Mage Catalyst (8 page)

The next section was entitled “The Principle of Detonation”. It detailed how to get particles of mana to leave the body in a tightly wound ball and then prompt them to explode. This would send particles scattered out in every direction. I had no idea what the potential benefits of this might be. Renee’s grandfather talked about the technique as if it were a standard practice and used quite commonly; however, I didn’t see the benefits. You couldn’t use it to lift anything as the thread would be far too sudden and uncontrolled. You might be able to knock something over with it, I supposed. I just didn’t get it.
It wasn’t until Renee’s grandfather began detailing a new spell entitled “Awareness” that I saw the point. This wasn’t about getting things to move. The awareness spell was fairly simple in intent. It would send out mana rocketing in each direction over a wide area. When the mana came into contact with human life it would burn with a luminance making people easier to see. The mana would pass through walls with little difficulty allowing the mage to see people that were out of sight or in other rooms. That seemed kind of cool.

…with intent the mana vortex will expand and cause a reaction in the mana particles, the centre cannot hold and the resulting reaction will cause the particles to expand outwards. When they collide with the human force in the bloodstream they will recoil and burn upon themselves creating a light source that is visible from some distance away.

Mana is a form of energy and thus can travel through solid objects, coming in contact with life on the far side of walls or columns. With practice a wide area can be spanned.

“Hi Devon,” a familiar voice called out from behind me.
Tina was standing behind me. How did she keep sneaking up on me like that? She had a pile of books casually tucked under one arm and a curious look on her face. If she were here then it must mean that History class was over and it was now recess. It’s amazing how easy it was to lose track of time when you’re reading this damned book. She quickly pulled up a chair and sat down next to me.

“What’s that you’re reading?”
“Nothing much,” I replied quickly as I closed the window with Renee’s grandfather’s document.
Tina actually looked a little nervous and bit her bottom lip. I was eager to return to my research, but also curious. “What’s up?” I asked, attempting to draw her out.
“You roller-skate don’t you?” Tina began.
“Blade actually,” I corrected.
“Do you think you can teach me how?”
“Sure,” I said. “Do you own a set of skates?” I was pretty cocky about my skating abilities. I wouldn’t say I was the best skater in the world, but I was pretty good.
“No, I thought I’d hire some,” said Tina. “From the skating rink.”
I had pictured teaching her on the streets. “Yeah, sure… when were you thinking?” I said.
“What about this Friday? I’ll pick you up,” Tina suggested shyly.
“Umm, that could be difficult. I need to go to my dad’s on Fridays.”

“I can drop you back there or at least to a train station afterwards,” Tina assured me.
“You’re sure? It’s a long way.”
“It’s no problem. My dad bought me a car for my birthday,” Tina stated proudly.
My dad had talked about buying me a car for my eighteenth but I don’t think he was ever really serious about it. I was happy enough with the laptop he had bought me instead, but a car would have been awesome. I didn’t have my driver’s licence anyway – so a car would have been wasted on me.
“Sure, I’ll ring my old man, and let you know tomorrow,” I replied. “ Who else is going?”
“Umm… I’m not sure,” Tina said.
“I’ll invite Sarah and Tony?” I said.
“Great!”
“See you then, Tina,” I called as she got up to leave.
I got back to the documents with an eagerness I’d never shown to my text books. It was dry – but it was relevant. I badly needed somewhere to practice – somewhere where I wouldn’t be interrupted. I pondered going back to the toilets, but quickly dismissed the idea. I really didn’t particularly want to hang out in a dingy bathroom for any extended period of time.
I needed somewhere remote, somewhere no-one would go. I quickly scanned the timetables in the entry hall to the library and quickly realised that there wasn’t going to be such a place – I’d have to wait till I got home. Mum wouldn’t come home until late tonight as she had her night classes.
The rest of the day passed pretty slowly as I worked the concepts that I’d learned over in my head. I still wasn’t sure that I completely understood all the specifics of how the Principle of Detonation varied from the Principle of Extension.
I went straight home after school, telling Garry and Tony that I still hadn’t finished my homework. Tony gave me a funny look as if he didn’t believe me but let it go. I moved into my bedroom and began by re-reading the section on the Principle of Detonation. The document was getting easier to read the more of it I read.
I began with the breathing techniques that the document had recommended. The awareness spell required a high level of focus as I forced the mana particles to leap from my fingers into a swirling vortex between my hands.
It took me a good hour or so to get the mana to leap from my fingers and not form a thread. I hadn’t seen this performed before so I didn’t really know what to expect. I had just about given up when a mana particle fell from my fingers and hung suspended between my two hands.
It dissipated almost immediately, but I was able to duplicate the effect afterwards. The next challenge was getting more particles to join the first.
I forced more and more particles into the mana vortex and watched it grow in size. It gradually grew to the size of a basketball. Once the vortex reached a certain size I could see that I was losing more particles than I was gaining. I’d obviously reached the limit of what I was able to use. I knew from my previous attempts that if I tried to make the vortex too big it would collapse in on itself. Nervous about making a mistake I attempted to detonate the mana. Nothing happened. Once I had stopped pumping in more mana, the vortex quickly dwindled in size and quickly disappeared completely.
I had no idea how to get the vortex to detonate.
The document wasn’t much help as it didn’t give any specifics. It had said that the amount of mana required was minimal. Maybe I had used too much and that was the problem? I tried a second with much less mana this time. This didn’t make any difference as the vortex still faded and vanished. Frustrated, I returned to the document and re-read the relevant section.
There just weren’t enough details on how to perform the technique. It was as if the document was written for someone who already practiced the basics of mana, not someone as completely untrained as me.
This probably was the case, I reflected ruefully.
I began to wish that the document was indeed written as an incantation, simply recite the words and the spell would work. It always looked so easy when they did it that way on TV shows.
Tired and frustrated, I returned back to the document and kept reading. Eventually Renee’s grandfather moved on to further points, but it wasn’t until I got towards the bottom of the document and read the following section that I discovered another interesting point.

…The aura of a mage is different from a human. It is darker, soaked with the residue of expended mana. Those capable of reading auras will determine that the aura is that of a particularly creative or passionate person, however this is not always the case. When using the awareness spell the luminance provided by one with a mana-soaked aura is far greater – as the effect is intensified by the mana in the aura. Mages can be seen via an awareness blast at a far greater distance and with far greater clarity.

Great, the one spell I couldn’t figure out properly was the spell I was supposed to use to find Renee. Brilliant! I hadn’t seen the point of this spell until now. Subconsciously I hadn’t really wanted the spell to work. I was blocking myself but not consciously. It was amazing how often I was doing this to myself.
Reinvigorated, I attempted the technique again, my legs crossed on the bed, my hands held outstretched with a small vortex of blue mana slowly revolving in the gap between my fingers. I gently flexed my fingers.
Boom.
With a burst of bright light, the vortex exploded sending particles spinning in various directions, most were quickly absorbed back into my body, but several made it as far as a metre away before dissipating.
Well, it was a start. But unless Renee was hiding behind my wardrobe I doubt I’d be able to find her using this technique. Pleased with myself, I resolved to test that again later and finish reading the document. At the bottom of the document was a footnote: a comment left by Renee’s grandfather.

…mages must always hide their power from the world around them, our kind does not exist in the fabric of society and society MUST be protected from our existence. Should they discover us, one of the two must end, either we will be hunted into extinction, or we will destroy that society in an effort to control it.
The world is changing around us now and becoming smaller. The mistakes of our kind cannot exist in a world dominated by the media. You must always be careful, my student, and remember that we practice what we learn in the hope that we never need to use it.
Others of our kind are our only threat and in them we face our greatest challenge. Too many of our kind fall prey to arrogance of their powers. Too many claim godhood and declare themselves all-powerful. They always fall.
I urge you with humility to learn from my mistakes, from the consequences of my actions. We are not gods, we are but men with a man’s weakness and faults.
It is folly to assume that with great power comes the authority and maturity to exercise that power responsibly. Too many of our kind have fallen along that path and been destroyed.
Victor Whittlesea

1992

This just raised further questions. What mistakes had Victor made? Who was this apprentice that Victor had left notes for? Was it Renee? This didn’t seem like the kind of message you would leave for a grandchild.
I pushed the laptop away from me and suddenly became aware that I was very weary. It was the kind of fatigue that sneaks up on you. My body was jazzed and I could feel the energy coursing through it. My leg was twitching slightly and my fingers kept moving nervously almost of their own accord. I had a slight headache and my temples began to throb. It’s funny how you don’t really notice a headache at first, but once you do it seems to increase in intensity. I flicked my laptop closed quickly and walked into the kitchen. I went and took some aspirin, saying hello to my mum who had just returned home and was unpacking groceries.

The headache stayed with me all night.

* * * *

I was in English class again the following morning. There were exactly twenty-three people in the room with me. This was obvious and I could have learned this without any mystical assistance by simply looking around the room. What I couldn’t have known though, was that there were exactly twenty-four people in the room next door.
My awareness spell had worked. It had only covered this classroom and the two next to it – but it had worked.
I could still see a faint residue of their auras swimming across my vision. The awareness spell had gone off flawlessly. It had been a calculated risk to attempt a spell around people without drawing attention to myself.
I quickly realised that telekinesis would be impossible due to its very nature. I couldn’t hide what I was doing as things moving around the room by themselves would naturally draw attention. This was unfortunate as it could have been used to achieve the most entertaining results – and Tony would love it. But this would give me away and I had taken Renee’s warning to remain off the radar seriously. I didn’t want to do anything to anger her. My instincts told me that angering her would be amongst the last things I ever did.
All in all, my test had gone fairly well, no-one had seemed to notice anything. My heart still pounded in my chest and I expected at any moment someone to turn to me and exclaim, “What the hell is that?”
I had slowly built the mana up in my fingers using my book as cover. I tentatively glanced around before I released the blast. I gasped softly and watched with wonder as the wave of mana passed across everyone bringing a faint blue aura to everyone’s shape. Although I knew what to expect I was still shocked as the wave passed through the wall and ghostly blue halos began to appear in my vision. I could see the wall, but I could now make out the shapes of people behind it. It was awesome.
“Are you okay?” Garry whispered from behind his book.
“I’m fine,” I hissed, a manic grin still plastered on my face.
The double vision of the mana auras made my eyes water and made it difficult to see. I noticed with some discontent that the text on the book inches below my face was practically unreadable.
Garry kept taking furtive glances in my direction when he thought that I wasn’t paying attention.
I tried to estimate the distance that I had seen into the other room. Assuming that the classroom was full, I had probably only been able to extend the area of effect about five or six metres into their room.
This distance was still a far cry from what Renee’s grandfather had claimed was possible, but this was a good start. After a minute, my vision returned to normal and I could no longer see the auras of those in the other room, and my ability to read small text returned soon after. The lines on the page slowly sharpened back into focus.
While it was amusing to see people in the other room, it was not overly productive. Until I could extend the area of effect, I couldn’t see the spell being overly useful in my search for Renee. I tried several times again but I just couldn’t seem to get the effect to continue out any further than the next room. I didn’t know if it was because I was trying to be inconspicuous or because I merely didn’t know what I was doing.