8 A Small Cottage

Blue skies and green grass as far as the eye could see. This is what entered Alicia's eyes as she passed through the door. Berlin looked at the young girl who was looking as if she was seeing the most amazing thing in the world and chuckled. "This is a personal space that I created. It has a one floor cottage right over there. There is also a small pond with fish swimming about. Before you can leave this place you will need to learn magic enough to be able to use the doors to get in and out. Tomorrow I will add a swordsmanship training area for you to practice in. Let's go!"

Berlin said that word and then placed a hand on Alicia's shoulder. Her surroundings instantly changed and she was now standing in front of a small cottage. It was an elegantly built single floor white stoned cottage. It had a few vines that ran up the left side of the cottage and over the trim of the shingled roof. Just seeing it gave a relaxed homey feeling. Although the cottage was very nice, Alicia had no time to admire its elegance due to the shock of being transported a large distance in a mere fraction of a second.

An eyebrow raised on Berlin's face as he let out a loud laugh at the little girl's shock. "Alicia my dear disciple you will be seeing even more amazing and wondrous things than this within the next three years. Do not let everything surprise you!"

Alicia blushed and said: "Sorry, Master Berlin. It was my first time transporting to a place in an instant like that."

"Do not worry you will slowly get used to it. For now, let me show you to your room." When they walked into the cottage the main room was very quaint. There was nothing but a few places to sit and a small kitchen. To the side, there were two doors. It was these two doors that Berlin brought Alicia next.

Berlin snapped his fingers and the whole outside became dark and the candles in the cottage lit up. With another wave of his hand, a key made out of crystal appeared and hovered in the air before floating down into Berlin's hand. "This key will open this bedroom door. This is for you until you are able to use magic well. You will need this key in order to enter the room. Go ahead and open it."

Alicia took the key and inserted it into the keyhole. She did not need to turn the key because as soon as she inserted it into the keyhole, the door swung open. The view in front of her made Alicia's mouth drop open! The size of the room did not match the size of the cottage at all! The room was way too big to fit in this cottage. And what was even more amazing was that everything was sky blue! From the large bed's bedsheets and canopy top to the currents on the windows. Even the paint on the wall was sky blue.

"Hoho! Do you like it? I do not know what color little Alicia likes so I went with a neutral color." Berlin was very proud of himself. He had quickly decided on the contents of the room before she opened it. Seeing her wide eyes and look of astonishment he felt very proud!

"Master Berlin, did you just do this? How..." Alicia really wanted to know how this was done!

"I just created it just now. The door to your right is a bathroom. I figured you would want your own privacy and the door on the left is a walk-in closet. It has dresses, nightwear, and practice wear. You go ahead and take a bath. I will go prepare some food for you. I am sure you must be hungry!" Master Berlin went to turn to leave when he was stopped by Alicia's hand grabbing his.

Tears once again rolled down Alicia's cheeks. "Master Berlin I do not know how to thank you. You have just met me but you are treating me so kindly and are doing so much for me. I do not know how I will ever repay you!"

Seeing the crying little girl, Berlin's eyes softened. He pulled the little one into a hug and patted her on the back. "Sometimes life will throw many things your way. Sometimes they are very bad and you may even lose your life because of it. But if you are able to pull through good things are bound to happen. Alicia, you have had it hard these past few years but today was your lucky day. Not only did you meet the nice young man earlier, you also met me. I had just so happened to be looking for a disciple. You were very lucky to have run into me today. If you want to repay me, work hard and show me that my eyes are not bad!"

Alicia wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded her head. " Master Berlin I will work hard and I will not disappoint you!" The sadness in Alicia's eyes turned into determination. Seeing this Berlin nodded in approval.

"Good girl! Now go get cleaned up. I will make some food for you." Berlin went to walk away again only to feel a tug at his sleeve once again.

"Master Berlin I have what Sir Blake said was Magma Lion meat. If you would like to use that you can..." She had nothing to offer for Berlin's kindness. All she could do was offer him the meat she had in her space pouch.

"Haha! That is okay. You save that because you will need it when I send you out for training in the forest." Berlin let out another laugh and patted Alicia's head. He knew the little girl was trying to repay his kindness somehow and was very pleased with this young girl's attitude towards things.

"If Master Berlin says so. I will go get cleaned up then." Alicia replied.

"Good! I will go cook! Hurry and go!" Once Berlin left Alicia walked around the room looking at all the things. She walked into the closet and picked out a long white dress. The walk in closet was filled with clothes of all kinds. She went with something simple and then took a towel and headed to the bathroom. She was surprised to see an earth looking toilet in the bathroom. The bathroom itself looked fairly modern in a sense. Which caused Alicia to be a little confused. 'Is this world advanced in certain areas while not so much in others?'

The entire bathroom looked really modern. It had a bath and a shower. A toilet and a hand sink with a big mirror that hung on the wall. Seeing all these modern facilities caused Alicia to let out a sigh of relief that she would no longer need to use a bush or a hole in the ground to go to the bathroom. Alicia wasted no time in getting used to the shower controls. Once she was able to get it working she hopped right into the shower and began washing all the dirt and blood off her skin and hair.