Leo and Heidi

Black Forest, Germany

“Who is?” Evan asked and walked up to Heidi. “Evan Grat at your service, my lady,” he said in a formal tone, slightly bowing.

“She is not royalty, Evan, “Leo commented and went up to join them as Evan sat down on the chair vacated by Seb.

“Not from the information we managed to gather, man,” Evan responded and eyed Heidi, who was frowning at him. “You think the brits and their new king are royalty? You do not know the half of it. This lady is a member of one of the most powerful families on the planet. A daughter of the family head, even.”

“And you will respect her as such,” Seb walked in, catching up with Evan. “What did I say? No goddamn guns in my house, boy!”

Evan raised his hands in defeat and said, “But, uncle, I just cannot leave them outside in the cold! They require love and care!”

Leo sighed and coughed, catching Evan’s attention, “It is best we listen to him. He is kinda in charge around here. Though it is not your cabin, Seb.”

“What does it matter, boy? No guns in the house. Period!” he answered and fetched himself a chair to join the others. “So what are you children plotting now? What is the grand plan?”

“We were hoping you could tell us, uncle,” Heidi answered for all of them. “What did you manage to find down there? Did you uncover something that will help Leo?”

“Help Leo fight the fuzz?” Evan asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Right, we have to get you up to speed. Seems I am a wizard now, Evan,” Leo said seriously. Evan just stared at Leo, then at Seb, and then at Heidi. He burst into a laugh that covered the whole cabin and said, “That explains it! It is a cult! They took you to their lair in the forest for you to join a cult!”

“I am serious, Evan,” Leo began. “Magic is real. Both of them are mages.”

Heidi, knowing where this conversation was going, judging from Evan’s reaction, cast the same spell she did on Leo and blasted Evan’s face full of wind before he could say another word. Not that he annoyed her. Evan flew out of his chair and landed on his back.

Leo seeing his friend land on his bottom and groan on the floor, asked Heidi, “Was that necessary? You could have explained it to him as you did to me.”

“That would take too long,” Heidi shrugged.

Meanwhile, Evan grumbled on the floor and got up slowly. Not making his way back to the others, he asked Leo, “What the hell, man? What was that?”

“That was something you call a spell. I got the same surprise as you not too long ago,” Leo said, not getting up to help his friend. Evan, in turn, stared at Heidi with wide eyes and observed his bags with the guns, saying, “I guess I did not need to pack them?”

“That is what I tried to tell you, boy,” Seb butted in, watching the circus unfold. “Your toys are harmless to most of us. Especially to those we will need to deal with. Most mages have long learned how to deal with conventional firearms with enchantments and shields. Nothing short of cannon fire would make a difference. Unless you have an army to use.”

“What? How come you have not taken over the world yet?” Evan asked and sat back down with the others, accepting that something was going on you could not explain.

“What makes you say we have not?” Seb asked Evan, winking. Evan frowned at the old man’s antics.

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“Let's get back on track, uncle,” Heidi interrupted. “The mystical initiation will have to wait for our newest member here. The basement. What did you manage to find?”

Seb thought over how to best summarize and said, “I was right. In a sense that it contains a curriculum of sorts. One where you have the learning material packed by development level, specialization, and the like. I even managed to find recording crystals stacked in one of the boxes. Though, I did not have the time to go over them.”

“What do you propose? It is not like we can help Leo directly?” Heidi asked.

“I propose we have a go at the crystals tomorrow morning,” Seb said. “By my count, we should not have a problem with Leo learning something from all the stuff down there. It is a treasure trove. Not only information-wise but also resource-wise. Many enchanting tools, materials, alchemy ingredients, and more resources for arrays and other trinkets. Anything you want as a mage.”

“What? Alchemy? Enchanting? Leo, what are they talking about?” Evan asked, baffled.

“I will explain to you later,” he responded.

“What about the mana gathering array?” Heidi asked.

“That as well. I believe we will be able to set one up here,” Seb responded. “As I said, we begin to work on you tomorrow, Leo. Let’s catch some sleep while we can. We begin with sunrise,” Seb finished and got up from his chair.

“There are three rooms with beds upstairs. I will take one, you, Heidi, take the other. I have some inflatable mattresses stashed away somewhere, along with some sleeping bags. You boys will be sharing a room. Let's set up shop here on the first floor,” Seb explained and gathered his things to move upstairs, forgetting the bags Evan brought with him. Heidi moved to follow him.

Meanwhile, Evan, initially cheerful, seemed to have lost all his demeanor and asked Leo, “Can we talk, man? Like seriously, talk? It is a bit more than I anticipated before coming here.”

“Sure, let's go outside,” Leo responded and went for the door with Evan in tow. They went out on the porch, closed the doors behind them, and sat down on the chairs. “What is up?” Leo asked his friend.

“Magic? For starters? What was that she did with her hand?” he asked.

“That was some wind-based spell. The easiest way to explain is… All that stuff from the novels we read as kids? About wizards, where they learn to cast spells, and cultivators who can cultivate some mysterious energy? Some of that stuff is real.”

“Which stuff?” Evan asked.

“Well, mana, for one, is real. There is this energy around us that mages can use, basically. Absorb and cast spells with it. That is why I landed in the hospital.”

“How so?”

“For some reason, I had accumulated a large amount of mana inside my body, and it caused all sorts of problems., Heidi’s father, Viktor, discovered me in the hospital after our little accident on the road. He found out about the mana in me. Long story short, he took me back to Germany to fix me up. Gave me this bracelet,” Leo answered, raising his hand and showing the silver bracelet with a runic design.

“Looks fancy,” Evan said and examined the thing. “So what does it do?”

“Helps manage the mana inside me, so I do not burst essentially.”

“So you have a core or something? Like they do for Ki?” Evan asked.

“Yes, but not for Ki. Mana. Though I have not formed it, they say.”

“Why? I mean, the mechanics sound a bit wrong, don't they? Sorry, I am just drawing from the games we have played. You always start right there,” Evan said.

“I understand. I thought the same way. According to Heidi, the mages of today are restricted in the way to use magic. They have sort of seals of their mana cores that constrict them to use magic in structured spells. Think of coding energy to do something you want. That is what their spells are, codded way to interact with mana. My core is different. At least that is what they want to achieve,” Leo explained.

“Why achieve? I would think they would want to make you like them,” Evan said, skeptical.

“Well, according to Heidi, I am sort of an anomaly. One that will be able to use magic freely. Something that they do not have today. Freely as in without the need to learn some complex scrolls. Just by imagination and intent. They hope I can grow to change things in their world, as they cannot stand up to the Church, which controls everything,” Leo answered.

“The Church? What? Like Jehovah's witnesses?” Evan asked, chuckling.

“That is the same thing I said,” Leo responded, smiling. “But no. There is this ancient organization based on the modern understanding of the Bible, Christianity. Some old dude sharing the same name from the bibble - Judas, developed it and holds the axe over everyone in the magical world,” Leo said, sighing.

“And what? You are the chosen one?” Evan asked, smirking.

“I guess I am,” Leo responded, not believing it fully.