Chapter 1 – When locks come apart

“No!” With a sudden jerk Theodore woke up from a nightmare. His body felt cold and he could feel that he had sweat a lot in his sleep. “what is this feeling?” He knew something was wrong immediately, but what was this something...? As his imaginary mind gears started to turn he realized that whatever it was it asked for his attention NOW. As his mind was waking up he felt wrongness within his body all the more.

He sat up, turning table light on and after putting his slippers on he noticed another thing. He was trembling. Strongly. Then why didn't he feel it? He could see his feet trembling and when he rose his hand to look at it he saw the same thing.

Now that he concetrated on feeling out his body he could notice the untcontrolable shaking his body was experiencing. But only barely he could, his body feeling unfamiliar and distant.

“That cant be...” A sudden thought suddenly shot trough his head. There indeed was explanation to this phenomena, but it was... should be impossible.

He was living alone in a two room apartment with separate bathroom and kitchen on a second floor. And as he rushed to bathroom he was glad he was. Not that it came easy for a 17 year old him. He had an agreement with his parents. One that in involved them paying for his living and him not being near them. It was easier that way. And while he still had to attend school he had plenty of time afterwards to research magic.

“More like remember magic” Theodore thought to himself. And while there was no magic in this world he had memories of his past life. It was what separated him from normal. What made him what he was now. Someone who was living alone and clinging to his memories and trying to write everything he could remember about magic down. And as days went by it got harder and harder. He was loosing his memories. Slowly but surely it got harder and harder to remember his past life. And he was afraid of loosing everything he once was.

So he was writing his memories down and that's why his apartment was full of manuscripts, scrolls, notes and books. He had pitifully little memories about how he had lived, but he had many things he remembered about Magic. Even now as he rushed he couldn't help but to stumble over his work as it was thrown all over the floor.

This lifestyle did leave Theodore with little to no social life, but he had no regrets. Not that those noisy classmates of his had any worthwhile company to keep, they were content to sail trough life where the wind blew and family was... his family was afraid of him. Being alone sometimes was tough, but had no thoughts about seeking any company to aliviate lonlyness as he saw his research to be more important.

As he was looking in bathroom mirror he weighted his options. Back from the mirror looked 1.75 tall sleepy looking teenager. His light gray heir fell over his muddy blue eyes almost covering them entirely. His skin looked pale, but not sickly so. His body fas thin, but not bony, thanks to the habit to do early morning runs for keeping himself in a shape.

He couldn't call anyone, as this was not something medicine, or other people even, could help him with. There was some rituals that could but they were... unreliable at best. And even if they weren't there was also a problem with setting them up and knowledge necessary of doing so. However, he was not without options.

He lived in this small town of Sanna. There was nothing of note in Sanna it being a normal country side town, at least as far as general population was concerned. For Theodore this place was not only far away form any family but there also was something he hadn't found anywhere else – a Mana Well. Albeit, maybe “Mana Well” was a bit too strong of a name for small the spring that produced a, frankly, pitiful amount of mana. He could still remember him stumbling on it on one of his school trips. He already had no hopes on practicing Magic ever again, but luck was on his side.

This small spring was in a nearby forest. It was only 15 minute walk form his apartment. With help of this small spring he had started to practice magic.

And Theodore was sure he was the first one in this world. Sure there were legends of great mages and spells. Stories about age bygone where miracles happened everyday, monster haunted nights and heroes, even gods, walked earth. But all of that were only that – legends and stories people told their children before sleep. There was no magic but there was science and Theodore had to admit it was in a way as marvelous as Magic could be... But science also had limits which magic didn't have, science wouldn't be able to help him now...

He quickly donned his clothing and exited his apartment. “there still should be time, 2 hours... no, probably 1 and a half.”

As he rushed down the street to Mana Well he tried to think of everything he could about Magical attack he was receiving.

“Should be soul based, no, it definitely is. Something trying to posses me? No, no, is something from past life? Maybe I was cursed? Is it curse? Damn it, could be problem with me crossing worlds...” But as he was running he could only gather handful possibilities that had caused this situation. His memories once again failing him as he reminded that despite his wast knowledge on some topics there was a curious absence of some of most basic things.

Friends, family, his favorite food, he didn't remember those, but he didn't loose hope to recover some of his past. His soul... was partly locked, and there certainly were ways to transfer memories trough soul. He could easily imagine himself limiting his memories, be it because they could overwhelm in his new body or be it dangerous information in his memories. Whatever it may be he was determined to unlock those sealed parts, and he had made great strides recently in doing so.

The more Theodore thought the more iritated he became. He had figured what was the cause of his trembling and sweat and he knew it would get worse. Theodore also expected his body to start loosing all senses and his mind would then be trapped in an unresponsive, unfeeling body.

Soul attacks were bizarre often with strange effects. And he had came under one of suchs attacks. As far as he remembered he had came under attack from Soul Mages only twice before. And both time he had killed casters right after spells was cast. There were no side effects as he had not let any effects to settle in. But was also possible that he just didn't remember correctly, or there were aftereffects he could not detect and now they had reared their ugly head.

On his way Theodore thought over his idea of possible solution. “I left inscribed stones next to the spring under moss. Those should help me with shielding and preserving connection. That will give me few more hours to make “Fortress” and “Mind construct of Maddening Sorrow”. Whatever is that is attacking me will surely enjoy his counterattack, well, if its a person anyway.” He even allowed a predatory grin to sneak into his expression.

Theodore was a Mind Mage. And while lack of Mana on earth made him unable to influence others or make any meaningfull upgrades to his mind he had made enough rituals next to Mana Well to at least make some basic improvements to his memory, thinking speed and basic fortitude.

The difficulty Theodore had to go trough to make this body to be able of receiving mana was almost excruciating. He had spent almost a year cutting himself, making drugs from ingredients he had made from a guess work and chanting long spells meant for awakening inner Mana Core and making it compatible with Mind Magic. It was grueling and painful. Even more so because he had so little of soul to use.

This body simply wasn't cut to be a Mind Mage, maybe this body did have affinity with other schools of magic, but he didn't have any ways to find with which, and even if he did, there was also problem with usable magic, he mostly knew only Mind Spells. And those who were not mind spells were to mana intensive. Another problem he hoped to find solution for in his sealed part of soul.

But in the end he had succeeded in his endeavor. He was sure he had became first mage on Earth. There simply wasn't enough ambient mana to form Mana Core naturally and steps necessary to go trough to form one artifically was impossible to guess or for any sane person to go trough. And even more so, because of said lack of ambient mana there was only one way to make Mana Core, and that was the very Mana Well he was heading to. Sure, there posibly were other Mana Wells in this world, but he doubted it. Otherwise there would have been more of ambient mana.

The result of his struggles – Mana Core let Theodore form thought constructs in his conciseness. These constructs had improved his thinking speed, ability to memorize and now he will also use Mana Well to make construct meant for defending himself as well as counterattack. He thanked Gods that he was a Mind Mage, as they had much easier time in resisting and repelling Soul attacks.

Entering the forest he could see the small spring that would give him mana for finishing his spell. There was no traces of anyone visiting this place and all hidden rocks which he had placed around spring were in place. They were arranged in a way that would concentrate mana in a single point next to spring helping him absorb it.

As Theodore made his way to the mana concentration spot he suddenly froze. His trembling intensified. His vision started to swim around and his thoughts started to jumble together.

Even a single coherent thought was hard to make. But he knew what he had to do. In his rush Theodore fell down, but as he did he with trembling hands started to pull himself closer to spring. Closer and closer, his throat was on fire his body aching, and soon he couldn't feel anything. His body mechanicaly still pulling him closer to mana concentration point.

His mind became clouded but his body refused to stop moving.

Closer... and the locks around the sealed parts of his soul started to come apart.

Closer... and the locks around the sealed parts of his soul started to crumble.

Closer... and the locks around the sealed parts of his soul came apart.

Closer... and everything became dark.

–

Falling sun beams swept across Theodores face and as they did he found himself waking up. Still dworsy Theodore put his still trembling hands before his face, looking at them, then he slowly bent his fingers and straightened them again. As he did he found himself to be fully awake, but he still continued to stare at his hands.

Chilly morning air entered his body as he took deep breaths. Bird chirping and distant town noises that made to this place shook him out of his reverie and reminded that he should start moving.

He stood up and with uneven footing walked to the spring that was next to him. He almost fell several times even thought he only had couple of meters to walk. It was harder to walk that he remembered. “But I will manage because...”

His eyes fell on reflection in the water. And he realised he was crying. His tears falling down he droped on his knees. “... because finnaly I am back”.

After 3 years that stretched on for forever he was in control of his own body.