A NEW LIFE A NEW START (1)

"Just do it. You'll understand soon."

Viviane sips her tea.

Satria wants to refute but then he remembers that unlike on earth, this place is filled with magic.

'Why do I keep forgetting that this place has magic?'

"I see." Instead of refuting, Satria nods in agreement.

Satria grabs the book. He starts walking towards the table, or specifically towards the magic crystal. He places his right hand on the magic crystal and his left hand holds the book in his chest.

"Okay, now what?"

Satria turns his head to Viviane who is addicted to tea. She just kept drinking it nonstop for the past two and half hours. It seems that Viviane didn't hear what Satria had said, since she, instead of replying, just poured another cup of tea.

'Hah, all that tea in her stomach and not even once I saw her go to the bathroom.' He thought.

Satria didn't have much time to begin with, and now he is curious about how the magic crystal works.

"Viviane." Satria called her name.

She didn't reply.

"Viviane." Satria called her name louder.

"Ah, right," Viviane was startled, "There is an incantation. You have to repeat it after me."

She didn't notice that Satria already stood before the table. Still holding her cup, Viviane walks over to Satria. Standing behind him, Viviane leaned in to speak near his ear.

"Ehem, repeat after me." Viviane said it into Satria's ears.

"I, seeker of knowledge, place my hand as a sign of good, unveil, to me, the things that are hidden within this record. Something like this."

'What?' Flinched, Satria's shoulder almost hit Viviane.

Satria was perplexed and turned his head. The incantations were so cringe, it looks like a child had made it sound cool. He can't even hide his disgusted face. Viviane, who can clearly see Satria's disgusted face, feels a bit annoyed.

"What? Just repeat it after me!" Viviane pouted.

"N-No, It's nothing."

Satria turns his eyes to the magic crystal.

'Argh, whatever.'

Satria begins to place his hand onto the magic crystal once again. He closed his eyes, trying to make it sound serious as much as possible.

"I, seeker of knowledge, place my hand as a sign of good, unveil, to me, the things that are hidden within this record."

The moment Satria finished the incantation, the magic crystal glowed.

SHIIINGG~.

The light is bright, no it was too bright. Satria could only close his eyes, his hands were busy holding on to the magic crystal and the book. 

'Ugh, it's too damn bright.' 

Despite the brightness, he felt a surge of energy coursing through him as the magic crystal pulsed in his grasp. The book trembled in his hands, pages fluttering with an otherworldly force. The ringing sound grew louder, blending with whispers that seemed to echo from the pages of the book. Squeezing his eyes shut, Satria focused on maintaining his grip. A ringing sound entered Satria's head. His heart raced, uncertain of the unfamiliar forces surrounding him.

Only after the light subsided, he dared to open his eyes. Before him, a mythical scene appeared.

'Whoa, this-.' Satria lost for words.

The thing that unfolds before him was a dreamlike scenery. It was a cosmos, a magical cosmos.

Satria is floating before the magical cosmos. He inspects every inch of his body, but nothing seems off. Satria casually moved his hands around.

"Whoa, this is crazy."

Everytime Satria moves his hand, a trail of glittering light shines on it. He also tried it with his feet, and the same glittering light appeared.

"THIS IS CRAZY, WHOAA~! HAHAHA."

Satria turns his body around, spinning. The same glittering light appeared, covering his entire body.

"THIS IS CRAZYYYY~."

Satria moved his body around. Spinning, dancing, rolling, doing backflips. He did that while still laughing to his heart content. With every move, a glittering light appeared, making his surroundings filled with shards of light.

"WHOAA~HOOO~"

He is having fun. Who wouldn't? A dreamlike magical cosmos appeared right before him. He doesn't want to miss this opportunity to have fun and forget about all that had happened before.

"Hahahahaha, that was fun." Exhausted, Satria stops. He takes a closer look into his surroundings.

Satria squinted his eyes. Something drew his attention from afar, it was a sphere. He noticed a blue floating sphere, gently hovering. Intrigued, he couldn't help but wonder about its origin. Satria wants to approach the sphere, but he doesn't know how. He hasn't moved from his spot since before.

'Hm, can I do that?' Satria looks into his hands, clenching his fists.

'I think I can, this place is magical after all. Let's give it a try then.' A small grin rose in Satria's face.

Satria bent his body forwards. Now his stomach is lying flat on the air. Satria raised both his legs, making a straight posture. As he raises his hands forwards, he shouts.

"FLY!"

WHOOSH~.

He shot forward like a missile being launched. He's flying.

"WOOOO~ HOOO~."

He flies through the cosmos, soaring among the magical stars. With outstretched arms, he navigates the vast magical cosmos, feeling the joy of freedom. 

Surrounded by the glittering lights, he embraces the magical winds. Trails of glittering light follow Satria closely.

He maneuvered along the cosmos. Nothing can stop him now. Not the wind, not the gravity nor anything can stop him. He flew forwards, drawing a straight line in the magical cosmos.

'Lets go faster.'

Satria pulls his arms back and puts them by his side.

BOOOOM~

Satria flew even faster. He can feel the cosmic winds brushing harder against his face.

"HAHAHAHA, I'M FREE BABY." Satria laughs like he was crazy.

"WOOOO~ HOOOO~." He shouted.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

He flew so fast that he almost reached the magic sphere. The magic sphere, once tiny, now appears larger as he approaches it.

"Almost there, almost." Satria smiled.

A really big smile can be seen on Satria's face as he approaches the magical sphere.

ZIIING~

A loud ringing sound filled his head.

"WHAT? WHAT HAPPENS?"

His surroundings are distorted, colors blend and shapes morph, creating a bewildering panorama. Satria clutched his head. He felt dizzy.

'Ugh.'

*

Satria seems confused, no he looks disgusted. It doesn't really matter actually, but Viviane can't help but think that she made him feel disgusted. Even so, Satria still recites the incantation she just said.

A blinding light appeared from the magic crystal, filling up the room with light. 

SHIIINGG~.

Once the light subsided, Satria just stood there, in silence.

Viviane changed her position to his side. She was wondering what kind of face he makes. Satria grinning with his eyes closed. Now he starts to open his mouth and laughs. He laughs so hard that his body starts to bounce in place.

"What the-" Viviane flinched and took a step back.

Curious, Viviane bent his body forwards. Satria is still laughing. Then he stops, although his body is still bouncing.

"What happened there?"

Viviane knocks Satria's head, checking if something is wrong with it. 

Knocked, knocked.

"It sounds normal."

Satria makes a grin.

"Alright, that's it. That's enough." Viviane said.

Can't stand the weirdness any longer, Viviane grabs Satria's right hand. She injected some mana into Satria's hand. The magic crystal started to light up a different color than before. Satria was laughing at the time, a kind of crazy laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

ZIIING~

*

A loud ringing sound echoed.

"ARGH~." Satria suddenly screamed.

Satria opens his eyes. He was confused about what was happening. He suddenly went back after the distorted scenery. Viviane looked at him with a mixed up expression. She was disgusted, confused, and amused by the weird looking Satria.

Satria didn't realize that he made the same expression as he was in the magic cosmos. On his face, you can see a hint of drool coming out from his mouth. Viviane giggles. 

"What?" Satria said it to Viviane.

Viviane, who couldn't hide her laughter, points at Satria's mouth. Satria instinctively brushes his mouth. It's wet. Embarrassed, Satria now understands why Viviane is suddenly giggling.

"Ehem." Satria coughs to hide his embarrassment.

"Hihihi, is it fun?" Viviane tried to conceal his mouth as she said that.

"Not really."

Satria said it in a serious tone, trying to gain his dignity back.

"You looked like you had fun though, hehe".

"Ah, please, it's not that fun."

"Really?"

"Forget it."

Satria grabs his head, tousling on his own hair.

"Ehem, did you see something? Anything in particular?" Viviane said.

Although it's amusing, she should stop teasing Satria. It was a serious matter after all.

"There was a sphere. A magical sphere."

"Ah. That's probably my collective knowledge of magic."

"That's?"

"Yup, you need to come closer to it to understand it. Now," Viviane paused.

Satria waited in anticipation of what she might say.

"You said you want to learn about magic first before choosing your power right?"

"Yes."

"I give you half a day. No, I will give you 16 hours."

"..."

"Learn what you can from the magic sphere within that time."

"..."

"If, even after exploring the magic sphere, you still can't decide on a power," Viviane points her finger to Satria's face, "then I will personally choose one for you."

"Sounds good."

"Alright then. Do we have a deal?"

Viviane shoves her hand, asking for a handshake. Without giving it much of a thought, Satria took Viviane's hand and shook her hand.

"Deal." He said.

*

Satria spent 12 hours learning from the magic sphere. It was a fascinating experience. Unlike on Earth when you have to read a book or watch a video, you can just touch the sphere and the information will flow directly into your head. It has the same sensations as the deadly tea he was drinking, he thought. Of course, without the deadly part, as the tea only caused him a headache.

At first, he couldn't even understand much of the information that was flowing to his head. Only after some time and giving it much thought, he finally understood it. Magic is vast, full of wonders and of course dangerous. Only in the hands of those who actually understand it, magic could become something extraordinary. 

Magic is also addicting, once you have a taste of it, you would never forget the feeling and craving for more.

"Huuuh~. I think that's enough." 

Satia did a lot of experiments inside the magic cosmos. He could fly, swim and even run by creating some kind of gravitational force. It wasn't hard, all he needs to do is imagine it. One of his favorite things is that he can shoot a laser from his eyes. He also finds out how he can exit the magic cosmos by himself. So, he didn't need Viviane's help to exit the magic cosmos anymore. 

Satria let go of his hand, imagining he is in the room he was in before. The scenery distorted and he went back.

The room was empty. There are no signs of Viviane nor the small bird. Satria walks towards the couch and leans on it. He took a deep breath. It was mentally exhausting. Directly learning from the magic sphere is mentally exhausting, since the information is directly sent to your head.

Satria checks his mouth. He was checking if there is a drool coming out from it again.

"It was so embarrassing."

Satria recalled the memory of Viviane laughing at him. Never in his life, he was drooling like that. Nothing that he remembers.

Satria opens up the book in his hand. Thanks to the magic sphere, now he can read what Viviane had written. He reads the book to check if the information that is sent to his head is correct and relevant.

Satria sat comfortably on a couch in a room with open windows, the warm sunlight streaming in. He flipped through the pages one by one, reading them cautiously. The gentle breeze from the open windows rustled the pages as he continued to read cautiously. The soft rustle of paper filled the room as he immersed himself in the words on each page. With a cup of tea in his hand, he sipped it slowly, savoring the tea and its aroma; enjoying the moment.

*

CHIRP~ CHIRP~

Viviane hears a chirping noise in her head.

"Ah, it seems she found it."

She waved her hand, and a small portal opened beside her.

WHOOSS~.

A small bird coming out from the portal. The bird carried strands of hair in her mouth.

"You are certain it's the right person, right?"

Nodding, the bird confirmed she got it right.

"Alright, good work."

Viviane tossed a cookie at her. The bird jumps, catching the cookie midair.

"You stay here, I'm gonna go get Satria."

The bird, who is busy plucking at the cookie, raised its wing.

Viviane stood up, and began to walk towards the mansion, leaving the busy bird alone in the gazebo.

*

WHIIZZ~

Along with the sound, a light shines from the magic circle in the room.

Satria, who is still focused on the book, didn't notice that Viviane had already entered the room. He was flipping the page one by one, reading it with full attention. He looks like he doesn't have any worries, as he didn't even notice Viviane's presence.

'Would you look at him', Viviane thought to herself, 'he was so wary about me yesterday.'

Viviane stood still, watching Satria silently.

'Maybe if it were yesterday, he would have noticed me.'

Satria changed. Yesterday he was cautious of his surroundings, but now, he seemed to already trust Viviane. Perhaps he was that kind of person, a person who can believe in others. Or perhaps, it's because his curiosity at magic, at Viviane's magic, that changed him.

Viviane doesn't wanna interrupt him. Watching Satria silently, Viviane thought about when she was young.

'I also used to be like that.'

Learning magic is always fun for her, it was her life. But now is not the time to learn about magic leisurely.

Viviane approaches Satria, she sits on the couch before him.

"Have you made up your mind?"

"?"

Satria flinched. He was so focused on the book that he didn't realize Viviane's presence.

"Ah, I have."

"So, which power do you like?"

Viviane picks up a bunch of cards and places them on the table.

"Do you want unlimited magic power? A powerful weapon? A strong animal companion? Or perhaps, you want a seductive charm?"

Viviane smiled at Satria with a mischievous look.

"I don't want all that," Satria pauses, "In fact, I don't want to choose the power on the cards."

Viviane smile disappeared from her face. Now she puts on a very, a very serious look.

"Then, you want me to choose it for you?"

"No, I have made up my mind."

Satria closes the book. He stared at Viviane's eyes.

"Then what do you want?"

"I, uh."

"..."

"I want you to be my master, Master Viviane."

Flinched, Viviane can only stare at Satria, blankly.