In Atlas, magic comes from within. Mana powers connect everything to everything, but only a select few can tap into those energies. For better or worse, life has changed drastically as a result of all these magical energies, and the limits are far from discovered. It is unclear how exactly magic works and little research is being done to find out, many see it as sacrilege to do so.

Ryan Whitlock POV:

BOOM!

I turned my head and saw a bright orange and red fire that was our house torn to bits. I drop my sword and start running towards the burning house that my wife and son were in. Furthermore, I use air magic to propel myself even faster, even if I couldn’t probably control where I went. It didn’t matter, all I needed to do was get there.

I finally manage to get to the front door. Rebecca’s face was half-covered in blood half-covered with wounds as I saw my wife’s face go blank, eyes wide in disbelief and worry.

“QUINTAN”

I had completely forgotten. I ran towards the door, covering my body with air magic from the smoke. The wreckage was everywhere and being thrown at me as I reached the center of the house. After forcing my way through the debris that was left of my house, I finally saw it.

My son had a white, translucent aura surrounding him. This is the result of his awakened powers that caused the explosion. He was levitating off of the ground, there was a crater just under him, it cleared 3/4 of the house as well as the surrounding area.

Amazing.

I could only look in amazement and disbelief that my son who had only just turned three a week ago had a breakthrough.

I have no clue as to what was happening right in front of me. What I was seeing was breathtaking, it was like I had been hypnotized, and I couldn’t escape.

“Ryan! What happened?”

All I could do was look back at my wife and smile. She slowly made her way up towards me after the fire calmed down.

She was taking half steps while covering her mouth, so she could push through the smoke. “Ryan, is everything ok? Where's Quintan?”

Still being mute, all I could do was point and smile to where our son was.

She was confused and didn’t know what was going on, but her eyes drifted to where I was pointing and all she could mutter was “The fuck.”

Quintan Whitlock POV:

It feels strange.

The feeling of my Breakthrough. I closed my eyes and focused on my mana core’s energy inside me.

“Quin! You’re alright! Did you get hurt?”

I saw my mother and father running towards me.

I wonder what happened to them both running after I felt fine. No, I feel better than fine. I feel great.

Mother fell and embarrassed me with her arms, while father wrapped his around her. Even though I couldn't breathe, I didn’t care, I could never resist this feeling of family.

This lasted for a minute until I was able to spill out.

“What happened?”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

After a brief moment of silence and confusion, I drifted my eyes from my mother and father to the house, the roof had been blown off and the walls were blown to pieces.

WOW.

What happened?

“Quintan you just formed your mana core. Congrats you’ve awakened.”

“...”

Did I cause this?

“Sorry Mom, Dad. I didn’t mean to do it.”

“We know honey. We were just worried. I’m glad you're alright.” Mother managed to laugh in the midst of her panicking.

Father came over and placed a hand on her back to support her.

"I always knew you would be different the moment you were born, already awakened at the age of three, this has never been done before."

Minutes went by with nothing but the wind for sound when a neighbor walked past screaming, “What happened here?” We all just looked at each other and laughed.

“We better get to work if we want a place to sleep tonight,” Father said while using wind magic to pick up large wooden planks and stones.

Weeks had passed since the incident had happened. We kept my awakening a secret except for a few close people. Father contacted some old buddies of his to help us rebuild the house while we stayed in the neighboring town. While the spirit mages worked on the base the Elementalist did all the heavy lifting. The house was done surprisingly fast. Nobody had asked what had happened to the house in the first place, guess they just decided not to ask.

They seemed to have a lot to say about dad and how good he was at magic.

During the time of rebuilding father had gotten me a carefully carved wooden sword.

While we were staying in a different town I took an interest in noticing children as well as teens working on farms with their families or in blacksmiths shops as an apprentice this also made me realize there was no solid structure for an education system. Any sort of education was provided by the parents or family (just reading and writing).

When I turned three mothers immediately started giving me lessons for set times, teaching me reading and writing. All I had to do was play the role of the genius son. Father offered to help but mother insisted she did it herself. I pretended to pick it up fast so I would be apple to read harder books without drawing suspicion she was delighted.

After father would teach me the basics of mana utilization and how to start training in it as best as he could. He tried to simplify it as much as he could for a toddler to understand.

The Basics:

An easy way to measure your strength lies in the stage of your mana core. Starting, the mana core would Breakthrough due to the newly formed mana core. As the mana inside the person's body becomes purer and the impurities get filtered out over time, it’ll change into the Novice stage. From there the stages would only progress from novice 1, 2, and 3.

The order is Breakthrough, Novice, Radiant, Advanced, Mastery, Adcendcy, and Arcane.

From Novice to Mastery the stages are split into three stages themselves (stage 1 stage 2 stage 3). The higher the number, the purer one's mana is and the more power they have access to.

The lessons with father proved to use full, I couldn't stand the pace we were going at I asked mother a few days later, “Mom is there a way you can get me a book on magic?”

Mother still had connections with the Guildhall or (Adventures Guild), so she managed to acquire quite a few books on mana manipulation, as well as fighting with different weapons. Some were beginner books with just pictures on how mana is condensed I pushed those aside and others were more advanced ones I stuck with the advanced ones. Mom would give me a strange look every time she would see me reading them. She assumed I wouldn’t be able to understand them and would try to persuade me into reading the simpler ones saying it would be easier to understand, eventually giving up.

The day would consist of reading and writing lessons from mother and manipulation training from father. After he would cover basic theory and mana manipulation, we started physical training. This reminded me of something father had said while training “Match the flow of your mana with your breathing just like your heart or lungs, your core is just another organ.” Which had me thinking the mana core is just another organ like the heart no matter what you do the heart will stay beating through moving and fighting. If I could meditate and absorb mana while moving, and perhaps fighting. I would first start with absorbing mana regularly then start with little mindless movements and work my way up from there. Easier said than done. Training this skill meant being able to fight and move proficiently while still maintaining a steady inward flow of mana.

When I’m not taking lessons with mom or training with dad I spend most of my time in the steady reading and meditating to further condense and purify my mana core.

As the year had passed not much has happened outside of my typical day, Father had spoken up during dinner.

“I think Quin needs a proper teacher?”