need to understand the basis of how it works. So tell me... What is magic? Or rather... What do you want your magic to be?"

"What I want my magic to be..."

Ellie started to recall her memories once again. What triggered her ability to use magic before? On the first time, her magic saved her aunt from the crystal monster. Then, it was used to threaten Marcus. And finally, it stopped Detra from harming her aunt while she slept.

Ellie then understood. Her desire to protect, to defend her aunt, to keep her safe from harm. Her feelings were the trigger to make her magic activate.

"Magic... Is a tool to protect my family!" Said Ellie, looking at her aunt with conviction.

"I see..." Evlin muttered, noticing the determined eyes of her niece.

Evlin then took a few steps to make some distance between herself and Ellie. She then changed her bracelets into a gauntlet for her right arm and extended her hand towards the ground while trying to focus.

"Aunt...?" Ellie looked at her slightly confused.

Evlin then began to shake her hand and all of sudden, used some earth magic to activate the power of geokinesis to make a huge chunk of earth fly towards the ground. Ellie and Lilith kept staring at the pile of rocks rising towards the sky while Evlin just stood there smiling at them.

"Ellie..." She said.

"Huh?"

"In a couple of seconds, that pile is going to come back and crush me." Evlin said with the calmest tone possible.

"WHAT!!!??" Screamed Ellie with the furthest from calm type of tone possible. Lilith as well was looking at Evlin while sweating just wondering what the hell she was thinking.

"I need you to save me with your power." Evlin said while sitting on the grass with her legs crossed.

"Aunt Evie?? What are you thinking??"

Evlin simply looked up and noticed something approaching her. "Oh, looks like it's starting to return. You better act fast Ellie..."

"Aunt Evie, this is crazy!!!"

"I think you have about fifteen seconds before it reaches me..."

"Aunt Evie!!!" Ellie began to shake in despair as the rock kept approaching. She began to have flashbacks from the fight against the crystal spider.

"Eight seconds Ellie... What will it be?"

"I... I..." She began to tremble even more and tried to raise her arms to make her crystals appear just like before, but nothing happened. "Aunt Evie, it's not working!!!"

"Seems so... Guess I'll die then..."

"Aunt Evie!!!" Ellie tried even harder. Her mind was a mess right now. She was trying to concentrate on creating the diamonds but her fear was clouding her judgment.

"You're thinking too much! Keep it simple Ellie! What do you want your magic to do?"

"Wha... What???"

"What is your magic for??"

"It's for... It's for...!!!"

The pile of rocks was finally about to smash Evlin completely. Ellie panicked and began to scream even more desperately and finally managed to release her magic again.

"For protecting my family!!!" Said Ellie as she watched several pillars of blue diamond emerging from the ground and completely destroying the pile of rocks and covering Evlin from any harm.

Evlin watched the scene while her niece fell on her knees breathing heavily. She noticed that Lilith was panicking a little as well as if she had no idea what she was supposed to do in case things had gone wrong.

Evlin stood up and walked towards her niece.

"Ellie... Open your eyes." She said towards the little girl gasping for air.

Ellie looked in front of her, a small agglomeration of beautiful diamonds rising from the grass. "I.. I did it again!!"

"Yes, you did!" Evlin said while patting her niece in the back. "Ready to become a mage like your crazy aunt?"

Ellie who just a few seconds ago had a look of despair on her face was now full of smiles. "Of course!!!"