Iris awoke with a jolt. The airship’s landing was graded to preserve its likely-padded cargo, not the slumber of a passenger, and the whole room felt it. Another ship attendant opened the door a minute later, unease plastered across her face under her wide, pointed hat.
“Gladiators, we’ve ar-rived. Make your way to-”
Before one cut him off. “Follow me, I’ve been here before!”
The gladiators poured out like marbles, leaving the groggy iris inside. She noticed thin clouds of mist, the red-orange colour of a setting sun clinging to the edges of the cabin, thickest opposite the door.
“Are you all right?” her voice asked, equal parts flat and warm.
Iris looked around, mind slowly booting up, and sprawled on one of the side seats. She let herself breathe more freely, unimpeded by armor or obligation.
“So, you’re a gladiator too?” Iris asked with an absentminded tone, eyes unfocusing. She turned her head to the side, getting a better look at the red and brown robes of the one other person inside. “Name’s iris-”
The response ran side by side with a sweep of robes. “I am; first and foremost, Kyrra of house Laurentius.” Kyrra bowed her wide-brimmed hat, silver shimmer from its edge catching her eye. Iris took a second to absorb the sight before her, feeling a sense of majesty and an instinctual inspiration to sit up straighter from the commanding presence.
“My family line runs unbroken to the first flame witches of old.” Kyrra continued. “We arose from the swamps and...” her facade of bravery dropped like cast-off armor. “you’re really not paying attention are you”
“I am.” Iris reassured. “Work’s long every day, so I rarely get a good sleep.”
“This one was too good by the looks of it.” Kyrra snarked.
Iris took a second and relaxed her seating, striking a balance between rest and attention. “So, where’d they go from the swamps?”
The glow returned to Kyrra’s face. “Upwards and outwards across the graveshield plains. Our skill and determination let us survive the many dangers, human and otherwise.”
“So, how do you fit into this?” Iris cut in at a pause
Kyrra furrowed her brow in thought and frustration. “My father leads the pyrotechnics in the arena. His spells are far safer to have around than a stash of explosives.”
“So you’re a wizard?” Iris challenged, an interested look of disbelief plain on her face. “Show me a spell or two”
Kyrra shook her head, inwardly disappointed. “The mana in your country is too thin. Flying through it was an exercise in keeping my mana channels closed, and even that is slipping.”
“I was wondering about the mist. Let me just send it back.” Iris offered, and before Kyrra could object the guardswoman scooped her hand around a clump of mist by the door. She flung her hand towards the fire mage, releasing only a woosh of air.
“You absorbed it.” Kyrra stated accusatorily, Iris’s dumbfounded expression speaking for itself. “I what?”
“Don’t tell me this is the first mana in your body...” Kyrra sighed.
“Of course it is, I thought wizards were liars and mana was a sham until two minutes ago.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“I can safely assure you we are not.” Kyrra stated defensively. “I pity those who grow up without it and have to do everything the hard way. It leaves no time or energy to do anything you want to do.”
“Tell me about it. I’m capable of loads more than watching the clouds and scaring away monsters.” Iris bragged. No sooner did she close her mouth did her hand seem to flare up with heat, feeling of her heart beating within it magnified tenfold. Kyrra looked in amazement, not even waiting through Iris’s surprise-mangled words.
“You just integrated your first bit of mana!” She beamed, taking Iris’s hand and wrist in her smaller grip.
“I did what?” Iris asked. The shock of the sensation had worn off, replaced with a small but noticeable feeling of power and identity. Iris always knew her hand was hers, but this made it seem all the more connected.
“You made mana part of you! Mana is the world’s power, and through this worldly power it accepted you.” Kyra explained. “Or the other way around. My father will be delighted that I made a new mage.”
“So, can I help myself to the extras in the cabin”
“I can barely reabsorb it without losing twice as much. Collect all that you can.”
Iris scooped her hands through the mana on the corners of the room as if collecting water to drink. Her fingers squished together, determined not to let any of this vaporous power pass through her grasp. Iris looked downwards at her hands, this red mist still clinging to them, and remembered how she activated it.
“I’m a gladiator now? I’m going to demolish my first match.”
The feelings of power burned their way into iris’s hands like ale from a keg. Her veins pulsed with heat, and as Iris looked to her ring finger, she saw its ugly scar grow thinner, cleaner.
“So this is mana.” Iris observed in awe. “I feel like I could break somebody’s wrist by grabbing it too hard. Not that I’m complaining” She added with a sharp tone.
Kyrra was about to agree, opening her mouth to speak; but stopping when the door opened again with a familiar rush.
“So, what are you reading?” Iris asked, eye drawn to the leather tome. It bore the same colour scheme as Kyrra’s robes; brown with silver accents, and a stylized burning ember lit up the front
“Why, my first Tome!” Kyrra announced with mysticism, trailing off at Iris’s confused expression.
“Tomes are... compressed knowledge.” Kyrra explained. “When a mage grows high enough in power, they can copy bits of their knowledge to ink and bind it up in leather. From there, another mage can absorb-”
“So you’ve got writing.” Iris sighed. “What’s the big deal?”
“A ha, this is a step beyond writing” Kyrra boasted offendedly. “When reading a standard book, you must piece together the words and phrases to create knowledge. Tomes store some of their own, letting an aspiring mage drink it off the page and learn faster than before. Tomes by older, wiser mages have a better increase in speed, and a vastly better capacity.”
Iris laughed calmly. “I never thought I’d see a book able to dry up. What’s so great about-”
“Here.” Kyrra thrust the Tome into Iris’s hands. “Try for yourself.”
Iris began to leaf through the pages, eyes stopping on the headers every dozen or so. Mana gathering, Mana charring, Internal flame, Fire projection, draconic theory. Iris was rarely one to read at all, yet something about this rush captivated her. She felt new thoughts pour into her mind like water into parched ground, feeling as cold as if she was stripped in a snowstorm when Kyrra pulled the Tome away. Iris seemed to freeze in sadness and surprise, when Kyrra hammered her point home.
“Can you achieve that with a mere book?”
“Not even once.” Iris agreed with sadness. “What... was that?”
“Knowledge being poured into your head. As mana does to your hands.”
“I’ll need it in my first bout, I can feel it.” Iris agreed. Now that she knew what to look for, mana was everywhere. It had taken a while to reach the cabin, but as Iris strode out into the evening air, she could feel more of it move around and through her like water through a fishing net. Iris began to focus her mind-
“The mana’s better inside. Take the third door to the left and pick a bedroom, you’ll be fighting in the morning”
Having little to take, Iris navigated the twisting corridors at the base of the round building. She counted doors- one, two, three, and then opened the door on the left. An unnatural cold ran through the room, the hairs on Iris’s arms standing at attention, when something turned to her. A glowing orb sat atop a pile of misshapen stone, asymmetrical in every dat.
“You’re early” it groaned, like rotten wood bending.
“I’m iris?” she corrected, raising her arms.
The being made of stone laughed slowly. “The boss wants to test his creation. Prepare yourself...”
Before Iris knew what hit her, A large stone hand knocked her forward into the incoming pit. Iris righted herself, curling her fingers like claws, when a drooling, smacking snarl filled the air.