Endless Mana and Lost Magic

“The War of the Central Lands is one of the worst named events in recorded history. Not once did the central lands of Igna or Lio fear war, it was only our southern neighbors who saw a blade.” - Timo, father of Elder Edred, 1175.

“Interesting.”

Aki stared out of the reopened window, digesting the story of Igna’s approaching peril with a mixture of mild concern and confusion.

“You guys have been to war with them already, so why do you need my help this time?”

Felix, the magic swordsman and shining example of Igna’s military might, shifted uncomfortably on the bed where he sits. He wasn’t sure what he expected this conversation to be like, but it wasn’t this.

Aki watched as the soldier she assumed was a relatively weak messenger compared to what Igna must have in reserve, seemed to deliberate how to formulate his response.

“The new king of Lio has been more than open in his desire to take Igna under his control.” He finally explained.

The elf chuckled to herself, murmuring about how humans never change, before standing up and gathering a few possessions into a small bag, which she dropped into open air, the bag disappearing as it fell.

It was the storage spell.

Both inhabitants of the room froze for two completely different reasons.

The human, shocked that he just witnessed a mythic level spell, a spell complexity level that experts debate over the mere existence of, let alone the possibility of actually casting one due to their rumored absurd mana cost.

The elf, remembering that long ago she’d vowed to not show humans these spells, since it caused way too much trouble.

“You never saw that.” She said, turning and pointing a finger at Felix, who understandably flinched away in response.

He almost nodded in agreement instantly, but his curiosity won out.

“That was the storage spell right? Does that mean that earlier…” His voice trailed off as his conclusion was too farfetched to voice aloud.

When Felix thought he’d heard noise from inside of the cabin before Aki spoke from the forest behind him, one possible explanation was the use of another mythic level spell, teleportation, but that would be insane.

The elf sighed and stepped closer, crouching down and resting her hand on the sitting man’s shoulder.

“I know you’ll feel obligated to tell your military superior, but think of how many humans will die trying to find me here once the rumor spreads.” Her tone was stern yet calm, like she was trying to explain something serious to someone who barely understands her.

Surprisingly to Aki, the human quickly shook his head in response.

“I technically have no obligation to tell the military leader anything because of my rank.” He explained.

Aki stared at him for a few seconds, confusion turning to shock, turning to pure dread.

“You’re the human strong enough to be the Court Attendant?”

She immediately winced and apologized, but the dread she felt stayed present all the same.

The human in front of her was strong, yes, but if he was the strongest Igna had to offer these days, then there’s no wonder that the elders considered this such an emergency.

His magical aura was relatively impressive for his age, and from his build he was probably a capable swordsman, but what made Igna strong hundreds of years ago was the might of its powerful traditional casters, who could keep invading armies away from a long distance.

Not to mention, if someone this young was the Court Attendant, then the country must be seriously lacking experienced and talented individuals.

“Let’s go.” Aki decided, giving Felix only a few seconds to move as she strode quickly out of the door, leaving behind her centuries long home without another glance.

“I take it humans were stronger in Igna long ago?” Felix asked, still trying to comprehend every mind-shattering detail of the last few minutes.

“The last human I met in your role singlehandedly burned ten percent of the forest by accident while training. It took weeks to grow that back.”

Her response left many more questions that they’d answered for Felix, but he didn’t press any further.

The two moved through the forest with an efficiency that would get them to the nearest town within a day or two. At least, that would be the case if Felix didn’t have to run at a sprint to keep up with Aki’s wind magic.

Despite him slowing Aki down, she didn’t seem bothered, and was surprisingly supportive of Felix.

"Couldn't we just use your teleportation to get out of here?” He asked as they settled into a camp for the second night of travelling.

Over the time they’d spent together, he’d asked questions about her magic, and Aki had agreed to tell him whatever as long as he didn’t spread the knowledge amongst other humans.

“I could teleport out of here myself, but then you’d be left behind.” She explained as she set up two small houses in mere seconds with an impressive display of Earth magic.

Over the past two days, nothing had impressed Felix as much as her seemingly endless reserve of mana. She used common, moderate, strong, and mythic level magic on a regular basis, and as the magic became stronger, so did the strain it put on the caster.

Felix himself could only occasionally use strong magic, and only fire magic at that, since he’d trained the most as a fire-wielding swordsman.

Furthermore, he hadn’t seen her carry her bag around at all, instead leaving it in storage the whole time they were moving throughout the day. As far as Felix was aware, that particular use of magic drained mana constantly, which should make it even harder for her to do everything else.

“Honestly, I think you could topple nations with ease.” Felix said, half joking as he sat down exhausted by the small fire where their dinner was cooking.

“That tends to make too many enemies for my liking.” Aki responds absentmindedly as she uses taming magic on some bird monster hiding in the leaves above, and instructs it to keep watch on the clearing.

Felix quietly hopes that she is joking along with him as the two settle into their camp for the night, quickly eating before getting some rest, their surroundings guarded by a few tamed monsters, and their comfortable beds a welcome contradiction in the most dangerous forest on the continent.