Mana Fingers Pen

Andrew entered the second room, rushing into a corner and exiting out of the tree on the surface. He wasn't mad at what Michael said but furious because it was right. Elizabeth didn't have a problem killing, and somehow he does. Aren't they supposed to be t---

Emma was suddenly thrown out of the tree, cutting off Andrew's train of thought. She fell face-first into the sand before getting on her knees and dusting her face and hair.

"Let's get going." Andrew said as he started walking, heading to the next tree.

Emma stood up, picking up her crescent pendulum. "Fresh air is great." She smiled while taking a deep breath. Noticing Andrew getting further away, she quickly sped up to walk beside him. "You know you have some anger problems, right?" Emma asked, looking up at him. "Look, you are already getting mad."

"Please, just don't say anything." Andrew groaned. "Let's just walk in silence."

"You know, my major was psychology. So, speak to me. Why do you always find yourself feeling angry?" Emma asked, not giving up.

Sighing, he answered. "Because people always seem to anger me. What else is there?"

Emma ignored Andrew's statement and continued speaking. "Many things can trigger anger problems, including stress, family problems, and financial issues. So, which of these three is it?"

"Stress. Who won't be stressed in this situation?" Andrew answered, looking down at the woman walking beside him. "People handle stress differently, and I handle mine through anger."

"This isn't remotely healthy, and you shouldn't be proud of that." Emma snapped, stopping and glaring at him. "You should practice meditation if you want to handle stress, not through anger."

"I am good." Andrew responded as he continued walking, "Just shut up and enjoy the silent tranquility of walking through the savanna. Edward knows how to do it, so why don't you and Leonardo know how to shut up?"

"Edward is a chill guy, introverted if I want to put it in one word. Leonardo and I are opposite, and I doubt you are an introvert. So spare me that silent talk and speak to me." Emma responded, stopping his walk by overtaking his pace and standing before him, her gentle eyes projecting only trustworthiness. "What is bothering you, Andrew? Out of all of us, you seem the most damaged."

"Damaged?" Andrew repeated, looking into her eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

"You---"

Emma was about to speak, but Andrew cut her off, visibly irritated. "Look at Michael. He is mentally ill. He thinks this world is a fucking novel, and you think I am more damaged than him?"

"I--"

He cut her off once more, "Ezekiel. A man that has killed someone and sees nothing wrong with killing. And you think I am damaged?" His voice got louder as he continued. "Edward. A fucking pushover who allows everyone to walk over him without showing any reaction. All his laughs and expressions all seemed forced. I know you have noticed that since you and Leonardo have been his friends. And you think I AM damaged!?"

"Just let me talk---"

"Elizabeth. Oh, don't get me started on Elizabeth." Andrew stepped forward, his face contorted in rage. "You might think killing a woman in her sleep is the worst she has done! But that girl. That demon! She has done much worse than murdering a random woman. She fucking killed her fa---" Andrew caught himself, stepping back.

"What did she do?" Emma stepped toward him, curiosity filling her eyes. "Tell me, Andrew. What did she do? Who did she kill?" She could guess what he wanted to say, but she didn't believe it could be that.

Andrew shook his head, walking past her. "Let's forget about this conversation and hunt."

"Andrew! If you keep running away, it will keep hunting you." Emma mumbled, loud enough for Andrew to hear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Edward opened his eyes, noticing the tree shadow had moved due to the sunlight changing direction in the sky. From the change, he could tell some hours had passed, maybe five?

"Those two arguing got me out of my trance." He groaned, leaning back on the tree trunk.

While he was meditating, trying to control his sense to only focus on the mana within him, Andrew and Emma's voices had broken his focus. It was one of the rare times when voices disturbed his meditation, so he sat silently behind the tree, waiting for them to go on their merry way before trying once more.

Sitting there, he heard all their arguments about damage and what not, till Emma said a sentence that translates to stop running away from your trauma. After that, he went back to meditating but couldn't get into that trance anymore.

"He said it shouldn't take me more than one day, so I must complete it today," Edward mumbled, taking in a deep breath and then exhaling before meditating once more.

This time, he tried something different. Instead of trying to ignore the mana around him, why doesn't he focus on the one within him? Changing how you solve the problem always worked, and he was confident in this working.

Entering deep focus, Edward thought of what mana is, the mana in the world, and those around him coming into his vision. Like how you use a binocular to zoom into something far, he focused all of his attention on his beating heart.

The deeper his focus went, the less mana he felt around him. More than thirty minutes later, he saw a blue orb in the middle of his heart. It felt ethereal, as if it was there but wasn't there. It was a crazy and confusing feeling.

Focusing his breathing, he tried to control the blue energy within the orb but failed. It was like trying to carry water with a fork. It was simply impossible.

So he tried something else. Forming a path where the mana would flow unhindered. Like the heart pumping blood through the arteries and the blood returning through the vain.

With that thought in mind, he started carving a path through his body. But these paths always seemed to erase, so he had to restart. For hours, he would make a path from his hearth, across his chest, down his right arm, and then the path would mysteriously erase.

He had tried to make the path down his left arm, seeing it was the closest to his heart, but remembering he would have to hand draw the letters of magic and a single mistake could be catastrophic, he decided against it. After all, he was right-handed, and using his left hand to draw the letters of magic would be stupid.

After hundreds of circles of making and erasing, he was starting to get agitated. It almost caused him to lose his focus, so he took a deep breath, putting all his attention on this last try.

Carve, carve, carve. This time, he would quickly go back and recarve the path that was erased, running back to continue. And like that, Edward made a path from his core to his index finger.

Unknowing to himself, a smile formed on his face.

With this path formed, he moved the mana in his core through the path, watching as it flowed to his index finger. Opening his eyes, Edward noticed it had gone dark, but his eyes were focused on the blue flame-like energy above his index finger.

Imagining his index finger as the pen and the blue mana flame as the ink, he felt his core plus as the flames became like a brush tip. Raising his hand in front of him, Edward drew one line, with a blue line of energy appearing in the air.

"So, this is 'Mana finger pen.'" Edward mumbled, staring at the line.