Runemaster in the Last Days

Riya smiled to herself.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Riya looked at the phone beside the bed and unlocked it. The movement felt both familiar and unfamiliar. It had been four years since the last time she used her phone and looked at this familiar screen.

There was a message from her best friend.

Pampered Baby: Riyaaaa, how long are you going to sleep? Come on, I want to bring you to see the horses today!

Pampered Baby was the nickname of her best friend. 

Riya looked at the calendar and knew that it was exactly the same date as when she disappeared. 

That four years in the magic world…

Is it real or not?

With a thought, the familiar meditation technique that had accompanied her for the past four years started in her body. Slowly, mana started to gather through the channel and gathered inside her heart. 

It felt refreshing.

After she had finished one circulation, Riya looked at her surroundings. After the meditation, she could faintly sense the mana in the world, but it was very faint. If she had to calculate, it was about 1000 times thinner than the magic world she used to be. 

She could practice, but it would take a long time to reach her previous magic realm.

The problem here was not only her talent but also the situation.

But it was not important.

"So, it's not a dream," Riya murmured. 

She died in the magic world and was brought back to this world inexplicably. If Riya had to say, she felt that the experience was very strange and appalling. 

But the gains were not small.

At the very least, she would be able to meditate in this world. Though, she doubted that she would be able to reach high realm considering how thin the mana and aura in this world is.

Mana is used by magician while aura is used by warrior.

Beep!

Her phone rang again.

It seemed that her best friend was already impatient.

Throwing all messy thoughts to the back of her head, Riya quickly washed, changed her clothes, and walked out of the room. It felt strange to be back to her original body but after doing some activities, Riya slowly got used to it.

She's no longer a powerful magician by now.

Just an ordinary human.

Slowly, Riya entered the living room and saw a woman around the same age as her, 22 years old, sitting there with a bored expression. 

When she saw Riya, her eyes lit up. "Little Riya! You're finally here! I thought that you will sleep all day long."

Riya looked at the clock on the wall. She received a call from her so called stepmother early this morning and even if she didn't want to, she finally gave in. But that woman truly didn't deserve it. It was still very early when she came out, so when she came back, time hadn't passed that much. "It's still 9 AM. You're the one who woke up early."

"Even if I don't want to wake up early, I can't." the woman, Amelia, grumbled. "My brother seemed to be addicted to martial arts and brought the entire family to practice. You don't know how he kept on drilling me for the past month."

If not because of exams, Amelia was sure that her brother would never let her off.

"I heard that." Riya looked at Amelia helplessly. This was the main reason why Amelia came to this farm.

Amelia wanted to run away from home.

Though, her running away was nothing new anymore. 

She would definitely run away once a month from her family because of various reasons.

'Wait, martial arts?'

Riya thought of her strange experience and wondered whether there would be others who would experience it too. The world she came to was not only magic world but also warriors, so there were naturally a lot of martial artist. Well, they were called warrior there.

But even if there was any, it was impossible for them to say it out loud. 

And being attracted to martial arts were not something new. There has always been some people like that from time to time from what Riya saw in the news.

"Forget it, let's eat first."

"Okay. Okay."

The two girls laughed and started to eat simple breakfast. Once it was done, Amelia clung to Riya's arm and sighed deeply. "I want to stay here forever and not return to see my stinky older brother. What's so nice about practicing sword anyway…"

"I heard that you're complaining again?" a low male voice interrupted their conversation.

Amelia's body stiffened.

Riya turned around and saw a tall man standing not far from the door. He was a few years older than Amelia with face that was quite similar to her. Though, his countenance was far more masculine. Wearing proper suit and prim hair, he looked a bit out of place in this remote farmhouse. 

But one had to admit that he looked very handsome. 

"Brother Samuel…." Amelia whispered and trembled.

Looking at how Amelia behaved, Riya knew that this best friend of her was afraid of her brother. She patted Amelia quietly.

Amelia's older brother, Samuel, shook his head when he saw his younger sister like this. "Father and mother had said that you have to follow the arrangement this time. Stop playing around."

"I'm not playing around! I just want to spend more time with Little Riya!" Amelia protested.

Samuel sneered. "The holiday this time is extended because the temperature is colder than usual. However, you shouldn't think of making use of this to escape, Mel."

Mel is Amelia's nickname in her home and her family members usually called her this way. Riya knew this very well because she had heard them calling Amelia that way. 

"Brother Samuel!"

"Miss Riya, do you mind if I take my sister back? You can stay here for the rest of the week." 

Riya looked at Amelia and then at Samuel. She tactfully took a step back and showed an apologetic smile at Amelia.

Amelia's eyes widened and she mouthed out, "Traitor!"

However, Riya could only smile bitterly. She was not a match to Samuel and naturally had no interest to meddle in Jones Family's business.

This two brother and sister has always been at odds like this.

She had gotten used to it.

Samuel stepped forward and patted Amelia's shoulder. "Come on."

Amelia looked at her older brother bitterly. She wanted to complain but she knew that it would be useless.

'Hmm?'

As Samuel passed by, Riya faintly sensed a strange danger. It was an aura that she was familiar with in the magic world, but at the same time, she was not entirely sure.

When she was thinking, Samuel was already a distance away.

'What is that?'

Riya frowned.

Was this Samuel also experienced something like what she experienced?

Or it was because there were truly magicians in this world and it was only after she started practicing that she could sense them?

But even if she sensed them, it was not very clear and Riya was not very sure. After all, there were various types of magicians in the magic world and her position in that world didn't allow her to actually meet with many of them.

This aura just felt familiar.

But she didn't know who it was.

Should she try to investigate?