Chapter 2 - Soaked

          —5 Months Later—

          As it turns out, the human language is very similar to the systems I’m familiar with on Earth. It didn’t take me very long to figure it out since Chey likes to read to me. She had read a book to me, one time, that had a map in it, and it looked nothing like what I’m familiar with. It showed five continents, and their world is named Arun. If I can trust the accuracy of a children’s book, then I’m in an orphanage on the continent of Biruth in a country called Tir.

          “Cal, it’s time to for lunch!”

          You’re right on time Chey. I was just starting to feel the pangs of starvation. It’s already past noon and you’re just now waking up. How am I supposed to grow if you keep starving me like this you irresponsible woman. Social Services, Police, Santa, anyone, save me from this neglect!

          “What’s that face for little guy? Do you need a changing again?”

          Don’t try to change the subject while I’m trying to stare literal daggers into you, but yes, I do, and I’ll happily announce that it’s absolutely horrific.

          After I’m changed and fed, she takes me over to the shelf to grab a book to read. I notice a book that seems out of place amongst the group at the top of the shelf, so I waggle my arm at it as best I can to get her attention.

          “…Introduction to Magic? Well, it’s not like you understand what I’m saying with any of these books anyways.”

          “Uwa.”

          “Don’t respond like you do understand what I’m saying. That’s kind of creepy Cal.”

          I actually do understand now, but I’ll let you believe whatever you want as long as you read that book.

          “This was the first book I had bought when I was a kid Cal. I know you don’t understand it yet, but I hope that when you become a great mage, that you use this magic well and for a good cause.”

          All matter contains mana and that mana is used as the fuel for magic. A mage can use his own mana or mana from his surroundings to cast a spell, but apparently it’s more difficult to use external mana as one has to be able to sense it outside of their body. Thanks to my lack of understanding in the beginning, and my mother who introduced me to magic early, I was able to spend the last 5 months replicating the feeling of collecting mana from my crib.

          It’s something entirely foreign to me, but after playing around with it I feels like I’ve known about it all of my life. For me, mana feels like a surge of warmth through my body like when feeling suddenly returns to a limb after letting it fall asleep. After playing with it for a while longer, I figured out that as long as you know generally what you trying to accomplish with mana, you can make it happen.

Take fire for example, you’re using mana to ignite the oxygen in the air and you can change the properties of the fire by fueling it with different gasses. Having an extensive background in chemistry should be of some use here.

          [I, who understands the source of power, seek the essence of water]

          Chey cast the beginner water spell from the book and created a fist sized ball of water above her palm. Interesting, that is. What’s the chant for? Is that like training wheels for the spell?

          After she’d gotten through the book, I had a rough understanding of how mana and magic worked, so now I just need her to leave the room so I can try it out for myself.

          “Thank you Cal.”

          Thank me… for what? I haven’t done anything to warrant a ‘thank you’, actually I should be thanking you, but I’m an infant, so I’ll just make a face at you for now.

          “ha-ha. It’s almost like you understand what I’m saying. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could talk already and you’re just hiding it from me”

          Whoa there Chey. You’re scaring me. A ditz like you shouldn’t have moments of clarity like that too often; it’s bad for my health. Now feed me and get ready to change me again. Mwahahahaha!

          With Chey and the other children all in the den, I was free to experiment with magic in the nursery. I chose the fire magic that my mother used to save me the night I was born.

          First I closed my eyes and imagined the mana collecting in my hand. Then I thought of a gentle warmth escaping just above the skin. I opened my eyes, let the mana seep out, and a delicate blue flame was produced atop my open hand.

          Yes, I did it! Now let’s see if you can mess with it after casting. I moved the fire back and forth across the room while supplying a steady stream of mana, but I started feeling very sluggish after a while. Is it time for me to take a nap already? No, it can’t be. I had just woken up from one not too long ago. Now let’s try adding a spin to it.

          Before I could even try, the flame dispersed and my eyelids got unbearably heavy. I couldn’t lift my arms and I was face down on the bed spread, and lying down like that, my consciousness was stolen from me.

          “That’s called mana exhaustion, Cal”

          Just becoming conscious again, my eyes shot open and I frantically searched around the room for the source of the words directed at me. It was Ciel, the Cat demi-human, with his head poking in between the slats on my crib.

          “Thank you for the tip. Why did you not tell Chey that I can talk and use magic Ciel?”

          “I didn’t know you could talk, but that makes this easier. Cal, as long as you don’t try and make any trouble for Chey, I won’t tell anyone. Everyone has got their reasons.” Ciel said, puffing out his chest.

          “You’re awfully sharp for a 7 year old”

          “You’re one to talk.”

          “Point taken.”

          “So, what are you?”

          “Well, as far as I can tell, I am a human.”

          “You know quite a bit for a human baby.”

          At this point, I was wondering if not I should come clean to Ciel. I’ve got things that I need to do, and having someone in my corner would be a big help.

Just then, his almond eyes shone from behind the curtain of auburn hair as if he could tell what I was thinking. Am I that obvious? Well, a half-truth shouldn’t hurt.

          “Ciel, it is like this, someone did something to me, and now I have a lot of memories that are not my own… if that explains anything. I do not know who did it, or why it happened, but that is my situation.”

          “Okay, that’s fine. Just don’t make any trouble for Chey. She is good to us.”

          “I think Chey is good too. I will try not to make too much trouble for her.” I told him with a smile.

With an expression of approval, Ciel grasped the side of my crib and vaulted over to my side.

          “Now, show me what you did again. Was that fire magic? It was so cool! I want to do that.”

          “Yes, that was fire magic. My body feels alright, and I want to try it again anyways, so sit still.”

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          Ciel obediently sat down and watched while I prepared to cast the magic. What was the problem last time? Ciel said that it was mana exhaustion, and I can’t imagine that my mana pool should be that small forever, so maybe I should use smaller spells until I get used to using mana. Let’s test the theory.

          I closed my eyes and created a smaller image this time. Instead of covering my surroundings with a blanket of flames, I thought a more golf ball sized flame would do for now.

With the image steady in my mind, I began collecting mana into my hand directly this time. As soon as it felt like the right amount I let it seep from my hand and ignite. The small threads of fire collected into a very subdued orb of red flame.

          The drain was significantly less than when I cast a blue flame, so temperature must play a factor. Now let’s see if intensity plays a factor as well.

          I withdrew the flame to my index finger and increased the amount of mana and oxygen being fed into the flame. The effect was immediate and, as long as I continued to feed it mana, it moved as intended. The mana cost steadily increased so I returned it back to its original form as a will-o-wisp above my upturned hand.

          “Wow, you can even do it chantless!”

          “Is that something unusual?”

          “Yeah, only some really talented mages can cast magic without a chant.”

          “Interesting, it is not that hard though?”

          “How do you do it then?”

After explaining my process to him, he tried to cast a fire as I had done, but he was breathing heavily after a few attempts.

          “Here, let me show you again.”

          I decided to cast a water ball this time and talk him through the process.

          “First, form a clear image of what you want to happen in your mind. I’m imagining the moisture from the air being drawn to a single point above my hand.”

          “Then, I feel for the mana in and around my body. To me, it feels like a warm, weightless blanket that makes the air feel a little thicker.”

          I gathered the mana slowly in my hand, monitoring my body for any signs of exhaustion.

          “When you have some mana collected, imagine the mana coming from your hand into the point you have in your mind.”

          At that point a small baseball sized orb of water took shape. Ciel followed suit, and made his water ball, although, it was a little bigger and unstable.

          “Great! Now stabilize the form in your mind and still the water ball.”

          “This is amazing, how’d you figure it out? How do you fire it?”

          “I don’t know, and I don’t know.”

          Thinking about it, do I fire it the same way that I made it? With that train of thought, I tried to apply a little force behind the ball, and it exploded forward with a splat.

          “Oh, my bad. I guess that was a bit too direct.”

          “Umm, well if we can’t figure out how to launch it yet, how do we get rid of it?”

          “For my Will-o-wisp, I just cut the supply of mana.”

          Ciel turned his attention back to his water ball, and it fell straight down, soaking the bedding.

          “I’m… sorry.”

          “Hahahaha, that is okay!” I said reassuringly while trying to stifle a laugh.

          Determined to cast a proper water ball, I had Ciel grab a bucket so we wouldn’t have any more spills.

          “So, the problem now is that the water ball just explodes when I try to launch it. Am I using too much force, or am I… applying it the wrong way?”

          I form the water ball and, unlike before, I started spinning the ball until it was starting to froth up from the speed. This was consuming a huge portion of my infant sized mana pool, so I had to launch it quickly.

          Aiming down at the bucket, I imagined a cone of mana behind the water ball and pulled the trigger. The water ball left my hand with surprising force and was heading straight for the bucket a few feet away. Not good!

          “Cal!”

          It nailed the bucket with enough force to shoot it into the wall almost 10 feet across the room, landing with a crash. I could feel my eyelids getting really heavy. Changing the spell like that took up much more mana than I thought it would have, but I could use more magic than yesterday, so your aggregate mana must increase the more you use it.

          “Ciel, I am sorry… I can’t… stay awake…”

          I could see him trying to say something to me, but I am too tired to understand. Soaked in today’s successful attempt, I fell asleep.