The carriage jolted over a weathered cobblestone path as the rhythmic clacking of hooves acted as a metronome for Adrian's racing heart. He sat perched on the velvet seat with his legs dangling several inches above the floor. To anyone watching he was a precocious five year old boy with messy dark hair and striking golden green eyes. Inside however the soul of Ryusei Hoshino was analyzing the flow of mana in the air. The morning sun climbed higher in the sky and cast long shadows through the carriage window as they approached the outskirts of the capital.
Lilian sat beside him her hand resting gently on his shoulder. She wore a dress of deep emerald silk that matched the vibrant colors of the forest they had just passed. Her gaze was fixed on him with a mixture of pride and a lingering motherly fear. She smoothed the collar of his ceremonial tunic for the third time in an hour. Adrian could feel her anxiety radiating through her touch. It was a strange contrast to the strength he usually associated with her.
I am ready Mother Adrian said softly. His voice was high pitched which was a reality he still found jarring but his tone was unnervingly steady. He had spent the last several years mastering the art of sounding like a child while thinking like a man. It was a delicate performance one that required constant vigilance.
William sat opposite them with his hand resting on the hilt of a decorative broadsword. The Ashvale name has not walked these halls in three generations he said with a deep rumble in his chest. You do not need to be the best son. You just need to come home in one piece. He looked out the window at the looming spires of the academy. The pride in his eyes was unmistakable even if he tried to temper it with caution.
Adrian nodded though his internal monologue disagreed. He did not just want to be the best. He wanted to understand why he had been brought to this world and what the spark inside him truly represented. Over the last four years he had spent every night playing with the energy in his palm. He had learned that the mana in this world responded to intent and rhythm. These were concepts he understood deeply because of his years with the violin. To him magic was not a mathematical equation or a religious prayer. It was a symphony waiting to be conducted.
The carriage slowed as they passed under a massive archway made of white stone and blue crystal. Adrian leaned toward the window and gasped at the sight before him. The Academy of Aethelgard was less a school and more a fortified city of marble and sapphire. Spires reached toward the clouds and some of them were detached from the ground entirely. They hovered through the use of massive gravity defying crystals that pulsed with a soft azure light. Students in flowing robes of crimson and silver hurried between buildings and the air hummed with a low frequency vibration that made Adrian's skin prickle.
As the carriage stopped in the central courtyard a man in charcoal grey robes approached them. He held a staff topped with a rotating brass orrery that tracked the movement of unseen stars. His face was etched with lines of experience and his eyes were sharp and calculating.
William and Lilian the man greeted with a stiff bow. And this must be the young Adrian. I am Master Elaraus. I will be conducting the initial resonance test for the new primary students.
Adrian stepped down from the carriage and his small boots clicked on the polished marble. He felt the eyes of older students on him as they whispered to one another. Some looked at him with curiosity while others wore expressions of mocking indifference. To them he was just a child of minor nobility from the countryside. They could not see the decades of musical discipline or the hardened spirit of a man who had already faced death once.
Follow me Elaraus instructed as he turned toward the main spire. They entered the Great Hall which was a room so vast it seemed to have its own weather system. Clouds of shimmering mana drifted near the vaulted ceiling and the floor was an intricate mosaic of the heavens. In the center of the hall stood the Resonance Crystal. It was a jagged shard of obsidian the size of a grown man pulsing with a dark and dormant power.
Place your hand on the stone Adrian Ashvale Elaraus commanded. His voice echoed through the silence of the hall. The crystal reacts to the harmony of your soul. A faint glow is expected for your age. A steady light means potential. Anything more is rare.
Adrian looked at his parents. William gave a sharp and encouraging nod while Lilian blew him a silent kiss. He took a deep breath and walked toward the stone. He did not just reach out with his hand. He reached out with his mind. He treated the mana within the obsidian like a string on a violin that had been left untuned for centuries. He did not want to just hit the note. He wanted to make it vibrate in perfect unison with the spark in his chest.
As his palm touched the cold and glass like surface he closed his eyes. He ignored the gasps of the onlookers and the scratching of the master's quill. He focused on the silence between the beats of his own heart. He found the frequency of the crystal and began to hum a mental melody. It was a piece he had written in his previous life during a night of profound loneliness. It was a song of longing and rebirth.
At first nothing happened. A few older students near the door began to whisper and snicker. Master Elaraus sighed and prepared to write a mediocre grade on his parchment. Then a low hum started to rise from the floorboards.
It was not a simple glow. It was a physical resonance. The air in the hall began to vibrate at a frequency that shattered the glass of a nearby lantern. The obsidian crystal did not just light up. It turned a brilliant and blinding white gold. The dark stone became transparent as if it were being purified from the inside out.
The hum grew into a roar which was a beautiful and terrifying chord that echoed the complexity of a full orchestra. For a second the floating towers outside the window drifted an inch higher in response to the sudden surge of gravitational energy. Adrian felt the power rushing through his small veins and it was like fire and ice all at once. He pushed the melody further and demanded the crystal acknowledge his existence.
Enough Elaraus shouted as he stumbled back. His face was pale and his staff rattled in his grip.
Adrian pulled his hand back and fell to one knee as he breathed hard. His small body felt incredibly heavy and the magical exertion drained him instantly. The crystal dimmed back to its natural black state but it remained warm to the touch and small cracks had formed near the base.
The Great Hall was silent. Elaraus looked from the crystal to the small boy with trembling hands. That was unconventional he whispered. That was not just raw power. That was a level of control that should be impossible for a child. Who taught you to weave your mana like that?
Adrian looked up with his golden green eyes wide with feigned innocence. He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead and forced a small smile. It just felt like a song Master. I just followed the music.
William and Lilian exchanged a look of pure shock. They knew their son was special but they had not realized he was a virtuoso of a power he should not even be able to tap into yet. William moved forward and lifted Adrian onto his shoulder and his grip was firm and protective.
The journey of Adrian Ashvale had truly left the safety of the cradle. As they walked toward the dormitory he could feel the shift in the atmosphere. The mocking looks were gone and replaced by a heavy and expectant silence. He was no longer just a student. He was a phenomenon. He was a boy who had broken a resonance crystal with a song.
He lay in his new bed that night and watched the moonlight dance on the stone walls. The academy was full of secrets and he could feel them calling to him. He thought of the violin he had left behind in another world and wondered if he could find a way to build one here. If he could do that with just his hands imagine what he could do with an instrument.
He closed his eyes and let the distant sounds of the academy wash over him. Somewhere in the dark a new melody was beginning to form. It was a song of challenge and discovery. Adrian Ashvale was ready to play his part.