Mana Pool Snippets - The Days After

One

"I mean it! I'm one croging dangerous bastard!"

Jaruka fired a few more shots. One shrub became a two-foot wide charred crater, and a few more were set on fire only to be quickly snuffed out by the plasma bullet's specialized magic.

He dropped the spent rifle, fell to his knees in dizziness, and then screamed into the night sky. Jaruka hoped his threats and screams went toward Creos, the capitol planet of the galaxy. "Crogen laws! I hate you! Rot away you tripodic, pin branch politician!" He punched the ground in defeat.

Why? He thought. Why me?

He looked at the bottle he had dropped, all of the remaining brew had soaked into the soil. "Dammit," he grumbled. He grabbed the bottle and smashed it against the dropship's hull. Screw rations.

Jaruka stood, still dizzy, and went back into the ship. Inside, he noticed movement near his belongings. The species of the visitor was hard to distinguish because of his blurry sight, but he swore he saw fur.

"The hell do you want?!" He screamed before being hit in the face with fowl smelling water, and he gagged on the rancid taste. Jaruka fell backwards, hitting his head on a post.

*****

Walsh Estate Winery

December 26, 2012

9:20 AM

"Breathe in. Breathe out. In with the good, out with the bad."

Katie repeated the mantra five times; her concentration increased and anxiety decreased. She stood with arms in front and palms facing each other a couple inches apart. Her forced relaxation flowed through her terran body; she was calm, collected, undistracted, and in control of herself.

Focusing on the space between her hands, she felt the familiar, tingling shift of terran energy from within her spine flowing down to her arms and fingertips. She smiled as she felt the strong mana charge manifest.

Both of Katie's parents and her two brothers were sitting on the living room couch while her boyfriend, Scott Dunne was in the recliner. There had been some previous apprehension from the family concerning the totems in the room—Scott's husky, Keeji, and Katie's red-tailed hawk, Arana—but the past two days had eased the family. "Okay, I got it working," Katie said. "Don't make me laugh."

Brenda, Katie's mother, took a nervous breath. "Why doesn't that make me feel safe, Katie?"

The mana charge disappeared and Katie dropped her hands as both Robert, Katie's brother, and Scott gave exasperated sighs. "Mom. Please. You asked about it, I'm doing it. Don't be afraid. I got this."

"I get that, Katie. It's just...I'm not sure you won't blow stuff up in front of us. Like on the news."

"Oh God, she won't, just let her," Robert said, feeling as frustrated as Katie.

Brenda opened her mouth to continue, but Robert stopped her. She dipped her head and nodded.

"Anyway," Katie said as she restarted the process. Within three seconds of beginning the steady breaths and internally repeating her mantra, the mana charge returned.

It had taken an hour of convincing Brenda, and two hours of Katie convincing Jonathan, her father, for either of her parents to allow her to practice. The local news had been painting terran magic as evil, loose, and uncontrollable energy that was ready to explode at any moment. Katie hoped that showing her family that she could control her mana would negate the propaganda.