TBATE - What if Tessia was the legacy ? - The legacy of it all

Nothing to see here

{POV: Tessia Eralith}

Looking at the small set of roots and branches I had just conjured, I felt like my eyes were both glued onto and looking past them completely.

I stood there in utter and complete dumbfoundedness as I felt the knowledge acquired during my decade of learning and studying magic being thrown out of the window into a gigantic fiery chasm with razor-sharp blades waiting at the end, ready to impale any sense of logic I had developed.

-Wha- Did you...- Is this your doing, Tess?" Finally managed to utter Arthur, who was visibly as confused as I was over what the hell just happened.

- I, uhm... I think?" I let out in a confused tone as I started to question my sanity more and more while still having my eyes locked on one particularly lively small sprout, as if menacingly glaring at it would give some answers.

-But you're... you're not a mage." He asked rhetorically in a tone that made it unsure which opposite statements he was implying at once, since I obviously wasn't a mage but had clearly and demonstrably displayed the ability to use magic.

- No, I don't have a mana core." I explained out loud more so to convince myself than to tell Art as I desperately tried to rationalize the situation.

"Maybe an elven mage is playing a trick on us?" I told myself as I jerked my head around, eyeing my surroundings suspiciously to try and spot any potential 3rd party hiding in the treetops or in the garden's flower bed.

"Maybe this is a complete coincidence? Those roots and branches just grew there, on their own, in about 2 seconds." I frantically argued, conscientiously ignoring that I had already tried and succeeded at using that power once again. Which, as a matter of fact, I can no longer ignore since I just thought about it!

"Aaaah! Why is this happening now?! That's going to blow my cover for something I wasn't even aware I could do! Damn it all!" I mentally screamed as I started to pull my hair in frustration.

-Hey, Tessia." Called out Arthur in an assertive tone I didn't know he was capable of yet, as I suddenly focused back on him, only to see his 4-year-old, cute little body, which created a huge gap between what I had heard and what I was seeing. "Come here." He added in a noticeably more friendly tone while gesturing for me to sit on the bench next to him.

Completely lost on what to do, I obediently followed his command as I was already mentally preparing myself for ; for... for anything, really. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into, much less how to pull myself out of this mess.

"Can you face away from me?" He asked in a tone that made it clear he was thinking deeply about something else.

Sighing deeply, I followed his instruction once more before looking down in defeat, only to suddenly feel a pressure on my back, causing my eyes to jolt wide open as I jerked my head back around, only to realize that Art had placed his hands on my back.

-Tess, I'm going to need you to pretend like I'm not here and try to do whatever you did once more, okay?" He asked in a gentle, comforting tone, entertaining the idea that this whole situation might not end catastrophically.

Rotating my head back in place and closing my eyes, I followed Art's request and started pulling mana out of God knows where and acted as if I was conjuring a long and thin tree branch from the ground before deciding to have it curving up into a circle.

By the time I reopened my eyes, the exact branch I had pictured had just grown on the tree about two meters away from me, not just the general shape, but following the details I had imagined, from the color to the pattern, the junction between the tip and the base of the branch.