When I awoke again we were back on the road, the wagon steadily plodding along. I could hear my parents holding a conversation behind me on the driver’s seats, they seemed to be making small talk and attempting to try and feel at least a semblance of normalcy. I peeked my eyes open and looked around the area. A few feet away from me a curled up Jack raised his head and whined softly. He had been tied with some rope to the side of the wagon to keep him out of reach of myself, it seems my parents were lost on what to make of him and as he wouldn’t leave settled for keeping him out of danger from me at least. I was still unable to move my body without tremendous amounts of pain but I did manage a smile and a slight nod at Jack which seemed to settle him some. He made a low sad noise and went back to curling up and napping. I followed suit and began my breathing excursuses once more. I tried to recall where I had left off the day prior in my training and picked it back up as close as I could. 

As I traced and checked my body I tried to recall the basics of the realms in a hope that I would be able to illuminate my current predicament. The basis of all magic was the manipulation of mana. In its raw form mana is nothing but a form of energy however through manipulating that energy with incantations, runes, circuits and the like you could produce several different effects known as magic. Mana is a naturally occurring energy that surrounds and emanates from all things however humans are special in the way that they are born with the ability to manipulate mana. However, like with all things, just because anyone could do it doesn’t mean everyone can. After all, just because a group might be born with two arms doesn’t mean they can all lift the same boulder. It was through experimentation that it was discovered that there were three distinct ways people typically were able to manipulate mana and produce magic. These were given the names of foci and laid the foundation for the three realms of magic. The mana pool was like a heart, it would produce and generate mana and could then be used to pump it through one’s mana channels, producing different magic depending on the channels used, the intensity and a multitude of other factors. It was by and far the most common realm to awaken to and for a long time was thought to be the only method of controlling mana.

Next was the soul channel, long thought to be miracles rather than magic the soul channel took in ambient, displaced mana from the surroundings and allowed a user to direct it as they pleased by altering the flow as it passed through them to achieve results. In many ways it could be seen as a set of lungs, taking in the air from the outside and filtering out the useful parts for the body to use. Due to its more abstract approach, it was able to achieve very different effects than a mana pool and were most commonly associated with healing magic and blessings. It was rare for someone to awaken a soul channel and was often considered a holy signifier with most being treated incredibly well and being both sought after and offered every opportunity. 

On the flip side was the mind’s eye. By far the rarest and by far the most feared, it was the most esoteric and unnatural method. It was more akin to a staging ground where one was truly only limited by their knowledge rather than physical barriers such as the storage or generation limit of one’s mana pool and in this same way it could not be trained itself rather a user would instead gather more knowledge and get quicker putting the elements of a spell together. Unlike either of the other foci, however, the Mind’s Eye had no way to interact with mana directly and so was utterly incapable of creating any of the magic it was able to build the components for. You could build the fanciest, most elaborate and best aqueduct in existence but without water, it would be useless. And it was in this area that the mind’s eye and its associated realm garnered its horrid reputation. If a mana pool were a heart and the soul channel lungs then the mind’s eye would be a stomach. It was only able to power its magic through the consuming and destroying of other energy. However, unlike others, it was not so picky about the form of energy and in fact, was able to convert a few things into mana or equivalent energy for its magic.

Several more hours passed as I closed myself off from anything but my training. As I probed my being for the mana to circulate I often touched upon points of pain which were then amplified through my training attempts, threatening to break my concentration but I pressed onwards. Remembering my learning of the basics made me reconsider my approach and so I took a step back and scanned wider areas so as not to get lost in detail. Giving myself a broader radius meant I wouldn’t need to be as precise although I would need to be concentrating that much more on any slight changes and traces of mana and energy. It was riskier but if I hoped to get anywhere in my current form It was necessary. At one moment the larger search radius had me scanning dangerously close to my heart, I plucked slightly on the flow and felt like the wind had been knocked out of suddenly but amid the stabbing pain to my heart, there was something else. It seems the early lessons weren’t entirely a metaphor. I had always assumed the mana pool was situated lower, deeper within a person acting as their foundation but it seems I was slightly off. Next to my heart, ever so slightly below it, there was a source of mana, an orb not much bigger than my tiny heart. I calmed my mind and took the leap of faith, pulling on the traces of mana within. I moved the mana slowly and carefully tracing the channels of my body, running once more through a scan of my form, snaking it through every possible avenue before connecting it back in on itself. It was a slow, arduous process, as the mana traced through my bruises and breaks I experienced intense agony as if each were being firmly pressed down on, however, I kept my will strong and continued onwards. Once the circuit had been traced I began gradually increasing the speed and intensity of the mana flow, subtly stretching and strengthening the channels. It was rocky at first but it felt like an old comfortable pair of shoes. The thug leader might have only been two-bit but it seems he did at least have a fairly large mana pool for someone of his calibre. The longer the process went on the finer my senses became. I followed the tracing in its continuous loop and after a certain point lost myself in the stream that I had created, my breathing and the flow syncing up perfectly, my fatigue and pain-numbing me to everything but the process. The mana began to take on a new form as I watched on. Not just that of mana I was forcibly controlling but a part of me. Without realising it I had instinctively been using my mind’s eye less and less with each rotation, the mana began to almost glow in the inky blackness that was my closed-off mind. Icy blue and white streams moved throughout me, snaking their way through the traced channels being pushed and pulled from the central hub that was my mana pool. It felt as natural as breathing. It was wonderful. 

“I thought it was getting warmer but did you feel that chill wind just now?” 

“Yeah, oooh it’s getting colder still! Why does it feel like the wind is so low?”

“The seats! They’re covered in frost! My gods, has he followed us? I thought he was dead!”

The cart came to a screeching halt however continued to slide for a few extra feet. My parents jumped down from the driver’s seats and frantically looked around but there was nothing. They followed the traces of ice, the driver’s seats had become completely encased, the wheels were coated with small icicles forming between the inner bars. They dashed into the rear of the wagon and found me. Led in a small pile of snow, fast asleep. 

“Do you believe me now?” My father said, “Seems our child is even more special than we thought.” He lifted himself into the wagon and placed a spare blanket atop me, the simple act warming me and pulling me out of my state, as the ice reminded and melted my father’s face was one of joy and excitement, my mother’s however seemed sad and concerned.