A Weird Dream
After the family had dinner, Arvind pointed Taksh towards his room, reminding him about their little promise from earlier. A smile soon blossomed on his face, indicating how excited he was to know more about magic.
But if you could read minds, you realize that the two more members of the family were just as excited as Arvind and Taksh. You see, Taksh was just 4 years old. That's why he used to sleep together with his parents. Even though they enjoyed his company, they had to behave themselves before their son.
Yeah, they used to compensate for this by using the day very well. Another reason why Dhruv loved his mid-day naps. But having the whole night to themselves is an opportunity they can't let slip away.
The family used to go to sleep at least one or two hours after having dinner. But today, everyone went to their room immediately after having dinner. After all, everyone was going to enjoy their night after a long time.
In Arvind's room, he started to explain about magic to Taksh. In other words, it is time for a quick info dump.
"Okay my cutie, I found you were quite intrigued by the elemental magic Of Liam. Even though I would be happier if you would have been fascinated by me fighting the monster, but whatever.
So let's start from the basics. There is something called 'mana' all around us, in air, in water and in land. It is mana that enables us to use magic. Just like to make a snowman, you must have snow, You must be able to be able to use mana to use magic. Snowman was a bad example, right?"
"Yeah, a little bit.'
"Okay, let's move on. Don't worry, you will understand everything.
Yeah so, Mana is everywhere, but we can't use it directly. Instead we humans have an organ called mana core, in which mana for our use is stored. It is something our body automatically forms at about the age of ten. That's why you can't use magic at this age."
"I have a question, Grandpa. If humans have mana cores, then what about beasts and monsters? Do they have mana core too?"
"Yup, they have mana core too. Beast's mana core is called Beast Core and is used to make weapons and whatnot. Monster's cores are contaminated. So, not that useful.
Anything more about mana cores would be complex, and thus boring. So, let's not go that route. Instead, let me tell you about wielding Mana. That's how I fight monsters.
By wielding Mana, I mean moving mana from our core to our muscles. This somehow makes us super strong. You see, I do magic too, because I use Mana. It's just different from Liam.
This movement of Mana is done through something called Mana Veins. Again, let's not go to intricate details. That would be boring. Instead, we will talk about Liam's magic. You understood everything till now?"
"Little little."
"Don't worry, you will hear all these terms so much from now on, that they will be common sense for you from now on.
Let's continue. Liam has space and earth affinity. That's why he was able to open portals and use rock spikes.
Every human who is lucky enough to awaken their Mana Core can wield Mana. On average every 7 out of 10 people have their Mana core awakened. But within those 7 people, probably just 1 would have affinities. And those lucky bastards can wield Mana, and use different affinities.
Humans can awaken one or two out of fifteen elements. These elements are Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Dark, Light, Ice, Plant, Poison, Sound, Psychic, Summon, Space and Time. The first five are commonly called common elements because most people awaken them. On the other hand, Space and Time are rare to awaken.
Lisley has Light element, which enables her to heal injuries. It also enables her to give buffs to her teammates and de-buff to the enemy. But one can't fight a monster with only Light Element. It works well as a support element but isn't something you can depend on, during a one-on-one fight.
Everyone, whether they use Elemental Affinities or wield Mana, they use Magic to fight. Those who use affinities as their primary source of fighting are called Mages, whereas those who wield mana are called Knights.
We have Magic Academies to teach kids how to use Mana properly. After you form a Mana Core, you may go there to learn in-depth about magic.
Again, let's move on to some interesting stuff. Do you know there are elements that we humans can't use like Spirit Element, which only Elves awaken; there is Metal Element, which all Dwarves can awaken. This means if you are a Dwarf, you are blessed with an affinity with certainty. All Vampires have Blood element. Werewolves and Dragon Tribe members can use the Transformation Element to partially transform their bodies into that of a wolf or pseudo-dragon.
These are the species I know of. I didn't go to any Academy to learn how to be a knight. Everything I told you till now is from my own experience. That's why there may be more elements and more secrets I don't know about."
Arvind had immersed himself in telling about magic and the world in general that he didn't notice a soft snoring sound that could be heard. After pausing for a second to think for a while, he heard Taksh's cute snoring sound. This meant that today's lecture time was over and it was cuddle time.
That night while sleeping, Taksh had a dream. A dream, which was similar to the ones he used to watch, yet somehow different at the same time.
In the dream, he was walking down an unknown yet familiar street. The buildings nearby were very high compared to what he was used to seeing. Yet, at that time, it felt like he had seen even taller buildings. Just beside him, several metallic beasts were passing, with people sitting inside them. Yet, it didn't feel weird at that moment. And these weird feelings made him more and more confused as time went on. Still, he kept on moving forward.
After walking for some time, he reached a place, filled with two things, books and people. He went inside and started to search for a book among many. Soon, he found a book with a man in a red and blue costume, hanging from a building through a rope was drawn on its cover. This was the newer version of the comics he came here for. 'Wait a second, what is a comic?' he thought, just after he unknowingly said the word. Even then, his walking pace didn't decrease.
He went towards a girl sitting across a desk at some distance and told her he wanted to buy this book.
"You come here every time the newer version of Spider-Man releases. What is so special about him?"
To the weird question of the girl, a reply automatically left Taksh's lips. "Everything is special about Spider-Man. He is strong. Much stronger than any normal human. Still, he fights crime with everything he's got, even though he doesn't need to. But, to protect his Aunt May, he doesn't share his identity with anyone. If he shared his secret identity, he would get a lot of praise from the people he has helped over the years. But he doesn't do it. I think that if I somehow got superpowers, I would do the same, fighting for others with everything I got, but the only thing on my mind even during those fights would be my family and my friends." His reply was even weirder than the girl's question.
Suddenly, everything started fading, and the next thing he heard was his Grandpa's unbearable snores. He thought that everything he just saw was just a weird dream, and didn't think too much about it. But he didn't know at that time that neither was this just a dream nor would this be the last time he would be having this kind of dreams.