Black heart

[Arthur's POV]

My training up to now has been pretty simple. I've been absorbing mana for as long as I could when my parents where out working in front of the house. The magic guide I've been looking at noted, that it would be quite hard to absorb mana for someone who has never worked with it. But that's not the case for me, who's been commanding mana in his previous life. Even though I'm absorbing quite some mana, it seems like it is still not enough…

When will this black heart of mine finish absorbing mana? The black heart in my chest, even though it's not beating like it used to before, is still active. I just have a feeling it is. That same feeling has kept me going through this training for the last two years.

Alright they are gone now, I thought to myself as I prepared to sneak out of my room. The way to the study might only be a few steps, but for an underdeveloped infant body like this, it feels like quite the task. As I crawled through the hallway, I couldn't help but notice the smell of beef stew simmering in the kitchen. Oh what a pleasant smell.

Arrived in the study room, I sat down on the ground in an upright meditative kind of position. This felt best for absorbing mana over long time, but it was challenging at first, because carrying my own bodyweight as an infant is quite hard. Balance also sometimes proved an obstacle.

It's gotten better now, so all I need to focus on is sitting still and absorbing the atmospheric mana.

The feeling of mana rushing towards and into my body was something I got used to and actually enjoy lately. The mana, as wild of an essence it is, feels uncontrollable at first, but as you let it seep in, it settles down in my chest as if it imitated a tranquil sea.

I felt more and more mana accumulating in my chest, which was not normal. Usually, the black heart absorbs the mana I collect as fast as I collect it or slightly slower, so there shouldn't be any excess mana. Somehow, the black heart seems to have met it's limit. Should I continue? There's only one way to find out.

I pulled in more and more mana, that rushed towards me even wilder than before and suddenly, as I still had my eyes closed, I noticed something. My heart was beating. No, not my normal heart, but my black heart was suddenly beating. It was faint and slow, but I felt it nevertheless.

I felt an intense amount of mana building up in my body and the sudden burst of mana somehow caused me to revert to a state of ego death. My eyes closed and my thoughts blank, I just sat on the ground for a while, until this state I was in was interrupted by my parents standing in the doorway.

"Arthur!! Are you alright?" I heard my mother scream.

I opened my eyes and just looked at them. What had happened or what did they see for them to look at me in such a desperate manner. Panic written all over their eyes, they approached me and lifted me from the ground.

"Wad is it momma?" I blurted out in an embarrassing way.

My parents both eyed each other.

"Alice, do you feel it?"

"Yes Rey…"

I just continued looking at them until the awkward silence was broken by my father yelling out "I can't believe my son already awakened! I'm soo happy" As he let out a little jump of joy, his words made me realize, that mana is actively flowing through me.

There's no way of hiding it from them now. They clearly sensed this mana and must've thought I awakened and formed a mana core, but that's not the case. Instead of a mana core, the black heart that was inactive since I died has finally started working again.

"But…how, he's not even 3. This should be impossible" My mother's voice felt overwhelmed, something like this shouldn't be possible. Even elves, who are superior at magic to humans only awaken at around 8 years old.

"Our son must be a genius, a one of a kind!" Rey's eyes lit up.

…

They kept going back and forth with possible explanations for what they had witnessed. My parents told me, that the entire house was enveloped in a shadow-like fog. Weird, I didn't notice that happening at all. I was too absorbed within myself.

My parents kept on going back and forth about what they think they should to now, but that somehow didn't interest me anymore.

What interested me right now was this…

{System notice}

{Welcome back, player.}

[To be continued…]