The woman’s smile didn’t falter at his frankly rude way of speaking. “Danny, can one student not get to know another student?”
“We both know you have different intentions. I just don’t want to dance around it. What do you want from me?” Danny’s voice was cold.
The woman’s smile finally dropped. “I am Meylin Zhang, my father’s business reaches far and wide here in Madley. I have heard your name before, particularly who you have been associated with in the past.” Danny had never once heard the name, but he had a feeling he knew where this woman was from.
“I don’t want to know who you are. I’m no longer around that crowd and be careful with words like associated. I was never part of that life and I never will be.”
Meylin raised her hands in a slight shrug. “I apologise for any offence. I merely wanted to become acquainted with you and understand who you were representing here.”
“I am representing myself.”
Meylin raised an eyebrow. “There has been talk that you met with Anton Agostino recently, related to some issues they’ve been having at the Station.”
“That’s none of your business, but I can tell you that I remain unaffiliated with the Agostinos.”
“And would you be interested in any work? There are plenty of positions for-”
“No. Leave me alone. I don’t want anything to do with you or the Agostinos, or anyone else. Leave me out of your business.” Danny turned around and walked away. He was cursing internally though, this was the last thing he wanted. He could take dealing with rich people and their antics, but organised crime was something he had no appetite for.
He sat back down and focused on eating his sandwich. “Someone you know?” Jack asked.
“Nah, someone who knows me.”
“Musta’ pissed her off mate, she’s still staring at you.”
Danny turned and looked, finding Meylin watching him with cold eyes. Danny let his gaze level on the woman, turning ice cold. The woman was completely unfazed but smiled and went back to socialising. Danny felt a headache coming on. He got up and decided to get some air.
He found himself out on the street, sitting against the wall of the large building. The street was pretty quiet, with most people in the district still at work, the occasional group of office workers moving to and from cafes was the only real traffic. As he had left the building he had realised that there were far more people taking courses than he realised. They had been split down into smaller classes spread throughout the building, it was only after they had streamed out of the building to go find lunch that he had gotten a feel for just how many people there were.
He noticed that groups had already formed among these people and wondered if the classes were truly random. The academy had already shown that there was some kind of selection process through his own star-studded class, had the government lottery been truly random?
A bright-clothing-wearing woman stepped out of the building, liting up a cigarette before her foot left the door. She noticed Danny and walked over. “Hey, you’re that big dude in my class, right?”
“Yeah that’s me, the name’s Danny.”
The neurotic woman sat down next to him. “Mind the smoke?” Danny shook his head. “Cool, I’m Linh.”
“Nice to meet you, Linh.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
The two sat in silence for a while, Linh dragging on her cigarette like her life depended on it. “How you finding it in there?” Danny eventually asked.
“Bunch of rich pricks who think too much of themselves. Magic or not, same muck different stink.”
Danny shrugged. “You’re right. Magic could be an equaliser though, hard to be haughty if everyone can shoot fireballs.”
Linh turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow. “That’s optimistic, you must be young.”
Danny laughed. “I guess so, you don’t look so old yourself.”
Linh snorted. “I turn 30 this year and I feel it, the smoking isn’t helping. Spend a decade working in AOD and you’ll be 50 by 30.”
“AOD? I’m in homelessness, I guess it’s over for me.”
That earned a laugh from the woman. “Yeah fair enough, that’s just as tough. Social work?” Danny nodded. “Nice, I wanted to study that, but I just couldn’t do uni. Could never focus long enough.”
The two talked about work for a while, the entire time Linh was tapping her foot. She only stopped when she took a drag from her cigarette. The two of them worked in practically the same space, with often the same clientele, it was a wonder they hadn’t encountered each other before. Alcohol and drug abuse went hand in hand with homelessness. Soon enough 12:30 rolled around and the two of them went back into the academy.
The room now had a number of trolleys in it, each carrying a dark box. Danny and Linh were the last to enter the room, as they did, Henrietta stepped forward. “We have covered the basic laws governing your behaviour once you become wizards, now is the time to take that next step.
“We, as humans, are not mana-born creatures. That means that we need external help to connect with our mana. Once that connection has been established, we can draw upon it to harness the power of mana. This is not something that can be experienced with words alone, therefore we will begin by directly having you feel your mana.”
Everyone was directed towards the boxes, there was one for each person in the room. Inside the box was a metallic cube. Henrietta explained that these were tools that would release gentle pulses into the mana pools, which would help them locate it. “The mana pool is a metaphysical construct, which makes it hard to talk about in generalised terms. Some people feel it within their bodies and some outside. We know that culture and background appear to play a significant role in where a person identifies their mana pool, so be prepared to search where feels right for you as an individual.”
The explanation made little sense to Danny, but he picked up the cube anyway. Immediately he dropped it, so did many of the other people in the room. Henrietta stifled a laugh. “It is an odd feeling, but you will get used to it.”
The cube emitted a strange feeling when he had held it. It felt like something was creeping along his skin, looking for a way into his body. Danny had half a mind to not pick it back up, but eventually, his curiosity won him back over. He tentatively held the cube in his hand and grimaced as he felt the sensation again, it came in small pulses from the cube. Danny slowly felt his whole body respond to the cube, from the bottom of his toes to the ends of his hair, he was suddenly aware of himself in a detail he had never experienced before.
Surprised, he staggered on the spot. The pulses from the cube continued, his body buzzing in response. Soon he became aware that this new perspective of his body wasn’t static, everything was in motion, constantly moving, flowing. It was both him and not him, it was almost like he could feel the blood flowing throughout his body. Is this my mana? As soon as the thought occurred to him he was again flooded by a new sensation. The previous feeling of being aware of his entire body mobilised, it responded to his thoughts. It had answered the label of mana.
Suddenly, the cube in his hand changed. The pulses disappeared, instead, it began to draw from him, trying to take his mana. It was gentle so Danny decided to follow its direction. He let his mana flow into the cube.
That proved to be a major error in judgement. His mana moved like a tidal wave, from every cell of his body this strange energy flowed forth. The cube rapidly began to melt in his hand, the metal singeing his skin. Danny panicked and threw the cube away from him. He hadn’t been paying attention to his strength and the cube went flying into the wall of the hall, the metal sludge quickly burning the varnished wood. Henrietta hurriedly chanted something and a large orb of water flew over to the wall and hovered over the impact site, keeping the melted cube floating within it.
“Woah Danny, your hand.” Linh rushed over and grabbed his hand, all of a sudden her own hands glowed and they both watched in amazement as the burnt flesh of his hand began to grow back. The entire room was stunned by the spectacle of the melting cube, and then the miraculous feat of healing.
“Ah yeah, fair enough,” Linh said, staring dumbstruck at her own hands.