I told Aelene that we had a few tests to run, and that we needed her help due to her mana control being better than ours. At the same time, I was going to teach Riala a few new concepts, which might be of interest to her and Oryn as well.
Even though we technically had a strained history, they were actually among the people I trusted most in this town, Oryn being very predictable and Aelene an unwilling participant in all that happened. And then there was her apparent fondness for Tomar... I didn’t dig deeper at the time, but at the very least it suggested that I didn’t have to worry about them stabbing us in the back.
Aelene in tow, we made our way back to the temple. This she was a little apprehensive about, but there just weren’t too many spaces in Alarna where we could do our experiments in peace, and an hour-long track into the Wildlands would’ve been bothersome as well. She accepted on the condition that we used the back entrance to the garden, which I had not even known about yet.
On our way there, the people were acting noticeably different from before, when it was just me and Riala. Many still eyed Aelene with suspicion, and she was visibly uncomfortable. In an attempt to alleviate their worries, I started making smalltalk with her and Riala, so it would look less like we were escorting a criminal. It didn’t seem to do a lot for the citizens, but at the very least Aelene was able to tune them out to a degree.
Once we were at the main square, she started leading the way. We went up north at first, past the temple, but then down a sidestreet, towards a tall, white wall. It was very clearly the one around the temple garden, though this seemed like a dead-end at first. Down the narrow alley between this obstacle and the surrounding buildings, however, we finally saw a metal gate set into the wall.
Approaching it, Aelene took out a key and grinned sheepishly at me. “I might have borrowed this to get out of the temple unnoticed from time to time... Don’t tell Lilly.”
“I won’t,” I said with a fake laugh. Couldn’t even if I wanted to...
They key glided into the lock and the gate opened, both with little to no noise. Someone was apparently taking good care of it, even though it didn’t appear like it.
We slipped inside and found ourselves in some narrow corner, but after we stepped out of it, we finally arrived at our destination: the temple garden. The size of over half a soccer field, it featured one of the few large green spaces inside the walls, including grass, bushes, hedges, paths to take a walk, as well as benches to relax on. It was primarily meant for the upper temple personnel to unwind, but the priests made use of it as well when time allowed. Right now it was almost entirely empty, however, save for one man, pacing up and down on a patch of grass at the temple’s central area.
“Hey,” I said as we got closer.
Startled, he spun around, “Ah! There you are. Why are you coming through the back?” Oryn asked in surprise.
I just shrugged my shoulders in response, and he shrugged in turn.
“Morning, Oryn,” Alene said. “Good to see you out here as well.”
Oryn looked around himself in wonder, as if it hadn’t even occurred to him yet that he wasn’t locked up anymore. “Yes... It is quite nice. And even more so because we will experiment together once again. I can’t wait.”
Sighing in exasperation, she shook her head. Turning towards me, she asked, “Well, should we get started?”
“Yea, let’s. How about you guys take a seat on that bench over there. We’ll have to get through some theory first.”
Once Oryn, Aelene, and Riala were seated, I stepped up and began.
“Alright, quick recap. As I alluded to, I need your guys’ help with improving our scripts. There are beasts out there that aren’t injured as easily as others, and to protect this town, we might need stronger weapons against them.
“Oryn, you were the expert for scripture sigils in this town, and it’s my understanding that you essentially know everything people knew about them before we came along. That’s why I want you here, because you might know or notice something we have missed.
“Aelene, your powers are actually stronger than ours, and you’re able to control them better than us. We’ll need your help to confirm our theories.
“At the same time, I’ll teach you a few things, so we’re all on the same page. Okay?”
Both nodded, and with that, the first ever Sourcerer, or rather scripter class of Alarna commenced. Starting with the basic terminology, I explained scripts, sigils, mana, Awakened, magic users, and everything in between.
“The four of us... as well as Lilana... are Awakened. Humans that had their mana stimulated to such a degree, that our bodies started to actively produce it in much larger amounts than normal. All living things have mana, as we can see around us, but only in minuscule amounts.”
I looked around the garden, seeing tiny streams of mana rising up from even the smallest blade of grass. Then I held up my arm, surrounded by a thick coat of it.
“To be frank, this is somewhat abnormal, which should’ve been evident during the transitioning process. I assume that the mana coursing through your body for the first time was as unpleasant for you as it was for us. The reason for it is that our bodies fought the mana invading every part of them. And this could’ve actually had terrible consequences. To be perfectly honest... I can’t say with certainty why we are alive.”
Both Oryn and Aelene were quite shocked by this statement, but I felt like they deserved to understand what exactly had happened to them, as well as what could’ve happened. Or what could happen, should someone attempt to awaken other people.
“I... could’ve died?” Aelene asked.
I nodded slowly, and her head snapped in Oryn’s direction, sitting next to her. He grew smaller under her piercing glare, like a dog who realized he had misbehaved. Perhaps in an attempt to drive attention away from himself, he addressed me.
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“Uhm, Tomar, is it possible I survived because of the small amount of mana I have?”
“That’s a potential theory, yes. Another is that Aelene survived because she has so much, and that she was instinctively able to control it. This might have helped calm her.”
In actuality, I did have a theory for Tomar and Lilana as well, and that was me. When they awakened, they weren’t alone in their bodies, which might’ve played a role. Really, the biggest outlier was Riala. She had a “healthy” amount of mana, neither a little nor a lot, she was a child, and there were no alleviating factors. I couldn’t tell how she survived it at all.
“Unfortunately, that’s not all. Our bodies depend on our mana, and every time we drain them completely, we risk our lives. Again, for those of us who experienced it... the excruciating pain should’ve been a hint.”
Both times I looked pointedly at Oryn, and he sank further and further into his seat. Although, while we hadn’t tortured anyone, we had been very careless as well. In retrospect it was easy to say, “If you feel pain on that level, your body is trying to tell you that something is seriously wrong,” but we, too, had only tried to avoid reaching that point because it was distressing, not out of fear to cause ourselves permanent harm.
Aelene’s glare let up slightly, though she still looked very unhappy. Oryn mentioned before that she never allowed him to measure her volume, which she might’ve been glad about at this point.
“The good news is that this was all the bad news. We have survived the transition, we have survived past drainages, and if we’re careful from now on, we shouldn’t run into any more problems.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before, Tomar?” Aelene said with a frown. “That’s...”
Perhaps a reasonable question if they were close.
“I’m sorry... It’s a bit complicated, but basically, I just learned about it. Riala even went all out inside the dungeon just yesterday,” I scoffed. “But we can be more careful now, that’s what counts.”
“I see...” she said, her dark expression clearing up a little.
Scanning their faces, Oryn and Aelene were taken aback, but overly fine, while Riala looked a little bored, having known these things already.
“Alright. Any questions before we actually get into why we are here today?”
“About magic users,” Oryn asked, “do they not have these issues at all?”
“No. They have a proper Calling that prepares them for using scripts. They also use them differently from us.”
“Sounds like we drew the short end of the stick...” Aelene lamented.
“Actually, it depends,” I said. “We’re different, but not necessarily better or worse. For us it’s all about how we use scripts, and this also gives us a lot more options.
“Take the healer Calling for example. They can manipulate people’s mana to a degree, and they can heal wounds, but they’ll never be able to use water like we do. They just can’t draw mana from their body the same way, so they can’t use scripts on themselves. If we could recreate their scripts, however, and we had enough mana to use them, we could do everything they can do with enough effort. Being an awakened human comes with risks, but you have the potential to become very powerful.”
“Awakened humans...” Aelene said under breath. “Wait, now I remember where I’ve heard that before! That’s what Lilly and the beasts were talking about!”
Uh, oh...
“They said that they were hunting us!” Aelene jumped to her feet as her mana flared up. “I didn’t know what that meant, but you and Lilly did!”
“That’s...” Hard to refute. “You’re right... We didn’t want to worry you needlessly. And we didn’t know whether more of them would actually come here.”
“I can’t believe this...”
The look of disappointment she gave me stung. Maybe we had spent too much time with someone or something constantly breathing down our neck, because it didn’t actually seem like such a big deal to me. It was just another problem we had to take care of some time down the line. Maybe it was similar for Tomar, though the reason he hadn’t told her was surely a different one.
“I figured you had been through enough for the time being...” I said as apologetically as I could muster. “Imagine I told you a week ago that your life was in danger. I... I feel like you wouldn’t have taken that very well. I’m sorry. Really.”
With a conflicted expression, she sat back down, though her aura was completely out of whack, and she didn’t look at me directly anymore. I felt a little guilty focusing on it at this moment, but it was very interesting how her mana appeared tied to her emotions.
When nobody said anything for a moment, Riala glanced at the other two with curiosity and then raised her hand. “Can I ask a question too?”
“Sure, go ahead,” I said wryly.
I couldn’t imagine that she was too daft to read the room, so it must’ve been another attempt of her to steer an awkward conversation in a new direction.
“What happens if I get the Sourcerer Calling? Or if Shadi awakens?”
“Very interesting and very good question... If Shadi were to awaken, her mana would change, and she would essentially lose her Calling, because she wouldn’t be able to easily use its scripts anymore. The other way around is more interesting. If your body is already used to your mana, the Calling would simply add the ability to use certain scripts directly, without using up your own mana. You should become something of a hybrid.”
Sounds nice, but also kind of boring... I mean, as a scripter you need to know what you’re doing, as a Sourcerer you “just fling spells.”
“Who’s Shadi?” Aelene asked, very clearly still mad.
“She’s the first actual Sourcerer. The healer I mentioned.”
“Ah...”
Oryn down, Aelene furious, and Riala fidgeting in her seat, the mood was thoroughly ruined when I tried to continue once more.
“Okay... Listen, Aelene. Both of you actually. If you don’t want to help us, now or at any point in the future, I understand. It must be a lot to take in. We’ve... kind of lived this life for months already, and might have a skewed view on it.”
Oryn suddenly shot up, his response predictable. “No! No, no, no! I want to help! Besides, we’re here to ensure that we don’t get killed, right? I don’t know what that was about the talking beasts, but don’t our chances decrease if we leave? Right... Aelene?” he said, glancing to his side carefully.
Ignoring him, she instead focused on me. “I said I’m going to help you and that’s what I’ll do...” Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes for a moment, then looked at me with determination. “But I expect you to be open with me from now on.”
Oh, great. Another woman who wants honesty from me...
Whatever the exact nature of her relationship to Tomar was, I had a bad feeling.
“I can’t promise you total honesty... But I won’t keep you in the dark anymore. Is that okay?”
“That’s better than nothing,” she said with a light grin.
While Oryn looked between her and me somewhat suspiciously, I started once more.
“Alright, if there aren’t any more questions, let’s get to the main topic: how does mana work?”
Let the lecture begin.