"Wren! It is a good evening, don't you think?"
"Great Shaman Ipha has been teaching you well, I hope?"
"Ha! Hey Wren, come and share a meal with me sometime."
Warmth. I wasn't a stranger to the kindness others could have in my previous life, though it was scarce. But something this time around feels... different, somehow. I can't help but smile when I see the villagers.
"You seem at peace, Wren." Ren walks alongside me.
"Yes... I guess you're right. I couldn't have found my place here if it weren't for you, Ren."
"When we first met, something seemed familiar about you. You seemed a naive boy, much like myself in youth."
"Boy, you say? And how old are you, Ren?"
"Me? I'm 90." Ren smirked at me. Just then, I felt an urge to jab my shoulder into his leg. Accounting for my previous life, I have lived almost 28 years in total. I didn't live the 19 years my new body had gone through before I took it.
"Hey, Ren. Actually, I wanted to tell you something. My name isn't Wren." Ren was surprised, then looked away as he began to respond.
"What? What is it then?"
"I can't tell you. Something is stopping me from doing so. It could be one of those hexes Ipha told me about." I put my hand to my chin in thought, then turn to my side. Ren stopped following me a few moments ago. His face is contorted, like I had done something vile. "Ren...?"
"Why would you hide this from me?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't think it was something you would be upset about." My hands shake. Did I break some kind of village rule? What did I do wrong?
"You've been here with us for months now!" Ren clenches his fist. He turns his gaze towards me, staring me down with his dark brown eyes.
"Ren..."
"I thought we'd be brothers in name." Ren pulls a small dagger in its sheathe. I flinch as he points it to me. "Take it, 'Wren.' Though it no longer represents our connection." I take the dagger-in-sheathe and inspect it. The tanned leather has symbols carved in it.
"What does it mean, Ren?"
"Erren. In Elvish, it means 'Two Rens.'" He exhaled sharply. "I had this dagger and sheathe made for you to celebrate our first year together in the village." Tears welled up in my eyes. In truth, I've wondered if I truly deserved to belong here. My false name may not have meant much to me, but to Ren, it meant so much more. I decide to take my identity more seriously. This village, which has been good to me for a year now, is my home this time. Ren deserves to know my true name, no matter what.
"I am ---- ----. But I will henceforth be known as Wren. Wren Altous." The ringing in my ears reaches its peak. I take out the dagger, admiring its luster. I make a small cut on my hand. The pain caused by saying my name, as if it were a forbidden curse, was far too large in comparison. "Who are you?" I extend the blade to Ren. His eyes widen.
He takes it.
"I am Ren Altous. Wren's brother, in name, and in blood." Dark red blood seeps from his own hand. We take each others' hand, gripping tightly as we pull it into a chest bump. "Erren Altousiki." That was the name of our brotherhood.
"Erren Altousiki."
~
I've spent a lot of time learning under Ipha's tutelage. My Psycha resistance has been well-developed according to her, though I don't have a good way of testing it. I've started learning Anima, and I think I have the basics of it down. "You learn quickly, Wren. I suppose your affinity isn't lightly weighted after all."
"My progress is due to your efforts as well as mine, Mentor Ipha. I'm not so sure I'd ever grow this fast without your help."
Anima is a type of magic that creates movement. Seeing Ipha conjure powerful winds is nothing short of a spectacle. Apparently Mana is expended to cause these forces to materialize as Anima.
Ipha clacks the bottom of her staff to the ground. "Tuhuista Aesactus!" The effect isn't apparent to me. From the chanted words, I can at least tell it is a type of wind magic. But, after some time, the leaves of a tree in front of us are violently torn off and sent into a spiraling vortex. This magic creates something like a floating orb that acts as a vacuum. I clap my hands, impressed.
"Mentor Ipha, what designates the wording of your chants?"
"It's Manaspeak. Words that order the Mana within us to act according to our whims. But a word's strength is dependent on the 'heart' you have." She pulls down her robe slightly, showing off the 5-pointed crystal in the center her chest.
"You are... quite bold, Mentor."
"I'm too old to worry about something as silly as modesty, Wren. In any case, you might see that my crystal is different from yours." She pulls her robe back up, crossing her arms.
"What does this crystal signify?"
"The crystal you speak of is an organ most creatures have. It circulates Mana through our bodies and filters it from our surroundings to replenish our stores."
"Does the shape mean anything?"
"The 'heart,' or Manaheart, can determine a lot of things about an individual. Usually, someone with Status Magic can use Appraisal centered on your Manaheart to derive useful information. But if you are a layman who's never bothered to learn the basics..." Ipha points her staff at me. "You have to go off visuals. First, the shape. This signifies the types of affinities you have. A star-shaped Manaheart means I have one key affinity. Mine is Anima."
"My crystal is shaped like a diamond, mentor Ipha."
"Then you have two neighboring affinities. With your brother's magic, we know one of them is Anima."
"What neighbors Anima?"
"There are two. The most likely affinity is in Ordo, because they are opposites."
"But shouldn't they be similar affinities?"
"Listen up, Wren. Just because they're drawn far apart on a glyph doesn't mean they're not close in concept. When you fold a cloth, are not both ends closest to each other than any other side?"
"I suppose I have no retort to that... Can I use the spell you were using earlier?"
"You can try. If you fail to have enough Mana output, or the proper vision when you cast a spell, it will be incomplete, and unable to carry out your will." She hands me her staff. "Try concentrating on my staff's focus, and envisioning the spell. Then, choose a target, and chant 'Tuhuista Aesactus.'"
It sounded simple enough to me. What I didn't get was what is exactly meant by "concentration." Sure, I can look at the orb on Ipha's staff all I like, but I don't feel any changes within myself.
"Tuhuista Aesactus." As I suspected, nothing happened. Ipha raised her eyebrow. She continued watching, as if she expected me to get the spell right eventually. What a proud, doting mentor...
"Tuhuista Aesactus!" I say with a bit more heart. Still nothing. Am I supposed to imagine Mana accumulating into the orb? But how can I do that if I am envisioning the vacuum sphere? Or perhaps I can simply accumulate Mana from the air and turn it into the spell...?
"Tuhuista Aesactus!" I jab the staff outwards towards my target. I felt a light pull from within me. Anima is the magic of movement, after all. If I can make the movements with my body, I don't need to concentrate on them in my head while envisioning the spell. With that being said, the spell didn't work.
"That is enough, Wren. You've made much more progress than I thought you would have. And it's your first attempt at trying to cast a spell, too." Ipha takes the staff from me, grinning. "You really are quite bright, kid."