“Focus on your core, that ball of energy that sits right under your sternum, and passes through your body in rivers,” the young teacher explained, sitting at the front of a circle of young children. She had wavy brown hair, bright brown eyes, and a full figure that curved in beautiful ways. Her robes, tan with many lines of blue embroidery, were common for a female teacher such as herself. There were no sleeves, and the fabric was plentiful, tied with a silken blue rope at the waist to give some form to it.

“Kase, don’t strain yourself,” she sighed, looking at a little blond boy that looked like he was trying to shit himself, “Breathe. You breathe in, hold it, and breathe out. Just focus on your core, don’t push it. It’s meditation. You’ll get it eventually. All of you will.”

There were twenty-two kids in this class, held outside in the academy’s garden. Most were between the ages of six at the youngest, and twelve at the oldest. The large majority were blonde. Five were of brown hair. Two had black hair. And one, an eight-year-old kid by the name of Alister, had stark white hair.

Those with blonde hair tended to have very light mana, usually good for healing and for use against the undead scourge. Those with brown hair tended to have very neutral, earthy mana, great for druidic or herbalist endeavors. Black hair, though fairly rare, tended to have rather dense mana that took in a lot of impurities, which was very good for darker magics that would otherwise try to corrupt the user. Black-haired mages were unfortunately looked at with a lot of suspicion and distrust.

White hair, the sort that Alister had, typically denoted a lot of mana, or having pure mana without a tendency toward any element.

Meditation was not exactly a fun event for kids, even when they were meant to be unlocking their mana pool. When the first child, however, a nine-year-old brown-haired girl named Melanie, unlocked hers with a burst of light and wind, it got the others excited. The wind rustled everything, the grass, the leaves on the trees, clothes, and it smelled like honeysuckle.

All the kids looked at her, envy raging in their eyes. She averted her gaze, and the teacher clapped, “Yay! Good job Melanie! See? I said I wasn’t lying. If you work hard you can unlock your core too! Get back at it!”

The kids grumbled and got back to quiet meditation as the teacher got up and crouched in front of Melanie. Despite whispering, everyone could hear her with the quiet of the group. Nothing but a breeze spoke over her, “Melanie since you unlocked yours, I want you to go to the physician now. He’s waiting for us. He’s just going to check you over and talk to you about taking it easy for a few days as your body gets used to the mana.”

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“Ok Miss Koll,” she whispered back, cheeks red in embarrassment as she stood and scrambled away from the group.

It took another ten minutes of painful quietness before the next person succeeded. This time it was one of the black-haired kids, a boy. When his mana burst out of his body, it sunk along the ground like a dark fog, cold enough to bring a shiver to your skin. He blinked, bringing himself out of the daze of meditation as everyone watched the fog dissipate by the time it touched the other side of the circle of kids.

“Good job Dace!” She did the same as she did with the first girl. This repeated over and over again over the next two hours.

“Good job Haley!” “Good job Ibera!” “Good job Justin!” “Good job James!” “Good job George!” “Good job Wisteria!” “Good job Trist!” ”Good job Neya!” ”Good job Horiah!” ”Good job Lola!”

Twelve kids were done. The circle, with only ten left, started to feel lonely.

“Good job Victor!” she cheered after another one of the blond kids completed the task. He looked proud of himself as he jogged off. The other kids groaned and grumbled, feeling envious and tired of sitting in one place. Alister groaned too.

White hair was supposed to be one of the rarest, after purple, and it was supposed to be the one with the most potential! He felt like he was failing, like he could feel his father’s eyes on him. He could already hear his mother consoling him.

He shook his head and renewed his effort for the billionth time.

His hands were cupped in front of his lap, just below the area of the core, and his back was straight. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing… one two three four five in… hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold… one two three four five out. In… hold the energy… bring it up from the floor… feel it move into your center. Out… release the energy… sense it… watch it leave back out onto the floor. Keep going. Ignore everything else. There are no other sounds.

A bird screamed at another bird on a branch of a nearby tree.

No! Focus. Breathe. In, hold, out. In, hold, out. In…

Alister felt the explosion before he went unconscious. He felt a searing white pain echo through his body and felt himself slam against the ground. Did he get lifted off the ground or something? How did that hurt so much? Was he dying now? He felt his consciousness fade, confusion washing over him like a hot flash. All the air had been knocked from his lungs, and the world went black.