Tomorrow, 6:30AM—
Cold wind blew from outside as the sun appeared from the east, the sky deepened in dark blue color with clouds forming gradually. Birds from the woods chirped endlessly with their harmonious melody, dried leaves got caught by the wind and flew towards the horizon, amidst all of the nature's wonder, Syla opened her eyes slowly, letting the lights enter her eyes as the wooden ceiling became the first thing she saw in the morning.
"Mmrrh.." She grunted, stretching her hands and feet before getting up from her bed.
Her ears twitched from the cold, prompting her to get inside the blanket once more.
"It's colder than usual— Ah, wait.." She said as she remembered something important. "Today is the day for my first magic lesson– Urghh.. I should get up now.."
Syla landed on the floor with both of her feets and began walking to the wooden door infront that leads her to the living room.
"Hm? I can't feel my tail–" Syla noticed, she turned around and saw her fluffy tail fell limp. "Did i accidentally slept facing upwards– That explains why the ceiling was the first thing i see when i opened my eyes, my tail became numb from my body weight pressing it down all night."
Syla tried to shake her tail using her hand, before giving up just a few seconds later and continued with her day. She opened the door and saw her mom and sitting at the dinner table, they were preparing for breakfast.
"Oh? You're awake, Syla." Her dad said, calling her name and urges her to sit aswell.
"Good morning.." Syla said while scratching her left eye.
"Good morning, breakfast is ready." Her mother said as she placed dozens of plates onto the table.
Syla climbed the chair that was meant for her and saw that the table was filled with more food than usual. Not just meat, but there are also mushrooms and vegetables at the side.
"This looks delicious.." She said, her mouth half-drooling from the food around her.
"Today is your first magic lesson, remember that." Her dad reminded Syla with her schedule, he took a bite out of his plate before continuing. "I talked to my squad captain, he allowed me to take a week off, so for the next 5 days, i'll be able to watch you at the field."
"Field?" Syla asked with a mouth full of food.
"Yes, you're going to learn magic, doing it inside a closed space like a house is just dangerous. Magic can be destructive after all, it's not just summoning water out of your fingertip." Her dad answered.
While the two of them were talking, Syla's mother watched with a slight smile, not wanting to bother them, she decided to focus on her meal rather than joining the conversation.
"Where is it? The playground?" Syla asked again.
"No, remember– Other people shouldn't know that you're learning magics, thats why you'll go to the woods with Mr. Hensen in the morning, we'll follow behind." Her dad responded while pointing his thumb towards his back, vaguely telling Syla the location of the field.
"I see, then when will he arrive?" Syla said, not expecting the knocking sound at the back of her house.
Knock knock.
"Now." Her dad replied with a smug.
"What!?" Syla was surprised by the sudden visit and the fact that the knocking sound came from the back of her house.
"Yes!" Her mother got up from her chair and went to the other side of the house, she opened the back door of the house and was greeted by Mr. Hensen as they've expected.
"Greetings, Sorry for the intrusion this early in the morning." Hensen said politely, he had already changed his clothes to a more simple style, blending with everyone else, he also didn't brough the magic staff along with him so that no one will be suspicious.
"Did you brought a change of clothes?" Yulia asked.
"Ah, this? No.. I actually asked the village chief to let me borrow some clothes, i said to him that i don't want to attract a lot of attention, and he agreed." Hensen responded with a smile.
"That's good to hear, i'll call Syla in a moment." Yulia said as she turned around to look at Syla.
"Syla, Mr. Hensen is here, do you need time to prepare?" She shouted, making sure Syla could hear her voice.
"Isn't it a bit too early!?" Syla complained to her dad. "I haven't finished my breakfast yet!"
"Ck, that's why you need to be ready for the unexpected, my dear daughter." Her dad clicked his tongue and let out a smug face that annoyed Syla, soon he got up from the chair and brough the empty plate to the kitchen, he had already finished breakfast while Syla's plate was still half full.
'This damn father!—" Syla groaned in her mind.
She doesn't have much time before her lesson, so she quickly gobbled up the rest of her plate until it was clean, her mouth was full of flavor that it was getting hard to chew.
'Eek! This boar meat is undercooked..' She quietly mumbled.
After finishing her breakfast and tidying herself up, Syla appeared infront of Hensen, ready for the magic lesson.
"Good morning, Mr. Hensen." She said, her head looking up at him with confidence.
"Good morning, Syla– Now, if you're ready, we'll depart soon." Hensen said, inviting Syla to walk along with him.
"— Okay." She replied after some hesitation.
A few moments later, her family and Mr. Hensen walked to the edge of the village in secret, fortunately, Syla's house was near with the village border, so they have less trouble from other people that could possibly saw them or hear their footsteps.
Syla, Mr. Hensen, and her parents all jumped through the village fences, it was easy to bypass since it was made out of wood and wasn't that tall like the usual cobblestone gate at a human town.
"Let's go." Hensen said, guiding the demi-human family into the secret field he had set up far from the village.
Inside the forest, far from the village's protection, monsters and wild animals can appear unexpectedly, thats why it was dangerous for a normal person to traverse through here, but Syla has her father, who's a hunter and had a lot of combat experience, along with him, she also has Hensen who's an experienced mage and can cast different kinds of spells.
If nothing goes awfully wrong, they'll be guaranteed to arrive safely.
.
.
30 minutes later—
Syla was still traversing through the dense woods, various plants and insects accidentally bumped into her, however she remained unfazed, even when faced with a crawling insect with hundreds of legs like the Forestblast Centipede, who was known to have a size of 15cm and can shoot sticky acid, she doesn't get scared at all.
'If i were really a kid, i probably would've screamed hysterically, but fortunately, im not.' She thought.
Hensen observed Syla's behavior throughout the journey, and he can't help but to admire Syla's bravery, a girl around her age were usually very unlikely to behave like she do, but Hensen saw it with his own eyes, that Syla wasn't like any ordinary kid he ever teach.
'When she was at her house, her face was full of joy like a normal kid, but now after we were outside, that childlike face had disappeared completely– Is she really 4 years old? I feel like that kind of expression shouldn't be possible for a person at that age.' He said in his mind, puzzled by how Syla's mind worked.
As the four of them walked along the trees and bushes, they saw a light infront of that opened to an open space, a field like landscape that perfectly fits for testing or a picnic. Flowers bloomed in the distance while the tall trees formed a wall-like structures with cliffs that stood hundreds of meters tall behind it.
"We're here." Hensen said.
"Woaahh....." Syla was amazed by the breathtaking view, the sun was shining on the east, Syla looked at the sun through the crevices that were created by the leaves on the tree, and saw countless ray of lights seeping through, the morning fogs became thicker as the cold breeze sweeps through the field, her hairs scattered in all directions as if trying to let go from her head and flew along with the wind.
"So this is– The outside world.." She quietly whispered.
'I want to go there.. I want to explore!– I feel like, i've found my goal here..'