‘This is great! So you mean this spot I have here,’ She pointed at the pimple on her chin, ‘I can just get rid of it?’
‘Yes, it works like any other Magic, you must be getting the hang of it now.’
Amanda nodded, her finger on her spot.
‘So, go and get a mirror and we can remove spot,’ he said.
Amanda carefully put her mug down before she leapt from the chair and dashed into her room. From her dressing table she snatched the small mirror and walked back into the living room eyeing the spot scornfully in the reflection. She sat herself back down in the chair and peeked at Gentle Water over the mirror.
‘Go ahead, you can do it.’
Eager to try, Amanda looked back at her small red blemish and then closed her eyes to relax herself. As she did, she felt the Magical Essence all around her and called upon it to do her bidding. As she watched in awe in the mirror, the Spot steadily faded and sank back into her skin, and within moments, it had disappeared.
Amanda couldn’t help the huge smile that painted itself across her face on seeing the pimple disappear, she felt over the moon, it was a revelation, and she couldn’t stop there. She looked up at Gentle Water, her eyes conveying the message without need for words or thought reading. Gentle Water smiled, and gestured away behind him.
‘Go on, we are not going out until later.’
Amanda bolted from the chair and dashed into the bathroom and switched on the electric light to add to the already bright morning sunlight. With her head only inches from the mirror on the wall, she scrutinised her face. Inch by inch she looked carefully at her skin and each time she found a blemish, a tiny mole, a little red spot or anything she wasn’t happy with she relaxed, concentrated, and it slowly faded into nothing. With a little experimenting, she found she could influence her hair follicles, allowing her to fine-tune her eye brows which she neatened up, and eye lashes which she made a little longer and fuller.
A good forty five minutes later she admired her smooth un-blemished face in the mirror. No more spots, stray hairs or bags under her eyes. She wondered if this was common practice amongst the Magi, and if there would be any unfit or really ugly Magi out there? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder admittedly, and she doubted very much the Magi were all catwalk models, but she also felt sure that even the most self-effacing Magi would use his Magic to do the odd nip or tuck here and there, and that really obese or disfigured Magi would be few and far between.
Amanda then stood before the full length mirror on the wall nearby, she had done her face, she might as well finish what she had started, so she locked the door and stripped off, looking at herself in the mirror. It wasn’t often she really looked at herself totally naked, not with any scrutiny anyway, and it felt a little odd that she was now having a really hard close up look at herself. She quickly found moles and spots and other tiny faults that she began to work on.
Her body had changed these last few months, when she had arrived here she’d already been fairly fit, but she still had had a layer of puppy fat on her. She had lost much of that softness now, and really did prefer the more defined and toned look she had achieved. But she couldn’t say she loved every part of herself, but then, what woman, what human in fact, could?
She got back to work on removing those blemishes once more, and in addition to the Spot removal she was able to add a shine to her skin and make it smoother and more velvety to the touch as well as add a lustre and sheen to her hair and make the colour a deeper more vibrant shade.
Women all over the place paid huge sums of money to get the deep auburn, almost red shade that Amanda’s hair had naturally. It wasn’t so bright as too look garish or dyed crimson, but the shade was of a hue that looked just slightly unnatural, but not so much that it really stood out.
She looked at herself in the mirror and felt pleased with the job she had done, she felt almost proud of herself as she pulled her clothes back on. She had been wondering about what else she might try on herself. She liked the idea of being able to experiment from one day to the next depending on her mood.
She also remembered the other things she could do as she advanced further with this line of magic, changing sex and seeing what it really was like to be a man for the day perhaps, just being able to pee standing up would be a revelation. Then there was changing species altogether and becoming an animal of some kind. Now that would be absolutely mind blowing. Being able to take to the air as an Eagle or stalk the night as a Cat, the possibilities were endless.
Eventually Amanda returned to the Living area and Gentle Water asked if she felt ready to go and do some training, which she did, and before too long Amanda had changed into another close fitting Thermal garment, one of several that she had bought from a nearby outdoor pursuits shop. Gentle Water briefly complimented Amanda on her improved skin, but tempered it with a warning about going too far with it, explaining that if you did go too far with trying to improve your looks, you could easily end up looking strange and unnatural, Amanda listened close, and heeded the warning, thoughts of Plastic Surgery gone wrong running through her head.
The walk up to the clearing though the forest felt long and cold, many of the trees had lost their leaves by now leaving their wooden skeletons reaching up against the grey sky like something from a Hammer Horror film while the Evergreens stood stoic and unmoved by the cold. The forest floor was covered in a thin layer of snow with bare twigs and other debris sticking up through the white blanket, the plants and foliage ready and waiting for next spring to come and bring new life to the world.
The walk up to the clearing always worked as a good warm up, but they always made sure they stretched and got ready properly before going into their work out so as to minimise the risk of a sprain.
Recently Gentle Water had told Amanda of one of the more advanced training methods that had been occasionally employed back at the temple where he had learnt. The Method was designed to teach the trainee the importance of balance and also the importance of being aware of one’s environment and footing. But he had also warned her that the method was one that could, if not treated with respect, lead to some nasty falls and injuries. Amanda had been intrigued and had wanted to know more, so he had gone on to explain the set up that would need to be built. Amanda had been fascinated but also a little wary as it sounded like it could be really dangerous. But, after some thought, she had chosen to give it a go and over the past couple of weeks they had made and begun practicing on the apparatus.
She looked at it now, readying herself for it mentally before she stepped up onto it.
The apparatus was made up of lines of thick logs, which had been thrust into the ground like stakes. There were twenty stakes in a line, and there where twenty lines of them creating a square grid of Stakes. The tops of them were flat, fairly level with each other and big enough to stand on, which was exactly what you did. You stood on top of the stakes and either did a Martial Arts routine, or sparred with your opponent on them. If you missed the top of a stake when you put your foot down, you fell and hurt yourself.
The really advanced log grids used by the masters were over a meter high or more, but this one was only a foot high, and the stakes where quite thick.
Without Magic, Amanda found the use of it very difficult and she moved about slowly, it was only with magical foresight that she could use it to any great degree. Gentle Water had used these grids many times, he made it look easy, and today Amanda would be going through a routine upon the grid using magic to stay on her feet. Although she could cheat with Magic, she was still going through the motions and this taught her the beginnings of how to do this without Magic.
Amanda stepped up onto the nearest stake and pulled herself up, placing her other foot on the stake next to her. She stood there for a few moments, gaining her balance and taking a few deep breaths before she reached into the local Essentia and began to sense the threads of fate and the directions that were open to her. Once she felt ready, she stepped forward and started
moving into the beginnings of her routine.
That evening she laid in her bed, thinking back over the day and the training she had done. She had spent the longest time so far on the log grid and had really pushed herself to improve on it, so she had slowly lessened the Magic she was using to see the future chances of her landing a foot on a log until she began to stumble a little bit on the logs.
It was all about concentration and knowing your environment, and she had a good long while to go on this yet before she was able to do it without the aid of magic. She kept her hopes high however and was quite pleased with the progress she had made.
Once she had finished on the grid, Gentle Water told her of another form of Martial Arts that lay within the greater overall style she was learning that he would be starting to teach her in the New Year. It was then that he pulled out a Katanna, a Japanese sword that had a curved blade and a handle long enough to be held in two hands.
‘I’m going to learn how to use one of those?’ Amanda had said, surprised but pleased. Gentle Water had then gone on to explain that the sword was just one of the weapons she would be learning. Gentle Water would be teaching her to use a wide range of Weaponry, including improvised weapons from the world around her. He had said that she needed to be able to defend herself just as well with a chair, a tea towel or a Paper clip as she would be able to with a sword or dagger. Amanda was looking forward to advancing her learning into these areas and the challenge it would be for her.
Only a few months ago, she never would have thought she would be looking forward to the future with such a sense of wonder and confidence. She still missed Georgina, but it didn’t hurt anything like it used to do, and she knew that her friend would be pleased for her, and would have been the first to encourage her to explore this new and wondrous life.
Amanda fell asleep easily that night.
I got a good look at her today, and I’m sure it was the tramp from the stoop outside. It looks like Howard has taken her in. I noticed she was sleeping in the entrance to the building a few days ago for several nights on the trot, she always gave me a slightly scared look, but we can’t have homeless people cluttering up the place, which was why I mentioned it at the last residents association meeting. I think Howard was there that night as well. The chairman said he’d do something, but what can he do now that Howards letting her live with him?
She’s a pretty girl, lovely long red hair, she looks a lot better now she’s cleaned herself up a bit, but I don’t like the idea of her living next door to me. I’ll mention it to the chairman when I see him next, see if anything can be done.
- Diary of Ethel Peters, Howie’s neighbour.
The Coven
London
Early February
Alone in his father’s study, Stephan looked once more at the large object that had now taken pride of place on the cabinet. He was fascinated by it, and had been for well over a week now since he had first seen it in the market in Cairo.
Now it sat here, on a black wire stand that propped it up like a book. A rectangular stone tablet maybe two or three inches thick, the slab had been fashioned from sand stone and intricately carved by a master of stone sculpture. On its surface there were carvings of incredible detail that seemed to be purely decorative at first look, but which Stephan suspected were more than that.
It appeared damaged in places, chipped and marred by careless handling, but the damage was minimal and superficial. On one side, the side facing up, a book was carved in the centre and there seemed to be carvings of light or energy around it and radiating out from it. There seemed to be people around the book as well, and one was reading it. The rest of the carvings on this side were patterns that filled up the space around the figures.
The sides were a mix of people and monsters that seemed to tell some kind of story, as along one side the monsters had the people in chains, but as it went round the slab, the carvings depicted the people breaking free and fighting back.
The other side was filled with images of demonic faces leering at the viewer, but his parents had clearly chosen to show off the side without the demons, which was understandable given the rather disturbing visage they had.
But this had not been the thing which clinched the deal for Stephan; it had been the hidden details that you only picked up on when you looked closer at the carvings. It had been the symbols and runes that were scattered about the scenes which had made Stephan bite.
Mainly the symbols were incorporated into the scenes shown, they were on the people in the carvings, and they wore amulets and robes which had esoteric and occult symbols upon them. At a cursory glance these symbols appeared as texture or patterns, but Stephan knew better, he saw them and became convinced they were magical. He even thought he recognised a few of them, but he needed to have a look in his books to be sure of that, but that could come later, for now he was in here for a reason and needed to be quick and quiet while he got what he came for.
He pulled out his phone and pressed a few keys until the screen changed and its camera function started up.
Working quickly Stephan took snaps of the slab’s faces and then went in for close ups of some of the details which he thought were most significant. It was only a few minutes work, but it had felt like forever.
His dad wouldn’t blow his top at Stephan for being in here or even showing an interest in the slab, something Stephan had been doing ever since it had been bought anyway, but he was moving it to take shots of its various sides, and Stephan had already been told by his dad not to move it. ‘Can’t you just look at it and enjoy it without touching it?’ he had asked Stephan, but Stephan couldn’t just do that because one side was hidden and there was some good stuff on that side of it.
His dad had told him to ask next time and he would hold and move the slab for Stephan, but Stephan didn’t feel that he could do that as it might reveal that Stephan had noticed the occult significance of the artefact, something he didn’t want to do.
He kept his interest in the occult secret, his parents would only worry, his mother most of all.
But Stephan needed these pictures and he needed them now so he could take his phone to show his friends the amazing thing he had brought back from Egypt.
Satisfied with the shots he had taken he crept from the study and walked as calmly as he could away from that room, stuffing his phone in his pocket.
‘Okay Mum, I’m just going to meet up with some friends.’ He called out from the front door where he pulled on his coat, it looked cold outside.
His mum appeared at the doorway to the Kitchen looking a little tired still from the jet lag, she held some letters in her hand as she was sorting through the post that had built up while they were away.
It was evening, around 7pm, they had been back for a few hours and were in the midst of sorting things out. Stephan had not been allowed out until he had sorted out his suitcase, which he had done in record time as he had already arranged to meet his friends later that night before they had arrived back at the house from the airport.
Having eaten a snack - as his mum had insisted on him eating something - he had bided his time until the coast was clear before diving into his father’s study to take the photos.
‘Okay, but you be back by nine alright?’
‘Of course mum, see ya.’ He said, and darted from the house, slamming the door a little too hard he made his dad jump in the living room, spilling his coffee slightly.
Once on the street he headed left away from his home and towards the usual meeting spot. The night was young, but it had grown dark already and quite cold, very different to Egypt.
Stephan had been interested in culture and history from an early age, his parents were both interested in history, language, ancient civilisations and they passed their interest down to Stephan, their only child. His parents were well off. His dad worked in the city at the Natural History Museum and was in charge of the exhibitions there. Richard Lockwood, Stephan’s dad, often brought his work hom
e with him, talking about the latest exhibit and showing off the odd piece he had brought back with him to show Stephan and regaling him with tall stories about where this latest arrow head had come from.
At 14, Stephan still enjoyed these stories, but they were a little less far-fetched now as Richard was able to give Stephan more of the facts seeing that he had grown old enough to understand them a little better. But still there was something magical about hearing tales of Sabre Tooth Cats and the cave men that hunted them.
The family’s trips abroad had always been to far away exotic places where they could soak up the local culture and experience something of the wonder of the world around them. His friend’s holidays seemed to be always spent on a beach somewhere, or in a resort where they sat around the pool all day getting burnt. Stephan could think of nothing worse than sitting in one spot for days on end, slowly pan frying in the sun.
After all, what was the point of going to another country if all you saw were the white washed walls of your four star hotel and its pool.
The Lockwood’s holidays were adventures, heading out to unknown lands and seeing the local people going about their business, exploring lost cities, or trekking through the underbrush.
The package holiday was certainly not for him and he never failed to enthral his friends with tales of his adventures.
But these weren’t the friends he was going to see tonight, the friends that went on the package holidays were his school time friends. A few months ago he had thought of them as his true friends, his main set of friends, but now he wasn’t so sure. Now he had started to change his mind, because he had another set of friends that he saw mainly outside of school hours. They went to the same school as him and he even worked with them at school occasionally, but for the most part, and certainly when he was in the playground during breaks, he kept to his school friends group.
Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling Page 20