I sat at Amara’s shop and meditated.
“That’s it, calmly, I can tell you are almost there.” I heard Amara say.
A week had passed since I had spoken to my parents about my real family. Ever since then, I have been learning about the world, practicing the control of mana and learning more about magic, both at home and at Amara’s shop.
A bit more. I thought to myself, as something solid started to form in my belly.
From my deep concentration, I heard a door snap open, “hey old hag, I’m here for tha powder.”
I kept my concentration, not opening my eyes to see who entered.
“Be quiet you small headed midget,” Amara hissed, “don’t you see he is concentrating?!”
Silence took the room, slowly, the core inside me was manifesting. The moment it had formed, it felt as if a sixth sense was added to my whole being, but instead of taste or smell, it was something else, something new and yet familiar.
Finally, it is done. a wild smile started to form on my face as I slowly got used to the new feeling.
“By Cysan, what am I watchin’?” Now unconcentrated I could tell that the voice belonged to the dwarf, the one who visited Amara at my first lesson.
What was his name? I thought to myself as I opened my eyes, only to see the black bearded dwarf stare at me with squinted eyes, in front of my face, making my smile drop.
“Amara, wasn’t this brat here a week ago?” he asked slowly, I could smell a burnt scent from his breath.
I could see Amara from behind him, she struggled to push him back from my face, “he, was, dammit Koll get off the child’s face!”
With a step back, he turned to her with a frown, “but, didn’ he just come to learn mana a week ago? Wait, this is James’s son, ain’t he?” he questioned her and she nodded in return.
Amara made her way to her front desk of the shop, took out a pouch and quickly given it to Koll, “here, take it and be gone, he just formed his core, and I don’t want him to destroy something”
Koll crossed his giant arms, and looked at her dubiously, “did ya even teach him what he should and shouldn’t do with magic?”
Amara pressed her lips, “of course I did, but I only had a single week to do so.” She chastised him, “so it mainly came down, to not burn yourself with heat energy, or to put too much power into his legs, only to fall hard on ground”
“Oh good” Koll answered simply, “not to burn alive, or to be squashed to a bloody pulp.”
Amara looked at Koll with cold eyes, and uttered a single word, “out.”
Koll looked between me and Amara, he put a couple of copper coins on Amara’s desk and left, “I didn’ know old women can have periods.” he uttered as he left.
I furrowed my eyebrows at the door after he left, I turned to face Amara, “he seems rough around the edges.” Amara barked a laugh.
“That’s to put it simply child, he is a good man, annoying, but good.” She too stared at the door, “though sometimes I would like to switch his smoking powder with some hallucinogenic powder.”
Amara looked at me with a sly smile, and I laughed.
She bent her knees and looked at me, “so little prodigy, you have nothing to say after accomplishing a feat that was never heard of? prefer to stay quiet as usual?”
I smiled back at her, “it’s like, a new limb, just like you said in our lessons, can I try it out?”
“Slowly and carefully, as I told you in the past lessons, mana can be both controlled and manipulated by your will, we will take this lesson to learn how to take your mana out of your core.”
“Now” she clapped her hands “you should manipulate the mana outside of your core, with your will, and then let it course through your body, slowly.”
With her instructions, I did as she said, I easily manipulated the mana out of my core with my will, and as if it was in my nature, in a single moment the mana flowed through my entire body smoothly.
I stared at my arms and legs with wide eyes, I could feel every crack and crevice as I easily willed the mana inside my body, the mana felt like strings, tense but somehow placid.
Amara’s jolly expression turned shocked, “Slowly! And don’t let the mana flow into your head! That’s dangerous!”
I instantly noticed that I had let mana flow into my head, I could feel strings mana out of mana in my eye vessels.
I retrieved the mana into the core with ease, Amara looked at me with cold eyes which slowly softened, she massaged her nose bridge and sighed, “how did you do that?” I tilted my head to the side in confusion.
“I manipulated the mana?” I saw her press her lips in thought.
Actually, it all kind of felt natural, from taking it out of the core, to making it flow throughout the body. I thought to myself as I focused a bit on my core.
“I already told you in our lessons to take it slow, but you just skipped every step in the book, Again.” Amara waved her hand and sighed, “instead of letting mana flow through your body, try to manipulate it outside of your body.”
With her instructions, I smoothly manipulated the mana until it reached beyond the outer layers of my skin, it started to wobble.
“Oh, finally something normal.” Amara muttered, “keep on going, try to imitate what I did on our first lesson with the doll.” She pointed at the fixed training doll, which had a crude face drawing of an angry familiar looking dwarf.
I looked back to Amara with a blank expression and raised my brow.
“I thought it would take you a dozen more lessons to get the hang of it, so I didn’t finish my masterpiece.” Amara gave a sly smile. “Well? Go ahead, hit the angry little monster.”
With the wobbly mana outside my body, I forced my will upon it and turned it into a weird looking stone, nothing like Amara’s sharp looking bolt.
My heart started to beat faster, as I looked at the stone manifested from mana.
And now, energy! I repeated the steps Amara had shown me, turning mana into energy, the weird rock tossed into the ground, clattering uselessly on the ground.
I watched it for a couple of seconds until it started to dissolve, my shoulders slumped down a bit as I turned back to Amara.
“Well done. Considering all we have done, you definitely surpass every single five-year-old to have ever existed, I believe.” She looked at me a bit more and continued “oh, and don’t worry about the stone bolt, it is your first-time using mana after all.” she patted my slumped shoulders.
I nodded slowly, “actually, I expected more? It looked kind of lame.”
Amra flinched. She nodded, and looked at the ground, where the rock dissolved into chaotic mana, “you know what? What do you say we work more on enhancing your body, instead of casting projectiles.”
I looked up to her, “like father?”
She nodded, “unfortunately, I’ll be a bad teacher in body enhancement, I always chose to be a caster, however…” she took a small pause “I know just the dwarf to help us.”
Amara looked at the training doll and smiled.
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After walking to the edge of the town, we reached a smithy building made out of stone and glass, with a free space separating it from the wall of the town.
Amara walked up to the door and opened it, revealing dozens of weapons, and a forge with all its tools.
“Koll? Where are you?” Amara walked into the building and looked around, only to stop and look at the forge.
I observed her as she went behind the forge and lightly kicked something, “did I put hallucinogenic in his powder?” She muttered quietly.
I went to her side and looked at the spectacle. Koll slept on the floor, one hand on his bare solid stomach, the smell of something rancid entered my nose. I furrowed my brows at him. “Are dwarves always so solid?”
Amara chuckled, “yes, they are notorious for their small height and solid muscles.” She glanced around until she found a small smoking pipe, after lighting it with a small, conjured flame, she took a puff and exhaled at Koll’s face.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
The dwarf woke up, like a dead man rising from the grave, he looked around a bit until his eyes landed on his smoking pipe, he swiftly took it From Amara’s hands and puffed a smoke in both our faces.
After a small moment of smelling the same rancid smell that I smelled before, I could barely feel the floor beneath me. I took a couple of steps back from the smoke.
“Child,” Amara called out “if you are starting to feel numb, step out of the smoke and take deep breaths.” I did as she told me and my numb senses returned to normal.
How much did Koll smoke? I thought to myself as the dwarf took his third puff, only to stand tall and steady.
“What are ya both doin’ here?” he asked grumpily as he put on a shirt, “Wait, didn’ ya tell me to leave yer shop?”
Amara sighed and shook her head, “how much did you smoke Koll?”
He started to rub his beard, “I only took ten or fifteen puffs, or maybe it was twenty?”
I could see his wide pupils, and how he started to slowly quicken his pace in rubbing his beard. “Are you feeling alright?” I asked from the back.
“Who asked ya? Ya damned brat.” he bellowed out, causing Amara to give him a slap on his rock solid neck.
She put her hand on his shoulder, and looked into his eyes, her lips pressed, “how much did you take Koll?”
He removed her hand from his shoulder, and silently went outside of the smithy, ignoring Amara who followed him. As I went after them Amara gestured to me to stay inside the smithy, making me stop in my tracks.
A junkie. the thought passed through my head, I hope he’ll get better.
As I waited, I started to look a bit around the smithy, I was mostly drawn to the axes, long swords, and daggers but After a couple more moments of looking at the weapons, one long sword drew my attention, I walked up to it and without a thought I tried to pick it up.
The sword clattered, and my arms became wobbly as they tried to hold it, oh shit.
Before the sword could fall from my hands, I instinctively drew my mana to my arms and back.
As mana coursed through me, I turned it into energy in order to steadily hold the sword.
I could feel my lips rise on my face, my shoulders rose up, and my legs took a stance, I stood there staring in my reflection in the sword, emerald eyes staring back in enjoyment.
As I stood there, doing nothing, I noticed my mana slowly depleting. I decided to return the sword to the rack, but at that moment, the door of the smithy opened, showing shocked faces of Koll and Amara.
My eyes followed a blur, only to land on Koll right beside me, snatching the sword from my hands, “what in the name of the dragons were yeh thinkin’?! Ya could have gotten yourself hurt you darned brat!”
He placed the sword back, and looked at me, he was fuming, while I stood there and looked at him straight in the face without flinching, his face relaxed a bit, “do ya have no fear? Or are ya just dumb?”
“Koll!” Amara chided from behind, she walked up to me and crouched to my level, “are you alright child?”
“Yeah,” I answered simply, I turned to look and Koll, I put my hand on the back of my neck and started rubbing “I wasn’t thinking about how heavy it would be, I won’t do it again.” I could feel my ears get warmer as I looked at him.
Koll slightly scratched his chin, “what the hell is this kid’s problem?” he muttered in Amara’s direction, to which she rolled her eyes.
She turned to look at him, “the child was able to form a core in the matter of a week, and he was able to manipulate mana through his body like an experienced enhancer.”
“And you have to admit, most children are naturally scared of you.” she added, “making him an even better, smarter student than any other.”
Amara looked at Koll with an unwavering gaze “please?” She pleaded for something.
He looked at me, and scoffed, “fine, fine, let me see what he can handle, and I’ll think about teachin’ him some tricks.” He stopped looking at me, and stared at Amara, “but if tha brat ever, and I mean ever, annoys me too much, or falls behind, I won’t continue.”
Amara chuckled and looked down on him, only to turn her gaze back to me, “Dante, how are you feeling about kicking an old man’s ass?”
I smiled back at her, I breathed deeply and remembered how father acted sometimes, “I’d feel pretty bad if he suddenly had back pains.”
Koll’s eyes twitched, “is that right?” He asked quietly.
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As we walked outside, to the small dirt space between the smithy and the town’s wall, my stomach started to turn upside down.
Did I really just agree to duel a junkie? I berated myself until I shook my head.
“I’ll remind you Koll, you can’t use mana!” Amara shouted from the door entrance of the smithy.
Koll grunted and stared at me from the opposite side of the empty space, he took a stance with his fists, and I did the same.
I felt a small smile creep on my face, as my mind turned cold, steadying my breath I called out. “Are you ready old man?”
He dashed, reaching me in a manner of seconds, not giving me any time, he started attacking me, fists and kicks were slowly thrown out and I managed to dodge them.
I could see his nostrils widen as he missed every strike. When he changed his attack pattern, I took a step forward and struck his face, making him swing a bit faster.
“Oh!” Amara exclaimed from the side “In my last meeting with James, he told me that Dante can handle him while he is using mana enhancement! So be careful!”
Koll was distracted by what Amara said, leaving him open.
I rushed him, I kicked him in the legs, and even gave him a couple of punches to the side, all the while dogging his moves.
I tried to form a fist, only to notice dull pains from my hands and legs, realization came to my mind as I observed Koll’s solid physique.
I tried to think outside of the box as he started to push me back.
While sending a glance at Amara, I shouted, “can I use mana?!”
"You can try! But only to enhance your body! And nothing more!"
With mana turning into energy in my arms and legs I came at Koll whose eyes were wide open, as he threw a punch, I grabbed his arm and used his weight against him, slamming him into the floor.
Suddenly my body wobbled a bit, I noticed that half of my mana just disappeared, how heavy is he?!
I quickly retreated as Koll simply got up and cracked his neck.
I felt my heart beating inside my chest and I smiled, “hey old man! You are super heavy you know?”
“It seems like the child is beating you up Koll!”
Mana isn’t enough, his body is too sturdy. I thought to myself, the thought of striking his eyes went through my mind making me shake my head.
I took a breath and tried to stop my mind from giving me more wicked ideas, while Koll looked at me with narrowed eyes.
He moved again, now more slowly, as he reached me, with his battle stance maintained he stopped in front of me.
He’s serious now.
Koll’s shoulder twitched a bit, and he quickly raised his hand, but I didn’t move as Koll didn’t do anything but frown, useless feint.
We both twitched a bit, giving small faints, moving forward and backwards in bursts, with no one taking advantage, no one pushed.
Koll’s frown disappeared, he gazed at me, jaw tight, knuckles bone white from being clenched.
“Koll! Remember who you are fighting!”
Koll opened his mouth to say something, his eyes traced Amara’s location and I took advantage, with mana in my legs I moved faster and got behind him.
He swung his hand in a slow wide arc behind him and I crouched, taking a bit of dirt in my hand as I dodged.
In a swift motion I threw the dirt in his face, making him put his hands in a tight defense in front of his face, keeping me out of his sight.
Now! My leg moved on its own as I gave him a mana powered kick in the groin, he instantly collapsed, groaning as he held his nether regions.
“You… Damned!” Koll fumed while I stared at him realizing what I had done.
Oh shit. I thought to myself as Amara quickly went to his side and asked if he was alright.
I raised a wobbly hand towards him, only to stop, I could see him breathing heavily and I noticed that all of my mana was gone, how much mana did I use? I thought to myself as I simply stood there.
Amara rubbed his back, “I told you to be careful Koll.” She mentioned, drawing a gaze from Koll.
He slowly got to his knee with Amara’s help and stood, while not looking in my direction he started to limp to his smithy.
My heart wrenched for a moment as I saw him limp, “I deeply apologize for what I’ve done!” I shouted at his back, but when he didn’t turn back, I started to walk towards him only for Amara to stop me.
She looked between me and Koll, with a small thin smile she looked at me, “I think you went a bit too far child.” She quietly confessed, making my stomach whirl.
“I’ll try to talk to him, so you stay here.” Amara went to his aid and helped him walk into the smithy, leaving me in the empty space.
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My mind was still distant, cold, and a bit numb as I thought about what I did, I clenched my hands, and looked at the ground with furrowed eyebrows, I didn’t mean to do that. I thought as I went over the fight in my head.
When I had started fighting with James, fighting came to me naturally, just like I knew how to crawl, use a spoon, controlling mana also came naturally, however at the moment that I saw the opportunity with Koll I felt impulsed to do so.
The same thing happened when I had told Charlotte and James about my nightmares, I didn't really lie at the time, but I didn't tell them the whole truth either.
As I kept thinking, my shoulders started to slump, and my eyelids started to get heavier.
Without me noticing Amara was already a couple of steps near me “sorry for keeping you waiting child.” She looked at me up and down.
“You must be tired after all of this, let me take you home, I’m sure your parents will be glad to hear of your breakthrough.” Amara stretched out her hand towards me, and I took it, following her slowly towards my home.
I looked up to her, trying to keep my eyelids up “what about Koll?”
Amara’s lips tightened. “He’s alright, a bit angry.” She looked back to his smithy only to look at me with a smile. “But, it was kind of a wake up call for him, to get beaten up by a kid, I’m sure it will make him think twice before smoking from now on.”
with my eyes half closed I started to wobble, Amara took me in her arms and carried me.
“I admit, you can be a handful, in only a week you have already done so much, but don’t let it get to your head.” she paused and made me look at her, she wore her sly smile.
“What I mean by this is that you shouldn’t try to break people’s family jewels, alright?” She continued, drawing a small smile out of me.
“I lost myself for a moment when we were fighting, could I apologize to him?” I asked.
“It would be best if you don’t come near him.” She said, making my heart drop.
“Oh.” my shoulders slumped even more on Amara. I have to apologize, what I did was wrong. I thought to myself
“I will try to talk to him, get some sense into that thick head of his, so don’t worry alright?”
I nodded numbly in return, and rested my head on her shoulder, slowly drifting to sleep.
Just as darkness took me, Light broke through it, revealing an unfamiliar brown wooden ceiling.