[972 Years Remaining]

When I woke up, the headache was still present, but not nearly as bad as it had been during whatever happened earlier. My eyes fluttered open, and the first thing I saw were the faces of my concerned parents. Their bodies blocked some of the sunlight streaming into my bedroom in our treehouse, and I wondered if they’d been there all night.

“How do you feel?” My father was the first to speak.

“Fine, I guess.” Despite my words, they both exchanged worried glances with each other.

“Once you’re ready, Mother Tree needs to speak with you,” After a moment, he added, “Chief.”

Hearing that title was… weird. Well, weird when it was being directed to me and said by my own father.

“Do you really have to call me that?” I slowly sat up, stretching after I did so.

“It’s tradition. You’re no longer my son, you’re the village’s chief.” He clearly seemed bothered with the idea, but he didn’t say anything.

My mother on the other hand was doing everything she could to keep from crying. And she wasn’t doing a very good job either. Tears fell from her eyes, and she did all she could to keep from sobbing. I was conflicted. As her son, I didn’t want her to be upset, especially over me. But what would the chief do? My mother always put the priorities of the village above her own, so I guessed that she would want me to act as the chief in this situation. Or at least that’s what I figured she would tell me to do.

In the end, I just decided it was probably best for me to leave. I trusted my father to stay with her, and my new status in the village was already complicating the situation. For that matter, I realized that all my relationships would be similarly strange. The friends I’d known my entire life were no longer just friends. They were now citizens of the village that I was responsible for.

I left the treehouse after giving a quick goodbye, and went straight to Mother Tree.

“Ah, Indra. I’ve been waiting for you.”

The first thing I saw when I arrived was the Branch of Wisdom. It was glowing bright green, hovering a few feet above the ground. Despite that, I couldn’t help but wonder if Chief Edex would start using a regular stick to help him walk.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I only woke up a couple minutes ago.” I apologized while cautiously approaching the Branch. “Why is it floating?”

“The branch has been waiting for its new owner to attune to it. Unfortunately, you can’t do so while unconscious.” Mother Tree replied.

“Attune to it?” I asked.

“Yes. Once you do, quite a few things will happen, but it’s better that you experience it first hand, rather than me telling you. To start, hold on to the Branch.”

After a few moments of hesitation, I did as I was told. The Branch immediately stopped glowing, and whatever was keeping it floating in the air stopped as well.

“Now, normally you would have learned how to do this at the ceremony for your hundredth birthday, but you’ll have to give it some of your mana. I recommend you take a seat, Indra. This will take some time.”

Well, it wasn’t as if I really had a choice in the matter. It was a bit too late to run from the chief title now. I sat on one of Mother Tree’s larger roots, and held the Branch in front of me. When I asked about what to do next, there wasn’t a response. Instead, a vine glowed the same green as the Branch earlier, and floated toward me, only stopping when it lightly tapped against my forehead. The green glow extended to my entire body, briefly turning my vision of the already green forest an even brighter shade, until the light faded a few moments later.

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“What was that?” I asked, checking myself to see if anything felt different. Strangely enough, I did. The feeling was… new. The only way I could possibly describe it was as if I’d grown an entirely new limb, but there wasn’t anything outwardly different about my body that I could see. It was all on the inside, but they almost didn’t seem physical. There were small… tubes, almost, which directed the flow of some strange energy. They extended all throughout my body, but all connected to a large sort of container which was right inside where my heart should be. Or perhaps it wasn’t even touching my heart at all. Blood still pulsed throughout my body, so I knew it was still there.

“A blessing. Most living creatures can only access mana one of two ways. The first way is to simply be born with it. It is rather rare, though, so most have to resort to the second. Train. Those who put in enough effort can learn how to access mana, but that results in more specialized abilities. Unlike them, my blessing allows you access to it, without the need to train for decades. ”

“What did you mean by specialized abilities?”

“In general, there are two ways to utilize mana. The first is to internalize it. Doing so will increase certain physical abilities, such as sight, strength, speed, and so on. The exact enhancements depend on the person, though. The second is to externalize it. Earlier, when the Branch was floating, I was externalizing mana in order to do so. But, when someone trains to be a mage, and they unlock access to mana, they will only be able to externalize it, and vice versa.”

This was the first time I’d ever heard this sort of information. I hadn’t even known mana existed until a few moments ago, but it explained why the adults seemed so much faster than the kids, even those who were close to being an adult. Though I hadn’t seen anyone externalize mana.

“Could someone not learn to do both?” I asked.

“Yes, but that would take many decades to accomplish. It is the reason why most go their entire lives without learning how to access mana at all. I’m not quite sure how accurate this information is, but apparently it takes a typical human twenty years on average to access a single type of mana, and another forty if they wish to learn the other. And that’s only with daily studying and training, mind you. With that said, most would already be nearing the end of their lives after sixty years, so it’s impractical.”

“I see. What about me? I’ve never seen anyone but you use mana externally before. Why’s that?”

“With the blessing, you can. However, there is little reason for anyone here to use mana externally, as long as I am around. There’s also the matter that you elves have lived in peace for thousands of years. Internalized mana is convenient, but you have no need to externalize it.”

I had many more questions to ask, but Mother Tree shut me down when I tried to ask another.

“It is time for you to attune to the Branch. First focus on the mana coursing through your body. By now, you should be able to. Once you do that, focus on the mana in the Branch. It should be trying to extend out to you.” Mother Tree directed me through the first steps.

Sensing the mana inside me was easy. I’d actually felt it earlier, almost immediately after I received the blessing. That said, it was a bit more difficult to sense the mana in the Branch. At first, my senses were overwhelmed as I felt the ambient mana all around me. It permeated the world, extending as far as I could feel, which was only a couple feet in any direction. After a bit of practice though, I was able to distinguish the mana in the air and soil from the mana in the Branch. Just like Mother Tree said, the mana in the Branch was apparently trying to touch my own, but stopped as soon as it reached my palm.

“Alright, I think I’m doing it.”

“Good. Now, you just need to accept the Branch’s mana. Your body will subconsciously block it from entering you, but you’ll need to figure out how to stop it from doing so. Unfortunately, I can’t say that there’s an easy way to do this.”

I rolled my eyes, but didn’t say anything in response. It took me nearly an hour to get the hang of it, but eventually, I understood how. It was almost like breathing. Normally, you didn’t need to think in order to breathe, but you could always just stop if you wanted to. It was the same principle, if not quite as simple.

“I’ve done it, but nothing’s happening,” I finally said, a bit confused. I had assumed this would be the last step.

“There is one last thing you must do,” Mother Tree said. “Lead the Branch’s mana to your core. It’s where most of the mana in your body resides, and should be located at your heart.”

I already knew what Mother Tree was talking about, so it wasn’t a challenge to follow her directions. The Branch’s mana extended through the vein-like tubes that my own mana typically flowed through. After a few moments, it finally reached my core, and my vision once again blanked.