Tale of Eldramir

Ezekiel ignored the playful shriek from behind him as he rushed to his room, not noticing as Theo and Reya climbed onto a table out of sight in order to watch him. The grin on his face was big and silly, and he could barely contain his excitement. He was well aware of the fact that he wasn’t likely to gain anything from his attempts with the techniques in the scrolls, but the fact that they were real magic scrolls meant that it was already something that he would never have been able to witness in his previous life.

Laying out all the scrolls in front of him, Ezekiel read them all as fast as he could, but as he went through one scroll after the other, his excitement began to fade as his wonder regarding learning magic was replaced by disbelief and disappointment.

“Shit.” He said to himself as he facepalmed after reading the fourth scroll for the second time. Going back and re-reading the first three scrolls, he realized that he had not been reading things wrong.

Laying down the scrolls side-by-side, Ezekiel immediately saw the similarities between the nine scrolls that lay before him. Other than a difference in words describing the elements they were meant to train, as well as certain specifics relating to that particular element, each of the scrolls said basically the same thing. Although the imagery described went into extreme detail for each element.

They each explained how one must picture the element they are attuned to within their mind. After doing so enough times and creating a clearer and clearer image within one’s mind, that person will enter into a trance where they will be able to see a perfect representation of their element, surrounded by tiny colored orbs that represent the ambient motes of elemental mana surrounding the practitioner.

The person meditating must then have the motes belonging to their elemental affinity enter into themselves whilst in this trance. This is easier when surrounded by one’s element, as the elemental mana that they need will be much more abundant.

This made things much more difficult for those with a lightning or death affinity, since such environments were often harmful or exceedingly unpleasant. Let alone someone with a void affinity, as no one in all the world knew how to surround oneself with a void.

Beyond that basic introduction, the training scrolls went on to describe the dangers of cultivating mana. Like how cultivating the mana of a different element than one affinity can cause a conflict between the natural mana within a person, and the motes they are trying to absorb. Such a conflict will cause physical injury, and sometimes death, for those who try to do this. For this reason, a person must be especially careful not to accidently absorb any motes of a different element when they are trying to absorb motes of the appropriate element.

Luckily, due to the individual meditation techniques for each element, such scenarios were unlikely to occur unless done on purpose by fools who are trying to obtain new powers, or by those who had been sabotaged by others into using the wrong meditation technique. Even then, the absorption process can only begin if a person wills it after entering the appropriate level of trance.

“Are you serious?” Ezekiel muttered to himself as he glanced over the scrolls laid out before him. He was expecting something more along the lines of a guideline as to the intricacies of gathering mana and how to better enter a meditative trance. This was nothing like that and could be summed up as a matter of trying until you succeed.

“It’s no wonder so few people manage to reach the higher realms of magic. If this is how people are instructed, it’s more surprising that there are as many people who can use magic as there already are.” He was not impressed by what he had read. Even some of the meditation exercises back on earth were more in depth than what he had read so far.

Disappointed in what he had discovered, Ezekiel could do nothing but sigh as he got to work. Looking over the various scrolls once again, he tried to figure out any patterns that might be useful for him to begin with. One thing in particular caught his eye. On each of the scrolls detailing the various elements, an opposing element was mentioned for each one. Except for the scroll guideline for lightning.

Figuring that that would be his best bet for a starting point, Ezekiel decided to do a more in-depth study of that particular scroll. Afterall, if every other element had an opposite then lightning should as well, and since the only element left was the void, hopefully it would help.

Of course, how he could figure out the correct method for the void while learning from lightning was going to be difficult. Especially since he was learning from scratch. Alas, there was nothing else to be done but to try it out and see what happens.

Going over the scroll one final time, Ezekiel set the various scrolls to the side, taking care to keep them out of the way in case something strange happened.

Sitting in the middle of his room, Ezekiel closed his eyes as he began to picture the image of lightning described in the scroll. He sat there for several minutes picturing the image in his mind, calming his breathing until it was steady, as instructed. At first, Ezekiel wasn’t expecting much to happen. The scrolls did state that it would take time for the imagery to draw oneself into a trance, after all.

But surprisingly, it was not but a few seconds after his breathing normalized, becoming a steady and constant rhythm, that he found himself feeling as though he was looking at a cloudy sky, rather than the darkness of the back of his eyelids. This sensation nearly shocked him awake due to its rudeness, but he managed to calm himself down enough to remain within that state.

Slowly, calmly, Ezekiel tried to look around with his mind as he focused on looking through the haze that surrounded him. In doing so, he was barely able to make out small lights surrounding himself as he meditated. Each light had a different color and was only the size of a grain of rice. Looking at the various colors, he recognized what each one meant.

Unsurprisingly, the most common lights around were brown, indicating that he was surrounded by earth, or in this case the stonework of his home. The next most common was green, but still significantly less than the brown lights, as the only plant life around was the dead wood used to help support the house. Trying to push himself even further, Ezekiel attempted to see deeper into the haze, barely making out bits and pieces of other color before a sharp pain pierced through his head. Crying out in pain, Ezekiel found himself forced out of his meditation as he fell to the side, holding his head in his hands, and collapsing with a slight ‘thump’.

He found that he could barely move, let alone call for help. He was barely able to register the warm, sandpaper-like, tongue of Theo as his parents rushed up the stairs. He didn’t hear his mother cry out in fear as she saw him lying on the floor or feel his father’s hands glow as he placed his hands on Ezekiel’s head. It was only after several minutes of this that Ezekiel finally started to become aware of his surroundings. Finally, able to feel the soothing properties of his father’s light magic.

Blearily opening his eyes, Ezekiel saw his parents looking down on him as he slowly became aware of the world around him.

“What happened?” he asked after his father pulled his hands away from his head, “The last thing I remember was seeing lots of lights, through a darkish haze, then pain.”

Neither Warren nor Evelyn spoke at first, sharing a look between them before answering. Ezekiel could tell that his parents were worried, but along with that worry was a hint of excitement, as well as terror.

Ezekiel didn’t know it, but the fact that he was able to enter into a trance on his first try was unprecedented, let alone the fact that he could actually see the mana in his surroundings. Even his own parents took several weeks to enter a trance. As such, they could not be prouder of their son, but with what just happened, they were also extremely concerned.

“You just suffered your first bit of mana deprivation.” Warren said. “It occurs when a person uses up all of their mana and overtaxes their mind when trying to cast spells, they don’t have energy for. In your case, the fact that you were able to enter into a trance on your first go, rather than after your mind had developed a tolerance through practice, meant you ended up suffering from a similar effect.”

“Oh...” Ezekiel didn’t know what to say. There was no warning that something like this could happen, only that one should never absorb the wrong mana, and could only process mana after absorbing the right element for their technique. “Will it hurt like that again?”

“No, no, but from now on, if you ever enter into a trance again, count to ten and wake up. Your mind can’t handle any longer than that for right now. Okay?” Warren explained.

“Okay.”

“Good, now-”

“Okay!? Good!? How can you just leave it like that after our son just experienced one of the most dangerous conditions known to mages?” Evelyn’s outburst caused Ezekiel to flinch as she began reaming out her husband.

“Shhhh! Quiet down, you don’t want our son to suffer any more than he already has, do you?”

Evelyn let out a small squeak as quickly covered her mouth in embarrassment before diving forwards to give Ezekiel a hug.

“Oh, Ancients, I’m sorry honey, I didn’t mean to shout.” Evelyn began cooing over her son as she gently ran her hands through his hair.

Smiling at the scene before him, Warren let out a small laugh, before bringing his hands up in defense as Evelyn glared at him. Off to the side, Theo and Reya were laughing silently at their partner’s situation.

“Now, now dear, no need to get upset. The reason I gave him a time limit, rather than forbid him entirely, was because I will not take this opportunity away from him.” Warren was calm as he explained his reasoning to his family. “As it is, now that he’s tried out his meditation on his own, he will certainly try again in the future. Not only that, but he succeeded on his first try. The number of people who have done that, in all of known history, is only a few dozen. Not only that, but each one of those people went on to reach tier five and created their own meditation techniques.”

The pride in Warren’s voice was evident as he knelt down next to Evelyn and Ezekiel.

“The way I see it, even though I was more scared than I’ve ever been, this is simply more proof that our son is on his way to do amazing things in the future. Things no void mage has ever even dreamed of doing before. If we take this chance away from him, then we will be doing not just our son, but the world, and the Ancients, the greatest disservice imaginable.”

Warren’s words, whilst quiet, had a profound impact on both Evelyn and Ezekiel. Evelyn, because she was now calmed down, and could see the same signs as Warren did, regarding her son’s potential. Ezekiel, because he couldn’t remember the last time anyone had had this much faith in him before.

It was at that moment Ezekiel decided that he no longer cared about the figure that sent him to this world. From now, these people here with him now, his new parents, were all the inspiration he needed to become the most powerful mage he could be.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, a wave of exhaustion passed through him as he fell limp in his mother’s arms. His eyelids growing heavier as sleep began to pull him into its ever-welcoming embrace.

Seeing how tired Ezekiel was, Warren bent down and picked him up, pulling him from Evelyn’s arms.

“Alright, son, let’s get you to sleep. You’ve already done so much today. We’ll put off changing the world of magic until tomorrow.” Warren said quietly as he brought his son over to his bed.

“Mmmph” Ezekiel found himself so tired that he couldn’t even respond properly.

“Hehe, I’m glad you agree.”

Warren laid down Ezekiel and tucked him into bed before giving him a kiss on the forehead. Evelyn pushed him aside right after to do the same thing. They both smiled down on Ezekiel as he drifted off to sleep. Walking out of their son’s small room, they both turned towards their Spirit’s.

‘Theo, watch over him. There shouldn’t be any problems left, but if you see anything wrong, you contact me immediately.’ Warren silently ordered his Spirit through their bond.

‘Of course, Warren, I shall watch over your boy as if he were my own cub.’ Theo replied from within his mind. He then climbed up onto the headboard above Ezekiel, lounging lazily as he gazed down at the small figure lying beneath him.

‘Reya, please stay here. Don’t let anything happen to him, okay.’ Evelyn also requested of her Spirit.

‘Yes mistress, I shall give my life for his should the need arise.’ Came reya’s silent reply. She too jumped up onto the bed, but unlike Theo, she crawled up underneath the blanket, curling up in Ezekiel’s arms as he unconsciously held her close to him like a teddy bear.

Evelyn twitched slightly at her Spirit’s over the top dedication to such a relatively simple task. She loved her Spirit, really, she did, but there were times where she wished Reya was a little bit more laid back like Theo.

After leaving the small bedroom, both parents let out a sigh as they leaned against one another.

“Life is getting interesting again, isn’t it?” Evelyn muttered.

“Indeed, but this development isn’t the biggest change we’ll be facing.”

“Mm, the big one will be in nine more months.” Evelyn rested her hands on her stomach carefully. Warren came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her to do the same. “I wonder how our son will react, now that he’s going to be a big brother.”