Leo and Heidi

Alea’s cabin, Black Forest, Germany

Evan ran through the back door toward the garden at the back of the cabin. Running at the top speed he could muster, he did not notice that Seb had passed him and, in a second, was next to Leo, who was lying on his side, half of his body out of some weird crevice of an ancient oak.

“Is he alright?” Evan asked Seb, who was checking Leo’s pulse. He looked up and nodded.

“He is breathing. That is usually a good sign,” Seb confirmed. “His core and magic? Have no idea. Can't feel it anymore, which should not be possible.”

“True. Let's get him inside and under a blanket,” Heidi said, catching up to them. “Seems that whatever his body did to hold back the environment around him has faded.”

Seb threw Leo over his shoulder and waltzed back toward the cabin without saying a word, with Heidi and Evan in tow. Inside, he put the passed-out Leo in one of the chairs next to the fireplace and covered him in a blanket, noticing that he was wearing just a matching black t-shirt, pants, and boots. Meanwhile, Evan started the fireplace to get some heat into Leo.

“What the hell was that outside?” Evan asked.

“We do not know,” Heidi responded, sitting opposite Leo. “We will have to wait for him to wake up and explain. Uncle, can you prepare something to eat? No doubt he will be hungry when he comes to. The lesson mentioned something like that.”

“Sure,” Seb grunted and went to the kitchen to cook something simple for Leo. No one was in the mood to exchange guesses about what Leo went through and waited for him to wake up. After a few minutes, Seb was halfway through cooking, the smells picking up in the small cabin, when Leo groaned and rose from below his blanket. He sat up in the chair he was laid on.

Clutching his head, he said, “Damn, what the hell happened?”

“That is what we would like to ask you, boy,” Seb said and put food in Leo’s hands. “Eat. No doubt you are hungry.”

“Indeed I am,” Leo confirmed and dug in, not looking at what was on his plate for longer than a moment. He took a few bites, chewing with his mouth full, and continued, “I have no idea what happened to be fair. I sat down and started the breathing exercises. The next thing I knew, I was in some wide open space, surrounded by darkness. Some little specks of light floated around me in various colors, mostly greenish and white-blue.”

“What was it, do you know?” Evan asked, sitting at the nearby table, nursing a beer.

“My best guess? Mana. Both my internal and external, judging by the colors. The recording did explain that I will have to pool together the mana that is already inside me and use it to make my core.”

“And how did it go? Were you successful?” Heidi asked.

Leo looked down at the carpet between the chairs and then at the fireplace and said, “I have no idea. I do not feel any different, though the pressure in my body seems to be gone. For good this time.” He looked at his arm where the mana suppressor bracelet sat and saw that it looked charred. Understanding that it was not this way before, he asked, pointing it at Heidi, “Looks like the bracelet you gave me is cooked.”

Heidi examined the thing, noting that the silver had a black tint and all the runes carved had melted. “Good gods. I have never seen an enchantment be so thoroughly destroyed.”

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“Show me, boy,” Seb butted in and took Leo’s outstretched hand, examining the bracelet. “Yes, remarkable indeed. Terrifying even. I have not seen something like this before. It looks like you straight-up cooked the thing. So what did you experience back there? Heidi tells us you were out of it for the whole day.”

“Really? Is it on the same day? I thought I was in there for ages!” Leo explained, putting away the empty plate and relaxing. “Like I said. I arrived at a dark place filled with these motes of light. Then I tried to move all of them around and failed. It was weird. Feeling around the area, I mean. It felt empty, though somehow part of me.

“Anyway, the specks. I tried to move all of them like a current but could not. Then I repeated the same thing with just one. Somehow managed to imagine my core before me and move the speck toward it. For the core to absorb it. Then I just repeated the same process over and over again until I was able to control numerous of them. After an eternity, I ran out of the specks around me. In the end, my core grew to the size of a fist.

“That is it. It solidified before me, and I was pushed out of the darkness by a wave of something to wake up in the tree where I was sitting. Then I passed out, and you carried me back inside,” Leo finished, looking at the reactions everyone had.

“And that is it?” Evan asked. “No heavenly challenge? No gods conversing with you? No great images of your core space?”

“Nope,” Leo laughed at the mention of core space. ‘How fitting,’ he thought.

“Still… You probably scared away all of the wildlife in a kilometer radius. From your description, the thing that kicked you out of your core space was a mana discharge of some kind. More powerful than what Viktor felt in the hospital. We are lucky we are in the middle of nowhere, or the Church would already be in our hair,” Heidi said and sipped from a cup in her hand.

“You think it is going to be fine, niece?” Seb asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms.

“Yea, why not? I mean, have you encountered a single mage around here? Or in the city? We are as remote as we can be in the middle of central Europe,” Heidi scoffed.

“Well, Leo,” Evan began, excited, “Can you do some badass magic now?”

Leo sighed and shook his head, “No, the crystals mentioned that it will be a while until I can do the simplest of spells. All I did was finish setting up the foundation from the mana in me. Now the real process will begin.”

“And what is that?” Evan asked.

“Does not matter,” Seb said and got up from where he was sitting. “You, boy, need to rest and recuperate after whatever you did today. There is no way you are ready to sit all night and discuss the plans you have not formed. Tomorrow you continue with the crystals, understood?”

“Yes, sir!” Leo mock-saluted from his sitting position, watching Seb nod and go upstairs.

“He is right, Leo. You should rest. Let's continue tomorrow in the garden. I will make something interesting for breakfast,” Heidi said and went upstairs.

Evan watched both of them go and said, “A mana core? I would not believe a word of what you were discussing right now if I did not see the thing you did in the garden. One second it was dark; the next, it was like a nuclear warhead went off!”

Leo smiled, tired and a bit overwhelmed, and said, “To be frank with you, nor would I. It is a bit much to soak in. And I am tired, like they said. Talk to you tomorrow?”

Evan nodded and stood up. “I will leave you to it then. Do not take long. Cannot wait for what you have in store for tomorrow,” he said and went upstairs, leaving Leo alone in the chair to contemplate.

He had to recognize that he felt in over his head. Sure, the attack on his life back at the mansion should have already counted toward understanding that. However, now that he had experienced what mana was and what it could do, he felt terrified. Terrified that there were others. Other mages out there who held power more significant than his own. And that they were after him.

He feared they could take away what he had gained even more so. As they always did, according to Heidi and Seb. No one gave him anything in life. Never. Everything he had achieved so far was done with strength and dedication.

And thus, Leo vowed on this night in the cozy cabin in the middle of nowhere. He promised he would use what he had gained today to get stronger and stand up to those who chose to undermine him and others who did not want to play by their rules.