The sound of opening locks echoed in the room. Then Leo slid the lid off till he could see what was inside.
Inside was a small stone just a bit bigger than a pebble. It looked like amber however, the stone was crimson. Leo picked it up and inspected it, 'It looks ordinary but there must be something I'm missing. Why would someone just send me a rock? Think, think, think." Leo thought of various methods to see what the stone could do.
Then he tried to test those hypotheses. First, he wanted to see if the stone was in his possession could he cast a spell. He started with the most basic of spells. This was elemental magic. All other disciplines were derived from the elements.
With the stone in his hand, he began the chant for an Earth spell. He didn't know if he had an affinity to the element. But statistics stated that more than 60% of all humans have Earth as an element. Leo recited the chant over and over again but nothing happened. He could feel the mana in the air but alas there was nothing he could do with it.
Then he went to water magic and tried the spell for water and yet again it didn't work. He attempted wind and fire too but came up short. That's when he realised this stone served another purpose other than a medium to harness mana. So with that in mind, he tried to prove another theory correct, 'What if it's activated via a command?' He began saying various commands that are well used throughout magic yet, none of them worked either.
Leo continued to go down his list until he only had two options left. One of those options was to lick the stone. He didn't know how licking it was supposed to help but he was stumped. He took the stone and wiped it on his tongue and then he tasted it. Then he waited for some miraculous change in his body but nothing ever happened. He sighed as a bloody taste waste was left in his mouth, 'Wait why does it taste like blood?"
'Do I need to leak my blood onto this stone? It couldn't hurt to try, well not a lot.'
Leo looked around in the toolbox and found an axe. Then using the axe he slid his finger on it lightly cutting it till fresh blood trickled out. He then dropped some of that blood onto the stone. Then he waited patiently to see if anything happened. Yet, nothing happened, again!
By now he had lost his patience so he cut himself with the axe again. However, because of his state of mind, he cut himself deeper than he wanted, "Ow!" He winced as the blood streamed out his finger. He let all his blood drop onto the stone.
He continued to watch as the blood rolled off the stone. He watched till the wound bled no more. When that happened, he felt light-headed. His vision got blurry and he found it hard to stand. He fought the feeling as long as he could until he fell to the ground with a loud crash.
On the ground, Leo laid unconscious. However, within his mind, he was more conscious than ever before. At first, all he could see was darkness but then suddenly, the skies opened up for him. When he looked around, he saw he was somewhere in space. There were stars twinkling and planets in the distance. He looked at himself and he was floating in the air like he had successfully pulled off astral projection.
Leo exclaimed when this happened. He knew he had to have done something right. He had a vivid imagination but not this good. He looked around and was marvelled. Then out of nowhere, a figure appeared in front of him. It was an old man. He had a long grey beard and was wearing a purple and gold robe.
The man looked at him and shook his head in pity, "The generational curse lives on till this day."
Leo furrowed his brows in confusion.
"I'm talking about your inability to utilise mana. It was a curse that was placed on me when I lived. One that would continue to all of those that shared my bloodline."
"Why did they place a curse on you?"
He sighed, "It happened more than ten-thousand years ago... It might not look like it now but when I was younger, I was very handsome and very powerful. This allowed me to pursue any woman I wanted. Whether she had a husband or not was none of my concern. I was one of the most powerful mages in the world, if not the strongest taking combat ability into play. Therefore what could they do to me but beg me to stop sleeping with their wives? As I kept feasting on beauties, I acquired the nickname, 'Sleeping beauty.'
Anyway, I continued my festivities when I heard that in the country of Tivia was a girl hailed as the most beautiful in the world. I couldn't just take the word of others; I had to see for myself. So I did and when I laid my eyes on her my libido went wild. I had to sleep with her! I approached her and using my whiles, I convinced her to share a bed with me. However, in return, she wanted me to share my seed with her.
Her husband was impotent and she wanted a child. Who could be a better donor than sleeping beauty himself? So I agreed and we made sweet-sweet love. I tell you now boy, I might have f*cked the others but her. I savoured every moment of it. Anyway, just as I had given her my essence her husband walked in on us. Her husband was the King of Tivia, one of the biggest Kingdoms in the world.
Yet, he could do nothing to me; if I wanted to, I could flatten the entire Kingdom with one spell. Knowing this, he left and I continued to sleep with his wife in his bed. However, what I didn't know was that the King was not going to let it go. While I was in his wife, he was out of his mind. He covertly had his mages carve a magic circle around every city in his possession.
Then when it was complete, he activated it sacrificing everyone in the kingdom except, his pregnant wife, himself and me. Energy is never lost only transferred. Using that principle, he used all the accumulated hate and energy to curse me and my entire bloodline… I'm sure he wanted to kill me but thought this would be worse for me.
He was right. After I was cursed, I lost the ability to cast magic. Losing my ability was akin to perpetuated torture. When word got out that I no longer hand any magic all my enemies came after me. I had to use all my resources to keep myself safe. The mercenaries that protected me would increase the price every time. But what could I do? I was at their mercy and needed protection. I the once strongest now needed protection from an ant!
Every day made my blood boil as my hatred for that King grew but he was already dead. He died soon after using the spell. Anyway, I didn't want to live like that anymore so using my mercenaries, I searched the globe for items to reverse the curse. Alas, none of them worked, I tried Seraphs tears, Dragon's breath, even the philosopher's stone. Any legend that was said to have unimaginable power couldn't reverse the spell.
I had lost all hope when I heard a legend about a stone that had the power to heal anything. However, it was locked in a maze that no one comes out of… I set out immediately and entered the maze. Using my profound knowledge I came out unscathed with the stone. The only problem was the stone was incomplete. The white stone needed to be doused in the blood of countless people before its powers could be used.
So without further ado, I went around buying blood from people. This continued till I reached old age. However, even with all that blood absorbed there was only a droplet of blood in the white stone. It was then that I realised that I was never going to break the curse. Not in this lifetime though. So I prepared some tools so that my bloodline could do it for me.
I went to my son that I had with the Queen of Tivia and told him why he can't cast magic. Then I told him how to free our bloodline. After I died, I sealed my spirit in the stone only to reveal myself after it was opened. And it is finally ready! As long as you have this stone in your position it will heal you. It has already begun healing your mana channels as your soul has bonded with the stone. Now all you need to do is get stronger so you can free me from this stone and find me a body.
In return, I will teach you the ways of magic. As someone who was once the strongest, I have a lot to offer."
When he said that, Leo regained consciousness. The now fully red stone was lying on the ground meters away from him. He looked at the stone and then it began floating.
"Ah, old man, are you doing that?" Leo said.
Suddenly the old man appeared in the form of a spectre, "That's not my doing."
The stone floated higher and higher into the air and then poof it disappeared, "Aah, I've been waiting ten-thousand years to eat that." A loli appeared out of nowhere rubbing her stomach.
"The stone!" The old man cried out.