Wizards of the Otherworldly Court: Alicia Part 1

Chapter 5: Maneg 101

Manegia (World where the Otherworldly Court resides)

Year 1412

KABOOM

"What was that!?" Alicia shouted.

"I think that was Hans throwing [Explosion] over there," Owen commented as a giant red-orange spherical dome rose over the distance. "And there goes the [Missiles]."

BOOM
              BOOM
                            BOOM
                                          BOOM

"Anyway," Owen continued, unfazed by the explosions. "Welcome to the Training Grounds."

"What do you mean by that!?" Alicia exclaimed further. "This is an entire wasteland!"

She was right. Everything around them is completely desolate. The ground is entirely ashes and there are many large holes including the [Mini Nuke] and [Missiles] the Court Wizard named Hans set off. It was a stark contrast to the building of the Otherworldly Court behind them.

It was that of a three-story castle similar to an ice palace made by a princess (though she should be a queen by that time) in a movie whose studio that made it had a mouse for its mascot. Well, only the bottom part of it, the middle part was of rectangular segments of many different colors: red, green, light blue, brown, black, crimson from where Alicia can see it; the very top of the castle, however, was dull grey and seemed to be an observatory. The castle was surrounded by a moat though no walls are surrounding the castle. Incidentally, Alicia and Owen passed through the western bridge and into the Training Ground (wasteland).

"Well, it's supposed to be a site of a huge battle which made the place completely wasted," Owen explained. "Afterwards, the Court decided to make it more of a wasteland by making the whole area the spot where we can throw whatever Orders we want on it. It's got a sound-absorbing barrier around it so the neighbors wouldn't get disturbed."

"I see..."

"Anyway, recruited Court Wizards like you usually learn everything about the Otherworldly Court in a little over the course of a year, mentored by me, the one who 'recruited' you, and one other person."

"So it is like a school term."

"Yeah... that sums it up pretty neatly. Well, for now, I'll start by explaining to you what Maneg Souls are, and maneg in general."

"Maneg Souls? You and father have thrown that term frequently... What is that you pulled out?"

Owen simply showed her the cover of a book with the title 'Maneg 101, by Amelia Rickens' and what seemed to be a bunch of... abstract doodlings by this Amelia Rickens.

"Uhm..." Alicia looked at her childhood friend.

"Uh... Just in case I forget some terms," Owen excused.

"Right..."

"If you don't mind, I'll go over this with my own words. You can ask me what you don't understand."

"Alright then, sounds good to me."

"Okay," Owen flipped the book open, reading it for a moment. "Right, so if we wanna talk about Maneg Souls, we gotta talk about maneg."

"Is that the magical source of our powers as Court Wizards?"

"Yeah, pretty much. But some of us think that it's not magic, especially the one who wrote this book, Amelia, even though she described it as magic and then going through an entire paragraph to tell that it's not."