EIGHT YEARS LATER

I woke up before dusk had broken. Yet again. For the past month, I’d had trouble sleeping longer than five hours and it was becoming worse as the day of the liturgy approached. The moment that I would receive my mana was now only a week away. I couldn’t care less that my excitement had gotten in the way of me getting enough sleep.

I had been waiting for this day ever since my parents were killed. Since the day I was hiding in that chimney, helplessly waiting for them to save me. But all that was about to change. Once I received my mana, I was going to be the one who did the saving.

The last eight years were nothing like I had imagined they would be, but they had thankfully been relatively uneventful as far as attacks were concerned. During the first year, I had felt lost without my parents. Especially in the first few months.

All I ever did was study in order to get ready for when I received my mana. However, Ched and Nessa had taken me under their protection and eventually they made me feel at home again. I had lived with them ever since and came to consider them as my second parents.

It was in that same year that I finally got my class. The force that rules the multiverse called Apocosmos only made its appearance on mortals after a certain age. This force, called Dark Energy, opened up a new world to all citizens of the Apocosmos, which our realm was part of.

Being a mystic meant that I had access to certain skills such as weak element based attacks and the most basic of self-healing. These skills, even though they required MP and looked a lot like the spells of our world, were nothing like the ones we, as Elysians, were able to use with Divine mana. That was of course, only after we were gifted it.

Regardless, this was another thing that I obsessed over and used it to occupy my mind. The combination of practicing spells, trying to train so I could get XP and raise my levels, along with my adopted parents, were enough to keep me going.

They would never replace my parents of course and I would always be the girl who was orphaned on that day. That wasn’t to say that they ever tried to replace them though. They gave me space and let me flourish in my loneliness. Ched always said wounds harden people and though I would carry that wound with me forever, I slowly became more comfortable with it.

Nessa was always loving and considerate, and Ched showed me how fascinating magic items and crafting them can really be. And little Kai has grown up to become such a fine person. He used to be this fragile little thing, but now he was eleven years old already and had developed so much.

Kai was much more adept in learning the intricacies of divine-spellcasting than I was at his age, or at least learning the techniques, and he acted far older than this age. Ched and Nessa deserved much of the credit for that, but he had been a diligent student of his own accord as well. I was extremely proud of him, and genuinely pleased that we would get our mana together.

But he was not the only one who had been studying diligently. I had learned so many spells over the past eight years that I would need to cast non-stop for days in order to go through my whole repertoire. I had devoured books day in and day out so that I would never be in a position where I would feel helpless again.

Our new priests were more than helpful in this effort of mine. Both Imar and Cheandra were available and more than willing to help, whenever I asked them. Due to Cheandra’s friendship with my adopted parents, I’d gotten to know them better than tutors. I’d spent so many nights in their house, talking about spells with their daughter, Seika, and even though she was no longer living in Nara, I still considered her the older sister I never had.

And then there was Adel. We frequently laughed about how awkward he had been when we first met, but it did not take long before he became my best friend. What he didn’t know was that he was actually my first friend. Living with two parents that had no mana, I hadn’t really spent much time with the rest of the kids, preferring to help them with their everyday chores.

After the death of my parents, he had offered the companionship I desperately needed. Not the kind that my adopted parents offered. That was something that I would have lost my life without. His was the kind of companionship that I would have lost my soul without. Though I had never told him, he was the first person to make me utter a word since the attack.

My morning routine comprised of studying and reviewing my spell repertoire and preparing for the daily magic class. Although Seika had left Nara, the classes she had taught while she was living with us continued.

Initially, Adel and I had held them in her stead, since we were both seventeen and therefore the oldest among the manaless. However, it soon became apparent that his teaching style did not work well with the younger children or less advanced students.

Adel was a person who would become extremely devoted to whatever he was doing. For all I knew, he had never missed a day’s study or practice in his life. His spells were numerous, ranging from the most minor of cantrips to some considerable summoning rituals and even the beginnings of some major spells. But, for all his knowledge, he could not relate to the rest of the manaless.

He had been born into a family with immense mana pools, he’d studied with the best tutor as a child, and he was always around magic. He had grown up as a magic native while most of the kids and teenagers attending the classes were the sons and daughters of minor spellcasters or even people who had completely run out of magic.

I, on the other hand, understood better how they felt, and soon became the sole teacher, relieving him of his duties. He didn’t feel threatened or bitter, for that wasn’t in his nature. He saw that I would be more efficient and gladly stepped down from his duties.

That morning, I reviewed my old spells and studied a new one before the sun’s rays fell over the village. Today’s new spell was a minor enchantment.

Name         : Water for Days

School of Magic   : Enchantment

Verbal Components : 16 words

Somatic Components : None

Material Component : None

HP Consumed  : 0

MP Consumed  : 0

Divine Mana Consumed   : 170

Range        : Touch

Casting Time : 60 seconds

Precondition : None.

Description  : This enchantment can be cast upon any ordinary bottle or liquid container. Once the spell is completed, said container will be enchanted for thirty days. During this period, every time it is turned sideways, it will start filling up with water until it’s turned upright again.

I had actually come to appreciate magic item crafting enormously while spending time with Ched. It turned out that he was once considered a legendary crafter of sorts, able to create minor artifact-level items before he decided to stop traveling and settle down into Nara.

I would normally memorize two or even three spells of this difficulty level each day, but I wanted to prepare myself for today’s course. Seeing that the liturgy was now so close, we decided to dedicate today’s teachings to it. We’d talk about how it is performed, who attends, what happens and the sort.

So, I dusted off some of the books that were given to me by the archpriest and quickly ran through the facts once more. It wasn’t that I did not know everything there was to know already regarding the day of the liturgy and how Divine mana is transferred from The Divine to us, but I wanted to be completely comfortable when I met with the rest of the manaless.

The sun had already been up for a while by the time I finished preparing. When Ched and Nessa came out of their room, we started preparing breakfast. And once it was almost done, Ched went to Kai’s room and woke him up. He may have already known almost everything that was related to the liturgy, but that didn’t mean he could slack off today’s teachings.

Actually, Kai would not even have thought of doing that, but neither would he wake up on his own. Soon, he emerged from his room, his short brown hair all messed up, and his large brown eyes squinting at the morning light. Once everyone was up and about, we sat down and broke our fast just as we had every day for the past several years.

"I hear that today’s lecture is going to be about the liturgy?” asked Nessa, as a way of starting a conversation.

“Well it’s not really a lecture,” I answered, though I smiled slightly at the offhand compliment. “It’s more like a gathering of peers, but yes, that’s going to be our subject today.”

“There’s no need to humble yourself among us, Myriam,” said Ched as he took a large bite of the steaming hot, magically fresh-baked bread. “We all know that you’re the most advanced of all the manaless younglings in Nara.” He winked, and my cheeks flushed red.

“Myriam, tell my dad how great I am as well,” Kai protested. “I can cast every spell that the other manaless can, and I’m much younger than them”.

“Why, yes, he’s a true marvel, this young one,” I said, to assure both Ched and Kai. “I’m sure he’ll be one of the greatest wizards of our generation.”

His father gulped down the bread he was chewing and ruffled Kai’s already messy hair, smiling at us both.

“We’re sure you will become a legend, little one,” added Nessa, seeing how Kai smiled from ear to ear, his teeth showing and eyes narrowed. “The liturgy will make everything right.”

We continued our breakfast and small talk for a few more minutes before I became restless and wanted to start for the hill where today’s meeting would take place.

“We should probably go now!” I exclaimed as soon as Kai put down his fork.

“In a rush, are you?” teased Nessa, as Kai climbed down his chair.

“We’re not rushing. It’s just that it’s an exciting day,” I said, and Kai nodded and ran to his room to get changed.

***

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