Tigerkin are all but extinct though some are found in the tainted lands fighting against the demonic forces. They often utilize strange magics and often use equipment made in ways not known to the Althaen. While they do not seem to possess any demonic taint, they are not friendly. Every attempt at capturing one to learn just where and how they are able to survive in the tainted lands has been resisted to the point of death. Strangely dressed humans have also been known to accompany them.

Kythia

I shiver as I watch my mother toys with father. Never once does he get more than a glancing blow on her before he is disabled in one manner or another and she announces how many times he has died in the spar.

I didn’t think that mother was so strong. Is father wrong? Could it be that physical strength is not the absolute power everyone must follow?

Dusk falls before my mother finishes and turns to me, father lies on the ground having completely given up.

“Are you ready to listen and learn for once” my mother asks in a kind smile, no hint of any of the aggression from her fight in her voice.

I nod and follow her back to our hut at the center of the pack's village. We enter and I see that the boy my mother brought in the morning is still at the table reading. A small number of books are in front of him. More than what was on the table when we left.

I smirk behind my mother’s back, she is going to be mad at her new student but my expectations are not met as she instead starts asking him questions instead in a calm voice.

“Did you read all of those?” she asks.

“Only a quick reading. Why do they have conflicting definitions of what mana is?”

My mother smiles, “there are different kinds of mana: Environmental, Personal and Aetherial. Each of them has different traits and contaminants. What is the Aether?”

“A field of flowing mana that a mage is able to connect to in order to lower the energy burden of spellcasting. However, not all magic is compatible with the Aether.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know” the boy answers and I smile at him not being able to answer.

“Neither do I. Now have you tried to cast anything yet?”

“No, it seemed like a bad idea to try anything without guidance.”

My mother flips open one of the books on the table to one of the cantrips I recognize from what little studies that I did do before focusing on the martial path, Light. The boy looks at the page for a moment before closing his eyes to better focus on his mana no doubt and he begins to speak the incantation.

Somehow, he is actually performing the spell as the words’ meaning is blocked from my mind as all incantations are. A faint dim light forms over his extended right hand. He clearly has little potential for mana if that is all the light that he can create and I almost laugh before my mother shoots me a glare.

The boy opens his eyes and looks at the dim glow a smile on his lips as my mother praises him, “You seem to have a talent shaping mana.”

She takes a book off of the shelf, it is little more than a pile of notes on controlling mana but it was something she had once given to me. My mother places the crude book in the boy’s hands as she says, “read this under the light of your magic at night. I’ll test you on it in a few days.”

The boy smiles and nods while losing control of his spell and my mother whispers something in his ear.

Once the boy is gone I look at my mother with a frown, “what is so great about him? You had me cast that cantrip at five summers.”

“He only started learning magic less than three weeks ago, touching mana for the first time yesterday.”

“His mana is still weak” I counter not wanting to be upstaged by some random boy.

“There are plenty of ways around that. He’ll catch up and surpass you soon enough if you don’t start applying yourself.”

This morning I would have scoffed at the idea anyone in the pack could become stronger than me, after all my wolf is a Dire Wolf rather than a regular one like everyone else’s, but mother is the strongest and she is saying it. Could I be wrong? Is there more to strength than innate ability like father keeps saying?

I grab one of the books that I’ve been refusing to read for a long time and stalk off to my section of the hut. I can’t let some random boy take my place.

I fail to notice my mother’s grin as she watches me read for a few minutes before I fall asleep.

Standing in the woods around the village I glance around to see my soul sister, Moonlight Runner walking up to me. I must have fallen asleep. Books are boring anyways.

“Did you have fun last night?” I ask as I hug the wolf who lives within me.

Her tail wags and she licks my face in affection before answering, “some but the woods smelled bad.”

“The runt found some dead tainted bears. I don’t think father decided to have the cave cleansed” I answer.

Sister than loses interest in talking and nudges me to run with her through the world of our dreams. I smile and chase after her before she stops all of a sudden, as she suddenly remembered something.

“Have you picked out a mate for us sister?” she asks.

“No, why would you ask that? All the boys in the pack are weak and stupid.”

Moonlight Runner looks at me for a moment before saying, “then pick a smarter one that will become strong. That new boy smelled interesting.”

I frown, “I don’t like him. He's weak and doesn’t deserve mother's attention.”

My soul sister looks are me for a moment, “so he's weak but not stupid? Sounds like you have a better opinion of him than any of the others.”

I glare at my wolf and see gives me a playful grin. She knows something I don’t. . .

Moonlight Runner

Sister glares at me as I tease her. I’m not serious but the pack's paring howl for this year will be in a two moons.

We have been a hunter for a few years and even the girls our age who aren’t hunters have to participate so we won’t get out of it this year. I think sister just wants to fight all of the boys, which sounds like fun.

The new male pup however smells odd. Like he is going to be stronger than I will be. Too bad he's too young for us.

Sister pushes at me, upset and I begin to run away from her as she chases me for the rest of our time together in this dream.

Lykou

I enter Alana's hut after leaving Kylana and her daughter. I don’t see Analais or Alana as I enter though there is a small pile of cooked meats left out on the table where they have me sit. I smile as I’ve been hungry for the last few hours even if the books I was borrowing from Kylana were too interesting to put down.

I pick up what seems to be the parts of a ribcage of a deer and begin eating the bland unseasoned meat. Even though I’ve gotten used to it I still think they need some sort of flavorful liquid. There’s a word for that but it escapes me at the moment. I eat as quickly as I can, not wanting to damage the small book Kylana loaned me by multitasking.

Soon enough the plate is emptied and while I feel sated there isn’t a sense of fullness. Like all of the food I’ve eaten is missing something that I need.

I push and guide my pitiful amount of mana into a dim light as I whisper the short incantation from Kylana’s books as I open up the loaned book.

The manipulation of mana is a difficult subject. Magic is based on the use of Personal Mana even when Atherial Mana or Environmental Mana are involved and no two individuals will have identical Personal Mana. This causes the method that a mage must use to control their mana to vary.

I continue to read, skimming over the ideas that I’ve already had and tried. A latter passage does however catch my eye.

Once some level of control is established over ones mana, the use of magic without drawing on Aetherial or Environmental Mana is the best test and practice for control. Such magic also has higher versatility than other kinds though it demands more of the caster.

I glance at the dim light of the cantrip I am currently holding. It is Aetherial magic under the Conjunction or Evocation School. The Aether is a crutch, it should not be needed.

I close my eyes and focus on the flow of mana. I can’t quite feel what the mana is doing but maybe I can figure it out.

I don’t seem to be making the light myself but more of an apparatus for something else to create light. . . What if I mirror the path that energy has to take?

I let the arcane construct collapse, there being no way I could split my concentration as I’m trying something new.

My first attempts do nothing but let me watch as my mana is wasted by a spell that falls apart before doing anything. After each failure I wait a few moments thinking over what went wrong before my next attempt. Only my sixth attempt do I get anything.

A dim flicker before a massive headache begins to form as my senses become dull. I stop immediately, recognizing the signs of mana exhaustion. I am done for the day, but then again it is already a few hours into the night.

I move over to the corner I’ve been given to sleep in and begin my nightly meditation.

Gain: +215 XP Arcana, +15 XP Perception, +225 XP Mana Control, +35 XP Meditation, +15 XP Woodsman, +40 XP Apprentice (Mage),

Woodsman 4 -> 5 +5SP, Arcana 1 -> 4 +9SP, Perception 1 ->2 +2SP, Mana Control 1 -> 2 +2SP,

Woodsman has reached level 5. You now meet the requirements to opt into a higher class. Do you wish to do so?

Yes

No

I choose no. I may have reached the requirements for another class but if I make the change now I won’t get all of the benefits of this one.

Adrian

Gender: Male

Race: Void Draconian?

Age: 10

Strength 14

Intelligence 15

Mana Potential 9

Skills

SP: 154

Dexterity 14

Wisdom 14

Mana Potency 7

Languages

Titles

Agility 16

Cunning 13

Luck 16

Traits

Options

Endurance 14

Willpower 17

Perception 12

Magic

???

Vitality 14

Alertness 15

??? 1

Classes

Racial Class

Appearance 15

Charisma 11

Health 84/84

Mana 11/11

I glance over the information and smile that my mana pool has increased. Not by much but that is still something. I dismiss the screens and fall deeper into the meditation.

I find myself laying in a bed as the memory opens, my arms are wrapped around the waist of the silver haired from the other memory. The light of the full moon coming through the window behind her giving me a very clear view of the woman as a strange yet pleasurable sensation of movement comes from her sitting on my own waist.

Even as the both of us are breathing heavily, I roll the two of us over. I groan from the sensations from my waist before moving close to the left ear of the woman who is now under me. “Swap with Kythia, Moonlight Runner” I whisper in her ear.

She shakes her head as I move back to my previous position.

“But I want to love both of you tonight” I say while withdrawing from her embrace.

There is a glimmer in her eyes and something changes. I rush back towards her and nibble on her ear as she wraps her legs around me, making a noise that makes me feel proud of myself.

The memory ends abruptly and I just sit as the memory fragment drifts away. What was I doing? Why does that silver haired woman have the same name as Kylana’s daughter? Why did I also call her Moonlight Runner?

Are these even memories? I don’t look the same in them, I’m older. But the-daily-rest doesn’t show things that aren’t memories.

I drift aimlessly through my memories of the last few days. Too occupied by my thoughts over what I just stumbled upon to pay much attention.