The Unlikely Ascendant's Magical Tool Kit

First, I felt it in my throat. A dry ache like having a mouth full of black pepper. My eyes burned. Blood was pumping loudly in my chest. I was running. My soles pounded the cobblestones. I glanced over my shoulder. A cloud of black dust was engulfing the road behind me. The townhouses along either side stood staunch like soldiers bombed by this coal-like substance that consumed the grey sky, creeping closer. I heard a scream, “Lilly!” from a man too far away to recognize.

“Where am I?” I thought.

My eyes flashed open. I looked around my university’s library sheepishly. I was alone. I had fallen asleep on my journal. I opened its pages to record my dream, flipping past something that wasn’t there before. A few lines curled in the top corner of the page. The handwriting wasn’t mine: the l’s a foreign loop, the t’s a sharper cross.

My late grandmother gifted me this book. It is brown leather with a marigold flower embossed on the cover. Her favorite flower. She instructed me to fill this book with my true self. She said, “Use its pages when you are feeling solemn, inquisitive, meditative or romantic.” She said the last word with a sly chuckle. I missed her.

These words looked to have been etched in a hurry, slanted left yet the stroke was firm- an urgent warning:

"What is it you desire most, little dove?

Beauty, power, wealth or love?

You can only choose one, but choose one, you must.

For the future isn’t yet written, isn’t yet just.

You must choose. You must! You must!

If you don’t, it’ll all turn to dark dust.

Do you know who you can trust? "

A dark shadow moved to my right. The hairs on my arms raised. I didn’t write that. I left hastily.

That night, I was back in my nightmare. The townhouses seemed to curve inwards like a distorted fisheye lens trapping me. The black cloud grew. I heard my name yelled. The caller had strong features- dark hair, thick eyebrows, a twisted grimace. My alarm woke me.

I couldn’t concentrate in class. I flipped ahead in the textbook and recognized a hurried scribble:

"Try you do, but you can’t ignore

It is I knocking at your door

You can only choose one, but choose one you must

If you don’t, it’ll all turn to dust

Do it now to save your health

Will it be love, beauty, power or wealth? "

Tears lightly fell from my eyes. I sat up stiff, glancing around the room suspiciously. The professor turned off the lights. I jumped. A projector began. The image on the wall quivered. The word “CHOOSE” in angry scrawl appeared. Voices filled my head screaming, “You must! You must!” Something in the deep recesses of my mind whispered wealth. The class wasn’t over but I ran outside.

I collected myself. I had a mandatory meeting with a financial counselor to figure out how I would afford this semester.

“Just keep going,” I told myself.

The counselor welcomed me with good news: I had won a $20,000 scholarship! I was thrilled, but confused. The counselor explained that a mogul named H.G. Fargo chose a student at a different university each year. She instructed me to go to the address given to receive this gift.

It was an address I didn’t recognize outside the city. I looked around bemused at the familiar townhouses. I turned right at the next street. A wave of nausea came over me. It was the street from my dream.

I walked cautiously forward, reading the street numbers: 24, 25, 27…wait. I doubled back. 26 was the address yet it wasn’t here. I felt steps behind me.

“Lilly?” someone asked nervously. I whirled around. It was the man from my dream. I started lightly shaking, dropping my book.

The man picked it up and immediately released it like it was hot to the touch.

“Argh!” he winced, burned. The book remained on the ground between us. My brow furrowed. I stared breathlessly.

“Hi. Umm. I’m James. This is going to sound strange but I’ve been having dreams about you on this street. Well, nightmares really. I’ve come here every day since because I need to talk to you.”

I didn’t offer any change in expression.

“Right. Okay,” he stammered. “I am willing to bet you’ve been having these dreams too. My grandmother tells me this is normal for people like…well, like us.”

I finally spoke, “Like us?”

He looked around nervously. “I want to explain but we are not safe here. Please, come with me.”

I can’t describe it, but I trusted James. I followed. I felt eyes burning the back of my neck as we turned to leave.

We arrived at a teal townhouse a few streets over, paint chipping at the seams. An older woman that I came to know as Mary, James’ grandmother, welcomed me with a hug and a smile.

“You look so much like her,” she said.

I looked at her quizzically.

“I wondered if she’d had a chance to tell you before she passed. Honey, your grandmother was a descendant of Aurelia, the most powerful line of witches to this day. You have inherited her magic and are one of us. ”

I started crying feverishly. Mary comforted me and James turned to brew me a cup of tea.

“I want to tell you everything,” Mary said, “but it’d be easier to show you. Take out your grandmother’s book and write this incantation. Steady now, child, your handwriting is more powerful than you know.”

I picked up the pen, took a deep breath and wrote:

"The future is bright, the past is my delight

With this pen, these words will show me the light "

I was flooded with golden images that I immediately understood. I saw Aurelia rising from the sea bestowing power and compassion to others. I saw my grandmother and Mary as children floating through the clouds. I watched as the scene disintegrated into black dust. This darkness spiraled around me like the tornado from my dream. I saw a white-haired man absorbing this blackness, stealing power from others. I saw his victims: powerless wizards wandering the world without wits or consciousness, left to rot. This was H.G. Fargo. This was what he meant to do to me with the cryptic messages, with the scholarship money. I understood what I needed to do. As the descendant of Aurelia, I was the only one powerful enough to stop him.

The images dissolved like paper in rain. I was back in the room with Mary and James. Mary put a protective shield over us. She created a looping spell to stop time so I could train. The world as I knew it was gone. I had no time to look back so into my marigold journal, I went.

I copied spell after spell in my book. When I wrote the words with my own hand, pen to paper, I gained the wisdom of my ancestors and fine-tuned my power. After months suspended in time, I was ready for the most dangerous incantation. This was the one Fargo used to absorb power and I was to use it on him. This was dark magic. If I couldn’t control it and stop myself from greed, I could absorb the power of everyone around me, leaving them mindless, soulless, powerless. The darkness could overtake me. I could become just like Fargo.

Mary sat in a meditative trance extending the protective shield to our destination. It weakened Fargo giving us the advantage of surprise. James came, along with my strongest weapon: my grandmother’s book. We arrived. I wrote:

"Follow me into the light

Come out from where is dark as night

Once concealed must now reveal

Come out, come quick, wherever you are

Ignite the hidden like a shining star "

The address revealed itself. We entered. The hardest incantation was upon me. I knew it by heart but wasn’t able to practice it until the power I was to absorb was in front of me. I nervously opened my book and wrote:

"The strongest of thieves I plan to become

Steal and suck the power till numb

Release, release, to me you’ll succumb

Release, release, to me power comes "

A sudden force of wind knocked James and I off our feet. Glass shattered from every window. Fargo was fighting back. I could feel his power seeping into me, making me stronger. I pulled harder, my greed rising, wanting more. He was pulling back and I could pinpoint his location. I found him doubled over in his study. He was in agony, losing power.

“It feels good, doesn’t it?” he grimaced.

I sharply pulled more, glaring at him. My feet left the ground as I suspended in mid-air, drunk off power. Fargo started writing something but I was too prideful to care. James called out a warning. I didn’t listen. I was suddenly thrown to the wall behind me. Blood dripped from my crown as I slid to the floor, power inching away. Fargo crawled towards me then gained enough strength to walk, towering over me.

James was feverishly writing something then collapsed. I had a sudden surge of power and pulled Fargo’s magic hard. Electricity was rushing through me from every direction. Fargo laid crippled, his power source depleted. I was taking power from something else.

Mary spoke in my thoughts. “Honey, let go. You’ve won. You are strong. Stop yourself.”

It felt too good. I wanted all of it. I could see James writhing on the floor. I could feel Mary’s wisdom entering me.

I heard my grandmother. “Lilly, remember who you are. Remember those you love.”

Her voice brought me clarity. I drifted back to earth, slowly releasing. James laid lifeless across the room. I ran to him. His book was open. It said:

"I bequeath what I possess

Henceforth, I give my best

To the one above the rest

My power, to her I bless"

He had given me his magic and now I would repay the favor. I wrote:

"I relinquish what I stole

‘Tis time to acquest

I give up all control

To make this man whole

I give him my heart, my soul "

All the powers I had absorbed began flooding back into their rightful owners, except Fargo who never owned his. Mary acted quickly trapping Fargo in a time loop. He had lost his powers and his mind, but was still a threat.

James came to. “You did it, Lilly. I knew you could.”

_____

It’s a funny thing to be drunk off greed and release it. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to, but something stronger took hold and I know now, that was love. When I gained the wisdom of Aurelia, I also gained the gentleness of my grandmother and the goodwill of all the powerful people before me. I knew I wanted to share this universal love and teach others this wisdom.

I came up with my own rhapsody and wrote in my book:

"To learn is to grow

To be passionate, in the know

To spread your light far

To the sun, moon and stars

To create and open minds

To live, let live and be kind

This world is all we’ve got

Each of us sister and brother

No matter your lot

Let’s work together and love one another

The future isn’t yet done

It can be nurtured and won

We just have to remember

Together, we are all one"

I put all my power into these words as my pen glided over the crisp pages of my most precious tool: my grandmother's book. For words can change the world and that day, it felt a bit brighter. I smiled then realized something was stuck between the pages. I chuckled. Wouldn’t you know- a check for $20,000.