Beyond?

***Free City States of Nict, Tri***

***Azir***

I yawn while walking down the corridor. My mother didn't react very well to my news. Apparently Ingrid's daughter has the inborn ability of the Siorda. Some of her blood was left behind on the carpet and Laney analysed it. I am a little freaked out by the scientific knowledge of this world. In some areas they are a super high tech civilisation and in others they are living under a rock. Magic makes everything possible I guess?

The troublesome thing is that neither her father, nor her grandparents are related to the Siorda. So that means that she is either a genetic regression of a distant ancestor, or she is genetically altered, or her official father isn't her real one. Something which isn't exactly forbidden in this world, but still not well looked upon.

The point is that she is far ahead of her age and tried to take a sample of my blood. Mother was enraged. She even thought about to mobilizing our army to burn Hexa to the ground, but dad stopped her.

In the end it was concluded that we should keep our mouths shut about the incident. As long as the Tinn don't reveal that I am not normal it's better to keep silent. If we announce that Ingrid's daughter Annice is some kind of freak it would surely backlash on us. The Tinn would have no reason to keep silent about me either. As long as both families say nothing nobody gets into trouble.

At least Mother gave a week's ration of candy to me as an apology for being treated like a stud horse. She explained that the people in Hexa were more extreme in terms of the gender gap. Having more magicians of one gender seems to influence the social order that way.

I am not a fan of gender equity. There are simply things which men do better than women and on the other hand there are things which women do better than men. It isn't just a case of who bears the children... or lays the eggs. Everyone who denies that is escaping reality. You can't judge all members of a race with two different genders with the same laws. You would always create a situation which is unfair to at least half of the population. But the thing Ingrid did to me went a step too far.

Turning around the corner, I freeze. My sister's egg is broken, and little sister is gone! “Waaa!” I run up to the opened egg and look inside. No little sister. Crap. I visited every morning to take a look at it. I hoped that my little sister would be similar to a bird. If I am the first thing she sees, she may adore me and I would have an easier time dealing with her.

I turn the egg and shake it. Crap. Mom must have been faster. Don't underestimate the instincts of a mother. That probably means that she is with dad, showing off her newest creation. I leave the temperature regulated chamber and dash towards dad's office.

Arriving there I find dad with a baby on his lap. Her skin is a little wrinkled and her hair is a light metallic blue. Mother is patting her head. So I come closer to have a better look.

“Greet your little sister, Valeria.” Mother is all smiles.

I reach for her chubby hand. “Whoa, you are ugly. I wish for you that it gets better with time. Hopefully you inherited more from Mother's side than from Dad's.”

“Hey!” Yoran looks hurt. “I'll teach you that your father is still someone to look up to! Get a stick! I'll train your body until you bleed!”

Valda smacks Yoran on the back of his head. “He is still too young. His body won't develop the right way if he starts to train now!”

I nod. Yes, training until you bleed doesn't sound like the right way to do it.

Valda squints her eyes and looks at me. “But we can start his magic instructions. Then he has more time to concentrate on his body once he is old enough.”

Tilting my head, I raise a finger to protest. “Yeah, erm. We have to talk ab...”

“No objections! I'll teach you myself. We'll begin ASAP!” Valda grabs my hand while her tail snatches Valeria from Yoran's lap. “Actually I already waited too long to find out what you are really capable of. We'll remove your seal and start with the basics.”

***

“~Hmmhmm.~” I have my magic back! “Hahahaha. Finally! It was like I lost a limb!” I raise my hands while ten glowing orbs of mana are circling around me. One thought and one of them forms a magic circle under my feet. The magical formation activates and the gravitation magic causes me to float upwards.

A wave of my hand causes another orb of mana to form a zodiac rune of flame, which ignites and a flame surge blasts one of the training dummies apart. Another thought turns the next orb into an arcane missile and it impales the second dummy.

The ability of my clan is simply overpowered! I was always good at magic, but this is a new level of control! And it took my mother just one hour to teach me the basics! Normally I would have to use the mana of my own body to cast a spell. Or I would need to absorb it from my surroundings and then use it. But with this I can simply command the latent mana which is all around me.

I rotate my hands and my body starts to spin because of the centrifugal force. “This inborn ability to control mana makes casting spells much easier!” How powerful must the abilities of the other clans be to keep up with this?

“Aha...” Mother is sitting with a deadpan expression on the floor while she clucks Valeria. We are inside the big training hall on our clan's property.

Yoran is standing with crossed arms at her side while he watches my display. “Are you supposed to use your control over mana like that? Normally our clan members would just infuse mana into something to take control of it. Or they blast the enemy to pieces with a burst of pure mana.”

Valda shakes her head and a single tear runs down her cheek. “That's not how it was supposed to turn out. I thought I could teach him all my skills, but he is better at fine mana manipulation than me! He created a gravitational spell without any effort at all.”

Yoran shrugs his shoulders. “So battle practice then? And spear training?”

“Fufufufu...” Valda shoves Valeria into Yoran's arms. “I'll teach him to respect the feelings of his elders instead of showing off with his otherworldly knowledge!”

A surge of power almost dispels my flying magic and all the mana in the vicinity starts to gather around Valda. “I'll show you why I am the head of this clan.”

“What?” I struggle to keep my control over the orbs of mana which I gathered by using my ability.

Then Valda lifts off. No spell, no magical circle, no runes, just pure power and her will lifts her to my height while the mana around her gets thicker and thicker! It's like a bubble of water is gathering around her. So much mana!

A tentacle of shimmering energy lashes out at me and I hurriedly erect a barrier. “That's dangerous, Mom!” The tentacle closes around my barrier and both forces oppose each other with a shower of sparks.

“~Fufufu.~ I'll teach you the nature of magic. So do your best to survive.” Her grin turns vicious and I realise that the mana which holds up my barrier is being used up faster than expected. Is my barrier being absorbed by Valda's tentacle?

“You are cheating!” I reach for the balls of collected mana and absorb them. If Valda can take over my spells I should try to protect my resources. Then I concentrate on a spot behind Valda and teleport.

I reappear and point both of my opened palms at her. “Drain!” A small channel of mana connects me and the bubble of power around her.

My attempt at stealing her mana isn't as effective as I hoped. I feel my mana pool increasing, but too slowly. It's not stopping her from sending another tentacle at me and I evade. The tentacle crushes the floor instead.

I gasp and evade the next one. Why isn't she using more of them at once? Is she training me? “This could take a while.”

***Free City States of Nict, Tri***

***Valda***

I hum a happy tune as I walk with my hands behind my back towards Yoran who retreated to the entrance of the training hall with Valeria in his arms.

Azir is entangled in my tail and gasping for air. He put up a good fight and I couldn't recognize some of his spells. But in the end he lost the battle over the mana in our surroundings.

A magical battle isn't just a matter of weighing one mana pool against another. You also have to fight over the latent magical power all around you. Taking over this power is our clan's strength. Azir has yet to realize how much power we can access with our ability.

When he formed his mana orbs, he only concentrated the mana in his immediate surroundings. I on the other hand had the whole area of our property for myself.

But Azir's manipulative control over mana is outstanding. He'll beat me with ease once he is old enough and gets a grip on his ability. I am tempted to keep him as the new head of our clan, even if it goes against our tradition.

Yoran clicks his tongue as he surveys the training hall. “You went all out. It'll take a while to repair this.”

“~Hahahaha.~” I cross my arms in front of my chest. “I had to educate the youngster on the full extent of our ability.”

Azir hits weakly onto my tail, not giving up even now. “That... was just... raw... force... if I... was older... and had... more... endurance...”

I pat his his head. “Don't fret over it. We'll get you into shape.”

Yoran frowns. “You just can't stand it if someone is better than you, Valda.” Then he looks at Azir. “And regarding the spear practice...”

Azir looks up with a hopeful smile on his face. “Yes?”

“No magic during spear practice!” He points at the destroyed training hall. “I can't pay for the damage if we wreck our property every lesson.”

.