Welcome To The Age of Magic

by C M Raymond et al.

  Then she pushed that away too.

  Once again, it was just her and the power. She opened her eyes and focused on Sal, sitting still at her feet. Their connection was strong, and he knew exactly what she was up to. He was a willing lump of clay. Ready and eager to be molded according to her plan.

  Considering that transmogrification was something akin to physical magic, she brought her hands in front of her and started a series of complicated motions, none of which she had ever considered or practiced. But she fell into a routine with it, repeating the same motion again and again. As her digits and hands twisted faster and faster, she tried to push the energy under her skin toward her hands and out into the lizard, but it wouldn’t budge. It was as if there were a barrier between her and Sal.

  After a while, Hannah’s arms, heavy as lead, dropped to her side. She slumped on the rock and looked up at Ezekiel.

  “Nothing.” She told him, wiping sweat out of her eyes. “It’s not working.”

  He nodded, “No one said this would be easy, Hannah. Try again. Please. The fate of Arcadia may depend on it.”

  She nodded, then gritted her teeth and tried to refocus. She closed her eyes and pushed away failure and disappointment. Ezekiel’s expectations came into her mind’s eye, and she thrust them away.

  Once empty, she chose the path of nature magic. She turned her palms upward toward the sky and entered into something like a trance. All her mental and emotional energy flowed. She tried to connect with the creature, begging his body to do precisely what she wanted, but Sal was unresponsive.

  Finally, exhausted, she bent over at the waist and rested on the rock. This time she didn’t care what he thought, she just wanted to go away. To sleep for a year. Arcadia be damned. Let Adrien have it. Magic was too hard, and she was far too weak.

  Ezekiel had made a terrible mistake choosing her.

  “You can do this, Hannah,” he said, more tersely than she had heard speak him before. “Damn it, you have to.”

  She fought back. “I can’t! It’s not in me. I didn’t do this before. It just happened.”

  His reply was a whip crack. “Don’t be a damned fool. Magic doesn’t just happen. Magicians are magic. You are a magician. You are magic.” The old man was nearly yelling in her ear, pushing her over the brink.

  Hannah lashed out. “Leave me the hell alone, you freak. I’m just a bloody kid!”

  His answer was unambiguous. “You’re not a kid. You’re a magician. You were made for this. Stop wasting your life.”

  Her anger flared, her eyes burned red. “I can’t!”

  “You can!” he shouted. And with the words came a crash of thunder. “Let it out!”

  Lightning hit the water, the whiteness blinding her for a moment.

  Hannah collapsed around Sal and covered him with her arms. All the fear and frustration she had been setting aside for hours came pouring out of her. But as those emotions washed over her, she felt something else too—Sal’s presence, as if they were connected with each other—as if they were one.

  There was no telling where her body ended and his began. “Please,” she cried, picturing the animal’s potential. “Do this. For me.”

  Her mind swam, and she lost track of where she was. She vaguely thought she felt the world shake and an intense heat, but she couldn’t focus on that.

  All she could feel was the animal twitching beneath her chest. Something jabbed at her stomach and chest and Hannah jumped, afraid she was hurting him. Looking down, she saw the skin on Sal’s back begin to bulge like two balls were trying to push through his scaly skin, just behind his shoulders.

  Sal looked at her, his face twisted with pain. She could feel it, but also his desire to please her, to do her bidding.

  Hannah sobbed as she saw the hurt she was causing him. The reptile wanted nothing more than to end the torment—she could feel it—but he refused to give up. Sal screeched as finally his scales could hold it in no longer. The balls burst through his skin, but they weren’t balls at all. Instead, something long and bony emerged on each side.

  They pushed up and out of Sal’s back as his cries continued to echo across the waters. Extending an arm’s length on either side of him, they expanded into two glorious wings.

  The last thing Hannah saw before losing consciousness was her pet lizard leaping from the ground, wings stretching toward the sky.

  But I’m wrong, she thought as she hit the ground. He’s not a lizard at all.

  15

  Ezekiel cracked the door and checked on Hannah, the woman who had become the finest pupil he had ever taught. He beamed with delight. The magician who had seen more of the paranormal than anyone else living on Irth had just witnessed the impossible. Hannah had reached into the Etheric and pulled out power like Ezekiel had never before beheld.

  As she unleashed her frustrations, the ground beneath her began to shake. The trees and grass around them leaned in as if she were calling out to all of them. Fire bubbled beneath her skin. And then, in the midst of that terrifying sight, something beautiful happened. Hannah’s pet, the creature that was once nothing more than a common lizard, had become something far more majestic.

  Hannah had pulled an image from her mind and created something brand new. And now that thing was curled up on his mistress’s legs. Sal looked up at Ezekiel, stretched his new wings, as if trying to convince himself they were real.

  Nodding his head silently, Ezekiel whispered, “You are new magic, little creature.”

  The lizard flicked his tongue and nestled closer to the girl. The movement disturbed her, and she cracked open her eyes.

  “Ezekiel,” she moaned, “was it a dream?”

  “It was completely real,” he replied in a gentle hush. “And it was amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it in my considerably long life.”

  A tired smile washed over her face, and her eyes closed again. As Ezekiel stared at his sleeping student, he realized that what he said might not have been true. While he had never seen a creature change like that, he’d seen magicians expend all of their energy like Hannah had.

  Perhaps that was the connection.

  But it was a question that Ezekiel was unprepared to answer.

  He needed help, and there was only one place he knew to get it.

  “I need to take care of something important. Dire even. You stay here. Stay safe.”

  She opened her eyes, and Ezekiel was gone.

  Recovery from whatever the hell happened between Sal and her took a full day and a half. Hannah spent the entire time in bed, feeling as if she had the flu. Her body ached, and her energy level was next to nothing. Casting had exhausted her before, but it was more like being worn out after a long day of hustling the streets with Parker.

  This was something altogether different, and it scared her more than a little. She wondered what would happen if her body reacted like this in the heat of battle. She’d be a sitting duck, and the Hunters would have their way with her, or worse, Adrien would.

  Either way, she’d need to talk with Ezekiel about how one defends oneself in an exhausted state.

  Glancing over, she found a plate of food on the bedside table. She touched the meat to see if it was still warm. It was the third meal she had awoken to. Before she had dropped into slumber, the magician had told her that he had to go and attend to something important.

  The food appearing by her bed was strange, but she had to admit it was nothing more unusual than any of the other shit she had experienced since taking up residence in the tower.

  She reached down and scratched Sal’s back. Her fingers struck his wings, and she sat up in surprise. Somehow, she had forgotten the magic that had taken her energy away for the past thirty-six hours.

  The creature stood and slowly moved his wings, clearly showing off the new accessories to her. The spikes running down his back had grown, and his scales reflected a darker green. But the wings! The wings were like nothing she had ever seen except in her imagination. They were lon
g and thin, and yet Hannah could sense strength within them.

  Hannah wondered how far they could take him.

  “Looks good, you little creep,” she said. “Learn to use them yet?”

  In response, Sal waddled to the side of the bed and started to vigorously flap the wings. Hannah’s hair blew back as his little body levitated over the surface of her bed. He hung a few feet in the air before tumbling back to the bed and then onto the floor. He looked up at her and flicked his tongue in and out.

  Hannah could swear he was trying to smile.

  “Not bad. Looks like we’re both going to take some time getting used to our new powers.”

  She swung her legs over the side of the bed, grabbed the plate of food, and made her way out of the room and into the great hall.

  The meal helped immensely, but she was still feeling woozy from her use of magic. She also knew it was time to get back to work. Arcadia wasn’t going to save itself, and if she were going to have a hand in its redemption, she would need to be ready for the fight.

  Today it was nature magic. Ezekiel was still nowhere to be found, but she didn’t need him to practice her forms. She quickly made her way outside.

  The air felt refreshing on her face, and it was invigorating to get outside the tower. She made her way to the river where the forest met the short band of grass between it and their home.

  She reached at her usual spot. The place had changed somehow. The large tree that had loomed overhead seemed to lean in a little more today. And where Hannah usually sat was a ring of dead grass that looked like it had been burned. Hannah thought for a moment about the power it had taken to transform Sal, and she wondered what else she was capable of.

  Dropping into a cross-legged position, she closed her eyes and focused. An hour passed in a heartbeat, and she opened her eyes and felt for her pulse.

  Slower than ever, she thought.

  Taking a few minutes, she ran through some of the simpler spells she’d mastered during her first week under the tutelage of Ezekiel. Pleased to find that they still came easily and required little energy, she stood, deciding to try something a bit more intense.

  Her mind wandered, trying to imagine what the next step would have been if the magician had been with her. The sun beat down on Hannah, and her body started to sweat under the folds of her cloak.

  “Wish we had some shade,” she said to Sal, who was flapping around in the grass practicing his own skills. He looked like an awkward toddler just learning to walk.

  She couldn’t help but laugh at his difficulty. The reptile looked at her and then curled into a tight ball in the grass. “Some shade,” she repeated as she looked up at the cobalt-blue sky. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, and she knew exactly what she was going to try.

  She held her hands out to her sides, palms up. She pictured a storm cloud rolling in overhead, but nothing happened. The other arts made some sense in how they worked. Connecting outward with the physical aspects of nature—the trees, the river, and even Sal—clicked for her, but she had no idea how to connect with the weather.

  Imagining herself raising up into the sky and spreading clouds overhead didn’t work. She tried saying some simple words, thinking that mixing with mind magic might help. Nothing.

  “Looks like you might need a staff,” a voice said behind her.

  “Zeke!” Hannah shouted with joy as she turned around. She hadn’t expected to miss him as much as she had. “You’re back.”

  “Indeed. And you’re practicing. I’m glad to see it, but weather control is a significant leap from what you’ve done so far.”

  She smiled. “I look terrible with a sunburn. Just trying to protect my doll-like complexion.” Hannah winked at her teacher. “Wasn’t sure how long you’d be gone, and I didn’t want to fall behind.”

  “Very wise. Discipline is the key to mastery. Keep it up. And it looks like little Sal there has been working on his own discipline.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, poor guy. Not sure he knows what happened to him. I mean, he’s changed a lot more than I have.”

  “Well,” Ezekiel said. “He also knows about as much as you do, which is a good start. Your dragon will figure it out soon enough.”

  “Dragon?” She looked down at Sal, who looked back at her. His tongue whipped out and back in. “What the hell?”

  The old man chuckled. “Look at him. You want to keep calling him a lizard? I guess that’s fine, but we both know what we have here. And if Sal is to grow into his new nature, he’s going to need some nurturing. The first step is to admit and name his new nature.”

  “Holy shit. I have a dragon!” she crowed.

  “Yes, you do.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Kind of little for a dragon.” Sal dipped his head, refusing to make eye contact. “Sorry, pal.” Hannah glanced over at Ezekiel. “Wait, does this mean that dragons actually exist? I mean, other than Sal?”

  The magician shrugged. “I don’t think so. At least none that I’ve ever seen. But that’s the power of your new magic. You have created something new, brought something to life that once existed only in dreams as far as I know. The mystics devote their lives to accomplishing only a shadow of what you have done with Sal here. You connected with him during his change. He’ll do your bidding forever, I suspect.”

  She looked fondly at Sal. “And I his.”

  Ezekiel leaned on his staff. “Yes, it does go both ways. But remember that you are the magician, not him. Now, about that staff.” Ezekiel’s eyes cut to the trees, and Hannah could tell he was looking for the perfect limb.

  “Hey, Zeke, any chance I can have a wand instead?”

  “A wand?”

  “Yeah, you know. Nothing screams ‘old man’ more than leaning on a staff. A wand is, well, kind of sexy. And if it is about focusing…”

  Looking at his own staff, Ezekiel said, “I’ve had this since I was not much older than you.”

  “Let’s not get all self-conscious about this, Z. No offense. Really. I mean, I never expected you to have been very fashionable, but—”

  Ezekiel held up his hand to stop Hannah before she had a chance to say anything else offensive. “We can discuss that another time. In fact, the druids will have better luck than you and me at creating a tool for you to connect to the natural world. Let’s wait until we speak with them.”

  “I guess that’s on the to-do list, right after ‘blow shit up.’” She gave Ezekiel a winning grin. “Now, where the hell have you been?”

  The old man’s face darkened a little bit. Hannah could tell that something was bothering him. “Do you want the truth, or do you want the truth?”

  She laughed at him. “What the hell kind of wizard nonsense is that?”

  “Trust me, young woman. You’ll be speaking my brand of nonsense soon enough. But to answer your question, I’ve been traveling throughout Irth, and I’ve been sitting alone at the top of the tower. I’ve been everywhere without budging an inch.”

  Hannah paused for a second and squinted her eyes. It was a riddle, and she was determined to solve it. Finally, the answer came to her and she nearly screamed with glee. “You’ve been astro-whatevering. Traveling with your mind!”

  Ezekiel nodded, proud once again of his young protégé. “Top notch.”

  “But where did you go?” she asked.

  His face turned cold again. “Might want to sit down for this one.”

  The two sat in the grass and took in the sunshine as Ezekiel told his story.

  “While you’ve been training these last weeks, I have been quite active mentally. At first I spent my energy walking the streets of Arcadia, but this time from the safety of the tower. I’ve been gone from my city for nearly half a century, after all. And when I went there physically, well, I stumbled across you within the first hour, flashing rude gestures at large angry men.”

  Hannah nodded. She remembered it well.

  “Naturally,” Ezekiel continued, “I needed to get you away from the city. Bu
t once I had, I decided to return. That is the battleground, after all, and I mean to be prepared. So, I observed and assessed and planned. But preparing for battle means more than just knowing the arena. You need to know your enemy as well.”

  “Adrien,” Hannah said between clenched teeth.

  The man’s name rang in her ears. While many in Arcadia elevated him to god-like status, the third person with the Matriarch and Patriarch, many others, including Hannah, despised the man.

  The people of Queen’s Boulevard were evenly split. Half were enamored by the rhetoric of the Academy and the Capitol, dreaming of one day working hard enough to make it out of the Boulevard and up onto the hill. The other half realized that those in charge were working for their own ends, not for the common good.

  Hannah and William were lucky. Wisdom was the foremost of her mother’s abilities, and she had passed it along to her children from their earliest days. The highlights of the stories told by her mother had remained etched in Hannah’s mind, and no matter how much her drunk father went on about the virtues of the authorities, he couldn’t sway what she had already internalized.

  “Tell me about Adrien. I want to know what happened. How he became like he is.”

  The old man nodded. “Interesting question. I also want to know the answer. I cannot say exactly what has gone on with my student since I left, though I have gotten some information. But I will tell you all that I know. As the Age of Madness ended, a small band of us started working together, not only to survive but also to pursue the cure.

  “Those days were exciting, and we were filled with hope. In those dark days it was almost all we had. There was a group of about five of us who started to think seriously about founding a new city. Of Arcadia.

  “One night—I remember it was winter—we were huddled by a stove in a makeshift shelter. A boy about your brother’s age came stumbling through the door. His hands and face were white with frostbite, and he looked like he hadn’t eaten in a month. We did the best we could to nurse him back to health.