Amira (アミラ, Amira) is the central protagonist of The Journey of a Dark Elf with Fading Powers manga series. She is currently a professor at the Kisaro Academy of Sorcery.
Appearance
Amira is a dark elf woman with dark skin, long pale hair, golden eyes and long pointed ears. Her hair is usually has straight bangs and small braids near the sides of her head. She also wears large earrings and several thick rings around her neck.[1]
Personality
Amira is cheerful, friendly and easygoing. She enjoys travelling, listening to birds and admiring the scenery around her. Even after losing her magic, she chooses to enjoy the things that she could not experience while relying on magic.[2][3] Amira is stubborn and takes new challenges seriously. She becomes frustrated and openly cries when her first attempts at making a staff fail, but quickly returns to work and refuses to stop until she finishes it.[4][5]
Relationships
Lilicena
Lilicena is Amira's longtime friend and former magical rival. They have known each other for at least 235 years, and Lilicena was once powerful enough to compete with Amira. Their relationship remains competitive, with Amira regularly teasing her. [6][7] Lilicena deeply cares about Amira despite frequently becoming frustrated with her behavior. She recruits Amira to the academy and supports her while she makes her first staff. Amira trusts Lilicena in return, including relying on her protective magic when approaching the Bird of Embers.[8][9][10][11]
Plot
Approximately two centuries before the beginning of the story, Amira was known throughout the world as the Omnipotent Caster, a legendary sorceress believed to possess an inexhaustible supply of magical force and mastery over every known type of magic. Despite the respect she earned through her many accomplishments, she suddenly disappeared from the public eye.[12] Now in the present, Amira traveled alone through the mountainous region surrounding Miragus, the southern capital. Rather than using magic, she carried ordinary traveling equipment and appeared eager to explore the unfamiliar area. After seeing the capital from a ridge, she stopped to feed several wild birds and told them that it was her first time visiting the town.[13] While continuing through the mountains, Amira encountered a herd of enormous horned animals led by the King of the Mountain. Although the gigantic ram approached her aggressively, Amira remained calm and commanded it to halt. The animal stopped, allowing Amira to avoid an unnecessary confrontation. She praised the intuition of wild animals and remarked that pointless fighting would only exhaust everyone involved.[14] Amira later selected a scenic cliff as a place to prepare lunch. Before she could settle down, she was confronted by her longtime acquaintance Lilicena, who had finally tracked her down after Amira repeatedly avoided meeting her. Lilicena closely examined Amira's appearance, hair, skin and scent, comparing them with information she had collected 235 years and ten months earlier, and confirmed that she was unquestionably the missing Amira.[15] Amira began preparing a unicorn hare she had hunted that morning. Before butchering it, she thanked the animal for its life and promised to enjoy the meal. She removed its horn, hide and organs entirely by hand, surprising Lilicena with her knowledge of field dressing. When Lilicena questioned why a renowned sorceress had learned such laborious skills, Amira explained that she had deliberately begun studying things that could not simply be accomplished through sorcery.[16] After preparing the ingredients, Amira left a portion of the food as an offering to the gods and rulers of the mountains. She apologized to the distant King of the Mountain for startling it and promised that they would meet again. She then served Lilicena cream of unicorn hare stew, which Lilicena reluctantly admitted was extraordinarily delicious.[17] During their meal, Amira learned that Lilicena had become a special-grade mage and a professor at the Kisaro Academy of Sorcery. Lilicena invited Amira to work alongside her, believing that the academy would readily accept the legendary Omnipotent Caster. Amira refused and asked Lilicena whether she had seen her perform any magic since finding her. She then allowed Lilicena to measure her magical force directly.[18] Lilicena discovered that Amira possessed no measurable magical force whatsoever. Amira confirmed that the power which had once made her the Omnipotent Caster had completely disappeared. She explained that almost everyone in the world possessed some amount of magical force and that even ordinary people depended on magic-driven tools in their daily lives. As a result, Amira considered herself an ordinary dark elf who had become nearly useless within a civilization built around magic.[19] Despite losing her magic, Amira says that she was not helpless. During her disappearance, she had strengthened her body and learned martial arts, leaving her confident that she could defend herself and even hold her own against Lilicena. She no longer intended to dedicate herself solely to regaining her lost power. Instead, she wanted to remain healthy and spend the coming century discovering new experiences capable of making her heart soar.[20] Amira revealed that she had developed an enthusiasm for travel, cooking, jewelry and other beautiful objects. She explained that she had initially fallen into despair after her magic disappeared, but eventually learned to appreciate birdsong, the wind, dancing and preparing food with her own hands. She came to believe that spending the rest of her life mourning her lost magic would be a waste and declared that she had never been happier.[21] After observing Amira's extravagant spending habits, Lilicena pointed out that she still required money. She ordered Amira to report to the academy the following morning, arguing that even without magic, someone with Amira's knowledge and experience must still have something valuable to teach. Although Amira worried that the students would ridicule her, she reluctantly accepted the proposal.[22] Amira later recalled the day her magic disappeared. Her body and mind had felt unbearably heavy, and she believed that she had become nothing more than an empty shell of her former self. More painfully, she felt as though the disappearance of her power had erased the meaning of the several thousand years she had spent pursuing sorcery.[23] While exploring Miragus, Amira discovered an antique magic-driven lantern that was approximately two hundred years old. Although the lantern cost 3.25 million fonce and required magical force that Amira no longer possessed, she immediately wanted to purchase it because she admired its design. Lilicena criticized her for buying something she could not use, but Amira insisted that discovering beautiful objects and carrying them into the future had become one of her personal missions.[24] When Amira attempted to borrow money for the lantern, Lilicena revealed that she had kept records of everything Amira had borrowed over the previous seven centuries. Amira's total debt had reached 1,257,650,000 fonce. Rather than being alarmed, Amira laughed about how much she had gone through, further convincing Lilicena that she needed stable employment and her own salary.[25] Lilicena brought Amira to the Kisaro Academy of Sorcery and informed her that any future purchases would have to be paid for using the money she earned there. Amira admired the academy's enormous central tower and described its architecture as part of the region's cultural heritage. She was especially pleased to revisit the academy's Floating Gardens, which Lilicena remembered as one of her favorite locations.[26] As Amira admired Miragus from the gardens, Lilicena warned her that long-lived people such as themselves frequently watched beloved towns and communities disappear. Amira acknowledged that the city would inevitably change, but remained optimistic and looked forward to exploring its streets and alleys.[27] Amira then noticed academy students riding through the air on magic staffs. Their equipment reminded her of Gen, a legendary dwarven staffsmith whom both she and Lilicena had known. Amira expressed admiration for the beauty and craftsmanship of modern staffs, maintaining that a proper staff should possess both strength and an attractive form.[28] Amira admitted that after losing her magic, she had sold many of her old magical implements and used the money to finance her travels. Lilicena consequently brought her to the academy's Department of Industrial Magic Arts, where students manufactured staffs and other magic-driven tools. Amira was fascinated by the large selection of staffs created for different species, purposes and levels of magical ability.[29] At the department's shop, Amira met Ith Lightbell, a third-year student commonly called Bell. As Amira watched the academy's students carve, assemble and improve their creations, she became more interested in the process of constructing a staff than in purchasing a finished one. Lilicena quickly recognized that Amira wanted to make her own.[30] Amira was reminded that she could not operate the magical tools normally used by the academy's craftsmen. She privately questioned whether someone without magic truly had nothing left to offer the world and found the idea intolerably boring. She recalled that the most painful part of losing her power had not been the absence of magic itself, but the belief that she could no longer accomplish anything while time continued passing around her.[31] Determined to change the unproductive yesterdays of her life into meaningful todays, Amira announced that she would construct a staff despite her lack of experience and magical force. She accepted that her first creation might be crude or ridiculous but promised to discover a method that ordinary magic could not provide. Lightbell agreed to assist her, while Lilicena agreed on the condition that Amira pay for the necessary materials herself, prompting Amira to immediately attempt to borrow more money from her.[32] Amira began constructing her staff in the Department of Industrial Magic Arts with assistance from Lightbell, Lilicena and the workshop's students. Her early prototypes repeatedly failed to transmit magical force properly. Although the constant failures frustrated her and occasionally reduced her to tears, she refused to abandon the project and declared that she would continue until she completed it.[33]Because Amira could not use hyperspatial storage to carry a staff, she decided to make a short staff that could be worn at her waist. She continued carving and assembling its components by hand, finding that physical work was preferable to sitting still and worrying about whether she was capable of succeeding.[34] Amira later observed Lightbell working late into the night with extraordinary concentration. Lightbell explained that crafting allowed her to express the world she carried inside herself and show it to other people. After learning that Lightbell had become a crafter despite being mocked as a weak oni, Amira was inspired by her dedication and began approaching her own staff with greater patience and seriousness.[35] After approximately one week of difficult work, Amira completed her first staff. As she possessed no magic with which to test it, she handed it to Lilicena. When Lilicena channeled her magical force through the staff, it successfully released a brilliant projectile that illuminated the night sky like a new collection of stars.[36] The sight deeply moved Amira. During her thousands of years of life, she had watched people, cities, mountains and rivers change, while believing the stars were among the few things that remained constant. By completing the staff, however, she had created a new set of "stars" with her own hands. Proud that she had carried the project through to its conclusion, Amira resolved to preserve the staff far into the future. [37] Amira subsequently began working as a lecturer under Lilicena. She introduced herself to a class containing Barbato, Lumina, Sheritha, Milya and Garr, telling them that she had spent many years researching sorcery. Several students were curious about her age and reputation, while Barbato openly questioned how someone incapable of casting spells could teach sorcerers. [38] Rather than becoming angry, Amira acknowledged Barbato's concern. She placed a candle before the class and invited the students to accompany her outside for a special extracurricular lesson, promising that they would enjoy the exercise.[39] Amira brought the students to a rocky canyon inhabited by giant canyon lizards and introduced a game called Candle Tipping. She placed a lit candle on a stone pedestal and explained that she would protect it without touching it with her hands, while the students would be permitted to use magic to knock it over. When Barbato asked whether they could attack her directly, Amira allowed it and challenged the entire class to face her simultaneously.[40] The students launched a coordinated magical assault, but Amira repeatedly evaded their explosions, projectiles, arrows and earthen attacks while keeping the candle upright. Because she possessed no magical force, she could not perceive the magical flow that sorcerers normally used to anticipate spells. Instead, she relied on her physical senses, observation, combat experience and instinct to react to their attacks.[41] Amira moved quickly enough that the students wondered whether she could see the future. Garr sensed that despite her complete lack of magical force, she carried the scent and presence of a powerful beast. Amira continued taunting and encouraging the students, using the game to expose how heavily they depended upon magical perception and raw spell strength.[42] Seeking a greater challenge, Amira invited Lilicena to participate. Lilicena accepted and deployed Dreams in White, one of the Seven Great Staffs of the World. She manipulated enormous masses of stone and attacked Amira with a barrage powerful enough to transform the surrounding canyon. Amira nevertheless continued dodging, deflecting and physically smashing through the attacks while protecting the candle.[43] During her battle with Lilicena, Amira revealed how she had spent the century following the disappearance of her magic. Unable to use sorcery for ordinary labor, she carried heavy firewood, cultivated fields and fought forest monsters almost every day. What began as a means of survival gradually became disciplined physical training, and her body eventually learned to react without unnecessary conscious thought. Amira had been determined not to remain weak simply because she could no longer use magic.[44] Amira briefly gained the advantage over Lilicena, but Lilicena retaliated with an enormous spatial or stone-manipulation technique that filled the canyon with debris. The two continued exchanging attacks through the destruction while visibly enjoying the opportunity to fight one another again.[45] When the dust settled, Amira revealed that the candle remained upright and declared herself the winner. Her students apologized for having judged her solely by her inability to cast spells. The students apologized for judging her by her lack of magic, and Amira accepted it. Lilicena later noted that although they were prideful, they were good students deep down. he then told them that she looked forward to serving as their teacher.[46] After the lesson, Amira and Lilicena discussed Dreams in White and its creator, Gen. Amira remembered Gen as a quiet but intensely dedicated craftsman whose calloused hands revealed the years he had devoted to his work. She also recalled a conversation in which Gen had questioned her about magic and how she viewed life, although a strong wind prevented her from hearing his complete answer.[47] Reflecting on her own experience, Amira admitted that Gen would probably have considered her first staff poorly made. Nevertheless, she was glad that she had attempted to create it. Although the process had frustrated her and brought her to tears, she had taken it seriously and completed something through her own efforts.[48] Amira realized that when her magic disappeared, she had mistakenly believed that nothing remained for her because she had devoted so much of her long life to sorcery. Her experience with crafting showed her that an entire world of techniques, masters and accomplishments existed beyond the field she had once dominated. Calling herself the oldest rookie crafter in history, she decided to spend the next century learning to create something beautiful enough to show the world. She proudly described herself as the happiest magic-drained dark elf alive.[49] Lilicena then told Amira about the academy's Great Storage Room, a restricted underground collection containing treasured magical books and priceless implements. Amira immediately wanted to enter, believing that the collection could help her learn more about crafting, but discovered that she would require special authorization from the academy's Chancellor, Tierlith.[50] Unbeknownst to Amira, Tierlith was already discussing her position at the academy. The Chancellor, Tierlith, who had lived for over 300 years and survived two great wars, refused to assume that a legendary sorcerer would automatically make a capable teacher. Concerned about Amira's potential influence on the students, she decided to summon and personally evaluate her.[51]