Nine:
Finally, it was time.
It took several more hours before Leo, and the three final youths left in the room with him, were ushered into the ignition chambers. Unfortunately, his discomfort had begun to increase again. Something about this place had his condition acting up, even without his body being significantly injured, stressed, or agitated. It was something about the mana density, he believed.
He'd been forced to stop exploring his mana sight in favour of less taxing concentration on the datapad. It was no great loss – there had been no more ignitions – and with the pain throughout his body slowly increasing he had settled into a sort of passive meditation as he worked to find an equilibrium in the agony.
He didn’t realize just how much time had passed with him settled in one place, devouring everything he could find, until they finally called him up. He groaned as he peeled himself away from the wall that he was resting against, grabbing his pack and swinging it onto his back as he stepped up to an empty chamber. It was the one with the least objectionable technician. A woman a few inches shorter than himself with dark skin and braided hair coiled neatly into a bun at the base of her head.
“If you were paying any attention, you've probably heard the spiel said hundreds of times by now,” the woman said her voice businesslike but not unkind. “The process is simple. Enter the chamber, then strip down. There will be a mana crystal inside that mirrors this one here.” She pointed to where a silver white crystal about the same size as his thumbnail was almost completely camouflaged in the opaque material of the ignition chamber. “Once you are completely bare press the crystal and it'll give us a signal to begin.
“What will probably happen is absolutely nothing. That is common. You will stand in there for the required 30 seconds, nothing with happen, then you will leave. If you do feel your core begin to ignite, as unlikely as it is, you are entitled to an additional 30 seconds. Afterwards you will press the crystal again. Then, the door will open, and you will be escorted away for either recovery and core stabilization or you’ll be led back to out to normal, mortal life. Do you have any questions before we begin?”
Her face was a stern mask, but with his new insight Leo could feel the exhaustion and impatience hiding just under the surface. He hesitated for only a moment before deciding that potentially antagonizing her was worth the information he might gain in exchange.
“How do I know if my core is igniting?” Leo asked.
“The sensation is different for everyone, but you will not be able to miss it,” she said.
“What if I do not feel my core ignite within the first 30 seconds, am I still entitled to the additional 30 seconds?” Leo asked. The woman paused briefly before responding.
“Yes, should you so choose.” She gave Leo a pointed look that clearly warned him that he’d better not choose.
“Now, it's unlikely your core will spark, but if it does, we’ll be able to read the fluctuation in the chamber and track your progression from this tablet.” She held up the sleek data pad that contained charts and metrics that Leo didn’t understand. “Once you enter the chamber, try and focus on your core. Meditate, and concentrate on the movement of the mana around you. If your core ignites, you’ll be sent off to orientation,” she said. “Anything else?” She asked. In response to his blank look, the woman gave him a small, smile.
The moment she felt herself smiling, the expression died on her face. Her amusement tempered as her eyes darted around the room. She only relaxed when she realized nobody was paying them any attention.
Rather than paying him attention, it felt to Leo like people were actively ignoring them. Backs were turned, gazes cast away, people wholly uninterested in the diseased orphan, and whatever kind of pariah this woman was. If Leo’s senses were correct the woman was a second circle cultivator, and looking as young as she did, it meant she had to be both talented, and young, perhaps no more than 3 or 4 years older than him.
“Are you ready?” The woman asked, catching Leo’s gaze. Something passed between them then. As the woman looked at Leo, really looked at him something like sympathy sparked in her eyes.
This was a child, on his ignition day. Not some wild mana beast, or a troublemaker, or the entitled scion of some sect or clan. Just a kid who was about to have his life changed forever.
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Leo returned the sentiment with a nod, and a resigned shrug. Breathing slowly, he could feel as his bones began to ache from being in proximity to so much raw mana.
The woman leaned forward, her voice lowering, and Leo instinctively leaned in to mirror her. “Listen, kid. If your core sparks – and I'm not saying it will, but if it does – just remember that the more mana you can cultivate in the beginning the stronger your foundation will be. Power doesn't come for free so take every scrap you can get. Understand?”
“I understand,” said Leo. It almost felt like the endorsement he needed to implement his ‘pull’ strategy.
“Is everyone ready?” The voice of the nameless head technician rang out across the room, as it had hundreds of times already that day. With confirmation from all of the techs, the chambers opened.
Leo’s plan hadn't changed, he was still going to pull for all he was worth, but now there was a conviction behind it, a sense of almost surety that seemed to settle into his centre and spread throughout his body. He would seize this ritual with both hands, and he would ignite his core. Even if it meant he had to sacrifice the rest of himself to do it.
The world, the universe, the veil would not simply give him power. No, being handed things for free was never how his life worked out. At this point, the idea of simply being given power was anathema. Baked into his being, through experience after experience, Leo had come to terms with one of the fundamental truths in his life: Those who needed power rarely had it, those who had power rarely shared it, and those who strove for power would only get it if they reached out and took it. To accomplish his goals, Leo couldn’t simply sit by and wait for power to fall into his lap, or for some kind soul to hand him everything he’d need. Leo would have to become a taker, someone who strove and fought, and reached out to take that which they desired. He would pull for all he was worth. His determination firm, his body on fire, he stepped into the chamber and shut the door behind him.
The seam on the door was so flawless, it integrated into the rest of the chamber such that the doorway itself seemed to disappear. Wasting no time Leo placed his backpack in front of him, stepped out of his shoes and quickly stripped down, folding each article of clothing before placing them beside his backpack, directly in front of his now bare feet. He ran a hand through his curly mop of unruly hair, glad for the clip in his bag that he often used to hold the too long strands back from his eyes.
He'd read the data-pack and knew he had maybe 30 or 40 more seconds before the ritual was activated. So, he didn’t worry about the time it took to rummage around in his bag and find the small wooden claw-clip that would pull the thick hair away from his face and ears, preventing distraction and helping him to focus when the time came. The clip itself had been one of the few gifts he’d received during Christmas at one of the better foster homes.
They’d been an odd pairing; a stern elderly woman in her 90’s, and her husband, almost 30 years her junior, from what he’d remembered. Both had been alive before the Rending, and the wife had loved to tell him stories about how the world was before. That Christmas, she had deftly braided his curls, and all stretched out, his hair was nearly down to his waist. The woman had simply gathered everything up and clipped it back, presenting the carved treasure as a present. The husband had promised to teach him woodcarving when Leo had begged. He’d been taken away from that home after only 5 months, when the wife got sick, but they’d been some of the best five months of his life. Clipping his hair back always reminded him of good things and better people.
He didn't know if the clip would have any effect on the mana around him, but he figured if it was a problem, his hair would be just as much of a problem, considering it was all just dead cells anyway. In which case, it would be foolish to worry about, and he’d be better off centering himself for whatever came next.
When he felt ready, he let his perception expand. He’d become somewhat proficient with mana-sight over the past hours and had at least learned a way to sort of toggle it on and off, as well as give it direction, focus, and a rudimentary form of cloaking. It was mostly just him very slowly increasing intensity, but it was a work in progress. Reaching out Leo scoured the inside of the chamber for anything out of place, he was intensely curious about how the ritual functioned, and anything he learned here may be useful later.
He was gratified to find one of his theories proven correct. There were sigils carved into the walls. Whatever had cloaked them from the outside obviously wasn’t as well obscured on the inside, if it was present at all. It was possible, likely even, that Leo was unable to perceive any of the runes that were cloaked from both within, and without, however this felt like tremendous progress. Even more exciting, however, was the nearly invisible little mana slotted just above the area of the chamber that was used to open and close the door.
It wasn’t the unique phenomenon that caught his attention, well not only that, but the way the crystal was interacting with the ambient mana had him transfixed. Something about the crystal attracted mana, and all the mana that entered, stayed entered. Nothing left the crystal. It was as though the crystal was storing it somehow.
Before he could study the crystal more, he felt thick gouts of manna began to pour into the chamber. Tapping into the mana, Leo pushed his ‘sight’, tracing the tide back to where he knew the Coalition leyline underneath the building, and the reason the entire compound had been placed here.
Letting idle musings drift away, Leo began to pull, quickly collecting all the mana that was being flooded into the chamber and funneling it into himself.