Year 1462 – Shersian Orphanage Yard
"Again."
Kellan's voice cracked a little, but his wooden stick didn't waver.
Alaric swung his own stick down. It met Kellan's with a thwack that stung his hands.
"Too slow," Kellan said. "If you think about it too long, your feet stop moving."
"I'm not used to hitting people," Alaric muttered.
"You're not hitting people," Kellan said. "You're hitting me. That's different."
Rin snorted from her perch on the fence. "You two look like scarecrows learning to dance."
Mira, sitting on an upturned bucket with a notebook, added without looking up, "Badly."
Kellan ignored them. "Again. This time, don't stare at my stick. Watch my shoulders. They move first."
Alaric nodded, adjusted his grip, and tried again.
They'd started this routine months ago. At first, Kellan had just shown him how to hold a stick without fumbling it. Then basic stances. Now they tried simple strikes and blocks, copying the training patterns Kellan had seen Shersian soldiers use in town.
Alaric's arms felt like wet rope. His breathing came shallow.
"Take a break," Kellan said at last, lowering his stick. "We're not knights yet. No point training until you puke."
Alaric dropped onto the grass. "You say that like you wouldn't train until I puke."
Kellan shrugged. "You're the one who's supposed to become a wizard‑knight monster. I'm just here for moral support and looking impressive beside you."
Rin hopped off the fence, landing in front of them. "Hey, wizard. Show us that body‑magic thing again."
"Null magic," Mira corrected absently. "Father Corwin said it's a gift from the Seven so people without elements can still fight."
"I have elements," Alaric said. "It's just… useful."
He remembered the first time he'd heard the null incantation. Corwin had demonstrated it during a lecture, standing in the chapel aisle.
"Confirma corpus meum, strengthen my body, lend my limbs swiftness and steel," the priest had chanted, and for a brief moment his steps had been lighter, his jump higher.
Most adults used long phrases like that, to help their thoughts wrap around what they wanted reinforced: legs for speed, arms for strength, whole body for endurance.
But when Alaric tried it later, alone, the words had felt… clumsy. Like too many hands on one rope.
He'd cut it down, piece by piece, until only the core remained:
Confirma.
Just that. "Strengthen."
He'd discovered that if he said it once and then pushed his will into where he wanted the power to go—legs, arms, whole body—the energy followed.
He still wasn't sure if that was genius or just reckless.
"Fine," he said now, levering himself back up. "But if I fall on my face, I blame all of you."
"That's fair," Rin said cheerfully.
Alaric took a slow breath.
He focused on the "tank" of mana inside his chest, then on the trick Corwin had explained—the way certain incantations turned that mana into something a little different. Less like raw energy, more like a rough, invisible second skin clinging to the body.
Aura. Ki. Whatever the proper term was.
He raised his stick in one hand and murmured, "Confirma."
A faint tingle rippled down his limbs. He imagined that tingle thickening along his muscles, hugging them, especially around his legs and shoulders.
Most people needed to say what to strengthen out loud. He held that part in his head instead, shaping the aura with thought.
Kellan's eyes widened slightly. "You changed," he said. "Just a bit."
"Good different or bad different?" Rin asked.
"Let's find out," Kellan replied, stepping back into stance. "Ready?"
Alaric nodded.
Kellan lunged.
This time, the world didn't exactly slow down—but Alaric felt…. more connected. His feet reacted quicker, stick snapping up to meet Kellan's. When Kellan tried to twist and strike from the side, Alaric's body moved almost before he had finished deciding.
They traded blows. Simple, clumsy by a knight's standard, but faster than they'd ever managed before.
After only a dozen heartbeats, though, the pressure in Alaric's chest eased. The tingling faded. His arms suddenly felt much heavier.
He blocked one more strike, then his stick dropped from numb fingers.
"Ugh."
"Out already?" Rin laughed. "So much for super magic legs."
Kellan grinned, breathing hard himself. "Still, you were definitely faster. If you can stretch that to, say, a hundred heartbeats, I'll be terrified."
Alaric flopped onto his back in the grass. Sweat cooled on his forehead, leaving him shivery.
"That takes too much mana for now," he said. "If I keep 'Confirma' up any longer, I won't have enough left even for a candle spark."
"Then get a bigger mana reserve," Rin said, as if it were that simple.
He almost said I'm trying out loud, but swallowed it.
Instead he stared up at the blue sky, counting the puffs of cloud drifting by, and thought:
If I keep emptying my mana every day, it will grow.
If I keep using Confirma in short bursts, my aura will get stronger.
If I can control it without long chants, I'll move before my enemies even finish saying their spells.
"One day," he said quietly, "you really will be terrified."
Rin grinned. "Promise?"
Mira, still sketching them, smiled at the page.
Kellan just nodded once. "Good. I'd rather follow someone terrifying than someone useless."
Alaric let his eyes close for a moment.
He could feel the last little sparks of aura fading from his limbs.