Quinn awoke with her forehead soaked in sweat. She rubbed her face as she sat up on her bed and looked around. Her room was fairly dark, the only light coming from the cracks in the door, but she could see fairly well.
She stood up and stretched out her back, hearing it pop several times. She rubbed her muscles, which were slightly sore still. Thankfully, they had healed quite well while she was asleep, so she wasn’t in nearly as much pain as she thought she would be.
The heaviness from the day before, however, only seemed to be worse. Not because it has heavier, but she felt as though her entire body - including her arm - was hollowed out and filled with an oppressive air. And it wasn't even true weight she was feeling, but more of a complete emptiness that was filled with a high pressure. It wasn’t all bad though. Her body only felt that way, but she didn’t have issues moving about at all.
Quinn decided to ignore it and went about her new routine. She stretched out her body and began a furious workout. This time she toned down the exercises for her arms since shooting her new bow would take care of that particular muscle group. That, and she didn’t want to be drained to nothing again.
After her workout, which still managed to leave her a panting wreck of tensed up muscles, Ada knocked on her door. “Mornin’ Quinn!”
“Morning… umm, before we begin the day, could you help me out?” Quinn asked, tottering back and forth on her heels.
“Sure! What’s up?” Ada walked into the room and took a seat.
Quinn frowned as she tried to decide on how to word her question. “It’s uh, about magic. I-I can’t seem to grasp mana very well. I’m able to sense it, but I can’t move it, I guess.”
Ada tapped on her chin and looked Quinn over. “Hmmm… well, are you reaching for the right place? Mana comes from within, so maybe you aren’t doing it quite right?”
Quinn froze as her thought process accelerated. She had been feeling and attempting to move something she could feel outside of her body. That something wasn’t mana, according to Ada. Since mana came from within, what had she been grasping at?
And what did her mana actually feel like? A frown etched itself into her face as she. Wait, when Ada had used magic through her body, that was when she first felt mana, yes? So if it wasn’t the cozy pulsation, then what if the odd feelings of empty weight she had been feeling was actually her mana?
Quinn closed her eyes and focused on the compressed feel all over her body and gave it a more thorough look. It felt like… like the portal had when she was sucked in. Empty, but with a terrible compressive weight. That thought almost ruined her concentration.
She had learned from yesterday how to move… whatever it was, so she continued on with that method. Instead of being forceful, she envisioned the mana flowing gently like water. It didn’t work.
She didn’t get irritated as she did yesterday and simply changed up her tactic. She went with a more brutal method. If before she was gently coaxing the mana to move like it was a rabbit, she was down right forceful making the mana take in the shape she desired.
The heavy mana moved rather easily according to her forceful will. She could feel it shifting and squirming about however she wanted. And then an idea struck her. She grasped at all of the mana in her body and slowly compressed it.
She pulled and pulled the empty mana from her limbs and head, slowly but surely compressing it into her chest. Her limbs, free from her mana, felt light as feathers, but she didn’t let herself get caught up in the moment. She continued to compress the mana into a ball near her heart.
She got to a point that she couldn’t compress it anymore. It was about the size of her hand and resisted her will for the first time. It was fully against going any smaller.
Quinn released her hold on her mana. She was half expecting it to explode back into the rest of her body and lose the ball shape she had forced it into, but the mana neatly stayed where it was. It pulsed with a faint suction, making her entire chest feel tingly.
She opened her eyes to see Ada intently looking at her. “Ya’ figured it out?”
“I think so? I um… I’m not sure…” Quinn said. She hadn’t tried to use Cleanse yet so she wasn’t quite sure if she had it down.
She pointed her hand towards herself and made a small snake from the mana in her heart. The ball stayed the same shape even after she took from it, making her wonder just how much mana she had. It took some time - maybe thirty seconds - before her mana arrived in her hand.
She willed it to her palm, envisioning the coiling ring that Ada had made yesterday. Her mana turned into a neat ring. “Cleanse.” Nothing happened. Maybe the ring wasn’t moving fast enough? She sped up the rotations and tried again. “Cleanse.” Her irritation caused her to lose control of her mana. It faded into the rest of her arm, making the familiar feel of weight return.
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“Are ya’ doin’ it right?” Ada asked.
Quinn glanced up at her. “I’ve got my mana in the same shape as yours was yesterday… and I’m saying the word…”
Ada laughed lightly. “Saying cleanse doesn’t matter. Sorry if I made it seem simple. That just helps most people to focus. The important thing is the ring and the runes engraved on the ring.”
Runes? She hadn’t felt any runes when Ada was casting her magic yesterday. Granted, she wasn’t really paying attention. “Runes?”
Ada nodded. “Yeah, runes. You need to engrave the runes into the outside of the mana circle. They’re pretty simple too, so it shouldn’t be too hard.” She stood up and headed for the door. “Come with me to the other room and I’ll draw them for ya’.”
“Okay.” Quinn followed her into the dirt coated room. Once there, Ada crouched down and drew a ring in the dirt. Then she drew four symbols in the cardinal directions of the ring. They looked quite familiar. She couldn’t quite place where she had seen similar writing before.
“What do they mean?” Quinn asked.
Ada shrugged. “I dunno? Nobody ever really asks what the runes are, we’re jus’ happy to have them. Makes life easier. My pa said that one was light though.” She pointed at the top rune.
“Light?” She guessed it made sense. The magic gave off a light as it cleaned.
“Yeah. Now you practice Cleanse. I’ll go get us cleanin’ supplies.” Ada walked out.
Quinn memorized the simplistic ruins rather easily. She then followed the same steps as before, but this time simply collected the heavy mana that was already in her arm. She forced it into a ring and gouged the simple runes into it. The process was a little difficult since she didn’t have the best control. “Cleanse.”
A light shone from her hand and covered her body. In just a few seconds, she could feel the grime that had built up on her over the last day disappear. The tiny wood chips in her hair from archery also vanished as if they had been a lie. Not only that, but even the sweat from the morning’s workout faded away. Best of all? She didn’t feel drained in the slightest this time.
In fact, she felt on top of the world. She felt as though her orb of mana hadn’t even taken a hit and she could cast Cleanse a hundred more times if need be. A small idea began to burn in the back of her head. Did she have enough mana to actively use magic like a mage?
She didn’t know for sure since she had only learned Cleanse, but she was hopeful for the future. After she paid off her debt, she couldn’t wait to use her money to quench the flame of curiosity that was scorching deep in her mind.
Either way she was super stoked. Someone else casting magic through you was one thing, but actively casting magic was a whole nother experience.
Ada returned carrying a bucket, a shovel, and a couple of brooms. She set them down and looked up. “Ya’ look much cleaner. I take it you succeeded?”
Quinn couldn’t stop the smile that broke out across her face. “Yes! Thank you, Ada!”
“I remember when I first cast magic too.” A faint smile clung to her lips. “I felt like nobody could stop me and I was destined to lead the rich life of a mage.” That smile dimmed noticeably. “Anyway, let’s clean this room, shall we?”
----------------------------------------
Cleaning the room took far longer than it took to paint the other, but Quinn didn’t mind. She spent the entire time asking Ada questions about magic and mana. She learned quite a bit from Ada, which she was slightly surprised about. Apparently her dad shared all sorts of stuff about mana and magic when she was younger.
Of course, cleaning the room itself took quite a bit of effort, so she couldn’t ask nearly as many questions as she wanted.
Ada swept out the last bit of dirt and popped her back. “I don’ know about ya’, but I am more then ready for lunch.”
“What are we having?” Quinn sighed as she stretched out. The oppressive feeling of her mana had returned. It wasn’t quite as bad as before but was still irritating. She would unfortunately have to bear with it and wait till later.
“We’ll go to the Silver Grove today, but we can’t keep doing this. I don’ have enough money to go eat there every day.” Ada jingled her coin purse as if to add emphasis to what she said.
They made their way out the front door, stepping into the soaking rain of the Eternal Storm. It hadn’t stopped raining one time since she had woken up. Apparently, only a couple days of a month didn’t have rain.
While they walked, Quinn thought about what she had learned from Ada. Magic was quite simple. Although she made it sound complicated, it sounded a lot like an equation. So basically, a mage makes a circle. Then the mage adds in specific runes to cause a magical effect. The more runes, the more control needed and the bigger the circle required. And big circles with complicated runes need more mana to make.
There was a slight work around. Using something called a mana circuit, a person could gain better control over mana. The more circuits someone has, the stronger the person is in regard to mana control. There is a catch though. Not only are mana circuits exponentially harder to make the more a person has, but making a mana circuit binds mana to a person’s body. She wasn’t sure why binding mana was bad, but Ada made it sound as if there were some serious repercussions.
Quinn wasn’t quite sure what to do with the info. She didn’t know any runes except for the four used in Cleanse, so she couldn’t teach herself much magic. She didn’t have any avenues to learn since she couldn’t read, and she couldn’t learn to read in such a small town. As she had seen most places use symbols instead of words, she could safely assume that the literacy rate was abismal. Though, to be fair, the low literacy rates might be because she wasn’t in a city.
They arrived at the Silver Grove before too long. The place wasn’t too crowded with only a few people in. The illusion mage was one of those people as he strummed his lute by the fire. The warm and cozy environment remained, just the same as before. The fire, made of its silver logs that’s burned with a deep red, burned gently in the corner as it had before. Quinn quite enjoyed the nice and peaceful place. For some reason it reminded her of the coffee shops she frequented in college.
Just as they sat down, the music stopped and the young man set down his lute. Quinn looked over her shoulder to see the man approaching them.