Erikan had grown up in a world of heat and flame. Every day, he accompanied his father Gaël to the forge. The crackling fire, the hiss of molten metal, the rhythmic pounding of the hammer on the anvil... all of it was part of his daily routine. But to him, none of it was ordinary. It was a laboratory. A source of observation.
They lived in a world that, at first glance, resembled the medieval age Erikan knew from his former life: dirt roads, horse-drawn carts, stone and timber houses, open-air markets, noisy taverns, and nobles perched in their castles. But here, one thing changed everything: mana. This invisible energy infused reality. Not all lamps burned oil—some glowed thanks to small light crystals. The wealthiest traveled in levitating carts powered by mana-fueled artifacts. The most renowned blacksmiths, like Gaël in his youth, knew how to bind elements to metals to create living weapons.
One night, while watching the stars, Stella had whispered to him that this world held more secrets than he could imagine. She told him of legendary artifacts: earrings that could detect lies, boots that passed through walls, blades that sang in response to their wielder's anger. She spoke of towers that held chambers larger than entire cities, and books that wrote the future of those who read them.
He had once been a scientist, in another life. And though he no longer had the instruments or labs of his former world, he retained the essentials: rigor, method, analytical instinct. He knew how to formulate a hypothesis, structure a protocol, record data. And above all, he knew how to doubt.
That doubt had been haunting him for a while. Why did each person have an affinity with one or more elements? Why were these affinities revealed at the age of twelve, during the Awakening Ceremony? Was it genetic? Spiritual? Environmental? Or simply random?
One afternoon, as Gaël hammered a glowing metal bar, Éric closely observed how his father manipulated the fire.
— Dad… when you do that, do you feel something? The mana?
Gaël looked up, surprised.
— Hm? Yes, I feel it. Like a heat I guide. It responds to my gestures, like a muscle. Why?
— Have you always felt it that way?
Gaël thought for a moment.
— I guess so. Since I was little. Fire's always been there. It runs in the Gaëls. And then at my Awakening, it was confirmed: fire affinity, grade B.
— Do you think fire chose you? Or did you cultivate it?
The blacksmith smiled gently.
— That's a strange question for a child.
Éric looked down but said nothing. He was taking mental notes.
That evening, he spoke with Stella.
— Do you think it's hereditary?
Stella, crouched over a wounded hare, let a soft blue light glow between her hands.
— In part. There are bloodlines. But that's not all. The state of the soul matters. Experiences, wounds, emotions… They shape affinity.
— And the grade?
— The grade reflects the depth of the bond. The more natural, powerful, intuitive it is… the higher the grade. But everything can evolve.
— Even space or time?
She raised an eyebrow.
— You're aiming high, my son. Those are myths. No one has shown affinity with time or space for centuries.
— Maybe we just haven't searched properly.
She looked at him for a long time, then placed a hand on his head.
— Then search, Éric. And if you find it, promise me you won't lose yourself in it.
He nodded, eyes shining.
But what Stella didn't know was that her son was already losing himself.
Éric had a tendency to isolate himself. He ate in silence, spent hours observing nature or objects, scribbled symbols in a notebook he always kept nearby. He responded politely, but rarely with enthusiasm. Gaël found it amusing sometimes. Stella, however, was worried.
She could see Éric avoiding without fleeing. He was there, yet always elsewhere. When she spoke of memories, legends, or feelings, he listened distractedly, his gaze drifting. When she placed a hand on his shoulder, he didn't pull away, but he didn't hold it either.
She wished he would laugh more. Argue with other children. Cry, maybe. But he was too calm. Too mature. Too alone, sometimes. As if childhood didn't truly belong to him.
And yet, Erikan wasn't doing it on purpose. He didn't even realize the distance he put. For him, everything was a matter of balance. He was both here… and elsewhere.
The next day, he resumed his observations. He built a personal classification of the elements.
But he didn't stop there. Erikan began thinking deeply about the very nature of mana.
He knew that in his former world, matter was made up of atoms, themselves composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons. The idea came to him one evening, while observing the mana crystals he had collected:
— What if mana wasn't a vague or mystical energy, but a fundamental particle? A basic building block of reality?
He noted in his journal:
"Mana could be the energetic equivalent of neutrons or protons. Perhaps there's a trinity here too: flow particle, stability particle, magical charge particle."
He named these hypothetical components: • Lumon: a flow particle, mobile, forming magical current. • Gravon: a density particle, anchoring matter. • Aetheron: a magical polarity particle, influenced by soul and will.
He tried to imagine their interaction. He speculated that a person whose Aetherons resonated with a specific elemental field, like fire, would naturally trigger a response from the environment. That was affinity.
But why? Why didn't he feel anything yet?
He began to meditate, to sense. For hours, eyes closed, he tried to perceive the world's invisible currents. He wanted to feel mana as a physicist studies the universe's fundamental forces. He didn't just want to awaken. He wanted to understand what awakening truly was.
And one day, it wasn't light or heat that came. It was pressure. Gentle, yet real. Like a shiver behind his thoughts.
Basic Elements: Fire, Water, Air, Earth
Derived Elements: Ice, Lightning, Metal, Magnetism
Advanced Elements: Life, Darkness, Light, Shadow, Gravity
Mythical Elements: Time, Space
Each evening, he whispered to his notebook:
— Mana is a living equation… and I will solve it.
He noted the grades: from E (weak awakening) to SSS (legendary affinity).
And one night, while Stella sewed by the hearth, he told her:
— I'll discover mana's fundamental laws. I promise.
She smiled, without pausing her work.
— Then start by respecting them. And never forget: just because you understand fire doesn't mean you won't get burned.
That night, he wrote in his notebook:
"Imagination is more important than knowledge, for knowledge is limited. — A. Einstein"
And that imagination, he would hone like his father's blade—until it cut through the very veil of the world itself.