Reincarnated As The Dark Knight

"Focus Angela" A thunderous, fear inducing voice said "The Mana isn't going to command itself"

In the middle of a small domed hall knelt Angela Fairbourn. Her back was straight, eyes closed, hands clasped together in front of her chest and head inclined downward enough for her nose to touch them. She exuded humility, submission and devotion, with minimal movements, with symbolizing introspection and respect. It looked like she was trying to connect to some divine being.

"Once you begin your Prayer I will have to leave, and you will be on your own. What are you going to do then?" The voice was very close to her and yet no one was nearby.

On the pillars in the domed hall were torches which were ignited and one by one their flames went out until it was just the one in front her. The place was permeated with darkness that fought to reach her but was put at bay by the last torch.

"Angela, what do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel?" The words were slow, each one carrying its own heavy weight and in response Angela opened her eyes, but did not say a word. Deep within her pupils, two tiny red flames burned, not bright like the display in front of Darwin but they were clearly there. She had fallen into a trance. The voice which boomed through the room earlier could not be heard anymore. It was just her and the void full of darkness.

It was all darkness and nothing else around her that she could see. She felt like she was standing in water with a height that was just above her ankle and true to the feeling when she moved her foot fast she heard the water announce her movement.

'What is going on here, are all Prayers like this?'

Prayers were a thing of importance for Mages. All beings were ranked according to how they could use their Mana and Runes but there was another special ranking which was not for how well they could use their Mana but how fast they could grasp the use of it and grow their Nexus to accommodate more. This was their Class. Classes were numbered from zero to ten and were represented by star insignia. Whenever a Mage wanted to move unto the next Class, they had to go through a process called a Prayer.

Angela, who had been a zero-star (0★) was planning on advancing to the one-star (1★) class as soon as possible. She just had to eavesdrop...

***

"...I saw my little brother, Artur"

***

"I watched him escape, but I did not go after him"

***

"Oh, I assure you, he's alive and well"

"How do you know that?"

"The Ardenholt house has its secrets..."

***

She was driven by an emotion she could not explain. If what she heard was really true, then sooner or later she would see her friend again. The thought of seeing him again after these past two years awakened something inside her, but she knew, according to his brother, that he was not coming back just yet.

She remembered the when days when she would arrive at the Baron's mansion with her mother and she would meet Artur practicing with the sword, even when he was just a kid. His reason, someone could randomly walk out of nowhere and throw him a glove. Thinking back now she thought his reason sounded so stupid but had some vague sense behind it.

The children of the Hawkhurst barony were left in the dark. Until after the attack, even she did not know that something like Magic existed in their world.

She had thought about it for a long time, everyday, over and over but she could never figure out why Hawkhurst was attacked? There were many other lands and greater and weaker lords than Lord Loxley so why him? What was the objective and more so, how did they even get past all the other lords?

It left many questions unanswered.

She remembered being at home at the time of the attack and her mother had come to fetch her during the state of panic and she regretted not getting to see Artur.

Now she wanted to show him something when they met again. Something she was sure he had no idea of.

Give him a shock.

***

"Mana is not something that just awakens in anyone especially not non nobles but you Angela... your Mana is something else entirely. If you practice Magic, you might just become one of the greatest mages that has ever walked the earth. How about it? Do you want to learn magic?"

***

"I will finish this Prayer and wait for you, Artur"

Was what she said but she had no idea what to do in this dark void. Was she just supposed to sit and wait because it did not look like there would be any point in moving forward. Still she had to finish this Prayer and return to her body from wherever she was. Besides Artur, there was another reason why she wanted to return to her body.

Whenever a Mage began a Prayer they were completely isolated from the other rest of the world because no matter what they could not be disturbed. Disturbing a Mage in a state of Prayer was strictly dissuaded as it could lead to fatal scenarios. Because at that point the Nexus was bursting with Mana as it tried to expand and purify itself, sudden stops could lead to a stall in the Nexus which could cause the Mage to dwell in that Class for longer and that only happens when it is a skilled Mage. An unskilled and inexperienced mage who did not know how to handle the situation could die or their Nexus may suffer damage ranging from slight injuries to complete obliteration.

Angela fell on the latter side so it was best for her to end things quickly.

She traversed the unending void like a blind person but there was no need to panic because as far as she could tell it was just shallow water around her. Walking for an eternity, her sore leg muscles made her feel like her kneecaps were going to shoot out any time soon so she decided to take a break.

The darkness had messed with her sense of space and time. Without knowing how long she spent walking in there it felt pointless to continue. This was the disliked part of Prayers. There was never a clue what to do and in most impossible situations like this one, the Mage was done for.

Angela felt her eyes close. It was not clear to her if she had been sleeping or not all the while she sat there but the tiredness was evident in her body. Just then, she heard the sound of water and a soft yellow glow was cast on her back.

"Kekeke, it's a young woman" A voice said. The manner in which the person spoke suggested that they were delighted to see her and Angela would have been happy to hear the voice and would have asked for help but the voice...it wasn't human.