8.6 KiB
"My poor friends never knew until probably 9th year. Yeah. They were a fiery group. Alton once cast a spell on the instructors hat that sent it hurtling through the upper two floors. The impact buried a 4th year in the rubble. Fortunately, I was distracted by my friends powers, and didn't know about poor Anastasia until long after. Yep, that's how it works. I direct my attention at something and it just levels out. The more I think about it, the more it hardens, it feels like the thing solidifies. You know Alton Spiregot, now? Exactly. The same man who leveled the whole southern mountain range out in the war of the Rion Giants, too I'm ----- have much contact besides letters with my old friend, --se days, account of his pivotal role in the security between continentstsssshhhhhh... Bzxzzzzzzzzz"
The fantastically crafted contraption wilted and buckled under the weight on what I knew must be the most perfectly round crystal ball ever to be crafted in our kingdom. The beautiful guest leapt forward to steady it only after it crushed the potted plant. It was apparent that even levitation was unmanageable. I fell into the groove and my mind wandered. I was fixated on the intricate waving patterns in the leaves and metal arms of what appeared to be a florescent pumpkin. Was it light from the inner side of the leaves that projected the image into the orb? Which parts of the plant vibrate to make sound?
I had become aware too late to preserve the magic, and suddenly all I saw was a dull orange melon amidst green vines, and poor old Professor Mackle. She's ready to retire now, judging from her disregard toward long-established distancing procedures, even walking right up to me. "I -- ," and a long, deflated sigh followed. 700 years of life began to crease her face and calmed her spirit. "I hope you didn't do that on purpose," she admonished. I shook my head. She nodded, "That was a conversation that we could pick up only a mile away from the diviner's tower, before you had even thought of conquest."
"Is that the narrative, now?" I asked immediately. I started seeing her remember.
"Right, while this tape, I mean this replication..... Um." She shook her head, as if to clear her mind. "You clearly expressed intent on war."
I became fixated on helping her push through. "I didn't, though. You know that and you saw it in the visions, too. The extinction of elves and giants isn't actually going to be extinction, is it?"
"It wasn't, but there were no more of them--"
"And the strange words for familiar spells. You used to call Brittney's automatons 'robots.' You invented floating, flying rafts after--". Oh, wait. I should not have spoken of flight.
"Right." Mrs. Mackle folded her arms on the table. She had strength in her yet; by her posture I remembered her power. "And your.. apocalyptic crusade put an end to it. Now, " She began to remember, "I understand that Marvin has substantially altered all our understanding of events, but it was you that never disclosed why pushing back the invaders required such collateral damage. Why did dragons and griffins fall from the sky and the hanging terraces collapse?"
"There were millions more outside our world. Right outside the borders." I explained. And I leaned back and blinked slowly. Even I had trouble aligning the two realities. "So I again pondered. Empowered with Alice's device for distant vision, I looked upon celestial bodies and imagined how they must remain suspended and in their proper paths across the sky. They suddenly seemed so very far away. I wondered how large they must be to remain visible. I wondered how the winds and the sands could remain upon suspended rocks and I felt my power align the elements like never before. Caught up in a vision of my gifts' influence, I was forced to watch millions of our enemies become crushed by a force which threw them into the rocks. Millions more lost their breaths instantly when the winds were pulled with boundless force into the grasp of those massive lands beyond our world. Marvin saw it, too, as well as the king. I knew then that I shouldn't return to the order, " Finally, I cut myself off when I glanced at my mentor's wondering face.
She posited, "Those forces are present here?"
"It is the earth itself that binds the large beasts to the ground, now. I couldn't free them if I tried."
She wondered, "And still, your power strengthens. What exactly...." She kept speaking, but I was distracted again. Alice had made the midday meal this time, and I could smell the meats as they cooked. I could hear her rattling pans and fussing with the children in the other room. It was calming. It made sense. If the meat contains many particulates, then it must be little parts of it drifting in the air that allow me to smell them. If they're particulates, then it's their little movements that must vibrate my ears. The insects and wind outside the window mingled with metal and the grunts of great beasts.
Elisabeth Mackle stopped talking to hear her envoy, as well, as they blissfully continued to prepare to kill me. Only their mage knew, for now, that their simple spell to mask sound and smell was the last that spell to ever be cast.
My old teacher followed me to my doorstep. "Why don't you stop? Why don't you have any regard for good magic? You would have been accepted and hailed as a hero."
I responded, "You told me enough during the years of your visions. The clarity will settle, the world will have order. Many of our miracles will be recreated from devices like those that we use here in my own house."
I trust the door open, prepared to see violently. And thus, with open hostility I remarked to the massive hydra which stood almost at my doorstep, "How remarkable that such thin bones support such a large body!" I turned my head, confident in the anti-spell. I glared at the soldiers on tiger, boar, and buffalo steeds in the fields on my left. I paused, and bellowed, "Where is it that animals think? Is it in the head or the belly? I'd imagine it's the head!" And I leapt around the pillars of the porch, my poor teacher watching in awe as I paced away from the crumbling hydra. I yelled, "Why do the creatures even think of duty or war, when their only concerns in the wild are survival!" And stumbled and jogged closer to see the result.
I found a rock to climb on top of, smelling the warm afternoon fields and sweaty battle energies. The wave of power rippled through the grass from my voice, and legions of warriors and mages erupted in battle against claw and horn. I observed the panic and I made a point to cut off the telepathic connection between general and soldier. This chaos will remind them to keep my family safe.
Turning to the hydra, I saw only large snakes like those of the jungle. They slithered among foliage that I cruelly observed was far too grassy to indicate a tropical climate. Thus, more changes to our world began to come into effect.
I trudged back uphill to the house to explain myself to Professor Mackle. She's been alive long enough to fall in love with magic, but still see it as part of our world. I've seen murderous races of dwarves fall into mere humanity and thrive, better for it. I've brought down oppressive controllers of public will, and watched the resulting bloody chaos result in less death and pain than magic ever prevented. She may never know why the giants ceased to be, nor where the elves went.
I got back up the steps. I saw the old lady hardly holding herself to the rail. I chose not to even think about age, not yet. She should die with her family by her side, not mine. I answered her previous question with another, "Ma'am, do you remember the children from villages without magic, that always seemed so earnest and hardworking and .. powerful, somehow?"
Her frail chest croaked, "Yes,", and she took a breath, "they were so lovely."
I grabbed her arm and held her back as she eased into a chair overlooking the mountains from whence she came. I crouched right beside her said, simply, "Everyone is going to live their whole lives like that, soon. I can't help it. I'm going to rid our world of magic."
Regrettably, I had to leave it at that. I went inside and sent my daughter to bring her some food when we heard our visitor begin to arise. I fell asleep so that she could heal enough to make the trip back. It's a long walk without flight.