A whole year has passed since the discovery of the veins of what I assume are mana, since then, I had experienced growth in numerous areas. I grew physically, but it wasn’t a lot, but I could tell I was gaining some strength as the days pass. Most of my days with Grandpa was understanding mana more in depth, how it was apart of nature, how it can create and destroy, something I understood plenty, but I let him tell me as a refresher and just in case anything was different. However, when it came to the veins itself, we were sort of at a standstill. Grandpa was stuck in his old ways, which he admitted, which left me with Elethea… until she said she couldn’t even see the veins. I forgotten she was likely older than Grandpa despite her looks, so it would be even harder for her to grasp what we were trying to do. So, for the last year, whenever I got the chance in the expand the veins, I took the time to do so. Unfortunately, in the same regard, my schedule had gotten busy since I began to learn how to wield a sword from Conrad. It may be the basics, but I had to learn something physical eventually.
In terms of how far the veins have gotten though, I had finally connected my head to the pulse… but nothing else had grown since then. It took far longer than my previous maximum expectation of half a year, and it had drained the life out of me to reach this point. The only thing different to the homestead however was the places being constructed for the sake of proper training for the international training thing… I don’t think they gave it a name yet. When I checked with my notes, now that my veins were connected to what I assumed was my heart, if anything changed… I realized nothing changed. The only thing I understood was the pulse seemed stronger in the other directions, enough so that if I left the pulse alone, the veins in my chest would eventually reach my heart in my sleep. My goal shifted to connecting my other arm to the veins in my chest, because it would make the pulse focus entirely on my lower body. However, that would slow down as I heard Grandpa shout from the entrance, “Ledo! Eisen and Alphard are here!” I shot up from my seat, I hadn’t seen either of them in ages, seems they had some longstanding work that kept them away for a while.
I ran through the halls, breezing past Elethea before she could utter a word about me running through the house. Since we were on the first floor, all I had to do was make a sharp turn from the hallway into the entrance, and I basically threw myself into Eisen and Alphard, “Great Uncle Eisen, Cousin Alphard!” I felt their arms wrap around me, Alphard had to kneel down since Great Uncle Eisen and I were quite smaller than him. Eisen said, “Woah! Look at how much the little earth shaker grew!” Alphard, a smile on his weary face, said, “I have to agree with you there Eisen, he might be taller than me one day if he keeps growing.” Once I pulled back, I noticed someone standing with them, and I panicked a little before running behind Grandpa. I didn’t know what came over me, I just felt a sense of dread, then I hid… well, hid as best as I could. Because with Eisen and Alphard, there was a small girl who seemed a little nervous.
Looking out from behind him, I got a better look at them, they seemed to be around my height, so I assumed she was my age at the minimum. Her silver hair seemed to be down to the nape of her neck, her eyes a surprising amethyst, almost like someone put jewels in her eyes. She wore something like I did, clothing meant for function over form, but they did hold the near same amount of detail. But the one thing about her that stood out was her ears, as Grandpa had told me, people with long ears like this were elves. Grandpa put his hand on my back, saying, “Come on Ledo, she’s one of the children who’re here for the training camp we’re putting together. I just… owed her folks a few favors. They’re lower ranked nobles from the kingdom of Alfheim, barons if I haven’t forgotten.” He lifted me up ever so slightly and put me a bit of a distance away from the girl, then said, “I believe you two should give your own introductions, since you two are so similar.”
I looked to her, noticing that her eyes were like my own, ones filled with fear. I know she wasn’t a reincarnation… at least I thought so. When stories like this happen, it’s usually only the one person who went through the reincarnation that was reincarnated. In the short moment we looked to each other, I assumed she was bullied because of her low status, or by those she believed she was friends with over her position. In a way, she was like me, we were afraid of others because of things outside of our control. I gathered the courage I had, extending a shaky hand towards her, “My name is Ledo, nice to m-meet you.” I stuttered as I spoke, my own fears may have been dulled by my realization, but it didn’t mean it was gone. She looked to me, then to my hand, likely noticing it was shaking. She extended her hand to mine, taking it as she shook it, “My name is Freya, nice to meet you t-too Ledo.” When I looked back to Grandpa, he seemed to be pleased with this. To me though, I wasn’t really sure what to think.
~~~
Around two weeks passed since we welcomed Freya into our home, since then, she’s been getting used to the house and her new room. We chatted every so often, but it wasn’t much outside of pleasantries. Grandpa has been trying to convince me to do more with her, but I knew pushing her would likely not be best. She was thrown into a new place, met new people, so giving her time to get used to that change first was, in my opinion, the best plan for the moment. I did notice her taking interest in my meditation in the study, but it wasn’t more than that… or at least I think. I don’t know if she enters the study when I begin focusing, because the whole point in my meditation is to focus on expanding my veins, so my focus is entirely within me until I’m disturbed or drop the focus myself. But that wasn’t what I was going through right now, because once again this week, I was struggling with another nightmare.
I had many of these since my reincarnation into this world, just not so many within the same timespan as this, as I’ve had one almost every day for the past two weeks. I felt a searing pain on my cheek, I was punched by someone I believed to have been my friend, someone I trusted to have my back in my worst. He shouted, “How dare you bully your own brother!? I thought you were a kind person, not some jealous prick!” I said back, the fear in my voice evident, “I never did those things! You know me, I can’t even hurt a fly!” At that time, it was true, I usually caught and released flies whenever I could. But despite that fact, he shouted, “Don’t lie to me! I seen those bruises on your brother! You can’t deny the proof that covers him!” I felt fear line every inch of my body, because my brother had chosen to get hit by his friends to fake me bullying him, all for the sake of bringing me down.
Even now, over a decade later, and being reincarnated, I still couldn’t tell why he did this to me. Everyone I trusted turned their backs on me, the guidance counselors couldn’t tell if my brother was telling the truth or me, and it only made me doubt everything and everyone more than I already had since being beaten. This nightmare has been on repeat, night after night, and once the focus of the dream was done, I just walked through a never-ending hallway of people glaring at me for something I never done. I progressively got older within this hallway, signifying my lack of people to trust. In middle school, I was the only one I had, the only one I could trust, the only one that could keep myself safe, was me. But something changed in this dream, the moment I entered high school, I felt a warmth cover me, one I hadn’t felt before.
The glares of others turned away, looking towards a bright light that laid before me on my solitary path. Within the light were seven people, one was an adult, but the others seemed to be within my age, three male, three female, while the adult was a woman. I didn’t know who they were, and I couldn’t even see their faces as they seemed blurry. However, deep within me, I felt like I knew these people. The girl in the front held out her hand to me, something told me that that blurry face had a wide smile, beckoning me to come with them. Something within me stirred, telling… no, yelling at me to take their hand. I reached my hand out, taking the hand of the one reaching out for me. I felt the hands of the other six reach out, grab my arm, as a single sentence said in unison rang out in my ears, “Come on, let’s go!” With that, I fell into a quiet slumber, unsure as to what just happened.”
~~~
I felt a feeling as my eyes opened up, I stood up and began to walk to Ledo’s room, knowing he was having yet another nightmare. I don’t know what it is with him that I can just feel when he’s having a nightmare, but I just chalk it up to my paternal desire to help this poor child as he lives with the pain of his former life. As I walked out of my room, I only wondered just how long I this was to continue, because no one should suffer as he has over the years with these nightmares. Sometimes they slowed down, sometimes they increased in number, this week only telling me he was feeling some way that triggered the nightmares to keep bringing him down like this. He may not show it, but I know they were slowly beginning to affect him.
When I got to his door, I realized it was slightly more open than I usually leave it when I leave his room for the night. So, I peeked my head in slowly, to not disturb what could be happening inside his room. When my eyes adjusted enough, I noticed Freya was panicked as she looked at Ledo while he struggled with a nightmare again. For how long she was in here, I couldn’t say, but she must’ve heard me come through a few times this week or heard him since her room was right beside his. I was about to enter, mostly to at least try and ease Ledo back to sleep properly so he could get his much-needed sleep, but when I saw Freya begin to rub Ledo’s head, I was surprised when I noticed Ledo’s face began to ease after a moment. I was surprised, even when I did that, he never seemed to ease like this.
After a minute or so of this, Ledo reached out his hand, for a reason I couldn’t really understand. But Freya saw it as a sign and took it in hers, and after a moment, Ledo began to breathe rhythmically far faster than I’ve ever seen. After a moment, I let myself in, and Freya seemed shocked for a moment before I put a finger to my lips, hoping she’d keep quiet. Luckily, she understood, and I managed to check on Ledo before we both left the room. Freya was quick to say, “I’m sorry Mr. Alaster, I know I should be asleep, but… I just knew he was in pain. I… I wanted to help him.” I smiled as I rubbed her head, “It’s fine young Freya, you helped Ledo in a way I’ve never been able to, thank you.” She looked into my eyes, confused, “Has… has Ledo had nightmares a lot?” I nodded, “Yes, he’s had them frequently for quite some time now. Sometimes, like within the past two weeks, they increase. I can’t figure out why this happens though, I just do what I can.”
Freya looked to Ledo’s room, worried, “Is there anything I can do?” I chuckled lightly, “In the case of his nightmares? No, I don’t think so. But there is one way you can help him.” She looked to me, as if unsure to what I was about to ask. As I took her back to her room, I said, “What Ledo needs right now, more than anything else, is a friend.” She looked to me, asking, “A friend? Someone like him should have a lot of friends.” I chuckled, lifting her up and tucking her in, then taking a chair and sitting next to her bed, “You’d believe that, but Ledo’s had a… fear of others.” Freya looked to me with realization in her eyes, “That’s why he hid behind you that day… he was afraid of me.” I nodded, “Astute observations young lady. If I may, can I trust you to be Ledo’s first friend? I don’t want to push you to do so, nor push Ledo to accept you, but I want you to at least become close with him. If he can start to open up, it’ll be great for when the training camp really begins.”
Freya thought for a while, I assume because this was a strange request to hear from someone like me. She looked to me, then hesitated for a moment before saying, “I can try.” I smiled to her, “It’s all I ask of you.” I motioned her to lay down, then said, “For tonight, sleep. It’s up to you how you wish to proceed. Have good night Freya.” Freya yawned, “Good night Mr. Alaster…” With that, she was almost instantly asleep, and I made my way back to my own bed. For once in many years, I was a little restless, my hopes for Ledo to make friends wasn’t lost on my body. I spoke, quietly, “If Ledo can make friends, maybe they can help him where I cannot.” I closed my eyes, envisioning my comrades and our journey, “Maybe he can have the journey I had with the people he trusts, that could help him find his place in the world.” I felt my consciousness fade away, sleep overcoming me.
~~~
When I woke up today, I began to wonder why Freya was following me around far closer than before. She sat with me when we ate, worked out with me, received training from Conrad, and even sat with me when Grandpa began teaching magic. What confused me the most about this was her following me into the study, when I assumed my meditative position, she did as well. I said, “Ok, what are you doing?” Freya looked a little shocked, since I wasn’t really talking to her much despite her following me. She blushed a little, then said, “You’re… the only other kid here. Doing nothing is pretty boring, you know?” I knew she was hiding something, then sighed, “Grandpa put you up to this, didn’t he?” I noticed her eyes bounce around; embarrassment covered her face. I sighed, “He didn’t need to convince you, I knew you’d eventually come to me with those exact reasons.” She seemed confused, but I decided to try and break the ice, “You know about magic, at least to the point Grandpa has been teaching, yes?”
Freya smiled, “Yeah! I can even cast some, watch!” Without awaiting my input, she began casting a spell, before shouting, “Gust of Wind!” Which she promptly released at me, causing my papers to fly everywhere as ink nearly spilled onto the table. While I sat there, processing the fact this child, who was my age mind you, knew magic, she was panicking over the papers I had flying everywhere. As she tried to collect them, I said, “Don’t worry about it, I can pick them up in a second.” Once she sat down, I said, “How in the world did you cast magic? I don’t think human kids can do what you can.” Freya put a finger to her chin in thought, then said, “Dad said elves are naturally inclined to magic, it’s why we learn magic at a young age. If we don’t learn about it, we may accidentally cast a spell, which could cause damage to our surroundings as well as ourselves if we’re not careful.”
I chuckled a little, which Freya seemed to notice, “What’s so funny?” I said, “You do know the dangers, but you nearly tore up my valuable research on how mana functions within people. This took me a year and a half to research and study, nearly torn up in the wind.” I realized my comment was ill timed, because Freya looked guilty because of it, “I’m sorry Ledo, I just wanted to show off the magic I knew…” I immediately felt bad, “Wait, Freya, I didn’t mean it in a bad way! If anything, I found it amusing. Those papers wouldn’t break so easily, they’re pretty strong, promise.” She looked at me, something about her made me unable to see her like those in my nightmares, “Do you mean it?” I nodded, trying to put her at ease, “I promise.” This seemed to calm her down, and I decided to pick up my notes, curious to see what someone so young would believe if I were to show them what I learned.
After gathering my research, and a simple explanation of what I knew, Freya seemed intrigued with what I found out. She was young, but I could tell she had a wish to know more about magic, much like me. She said, “So you think that these veins are connected to our ability to use magic?” I nodded, but with a tone of uncertainty as I spoke, “I believe so, but I can’t confirm or deny that fact just yet, considering I haven’t gotten all the veins within me connected to where I believe is my heart just yet.” She looked at the paper, quite intently might I add, then asked, “Can I do what you do? Maybe I can help.” I thought for a moment, could someone with the attention span of a child be able to do what I’m doing? I sighed, might as well try at least, and she seems to know the dangers of magic enough, “Alright, let me explain, but you need to be careful and focus.” I explained what I was doing, meditation to see within myself, my goal being to find mana within me.
After taking a few minutes to process, she asked, “I know what I’ll be doing, but what are you going to do?” I waved my hand, “I still have to connect my veins to my heart, I still have my entire lower half to go. You focus on yourself; I’ll see what we should test if you can see what I want you to today.” Freya nodded, “Of course, I’ll do that!” I watched her take my meditative pose and close her eyes, I sighed, “I wonder how this’ll go, because I can’t even consider the potentialities of this discovery… if it’s correct.” I got into position and closed my eyes; today’s goal was progress on my arm. However, when I went to direct the pulse, it was far easier than before, and a single pulse covered far more ground than it did before. The shock was so much to me I lost focus and shouted gibberish, this ended up surprising Freya out of her concentration.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Freya said, “Ledo, what the heck!? You tell me to focus, then you do that!” I quickly began to apologize, “Sorry Freya, but I think I just discovered something.” I retook my position and tried again, when I redirected the pulse, the mana went where I willed with surprising ease. The amount of veins that managed to grow from a singular pulse was noticeably quicker too, almost like the connection my brain gained to my heart made it significantly easier for manipulation of the pulse. I opened my eyes, my brain running the why of this discovery, but it was actually far simpler than I thought. I began to write it down as I spoke to myself, “The brain is what controls the body, including its functions. So, it shouldn’t have been farfetched to consider the brain, once connected to the source of the pulse, could control it easier than without. Maybe in the future, if this is how mana is managed within us, we instruct others to form the brain first to make it easier to control the pulse.”
Freya seemed intrigued, before quickly getting focused and returning to her previous position. Seems like she might’ve had a competitive side, which she might’ve directed towards research. I chuckled as I got into my own position and focused, the arm could be done within the coming days, but my legs and chest though, that’s a question I can’t answer. However, I recall being faster than this before… when I had my hand on Grandpa’s back. I got up, quietly this time to not disturb Freya, and went to Grandpa. Before he could ask anything, I said, “Come with me, I need to test something.” Grandpa seemed surprised, so he began to follow me as he asked, “What do you want to test?” I told him what I learned after my brain was connected, and how my arm was faster than my current arm was because of what I assume was his magical influence. So, I finished with, “I want to see if I can expand my veins faster with your assistance, if that’s possible, I may be able to cast magic faster.”
After a moment of thinking, Grandpa seemed energized, “Let’s try it! My boy, you’re the only one who gets my mind rolling like this!” I smiled, I guess in his long years of life, he’s never considered the possibilities of what laid before him. When I got into position, Grandpa put his hand on my back, closest to my heart. He asked, “Ready Ledo?” I nodded, closing my eyes and saying, “Ready.” I began to focus the pulse to the lower half of my body, choosing my left leg to focus on first. I noticed my pulse seemed to be brighter this time, but I couldn’t confirm it with the first time since it wasn’t what I was focusing on at the time. I felt something warm begin to flow around my heart, and the pulse shot out thicker than I’ve seen it before. It was certainly larger than my other attempts, and I believe it was because of active assistance from Grandpa, not the unknowing assistance I received before.
When the pulse reached my legs, it split down the middle, not going one way like I wanted it to, which was odd considering how I was trying to move it. But the second it hit my feet, the veins within exploded as they weaved their way up my leg a tad, resting just below my knee. I was confused for a moment, but I figured it out, it was mana after all! Grandpa, likely over the years of continuous use, purified his mana to some capacity. That was why this boost to the pulse occurred, by Grandpa willingly sending his mana into me, it sped up the process of my veins being made and stabilized. Another pulse collided with the veins in my legs, completely finishing off both legs as some reached up towards my heart. I understood there was a purity or refinement to the mana within us, I can’t say how so since I can’t investigate within myself yet, but I believed I could do so soon if Grandpa kept up the mana. Another pulse, lines filled and scattered, hitting one of my vital organs and slowing down as it filled the veins of the organ and its local area. This did confirm the organ theory we had, they had some importance if they were specifically chosen by mana veins for the carrying and distribution of mana.
Now, likely because I just shot entire areas full of mana, I felt sensitive in all the areas that were covered in veins. It felt nearly overwhelming, but I had to keep it in. Another pulse, I felt as the pulse grew, each vein reaching out to grasp the area where my heart was. One more pulse would connect it all, likely allowing my heart to achieve unity with the rest of my body. But the feeling got worse off, everything was getting even more sensitive than before. I decided to stop, there was no way I could handle this if it got even stronger… until another pulse went off. The veins shot up and past, connecting everything, including the organs as my whole body was seemingly connected to my heart. My eyes shot awake, everything felt sensitive as I stood up and pushed away… nothing. I felt like I was seeing, hearing, and feeling double, maybe even triple. Grandpa asked, “What’s wrong Ledo?!” The echoing blasted my ears, I covered them and shouted, “Shut up! I can’t! It’s too much!”
Freya had been knocked out of focus, or at least what I could sense, since I wasn’t even looking at her right now. Grandpa seemed to gain a look of understanding, then said, “Ledo! Focus! Contain the mana within you, slowly, don’t force it.” I looked to him, he must’ve experienced this somewhere along his journey with magic, so I decided to trust him. I sat down, focusing within me once more. The mana I noticed within me seemed to be going haywire, some going in the veins, but some were leaking out in some areas. In a sense, it was like the mana was acting akin to blood, and these hyper senses were akin to internal bleeding. I tried to manipulate the mana that was leaking and began to seal the holes that were gushing mana, akin to trying to clot blood by holding your hand on a wound or bandaging it. While I could handle a few in close proximity, there was far too many for me to do since they were scattered all throughout the body. I snapped myself out of my confusion, I had to focus, so I chose the areas where my vital organs were and chose to seal those holes first. It could secure my body from degrading, or maybe change the status of the other holes, but it was the best I could do with my current capabilities.
~~~
I looked to Ledo as he focused, his body sweating profusely as his face looked to be in a certain pain like state. I looked to Freya, motioning her to be silent and quietly left the study, shutting the door. Once I did, I kept her quiet as we walked down the hall for a moment, Elethea was running towards me with Conrad and Eisen, Alphard was out at the moment since he needed to do some shopping today. Elethea said, “Alden, what happened?! I felt a surge of mana all of a sudden, where’s Ledo?!” I quickly shushed her, “Quiet down Elethea, I think Ledo’s hit that stage of mana growth.” Elethea, knowing what this meant since she hit it like I did, said, “We talk in the dining room, it should be far enough.” I nodded, and I made sure to bring Freya with me, since she was likely to experience this in her life time.
Once we were in the dining room, we shut the door and sat down, Elethea saying, “Alden, there’s no way Ledo is going through awakening. He hasn’t even cast magic yet.” Freya asked, “What’s awakening?” I spoke, considering my extensive magic knowledge, “Awakening is when mages achieve a new level of mana control. Their mana becomes more refined, allowing for more spells to be cast from their existing pool of mana. More than that, their body becomes more sensitive to mana, making any mage who achieves awakening stronger than those who haven’t.” Elethea said, “Which is why Ledo can’t be going through it, mages who achieve that state take decades to do, most human mages don’t achieve it.” I spoke, my tone serious, “What if we’ve been looking at magic wrong? Ledo hasn’t cast a spell yet, but I bet as soon as he clears the initial hurdle of awakening, he could cast a spell stronger than anyone else his age. We could have gotten awakening wrong since the beginning.”
Eisen spoke, “Elethea, Alden has a point. I’m not saying you’re incorrect, but magic has been… strange to us all for years. You know how we dwarves and elves have long life spans, but the ones who made the most magical breakthroughs throughout the centuries have been the humans. It’s as Alden said when he taught us some basic magic, we’ve been trapped in a rut for so long that we believe it’s normal. In a way, it’s like trying to teach an old dog new tricks. While it can be done, it would take a while since the dog is used to all of its old tricks.” I noticed Eisen look to Elethea, he then said, “Don’t get angry at me for accepting it takes me time to learn new things, it means I know I still have room to improve.” Elethea did seem angry, but she eventually breathed out and said, “I cannot deny it Eisen, maybe we are stuck in a rut.” She looked to me, her eyes concerned, “Alden, if Ledo just achieved a breakthrough in magic at such a young age, it could change the entire balance of the country, no, the world itself. If he isn’t nurtured properly, he could upend the world as we know it.”
I nodded, knowing just how much this could change everything, “We know Ledo, he has no goals of power, he’s just a very intelligent child. If anything, he’s just vastly curious about magic, so let’s let him determine what he wants to do, while explaining how this could be dangerous if in the wrong hands.” Conrad nodded, “I guess that’s best, I don’t know enough about magic to know how big this is.” Eisen nodded, “Of course, it’s Ledo’s discovery, not ours.” I put my hand to my chin, it’s been a while since something like this happened, and I hoped I had something within my memories that could explain this sudden moment. That’s when I remembered Freya was here, “Freya, what did Ledo tell you to do?” Freya said, “He told me to see if I had veins! The stuff from the pictures he had!” I nodded, “Did you find anything out?” She nodded, “Yeah! I have some going to my arms, but that’s it!”
This was a shock for me, my entire life was spent reaching the cusp of what Ledo just found, “It can’t be…” I said with disbelief, my mind unable to comprehend the thought I just had. Elethea asked, “What can’t be Alden? I assume Ledo just got lucky and found a way to fast track the awakening process.” I put my hand to my head, “What if awakening isn’t the end of one’s magic journey, but rather the beginning.” Elethea laughed, “Alden, that’s hilarious! If that was the case, we’d have found out long ago!” Eisen spoke, his voice dead serious, “You could be right.” Everyone looked to him, his voice stern, “Some dwarven excavators up from my home country, The Muspelheim Conglomerate if you forgotten, found some ancient text regarding awakening. It did say something about it being vital for a mage to achieve, but that was all. What if it said, “Awakening is vital for mages to begin using magic properly”? Some magic we know is blocked for all to use until they awaken, so it could be the case.”
Elethea shook her head, “No way, that’d be insanity. We spend all this time using magic, only to learn we’ve barely scraped the surface. It makes no sense.” Eisen spoke, “Remember those years ago when I spoke about a theory the dwarves have?” Elethea nodded, “Of course, I called it insane.” Eisen looked to me, I didn’t remember this, so maybe I wasn’t there, “The theory is that at one point, a major attack swept through the land, causing the people of the time to lose a majority of the mages that once taught the proper ways of magic. It left a void that couldn’t be filled, thus rendering us to a less powerful state. It could be true.” I thought, but I had no concrete evidence to back it up. I said, “For now, let’s have that be a possibility. Until then, we should be calm and see how this changes magic for the time being.” This whole conversation was giving me a headache, if only we knew what was going through Ledo’s head, maybe we could understand just what was happening.
~~~
Sealing the leaks was taking ages, when I managed to quell some of them, others burst open. I was getting better at controlling the mana, but not enough to stop the leaking. With each step I made, it was like I took three steps back. I was close to giving up, at least until something began to spread through me. The leaks ceased, and something felt a little tight within me. I heard a voice speak, one I felt like I’d heard before, “You’re not able to wield your full power just yet, in time, you’ll be able to wield it.” Just as quickly as it came, it was gone, so I opened my eyes. Everything felt normal, except I felt lighter for some reason, not to mention the tightness within me disappeared as if it was never there. I stood up and did a few bounces, then snapped my fingers next to my ear to make sure I wasn’t still hearing double. When I determined I was fine, I looked to the window and realized it was rather late now, dinner must’ve just hit or passed me by already.
When I left the study, the hall was quiet, which I assumed they left me alone after I lashed out because of what I was hearing. When I got to dining room, I noticed Great Uncle Eisen was setting out the plates. He noticed me quick, and as if nothing happened, he said, “Want to help little lad?” I nodded and took the silverware; glad I wasn’t bombarded with questions as soon as I was seen again. Once the table was set, Great Uncle Eisen put a hand to my forehead, “Feeling better I assume? You seem to be moving fine.” I flexed my still growing arm muscles, “Better than ever! I feel lighter than before actually.” Eisen smiled, “Good, I’d be rushing you to Elethea otherwise, just so you know.” Great Uncle Eisen wasn’t straight forward, at least most of the time, so he’d say things like that as if they were entirely normal to say in conversation. Personally, it was a quirk of his, and I found it rather funny he’d say things like that so normally.
As I chuckled a little, Freya came in carrying a bowl of salad, once she put it down, she noticed I was here. She ran up to me and said, “Are you ok?! You freaked out earlier, it was weird!” I scratched my neck, “Well, I was hearing double at the moment, it sounded horrible.” Great Uncle Eisen nodded, “Yep, that’s awakening for ya. Just explain everything when asked alright? Let me just say before you do that this is causing a stir among the more magically inclined here.” I was confused with what he meant, but I couldn’t really do much other than agree to what he said. Eventually, everyone came in, with Alphard trailing in a little behind with a slightly sterner expression than I recall him having.
When Great Aunt Elethea noticed me, she quickly put down the food on the table and rushed over to me, “Ledo, my baby, are you alright?” She acted like a mother figure for me, considering she was the only one aside Cousin Kijo who was a woman in this household, so her worry was understandable to everyone. I nodded, a smile plastered on my face, “Of course, I feel light as a feather now!” I showed off how nimble I was by bouncing around a little, Great Aunt Elethea seemed to collapse a little out of relief, which I quickly tried to help her… until I realized I was still four and a half trying to at least lift someone over a hundred pounds. Uncle Conrad was quick to help her up and sit her in her chair, he spoke, “Take a seat and start eating, we’ll chat after you regain some nutrients in your body.” Great Uncle Eisen said, “I agree, you need to eat to grow bigger and stronger young lad.” With that, we ate, mostly in silence as they watched me ravage my meal. Turns out I was far hungrier than I imagined.
~~~
Once we finished eating, we cleared the table and cleaned up, then we were all back in our chairs. Grandpa and Great Aunt Elethea seemed serious, taking to the head of the table this time, which meant this was serious. Grandpa said, “Ledo, explain everything you saw and felt while you were going through that… event earlier today.” I nodded, serious about this. I explained the veins reaching my heart due to Grandpa’s assistance, the leaking of my veins, my attempt to stop it without success… then the voice. Once that was explained, Great Aunt Elethea said, “Ledo, are you sure you heard a voice? No one hears voices just like that.” I nodded, “I’m serious, it said I couldn’t wield my power, but I could in due time. While it wasn’t those words specifically, that’s what it basically said. Once that was said, I felt better than I did before the whole thing.” I looked to my hand, I had to test something, so I began the long chant for the wind spell Freya used since I heard it in a book.
Once I finished, I said, “Gust of Wind…” After a long silence… nothing. I tried another chant, this time for fire, “Fireball…” Nothing. I did another similar spell for water and earth, but once again, nothing. Grandpa, clearly confused, said, “I swear he experienced awakening… but he isn’t able to cast any magic?” I was confused now, Grandpa seemed to state this was a magical process of some sort, but even then I should be able to cast magic despite lacking affinities. I held my hand out, if I couldn’t use magic with certain types, why not try to use mana in its purest form? I spoke a chant, one I came up with on the spot, “Mana purest in form, come to me and take form, Pure Mana Arrow.” With that, I felt something within me stir and flow to my hand, suddenly, an arrow of pure white formed over my hand, silence filled the room as everyone observed the floating arrow of what I had to believe was pure mana above my hand.
Great Aunt Elethea said, “No way… pure mana? I thought pure mana manipulation was a myth!” Great Uncle Eisen said, “Hm, I thought it was just lost to time… maybe it was a result of awakening.” Grandpa was overjoyed as he observed the arrow, “How amazing! Pure mana is controllable! Hold it still Ledo, I’m going to draw this on a paper for you!” Uncle Conrad and Cousin Alphard just looked to each other confused, chatter erupting from Grandpa, Great Aunt Elethea, and Great Uncle Eisen. Great Aunt Elethea and Great Uncle Eisen were both debating their theories, what I did being nigh impossible or lost to time, while Grandpa was basically drooling at the fact I had a pure mana spell active. Alphard got up, “I’m going to sleep, this is beyond me since I don’t research magic, I just use it.” Uncle Conrad did too, picking up Freya as she seemed to nod in and out of consciousness, “I’m going to put Freya to bed, she seems tired.” As they left, I reached out to them with my unoccupied hand, “Don’t leave me here!”