Kvendar (Chapter 1) by Matthew Parsons

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"The manna blow is meant to be able to shatter objects that your opponent may throw at you. Your manna blow needs to be a lot stronger if you want it to be effective. Your manna wave is too unbalanced. The manna needs to be evenly distributed."

Cless nodded. That wouldn't be too hard to adjust. Still, he had been working on the basic manna techniques. If only mom could teach him how to use the manna trait he had inherited from her and dad. Too bad she never acquiesced to his plea. He inhaled deeply, looking straight into the wall.

"Oh, Cless."

"Yeah, mom."

"Please don't bash the wall with your head again. You had me frightened there."

He grinned his reply, wondering if she was being funny or serious. Her straight face hardly betrayed either way. Now it was back to practicing on building up his manna endurance. He pulled his left arm back to release his first blow.

"CRAVILE," bellowed an unpleasantly familiar voice. Someone suddenly started pounding on the door. "OPEN THIS DOOR IMMEDIATELY."

Cless scowled. His mom made no effort to meet the demand, though she answered with placidity. "Come in."

"I SAID—err—fine." The door flung open from fiercely brute force as a far wider man than the Official Magus stood in the doorway. His large body frame nearly blinded all outside light. "I've been searching all over for you Cravile."

"There are two of us, Donpar. Please, state which one you are addressing."

Cless immediately drew closer to his mother. He noticed that Donpar was gripping a crumpled parchment in a pudgy right hand. Seething through his teeth, the landlord approached both of them. "I'm talking to you," he snarled, directing his words at Cless's mom. "I've just looked at my monthly payment records and I've just found that you've been behind for the last three months."

"We have?" Julia peered down at the parchment that Donpar had uncrumpled for her. Cless did the same, seeing that the right column, the monthly payments, was well below the left column, the monthly quota, by thousands. "Oh, we have been."

Cless gnashed his teeth. "Look right there—you've increased the monthly quota by eight hundred runis every month. How can we keep up with the payments when they get so ridiculously high?"

Donpar snatched the parchment back in his hands, his eyes leering. Cless could smell the strong stench of ale from the landlord's sneer, causing him to slightly draw back away from the obese man. The man's nostrils were flared so, that Cless could have counted the hairs inside if he had any want to do so. "Listen up—boy—I have every right to raise the monthly quota if I need to. I'm the landlord and I have ownership over your property. I don't need any snotty nose kid to tell me what to do."

Incensed, Cless found every right to argue back. "I wasn't telling you what to do. I was only—"

"—Cless," his mom suddenly spoke up loudly. "Let me handle this."

"That's right, kid. Let your mom handle this," Donpar taunted him.

Cless clenched a fist, ready to plunge into the landlord's sagging chin.