“Get your ass up! We’re under attack!”

  The loud sounds of gunshots ringing overhead caused me to get up and dive to the ground. I crawled forward, hearing death, screaming, and nonstop gunfire. An explosion went off in the distance. All I wanted to do was go back into my tent and hide in a corner.

  I watched as six of my comrades got gunned down from somewhere within the deep forest. Fighting in this damned jungle was a pain in the ass. Gathering my courage, I got up and ran toward the nearest tree and returned fire. I was screaming the entire time, hoping I was killing the bastards.

  A grenade landed right in front of me. I reared my foot back and kicked it as hard as I could. The grenade went flying through some bushes before exploding. More people died, and then something strange happened.

  Time slowed down. My heart was beating so fast, I thought it might fly through my chest. My body began shaking. It took me a moment to realize this was a dream, one I hadn’t had since my old life. I was about to scream, hoping it would wake me up when my body stopped shaking.

  The battle around me began to fade as I relaxed. Something was touching my head, a touch I didn’t want to go away. The gunfire, soldiers, and the dead disappeared, and I found myself in my new ten-year-old body.

  That’s right, this is me now. I’m not a soldier. Until recently, this life had been very peaceful, something I hoped to have back soon. I closed my eyes, enjoying the soothing sensation and then…

  I woke up to something stroking my head. No, not something. A hand. There was also someone humming softly. Groaning, I tilted my head and saw Renna was the one moving her hand through my hair while humming.

  The last time someone did this to me was my wife in my old life. Renna stopped, her face reddening when she realized I was awake. “S-sorry. You were thrashing about, and I wanted to help.”

  “It’s fine,” I said. Renna stood up, and I rolled onto my back. “Sorry, was I being loud?”

  “Yeah, I thought you were going to scream. Must have been a nasty nightmare.”

  Nasty nightmare was an understatement. I thought those dreams were never coming back. Hopefully these weren’t going to be recurring. I sat up and looked over at Renna, who was moving toward her sleeping spot.

  “Hey, how did you know to calm me down like that?”

  “In my…” Renna stopped for a moment and smiled. “In Alcion, my grandfather used to have nightmares like that. My grandmother had passed, and I did this to him a few times when he was having a bad dream. He’d fought in a couple of wars in his time, which scarred him for the rest of his life.”

  Like me in my old life. Magic may be incredible, but there didn’t seem to be a fix for mental issues in this world, much like my own. “Thanks, Renna. I mean it. I don’t want to know how far that dream would have gone if not for you.”

  “It’s nothing. Now, let’s go back to sleep.”

  I was wide awake, though I didn’t want to disrupt her sleep. I went back to lying on my back and pondered the dream. Was this going to happen again, or was this a one-time thing? It was a stupid thing to worry about, but if I started having those dreams again… I wasn’t sure what I’d do.

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  After a while, I fell asleep. Thankfully, no nightmares haunted me this time.

  When I woke, I was surprised how refreshed I felt. I got up and saw that the spot where Renna had been was empty. I went out the front door of my earth tent and the sun was high. Everyone else was up. Olivier and Renna were doing sword exercises, though they weren’t sparring.

  Arsted was talking with Draven, and they both turned to me when I stepped out of the earth tent. “Look who’s finally getting up,” Draven said.

  Did Renna tell the others about my nightmare? “Sorry about that. You should have woken me up.”

  “We thought it best to let you sleep,” Arsted said.

  “All right,” I looked over at Renna, who put away her sword and walked over.

  “Great. You ready to go?” Renna asked.

  “Sure am, I feel great!” I put as much enthusiasm into my voice as possible. It wouldn’t do for the others to worry about me because of a stupid dream.

  I ate a bit of bread, and then we began walking. Arsted, Olivier, and Draven were talking about random stuff. I was surprised at how talkative Arsted was, same with Olivier. They were discussing some of their adventures.

  I wasn’t in the mood to listen, so I tuned them out Fairly quickly and started messing around with magic. It was something I liked to do when we had long journeys like this. I was trying to recreate a crystal, much like Bastian did when sparring with Renna.

  Sure, the old man had told me I wasn’t ready, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try. Once I could create the crystal, I could then work on using it as a defensive shield. The problem was that I didn’t have a single clue how to form a crystal. Making earth, fire, water, wind, and ice was easy.

  In my mind, I could see the crystal. Sadly, it wasn’t that easy to copy a spell. There was knowledge I lacked, so I quickly gave up trying to create a crystal. Instead, I tried to create three elements at once. Fire and water formed in front of me, yet I couldn’t create a third.

  I’d been able to create two elements at the same time for a couple of years or so. I hadn’t made any progress in being able to do three, not even a slight spark of hope. It was like my magic was tapped out. My mana reserves should be able to wield three elements at once no problem, so I didn’t believe that was the issue.

  I did have some theories about why I was unable to make further progress. The most obvious one was that my kid brain couldn’t handle it I could learn new things quickly with this brain. That was normal, kids were quick learners. But my brain wasn’t fully developed. Sure, I had memories of my past life, but that didn’t mean much when it came to learning something more complex.

  My second theory was that I needed someone to guide me on how to surpass my limitations. Maybe there was something I was unaware of that I needed to learn to be able to create three spells at once.

  Either way, I had no luck getting past two. After a while, I released my hold on the water and fire, causing them to disappear. I’d try again tomorrow and the next day until I got past this block.

  “Done practicing?” Renna asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Looks like we’re both stuck, trying to get to the next level.”

  “What are you having trouble with?”

  “Well, I haven’t progressed in my sparring matches against Arsted. When we first started fighting, I felt myself getting better every time. Lately, I’ve stagnated. It makes me wonder if I’ve reached my limit at this age.”

  “That would make sense. You can only do so much at our age, at least physically.”

  “To a point. My aura felt like it was getting stronger, which made me believe maybe my physical body didn’t matter. I hope that’s it; I would hate to be stuck at this level forever.”

  That made me laugh. I couldn’t help it. Here I was, wondering what was blocking me, but not once did it enter my brain that this could be my limit. I refused to believe it, and I would have assumed Renna would think the same way.

  “What’s so funny?” Renna playfully smacked my shoulder.

  “To see you worried if this is your potential. Renna, you will be an incredible swordswoman someday. I think we’re both trying to grow up too fast when we need to be patient and do what we can.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Renna let out a sigh, and I was pretty sure I saw a slight smile beginning to form. “But you’re right. I am trying to move too fast. I’m sure we’ll laugh about this conversation someday.”

  “Yeah, I think so too.”

  With that, we continued our walk. And you know what? I was feeling more optimistic about the future. At this point, all I cared about was being strong enough to save my family. As for what came after, that was a problem when we were back in Alcion.