Veyne sits by a fire, meditating. Days have passed since he reconnected his arm. Being unable to use or see magic has made using his newly found arm impossible.
"Clear my mind. Focus on all that resides within. Feel my life force flow throughout my body."
This nightly ritual helps Veyne fast track his body's awareness to magic. A heightened awareness is what every mage and Realmforger uses to control the available pool of magic within them. Simply being able to pass magic through his arm will allow him to use it.
At the same time, during the day, he had been digging out piece by piece the entrance of the lab. However progress had slowed as he had hit the hard layer of rock that lay just in front of the door. Being too hard to dig through and too heavy to lift, they were going to be a true challenge.
Waking back out from the little tunnel, Veyne sits back and rests to catch his breath.
"Hey! What are you digging for, buried treasure?"
Time slows as Veyne's heart beat is in his ears. He slowly turns to see a little teenage girl sitting in a tree behind him. Panicked, Veyne blots up and walks backwards towards the camp, attempting to hide his skeletal arm.
His mind racing, he thinks. Who is she? Why didn't I hear her? What if she tells someone? What did she see? Could I hit here from this distance? I'm not sure.
Nonchalantly, she jumps down and approaches Veyne.
"You alright fella? You don't look too good."
She kneels down and looks into the hole in the ground. Tilting her head in confusion, she asks.
"Are you like a treasure hunter or something, coz if so, you're pretty lousy. I doubt you'd find anything good this far south anyways."
Veyne stands there too stunned to say anything. Ready to grab the spear hidden in his camp at any moment.
"You don't talk much do you mister? Well anyway I just wanted to give you this."
She waltzes over holding something behind her back. Do I do it? Yes. No. No. Yes… it's too late. She stands close, nearly face to face. Her short brown hair barely reaching her shoulders as she looks at Veyne with a polite smile. Never before has anyone smiled a genuine smile at him. Forgetting that in this body, he's just a nobody. People and kingdoms don't fear him like this.
"W-what have y-you got? Poison? A blade?"
"So you can speak. No don't be silly, I haven't got any of that rubbish. I just wanted to bring you this."
From behind her back she pulls out a bandage and presents it to him.
"For your arm you see. I saw you in an awful lot of pain over by the big tree and I thought this could help."
Turns out she had first seen him days earlier and followed him all the way back to his campsite. All without him noticing even once.
She gently reaches out to his stunned hand and places the bandage on his palm.
"Well alright mister. I'll see you around. Hope that bandage makes your arm feel better. Later!"
"W-wait! Who are you and what do you want from me?"
"Oh I'm Nifily Golbog and I just said I wanted to help out. Jeez you're not very bright are you. That's probably why your arms all mangled like that."
She darts off back to the village leaving Veyne alone and completely stunned.
That night while meditating Veyne racks his brain as to why that young lady helped him out. Not being able to focus, he decides the smart thing to do would be to get more information on this Nifily Golbog. Despite his concern, he does spend the remainder of the night using her bandage to cover his exposed arm.
Bright and early the next morning, he straps his spear to his back and runs off toward the village in the marsh. Once he arrives he is shocked to see Nifily at the edge of the bog and in her hands, he sees her holding out a stick.
Veyne watches on from a distance, keeping a very suspicious watchful eye on her. It almost seems like she is trying to practice some sort of magic in the mud. In his experienced opinion, he would say she's doing it all wrong. Not to mention that the stick in her hand is hardly a magic wand.
"Maybe I should give her a push in the right direction just so I don't owe her a favour for the bandage."
A weird warm feeling hit the back of Veyne's brain as soon as he said it. Much like using a muscle for the first time. Was that consideration for another person?
He shakes the feeling off and continues to watch from afar. Without being seen, Veyne watches on until night falls. Simultaneously he notes the lack of people entering and exiting the village.
"It's safe to say that this girl is a free agent. Doesn't look like she's spying for anyone either. Oh? She's asleep."
Veyne quietly approaches the sleeping girl unnoticed. Standing over her, he thinks that this is it. I can end it now. I doubt she'd be missed as not even an alarm or search party has been sent out of the village. It's the best chance I have to survive.
Veyne lifts up his spear and thrusts down… Stopping inches above her neck. He grits his teeth in frustration and turns around to walk off. Just before he leaves, he looks at the makeshift wand she had made. He bends over to inspect it closer.
"Humm it's just a stick but the runes she carved on it are very close to the ones on my arm. It took me months to learn what runes do let alone carving them correctly. She must have learned just by watching me from a distance."
He looks back down at Nifily, sleeping and in a bent pose, almost impressed with her skill. Despite her obvious lack of knowledge, Veyne decides to pick up her stick and walk off.
Morning comes, and Nifily arises. She stands up, stretches and says.
"Morning already. Oh well, time to get back to work on my super secret project."
She rubs her hands together and starts looking around for her wand. Enthusiasm turns to panic as she can't find it.
"No no no no no! It took me ages to carve that thing."
"It wouldn't have worked anyway."
Veyne shouts from the woods behind her.
"Mister is that you? Hey wait a minute, what do you mean? I copied exactly what you did."
"Haha well not exactly. Besides, the runes on this arm are for enhancing and absorbing. They wouldn't have the right effect for a wand."
As she walks through the bushes, she sees him standing against a tree. Veyne tosses over a new stick.
"That there should be more useful to you."
She catches the stick and excitedly inspects it. Two intertwined sticks wrap around one another, coming to a point. At the base of the wand are carved two runes, one on each spiraled stick.
"Wow is t-this a real wand?!"
"Don't get too excited kid, this is about as basic as they come."
"That doesn't matter to me. As long as it can help me learn magic, I will treasure it always."
A slight smile forms on Veyne's face. Seeing her hold it close to her chest, he's glad that she's happy as it took him all night to make.
"Say mister, how can I thank you."
"No need to thank me. We're even now."
"Well can I at least know your name?"
"It's Veyne, Veyne Mo- No, just Veyne."
"Mister Veyne, Thank you. I promise to be the best mud mage in the world."
"Mud mage? What, don't tell me you already know your magical affinity? How?"
"Oh well easy, the monk in the village told me."
Ideas and connections start forming in Veyne's mind. If there's a monk in that village then he can tell me what this body's magic aptitude is. Once I know, it will make relearning much easier. Not to mention the girl. I guess she does have a bit of magic within her after all. She could trun out to be useful.
"Nifily, was it? How would you feel if I asked you to be my magic apprentice?"
"A-a magic apprentice! You! Me! Magic! Hell yeah. When can I start?!"
"We can start first thing tomorrow. But won't your parents be worried if they find out you're learning magic from a stranger?"
"You don't have to worry about that, Veyne sir. Their dead you see and I'm sort of like the village outcast. I doubt anyone will even notice."
Seeing a little bit of his younger self in her, he grins.
"Very well then, your training starts tomorrow!"