The book

Andrew's internal struggle was far from over. He tried hard to think about a solution and begin his plans, but his mind was drifting.

He couldn't forget Gerud's face. That bastard went too far. Even if his wounds from the fight didn't hurt anymore, as his recovery was surprisingly high considering that he wasn't an empowered, the memories of the blows were still vividly present in his mind.

He could still feel the sensation of the knuckles hitting his body, and it burned him.

All of this was getting on his nerves. He got up from his chair and violently hit the table. An insect he hadn't noticed during and even after the scene met its unfortunate end.

"Why did it have to be like this? Why are so many people against me? Why Gerud? Why? Is it simply because I was born weaker...?"

He had so many questions, but there was no one to give them any of the answers he so desperately sought. He was alone in the library, after all, this part of the house had been entirely forgotten by many. And that's also a reason why he liked to exile himself here. No one would be bothering him.

Andrew had big dreams. He wanted to be healthy, rich, and he wouldn't mind enjoying a few of the beauties this world had to offer.

This goal, however, was very far from being attainable and it was getting exasperating.

So exasperating in fact that he volt-faced to the bookshelf behind him, took it with both hands and smashed it with all his will to the side. The bookshelf collided with the wall and the sight wasn't pretty.

Books flew everywhere as the wood snapped in half from the sheer impact. Some of the volumes became torn, and dust rose up to the roof.

The action calmed Andrew, his breathing slowed to a normal path and his vision became clearer. It felt good.

Then he realized what he had done. He took a look around and sighed heavily. He had destroyed a part of this place he liked so much. He slumped, his knees hitting the ground hard, but he didn't care.

That's not what he wanted. Not how he knew himself to be. He understood one thing however, he had to re-brace himself and re-think his priorities.

He blamed himself for a while before proceeding to tidy the mess. He looked around, searching for a place to stow the remaining books but to no avail. The library was so full of book that none of the shelves was empty.

Shaking his head, he decided to start with the broken shelf. Then he went to pick the books one by one to put them on the table.

The area of the library he was in was for uncategorized books. The less crazy were historical and experimental journals left behind by the, but most of the books were nonsensical or in a language that was long lost. Among the readable titles were names such as "Three thousands type of breeze" or "The etiquette of Goblins", pretty useless right?

Andrew liked to read a good book once in a while, but these topics were very dull to him. He couldn't get to sit for hours in front of a book that explained the intensity, direction, temperature, and the effects of a breeze on the world.

He contemplated one of the books for a few seconds. 'Who would spend the time to read that anyway? There was a limit to the usefulness of these things. The answer probably lies in the fact that most of these books don't even have the name of the author anywhere.'

He put the book down to the table and proceeded to grab the next one. Then another one. And another one.

The repetitive action continued for a while until he stopped, right as he was to pick another book.

He didn't notice at first, but one of the books he had picked had a moving title. That's right, a moving title.

This caught his interest instantly, and he pushed all the books he had stacked on the side until he had this oddity in his hands.

Silverish handwritten letters were going to and fro on the grey colored cover. He examined the book for a long time, turning it in every direction.

He was intrigued, the book had no dust on it and no irregularities.

"What a strange book, the more I'm looking at it, the more I feel... something."

He looked at the book, he was sure that he had never stumbled on this book before during any of his previous trips to the library. He had looked around sometimes when he was bored, and he could swear that he would at least recognize all of the books that were inside.

His eyes were entranced by the moving letters, he had an urge building up from inside, he had to know more. He had to open the pages and read. It's almost as if the book called him, encouraging him to touch and feel its soft, mighty pages.

The title read "Space magic: An unconventional introduction." Andrew had heard from his father once that there were more types of magic outside of the regular ones used in the Kingdom and that they were rare.

So rare in fact that there was no case of a different type of magic appearing in the Kingdom for the past decades and most of the records about these magics were lost.

The topic of the book made Andrew think deeply. 'Maybe... Maybe I could use another type of magic. Is that why I couldn't manifest the powers dwelling in me?'

He had no affinity for magic. Fire, water, earth, wind, light, dark and all of their sub-branches, he had tried all of them

Andrew closed his eyes for a second, taking a look inside his body. He could see it as usual. This blue-ish power that sometimes turned to purple. It was far too distorted to be water energy.

The reservoir was full and big. But that power within him had always been totally useless.

He slowly put his hand on the book and turned open the first page. The writing in there looked exquisite with beautiful lines.

The first part was a short blurb about the book and that had already captivated Andrew.

He was in awe in front of the powerful word and their implications. The strangest yet surprising fact was that the book couldn't be found unless fate intervened and that the book would find the person instead.

The book was the first in a series of 4 and addressed all the topics related to space foundation. They were comprised of:

- Understanding space magic.

- The primary usage of space magic.

- Moving through space.

- Creating a fundamental spatial dimension.

- The notion of time.

Time passed, and as he read the book, he came to learn many things about the different types of affinity and mana in the first chapters.

When he read that in fact, yes, raw mana without affinity exists and that this book was made for the few people who wielded it, he couldn't help but pump his fist in the air.

It took him a few hours to read and understand the basic concept of space magic and the particular way to use raw mana only through willpower. There was no incantation, no movement and no bizarre way to help him conjure a spell would work. He had to figure out how to make it work by trial and errors.

This book was simply amazing, and if what was described inside was correct, the possibilities for Andrew would be endless.

'Imagine if I could bend space itself to my will. If I finally had the power to act...'

He snapped out of his daydreaming as he couldn't wait anymore. The hope this book gave him was becoming stronger and stronger.

He moved to the center of the library in the part where the corridor was wider, just in case anything happened.

There was an empty space in front of him, as wide as a king-sized bed.

His body trembled, and he had a hard time focusing on the new task - Commanding his body to appear a few meters ahead was no easy fit.

He tried different things. First, he decided to will himself there. But the way he did it was utterly useless. It's as if he was willing the sun to replace a storm.

Since nothing happened and his head started to give him trouble, he decided to take the problem from another angle.

He sat, his legs fumbling slowly in the lotus position. With his eyes closed, he looked inside him.

His ... ball of mana, for lack of a better word, was swelling a bit too much. The ball was ever so slowly increasing in size. Very very slowly. But each passing second was making it harder and harder to remain focused.

Panic began to reach him, and his thoughts started to drift.. 'It won't explode, right? Come on ball of mana, I know you can do this for me.'

Willing now for the ball to do something and move him somewhere else in front of him, he tried his damnedest to make the teleportation work.

'Hey now little bastard ball, err I mean big bastard ball. Whatever. Do something freaking now!'

Now his mind was hurting so much, and results weren't showing, but he did n' t give up. He endured in place, and that almost made him lose his life.

A beam made of wood fell from the ceiling. Crackling noises of laughter could be heard as the beam was falling. This was loud enough to have him look around, then up.

The sight drained all the colors from his face. This was a freaking colossal beam, and it was coming all too fast.

If this thing were to hit him, he wouldn't end well. The block of wood was part of a grid to support the floor above. They were designed to hold anything that would enter the room above, no matter of heavy it was.

The crushing power it gained while approaching was enough to obliterate him

There was a flash, then loud crashing sound followed by a tremendous thump. The falling object ended its course, missing its target.

A big cloud of dust rose and spread everywhere in the library. The floor had small cracks at the place hit by the wood.

Andrew was dizzy. Amid the danger, he had eventually managed to teleport just as the beam was about to it.

The instinctive reaction made him appear very close to a nearby shelf, and the aftereffects of the crash sent him shoulder first into the furniture.

"I wonder if this unforeseen accident got you for good huh? That would be too bad."

He recognized the masculine voice, it was Zain. And if this presence was saying anything, it was the first time the boy had attempted anything so... Violent and deadly.

How did his brother enter without him noticing? He didn't know but one thing was sure, he had to leave quickly before the dust could dissipate and Zain could find him.

With difficulty, he used his hands to get up. Then he realized that he was on the wrong side of the room. There was no way he could traverse the library and the place of impact before the dust would dissipate enough for Zain to see him.

He had to think about another solution. Looking around quickly, his focus settled to the area where the beam fell off. That gave him the idea to go up and hide on top of one, but he totally didn't know if it would work or not.

He couldn't teleport before the accident, but since he had managed to do so once, he trusted himself to make it happen a second time.

After all, he couldn't leave, and he just had a lucky roll that day. Why would it end so soon?

He looked up and quickly decided on which beam he wanted to land. He brought all of his mind power and thought, willed, ordered his body to appear where the shaft was.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, but soon the beam suddenly disappeared from his vision, it was replaced with the wall. Then reality caught up, and he almost threw up.

Panting, he slowly moved and positioned himself to sit against the wall.

His recent training had paid off, his reflexes took on, and he managed to retain himself from freefalling by holding firmly on the edge.

After a few seconds, the dust dissipated enough, and he saw Zain searching around the library.

"Come on, I know that you are hiding in here, don't think of escaping."

His brother was getting impatient, but he had no will to move from his hiding place.