Chapter 7

Curiosity almost killed the cat, part 1

“Wake up.”

Mana turned on the other side, trying to ignore the voice nagging him to wake up, and all went well until he felt fingers moving through his hair. That was enough to make him jump out of bed, startled.

“What are you doing?!”

“Stay calm. I saw some knots in your hair that you need to get rid of.”

Felix tried to get closer to him, but Mana ran to the other side of the tent in a panic. The two looked at each other for a few seconds, as each tried to figure out the thoughts of the other while gathering his own.

“If I don’t detangle your hair, it’s going to get worse. Unlike my hair, your hair is alive and any breakage of it is extremely painful.”

“It’s just a few strands of hair. I can do that myself...”

The boy took the first wooden comb he saw and stuck it in his hair. But this only did more harm as the few tangled strands turned into clumps of hair out of which he could not remove the comb without feeling a sharp pain that went all the way to his scalp.

What happened next surprised them both

His hair became more violent, lashing like a whip, ready to destroy everything in its path. And it’s not as if Mana was trying to destroy everything around him, but simply to untangle his hair. Ironically, that created even more tangles.

Now, after destroying his entire room and messing up his hair even more, the boy seemed ready to ask for help.

“Have you calmed down?”

“Yes. You can do your job.”

But even then, the hair didn’t completely calm down, mainly because Mana was still pretty scared and didn’t know how to control his hair very well.

It took him half an hour before he felt his hair got numb and the tangled hairs develop a light grey colour, a sign that the blood wasn’t circulating very well in those parts. With that, his hair calmed down enough for Felix to do his job.

“Let me know if it hurts.”

As soon as his fingers touched his hair, the boy flinched, and he was only moments away from escaping if he hadn’t been held still by Felix. It didn’t hurt, but it didn’t feel good either, especially when he felt warm, oily fingers on his scalp.

“Just finish it. Ouch!”

“Sorry, I’ll be more careful.”

This time, Felix handled his sensitive hair, taking care not to create more tangles. Meanwhile, Mana was going into a state of semiparalysis caused by the simple fact that someone was messing with his annoyingly sensitive hair. All of this took about two hours of torment for both of them. Mana was far too impatient to sit still for too long and Felix felt his patience slowly and surely wear off.

After he had finished untangling his hair, Felix made a simple braid, then tied it with a very soft and light silk ribbon that he could barely feel. His hair was then placed in another, slightly thicker fabric, like a turban that would keep his wild hair out of sight of the other children.

“Umm... Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Once his back was turned to him, Mana could see the lump on the back of his neck that had a fairly fresh wound. That was when he remembered the event of the night before. But to Felix’s surprise, he seemed to be fine.

‘Was it just a dream?’ he wondered.

At that moment, Mana couldn’t figure out what had happened. The thought of telling Felix what had happened was on his mind, but he was afraid it might lead to more hostility for him. He still couldn’t even know if he could trust them. What if Acheros was right? He seemed to be the only one who cared about his fate.

The first step he took outside the tent almost made him turn back. It was so hot that he felt like he was going to suffocate at any second, and the fact that his body was completely covered in fairly thick bandages didn’t help. Even his eyesight needed time to get used to the bright light, and it didn’t feel any better for a few good minutes.

He wanted to look up for a second to see the source of the waves of energy hitting him, but Felix gently put his hand on his head to keep his gaze down. He caught only a glimpse of the sky that was flooded with a dazzling golden energy that spread over everything around him. Luckily for him, his first course would take place in a peaceful part of a forest very close to their camp.

“You shouldn’t look directly at the sun. Not only will it be extremely frightening, but you could become blind. Remember, you are not human and should not normally be in direct sunlight. If you feel sick, you can let the instructor know. Don’t push yourself too hard, especially now that you’re so weak.”

Felix led him towards a small group of children, who waited for their instructor to appear. Many of them were frightened, as they were not sure why they were there. Some of them had even been sent by their parents for fear that their children might be kidnapped. A few were lucky enough to be rescued from the hands of those who trafficked children with magical abilities who could end up as mercenaries or even used to give life to other people with similar abilities. The black market is full of such people who used to kidnap children as young as a few months old who had their memories erased to keep them under control and reduce their desire to escape.

That’s why, for several hundred years, sorcerers have been looking for children born with such gifts to protect them from such people and help them control their powers before they become a danger to society. The Summer Solstice Day competition was actually an event where sorcerers from all over the world gathered to find children who could become their disciples. The stronger they are and the higher ranking they gain, the better chance they have of having a superior master and only the best of them become disciples of the Midnight Valley.

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Among them was a girl with her hair covered by a headscarf from which a reddish strand of hair had slipped out, that he immediately recognized to be Bianca. Since he didn’t know anyone, it was only natural for him to sit next to her, but little did he know that his appearance would spark curiosity from the other children. Of course, the way he was dressed would be the most striking thing about him that screamed creepy to even the most dense people.

Felix left him with the other kids, which gave him a little anxiety because he didn’t know what he would do if he lost control of his hair again. It wasn’t until his instructor made her appear he calmed down a bit.

“Hello, my name is Elena and I am one of your instructors for the next month. I’m very excited to meet you all and can’t wait to see what you’re all capable of. Let’s see... Everybody sit in a circle.”

She was in a hurry, but not without a good reason, as these would be the last children to come to camp. Because they came later, inevitably, this group would be at a tremendous disadvantage to those who had arrived two months earlier, which was why she had to make sure that these children would catch up with the others in no time.

Next to him sat another boy who had an interesting, if not fierce, aura that would burn him alive at the slightest contact. It was as if he was surrounded by a sphere of fire that reacted to every movement around him. That’s why, before that boy could touch him, Mana stood up and exchanged places with Bianca, resulting in a nasty glare from the little boy.

The woman pretended not to see anything and gently touched the temples of the two children standing next to her. Her green eyes glowed and immediately, the children winced in fright. “Balthazar, Stefan, touch the temples of the person next to you and want the rest of you to do the same. In this way, I will open up your clairvoyant cores to everyone at the same time.”

Soon, everyone followed their example until the energy was transmitted to everyone. Once the wave of energy entered his body, Mana flinched violently from the shock. There was no pain, just a powerful energy that ran through his body.

“I won’t use a lot of energy because I know some of you are very sensitive. My purpose is not to open your astral eyes with force, but to give you a little boost. After that, it depends on you.”

Mana opened his eyes and looked at the vast amount of auras around him that amazed and frightened him at the same time. Normally, he could only see a person’s aura if it was strong enough, but this time was different. He could clearly see their auras no matter how strong they were also, he could sense a wave of weaker energy coming from animal or even plant forms around him. But in the depths of the forest was something interesting, different from what he had seen before. The small traces of energy were much fainter but had a delightful smell that put him on edge. Elena noticed his reaction and gave a chuckle.

'There’ll be another day for that, Mana,' said o voice in his head

At first, Mana didn’t know whose voice spoke in his head until he saw the playful look on his instructor’s face.

“What you see now is the veil of the soul, also called aura, which has the main purpose of protecting the spirit from any spiritual attack or spiritual parasites, which is why it is very important to be empowered or cleansed every day. The soul veil can be compared to the skin, which protects the body from physical injuries, micro-organisms that can create infections and connect the body to the environment through the sense of touch. It is also a mirror of the soul through which one can find out the smallest details such as a person’s health, age and spiritual strength.’

The soul veil is often called the crystal armour of the soul because it shows in the smallest detail how a person feels. Emotions such as hatred and fear can easily be detected by the way the energy waves move. An uncontrollable and very turbulent aura shows the person is agitated or uncomfortable and is very easy to detect. On the other hand, a smooth and uniform aura represents the calm psyche of that person.

“As you can see, all auras are different, some are calmer, some are more violent and lively because of a person’s emotions. Auras can look many ways, some can look like pure light, others can look like a gas or a mist. For example, light auras are specific to sorcerers who have a soul inclined towards the element of fire, those that have a form similar to mist are specific to souls who have a water element nature.”

The ones who stood out the most were Bianca and another child named Vlad, who were so opposite in their auras to each other that Elena couldn’t even restrain herself from using them as an example. Another reason was because neither was a beginner in magic and the children can easily observe their aura. Bianca’s spiritual veil, unlike that of that little boy’s, was much calmer and had a light composition like a dark red mist. Vlad had a far fiercer aura of fire that became painfully visible for Mana once his clairvoyant centers had been opened completely, so much that he couldn’t even look at him.

“Bianca, by your aura, I assume you practice black magic. Is this true?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Human souls have mainly two types of natures or a combination of these two. One of these natures has the main element water, which gives the sorcerer a flexible aura but also strong psychic abilities. Bianca is one of those people but a more special thing about her is that her aura is specially shaped to deal with the vicious effects of a temple of death that often has corpses infected with creatures called spirit parasites, as well as other curses that might be attached to those corpses.”

“But couldn’t an aura of light do the same thing? Why is her aura so dark?” asked one child.

“Bianca works a lot with creatures called imago that don’t support pure light energy. If she had an aura of light, she wouldn’t be able to create or control these creatures. ”

When a sudden presence appeared around him, Mana became alert, but to his surprise, that presence was their instructor herself, who was unleashing her aura for the first time. Her body was soon surrounded by a light blue haze that expanded more and more until it covered like a cloak half of the children next to her.

“Vlad, prepare your aura.”

The next second, a knife shrouded in a thick cloud darted into the air out of nowhere, aiming at the young boy who hadn’t even flinched at the sight of it. It had all happened so fast that no one would have realized what had happened if they hadn’t seen the tip of the knife stuck in the boy’s aura.

“You have very good reflexes,” she said, surprised. “Can anyone tell what kind of aura I have?”

“It’s simple-”

“Other than Vlad...” When she saw no one was answering, Elena turned her face to Mana, who had noticed quickly enough to try to pretend he had heard nothing. “Mana? What do you think is my predominant element?”

“I suppose it is water, but...”

Mana stumbled to consider whether to continue. It was obvious that her predominant element was water, but his instinct told him that wasn’t all. Although her aura was quite similar to Bianca’s, Mana could feel her aura emitting a faint warmth, but Bianca’s aura was simply cold and damp.

“I promise that if you’re wrong, I won’t punish you. It’s so important that you know how to differentiate the nature of your opponent as soon as possible...”

“Your aura has a certain warmth that I don’t feel in Bianca’s aura. Is it possible that you have two elements?”

“Very good! I have a combination of the two, but my primary element is water.”

And as one answer leads to more questions, the children started asking all sorts of questions. Vlad decided again to stand out and, with no shame, raised his hand up in the air, ready to ask a question. His instructor was very aware of what he was about to ask, which is why she tried to ignore it.

Obviously, that didn’t work, and the woman had to let him ask his question.

“There’s something I don’t understand,” Vlad said with a glance at Mana. “What kind of aura does he have? I’ve seen nothing like that.”