*From the protagonist’s perspective.*
What is time?
Is it a train carrying us into the distance?
Or a mountain stream gaining speed with every second?
Is it constant?
Or something else entirely?
Something that defies description?
Or maybe it’s a straight line with no end?
And what is an end?
No one can give a precise definition, and I’m no exception.
But I can try.
Time moves forward, gradually picking up speed, and there’s no stopping it in the near future.
There is only the beginning and a presumed end.
Its pace cannot be slowed or halted.
It feels like only yesterday I found a way to train my magical abilities, and now I’m watching as my magical channel system finishes forming.
Three years after my birth, this moment has arrived.
The long, agonizing wait is finally over.
At first, I couldn’t shake the thought that everything was moving too fast, outpacing the development of my body.
But no.
My body was developing almost in step with my Seventh Principle.
Right now, I look like a five-year-old.
My body is strong and brimming with life.
Why is that?
I recall that after my first magical burst, I noticed that my Second shell had started working more “efficiently,” and my prana had become more concentrated.
It turns out my suspicions were correct.
With each new channel that appeared, the quality of my prana grew, and its quantity increased.
Why is this happening?
Because of the energy exchange between my Seventh and Second Principles.
When the mana channels grew into my First Principle, my physical body, they were duplicated in my Second Principle.
And it was through these duplicated channels that mana and prana were “converted” into each other.
I don’t know if this happens with all wizards.
Though, it’s possible.
In the books, wizard children were described as looking older than their age, though not by much.
What if it’s always been this way?
Would wizards develop faster than ordinary people because of their more developed prana?
And then, over generations, they accumulated curses from enemies and inbreeding?
That would also explain their longevity.
I’ll need to find confirmation or refutation of this theory.
Back to my channels.
Right now, my mana channels are completing their growth toward my skin.
This was the final stage of their development.
And then, after a couple of minutes, I felt it.
As soon as it happened, euphoria washed over me.
I felt complete.
The realization came to me in an instant: this is how it should be.
This was the correct path.
I began to sense the mana around me and inside me.
I no longer needed to meditate just to feel mana.
Now I can “hear, see, and feel” it without meditation.
I know how fast it circulates and where it is.
I just don’t know why yet.
But that will come with time, won’t it?
Overwhelmed by these feelings, I laughed.
A pure, clear laugh, the first time in this life.
And the mana answered me, along with the world.
*
*
*
[POV From The Outside]
The morning of November 11th was atypical.
The English had long grown accustomed to rainy, cold, dark autumns.
But this morning, November 11, 1982, was different.
The leaves that lay like a solid carpet on the ground seemed to burn with all the shades of fire.
Moisture from the rainy night still clung to them.
The sun’s rays, reflecting off the droplets of water, highlighted the color and brightness of the leaves.
The trees, which just a week ago had seemed like dead idols, appeared to wake from their hibernation.
They swayed in the wind, producing sounds that resembled the speech of these giants.
Somewhere in the foliage, small animals and rodents lived their lives.
The people matched the mood of nature.
They were talkative, smiling, and cheerful.
All of this together created a beautiful picture.
How could you not believe in magic while watching this?
***
For the residents of the Massimo household, this day was special in its own way.
Three years ago on this very day, the third member of the family, Kael Thomas Massimo, was born.
To his parents, Kael was special.
Though, aren’t all children special to their parents?
But not in this case.
The thing is, Kael wasn’t just unusual.
He was a genius.
By the age of three, the boy could speak as fluently as an adult.
He could articulate his thoughts correctly.
Starting at age two, his parents began teaching him the school curriculum.
A year later, he knew all of elementary school material.
But why didn’t anyone know about his genius except for a few people?
There was a secret.
When the boy was eight months old, his parents discovered that he was a wizard.
Yes, you heard that correctly.
The boy was a wizard.
They found out a month after the tragic incident in the park.
Thomas, the boy’s father, was right to suspect that his patient, Regulus Black, was somehow connected to it.
After a month of conversations between Thomas and Regulus, Tom learned that the dogs were responsible for Black’s injuries.
After thinking over everything Black said, Tom told him about the incident with his wife and son the next day.
Black listened to the story and asked to visit to see his son.
If his theory was confirmed, he promised to share some information.
At first, Thomas didn’t want to bring him home.
But after talking it over with Sara, he decided to do it anyway.
Imagine his surprise when Regulus pulled out some kind of wand and began tracing swirls and pirouettes over his son.
After moving the wand around for about three minutes, he nodded at something and quickly left the room, beckoning the curious parents to follow him.
And already in the living room, over a cup of tea, Black began his story.
With every word he spoke, the couple’s faces grew more and more skeptical.
By the end of the story, Tom couldn’t shake the thought that they’d put Black in the wrong ward.
He should have been transferred to the psychiatric wing.
Sara, on the other hand, just felt sorry for Regulus.
What must he have gone through for his brain to invent this as a defense mechanism?
Clearly, when the dogs attacked him, he’d hit his head pretty hard.
Seeing their reaction, Black sighed heavily and shook his head.
What else could he expect from ordinary Muggles?
Drawing his wand, he asked them not to be alarmed and waved it.
What happened next was seared into Sara and Tom’s minds for the rest of their lives.
Right out of thin air, a lion appeared in front of them.
A huge lion.
Seeing them, it jumped back a couple of meters.
They sat frozen in shock before the beast, unable to react.
Two steps away from them, the lion transformed into a flock of birds.
They scattered all over the room.
Some landed on the windowsill, some on the sofa, some on their laps.
A couple of seconds later, before their brains could even process the new information, all the birds burst into blue flames.
All that remained of them was ash.
Ash that, a few seconds later, streamed toward Black’s hand.
He shook his hand, revealing a small crystal raven statue.
A raven that watched them with diamond eyes.
Sara and Tom sat in a daze for a long time.
Black began his story again from the beginning.