Rueln Layheart

It was the second morning I was with the old man, and I had enough energy so I wasn’t falling asleep everywhere anymore. I didn’t quite feel like myself yet, but I was improving quickly.

After breakfast, I helped the old man feed his animals, then he sent me back inside while he chopped wood, leaving the door open so Toga could bring me every stick on the farm as he searched for the perfect one. After he came through with the fifth one, I heard Cyrus barking at him to quit, but there wasn’t any hostility behind it. Cyrus has a strangely laid back sense of humor that was kind of growing on me.

I was trying to wrestle the stick from Toga’s mouth when Cyrus walked in with an armload of wood and deposited them in a box resting by the heart. When he straightened, I could hear his joints creak, and he grunted. “You seem to have some energy this morning,” he noted, which made me drop the stick. Toga, thinking he won our game, trotted in a triumphant circle around the cabin. Aleah always said something like that before she gave me a list of chores.

“Come with me outside. From what you’ve told me, your Master isn’t a mage?” He asked to make sure that he had it right and when I nodded, he continued. “Then, as another mage, I’ll teach you the bare basics so you don’t repeat this incident. It’ll be up to her to get you a proper teacher, though. You will need to learn control.”

“Why do we need to go outside for it? What’s wrong with teaching me here?” I asked, thinking he was probably just going to lecture.

“Because you said you caught fire last time, and I rather like my house the way it is. We will practice outside.” He smirked at me, an amused twinkle in his eyes, before he motioned for the door. “Come on. We won’t take too long. You haven’t recovered enough mana yet to do more than a minor spell or two.”

I reluctantly followed him, imagining myself right back in the bed, depleted of mana all over again. I didn’t know how to shut the magic off when I used it. It took me until we were both outside to realize that I had somehow accepted the fact I am a mage now, though I had denied it adamantly the first time Cyrus had spoken to me about magic. Before I could dwell too much on why, Cyrus began his lesson.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve bothered with this,” Cyrus began thoughtfully, looking around as if to make sure nothing was in range, as if I would burn the place down on purpose. If I were honest, it was a little offensive. “Let’s see... I suppose I should ask if you know what mana is.”

He looked at me pointedly when I didn’t immediately open my mouth to answer. “Was that a question?” I asked.

“Cheeky thing,” Cyrus smirked. “Yes, it was a question.”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, suddenly reminded of my lack of education. I didn’t even have much experience with mages besides that crazy old scrooge back home. “Isn’t it what magic is made of? Like in the air?”

I sounded stupid, and I knew it. I could feel heat burning up my neck and face from embarrassment.

“You... aren’t exactly wrong,” Cyrus said, each word thoughtful.

You didn’t say I was right either; I thought.

“Mana is a natural energy in its most basic form,” Cyrus explained, his strange golden eyes focused on me. “It is invisible to most outside certain circumstances. In its most natural state, it is a neutral energy, neither positive nor negative. It holds no elemental properties.”

“Then how do you get water magic? Or fire?” I asked, not understanding. I had never heard of mana called neutral before. How much did this guy know? Even I knew different elements could make up mana.

“Slow down,” Cyrus said, reaching over to ruffle my hair like I was his dog. I jerked my head away and stepped out of reach, frowning at him. “I haven’t gotten to that part yet. A mage’s body naturally draws mana in, even when we aren’t conscious of it. Though, if you practice, you can learn to feel it happening and even do it on purpose. We use meditation for this purpose.”

Well, that sounded boring.

“When mana enters the body,” Cyrus went on, “that is when it gains elemental properties. It does this by reacting to the energy from your soulforce, or the signature of the soul within the body.”

I stared dumbly up at him. I knew my mouth was open, but I was a bit too confused to care. “Huh?”

“Every creature, beast, and person has a soulforce. It is completely unique to you. This signature is also what responds to a past life’s memory and triggers recall.” He reached over and tapped his finger where the mark rested, encircling my upper arm. “This mark is what your soul signature looks like, if you could see it, although the true place of your signature is along your spine.”

“I don’t understand. How does Recall have anything to do with mana?” I asked.

“The memory or recall of your past life is within your soul's signature from birth. It travels with you through reincarnation. It is the beginning force of what makes you who you are,” Cyrus explained. “When you touch something from your past life, all it does is open up a closed channel so you can access it through your soul’s signature.” He waved his hand, dismissing the subject for the moment. “It’s complicated, and I would explain more, but there isn’t time to teach you everything I know about it. As for mana, you can think of it similarly. When you are a mage, mana is stored within your physical body’s signature, which is separate from your soul’s signature. It is unique to your body and does not transfer with each life you live, and your body’s nature limits it. For example, just like a cup can only hold so much water, your body’s signature will limit how much mana you can contain within you.”

“Okay... if this is all mana, then what is magic?” I asked, realizing some of this sounded familiar to me, though I had never heard of it. It took me a few seconds to realize Vhal’s own experiences were leaking through into my thoughts.

“Magic is the reaction your soul signature has with mana inside your body.” Cyrus said, holding out his hand in front of me so I could watch as a ball of white formed in the center of his palm. It glowed, flickering like fire, and was hot enough that I needed to take a step back just to feel comfortable. “It can be challenging at first to learn how to manipulate the mana at will and direct it through your mana channels, but that isn’t the hard part. The hard part is learning how to activate your soulforce so the mana can react to it. Otherwise, both will just remain neutral inside your body and nothing will happen.”

“How do you do that?” I asked. “Before, in the cage, I didn’t have any control. Everything just happened and... I couldn’t turn it off.”

“Control will come with practice,” Cyrus reassured me. “I’ll teach you how to cut the flow off before you deplete your mana too severely. Don’t worry about it.” He fell silent, letting his own magic fade as he tried to think how he wanted to explain it all to me. “You activated your soul’s energy instinctively last time because of intense emotion. You had just been kidnapped, but you can’t depend on having magic when you are afraid or are in danger. It would be reckless and very stupid.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“I wasn’t afraid!” I argued only to earn myself a look that said Cyrus could see right through my lie.

“Yes, and Toga is a scholar on four legs,” Cyrus said, poking my chest. Hearing his name, Toga came running, dragging a branch with him that was nearly his entire body's length. “Not recognizing your emotions or refusing to acknowledge them is not a point of pride. It is a lack of wisdom. Do you understand?”

That hurt, I thought as I rubbed my chest where his finger had dug into my sternum. “Yes,” I answered, looking away.

“Very good. Now, I think the easiest way for you to learn how to activate your soulforce is for me to activate it for you a few times so you understand how it feels. You should be able to figure it out from there.” Cyrus took the branch Toga offered him with a thanks and used it to help lower himself to the ground where he crossed his legs in front of him and waited for me to join him. “Sit in front of me and close your eyes. You’ll need to concentrate as I do this and get familiar with everything I do.” As I lowered myself to the ground in front of him, he ordered Toga away before placing his palm between my shoulders and pressing gently into my spine.

“Nothing’s happening,” I pointed out, expecting to feel something immediately. I opened my eyes and turned my head to look back at him.

“That’s because I haven’t started yet. Now sit straight and close your eyes like I told you.”

I did as I was told and waited. I was about to tell him again that nothing was happening when my words fell away and I went still. A warmth radiated out from his hand and spread throughout my body and with it came the sensation of Vhal Aairith’s memories growing stronger inside my mind. It was almost as if she and I were taking up the same space.

“Do you feel that warmth?” Cyrus asked behind me.

“Yes, sir,” I answered, suddenly realizing that this man knew a lot more than I had given him credit for. This was… amazing. I didn’t even feel as if Vhal’s memories were overwhelming mine. The confusion that was consistent when I tried to train with a sword was gone.

Cyrus snorted, “I have your attention now, I see. Well, this is what it feels like to have your soulforce active. It’s what helps you recall memories from your past life. What you probably have been doing up till now is blowing it out when you get the memory you want so it doesn’t have time to settle in your body. That shows poor control and inexperience. You cannot do that if you want to cast spells. Let it expand from its mark of origin on your back and fill your body.”

He removed his hand, and then the warmth faded with it. I was suddenly back to being just me, the sense I had of Vhal gone. “Wait. It’s gone.”

“That’s because you didn’t keep it active,” Cyrus chided. “Try again.” He returned his palm to my back and a few seconds later, the warmth returned. This time, more conscious of the feel of the energy spreading throughout my body, I tried to take control of it, to hold it in place. Cyrus was much faster than withdrawing the second time, pulling his hand away. The energy went with him, even as I tried to hold on, clutching my hands into fists as if that would help. “Don’t force it,” he told me. “It will do what you want, but you need to guide it. Think about where you want it to go.”

I am thinking. I nearly spat at him, but held my tongue. The energy was slipping through my hold. There wasn’t anything to hold on to. It just fell through cracks like water leaking from a hole in the bottom of a bucket. It was frustrating.

“One more time,” Cyrus said patiently when I huffed in failure.

He returned his hand to my back, and I closed my eyes again and tried to memorize everything he did. The warmth of his palm was the first thing as it always was, but I noticed something different this time. He didn’t guide my energy as I thought he had. Instead, his energy pushed me like wind on a fire, feeding mine until it expanded and spread. My attempts to keep my energy extended were as useless as trying to hold the wind in my hands. It wouldn’t work.

How could I mimic what Cyrus was doing, though? I didn’t have another force to feed it. I had to feed it myself, but how? Concentrating, I followed the wash of Cyrus’s energy, letting the warmth of it seep into my bones and muscles, my own merely a candle in comparison. As Cyrus pulled his energy back, I felt my brows pressing together, focusing on the energy.

It was at that moment I realized something. I was wrong. Cyrus wasn’t feeding the energy anything. He wasn’t even guiding it like he said he was. He was using his energy to change the nature of my soul's signature, teaching it through me. It naturally pulled back on itself after expanding, like a rubber band. It was defensive. Cyrus was altering the sense of self preservation that came naturally to the energy’s nature and teaching it to… no… reminding it, I thought, Vhal’s experiences of doing the same thing coming to my mind. He was reminding my soulforce how to move.

This time when Cyrus pulled his hand away, mine not only remained active but spread until I could feel it all the way to the tips of my fingers and toes. “Very good,” he said. “You’ll need to keep practicing, but you’re getting it. Now I will teach you how to use your mana with the soulforce to create magic.”

Opening my eyes, I turned my head to look back at him, my soulforce dying away as my concentration slipped. “If mana is in my body’s signature constantly being absorbed, how does it ever come out?”

“Your body has mana channels throughout it, mimicking your nervous system.” When he saw my confused look, he smirked. “It’s what your brain uses to tell your body to move. A mage with a specialty in electrical currents discovered it centuries ago.” He waved his hand in front of his face before he could get too carried away. “That’s not important right now. What is, is that you possess mana channels that run throughout your entire body, or at least you have a few to start. The more you push mana through them, the more complicated they grow, and the more delicate spells you can cast. I will teach you the basics. You’ll have to get the rest from someone paid to teach you.”

“Sorry for the inconvenience,” I muttered, earning myself a thump on the back of my head.

“Hush,” Cyrus said. “I don’t have to teach you anything.” When I said nothing else, he continued. “Now, you need to learn how to be aware of your body absorbing mana. It is much like how I showed you the soulforce, but this time, your body signature is on your chest. Turn around.”

I obeyed, scooting around, so I was facing him before Cyrus rested his palm on my chest. This time whatever he did felt cold, like ice spreading through my chest and spreading out like a network of veins. I was the first one to pull away, rubbing at the area he had touched and giving him a look. “That feels weird.”

“Uncomfortable isn’t it?” He smiled, nodding his head. “That’s because I forcefully pushed the mana your body was absorbing through your mana channels. Without your soulforce active at the same time and with me using force, you are more aware of it. It will take a lot longer to learn to use your mana than your soulforce. Although it moves more freely through your body at all times, that only makes it more difficult to learn how to change a nature that is already set. With mana, you cannot just let it go everywhere when you want to cast a spell in your hand. Alter the flow so that mana pools in your hand while you charge it with your soulforce and activate a spell.”

I looked down at my hands, trying to feel the mana that I knew had to have been there before when I set myself on fire in that cage. “Then how did it happen before?”

“Because you can do it now if you wanted. I said it was difficult, not impossible,” Cyrus reminded me gently. “It’s also possible you will catch onto the movement of mana easily. I know I just found it difficult when I first learned. Was your past life a mage?”

My eyes jerked up to his, widening a moment at the thought of revealing anything about my reincarnation. After only a second of meeting his eyes, I looked away. “Yes.”

“You can access their memory, then. Using recall always makes the process go faster.”

How do I tell him I’m not very good at that? I wondered even as I closed my eyes to try it. While practicing with Master Esra, my goal had always been to push the memories back, to keep myself in the present. With Cyrus, however, that seemed to only complicate things more. I know I had done it before, so I just needed to do it again. Focusing on my hand, I let Vhal’s years of experience to guide me now, feeling her power ignite in her again and again. She–I always had so much control over my magic in that life. I can have it again.

That cold sensation grew at the base of my sternum and spread out like the branches of a tree growing from its root. When it expanded down both of my arms, I scowled and glared down at my left until the cold on that arm slowed, then stopped all together. When it did, my right became ice, almost numb with the mana I forced into it. Before I could think better of it, I repeated the exercise Cyrus had taught me with my soulforce and let it envelope me, feeling it wash away the cold and leave the heat in its place. There, on the tips of the fingers of my right hand, fire bloomed before my eyes.

“Congratulations, Rueln,” Cyrus murmured. “You are a mage.”