Fantasy Early Bloomer's Guide to a Healthy Mana Garden

[CeruleanStars]

Education was a luxury few in his town could afford. If you were lucky to receive an education, then it didn't take long for people to move out of the small, urban farming town where your closest neighbor was tens of acres away. Rai was just one of those few uneducated kids growing up in the area, along with his brothers, who were "homeschooled," not receiving any sort of formal education, but enough to read and write basic things, know how to tend to the crops his family grew, and create change for anyone purchasing any of their crops.

It started off small at first, none of the seeds Rai planted had yielded any food or even the smallest sprout, even during the height of the season for whichever crop chosen to be grown that time of year. Then, any plant he harvested died or rotted away within a few days or, now, even hours. After a day with his brother, going into town to sell what they had for profit, his brother had mysteriously grown ill, enough to be bedridden for a number of days. Rai wasn't sure what was happening. His family didn't know what was happening. With their cash crops thinning down to three-fourths of what they had the previous season, his family elected to keep Rai away from the farmland and perform other tasks to still help with the farm.

During an exchange with a neighbor a number of acres away, Rai's father had learned that it could be the result of magic. Magic? In this family? They hadn't known anyone who could do such a thing in any of the generations they had records of. He went about asking extended family; anything from his late wife's side of the family, anything from his own, but no one knew of any magic users or even how to use magic themselves to truly be even the smallest source of his child's magic. There were comments thrown in by those whom he asked outside of family as well; how it was odd for such a young kid to be able to use magic, especially without meaning to do so. From those same inexperienced folks asked, they advised his father to keep him isolated, not to allow him to interact with other kids, crops, anything until he was able to control his magic.

But how do you control something you have no idea how to use in the first place? Rai tried various things; wearing gloves, not thinking about it, meditating, anything and everything to try to have the smallest of semblance of control to no avail. So thus was his affliction for the rest of his childhood. Luckily for him, his spilling magic was able to shrivel leftover reeds from their crops so he was able to make baskets from them.

Once he was older and starting to accept the fact that this could very well be the rest of his life, a traveler from a far off land had mentioned something about some type of magic ceremony to Rai's father. This was it! The answer they were all looking for! In Rai's stead, his father spoke to a number of other people in his visits to towns nearby and, eventually, was able to earn enough cash to send his son to the big city. If anyone would know how to help his son, it would be the people in the city whom he heard were all incredible magic users.

It scared Rai to leave everything he's ever known to enter a world he's never even dreamed of before, especially alone. As he traveled, he made it a point to stay away from as many people as possible to cause them less harm, but it was a little hard when he had to figure out where to go, so he had no choice but to follow the crowds. As other magic users stood in the large open area of the city waiting for...something, he was sure, he could feel eyes on him from nearly everywhere. He didn't belong here and he could feel that just from the judgement of the other magic users around him.

"Hey, quit the spells," came someone from behind him as he was shoved forward. The shove nearly knocked him off his feet, but it was the second shove from someone in front of him that knocked him down to the pavement. "You're not special for seeming badass with your magic or anything," chided the same voice from before.

He looked up to see three other people, probably around his own age, encircling him. They were all much taller than him and, much like everyone else in the square, definitely came from more money than he did. Rai could feel more of his magic spilling from his hands, unable to control its cold flow cascading over the feet of others around him. What was he supposed to do in this moment? Before he could even speak up for himself, another one spoke over him.

"Did ya not hear him? He said 'quit it,' dumbass," followed by a swift kick to his side.

 

[Elffri3nd]

Dylan had a very hectic unpleasant morning. It was time for the yearly mana ceremony. His entire family was a stir of motion. His aunts and uncles were wrangling their kids getting the ones old enough for the ceremony ready. Really, it was all too much. Only the 18 year olds would be going but it was like this every year. People overthink things and stress over the smallest detail. The adults didn't have any trust in them. Hey acted like the younger generation didn't even know how to dress themselves. Dylan thanked his lucky star that his parents were out today so that he didn't have to suffer the same indecency.

Instead, he heard the footsteps of two other monsters. "Crap," he groaned. Those two were even worse. He eyed his bed. It was extremely childish what he was about to do. He dropped down and crawled under it as he heard the door knob to his room turn. He was already ready. He didn't need those two to get on his case about this or that. It wasn't some fancy party that you needed to be dressed to the nines for. All that happened at the ceremony was a bunch of older people casting a few spells to determine mana type and legacy. Some legal paperwork would be filled out and then they would be on their way.

The footsteps circled around the room. Then it sounded like they were heading to the door. He let out a breath of relief just before a hand grabbed him by the ankle and grabbed him out from beneath his bed. "There you are Dylan," Cynthia said in an overly happy voice. "What were you doing down there?" She had one eyebrow raised as she asked her question with an amused smile.

“I was hiding from you,” he said bluntly. “Now can you put me down?” Dylan could see his brother, Lindon, behind Cynthia covering his mouth with one hand trying not to laugh. To his relief Cynthia obliged Dylan and dropped him gently on his bed.

“We were just making sure you were ready.” She eyed his clothes, clicking her tongue in disapproval but not saying anything about it. “It is almost time to go. If you don't leave now, you're going to be late.” Dylan checked the clock and his eyes shot open. He didn't realize it was that time already. He might have spent a bit too long watching the chaos of his family through the window.

Lindon cast a few spells on Dylan that seemed to iron his clothes and make them more presentable. “Did you need us to come with you? We could walk you there.” Dylan gagged at that. Really, they babied him too much. It wasn't like he was about to be attacked on his way to the Town Hall.

“I'll be fine. I can walk on my own.” Dylan quickly grabbed his wallet and keys before rushing out the door, escaping the overbearing siblings. It wasn't long into his walk that he started to feel an uncomfortable sensation. “Who's letting out death mana like this?” He wondered to himself. It didn't feel directed but it could cause problems if he was exposed to it long enough. Then he saw a group of people beating up a boy curled up into a ball on the ground. “Shit.”

Dylan grabbed one of the three by the shoulder. “That's enough. Why are all of you ganging up on him?” He clutched his free hand into a fist, ready to fight if these three thugs didn't stop.