To Thomas’s surprise, Abigail literally dragged him out of the small town they were in. Leading him to an open area on top of a small hill, they sat down and looked at each other. The star filled night and cool breeze left him feeling calm. It was so peaceful he just sat there and enjoyed it; it seems like Abigail agreed with him and just enjoyed the moment. He eventually broke away from Abigail's golden eyes and stared up at the sky. Just enjoying the moment of peace and beauty.
After a while Abigail cleared her throat bringing Thomas back to reality. Once she had his attention she said, “Okay let’s get to it. Your mana sense is just conditioning yourself to feel the mana around you. The more sensitive you are to it the clearer and further you can feel. We have already talked about how mana is a part of you and everything else, you just have to learn how to feel it. When you cycle you feel the mana enter your body right? You are focused inwards; all your concentration is in one spot so it’s easy to sense. You just need to take that awareness and expand it. So, close your eyes and meditate but don’t cycle. I want you to feel the mana you are breathing, just try and follow it as you breath it out.”
Thomas nodded to her and closed his eyes. Bringing his awareness inside himself, slowing his breathing as he centered himself. He could feel his core and see it in his mind’s eye, it was a bright silver-gray ball sitting behind and slightly above his navel. Breath in, he felt the mana enter his lungs and just stay there since he didn’t do anything with it.
Breath out, he followed the mana out of his lungs, up his throat and finally out of his nose. He thought he felt it somewhat after it left his body, but he couldn’t be sure. Breath in, breath out, he just kept following the same pattern. The time slid by as he just breathed, trying to feel the mana leave.
Getting a bit annoyed after an hour of no progress he tried to change tactics. Contemplating a bit, he thought about how Abigail always mentioned he had full control over his body and what happened inside it. She mentioned it had a lot to do with his Will. Trying to use that information for his next exhale he focused. Truly focused on the mana as it traveled out of his body. Demanding his mind to follow it as it left him. It almost startled him when he felt the mana leave his body and he could still feel it. Not nearly as clearly as when it was within him, but he felt it.
Then it almost felt like something clicked and he could feel the mana all around him. Well within a few inches of himself, maybe six inches if he was generous. It was an odd sensation being able to feel the mana now. The more he thought about it, he realized that was wrong, he could always feel it, but his mind didn’t register that it was there. Almost like a sensation or smell that you have been around for so long your mind doesn’t even register it anymore but now he made his mind realize it was there. The deeper he focused on it the clearer the mental image of the six inches around him became. It wasn’t like physically seeing things, but Thomas compared it to brushing his hand against something in a dark room.
Suddenly he felt something enter the small area he could feel, coming straight for his face. He snapped his eyes open, and Abigail froze in place, finger poised to poke him in the cheek. With a cheeky grin on her face as she said, “I figured you got it; you had a big smile on your face.”
Thomas smiled back and said, “It’s odd now that my eyes are open its harder to feel but it’s still there if barely. It’s not nearly as clear though, I guess the more I practice with it the better I will get. I couldn’t even tell that it was your hand coming towards me.”
Abigail nodded and said, “When you get better control over your mana, and you use mana sense more the easier it will become to feel everything. I can reach out pretty far with my mana sense it’s not very clearly at far distances but it’s still there. Now let me show you the downside to it. Get ready.”
Thomas did as he was told, closing his eyes and finding the mana around him clearly again. He focused on it, trying to get the clearest mental image he could. All of a sudden, he broke out of it by a poke to the cheek. Looking at Abigail hand retreat he asked, “Why didn’t I feel you coming?”
“I stilled the mana within me, your core is constantly moving, and tiny bits of mana are always circulating through you. I stopped that from happening, that is called a veil. It is just suppressing your mana so it’s harder to detect. That’s the simple version at least. Mana sense feels all mana and if you had a better grasp, you may have felt a small fluctuation of the ambient mana when I got closer to you but that still isn’t easy. What you felt the first time was the mana within me contrasting against the ambient mana making it clear that there was something there.” She explained.
Thomas thought about that explanation, and it made him remember something from shortly after they met. He asked, “Back in Les I heard you grumble about Steven not noticing the rust wolves. They weren’t mana beast how did you notice them from so far away?”
She shrugged, “That was a unique situation, all of the rust wolves ate something that had a ton of mana. They all glowed in my mana sense; it made them easy to spot even at a far distance. Even without that they would still stand out to some degree with mana sense. It just showed how bad of a mage he was since he was supposed to be the most sensitive to mana out of the group. Yet he didn’t until they were close enough you could have likely heard them.”
He wasn’t experienced enough to ask more questions about it. He did what he normally had to do and trusted Abigail about it. He played with his new mana sense before the exhaustion started taking hold. It was the same mental exhaustion he felt when he overly practiced his mana control. It didn’t get to the point where a headache set in.
Abigail stated, “It’s just another thing you are going to have to practice. It will take time before you can truly expand how far your mana sense can feel.” They sat there again and just enjoyed the quiet of the night before they needed to head back. All thoughts on sparring were forgotten again as they relaxed for a while.
As they walked back Thomas noticed that Abigail, who was shoulder to shoulder with him, still seemed invisible to his new sense. He tried to focus it on her, he was trying to find the fluctuations in the ambient mana like she had mentioned before. Giving up on that he went back to trying to find her, he focused on where he knew she was. Eventually Abigail chuckled, then he could feel the part of her that his mana sense reached. As he focused on her arm and side that was right next to him got brighter and clearer in his new mana sense until he said, “Okay. How did you know I was trying to sense you?”
She laughed saying, "You had such a look of concentration on your face, and I even felt your mana sense for a second. I easily knew what you were trying to do. So, I dropped my veil and let you feel me.”
“Wait you felt me trying to sense you?” he paused something else clicked in his mind. Asking, “Does my control over my Will affect how good my mana sense is? I feel like I am missing information here.”
She smiled even bigger at him saying, “You have gotten information out of order, it seems like you understand the different topics but not how it is all linked. I will explain, your Will is… You. It is literally pushing your desires on anything. You push your mana throughout your body, and it does it because you wanted it too. You want your mana to coat your blade, so it does. You made it happen by your desire. That is all an expression of your Will. When you tried to focus on me you wanted to find me with your new mana sense, and I felt it. You let your desire, your intent, bleed into your action making it easy to feel. That’s the next topic intent, you will eventually need to learn to weave your intent into what you are doing. If you just pushed your mana sense out with no intent behind it, I wouldn’t have been able to feel it. Intent is exactly as it sounds, it’s just what you want your Will to do. I know it sounds like they are one in the same, but they aren’t. An example is when I healed you, I Willed my mana onto my hand and to invade your wound, but my intent was to heal you. It is something hard to explain and you will start to be able to separate the two. I got off topic a bit let me just say it’s a bit of everything. Increasing your mana control, understanding of your mana, and refining your Will. All of those will help increase your mana sense. It will also help you will all aspects of mana, from control to using your techniques. It is something hard to explain but once you feel it you will understand.” She finished with an almost defeated shrug.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Thomas soaked in the information; it was a bit too much for him to understand but he hoped firsthand experience would fix that. He sighed even more, but that caused him to chuckle. Getting a raised eyebrow from Abigail. He said, “Ever since I joined you, I have been sighing way more.”
Abigail chuckled, “Well you have been thrust into a lot of new experiences.”
“I’m not complaining, I just realized it. I do appreciate everything I have seen and experienced so far.” He said with a genuine smile. They chatted a bit more until they made it to the inn.
The next few days was just normal traveling, Thomas was switching between practicing his mana control and his new mana sense. It was mentally taxing and left him feeling drained. He spent the time chatting with Abigail as he recovered. He was slowly teasing out stories about her childhood and to say they were entertaining was an understatement. She was a wild child that loved to fight, literally. She spent more time sneaking away from etiquette classes to go to the training hall than anything else.
It was during one of those chats when Abigail’s entire demeanor changed, she went from chatting and smiling to looking deadly serious. She said in a low voice, “There is a group of people on either side of those hills in front of us. I don’t think they are friendly. At least one of them is in the liquid stage. Get ready just in case they truly aren’t.”
He asked quickly, “Mana sense?”
She nodded in response.
Thomas put on his helmet, loosening his sword from its sheath. Mila gave a low growl indicating she was ready for anything. Thomas watched as Abigail’s armor appeared on her. She had to move her body off of Angel as she did so. Thomas asked, “Is that how you get changed so fast?”
Abigail sent him a cheeky smile as she dawned her helmet. She just replied, “Be wary of bows or crossbows. If there are any, I will take them out fast. Now let’s see if they are friendly or not.”
As they reached the bend in the road a rough looking man in surprisingly decent full plate armor stepped out. He had a massive two-handed sword that he stuck into the ground in front of him. He sneered and said, “Hand over your coin and valuables, there is a road tax here.”
Thomas noticed Abigail point to both sides of the road discreetly, as she responded, “Oh since when?”
“Since I said so girly, now do it.” the man barked back at them.
“Or what?” she retorted.
Thomas was looking around his surroundings and he noticed a few people moving around the few hills. The more he looked around the more he realized this was a perfect ambush location. There was a higher number of hills close to the road making it easy for people to hide but luckily there weren’t as skilled as he thought. It could clearly see three people moving towards the side he was on. It looked like another two or three on the other side of Abigail, but he couldn’t be sure.
The man got a predatory look on his face when he said, “Looks like it’s going to be the hard way. Get them boys.”
Two men stood up with crossbows in hand, Thomas rolled off Mila. Not knowing how to fight while mounted and it seemed like the fastest way to dodge incoming bolts. Mila growled loudly and bolted off. Thomas only saw a extremely large plane of ice appear in front of Abigail before she kicked Angel forward. Reacting on instinct he rolled to his feet and pulled his blade getting ready for a fight. Taking a quick look around there where three men closest to him. That would be his target, he would leave the other side to Abigail. He wasn’t sure were Mila ran off to but if he had to guess she set her eyes on someone and she was hunting for them. He trusted his feline companion; he had gotten to know her pretty well over the last few weeks.
Refocusing on the closest man he could tell he had some experience fighting but he still looked clumsy almost amateurish. Pumping mana throughout his body, Thomas strengthened himself. Lancing forward Thomas went for a quick thrust to try and thin out the number of combatants. The man twisted his body at the last second, but his blade still met flesh and tore a chunk out of the side of the man. With a scream of pain, the man fell and that’s all Thomas could see before a mace was coming towards him. The other two had seen his increased speed and must have started their own strengthen techniques
Maintaining good footing Thomas leaned out of the way and tried to counter. The new bandit seemed better skilled as he actually dodged in time. Trying to keep the momentum Thomas pushed forward going for another slash. The bandit got the shaft of his mace up and blocked it. Thomas saw the wicked smile on the man’s face, and he remembered there was another bandit he was supposed to be facing as well.
Instantly realizing his mistake Thomas jumped away from where he last seen the other bandit and it was just in time. A sword passed just beside him; it would have taken him in the back if he hadn’t dodged. This time he kept the two men in front of him. Pushing more mana into his body he rushed towards the sword wielder only to pivot and slash towards the mace wielder. He managed to get a good cut to the man’s thigh before the bandit pulled away in a shout of pain.
Thomas brought his blade back up to block the slash from the other. He realized this swordsman was more skillful than the other two bandits. They quickly exchanged blows. There blades met in a series of slashes and blocks. He was so focused that he almost missed the first bandit get up and swing towards his neck. Thomas threw his vambrace covered forearm and managed to block the strike, grunting in pain from the hit. Lashing out with a sloppy cut he pushed back the other bandit he was fighting. The bandit wasn’t expecting it and jumped back to dodge.
Thomas using this opening, with his full power twisted and lashed out with his blade. Catching the man in his already hurt side and almost cleaved him in two. Again, to create space and get recentered before engaging in the fight he dodged backwards away from the two living bandits.
Seeing that the two remaining bandits were both on their feet he got ready again. He quickly dismissed coating his blade in mana. He didn’t know how long of a fight this would last and running out of mana seemed like a death sentence. The sword wielding bandit seemed to be more cautious now but there wasn’t a hint of fear on his face. The already injured mace wielder did look terrified but clearly not of him. He was looking at whatever the rest of his party was doing.
When the sword wielder’s eyes flicked over to where the others where fighting and the man’s eyes went wide at what he saw. Using the opening Thomas rushed forward, one thing he learned from Abigail was keeping the momentum in his favor was key to winning. Aiming to end the sword wielder with one strike. With a practiced cut aimed at the man’s neck, the bandit noticed at the last second and tried to bring his sword up to block. It wasn’t in time, Thomas’s blade bit clean through the man’s neck a spray of blood indicating that he was done.
The mace wielder yelled and charged towards him. Thomas did a small lunge and sent a thrust towards the man, and it honestly surprised him when the tip of his sword was buried deep into the man’s heart. The mace still came down but with much less force, and it connected to his shoulder. A small grunt escaped from his lips from the impact.
Thomas turned and looked over the battlefield ready to rejoin the fight. Only to realize the fight was already wrapping up. Abigail’s battlefield looked like a burnt Iceland that left him dumbstruck. Angel and Mila must have taken care of the other side of the road. The bandits on the other side of the road where already dead.
Looking around and then back at his handywork the reality of the situation hit him. He killed another person; he had never done that before. His stomach rolled and he could barely hold back the bile that was in the back of his throat. He pulled his helmet off and loosely held it in his hand as he tried to comes to terms with everything. He realized he was shaking while looking at the bodies of the three. He couldn’t sort out the different feelings raging and waring inside him. He never wanted to kill other people, he only wanted to save them, but he knew that they would have killed him and his companions without remorse. Nine Hells, the rational part of him knew he probably saved peoples lives by ending these bandits. He couldn’t understand why the guilt was so strong. He already knew that he would eventually have to take someone’s life, the world wasn’t a nice place, but it just seemed so sudden.
Tearing his eyes away, he stared up at the setting sun to try and sort out the confusing, contradicting emotions inside him. Slowly breathing he just stood there for who knows how long before a hesitant, gentil voice broke the silence, “You can talk to me about it if you want, I understand what you are going through.”