Narissa had waited there for five minutes at least. 30 seconds after knocking before she began shifting the weight on between her legs, another 25 seconds before tried again, the knocks rapping against the door in quick and short bursts, five seconds before she stopped to wait another minute, and four minutes before she remembered that her mentor, and mistress, said she wouldn't be available all the time.

Her face became very dead pan at the realization.

"Oh yeah . . . I guess these are one of those times . . ." It had been but a week since Narissa had achieved mana sight and, although still not having perfected seeing a neutral color, it was enough to get anticipate when the next lessons would come and become more proficient. To her, learning from Kanoe had become an extra curriculer all in its self as she went through out the days.

Being able to not have to do anything except making sure to practice blocking her mind with any noises that were there, she had something she could practice near any where and time! Whether in class once the teacher went over something she was comfortable with, she could just close her eyes for a second, reopen them, and entertain herself with the many and plentiful threads around her, some leading to unknown areas and leaving the class room, while others wrapped around students. Before, she could only see about three threads with her eyes opened. But now, with being able to access her sight more easilly, the number she was able to catch were able to catch was steadilly growing.

"I guess I should leave then," Narissa thought aloud, picking up her school bag she had dropped to the floor while waiting.

Walking up the dorm hall, Narissa sigh, dissapointed and a little sad that she couldn't get any lessons today. But she knew she couldn't prod and annoy Kanoe all the time, less she fear she'd only make the mage regret taking her up. But that didn't feed that growing hunger to know more about the subject that she was being taught into.

Reaching the double doors, the dark skinned woman pushed one open, greeting the afternoon noon outdoors. A few girls out of uniform were busying themselves talking and eat a little picnic under one of the trees in the courtyard. With today being an off school day, she wasn't surprised some students took advantage of the beautiful and clear warm weather. She only had her own uniform on because she wasn't sure what else to wear for Kanoe's training. . .

"Maybe I should just get back to my dorm and read on something . . .or something . . ." It wasn't really a secret she didn't have much to do that day, her classes caught up on and assingments still not due for awhile. So, almost dejectedly, Narissa began walking acorss the courtayard to the further dorm where she stayed, the island's forest flanking her left on the walk way the whole time.

Seraph had settled down at his chosen spot deep in the forest well away from the school. He had something far more interesting than the momentary entertainment provided by one of the many students to do.

Seraph needed to practice some of his more powerful magic, he needed to practice his light forging magic as he hadn't used it in its true form ever since he had been imprisoned in the plane of void. It had taken him an entire night and part of the day to set up the ward required to ensure that no matter what spell he cast he could not be seen by anyone.

Settling down Seraph closed his eyes for a moment and, looking deep inside his core, he started to meditate. As his wings seemed to deteriorate away the air around him seemed to thicken as mana poured into it, until it almost appeared to be liquid.

Seraph was deep in his meditation, and as such did not notice just how much mana was flowing out of him.

Opening his eyes they both blazed with a bright light, and all around him a castle seemed to build itself from the light of the sun. Within 15 minutes it was finished, but making such a simple single structure was easy, and Seraph caused it to shimmer once before vanishing as he rebuilt several smaller towers. This took him a little over 10 minutes, but was far more complicated than the single castle.

Each time he used more and more light, and each time he made more and more things that were smaller and more complicated and took less time to form.

Seraph was so wrapped up in his magic that he had lost his focus on part of the barrier preventing outside sources from noticing him, and mana started seeping out. A Maelstrom of magic schools it slowly crept towards the school, although by the time it reached it the concentration had nearly completely faded away.

Taking brisk steps towards on top of the cement walk way, Narissa found herself getting distracted with something just ahead of her. Stopping her walk, she tried to pin the invisible strands of . . . whatever. But as bright as the sun was today, she might as well have been looking at a spiders thread.

But it was in the air, not over hanging from any trees, and didn't seem to move from other than wafting in the wind.

She stared at it for a longer time, not finding it appealing if it were a spider's thread, and there were more, to walk into it and get that ickly feeling of it on her face rest of her body for that matter.

"Wait!"

It was a simple guess, only a question of where it was connecting to did she consider using her mana sight. Closing her eyes, she slowly revealed her dark pupils. If mana sight helped her to see the smallest bit of life, even in a chair or the air, could it also show her the the threads better, or atleast the spider so she could make a mad dash past?

And the idea did work . . . But it wasn't spiders thread she saw. No spider as well to account for it.

Instead, she saw the strands, no . . . Threads of mana wafting closely to the walk way, their near invisible touch extending from the direction of the forest. The threads still somewhat . . .rainbowy, as she remember first putting it, with refective colors and shifting tints.

"What could that be?" As her eyes watched the floating strands, she could see them getting closer as they were near the forest line, like they were coming out of an intricate braid. But the locks of mana thread itself didn't show an end, just like most of the ones she saw but . . . Never at this obvious a trail. "Could that be Kanoe's doing?" To her own knowledge, no one else could do what Kanoe had achieved, her teacher never divuldged wether or not there were any other students like her there at Shokushu, and with Kanoe's whereabouts unknown . . . It could very well be her.

Curiosity got the best of her. Taking a few steps towards the woodline, she took a double take back to ensure that no other students were seeing her. She'd doubt Kanoe would appreciate an audience of gossips much. So, with the close clear, she walked in, following the yellow brick . .strand road as she stared at teh growing length.

"How long this thing is!"

As Seraph reached the final exercise of his light forging he focused the light around him into thousands upon thousands of swords. It was a technique he could achieve in a matter of moments, and as they shimmered into existence and floated in the air he dispelled the spell. Despite the massive amount of mana he had used running through the various light magic exercises he hadn't even noticed the drop in his mana stores, and could still tap into the mana that had saturated the air around him.

What next? Seraph considered what school of magic he should go through next for a moment before settling on shadow magic. After all using light magic near Neamhain would be a bad idea, at least as long as she entertained him.

As he focused the shadows leapt into the sky, choking out the sun and blocking all light. Inside his new shadow dome Seraph started chanting, and the shadows seemed to come alive at his words. Several blast style spells slammed into the ward shielding him, and Seraph was still so absorbed in his magic that he did not notice the ward starting to crack slightly, allowing even more of his mana to seep out through the forest towards the school.

Unlike the forest near by the mountain base where last she ascended them, the ground did not rise noticiably under her shoes. With each step her feet carried her, her skirt rising a bit with her long strides as she made her way deeper, her mana sight was still working just fine. Thankful was more than she could be for her sight not giving out on her like her first few practices.

"Those strands are getting so much brighter and closer now . . . I wonder if I'm getting closer," she spoke aloud, a hand raised up to brush back an unruly indigo strand of hair back behind her ear as she continued her trek up the trailess way.

Narissa didn't keep directly next to the unraveling braid of iridescent light . . . The colors still swirling all the more, but not as sedatly as when she first saw mana last week. Instead, she walked along parrellel a yard away from the floating threads. What did it mean that these seemed more active in colors. Kanoe had spoken to her about how her sight was off, not yet able to differentiate reacting threads with one another. That was why she was still stuck seeing rainbows. But these . . . It almost looked like they were purposely shifting or some other.

Could it really be Kanoe's doing that she found this? The answer to that was unknown, but with a clear up ahead, she was beginning to see the braid of mana holding tighter in that general direction.Maybe she'd find the answer there.

As Seraph finished casting his final shadow spell suddenly something triggered in his mind. Snapping out of his meditation he finally saw just how poor condition the barrier ward was in, it had been leaking mana, only a small amount compared to what it contained, but a leak never-less.

Before he could reinforce the barrier he realised what had brought him out of his meditation. The alarm ward that he had set around the barrier had gone off, a single human female, who must be a student, was now approaching the barrier. She must have been following the leaking mana. A quick check of his trace spells revealed that he had not yet 'encountered' this student.

Seraph focused on the barrier, and as he did so a little bit more mana seeped out, and while the visual protection remained up he dispelled the teleport spell that would carry anyone who touched it to the other side of the barrier. Now nothing would stop someone from simply walking into the barrier and passing through. He did however reinforce the protection preventing something physical from exiting the barrier from this side. Something could enter, but not leave.

With that done Seraph settled down to wait, the air around him still thick with mana that started to move faster and faster until he was in the eye of a massive storm of mana.

Finally breaking through the tree line, Narissa found herself in the beginnings of the clearing, her blouse only knicked at her side from a particularly nasty and low tree branch. The tear was horizontal, only spann her side as the lower part of the tear limped, giving a few cenitmeteers more of view of the warm brown skin beneath.

She groaned at it, looking down as she fingered the hole. It was way too big for her to sew it with any mediocre sewing skills . . . A reserved sigh escaped her . . . Out here, there was nothing she could do for it other than walk back. She could only regret not wearing one of her own personal clothes. At least then she wouldn't have to worry about going to sign any papers for a new school blouse.

But losing her attention on that inconvenience, she raised her eyes again back to the mana threads finally she could see where it was coming from! . . . And yet . . .not.

Leaving the tree line behind, she took slow steps closer to the middle of the clear as she followed a little more closely to the mana, the yard that she had kept in distance before diminishing as she went closer to what looked like . .. the starting point? Stopping just short of the mana's end, she stood, confused and contemplating on what was before her . . .or lack thereof.

"There's nothing here!" True, to her eyes, the floating braid seemed to be flowing from a slit or something wide enough for it to pass through. And Kanoe was still no where to be found. She thought of calling out for her . . .maybe this was her doing . . . But wouldn't she have spotted her by now and gained her attention?

Narissa rubbed her right earlobe, perplexed by the finding. She as at least SURE it was mana. . . so who else was there for it be made by?

Seraph assumed that the student must have reached the barrier by now, but he had felt no breaks, no disruptions in either the barrier or the mana that whipped around him to indicate that she had passed through.

Seraph considered his options. Reforming his wings would allow him to drop the barrier, but he had no guarantee that if he did so he would be able to find the student. Without any idea of how visible he would find her soul his only real method of detecting her required her to step into the mana storm around him, and he could see the 'gap' in the storm that her body created. From there it was simple (for him at least) to reconstruct what she looked like.

So his only real option was finding a way to get her to walk into the barrier, and he couldn't cast any spell through it to assist in that without risking its integrity. Seraph considered the situation for a moment before a solution offered itself. With a thought the spells hiding the barrier became weaker, such that if someone looked at it they would see a slight blur, and mana sight would reveal a seemingly solid web of mana forming the dome.

Seraph could only hope that making it visible thus the student would be intrigued enough to step in.

Narissa continued her thoughts on the end of the mana trail, wondering exactly what she was going to do with her find. Or at least, what was the cause of it. There was just too many things she didn't know about to know whether or not it was something to be happy or afraid of it about. Like, were there other mana trails around the island like this?

Just as she was about to take a step back to look at the trail of mana more, something in the air rippled in front of her, making her jump back in with a start.

"What's happening?"

Just in front of her, a webbing of what looked to be a giant dome of alit threads, all interlinking to make a far spanning netting from what her angle at the base was. "Woah . . .is . . is that all mana?" But to Narissa, it had to be . . .the colors matched the trail she was following. But never had she seen such a high concetration of it, new or not, she'd never thought so much in one place was possible.

Inspecting the webbing with her eyes alone was soon beginning to not be enough. Her sight, even mana sight, could only do so much to quell her curiosity, yet not answer the questions that were beginning to form. So . . . If mana was like her mentor said, all around, and she herself saw how common it was to bump into around school . . . Would touching it prove the same in this situation?

With that, she slowly mustered up enough courage to raise a nimble hand up to the surface, proceeding slowly to see if anything would act negativly towards her drawing closer. But nothing had.

"Alright." Secure enough now, she laid both her hands atop the mana, just next to where the trail was beginning from it . . . Only for her hands to pass through it! Unsuspecting of the seeable, but not tangible surface, she had leaned too much on where she thought she'd get a stable wall and her whole body fell through.

"Ah!" Just catching herself, she fell on the grass, thankful to have her hands out on time as she gathered her knees under her, pulling the rest of her inside. "That. . . wasn't expected," she winced.

Finally the barrier broke and something fell through it, literally. As the mana storm raged past her Seraph had a confirmation that he had chosen correctly. He could barely see this student, and it was only because of her impression on the mana storm that he was able to determine what her shape was.

"That. . . wasn't expected,"

The storm was still strongest around Seraph and as such hiding him from sight, but at her words it started to slow down at a rapid rate. The air was still heavily saturated with mana, but that mana was 'calming' down and becoming far more easier to control and see through.

But now he would have to be careful, Seraph always preferred willing, or at least someone who thought they were willing, entertainment. He was sure that the student now inside the barrier with him could be turning into a willing source of entertainment. But first he would need to learn more. If she was here maybe she had an interest in mana, in magic? Maybe he could use that.

Who is there? His voice was a mix of confusion and concern, and the inside of the barrier would prevent her from leaving again. He could, and would, use that as part of his deception.

Inside, Narissa noticed how thick the air was, her chest beginning to labor just the slightest, as if she was breathing through a thin wet cloth. The swirls that she thought was nothing but a trail outside, seemed be more like a leaked flood of what was inside now.

"Is this," taking a deeper breath to keep herself calmed as her body began tingling with this storm, "Really all mana??" The colors swirled around a specific poin in the center of the dome she was in, just on top of the grass in the middle. Just within the mana storm, she thought she could see something at the core while the mana traced over her body, noticably near her side where the tear was on her blouse, the skin becoming sensitive to the strength of the threads.

To her surprise, a voice broke through to her, certainly male and by its tone, a hint of concern had been its voice.

"Narissa," she answered, getting on her knees as she tried to see where the voice came. She noticed that the storm seemed to have found a lull at some point, but it didn't continue its spinning while she was there.

"Who is there?" she asked back. By now, she knew it wasn't Kanoe, the woman had shown no sign and the male's voice had confirmed that this may not have been the mage's doing. So what, and who precisily, had she stumbled onto?

Narrisa, you say? A pleasure to meet you, if under unfortunate circumstances. Are you OK? If I had known a mortal would be coming I would have not done something so risky. Ah where are my manners? You may call me Seraph, it is a good a name as any. His voice was still concerned, and now it was also remorseful.

As he spoke Seraph drew some of the mana in, enough to remake two of his wings. The air was still thick with mana, far more than normal, but unless a human was used to high levels of mana it would make little difference to its affect on them.

His wings made he walked closer to where her voice had come from, and as his wings slowly flapped behind him he used some light forging magic to form his old golden robe. The normal garb of an Angel Seraph formed it with the hood covering the top of his head for now, when he could see her soul he would let her see his face.

"I'm . . .alright. What' unfortunate circumstances?" she asked, still a bit winded, as long as she took her time in this mana, she thought she would be able to manage. Before Narissa could ask something else, a bright and near blinding light took the center of the storm, bright enough for her to raise her arm to shield her eyes.

Within that moment, the light died down and to her eyes, more of the threads seeming to have disspate, which was far from the truth. But once she felt safer to lower her arm, a gasp came from her as she saw the owner of the melancholy voice walking towards her.

"Wings . . ." That was the first thing her widened eyes, surprise racing through her, as she saw the two appendages, spreading wide behind him as a golden and appearing silf robes wrapped around his person.

"Seraph. . ." Her confirmation of hearing him right came in a small whisper, her breath taken from her by the regent looking male, face still covered for the most part, and how the mana seem to swallow the air around her.

Seraph should be clearly visible now, and he gestured to the barrier behind Narissa as he replied. I'm sure you have noticed the amount of mana contained in here. When I noticed it start to build up I cast this barrier around it to ensure it did not escape and go rampant, thus placing the students and the school here at risk. While the barrier may let things enter, it will not let anything leave until the mana here has dissipated. Since the fastest way to achieve that is via the use of spells I took the opportunity to practice my magic.

To demonstrate Seraph waved his hand through the air, and in response hundreds of blades of light formed in the air behind him.

So it is unfortunate in that both of us are trapped here until the majority of this mana has been dispersed. But perhaps you can help? To have found this place you must have mana sight, so do you have any spells you could cast to burn off some of this mana?

"Oh my gosh!" Narissa gasped, looking at the multitude of sudden lights behind the man, each one forming a blade likely to pierce something, or someone, easilly.

Nodded at the information as she slowly pulled herself up cautiously. At first, her head had gotten too woozy from suddenly standing up again, but leaning back, her hand did land on the surface of the barrier, this time not breaking through the mana's integrity as easilly as she had came in. The air still felt thick to her, her body feeling almost itchy with energy all around her. But was that to do with the mana?

'Still so much I don't know.' "I'm . . .I'm sorry . . . I can only see mana . . . I've only begun to study it," she spoke sadly, lowerin her head to where her torn blouse was. At least there, hose threads could be handled and manipulated with a sewing machine, something she use a couple of times back in Arizona. Not this mana thing that seemed to make things out of thin ai--

"OH!" How could she have forgotten?! Looking up at the male, a moment taken back by his great height, 'So tall!'

"So . . .you're the one that mana was seeping from? What. . . are you?" It was so strange to see this man here, and yet she wanted to desperatly jump to that he must have been an angel or some like . . . But was angel's were supposed to be spiritual beings . . .Not . . . . well . . .right in front of her! Right?