The roots of a tree often go unnoticed. They are hidden from the world above, seldom thought of or appreciated. And yet, they are essential for the tree’s survival. Without roots, a tree has no stability and topples over in the slightest wind. Without roots, a tree shrivels up and dies from a lack of nutrients and water. Similar to the foundation of a house, the roots of a tree are crucial, but often neglected.

- A surviving extract from the journal of the first Great Wanderer

Lino woke with a grin on his face. As he sprung up off of his straw mattress, his lips were turned upwards in a manic smile. When he changed into his worn uniform, he was beaming. Lino’s avid grin remained pasted on his face through his entire morning routine.

It was a stark contrast to his usual days. There was very little for him to celebrate, after all. Lino received enough food, water, and amenities from his adoptive ‘father’ to satisfy the elders, and no more. As such, he had a slight build and unruly hair. He slept in the loft of the barn, and lived off of a plain diet.

However bad his living conditions seemed, they were adequate. Tingrath — the farmer assigned to care for him — gave him enough to live by without worry, using the money supplied by the elders. The man probably came out with a fair bit of profit, which Lino suspected was why he put his hand up when Ramaat had found him outside their gates just over sixteen sun cycles ago.

No, while Tingrath was not a loving guardian, he left Lino be, and that was enough for him. He bore no resentment or ill will towards the man. After all, with Lino’s latest achievement he was set up to do quite well.

Lino had always aspired to become a great mage. It was one of the few things he was still able to do, being shunned by the entirety of the town of Ramaat. The sight of his unusually dark brown eyes — that looked jet black in poor light — was enough to repel all but the most dedicated from any potential beneficial interactions with him. He was always made to pay extra anytime he bought something, which was why Tingrath almost never asked Lino to do so. Ramaat would always dismiss him as anything but a mage, and even then he would have to rise near the top to earn their respect.

“Shade-blood,” they called him. “Orphan,” “reject,” “criminal,” “scoundrel,” “coward.” The list went on and on, names called out by the children at the school, or any communal place. The adults never intervened on Lino’s behalf. He suspected it was because they had similar thoughts, but were just too polite to say it. Even the elders, in their mansions up on the hill, did not interfere. They must have harboured the same belief, even if it was to a lesser extent and exponentially more well restrained.

The whole town looked down on Lino because of his origin and his nature. He had been found outside the gates on an otherwise ordinary night, which set him apart enough. It was a mystery as to how he had got there. There was nothing outside the walls but a harsh jungle, deadly to even the patriarch. It was impossible for anyone to live in such a place, right?

And yet Lino had been found there. Most believed that he had been unwanted and abandoned by some woman in a daring escapade to preserve her anonymity, but there was always a seed of doubt, a tiny inkling that whispered of another settlement far away, in a better condition.

Even such a tiny inkling made the elders worried. They had already lost citizens to the horrors of the wilderness since Lino’s appearance, and Ramaat needed all the manpower they could get. The elders were reluctant to leave any seed that may blossom into a rebellion. And so they reinforced the old teachings — the wall protects you. Outside is nothing. Outside is dangerous. The enchantments are the only thing protecting you.

Then, there was Lino’s magical ability. When they did the usual tests at age nine, what they found shocked them all.

Lino had zero potential for light. It was a first, never even heard of. But, on the other hand, his potential for shadow hit new peaks, also never seen before.

His potential for shadow was 11.3.

A full 0.6 higher than the previous record, held by Bystrenioc Dracos — a well known criminal turned nursery rhyme from a century ago.

Everyone freaked out. This was unbelievable. The elders held a meeting to discuss what to do a mere seventeen minutes after the results came in, leaving jobs and responsibilities everywhere.

After weeks of back and forth, their official decree was to let Lino develop on his own. They would not give him any specific resources tailored to a shadow mage, but neither would they hinder him. He would be allowed to progress through his own efforts and hard work, but would not receive lessons adapted to fit the void element of shadow, rather than the resplendent shine of light like the rest of the town.

Such a decision made the town angry. As they saw it, such a bad omen should have been enough to throw him outside the walls. They wanted to, “put him back where he came from”. However, the elders had standards so their decision made sense

Lino was very happy with the decision that was made. He preferred being alone, and this gave him the excuse to remain away from others even more. It explained his pitch black hair and dark eyes, the shadow-like features that always made him an outcast in a world where light was the only element respected.

After that extraordinary result from the testing, the bullies left him alone.

For a week.

But they don’t matter anymore, Lino thought. After endless days spent in inward contemplation, taking in the shadowy mana cast by the roof of the barn, Lino had finally expanded his core to the limits of the first stage of magic — what some called stage zero, or Root. He was at the peak of the stage everyone was born into. To advance any further, he would have to let the mana in his core spill over and carve out his first channels.

Granted, most people his age had far surpassed him, with most having reached Silver and the leaders of the pack having up to twenty mana compared to his ten. Nonetheless, Lino was still proud of his achievement. Everyone else had guided instruction that helped them to develop their skills according to their element, but Lino had to do everything on his own. There weren’t even any really helpful books in the section of the library he was allowed access to.

On the back of his own efforts, Lino had adapted the lessons given about how to use light to expand his core, and altered his understanding to make use of shadow mana instead. He had now expanded his core to reach the best that could be done without channels. He had spent most of his time in the past few sun cycles dedicated to absorbing the shadow mana in the air and integrating it into his core. His method was no doubt much more inefficient than the light mana method taught in his school, but Lino had managed it.

Lino was at the point now where he could attempt to breakthrough to the next stage, Silver. However, he didn’t want to do that yet. He wanted to build a strong foundation in Root, mastering his absorption of mana further and building his understanding of the abilities he had. While he would not directly benefit from improving his technique, as he couldn’t absorb anymore mana before he broke through, he would still benefit from a stronger foundation. In the long run, he would be able to advance further and faster.

He wasn’t an idiot, and Lino knew that in order to advance to the later stages as a mage, you had to complete each or the previous stages to their fullest. To do that, he needed to learn the beginnings of some new abilities. At the moment, there was little he could do, only being able to darken a room and make himself harder to see. Although, he supposed, the former was useful for suppressing others’ abilities as light mages.

In order to find some new abilities that he could use, he would have to get into the restricted area of the library. Well, it wasn’t restricted to most people, just to him. Most of the citizens didn’t want him learning how to use his unique abilities, because they were scared he would cause them harm. After all — in their eyes — all mages who even touched upon shadow with their techniques were dangerous and could go on a killing spree at any moment.

Yeah, right. As if he, who would literally rather live in a cave on his own, would start killing people.

As a result of reaching the peak of Root, Lino could now run faster, for longer, and with more strength. Now, Lino could take the longer route to school, through the market and workshops and behind the elders village, and get there in a reasonable amount of time. He could just go around his classmates lying in wait to beat him up. He looked forward to the expression on their faces when they got to school having waited on the usual road for him, only to find him already inside.

It was with that thought that Lino set out from home. He waved to the ‘real’ children of Tingrath and his wife, watching him through the window. He had had little interaction throughout their life ever since they were born around… five-ish sun cycles ago? Lino wasn’t really sure.

Casting those thoughts aside, Lino joined the main path and started a jog. It was an interesting change of scenery, seeing this side of Ramaat on normal day. There were certain things you didn’t see on market days when home owners were expecting many people to come past.

Lino could really feel the effects of his increased mana pool. Even without channels, his body was enhanced, particularly in his respiratory and circulatory systems, near his core. He would normally have tired after setting such a pace for this long, but Lino felt only the beginnings of fatigue. He still had an almost comical grin on his face when he reached the market.

It was quieter than he had seen it on market days, but by no means empty. There were still people buzzing about and… there! Lino’s pulse quickened as he spotted one of the bullies. Adolfo, if he remembered correctly. Lino quickly ducked behind an empty stall and moved to the other side of the road, attempting to kite the other boy before he was spotted.

Please don’t notice me, please don’t notice me, please don’t notice me, Lino chanted in his head. At times he squeezed his eyes shut, focusing his will on that simple command. His heart beating in his chest, Lino crept past. He calculated what gaps in cover he took, and slowly made his way through the area.

Just as he was nearing the edge of the range where the goon could see him, Lino felt a gaze hover over his face. He froze, terrified, adrenalin pumping through his veins with every thump of his beating heart.

But, half a second later, Adolfo’s eyes moved on to scanning other areas. It was strange, surely he should have recognised Lino in that time. It was almost as if there was something compelling him to look away from Lino, pulling away their attention.

Whatever the case, Lino wasn’t going to question it and took his luck in stride, quickly pulling away from the stalls of assorted businesses and into the houses where most of the town lived.

The rest of Lino’s journey went without trouble. He ran along the path and quickly covered the remaining ground to get to school. He ran through the housing and workshops of Ramaat, along the back of the elders’ village, and arrived without another hiccup.

Lino was, for once, not the last to arrive. He got to class a few minutes early and proceeded to sit at his normal seat — at the back corner of the room. It was there he sat, anticipating the faces of those who had laid in wait for him. If he was lucky, they would even be late.

Just after the teacher stood up and began their instruction, the enchantment at the door of the classroom lit up, signifying the arrival of the last stragglers. Lino leaned back in his chair, a smile already forming on his face. He was disappointed that he didn’t have any popped corn in his backpack.

His tormentors emerged red-faced, panting and out of breath. Their eyes scanned the room, looking for the reassurance that he wasn’t there. But as their gazes settled on him, Lino could see the thought process they went through. He saw their eyes widen in shock, then all the minuscule movements as disbelief turned to rage. All of their eyes narrowed to a point at almost the exact same time. They glared at him, as if they were trying to burn a hole through his head, and spluttered in absolute fury.

Lino, of course, returned their looks with a cheesy grin.

“Nice of you to join us, gentlemen.” The teacher’s voice echoed through the classroom. “You will be expected to make up for your tardiness with your progress this month.”

“Yes ma’am,” they chorused with a polite mask, but Lino could practically smell the resentment directed his way underneath that statement. He had no doubt that the teacher could too.

“Alright, everyone. Begin your meditations. Close your eyes, visualise a light. Focus on the light, shining out as a beacon through the landscape. Focus on the power of the light, changing everything it touches, visible from far away. Think of your personal experiences with light, and how they have changed you.” A guided meditation began for the rest of the class, but Lino tuned that out and began to meditate on his experiences that morning.

He still wasn’t sure what had happened at the market, with that boy, Adofo. There’s no way he didn’t recognise me. He stared directly at me for a good second! Lino ran the moment over and over again in his memory, trying to figure out what happened.

Maybe it was the beginnings of a new ability? Lino had never done a very extensive search for his potential abilities before. He supposed he would find out in the afternoon when he tried to get into the other section of the library.

For now, though, he began to draw in the limited shadow mana in the air. While he couldn’t make any more progress before breaking through, meditating and attempting to absorb mana in places with little saturation of shadow mana would help to improve his efficiency when he moved to more mana-dense areas. However, knowing that didn’t stop Lino from wincing when he worked on consolidating a small mass of energy, and then just… let it go, hard work evaporating in the blink of an eye.

Lino further tuned all outside distractions and focused on the manifestations of shadow around him. Even in a bright room, there were still pockets of shadow mana leaking in from the shadow realm. Lino found these pockets, and then focused on his identity as a shadow mage, using that as a magnet to bring them all together in front of him. His strong affinity was most helpful with this part of the process.

Time flew past in a blur as he crafted a singularity of shadow. As the hours passed, Lino continued to pour his will into the process, his intense concentration holding the mana together. He took the opportunity — while he was unable to absorb the mana into his core — to go as far as he could. He concentrated his willpower on the single eternal goal of holding back the mana from it’s escape. Then, periodically, Lino added a new wisp to the mass.

Until, one time, Lino went too far. The combined will of the mass of shadow, seeking to escape and dissipate back to the shadow realm, overwhelmed him. Lino’s control collapsed and the shadows surged into the environment, the work of hours vanishing in an instant.

After an internal sigh, Lino started again.

* * *

Lino emerged from his meditative slumber to the spiritual alarm of buzzing mana discharged by an enchantment at the front of the room. As he opened his eyes, his focus found the bored expressions of some of his classmates.

They must have stopped early. No wonder some of them are behind even me. If they can’t focus for a full session, then they clearly lack the necessary drive and dedication to become a mage capable of anything beyond the most basic utilitarian uses, Lino mused. Their inefficiency and obvious disregard for the mystical portion of their education really frustrated him.

Lino sighed. Well, it’s their life. As he stood up from what had been his seat for most of the past day, he stretched out his body. He had learned to sit comfortably, and specifically how to avoid these problems, but it seemed he had been lax this morning. Lino was the last one out the room, as usual, and as he made his way through the school grounds, he thought about his plan to ‘borrow’ some books from the library.

Lino debated whether or not he should enter through the main entrance. Doing so would be the easiest way in, but the librarians and library guards would then be aware of him, watching his every move and making sure he stayed in proper sections. They had always kept a close eye on Lino whenever he had been to the library before. No, it would be best not to enter through the main door. If things went right, they would never even notice him.

Which left Lino with the dilemma of how he would get in. As he neared the library, he tilted his neck back to look at the decorative windows lining the back wall, many meters above his head. While it looked easy to get up to and through them from the tree growing to his right, he very much doubted that he could do so without being seen. Lino knew for certain that he would notice someone crawling through the window if he was standing inside the building, particularly if he was at the front. The only reason he even continued to consider it was because of what happened earlier, at the market. Maybe he could replicate it?

But new abilities were always unstable at best, and besides, Lino didn’t even know if it actually was an ability at all. He began to look for more solutions. There was always the back door to the library, but that had the same problems as the front, coupled with extra suspicion for simply being the back door rather than the front one.

Then there were the many locked doors along the back and sides of the building, derelict and ruined from decades, even centuries of disuse. Only used for whatever the building was before being reformed into a library, they would take Lino directly to the shelves of the library. However, they were heavy, and locked tight with rusty chains. It would be difficult to open one without drawing attention to himself.

As Lino began to prepare himself for an attempt at opening one of the doors, his eye caught on something in the wall. There was something about the natural contours of the heavily weathered rock that seemed a little… off. He continued moving his gaze along, looking for the regularity he had spotted before.

After several minutes of scanning the same boring patch of grey rock, Lino found what he was looking for. One small part of the wall was different from the rest, in an incredibly subtle way that no one could ever hope to notice at a casual glance. There was a square about the size a fist that was outlined in a series of cracks and crevices in the slate, very nearly succeeding at imitating the natural imperfections found along the walls of the building.

Lino ran his hand over the peculiarity, certain it had to do something. He began to test it, pushing, pulling, prodding, kicking, trying anything and everything in an attempt to activate it. However, nothing that he did seemed to work, no matter how creative the attempt. It just seemed immune to anything and everything he tried. Lino began to get frustrated at his lack of ability to activate this strange box.

Lino stepped back, sat down, and took a deep breath, calming himself, and thought from an outside perspective. In an instant he had the solution. Of course, how could he be so stupid? With barely a thought, Lino stood up and extended a thread of mana out to the strange block.

He watched in awe as a portion of the wall expanded outwards and created an opening. Lino quickly dashed through, not wanting to squander this opportunity, but he was still incredibly curious about the origin of the hidden entrance he had found. Not only did the mechanism look incredibly complicated and difficult to make for even the master craftsmen of Ramaat, but it was also built as a tertiary entrance into a building with multiple perfectly valid entrances already available.

At first Lino thought that it had to be an entrance to a hidden room, but he was proven wrong — on the other side of the door the entirety of the library opened up. Lino could not believe his incredible luck! This door seemed as if it was specifically built for him, what other purpose could it serve?

Lino navigated his way through the shelves, being careful to remain hidden of course. It took longer than he would have liked to admit, but eventually he found his way to his desired section. Skipping past titles such as A General Guide on How to Combat Shadow Mages, Lino began to look through more useful treatises such as An Overview of Shadow Abilities. With concern for how much time he was spending, he still wanted to make sure he got the right results, and books that had great use to him.

Just as Lino was close to having made his decision, and after he had already tucked some volumes into his backpack, he heard a voice from behind him. “And what would a young man like you be doing in this part of the library?” The voice was gruff and coarse, in a way that seemed.. fatherly. When Lino turned around, he didn’t recognise the face.

“Just trying to see what any criminals might be able to do, so I can fight them better.” Lino tried not to let his nerves extend to his voice.

“Oh, no need to hide things with me.” The man winked at Lino in a way that should have welcomed him, but only succeeded at magnifying his stress. The way his left eyelid flittered downward to cover that green eye, then pushed back upwards to reveal it again just creeped Lino out. “I can sense the shadow mana in you, what are you looking for?”

Lino decide to take a gamble, replying honestly. “I’m trying to find what abilities I can develop.” This time Lino was sure his nerves could be read as easily as the books on the shelves.

“Don’t let me scare you. It’s just me, Nerloth, a middle aged man who is probably a bit too curious for his own good. I don’t bite.” He reached into his coat, pushing to the side a badge that read Nerloth’s style coat. “Take these, they’ll help you more than anything else here.” He pulled out two thick tomes. It didn’t seem like they could have fit into that coat pocket.

“Thank you, sir.” Lino grasped the books and held them with the others he had picked up. He looked up to ask why he was being so helpful, but just as the question formed in his mouth, it died. The mysterious figure had disappeared! Lino shook his head in wonder. He was having the strangest day.

Again Lino didn’t question his good luck, not while it could still go wrong. He hurried out of the building the same way he came in, and suspended those questions for later, when he was safe, lying on his mattress in the barn. With a huge sigh of relief, Lino pulled away from the library and started the jog back to the farm that was his home.