Talent. When the words are mentioned, people begin to imagine an artist who paints a beautiful masterpiece, or a musician that hypnotizes the audience with their music, or a person with an extremely flexible body doing acrobatic stunts that seems inhuman, or any other exceptional feats a person can do.
But talent exists in everyone. Yes, even you. Some are shown for the world to see it, but some are hidden waiting for YOU to find it within. The difference in talent is what makes each one of us special." The woman on the tv speaks.
"Mia! Turn the TV off! Dinner is ready now." Dalila calls from the kitchen. Mia looks away from the program that's running on the television, pausing for a moment to take one last look at the photonic mana tech before turning it off with the remote control.
Mia enters the kitchen to see her sister, Layla, already seated at the dining table. glancing at her before continuing to read her book.
[Mana Application, Year 6 Textbook]
"Come on now sit Mia." Dalila calls, pulling a chair beside her. Mia, with Dalila helps, slowly climb the chair that's a bit too big for her stature. "Layla, stop with the book already. It's not nice to ignore the food in front of you." Dalila scolds lightly. Layla quickly put her book aside.
"Now, we pray." Dalila clasps both her hands together and closes her eyes. The room fell quiet for a moment as they recited their prayer.
They eat in silence, only the sound of utensils lightly scraping the dishes can be heard. It stays that way until Dalila begins to talk.
"How's school Layla?" Dalila ask. Leyla kept the question hanging for a bit before answering.
"Same as always. I got a letter of recommendation to The Blue Dome. It's part of their 'expanding the scope' program." Layla said nonchalantly. Dalila hands stop.
"Pardon? You got a recommendation for The Blue Dome?" Dalila asks, emphasizing on the word "THE".
"Yeah. I mean, it's probably a temporary thing, but it's not a bad offer." Layla replied.
"Where's that? Somewhere far?" Mia asks, interrupting Dalila and Layla.
"Don't worry about it sweetie, it's not that far." Dalila answers Mia. She wipes a bit of the food on the child's chin.
"I won't call being in another galaxy 'not that far' tho." Layla continues.
"Do you want to go tho? I can cover the expenses if you want." Dalila said. Layla just shrugs.
"I don't know."
"I know you don't want to go because you'll be living Mia for a while. But think about yourselves sometimes. You can't baby her forever. She's gonna grow up someday too. Are you gonna be by her side until she's old?" Dalila asks. Layla just stay silent.
———
"Will you go far away from here sis?" Mia asks, her small figure hugging onto the door frame of Layla's room. Layla just smiles as she gestures to Mia to come towards her.
Mia runs with her small steps before falling on top of her sister's lap.
"No matter how far I go, you'll still be my favorite sister." Layla said, fingers playing around Mia's silky black hair, the same color as hers. Mia smiles at Leyla's word.
"Promise?"
"I promise, whatever I do, I do it because of you, okay?" Layla hugs her little sister.
"What are you reading?" Mia asks as she notices Leyla's book laying beside her sister.
"Oh this? Just some books from my school." Layla takes the book and shows it off to Mia.
[Mana Theory and Practical, Textbook, Year 6.]
The title of the book says. The covers are light blue in color with some pictures of the human body silhouette covered with blue aura around it. Mia opened the pages just to be disappointed with the lack of colors and pictures like her picture book.
"You're studying this?" Mia asks, totally not understanding a word said in the book. Layla just nods.
"Here, let me read it to you." Layla clears her throat. "Mana are the essence that flows out of a living organism." She continues. "They have many names. Some called it life essence, some Ki, some souls and some call them life itself." Layla continues to read it to her sister. Mia only kept up for about 3 minutes before she fell asleep in her sister's arm while she was still reading.
———
It was raining that night. They're staying at Raya's house, one of their father's far relatives. They haven't met much, just once during a big family meeting hosted by their parents but Raya seems like a nice person, at least, that's what 5 years old Layla thought at the time when they first met.
After their parents died, they began to move around a lot. Faces come and go like a fleeting leaf. Now Raya has to take responsibility for them, until they decide that they can't care for 3 different people including an infant with Perimeter Guard's salary and drop both of the sisters at a different relative's house.
It hasn't even been a week since they stayed at their house that night. Raya's not there that night, as they're being called for emergency at the village's perimeter.
The situation seems tensed on the frontline, Layla can sense it. She has a knack for Mana Detection, she can sense mana from 200m away even when she's this little. She remembers the praise that her parents gave her when they realized how talented their daughter is.
Layla jolts awake, deactivating her mana detection. Her eyes widen, breath unsteady.
"Sis?" Mia speaks. Layla turns her head in a hurry, her eyes shaken.
Layla, with her mana detection earlier, sensed the Mana that she sensed dissipating. She's not experienced to know whose mana is dissipating but the thought, the fact that she can sense it is enough to sense fear into her heart.
"Mana are life energy. That's why living beings, sentient or not, emit mana. Mana dissipating would mean-" Layla stops thinking. Nausea began clouding her mind.
It wasn't even 10 minutes later that they heard the roars of the beast. Leyla immediately knew what was happening. The line of defense is gone, that means Raya is—
There's no time to think about them, Leyla can hear the flapping of the giant wings soaring above their home before everything around them was instantly razed with flames. Fortunately, she was able to react fast enough, she had instinctively made a shield to protect herself and Mia. But their nightmare isn't over.
Leyla can feel it, the beast massive amount of mana. It soared around the village, spewing flames as hot as the sun towards the building below, roasting anybody caught within it without mercy.
Leyla stays still, her body freezes in fear as she feels the Mana of the villagers in her vicinity began to dissipate. Leyla begin to hugs Mia, the only thought running in her mind is to survive. They just need to stay hidden, between the flames to hide the presence of their mana, don't move a muscle, don't even take a breath. They rather ran out of breath than being another flesh burnt.
Leyla feels as the monster's mana begins to disappear from her range. She doesn't waste any time before taking her sister's arm and rushes through the burnt remains of the village.
"Leyla... It hurts... My feet hurt..." Leyla heard her sister call from behind. She looks to see Mia's dirty feet as they run. Stepping through hot melting glass and stones, it's no wonder.
"Here, get on top of me." Leyla said, before quickly helping Mia to mount her back. "Hang tight." Leyla flows any of the remaining mana she had into her feet, before running towards the forest at lightning speed.
She swiftly soars through roots and tree branches. All she could think about is to get her sister far enough away from the village.
Suddenly a cold ran through her spine. The beast, it's right behind them, it's chasing them. It knows they're here. But she can't feel it's mana. And the realization dawn onto her. It's gone higher, not farther than her detection.
"No—"
She sees as the area around her lights up, before it all cuts to fires and blaze.
———
"Mia!" Layla wakes up screaming. Her screams jolt her sister awakes from her slumber. It seems that they both fell asleep while reading Layla's book. Thank God it's just a dream.
It was 5 years ago, the Mana Beast rampages through the parameters of the village the sisters were staying in. They managed to escape before help arrived to rescue them. 1,895 people died that night including Raya, their legal guardian at that time, and the sisters were the only survivors of the attack in that village.
"Mia! Leyla! Are you okay?" Dalila comes busting through the door only to find Mia crying alongside Leyla.
"N-no... I just had a bad dream." Leyla said. Dalila's tense body began to calm.
"Thank God, I suddenly heard you screaming while in the kitchen..." Dalila took a long breath. "Are you really okay?" Dalila asks.
"I'm fine, really. Sorry for shocking you." Layla said. Yeah, the nightmare shook her up for a bit but they both escaped and that's all that matters now. Layla chuckles, if the dream is real then that would've been more traumatizing for her. But she's way less experienced with Mana back then. She can't feel the dissipating mana of the guards at the parameters when they're so far away. She instead witnessed it on the television.
[Biggest Parameter Break in 10 years]
Yeah, she still remembers the title on the tv. It plays the next morning when they're both rescued and brought here. Where Dalila, their father's apprentice took them in after Layla check-out of the hospital.
"Since you're both awake already, go downstairs, I've cooked some breakfast. I was about to wake you anyway." Dalila said before heading downstairs.
Layla turns her gaze towards Mia. "Sorry for waking you up like that." Layla said, her hands caressing Mia's cheeks.
"It's okay... I was just shocked when you suddenly screamed." Mia said. Layla just smiles and picks her sister's nose.
"Ow!"
"Let's wash our faces before we go downstairs." Layla said, already gotten up from the floor.
———
"I am Lukas! The Golden Lion!" Lukas screams as he exudes out his golden aura, mimicking a lion's mane. Mia and the kids around her look in awe as Lukas begins to dance awkwardly with his golden mane.
"You've been able to control it well." Compliments Layla's, Lukas just smiles proudly. "Although your moves could be worked on a bit more." Layla chuckles, Lukas face reddens at Layla's comments.
"I wish I could do that." Mia comments, but none can hear it except Layla.
"One day you'll be able to. You'll awaken someday, I promise." Layla said.
"I'm not a kid anymore, I know it's impossible for me to awaken." Mia pouts.
IMBS a.k.a Internal Mana Blockage Syndrome, the illness that made a child unable to awaken their mana core. As a result of this, the patient cannot exude, control or feel mana around or inside of them. Experts don't know what causes this. Anytime a hypothesis is made, it is quickly disproven with another case of this happening, slowing further progress towards preventing future cases and curing current ones.
Mia was diagnosed with this illness at the age of 5, where most kids her age are already awakened months prior. That was 3 years ago. She's now 8, most of her peers can already throw some basic fireballs while she can only watch from the sideline.
"You will awaken someday, I'll make sure of it." Layla said holding her sister's hand while her voice is filled with determination.
Mia pulls her hand away, pouting. She's not a kid anymore, she knows that it's almost impossible for her to awaken.
The cure was found around 2 years ago. But Mia was deemed unfit as her body has developed past the recommended age for the treatment. The process of curing includes forcing open the Mana core with external mana, it is effective on younger kids where their mana are still in small quantities. But Mia is 8 years old already when the cure is found, the Mana accumulated inside of her would've been too dense and with the practices being practically new, so no doctors are capable of performing it without the dense mana exploding, harming the doctor and the patient.
"Even if we find someone capable enough, they'll charge a ton of money just to cure her, and if it fails... Mia wouldn't survive. Without awakening her mana, her body would naturally be more frail than awakened human so the explosion would kill her." Leyla recalls the words of Dr. Ovent, the town's doctor that owns the only clinic in this area.
"Sister? Why are you daydreaming?" Mia ask. Leyla shakes her heads and smiles.
"Nothing. Where did your friend go?" Leyla asks. She notices Lukas and the other kids playing around are nowhere to be found.
"They said they're gonna play in the forest there." Mia said, fingers pointing towards the trees at the edge of the field they're staying on. But no sign of Lukas or his friends are there.
"I don't see them." Her gaze darted around, between the trees, behind the bushes, but no signs of Lukas and his friends were there. "Did they tell you where they are going?" Leyla asks.
"They said they're going to the edge of the parameter, Lukas wants to try to hunt some Mana Beast." Mia said, Leyla's eyes widen.
"What?"
"Yeah, they said they're going to the forest to hunt mana beast. I wanna go to but they're too fast." Mia said. Layla's body tensed up, mana already flowing through her body to enhance it.
"Listen, Mia. You stay here okay? I'll go look for your friends. They can't be that far." Layla orders. Mia looks at her sister, confused.
"Why?" Mia asks. A simple question
"Because it's dangerous, I don't want you to get hurt." Layla answers.
"Why? They're not going outside the Parameter. Just at the edge where the small critters are. It's not that dangerous no?" Mia asks. Layla just sigh.
"I told you it's dangerous. Now you either stay here or go tell an adult about this okay?" Layla said. She takes a leap towards the forest in a single step, leaving Mia on the field.
"Lukas!" Leyla calls. But no answer. "Did they gone that far already? I literally doze off for just a second!" She thought. She extends her mana detection range as she dashes. She can feel the subtle mana around her belonging to the trees and critters that live in the forest but no sign of Lukas or any of the kids.
"Did they arrive at the edge already?" Leyla asks herself, but she spares not a moment to answer it. Her figure darts through the forest.
"There! I can feel them!" She finally senses the Mana belongs to the kids and Lukas. "But who is this?" She asked as she felt another, larger amount of mana around the kids.
"They're in danger!" She thinks. She fastened her speed, reaching lightning speed.
"Impressive." A voice said, Mia stops in her track. A tall man, clad in black towering above the kids. He's holding Lukas who exudes his golden aura. "That large mana detection and that speed of yours, you'll be a great—" The man's speech halts as a barrage of water bullets flies onto his face, unfortunately, it does no damage.
"Quick thinking but reckless, what if you hit the kid-" The man halts his speech when he notices Lukas already gone from his hand.
"Interesting, you're way more experienced than you seem, or is it just talent?" The man mutters. Before he even noticed, Layla already dashes away from the location. She held a huge bubble with all of the kids inside.
"You're way too good for your age." The man mutters as he saw Layla already far away from him.
"But you don't think you can escape me do you?" The man speaks, dashing alongside Layla.
"How's he so fast—" A punch flew towards her. Before she could even react, it destroys the ground she's standing on.
"Haha- This brat." The man laughs as he sees nothing but a puddle on the ground.
Far away from the current location, Layla dashes as fast as she could. Thank god she's able to use her new spell "Water Reflection" to throw the pursuer off. It uses photon magic to create an optic illusion by utilizing the way water reflects light.
"That much talent, but you're still ultimately an amateur." The man suddenly appears out of nowhere, grabbing her shoulder. Layla stumbles from the for enof the man's grip. The bubble that she carries slips from her grip and crashes into the ground.
"Luk-" Layla can't even finish her sentence before her body is thrown into the air by her shoulder. She crashes into the ground, coughing at the impact that hit her chest.
"You—"
"Ice Spear!" Ice spikes protrude out of the ground the man is standing on, but he easily jumps into the air to dodge it.
"Water Ripple!" 3 water balls appear out of nowhere while the man is still in the air before exploding. Layla doesn't give the man a moment to catch his breath.
"Wat-" a palm grabs her face and slams it onto the ground before she finishes chanting.
"You sacrifice damage for the amount of spells you can use. A good strategy but only for someone with a similar power as you, or weaker." The man said, tidying his clothes. "Unfortunately, I'm far stronger."
"Who are you?" Layla asks, she no longer finds any other solution other than talking, the man in front of her is far stronger than she could imagine.
"Why should I answer that?" The man replies with a question. Clearly celebrating his victory.
"I see, I guess there's no use in talking. I'm sorry, Mia." The ground shakes as Layla finishes speaking. Mana around them vibrating. The temperature began to drop.
"What?" The man startled. He panicked as his body suddenly feels numb. "Wait, stop! You monster! This much control in water element at such age? What even are you!" The man falls to the ground as the blood flows on his leg slows down.
"Captain! Won't you help me?!" The man shouts.
"Pathetic." A woman's voice speaks.
Layla looks up. Her body boiling with mana. She raises her hand to attack the woman.
"Missy, won't you please stop this spell of yours?" The voice speaks. It sounded like a request but everybody there knows, it's a command. Layla halts her spell. Not out of her own will but fear.
"This pressure, just like when the Mana beast attacks- No, this is on a different level entirely. Level of pressure that wouldn't only endanger the town... This pressure... It could destroy the whole planet in an instant." Layla screams in her mind.
———
"I'm sorry!" The man bows towards Layla, who's sitting on the ground exhausted.
"As the representative of The Blue Dome, and as the Partner to this fool right here. I am sorry." The woman speaks. Layla looks up, only to be stunned by the woman's appearance.
"Your head..." Lukas shaking finger points towards the woman's 'head'. Layla looks carefully towards the 'head' of the woman.
"I had never seen it before... Such a high level of mana concentration that it's able to be visible to the naked eye." Layla thought. She keep looking at the ball of pure mana, the lack of physical body made the Mana from it leaks, making it resembles a blazing flame.
"Ah... Yeah, sorry. Is this much better?" The woman said before putting on a mask. The mask transforms, like a skin colored wax shaping itself onto a head. At the end of the transformation, a head full of flaming red hair appears. A face more beautiful than Layla has ever seen appears.
"My name's Angel. I'm a scout from Blue Dome." Angel bows. "This is my partner, Vincent. He's the one who tried to kill you earlier." Angel guide Vincent head to bow alongside her.
"H-hey! I don't want to kill her. The kids are trying to go to the Edge and I'm just stopping them. I thought that she was their leader or something and tried to stop them from running away." Vincent said, trying to justify his action.
"Do you take me for a fool Vincent?" Angel points towards Layla.
"W— well... I might also get too excited when I see her power. But I really DO think she's just trying to get them out of being disciplined. And with how powerful she is, it's no wonder that kids like these would be brave enough to go to the Edge. Like— can't you see my reasoning here? I just thought I was disciplining some brats—" Vincent words cut off as he notices Angel's glaring towards him.
"Excuses." Angel speaks.
"But—"
"No but. I want you to go and escort the kids out of here and apologizes to their parents, especially the girls parents. Now." Angel commands.
"Also, you. I recognize you. Layla right?" Angel asks. Layla just nods.
"I know it, I got your files here and you're outstanding." Angel said, a file appears out of thin air in her hand. "You got any mentors that teach you about your spells and combat training?"
"No."
"Wait, so you have experience in combat then?"
"No. This is my first time in combat."
Angel snaps the file close and looks at Layla. Her eyes shocked.
"Pardon?"
———
"So you doze off while the kids are able to go to the edge of the parameters?!" Dalila scolds as soon as Vincent left. Leyla just kept her head low as Dalila continued to scold her.
"They aren't tho—" Leyla answers.
"Don't talk back to me. And yeah, they aren't cuz luckily, a fine gentleman is able to stop them but what if he isn't there huh what would their parents say?" Dalila continued to scold while Leyla just looked down to the floor. It IS her fault, she shouldn't be dozing off like that while she's the one responsible for them while they're playing.
"Oh my goodness can you imagine how my heart sank when Mia called for me to say that? I'm not only worried for them, but for you! I know you're strong but fighting the Mana Beast at the edge of the parameters? You could've died!" Dalila continues. Leyla kept her head down, realizing that she also made a rash decision in a panic.
"I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Leyla speaks. Dalila just shakes her head.
"Don't worry about it. I know it's an accident, you don't normally let them go into the forest. Just go and shower, you're smelly." Dalila said, her tones are now much softer than when she's scolding Leyla.
"Okay..." Layla speaks slowly. "Mum." Layla calls. Dalila turns her head.
"Yea?"
"I think I'll go to that school."