Walkers: An adventurous tale

Chapter four: Mana screwed

    When I woke up I took a look around and realized that everything was fixed, including our wounds. I stood up and felt a bit dizzy. “What the hell…?” I wondered to myself. I realized that my friends were beginning to wake up as well. It was odd, I saw them begin to move instead of sensing them regain consciousness. I sat and wondered why I didn’t sense anything. “Is everybody feeling alright, that was a tough battle.” I said to my friends. Everybody nodded in agreement groggily. “I can’t believe we won…” Megan said. I nodded in agreement. “I can’t believe its not butter!” Chris said tiredly. The guy always worked so hard to be ridiculous no matter the situation. I admired this about him. Less than a moment later Chris gave me an odd look. “Hey Devin, I can’t sense your magik, are you okay?” Chris asked with a concerned tone. I shrugged and looked at myself. “I dunno, my body seems to be okay but… I didn’t sense anything when everybody was waking up…” I replied. I squinted and looked at the ground the way I usually did when I was pondering something. “Anyway, we should take a look around to see if everything was repaired.” Alyxander stated. We all looked around the premises of the mansion and everything seemed to have returned to normal.

    “The magik barrier is back and at full power.” Chris reported. “The craters we left in the ground aren’t even there anymore.” Megan chimed in. “The house seems to be alright as well.” Alyxander added. “Does anybody other than me feel completely replenished?” Chris asked. Everybody except myself agreed with him. “There’s something up with my magik, but I’m not sure what.” I stated. Chris motioned for me to go outside with him. I followed in reply and wondered what he wanted. “Try summoning your gear.” Chris ordered. “What, why would I need my gear right now?” I asked. “Just trust me on this and do it.” Chris replied. I sighed and  attempted to do as he asked. I attempted to release my power and summon my gear but it didn’t seem to want to appear. “Come on, come on, come on…” I said in annoyance. I focused a little harder on summoning my gear. It still wouldn’t appear as it usually did when I needed it. Chris looked at me with a puzzled expression. “What are you doing, just summon it already; there isn’t a need for any weird ass noises or whatever you're doing.”  Chris said.  “Yeah, yeah, I’m trying...my stuff just won’t come to me.” I replied. I attempted to summon a simple ranged attack. I took both of my hands and had each respective palm facing the other as I tempted to summon a ball of energy. “Now what are you doing?” Chris asked. “I’m trying to summon a magik missile but that won’t work either!” I exclaimed. I was annoyed that my magik wouldn’t work.

    I heard the front door open and it was Alyxander who stood in the opening. “You probably just used way too much mana so you have to let it recharge; you have a high amount of mana Devin, but it still isn’t infinite.” Alyxander stated. I sighed. “What am I supposed to do if we get attacked and I can’t use my gear?” I asked. “I’m not sure...We’ll have to figure out a new means of fighting for you until your power returns.” Alyxander replied. “Great, so now he’s useless.” Megan said. I wondered when she had shown up, I was completely messed up now that I couldn’t sense anything. “Fighting will be impossible like this…” I said in disappointment. “Don’t worry Dev, you’ll get your magik back soon enough.” Megan said in a comforting manner. “Odd...we all seem to be at full power while you're the only one running on empty...I wonder why that is?” Chris wondered. “In the last moments of the fight, before he went unconscious he gave us the last bit of his magik that he had left as a safety net so there was no possibility of being hurt or worse.” Alyxander said. “How does that even work?” Chris asked.

    “Devin was going into crisis mode and was probably only able to think about how badly he wanted to save us, so his magik replied accordingly.” Alyxander replied. “Well what about our property?” Chris asked once again. “Even on the verge of death, Devin is a lazy ass.” Alyxander said. “So...his magik did that too just because he didn’t want to clean it later?” Megan wondered. Alyxander nodded in reply. “You really just love going all out, don’t you?” Megan asked me. “Well...I saw you guys going down and everything being destroyed so I suppose my instincts took over.” I replied. “Instincts...instincts….what about that word is so intriguing at the moment?” Chris wondered aloud. We all looked at him. I saw the light bulb go on as his eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers and pointed. “I know, he can learn to unleash his primal state!” Chris exclaimed. Megan and I looked at him in confusion. “How exactly do you know about that?” Alyxander asked him. “I was reading some of your books in my spare time and I came across a short passage about it.” Chris said. He smiled proudly at his idea. “Ah...well never the less, one’s primal form can turn out to be...an interesting situation; Especially for somebody as powerful as him.” Alyxander said. I was sick of being on the outside of this conversation.

    “Would one of you like to tell us what a primal form is?” I asked. “The primal form is an ancient power that is older than magik, and much more dangerous at that.” Alyxander explained. “There’s actually a power older and more powerful than magik?” I wondered. Alyxander nodded in reply. He had my attention by this point. “Okay, so how does this primal form work?” I asked. “You have to be very in tune with your instincts, after doing that you must figure out what your beastial aura is.” Alyxander replied. “What the hell is a bestial aura?” I asked. “That is a rather difficult matter to explain...just know that you’ll be fighting wildly when you figure this all out.” Alyxander said. I wondered just how in tune I had to be with my instincts before unlocking this supposed ancient power. “I just need you to understand that, before we do this, there is supposedly a risk.” Chris said. I raised an eyebrow at him. “Once you release your primal form, there is going to be a stupid amount of power flowing through you and you may or may not go insane or explode….” Chris explained. “Explode?” I asked.  “As in, your entire physical being will go poof so violently that it may or may not crack a planet.” Chris explained. I liked the sound of this power but I knew it’d be difficult and dangerous to wield.

    After our discussion, the group split apart except for Chris and I. We began to train very hard so I could unlock my primal form. We used wooden training swords; Chris duel wielded while I used one sword. They were exactly like our actual weapons except they were just wood. I was getting beat up pretty badly since I didn’t have my magik to rely on but I began to understand my instincts a little more. We fought for about an hour and at the end of that hour I was able to dodge and deflect his strikes as well as getting in a few strikes of my own. It wasn’t terribly hard to adjust to fighting this way and the more I did it the more my instincts guided me. The feeling of fighting this way and being able to give it my all was exhilarating. I began to swing as hard as I could naturally without any assistance from magik and it was much more satisfying than just mopping the floor with him by means of magik enhancement. If I won this way I’d do it without any help and that was a sweeter victory to me. I was on my way to going primal and quickly at that. I was excited to experience a power more ancient and destructive than magik; It would allow me to protect my friends without having to use magik so it could recharge...and I’d be able to see my true power.