ACT IThe Failed Prodigy
Hans felt someone’s curious gaze on him. He panicked and flipped in a hurry, but his cause for spooking was nothing but Sierra observing him. She said to Hans,
You have become rusty these days; I was here for an awful lot of time.
Hans sighed but didn't reply, so she asked him.
Is it that interesting?
Sierra was a mage herself and she was in front of a book, claiming to teach a way to have unlimited mana. It was a lie to say that the book doesn't intrigue her. Hans took a breather and replied to her,
You scared me, Granny.
She asked again,
What is in the book?
Hans turned, looked down and picked the book from the floor and replied,
This person was a genius.
Rudolf replied from behind her,
Samson would have smacked your head if he heard you.
Hans mimicked Rudolf and said,
Yeah, yeah, calling him genius is an insult, I get it…
Sierra interrupted him.
Geniuses die early, only bonehead survives long. Look at your gramps.
Hans chuckled, hearing her insulting Rudolf, and the old man just grunted in reply. She continued,
I don’t want you to be a genius; I want you to be alive for a long time.
Hans ran into her embrace, assuring her,
Don’t worry granny, I won’t leave you even if you want me to,
He strengthens the resolve to become strong quickly, just so these folks at least have some peace of mind knowing he is strong enough to handle things on his own. Samson's request to protect these people on his behalf was just a redundant thing, since Hans cared deeply about his family.
As the downpour continued for the whole day, Hans became increasingly bored, he wanted to read further but restrained himself since skimming the book doesn't seem right and for continuing the lessons he needed to meet the Treants but weather was throwing tantrums way before the morning.
Since they had plenty of food in storage, Rudolf was relaxing in the living room and Sierra was sipping a herbal tea with her husband, but suddenly they both became serious and came to the doorstep, where Hans was sitting and fiddling with another story book. Seeing both of them so serious surprised him, so he asked.
What happened?
Rudolf exclaimed and said.
Ahh, something is coming and with a lot of numbers, too.
Rudolf was getting frustrated with recent unwelcoming guests, since all was the nuisance for him. After a while, when the fast approaching hoard became visible, Hans realised what it was, but unlike the couple, he became excited since they were his new friends, treants.
Sierra was debating what to do because they surrounded the house and together these creatures were powerful enough to suppress Rudolf, but she relented the worry after a while when she saw how peacefully they were behaving around Hans.
Hans wasted no time and got connected with the oldest treant by placing his hand on it. He transferred his earnest thoughts of learning to use mana like a treant into it. The treant responded positively and explained to him the process by showing him by growing its own branches,
Hans took out the seed from his pocket and showed it to the treant, a small branch from the treant came and lifted his hand a bit and with its touch, Hans hand conducted the control signals to the seed and the seed started absorbing mana, turning into a plant in no time. The touch of treant was acting as a catalyst and Hans was feeling the raw mana of nature at its tips. The treant showed him and taught him the way to control raw mana, and the boy soaked up the knowledge like a sponge in water.
He experienced the flow of mana changing according to his will for the first time. Plants were growing around him at a rapid pace, as he wanted. The only downside was he was doing this with the control borrowed from the elder treant, not by himself.
For a few hours, Hans was with the forest of treants learning everything he could, and they were treating him as their kin, sheltering him from the rain and teaching him everything possible. As the night came, the treants left him and went their separate ways.
Sierra let go of her guard and pulled Hans inside the house, asking,
Why did those creatures come looking for him?
Hans smiled and said,
They said I called them.
Did you call them, how? Rudolf interjected.
I don’t know how, but I just wanted to see them and they sensed it somehow.
you are an unending thread of surprise, squeaky,
maybe I am born superior gramps.
don't talk like an idiot elf.
Hans stopped right there, he decided not to ruin his knowledge with senseless arguing with Rudolf. The surprised faces of his grandparents were not his concern right now. He had just completed the first experiment by mastering the treant way of magic which Samson had written. Now he only wanted to use it without the help of the treants.
He suddenly remembered another thing that he wanted to ask but forgot because of panicking in the morning and treants’ diversion, so he asked both of them,
What is solar magic?
Both of them looked at Hans with a questioning gaze. Hans responded by saying.
It is the next book in the ‘Books of Fate'.
Solar mage…Solar mage…solar mage….
Rudolf pondered a lot. While he was in deep thoughts, Sierra chimed in and said to him teasing.
Do not abuse your brain, it's not meant for heavy usage.
She replied to Hans,
Whether it's the book or actual mage, I don't know about it but as its name sounds, it should be about the sun.
Hans already deduced that much, but he couldn't just mock her with sarcasm, so he kept his silence. She thought it would be reckless to ask about this from anyone and if a wrong person caught wind of it, then the people investigating might suffer the unnecessary casualty because she knew Sam kept dangerous secrets and many powerful people were still searching for his legacies.
She warned Hans
You promised to not look for it until you are strong, so stop being curious.
Hans nodded in agreement, and Rudolf added to the conversation,
You will eventually know about the second book if it's for you in the end, anyway. Now show me what you learnt from those walking trees.
Hans took a fruit seed from his pocket and attempted to imitate Treant's manipulation of the mana surrounding it. His aim was to rush mana into the seed gently, but the development was exceedingly slow compared to when he did it with the treants. The seed eventually sprouted and little newborn leaves appeared on the small stem which was supported by a small fibrous root, and soon Hans had a small plant within his palm.
He was sweating profusely and suffering from mental exhaustion. Manipulation of mana consumes a large portion of his concentration. But he didn't stop there; he needed to push himself if he wanted to expand the size of his mana bucket (mentioned on page 6 of the first book, an example of a well and bucket of mana).
His breathing became difficult, and he was breathing hard, but he smiled as he removed the growing plant from his hand and placed it in the backyard. As soon as the roots reached the earth, its growth accelerated, and within moments, they had grown into a tree of similar height to Rudolf.
Sierra became concerned when she noticed him taking hard breaths, but she was relieved when she saw him smile from ear to ear. Hans's development impressed her; he had only learned the flow a few hours ago and was now doing it like an expert.
Hans wanted to accomplish more because his mana had no limitations, and the more pressure he put on himself, the vessel to draw mana from nature could grow in volume. He threw a few seeds on the ground and raised his arms to the sky, yelling, "Grow!" forcing his will on mana.
With his command, the seeds appeared to come to life and violently began growing, and within a few minutes, there were several trees loaded with fruits of all varieties, and this time Hans' was comfortable, he was mentally weary, but his result made the exhaustion completely ignored. He fell to the ground and started laughing madly, but with great exhaustion comes a great sleep. He couldn't stay awake and the sleep took over him.
When Hans awoke in the middle of the night, Sierra was sleeping quietly in a leaning chair beside his bed. Hans looked around him; something had changed; he was seeing the strands of coloured waves mixed with each other, flowing around everything; it was as if he could see air itself.
He looked toward Sierra and found the strands going into her chest where the heart was, the strands of mana were sucking inside her spirally through her heart. The rotation of the spiral changed counter-wise when the remaining mana came out from her heart.
It looked like she was breathing these colourful strands through the heart. Rudolf knuckled in his head and said,
If you wanna stare that much, get your own damn wife, squeaky .
Hans quickly started massaging his head in pain, and the ruckus woke up Sierra. The old man did not spare a moment and tattled Hans’ perverted activity, which Hans kept denying.
Sierra asked Rudolf,
Is he at that age, this quickly?
Hans embarrassingly kept denying it but Rudolf kept making fun if him so he finally shouted and said,
Can't you see these things?
Rudolf was in still moods of joke and saw this as Hans’ attempt to dodge the conversation, but Hans yelled again.
There is light going in her heart. Gramps, you moron .
proxybaba
with great exhaustion comes a great sleep
I laughed while I wrote this. LOL
ACT IThe Failed Prodigy
Hans felt someone’s curious gaze on him. He panicked and flipped in a hurry, but his cause for spooking was nothing but Sierra observing him. She said to Hans,
You have become rusty these days; I was here for an awful lot of time.
Hans sighed but didn't reply, so she asked him.
Is it that interesting?
Sierra was a mage herself and she was in front of a book, claiming to teach a way to have unlimited mana. It was a lie to say that the book doesn't intrigue her. Hans took a breather and replied to her,
You scared me, Granny.
She asked again,
What is in the book?
Hans turned, looked down and picked the book from the floor and replied,
This person was a genius.
Rudolf replied from behind her,
Samson would have smacked your head if he heard you.
Hans mimicked Rudolf and said,
Yeah, yeah, calling him genius is an insult, I get it…
Sierra interrupted him.
Geniuses die early, only bonehead survives long. Look at your gramps.
Hans chuckled, hearing her insulting Rudolf, and the old man just grunted in reply. She continued,
I don’t want you to be a genius; I want you to be alive for a long time.
Hans ran into her embrace, assuring her,
Don’t worry granny, I won’t leave you even if you want me to,
He strengthens the resolve to become strong quickly, just so these folks at least have some peace of mind knowing he is strong enough to handle things on his own. Samson's request to protect these people on his behalf was just a redundant thing, since Hans cared deeply about his family.
As the downpour continued for the whole day, Hans became increasingly bored, he wanted to read further but restrained himself since skimming the book doesn't seem right and for continuing the lessons he needed to meet the Treants but weather was throwing tantrums way before the morning.
Since they had plenty of food in storage, Rudolf was relaxing in the living room and Sierra was sipping a herbal tea with her husband, but suddenly they both became serious and came to the doorstep, where Hans was sitting and fiddling with another story book. Seeing both of them so serious surprised him, so he asked.
What happened?
Rudolf exclaimed and said.
Ahh, something is coming and with a lot of numbers, too.
Rudolf was getting frustrated with recent unwelcoming guests, since all was the nuisance for him. After a while, when the fast approaching hoard became visible, Hans realised what it was, but unlike the couple, he became excited since they were his new friends, treants.
Sierra was debating what to do because they surrounded the house and together these creatures were powerful enough to suppress Rudolf, but she relented the worry after a while when she saw how peacefully they were behaving around Hans.
Hans wasted no time and got connected with the oldest treant by placing his hand on it. He transferred his earnest thoughts of learning to use mana like a treant into it. The treant responded positively and explained to him the process by showing him by growing its own branches,
Hans took out the seed from his pocket and showed it to the treant, a small branch from the treant came and lifted his hand a bit and with its touch, Hans hand conducted the control signals to the seed and the seed started absorbing mana, turning into a plant in no time. The touch of treant was acting as a catalyst and Hans was feeling the raw mana of nature at its tips. The treant showed him and taught him the way to control raw mana, and the boy soaked up the knowledge like a sponge in water.
He experienced the flow of mana changing according to his will for the first time. Plants were growing around him at a rapid pace, as he wanted. The only downside was he was doing this with the control borrowed from the elder treant, not by himself.
For a few hours, Hans was with the forest of treants learning everything he could, and they were treating him as their kin, sheltering him from the rain and teaching him everything possible. As the night came, the treants left him and went their separate ways.
Sierra let go of her guard and pulled Hans inside the house, asking,
Why did those creatures come looking for him?
Hans smiled and said,
They said I called them.
Did you call them, how? Rudolf interjected.
I don’t know how, but I just wanted to see them and they sensed it somehow.
you are an unending thread of surprise, squeaky,
maybe I am born superior gramps.
don't talk like an idiot elf.
Hans stopped right there, he decided not to ruin his knowledge with senseless arguing with Rudolf. The surprised faces of his grandparents were not his concern right now. He had just completed the first experiment by mastering the treant way of magic which Samson had written. Now he only wanted to use it without the help of the treants.
He suddenly remembered another thing that he wanted to ask but forgot because of panicking in the morning and treants’ diversion, so he asked both of them,
What is solar magic?
Both of them looked at Hans with a questioning gaze. Hans responded by saying.
It is the next book in the ‘Books of Fate'.
Solar mage…Solar mage…solar mage….
Rudolf pondered a lot. While he was in deep thoughts, Sierra chimed in and said to him teasing.
Do not abuse your brain, it's not meant for heavy usage.
She replied to Hans,
Whether it's the book or actual mage, I don't know about it but as its name sounds, it should be about the sun.
Hans already deduced that much, but he couldn't just mock her with sarcasm, so he kept his silence. She thought it would be reckless to ask about this from anyone and if a wrong person caught wind of it, then the people investigating might suffer the unnecessary casualty because she knew Sam kept dangerous secrets and many powerful people were still searching for his legacies.
She warned Hans
You promised to not look for it until you are strong, so stop being curious.
Hans nodded in agreement, and Rudolf added to the conversation,
You will eventually know about the second book if it's for you in the end, anyway. Now show me what you learnt from those walking trees.
Hans took a fruit seed from his pocket and attempted to imitate Treant's manipulation of the mana surrounding it. His aim was to rush mana into the seed gently, but the development was exceedingly slow compared to when he did it with the treants. The seed eventually sprouted and little newborn leaves appeared on the small stem which was supported by a small fibrous root, and soon Hans had a small plant within his palm.
He was sweating profusely and suffering from mental exhaustion. Manipulation of mana consumes a large portion of his concentration. But he didn't stop there; he needed to push himself if he wanted to expand the size of his mana bucket (mentioned on page 6 of the first book, an example of a well and bucket of mana).
His breathing became difficult, and he was breathing hard, but he smiled as he removed the growing plant from his hand and placed it in the backyard. As soon as the roots reached the earth, its growth accelerated, and within moments, they had grown into a tree of similar height to Rudolf.
Sierra became concerned when she noticed him taking hard breaths, but she was relieved when she saw him smile from ear to ear. Hans's development impressed her; he had only learned the flow a few hours ago and was now doing it like an expert.
Hans wanted to accomplish more because his mana had no limitations, and the more pressure he put on himself, the vessel to draw mana from nature could grow in volume. He threw a few seeds on the ground and raised his arms to the sky, yelling, "Grow!" forcing his will on mana.
With his command, the seeds appeared to come to life and violently began growing, and within a few minutes, there were several trees loaded with fruits of all varieties, and this time Hans' was comfortable, he was mentally weary, but his result made the exhaustion completely ignored. He fell to the ground and started laughing madly, but with great exhaustion comes a great sleep. He couldn't stay awake and the sleep took over him.
When Hans awoke in the middle of the night, Sierra was sleeping quietly in a leaning chair beside his bed. Hans looked around him; something had changed; he was seeing the strands of coloured waves mixed with each other, flowing around everything; it was as if he could see air itself.
He looked toward Sierra and found the strands going into her chest where the heart was, the strands of mana were sucking inside her spirally through her heart. The rotation of the spiral changed counter-wise when the remaining mana came out from her heart.
It looked like she was breathing these colourful strands through the heart. Rudolf knuckled in his head and said,
If you wanna stare that much, get your own damn wife, squeaky .
Hans quickly started massaging his head in pain, and the ruckus woke up Sierra. The old man did not spare a moment and tattled Hans’ perverted activity, which Hans kept denying.
Sierra asked Rudolf,
Is he at that age, this quickly?
Hans embarrassingly kept denying it but Rudolf kept making fun if him so he finally shouted and said,
Can't you see these things?
Rudolf was in still moods of joke and saw this as Hans’ attempt to dodge the conversation, but Hans yelled again.
There is light going in her heart. Gramps, you moron .
proxybaba
with great exhaustion comes a great sleep
I laughed while I wrote this. LOL
