As the roaring of the machinery continued I started to feel a strange liquid falling from above. This clear liquid felt thick yet smooth. The sensation was not at all unpleasant compared to what I thought it’d be. I also knew that I would probably gain something from this so I was trying to be optimistic as I humanly could.
After a great length of time the liquid had finally been filled to over my head. I couldn’t breathe yet at the same time I felt as though I didn’t need to breathe. The liquid was clearly affecting my mana veins inside of me and I could feel them expanding allowing more magic to be easily controlled, however, this would only help if I were using the primitive form of magic, sorcery. Sorcery is a way of magic requiring only your body. It requires huge talent to achieve compared to other forms of magic. A weak sorcerer could easily kill themselves thus I chose to become a wizard. Wizards study magic to try and understand how it works. Wizards require a focus and typically use mana crystals for their magic. They also use structured spells with deep thought behind them.
I continued focusing on the feeling inside my body. I noticed that my muscles were clearly increasing in size and that my skin was becoming tougher. I looked down and noticed my previously black hair steadily becoming an intense white colour. I thought this strange but seeking advice now would be problematic. Eventually the liquid started changing my body dramatically. I began thinking that maybe my blood was extremely strong but before I could come to a conclusion I fainted.
When I awoke I noticed that my surroundings were white. I heard that same voice from before but it was too muffled to hear strongly. I looked around to see if I could complete my task of beholding it’s form but all I found was that perfectly beautiful white orb. I rushed over to it and picked it up. I could now hear the voice clearer. The voice said that I should make it mine. In response I asked by what means could I make it mine but the voice only replied with one word. Blood.
I awoke once again but this time in a familiar place. My father was looking at me with an expression of confusion, Jörg appeared joyful and my mother was nowhere in sight. I looked around and noticed that we were still within the family room. I asked my father what what was astounding him so much and he replied with this, “Your awakening left you with white hair and removed your ability to do magic. I do not know how such a thing is possible but your body simply won’t connect to any mana stones.” I too was confused by this. Nothing should be able to obstruct the connection between a wizard and his stone yet this transformation did. I then realised why Jörg appeared so joyful. He could finally be better than me at magic despite having no real interest in it. I was about to shout that I would do sorcery and become the best but my father instantly saw through my intentions and slapped me.
This slap caused me to suddenly remember the orb again. I checked my pocket and there it was. I asked my father what it means to make something yours with blood. He described it as a form of ritual where a drop of blood is placed upon a magical item to determine possession of the item. With that in mind I asked what type of magical item an orb might be but he only said that there were too many magical items and that it’s completely up to chance what an orb might be. I then asked Jörg if he was willing to come with me somewhere.
Due to him agreeing I quickly left the house without bothering to meet my mother. I took him around to a spot hidden by the rubble of Kilead. As we stopped I noticed him shaking. I realised that he likely hadn’t taken in the full situation yet and he most likely needed time to think things through. I sat down on a piece of wood and started to think about the situation too.
As I thought through it I started to realise how much I didn’t care. I wasn’t incapable of feeling anything towards people, however, all the people I once knew from the town just seemed like characters from a long, forgotten story. I found these thoughts rather unpleasant and banished them to some corner within my mind.
Suddenly I heard the voice of Jörg. His voice no longer contained sadness as he said aloud, “The people here would not want us to mourn. We should instead rejoice that although their deaths were the cause we can go to the capital.” I smiled at Jörg, impressed with his statement which held a somewhat nice meaning for a simple 12 year old. With him calmed down I started what I came here to do.
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A shard of glass from a destroyed house and my orb. These two simple objects could have any amount of effects on me. I pressed the glass into my hand to create a cut and I let the blood flow into the orb. The orb seemed to shrink proportional to the amount of blood it absorbed. It took a whole minute before the orb had gone. I looked up to see Jörg looking on in both disgust and amazement. I think I heard Jörg say “Feel any different?” but the pain was too much to think. My slightly opened mana channels became stretched beyond human limits and their walls were strengthened. My brains processor steadily increased in power until it was comparable to the greatest geniuses of sorcery in history. I also noticed a strange feeling assaulting all my senses. Everything within my vision had a strange glow, a constant smell surrounded every object, I could hear a pulsing, objects started to feel warmer or colder than they should, and I could feel a strange almost liquid sensation inside my body. I could only describe it as feeling all my blood moving within me. The next minute the sensations were gone.
Jörg stared at me in amazement when I stopped being assaulted by my senses. He said that what I had consumed was most likely concentrated beast souls in the form of an orb. A white orb should have the highest purity and as such I should expect to be within the realm of a genius. I sensed that but I felt different somehow and I couldn’t tell why.
We returned to the house after my strange absorption and I spoke to my father in greater detail about my abilities. He started off by asking me to try and imagine my arm in a draconic form. I did so successfully and a strange event happened. My arm actually changed into the form I saw within my mind. It’s scales were the same perfect white of the orb and felt smooth to the touch. My father was mildly impressed and asked me to picture my breath becoming frost. Once again I was able to picture this event and as expected my breath became frost. My fathers expression changed to that of a prideful father as he realised something. His expression once again changed to match his serious tone of voice as he said to me, “Work hard. Do not brag about your powers and no trouble should come to you.” I nodded and he seemed quite pleased with my response.
Days flew by and the time for us to make way to the capital came. We packed what little we had and Jörg got given some of my clothing to take with him. Due to the carnage a spare carriage and a horse were easily available and as such we could easily make our way there in around two days. As we were about to leave I saw a vyrum. These strange animals were similar to the normal snake but had been affected by magic in the air and as such had changed in various ways. This one appeared to be young and didn’t really seem to know what it was doing. I walked towards it and it spontaneously darted toward me. I got ready to respond but it was too fast. I felt it climbing up my body and wrapping around my neck before it started to sleep. It was wrapped there pretty tightly so I just left it. My father was quite evidently shocked when I turned around and I guess it was for good reason considering an animal with strength rivalling a soldier wrapped around my neck.
Soon after I made this new friend my mother and Jörg looked away from the carriage. Both instantly froze in panic when they saw the vyrum but they relaxed when I shouted towards them that I’d found a new friend. My mother was relieved but still confused and wandered over to inspect it. After a while she appeared content with something and told me that if I keep it close to me I could make it my familiar. A magic animal familiar is something that the majority of the world would never see never mind have. I looked down at the vyrum and knew that it would make an excellent familiar.
After that small burst of panic we boarded our carriage with my father leading it. The journey was to be for around 2 days. My father would stay awake this entire time while magically empowering the horse to ensure that it can keep enough energy. We left after we made sure that everything important was with us.
The seating was incredibly uncomfortable yet I didn’t care too much due to seeing the strange lands around us. The entire ground was covered in a thick layer of snow and ice. My mother, father, and Jörg all appeared to be extremely cold yet I felt rather content with the current temperature. I asked them why they were cold and my father simply asked me to recall what my breath type was. I realised that because I breathed out frost I was also most likely resistant to cold and the frost. Pleased with the discovery I continued to stare at our surroundings.
On our second day of travel we started to see Draconis in the horizon. It appeared to float above a huge volcano that was most likely several times the size of Kilead’s volcano. The city itself didn’t seem to have any obvious form of transportation except for this line which seemed to have something moving atop it. It would start at the bottom of the mountain and rise to the top before steadily coming down again. I looked to Jörg and he too was entranced by this strange moving object. I looked back towards the city and noticed a detached island which seemed to only be connected by the same thing which was continually moving from the bottom of the mountain to the city except on a smaller scale. I eventually lost interest and once again found myself looking around at the wilderness.
As night was only just beginning we reached the bottom of the mountain. Down here appeared to be the same as a village yet was many times busier than Kilead was. My father interrupted my village viewing by rather loudly saying, “This is Draconis transfer. From here we will ascend to Draconis. The two of you will stay with us in an Inn before immediately heading towards Kunnana Academy’s junior section. In there you will find dorms in which you will stay until you finish going through the school. Understand?” I tried to nod but I couldn’t seem to move my body through the excitement of going to my dream academy.