Leo

Berlin, Germany

Heidi watched her father leave the study, stranding her alone with Leo. She felt a bit angry at his casual passing of responsibility of Leo to her. Heidi understood why he did it. To manipulate the boy into joining their clan. It still angered her to be used in such a manner by her father. After all, she was more than just a female heir to the clan.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Leo said after Viktor left them. “So what do we do next? I would like to hear more of the theories he mentioned. I believe this trinket will not last me long,” Leo said, pointing to the bracelet on his wrist.

“I am not sure about that, but you are probably right,” Heidi responded, getting up from her seat. “Let's go to the square.”

Leo got up and followed her, walking right to the border of the square where the runes were carved on the floor, eyeing them wearily. When he got close, he saw that the runes seemed to glow with a blue-white light. ‘Wow,’ he thought and looked up, noticing how the air shimmered visibly.

Seeing that Leo’s attention was on the floor, Heidi looked at him, waiting for him to turn away. When more time than she was willing to wait passed, she asked, “Are you admiring the craftsmanship of the runes, or do you just like the floorboards?”

Leo frowned, turning away to answer, “No. When we walked in, I noticed the air shimmered above the square. I wanted to have a closer look at it and saw that the runes were glowing slightly as well. Is it not odd? Do you not see it?”

That got Heidi’s attention, making her raise an eyebrow slightly. Few people could feel the flow of mana, and even fewer could perceive it visually. Mages close to the archmage level could see the mana without any focus. Most talented were said to see beyond enchantments and hidden wards. For Leo to be able to see mana was unthinkable. Even Heidi herself could only feel mana when a spell was actively cast. Seeing enchantments was beyond her, no matter how sensitive she was.

“Can you describe what you see in more detail?” she asked to understand if it was true.

Leo concentrated on the runes before him and said, “I see how light is slightly bending in the upper-left corner of the square - there,” he pointed with a finger.

“It almost looks like a small vortex if I look at it for too long. I see that the corner is somehow pooling the light together. It creates a flow that trickles down and around the square through all the other symbols. In equal parts around the square, I see how the symbols eject the stream of light inside the square. It seems like this ejection is what causes the air to shimmer around it,” Leo finished, wincing and turning away from the square to rub his eyes.

Heidi frowned. What Leo described was the function of the square. It collected what little mana was there from around them, pooled it together, and disbursed it, raising its concentration inside. That Leo could see it and explain the logic behind the runes was just remarkable, in her opinion.

“Are you okay?” she asked, seeing that Leo went to sit down next to the runes and finished rubbing out his eyes.

“Yes, sorry. Looking at it for so long caused my eyes to go a bit dry. I will be fine in a minute,” he answered.

“Take it easy, and don’t repeat it. The fact that you can see the mana is just remarkable. And that you can see how the enchantment works, not knowing what each rune does, is even more shocking. I believe you are rapidly becoming more and more sensitive to mana.”

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Leo looked to meet her eyes and asked, “Why is that? Is it connected to the bracelet you gave me?”

“I do not think so,” she answered, sitting down next to him and crossing her legs, leaning back on her hands. “I think it is because your body has absorbed a critical portion of mana, and it is starting to spread it around to enhance other sensory organs in your body.

“And before you ask if that is dangerous, let me explain more about what mana is for us and how it affects us. You see, mana is all around us, the same way as air. It is a form of energy that some creatures on Earth perceive while others do not. Most importantly, some animals have even changed due to mana over time.

“Which ones?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.

“For example, have you heard how lemurs can communicate with each other telepathically? That is because they actually can, and we believe it is because they are susceptible to mana and have developed unique mutations that enable them to communicate in another way. All thanks to mana.

“For humans, it is a bit different as it seems we have taken a backward step in our evolution in this aspect. Nowadays, not many humans can develop mana sensitivity, not even talking about a core, enabling them to cast spells. Humans developed their technical skills to survive.

“Sure, there are some people who can do magic tricks. They walk on air for a show and disappear items, but those are the simplest of magicians. They have only slightly glimpsed what magic could do without being able to develop further. The Church does not care about such individuals and allows them to exist, knowing well that they will never develop a full mana core,” Heidi paused.

“Wait, so magicians actually can do magic? David Blaine is a mage?” Leo asked wide-eyed.

Heidi laughed, “No, David Blaine is not a mage. He is an entertainer who can use mana on an instinctual level. Do simple tricks. He does not have the capacity, talent, or mana core to become a full mage.

“Let's get back on track. As I said, mana is a type of energy. It is all around us. Some humans are more sensitive, while others are not. Most of them do not perceive mana because of evolution and technical progress. We believe that the pollution in the world has made mana so scarce that it is impossible to develop mana core naturally.

“Mana cores are awakened in the clan’s most talented individuals via spell, as we mentioned. Clans continue to grow their talents and gene pool to preserve mage bloodlines by arranging marriages between clan members or inter-clan marriages. Rarely do mages from the clans mingle with muds,” Heidi finished and looked to see if Leo understood her.

“Alright, I get that. Not to lose the few people who can still work magic, you need to preserve your talents. How many are there?” Leo asked.

“You mean mages in the Aer clan or total?”

“Both,” Leo said.

“Well, in our clan, we have around five thousand members. The main family has around a hundred or so members. Others are distant cousins, retainers, and other magic-enabled people we brought into our clan with time. It is quite similar in other clans. Only Inpes stands out as the largest clan. They have approximately seven thousand members. No one knows the actual numbers.”

“Hmm, that is not as many people as I expected, to be fair,” Leo thought. “So that would make, like, what? Around twenty thousand mages among eight billion humans on Earth?”

“Well, yes. These numbers still help us preserve our traditions. Also, do not forget about the Church members. They have the most magic-enabled people. All of their approximately five thousand bishops are mages of a decent level, while ten percent of their priests are magic-enabled members. That makes it almost fifty thousand mages.”

“That is a lot of people,” Leo frowned.

“Yes, and that is the main reason the Church runs the magical world, but that is another topic. Coming back to magic sensitivity. Your typical mage cannot exactly sense mana around him, as you can feel the air. Let's say as a breeze on your skin. They need to meditate, using techniques in a mana-dense environment. With time they start to feel the mana inside them, within their core and mana channels. Mana channels are a secondary circulatory system, similar in design to our veins.”

“Wait, when casting, you do not feel or in any other way interact with the spell, like increasing its potency, size, or some other factors?” Leo asked.

“No, we do not. I understand what you are asking, and to answer you, for us, it is just a way how we interact with mana in our core in a coded manner. It is like giving commands to mana with a script,” Heidi answered.

“Like a computer code?” Leo asked, thinking that he had chosen the wrong major in university.