When Magic Bleeds: Rise of the Mana Champion

The blade trembled in his hand. The runes along the dagger — once faint, nearly erased carvings — began to glow with a cold, bluish, living light. As if they had been forcefully awakened. The mark on his arm burned from within, pulsing with silent fury, and Kael felt the heat of the spiral pushing through every vein. He clenched his teeth and did what Elion had said: he channeled everything into the dagger.

The golem advanced.

Kael shouted, raised his left arm, and drove the glowing dagger into the creature's flank.

It was like striking a dam with lightning.

The explosion didn't come from the outside — it came from within.

The impact flung Kael backwards, slamming him into the ground with brutal force. Dust rose like a wall, covering everything in a veil of dirt, shards of stone, and cold vapor.

A cracking sound echoed across the field.

Followed by silence.

Kael coughed, trying to get up. His left arm throbbed with searing pain, and there was a metallic taste in his mouth — but worse than anything was the cold. A cold that burned from the inside.

As the dust began to settle…

Elion's eyes widened.

The golem was destroyed.

The right half of its body had been shattered into pieces scattered across the field — a gash in the ground showed where the explosion had torn through the earth.

The left half… was frozen.

Covered by a dull layer of whitish ice that climbed the stones and spread onto the surrounding ground. One arm was petrified mid-air, as if the creature had been struck by instant winter.

Kael dropped to his knees.

His left arm trembled, half-frozen, his fingers stiffened by a layer of ice stretching from wrist to elbow. But the worst part wasn't the cold.

It was the burning.

The spiral mark pulsed like living ember beneath the ice.

The dagger had shattered on impact — the hilt still in his hand, but the rest… splintered. Fragments of the metal had embedded themselves into his frozen arm, some piercing through to the other side.

Blood trickled slowly. Dark. Warm. Silent.

Elion was at his side in an instant, wordless.

He knelt, placed a hand on Kael's shoulder, and closed his eyes.

His breathing slowed.

The palm of his hand glowed with a soft light — deep blue, cold as water before a storm.

Kael felt the change in the air.

It wasn't a potion. It wasn't spoken magic.

It was living mana.

The blue energy flowed from Elion's hand like liquid mist, curling down Kael's arm. When it touched the ice, the color began to shift — from deep blue to vibrant light green, like leaves sprouting after a fire.

The ice gave way slowly, melting from the inside out.

The sharp pain became a gentle warmth.

But the fragments remained visible beneath the skin.

Elion kept his eyes closed, his hand steady.

The shards of the dagger began to move — not expelled, but reabsorbed into the spiral lines. As if the mark itself recognized them as part of it.

Kael clenched his jaw.

"This doesn't... feel like healing."

"It is," Elion said, without opening his eyes. "It's just not kind."

The green light flared for a moment, then vanished, drawn back into the skin. All that remained was the bandaged arm, now free of ice, flesh marked with fresh scars and dark metallic residue between the spiral lines.

Elion exhaled, opening his eyes.

"It answered."

"The mark?" Kael panted.

"Yes." Elion stared at the spiral. "And it remembers what it is."

Kael didn't answer. He just looked at his own arm, now silent.

But inside him, the energy still boiled.

Something had awakened — and it didn't want to sleep again.

Kael was still breathing heavily, seated on the cold ground where the ice had begun to melt. He looked around, squinting, until he noticed what was missing.

"Hey… where's the horse?"

His tone was light, almost surprised.

"It ran into the forest when the golem rose. Aren't you… going after it?"

Elion was silent for a moment, eyes on the edge of the clearing. The forest seemed to swallow sound more than ever.

He took a deep breath before answering.

"He came with me because he wanted to. He was never mine."

Elion stood, wiping his bloodied hand on his torn tunic.

"I cared for him. And he chose to stay by me."

Kael raised an eyebrow.

"And he stayed… out of gratitude?"

Elion nodded slowly.

"Or instinct. I don't know. I never gave him a name. Never asked for more than what he was willing to give."

"And now he just left?"

"Maybe he felt he fulfilled his part. Or maybe he just... didn't want to face the living forest with me."

He paused, and his gaze grew distant.

"If he chose to go, he's free. He always was."

Kael stared at the ground for a moment, then glanced sideways at Elion.

"You talk like you made a pact with some ancient spirit… not a horse."

Elion smiled for the first time since the golem fell, still standing, but without arrogance in his face.

"Maybe… there's not such a big difference."

The silence still lingered over the clearing, heavy, but changed.

As if something — or someone — had made a decision.

Kael rose slowly, leaning on his good knee, his left arm still aching. The mark beneath the bandages now pulsed differently.

Less violent. More... awake.

Elion stood motionless, staring toward the far edge of the clearing.

Kael followed his gaze — and then he saw.

Three hooded figures had appeared between the trees.

They hadn't stepped out from behind anything. They were just there, as if they had always been.

Lined up, unmoving, their cloaks hiding faces, hands, and form. Only presence.

Ancient. Silent. Absolute.

They said nothing.

They only watched.

Kael tensed instinctively, but Elion raised a hand — a brief gesture, as if to say: don't react.

Then, something shifted.

The two hooded ones at the edges bowed slightly — an almost imperceptible gesture — and the trees behind them began to move, parting as if obeying. A path that hadn't been there before began to appear, a narrow trail of dark soil cutting through living vegetation.

The figure in the center remained still for a moment, then…

Turned its back.

And began walking toward the newly opened path.

With slow steps, it disappeared into the darkness between the trunks.

Never looking back.

Just vanishing, swallowed by the forest.

And the two at the sides…

Vanished.

Like shadows that had never truly been there.

Kael let out the breath he didn't know he was holding.

Elion stepped forward.

"Now… we may go."

Without another word, the two followed.

Down the living trail.

Along the path they had been allowed.

And behind them, the natural world closed like a living wall.

And for the first time since entering Darkvale, the forest let them pass.