Benjamin Silverose
I sat on a chair in the middle of a large box. My legs dangling above the earthen floor, a thin river streaming to my left, while a small fire burned to my right and the artificial wind blew the smoke awry. Bright lights beamed above me, but I was used to their blinding presence, by this point I’d been in the cube at least once a day for the last year.
“Ok Ben, tell me, are you feeling alright?”
“Yes, No, No, I will,” I replied, responding even to the questions the researcher hadn’t asked.
After over a year of the same questions every day they had long been memorized, but Sofia still found the need to ask each time.
“Ms.Serian, can we start now?” I looked at her through the semi-clear glass, and though I tried to hide my emotions, the impatience was clear in my voice.
By now, I was rocking back and forth in the chair, legs swinging freely. This was always the best part of the day.
“Ben, you know we have to be careful, there’s nothing to suggest today will be any different.”
It seemed today's rant would also be the same as all the others, so I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. It was something Sofia’s grandfather taught me on one of his few visits. My parents argued with him at first, but he'd said it could be useful in preventing my mana from overloading. I didn’t really care about why, though, all I knew was that it was magic, and I wanted to do it. I thought back to when I first learned the technique as Sofia continued to talk over the communication device.
“Tell me boy, what makes you think you’ll be any different from the other eighty percent of the continent.”
“Because all I’ve ever wanted to do was magic,” I whined at the older man. “I spend most of my time hoping the newest experiment will work, I should at least be able to have fun while doing it. The worst thing that could happen is I pass out.”
Though the conversation had been between me and Leven, I shouted the last part to make sure my parents could hear. I knew my comment would hit a nerve and potentially ruin my chances all together, but I didn't care. It had already been months since I’d passed out in the cube, and my parents hadn’t allowed me back in since. These months of doing nothing had left me bored, and I just was tired of it. I turned to look at them, seeing the slight pain on my mother’s face told me I had struck true, but I didn’t feel any better. They had been trying their best, and I knew it hurt them as much as me that they couldn’t do anything. I lowered my gaze, mentally forming the words to apologize when Leven spoke up.
“I haven’t met that Silus yet, but if he’s even half the politician you are, our next king is going to run through that empire.”
Laughing at his own words, he began to walk.
“Sofia, darling, turn it to max power and let me get my reserves up a little. After about two minutes, lower it to thirty percent. The kid can handle that, right?” his words were questioning, though his tone brooked no room for argument. “Oh, and you turn that monitoring program off; I’ll tell you anything you want to know, but I’ll be damned if you think I’ll give any of my techniques to these rich kids for free.”
I looked at my parents, but they said nothing, neither about the magic lesson nor the old man's words. Time passed slowly, every second another for my parents to call it off, but they didn’t and five minutes later I sat across from Leven, both of us in the lotus position, my parents standing a bit behind me.
The old elf was one of the most precise mana manipulators in the kingdom, it was important for a mana coder to be exact in their work, and this was why my parents had brought him. Though he declined my parents’ offer of studying me full time, he made infrequent visits under the guise of seeing Sofia. He was grumpy and brusque, but I’d come to like the guy, even though he did treat me like an interesting invention at times.
“Listen boy because I don’t like repeating myself, mana is innate, well not exactly innate, but it's definitely in almost everything. This doesn’t mean that things need mana to survive, however, it is naturally taken in by everything. As you should know, there is no one steady rate, different beings take in different amounts of mana, whether that be a fabled dragon, a special plant, or just a boy, barely three, who can’t stay awake.”
I stared at him, deadpan, but he showed no remorse.
“Mana is absorbed similarly to heat. The thing with less mana takes from the thing with more. This facility, what was it named? Understudy.” He chuckled, “fitting, is essentially devoid of mana. If I walk in here with a full mana core; you know what a core is, right?”
I continued to stare.
“Anyway, if I have a full core when I walk in here, the rune matrices would begin to drain me. It would start slow but if a person put up no resistance would be out of mana rather quickly. There are ways around this, but none of that matters to you right now. Let’s return to the heat analogy. Though functionally impossible, mana seems to always want to reach a balance. The mana inside your body attempts to be equivalent to the mana in your surroundings. This makes it easy, especially in mana dense areas such as Vander, for people to absorb mana and learn the basic spells.”
He paused, likely making sure I followed along. After a moment of looking at me, his brown eyes flicked to my parents’, before continuing.
“Ok now, there are a few more things that are important when it comes to mana absorption theory, but only one of them matters to you right now. We are still not sure why, but humanoids aren't born with mana networks. Therefore, it's easier for us to survive without mana than it would be for something like a Fenrir. Over a person’s formative years, the mana their body absorbs will only be at surface level, what we call epidermal mana. Ignoring your specific circumstances, this is essentially the stage you’re at. It’s important for you to know this so that when you try to use mana, you don’t go looking for something that doesn't exist.”
He let out a short breath, then spoke again, some levity returning to his tone.
“Now that the theory is out of the way, I want you to try to feel the mana. It should be easier for you than most. Since you spend so much time without it something should feel different about you. I’ve heard the feeling of mana in the epidermal stage is similar to wearing a coat or cloak of mana, I don’t quite remember myself, so just feel around for it.”
Stolen story; please report.
This was a lot to take in, and from the smirk on his face, he knew that. Luckily, I had a secret weapon.
“Liza, did you get all that?” I asked, my voice echoing in the room.
Sofia’s voice came over the sound construct, confirming that she did, and I beamed at the elf.
He just scoffed, “Royalty,” before closing his eyes, taking a deep breath, and speaking softly.
“I’m going to guide you through finding the mana this time, make sure to read through those notes. You can read, right?” Another chuckle, he really was annoying. “Now close your eyes.”
Instantly, all playfulness left his tone. He was calm but completely serious.
“Take a deep breath. Feel the differences in the air. Feel the mana, maybe the air feels a little heavier than outside the cube. Maybe it tastes a little sweeter, or maybe saltier.”
I wasn’t sure the exact amount of time, but it took me what felt like an hour using a modified version of the cloak analogy to just feel the slightest hint of what the senior Serian had mentioned. I could feel the mana being pulled into my body whenever the cube was first activated, and by focusing on where that mana went, I was finally able to sense it in my body. I had expected him to be disappointed or surprised at how long I’d taken to sense the mana, but he just continued as if it was normal, and for all I knew it was.
“Now that you can feel the mana you have to move it. Wind mana is my main speciality, and contrary to what anyone else tells you, it is the easiest to manipulate, well maybe except force, but anyway I digress. Make sure to- no, not like that boy, you want to spread the mana like butter on bread. Evenly and entirely, does a prince even do that, I mean you probably aren't old enough to pick up a knife anyway.
Even in all his seriousness, he couldn’t miss a chance to poke fun at my status, and age, apparently.
“Good you didn’t lose focus, ok open your eyes but don’t stop, make sure to hold on to that feeling. While you’re nowhere close to shaping anything like this, I want you to have a goal in mind to focus on.”
I did so, barely managing to hold on to the mana. Leven sat in the same position, but now his brown skin glowed dim green. A near translucent coat of mana covering him. Before I could be shocked at actually seeing mana for the first time, he spoke again. Though his mouth didn’t seem to move, his voice still rang throughout the room.
“This is a basic but useless technique,” he said as his black hair began to billow in the mana fueled breeze, body slowly rising off the ground. “It lacks any utility, but its simplicity and small mana drain allows it to be counted as a first circle spell, thus good for practice. My personal favorite is to use it during meditation, as it is a great way to help automate mana usage.”
He then opened his formerly brown eyes, now shining a mint green, a wide grin on his face.
“Plus, it looks cool as hell.”
Going through my memories as I was trying to reach that trance-like state, I heard Sofia’s voice through a sound construct, much louder this time.
“We’re going to start at a three with five-minute intervals and remember to tell me if you feel anything.”
At her interruption, I could feel myself failing to focus on the technique, so I just waited. The Completely Universal Beta Environment or C.U.B.E. had specific runes that allowed a person to control the amount of mana in a space, among other things. Each number represented ten percent of the ambient mana in the air, three being thirty percent. The professor had explained that the technology had not yet been invented outside elven lands making it extremely valuable, and, while I was far from the only person who used the cube, I was the most frequent.
For multiple reasons, the main one being me fainting, I couldn’t handle the amount of mana my body tried to absorb naturally, which was why I had to use the cube every day. Most of Understudy, at least all the parts I was allowed in, were warded for the near-complete absence of atmospheric mana.
This also meant I was unable to leave Understudy because, well, I’d just pass out. That was why Sofia and the rest had designed the bracers currently on my arms and legs, they were the only hope to limit-
I took in a deep breath as I heard a familiar mechanical noise, and everything fell into place. This was the feeling I looked forward to, even though I knew how it would likely end. The mana began to rush into me until it balanced out with the amount found in the air and stopped. I took a moment to calm down as the feeling of absolute power faded.
Closing my eyes, I dropped from the chair to the floor, sitting in a lotus position. Trying to manipulate the wind attribute mana my body absorbed, I fell back into the breathing pattern. The hope was to direct the mana below me to lift my weight, as I had done only once before.
It had only been a few months ago, but I could barely remember the feeling.
One second, I was sitting trying to focus on the feeling of floating, the next I knew I was laying in my bed, my parents glaring while the crazy old man just laughed. No one had taught me the actual shaping method, so it wasn’t something I could easily replicate.
It felt like no more than a minute had passed when I heard Sofia’s voice again.
“Four.”
I felt more mana surge into me and steadied my breathing using the slightest bit of figurative force and began to push upwards. I did my best to stay focused on this feeling and though I hadn’t even left the ground yet, I was excited. I must have missed Sofia’s count because the next number I heard was six. I began to release my slight hold on the surrounding mana. If the bracers worked correctly, when my body tried to balance with more than fifty percent of the ambient mana it would automatically vent the excess.
I could feel the mana being absorbed, it didn’t hurt, or else my parents wouldn’t have let me try. The feeling was as if even though my body wanted the mana, I didn’t have the space for it, that however didn’t last long.
“Sofia,” I began cautiously.
“I don’t think-” was all I could say before I passed out.
***
I awoke from a dream I couldn’t remember to my father’s whispered voice.
“It would devastate him.”
I had started to open my eyes when my mother began to speak, clearly irritated.
“We can’t just keep putting him through this whether it hurts or not, forcefully losing consciousness like this can’t be good for him. He’s four, for heaven's sake.”
“Here, let's go outside before he wakes up,” my mother said, lowering her voice.
“Let’s just ask him, he’s not like most children his age.”
They didn’t speak after that, and a few moments later I opened my eyes, expecting them to be gone, but they weren’t.
“That fake sleeping trick hasn’t worked in months,” my father said with a small chuckle.
“As you probably heard, your father and I have something to ask you. We’re thinking about calling off the balance bracer experiments.”
“That means I can’t go outside,” I said in a questioning tone.
“Not exactly, your mother,” my father began, but after a brief glare from the lady in question, he corrected himself. “We, wanted to have you wear the void bracers.”
“No,” I begged. “Please not those.” Tears already starting to form in my eyes.
I knew what the void bracers were. They had been part of the first project at Understudy. By miniaturizing the runes that kept out the mana into a small set of bracers they stopped a person from absorbing mana, but there was a huge defect.
“If I wear them, I’ll never be able to do magic, my mana channels won’t form.” I cried.
“But that’s the only way we can let you leave, and I know how much you wanted to leave.”
My mother’s tone was soft and sweet, but it did little to calm me down.
“Well, that’s why we wanted to ask you,” my father said as he took a seat on the bed.
“Sofia will continue to work on the new bracers no matter what, but the daily testing will end.”
I tried to object, but he put up a hand.
“We will give you the option to stay here though, since the runes are only really damaging at isolated close range, you’ll be ok. We can also give you an hour every other day in the cube at four.”
“A five and every day,” I said, wiping tears from my eyes.
“A four and every other day, but we will think about upping it as you get older,” my mother responded, her tone unflinching.
“But Ben, this will mean you give up on going outside until you either choose to wear the void set or the balance bracers are done.”
It took me only a second to agree. As much as I wanted to leave this place and see, well, anything, being able to do magic was something I had always wanted.
“I thought you’d say that,” my mother said, a wide smile on her face, and for some reason, I felt cheated.