I lay back on the cold stone of the town with a ball of cloth stuffed into the back of my mouth. Wolf held my black-furred hand with his own.

It began with the warmth of Wolf’s touch growing into an uncomfortable heat and then with the sharp pain of burning flesh. I let out a gasp, reflexively jerking my hand away only for it to be caught in the inscriptionist’s iron grip.

“Yes, having foreign fire affinity forced into your veins will burn a bit.” Wolf explained, but I hardly heard his words. Something pushed against my palm like a red hot poker. Harder and harder it prodded until something gave way and whatever it was speared into my hand.

I screamed and thrashed, but Wolf grabbed my other arm while Thorn pinned my legs. Fire flowed like liquid into my arm creeping its way inch by inch towards my elbow and then up to my chest. My screams continued as my rational thoughts fled in the face of the pain.

Further up my arm the fire spread until at last it reached my shoulder and dripped into my torso. Except it wasn’t my torso. There was something there in the middle of my chest. Something beating in time with my heart swelled and thrashed with power. A deep pool of power began to warp and pulse. It hesitated and shuttered against the intrusion of foreign mana only to falter as the first drips of fire splashed into their depths.

Agony consumed me.

I heard nothing, felt nothing, and saw nothing but the raging inferno inside me. Beyond my senses my screams echoed across the tower. I failed to see Thorn grimace and cover her ears while Wolf held my hand with grim determination. I screamed until the bliss of unconsciousness took me at last.

**********

I awoke on the cold stone of the tower with my arm and chest feeling raw and worn but with a single well of power pulsing in my chest in time to my heartbeat. Memories of fire danced through my mind. I opened my eyes to see Rain and Carmen standing nearby, berating a rather disgruntled looking Wolf and Thorn. My sister peered in with concern from the tower entrance.

“Fuck that hurt.” I grumbled aloud, pushing myself upright. All five sets of eyes turned in my direction. Carmen hurried over while my sister finally managed to venture inside.

“I already took the liberty to check you over.” Carmen nodded at me. “You are physically fine, if magically stressed. But how are you feeling otherwise?”

“Fine, I think.” I said, shuttering again at the memory. “But I don’t think I’d ever do that again.”

“There is a reason why mana forcing is used as torture by some.” Rain added, sending another glare at Wolf. “And is why we don’t subject our apprentices to such barbaric practices. It’s been known to have lasting psychological consequences.”

“We heard you clear across the camp.” My sister offered.

“At least it seems to have worked.” I said. ”But don’t get too upset with Wolf, I begged him to do it.”

Rain let out a deep sigh. “I’m not going to begin to point out the flaw in that logic, but I expect your teachers to inform me before utilizing any other barbaric training methods.”

With that, and a few more words from Carmen, the three newcomers left me with Wolf and Thorn in the empty tower.

“How do you feel?” Wolf asked and I shrugged.

“I feel alright. I think it worked. Can we begin? Can you teach me how to manipulate mana?”

“You still want to continue today after that? Very well.”

**********

When it came to manipulating magic, there wasn’t much that wasn’t intuitive once I could sense it there in my chest. I found that if I focused on it, I could feel the tendrils of my mana not just beating in my chest, but flowing out as whisps through my arms. I found that I could stem the flow entirely or push out mana from my fingers as easily as moving my own limbs. This time when I prodded the rune on the floor nothing happened.

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“Mana control is governed by your intelligence attribute.” Wolf explained. “When we expel it from our bodies, it’s formless and merely fades back into the world around us. It must then be shaped by spells, rituals, or inscriptions to have any significant effect on the world.”

“With the exception being path skills.” I concluded.

“Not just paths. Many magical creatures and monsters can produce spell-like effects simply by channeling it through their bodies in certain ways. Most elvenoid species will also gain this innate magic as they increase their levels.”

“Even vul’heli?”

“Even vul’heli.” Wolf agreed. “Now, I want you to grab your training plate with the shield inscription from yesterday and bring it here. Do not attempt to activate it without my supervision.”

I rushed to the inscription tent as Wolf instructed, returning with a practice slab as well as a few extras. I honestly wasn’t quite sure where they got them all. When I returned, Wolf pointed to one end of my rough inscription.

“This is where mana is supplied to the inscription.” He explained before moving his finger to another open-ended segment. “You can connect it directly to a mana source, or you can inscribe a trigger mechanism to regulate mana flow such that the user can activate the inscription at will. Now, place the plate on the floor and then activate the rune by pushing mana into this spot.”

The simple act of activating an inscription might be a mundane thing in Realgar, but I found myself giddy with excitement at the prospect of using magic for the first time. I set the training plate down with trembling hands where I placed a finger onto the rune and drew eagerly upon my mana. Arcane energy filled the rune, twisting and rising from the surface to form a shimmering barrier in the air above it, right next to where I stood.

The expanding barrier knocked my arms back before catching me in the chest hard enough to lift me from my paws. I landed hard on my back, coughing and gasping for breath. I could already feel a new bruise forming.

“And what did we learn?” Wolf asked me. Thorn giggled behind him.

“Don’t stand on the wrong side of a shield inscription when activating it.” I wheezed.

“Try again.” Wolf crossed his arms.

“Don’t stand in front of any inscription?” I ventured, peeling myself off the floor.

“Inscriptions have no ‘front’ or ‘back’. The lesson here is to not activate any inscription or magical artifact unless you know exactly what it does. Had that inscription formed a sharp point instead of a flat shield, you would be bleeding out upon the floor.”

**********

Thorn set me on some mana manipulation practice exercises for the rest of the afternoon which I attacked with enthusiasm. By the time dinner rolled around and the novelty of it all began to fade, I found myself itching to practice inscribing once more. My goals were right there at my fingertips. I just needed a couple more ideas. A couple more runes.

“Could I borrow the book to practice inscription on my own time?” I asked Wolf just before I left for the evening. “Since I’m supposed to train with Wind every other day, I’d like to be able to keep practicing in my free time.”

Wolf merely shrugged and handed me both the tome on simple arcane inscriptions and a few stone practice plates. I wondered absently where all the practice plates came from, but since they looked to be a similar stone to that of the plateau I figured someone in the expedition could make them easily enough.

At dinner I sat with Autumn, Karl, and Badger who laughed while my sister gave them a dramatic retelling of my screaming. We ate and I laughed with them, but in the end I retreated early to the shared tent to practice. In the darkness of the tent I drew the very simple light rune into a corner of the stone slab and sent my mana into it. To my surprise, the rune lit the tent in a warm blue glow on my first attempt.

At first the spell took some effort to maintain a steady trickle of mana to, but after only a few minutes I found I could forget about the spell entirely and read through the borrowed book on basic arcane inscriptions with my free hand. I spent the rest of the evening alone, scouring through the pages one by one with ideas swirling around in my mind. In the end I settled on a specific rune and smiled a toothy grin. Wolf’s warning with the shield rune had given me just the idea I needed.

My only problem was dealing with my rather small mana reserves.

**********

The next morning found me facing off with Autumn once more with our daggers bound in cloth. This time I fared better with my much higher dex. I found myself able to dance around Autumn’s blade, or at least step through the movements without falling over. By the time we finished I wasn’t the only one with bruises. By now the snow had melted once more, but the muddy ground found its way into our fur regardless.

After a frigid rinse we ate lunch by a small burbling creek. Autumn brought with her a length of wood marbled brown and black which she whittled down under Wind’s watchful eye. “A simple bow from the scaled ash tree.” Wind explained to me when I asked about it. “It’s a tradition that stems from a long past era. A chance for the beginning hunter to craft and learn to shoot from their own creation. It’s a bow for hunting, and not war. The wood cannot be inscribed, so most warriors opt for a composite of wood and metal.” Our teacher lifted his own unstrung weapon from his back, showing us the runes inscribed into a layer of bronze running down its length and a pale blue gem set into the metal just above the grip.

While Autumn carved her bow, I spent our little break scooping up rounded pebbles from the creek bed until I held a handful of what looked to be quartz pebbles. A small push of arcane mana seemed to disappear into the stone which grew warm in my hand. When I pulled the mana back, less than half returned. Not great, but it would have to do.

“What are those for?” Autumn asked from her seat on the riverbank.

“Just practicing inscription and magic.” I said with a shrug. “Quartz is supposed to store arcane mana.”

Wind gave me an amused look. “You may have some trouble with a riverstone. The efficiency can’t be very high.”

“I’m just practicing, it’s not like I’m trying to make a fancy inscription here.”

Wind shook his head, but Autumn’s eyes narrowed at me with suspicion.

“Just for practice?” Autumn asked later that afternoon as we walked together back towards the plateau. She eyed the small stones still clutched in my hand. “Since when did you get so excited about inscription?”

“It reminds me of programming.” I said honestly. “There are predictable patterns and logic and triggers that together can manipulate the very world around us. The entire thing is limited only by your skill and knowledge. I want to make my own runes and inscriptions. I want to make effects so unique and efficient that one couldn’t find their like anywhere in Realgar. But first I need to start with the basics.” Enthusiasm I didn’t know I had rolled off my tongue.

“And that’s what the stones are for.” Autumn whispered, her expression softening. I saw trust in them that I wouldn’t lie to her. I sighed. A lie of omission was still a lie.

“Not only.” I said. “Some are for practice, yes, but most are for my plan.”

“A plan involving fighting monsters with magic you just learned how to use yesterday?” She asked.

I shrugged, but said nothing, expecting her to continue berating me. When no words came, I looked over to meet her brown eyes and saw only disapproval there.