Shapeless Hero

6 - Mana Hacking

I hear Karl flap his wings and fly off. Only his telepathic presence remains. "I can not make an educated guess about what knowledge a speaking shapeshifter might possess. I'd like to apologize in advance for any questions too obvious for you."

Karl was already excited about my ability to talk. I assume shapeshifters were not a species to retain and share a lot of information then? "What do you need to know?"

"Are you aware of mana? It's the arcane energy that flows through every living being."

"You mean that strange stuff in and around me, right? What about it?" This is a magical world alright. Too bad I'm not an idealistic, healthy teen with healthy legs, but a worn down puddle of misery.

"So you do know about the mana inside you, splendid! I'd like to lead you through a mental visualization exercise using said mana. Please observe the changes within your body which occur during the process. Keep your eyes closed, regardless of any odd sensations."

"Got it. What's it gonna be? A fire inside me?"

A heartbeat of silence. "...that's a good guess, actually! Imagine your mana being that fire."

"Alright..." A campfire comes to mind, so I use that as a basis for my mental image. Not too long after, the energy inside me actually starts to move, gradually shaping itself after that mental image. "Woah."

"I can see it's working! This really is your mana then! Untainted, natural mana!"

My mana? For casting spells? Under my control? If I had a working body, that would be certainly something to be happy about. "Okay, what's next?"

"Now, imagine that fire spreading to the lower parts of your body, as if spreading down a branch ignited at the tip, for example."

"Hngh!" This is a bit harder. The campfire was easy, but the fire spreading downwards is a bit more unfamiliar. I didn't watch things burn up close in my old world. My lungs couldn't take it. 

The sun! Its corona goes towards all directions! Or how about imagining a constant solar storm in my body then? I try to recall the footage that astronomers back on earth have captured and the countless documentaries filled with such imagery.

"Yes! That's it! You're doing it! It's hard to believe, such a live specimen exists!"

The live specimen's mana—my mana—obliges once more. I can feel the energy creep downwards within my body. It reaches the lower torso, before I notice some resistance from the bottom. I take a deep breath.

"Ah, there's the first hurdle. Imagine a stronger fire now, like a... have you ever seen an offensive fire spell?"

"Can't say I have, but I might know something else." If my mana moves according to what I imagine, what if I were to think of another downwards facing fire... let's say, the thrusters of a rocket? I mean yes, solar storms are already violent, but imagine one huge rocket-thruster, as big as the sun. Albeit silly, that would be an insane output of energy.

"Good, I see your mana is moving aga—what the hells did you imagine!?"

Shit. Just by imagining that silly, giant thruster, my mana actually reshaped itself into it. I can feel the energy violently swell up inside me, filling my whole upper body in under a second. Once the space runs out, the mana grows denser instead. It feels very wrong. I'm half-expecting a alien larvae burst out of my stomach with the pressure down there.

Karls' panicked voice enters my mind again. "I don't know what kind of imagery you had in your mind, but this will..."

"...kill me?" One can hope.

"You will distort your mana circuits irreversibly, turn the rest of you into a puddle and thus lose any way to talk or do anything else, really. That will be the rest of your life. By the way, did I mention that shapeshifters usually lived for centuries, before they died from a natural death?"

"No, you did not!" I hastily replace the mental image of the giant thruster with a small candle. To my relief, the mana retreats into the shape of that small flame. That's an impressive reservoir of magic I have, although it'll never see use outside of the crows experiment, sadly.

"The control you have over your magic is astounding, but we have to start from scratch now. So much for taking only five minutes..."

"It's alright. Even if it's ten minutes, it's still better than centuries. Let's try again." Karl is giving me the chance to do something with magic in the last minutes of my life. It's not a bad way to go.

"Hm... using the energy output that you just had... I think we can still make it in five minutes! I just have to direct your energy myself. My mana will have to enter your body. Are you alright with that?"

"I don't see a problem with that. Let's go." I wonder how that feels, hopefully not like alien-babies.

"Let's go, indeed. I've readjusted my arcane circles already. Don't get startled, I'm going in!"

"Uh, phrasing?", my inner teen responds, before my adult filter can catch up.

"What are you on about? Focus!"

Few moments later, I can feel a foreign energy enter my body. It continues to spiral around my mana in the torso first, then it reaches for the parts of me that my mana has trouble getting into. The foreign energy leaves thin trails of magic behind while it slowly enters parts of my lower body.

"Do you feel the lines of mana? They function as small bridges that lead into your lower body, but the resistance will be quite high still. Let your mana follow them with whatever image you just used to fill up your torso so quickly."

"Got it." I let the weird, sun-sized rocket-thruster return to my mind, anticipating the pressure from before. Within mere seconds, my mana fills my upper body and follows the trails instead, reconnecting mana circuits. As advertised, it's slow. "You didn't lie about the resistance."

"I'm afraid so. Seems like it would not have worked without my assistance in the first place. And I don't think a higher output of your mana is worth the risks. This is already quite a lot to handle for my own spellcraft anyway."

"As I said, a couple of minutes more is fine by me."

"If we reach the seven minutes without success, we will cancel the experiment and I'll end your life immediately. I promise."

"Deal." Regardless of outcome, getting to control some magic is a nice parting gift. I want to say that I'll remember this experience forever, but forever doesn't mean much in my case.

A third presence enters the telepathic connection again. "Glad ya became study-buddies until death might part ya, but hurry up with this. I said seven minutes until the other shits arrive. We better be gone before that!"