Mana Mind

The gold-like essence flew in front of him. Hubert watched, observing curiously.

"Wh-what? Why is it getting closer?" he asked himself, nervousness evident in his tone.

The essence approached him calmly and slowly, as if it harbored no harm. 

Though his body wanted to run, his mind forbade him. The essence was new and strange, but it felt familiar, as if it were always around him.

The essence floated into his forehead and integrated itself.

Hubert's hair was thrown back as if a sudden wind had blown into him. He felt anew, reborn from knowledge, reinvigorated by the energy of the world.

He was one with mana, one with the world.

He had reached enlightenment.

Sounds that he couldn't hear before, smells he couldn't smell before and feelings that he couldn't feel before, all rushed into him.

"So… this is what mana feels like…" he looked around, exploring what it meant to understand mana. The natural habitat that appeared felt much more real and homy.

."But…" Hubert glanced far into the horizon.

The respite that nature had given to him only formed in a small radius around him. The rest of the space unchanged, shelter to the unending darkness and devouring void.

His thoughts were disturbed by the abyss of darkness, but he knew he had stayed there for too long already. Hurriedly, he closed his mind and ended his meditation state.

He returned to the real world, where he sat in class.

As he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of students, classmates, and Vinc watching him observantly.

"Wait, he's waking up!" one of the girls said.

"Be quiet, what if you disturb him," a boy hushed.

Vinc stood in the middle, his face the closest to Hubert, almost going for a kiss.

"Hmmmmmmm" he hummed thoughtfully as he observed.

"Instructor?" Hubert asked, his eyelids fully opened.

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm," Vinc continued, observing every facial movement of Hubert with his squinted eyes.

Hubert sweated, it trickled down his forehead in nervousness.

"Hubert, was it?" the instructor asked.

"Ye-yes?' Hubert responded, nervous.

"Are you, by any chance, a genius? You reached enlightenment on the second day of meditation, an impressive feat for a student of your caliber!" Vinc asked.

"Uh… Th-thank you," Hubert said, his tone a mix of hesitation, joy, and accomplishment.

"Alright, students, return to your seats, and we'll continue our lesson," Vinc said, turning back and returning onto the podium.

Before continuing he looked straight in the eyes of Hubert, like a piercing sword.

"Except you, Hubert…" he said with seriousness painted all over his face, his brows pointing downward.

"You are free to go outside to continue meditation or just stay here and watch the others' progress," Vinc's expression turned friendly, a smile carved onto his face.

Hubert nodded, a bead of sweat trickling down his face.

The lesson continued.

Day turned into noon, and noon into afternoon. The instructor changed from the messy Vinc to the muscular Javarius. As usual, Javarius brought the students outside to a quiet and secluded area for them to meditate.

As the students closed their eyes and delved into their meditation, Javarius pulled Hubert to the side, nearing the tree lines. His dark skinned yet reflective muscular chest, flexed, gleamed by the orangey sunlight while they stood side by side, watching the students meditate.

"Hubert, you've got talent. Figuring out the magic circle in just two days is impressive. I know I'm right when I placed my eyes on you," Javarius said, arms crossed.

"Tha-thank you, instructor," Hubert responded. Unknowing of what to be said or what to be done, he wasn't expecting this much attention, he was just curious about mana.

"By the way, what is your mana mind?" Javarius asked, his tone calm and reserved, but slightly curious.

"Mana mind?" Hubert echoed, confused by the statement.

"Yes, mana mind, the world that is in your mind when you meditate," Javarius cleared.

"That world…? It's natural, with the four elements combined, a stream of flowing water, followed by grounds on which a tree grew in and the gentle breeze of the wind, then there's the familiar sun," Hubert explained, remembering the time he spent there.

"Is there anything overwhelming in your mana mind? For example, the water stream is harmful and strong or the wind powerful and obliterating like a whirlwind?" Javarius continued.

Hubert thought for a while.

"All that you have mentioned was something I imaginate before this so-called enlightenment. But since I've felt mana, those don't exist anymore," Hubert said.

Javarius was silent.

As the gentle blow of the wind from the east made the leaves rubbed each other, the two stood unchanged. Javarius observed the students while Hubert reminded himself of his meditation.

"But… something that had existed since the start, the unending darkness, like a void, outside of the nature," Hubert added.

Javarius's head turned to him, his brows pointing downward in shock.

"Darkness…?" he asked, his voice slightly shaky.

"Yes, is it something to be surprised of?" Hubert asked.

"...I don't think so, maybe it's just that your mana mind hasn't expanded yet," Javarius added, his slightly shaky voice, once scaring, returned calm.

Hubert glanced at him.

While there were no more students that had achieved enlightenment as he did for the rest of the lesson, Hubert noticed that a few of the students had been sweating hard as they meditated.

As the sun drowned into the horizon, they returned back to their dormitories after eating their mandatory dinner.

Hubert's eyes were closed and his soft snore echoed in the room as soon as his head touched the cold and comforting pillow. Finally, after two days of activities and barely any sleep, he had gotten his respite.

—

Thud thud thud

Vinc and Javarius steps echoed as they walked down a hallway lit by the mana lamps on its side. They reached the end, of which a wooden door stood still in its door frame.

Knock

"Enter," a voice resonated from behind the door, lurking patiently, awaiting their arrival.

Creak

The door opened, its hinges near perfect, producing a symphony from its creak. The room was lit by a glass chandelier, a huge bookshelf present on the right, its furniture sophisticated and fancy.

"Vinc and Javarius… class C, huh?" a voice, feminine yet pressuring, came from a person sitting on an office chair behind a desk facing the opposite direction of the door, a huge clear glass window, directly facing into the moon.

 Its back post was so tall, covering the person's stature from their eyes.

Vinc and Javarius dropped to their knees.

"Yes, headmaster," Vinc answered.

"What is his mana mind?" the voice asked again.

"Nothing special, headmaster. But…" Javarius said hesitantly.

"Continue, Javarius," the headmaster commanded.

"Yes, it was the usual, but he said it was filled with an unending void beyond nature," Javarius said.

"Void?" the headmaster echoed, curiosity in her voice.

"Yes, headmaster," Javarius confirmed.

"..."

"You two can go, keep an eye on him," the headmaster commanded.

"Yes, headmaster!" Vinc and Javarius saluted before then leaving the office of the headmaster.

"Things had gotten interesting…" the headmaster muttered.

—

As time passed by, Hubert did his usual routine. 

Waking up, attending lessons where he furthered his meditation, spending time in his mana mind, slowly strengthening it. Then after dinner, came the habitual workout with Ron behind the dormitory building.

"Sixty nine…" Ron kept count. Hubert's sweat drenched his casual clothing, some escaped and wetted the ground.

"Ugh…!" he groaned in struggle. 

His chest muscles numbed and sore, his nerve sent jolts of pains while his mind constantly told him to give up. His arms shook, supporting his body in the position as his hands, naked, planted on the ground sturdily.

Yet he pushed through.

"Seventy…" the final count came from Ron's mouth.

Thud

"Haa!" he sighed in relief as he fell to the ground after the continuous push up.

"Hubert… strong," Ron praised.

"Of course… New record!" Hubert mentioned.

It was a substantial progress since he started back in the Parish of Darly. Once weak and miserable, capable of only a handful of repetitions, now toned and willed.

Hubert laid there for a few seconds. Gathering air into his exhausted lungs and resting his worked out muscles.

Ron waited as he stared into the cold moonlight, the night wind blowing into his slightly wrinkled face, throwing back his aged up graying hair.

Then he looked to the corner of the building, where a man peeked his head and stalked.

The man was surprised upon the sharp and suddening gaze of Ron. His hair stood akin to a scared cat. Then he quickly retracted his head into the corner, hiding.

"Did he see me?" the man asked himself. The man felt noticed and his cover blown up, his legs muscles began contracting.

"Hey," Hubert placed his gloved hand on the man's shoulder.

The man, surprised, jumped back and faced them.

"He-hey! What's up, classmate?" he greeted, nervous.

Only then Hubert remembered who he was. The person who challenged instructor Vinc on the first day of class. A dark skinned man with red hair, long and tied into a ponytail. His face was scarred on his right eye.

"Have you been stalking us?" Hubert asked, pressuring.