by Bob Dattolo
Her questions made me smile, “You caught that, huh?”
“Yes, I caught that! I’m not sure if anyone else did, but I did. How’d you know?”
“Mostly guesses, honestly. I heard her in town. What she said. How she said it. I tried to picture what would cause someone to be like her and made some guesses from there. I thought the crying would be pretty close. The desire to be someone. The fact that she’d hate being questioned by me. Called out by me. The fact that she’d hate being minimized for something that everyone fears her for. She has respect she didn’t have before. She’s someone. So…yeah. Good guesses, mostly.”
“You’re too much. Seriously, though. She’ll be back. Are you really gonna antagonize her? Or, better yet, are you really gonna challenge her?”
“Antagonize? Yes. I’m hoping she’ll get the tissues tomorrow. Challenge? I guess it depends. I don’t plan on doing anything that’ll let her challenge me legally. I won’t walk into that circle just for the hell of it. I didn’t want to do that with Colin! The fact that we blindly accept this shit is a travesty, and maybe if we all banded together, we’d all make it through the trials.”
“Except you know that’ll never happen.”
“It would happen if we made it happen. I’d rather die than turn on an ally just to get stronger. Or to survive. If there’s that big of a threat, I’d rather band together and go after it together. None of us are as strong as all of us.”
“That’s a wonderful sentiment. I think my dad said that his company has posters like that hanging up in the break room. Except this isn’t norm life. This is Sorrowfeld Academy. Where treachery is a way of life.”
“Again, it only is because we accept it.” No response. “Back to Alison? I’ll deal with her if and when I have to. I’ll say it again, if she kills me? Oh well. I’m not going to go out and hunt for her.”
“You won’t have to. She’ll be hunting for you.”
“Good. Because that means that some poor kid like Mark won’t get tortured to death because she wasn’t hugged enough as a little girl.”
She registered shock at that admission, “Holy fuck…is that why you did it? To protect others? Like running slow in gym and all of that?”
“It worked, right?”
She snorted, “You’re something else. I never would have guessed that.” I hear some respect in her voice. “Now, back to what you said earlier? Would you really not come in if I hung something on the door handle?”
“Sure? Or just let me know? Send me a text or something? I won’t stay out all night, though, so there’s an upper limit. If that happens, don’t be shocked if I walk in and he’s balls deep or she’s riding your face like a saddle.”
She didn’t even start to blush, “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. You know we’re not shy, right?”
“Yeah, I know it. I’m not all that shy either. Then again, I won’t be hooking up with anyone any time soon.”
“Yeah, I saw just how much you didn’t need anyone else last night.”
That thought deserves a sultry smile, “Yeah, well, get used to that any night I win a challenge. And possibly some others. Definitely a challenge night, though.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Another bout of silence, “I’ll head out. You have a good night.”
“You too. Keep an open spot for me for the movie.”
She smiled at me from the door, “Yeah, I’m not gonna do that.” Then she left me behind.
It’s so fascinating to me that she runs hot and cold like she does. Times like that, she sounds…normal. Friendly. Other times, she’s cold. Definitely when she’s with Samantha. Speaking of, are they girlfriends? I don’t think so, otherwise I think I’d smell them together more. Friends with benefits, probably. Makes me wonder if allies do that. Frankly, I don’t plan on doing that. As good as I am with a ton of things, the idea of sex? Umm…yeah, no. Count me out for that one for the foreseeable future.
My hidden book calls to me, so I grab it along with the magic textbook and sit back in my office chair. I turned a little to face the door and opened the text as I leaned back, putting the much smaller book inside. If someone comes in, they won’t see it. Why am I doing that? I’m honestly not sure. Paranoia, mostly? That’s hard to admit, but it’s true. So far, everyone here seems to be out for themselves, and I don’t really want people to know what I’m doing. Unless I know what they’re learning, so to speak.
The worn leather cover is smooth under my fingers. It look so old and worn, but I’m thinking it was cared for at some point based on the handling stains. I’m shocked it’s in decent condition if it’s been wedged against a vent for decades. They really built to last back in the day.
No words on the cover. I think there might have been, but they’re gone. What I’m seeing could also have been a design that’s mostly missing or even random dirt or aging.
Inside the front cover, it reads TREATISE ON MAGIC AND ITS WORKINGS. Under it is written, LEOFGIEST, ARCANE MAGE OF METAL.
There’s a year that this thing was written, but it’s illegible. Skip that. I’m not sure its material.
The next page starts the part that I was interested in. It starts with WHAT IS MAGIC. Leofgiest is a bit long winded, but he does seem to be organized. He goes into all of the theories from his time, which aren’t all that different from the theories these days. Except the one about them being caused by vapors and another about it being from the devil in some way that he doesn’t quite clarify.
Okay, this part wasn’t as good as I had hoped, but the next section is more of what caught my eye. I had hoped that he had more information in that first part, so let’s hope he hits a home run with this next part.
WORKING MAGICS.
He begins by breaking down the blocks of building a spell. Pretty much what we have now, although called something different. Just not by much. He hammers the idea of focusing. Then really goes into detail about why focus is really the key to it all. Without that, none of the other blocks will do a damn thing. That’s what I saw as well, so it’s nice that I hit on something good from the start.
My mouth ran dry as I read the next section.
There are two keys to strong power. Every mage knows the first. Using your power. The more you use, the more you can pull. Arcane exercise has been a part of our lives from our inducement ceremony onward, and it has proven to be necessary for those of us that can move the largest amounts. Everyone can move more than they can when they first gain access to their powers. It’s just that very few do the hard work necessary to truly achieve greatness.
The second key is one that I hit on centuries ago. As far as I can tell, I am the only one that has noticed the connection and used it to my advantage. What is the key, you ask? It’s simple. Just as water vapors from a bubbling pot will build up if contained, they will also vent off if given an opportunity. Magic is the same. How are they the same you ask? To that, I say it’s as obvious as the hair upon our head.
We wear our affinities in our eyes and upon our head, yet it is our hair that provides the insight. When we are young, it is a sure sign to our parents and teachers that we are moving power. That, right there, is the connection I made. The glow in our hair is the venting of the water vapors. Harmful? No. Yet it diminishes our powers. The level of our spells. I have worked long and hard to limit how much light I emit when working spells, and I have noticed a commensurate growth in spell output.
My theory parallels my boiling water example. By stopping the release of power, meaning the glow in our hair, more power is directed to follow our will. I have absorbed no power in the past few centuries, yet I am leagues beyond where I was. Multiples of what I started out with. All from focused exercise and reducing or removing the foolish waste of power that lights up our hair.
Oh my freaking Lord…are you serious? I noticed an increase as well, but there’s really something behind that? That’s so messed up! So the glow is actually wasted energy? Is this like heat in the old lightbulbs, where now
we have LEDS that take a fraction of the power to produce the same level of light?
This is freaking awesome!
The next section goes into a breakdown of each spell that he has learned or come across. He starts with basic spells that everyone can do and how to do them. Then he starts with affinity spells, starting with air.
As I read through, I keep taking mental notes about spells to go back and look through in more detail. Some won’t be useful, like the one on how to shoe horses, but some carry forward to now pretty easily. Like the same type of silence spell Parece used.
There are so many spells that are mirrored by something in another affinity. Like the ball of fire and wind idea. Ways that you can do pretty much the same thing, just with another affinity. Not all of them, though. So many options, especially if I can do some from every group.
That has me sitting back and staring up as I pull my power, forcing my hair to emit as little light as possible. It’s hard as hell, but I get it done and begin to create the collection of spheres that start bouncing around the room again. This time I intersperse light balls in the mix, meaning that I have a basic spell running at the same time I have one from each affinity.
Just 20 times each.
It was even easier to do it this time than last time, which is saying something.
I let them run and went back to the book, finishing the spell section, only to find one more section in the back that I missed during my quick review.
A THEORY ON AFFINITIES.
“Go for it, Leofgiest, hit me with your best shot.”
Much study has been done on affinities by me and my esteemed colleagues and many others out there. We seem to be no closer to solving the conundrum than ever before. Yet I have heard rumors of people that can perform spells from two different affinities. I have never had that corroborated. I have never spoken to anyone that has seen that for themselves. It’s always friend of a friend or even more removed. I would love to find someone that can achieve those feats and study them, alas, I never expect to be able to do that. If these people exist, they would be diamonds in the rough. Powerful. They would have few of the limitations that the rest of us experience. People would move to own them. To kill them. To ally themselves together for safety.
If these people exist, then I wonder what signs they would have? As I stare at the bands of color in my hair, what would their tell be? A rainbow? Something else? One day, I hope at least one appears. And then maybe, just maybe, I’m still around to sit around the fire with them and discuss what they are truly capable of.
Until then? This book is done. Long lives and successful endeavors to any who read this.
LEOFGIEST, ARCANE MAGE OF METAL
What the hell? A diamond in the rough? Is that really what I am? I guess that’s one way of putting it, I just have a hard time saying that it’s me.
As I moved to close the book, something moved within the back cover, getting me to pause and open it again. The leather binding is on the inside of the back as well, and it took opening and closing it nearly a dozen times before I realized that there’s a little pocket in the leather that’s nearly impossible to see at first. It looks like the normal seam, but it actually opens. Inside is a folded piece of paper.
One more addition to this book before I go to my challenge tomorrow. As powerful as I am, I fear this one will be my death. I wronged the worst person for me, and now I face the music. I finished this book nearly 20 years ago and no one has read it, but I couldn’t help adding this. I have not been able to locate the diamond in the rough. No matter what rumors I followed. Yet at the same time, I hit on one more arcane truth. Much like holding back on the magical leakage that lights up our hair, I have reached one more conclusion through my study.
Spells are developed every day. Through long study and effort, they are created and made available to the world. Yet it’s that creation that I have been looking into. As my peers and I have always thought, magic is coordinated by the spells. The spells are what is being done, and they have to follow the mold, so to speak.
Except my thoughts differ. I have achieved things that I have never heard of, yet I have not written them down. Why? Because I have learned that the spells in this book? They are guideposts. They are evidence that something specific can be done. They are not the end-all-be-all that my peers believe they are.
Magic and its workings depend on the creativity of the mage. If you can think it through in enough detail, you can do it. That is my last thought here. Try it, you will be surprised. Then hide the ability, much as I hid this addition. This is not something that the world can survive. Mages believing that the spells control everything and not the other way around allows our world to continue. If all of us knew what was truly possible? I shudder to think how quickly we would destroy it all.
If this be my last entry, then I go with a smile on my face for a life well lived. Seek your happiness. No matter what it takes.
LEOFGIEST, ARCANE MAGE OF METAL
The letter gets folded back up with numb fingers and slipped into the pocket before I make sure you can’t see the opening again. Then it gets closed and hidden away in my closet. I don’t want anyone to get ahold of that if I can help it.
Sitting back down, I stare up at the balls bouncing every which direction. Everything I’ve ever been told or heard was that spells are needed. What he just said is that spells are…are basically an artificial construct. Someone came up with how to do something, and the spell is the roadmap. If he’s right, then we can create things without a spell. We just need to focus on what we want and go for it.
“Fuck. If he’s right…if he’s right, what the hell does that mean?”
The balls give me an idea, so I begin pulling more power, hiding the light yet again. I’ve never seen a spell like this, so can I really do this? Let’s see.
First try?
Nope.
Second try?
Nope. Although I think I got close.
Third try?
Nopity nope.
On the eighth try, I nearly peed myself as the first soft sound reached me.
“Oh my fucking sweet baby Jesus. How the fuck…this is is…”
My room was now awash in light sounds. Whooshing air sounds as the balls of air move across, followed by an airy sort of bouncing sound as it hits a surface and ricochets away. Earth is a deeper sound. Fire crackles. Ice creeks and groans, just in a high-pitched sort of way.
Each ball makes its own sound. Each affinity makes its own sound. The bouncing sound varies based on what’s being hit and how fast the ball is going at the time and the size of the ball.
Which should be impossible. Very much so.
This is something else. If it’s really up to the mage, then the sky’s the limit. The spells he noted in the book are just that, guideposts. Someone achieved this. The actual spell that they did isn’t needed. Just you.
That changes…that changes so freaking much.
I can see why he kept it quiet. I really can. That’s not something that the world can handle getting out there. I’m so tempted to destroy the note. Maybe even the book. I’m seriously not sure if this is something that others should know about. Yes, it’s grossly unfair that I know it, but c’mon, who doesn’t do that? Why’s that guy speeding? I hope he gets a ticket. I’d better not get one, I’m only going 10 over the speed limit. It’s all good for us, right? I’m just glad that I don’t have any plans to try and take over the world.
Yet.
Maybe that’ll come at some point? I mean, I don’t think it will, but I’m not gonna x it off my list just in case. What if it’s needed at some point?
As if that’d be likely.
My attempts to get more spells to trigger didn’t work for the longest time, requiring that I focus more and more. Eventually, I was able to make the balls spark with electricity every time they hit something. The electricity was the color of the affinity, but when it bumped into another ball, the resulting spark would be a combin
ation of the two of them.
That left me panting and staring up in shock that it works.
Electricity is soooo hard to make with magic. The textbook talks about it more than you’d think. People want to be able to shoot electricity from their hands and things like that, and…nope. You can build up static charges with air magic and earth magic and channel existing electricity with water and metal, but creating it?
What I’m doing up there is impossible.
I even went back to look at the textbook about basic spells. The number of light balls that I have up there is way on the upper end of possible. The variety of colors, sizes, speeds, and all of that? That shoves it up a notch. Or two. The fact that I have a matching number of other affinity balls flying around, sound effects, and electricity effects when they hit something?
Hmmm, I wonder.
One of the air balls came down at my command and I had it head for my raised hand.
“Oww! What the hell!?!?” The ball froze as I jerked back from it, as did all of the others above me. “Son of a bitch, that freaking hurt!” No burn on my hand, but I still have tingles going up my arm from the shock.
Holy crap, that’s crazy. I wasn’t entirely sure I hadn’t actually created something that looked and sounded like electricity, you know? Then I kinda assumed if I did, that it wouldn’t be all that powerful. Honestly, it hurts more than the spell Coach hit me with to run faster. Hit me with what I just felt, and I’d damn well run faster. I’m not sure I’d be able to work through it to save the others. They’d probably have to fend for themselves.
That realization had me breaking the connection with the various balls, and they faded from view as they dissipated. It feels kinda lonely to be here by myself, but here I am. It’s latish, but I don’t know what to do. Sleep?
You know what? It’s been a long, weird day, let’s just watch something on my phone and go to sleep. Tomorrow’s another day.
Chapter 20
Sunday was a bunch of new normal for me. It seems that even fewer people wake up early on a Sunday than on Saturday, so I had the caf to myself for most of it. That had me rushing through eating, then heading towards the gym area. With no one awake, that means that I can work out and feel at least a little more normal than before.
