9 – Null Syndrome

“Jonny!”

“Tommy…”

Jonny gave the other boy a grumpy side-eye before turning back to his breakfast.

“Lucy says you’re gonna be in the big kid classes now!” said Tommy.

“Yeah. And?”

“That means we’ll be together again!”

“Oh boy…”

“I can show you all about magic,” said Tommy confidently. “Abbess Helen says I’m a progidy! I already cast my first spell! Watch this!”

“Tommy!” said a sharp voice from across the room.

Jonny turned to see Sister Lucy watching the two of them like a hawk. Beside him, Tommy was cowed, wilting back and lowering the hand he had raised. Then, a few seconds later, he leaned over to whisper in Jonny’s ear.

“Look under the table.”

A drop of saliva flew from Tommy’s mouth, hitting Jonny right in the ear. Jonny raised a hand to wipe it off, and a moment later, a shadow fell over the both of them. It was Sister Lucy, somehow having crossed the room in just a few seconds, and was now standing over them and wearing her “if you don’t do what I say, you’re in trouble” smile.

“Tommy,” she said sweetly. “I know you weren’t about to use magic at the breakfast table, right?”

“R– Right!” said Tommy, raising his hand back up and resting it beside his bowl of porridge.

“That’s what I thought,” said Lucy. “After all, using magic at the breakfast table is against the rules, and if you get caught doing it, you’ll be on dish duty.”

Tommy’s face paled. Dish duty was his nemesis, and he would do anything to get out of it. He had even gone as far as bribing other kids with shiny rocks he found in order to take over dish duty for him. Jonny wasn’t sure why he hated it so much, but he couldn’t help but smirk a little.

Serves you right.

“I understand!” said Tommy, nodding frantically.

“Of course you do,” said Lucy. “I just wanted to check.”

With that, she walked away, and a few seconds later, Tommy leaned in again.

“I’ll show you later,” he whispered.

Jonny wiped more saliva from his ear and returned his attention to his porridge. Tommy continued to babble about something else—food, probably—until mealtime was over, and the nuns corralled all the kids to their destinations. The younger kids went back to the play room, where Jonny would normally have started his workout, while the older kids were taken down the hall to the classrooms.

“Older” was, of course, relative. They were all still kids to Jonny. The oldest of them was only 11, and most of them were between six and eight. Most of the kids were adopted sometime after turning five, and the ones who didn’t “graduated” to a special boarding school orphanage when they turned 12. Jonny was somewhat looking forward to potentially getting adopted, actually, since it would at least have him out of the orphanage. The Sisters were fine, but being surrounded by kids all day every day was pure torture. At least if he got adopted, he would, at most, be surrounded by only a few kids, and he would probably be able to see a bit more of the world.

But that was something for future Jonny to worry about. The next Adoption Day wasn’t for another two months, and he had more pressing matters, like learning magic.

They said I couldn’t use magic, but look at me now, he thought. I opened my inner eye on my second try! I can cast a little spell!

When they reached the classroom, only the youngest of the older kids entered, which included both Jonny and Tommy. Abbess Helen was already present inside, as were the Margarets, while Lucy and the other nuns took the older big kids over to the next classroom. As they walked in, Jonny looked up at the Abbess and the other nuns, and found that all three were looking at him. An ominous chill went down his spine, but he brushed it aside.

It’s probably just ‘cause I’m the newest one.

“Alright kids,” said Abbess Helen with a smile. “You all know the drill. Let’s all have a good practice today.”

The kids all cheered, then scattered around the room. Some found secluded spots to do what looked a bit like meditation, while others held out their hands and concentrated so hard their faces started turning red. Most, however, went straight toward a shelf on the side of the room piled high with various games.

Wait… thought Jonny. Is this just another play room?

“Do you want to play with them?” said a voice in his ear.

Jonny flinched and looked up to see one of the Margarets crouching down behind him. Margaret #1, he thought.

“No,” said Jonny.

“They’re games to help train the mind,” continued Margaret, ignoring him. “It might look like they’re just playing around, but all those games are designed specifically to help train parts of the mind responsible for spellcasting. Even if you’re not actively practicing your magic, you can still get better at it while having fun.

“But for now, I’m going to teach you how to use your mana. Or at least, how to try to use it. It will be hard to do, but that’s what this practice time is for. Now, let’s head over there so we can get started.”

Margaret #1 led Jonny over to the corner, where there was a small desk set up to face a blackboard on the wall. Jonny sat in the desk, while she grabbed a piece of chalk from the ledge, and started writing as she spoke. The first part of her lecture just went over the basics, about how mana was everywhere and how it flowed through everything, and made magic happen. It was the same stuff that Helen had said the day before, but more verbose, and Jonny almost found himself zoning out until she said something that made him perk up.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Living creatures all process mana as well,” she said. “They absorb it from the atmosphere, and it flows all throughout their body, passing through their core before leaking back out. That’s what you do too! You remember how to feel mana with your inner eye, right?”

Jonny nodded, but he also frowned. He was pretty sure that his mana didn’t leak back out, and also that it didn’t naturally absorb mana from the atmosphere either. Was it supposed to? Was that how other mages got more? Was that why the doctor had said he would never be able to use magic?

“Now, I want you to close your eyes, and feel your mana again,” continued Margaret #1. “Feel it flowing through, and how new mana enters, and old mana leaves.”

Jonny did as he was told, but he did not find what he should have. Just like every other time he checked, his mana swirled around within him, passing through what he assumed was his core right behind his navel, but it never left, and no new mana entered his system. He watched for a few minutes, just to make sure he wasn’t missing it, but no matter how hard he focused, or where on his body he checked, the mana never seemed to be able to get past his skin. It was like there was an invisible barrier separating his body from the rest of the world.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Margaret #1 looking at him with an expression of deep concern. He felt gazes on the back of his head, and when he turned, he saw that Margaret #2 and Helen were also paying attention to him.

They knew this would happen, he realized.

“I can’t sense it,” he said.

“Your mana?” asked Margaret.