So, you’re my Magic Manifestation…?

The creature’s mouth opened, and a deep, rumbling voice echoed in my head. “Yess…”

My body unwittingly flinched at the sound of a foreign voice in my head. Even so, after letting out a shaky breath, I stretched out a slightly wary arm out towards the ‘dragon’. Seeing my action, the creature leant into my hand, and as expected, since it was made of water, it was wet. Admittedly solid, but wet - cool to the touch too. My Magic Manifestation, huh. You appeared… And a lot earlier than expected…

“Becausse Master’ss magic is sstronger than expected…” The creature responded.

A ‘Magic Manifestation’ is essentially a phenomenon, exclusive to this world, when one’s magic manifests into a sentient creature. Only the most powerful of magic users can cause such a phenomenon to happen, and it usually only occurs after some years of the magic user existing. However, this is the time when the characters of ‘Hera: Captured Hearts’ exist, the youngest person to have ever brought out their Magic Manifestation was supposed to be Prince Kai at the age of thirteen… But now, I, ‘Velloa’, am now the youngest person to have caused the phenomenon to happen.

Scholars have tried to study the reasons and circumstances to why Magic Manifestation occurs, but their research results did not come up with much, one of their results being the fact that the magic users who successfully cause the phenomenon to occur are inherently powerful, although, not all magic users who were considered powerful could cause it to happen. Another result was that no ‘evil’ person that is known to have existed has ever had a magic creature manifest, but that’s questionable in my opinion. It is also known that people have lost their Magic Manifestation before, as for their reasons, I was not informed.

Holding the water creature’s gaze, I continued our unusual conversation. What exactly are you?

“I am whatever Masster wishess to think. All that I ask for iss a name…”

Blinking, I pause to give a few moments of thought. When a name came to mind, I gave a smile. I was just thinking about the Leviathan before you appeared, so how about ‘Levi’?

The water dragon seemed to bob up and down in satisfaction. “A fitting and wonderful name. I thank you Masster…”

Levi then proceeded to coil around me, not to touch, but as if to surround me. I watched as this creature’s watery body slithered and hovered around me. The sound of slithering and splashing was a weird but amusing combination. After thoroughly encircling around me, Levi faced me once again, and gently placed its forehead upon mine, the cool sensation slightly tickling my skin. I was still curious as to what Levi was doing, however, I had no choice but to close my eyes once I realized that Levi was starting to glow. Short moments passed by as we maintained the position, then suddenly, I felt a mixed number of sensations, from bubbly, light, to a sort of ‘rush’.

“Vell?!”

“Velloa!”

Both Virgil and Cain called out to me, and once they finally moved in order to react to the situation, Levi’s glowing was already dying down.

“With thiss, Masster and I are joined. As Masster grows, sso will I. I look forward to sseeing how you progresss in the future…”

Taking my time, I opened my eyes. At the same moment, Levi uncoiled and slid itself one step behind me. All the while, Cain and Virgil were standing before me, their expressions laced with worry (including our magic tutor who was off to the side). I gave them a reassuring smile.

With a sigh of relief, Cain was the first to talk. “That… is your Magic Manifestation, right?”

I gently caressed the top of Levi’s head. “Yes, I’m sorry for scaring everyone.”

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Virgil stepped forward, suddenly holding me up and carrying me in his arms. His gaze locked with mine. Confused and concerned were our respective emotions, but assuming after seeing how I was unharmed, Virgil let out a shaky breath and simply patted the top of my head. My smile turned into a wry one due to his actions.

Once those turn of events ended, we had wrapped up our practice, and Cain left – presumably to report to Father. Not too soon after saying our goodbyes to Cain, I felt Levi gently nudge my cheek as I heard his goodbye, then, his body reverted back into a regular body of water. Safe to say, my feet were soaked, but as a water user I should be used to that by now.

Presently, I am with my family at the dining table, innocently eating away at my chiffon cake dessert whilst Mother and Father sported unreadable brooding expressions. Virgil had noticed the mood as well but opted not to say a word as he too ate away at the cake. Our parents’ reactions are unsurprising though. As it currently stands, Korumak Regieren, the country’s sovereign, was the youngest to have caused a Magic Manifestation at the age of eighteen. In the original timeline, his son, Prince Kai, was supposed to change that when he had caused the phenomenon to happen at the age of thirteen. Of course, Mother and Father don’t know that that was supposed to happen, but they themselves were both nineteen when they were able to bring out their Magic Manifestation. So, it would seem that I have caused something that would undoubtedly bring quite a lot of attention to me, for I, at the age of seven, was able to bring out my magic creature.

“This should be fine, no?” Mother was the first to break the brooding atmosphere. “We should show Velloa’s new magic creature during her performance. It would be a great way to surprise his majesty.” With that last sentence, I could see a sly smirk in her expression.

Father sighed at Mother’s words. “Surprise, you say… Even so, Velloa’s new achievement isn’t a bad thing.”

Despite Father’s somewhat troubled expression, Mother smiled and seemingly took that as Father agreeing to her suggestion.

I’m right here, you know…

After tossing and turning under the large periwinkle quilt blanket, I finally found a satisfactory position to relax in, then, not too long later, my mind wondered as I laid in bed. Levi’s appearance was like that of Smaug’s face, with a more webbed crown atop its head and a long whisker (almost as long as its entire length) on each side of its nose, as well as a serpent’s body with a spiny dorsal fin rising up and down along its spine. My Magic Manifestation… Nothing about Velloa’s magic creature was ever mentioned in the anime or game. Let alone anyone ever confirming if she ever had one, but as for the rest of the people…

Mother’s magic creature was that of a water phoenix with its size easily three times her height; its name is Jing. Father’s magic creature looks similar to Haku from ‘Spirited Away’ (except in liquid form), with its name being Lapis; whenever I saw it, it looked to be about ten metres long, but apparently that isn’t its true size. Cain had managed to cause the phenomenon a few months ago, it was an impressive three-metre-tall Maine coon-looking water cat with a tail that was split into two; its name is Marina. Basically, the magic creature’s form is created out of one’s magic element.

With me being surrounded with all these people who have magic creatures, you would think that these rare sounding things are common, but only less than one percent of the population ever manage to cause the phenomenon to occur. Obviously, there’s a relationship between a noble and a person who has a magic creature because they are either already a noble or about to become one as a result of achieving such a phenomenon. Essentially, a magic creature is a sort of symbol and indication of one’s magic and power, making it so that it’s expected for a noble house to have at least one person who has a magic creature.

Virgil’s Magic Manifestation is to occur at the age of eighteen, a few months before Prince Kai’s occurs. Its name, Jin, and appearance are similar to Mother’s; the difference being that Jin’s feathers look to be sharper and rough compared to the soft and smooth feathers of Jing. Dmitri Hammond, the earth user love target, achieves the phenomenon at the age of fourteen, with his creature being a golem made out of some sort of metal; its name was Galmi and seemed to literally grow in height as he did. Zephyr Reve, achieves the phenomenon at the age of fifteen; its name was Vayu and it was a winged large feline-type of chimaera. As for Prince Kai, just like every sovereign of the Kingdom, his magic creature was that of a magnificent fire phoenix, its name was Azar and was easily five to seven metres tall.

Yep, these love targets are high spec characters through and through…

But as I laid there, my thoughts continued in a certain direction. I found myself frowning. Aren’t I someone who has an affinity to two magical elements? Why did the magical creature for my water affinity only appear? Is it because I haven’t used darkness magic? Or is my magical power between each element different, meaning that I am a strong water user and that as a darkness user I’m not? I changed from one comfortable position to another. Maybe, I can clear this up with Levi once I get another chance to talk…

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