Lucas woke up breathing heavily and sweating as he was abruptly pulled from his sleep. Even being physically exhausted hadn’t been enough to keep away the nightmares.

  Staring up at the ceiling, Lucas slowly managed to calm himself down and get control of his breathing. The room was dark around him, though to him it was dimly lit at best. The dark had become his friends after his magic had awoken, and there wasn’t much that could be hidden in the shadows or darkness anymore.

  It also led to nighttime feeling increasingly strange for Lucas. The night wasn’t dark anymore, and it felt strange to go to sleep when it still looked like a dimly lit day for him. The only real darkness that Lucas couldn’t see through anymore was when he closed his eyes. That darkness still remained the same.

  When he’d managed to calm himself down, Lucas tried to go back to sleep. He tried, but actually getting back to sleep with the visions his nightmares brought was not so easy. Eventually, the teen just gave up when it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to get any more sleep.

  He got to his feet and moved towards the window. With his watch’s battery fried, the best way to tell the time was to look at the sky. The moon and the sun were the best ways to tell, especially thanks to how Lucas’ vision worked. And up above, he could see stars shining and the moon still hanging in the sky, with no real sign of sunrise on the horizon.

  The bed sheets shifting drew Lucas’ attention back towards the bed, where he spotted his familiar looking at him as she blinked away the sleep from her own eyes.

  “Sorry if I woke you up, girl,” Lukas apologized quietly as he walked over. Gently, he ran his hand down the fox’s spine, chuckling a little as Dusk yawned and leaned into his touch. “I’m going to go and get some air. You can go back to sleep.”

  As he made his way to the door, he heard a soft impact behind him. Turning back, he saw Dusk on her feet as well, following after him and nuzzling up against his legs.

  “For such a lazy fox, you’re choosing a weird time to not sleep,” He joked.

  But deep down, Lucas was happy to have the company as he quietly slipped out of his room and through the house.

  It was early, early enough that not even Lissa was awake yet. Seeing the kitchen clock answered why. It wasn’t a surprise that no one else in the house was awake when it wasn’t even one o’clock in the morning.

  “I really need something like that,” Lucas mumbled to himself as he looked at the clock.

  It, like the rest of the modern items that he’d seen so far, was likely powered in some way by magic. Hopefully, it also meant that he would be able to get a watch that worked magically as well. Lucas was still a bit too much of a ‘city boy’ to be able to accurately tell what time it was based on the position of the sun and moon.

  Getting out of the house without waking anyone wasn’t too hard for Lucas and soon he and Dusk were standing out in the soft grass of the Stella family’s backyard. The moon shone down on the two, and Lucas took the chance to just stop and breathe. He was a world away from his family and everything that he knew, but some things had stayed the same. The moon and the stars that hung in the sky were still the same ones that his parents would be able to see if they looked up to the sky. Something about that thought brought Lucas a bit of comfort.

  Staring up at the pale moon hanging in the sky, Lucas made up his mind. His gaze narrowed and he let out an explosive breath.

  “I’m doing this today,” He whispered, announcing the words to the world around him as he sat down in the damp, dew-covered grass.

  “I will learn magic, I will go home, and no wolf is going to stop me,” He vowed.

  The breeze picked up for a moment, rustling the leaves in the trees and blowing across Lucas’ skin. He ignored it, though. Instead, Lucas closed his eyes, crossed his legs, and began to breathe. One deep breath in, then another slow breath out. In, and out, again and again.

  Lucas never even noticed Dusk climbing into his lap and curling up against him, her own eyes closing as she matched her breathing with Lucas. His full focus was on each and every breath he took. He pushed aside the flashes of memories from his nightmares, the questions that filled his thoughts about the magical world around him, even the worries about getting home were pushed aside. They weren’t what he needed at that moment.

  And in the quiet silence of the wee hours of the morning, under the light of the moon, Lucas began to meditate. And slowly his mind began to clear for the first time.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “How long has he been out there?”

  “I don’t know. He was already out there when I woke up and came to the kitchen. And he hasn’t moved at all since then.”

  Magnus looked away from the kitchen window, turning towards his wife and child as mother and daughter quietly whispered about the young man that was sitting out in the middle of the yard.

  Fay had woken up to use the bathroom early in the morning and had noticed that the guest bedroom’s door had been left open. When she’d looked inside and found that Lucas wasn’t in his bed or the room at all, she’d rushed about trying to find him. She’d found him a minute later, sitting out in the backyard with his familiar. Fay had immediately gone and woken her mother up, which woke Magnus up as well.

  When she’d explained that she found Lucas just sitting out in the backyard, both parents had been more than a little confused. But that confusion only grew when they got up and followed Fay to find that she was right. It was clear that Lucas was meditating, likely trying to find his mana as he had been for the last couple of days, but the timing was just strange. Fay had woken up just after five thirty in the morning, and it looked like Lucas had been outside for a while already. There was even some fresh dew clinging to his body in a few spots.

  “Should we go and check on him?” Fay asked.

  “No,” Magnus interrupted. “Not yet.”

  He gestured towards the window again, waving a hand in Lucas’ general direction. “Look at him. The kid looks more peaceful than I’ve seen him since he arrived. I think he’s actually making some progress. Let’s just keep things quiet a bit and leave him be. If he’s still like that by the time that breakfast is ready, I’ll go and check on him.”

  “… Ok dad.”

  The way that Fay shifted from foot to foot made it obvious that she was still worried about her friend. It was sweet to see, and Magnus shared a glance with Lissa to see if his wife had spotted the same thing. The small grin on the older blonde’s face said that she did. And Magnus began to wonder if he was seeing the beginnings of his daughter’s first crush.

  Fay spared another long look out the window before she slipped away back towards her room. Magnus watched her go and smiled as he felt his wife’s arms wrapping around him from behind.

  “She really does care about him. It’s sweet.”

  “I know,” Magnus agreed.

  For a few moments, the two just stood together, taking comfort in one another as they looked out towards the backyard at the young guest they’d welcomed into their home.

  “I’ll get started on breakfast. Any requests?” Lissa asked as she slowly pulled away from her husband.

  “How about some pancakes today? And make a bunch, I think Lucas is probably going to be hungry,” Magnus leaned in, pressing a quick kiss to his wife’s lips as she pulled away. “And take your time with it. I think that he’s close to a breakthrough.”

  “You’re doing a good thing teaching him, Magnus,” Lissa replied, hugging him one last time before she began to make breakfast.

  Magnus turned towards the kitchen window once more, silently watching the dark-haired young man meditating. He didn’t bother to hide his grin as the morning sun began to rise over the treetops.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  As time went on and Lucas focused on his breathing, he felt himself slowly slipping deeper. It almost felt like he was drifting back to sleep again, but different at the same time.

  Over time, his focus shifted from his breathing to the darkness beneath his eyelids. His mind was fully consumed by that darkness, his thoughts gravitating towards it as everything else faded. The feeling of the cool morning breeze on his skin, the warm weight of Dusk in his lap, the dampness of the dew beneath him, it all faded into the darkness.

  Suddenly, everything changed all at once. He found himself falling, and he flailed a bit to try and steady himself. Lucas tried to look around, but all around him was darkness so deep that even his magically enhanced vision couldn’t see anything. And then he plunged into something, the darkness surrounding him even more as he sank into it.

  It was like a sea of liquid shadows and darkness, engulfing him and swallowing him up. But it didn’t hurt, and it didn’t choke him. Lucas could still breathe, and he even felt a warmth in his body as he slowly sank deeper. He’d never felt more alive and energized as the darkness surrounded him and wrapped around him like a warm hug.

  For a while, Lucas was content to just enjoy the comforting warmth of the dark. But after an unknown length of time, light began to stream in from all around, shining down on Lucas and slowly pulling him away from the pool of darkness as the light grew more intense. Eventually, it got bright enough that Lucas was forced to close his eyes.

  When he opened them again, he was once again sat on the soft grass, the rising sun shining down on him and sending beams of light straight into the young man’s eyes. His hands rose to block the light, and the motion caused Dusk to stir in his lap.

  “It’s already morning?” He asked the fox, with Dusk just yawning in response as she climbed out of his lap.

  After hours of meditation, Lucas was slow to get up thanks to his legs feeling rather numb. He took a few unsteady steps at first, slowly shaking off the twitchy, pins-and-needles feeling in his legs. He didn’t know exactly how long he’d been meditating for, but he knew that it had been hours since the morning sun had already climbed above the treetops.

  It took a bit longer than Lucas would have liked to realize had happened, but when he did, he couldn’t wipe the grin from his face. He only had to focus a little bit, and he could feel the comforting warmth deep within. The same, deep sea of darkness that represented his magic. It had taken him days, but he’d finally done it, he’d found his mana.

  And now, he could finally learn how to do magic.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! I do not recommend staying outside all night meditating in early April. It is not healthy and you should be asleep. Yes, I'm talking to you, viewer, who is reading this when they should be asleep.

  You can find it here if you want to check it out. Those who join can read a full 8 chapters ahead.