Chapter 12

I found myself in the training yard an hour later, waiting on my teachers. I decided to meditate and follow my mana conduits, as Milla had taught me on the road. They seemed mostly unchanged, but I was unsure. When I returned to the ball of gold mana next to my heart, I noticed a fundamental change. Two small cords of mana, one red and one blue, were braided together and wrapped around my mana core.

I reached out with a thought and touched the blue cord. As soon as I felt it with my mind, I was overwhelmed with strange feelings and images. I was assailed with love, hope, and a fair bit of lust but not directed at me. The images that flashed through my mind were of Shalyndria and her study. The feelings were directed at her. I released the cord and pulled back a bit.

I then touched the red cord. This time I felt bittersweet happiness, love, and almost overwhelming anxiety. I again saw Shalyndria’s study but saw Petra and Milla seated on the other side of the desk this time. I left my mana channels and just emptied my mind, trying to reach mushin. My attempts were hampered by what I had seen and what it meant. As I mulled over what had happened, I made a couple of educated guesses. The cords represented the women I had fallen in love with, and somehow I could get a glimpse of where they are and what they are feeling. With how close those three remained, the love I felt made sense. Petra’s lust for Shalyndria was a surprise until I remembered her comments about her dreams. I made a silent promise to ask her more about them.

I was roused from my meditation by the sounds of footsteps approaching. I saw Milla and Petra take a seat in front of me and begin to meditate themselves. While I continued to ponder what the cords around my core implied, my instructors readied themselves for our lesson.

Milla began the lesson, “We are going to start with the various types of magic and changing your mana to match. Now I want you to begin by summoning an orb of base mana.” Petra and Milla summoned their orbs. Petra’s sphere being the deep ocean blue I recognized from my core, while Milla’s ball was the deep emerald green from our first night.

I focused and attempted to pull a small amount of mana through the channels in my arm to my hand. With the mana flowing through my hand, I tried to force it into a ball above my palm as I had before. It felt like I was trying to push a golf ball through a garden hose. The more I tried to force it, the greater the resistance. After several failed attempts, I opened my eyes. “Why is it harder to form the orb the more I force it,” I asked.

Petra was the one to answer, “Because there is no need to force the magic. You push the idea of what you want into the mana. You don’t push the mana into the concept.” The clue she gave me brought the memory of burning the bodies. I hadn’t forced anything; I told the mana what I wanted, which made the fire a reality.

I closed my eyes and tried again. As the ball started to form, I was suddenly smacked in the head. The mana building in my hand suddenly shot through my body like a taser charge. I fell on my side, twitching. Fortunately, someone held my head, so I didn’t smack it on the ground.

Once the charge had settled and I could feel my extremities again, I angrily jumped to my feet, “What the fuck! Why the hell did you do that? It felt like I was being tased again.”

Petra answered as she returned to her spot, “I’m sorry you had to endure that, Shaun. It was the fastest and easiest way to drive home the dangers of mana burn. Every time you attempt magic, there needs to be mana running through your channels. You remember what happened to the Mage Hunter yesterday, correct? If there had been mana in his channels when you hit him, the shock, while disabling, would not have killed him. During our lessons, either Milla or I will randomly attempt to distract you and cause the spell to backfire.”

I thought over what she said and the limited timeframe we had. After concluding they were right, I sat back down and created the orb of gold mana. They both smiled and resumed teaching. I noticed a few things as we ran through the types of magic; it was easiest for me to change the mana when I thought of the sensation of the element I was conjuring.

I recalled the feeling of the stone cliffs I used to climb when I wanted earth mana, and I remembered the sensation of the atmosphere rushing past in free fall while parachuting into a combat area for wind mana. I was surprised when thinking of Shalyndria while holding my orb changed it to fire mana. I was unsurprised when thinking of Petra turned it into water. However, I did have trouble with two opposing elements, light and shadow.

Petra was able to help me with light, “When I need light, I think of the warmth of the sun shining on my face.”

Milla had an oddly philosophical approach to shadow, “I think of the absence of light, like the darkness I see when I close my eyes.” Her advice did help. I thought of the absolute darkness I had encountered in the caves and tunnels I had searched through during the war.

We finished with a game of “Simon Says,” Milla started by calling out a mana type. The first to change to the correct type called out the next one. If you conjured the wrong mana, you were out. I finally won the fourth game.

While we stopped for lunch, Terrance came out and talked to Petra for a second before going back inside. “We have the guard’s obstacle course to ourselves all afternoon,” she explained after sitting back down. “Shaun, in an hour, I want you dressed in full armor at the front gate. Your next lesson and training will be on the course.”

Once we finished eating, I headed up to my room to get my new armor on. Fortunately, Tessa was able to help me with the straps and such the first time. I thanked her as I strapped on my duty belt and slung an M4 over my shoulder before leaving.