Run…

That was the only thing on his mind as he struggled to make his legs move as fast as they could, as he ran through the hallways of his home. He had heard a very distinct and loud crashing sound from his room, his instincts took over, and the only thing it was telling him was to run, run to the source of the sound which happened to be his parents’ room

Maneuvering through the house which was anything but small, he ran while taking multiple turns and calling out to his parents in this maze of a house that had started to seem bigger.

A few times, his legs failed him making him stumble and fall multiple times. He was doing what an average 9-year-old would never be able to. Only even his unusual athleticism had its limits. He could only run so fast. Every second more he spent running, he felt that he had to run faster. It was at a time like this that he cursed living in such a big mansion. All that was on his mind was getting to his parents’ room but his little legs and limited speed posed quite the obstacle to achieving that goal. Fatigue was kicking in hard, and even though he had been running for a short period, the mental fatigue was already too much for a child his age. He had only heard a very loud noise, but his mind insisted that there was something wrong, something very wrong; after all his parents would have heard his crying and his calls for them, they would have come to tell him that it was all fine and that nothing would happen, if only he knew that reality was going to teach him a cold lesson; one that he would never come to forget.

He finally reached his destination and stood in front of the door.

“Mom, Dad”, he called out, but no response came. He reached for the handle of the door, hands shaking; He had been completely overwhelmed by fear. There was no way his parents heard that loud sound without waking up.

There was a ghastly silence as if time itself was waiting for him to open the door, he realized that at some point, he could no longer feel his muscles aching, nor could he hear his breathing; He had been holding his breath for a few seconds without even noticing.

“Maybe I was dreaming, there was probably no sound,

Yeah, it was all in my head

“Might as well just sleep with mom and Dad since I’m in front of their room”,

After convincing himself and steeling his will, he slowly turned the doorknob, as he opened the door, he realized that he could hear something; it was his heartbeat. he was so scared and his heart was palpitating. Taking a deep breath, he made one final push to the door and opened it. He turned and looked at the adjacent wall where his parents’ bed was, but the sight he saw, made him unable to take a step from where he stood. The sheets were completely red. His parents never had any red sheets, his eyes slowly moved to the floor where he noticed the reason the sheets were red; there was blood on the floor around the bed.

“Nice try dad and mom, it was a nice prank I won’t lie, where did you get all that red paint? Or is it ketchup? For a moment there, I thought you guys were dead”, he said as he walked towards the bed, but still, no reply came

“You can stop pretending to sleep now, you’re making me scared,” he said again; but still, no reply came. At this point, he was in tears. He was finally close enough to see his parents’ bodies on their bed, limp and cold.

At this point, his body could no longer take all the fatigue and stress, this mental blow was just the finishing move the universe used, to completely rob him of his consciousness, as well as his life till this point…

“Nick! Nick!”, a familiar voice woke him up from the very unsettling dream he just had, Rather than just a dream, it was a nightmare. He looked up and saw a face he recognized; chestnut hair tied in a neat ponytail reaching her lower back, with hazel brown eyes to match, it was his longtime friend, Liz, whom he had known since his childhood.

“Nick, you’re crying

Like, you’re actually in tears

I need a picture of this”, She said as she brought out her phone and took a picture of him and showed him; His face was completely covered in tears. Luckily, he was on the school roof, where people rarely came.

“I was coming to tell you that lunch break is almost over, then I found you like this… could it be, you had that dream again?”, She asked visibly worried

“don’t worry”, he answered, “I’ll be just fine”.

They walked in silence down the hallways for their classes.

Nicholas Anderson, a high schooler in his final year, was very athletic for his age, had excellent grades, and though he wasn’t the most popular guy in the school, neither was he the most social, but he had a life that any passerby would envy. Applying for College was the least of his problems, he was surely going to get admitted no matter the school he attended, and he had the money to fund it. His father had left quite the inheritance for him, being the only child; it was currently being managed by his uncle, who would finally pass it down to him when he became 18. He had an extreme beauty as his best friend that knew everything about him and would cause gazes of envy to be thrown around in his direction now and then.

A perfect life at a glance, but hidden in this perfect life was deep trauma; the trauma of his parent’s death. It was a sight he could not get himself to forget even after seven years. When the police came and did their investigation, there were traces of breaking and entry but no traces of a person, the assailant was never found.

They finally reached the class and prepared for the next set of classes, which continued normally till the end of school for the day after which, Nick set off with one destination in mind- his old place. It didn’t take a lot of time to get to his destination. He stood in front of this place he once called home and closed his eyes as memories of his childhood came flooding into his mind. He walked to the door and opened it with a spare set of the house keys he had been with for a long time.

Entering the house, a nostalgic scent drifted into his nostrils. The house was dusty but otherwise, it was in perfect shape. He made his way to his parent’s room, with really no aim in mind. While trying to distract himself from the negative memory he had of the room, he looked around the room for anything interesting; and soon enough, he saw something that caught his eye. It was a small tabletop sculpture of a blue-furred husky in a sitting position. He loved playing with it as a child. Picking it up to have a closer look, he uncovered what seemed to be a folded note that was underneath. He took the piece of paper and unfolded it; It was a note, but what was strange was that it was addressed to him. The note read:

‘Hey, Nick I wonder how much time passed before you found this note, I’m guessing a couple of years… I hope you’ve been able to survive and live as possible, even with me and your mom dead. I’m sorry I couldn’t live longer, watch you grow by your side, and do all the things dads do with their sons. That’s not all I have to say, but if you want to get the remaining part of this message as well as a little surprise, then ‘bring me my coffee’.’ -Dad’

By the time Nick was done reading the note, his mind was in complete disarray. He had just found a message for him left by his dad, his late dad. Another problem was that his dad in the letter was aware that he was dead, or at least that he would be dead by the time he found the note. The final and biggest issue was the fact that the message was incomplete and the cryptic statement at the ending of the note that was meant to be a clue just confused him more.

“Think Nicholas, Think!” He said to himself as he tried to decipher the meaning of that statement.

“It would probably be something that I should understand… Maybe related to my childhood…

But what could it be– Ahhh!”, He finally had an idea; When he was a child, his dad almost only asked for coffee when he was in the study reading a book on his favorite wooden armchair. Whatever he was looking for should be in the study. But questions remained: How did his dad get whatever he was talking about to the study? What if he was referencing something else?

But no other ideas came up, so he decided to take the chance and go to the study, betting on the possibility that his conjecture was correct. He made it to the study and entered inside. It was filled with books, though not as much as the library, it still contained a good number of different books. He walked over to his dad’s armchair and sat on it after dusting it. He arrived at the study, but what next? While thinking about this, he tried thinking of things he used to do as a kid in the study.

Putting his hands on the table, while on his father’s lap, jumping down, and playing around the study, he especially loved the fireplace. “Fireplace…

!!!

Could it be?”. He exclaimed in his head as he walked up to the fireplace, on the brick wall above the fireplace read ‘For Nick’ with an arrow pointing down at the fireplace. His Dad got it engraved on the wall after seeing how much he used to play here. But now, so many years in the future, those words seemed to have a different meaning

Just that, this was carved into the wall a long time before his dad died. There was seemingly no way it was connected, but it was the best shot he had. Utilizing the best of his mental capabilities, he thought of what could be the answer to this puzzle. looking again at the arrow a thought passed his mind.

‘What if it’s something in the fireplace?’, Using these thoughts as a guide, he crouched down and investigated the fireplace. It was mostly ash; all the coal had been burnt up. Pushing away the ash around the shallow parts of the floor of the fireplace, he found the jackpot - or at least another hint- on the floor there were words engraved. he read it aloud

“One who guards the gates of the beyond

Open in this wall, a door for this one to seek wisdom”

On reading it, the letters started releasing a light. At first, it was so faint that he could barely notice, but it continued growing brighter and stronger. He took a couple of steps back from the fireplace as the light continued glowing until it engulfed the whole fireplace in a blinding light - his eyes shut instinctively.

His eyelids finally opened sometime after the light had died down. But instead of a fireplace, what he saw was a door. Taking a gulp, he reached for the doorknob; but on turning it, his vision suddenly warped and he was in a different place. It was like an office. There was a fridge, a table, and a chair that was facing the opposite wall. and from where the chair was, an unfamiliar voice spoke to him words that would change his life forever, and in quite the cheerful manner.

“Do you believe in magic?”

Nick was shocked beyond belief. He could not even begin to process what had just happened to him, not to talk of answering the mysterious person that just asked him if he believed in magic.

“Cat got your tongue?”, The voice asked, still not changing her playful tone. The chair turned to show the owner of the voice. it was a girl, with blue eyes, and long smooth black hair that reached her hips, she wore a blue Japanese traditional yukata that was so out of place in the setting. She gave the impression of someone his age, and had a sharp look on her face, though quite relaxed and calming at the same time. She appeared to have no tension as he looked at Nick, with a look that seemed like she was looking through him, all the way to his very soul.

“Oh, maybe it’s because I forgot to introduce myself”, She said with a sigh as she stood up and hovered around the table and to where Nick was.

“I’m Eden, and as for what I am and my connection to your father, I’ll tell you that when you answer my question”, She said with a smile.

“I don’t believe in magic”, he started

“But considering how I got here and the fact that you’re floating, I’m no longer sure what to believe”

“Good answer”. Said, Eden

“So why not let me show you; the world of magic, the path your father treaded”, He continued as he stretched his hand towards Nick; gesturing that he takes it. Perceiving that there was no other option, and curious about what he was going to be shown, Nick took the hand that was stretched towards him. The world around him suddenly warped, and then he was in a void, with small numerous lights that appeared to be stars in the distance.

“Where are we?”, He asked while gazing into the breathtaking sight of what seemed like endless space.

“This is a little world created completely with my magic, nothing here is real. And this is how I’ll explain the concept of the mystic arts”, Eden replied

“The mystic arts or magic is in a broad sense, anyway a person affects the physical world in a way that does not follow normal physical laws. How the person does this may differ, but it is usually done either with special energy like magic power, also known as mana, as well as the person’s Innate aura or an external force like a spirit or deity. There are numerous forms of the mystic arts, each having its own set of rules. A lot of the time, these forms of art, may overlap in some areas causing similarities, and a particular art may be used in different ways to achieve similar effects”, Eden explained

“For example…”, She continued as a very large presence entered the space and became visible as a small transparent woman floating behind him “This lady behind me is a spirit. There are a lot of arts involving spirits like her, including regular spirit arts and shamanism, other people draw power from deities instead of spirits, that is called mysticism. That was what your family practiced back in the day, as for mana and aura, you’ll experience them first-hand as time goes by.”, she continued then paused and took a deep breath

“The final part of the message from your father is: ‘as you can see, I was a practitioner of the mystic arts, and though I don’t want to force you, I want you to experience this world I lived in; so, will you learn magic?’”

At this point, they were both returned to the office where Eden looked straight at him, and with a smile that drew his breath out of his nostrils, asked him again

“Will you learn magic? It’ll be a rough road, but very fun. You’ll get to see places you could only possibly see in your imagination and gain power far beyond your current comprehension. Will you follow in the footsteps of your father?”

“Is there any guy that would reject learning magic?” Nick asked

“When you put it that way…”, Eden said, laughing. Then she threw a doorknob towards Nick who caught it.

“What’s this?”, Nick asked.

“It’s your way here, just put it on a wall, door, or anything in-between, and press the button on the side to create a gate – or rather doorway to this place. It’s a lot easier than having to come to this place than going through the study in your old house. And don’t worry, time here doesn’t flow the same way as time outside, so you don’t need to worry about going home late; Most of the time – bye”, She said as she waved goodbye to the boy whose life was going to take a very massive change

Throughout school the next day, Nick could not but think about the experience he had the day before. He had just got to learn the kind of life his father had lived. And that his father was an active practitioner of magic. It didn’t even sound realistic in the slightest, but he had gotten first-hand experience and had no choice but to believe that it was the truth. And now, he had been given the learn magic just like his dad did.

The day seemed exceptionally long as he waited long in anticipation for the final bell, that’d signify the end of school for the day. When the bell finally rang, he hurriedly packed up his things and left the classroom. He walked out of school and straight to his old house. Upon entering the house, he made his way straight to the study, and but the doorknob he had been given on the study door. A slight flash of light came out of the edges of the knob as it was now held in place on the door as if it were always part of it. He pulled the doorknob and the door opened to a sight he was familiar with but not yet used to – the strange office with the girl who identified herself as someone that knew his father, sitting on the chair, behind the office desk. She had a calm, mysterious smile plastered on her face.

“So you came,” Eden said with a small laugh

“Of course, I did” Nick replied with an impatient tone.

“Well, since you’re so eager, I might as well just get right into it,” Eden said, and with a snap of his fingers, the place was turned into the void from before.

“The first step would be, to be able to identify your internal mana or magic power” Eden started,

“Normally, it’d take quite the amount of meditation to achieve that, but I have a shortcut. But it’d make you feel uncomfortable for a while”

“Whatever works,” Nick said, not thinking into it.

Eden placed a hand on his and he instantly felt a large amount of discomfort. It felt like a natural flow in him was disrupted, and it happened so suddenly, that it made him extremely nauseous. He had a spinning sensation in his gut and felt like throwing up. Then he began to feel what seemed to be some form of energy from Eden rush into his body through his hands. At this point, he felt extremely light to the point of floating. After a while like this, Eden stopped whatever she had been doing and let go of his hands. He could now feel the flow of this ‘energy’ inside his body.

“So this is how magic feels like,” he said looking at his hands.

“And thanks to a gift your dad left, you’ll not only be able to feel it, but you’ll also be able to see it in a bit,” Eden said as she flashed a smile in his direction – she was enjoying every moment if this.

“What do you mean?” He asked, tilting his head to the side.

“The ability to perceive magical energies with one’s eyes is usually a very big feat that shows one as a magical genius or a very trained and experienced magician. And normally you must actively channel mana into your eyes to do it, that is unless you could do it naturally” She started explaining

“But your dad found out that by modifying your body’s natural mana pathways and constructing a few magical circuits in the optical lobe and eyes, and then connecting those to the body’s already modified mana pathways, you can get proper spiritual vision, better than natural psychics”.

“So basically, you’re telling me that my dad used me as a human experiment for his magic?”

“Of course not” She replied with a laugh

“He had lots of ways to test his magic except human experiments” She added.

“What I AM trying to say is that all you need to do is flip a switch and you can see the mystical half of the world. Well at least the parts you can interact with, seeing all of it would bring a lot of unnecessary problems”

“So, where do I find this ‘switch’?” Nick asked

“First, we need to get you to move your mana. Doing it is exactly how it sounds. You must try to move the energy like it was a part of your body”

“Hmm, ok” Nick replied as he tried out what she said.

‘Feel the flow, feel the flow, feel the flow’ He thought to himself and after a while, he finally managed to completely grasp the flow of mana in his body. All that was left was for him to purposefully change this flow and direct his mana the way he wanted.

Increasing his concentration, he tried to get his mana to move according to his will. But it didn’t work. It was almost as if his mana was ignoring him.

“You’re doing it wrong”, Eden said nodding at him.

“You shouldn’t try to force it, don’t try to oppose the flow, and don’t see it as something that isn’t you. Think of it as another part of you, like an extra limb, just this time, it’s fluid and doesn’t have any exact form. And don’t oppose the flow, follow it, control it then direct it. Try being meditative”, She further explained, but for some reason, she had glasses on, and she was in a suit, with her hair tied to the back with some in the front at the sides.

“Why are you dressed like that? And how and when did how to get changed?” He asked, flustered. She looked good, so much it felt unreal…

“Oh, I was just dressing the part. And I changed using magic, isn’t that a given?” She answered with a giggle. She was enjoying his reaction, which showed clearly in the smile on her face.

With a snap of her fingers, she was enveloped in light and was back in her regular look.

Turning away from her, he closed his eyes and tried her suggestion.

‘Follow the flow, control the flow, direct the flow’ He thought in his head as he concentrated on the task.

‘As if it were one of my hands. Like controlling the flow of water. Become one with the flow’. He continued deeper into his meditative state, quickly losing his touch with reality, and sense of time.

After a while, he got it right. He was able to make the mana flow to some parts of his body where it normally didn’t reach.

‘She said something about the eyes’ He thought and channeled the mana into his eyes. And his vision was covered in many different colors, even as his eyes were closed. It looked like an artwork. It faintly traced out real objects in some places but wasn’t it enough for him to get a full grasp of his surroundings as he couldn’t understand what he was seeing. He opened his eyes and saw how the colors interacted with the world around him – it was beautiful. Then he turned around and saw Eden, but she looked different. She still had her regular expression, but there was massive deep blue around her; like it was supposed to be an aura, but it was too much. It made her look divine, like a being out of this world. He couldn’t but stare in awe. Her lips seemed to move, but he couldn’t make out the words she was saying, he was just captured by the moment. It looked too beautiful to exist, and her in the picture just made it look like it was out of a fairy tale. With a facepalm, she muttered something again and the blue hue around her died down and became very small, just like a highlight around her figure and barely visible. This brought him back into the real world. “Ah, sorry I forgot to control how much magical energy I was letting leak out into the surroundings,” she said, with a look as if she was in thought.

“That’s just the beginning, there’s a lot more you could do with just raw mana. I’d prefer you find those out yourself”

Then with a very big smile, she opened her arms wide and said,

“Welcome to the world of magic”

At this point, he felt a very big sense of accomplishment come over him, and he smiled. It was the brightest smile he had ever given in years.

“Well, you should be heading home right about now. You spent a lot of time here. That meditation you did lasted a couple of hours you know”, She said.

“Well, off you go. You don’t want to get your family worried now, do you? And you don’t need to come to this house every time. You could stick the doorknob anywhere, even a window or wall and it’ll link you to here.” She added, and as if on cue, the place began to slowly disintegrate into particles.

“See you next time”, she said cheerfully as she waved him goodbye.

When his vision cleared, he was outside the house with the mysterious doorknob in his hand. Then he walked back to his new home.

Opening the door to his home, he was greeted by the scent of food coming from the kitchen.

“Welcome home” A voice came from the kitchen, it was his aunt Leah. His uncle Dan and she had taken him in after the incident with his parents, and he had lived with them ever since.

“Hey Nick, you have to take us out now!”, a girl walked up to him said with a pout, with one a few years younger behind her. They were his cousins May and June. They were 12 and 10. He had lived with them for most of their lives, and they grew up with him as an elder brother.

“But time,” Nick said knowing that going against their wishes was a near-impossible task. A fight he was not ready to fight. But he had to at least show some resistance.

“It’s just past 3, what’s your point?” May said with a slight frown.

“That’s no excuse” June followed.

It was due to their teamwork in times like this that it was close to impossible to say no to them if they really wanted something from you. They could do it all, sweet talk, coercion, blackmail, even straight emotional attacks. With such an arsenal of skills and excellent teamwork, they always got their way.

“Your twelve; you can go on a walk yourself”, He said with the intention of not just giving in.

“I’m twelve, June’s just 10 and you always treat me like a child anyway, so what’s the use of bringing that up?” May started her assault.

“And we’re two girls. Even though it’s relatively safe around these parts, you never know. If you followed us, you could at least ensure our safety. Or are you so weak that your presence wouldn’t make any difference?” She continued with words that seemed to pierce deep past his skin.

“And what of the things we need to buy. I overheard dad saying you had too much money for someone your age, and that your allowance is so big. You couldn’t be trying to be stingy with us, are you?” June added with words that now made it clear. He wasn’t just taking them out. He was taking them out, and letting them wipe his pockets.

“What do you want to do with all that money? End world hunger? You never go on dates, barely ever buy any new clothes, well I understand it’s because you’re single, but you never even treat yourself. So, where’s all that money going to, College? Go change we’ll be waiting” And with May’s finishing blows, he had completely lost his spirits and went up to change.

Coming back down, he met them both with very bright smiles. With looks that seemed to not be capable of spitting the poison they could. May wore a deep blue dress, while June wore a green one. He left the house with them not even knowing where they were taking him.

They went around different stores buying stuff, with his pocket as their fund source. They bought a lot of stuff, including some new clothes, and accessories for tier phones. They had no self-restraint in their spending and bought whatever they wanted. And he willingly spent the money on them. They were the only family he had.

Nick and his sisters reached their house in time for dinner, after which they all watched a movie. A single teardrop flowed down his face.

“Ha! Nick’s getting all emotional over the movie” May laughed

“But it’s an action thriller,” June asked confused.

“There was something in my eye” Nick replied, with a slightly annoyed tone

“Let’s just enjoy the movie” His uncle Dan said with a laugh. And they watched till the end of the movie then went to bed.

Elizabeth Williams is a 16-year-old Third-year high school student and Nick’s best friend since childhood. They were so close and did basically everything together for the better part of their childhood. They would usually meet up at his house and play throughout the day. He started becoming distant when his parents died. Though it wasn’t unexpected, she still tried her best. She’d visit him at his uncle’s place, and spent a lot of time and effort keeping their friendship. At this point, they were nearly inseparable – or at least that’s how it was supposed to be, but without a doubt, they were nowhere as close as they were in the years before. She could still do as much as tell if something was on his mind, she was still the closest friend he had, but the distance between them had been growing. He was getting more distant as the days went by.

For the last two days, Nick seemed unusually distant; ever since she found him crying on the roof. The days after that, he’d leave school immediately after the bell rang, as though he had somewhere he was hurrying to. It was rare for him to just run off like that, as he usually enjoyed taking his time packing and getting ready before leaving the class. She decided she’d talk to him and figure out where he was running off to. It might seem a little intrusive, but considering their friendship, it’s just normal to want to know. Meanwhile, Nick was in his own world all that time. Utilizing the abilities of his magic eyes, he looked at the world around him which was now very colorful with the different magical energies around, in people, and the air. All the while practicing control over his own mana. It took a lot of concentration and due to this, he paid almost no attention to what was going on in the class around him.

After hours of feeling and moving his magical energy, his concentration was finally broken by a tap on his shoulder; it was Liz

“The lunch bell has rung… You’ve been spaced out all day. Are you okay?”, She said with a worried expression

“I’m fine, no need to be so worried”, He answered with a little smile.

“You’ve been acting unusual recently, you’ve even been spaced out all this time, you leave school early. What happened to you?”, She said in one breath, all her current worries.

“Oh that”, He said with a laugh.

“I just got this really cool game, it’s plenty hard and I’m trying to clear it as fast as possible; I was thinking about playing strategies. You can come and check it out if you want”, he added.

“Oh, then why was I even worried?” she said with a facepalm. The rest of the day continued smoothly with him with Nick putting most of his concentration on trying to control his magic power.

‘What about his schoolwork?’, one may think. But Nick already had a good enough cumulative grade. One term of slacking wouldn’t harm him so much. And either way, he wasn’t the type that failed tests, so he was sure to get by just fine. Losing a few marks wasn’t going to deter him from learning magic.

At the end of school, he left for the old house like the last two times and entered Eden’s office from the study door.

“You came,” Eden said from her chair

“Of course, I did” Nick replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Or was I not supposed to come?” He asked

“Well, you can come anytime so it doesn’t really matter” She replied.

“So where do we start today?”, Nick asked with anticipation showing clearly, in his eyes. “Hmmm,” She thought for a while.

“Your mana is a lot more stable than yesterday, meaning you must have practiced a whole lot. So, I’ll give you a special service” She finally said.

“What could that be?”, He enquired further.

“master in magic”.

“Cool,” he said, very interested in the sound of what she was saying.

“Ok then,” She said, opening a portal beside him,

“Get going. It’s not going to be easy. But don’t worry, you most likely won’t die” She said with her voice becoming low at the last part.

“What do you mean probably?” He asked, starting to panic

“I mean I’ll save you if you’re about to die or unless you fall for an instant-death attack or trap. And why are you worried? Aren’t you the main character?” Eden said with a smirk.

“What’s that smug face for?” Nick asked Irked

“And what do you mean by the main character? And there are instant-death traps?” He asked clearly annoyed by the fact that she was literally playing with his life.

“I mean, you really fit the bill to be an MC, I mean I could put your story in a book; It’d do great”, She said with a hearty laugh.

“And I was just joking, you won’t actually die; Just like a dream, you’ll be ejected at the point of death. I’ll also fix all the damage to your body and clothes, can’t say anything about the mental fatigue though, so get going. I’ll guide you from this side” she said as she pushed him through the portal.

On the other side, was a wide hallway. It was lit dimly with some light-emitting rocks lining the edges of the ceiling on both sides, emitting a warm light.

He took a step forward and something strange happened. He felt his magic power depleting very quickly. Activating his magic eyes, he noticed. There was no light except him. He was the only source of mana in this cave.

“So, you noticed” Came Eden’s voice from seemingly nowhere.

“This hallway has special properties of absorbing all the mana around and in it. Though it absorbs quickly, if you can completely stop your mana from leaking, it won’t be absorbed. In other words, if you can confine your mana in your body, you’ll be able to get through”, She explained.

“Ok then,” Nick said and then took another step forward, then proceeded to fall to the floor, losing his consciousness in the process.

He woke up a while later, on the floor in Eden’s office, to the cold uncomfortable feeling of the floor on his back. Eden was standing over him and looking down at him.

“I overestimated you,” she said,

“It was a mistake on my path. Your mana was so stable I assumed that you could at least manipulate it properly by now. But it was just you getting more accustomed to moving your mana. Think of it this way. You do a lot of basic finger exercises using a keyboard. But it’s finger exercise, not keyboard playing exercise. You’d be very used to moving your fingers around a keyboard, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to play any music. In the same way, you’ve been actively trying to feel and move your mana so much, and you’re quite good at it, or you’re wasting a lot of time practicing. Because of this, your mana is a lot more stable than it should be. But in reality, though now it’ll be a lot easier to use magic, your mana control is still worse than someone who spent years meditating even with no thoughts whatsoever of magic” she said.

“I’m just surprised you could say all that in one breath,” Nick said while sitting up.

“And it was quite rude” he added as he sat on the floor.

“So, all I have to do is not let my mana leak, right?” He asked, with a determined look on his face as he got up to his feet.

“Sure,” Eden said with a bright smile and she opened the portal again, then he walked through for his second attempt. At the beginning of the hallway-like cave, he took a deep breath.

‘Concentrate feel the mana, confine the mana, don’t let it escape’

After a couple of seconds, he stepped forward for his second try at the very first part of the Labyrinth of trials, which ended as quickly as it started; He had barely taken a few steps before his mana rushed out of his body, which like a puppet whose strings had been cut, fell to the ground. It was a complete failure. Waking up again, he looked at Eden who was squatting beside him.

“Send me back,” he said.

“ok” Eden replied with a sigh and opened the portal Entering again, He took some steps back and noticed that he didn’t go back through the portal. He took more steps back and started sprinting.

‘If I can’t reach the end normally, I just have to get there before my mana is completely drained’ Reaching the point that was supposed to be the beginning of the Labyrinth, he lunged forward. The result was – another failure. Couldn’t put enough concentration into holding his mana, and ended up losing his mana mid-air, making him crash brilliantly into the ground.

“I think sending you there was a bit unfair,” Eden said with a troubled expression

“The labyrinth of trials isn’t as easy as it seems. I may say all you have to do is learn to control your mana, but to be able to control your mana to that extent that the Labyrinth won’t be able to take it, requires extreme amounts of skill. Though it’s not impossible to get past, it’s a game with set difficulty at impossible, especially for a beginner”, she explained.

“Well, I guess, we’ll go for some more basic exercise before you challenge it again”, she said. He could only see this as a challenge, a challenge to his pride that had just been massively wounded. He couldn’t but think she did this purposefully.

“Ok,” he said, reluctantly.

“Ok, now I’ll teach you the most basic form of magic. It’s so basic, that even people that don’t recognize magic can do it. Well, those people would be people that have dedicated their whole lives to meditation or martial arts” she started.

“It’s body strengthening using mana. Normally, mana is an internal force one does not interact with, but it can have a lot of effects if you can manipulate it to any extent. There’s even a whole school of magic that just specialize in using magic flowing in the body. Though it’ll be better to just call it a martial art school that stumbled unto magic. You just bring the mana out from its regular astral flow and make it flow in your physical body. You should picture pulling the mana out, and you should probably focus on doing it for particular body parts rather than your whole body at first” She explained With determination in his eyes, and with his last bit of pride, he closed his eyes. He had already tried something like this before. He was able to send mana to power his magic eyes, so something like this wouldn’t be a problem. Concentrating deeply, he tried it. Picturing his mana coming into his body, his body felt slightly lighter. He focused all the energy to his hand.

“Good,” Eden said.

After a few seconds, his body became exhausted, his mana had run out.

“You don’t have much mana right now, you’re still a novice. But there’s something that can help. It’s a method your dad used to increase his mana up to insane levels” Eden said.

“How good exactly was my dad?”, He asked. It was a question that always crossed his mind, but he never asked, until now. His curiosity had gotten the better of his fears.

“Your dad”, Eden said, then paused to take a deep breath

“In terms of raw power, he could sink a small country on a whim without much. If it was his mana control, Lemme just say, there was a time he was in a meeting of sorts with other powerful magicians. His mana was so well concealed, they overlooked him at first, till someone recognized him by face.”, she said with an expression as if she was in the past.

“There was never a dull moment. Everyone was always on their toes, waiting for the next crazy thing he’d do. One moment he was in another world, the next, he’d be lost somewhere in time. He did settle down when he met your mom”

“Ok” Nick said with newly found determination.

“Open the portal”

Eden did as he said, and opened the portal again which he walked through to face the labyrinth for the third time. Concentrating the most he could, he gathered as much of his mana as possible into his feet for body strengthening, went into a crouching position and leaped into the hallway.

With his magic enhanced body, he was able to throw himself forward with quite the force, but there were problems. His mana had drained quickly, leaving his body to crash in the middle of the hallway with all that force and slide a bit on the floor.

“That was a great attempt,” Eden said, looking at him when he woke up.

“Normally someone that just started learning magic wouldn’t be able to pull off those levels of mana control you just showed. And you don’t have much mana. You haven’t done any mana building exercise and you’re basically a regular human in terms of mana quantity, so you won’t even be able to last in the Labyrinth either way.” She started

“Now for the mana exercise that your dad used, it’s called ‘Reharness cultivation’. It takes a lot of concentration and mana control to pull it off. You expel all your mana, and just before your body disconnects from it, you pull it back. It’s a simple exercise, but it works wonders. And to train your mana control outside your body, gather mana just above your hand and give it a shape, preferably round, then keep it for as long as possible” she said as she bid him farewell and threw him an amulet

“What’s this?” He asked

“It’s a mana recovery amulet, it gathers mana from the air and channels it into your body for faster recovery, it should help your training. It also has an extra protection ability to make a very powerful barrier. You could give it to a friend that needs protection when the time comes” She answered.

“Ok then, bye” he said as he wore the amulet and walked out the door. Like the last time, he was in front of the house. And with his pride completely broken, he went back home.