As the day turned into night, a small village remained alert and vigilant. A cold wind continuously swept through the village, nipping and biting any skin exposed to it. In every home, old and young, each person was trying not to worry about possible bandits and the cruel things they would do should they appear. Instead, all they could do is pray nothing happened whilst huddling close together near their fireplaces for warmth.

Past the Chief hall and past the village square, past a few homes, down a narrow dirt road, a turn here and a turn there, at the edge of the village sat a small unremarkable shack. Inside the shack was a dirt floor with bits of hay covering it. The room was dimly lit by a single candle, as its flickering shadow danced around the room, it looked as though it would go out at any moment. The walls were made from bits of hardened clay and crumbling mud bricks. The roof was made entirely of long bundled grass with holes all over, big enough for eggs to fall through. If the wind blew even a little, then there would be no way to keep it out of this so-called home. Besides that, there were no windows to speak of and the door itself was not a door at all. Instead, someone simply hung a bit of cloth over the entrance and every time there was even the slightest breeze, it would flail about back and forth like a fish caught in a net. In the center of the shack was a small fire pit used for cooking and warmth. Inside this small 10x10 home there was no furniture at all, no desk or chest, no bed or chairs, not even a table. It was so empty, it felt cold and abandoned like someone had packed everything up in a hurry and ran off as though they were fleeing from such poverty. In a small corner of the room, there were only a few worn out dishes. There were 2 sets of wooden bowls with 1 wooden spoon, 1 wooden cup, and 1 small pot, maybe made from copper. Besides that, there were 3 people inside, a young girl 11-12 years old and 2 boys, one who was 5-6 years old and one who was 6.

In the center of the room, the young girl had a fire going with a small pot above it boiling and bubbling.

After Lowen had helped Ben he had given Nia some food for them to eat. All he had to offer was dried meat and snowberries, but looking at Nia's face, it seemed as if she had received a feast. Ignoring Chief Roland's orders, she quickly ran outside and gathered some firewood making a small fire. She also collected some water in her pot and ran back inside. It seems there was a water source nearby. After that she borrowed the one knife Lowen had and using it as a kitchen knife she sliced the last 2 pounds of meat Lowen had given her as thin as she could possibly get it, before plopping it in the pot to boil. She did so because although her brother was now awake, his body was still pretty weak, so it would be pretty difficult for him to chew the tough meat, so the only real option was a thin meat soup. As for the snowberries, first, she peeled the skin off each one individually. Then she cut all of them open and removed the seeds. after that, she simply mashed them in Lowen's clay jar with a bit of water, turning them into juice.

With that jar of juice, she ran over to her brother and sat him up gently.

"Little Ben, look here I have some juice."

Ben's eyes stared wide in surprise. First at the juice then at his sister, before once more looking at that jar of dark blue juice. Smelling the sweet aroma coming from the freshly made juice, he couldn't help but gulp dryly. Because of dehydration, both his mouth and throat were as dry as a desert, causing him to cough a bit painfully.

"Little Ben it's ok, drink this."

Nia pushed the jar to his lips, making him sip a bit at first. After his coughing subsided, she gradually helped him tip the jar up higher and higher, making sure to get every drop in his mouth. As the liquid poured into Ben's mouth the sweetness and sourness blended together perfectly, causing Ben to enter a state of euphoria. It had been so long since he had something so sweet and delicious. He had nearly forgotten that berries were sweet and the tart aftertaste made him relish in delight. Before even a minute had passed the whole jar was already drained of juice and a big smile was plastered on Ben's face. Although he was regretting that the juice was now gone, the satisfaction that the juice brought him still overwhelmed everything else. There was little time for regret though, as it was then that his nose picked up the smell of something even better. Something he hadn't eaten for close to over a year. Something he smelled constantly from other homes but he could never eat himself and that was...

"MEAT!"

Ben cried out, jolting Nia and Lowen. The first time Lowen heard Ben's voice turned out to be a shout for [MEAT!].

Nia and Lowen both couldn't help but chuckle a bit. At that moment little Ben was just too cute. Nia walked over to the pot but a sudden thought hit her. How would she remove the pot from the flame without burning herself? She had nothing to remove it with. Looking over at Ben and then the pot she was stumped. Should she just put the fire out and wait til the pot cools but if she did that she would then have to go back out and get more firewood or they would end up freezing at night. After a moment or so, Nia couldn't help but look over at Lowen almost instinctually.

"Do you have anything I can use to remove the pot?"

Lowen looked at Nia with a puzzled expression.

(How does she normally take it off the fire?) He thought.

Lowen looked around the room for something to lift it off.

(Maybe she just uses sticks like handles, well whatever.)

Lowen thought nothing more of it and began wrapping his hands in a bit of ki, then he simply picked the hot pot up and placed it down away from the fire. Just days ago, lifting that hot pot would have seriously burned him, but now it was obvious that his powers had slightly improved. With each day that went by, his manipulation of ki advanced more and more but Nia and Ben seeing this couldn't help but yell out at the same time.

"MAGE!!"

Lowen's face scrunched up in confusion as he repeated the unfamiliar word in his head.

(Mage, what the hell is that? and why are they suddenly so shocked?)

Lowen tried to recall some memories from the boy he had taken over, but there was only a vague image of what a mage was or is supposed to be. It seemed that the boy's memories knew very little. Vague as it may be, the thought that immediately came to mind for Lowen was [POWER].

While the three ate the simple soup. more and more thoughts flooded Lowen's mind. Finally, he couldn't squash his curiosity and asked.

"What's a mage?"

This time it was Ben and Nia's turn to be confused. Nia couldn't help but wonder in puzzlement.

(Doesn't he know? isn't he a Mage? If not then how can he do what he does or maybe he simply has never heard of it before. He is still a kid. He could have come from someplace even more backwater then our little village, where they don't know about Mages.)

As Lowen stared at the two. he could see their expressions blanking. they clearly knew nothing or at the most very little.

"I um...I only know a bit. When I was around Ben's age I heard stories from some of the older villagers. Stories about Mages and how they would fly high in the sky. They would sometimes bless those that were good with miracles and sometimes smite those that were bad with fire and thunder. Besides that I..... I really don't know.

(Hmm, interesting. So are these Mages real, or merely just fairytales told to children to keep their behavior in line?)

"AH!"

Suddenly Nia remembered something and shouted out instinctively, surprising Lowen and her little brother giving them both a fright.

"There was also a rumor."

Lowen looked at Nia in curiosity.

"Rumor, a rumor about more fantasies or..."

Nia quickly shook her head as no before interrupting Lowen.

"A rumor about the Chief."

Before Lowen could ask more, Nia continued.

"When I was little, my father once told me of how he and Chief Roland fought off bandits together. He said they were once surrounded on all sides fighting desperately and that when they were on the verge of being finished off, that's when Chief Roland displayed his power, he only used one spell and with it, he turned all of his enemies to ash.

Lowen's eyes widened in surprise and wonderment.

(Is something like that really possible?)

In Lowen's previous world, the 3rd stage of ki manipulation was called the Elemental Stage. At that stage, a person could create a flame of pure ki energy with a temperature of several hundred degrees but at that level, the flame is considered no more than a parlor trick. Although it is a real flame, to use it in actual combat is quite difficult and the results it could produce would be mild injuries at best. To turn someone completely into ash, let alone multiple enemies at once, even Lowen at the height of his previous power would find that extremely difficult to do.

(Are Mages really that powerful?)

In the end, there was something about Nia's statement that bothered him. Lowen couldn't help but ask.

"Is it true or not? Why is something like that simply a rumor?"

"Um...well, I don't know."

"What does that mean?"

"I've....I've never seen him use magic, I don't think many of the villagers have either, at least it's not really something that ever comes up. I've lived here my whole life and I just haven't seen him use any magic ever."

(Hmm, so this Roland isn't simple after all. Can no one actually confirm if he's a Mage? If he is, is he hiding his power, and if so for what purpose? The only witness seems to be Nia's father but he's considered a traitor so no one would believe him. Hmm, if I had something to hide and there was only one witness...)

Before Lowen's thoughts wondered further, he wanted to confirm something.

"But your father said he used magic, right? Tell me, did your father... did he lie to you?"

With this question, Lowen tried to probe a bit. He was now slightly curious about this girl's father who everyone called a traitor; Not as curious as he was about Chief Roland but still, curious all the same.

Nia's expression became crestfallen as her face tilted downward. After a moment of silence, she raised her head once more and with a sad yet determined look she said.

"My father has never lied to me."

(Oh, now that's interesting. Even after being labeled a traitor's daughter and having everyone in the village hate her and mistreat her because of him, somehow she still believes in him, loves and trusts him. Is she just naive or maybe that's how it is when you care about and love someone? Just what exactly did her father do?)

Lowen looked at this young girl's determined expression, he wondered if he should just ask her about her father or just leave it well enough alone. It really had nothing to do with him but for some reason when he looked at Nia, he saw similarities with himself. That sadness, that despair of being hated by anyone with eyes, in the end, he silently shook his head. If she wanted to tell him then she could, if not, then he wouldn't pry too much.

"Nia."

Nia looked at Lowen still showing a determined expression, she was also a little angry at Lowen for asking her if her father lied. After everything that happened, she hated when others doubted her father, called him and her a traitor. If this Lowen had those same thoughts, then her impression of him would immediately take a hit, so in a pout, she asked.

"What?"

"When you said your father never lied to you..."

Nia's face looked even sourer.

"What about it?"

Lowen didn't take her expression to heart and instead smiled warmly at her.

"I believe you."

Nia's face instantly went blank. Once again this kid was so kind, she didn't know what to think or even how to react. She wanted to cry her heart out. In the end, all she could muster was a hug. As she hugged Lowen, she wanted to say something, but words just wouldn't come out no matter how hard she tried. As she continued to hold Lowen for several minutes, once more she found herself in an awkward position. When it came to boys, she had only hugged her brother and her father but now twice in one day she was hugging Lowen. Her little cheeks flushed slightly and her heart fluttered a bit. Just as weird thoughts started to appear in her head, all the sudden, in this silence, snoring was heard. Looking down, Lowen had fallen asleep.

Lowen simply couldn't help it, after trecking through the forest and arriving in the village all the way up to healing Ben for over 7 hours. Lowen had pushed himself to his boundary, he was tired to the extreme. In this long warm embrace, Lowen's entirety relaxed as drowsiness like no other took his mind. His eyes slowly shut and just like that, he slipped into a world of dreams.

Nia released a simple sigh and carried Lowen over and laid him down next to Ben. Covering the two with a bit of hay as a blanket, she then blew out the small candle and she too, with a warm calm feeling in her chest, quietly fell asleep.