Jake remained in the dark limbo of the sleep spell for some time, quite a bit of time actually. He didn’t dream or think. It was simply dark behind his eyelids- but he at least had a sensation of existence. As he floated there, unable to move, he tried to think of what happened. He tried to imagine the scene, but his brain could only remember pieces. He thought his brain might have caught the entire thing. However, it happened so fast all he could catch was the flash. The snapping of his mana followed by the blue flash of the fireball- and then the pain. It was all too quick for his eyes to register, and after everything, all he could remember was Yir telling him to stay still.

When he came to, he was laying on a small couch with a few purple cushions. On them, he felt as though he were floating on air. The white walls of the library greeted him, as did a little fairy sitting across the table. There was a book floating in front of her. While he was thankful to even be alive, Jake hesitated to speak. He was afraid to open his mouth just in case it brought on more pain. On top of that- he also didn’t want to move or look down at himself. The brief glance he had taken before was traumatizing enough and he doubted he’d recover from a second, more conscious, look.

During his moment of indecision, Yir’s eyes drifted over in his direction. She noticed his open eyes and flicked the book closed with her small hand. It moved out of the way with the wave of her hand and landed quietly on the table. Yir fluttered up onto the table as well, and she walked across to sit on the edge in front of Jake.

“Well, good morning you unlucky runt,” Yir spoke tenderly as she looked him over. Her beady red eyes changed colors as she looked him over. Unable to hold her gaze. Jake frowned, diverting his eyes to avoid her glare.

“Any pain?” Ignoring his obvious attempt to dodge the shame, Yir spoke calmly. Jake shook his head and finally built up the courage to look at himself. Surprisingly, he was in one piece again. He was even wearing the same clothes. Which made little sense.

“I’m sorry, Yir,” he grumbled. He tested his strength and found he had plenty of it. Whatever healing spell Yir had cast on him, it had worked wonders. He was able to sit up and took a very tucked posture- legs closed, head down, hands on knees, elbows to sides. Like a child ready for a scolding.

“Don’t be. It was my mistake for leaving you. However, it’s also on you to know when to stop. I warned you that any more would be bad, and here you are. Either way, you’re lucky it was in the Library. If this happened in the real world, the damage might have been far worse.” Yir’s scolding wasn’t as vicious as Jake thought it would be, but it still had the bite of a nagging parent. Jake only nodded. Though, the last bit was a detail he didn’t understand.

“Yir?” He mumbled. Annoyed with the meek tone, she kicked his knee. He jumped straight up and shivered. His knee throbbed.

“Look at me when you’re speaking, or I can’t hear you.” She hissed. Jake nodded and looked at her. Her yellow eyes almost glowed with emotion, and it left him even more scared of her.

“Y-Yir. What is this place? I don’t understand.” Jake’s hands folded together in his lap, fingers laced, and he pressed his palms together. “How does time move more slowly? Is my body physically here? What happened in the room?”

Why am I not dead?

At his questions, Yir released a sigh. From her new expression, it was almost as if she had been asked to spill the secrets of the universe. The fairy took a few moments to think before she pushed herself up to her feet. She held out a hand and used earth magic to mold a piece of the table into a small replica of the Library.

“The Library is real. You are real. But where the Library is puts it in a place that isn’t real.” Yir sliced the base of the Library replica, cutting it from the table, and she lifted the object up into the air using magic. She gave it a tap on the side and caused it to begin to lazily turn.

“The Library is placed in a separate dimension than the rest of the Overworld. It is not on the God’s Plane either, leaving it in a sort of middle area between the two. You can’t pass it when going from one to the other, though. In order to reach the Library, you need to know about said Library- more specifically, you need to have a key. The Key is a mana connection between yourself, and the sigil at the base of the Library. If you are not registered as a guest or as someone allowed to be here, then you can never come here.” Yir pointed over towards the teleportation sigil in the middle of the main room. She zapped it with a bit of mana. In response, the sigil flared a light blue for only a second before the mana dispersed.

“How time moves differently is very complicated, but the simple answer is- magic. The density of this space is significantly less than the Overworld. The pressure on your inner mana is similarly less. This allows us to accelerate, as there is less temporal resistance. However- though the pressure on us is less, that doesn’t mean the density of mana particles is less. It is actually the opposite, and the increase in mana particles makes this place a bastion for magic use.” The fairy’s wings shook and she lifted herself up into the air. Her small frame hovered in front of his face.

“The Library is fine. It is you that is not.” Yir reached her hand forward and placed it onto his forehead. “You caused a Mana Explosion, and such an event has a lot of repercussions on your body. While I could restore your physical body, your mana flow is damaged.”

He could feel what she meant. Upon her hand touching his skin, he felt the heat of her own mana leak into his body. He closed his eyes and let himself feel her probing of his internal flow. Not only was it damaged, but it felt as though it was shattered. There was no consistency to it anymore. Instead, gaps and pieces were scattered all over his insides. There was no singular band of mana anymore, only pools and scraps of it all over himself. What was even worse- the leaking was back. His mana tail was gone and while his body had plenty of holes and empty space, his mana seemed to just dump out of his body just as quickly as it was refilling.

“And it’s pretty bad. That explosion has crippled your mana flow.” Yir sighed as she retracted her hand. She returned to the table.

“Can I fix it?”

“Yes, but you’ll need help. Your case is beyond anything I can tend to, as it’s not my expertise, and there’s no way you could do it yourself.” Yir crossed her arms and her wings folded behind her back.

“There’s no one in my home village who can help me, though. Will I have to leave?”

Yir stared up at Jake, searching his face for some sort of answer. Her lips twisted and her foot tapped on the table- thinking and thinking… Just when her brain almost looped on itself- a familiar book name came to mind.

“No, I think not. Wait here.” Yir lifted off the table and left the room. She darted out of sight quickly, and Jake sat in silence.

Immediately, he turned inward. His fingertips found one another and he lowered his head. Eyes closed, breathing steady, he reached for his mana. It was there and he could still sense it, but its strength was nothing like before. It was a shadow of what it had once been, and he frowned at how weak it was. Not only was the amount far less, but it was also brittle. Any time he tried to grab or mend it, the mana would dissipate and fade. He couldn’t gather more than a small drop before it would collapse and wither. Truly, the mana explosion had done far more than he had anticipated. He had expected physical harm but this was beyond what he had ever guessed would happen.

All because he let himself get too curious without reading enough on it. An utter failure. But even so- he had learned. The feeling and the limit he had reached before the explosion was ingrained in his mind. If that ever happened again, he would know to back off. If he ever was able to use magic again, that is.

The sound of wings reached his ears and Jake opened his eyes to see Yir returning to the room. A thick book was at her back, and she practically tossed it into his hands. It was an advanced book, The Etheral Flow- Mana Essence and the Dragon Veins.

“A mana explosion usually doesn’t leave such an effect on the mage, as most explosions are small and lack a lot of energy. Normally, there are individuals called Mana Surgeons that can repair the tears or rips. The issue here is that the damage to yours is quite extensive. So much so that there’s only two people in the world that I know of who could possibly fix you. But!” Yir held up a finger.

“But?” Jake asked, cracking open the book and flipping to the Table of Contents, and then a large map on the next page.

“If you travel to a Dragon Vein shortly after being afflicted, you can use the mana pool to help in the restoration process. There are eighteen in total, scattered across the world. Ten have been found and claimed by various countries and they have all built Magic Academies around them. Three have been protected by God-level barriers, One was taken by the Dark Forces, and the remaining Four have Guardians protecting them. Well, three now.”

“What happened to the fourth?”

“Oh, I think you know very well what happened to that one…” Yir’s lips curled into a smile. It took a few ticks, but it finally dawned on Jake what she was alluding to. He looked down at the map and searched for a familiar place- there.

Rakhar City, the Capital of Solar. Jake followed the outline of the large country southward, his finger tracing over the rolling dune-like sketches until finally, he found it. The Ravine. It truly cut through the bottom of the country like a large knife, wedging open the landscape and creating the natural border between Solar and Tyne. The continent of Maur bore the massive scar like a battle wound, and within that wound was the small marker he was looking for-a Dragon Vein.

Chul was the Guardian Yir mentioned. So, he was protecting more than the God’s shrine? Quite the task for only one creature. What other secrets hid within that massive black maw?

“How do I use the Vein to fix my mana?” Jake looked up, but Yir only shrugged.

“I haven’t ever needed to use one, but I have been told that Dragon Veins largely increase your ability to control your mana when you are around them. Skilled magicians can feed off a Vein to also increase their capacity. But we do not have one in the Land of the Fae. The mana in our land is already far denser than other places.”

“So if I go to the Vein… it’ll have a chance of healing me?”

“No, it won’t heal you. Healing the damage to your essence will take one of those two very skilled Mages to perform surgery on you. The Vein will at least strengthen what you have left, and it should help you get back to some form of normal. That way, traveling to visit the Mage Surgeon won’t be as perilous for you. Have you tried reaching out to your mana again?” Yir asked, landing on her tip-toes like a skilled dancer.

“Yes, but I couldn’t grab it.” Jake frowned as he remembered how pitiful his attempts were.

“Going to the vein will hopefully keep that from happening, and it should help with stitching up the gaps. You’ll have to go there and cultivate near the Vein. But be careful. Too much cultivation near a Vein can have some adverse effects. Cultivate just enough to stabilize your mana flow, then leave.” Yir smiled and gave him a thumbs-up, the gesture bringing a smile to Jake’s face as well.

“Thank you, Yir. I’ll go and try.” Jake rose to his feet and nodded.

While the reasons for it were out of place, this would be the first adventure of his life after beginning to train with Magic. A bit sad and not what he was expecting, but he had no choice. It was either sit around and hope Yir would find a solution, or give up on magic. He couldn’t cast any spells in his current condition and there certainly wasn’t any way he could fight in such a pitiful state. From what Yir said- the Dragon Vein wouldn’t fix everything, but it was a good place to start. He could only hope it would be enough, for now.