As the sun was rising, it gave its light to a cozy little cabin in the middle of the forest. Unlike many such cabins, usually homesteaders or recluses fed up with the trappings of civilization, the denizens were already up and working. This is not to say that they rose early for work. Rather the residents did not need to sleep in the way that many need.
The elderly woman was at a workbench out behind the cabin, grinding something up in a mortar and pestle. A plethora of bottles with varying substances were littered about the place, indicating that she had been hard at work making magical elixirs and other more mundane tonics.
The Elderly man, likely the woman's husband, was not privy to the sun's morning rays. A loud clanging of metal against metal could be heard from a shed off to the side of the cabin. The heat coming from the smithy was far hotter than that of a human smith. The man inside, looked no different than a typical elf, middling height and a slight but powerful build. But the way he was handling the smithy spoke of long centuries of experience. The man was hammering away at an ingot, a new alloy that had yet to receive a name, and was having difficulty working the new material, despite the oppressive heat.
The Human was out of place, his complexion was that of the desert dwellers of the southeast and his dark yet well-groomed beard spoke of a culture that perhaps did not exist. His eyes were a deep purple, a color not seen in humans and was more common in the magical races of the world. He appeared to be no older than thirty-five and was in a shed far away from the cabin, in a separate clearing. Was processing the last successful hunt. The Silver Stag, while a sacred animal to the elves, was not off limits to hunting, as its horns and special eyes were useful for tonics, elixirs, and enchanting. The hide was even more sought after for the use of clothing and armor. The man was in the middle of getting everything ready for the tanning process, the true purpose of this separate clearing.
A young girl with blond hair and piercing blue eyes, who appeared no older than four years old was in one of the gardens around the house. This one, located in the backyard of the cabin, was for the special and magical plants. The young girl was carefully gathering the plants, one by one, and taking them to the elderly woman.
"Grandmother, I got the last of the plants for you. Can I go play now?" The young girl, clearly buzzing with enthusiasm, pleaded with the largest puppy dog eyes she could muster.
"Hmm. Let me look at what you have here. Silver Bell, Heart Rose, and Elves Ear." The elderly woman, Luthiel, was very clearly examining the plants with a very critical eye. Much to the young girl; Mai'elle's, dismay; fearing she made a mistake. "Looks like you did a wonderful job gathing these dear, go on and play. Meet me by the pool after lunch, I have something special for you today."
"Yay!" the girl hardly heard what her grandmother told her as she took off for the tanning clearing at a run.
"Daddy, Grandmother said I was done for today, can I go to the stream today?" The girls were practically vibrating with excitement. She had found something interesting at the stream last summer and had spent a considerable amount of her free time there.
"Did she say that or are you forgetting something?" Putting his tools down, he turned to his adopted daughter and looked at her with a critical eye.
"Well, no, she said she has something for me after lunch, but that's fine, I'll be back I promise!" the girl stated. The amount of excitement was visible to the point that anyone with decent training could see the mana rolling off her.
"Well alright, if you're not back for lunch You'll be grounded for the summer. So, be safe you hear?" Kristoff, the girl's human father said, with a sense of finality and authority.
"Yessir, I'll be back for lunch." She said that last sentence as she ran out of the clearing. Last time she was grounded for a summer was seven summers ago, and she did not want to repeat that experience. Especially now that she had a new friend.
Though Mai'elle, or Michelle to her father, looked like she was around four or five years old, she was forty-five this year, having had her birthday earlier this year. Unbeknownst to her, she was aging even slower than the typical elf would, though not enough that it would cause problems in the future. It just appeared that she was slightly behind the growth curve.
After running for twenty minutes, Michelle came upon a small stream, more brook than anything, with a shimmering blue object on the shore. It was vaguely shaped like a person and gave the impression of sitting down on the shore.
"Aqueos, I'm here!" Michelle, was excited, it was not every day that her friend was waiting for her. Most days she had to wait for its arrival.
"Mai, you're here, Awesome!" Using the pet name that Luthiel often used, Aqueos was almost as excited as Michelle.
The morning went by rather swiftly, much to Michelle;s dismay, but no without tiring herself out. Aqueos, as a water spirit of some variety, used magic to make all kinds of constructs to play with. From butterflies to small lizards was, as far as Michelle was aware, the extent of what Aqueos was able to make.
When Aqueos first met Mai'elle, it was originally with the intent to drown the young elf. Unfortunately, when they tried, they found that the girl was immune to drowning from magical water. The only saving grace for Aqueos was that she was not experienced enough and believed that it was part of the game. And after all of the time observing the girl, the spirit found that the girl, albeit slowly, ate mana like food and gave her sustenance.
After that, more out of curiosity than anything, Aqueos decided to try out this friend thing. Having never had a friend before things started to change. The formerly alone and unchanging Water Spirit was beginning to feel human emotion. And after a year now, the spirit was now completely different than before. Empathetic and friendly. A change it was not expecting in its long life.
Fortunately for Mai'elle, Aqueos was much more time conscience than she was and was able to get her home before lunch.
Lunch was much the same as it has been for years, greens pulled from the front garden, a steak or meat gotten from hunting. The adults all had large portions, but Michelle was different. If you were to ask any elf that had had children, they would tell you that the portions that she ate were much smaller than they should be. And they would be right in assuming that that is the reason why her growth was stunted. If she wasn't one third Mana Parasite. Michelle didn't need to eat any food at all, she could subsist on mana alone. But she was fed meat and greens anyways, for flavor and the other two thirds of her makeup. But she was unable to eat in large portions at all as she was never really hungry.
"Mai, dear, get washed up and meet me by the pool alright. We are going to awaken your core today." Luthiel, the only one of the three adults who was classified as a magic user, was soft but firm in telling her adopted granddaughter that today was special. Mai'elle had heard about awakening for years now but was told to wait for a certain point of maturity. Apparently now was that time. What Luthiel was never going to tell the young girl was that she is ten years behind the process, for the elves compared to humans, it was akin to being held back one academic year, so not a lot of time was lost.
That didn't stop Mai'elle from being excited, and she ran to the washroom and, as fast as she could, cleaned up. After getting dressed she heard her father yell at her through the door something about how he and grandfather were going on a trip while this was happening, but she was so focused she only heard part of what he said.
Running out to a special pool, simply called the pool by her grandmother, she saw two mats made of silver stag leather laid out by the edge of the pond. With her grandmother kneeling and knitting a pair of fingerless gloves.
"Grandmother, I'm ready to go!" Mai'elle's impatience was palpable as she ran over to the empty mat.
"Oh, are you now? We'll see about that." Luthiel was very critical of her granddaughter. The girl has learned over these years that her family had very high standards, but never did they yell at her for failure. Rather, they encouraged and corrected her, giving the young elf girl a healthy expectation for not only what she is expected to do, but also that failing is normal.
In that vein, the inspection was less physical, though that was partly there, but more about the mana flow in Mai'elle's body. Usually, an elf would have their mana base strong enough and their consciousness brought to the point of understanding by the age of thirty. But Mai'elle's slow growth caused her grandmother to wait until she was forty-five just to be safe. Awakening someone too early could have fatal consequences.
"Alright Mai, sit down and get comfortable. I'm going to explain what I'm going to do, and you need to listen carefully now. If you don't you won't get to learn elven magic." Mai'elle swallowed nervously and nodded her head. The last thing she wanted was to be left magicless, not after seeing the wonders her grandmother and Aqueos could perform. "What I need you to do is to sit like this." Luthiel got into the lotus position." And close your eyes and do your best to empty your mind. I will put a tiny amount of pure mana in your system. This mana will flow to your core, and I'll need you to follow it. Once it reaches your core, you will see an aspect of nature. This will tell you which elements you are most attuned to. The more complicated the phenomenon, the more elements you have. Do you understand?" Nodding Mai'elle prepared herself. "Good now here goes."
Mai'elle felt hands touch her back and while she was focusing, she saw a white light appear in her mind's eye. It was truly mesmerizing. This light, unattributed and pure, began to move.
It was like a drop of water, beginning its long journey down a cliff face. It was slow and ponderous but all together hypnotizing. Suddenly, the Drop of water began shaking, as if affected by a terribly lightning storm. Suddenly Mana resembling that of a Lightning bolt struck the drop, coloring that drop a blinding and brilliant blue. The drop of Mana began to buzz, a high keening noise on the edge of hearing.
Later farther down the imaginary cliff face, A raging Windstorm picked up the drop of mana, blowing it around like a leaf pluck violently off a tree and blown with little regard for any sense of safety. The drop of mana began to add a swirling green color, partly blended with the electric blue.
After the whirlwind of mana, the drop once again became placid, albeit with swirling colors, and began to descend once more down the imaginary cliff. And as this drop of mana, which had been gaining mass and size during its long trip down the cliff, finally began to look like it was about to settle down in its final location and begin to take its final form. One final event happened, a torrential downpour, mixing both Ice and water, began to batter the drop of mana, which began to drink of the water and ice of the storm.
Finally, the drop reached the point it was supposed to meet.
And was immediately met with catastrophe.
To the mind of Mai'elle, the drop of mana was sucked up by a raging whirlpool, already possessing the attributes that the drop had acquired over its long journey and promptly consumed and eaten by this raging tempest.
Mai'elle was shocked out of her deep trance, and immediately began to cry. She would never be a mage, for the drop of mana was destroyed. She would never be able to make pretty things out of water like Aqueos. Nor would she be able to command enchantments and alchemy like her grandmother.
She was so distraught that she never noticed two, then three sets of arms giving her a deep hug. Not until she had calmed down, still hiccupping from the tears, did she notice her whole family caring for her and making sure she was safe.
When they noticed she had calmed down, they released the embrace and gave her some space.
"What's wrong dear?" of all the people to ask that question, her father was not the one she expected. But it was that question that made her realize that whatever happens, it would be alright.
"I lost the mana!" Those words, spoken with such despair, told them everything they needed to know.
Before anything else was said, Luthiel placed her hands on Mai'elle back and focused. Suddenly, a spark jolted across her hand, almost like a defense mechanism against foreign mana. In fact, that's exactly what it was.
"Mai, Listen to me." Mai'elle, who was still shuddering from the crying didn't respond. "MAI'ELLE!" having never heard her grandmother shout at her, it shocked her into listening.
Taking a deep breath to help formulate her thoughts, she continued. "Mai, the reason you lost the mana is because you already have a mana base. Which should not be possible, you never had your mana activated." The confusion was clear on her face
"You mean, I can still learn magic?" Those words, spoken with rekindled hope, brought smiles to everyone's faces.
Well, everyone except one.
Kristoff looked contemplative, like he was considering a deep revelation that had just come to bear. When suddenly the light of realization was seen on his time worn features.
"I think I know why this happened everyone." That quiet yet confident voice got everyone paying rapt attention to what was about to be said. "Luthiel, Caedras, do you remember the day I brought Michelle home?" Nodding at his words, he continued. "Well, because of her nature, she tried to bond with me. The was the bonding worked with mana." At those words, the two elder elves' eyes widened as what he was saying began to sink in. "Because she couldn't bond with me, her mana went dormant. That is until the parasite arrived. Finding a mana source to bond to she reached out. But because the mana aura was too powerful, she only was able to get a partial bonding done. Once I got home, she finished fully bonding with you Luthiel. In effect she is 2/3's Luthiel, 1/3 mana consumer."
Mai'elle was confused, at least a little, she had heard from her family that she was a little different from normal elf children, and her father had told her the story of how they came to raise her. Unfortunately, being as young as she was, she still had not fully understood the whole situation. What mattered to her, is that it seemed like her dreams of magic was not fully over, and that something else had happened.
Luthiel was about to say something when a noise happened, something sounding like a stomach grumbling.
At that point, everyone present looked at Mai'elle. Surprises were evident on all their faces. Mai'elle's stomach had never grumbled before. Mai'elle, the perpetrator of the noise, was confused. She had never felt this way before and was having a hard time describing the feeling. That is until her grandmother began laughing.
"Your hungry dear, we need to get you some food. Come along we have some food ready for you." Mai'elle's head, tilted in confusion told her family she wasn't aware of how long she had been in meditation. "Mai, you've been in meditation for 4 months. Of course, you're hungry. I'll explain more while you eat."
Looking around, she noticed that autumn had already begun, but was still in the early phases. Despite how long she was in meditation, she wasn't dirty, in fact she still felt clean and refreshed. "Grandmother why am I clean?" of all the questions they expected her to ask this was not up on their list.
Laughing her father of answered "Your friend, Aqueos came and made sure you were well cleaned while you did your meditation." At those words Michelle froze. She never told her family about Aqueos. And she was worried how they would respond. But it seems as if the cat was out of the bag.
"Um, well…." Struggling to find words Mai'elle began floundering, embarrassed that she was caught hiding secrets from her family.
"Mai. Did you really think I wouldn't have followed you into the Woods? It was your first time and there are dangerous things out there." Realizing that she was found out from the very beginning, her face burned red. But then her stomach spoke again, displeased at being ignored.
And she realized she had never gone longer than 3 days without eating, if only because her family forced her to eat at least a little food.
Getting back to the house, Mai'elle was surprised to find that the table was full of food. It looked like there was enough food to feed many, many, more people than lived here in the house. Of which Mai immediately started to dig in.
"Michelle, say grace first." Her father's voice, firm in its delivery, reminded her of what she needed to do.
Saying a quick prayer in her head, she started eating like she had never eaten before, to the point that the world around her disappeared. For the first time in her life, Eating did not make her feel full. So she kept eating, and eating and eating.
Finally, she began to feel full. And, coming out of her literal feeding frenzy, she looked at the table and found that it was empty of all the food. Completely amazed that she was able to eat all that food.
"Are you full now?" Nodding her grandmother continued. "I think I know what happened with the mana Mai. Sit down because this is just a guess, but I think I'm right, especially considering what your father told you."
"Mai, you know how you never feel hungry normally?" she nodded, "Well that is because you consume mana, much like the plants need sunlight." Just this tidbit of information caused Mai'elle to pause. "So, Mai, I think you already have your mana base, and have had it since you were an infant. And I want you to go back to meditation. Only this time, look for some activity, and I want you to explain what you see to us. Can you do this for us?"
"Uh huh." This brief explanation was just enough to inject Michelle with a new vigor. And with great haste, she ran to the meditation mats and immediately sat down and started to meditate.
After an unknown time period, Michelle began to see a light. And as she began to approach, she was able to make out some details.
The first and most obvious thing that was noticeable was a raging thunderstorm. With gale-force winds, pelting sleet and hail and snow, and Lightning bolts with random and violent intent. At first, she thought that this was the entirety of her mana base. Because it was Massive, and intense, holding a level of mana that was, to her young mind, completely mind boggling.
Then she got closer to the Maelstrom, and she realized that there was another layer to it, beyond just the Thunderhead, was a consuming Vortex. The thunderhead was building up, while feeding into the vortex, making it larger, which in turn fed into the Thunderhead forming a positive feedback loop. And as she was marveling at the beautiful disaster occurring before her, she noticed something else, something wonderful and terrifying all the same. Mai'elle was not stupid, her father made sure of that, young but not stupid. She saw an outside source feeding into both the Vortex and the Thunderhead, doubly and exponentially increasing the power and amount of mana in both. This was the terrifying part, the exponential increase in magical power that was occurring in her body. But she noticed something, something that gave comfort. The Vortex was one third the size of the Thunderhead, making the loop controllable, but inevitable.
When she woke from her deep meditation, she was sweating and breathing heavily. Looking around she saw that not only was it nighttime, but there were scorch marks in the grass around her as well as the remains of an intense hailstorm. Her father was standing over her soaking wet but looking otherwise unharmed. As she was about to ask what it was that he was doing, she noticed that his normal work gloves, made of Silver Stag leather, were scorched black from lightning strikes.
"Father, what was that?"
"That, sweetie, was your mana."