A new morning had arrived, and soft sunlight was sneaking into the tiny wooden house. Suddenly, a loud and way-too-happy voice broke the peace.
"Wake up, sleepyhead! Time to get moving and stay strong!" It was Elena, full of energy as always.
Right next to her, Cael was still fast asleep, completely unaware of the chaos coming his way. Even with all that shouting, he didn't budge.
Elena walked over and said, "Come on, Cael! We've got training to do!"
Still nothing. He was out cold.
Now she was done being nice. With one quick motion, she grabbed his blanket, yanked it off, and—before he could even complain—pulled him right off the bed and dropped him onto the floor with a thud.
Cael shot up like he'd been hit by lightning.
"Wha—what was that?! Did the roof collapse? Did an earthquake happen?!"
He looked up and saw Elena's deadly glare. Uh-oh. From the look on her face, he could tell she'd been trying to wake him for a while.
Not his fault, though—he was used to sleeping half the day. After all, back in his old life, he didn't have much to do. Sleep was kind of his thing.
But Elena wasn't buying it. She grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the door.
"Let's go. Time for training."
Cael blinked in confusion.
"Wait… what training? Are we going somewhere by train?"
Elena facepalmed.
"No, not that kind of train! Training—as in, you're going to become a knight. Like me."
Cael just stood there, still half-asleep.
"Cool, cool… wait, what?"
Poor kid had no idea what he'd signed up for.
Cael and Elena had barely finished their breakfast when Elena suddenly yelled, "LET'S GO! TIME FOR TRAINING!"
Cael, who still had dreams to finish, didn't move a muscle.
Elena stomped over and tried waking him gently... for five full seconds. Then she lost all patience and flung him off the bed like a sack of potatoes.
"AAAH! EARTHQUAKE?! APOCALYPSE?! WHO MOVED THE FLOOR?!" Cael screamed mid-air as he landed on the ground like a pancake.
He blinked up at her furious face. "Oh. Morning, Elena…"
"Enough beauty sleep, Sleeping Prince," she said with her hands on her hips. "We've got training to do!"
Ten Minutes Later… In the Jungle
They were now running through a dense forest.
Well… Elena was running.
Cael? He was more like dragging himself through the underbrush like a sad, wheezing sloth.
"STOP!" Elena called out after an hour (or what felt like 3 years to Cael).
Cael collapsed face-first onto the ground and rolled over like a dying beetle. "How... are... you... not... dead... yet?" he wheezed.
"I jogged across battlefields at your age," Elena replied, not even sweating. "This is just light cardio."
Cael groaned, "My soul is crying."
Elena handed him water and then knelt beside him. "Okay, drama queen. Time to learn about Mana."
"Is Mana something I can eat?" Cael asked, very seriously.
"No. And stop thinking with your stomach," Elena deadpanned. "Mana is your inner energy. Magic, basically. It decides how strong you are—and how experienced you are."
Cael blinked. "So… like EXP points?"
"Exactly. But unlike your naptime, you can't control Mana fully. It's always changing, like a moody cat."
Cael looked down at his hands. "So I have magic inside me?"
"Yes," Elena said proudly. "Everyone does. Even you, Cael the Sleepy."
Cael's eyes sparkled. "Can I use it to teleport breakfast to my bed?"
Elena facepalmed. "You're hopeless."
Elena stood firm, her arms crossed, eyes locked on Cael.
"You can control the Mana inside you," she said, voice calm but firm. "But don't think for a second that it's easy. Even skilled warriors take a whole year just to sense and shape it. And you… you're still just a child."
Cael, wide-eyed and curious, looked up at her.
"Then… how do I control it?" he asked, almost whispering—more to himself than her.
Elena took a deep breath. "Mana flows through your entire body, like invisible rivers of energy. To control it… you must first feel it. Find where your Mana is flowing right now. Sense it. Follow it."
Cael blinked, confused. "I don't get it."
Elena stared at him for a second, then smacked her palm to her forehead dramatically.
"By the stars above, what am I going to do with this child?" she groaned.
Then she knelt down to his level, her voice softening.
"Okay, Cael. Look at me. Focus. Let's do this together."
Elena gently placed her hand on Cael's chest, right above where his heart beat faintly beneath his shirt.
"Close your eyes," she said softly. "Don't think. Just breathe. Slow, steady."
Cael, still unsure, nodded and obeyed.
"Mana is not like muscle," Elena whispered. "You don't force it. You listen to it. Like a whisper in a storm."
The wind rustled the trees around them, birds chirped, and far off, the forest pulsed with life. Amidst it all, Cael focused on his breath.
In…
Out…
"Can you feel a warmth inside you?" Elena asked after a moment. "Like a flicker behind your ribs, or a hum in your fingertips?"
Cael concentrated. At first, it was nothing but silence. But then—
A faint tingle.
It wasn't painful or shocking. It was subtle. Like a candle lighting in a dark room.
"…I feel something," he murmured. "Like a spark."
Elena smiled.
"That's it. That's your Mana."
The ground beneath them shimmered faintly. A few leaves lifted off the grass as if caught in a breeze that hadn't arrived yet. Cael's hair swayed slightly, and his eyes opened—glowing just a bit at the edges.
"…Whoa," he said.
"That's the beginning," Elena said, stepping back. "Now keep it steady."
But Cael, caught in the excitement, clenched his fists, trying to grab the feeling.
The spark turned into a jolt. The grass around him bent, a pulse shot out from his chest—
—and he was thrown backward into a bush with a loud THUMP.
"Okay, note to self," Cael groaned from inside the leaves, "Do not clench the spark."
Elena walked over, trying not to laugh, and offered him a hand.
"Not bad for a first try," she said, helping him up. "You didn't explode. That's progress."
"Yeah, great," Cael muttered. "Next time I'll aim to stay upright."
Elena knelt beside him again, brushing the dirt from his shoulders. "It's okay to fall," she said, her voice quiet now. "You're not here to be perfect. You're here to grow."
Cael looked up at her, and something in his chest fluttered—not Mana this time. Something warmer.
"…Thanks," he whispered.
She stood, then stretched her arms. "Now… again. But maybe this time, without launching yourself into orbit?"
Cael groaned. "This is going to be a very long training day."