Baroness Elena Ironside had never imagined that her life would have amounted to much. Born into a family of commoners, she had learned earlier than most that nothing was free. Forced to help support her family from a young age, she was no stranger to work.
Burdened by her family's station, she could only look upon nobles with envy. She had believed them fortunate for having been born with a silver spoon in their mouth. With all the money and power one could ask for, how could a noble ever be unhappy?
She had truly believed the life of a noble to be that simple, at least until the day she had found herself becoming one. She had been surprised when the news of her husband’s new title had reached her.
Always being gone on campaign, she had thought he must have died more times than she could count. She had spent many an anxious night waiting for an army postman to give her the news that her husband had died.
Yet the day never came. Instead, she found her husband returning home at the head of an army, a hero of the Altorian Kingdom. And with his rise, she found herself thrust into a life she had only dreamed of.
It wasn’t long however until she discovered that the glorious life of a noble had all been a fantasy in her head. Sure things were great at first: luxury furniture, maids and butlers to do all the house work, and every piece of clothing and jewelry she had ever dreamed of were within her grasp.
Yet with every passing day, she began to grow numb to the decadence of it all. The material goods and social recognition that were meant to make her happy, had only become a new burden she was expected to uphold.
She was no longer complimented for her new jewelry or dresses, only ridiculed for wearing old ones. Slowly she had felt herself growing bitter, yet it had all changed when her son had come into her life.
She had originally considered giving birth to an heir just another chore, something that was expected of any wife of a nobleman. Yet from the moment she had laid eyes on her own child, she was overcome with an indescribable set of emotions.
It was as if she no longer cared about the world around her anymore, only her baby could bring her happiness. If Lucius was sad, so was she. When the boy got angry, she would do so as well on his behalf.
Her only wish had become to give her child a better life than she had. Yet the last two years of her life, she had felt her influence slipping. Slowly as the boy's world grew in size, she began to realize she was no longer the child’s everything.
Of course the child still loved his mother, but slowly Elena began to feel she was losing her son to the library. It was partially because of her fear of losing Lucius’s attention, that she had agreed with Baron Ironsides's plan to go through with the marriage. While naturally she had concerns of losing him to the little harpy from the Astoll Viscounty, things couldn’t get any worse than they already had.
And so when the day of the young Lady Astoll’s arrival came, she had pulled out all the stops she could to make sure things went smoothly. She had reached out to all of her contacts to acquire the latest fashion, she had the groundskeeper trim the hedges in the garden, and she had made sure every entrance to the library had guards stationed, so that the young Lucius could not escape his fate.
With everything seemingly perfect, she had dragged the young Lucius to the lobby of the Ironside manor, reminding him of noble etiquette along the way. The foyer was ceremoniously lined with housing staff and guards, ready to welcome the guest of honor.
The doors opened with a whining creak, rays of sunlight progressively filling the hall in the process. Accompanied by a small entourage of support staff and guards, a young girl entered in elaborate attire.
Her hair was black and her eyes shone a deep blue, the same as her dress. The young girl fumbled her way toward Lucius, clearly uncomfortable with her outfit. She stopped some distance from the boy, and performed a curtsey to the best of her abilities.
Lucius returned the gesture in kind with a bow. “I greet Lady Iris of house Astoll” Lucius regurgitated the phrasing his mother had hammered into his skull.
“I greet Sir Lucius of house Ironside” the girl responded nervously, clearly embarrassed by the scene. As if her get-up and actions weren’t uncomfortable enough, she had felt like everyone in the room was staring at her.
Noticing the girl's timidness, Elena rushed the introduction of herself and her husband in a manner that was speedy, yet not rude. As soon as the formalities were finished, Elena ushered the new guests to their quarters and allowed the poor girl to change into some more comfortable clothes.
Before Lucius could drill a new entrance into the library, Elena rushed the boy to the manor’s garden out back and into a seat in the gazebo. Once the young Lady Iris had changed out of her stuffy dress and into a more comfortable set of clothes and shoes, she too was ushered to the pavilion where the maids of the house had prepared a cliche tea party.
In a white sun dress and a straw hat which had been adorned with a blue ribbon, Iris approached the gazebo to find Lucius already waiting with a slight frown on his face. Normally he did not enjoy sweets, preferring his tea black to the surprise of most. However the exception to his seeming dislike of sweets was the butter cookies the house chef would prepare for special occasions.
He had already snuck a few off the plate when no-one was looking, but to be caught eating before Iris had arrived would have been exceedingly impolite.
When the girl had taken a seat, the house staff had served the tea and left the two alone with a hand bell to ring if they were ever in need of service.
And so the two sat in an awkward silence for some time. Lucius’s frown had disappeared as he was quick to hoard all the butter cookies onto his plate, leaving only 1 in what he viewed as a peace offering.
With all the eyes now off of her, Iris mustered the courage to relax, and even dared to break the silence. “I had heard the Ironside territory was cold, yet the weather today is quite pleasant.” The girl offered an olive branch to Lucius, who had been busy stuffing his face.
“It normally is, summer is really the only time of year we get nice weather.” Lucius replied in a polite yet disinterested tone. The girl tried again and again to get a conversation started, yet Lucius never seemed to reciprocate.
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As if his mind was elsewhere, he replied with short answers to all of her questions, leaving few natural paths to continue the conversation. With her tea and patience running low, Iris snapped at the aloof Lucius. “You're making this really hard you know? If you don’t like any of the topics I picked, then why don’t you pick one yourself.” She spoke with a hint of frustration.
Lucius paused and pondered her words. He hadn’t bothered bringing up the theory of mana that he was cooking in his head, he doubted she would understand it anyway. Yet when given the chance to take control of the afternoon, he couldn’t refuse her offer.
Even if she had nothing to add to the conversation, Lucius jumped at the chance to do some research under the guise of entertaining the girl’s curiosity.
“Do you ever wonder what it means to be alive?” Lucius posed the question to the young girl.
“What do you mean, isn’t it obvious? Things that move are alive and things that don’t are not.” Iris responded to the strange question, unable to grasp its depth.
Lucius shook his head, disappointed with the shallow response. “Follow me, I want to show you something.” He stood up from his chair, inviting Iris to follow him.
He led her to the edge of the garden and through a small hole in one of the hedges. “Are you sure this is okay? We were told not to leave the garden.” Iris asked in a moment of hesitation.
“Iris, no-one likes a stickler for the rules, just hurry up. If we get caught, you can throw me under the carriage.” Lucius offered.
“Fine,” she relented. “But don’t forget what you said, that's a promise.” Iris clarified.
“Yeah, yeah.” Lucius responded in kind.
He led Iris down a dirt road and into the forest nearby. Ignoring her inquiries about their destination along the way. “You come from a line of mages, right? How much do you know about mana?‘ Lucius inquired.
“I only recently began learning from a teacher. I can detect it, but my mana control is still pretty bad.” Iris admitted with a hint of shame.
“That will be enough for what I want to show you.” Lucius replied, reassuring her.
Her progress had not been anything to be ashamed of, if anything it was impressive compared to most children her age. Yet being raised in a household of mages meant always comparing herself to her siblings.
“Look around you. What do you see?” Lucius's question brought her mind back to the present moment.
Iris gazed up and down left and right, observing their surroundings. The small dirt road was lined by shrubbery and forest overgrowth, the forest itself was comprised of a dense set of trees each different yet similar.
“Trees and rocks,” the girl responded to his question. Lucius face palmed, wondering if there was any hope for the girl.
“The mana Iris, look again. What do you see?” Lucius tried again.
Iris did as instructed, filtering her senses to perceive mana, as her instructor had taught her. The forest lit up like a Christmas tree, filling her eyes with nearly every color in the rainbow. The tall trees gave off a red glow, while the shrubbery below gave off hints of blue and violet.
Iris turned and looked at Lucius whose body gave off the full spectrum of colors unlike that of the plants. “The big trees are red, the small ones are blue, and you look like a rainbow.” Iris explained.
“5 points to the young Astoll.” Lucius joked. “You’re partially correct, but you’re not seeing the bigger picture. Why are the trees colored? and more importantly, what isn’t colored?” Lucius offered her a clue.
She took one more look at her surroundings and returned once again with her findings. “The plants and animals are colored, but the rocks and dirt release no mana?” Iris asked rhetorically, unsure if she had arrived at the desired answer.
“10 points for accuracy, 5 points for the late submission” Lucius responded, assuring her that she had finally succeeded. “And so with that in mind, I ask you again: What does it mean to be alive?” Lucius posed the question to Iris once again.
Only this time, she took a moment to think before she answered. “To be alive is to release mana.” the girl stated somewhat confidently.
“I apologize, my question has been misleading from the start, but you have found the answer I was looking for anyway. You’re correct in understanding that all living things release mana, but mana is merely a product of life, not its source.” Lucius attempted to explain to Iris, whose head turned in confusion.
“Every living creature in this world emits mana, filtered through its core. Some living things release only one color, others a variety, but they all release at least one color of mana. Yet as I’m sure you have figured out, the mana core does not create mana, it simply filters it.” Lucius continued his lecture.
“So if all living things release mana, and the core only filters it, then where does mana come from?” Iris asked the first thoughtful question since the two had met, bringing a smile across Lucius’s face.
“Good question, and you will soon have your answer. We’re here, the place I wanted to show you.” Lucius responded.
He led Iris through a clearing in the trees and onto a sandy beach that divided the edge of the forest and a lake. The lake was large, yet the bank on the other side was still visible. In the middle of the lake stood a small island, adorned sparsely with vegetation.
“Wow!” Iris managed only one word, mesmerized at the sight before her. “Come, have a seat, I couldn’t think of a better place to show you the answer.” Lucius ordered the girl, snapping her out of her daze.
She sat upon the rock as requested, taking a pose that she found comfortable. “I know you said your control wasn’t great, but I want you to try accumulating some mana. Reach out across the lake and feel that which you cannot see. When you feel you have a hold on something, don't let it go, pull it into your core. With each breath, grab some more.” Lucius instructed.
Iris did as told, following the instructions with what little experience she had accumulating mana. Just as Lucius had described she reached her mind out over the lake and pulled. She could feel herself grasping something, yet it remained invisible to her mind.
Despite seeing nothing, she continued following Lucius’s instructions, forcing whatever she had grasped into her core. As soon as she felt it touch, she could feel the mana swelling in her core. Shortly after, a faint display of colors radiated from her core, just as Lucius had described.
“It’s mana!” she blurted out upon the realization. “But how come it's invisible?” She asked curiously.
“I don’t know, but I’ll tell you what I do know. To be precise the mana itself is not invisible, it’s simply very hard to detect. When mana enters the core of a living being, it undergoes some process which results in the change of color. When we are young, the mana in our core is released in a broad variety of colors, hence why I appear like a rainbow, but when we grow older, for some reason the core stabilizes, releasing only 1 color. If you observe an adult closely you will notice it, but what’s even more interesting is that the color is not random. For some reason, every swordsman’s mana is red and every mage’s mana is blue.” Lucius continued to ramble, oblivious to whether or not the girl understood the significance.
Iris had not fully grasped the meaning of his words, but despite her ignorance, she knew his observations were significant. Suddenly she had grown curious, and had even managed to grow some respect for the boy which she had written off as rude until now.
Lucius felt he had succeeded in diagnosing the problem with spellblades, but solving the issue had proven to be much harder than he had anticipated. If red mana was better suited to physical enhancement, it made sense why swordsmen would lose the ability to cast spells, and vice versa for mages.
If he could only discover a way to control the color of the mana he released, his dream of becoming a spellblade would be within his grasp. The only problem was that it was a task easier said than done. For how could one even begin to control their own mana core in such a way? Lucius believed he had found the final wall, the wall that no scholars have been able to surmount despite a millennium of research, the reason why spellblades had become a myth.
