Chapter 5

Laurence

I woke up in the early morning to the sun shining on my face. Right, today is the day I begin training the boy. I stood up and went to my closet. I pulled out my outfit for the day and stepped outside.

"Good morning, Laurence!" My neighbor greeted me. "Good morning!" I looked at the field my hut faces. He definitely used magic yesterday, but I'm not sure how. I felt it coming from him whenever we entered his hut after the ceremony, but it was strange. Oh well.

I hopped down from my hut, which was directly above his, and entered the hut. I saw him sprawled across the bed, limbs in every direction. "Jeez..." I reinforced mana into my hand and quickly slapped his back. "YOWCH!" He yelled. His voice sounded like a cart traveling on gravel.

'What was that for?' He signed sharply, probably because he was angry. 'I had to wake you up somehow. It is time for your training.'

He got up and cracked his back and neck. After getting dressed, he hopped onto my back, and we lept off the tree. He screamed until we landed and well after. When he finally noticed we were on the ground, he cleared his throat and looked away embarrassed. I kept him on my back as we traveled to the field in front of our huts.

I set him down before he looked around at the field. 'What are we doing here?' He asked. 'Before you learn how to use magic, you need to understand what it is.' He sighed and sat down with his legs crossed.

I cleared my throat and used magic to summon a cloud in my hand. 'This is a basic spell every being can do when they awaken. Something inside of us called mana flows inside all of us, and then that is used to make magic. What I just did is expel the mana, and it formed the shape I wanted it to make. Do you understand?' He slowly nodded. 'Good.'

I went behind him and put my hands in front of him to sign, 'This will be warm for a second, but do not worry. I am just getting your mana to begin moving.' I placed my right hand on the middle of his back and imbued him with mana. I closed my eyes to see it move inside of him.

The color of his mana is odd. Typically with mana, it's a color that goes with your type of magic. But his... I just put mana into him and got it to start moving. After it started flowing smoothly, I removed my hand and stood in front of him.

'Mana has a different color for every type of magic. This is very important because when you sense a person's mana, you can tell what type of magic they use.' He raised his hand. 'How do I see someone's mana without touching them?'

'Good question. While it is clearer to see the color of someone by touching them, you can tell someone's mana by just sensing it. That part is hard to explain, but you will get it eventually. Can you feel the mana flowing inside of you?' He closed his eyes and took deep breaths. Does he already know how to meditate?

'Yeah, I can see and feel it.' I nodded as he opened his eyes. 'That is very good. I want you to try and expel it into a form of a spell. But you have to use an incantation for it since it is your first time. The incantation is: Skies hear my call, nimbus augustis.'

Balere ???

He wants me to make a spell for the first time? I guess I can try, but I don't think it'll work out very well... I closed my eyes again and felt the mana. Let's see... in a few shows, all one had to do was imagine it in their head. The action and reaction, or however it was explained...'

I imagined a cloud in the sky and I could feel myself sweating. I saw the mana move into my hand. Is there something else to it? I imagined all the particles of oxygen and hydrogen in the cloud before hearing a gasp.

I opened my eyes to see a gray cloud in my head. 'You didn't use an incantation?' He signed. I shrugged at him and looked at the cloud. I USED MAGIC! YES! Now, can I move it?

I imagined it moving to the left, and it followed my thought process. Forward? Yep. Up? Yep. What about diagonally? Yep to that too.

'Incredible. You have a good hold on mana already.' I smirked at his compliment. I moved the cloud to my palm and signed to him, 'How do I make it disappear?' He chuckled at the irony, but he didn't answer. I imagined it in my hand becoming a small tornado, which didn't work. Finally, I imagined it disappearing, and when I opened my eyes, my hand was wet.

'You did well. You're about on the same level as Pardalis now.' I raised an eyebrow. 'Is she not five years older than me?' Laurence nodded. 'Yes, but no one in our tribe has learned this fast.' I smiled brightly. Seems like I'm a master already! 'Although, it was supposed to be white.'

I stopped my movement and stared blankly at him, confused. 'Did I mess up?' He shook his head. 'Not at all. Maybe it's because your mana has no coloration. Whatever it is, we should have an experienced mage check your mana.' I nodded and laid down.

"Laurence!" I turned my head and saw Pardalis. 'I am sorry for being late,' She hastily signed out of breath. 'It is fine. I was teaching Balere here about mana.' She groaned in response. 'Maybe I should just leave if we are going over the basics...' She turned to leave, but Laurence grabbed the back of her shirt. He talked to her in their language while I lay there.

She stood above me, quickly signing, 'You can already do the cloud?' I nodded and reformed it. 'Amazing! You even did it without the incantation!' Yeah, because I can't talk. She sat next to me as we looked up at Laurence. 'I guess we should start finding out what type of magic you can use.'

I raised my hand. 'What are the different types of magic?' Pardalis facepalmed quickly. 'Magic can be divided into three categories: Battle, Recovery, and Skill. Battle and recovery magic is self-explanatory, but then there are Skill magics, which are like gaining magic because you excel at cooking. Does that make sense?' I nodded. Kind of like a stand!

'There are multiple ways to see what kind of magic you can use, but we will be using the more difficult route.' He sat down, so I stood up. What is he going to do?

He put both of his hands on Pardalis' head and closed his eyes. IS HE GOING TO KILL HER?! Her eyes shot open, glowing white. Soon, they returned to their normal color, and she held her head. Above her, a translucent sword could be seen. 'You will use Battle Magic, then. Your turn.' I readied myself as he put his hands on my head.

My hearing went out. I couldn't move my head, but it was like I was moving my body in my head. I flew around in my head for a few minutes, but nothing happened.

Suddenly, I saw red soil around me, bodies covering it with the sun lowering behind them. The bodies were covered in slashes and stabs, their clothes and armor tattered. I raised the sword I was holding and watched as the blood dripped off of it. "You didn't have to do this..!" My head moved on its own and I saw a beastman on the ground. My hand raised, and I heard a voice. "You saw this coming. It was in your 'prophecy' after all." What prophecy is my hand talking about? I saw the female beastman stand up while holding a sword. Blood was trickling down her forehead and nose. "What happened to you? What made you this way?" I stayed silent, and soon, my hands raised, clutching my sword, and I felt them quickly going down. Before I saw what had happened, I was sucked out of the vision.

"Balere!" I looked around and saw the two standing in front of me. 'Are you well?' Laurence asked me. 'Yeah, I think so. What happened?' Pardalis signs in his stead, 'After the sword appeared on top of your head, your eyes stayed white. They suddenly turned red, and the wind picked up.'

That's some freaky shit! 'Sorry, I guess.' Laurence shook his head. 'Do not be. This must be a part of Adive's plan, so just relax.' That name again. Is Adive their god?

I felt my mana begin flowing through my body again, cooling me off. I didn't notice before, but my body was unusually warm. 'I think training is done today. I am not sure if Balere can handle much more.' I sighed and caught Pardalis eyeing me worriedly. 'I will be fine, do not worry.'

Laurence picked me up and took me back to my hut. Once I was set on my bed, Pardalis hugged me. 'She was very worried while you were out. I need to talk to you about that when you are older, but that is for another day,' Laurence explained.

She let go and backed away. 'We will continue training tomorrow. Good night.' They left the hut, closing the door behind them. Man, today was tiring...

I sprung up and punched the air. I USED MAGIC! I pushed my hand outward and focused. Another cloud formed in my hand, this one darker and larger than the last. I made it fly throughout the room, and then I made it change its form. It went from a puffy cloud to a sword, then a shield.

I began getting dizzy, so I made it disappear. I used too much mana, I suppose. I crawled underneath the bed and looked up. What was that vision about? It must be well into the future because I was very tall. That female beastman... she looked at me with sad eyes. Had I done something wrong?

Usually, I would say it's a problem for future me, but I think I should start preparing myself for that. I didn't see myself, but I can only guess I was injured. What I'll do, then, is get stronger. I'll become the strongest and won't let those people die, or let that woman cry.

I switched to laying on my side and smirked proudly. Yeah, I'll do that.