The day after discovering his inherent internal mana, Daniel had decided not to bother with his first classes of the day, instead opting to read through the entire Pdf he downloaded the morning prior; this time with the knowledge that none of the strange words were false.
It takes him a few hours, but he now sits with a notepad infront of him, segments of the document that seemed important written down, aswell as pages of different runes for him to try, with their entire descriptions written out.
From what he had been able to gather, at the current point in time, the only people able to activate runes were those with an 'inherent internal mana constitution' though after searching and searching though the document, it didn't seem to get mentioned past a very basic explanation:
'Some individuals will possess a natural storage of mana, regardless of the earth's initial low ambient mana concentrations'
Daniel can't help but keep thinking about the second half of the line though
"Initial low mana concentrations? So there was less before? Then how come its still just these few people with access to mana?"
It all confuses him a little, some of the writing in the document seeming a little prophetic : 'wills' and 'whens' in the place of 'ifs' and 'shoulds'
But Daniel pulls his curiosity away from those nuances in favor of the runes drawn in his notepad. Checking that his parents had left, before making his way to the backyard to try the new runes- some of the explanations fairly destructive sounding- Daniel takes a seat on fairly decrepit chair outside, before starting to copy each of the runes on his arms in a row, in order of mention in the document.
Daniel takes a fair while to finish drawing each of the twelve mentioned runes, looking across his arms and placing each of the runes with their name and effect in his head:
"Basic light rune - Produces a light by using internal mana"
"Basic strength rune - Uses internal mana to grant one's body intense physical strength"
"Basic flight rune - Uses internal mana to reduce gravity's grip on one's body"
"Basic rejuvenation rune - Absorbs internal mana to repair muscle fibers and damage to one's body"
The list goes on, each rune beginning with 'basic' and listing its effects in rather simple terms, Daniels awe at the supposed abilities grows as they appear to be more and more like the powers seen from superheroes and wizards from film.
'Just because they sound bad-ass doesn't mean that they work'
He reminds himself, before taking a few deep breaths and closing his eyes, concentrating to will his internal energy towards the light rune, the one he had already tried, just for consistency; And just as before, it glows with a fairly bright, Grey light.
Next he moves on to the strength rune.
Willing his internal energy towards the second rune along his left arm, it takes a moment before Daniel feels as though the mana from within his is being drawn slowly into the rune and consumed. Though the lack of a visual cue throws him off a little, when he shifts his body a little, his eyes widen.
"What the? This is the 'basic' strength rune?"
He exclaims as he stands up, doing his best to maintain a clear mindset, though his body feels as though each of his individual movements carry with them each ounce of force he could muster up with his natural body; not to mention that with exaggerated movements like punching, he felt as though he could punch through steel.
"This is crazy"
Then he starts to feel it, in the form of a slight nagging at the back of his conscious, something starts telling him that something is going very wrong with his body.
"Shit, I need to test this still"
Daniels mind begins to race as his eyes dart around for something to attempt to punch, initially weighing up the risks of pushing himself through something fully alien to him currently, the burning curiosity, eagerness to excel at something once again, flattens his concerns with determination.
'I'll just have to try it on a tree'
Feeling what he can only assume is the drain of his internal mana, Daniel chooses a rather plain looking tree from his garden before rushing towards it.
He throws a punch focusing on willing as much energy to the strength rune as he can.
The tree splinters slightly.
But so does his fist.
Daniel collapses under the pain, mixed with the mental exhaustion piling up in the back of his consciousness, falling to the ground with eyes full of pain and satisfaction.
____
The wax-masked man looks down at his circular paper-rune with curiosity, a pale grey light being exuded from the small light runes around its perimeter.
"Interesting"
A little bit of the frustration built up from the previous people he tested, as-well as trying to escape the police without bringing them any harm, fades away in lieu of curiosity.
With his movements still rather shaky and uncertain, he follows the compass-like rune in his left hand. It takes him a little longer to lock in on the source, taking a half hour to arrive at a rather plain looking suburban house.
Placing the compass in his suit jacket, a faint white glow emanates from under his suit pants before he jumps over the meter tall fence around the property, Following his recollection of the compass to the fairly small backyard of the house.
The man's eyes widen as he sees the fairly pudgy teen laying unconscious next to a tree, his messy, brown hair covered in leaves and dirt shaken from the tree.
Seeing the boy's broken hand, it's fairly obvious to the masked man what caused the injury, made more obvious by the splinters dug painfully into his hand. What does surprise the man however, is the notebook left open in the middle of the backyard.
Placing the boy into a more comfortable position braces against the tree, the masked man makes his way to the notebook- picking it up and reading through the scribbled notes.
"Some of words are written from past-tense-"
The masked man reads it with a tone of shock, before reading over the quoted examples written under it, looking more and more concerned with each line.
"I really should have been more careful- Shit. And if I change anything now it'll be any more obvious. How observant"
Looking back at the unconscious teen as he finishes mumbling to himself, he takes a few moments to think on a decision before nodding to himself and scrabbling around in his suit pockets for an extremely complex looking paper rune and tearing it directly across the center.
"For me in particular to be this short on time. Heh"
Like a tear in space itself, a pure black rift appears within the air without a sound.
Picking the injured boy up, The masked man's arms glow a pale green under his shirt as he tosses the boy into the portal before following behind himself.
____
Waking up on cold stone, Daniel looks around him in shock, panting.
Surrounded by a landscape of jagged stone, as far as the eye can see, He looks around the land in a panic, noting the monotone grey light cast upon the stone, without an apparent source.
"Where am I?"
He speaks in confusion, remembering the events that lead to him falling unconscious and wondering if maybe he was just dreaming.
But as he tries to move his broken hand, he's quickly reminded that It isn't a dream, pain shooting up his arm from the broken bones.
Having known deep in his mind that something like this was possible messing with something as dangerous as magic. Daniel doesn't lament or fear however, standing up in preparation to explore the strange landscape, he takes a few deep breaths, though as he does his eyes widen in shock.
Like a fish to water for the first time- his body feels energized the moment he breathes in, every movement of his suddenly feeling more natural.
"Seriously, where am I?"
What he doesn't expect as he mutters in surprise is a response, spinning around to see a short man wearing a waxy mask and beige suit.
"Welcome to Eil, my friend"
Jumping back as he sees the shorter man, Daniel can't help but be confused as to the singular person standing amongst what appears to be kilometers of empty rock. His thoughts race as his mind jumps to the worst possible outcomes.
'Am I dead?'
'Did he bring me here?'
But thoughts aren't going to get him anywhere, the masked man infront of him waiting patiently for a response, hands behind his back.
"Eil?"
The masked man responds in an explanatory tone
"Eil is the closest fracture to the home fracture- or earth as you call it. However this is a fairly unusual place in that it has a fairly abundant amount of mana with no inhabitants."
Daniel looks fully confused at this point, looking warily at the man infront of him
"Fracture? Home fracture? Abundant mana?"
Entirely patient, the masked man continues explaining
"Fractures are like other dimensions existing alongside our own, Earth, or the Home fracture, as I call it. And aside from The home fracture, most fractures have an abundance of mana in the air, which is how they support life."
Taking in the information slowly, Daniel calms down a little, though with a few more burning questions on his mind.
"Assuming I believe you, How and why am I here?"
"Ah, Well that's fairly simple- When fractures become unstable travel between them becomes possible. As for why, I found you unconscious, without much mana remaining, and didn't have enough time to wait for you to regenerate it back naturally- speaking of which, Are you feeling particularly energetic, powerful maybe?"
Eyes full of questioning, Daniels suspicions start to slowly disappear as he listens to the masked man.
"Yes- How did you know I would?"
"Again, fairly simple- You've got a mana addict's constitution, or 'inherent internal mana constitution' within the guide, meaning your body naturally, slowly absorbs the mana around you"
"Okay… And why did you need me to recover faster?"
"Right, I need someone with high potential to take as a disciple of sorts- And need you in fighting condition to test you"
"Test me? Fighting condition? And what If I said no to being your disciple?"
"Are you really going to decline the possibility of learning more magic after you've experienced the power of only runes?"
Hearing this, Daniel take a second to think, considering all the possibilities of gaining more knowledge on magic
"Well, No. What's the test?"
"Simple- You just have to beat me in a fight"
Daniel looks a little annoyed as he hears the test conditions
"How is that fair? And what's the point of having a disciple that can already beat you?"
The masked man simply chuckles
"Well I will only be using runes, specifically ones that you already seem to have taught yourself. And what's the point of a disciple if not to surpass me in the future?"
Daniel once again takes a moment to think, before nodding
"I'll do it���
"Daniel Redmane"
"Daniel Redmane, Potential : Initiate, Attribute : Soul based"
Daniel stares cautiously into the masked-man's eyes, having adopted a fighting stance he'd seen on the internet, one hand extended in order to disrupt the opponent's own attacks as-well as jab at them, with the other hand held closer to his face to block and deliver more powerful punches.
The 'test' had started a few seconds ago, the moment Daniel gave his name, both of the men stand a few meters away from each-other, Daniel's broken hand wrapped to help his injury.
"The test has started, boy, make your move"
The masked man speaks at Daniel, hands behind his back- not having adopted a recognizable fighting stance.
But Daniel doesn't reply, simply maintaining his stance and slowly circling around the masked man.
This gets a nod out of the man
"Cautious, Good"
Then Daniel catches the masked man's gaze shift slightly.
Quickly preparing himself for a confrontation, it isn't half a second later that a pale white glow appears under the masked man's legs.
"Ach!"
Daniel grunts as the man closes the meters between them almost instantly with a dash, diverting the aggressive punch with his extended hand just enough that it misses his head, though using his injured hand sends a spike of pain up his arm.
'Attack!'
Daniel then steps a foot forward with his defensive hand, forming a fist and willing mana into his strength rune before directing a swift jab to the masked mans ribs.
*Thud*
The blow connects with some force, though just before it does a faint green glow emanates from under the masked man's shirt.
Hearing the masked man grunt in pain, Daniel uses his injured arm to throw the masked man's attacking arm to one side before pushing him back with a strength rune enhanced arm, sending both combatants a few meters away.
Daniel ignores the raging pain in his wounded arm as he regains the same fighting stance.
The masked man sees this and nods once again
"Finally, some real potential"
He says as he gets into his own fighting stance, eyes locking with Daniel's.