Basic Mana and Magic

"Mana is the lifeblood of all magic." Connor explained as he cut his left palm with a knife, letting the blood trickle down his arm. Tainting his mana mark with crimson red blood. "Without mana, we have no magic and in some cases no life."

At his words, silver sparks trickled from Connor's right hand towards his open palm. Slowly the wound closed as Nicholas observed Connor's white mana mark glow as it seemed to decrease.

"Mana is finite, you run out of it, you lose your magic or you die." Connor's tone was grim as he told Nicholas about the basics of magic.

"How far are you going to go on this?" Dion questioned Connor.

Connor shrugged and replied.

"He just needs to know enough not to be killed or to expose himself, we can deal with the details later."

"Continue." Nicholas' tone came out stern and cold.

Dion's lips curled into a smile as Prince Nicholas was returning to his old demeanor.

"Now, where are your limiters, your highness?" Connor questioned as he glanced at the prince's wrist and earlobes, noticing their absence.

"I didn't think I would need them, they irritate me." Nicholas said quite honestly.

"He should know how to use his magic first, Connor." Dion told the teacher, choosing to side with the prince. "The limiters will only make the first lesson harder."

"Very well, as you wish." Connor lifted the knife and slashed his palm once more, offering his hand to Nicholas. "The simplest way to heal an injury is through physical contact. Place your right hand on my palm."

Nicholas did as Connor told him, touching his teacher's bloody palm that was still dripping with blood.

"Now, all creatures are made up of mana, to conserve your own mana you must call on the mana of that which you want to heal." Connor instructed. "A break in the natural barrier or the skin will allow you to tap into the innate mana, feel for my mana and for your own magic to close the barrier."

Nicholas closed his eyes as he sensed a small flame-like presence directly in front of him. He assumed this to be Connor's manna.

"Don't draw too much. You only need a little to heal a wound such as this." Connor told him as if reading his mind.

Doing as Connor had instructed, Nicholas drew a small amount from Connor's mana and felt for his own magic.

At first he doubted that he was doing the right thing, but to Nicholas' surprise he felt as sparks of power flowed through him.

"As I said, you don't need much, you are using too much of your own, Prince Nicholas." Connor reminded him as Nicholas took a deep breath and relaxed, lessening the sparks that flowed to Connor.

"Open your eyes, your highness." Dion told Nicholas as he placed a hand on the prince's shoulder.

Nicholas opened them and watched as blue and white sparks stitched back together Connor's flesh, healing him, not leaving a mark.

"Why was my magic a different color?" Nicholas asked as he looked at the two men.

"Cruor Magic." Dion frowned. "It's what identifies men of the Cruor line, blue magic."

"That should do for today." Connor nodded as Nicholas pulled his hand away and observed the fully healed palm.

"I can do much more than that." Nicholas suddenly spoke as a memory tried to surge forward. He knew he was much more powerful, he knew that his magic was able to do things that were practically miraculous, but he couldn't remember what.

"You can heal most injuries and illnesses." Connor explained. "Poison was nothing to you, but those that were more long term posed an issue to your magic."

"Then there was the magic you refused to tell us about." Dion sighed. "You told us that you learned about some ancient magic of the Cruor and Corporali mages. You refused to tell us until we weeded out our people of all traitors."

"It seems that we might have missed some." Connor sighed.

"There are no traitors left." Nicholas declared. "At least among the Corporali mages there are none."

He closed his eyes as he recalled leaving a trap for everyone that had stayed. He recalled how none of them had betrayed him despite what could have been vital information that any other prince would value highly.

"Memories?" Dion asked Nicholas who simply nodded in response.

Nicholas slowly nodded as he placed his head in his hands and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths as some of his memories returned.

His head began to throb as the surge of information came at him like a tidal wave. He remembered things about his brothers and his father. He remembered how he had found ancient manuscripts and used those to strengthen himself.

However, it seemed that the most crucial information eluded him.

"They used to come in tiny snippets of information, but now I was just forced to relive the torture and embarassment my brothers have placed me through." Nicholas hissed as every word coming from his lips were tipped with poison.

"At least you won't be going to your lessons blind, you'll be aware of how your brothers and sister normally act." Connor nodded as he observed Nicholas.

It seemed that Connor was not aware that Brie was on their side, then again, it was probably something that he and Dion had kept a secret.

"Now to some more pressing political matters." Dion sighed as he pulled a chair and sat across Connor. "The Corporali Mages can't seem to heal the king."

"My father is sick?" Nicholas wasn't sure if this was something he was supposed to remember or not.

"At first your father would get sick and our mages would heal him, but something changed." Dion frowned. "The more we healed him, the harder it became to cure the next illness. You healed him once or twice, and taught the mages a new technique in healing difficult cases, but then you were attacked."

"Do we know how much longer he has? What are we doing to keep the king strong?" The king couldn't die while Nicholas' memories were still missing. It would make things harder for him to kill his brothers and take the throne if he wasn't a t full strength.

"We patch him up, delay the spread of the illness that's coming from his lungs." Connor informed Nicholas with a frown. "None of us has ever seen anything like this, it acts like a poison that can't be killed."

"It's not natural." Dion frowned as he looked up at the books that surrounded them. "We've checked every book, every scroll, we've had mages return to the Corporali lands in search of any mention of such illness, but there is none."

"Could it be poison?" Nicholas asked as he considered the possibility.

"If it's a poison, it is something new. We've never encountered anything like this." Connor said as he shook his head.

"Maybe. . ." Connor said as his voice trailed away.

"Maybe what?" Nicholas asked as his temper started to wear thin. He couldn't remember being this impatient in the other realm.

Dion glanced at Nicholas with a tentative look unsure if he should tell the prince or not.