Tipping the Scales

24

Lukas kept glancing over at Leo, stood a few metres to his side. They were facing Henri, who was taking them through some exercises. They moved their bodies slowly into awkward positions, ones that Henri made look simple, but strained the muscles when held for several minutes. Lukas was surprised to be working up a sweat, as he had trained his body all his life to be strong and lean. Henri said these exercises helped to loosen your physical and mental being, and aid your connection with your mana.

For this reason, Lukas was trying his best to follow the commands. In each pose, he would control the mana within him to move to whatever area was being worked. Beside him, Leo was performing the exercises with ease, with a faint orangey red glow that indicated where he was focusing his mana.

"Well done, lads, now rest," Henri relaxed into a normal stance after a particularly strenuous position, the boys followed suit. "Now for the fun part. How about we use some magic?"

Lukas perked up. He felt incredibly loose and nimble after the stretching and was eager to finally witness his own magic.

"I know you have done this many times before, Young Master," Henri approached Lukas, "but bear with us whilst we test Lukas here. Are you ready to give it a go?"

"Are you sure it's safe to do so?" Lukas was excited yes, but also reticent from what he had heard about the arena incident. Falsier had described him as an out-of-control mess of malevolent energy that only the efforts of a royal could subdue. He didn't want to lose control like that again.

"I understand your hesitancy, but you will come to learn that magic is just an extension of yourself. It is like another limb that you have complete control over; it will only do what you will it to do. It's been theorised that what happened at the Ascension Exams was a result of you losing consciousness. With that in mind, you should have no issues here, just don't go falling asleep," Henri stood next to him and smiled, making Lukas feel at ease. Behind Henri, Leo was still performing stretching exercises, not paying any attention to them.

"Don't worry about him," Henri spoke under his breath, "focus on yourself. Now try and conjure magic in your hand. Remember what I taught you."

Lukas nodded. "Send mana down my arm and allow it to be released in my palm."

"Slowly," Henri emphasised, "you have to control the output."

Lukas took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He discarded the distractions of the world around him; the quiet chatter outside on the street, the presence of Henri and Leo, even the slight breeze that entered the courtyard; until he stood in a dark, empty space that left only his mind and body. He felt the pulsating mana within him, now more potent with nothing else around. He held his hand up and coerced the mana towards it, feeling it react to his commands. It travelled as slow as Lukas wanted it to, obeying his direction as Henri said it would. He pushed until he felt it reach a barrier, the palm of his hand. With a little more effort, he pushed it beyond.

Lukas heard a gasp and slowly opened his eyes. Within his hand, he held what looked like a small orb of shadow. No, it was deeper than that. It was infinitely black, like a star-less night sky. Around it's edges, there was a deep purple hue which rippled and pulsated with power.

"I say, the stories were true then," Henri spoke in a hushed tone, so as not to disrupt his concentration. "I half believed they were exaggerations, but another type of magic really does exist."

The sight had even caught Leo's attention, who had stopped what he was doing to stare at the ominous object in Lukas' hand.

Lukas felt himself smiling at the sight, he really had worried too much over nothing. Henri was right when he said it was all about control. Lukas closed his eyes again and sensed his mana – the orb in Lukas' hand was being fed directly by a steady stream of magic from the core in his chest.