I closed my eyes. The flame was easy to picture: flickering, glowing, shifting. But whenever I tried to think about how it started, the image fell apart.
Maybe it came from flint striking stone. Maybe gas from a stove. Either way... I couldn't make it happen.
"It's not working," I said at last.
"Because you still think fire is magic," Mnex replied. "It's not. Fire is a reaction. It forms when hydrogen and oxygen combine. If you can picture that reaction clearly, you'll understand the flame."
"Hydrogen and oxygen… I know, but not at the molecular level. I've only seen them in schoolbooks. And on the stove."
"Then our job is simple. Visualize the reaction. Just be careful fire needs a source. You can't make something from nothing."
I tried to picture a spark. Flint. Gas. Friction. It all seemed to be there but nothing came together.
"Is it working?" I asked.
"Maybe in a few thousand years."
I sighed. "Okay. Hydrogen and oxygen. Both are gases. Colorless. Invisible. They collide and… Big Bang?"
"It's not working," I muttered. "Every time I try, my brain just imagines a lighter. Isn't that easier?"
"Of course it's easier," Mnex said. "But then it wouldn't be magic."
"Isn't there a shortcut? Can't you just upload this into me? The info. The visuals. I don't know… a fire demo?"
"Sure, why not? While we're at it, I'll explain the secret of the universe too. Ready?"
"What? Really?"
"I still don't know how you manage to be both innocent and idiotic at once. Anyway, I've already told you the secret."
"Ha ha. Hilarious."
"Yes, I thought so too. Now stop whining and go back to hydrogen and oxygen. I didn't plan to watch you fumble for a year."
"At least give me a hint? I mean, I'm trying to imagine something invisible."
"Wrong. Not invisible. Just not visible to you. They're everywhere, colorless, odorless, tasteless. As gas, they're unseen. But think atomic. A tiny colorless sphere for hydrogen. A slightly bigger one for oxygen. Put them together? Water. Make them collide? Fire."
Explaining it was easy.
Imagining it was hell.
And the funny thing was… after a whole year in the mind world, I still didn't have a single spark in my hand.
"Enough!" Mnex snapped. "That's enough failure for a first try."
"Hey! For the record, I wasn't planning to fail," I said.
"We'll try again later. Maybe next time you'll manage a successful failure. I'd even settle for a micro reaction."
So we left the mind world.
"How was it? Did you manage to open the gates and accumulate mana?" my grandfather asked.
Since he didn't know about Mnex, I couldn't tell him I'd already been storing mana mentally.
"Yeah… but it's harder than I thought," I said, stretching the truth.
"Don't worry!" he said with a grin. "No one succeeds on their first try. Some people spend a lifetime crafting their first spell."
Then he looked at me a little more closely.
"But you… you're not like the others. You see things no one else even notices. And you present them like they're normal. But they're not. None of it is."
He had no idea about Mnex. Still, his words warmed something inside me.
"Thanks, sir," I said. "Next time, I'll get it right."
"Try staying inside longer next time. Keeping the mind world open gets easier with practice."
We parted ways. I slipped back into routine. Spent time with my mother. My father was still missing. Raymond was working like a madman.
Gareth, meanwhile, showed up with hot or not sticks, explaining every new construction update with childlike excitement.
But my mind was stuck on just two things
Hydrogen.
And oxygen.
And just like that, the night shift began.
Mnex went back to work.
BAM!
Morning came with my grandfather kicking the door open again.
"These sketches are starting to really come together in my head," he said, eyeing the drawings. "Well done, son. Keep it up."
This time, we tried a new approach.
Training first. Then, the mind world.
Two minutes.
Failure.
BAM!
"So these pipes will bring in clean water, and those will carry waste away."
Three minutes.
Another failure.
BAM!
"What was that? A filter?"
Five minutes.
Five years.
Still no spark.
With every passing "year," Mnex's vocabulary of insults evolved into an entire genre.
At one point, he threw himself a New Year's party and even wrote a song just for me:
"All I Want From Henry is a Spark."
My patience? Evaporating.
With each failure, I burned a little hotter.
If I could've, I'd have ripped out Mnex's motherboard, drowned it in sarcasm, and laughed like a proper villain.
But I couldn't.
BAM!
"So once the system's running, people will pay separate taxes for clean and dirty water."
We dove in again.
Training. Then mind world.
"Seriously. You've been staring at hydrogen and oxygen for eleven years!"
He raised his voice, then forced himself calm.
"Do you think it's easy to imagine something I don't even understand?" I snapped back. "Oh, mighty overlord of crappy attitude."
"Even my fire song isn't fun anymore. Look. Two spheres. One slightly bigger. They meet... bam! Spark! No fireworks needed. Just... one tenth of a second. Please. PLEASE, YOU DAMN..."
I didn't respond.
I just closed my eyes and tried to hold the image in my mind.
Mnex started humming in the background
"…there is just one thing I need…"
"…All I want for Henry… is just a spark…"
"…Make my wish come true…"
"…Just one… stupid… spark… from you."
Time passed.
I don't know how much.
But from the fragments of Mnex's muttering, I gathered that two years had gone by.
My eyes stayed shut. I said nothing.
Just hydrogen and oxygen. Again and again.
"Henry. HENRY!"
"WHAT IS IT, YOU DAMN GREMLIN?"
"You did it," he said calmly this time. "Open your eyes."
I opened them.
And there it was.
A crimson flame, floating in the void, a few inches from my face.
"Hold it. Shape it," Mnex whispered.
I reached out, slowly.
I hesitated worried it might burn me but it didn't.
I pushed my hand into it.
It felt… strange.
Like holding a bucket of water, but with no bucket. And no water.
Just flame.
I was just about to say, I did it...
When Mnex interrupted:
"Congratulations. You've successfully created your first spell. And in just two minutes."
I smiled.
The moment I opened my eyes...
My stomach turned.
I rolled to the side and threw up.
My throat burned. My breath was uneven.
"So, you've created your first spell, Henry," my grandfather said, his eyes full of pride.
"And it was your longest session so far."
I wiped my mouth with my sleeve. My eyes were still teary.
"Almost ten minutes," Mnex said. "Nausea is normal. Also… you might've pushed your brain a little too hard."
I summoned fire in two minutes.
But I stayed eight more.
Why?
Because magic wasn't enough. Not yet. Not for me.
Mnex couldn't upload everything into my brain all at once. So we used the slowed time in the mind world to our advantage.
First came boxing.
Then wrestling.
Then Muay Thai.
Mnex became a coach. Repetitions. Simulations. Drills.
Every morning began the same:
Guard up. Visualize the enemy. React. Sometimes a left hook. Sometimes a takedown.
Mnex's voice, always barking:
"What do you do after a block? Take a nap?!"
We repeated the same motions for eight years.
I didn't laugh. I didn't complain.
Because those eight years were mine.
And I remembered that night. At the Muddy Pig.
Doyle taking one man down in a single move. Disarming another without blinking.
Swordsmanship wasn't about brute strength.
It was angles. Timing. Precision.
Mnex uploaded the fundamentals, defense, posture, balance. Maybe my body hadn't learned them yet.
But my mind had.
We added strategy too.
Observe the enemy. Track reactions. Decide under pressure.
I learned, painfully, that time was precious.
And my brain… was small.
But it was enough.
Bruce Dumbledore.
Yeah.
I guess that's going to be my style.