The First Mage

When we did our initial research on the water sources, I was under the impression that the mana was simply converted into water. That’s what the script suggested, and it’s what it appeared to do. Then came the first time we used water against a beast, and we shot a thin stream of water through its body, incapacitating it. Knowing about water jet cutters, I wasn’t overly surprised by the water drilling into the monster. It had admittedly worked better than I expected, but I wasn’t an expert on the matter and simply assumed this to be normal.

What really made me wonder about the nature of our “water magic” for the first time were our experiments out in the Wildlands, and particularly that time Tomar shot a tree in half. This hadn’t been a thin stream, it was a massive one, and it cut through the trunks like it was nothing, leaving nothing but huge holes. This did not seem natural anymore. Instead of cutting, it was more like the stream disintegrated whatever it touched. It was undoubtedly useful, and powerful, but that was not how water was supposed to work. Though I simply accepted it for the longest time. Until there were situations where I expected scripts to do damage and they simply didn’t.

The first instance of this was in Oryn’s and Aelene’s cell, when we had to knock her out in self-defense. Tomar hadn’t been able to hold back in that split second, and she took the full power of the water ball. But while she did lose consciousness for a moment, she didn’t have any injuries. It was a bit as if she was wearing a protective vest. Even if the water ball script didn’t have too much of an effect though, it was meant to be non-lethal, so I brushed this off once more. The real power was in our water stream scripts, and as long as these worked as expected, we wouldn’t run into any issues. Or so I thought, until Tomar told us that his attacks pushed Arax back, but didn’t injure her in any way. She couldn’t break the laws of physics—a large stream of water would always push you back—but whatever did the “cutting” seemed to have been impeded. It was evidently possible to block these attacks.

This was the point when I started to really reconsider what I knew about mana, and it struck me how much of what we were able to do I simply accepted as magic, even though everything here was rooted in reality. Water shooting through a tree doesn’t just happen. Something has to make the water do that. On its own, it also doesn’t spin into a ball suspended in mid-air. Water is water, you can’t tell it to do things after it’s out and about. But if mana was mixed into it... the story might be different.

And then I went back as far as the first time we used raw mana, to free ourselves from prison. We were able to knock people back, but the mana didn’t do anything to the chains or the stone floor. In its raw form, it seemed to only really affect other mana. We had essentially pushed away the guards’ energy, and their bodies with it. If used in conjunction with conversions, however, mana took on new properties, such as acting as an abrasive on steroids, to turn a water cutter into a water laser.

However, since the mana was essential to effectively shoot through anything, and mana was affected by other mana, it was possible to block such attacks with even just your aura—assuming it was strong and dense enough, as was the case with Arax and the Kobold King.

This was only the beginning of what mana was responsible for, however. Based on our slightly increased physical abilities, as well as Shadi’s descriptions of what her Calling let her do, I assumed it was doing much more.

I recounted all this to the others in detail, albeit in a generalized manner. I wanted them to understand my thoughts on the matter and what led me to certain conclusions, figuring that they’d benefit more from it if they actually understood it. Especially Riala.

“To summarize: mana is an element produced inside living beings that streams out of them in more or less controlled forms. It’s able to affect the beings in various ways, and I actually suspect that it’s even responsible for giving certain Callings their abilities. Compared to other people, a Fighter’s aura might not look different to us, but the mana enhancing their natural capabilities makes a lot of sense if you know that that’s what happened to us. Furthermore—”

“Wait, Tomar... Give me a second...” Aelene said.

Oryn and Riala had been listening curiously the entire time, but Aelene kept frowning, until she leaned back with a sigh, seemingly unable to process all of this. I hadn’t expected the teacher of all people to call for a break.

“Sure, take your time,” I said. “Maybe it’s a good time to ask if you have any questions so far?”

Riala glanced at Aelene before happily chirping, “Nope!”

She was very clearly proud of understanding all this already, though she had naturally been part of a few discussions about these topics in the past.

Oryn meanwhile... “Hahaha!” began cackling like a maniac, and I had to grin despite myself. For him, as a script researcher who struggled to make any real headway, it must’ve been incredible to be given all this information on a silver platter. Or maybe a bit ridiculous if you thought about how much we discovered in such a short amount of time, while he had presumably been on it for years without even broaching the topic of what made the scripts work in the first place.

“To think that you’re hoping to learn anything from me...” he said after calming down.

“I believe that interesting ideas can spawn in the unlikeliest of places,” I said. “One person knowing more than another doesn’t mean a lot. Especially when there’s still so much to learn.”

Oryn thought for a moment. “Maybe I can contribute at least one thing...” he said. “The last priest who studied the scripture sigils before me discovered a new script by chance, and it produced an effect I can’t even begin to describe. It used black stones.”

Wearing an intrigued expression, he was apparently convinced that he was telling me something new. However, not only did we know about black stones, he had also already let slip that he knew about them.

“Right. You mentioned a black stone script in front of Lilana once. I assumed that you were the one that ordered the black stone from the stoners before. We have briefly experimented with these stones, but we don’t know what exactly they are yet.”

“So you already know about them,” he said with a defeated laugh. “How do they fit into your mana theory?”

“Actually, it’s my belief that they’re unrelated. The effect produced by the black stones can be recreated without using any mana. That’s also why I would advocate for caution when researching them. They don’t seem to be part of the... ‘intended’ functionality I’ll say. Did you find anything aside from how to make the effect appear?”

“I didn’t. Unfortunately. To be honest, I was wary of it. It looked fascinating, but also entirely unnatural.”

Now this did surprise me. I honestly thought there were no lines Oryn wouldn’t cross.

“That’s probably for the better,” I said. “It might be related to the realm the gods live in, or even beyond that. It could actually be dangerous. We should probably make that another rule.”

“Very well,” he said, sounding downright reasonable.

Slowly, Aelene came out of her daze. “The gods...” she mumbled. “Do they even play a role in any of this?”

Oh. Is that what’s overwhelming her?

“The way you describe all this makes it sound like science. Like math,” she continued. “I thought the gods might at least have a hand in steering the effects of the scripts. If that’s not the case, is it just a natural phenomenon?”

“The answer to that is a bit more complicated... but for all intents and purposes, I would say that, yes, it is natural.”

At least in this world.

“I see... And how certain are you about all this?”

“Very. I mean, we don’t know everything yet, clearly, but all statements I made matter of factly, I’m absolutely certain of.”

“It’s no wonder that even Gallas approaches you on equal footing,” Oryn chuckled.

Aelene’s head swiveled in his direction once more, this time out of confusion. “Gallas? What are you talking about?”

“He appeared to him, and they talked,” he explained briefly before addressing me again. “That was Gallas in the prison, right? And in the ritual chamber as well! When he used that script!”

“Yea...”

It was a bit unfortunate that he had seen Gallas both times. Studying Aelene’s face, I couldn’t quite tell what she was thinking, but “shellshocked” might’ve been an apt description for her facial expression.

“You’re talking to gods? Does that mean Shae appearing during your escape to talk to you wasn’t just a rumor either?”

“No, that did happen. But she was trying to keep us from leaving, maybe so the beasts would have an easier time finding us. This thing with Gallas is a little different... But I think that’s a topic for another day.”

The lecture was already taking longer than I had planned, and I wanted to get back to the main topic, so we could get to the practical tests. All this seemed to have been a bit much for Aelene though, because she sat on the bench unmoving, just staring into the air.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes... It’s just...” Aelene looked up at me with a frown. “Who are you?”

“Huh?”

“This might sound silly, but you don’t feel like the man I talked to over the past week. Don’t get me wrong, you explained all this very well, but it’s... as if you’re living in a different world.”

Unsure how to respond to this, I simply looked back at her. It made sense that I felt different, seeing how Tomar really wasn’t the type to lecture people. I knew that he had talked to her about mana and water conversion, but most likely in a much more conversation-like manner. It sounded like I had alienated her by showering her with information about all things magic, as well as Oryn casually mentioning that I was somehow in contact with the gods. Although Tomar technically had much of this information and could’ve told her as well.

“I’m not sure what to say to that. This is what our life revolved around for the last three months. I can see how unusual it is, but...”

Trailing off, I thought, But what? Actually... If you really think about it, it is kind of crazy.

I arrived there three months ago, and at the time, to the best of my knowledge, nobody knew anything about mana or Omega. There was some limited research on it at the temple, and the beasts used their auras to gauge each other’s strength, but, in a way, magic hadn’t really existed. Or rather, it had been there, but nobody knew about it. And now here I was, holding an in-depth lecture about it. It would have seemed no less strange if I had started talking about other natural phenomena that people didn’t understand yet. Or if I had shown them a working smartphone. They could see it, they might be able to comprehend it, but it would seem abnormal. And Aelene had been at least partially aware of what we were. How ridiculous would this seem to someone who knew nothing about any of these topics yet?

It’s no wonder she’s looking at me like I’m from Mars. “It’s unusual, but...” What?

“I actually don’t know how to finish that sentence,” I said, grimacing.

At this, her grave expression lightened up slightly and she let out a short, exasperated sigh. “Oh well,” she said. “I suppose we should continue, right?”

“If you’d prefer, should we switch to the practical part?” I asked. “I thought it was important that you understand the basics of what mana is and does, but those we have covered now.”

“Honestly... that might be nice,” she said with a smirk. “That part I have something to contribute to at least.”

“Alright, in that case, let me explain what I would like to test today. Though it’s really simple when you break it down. Basically, I want to research the effects of mana and water scripts on targets that actively try to defend against them.”

“Ah. Now I understand why you wanted to explain all this to us upfront. If you want to test your scripts on us, then... we... Uhm, Tomar?”

“Yes?”

“You asked me here because of my mana... and because I’m able to control it well.”

“That’s right.”

“And you want to find ways to injure beasts who are defending against your scripts.”

“Correct.”

“Does that mean you want to attack me and see if I’m able to block it?”

“That’s not how I would put it,” I mused, “but essentially, yes. We need to—”

“You can’t be serious!” she shouted, standing up abruptly. “These attacks are lethal! What are you thinking? That sounds like someone Oryn might come up with!”

I calmly listened to her rant. This is going to be a long day...