The night air was cold, an unusual cold for summer. On such a night nobles and serfs alike huddled around their hearths or slept tightly underneath a wool blanket.
One such fellow, a young boy, did not have such a luxury. He instead shivered around a small campfire, holding one hand close to feel the warmth of the flickering flame. Shadows danced around the edge of his makeshift shelter, the dark edges of upturned roots phantoms in the night. The hidden blades of grass bandits that wished him dead.
He felt good during the day, comfortable in the simplicity of it all, but night was not so kind. His belly was full at least from the two decent sized fish he had caught, as well as a pear tree he stumbled upon somewhere down the river which was a much welcome surprise.
"Aaraf nafsik" he said, focusing on the words, the intention. For a week straight, day in day out, he had tried the simple spell. It never worked, but he kept trying anyway. In his mind it was the only way out. That he needed to at least see what the next page of the book had on it.
He felt it then, his thoughts disrupted by the weight of the tome on his consciousness. It made him shiver a little. At times he swore that he could feel it probing his mind, as if it had a will of it's own. Most of the time he didn't notice it all though.
He sighed and rubbed his tired eyes, the hand of a small 8 year old, yet carried with a maturity beyond his years. A forced maturity at that... The sky was dark, with no cloud in sight, which left a sea of colored dots across it's surface.
Stars...
Thousands of them...
It made the night bearable for him. A slight comfort akin to the mild warmth of the fire. He would trace out figures in the speckled points, looking for some meaning or some hidden sign in the celestial bodies above.
Nothing ever came though. No god to bring down a divine message. Nothing... Just stars. Their beauty alone for the most part. He wondered what they meant, what they were. He heard stories about how they were the heavens, or worlds beyond. That the different races each came from a different point of light, even monsters.
The thought sent a shiver down his spine. Monsters. The wretched things. He clenched his fist and grit down on his teeth, relishing in the memory of killing the goblin. He had unfinished business, and knew he would not be staying at his comfy camp forever, so he got back to work, focusing, attempting the spell from the book, "Aaraf nafsik... Aaraf nafsik..."
He repeated the two words over and over, his breath misting in the unusually cold air. Suddenly, after saying the spell again a strange sensation swept through his body.
He could feel it, like odd tendrils moving in and out of his skin, into his organs and bones before leaving again... mana...
It took his breath away, the sensation of energy, of life. It was raw and pure, and he swore that he could sense the color of it, a grayish blue. Beyond that he sensed his body, almost like he knew what the conditions of each part were. Deep inside though he noticed something round, located somewhere close to his solar plexus. It was drawing in and cycling out the mana.
"A circle?" He thought to himself. Whatever it was inside himself he knew it was his center, his life force or something just as important.
"Yes finally!" He called out as the sensation faded. Alder succeeded, jumping around in his excitement. Immediately he took out the book, feeling it pop out from his head to float in the air nearby. He snatched it with his one hand and plopped down, opening it carefully to the first page, before he tried turning it.
He smiled as the book allowed him to see the next two pages. He frowned a little though as he didn't notice the familiar blue glow of a spell. Instead, there was a long paragraph that said:
"You have successfully learned the Sense Self spell if you are reading this, and are ready to learn more. Continue to practice Sense Self, as it's use is invaluable to the technique I will be presenting. All in due time...
It is not too late to stop and turn back... This technique is a path to become a Corporeal Mage that no one has ever attempted. It is dangerous, painful, and takes ten times as long to master as normal magical paths. For you see, there are those that think you can only be either an External or Internal Mage. The external of course being those that manipulate mana in the environment, to cast spells. An internal mage uses their own mana within their body to cast spells.
But those are not the only two paths...
Mana is mysterious, and power does not come from just External or Internal. No... This method of mine is the Corporeal Way. A culmination of a lifetime of research. I will never personally get to train it, as I have long walked the path of an Internal Mage. I can only hope someone worthy and courageous enough can take up the mantle and walk the path.
For you see, the Corporeal Mage turns their Core into a furnace, and instead of allowing the Mana Core within to cycle external mana into internal mana, you increase the intake of mana and allow it to nourish your body, increasing the quality of your bones, muscles, organs etc... But sacrifice the ability to use magic at all... In theory, one should be able to achieve Power on par or surpassing those of the Arch Mages, sharing their Near Immortality and Capabilities...
Though truly I know not of the inner workings of this technique beyond the theory and what I have managed to figure out. If you do successfully walk this path perhaps we may meet and you can show me in person the power of the corporeal way...
If you survive that is...
Again, turn back now. The process from here on out is a permanent change, and can only be done to those who have not walked any path in magic. Who are untrained..."
Alder ruminated over the words, trying to wrap his young head around it all. There was a lot he did not immediately comprehend, especially all the talk about external and internal magic and mana core etc.
The fact that such a person was warning him of how dangerous it would be he paused before turning the page. He looked off into the dark sky and thought as hard as he could, reading the two pages over and over until he thought he understood. "Right... that old man gave me this gift... he wouldn't have given me something so precious if he did not think I could make use of it...."
He turned the page, and was met with a short paragraph followed by a page long spell, with it s glowing blue letters,
"You have much courage, reader, to continue on... from here on it will be the introductory method for this corporeal path of magic.
Note, that the spell you first learned, "Sense Self", is the only spell you will be able to use again. This is due to the source of mana for this spell is your entire body itself, not your core or external magic. Essentially, it draws on your life force to function...
That being said the following spell will require you to use sense self in conjunction with it to achieve success. You must be able to sense the interior of your mana core, with all it's properties... only then will the spell be able to work... As it requires one to have a total understanding of oneself and the knowledge therein to meet the threshold..."
Alder sighed, just successfully casting the "Sense Self" spell once had taken a week nonstop. Just how long would fully mastering the spell enough to see the depths of his "Core" as the book called it take? He wasn't sure what a mana core even was.
He thought more and more on the subject before settling on leaving it for the morning. His eyelids had grown heavy and he yawned deeply. The book in his hands started to drop and it disappeared back into his consciousness.
The young boy laid down to rest, happy that his future had opened up a little more. He wondered then about whether he would be able to eat tomorrow, if the fish would bite, and just how uncomfortable the pile of leaves he laid on was, before he slipped into a dreamless sleep...
...
Someone screamed. A fearful scream. The old man heard It, and sighed. Another failure.
He paced back and forth in his dusty library, the anxiety coursing through his veins.
The crazy old mage had given him a letter, a short message... The old bastard was toying with him, The Wisdom... He wasn't going to lose the game. He wasn't going to give up his shot at getting his hands on the manuscript.
The past week straight he spent on searching, prowling the streets of Grey Stone. Looking for a young kid with certain characteristics. Every time his men thought they found someone they would bring them to his estate to undergo tests. Painful tests of course. But necessary... far too necessary...
The nobles had started to stir, and people had begun to talk. He didn't want that. He wanted to keep things quick and quiet... It looked like that wasn't going to happen.
He sat them at his creaky desk and produced an inkwell and some parchment, dipping an old quill as he began to write. He scratched away tirelessly before calling, "Simon... come and deliver this letter... It is most urgent..."
Within seconds the butler appeared, taking the sealed letter and showing shock as he looked at the address, "at once wisdom" he said, before leaving the room quickly.
The old man sat back in his chair and rubbed at his tired eyes. "Why now... after so many years... I thought maybe the Old Bastard had died..." he grumbled.
It was midnight then but he knew he would not be getting any rest. Not for a long while... There was far too much to be done, and too much at stake...