Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Heidi

Berlin, Germany - the next day

Heidi woke up. Again. Her head was not pounding this time and she had no dreams, as was the norm.

‘I hope this does not become a habit’, she thought, opening her eyes, and tried to orient herself, as it was dark in the room. Not understanding where she was, she smelled the air and noticed that it was not stale anymore and was pleasant. It had a distinct smell of freshly cut roses and lavender.

Heidi recognized the room in a second. It was her room back in the Berlin mansion her family had owned for generations. Though she had no explanation as to how she got here. The last thing she remembered was walking after her father. Then there was a pulse of mana and she blacked out. ‘Most likely he went ahead and just transferred me back,’ she thought, understanding that her family did not trust common doctors, especially ones that were not their retainers.

'Too bad,' she thought, 'I would have liked to meet the man who saved me.'

Heidi went ahead and got out of bed, feeling rested. Whatever the problem was that caused her to pass out, it seemed to have been fixed by her clan's healers. She got her slippers and went toward the door, to try and find her father. She needed to inquire him about the man from the hospital and what had happened to her after she blacked out.

Going out of her room, she found herself in the familiar, cozy carpeted halls of her family’s manor. Heidi never understood the reason why the manor had to look so posh and contain so many different paintings on the walls and various rugs on the floor. It was excessive in her opinion.

Passing multiple rooms, she went to the staircase and downstairs to the study her father liked to frequent during the hours when it was dark. She knew that most likely this night would not be different and she will find him there.

Moving silently on the carpets, Heidi reached the room in question and found its door slightly ajar. However, before she could proceed to knock on the door, she heard a heated exchange between Viktor and her stepmother.

“Are you mad?” Adele asked in an exasperated voice. Heidi went closer to the door and put her ear against the frame, to hear better. “Have you gone completely mad, Viktor? Bringing a mud back with us? Risking the authorities to discover that you are smuggling an unconscious man over the border like that?”

“Hush! You could wake up the dead with your shouting,” Viktor interrupted her. “You know I would not do something rash, without an actual reason. Listen, that man is not a simple mud,” Viktor countered.

“Oh? And why is that so?” Adele asked, her tone mocking.

“As you know, I am also sensitive to mana fluctuations, not as much as Heidi, but still…”

“So?” she interrupted him again.

Viktor took a step toward her, clearly angered. “If you could not interrupt me for a minute,” he said and waited for her response. Seeing that she understood him, he continued, “I can feel when the mana is moving too quickly, such as when a spell is cast. However, in the hospital, no such thing was done. It just pulsed on its own, or so I thought.

“When I first got to the hospital and walked into the ward I felt it. So I got curious, as it seemed to not have come from the room Heidi and you were in,” Viktor paused and sat down. “Locating the source I discovered that it was the same room the man who called the ambulance was in. So I went to investigate.”

“What did you find?” Adele asked.

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“At first nothing unusual. Just a man, Heidi’s age, sleeping peacefully on the hospital bed. However, moving closer to him, I could feel it. The mana. It was slowly moving around him as if it was being breathed in. Like currents, flowing into a cave,” Viktor said, sipping on the glass of wine he found.

“You are too melodramatic, Viktor. Only some wild animal, affected by mana and mutating would do that,” Adele commented, taking a seat opposite him.

“Yes. That is why went closer and touched his arm to evaluate his core if he even had such,” Viktor took a sip from his glass and continued. “I found nothing. No mana core, nothing. Just vastness, like putting my hand into an ocean. That is how it felt touching him.”

Adele just sipped her wine, not taking her eyes off the slightly drunk Viktor.

“Then it happened again. The pulse. However, this time, as I was so close, it hit me with pure force and pushed me away, as if protecting him from my presence.”

“Then why bring him here?” Adele finally interrupted. “You should have called the Chruch and let their Bishops deal with him.”

“Yes. That is what you would do,” Viktor said, his tone darker, words slightly slurring. “The Inpes always call the Church when there is something wrong and they need protection.” Adele just looked at him, not responding.

“No! We, Aer, have sworn to help those in need. This boy is. I do not know what he is. but I know that he is in danger and he does not even know it. I will look to help him, not turn him over to the Church like some animal. They will not make him into some mindless priest,” Viktor waved his hand in spite, spilling his drink.

“Did you know that we could not trace him back to any of the clans yet?” he continued. “It appears that he sprung up out of nowhere. And his condition? In this day and age, when the environment is so polluted and mana does not accumulate in such quantities naturally anymore? It does not make sense,” Viktor exhaled, looking at Adele, feeling slightly sleepy from his drink. “You cannot tell anyone about this. The healer will keep silent as his vows require him to be, but you cannot tell anyone!”

“Viktor,” Adele began slowly. “We cannot harbor a wildling. Boy or not. You do not know what the Church will do if we are discovered. You cannot predict what he will do when he wakes up! From what you have described he does not have any control, none!”

“Ah, I do have a solution though. For a time at least,” Viktor said smiling, taking out a small silver bracelet and waving it before Adele. “This will help to contain the mana he has accumulated already before we find out what is wrong with him and how to help. Maybe we will be able to form a core out of it. I have already looked into the matter.”

Adele eyed the bracelet, recognizing it from their vaults, knowing that it could repress the mana in the wearer, however she did not understand why Viktor was bringing it up.

“And? What next?” she asked.

“I will have Heidi talk with him,” Viktor answered, putting the bracelet back in his pocket. “Give him some semblance of normalcy. Explain things more delicately, while giving him the bracelet. They are almost the same age, anyway. We know what happens with muds who think that they got power. Cannot just go in and tell ‘you are a mage now’,” Viktor took another sip from his glass and eyed Adele carefully.

“I will go and talk with her tomorrow, when she wakes up, and explain the situation. Again - delicately. Offer her guidance on how to handle the boy,” he said. “Do not, I repeat, do not tell anyone of the details! Especially your father! No one needs to know what I am planning to do,” Viktor said seriously, putting his glass on the table before them and getting up.

That prompted Heidi to take a step away from the door and walk away silently, as it was unbecoming to spy on her family and her father surely would reprimand her for doing so. She was not a little girl anymore to get caught in the act, as she always liked to spy on secret conversations her father had from a young age.

‘... like a wild animal… Who is this man?’ she thought, getting back in her bed and pulling a blanket up to her head, sleep catching her immediately.

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