Chapter 2: Mana Hypersensitivity

"Yuichiro?! Yuichiro?! Where are you?"

A recurring dream that chased him even into the other world. He had this dream so often that he had grown aware when it was a dream. His sister, enraged that he threatened her new boyfriend. Harsh words were exchanged, and that was the last conversation they shared. He didn't even get up, as he usually did in this dream; he couldn't handle what came next. He just opened his eyes before looking around for his grandfather; his eyes quickly met the old man's who would give a soft grin.

"Hey, finally awake? Come, pup. It's almost time to begin your magic lessons. Let's get you all cleaned up first…hm?" He said with a toothy grin as he offered a hand to the younger wolf. Iskatl had no reason to deny his hand, and so he took it, smiling softly as he looked around at the surroundings; this tent was where he'd lived for the past five years, yet he rarely actually took a moment to look around due to how eager he was to learn various things. This tent that they had lived in was surprisingly warm, despite being just a tent; closer inspection would show runes carved into the ground and various markings placed on the inside of the tent. Tilting his head, he saw something strange from the markings, akin to an electrical current going along the shape of the markings.

The markings themselves almost appeared to be a crude blueprint of a katanakake, and as he focused more on the markings, he'd see more; fire and flame clouded his vision as he began to pant heavily, almost feeling as if he were on fire himself. Before he knew it, his grandfather put a hand on his shoulder, which shook him from his stupor. "What's wrong, Iskatl? Are you interested in the warming rune?" Iskatl shook his head 'no,' before responding audibly, "I just never paid it any mind until now, Grandfather." He couldn't help but bite his thumb in frustration as he shook his head. He was a damned detective, and he didn't know anything about his home! How disappointing is that? How did he even miss so much? It's been five years!

Grandfather couldn't help but chuckle softly as he directed him towards the bath and guided him into it; clothes were shed from the young boy before he was drenched in water and then dried off. Then, clothes were put back on. A soft sigh escaped him as he looked up to his grandfather expectantly before the two left the village to meet Katja where she had requested. Iskatl was just following his grandfather, who seemed to know exactly where Katja meant when she said '200 paces,' thankfully.

Looking at their surroundings on the way to the destination, Iskatl saw more of those strange electrical currents in the air and along the trees, clinging to various stones and running along many streams. He couldn't help but shut his eyes tight as he felt his head begin throbbing, grasping his temples softly with a strained whine. His grandfather was more focused on counting his paces that he didn't notice the expression of pain.

Grasping his grandfather's hand, Iskatl would shut his eyes tightly and follow him closely; a breath of relief escaped his lips as he felt his headache subside. That energy was most certainly associated with magic. He could tell; this was Mana. Could others sense it to the extent that he could? He could feel it, hear it, smell it, even see any Mana he came into contact with; it's like all of his five senses automatically analyzed it and fed the information back to him constantly. Then, he heard her voice, Katja. "Finally, you two are here! You're late! Skartha, what the Hells!" She stamped her foot in disapproval as she said this before Skartha tilted his head, "Katja, the sun set only moments ago." A hiss from the herbalist as she snapped back in reply, "I said at sunfall, not before!"

A sigh came from the boy's grandfather as Iskatl stepped forward, his eyes still closed. "If you're finished arguing, I'd like to begin my lesson now, if it's all the same to you?" He said, as he opened his eyes slowly, and those electrical currents coalesced into an intense light, almost akin to the sun, which caused him to grunt, smelling fire and ash, feeling what felt like flames hugging his skin, and he heard the crackling of fire as he yelled out in pain.

"Heh? Iskatl!" Katja's voice rang out, and his ears began to ring from all the information overloading his senses. Fire, flames, ashes, and dust; water, wind, and stone. All of this information was hitting him at once! All these sensations of burning, cyclones of wind, rocks slamming against his chest, ashes draped over his skin, water drenching his crimson hair! He simply couldn't handle it all at once. Suddenly there were clear signs of heavy panting as his nails dug into the dirt beneath him, and Iskatl's vision was obscured with darkness as he fainted from the overwhelming sensations.

…Suddenly his door flung open as his sister, Mei, burst into his room with a scowl, "What the hell, Yuichiro?!" She was angry, and for good reason. Maybe if he weren't so overbearing, she wouldn't have died, and he wouldn't be here now. Usually, he had the will to, as he put it, 'turn the dream off,' but he was so exhausted, he couldn't even consider that as an option.

He sighed and went to get up from his bed as he looked at her with an intense expression. "Mei, that guy was no g--" Cut off by a loud slap to his face, she shoved him back onto his bed, which caused him to growl in reply, looking up at her as she shoved her finger in his face. "Listen, Yui! Stay the hell out of my love life! I don't care! I don't wanna hear it! Why can't you just be happy for me?"

He turned away from her, emotions running high..then suddenly responded in a low tone, "You just sit there and coddle them until they find someone prettier and leave, so why do you care that I don't like them?" He still wondered to this day why he ever said that; maybe if he hadn't, she'd still be alive, wouldn't she? Tears began flowing down her cheeks as she left, slamming the door behind her. That was their last interaction before she died. He always blamed himself, seeing that final argument as a butterfly effect that resulted in her death. Just before he opened his eyes, he saw a glimpse of the goddess, as if she were watching the events of his dream unfold. Before, her features were blank and blurry, but this time he could see a frown on her face; judging by her last appearance, she was letting him see that.

"-atl! Iskatl, wake up! Pup, are you alright?!" The first thing he heard was his grandfather; moreover, the first thing he saw was his grandfather as well, with tears in his eyes and eyebrows furrowed with worry. The boy coughed as he reached up and grasped the collar of his grandfather's fur shirt, coughing as he spoke up, "Grandfather... Keep it down, please."

His pupils were narrowed into slits, like a snake's as he winced at the magical residue left behind in the area. Katja was behind him; she dispelled her magical flame, looking down at the young boy, "Even worse than your father. Come, Skartha. Sit him up." To which Skartha, the boy's grandfather, did without question. "I'm sure you're wondering what happened to you, Iskatl. It doesn't take a genius to ascertain the cause of your little fainting incident. See, us beastkin can sense mana naturally, smell it, even. It's an ability human mages call extrasensation. Typically, mages train this skill, but we do so naturally and without effort; wolves like us even more so. Your Demonic blood only intensified that. Your father had a sensitivity to mana which he needed to overcome, but it wasn't as severe as yours. I don't know what could be causing it, but... Well, it could be anything? Mana Hypersensitivity, that's what I'm gonna call it."

He blinked twice as he listened to her attentively, sighing softly before continuing. "Could you explain to me more what you felt and sensed before fainting? It'd really help figure out how to avoid this in the future, boy." He'd nod as he started, "Well, I felt like I was on fire, I felt wet, and I felt like lightning was coursing through my body. Even like I was being crushed by rocks. I smelled ashes; I heard wind roaring in my ears. I saw so much bright light I can't describe it right. I'm sorry, Miss Katja."

Her eyes went wide and her blonde canine ears twitched as she leaned down and patted his head with a soft sigh, "Iskatl. Before you learn any magic, I need to teach you how to manipulate your mana, or else something worse than this could happen, okay? Human mages and other, more spiritual mages develop and teach these techniques to weave mana into your body and change how your mana acts, and how it affects your body. I need to teach you how to control your mana detection, 'kay?"

He'd nod and smile as he held a hand out to her, offering it for her to hold. He really appreciated how thoroughly she explained herself and how much detail she gave on her thought process; typically, people left him questioning, but with the way Katja was, there were no questions to ask regarding her motives or where her reasoning came from, so he couldn't help but squeeze her hand tightly after she grasped his own. "Thank you, Miss Katja."

Skartha, the boy's grandfather, would exhale deeply as he wrapped his arms around the boy's neck, placing his chin atop the boy's head as he hugged his grandson Iskatl tightly and protectively. "You scared me, Iskatl... I thought I lost you." With Katja holding his hand and his grandfather hugging him, Iskatl couldn't help but feel loved, causing his cheeks to grow a bright shade of red, almost comparable to the shade of his hair.

"Miss Katja, can we get on with the lesson? As soon as possible?" He asked, as he gave her an intense look, his gaze unwavering as he expected her to get into gear. She nodded before sighing softly. "Ya want the fast way or the slow way?"

He blinked twice, as if to gesture she already knew the answer before nodding, her tail wagging as she held her hand up. "You know how sometimes yer grandpa goes on and on and on about something and you don't want to hear about it at all, and you try to tune him out?" He saw currents running through her body and extending outward to her fingertips as her hands twitched and flames flickered along those currents as she continued.

"You don't look at him, plug your ears, maybe even stick your nose into your pillow? Imagine that, but do it with whatever sensations this provokes." As she spoke, you could hear grumbles of disapproval from Skartha; those currents of energy he kept witnessing would escape her body through her fingertips and meld into one small flame. He gave a sharp gasp of pain as he clenched his fists, doing his best to ignore the sensations as they slowly calmed themselves. Katja placed a hand on his chest, and the flame pressed against it as he whined in pain.

But he continued following instructions, trying to ignore that feeling of scorching pain as she tilted her head, even though he couldn't see due to his eyes being closed. "You're a surprisingly quick learner, Iskatl." To which his grandpa nodded, folding his arms and smirking; you could almost see the pure pride dripping off that man's body.

"Listen, boy. This isn't just a solution to your problem. It's just a way to help remedy it, so don't act like this is some quick fix. You're going to need a lot of practice for that technique to work as you expect it to." A deep sigh as she'd continued, "I'd say you want to train your mana more, Iskatl. If you do that, then maybe you can block out all that magical sensory overload, or it won't affect you as much." Flicking his little forehead, producing an 'ack' from him as she turned to his grandfather and raised an eyebrow.

"Get him home, and make sure he doesn't faint again. Iskatl. I want you to practice. Block out all of those sensations, 'kay?"

A nod from the pair before they headed home together.