Chapter 1: Lessons to be Learned

I walked through the rain; it was dark and I was just getting off my shift at my funeral home. I am a Mortician and it's my job to prepare bodies for the grave, sometimes I even make handcrafted coffins for them. None of it Matters now but I still remember that day, it was raining and I had no car so I biked home. It's not even my fault, I just heard loud honking, and then my entire body was filled with pain as I lay there on the asphalt road. I heard someone yelling but I couldn't make it out, maybe it was for the best? I led a boring life with no friends, family, or real connections.

Eventually, I fell asleep and I just remembered being surrounded by darkness before suddenly waking up in somebody else bed. I looked around in a panic and try to get a grasp of my situation, was I kidnapped? Why am I not hurting anymore? Where am I? My mind was racing and it didn't help when I got this spitting headache, causing me to wince in pain, and suddenly, all these memories flooded my head. My name is Varien Valerius the second, I am the son of a grand magus of the black magic tower in the Capital city of Elvermore in the Elvermore Empire. I am also 6 years old.

All the memories of Varien flooded into my head and I started to calm down, so I was dead was I? Then what happened to Varien? I know he didn't die, I think, I actually don't know. But I digress, I am now in Variens body and that's all that matters. Soon enough I get out of bed and get myself clothed, I remembered that Vairen- I mean I have my first magic lessons today with my father, Arthur Valerius for necromancy and Alice Valerius, my mother, for general magic studies.

I soon arrive in the practice hall and immediately felt rejuvenated by the mana crystals that lined the walls of the practice hall, they were meant to dampen magical impact minimizing damage and making sure that nobody in the room gets mana burn from overuse of their magic or advanced magic. The rest of the hall was filled with targets, various weapons, staves, and even a few wands that held charges of magic to get the hang of basic spellcasting.

"You're here" My father said in a demanding tone "it took you long enough to get out of bed". He had a black suit on which matched his dark hair pairing with his red eyes and pale skin, if I didn't know better I'd think he was a vampire but he didn't drink blood or have fangs. After the ridiculing of my tardiness, my father started on the basics of necromancy which is basically basic anatomy and how to use magic to control a corpse, he then takes the corpse of a bunny and raises it as a zombie as an example and proof of concept. Of course, it wasn't an actual zombie just a mana-fueled corpse, the difference was autonomy and permanency. While a Zombie can act on its own a mana-fueled corpse cannot and it will immediately drop after it stopped supplied with mana.

My father informed me that this is all theory and I should not attempt to try any of this until I have mastered how to gather and manifest magic on my own and even then under their supervision if I didn't want to get mana burn. Mana burn is a disease caused by the use of magic that a caster is not used to, for example, if a novice pyromancer tried to cast the master spell 'Burning Comet' then the spell would backfire and even if the spell did not kill the caster it would leave them of mana burn and slowly eat away at their magic and once that is all gone it starts to eat away at their life force. Necromancy and holy magic are especially susceptible to mana burn since they are dealing with the life force of other beings living and dead.

With my Necromancy Lessons over I was then approached by my mother, she had dark hair like my father but that's where the similarities stop, she wore a beautiful black and white dress and had rosy cheeks and soft facial features. My mother was the definition of what one would call a gothic model back in my world.

She looked at me with a soft smile before she spoke "well let's get started shall we?" she asked while bringing me to an area in the room reserved for meditation with mats on the floor, there were also rods poking out of the ground on each corner of the area with glowing orbs attached to the top of them "don't mind those dear, they are just to help me see how you're doing" she spoke as if that explained everything.

I sat down in the lotus position and took off my shirt as she instructed which left me confused, as the lesson went she taught me how to breathe in mana from the air around us and as she did I saw her veins glow with where the magic was flowing through leading me to understand why she had asked me to take my shirt off and what the rods are for. Soon enough I started to get the hang of it and my body started to absorb mana but it couldn't keep it no matter how hard I tried. My mother explained that she'd show me how in the next lesson but I was anxious.

The rest of my day consisted of how to wield a mage's staff effectively and various runes used for enchanting, before finally I was given a book on the basics of magic to practice on my own but I wasn't allowed to go past the first chapter sadly. And I took it to heart, the fear of mana burn was enough to not risk going against my parent's advice not going to the second chapter onwards.

Later, during dinner, I finally saw my older brother and two sisters. My brother was named Percy, my older sister was named Alice after my mother, and my second older sister was named Deloris. Deloris loved to terrorize those she deemed under her and that included me since she was 10 and I was 6, Percy was 17, and Alice was 14. I sat down next to Deloris, my oldest brother, and sister sat next to each other, and mother and father sat on each end of the table. Soon enough we eat and it was silent, Father never liked the small talk and would rather eat in silence, of course, Deloris never stopped trying to cause me pain to anger him by yelling out. She would always be terrorizing me because she was ungifted in magic and even though I have yet to show any she still wants to take her anger out on me.

I never even once winced which just angered her but she didn't dare do anything bolder than pinching or scratching cause any more than that would catch my Father's sharp eye. If there was one thing she feared was the wrath of my Father. At the end of dinner, we all left in our own ways and of course, Deloris tried to follow me but I quickly lost her so she wouldn't bother me any longer before going to my room and practicing my mana breathing until I eventually succumb to sleep.