Sitting on the porch outside the Jakari home, Tammy and Daedrik sat on white chairs by the door with mugs in their hands. They were supposed to be watching the kids, but at eleven years of age, they let them do their own thing.

  “I heard that Kal’s close to awakening his mana core. Is that true?”

  “Yeah… he’s gifted,” Daedrik said.

  “Well, you were always so amazing with your magic yourself, Daedrik. I assumed your children would probably follow in your footsteps. But…” she trailed off.

  “I know, it’s young,” Daedrik said, sipping coffee. “He’s impressive, even compared to me. I remember showing off my magic in the center of town. I must have been seventeen at the time. It was only a few months before leaving for the academy, and everyone was so excited. I was the first kid from Ebenshire in almost fifty years to learn enough magic to qualify for the academy. And even that was only because my father had brought us here from the capital.”

  “I remember that,” Tammy said. “I was with your beautiful wife if I remember correctly. It was the first time I ever saw magic.”

  “Really?”

  “Honestly,” Tammy nodded. “I’ll never forget it. It made the world seem so much bigger and more mystical. You had everyone clapping and cheering. Kinda hard to forget.”

  “Yeah, I did, didn’t I? I had only awoken my core a couple of years earlier.”

  “Something the matter?”

  “Oh, it’s just the world of magic. It’s complicated. That’s all, really.”

  “Oh, worried about your boy?”

  “You could say that. He’s still so young, but he probably knows more than I did back then. It’s easy to get swept away in that. Even I was treated like a local celebrity. That got to my head for a few years. This led to some questionable decision-making. Almost got me killed a few times. It’s hard not to worry.”

  “Right, you must have gone through a lot,” Tammy sipped tea. “Magic is all Ellie talks about these days. She told me that Kal has been teaching her about mana.”

  “Has he now?” Daedrik’s brow rose.

  “She wants to be a mage,” Tammy sighed. “You know, even with your experience in this type of thing, you’re still worried. Can you imagine how I feel?”

  “I can, yes. But there’s a lot more to being a mage than chasing after demons. Just look at me.”

  “Yes, Mr. Professor. Just look at you, the guy who just told me he almost got himself killed multiple times.”

  “Ah, yeah,” Daedrik grimaced. “Sorry about that. I wasn’t expecting–”

  “Me to say Ellie was trying to become a mage?”

  “Yeah–exactly. Well, don’t worry too much about any of that just yet. Most people fail anyway.”

  Deadrik said one thing but thought another. He had, like Kal, seen Ellie’s mana potential. The only thing that would hold her back was either a lack of guidance or a lack of perseverance. And it sounded like one of those problems was already solved.

  “I’m not sure that’s a better outcome. I don’t want my daughter failing at her dreams.”

  “Yeah, right. Sorry again, Tammy. It looks like I’ve got a bad case of foot in mouth.”

  “It’s fine,” Tammy waved dismissively. “I understand what you mean. We just hope for the best for our children.”

  “Yeah, right,” Daedrik nodded. “For the best.”

  ***

  The three kids sat cross-legged in a circle, meditating with their eyes closed just behind Kal’s house.

  “Do you feel it?” Kal said, easing the corner of his eye open.

  “Owww, I can't, Kal. It's hopeless. I'll never learn magic like you. I can’t feel this mana stuff. Whatever I’m meant to be feeling.”

  “Shhh,” Ellie hissed. “I’m trying to concentrate.”

  “I’m trying to concentrate,” Arix mockingly mouthed.

  “Shut it, Arix,” Ellie growled. “I know what you’re doing,” she added, eyes still closed.

  “Calm your mind and forget about everything but what is within,” Kal said.

  He doubted both of them would manage to learn magic; the chances of that were extremely slim, but they had asked him, so he would do his best to teach.

  “Calm my mind,” Arix hummed.

  “You don’t need to speak when calming your mind,” Ellie scolded.

  Maybe it would help if they had a point of reference.

  “Wait one minute, I'll be right back,” Kal said, bouncing up and rushing toward the house.

  “Endless interruptions,” Ellie growled.

  “I’m back, miss me?”

  “Like I hadn’t noticed,” Ellie said, her closed eyes twitching.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  “Take one of these,” Kal said, handing one of his stolen spheres to both Arix and Ellie.

  “What’s this?” Arix said.

  “These are special spheres. They’ve had mana glyphs bound to them. I thought that feeling the mana coming from the spheres might help you to distinguish the mana within your own bodies.”

  “Wow, thanks Kal,” Arix said, eyeing the strange metallic orb in his hand.

  “Is this safe?” Ellie raised a brow as she narrowed her gaze on the sphere.

  “Yeah, totally.”

  I think they are, at least. I mean, they haven’t done any harm to me, I’m pretty sure.

  “Close your eyes and see if you can feel the power coming from the spheres,” Kal said.

  “Fine,” Ellie said, wrapping her hand around the sphere and closing her eyes. “But you two better be quiet.”

  Arix nodded and mimed Ellie.

  Kal’s eyes widened as he saw both kids’ mana cores expand. The unawoken cores were nothing besides a little unrealized mana potential before, but as the mana channeled between them and the spheres bound, their cores brightened in a flash.

  “I can feel it,” Ellie's eyes shot open, and her hand sprung free, hurling the sphere across the yard.

  “It hurts,” Arix gritted his teeth, and a line of blood traced down his nose.

  Shit!

  Kal shot forward, snatching the sphere from Arix’s hand, and the boy fell limply backward.

  “What’s happening?” Shouted Daedrik as he ran around the corner and spotted Kal leaning over his unconscious friend with the sphere in his hand. “What have you done?”

  ***

  “I’m terribly sorry, Tammy. If I had known.”

  “It’s fine. She’s just a little shaken up,” Tammy said, rubbing Ellie’s shoulder. “What about the boy? Will he be okay?”

  “Yes, he should be fine,” Daedrik nodded, turning to the couch where Kal spoon-fed a pale-faced Arix some porridge-like substance. “It has powerful herbs mixed in. It will repair his soul and heal his body.”

  “That’s good to hear. Anyway, I better take Ellie home. We need to get her washed up and in bed. I hope Arix’s parents aren’t too hard on you.”

  “It is what it is,” Daedrik sighed. “I should be more careful with my possessions. It’s my fault Kal got ahold of my mana spheres. Whatever is coming to me, I deserve it. Again, I’m dreadfully sorry about all this.”

  “It’s fine, really, Daedrik.”

  “Mom, can we?” Ellie looked up.

  “Yes, dear. Let’s go. Take care now,” Tammy smiled and waved goodbye. “I’m sure this will all blow over eventually.”

  “I sure hope so. Let me know if Ellie has any side effects. I can get something mixed up for her as well.”

  “Will do.”

  Daedrik closed the door and turned to Kal. Arix was still semi-conscious, and his parents would be arriving any minute now.

  “Dad, I’m sorry–”

  “You have to be more careful,” Daedrik sighed exasperatedly. “But this isn’t entirely your fault. I knew you had the spheres. But I also knew you were powerful enough to handle them and figured they would help you reach a higher stage and hide your core quicker, so I ignored your theft. But these kids, they’re not like you. They can’t handle power like that.”

  “I didn’t–”

  “You should have. What you did is still reckless. You’ve been studying magic for years now and read every book in my library. You should have known better than to give a magical artifact to a child who hasn’t even awoken their core.”

  “What about Ellie?”

  “What about her?”

  “She’s okay—and her core.”

  “She awoke it,” Daedrik said. “I’m aware. But that changes nothing.”

  “But–” Kal stammered, feeding Arix another spoonful.

  “She got lucky, that’s all. I’ve heard people theorizing about using bursts of raw mana to push students at the precipice of awakening their cores through the final steps, but it never seemed worth the risk. And now you see why. Sure, maybe Ellie got lucky and moved toward harnessing her magic a little quicker. But what about the boy? We don’t even know what damage you might have caused him yet. His core will never be the same.”

  “It’s not like he had much to begin with. I just wanted to give him a chance. That’s all…”

  “You could have killed him, Kal. If the boy wasn’t meant to be a mage, then it wasn’t meant to be. That’s life. Grow up.”

  I’m an idiot. Risking a kid’s life for my experiments, Kal remorsfully sighed, looking down at Arix as he breathed weakly.

  “Even if it hasn’t killed him, I doubt your friend will come out of this unscathed. Not only that, but I suspect it will have a lasting effect on Ellie as well. Don’t think it hasn't changed her just because she awoke her core, but it seems fine now. People aren’t supposed to play with magic that is beyond them. I hope you remember this lesson, Kal.”

  “Sorry, Dad.”

  “Don’t apologize to me. And next time, don’t assume just because you can handle a magical item, your friends can, too. I hope that, at the very least, you learn something from this.”

  “Yeah,” Kal nodded. “I did.”

  Oh, another one… cool, I guess.

  Kal sighed and pushed another spoonful of healing mush against Arix’s lips.

  Coughing, Arix wheezed and eased his eyes open. “Kal?”

  “Arix! You’re awake!” Kal shouted and shot forward, wrapping his arms around the boy’s shoulders. “It’s so good to hear you talk.”

  “Kal.”

  “Yeah?”

  “You’re acting strange.”

  “Oh,” Kal released him, sprung back, and cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

  “No, it’s nice. I didn’t know you cared.”

  “Well, you’re my friend, aren’t you?” Kal said, softly punching Arix’s shoulder.

  “Am I?”

  “Yeah, of course you are.”

  “I know. It’s just nice to hear you say it for once.”

  Arix wasn’t sure if I was his friend? I know I find them annoying at times, but I didn’t want to give them that impression. Maybe I’ve been a little harsh on these kids.

  “Anytime, buddy,” Kal smiled.

  “Where’s Ellie?”

  “She–uh–went home. Left with her mother after everything that happened.”

  “Everything that happened?” Arix weakly echoed.

  “You don’t remember?”

  Arix went silent a moment before giving a breathy reply. “We were in your yard… and… wait, what did happen?”

  “I did something I shouldn’t have,” Kal glanced down at his hands.

  “The spheres!” Arix’s eyes lit up. “We were going to learn magic.”

  “Yeah…” Kal trailed off.

  “So, I guess we didn’t then?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Oh, well, that’s fine. At least you tried.”

  “I shouldn’t have. That’s the problem.”

  “You shouldn’t have tried to help us?” Arix crooked his head. “Why not? We’re friends, aren’t we?”

  “That’s not what I meant—the spheres, I shouldn’t have used them. Sorry, Arix. I failed you.”

  “No. No, you didn’t. You tried to help us, Kal,” Arix said, weakly placing a hand on Kal’s.

  “No,” Kal pulled his hand away and shook his head. “Don’t thank me until I help you awaken your core.”

  “You’re going to keep helping me?”

  “Of course I am.”

  If there’s one way I can make up for my idiocy is helping Arix keep up with us, one way or another. I’m not leaving you behind, buddy. You’re going to be a mage!