TBATE - Strings of Fate

2 - Give and Take

--TESSIA--

The days passed by with me conversing with Sylvia, picking up some roots in between to eat that looked and tasted very similar to potatoes but were black in color.

We talked about all sorts of things to pass the time as she prepared to open a portal.

In a regretful tone, she explained one day, "The spell will take some time for it to be completely safe. I do not wish for you to land in a destination you are not familiar with. Even one inconsistency can lead to you being transported a couple hundred meters off the ground. Please be patient; you will be able to see your loved ones soon."

I nodded and said that although I missed them, I was fine with waiting. It beat trying to find my way back through the complex and dangerous forest that surrounded my home.

We talked a bit more, and the topic eventually arrived at magic. Seeing the conversation steering in this direction, I subconsciously perked up. I had always dreamed of being a mage. Due to my royal lineage, it was likely I would awaken, but you could never be sure. Seeing me perk up at the topic, she smiled at me. Suddenly, her eyes turned purple, and she seemed to examine me for a minute.

"You're very lucky. Elves like yourself generally awaken around age ten, if they ever awaken at all. It looks like you were due to awaken even earlier than that. On top of this, in this place, the air you breathe and the fruits that you eat are all very rich in mana, and it seems this is speeding the process up immensely. You are about to awaken."

I was excited.

I still remembered the fear that gripped me during the time I was kidnapped. More than anything, though, I remembered my frustration at being too weak to fight back. Hearing I would awaken made me feel relieved, since awakening meant I would be able to protect myself if that ever happened again. Not only that, awakening now guaranteed I was a rare, and most likely powerful genius who was awakening 3 years earlier than normal.

After realizing this, my face lit up and I excitedly chatted with Sylvia, asking questions about mages and impatiently waiting for the day I would finally awaken. Every couple of days, Sylvia would come by and inject some of her mana into my body, causing me to feel warm all over. She said that this would further hasten the awakening process.

Then, a month passed.

I still hadn't awoken. At this point, the novelty and excitement had worn off, and I was sick and tired of waiting.

"So much for 'almost'! It's been a month, and nothing has happened. You've even been helping me this whole time and I still haven't awakened!" I complained, frustrated at the long wait before the realization of one of my most cherished dreams.

As I continued pouting and complaining, half joking and half upset, I felt a strange motion in my abdomen.

*BOOM*

Suddenly, the mana in the area around me reacted to my newly forming core, creating an implosion the size of a small house.

I was ecstatic. After awakening, my body felt incredibly refreshed, like I had just woken up from a deep sleep after a long day. Maybe that's why it's called awakening.

I remembered from my conversations with Sylvia that there were two types of mages: conjurers and augmenters. Conjurers were more adept at weaving complex spells and fighting at range, whereas augmenters used mana to reinforce their physical attributes and fought at close range. The implosion signified that I was a conjurer.

Sylvia agreed to help me learn to manipulate mana. First, she taught me to meditate and absorb mana, and to refine it to improve my core. Next came manipulating mana in my body, and finally manipulating mana in the outside environment.