What's happening? Why won't it work?
Alexander's brow furrowed as he held his hand above Dr. Grey's motionless form, silver-blue wisps of mana coiling from his fingertips like tendrils of enchanted mist. The energy reached out, ready to mend and restore—but at the threshold of the professor's body, it shuddered… and withdrew.
Repelled, as if the flesh itself had turned against his magic.
"This doesn't make sense…" he whispered, eyes narrowing. "Why is my mana being rejected?"
He took a step back, trying to calm his breathing. Panic clawed at the edges of his thoughts, but he forced it down.
No. There's always a reason. Mana is just another force of nature, which means that there is both a reason and a method to follow when it comes to healing others.
With this thought, he pressed his palm lightly to Dr. Grey's chest once more, but this time, he didn't try to force the healing. Instead, he listened.
The mana flowed from his hand like smoke on a breeze, tentative and curious, slipping into the man's body.
And then, Alexander saw.
Or rather, felt.
Not with his eyes, but with that strange new sense that came with mana—something deeper than sight or sound. It was as if his energy translated the truth of Dante's body into sensation, revealing its secrets one heartbeat at a time.
"What in the world…?" he breathed.
Dante Grey's body wasn't broken. There were no ruptured veins or torn muscles, no damage demanding repair. Instead, it felt as though the man had run a marathon through a thunderstorm—fatigued to the bone, his muscles dense with lactic tension. The symptoms weren't of injury… but of pure, raw exhaustion.
Alexander stepped back, stunned.
'I really did get the short straw,' he thought with a wry, breathless chuckle.
It wasn't just Dante. Extending his senses, he moved slowly around the room, brushing his mana gently against each unconscious figure. The patterns were the same—sluggish muscles, elevated heart rates, bodies pushed beyond their limits, but not broken.
Not dying.
Just… resting.
"They're not hurt," Alexander murmured. "Not really. They're just… sleeping. Healing the old-fashioned way."
He looked down at his own hands, where mana still flickered like starlight in his veins.
Then why was I different? Why did I nearly die to receive this power… and they simply slept through it?
A knot of unease twisted in his gut. Whatever had happened here, it had not been equal.
'Whatever. This should work then, right?' thought Alexander with a grin.
"Alright, WAKE UP EVERYONE!!!" Alexander yelled at the top of his lungs.
Carmen was shocked out of her thoughts by his sudden outburst.
And just like that, the many bodies that were lying around on the floor began to stir.
Only a few seconds later, some students opened their eyes and started trying to get up.
Unfortunately, they were all feeling sore and were nursing terrible headaches.
"That is the last time I ever have a beer while watching a science show," said James. He sat up and rubbed the back of his head before closing his eyes again as if to fall asleep. However, he opened his eyes again and looked around for Carmen when he heard Professor Grey speak.
"Carmen, are you okay?" asked Dante with a worried expression.
"Of course, Dad. I'm fine. How are you?" responded Carmen.
"Well... my muscles feel like I just finished leg day, chest day, and back day, all at once," said Dante. "And I have a headache that makes my head feel like it's gonna break."
After Dante confirmed that Carmen was alright, he began to take in the situation of his home. Nothing was broken, and only his students were lying on the floor.
"I did it, Professor, look," said Alexander proudly as he once again held out his hand, and the force of mana showed itself to the world again. "It's called mana," he added.
A shadow passed over Dante's face the moment Alexander began to demonstrate his control over the mana. The subtle glow of ethereal energy swirling at Alexander's fingertips seemed only to darken the weight in Dante's eyes.
"Alexander," he said, his voice low but trembling with anger, "this… this isn't good."
His fists clenched at his sides, and for a heartbeat, his usually measured demeanor cracked, revealing something raw beneath it.
"We still don't know what happened to my team at the research lab. For all we know…" he paused, jaw tightening, "they could all be dead."
The words hung heavy in the air.
"And we haven't even begun to understand what your actions have done to the world," he snapped, his voice rising now, filled with a fury fueled by grief and fear. "I get it—you probably didn't mean for this to happen. But that doesn't change the fact that you're standing there, practically glowing with excitement, while others might never wake up."
His face flushed with heat, the storm of emotion breaking through his normally composed exterior.
"What if being unconscious was just the beginning?" he spat. "What if your reckless experiment didn't just knock us out, but killed us or caused buildings all across the world to collapse? You have no idea what you've unleashed."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Dante exhaled, slow and deliberate, forcing himself to still the fire inside. His outburst had brought him clarity. His posture relaxed slightly, but his eyes hardened and remained locked on Alexander.
Despite the awe he felt at witnessing mana itself—a phenomenon that defied the very laws they once thought absolute—Dante held his wonder at bay. There would be time for discovery, for questions and marvels later.
But now?
Now was the time for consequences.
He had chosen to speak harshly, not out of cruelty, but out of necessity. The look in Alexander's eyes told him what he needed to know—that the weight of this power had yet to fully settle on the young man's shoulders.
And if this was truly the dawn of something new… then Alexander would have to learn, quickly, what it meant to carry the burden of creation.
Alexander froze in his stance with his palm out. The mana that was there had already dissipated and mixed with the world's energies, once again becoming unrefined. 'He's right, the people at the research facility are probably all dead. No matter what happens now, because of the mana, I am responsible. I need to take responsibility for this new world!'
While Alexander may have taken Dante's words a bit too far, who could blame him? He wasn't thinking straight. He was like a child in a candy store. And he wanted everyone to share this happiness with him.
Alexander's head swam with ideas on how to teach others about mana and about what plot scenario would descend on the world.
'I should probably open something like an awakeners association, but it seems like everyone has mana, so should I treat the world like a cultivation novel?' Alexander was once again daydreaming about all the marvelous possibilities while Dr. Grey checked up on all of his students.
"Hey, buddy, how about showing me how to do that too?" said James as he threw his arm around Alexander's shoulders with a huge grin on his face.
'Well, at least James seems excited to learn,' thought Alexander.
"Absolutely, here, sit down and close your eyes and..." Alexander was having a great time walking James through what he knew and James was excited to use mana himself, but they both soon realized that Alexander was more on the talented side and that others couldn't just sense the mana in their bodies.
Still, they kept at it until Dante told them to get up because it was time to head back to campus and hopefully learn about the state or the world.
Dante opened his front door and looked out into the silence of the world. The rustling of the trees was all they heard.
Dante's home most closely resembled a white villa in the middle of a forest. In the driveway were five cars that the students had used to drive from campus.
Dante gave the orders. "Alright, everyone outside. We need to leave. Everyone, get in the cars you came in and head towards the university. Once there, everyone, try to find other students and gather them in the main auditorium. If they are all already gathering somewhere, then just go there."
Everyone nodded their heads. They were all scared and wanted to find their family and friends. The only two who were not so worried were James and Alexander, who just so happened to have driven together in the same car.
The two looked at each other with a knowing look in their eyes.
It should be said that James was very well established in his understanding of mana from fantasy stories, and he knew what such a force could do. He wanted to keep learning from Alexander, and Alexander wanted to teach James more than anything.
Everyone got in their cars and began making their way to campus like a caravan.
Alexander drove so that James could focus on trying to sense mana. They had started to lag behind the rest of the caravan because Alexander was focused on James' meditation.
Eventually, James thought he felt something like a string inside his body that was hanging down from his throat into his chest. He mentally pulled that string, and it began to fall, and with it, mana began falling into his body at a very slow rate. It felt both good and dangerous.
Alexander, who was driving, could feel the change in the mana in the air. It was starting to flow towards James!
"You did it! Great job!" praised Alexander, but James didn't respond. He was focused, so Alexander didn't think too much about it and just kept driving. At this time, he realized he could no longer see the end of the caravan.
Alexander didn't think much about it at all. He was too happy for his friend and knew that soon all of his friends and family would be able to have mana!
The trees overhead were shaking in the wind. The sky was overcast but didn't threaten rain, and the clouds swirled and twisted with great power like ocean waves. If Alexander were paying attention, he would get the feeling that the world itself was more magical and mysterious than he ever gave it credit for.
As for James, he had started moving the accumulated mana into his right palm just like Alexander had done, and forced it out. A small wisp of energy emerged from his palm and dispersed into the world.
"Alexander! Did you see! I did it! Muwahaha, I shall rule the world!" James was clearly having fun.
Alexander was just as happy for James as James was for himself. "Good job, you got it! Next you can try to shape your ma-" "Watch out!" yelled James.
Alexander, who had just been directing James, stepped on the brakes and looked forward, but it was already too late. They hit it!
"Crash! Thump!"
Alexander...
James...
Both looked at each other.
"What was it?" asked Alexander with his voice shaking.
"I... think it was a dog. It was on four legs and stuff. It just came running out of the forest and stood in the middle of the road, and like snarled at the car. But I don't know what happened," said James.
'You have no idea what happened? But you just described what happened perfectly,' thought Alexander as he mocked James in his mind.
"So... can we just keep driving?" asked Alexander, his voice shaking a bit. He wasn't in the least worried or upset about hitting the dog, but he just survived a car accident, so it was natural that he was at least a little bit shaken.
"I don't know. I think we should at least check on it. And we should probably see if there is a house nearby. Maybe their dog got loose," responded James.
"Ugh..." moaned Alexander. "I don't want to do this."
The previous exciting thoughts and wonder about mana were dashed by the fact that he may have just killed a family's dog.
With a heavy heart, he got out of the front seat and looked around.
The front of his car was crushed. Though it would run, it was definitely totaled.
"Sigh... this is what I get for driving stupid. Stupid, stupid, dog! Why did it come running out in front like that?" complained Alexander.
He tried to locate the dog and saw its body a few yards away on the road. He made his way over, and James followed.
Bending over the dog's bloody body, Alexander and James saw a few things. First, both of them saw that this dog wasn't a normal dog. It had bony spines sticking through its back. Though this could be excused by the car accident, this was different. Almost like the dog had grown the spines out of its back. Its teeth were also much larger than what a normal dog should have.
A realization struck Alexander like lightning, and he began to back away. James saw his expression and mirrored his actions and stepped back.
"What is it, Alex?" asked James.
"It's the mana. It changed the dog. I can feel it," said Alexander, looking at James.
James seemed to realize the severity of the situation and started backing towards the car at a faster pace.
'The dog wanted to get hit! That's right! I saw it! This is dangerous. We need to leave now,' thought James.
Both of the friends turned around to make a sprint to the car, but were stopped by the sight in front of them.
"Grrr.. Growl.. Grrrr.."
A single dog, which would more appropriately be called a wolf, was standing between the two boys and their car. It looked at them with malice in its eyes. The remaining growls came from behind.
As Alexander looked behind him, he saw the wolf he had just hit with his car at 50 mph standing up! It was clearly hurt and was limping, but that didn't change the evil look in its eyes.
"James... I think we need to fight them..." said Alexander with fear evident in his voice. But what James could also hear from Alexander was his determination to fight and live!
This broke James out of his trance, and he steeled himself and also started thinking about how to fight the two dogs that had surrounded them.
"James, if you can try to use your mana. If you fill your arm with it, you can use strength above what you normally can," said Alexander.
"I'll take the one in front. You take the injured one. It probably can't run very well, so you should use that to your advantage and stay away from it. Don't actually fight it if you don't need to," added Alexander.
James nodded. He didn't know how Alex was planning to deal with the healthy wolf because it was also quite bigger than the one they hit, but James trusted him.
Okay... maybe he didn't actually think that Alexander could win, but what choice did he have?
'So basically my job is to distract this monster until Alex finishes, right? I can do that. I can just run around until then. Yeah.' James didn't actually have a plan, but just saying this in his mind would have to be enough, because the next second, the dog lunged at Alexander.