Is This... Mana?

The earth surrounded him, his consciousness failing and fading. The place was comfortable and familiar, Hubert felt he belonged there.

The place felt home.

Yet he clenched his fist and unfolded his eyelids with a force of determination and perseverance. His muffled gargle sounded and vibrated on the ground as he fought for his life.

He struggled, with one foot already in the domain of death, and the other following soon. 

But this time, he waited not for the external sound of Ron that had always helped him, or prayed not to the goddess for safety. And he blamed not all the others for this, as he always did in every trial life threw at him.

He knew that, however loud his cries were and however high pitched and pitiful it were, nobody was there to help. The only thing between him and the cold embrace of death was himself and himself alone.

Think, Hubert.

He forced himself, as the dirt and ground reinvaded his body and closed in on him.

He asked himself what he must do to live and breathe another day from this predicament he had stuck himself into.

Then he remembered his imaginations. The burning previous hell-like inferno, nor the depth of the ocean, nor the devastating whirlwind. Neither of those were real.

Realizing that he was in where his imagination ruled as a monarch in its land called mind.

He quickly closed his eyes. 

The dirt began pressing in from all sides, wanting to make him another part of them.

Hubert's mind detached himself from the warm embrace of the earth. He released his sense of smell from being struck by the groundy and earthy smell. And lastly, he released his sense of touch from the coarse and rough texture engulfing him.

His mind, secluded and blank, as he opened his eyes.

The grim and infinite horizon of darkness greeted him. The earth was gone and so were all the other trials his imagination had given him. 

Ron, nowhere to be found.

"..." he looked around, making sure it wasn't another challenge from his imagination, almost in disbelief.

"Di-did I just… survive that?" he asked himself, confirming his suspicion as he pinched his cheek.

"Aww!" he moaned in pain as the reality set in.

He had returned to the beginning, which he called his sanctuary.

Then he fell to the ground of darkness. Exhausted and tired, his lungs gasped for air as his body enjoyed the brief respite.

Teng!

From the unending darkness came a dull ring from a bell, a familiar sound for his ear. He looked around, searching for the bell that produced the ring.

Then he felt a hand on his left shoulder, touching him from behind.

He turned his head around.

Then his eyes were welcomed by the blinding morning sunlight, leaking in from the window, and the coldness of the morning dew. 

Teng!

The bell rang again in the distance.

Then he realized Ron stood in front of him.

Hubert looked around and found himself back in his room. His consciousness was pulled back from his meditation.

"Ron…" Hubert called, half conscious, with a voice almost shaky.

"Class…" Ron's words were concise and direct as he gradually lifted his hand from Hubert's shoulder.

The sudden change from the disturbing and traumatizing trials of his meditation into that of a peaceful and easygoing real world had messed with his thoughts. His consciousness was pulled back but his mind had decided to stay a little longer.

Teng!

The bell rang for the third time in the distance.

Only then did Hubert's eyes widened. He frantically stood up from his crossed legs meditation form, but his legs gave up after a while, numbed from the constraint of the position.

Duk!

A loud thud could be heard as Ron watched, slowly leaving the room.

—

"Good morning, class!" Vinc said, greeting the students with the usual welcoming smile.

"Stand up!" the man with the long red hair shouted once again.

Class C obeyed.

"Good morning, instructor!" class C greeted back out of politeness.

"Oh, how polite of you all! I could see some of you are making progress into your meditation," Vinc continued.

His eyes, slow and observing, glanced at the students and then at Hubert.

Hubert sat in the front row of the chairs. His eyes were baggy and showed exhaustion in its tired stare. His face color slightly drained, paler than before, and his hair messy. He was a quarter way resembling Vinc.

"Anyway! Let's begin today's lesson on mana! This will be the last theoretical lesson, after this, you will spend the rest of the 14 days gaining—or at least trying—enlightenment on mana!" Vinc added, picking up a stick of chalk from the podium.

"Now let's begin! So here…" his hands moved once again, his wrist like doing a sword dance.

Messily, he drew four elements, each representing a direction. Fire in the north, wind in the east, water in the south and earth in the west.

The students carefully observed, some with state not much different than Hubert.

Vinc continued his drawing, connecting the four elements with a line that made a cross in the middle. Then he drew a circle in the middle of the cross, a hub for all the elements.

Vinc turned and faced the students.

"This circle here is very important. The four basic elements are like different individuals, it has its likes and hateness. And this circle over here is the only thing that gathered them in unison," Vinc lectured, his hand pointing to the blackboard.

Hubert's eyes gleamed in curiosity and desire for knowledge. After everything he had experienced during his meditation, he longed for mana.

"Mana isn't something that just gives us power, it is in its very self the catalyst of uniting the elements. In simplicity, mana is the only thing that keeps this world intact," Vinc continued.

Whoosh!

Hubert's face and hair was thrown back akin to being blown by a gust of powerful breeze. But it wasn't wind that struck him, but realization.

His consciousness was grabbed forcefully by the infinite dark space.

Empty just like before, boring as always, dread and grim as usual.

He closed his eyes and thought

Fire

Water

Air

Lastly, earth.

He thought of the four elements, not individually, but in one sitting. All gathered into his mind.

Sizzling of fire, wave of water, blowing of the wind and the silence of the earth filled his ears.

The burning fume, the refreshing smell, the dusty air and the earthy odor filled his nose.

Then he opened his eyes.

Greeted by the sight of each element, divided by a dark line, all in their own specific direction. 

The fiery inferno, the endless body of water, the massive whirlwind, and the torrent of earth.

In the middle of them all was a fine gold like lining. Attached to a magic circle that was painted on the darkness in the middle of the four elements.

A magic circle. A simple star shape present in the middle of the circle.

Each hand of the star connected to the other.

"This doesn't make sense, there are only four elements. But the start has 5 hands!" Huber exclaimed, confused about the magic circle in front of him.

He thought repeatedly, trying to make sense of the magic circle.

"Unless…" he thought of one possibility.

Mana was the point of the star at the top. Attached and in unison.

The uniter, mana was the law that the elements abided by, and mana was the harmony the elements desired.

Mana was the one to combine them all.

"Then the five hands would make sense! All the elements are in contact with each other and in contact with mana," he exclaimed.

A flurry of red essence flew out of the inferno, leaving it.

A flock of blue essence flew out of the sea, departing it.

A group of white essences flew out of the whirlwind, bidding it goodbye.

And an amount of brown essence flew out of the earth, separating from it.

"Wh-what…" Hubert watched the spectacle unfold with mouth gaping slightly, his eyes gleaming with excitement and amazement. 

The essences, akin to fireflies converging into one space. Gathering into the middle, into the magic circle, where it then united. 

The magic circle was lit up by the essences gathering. It shone brightly in the middle of the infinite darkness.

He squinted his eyes as he continued watching the show showcased in front of him.

"Ugh!" he groaned as the light became brighter and blinding.

Boom!

Then the light exploded into a massive storm of gold like essences, akin to the sparkle of fireworks.

Unexpecting of such a sudden explosion, he covered his vision with his arms and closed his eyelids for another layer of protection, trying to save his eyes from the curse of blindness.

Then the sparkle died down.

The sound of a stream of water, accompanied by the gentle breeze of wind and the rubbing of leaves, could be heard. 

Hubert slowly dropped his arms and opened his eyes, the blinding sunlight struck him.

"What…?" he asked as he looked around.

A complete habitat greeted him.

With a body of flowing water and a tree planted on the ground near it that shook as the wind blew onto it, while the sun blessed the place with its grace.

Out of place, a gold-like essence flew in front of his eyes.

"Is this… mana?" he asked.