Chapter 2: Arcane Awakening [1]
Nobody spoke on the walk back.
Drelan kept one hand on Aries’s shoulder the whole way. Althea stayed close on the other side.
Mirielle walked ahead and never once looked back.
The room was small. Four people inside made it feel even smaller.
Aries set his bag down.
"You fool."
He didn’t even have time to turn.
The slap hit hard across his cheek and sent him stumbling sideways into Althea, who grabbed him before he fell.
"Mirielle—"
Mirielle’s hands were trembling at her sides. Not from rage. From holding this in since the moment his name was called.
"Do you even realize what you just threw away?"
Her voice came out low and tight.
"That ceremony was your only shot at a scholarship. The only door into any academy."
Aries said nothing.
"And now?" A short breath. "That door’s gone. All of it."
"Three years." Her jaw tightened. "Three years Father trained with you. You had every chance. Every other student awakened something today, Aries. Even the ones nobody expected anything from."
She let that sit for a second.
"And people laughed at us on those stairs. Do you know what that felt like?"
"Mirielle."
Drelan’s voice from near the window. Just one word, but heavy enough to fill the room.
"Enough"
She clicked her tongue and looked away.
"He is still our son," Drelan said quietly. "And you are still his sister."
"Don’t say that."
She was already at the door.
"Don’t call me his sister."
A pause.
"Don’t call me your sister again."
The door shut behind her.
Althea’s arms came around Aries from behind. Her hands were shaking slightly even though she said nothing.
A few minutes later Drelan moved toward the door.
"We’ll give you some space."
Althea lingered. She touched the uninjured side of his face gently before following him out.
The door closed. Softer this time.
---
Aries sat at the edge of the desk while the evening light outside slowly faded to dark.
He pressed the back of his hand against his cheek. Still warm.
’They’re strangers.’
He stared at the floor.
’Mirielle isn’t actually my sister. These aren’t my memories. None of this is mine.’
So why did it still sting?
He already knew the answer before he finished asking it.
The memories surfaced whether he wanted them to or not.
Drelan patiently walking the original Aries through arcane training while he stared out the window. Training sessions skipped. Lessons ignored. The same excuses repeated until Drelan quietly stopped pushing altogether.
Aries covered his face with both hands.
"...Okay," he muttered. "Even I’m starting to dislike this guy."
He exhaled slowly.
"No wonder she lost it."
He leaned back in the chair.
The chair tilted. His eyes went wide.
"Oh shi—"
CRASH!
His back hit the floor and pain shot straight up his spine.
He lay there for a second staring at the ceiling, processing.
Then the shelf above him shifted slightly and a thick book tipped over the edge and dropped directly onto his face.
THUD.
"OW—"
He grabbed his nose and sat up with an expression of complete offence.
"Tch. First the chair and now this stupid—"
He stopped.
The book had fallen open across the floor. He looked down at it.
The Arcane Codex: Principles of Mana.
Aries stared at it for a moment before picking it up properly and turning to the first page.
’What exactly is Arcane?’
Arcane is the foundation of every Mage and Knight. Through awakening, one gains access to the flow of energy known as Mana, allowing the body and soul to interact with the laws of the world. The strength of one’s Arcane determines the potential of one’s path.
Below it sat the classifications.
Level 1 — Conductor (White Arcane)
Level 2 — Harmonist (Pale Yellow)
Level 3 — Resonant (Blue)
Level 4 — Virtuoso (Green)
Level 5 — Luminary (Orange)
Level 6 — Arcanist (Red)
White to Red, weakest to strongest.
He turned the page.
Law One: Discovery.
Awareness of Mana is the first gate. To see it, feel it, or wield it — one must first sense their Arcane.
Aries read that line twice.
He set the book down on the desk and raised one hand in front of himself, staring at the small fingers and the empty palm like the answer might already be written there somewhere if he looked hard enough.
The ceremony had tested whether the Arcane had already awakened inside the individual for a Mage, or if they had experienced a Knight’s awakening.
It didn’t say anything about what happened after.
"So first..." His eyes narrowed slightly.
"I need to feel this Arcane." His fingers curled shut slowly.
"Let’s see what I can do."
Aries sat cross-legged on the floor with his eyes closed, trying not to think about anything and focusing deliberately on the sensation.
