Magic Born

by Caethes Faron

  “Yeah I’m not really sure how these work. I picked up the one in my room and said ‘Casper’ and he appeared, but is there more to it than that?”

  “Yes and no. Since you’re here, the orb knew you were wanting to talk to Casper, so it alerted him. While you’re here, you’ll generally make outgoing calls with the communication orb, but the illuminators that are enchanted to follow you around will receive calls for you. You basically tell the communication orb who you want to speak with and it will contact them. The only trick to it is that you have to actually know the person, otherwise the orb on the receiving end will block the call. For instance, just because I say Raphael Godwin, doesn’t mean he’s going to magically appear. Can you imagine?”

  Judging by the look on Sadie's face, I decided to forgo asking her who Raphael Godwin was. I didn’t want to be sidetracked by a tangent about someone who I could only assume was a famous and attractive mage in Elustria.

  “Ooh, illusion powder.” Sadie grabbed what looked like a mix of dark purple and black sparkles in a shaker. “I can’t give you any of this, because we don’t have much, but if sprinkled on someone you can make them see whatever you want. As you can imagine, not something we want everyone having access to.” She replaced the shaker and continued walking.

  “And here we have the reason we had to come in here today: a wand. Since I was coming in here to get it anyway, I figured I might as well show you the cool stuff we’ve got. Now, this wand is just a loaner; you won’t want to keep it anyways. We’re going to use it strictly as a training tool. The talisman is much more powerful, but I wanted you to have the experience of using a wand just to compare.” She handed me a stick that I wouldn’t have been able to distinguish from the one Mikael had shown at the dinner table last night. It didn’t feel magical—none of these items did.

  “Now it’s time for some fun,” Sadie said. “Let’s get out of here and start using magic.”

  When we left the supply closet, as I would be calling it, I noticed there were no locks on the door, but the handle glowed when Sadie closed the door behind her. Probably another magical object, opening for those allowed access and staying closed for anyone else.

  The floor and walls of the room Sadie took me to were all made of some material that resembled gym mats. If they were white instead of green, I’d assume it was a padded room. Appropriate since I increasingly felt like I was going crazy. A few utilitarian chairs sat around the room. I didn’t understand why magic couldn’t be taught in a more inviting space.

  “I know it doesn’t look like much, but when starting out, we need to use one of these training rooms. They have some magical enhancements to make sure you don’t accidentally, say, destroy the building.”

  “Makes sense. Is that what the padding’s for?” I asked.

  “That and to act as a cushion should you fall or blast someone into the wall. They are enchanted, but the padding’s there to prevent harm.”

  Her answers never seemed to put me at ease.

  “I’m guessing based on what you and Casper have said that you’re having trouble controlling the magic from the talisman.”

  “So far it’s only protected me or caused things to happen when I lose control of my emotions. I’ve done a little with ice and water, but I wouldn’t say I had much control.”

  Sadie nodded. “That’s pretty common—not the defensive charms, but the emotion thing. The charms on the talisman will only defend you from a direct attack, but they won’t go on the offensive. A charm like that would be too dangerous because you could end up hurting a friend with it.” I’d already hurt a friend with magic, no charm required. I wanted to be able to play with fire like Julie and Preston did, but I’d settle for being able to do anything I could control at this point. Before I could even think of defending myself, I needed to learn how to keep my magic from unintentionally harming others.

  “So what exactly is the wand for?” I asked. The thin stick did nothing but make me worry I’d accidentally break it.

  “A wand is usually a bit easier than a talisman to work with in the beginning when you haven’t grown up with magic. You’re the first latent mage I know of to have a talisman, and really, a wand is just another form of a talisman. We’ve found that mages on Earth respond best to a wand. I think it has something to do with all of your folklore around witches. Having a wand seems to make more sense to you. Yours is going to be a temporary tool, so we can get some early successes out of the way. I want you to leave this room today confident that you can perform magic.”

  Sadie pulled her own wand from her sleeve. “In your talisman, the magic is stored in the amber stone. You interact with it to perform different spells. With the wand, the magic is stored in the wood, in little fibers called filaments. When you engage with the wand, you’ll see those filaments light up. It’s a different color depending on the mage and the wand. So for instance, you’ll see that when I do this”—she twirled her wand and frost came out of the tip—“my wand lights up with this purple design.” She spelled the word “wow” in ice. With a flick of her wrist it was gone. The purple threads illuminating her wand appeared to form an organic pattern with no rhyme or reason, untouched by man—or mage. “We’re going to start with water elemental magic since that’s the spell you activated in-game and the one you’ve already used a little with Casper. With the wand, you’ll feel what it’s like to exercise more control over it.”

  “So are all the spells in the game real?”

  “No, but a lot of them are. It’s our way of engaging any latent sparks out there. But we’re only focusing on one right now. I want you to hold out your wand and say ‘frostline’ while giving it a little flick.”

  I did as she instructed, and to my amazement a line of frost shot from the tip of my wand. Sadie jumped up and down while clapping.

  “Exactly! I told you you’d be able to do it. Did you feel how the wand helped channel your magic and directed it the way you wanted?”

  “Yes.” I didn’t have to pretend to understand; I actually felt it. “How come it doesn’t feel this way when I use the talisman?”

  “Oh, it will. The issue you’re running into with your talisman is mainly a mental one. Like I said, you put more faith in waving a wand around than you do shooting ice from your hands. The other issue is that the talisman is much more powerful than the wand, so it’s harder to control.”

  “If talismans are more powerful, why doesn’t everyone use one?” All I heard was how great my talisman was, yet the triplets all chose wands.

  “Not all talismans are equal. Yours is exceptionally powerful. Many mages don’t have access to a talisman, since it’s pretty rare to find one more powerful than a wand. Some mages have advanced so far with the wand that they wouldn’t want a talisman anyways. A person’s wand or talisman is a part of them, a very intimate part. It’s why we don’t want people touching them, and even the mention of taking one from someone is offensive, as Mikael pointed out. I don’t want you to get attached to this wand, so I won’t be treating it as if it’s yours. Your mother left you a talisman, and in our world, that’s a sacred thing.”

  Even though I hadn’t yet developed the ability to use my talisman’s power, I could understand what she meant. A sort of bond had already developed between me and the amber stone. I didn’t know if it was because my mother left it to me or because it had saved my life. I suppose the reason didn’t matter as much as the fact that the bond existed. I could imagine after years of use, I wouldn’t want to use a wand or another talisman.

  “Do mages ever use both?”

  “Yes!” She clapped her hands together again as if I had said something remarkably clever. “You’ve hit on one of the big advantages mages have over sorcerers. Sorcerers can only perform one spell at a time. So for instance, if a sorcerer is in a fight, they’d have to first cast a shield and then an attack, whereas a mage could use multiple wands and talismans to cast a shield and an attack at the same time. It’s pretty rare, mainly b
ecause most mages don’t have a need to develop the skill. Your mother could double-wield.”

  Performing two spells at once sounded intriguing but not like something I could do. The more I learned about my mother, the more badass she sounded. If it weren’t for the insistence of the talisman that I was its rightful owner, I wouldn’t believe I was her daughter. Already, I thought of my talisman as a separate entity with a will of its own, like a pet.

  “Try the spell again, but really control it this time. Make a design or do something with it.”

  I raised my wand and repeated the spell. I drew a heart in front of me and then pulled back my wand arm and flung it forward, shooting a bolt of ice from the tip through the middle of the heart. As soon as the ice went through the heart, the heart melted as my concentration left it.

  “Wow, this is a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.”

  “I’m glad you think so. Now try to do the frost spell using your talisman.” Sadie took my wand and placed it on a chair.

  “The frost came out of the tip of the wand, so why doesn’t it come out of the talisman itself?” An amusing image of me pulling my shoulders back and thrusting my chest from side to side to get ice to come out of the talisman filled my mind.

  “The frost comes out of the wand because that’s what you want—it’s where you’re channeling it to. The talisman channels the magic for you and directs it wherever you tell it to. If you wanted, you could shoot ice out of your elbow using a wand or talisman. It’s simply more intuitive to do it with your hands or through your wand, if you’re using one.”

  Holding to the confidence the wand had given me, I lifted my hand and used the spell to draw a heart again. It looked more like a lopsided circle and was much bigger than I intended. When I sent the arrow through the middle, the heart exploded and the arrow crashed into the wall, giving me flashbacks of shooting Alex. The unwieldy magic of my talisman felt completely different from the wand.

  Sadie waved her wand and the shards of ice disappeared before they could hit us. “And that’s why we do this in a little practice room. Did you feel how the power of your talisman is stronger than that of the wand?”

  “Yes, it’s overwhelming. I don’t know how I could possibly control it.”

  “That’s where practice comes in.”

  I tried again, this time with less force, and my hand acted more like an ice dispenser on a soda machine, little bits of frozen water trickling out of it and falling to the ground.

  “I can’t feel the intricacy like I could with the wand.”

  “That’s normal. Do it with the wand again to get a feel for it.”

  I took a step toward the chair that my wand sat on, but Sadie stopped me.

  “How about you call it to you magically? Hold out your hand and say ‘come, wand.’”

  I held out my hand and repeated the phrase, and the wand flew to my hand.

  “Excellent. You’re beginning to think and act like a mage.”

  I highly doubted that Sadie was capable of being negative, but I didn’t let that keep her words of encouragement from lifting my spirits and my confidence. She celebrated each baby step with me, and by the time we broke for lunch, I felt like a mage.

  Chapter 19

  Discovering Your Magic Later In Life: A Latent Mage’s Guide to Spells. The hefty volume of spells sounded exactly like what I needed, but I resented the “later in life” title. Sure, I wasn’t a child, but I wasn’t exactly middle-aged either.

  I’d eaten with Mikael and Sadie who informed me that Casper had left on a short business trip not long after leaving me. They thought it best that I spend the afternoon studying, so after lunch I grabbed Discovering Your Magic Later In Life and some other books from the library on Mikael's recommendation and plopped on my bed to study.

  Specificity is key. The new mage may wonder why some things, such as levitating objects, are easy while others are more difficult. The key to directing the magic to do what you want is to find the exact words or thoughts to command it. For instance, telling an object to “rise” would result in the object standing upright. The proper command if one would like the object to rise into the air is “levitate.” Other, more complex tasks, require even more specific commands. It is for that reason that spells are often performed, especially in the beginning, using the Cadaran language.

  Cadaran is the oldest known language in Elustria. It is what many believe our ancestors spoke when they first emerged out of the great magical orb of Elustria herself. The language is no longer spoken in common use because of its great power. Just as there are nuances in all languages, there are nuances in Cadaran that make it the most suitable language for performing spells. You will find, however, that almost all spells can be adequately performed using whatever language the mage natively speaks.

  In this volume, each spell is written out twice. The first occurrence is in Cadaran and is unable to be translated. Directly underneath the spell, it is repeated without a binding placed on it so the reader may translate it into their language of choice. It is recommended that you first try the spell in Cadaran to get a more accurate feel for the spell and achieve an early success.

  Some mages choose to perform all their spells in the ancient language, but this is entirely unnecessary and is not encouraged for the simple reason that spells are most easily recalled in one’s native tongue.

  More theory followed the introduction, but I didn’t have patience for that. I flipped through to where the spells began and got to work.

  After practicing all day, I was mentally exhausted and didn’t want to worry about carrying a conversation, so I opted to eat alone in my room. That might have been a mistake. With nothing but a hearty beef stew to hold my attention, my thoughts wandered.

  I pictured Alex in his panther form among the snow. He’d probably already headed back south. By this time, he could be hundreds of miles away. Strange how someone could come into my life for such a short amount of time and completely and utterly disrupt it. In all likelihood, I would never see him again, which seemed crazy given all we had shared.

  Before I could talk myself out of it, I picked up my phone and called Alex’s number, already knowing what I’d hear.

  “We’re sorry, but the number you’re trying to reach has been disconnected.”

  With that futile exercise out of my system, I returned to eating.

  If Alex were here, he’d be impressed by my progress. It didn’t seem fair that he only got to see my magic in a negative light. I missed his support, his protection, his kiss. But he didn’t have feelings for me, not really. The attraction had been the product of the talisman, nothing more.

  A ping notified me of a new email, and I grabbed the phone to dismiss it. The world my phone connected me to seemed so far away. The more time passed, the more I questioned whether or not I’d ever return to that life.

  Dozens of unopened messages sat in my inbox. The particular message I’d clicked on was from GreyMist.

  I think you’ve been hacked. Someone pretending to be you came online last night. I asked about the trip to Magical Games headquarters, and whoever was pretending to be you clearly knew nothing about it. So, heads up. Check your account. You wouldn’t want to lose that shiny new title of yours. :) And I hope you’re all right. I hate to think whoever hacked you got into your bank account or anything. It’s been a while since I’ve heard from you. Message me next time you’re in-game.

  With each word I read, my heart rate increased. The lightning from my talisman must not have fried my computer as I had thought. Between GreyMist asking about the trip to headquarters and the message that I knew Casper had left in my mailbox, Marcus might put two and two together. And since I kept all of my logins and passwords stored in an app on my computer, Marcus had access to everything. He could’ve already logged into my bank account and seen my purchase at the diner. I would have no way to know since he was doing it all from my computer. The image of him sitting at my desk, at my computer, snoop
ing around left me feeling violated. My apartment, my home, was tainted now, even more than it had been with the tracker orb.

  If I replied to GreyMist’s email, Marcus might see it, but I also didn’t know if it was wise to change my passwords and let him know he’d been found out. The damage was already done; I didn’t want to make matters worse by responding incorrectly. Casper wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. Until then, I’d keep this knowledge to myself. He would know what to do.

  I couldn’t eat after that. I lay in bed and tried to sleep, but worrisome thoughts kept me awake. Marcus would continue to hunt me until he found me. I had faith in Casper’s ability to protect me, but for how long? The spells I’d learned today would do little should I ever find myself in trouble. The most beneficial addition to my arsenal had been the magic cloaker from the supply closet, but I didn’t even know how to use it.

  After countless minutes of tossing and turning, I gave up on sleep and the illuminator above me brightened as if it could read my thoughts. With the cloaker comfortably in my pocket, I went to the library in search of a book that would tell me how to use it. Waiting until morning to ask Sadie or Mikael would be more effective, but I needed to do something to feel like I was making progress toward protecting myself.

  The titles on the spines of the books rearranged themselves as I browsed through them until I saw Common Magical Objects and Their Uses. That seemed like the most likely book to help me. Instead of grabbing it with my hand, I pulled it from the shelf using magic with my talisman. Thinking like a mage, that’s what Sadie had called it, and it’s what I needed to do. Even with Casper gone and virtually zero possibility of anyone walking in on me, I didn’t dare sit on the throne chair. Instead, I cuddled up in one of the brown leather chairs and went to work researching the cloaker.