Throughout time, as many eons passed, life has been given. Life brings to us such mysteries and wonders, miraculous deeds passed down throughout all that has been. When time first began, there were only 3 forces, “Light,” “Darkness,” and, “All that Remains.”. Light brought us life, and blessed us so that we may continue on for many centuries. Darkness has brought us death, so that we may sow and not become corrupt. All that remains is simply everything that exist between these two processes, and is made up of an infinite amount of things, but upon all creation exist these three fundamentals.
Now throughout the vastness of space, our story will take place upon the planet of Eld. Eld exist within many timelines, within many realms, but this Eld is a special place. The existence of energy, matter. The existence of magic, being a force that defies the forces of All that Remains. It is believed to exist as a fourth force, being one that was created from the inevitability of time. On Eld, magic is frequently used by many creatures, the primary users being “Humans”. But enough about the Forces, we have a story to tell.
A familiar smell. A smell that would best be described like pine tar, or just an fore-sty scent in general. The creaking of old wood, and the slight sound of footsteps. As I opened my eyes, I stared at the paneled ceiling, counting the planks up and down. As I sat up, the fabric sheet that I slept on let out a sound of relief. This place I was in could best be described as home, or something close to meaning of a home. The desk in the corner, covered with all manners of pages and scripts, gave off a desolate vibe and looked aged. If you were to get close to the desk, you could smell the moldy aroma that had developed from the water that leaked from the roof above. We couldn’t move it, as there wasn’t anywhere else in the room to put it, but sometimes I wonder if we need a desk in my bedroom at all. As I lurched towards the door, getting mixed scents of the various fragrances, I caught an almost pleasant smell coming from the kitchen. Creeping out of the doorway, into the long hallway leading towards the kitchen, the smell only became more pleasant. Peeking around the corner of the hallways end, I spotted Cynthesia, a tall woman with gorgeous braided black hair. She was built fairly well, with a large bust, thin shoulders, and large thighs. Of course, if she heard me describe her like this, she might very well kill me.
“Oh, so you decided to wake up again.”
“Not like I get much choice.”
“Stop being so negative, at least you get to live.”
“Just barely.”
“Oh, you shut up.”
As she let out a loud sigh, I looked over to see a large pot on the stove. It appeared to be the source of the now delightful smell, and looked like a stew of sorts. Stew isn’t the kind of meal you normally eat for breakfast, but it was what we were going to have.
As I sat at the table, the creak of the chairs and floor letting themselves be known, I noticed the dust particles being illuminated from one of the windows in the corner.
“I just cleaned yesterday, why is there dust everywhere?”
“Well, it could be the hole in the roof...”
“Ah, yeah, that might do it.”
The building we lived in was certainly something we could call a home. A ran down shack, tattered and torn. You could smell its age, and hear it as well. But as with all things, better housing cost more money, something that was a luxury to those who were lucky enough to have a gift, or to be born into a wealthy family. The economy centered around mana, those who could cast spells of higher degrees were often paid handsomely, but mana was a scarce thing. I’ve asked around town about mana before, and I’ve been told many things. “Mana is destined at birth.” or “Everyone has mana, but not alot.”. Nobody knows the real truths behind mana, and even in my attempts to find out the answers, I’ve come up short, due to either time restraints or simply having to avoid questions for the sake of suspicion. Many folk don’t tend to question what they’ve been told by the NA, the National Aristocracy. Ask one too many questions, the NA will have your ass.
As I stood up from the table and looked outside to the fields, a ringing filled my ear. A piercing whine, giving me an instant migraine as I covered my ears, to no avail.
“God... damnit.”
“What’s wrong?”
Cynthesia had a look of concern written on her face. Despite appearances seeming as though we had a mutual hateship, the look on her face was one of someone who cares. And as I looked up and saw her face, I closed my eyes, and my head became empty of all but that incessant , horrible whine.
In front of me was an endless void, with stars and planets and galaxies spread out throughout them. Below me was a pool of liquid, reflecting back the stars and sky. Where was I? A newfound wonder struck me as I considered all things I have known to be. Is this death? Is this life?
“Ya’h ist uh Salumn. You have been chosen.”
“Ah, the voices in my head, so nice to see you again.”
“We are not the voice in your head, we are the voices in everyone’s heads.”
“So you can respond!”
“Listen. It seems you are related to the ones who talked to us before, and thus, we wish to grant you the same knowledge we gave them, as it seems its been lost.”
“Well, as for that, that’s probably because my parents have been long dead.”
“A tragedy it seems.”
“Eh, I don’t have any recollection of them.”
“Well either way, we wish to grant you knowledge. This is knowledge that many have already learned, but you have yet to find, it seems.”
“Oh, and what might that knowledge be?”
“The knowledge of mana.”
. . .
“I must say, voices, you are quite intriguing.”
“We wouldn’t still be all that is if we weren’t.”
“What, whats...”
A burning sensation, starting from the tips of my fingers, to my chest, then to my head. Memories, which were not mine, filled my head. Ancient memories, of mana. Mana was not something that couldn’t be attained, in fact, it has been right in front of us, but kept away. Everyone has mana, and it could be expanded. The specifics of how to use it weren’t too prominent, but just knowing that mana was an option could help me. All I had to do was figure out the proper way to use it through trial and error.
A cold sweat covered my body. I could sense something was different, but I didn’t know what. Words that weren’t any known language filled my mind.
“Dude, are you okay?”
“Huh?”
“You just passed out on the floor for, like, a good 30 minutes.”
“Oh, yeah, I guess I’m fine.”
“You guess? You were literally speaking in tongues or something while unconscious. That’s not something that you just guess is fine.”
“I mean, I’m not bleeding out.”
“And how would I know that?”
“The lack of blood?”
“And what if it was internal?”
“You have me there.”
. . .
“If you can come up with comebacks like this, I guess I’ll assume your fine.”
“Much appreciated.”
*Sigh*
Cynthesia put her fingers in the bridge of her nose in a dissappointed scowl, then stood up and began to carry on with her work, whatever it may be for the day. As for me, I headed to our fields, where we grew vegetables for our breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Grabbing a scythe from the shack nearby, I began to chop at the weeds surrounding the field, going row by row to check for growth. I attempted to finish as fast as I could, so that I could return and try to figure out whatever I could about mana. The time passed as seconds became minutes, minutes became hours, and soon, the afternoon had came.
Returning to the shoddy shack that we called a home, I headed straight towards my room, and for once, I was glad I had a desk, despite it having the same amount of moisture as a small puddle. I grabbed a cloth that I use to dry of sweat, and cleaned the desk of any water remaining on it. Grabbing a slate and a writing stone, I began to write what I had learned. Mana was not something special, and infact, everyone had some form of mana. It was also possible to acquire more mana, however, the means were unknown to me as of now. As I jotted down the notes, I decided to do some test based on rumors I had heard.
The first rumor of which I decided to test was that of the Visual Competency Theory. The theory stated that mana could be channeled by simply imagining a “spell”, or an effect. This theory was most likely made under the assumption that only a select few have mana, as if simply imagining spells could cause the effects to happen, I believe that almost anyone would have discovered the secrets of mana by now. Still, you can’t deny a theory without testing it first. I reached out my hand, and for a second, pondered what would be considered a spell. I jotted down on the slate, “What is a spell?”. To first even attempt to learn the secrets of mana, I had to first identify what counted as a spell. If I were to envision water flowing from my hand, would that be considered a spell? If I could not identify a spell, then I could not identify if a theory had worked or not. Thinking back to all the rumors, none of them had really defined what a “spell” was.
“Cythesia!”
“What do you want?”
“I have a question.”
Cynthesia entered the room.
“What might that question be?”
“Let’s say that a person is born with mana. If they could cast spells, what would be considered a spell?”
“Hmm.”
She pondered to herself for minutes.
“I think a spell would be anything that isn’t natural.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, lets say you wanted to light a fire. Normally, you would have to use a piece of flint, or a tool to light it. But with a spell, you could probably just light it with mana.”
. . .
“I see. You make a valid point.”
“Thank you. Why are you asking me questions about mana all the sudden?”
“Just got really interested in some rumors I heard.”
“Whatever, just don’t get yourself in trouble.”
“I would never.”
“Yeah... sure.”
As Cynthesia walked out the room, I scratched on to the slate, “Spells: Non-Natural”. For now, I could simply define a spell as anything that I couldn’t do normally, or anything that wasn’t normally occuring. It fit the bill, and could be used to test the theory, however, I would eventually need to find a deeper description if I’m to unravel all the secrets.
I reached out my hand once more, and attempted to visualize water coming out of my hand. I didn’t know how well I had to visualize, so I decided to test it in phases. For the first, I simply pictured a cup of water. I checked my hand, and nothing appeared to happen. For the second, I pictured a fountain, much like the ones in town. I felt chills throughout my hand, but nothing else seemed to happen. For the final phase, I imagined my hand, and imagined the feeling of water on the tips of my fingers. I checked my hand for the final time, and noticed something peculiar. A bit of condensation had formed on my hand, not quite like beads of sweat. It seems that visualization may play a part in the formation of a spell, but seems to not be the main component of casting a spell. I jotted down notes on each of the test, and wrote that the Visual Competency Theory was correct to some degree, but was not fully fledged out.
A second theory that came to mind was the Somatic Theory, or the Spoken Mana Theory. This theory has stated that in order to channel mana correctly, one must use words and phrases to incite it. This theory may provide insight into the working of mana if it were to be correct, however, as is the same with the first theory, the probability of being able to just speak words to form mana seemed a bit far fetched. Reaching out my hand, I spoke the word water. Of course, nothing happened. It’s possible that if you need to speak out words to form mana, it may need to be spoken in a specific language. Thinking back to the voices I heard, they spoke a different language. It may be that language that would need to be spoken, but it would be extremely hard to learn, as I barely have 4 words. “Ya’h ist um Solemn.”, You have been chosen. Assuming it was a direct translation, Ya’h meant you, ist meant have, um is been, Solemn being chosen. Possibly using a combination of ist and another word may possible create elements, but I didn’t know any elements in whatever tongue that the language is. So for future research, I would have to discover the words and meanings.
For now, this research would have to do. I would have to gather more information. Putting the slate near my bed, I headed out the door, and started to walk the barren road towards the nearby town.
. . .
Fir, the town nearby, was a small cozy village. The roads were layered with stone pathways, and the houses had an almost boxy look to them. I headed towards the tavern, one of the few places where almost anyone was welcome. A dimly lit room, with the faint smell of liquor and vomit. Hard wooden seats lined a bar, with some clothed tables scattered throughout. Of course, only people who could afford to pay for food were allowed to sit at the tables, and if they couldn’t pay, well, the large tan man outside would simply persuade them with his large stature. As I came in, I headed towards the edge of the bar and placed a silver orn on the inside of the bar. Behind the bar stood an older gentleman, with long gray hair neatly weaved with intricate patterns. He looked over at the silver orn, chuckled to himself, and poured a glass of water. Placing the water on the edge of the bar, he looked to me.
“What is it this time?”
“I’m out doing some research.”
“Oh yeah, and what would the topic of that research be?”
I leaned in closer, cupping my hands together as to block my words from being heard.
“I’m currently trying to find magic words.”
The older gentleman laughed out loud, causing others the stare with suspicious looks. He leaned in for a reply.
“Magic words? You’ve finally lost it haven’t you?”
“No, actually. I found something... interesting in my research.”
“Oh, and what might that be?”
“I can’t reveal that at this moment. I’m still in the process of testing some theories.”
“Oh? If you have theories to test, you must have certainly made a breakthrough.”
“You could say that.”
The older gentleman turned his back towards me, delivering drinks to the other patrons before reaching behind the bar, pulling out an old document. He flipped it over, and with a charcoal pen, wrote something down before sliding it in front of me.
“Head here. There may be something of interest to you.”
“Thank you. I’ll make sure to buy a hard drink when I start making more money.”
. . .
The location on the piece of paper was an old cottage about 30 minutes outside of town. Arriving there, the creaking groans of the wood sounded almost familiar. The damage of the building was obvious, and even going inside would be a hazard. As I cased around the outside, the sun was beginning to set. I lit my lantern, and decided it was nigh time to venture in, despite the danger. If the old man was giving me this information, it must atleast be something of note. Venturing inside the open doorway on the front of the building, the floors muddy, with chunks missing every 5 steps, I noticed a few doorways inside the main hallway of the building. Deciding to pick the first door on the left, and clearing my way further back throughout the house, I didn’t find anything of interest until reaching one of the doors on the left at the back of the house. Inside of the musty smelling room was a large desk, with a red leather chair sitting next to it in tatters. The top of the desk was filled with many documents, many being records of income or purchases. Looking at them, it seems the previous owner was quite wealthy, making 1000 gold orn purchases regularly. At the back of the desk was a large tome, with an expensive looking leather cover. Pulling it out, it had a pungent odor from the water that had trickled in from the roof and walls. Taking a look at the cover, I saw words that weren’t familiar, yet I knew some of them. “Meh sourn, ya’h delsim”, something something you something. A book written in the magic tongue? Wait, how was I even able to read it? It wasn’t written in common, and I had never even seen these runes before. Oh well, this was certainly a discovery. Checking the inside of the tome, many of the pages had been ruined, with the writing being spattered, or the pages being torn simply from opening the book. There were still some pages that could be read, and some of the pages even had common written on them. The common appeared different from the runic language, being written with a different type of ink. It appeared that whoever the owner of this house was didn’t write this book, but was instead investigating it, the same as I. Grabbing the tome and wrapping it up with my shirt, I trotted back throughout the front door. As I stepped back outside, I spotted some lanterns off in the distance. Being wary of what I was doing, I immediately put out my lantern, being only able to see from the moonlight being emitted from the edges of the sky. Lurking sideways from the house, I decided to not try and find out who would be investigating the barren house at these hours, whether they be simple thieves, or members of the NA security. Heading towards home, I quickly picked up my pace as I got closer until I finally arrived home. As I walked in, the only light in the home being the dimly lit candle in the center of the kitchen, I lurched my way into room, laying the tome near the side of my bed. I fell into my cot, with a sigh of relief. It had been a long day, but at least I was making progress towards my research. I closed my eyes, and dreams of a magical world came to me.
. . .
Waking up as any other day, I ate the stew we made Cynthesia made for breakfast every morning, and began work on the fields early. I worked at a stellar pace, finishing all of the work around 10am. Hurrying back to my room, I immediately flipped open the tome, turning to one of the pages with common, being careful as to not tear any of the pages. Scribbled on the page appeared to be notes of some sort, words in common with arrows pointing at words in the paragraphs. One of them stuck out to me, “Fir”. Why was the name of the nearby time written in this book? Looking over, I saw an arrow pointing over to the word, labeling it as fire. Fir meant Fire? Did they name a town after a magic word? Holding out my hand, I spoke the word.
“Fir.”
A warm feeling pulsed in the center of my palms, but nothing seemed to have came out of my palm. Maybe I’ll try this:
“Ist Fir.”
Out of the palm of my hand, the smell of smoke emanated, and sparks were being emitted. But it only lasted for less than a second before ending. Eureka! Ist Fir, my very first “spell”, if you could call it that. Despite not doing much more than emitting sparks from my palm, this revealed something very important. It seemed that mana was primarily somatic, with verbal phrase being the key to casting a spell. Simply trying to say fire doesn’t do much, but have fire seemed to have changed that. It’s possible that using other words to build upon an element would allow me to do more. What if I tried combining visual and somatic components. I closed my eyes, imagining a lamp being lit.
“Ist Fir.”
Again, sparks flew from my palms as a warm feeling spread throughout my hand. The lamp that sat on my desk from last night had been ignited. It seems that imagining the lamp has influenced the spell to ignite the lamp. This was a major breakthrough. I put my head into my hands, as tears began to form in my eyes. A knock at the door stopped me from beginning to weep happily, as I looked up to see Cynthesia.
“Why do you have your lamp lit when it’s mid-day?”
“I...”
. . .
“Let me show you something.”
I blew out the lamp and stood behind Cynthesia.
“I need you to promise you won’t mention a word of what happens in this room to anyone.”
“Of course. You know I don’t really care to tell others of what happens in my life.”
“No, I really mean it. If you mention what happens to anyone, my life, as well as yours, may very well be in danger.’
“What the hell...”
“So you can promise, or you may leave the room.”
“Fine, I promise.”
I reached for Cynthesia’s arm, lifting it until it pointed at the lamp.
“What’s this all about?”
“Imagine the lamp being lit.”
“I mean, okay?”
“Now speak, “Ist Fir.”.”
“Ist... Fir?”
As she turned her head with a questioning tilt, sparks began to fly from her palm.
“What... The...”
“Now look at the lamp.”
As Cynthesia looked towards the now lit lamp, a look of astonishment gathered on her face.
“Is this...?”
“Yes, its mana.”
“How the hell can I cast mana? I’m not special!”
“You don’t have to be.”
“What do you mean?”
“I found out that everyone has mana.”
“Everyone!?”
“Yes, everyone has the ability to use mana, however, it has specific activation requirements.”
“The words?”
“Correct.”
“What the hell...”
Cynthesia let out a loud sigh, and had a now glum look on her face.
“So you just, what, discovered everyone has mana, then discovered the exact words that you have to say to use it?”
“Not exactly, but I don’t think I could really explain how I got here without sounding absolutely absurd.”
“You already sound absurd.”
“Fair.”
. . .
“So now what?”
“I plan on continuing to translate this book, and learning more.”
“You’re insane.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
*Sigh*
As Cynthesia left the room, I was left to my own thoughts. A power, forbidden by those who were powerful, had been figured out by the simple likes of me. If I could translate the power withing this tome, I could potentially become someone who could save others, someone who could change the world, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I wasn’t someone to become powerful for the sake of others, no. I only wanted to become powerful to sate my own curiosity. A power that had been lost was now found, and I simply wanted to explore the limitless potential of the ability that had been given to me.
. . .
As time flew, and days began to pass, I studied the tome. As I learned more and more words, testing theories, day after day, my work began to fly by much faster. Now, the work that would take me half a day to complete had only taken me an hour to complete. I began to work on my body, realizing that a good stature, along with stamina, would help me in my further research, and as days became weeks, weeks became months, and the seasons changed with them. Day after day, I only learned more and more words, testing phrases for spells, which in turn, helped me learn to control the mana better. It was possible that I was gaining more mana from use, but there was no way for me to confirm this, as I had never tested my capacity, only using simple spells. First, it was the ability to light lamps and candles of sort. Then, I could fill buckets and cups with water. Now, I could terraform the earth below me with ease, and other such deeds. What a truly wonderful spectacle mana was, to be able to perform the enigmatic. Such wonders of the world would surely make people take notice of me if I were not careful as to be reclusive with them, using them only when needed. Of course, I had always had the desire to test rampant spells, thinking of the ways that I could create chaos and unrest easily. Mana truly was a power that was to be selective, and I understood why everyone was not allowed to use it, however, I simply didn’t really care. If mana were to be used poorly, we could simply fight back with mana. If someone lit a town on fire with mana, we could just use mana to put it out. Such things couldn’t possible be in the minds of those who rule, ones whose only desire is to lounge around and collect money as the days pass, growing richer and more gluttonous as the years pass.
. . .
On the third year of my study, I had done it. The tome that had once been elusive to me had become a simple read, and the understanding of the words flooded my mind from the numerous times that I had studied them. A moment of relief hit me as I had the realization that it was over, and finally, my body gave out. As I laid on the ground, having locked myself to my room for weeks at this point, an aching pain filled my mind and limbs, as if to congratulate me for what I’ve done. And as I closed my eyes, I gazed towards the once saturated roof, now bearing the resemblance to the estates with its appeal, I let out an exhausted sigh, and slept.
As I opened my eyes, a lone woman sat on the edge of the bed. Her eyes, beautiful like emeralds, and glistening with streams of glassy tears dripping down from her face. Her hair, now longer, flowed down her back, and gave off the smell of lavender. This woman in front of me had always been here, so why, in this moment, was she so beautiful.
“You... Why?” She let out with a whimpering voice.
“I’m... I finished.”
“But was it worth it for this?” She said with an almost angry tone.
I began to inspect myself, looking to my arms and my wrist. They had grown shriveled, with an ashy texture. The veins inside piercing through, and the skin being gray and lifeless.
“Ah, it seems I forgot to eat. When was the last time I ate? Who knows.”
“You... dumbass.”
She continued.
“I haven’t been able to get you to come out of your room.”
“Ah yes, I’ve been busy in my work.”
“Busy? It’s been 6 months.”
“It hasn’t been 6 months.”
“Yes, it has.”
“I’ve only been locked up for a week at most.”
“It has been 6 months, what don’t you understand?!”
. . .
It hit me. The cost of devoting myself to this tome for all this time has been the time I’ve lost.
“It seems I lost track of time.”
“Lost track?! You don’t just lose track of time for 6 months!”
At this point, he glassy tears had now becoming flowing rivers. A sense of anger came off of her, but not the type from rage. No, it was a different type of anger that she radiated.
“I... I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it dumbass.”
She began to weep as she wrapped her arms around me, embracing me tightly with a warm comfort. I could say nothing, as this beautiful woman in front of me wept. What have I done? I’ve made her cry.
I wrapped my thin arms around her.
“Cynthesia I...”
“Shut up. We can have a long talk when you are better.”
. . .
“Sure.”
~ ~ ~
Time began to move back to its normal pace. My days were spent well, with Cynthesia taking care of me. Within her care, I felt a comfort that I hadn’t known before, and when I was with her, it seemed as if my heart began to throb more than usual. Curious. And as two weeks passed, my skin had finally regained its color. My wrist, their thickness. And as sat across from this woman whom had cared for me, I said something that gave a reaction I wasn’t expecting.
“I think I’m going to leave.”
. . .
Cynthesia sat silent at the table. Tension filled the room, as the dust and particulate stopped it’s descent from the towering roof.
“I...”
Cynthesia sat with a look of bewilderment. Disbelief filling her emotions.
“You get better, and now you want to leave?”
. . .
“Do you hate me? Is me caring for you something distasteful? When I live in the same place as you, do you simply desire to leave me?”
. . .
“It’s not you. I want to explore the world.”
. . .
“Explore the world huh? Fine. Explore your world, and I hope you find something that will make you happy there.”
~ ~ ~
As the night passed, I packed my belongings into a sack, and left before Cynthesia ever awoke.
I journeyed into town, seeing all the people I had known previously, but whom of which were now strangers. As I passed through the gates of the town with not a penny to my name, I had simply hoped to find the answer to the question I had deep in my heart.
Walking for hours at a time, only occasionally using mana to start fires to keep myself warm, or to cook the animals I had hunted. Cleaning the pelts from such animals was a cinch with mana, and so I would often times collect the pelts, and sell them in the towns I visited, acquiring enough funds to secure myself for the nights, and to have some funds to spend on trinkets and such. After time, I began collecting oddities, and anything I deemed non-useful, I would pass on to the traders in other towns.
One night, as I sat at the edge of the bar for that night, I simply decided I would drink for the night. Downing ale after ale until I turned red in the face, the warm glow of a hearth filling my chest, I thought of the place I called home.
“You a wanderer?”
A stout man with a long beard sat one seat over from me. He looked rugged, with scars and marks from which you could tell his history. He raised his hand to order a drink for himself, and when the bartender came over, a glass of water was slid in front of me. I drank from it, trying to sober myself up.
“Yeah, I’ms a wanderer.”
“What’s your story?”
. . .
A moment of silence laid over the room as I drank the rest of the water, being able to clear my head just a tiny bit.
“I left my town... to search for answers.”
“Oh? And what kind of questions did you have?”
“Well there’s this beautiful woman...”
The stout man immediately out a stern chuckle.
“So you had someone you love, and you left?”
“Love? What does it mean to love? Is that the feeling I have?”
He looked towards me with an astonished gaze.
“Are you being serious?”
“I wouldn’t say it otherwise.”
He put his fingers to his brow and simply nodded his head.
“So you didn’t know if you had feelings for this woman, so you LEFT?”
“Yes...?”
A long sigh came out of him. He stood up with an almost intimidating aura surrounding him. He approached me, ever so slowly before...
*THUD*
His head smashed against mine. The pain searing throughout my whole body, radiating from my forehead.
“You left a woman to find out if you have feelings for her! You dumbass!”
Holding my head, the pain searing deep into my bones, I acknowledged what he had said. He was right. I’m so stupid. I left Cynthesia just for myself.
“Have you ever thought about how she feels?”
. . .
“No, I hadn’t.”
“Ugh, c’mon, we’re leaving.”
“To...?”
“Isn’t it obvious?! We need to get you home asap.”
. . .
The stout man grabbed me by the collar and proceeded to drag me out of the tavern,
~ ~ ~