The Glyphs

(POV: Aerin Aster Grimbea)

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. . .we stared at that puny flame and laughed in sweet happiness.

When we stopped, mister Bertrand swiped the drool that hung from the corner of his lips "Aerin, you have the same genetical mana as me. Fire"

I set my eyes on the mister, letting silence settle in for a moment "Is there mana that is not natural?"

His lips started to stretch in a big smile that showed a lack of teeth here and there "But of course, remember when I expelled wind?" I nodded "Even if you have a set mana, you can make glyphs to change the nature of the mana, for example. . ." Bertrand used his index finger to spill the same silver line he used before and hit it with the palm of his hand causing a small gust of wind to envelop the room, creating a small whirlwind of papers

"Oh, dear. Gonna have to clean that later" He gritted his teeth and opened his eyes as if he forgot something "Ah yes. you use your fingertips, it will create a neutral mana, it will not react with the environment and cause a fire like it did when I used only my palm."

He started to look much like me when I want to share something with daddy. He shifted and accommodated while his eyes sparkled.

"But if you use your fingertips to create a path that your natural mana follows, it will change its properties." He looked like he wanted to get up as redness filled his neck and face with his effort.

"Uhmm. . . can you give me a hand dear."

When he got up he told me "We must go outside. Follow me Aerin!"

"Yes, mister!"

At the moment he opened the door the sun blinded us for a second. I followed him into a corridor where I could see people passing by.

"Ok Aerin. What I'm about to show you are the most basic, but most useful of spells." He used his fingertip to trace a single line on the air "You already know this one; it's air or force, given that it is mana in its most natural form" He pushed the 'l' symbol and a gust of wind was conjured again.

He turned his head to see my reaction, the mister grinned satisfactorily. "The next one is fire." He drew a 'V' shape on the air and did the same thing as before.

A burst of fire exploded from his hand.

A bunch of people started turning their way towards us and the mister apologetically "Its alright I'm teaching this girl."

I jumped a few times in the air trying to catch his attention "Mister, mister. Can you shoot butterflies with your hand?"

He went back to me and said "Don't be silly girl. What use would such a complex spell would be? Only Hansald would've been able to pull that kind of thing. Now. . . for the spell that I just showed you, when mana traveled within the 'V' shaped glyph, the acute angle of the 'V' made the mana collide with itself, making a combustion when it came out."

"This is the final one for today, Aerin." He drew a '6' like figure on the air and proceeded to do the same. Except this time a torrent of water came out.

"Woooooow!" I couldn't take my eyes out what was coming out of Bertrand's hand.

"That was the glyph for water. When mana enters the spiral, the centrifugal force liquifies the mana and the end result is water. . ." As soon as he said that, Bertrand rolled his eyes into pure whites, and stumbled on the nearest wall.

"Mister!" I approached him, tugging at his pants, hoping that would get him out of his trance. I tried to trace the air glyph to wake him up, but nothing came from my finger, so I kept shouting and tugging at him.

"It's ok, dear. I'm just not as fit as I once before." He panted while clenching his chest. "Nothing came out when you tried to trace a glyph right."

I could only be crestfallen as words slurred out of me "Uh huh."

Bertrand's breathing was turning back to normal and he smiled yet again "That is because using your genetic mana is one thing, tracing, however, requires a lot, a lot more training."

His stare was slowly filling my face with hotness and my eyes started to drop tears "I couldn't do anything for you, mister."

"Don't worry child. You definitely helped" He patted my head several times before continuing "Let us go back."

When we got back to Bertrand's building he started teaching me things like adding and numbers, although he didn't seem as cheerful as before. Time passed and before we knew it, the clock had already marked 4 of the afternoon. I got up and said goodbye to the Mister

"Wait are you sure you don't want to wait for your old man?"

I shook my head "Na hah. I'm gonna go and surprise him."

He got up, still looking a little haggard. "Allow me to accompany you then. I will see you at the end of town" He must have seen the worry in my eyes as he said "Don't worry, there's a lot of fight left in this geezer, let's go. . .you do know the way to your Cabin, right?"