Alan woke to the bumps and rocks the carriage traveled through. The sun already hung low which reminded him of his soon to be tasks. Well if they got lucky they will not attract anything. A barg pack is not the worst thing that could come out of the woods at night. He slowly got up to sitting, noticing the still sleeping Ellie next to him, instantly making him uncomfortable. He quickly got up to one of the seatings, but in the hurry he took seat next to Max, which made it even more uncomfortable, but the old man just grunted and left it at that. Still, most of the members of the crew were still asleep, Eric in the corner, Jonathan groaning on the floor because of the uneven road, but Theresa wasn’t. She was on the other sitting on the other side of Max, drinking from a crudely made leather flask. If he didn’t know better, it would seem her hair was getting more and more grey by the day. Looking at her made him remember her lesson about breathing and he quickly got to trying it again.

’Breathe in everything, not just with your lung, but with something deeper’ He recited to himself. After minutes he felt something stirring in his stomach. Something flashed inside his mind’s eye but it was too dim to see clearly, so he continued the breathing exercise. After an hour everyone was up, but Alan was focused on his breathing, the thing he saw was getting clearer and clearer, it was like a blue orb, and he could feel it thrumming inside. After a while he opened his eyes and he saw Theresa and Eric smiling at him.

„You are getting closer!” Said Eric in a cheerful voice. Hearing that even Ellie flashed a smile.

„What?” Alan gave a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his head not knowing what to do.

„You finally started filling up your core.” Eric explained. „Once you gather enough mana, you can begin some exercises, and you are at that point soon, so don’t go slacking of and continue, tonight’s watch is on me.” He gave a wink to Alan.

Alan started imagining the core again, but he failed to do so, so he got back to practice. But now, he wanted to follow the mana. For the first hundred or so breaths he felt nothing, but after that he catched on something. The core was getting clearer in his mind again, but he wanted to feel the flow. Noone instructed him for that, but he instinctively wanted to get a grip on it.

Hours went by, they long left the woods. Ellie was making shafts for arrows out of boredom, Max sat like a statue looking out of the wagon’s back, scouting their surroundings.

Theresa was chatting with Eric, even though ’tonight’s watch is on him’, and finally jonathan was getting up too. The driver was still just the driver, silent and like he didn’t even exist, he didn’t say a word the whole journey. But Alan was finally getting a feel for the thing flowing inside him into his core, it was weak, very weak, and if he stopped focusing everything disappeared, but it was there and he could follow it.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

***

The night went by without any incidents, which they were thankful for. Alan was getting the hang of imagining his core and following the flow of mana inside him. It was circulating in a net like system, all flowing into one spot, into his core. This net carefully covered all his body, not too densely but not too thinly either. He was slowly filling it up with substance, making himself feel more alive and somehow more.

He opened his eyes, and turned to Eric who was chatting with David, the driver.

„You mentioned some exercises. What are those?” Alan asked. Happiness flooded him at the reminder that he was on the path he always wanted to be on and a smile flashed on his face.

„A second,” He said to David and turned to Alan. „First you need to follow the flow of your mana, you have to get a feel for it how it travels through you.”

„I can already feel that” Alan replied.

Eric, giving a surprised look, stopped for a second. „That’s.... fast.”

„Can you control it too? Like push it out of yourself?”

Alan tried imagining the net, and get a feeling for the substance in it. He had no idea how to move it though.

“How do you move it?” He asked, eyes still closed.

“Focus on your right hand for instance, and imagine. Imagine you are pushing it there with something inside your body.”

Alan did as instructed, imagining the net again, and selecting his right hand as a gathering point and imagined the mana moving there. Nothing happened. Then he tried it again.. and again.. and again. After a dozens of minutes he felt a trickle of mana moving but as if it was blocked by a barrier, it resisted him in every try. Still he continued pushing it and at a crawling pace and huge resistance, it moved. He was beginning to control mana! The essence of his dream!

“I did it!” He exclaimed out loud, startling the still sleeping Ellie. Fortunately she didn’t say anything and went back to sleep quickly, but Eric and Theresa were smiling at him.

“He’s a fast learner, I have to say.” Said Theresa

“He is, my new disciple will leave us in the dust!” Exclaimed Eric with a smile brighter than the sun.

“ Hmpf. Your disciple? Who was telling him about the theory all this time? Not you I gather.”

“Okay, okay, our disciple, is it better?”

“I can live with that.”

Alan was quietly amused by their debate and gave a small smile to the whole ordeal. He felt much better now after these days. They weren’t as much strangers as they were before, feeling them closer day by day. Even Max wasn’t as hostile toward him as on their first day together. True he was mostly silent as a grave. He felt like he found friends.