Nion Gainsborough had been trying this for hours. "Get that dummy to turn into a cat" her teacher had said. Easier said than done! She hadn't even been given proper spells. She had managed to give it paw-like knobs, but they didn't seem to do anything other than waving around a bit.
"I've had it," she eventually said and decided to take a break and lay on the ground and look at the sky for a while. "What am I doing wrong" she thought to herself while looking at the clouds drifting by. She could just stare at the clouds for hours, mostly because there was nothing else to do (or she just didn't want to do). Her teacher had never interrupted her in these moments of complete boredom though, as he thought it would be a good way for her to 'feel nature'. This time however, he came around. He sat down next to her and started talking. He had a typical 'wise old man' voice.
"Nion, dear, the clouds won't help you on this test."
"Well without spells, there's nothing much else I can do."
Her teacher sighed. "You have great potential, but you are only using a little bit of it. You don't need certain words or spells for everything."
"Then what are spells good for anyway." Nion said sarcastically.
Her teacher laughed a bit at this. "Well, a spell can be cast in many different ways. As long as you use your head."
"But master, look, I've tried all I can and right now, that dummy looks more like a mutated freak than a cat…"
"It is because you are just using your logic. A mage does need that, but you also have a mind to formulate your spells. Tell me, how do you cast a normal spell you already know?"
"Well… I just think of what spell to use, use the proper movements and the spell is cast." Nion knew of his speeches. Always long and deep, but they never seemed to make any sense.
"Exactly, you think of the proper spell and use the right movements. I'll tell you what Nion, those movements aren't exactly needed for those spells."
"Wait… what?"
"Won't it be a little easier to turn that… freak into a cat now?" he said, and he walked off again.
Nion began to think about what her master just said. "For once, the old man made sense" she thought and she sat up again. She looked at the freakishly pile of crap that now seemed to be crawling towards the nearest exit. She stood up and looked at it. The pile seemed to notice this as it was speeding a bit but due to its short knobs, it didn't get far. Nion then thought of it turning into a cat. It took her a little while but sure enough, cat-like features were beginning to take shape. The paws stretched out of their knob-shapes and a tail was popping from the back. The ears the dummy once had now turned pointy and black hair started to grow all over its body. The eyes turned to green and soon enough, a cat was sitting in front of her, licking its paw. Nion couldn't believe what she saw "I did it… I actually did it."
"Yes, you did it." Her master said from behind her.
Nion gasped, then looked around her, annoyed. "Thank you for the scare."
"You're welcome" he said with a grin on his face. "Well then, it's time now."
"Time for what?" she asked. He never mentioned anything about what lies ahead, only what happens now.
"I was contacted by an old friend of mine known as MM. MM would be happy to let you in on his game."
"Game? What are you talking about master, are you feeling alright?" Nion was worried, he had never been this serious before.
"I'm quite alright. I won't tell much more, but you will learn a lot from this game"
"You mean you've trained me just to play some stupid game?"
"Oh no, that's not it at all, you've been chosen to participate and I see it as a good training for you."
"You have to be kidding me right?! I don't even want to enter some game I don't know anything about."
"Oh but this game is not just any game like checker or monopoly, you will find it most interesting. In fact, this game has been played before and I can tell you, it was most certainly enjoyed. Unfortunately, it sort of died out, but you don't have to worry about that, it'll be different this time."
Nion backed away a bit. What was he up to? "Well, what if I don't want to?"
"Well, that's your choice to make. You can get to MM through this card." He said and he handed her a small card. On it were two large white M's,  both entangled in each other. "All you have to do is send me to MM and you will go there. And don't forget, it's better to regret something you did do than regret something you didn't do," he said and he walked off again.
Nion looked at the card in her hand and thought hard. "Well, it's just a little game, what damage could it do" she thought, but on the other hand, she thought "but it's the master that gave me this card." She lay on the ground again, placed the card beside her and looked at the clouds floating by. After at least an hour, she picked up the card again and said "I seem mad…" She stood up and said "take me to MM." Suddenly, light started to surround her; the portal was opening. She quietly said "goodbye master" before the light was completely  covering her. But then it stopped. The light was fading, turning into complete darkness. Nion thought this was strange "is it nighttime where this MM lives?" All she could see was a large screen saying MM…