Chapter 15 A Two Person Room.

“I-I-Is EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?!” Celeste sputtered into a yell. “I thought… I thought… I don’t even know! What was that?!”

Isaac just continued to tilt his head. He was getting confused. “What was what?” He asked with furrowed brows.

Celeste just blinked at him. ‘What is he not getting?!’ Was all that was flowing through her mind.

Lenna cleared her throat. “Your mana was…” She was silent for a moment as she tried to find the right verb. “Blasting. Yes, blasting out like a tsunami.”

Isaac straightened a bit as he understood. “Oh… I was just meditating.” He looked at Lenna. “Was I doing something wrong?” He asked and let go of his control of the dark mana around him so it would disperse back into the abeyance. He stopped pouring mana out and immediately felt some stiffness return.

Lenna shook her head. “No.” She turned to face Celeste. “Apologies Celeste, I did not think about the consequences of Isaac learning meditation in town.”

Celeste was dumbfounded. ‘Meditating. Meditating! How does that happen while meditating?!’ She screamed internally. She took a few long and deep breaths. “I… see.” She eventually got out. “You are aware that you are not supposed to empty your reserves while meditating, correct?” She asked Isaac.

Isaac’s brow furrowed again and he tilted his head slightly. “I wasn’t.” He explained. “I was just cycling mana.” He turned to look at Lenna again. “Was I not supposed to do that?”

Lenna cracked a smirk. “You did everything right. Towards the end I didn’t even need to guide you.” She explained.

Celeste grabbed the doorframe for support and then half stumbled inside to sit on a free chair. It took her a long moment to collect herself. “That… that was your throughput?” She asked tentatively.

Isaac nodded. “Yeah. It went up a bit while meditating but I was just letting it flow.” He thought on the term she had used. “Throughput?”

Lenna nodded and answered as Celeste was still reeling. “It is used to describe the rate that mana comes in naturally, while meditating, as that mana is only passing through you. Throughput is higher than input, always.” She explained.

Isaac nodded in understanding. The mana wanted to flow. It wanted to flow through everything, not be used or be stationary. It was like a stream that existed parallel to physicality. If his core was a lake then the ambient mana was the river that flowed into it. The river’s flow would slow as the lake’s water level began to match that of the river hence slowing the lake’s input. It wasn’t an exact analogy but it was close enough for him to easily wrap his mind around it.

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“So…” Isaac began. “I shouldn’t meditate in town?”

A commotion at the end of the hall was his immediate answer. Running boots and then a familiar face appeared in the doorway. The black haired, green eyed, court mage froze in the doorway. “Alexander. Something I can do for you?” Isaac asked as if he had no idea what might have brought the man, who lived in a wizard tower and studied magic for the duke who ruled over the city he was currently in, to his door.

Alexander blinked and shook his head to clear it. “Darkness, Lady V’Nova, Madam Celeste.” He greeted them each in turn with a nod. “What happened here?” He asked. “I can still feel the ambient mana is… wrong somehow.”

Isaac raised an eyebrow. “It is going back to normal though, right?”

Alexander nodded slowly. “Yes, I believe it is.” A moment of silence passed before he asked his question again. “But you still haven’t answered my question Lord Wexler. What happened here?”

Isaac was starting to get annoyed at the demands following people barging into their room even if he knew it was his own fault. Pure, raw, dark mana poured out of him and he layered it behind and under his arms before willing it upwards to help him stand. His legs felt weak as he had spent most of the day sitting cross legged. Once on his feet he let the mana go. The amount of mana used to use raw dark mana instead of concentrated shadows was honestly insane and not something he would normally do but it served to somewhat catch Alexander up to speed.

Alexander’s eyes widened as he felt the massive shift in mana around him. All of the untamed dark mana was rapidly sucked into Isaac to fill the void of power that opened up from him using such a preposterous amount of mana to simply help him stand. “I was learning how to meditate. I now know that I should only do so outside of town. Thank you all for your concern, now please, this is a two person room.” Isaac told them flatly.

Alexander took a step back. He realized that he had been rude to someone who could swat him like a fly. He had been so engrossed in the pursuit of magic that upon feeling the wave of power through his mana sensory amplification array he had dropped what he was doing and headed over immediately. He bowed. “My most sincere apologies Lord Wexler, it appears I left my decorum at the door.” He took another step back. “If there is anything I can help you with please do not hesitate to ask. Good day.” He straightened and whispered. “Heed my command magic and space, take me to this imagined place.” And with a surge of mana that was worthy of a court mage he vanished.

Isaac sighed. “Celeste, we’ll be down for some lunch in a minute.”

Celeste got the message and rose slowly to her feet. “You are going to turn the rest of my hair gray.” She told him and left to head back to the bar. She closed the door behind her while shaking her head.

Once they were gone Isaac sat on the bed. “Oops.” He said to no one in particular.

Lenna cracked a smile. “Sorry, I honestly didn’t think about it.”

Isaac shrugged. “It happens. Now we know.” He thought for a long moment. “What I don’t understand is, I used more mana than that at one time before, why was this time different?

Lenna rose to her feet and stretched. “Your shadows don’t truly feel like power and neither do your death flames.” She explained, poorly, but it was an explanation.

“What do they feel like? I might be desensitized to them.” He asked.

“The shadows feel like a shadow or a reflection of your power, it is hard to truly grasp what is going on.” She began. “The death flames don’t radiate any power really, it is more like a feeling of being mortal. Like a reminder that one day I will die. Or like the Reaper is watching me.”

Isaac thought about her words for a long moment. “I think I understand. I don’t really get that feeling from them at all though. I know that they are mine, they do as I say, and are thus a part of me. I don’t get any particular feeling from them at all.”

Lenna nodded. “It is much the same as my aura. I know what I think it feels like to others but I can never feel it in that way.” She gave him a smile. “Good job, you picked it up faster than I thought you would.”

Isaac smiled at the compliment. “It was nice, relaxing, energizing in a weird way, but I don’t think it is something I could do every day. My butt hurts.”

Lenna chuckled quietly. The sound brought warmth to Isaac’s heart. He lost himself staring at her for a time. She caught his eyes and raised an eyebrow. “Something on my face?” She asked, borrowing his words with a smirk.

“No… but I wish something was.” He responded almost in a trance before he realized he had said it out loud. He smiled sheepishly at her. “My lips by the way, not anything weird.”

Lenna froze, he had once again succeeded in catching her completely off guard. She shook her head after a moment. “Come on, let’s get lunch.”