Leo

Berlin, Germany

Before he could stand up and confront Heidi, she answered with a serious look, “Alright, this might sound a bit weird, but you were in an accident three days ago.”

“Accident? What accident? I feel fine,” Leo said, looking at her again, and waved his hands around, which prompted the pounding in his head to increase up a notch. He pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. Heidi promptly ignored him as she understood what Leo was going through at the moment.

“Yes, a car accident. I was also in it. It is a long story. In the end, my father took care of everything and brought you to our mansion to recover.”

Leo did not believe her. A car accident was not something he had experienced before. He had nothing to compare to how he should feel, but now that she had mentioned it, he remembered a car pulling up on him. It was in his dream, taking over a truck. ‘Was it an imagination?’ he thought.

His mind was playing games with him. Suddenly, he started to have trouble breathing, feeling that panic was setting in. Next, the pressure in his arms, legs, and torso increased, creating waves of pain and cramps across his body.

Heidi saw something was wrong and reached out to the mana around her. She noted that it was being pulled and contracting within Leo. She sat up sharply, grabbed his arm to steady him, and said, “Calm down, Leo. Breathe in with me slowly, and breathe out.”

Leo barely heard her as more images flashed before his eyes, where he saw how a car was flying at him while he was sitting behind the steering wheel. Next, he saw and felt how he flashed out of the car seat. Then appeared on the road, next to the ditch. He saw how his car flew into it.

All the while, he was struggling to breathe. The next scene before his eyes was him checking on Heidi in the car and calling the ambulance. After that, it all went black.

Leo tried to breathe. Slowly but surely, his senses came back to him. Then he heard Heidi once more.

“... are you feeling better now?” she asked, concerned.

“Yes…,” Leo breathed in and opened his eyes to find Heidi's face no less than ten centimeters away from his own, her bright green eyes, beautiful and symmetric face with pale and perfect skin, painted with a slight frown and concerned look.

“I remembered more things. I thought that it was just a dream this morning. It is all too weird…,” Leo said, catching his breath.

He noticed a silver bracelet on his left wrist, which was not there just a minute ago. It resembled a snake eating its tail, barely a centimeter in width, and made with such detail that Leo could see all the small scales evenly carved in the silver.

Looking closer at the scales, he saw intricate symbols that reminded him of runes he had seen in the museum he visited in Oslo. Not understanding where it came from, he asked, pulling his hand up, “Did you put this on my wrist?”

“Yes, it should help you focus your thoughts and answer a few questions. What did you see just now?” Heidi asked.

“I saw that I was driving. Some car pulled up in front of me. I jerked the wheel to the right and crashed into a ditch. Well, my car did. I somehow was left standing behind it, on the road, unscathed. What is going on with me?” Leo asked.

“Can you describe the feeling or your thoughts at that moment?”

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“Hell, I thought I wanted to be out of the car. Then I felt something akin to being weightless for a second. Then I just stood on the road,” Leo answered, starting to feel weirded by the questions. “Where are you going with this? How is this connected to the bracelet?”

“It is not. Simply put, the crash happened. I was the driver who pulled up on you. I hit the field next to the ditch you described and passed out in my car. You ran up to me and called the ambulance. They took both of us to a hospital in Riga,” Heidi explained.

“Alright, suppose it happened. How I arrived here?” Leo gestured around him.

“My father arranged for you to be transferred back to our mansion in Berlin.”

“Berlin?” Leo said in disbelief, “How in the hell did I get to Berlin?”

“That is not the point, Leo. You are currently not well, and your body is experiencing severe changes triggered by your condition.”

“Changes? What condition?” Leo asked, his head still spinning, not allowing him to think clearly.

“You have accumulated a very substantial amount of mana in your body. We see no mana core has formed in you. Still, you continue to pull in more and more mana. That is what causes your headaches. It is dangerous for you as the mana you accumulate will run out of places to go,” Heidi explained with a serious look.

“What…? Mana? Core? What are you talking about?” Leo asked, groaning, as the pain was back, this time slightly dulled. “What did you do to me?”

“I have given you a mana suppressor,” Heidi explained, pointing to the bracelet. It will help you manage the mana accumulation, dulling whatever allows you to pull in more,” Heidi answered.

“Who are you exactly? What is this?” he asked, repeating the same question in disbelief.

“Sorry, I have not introduced us properly,” Heidi said. “Clan Aer is an old mage clan based in Germany. My father, Viktor, brought you over from Riga, from the hospital where you were lying unconscious. He hopes to help you manage your condition.”

Leo stared at her with wide eyes and a stupid look and thought, ‘Mages? What?’

“This must be a joke…,” Leo replied disbelievingly.

“Unfortunately, it is not. Or fortunately. Depending on how you look at it. Sure it is not the same as me telling you, ‘you are a wizard, Leo,’ in the dead of night, right? However, that is the closest approximation you might pull as a mud. Sorry, as a non-magic person,” she said.

“Alright, let's say that I believe you,” Leo said, gathering himself as the pain had lessened and he started to feel himself again. “Assuming we are in Germany, I have to get to Riga. I have a job to get and bills to pay. Hell, my friends will be looking for me.”

“All of that will have to wait. As I said, my father gave me instructions to give you an introduction to what is going on with you. Now that you will be one of us, you will have to prepare to catch up. The world is not safe for people like you, Leo”.

“Us? Me a mage?” Leo laughed. “Are you serious? And prepare to catch up? What are you talking about? It almost sounds like there is someone out there to get me.”

Heidi was running out of her patience. She expected him to disbelieve or mock her. Even to stand up and run away after hearing that they had kidnaped him. However, he was just sitting there mocking the whole situation, so she said, “Yes, Leo. There is someone out there to get you. And us as well, by proxy. Take this seriously.”

“Alright, alright, miss. Wizards, sorcerers, mages, and whatnot. Can I see some magic? Otherwise, this is just you explaining to me some bad joke I am in no mood for,” Leo asked in a mocking tone, crossing his arms, disbelief on his face. He believed that, while good-looking, the girl before him had a screw loose.

Heidi stared at him for a second and sighed, knowing how hard muds sometimes could be. She decided to cut to the chase, moved her fingers for the first three sigils she learned as a kid, and cast the only spell she knew would not destroy the kitchen they were in - gust. The mana pulled out from her core and converted itself to the energy that moved the air around her. She pointed a finger and struck Leo in his disbelieving face with the spell, shoving him out of the bar stool he was sitting on.

Not expecting anything, Leo did nothing to avoid the spell and took it to the face, landing on his back and hitting his head against the kitchen tiles.

“Now, do you believe me?” Heidi asked in the same mocking tone Leo had used a second ago, looking at him lying on his rear.

Leo got up on his elbow, rubbing the back of his head. He looked up and met her beautiful, prideful green eyes, thinking how the world became a stranger place for him, and he over in his head.