Magic challenge

- No, it's not like that. Try again.

   Velra wants to curse, but she couldn't, for the one who kept telling her to do it all over and over is her father. The little rabbit girl stands on a combat yard by 2 in the afternoon. It's summer, and everything on the ground is burning hot. Velra was forced to stand without shoes. It's still better than using the only pair of boots she was allowed to wear here. They're armor boots made of metallic gold, and if she ever puts them on, they'll burn much more severely than the ground itself. But after all, her blistered feet are not what she's worrying about. The little soldier tries again and again, but she cannot achieve what her father was expecting. He quit with a disappointing sigh, and Velra was left behind, crying silently.

- Is it my fault?

   The ten-year-old bunny soldier sobs as the sun sets down. She looks at the orange sky, mixed with shades of blue and beautiful orange stripes. It's like a perfect oil painting from a virtuoso who mastered the art of scenery. What an absolute opposite to this little girl, who feels like a failure from the start. She collapsed to the burning ground, crying and cursing herself. It's her, Velra, who asked her father to train her into a good soldier. It's her who sets up a very high goal and is so ambitious about her future, just after a few compliments from her relatives about how good she looks in battle. It's she who wasted her father's precious time, right at the crucial period of her mother's treatment progress. Just to get back nothing and pissed off the man she respected the most. The ground starts to cool down as there's no more sunlight directed at it. The temperature change acts as an alarm that wakes Velra up from her sea of thoughts. The little girl went down to the combat area; it'll be needed later for adult Lovabuns to use for training. She wanted to watch them practice the moves at first, but then decided to go home. What she wants to master is not martial art but the skills of using magic.

   To Velra, magic is a burden because she cannot understand it well. It stands as a required but almost unachievable step in her way of becoming a warrior. She wants nothing more than to just skip it. Magic has a lot of meanings, ways to use it, and forms. It's beyond your range of understanding, so you will see magic the way you want to use it. Some variations say it'll depend on the way you're capable of performing magic. So under Velra's eyes, people use magic in combat to strengthen their attacks. She watched some Solis guards and soldiers in battle. Since Lovabuns are half-magical beings, they won't hesitate to discover more of the fantasy side of this strength and profit from it. Out of the battles, they showed her some magic particles. It's purple, but when combined with a skill, it takes on the shape of a covering fire, with colors changing depending on the person who uses that skill instead. The little Velra watched her father when he showed her some examples of magic use in skills. He throws a golden spear into the sky. It flies as fast as a bullet, then stops after reaching a certain height. When it stops, Velra has the chance to see a large, yellow flame covering that spear shortly before it blows into many pieces, sending countless burning needles to the ground. Velra screamed and covered her face, but those needles don't harm them. They only reach the ground and disappear. She opens her eyes and still can't believe what she saw yet. If there was any enemy nearby, they would have been sent on a trip to hell.

- I want to be as powerful as you, dad!

   At that moment, Velra thought it was easy. All of a sudden, everything blurred into a violent hurricane inside her consciousness, scrunched up like crumpled paper. Of pain, hopelessness, embarrassment, and sorrow, all the childhood fantasies sound nothing more than a joke.

   Those scenes appear and lurk inside Velra's head as she watches her new friend, or student, Ranne, struggle with trying to master magic skills. That morning, when she woke up to the brightest, most beautiful, and most refreshing sunlight from the window, she heard someone knocking at her door. That was Ranne, looking pale, with the first rays of light shining from behind her. Her breaths are not normal; she seems to be struggling with them, tired, or wounded somewhere. When Velra asks her lots of questions in concern, the gray rabbit only sighs.

- I'm too weak, miss. Early this morning, I ran into a fight. No, it's a bully. A group of teenage bunnies was laughing at a little human kid. I don't mean to become a hero, but I fear that trembling boy could die of a heart attack or worse. I don't like human corpses all around the corners, so I tried to stop them. And... I failed. At least they leave the human child alone.

   Velra wants to interrupt her long story so badly, but she finds the patience to not do so. Instead, she is just waiting for Ranne to finish her story.

- I was very weak! I can't even beat a group of teenage bunnies! I don't know what I was lacking—is it magic? You're a master at magic, right? I want to be stronger; can you please teach me those?

   The sunborn soldier gazes through Ranne's genuine expression, then rolls her eyes. What a familiar motif among less experienced fighters! They want to become stronger and just ran their asses off to see a random master in their own field, begging for help. She was close to the point of telling Ranne to go home, but she didn't. What if that gray bunny came home without a skill and then faced a harder, more deadly battle next time? Velra would be so regretful if she'd been the reason for someone's death, so she nodded. And that's why she's wasting her time sitting here, watching Ranne struggle to trigger barely any magic at all. It's not that she didn't give advice, though, but Ranne was way too stubborn.

- Told ya. Magic differs in the way we want to use it or are capable of using it. I use magic as my damage assistant; maybe that's not what you like or what you can use it for. Just keep trying; it'll lead to nowhere. Or when you've mastered at least one branch of magic, you can see other branches, too. For now, you will be free to choose your second method, but it's a long time later.

   Ranne stopped, but she made some more attempts before fully giving up. There's nothing like an abnormal fire or a spark appearing around her. She looks completely like a clown, then her sully voice rises.

- Are you in that state? The state of seeing magic in every type?

- I am. I didn't choose another way of using magic, though, just for this purpose.

- Really? So, can you see any type of magic in what I've been doing all the time?

- I don't. It's still too early.

   Velra answered without even looking. She's doing something with her yellow nails, watching them, or just peeling off an extra paint stroke.

- It's not me who should be answering questions; it's you. Did you see anything? Did you try every way possible? I'm not you, and when it comes to perspective things like this, go question yourself. Are you truly serious about this?

   Ranne seems a little bit freaked out by how serious Velra just sounds. But the sunborn soldier's expression is still relaxed.

- I am serious. To be honest, I really want to learn more. Just... you know, other magic is like in tales. They're visible, easier to handle, and don't differ by perspective. Considering how strong you are, that adds to my curiosity.

- Good. I hope you can keep those lines.

   Velra stood up from her comfy chair, doing her hair up like she did every morning, then wore her golden elbow gloves.

- Do you want to go outside? If you desire to know more or see more examples, there are a lot out there.

- Yes, please. Where are we walking to?

   Ranne quickly follows Velra, looking at her with eyes full of questions. She smiles, then answers simply.

- Anywhere!