Aric stared at his palm until the silver glow faded away. "So everything I did today wasn’t to learn magic?"
"That was control," Inara said, circling him slowly. "The foundation for both. If you cannot control mana inside your body, you have no chance of controlling it outside."
Lowering his hand, Aric muttered, "Then I haven’t learned any magic at all."
"The basics are just as important as the rest." Stopping in front of him, Inara met his eyes. "Now we begin the real work."
Aric straightened. "What do I do?"
"Push your mana outward. Not into your muscles but of your body entirely."
Aric closed his eyes, reaching for the familiar spark in his chest. He gathered the warmth and channeled it into his arm, settling it into his muscles.
"Not like that," Inara scolded.
Opening his eyes, Aric frowned.
"You are still keeping it inside," she said. "Let it leave your body."
He tried again, guiding the magic toward his palm and attempting to force it past his skin. Nothing happened. On his next attempt, the mana hit his palm and bounced straight back through his arm.
"I can’t do it."
"You can," Inara countered, folding her arms. "You’re fighting yourself. Stop trying to force it out. Let it flow naturally, the same way you allowed it to move through your body."
Taking a slow breath, Aric released his tight grip on the power and let it drift. When the warmth reached his palm, he simply let it keep moving. A faint wispy thread slipped beyond his skin, dissolving into the open air.
Aric opened his eyes. "I did it."
"Good. Again."
He repeated the process, letting the mana exit his body more smoothly this time. Though invisible to the naked eye, he could feel the shift as the magic broke free of his skin.
"Again," she commanded, keeping him focused until she finally raised a hand. "Enough."
Aric lowered his arm, breathing harder than he expected. "Now shape it?"
Inara held up her palm in answer. The air thickened as a pale blue light ignited above her fingers. A thin ring formed first, followed by a second and a third, with glowing symbols spinning across their borders at different speeds.
Aric’s eyes widened. The circles expanded outward, floating in flawless alignment until a sudden, sharp gust swept through the clearing and bent the tall grass beneath their feet.
Inara closed her fist, snuffing out the spell and the wind instantly.
Aric stood frozen. "What the hell was that?"
"Magic," Inara said, a faint smile touching her lips.
"That was just one spell?"
"Not even a complicated one."
"You’re joking."
"I’m not." She raised her hand again, summoning a tiny spark that stretched into a coiled thread of fire, dancing through the air like a serpent before she snuffed it out. "That is what happens when mana is given form, structure, and purpose. Now you try."
Aric swallowed hard. "That?"
"No. A single magic circle. Nothing else."
Raising his hand, Aric focused on his core, pushing the warmth outward to his palm. He tried to bend it into shape, but the energy scattered into thin air. He gathered more mana, striving to mimic her. A fragile ring flickered to life for a split second before shattering into sparks.
Aric stared at the empty air. "That was close."
"Sure it was."
A small smile touched his face as he tried again. One attempt lasted barely a second. Another formed crooked and the third snapped halfway through. Each trial left his head feeling heavier, but he refused to stop until Inara held up her hand.
"Alright that’s enough."
Aric sank onto the grass, his chest heaving and his head throbbing from the strain. "I didn’t even cast a spell. I couldn’t even make one proper circle."
"You managed to form one several times," she replied.
"But they were all terrible to yours"
"It would take a very long time to do similar magic to me" Inara looked off toward the tree line. "Magic isn’t about forcing mana into whatever shape you want. You need control, understanding, and enough energy to sustain what you build."
Aric stared down at his hands. He hadn’t cast a spell or produced anything grand.
"Now that you see MENOS and magic share a source," Inara said, breaking the silence, "why do you think most people don’t use both?"
"Because it’s too difficult?"
"That is part of it," she said, crossing her arms. "Magic and Menos both use the same source of an individual which is their mana core. An individual’s mana core isn’t infinite and mastering both means dividing your time between two disciplines that each take a lifetime to perfect."
"So most people choose one path," Aric said.
"Exactly," Inara agreed, her gaze turning cold and serious. "You, however, are choosing both and while you are already carrying a blight."
Aric’s brow furrowed. "A blight?"
"Do not trouble yourself over it," she told him. "A blight can be a curse, or it can be a gift depending on how you bear it. They are rare, but you are not the first to carry one."
Aric stared at her.
"I did not know this. Why did my parents not tell me?"
Inara tilted her head.
"Are you angry at them? That they did not tell you after all your hard work before you fell into a coma?"
"Of course I am," Aric said, his voice rising. "It would have been better to know."
"You wished for your parents to tell their child that his hard work would never get him anywhere?"
Aric opened his mouth, then closed it.
He looked away.
Inara watched him without speaking. The silence stretched between them until Aric finally broke it.
"Does that mean I am still going to be useless?"
"Were you able to manifest Menos before?"
"No."
"Then erase that pathetic thought." She stepped closer. "Your blight is likely the reason your mana core repaired itself."
Aric looked up.
"What? How?"
"Your blight is your massive mana pool."
Aric blinked.
"Massive?"
Inara stepped closer and placed her hand against his chest. She closed her eyes, sending a thread of mana into his body. She was quiet for a moment, then opened her eyes.
"Yes. It is more than mine."
Aric stared at her.
"Your mana pool was the reason your core got damaged," she continued. "It could not handle the pressure it was exerting. But it is also because your mana was so massive that your core repaired itself. It increased its capacity to handle your mana."
Aric sat there, trying to process what she was telling him. His whole life, he had believed his body was broken. His whole life, he had watched his siblings succeed while he struggled to keep up. And now Inara was telling him that the very thing that had ruined his life was also the thing that had saved it.
"But how does that relate to my body being weak?" he asked.
Inara pulled her hand back.
"Blights come with a curse. Yours is your weak body."
Aric looked down at his hands.
"A gift and a curse," he murmured.
"Many would call it a fair trade."
"It does not feel fair."
"It rarely does."
She stood and brushed the grass off her clothes.
"That is enough for today. We will continue tomorrow."
Aric did not move.
"I thought you said it was not something I should worry about."
"It is not. Provided you listen to your body and do not push beyond what it can handle."
She turned and walked back toward the estate.
Aric sat in the clearing alone for a long time, staring at his hands and thinking about everything she had told him. His core was strong. His body was weak. The same imbalance that had put him in a coma was still there. But it was also the reason he was awake.
He did not know whether to feel grateful or afraid.
He stood and followed her back to the estate.