Chương 5: Chapter Five

Night came faster then I thought it would. But, we did only start moving after noon. So I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. I walked a lot, or at least tried to. I discovered I was not as fit as I thought I was, and on two occasions Evan literally picked me up and placed me in the wagon because I was wobbling on my feet.

I was now sitting in front of a fire I didn't start in green traveling robes that were better quality then anything I had ever worn surrounded by people I didn't know along with their wagons and horses. Twenty nine people. I counted. I had tried to pay Mandy for the clothes when she gave them to me, but she politely refused. According to her it was her job to see to my needs now, and that I should save my coin for something I want instead of something I need. Something I want.

I chewed my lip as I stared at my full bowl of stew. What in the world do I want?

"You need to eat." Evan said as he sat next to me on the log I had hopped on after being handed a bowl from a smiling older woman that had been minding the pot for the past hour. Evan lead by example, dipping a hard-roll into his soup and taking a messy bite. I waved the smoke out of my face as the wind changed direction, then ate a spoonful of soup. It tasted… Having survived the last eight years on a fruit that tasted like rotting fish, I can't even describe how good it tasted. And why was I crying?!

"Hey now. None of that. You've had a hard run of things, but we have you now. And tomorrow. The day after that, the years following, and the decade to come…" As Evan rattles on Mandy sits next to me and pulls me into her after passing her bowl to Evan. I just… can't… Why am I crying?! After a while the sounds of the camp reach me again and I found I've stopped crying. I push away, which Mandy lets me after a brief squeeze. I take another bite of the soup.

"This is really good soup." I manage to say loud enough for the cook to hear, causing her to smile in my direction.

"I can only imaging you're overwhelmed Lyra…" Mandy began.

"But you should know the plan moving forward. So there's less surprises on your part. It might help." Evan offered. I could only nod, dipping my own bread into the soup. The flavorful mush the bread turned into was wonderful. I can see why Evan does it.

"We're basically in the middle of our trip. Our next stop will be Tenoth. A trading city just inside the elven kingdom of Nevah. Picking up elven goods there and bringing them back to Ederall is the purpose of the trip. We'll spend five days there, then head back in another path that will take us through three other towns which we will stop at for three days each. Hindor is not the furthest out, but it's the most inconvenient since we have to backtrack in order to leave it." He huffed.

"Overall, it will take us about a month and a half before we're back in Ederall."

"We're leaving the Kingdom?" I asked, as I tried to process all the locations Evan said. I always wanted to leave Hindor, but until now… Until now it wasn't real. What it meant wasn't real. Now everything had so much weight to it. I looked into my partly eaten bowl of soup and tried to process everything.

"Hon, you're overwhelming her." Mandy said. Evan grimaced and somehow made it look apologetic.

"We're going to be picking up…" Mandy cleared her throat.

"She doesn't need to business details dear. Unless she chooses to walk the merchant path, we should help her settle before…" Boyan's cry pierced the night causing Mandy to sigh.

"No business." She reprimanded Evan as she left to tend the baby. Evan cleared his throat.

"No business. So, have you thought about what you want to do? The Academy isn't the best, but it has access to masters of a wide area of professions. You can choose to learn from any of them while you're there." I chewed on my lip and I felt my ears droop. Which was weird.

"I think potion making." He nodded.

"I know you have skills in it, but I didn't know if you enjoyed it, or if it was forced on you."

"Kinda… forced. But it's a starting point… right?" I asked, my voice growing small.

"I can get better at that while I figure out what I want to do?" Evan smiled at me.

"Of course."

"I… kind of… want to learn magic." I admitted, airing a dream I had had since before my parents died, but never admitted to.

"Ah yes. You will. In fact, you must." Evan said nodding.

"With how much magic demons have you need to learn magic in order to not accidentally hurt people. I'm sure you remember what happened back in town." He sighed.

"I'm sure you have questions. But, Mandy's going to start going over basics with you starting tomorrow while you're riding. So save the questions for her please. She's a better teacher than me." Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. I nodded, glad that I would be able to get my questions answered. And I couldn't wrap my mind around Mandy teaching me magic in the back of a wagon.

The cook looked at me and scowled, but then I noticed she was looking at my still full bowl and started eating quickly with Evan's chuckling urging me on.

"Okay, times up." Mandy's voice breaks me out of my internal thoughts, which admittingly had gone no where productive.

"What did you sense?"

"I don't know." Many made a noise.

"I can sense the mana. I can sense the changes in it when you cast one of your spells." I comment waving at a bucket that contained a couple of rocks Mandy would periodically use magic to move.

"But I can't explain it." Mandy was nodding.

"I don't doubt you. One of the most common attributes demons gain is the ability to sense mana, and there are skills on top of that, which is what we're working on here." I could only agree, my Mana Awareness skill had gained two levels in the past three hours, and was now level 3. And my Mana Sense attribute had risen to level 2.

"But are you really sensing it if you can't understand it? If you can't explain it?" She tilted her head thinking.

"I sense mana as sunlight. All its shades, from the blazing orange of a beautiful morning sunrise to the deep purples of twilight. And by studying that light, I can now identify when someone is casting a spell, and even what spell it is in many cases. But it all starts with being able to identify the medium your senses are using to depict mana." My frustration grew. She's explained all this before. Not the sunlight. But the rest. And it didn't help me come to terms of what my senses where telling me!

I leaned back in frustration, my back finding the unforgiving edge of a crate punishing me for my exasperation.

"I know. I just don't know!" I exclaim to her sigh.

"I don't expect you to yet. Which is why you have to keep trying. But I promised you an answer to a question when the sandglass emptied. So ask." I glanced at the sandglass that now sat empty of sand next to her and grabbed onto the crate I was sitting on as the wagon hit a particularly nasty bump.

"How did I do it? Back in town." Mandy was nodding, having expected my question.

"Demons are all born with three attributes dedicated to mana." She began and I frowned. That didn't match my character sheet at all.

"Usually you get mana sense, and a couple of other attributes that further attune or strengthen your mana. In some rare cases, these attributes can effect the environment around you. You seem to fall into that rare case."

"I have…"

"No." Mandy's voice became sharp, immediately stopping me.

"Your sheet, your attributes, these are very personal things Lyra. Don't tell anyone about them. Protect them. Because once you tell someone you never know where that knowledge will travel. And this world is not nice Lyra. You know that." I could only stare at her a nod, eyes wide.

"Not even you and Evan?" She smiled sadly.

"Not even us. I do not know any of my children's information as displayed by the system. I will not weaken them, weaken you, by starting now." I huffed in frustration.

"Then how can I figure them out if you can't help me?!" I would have thrown myself back in protest but my back was still sore from the last time I tried that. Mandy was laughing.

"You read the description the system gives you. Look into yourself. And try to control it. Only by controlling it will you get them to level. And you fail. A lot. But you keep trying and eventually you figure out what does work." She looked at me critically.

"Do you think you failed just now? When you were sensing mana." She asked.

"Obviously." She was already shaking her head.

"Finding out what doesn't work is the first step to finding out what does. You are exactly where you need to be Lyra." I groaned in agitation.

"This is going to suck isn't it?" She laughed straight from her belly.

"The best things in life, and the things you are most proud of, often do at first. Yes." She agreed. Perhaps it was all the meditating Mandy had me doing in our trip, but I felt it as we left the Kingdom and entered the elven forest. Mandy noticed my distraction and commented on it.

"What you're feeling is the higher ambient mana levels of Nevah. Tenoth will be close. It exists not because it's at a crossroads or other geological feature that makes trading easier. It exists where it does because the ambient mana levels, which is usually referred to as its mana saturation level, is a point where humans can exist in it with only mild discomfort and enough mana saturation for the elves of Nevah to be comfortable."

"Oh?" I asked trying to quantify the difference.

"Are Nevah elves different from other elves? And do they need a certain mana saturation?" I asked eyes wide as I thought about meeting elves for the first time. Mandy sighed.

"No, Nevah elves are not different then other elves. And no, they don't need a specific mana saturation level. They just prefer it. They believe that time spent in a lower saturation zone decreases their longevity."

"Does it?" My follow up was immediate as I tried to gain as much real information about elves as possible.

"Of course not." Mandy scoffs.

"We generate mana. When we're full, the mana we generate sheds into the environment. That mana then gathers like rain drops into streams, rivers, which eventually flow into lakes and seas. The more mana you have, the deeper in these reservoirs you can swim. But the shallows are always open to you." I nodded.

"I think I understand." I glance at the opening in the rear of the wagon causing Mandy to chuckle.

"Go look. Your lesson can wait for you to see your first elven tree." I got excited at the distinction. How were they different from normal trees? Do elves build their homes in them? I race to the back, careful not to bump any crate so I can find out. I stuck my head out eyes wide with wonder and found… trees. A bit taller then back home, maybe. The trunks were red and a bit wider. But.. trees. I felt betrayed. But even if my eyes where telling me they were trees, my senses were saying something else.

These trees were pulsing with mana. And I paused to watch. To look. To make sure Mandy was teasing me and there really wasn't something special about these trees. That's when I saw it. A small cyan colored mist the briefly surrounded one of the trees branches. I focus on the branch, and I see the mist didn't disappear. It still surrounded the branch. And now that I could see that, I see that the entire tree was covered in the same mist. The ground. Everything had a layer of cyan mist around it.

And from everything, streams of cyan mist flowed towards me in little streams. Oh, no. I thought as the system notified me that my skill and attribute for mana sensing both leveled up to five.