Ordeal

Silas woke and met up with his master in front of their cave dwelling and stood to attention. His little body couldn't help from shaking. He kept mumbling to himself, 'I can see… I can see…' Master Luis waited for the excited dragon to settle down before he began. "Mana is the life force of all things," started Master Luis, "animate and inanimate objects all have their own mana flow but especially living beings, they are fueled by mana to survive."

Silas listened to his Master soaking in the info dump. "So I have this so-called mana too?" He sort of understood what was being said, but not really.

"Of course you do, you live do you not?" Master Luis rebutted, probing the young dragon.

"Hmm, how come I can't feel it if I have this mana?" Silas asked, still confused at this mysterious force called mana. This flow of conversation had confused him more than when he had to have a constant flow of conversation with his master in all the languages he had learned, interchangeably, for his last test.

Master Luis walked next to Silas and tapped the center of his chest. "Everyone has mana stored in the Orenda cavity next to your heart." He then sent a jolt of energy into the dragon. "All it takes is a little training. Try to feel the mana I have sent into you and locate the Orenda cavity. This is what all the meditating will be useful for." Master Luis said smiling, knowing how much Silas had hated the meditation practice.

After several minutes Silas exclaimed with an excited voice, "I found it! What now?" Master Luis shook his head approvingly. "Now come here and place your foot against the tree." He was quite surprised at how fast the dragon had gotten the hang of feeling the flow of external mana.

Silas did as he was told and went towards the sound of his master's voice, listened to where it bounced off of the tree and placed his foot against the tree. Every sound had a different reverberation off of different surfaces. He felt the smooth and kinda rough texture of the bark as he double checked just to be sure it was the tree.

"Now take that feeling and keep your sense in the cavity. Carefully guide this newfound sense though your cavity and try to make it bigger, once you get that down send it though your foot and out into the tree. If you concentrate enough you should be able to feel the flow of mana in the tree." Master Luis lectured again. After another several minutes Silas was able to feel the flow of mana. "Now follow the flow to the core of the tree. Once you do that you should be able to spread your sense to the whole object."

Silas did as told and was able to see the form of the tree in his mind. 'So that's a tree?' He thought to himself and started to tear up. "Master I'm able to see!" He yelled, tears Now falling from his gaze less eyes. He was just about as happy as he had ever felt in his entire life. Silas jumped into his master's embrace.

"No no boy, you are able to feel, it's much better than sight." The old man said with a smile. Soon after Silas went up to his master and sent his mana into him, finally seeing his form for the first time. "So this is a human?" He asked Master Luis. Silas had this explained to him many times but to see, rather feel, is to believe. "Yes boy, but we all have different appearances, especially at different ages.

Master Luis then spent the next several years teaching Silas how to use this mana sight to feel all around him and what every object he grew up learning about was. They went throughout all of the forest surrounding their abode and then a little bit further through the river and by the waterfall. They went to many beasts and met with them, many without conflict for reasons Silas was unaware of.

"Now young Silas, your final lesson. Combat." Master Luis said to Silas. Combat practice consisted mainly of dodging every strike sent towards him as well as the different types of weapons people could use. Silas was excited and somewhat scared by this because he knew it was the final lesson that his master had planned for him, after that Silas had no idea. This went on for a couple months before Silas had memorized the weapons that were being used against him and how to dodge them with relative consistency. Then Master Luis brought him into a field. He had this solemn look upon his face that the dragon couldn't see.

"Although you are still young, you have some decent blood in you. This should be able to work." Master Luis said to the dragon confusing him. Silas did not know what his master was referencing. Then, faster than Silas' mana sight could find, Master Luis' hand moved, throwing silver needles all over his body.

Silas felt a stinging pain that quickly became so powerful that he couldn't help but yell out. "Master, what are you doing, what's happening to me." This was way worse than the child had ever felt from the beating Master Luis would give during training or slacking off. This was the most pain that the young dragon had felt in his entire life, even worse than when he was thrown off of a mountain. Luis watched him suffer in silence as the boy kept crying out.

"Just endure it boy. I am awakening a power in you that shouldn't be allowed until the latter part of your adolescence." Master Luis said with a grave tone and guilty heart. 'This is for your own good boy.' Luis couldn't take it and he looked away for a moment but then steeled himself and looked back just to make sure nothing would go wrong in this process.

Several hours later the pain had started to subside and Master Luis fed Silas a medicinal broth. He had spoon fed the dragon that couldn't even move due to the pain and barely recognized it was his master feeding him. He lay on the ground limp, and after a short break the pain came back even worse than before. This cycle lasted a total of 3 nights before ending.

Silas lay unconscious in a pile of filth and blood, his body having a new sheen to it. Master Luis smiled at the young one and thought to himself, 'the ordeal is over, you deserve your rest.'