Magicules

The next day, Yoruhi was immediately summoned by Nene who guided him across the hallways until they reached a particularly rocky part of the estate with an orb protruding from it.

Yoruhi was beginning to quickly realize that these orbs were used to unlock hidden rooms around the house, but as for how they prevented just anyone from using it after figuring out their purpose, was unknown to him.

Nene placed her small palms on the orb causing it to glow, and a few seconds later the rocky wall slid open to reveal a cave-like room inside.

At the center of the room were glowing pools of what looked to be water arranged in a fashion that resembled travertine pools. The water emanated a cold glow of icy blue that provided the only source of light in the room, and sitting at the edge of the pools was Mizuki who sat there patiently waiting for Nene and Yoruhi to arrive.

Upon seeing them, she gave them a wave.

“Welcome,” she said to Yoruhi, “this is going to be the room where you’ll be training your magic from now on. What do you think of it?”

The room was humid and had a heavy scent of chlorinated water that made Yoruhi feel like half his body was submerged inside a pool.

“It’s… really pretty,” he said, “but it smells kind of weird in here.”

Mizuki laughed and beckoned him closer, and he awkwardly stumbled forward.

“What you’re smelling but not seeing Yoruhi, is the scent of magicules: the foundation to everything in this world including magic,” she explained.

“Magicules?” he asked.

He remembered hearing Hayate mention the word last night, but it remained as one of the many things he didn’t know about this world.

“Yes,” Mizuki said, “magicules are what make up everything. You, Nene, and me are all made of magicules, and we die, our bodies all return back to it. When we eat things, we consume magicules, and when we breathe we both take in and release them. Even this pool of mana behind me is made entirely from magicules. But the most important thing you need to know is that if you want to use magic, you have to be able to control magicules.”

She pointed to an empty space in the room.

“What do you see there?” she asked.

Yoruhi stared closely but was unable to make out anything.

“Nothing?” he asked.

“Look closer. Raise your arms out to see if you can feel anything invisible, and use your eyes to focus on what that invisible thing is.”

He did as he was told and raised his palms out, feeling around the place for something other than air. At first, he thought it was ridiculous but as he concentrated harder he began to feel something stirring around his palms. Slowly, his eyes adjusted to see tiny, transparent molecules floating around in the small space in front of him.

Upon noticing Yoruhi’s expression widened in childlike wonder, Mizuki asked, “do you see it?”

She had a big grin plastered on her face—a face she only made when her ideas were coming to fruition—that Yoruhi ignored as he nodded in awe.

Nene watched the scene with curiosity. Children his age were not supposed to be able to see magicules yet. It was one of the biggest obstacles to why it took them a few more years to be able to cast magic.

Mizuki however, knew that it was only a start.

She raised her arms out in front of her as if attempting to target something in the air that Yoruhi couldn’t see.

“Now then Yoruhi, I want you to watch closely and tell me what you see,” she said.

He watched intently as Mizuki began to seemingly cause a spark of electricity to appear out of thin air.

“I see… electricity?” he asked.

“Hmm,” Mizuki mumbled in disappointment, “that’s certainly a start. I’m going to do it slowly this time. Try to visualize the little magicules you saw appear in your hands, and imagine them appearing in mine.”

She cupped her hands together and she began to slowly draw the magicules into her palms, giving Yoruhi enough time to clearly discern what exactly was happening

His eyes widened as he noticed the tiny bits of magicules slowly forming a chain-like conduit with each other just before their properties turned into electricity.

“It… formed a chain,” he mumbled out.

“Exactly!” Mizuki exclaimed excitedly.

She reached out to pinch his cheeks endearingly.

“You really are a genius! This just might work out after all!”

She was beginning to sound like a mad scientist, but Yoruhi didn’t mind it. It was the first time he had been praised by a motherly figure in so long.

“What you saw just now was the basis of Storm Magic,” she explained after letting go, “there are 7 main elements of magic in this world, and each one is created depending on how you interact with the magicules. As you saw just now, controlling the magicules in a chain-like manner is the basis for creating Storm Magic. You can also do this.”

She began to slowly trace her fingers in the air, causing the tiny magicules to form a chain again, but this time in a softer, more flowy manner, and the resultant element that formed as a result was not electricity, but water.

“There are two sides to Storm Magic,” she explained, “one side is water, and the other is lightning. Both require you to create a chain with the magicules, but how you create the chain affects which element you get out of it. A softer, strongly bonded chain that focuses on creating the conduit as you move, results in water, while a conduit that’s based on creating the points of where it will connect first before connecting them, results in lightning.”

Yoruhi silently took in the information while Nene watched the child from afar.

“Perhaps you should use simpler words Lady Mizuki,” she suggested, “I don’t think he understands what you’re saying.”

“No, the child understands,” Mizuki said with astute certainty before turning to him. “Isn’t that right?”

He nodded slowly, still captivated by the sight of electricity appearing from thin air, even though it had already dissipated.

Mizuki couldn’t help but give out a short snort of laughter.

“That’s enough for today then,” she said, “if you want to keep practicing on your own time, try to sense the magicules in places outside of this room.”

He looked up at her.

“Does it matter which room I’m in?” he asked.

“Well, not to discourage you or anything,” Nene explained, no longer afraid of talking big in front of the child who she was starting to realize knew a lot more words than she thought. “But this room has a lot more magicules in it than what you would see normally outside. Remember when Lady Mizuki said that even the mana pools behind her were made of magicules? That’s because mana is just the pure condensed form of magicules. When we heat up mana, it evaporates back into magicules.”

So that’s why it feels so hot in here, the boy thought.

Yoruhi realized that the room he was training in was in fact like a pair of training wheels that made everything easier for him. Because of this, he became disappointed at how long it took him to discern the magicules in the room.

He clenched his fists in determination. He knew he had a long way to go, but he was excited. The path of magic had been made possible for him, and in it, he saw a future that he never had.