Magic

What is Magic? We define it as the power to influence courses or events through supernatural forces, but what if Magic is deeper and more entrenched than that? Here is where my short story will take us into a world where Magic is far broader than we ever expected.

Let's peek into a world not our own but one that's far, far away. On a planet very much like Earth but different somehow, it has extra energy in its atmosphere, additional power is attached to its life force. On this planet, there are life forms of all types. Most of them have evolved for millions of years and have learned to use this energy. Some have learned to manufacture it within their bodies.

The parent's job is to teach their young ones how to use this energy. But occasionally, some lose a parent and wind up being an only child with no teacher. A child with no teacher is frowned upon in a beautiful community like theirs. The older creatures concentrated on making lovely garden landscapes. Beautiful flowers are bounding for miles, blossoming trees, fresh air, greenery, pure water, purple-blue sky, rolling mountains, and incredible clouds.

In this heavenly landscape, there are perils, poison flowers, poison trees, raiders wanting to take the creatures' land. Their version of insects, taking over, and creatures misusing Magic.

A miss fire here and a miss fire there someone gets hurt. A young one flares up in a temper tantrum, and someone's home goes up in smoke. But within this world, there is something deeper, more dangerous. If unleashed, the whole world could be thrown out of balance. This is why each young one is taught to use their Magic carefully. However, one was not and was left alone. The town's elders were wary of this young one being left alone and advised the townspeople to take the young one in and teach him. They, however, disagreed, only caring for their own.

The elders saw this selfishness in the communities and began to warn them that selfish behavior is a form of greed that will engulf a community. They did not listen; however, the young child did and watched the elders trying to get their point across.

From that point on, he began to learn by watching other creatures. Until one day when he crossed this hideous creature, smelled terrible, hairy, old, and had a long draped cape that was stiff with dirt. He watched as this creature hobbled through the woods. The smaller hirelings shunned it, "Oh, that thing smells!" "Oh, how ugly" "Oh, look how foolish-looking." The others hide in the bushes, terrified of the beast. The beast never gave them a second glance. He kept on walking. The young fellow followed the brute curiously.

It lumbered slowly but powerfully through the beautiful gardens. The young Chap followed it, watching the Giant. Finally, it arrives at a spot it wants to stop and promptly sits down. With a thud, it sits down, crushing some beautiful flowers without care. This lack of care disturbs the young Chap. He walks over to the creature and says, "Hey, you! You sat in the garden of flowers!" angrily. The brute looks at him then looks back down as if he doesn't care. He pulls out a flask of water and takes a drink, places the lid back on the flask, and returns it to his cloak. "Hey! Get up! You are destroying our garden!" The community members are hidden from the beast, see this, and gasp, whispering to each other, "The beast will destroy him!" The beast says, "Hhmm? Then looks around and then down."

Seeing what he has done, he once again reaches into his cloak and pulls out a wand, and waves it over the area where he flattened the beautiful flowers. A beautiful light radiates out of the tip of the wand. At first, it's blue, then purple, then pink, then as if a small sun exploded over the flowers, a brilliant light appears.

In a flash, the flowers come to life as if they were alive and moving like living creatures raising, straightening up, healing, and recovering. The young Chap stands there in awe, amazed at what he has just seen. "This is a miracle." He says, looking up at the brute. The giant creature looks down and smiles, puts his hand out, and says, "Sorry." in a deep voice. The community members see this and are amazed by such bravery. The elders as well watch in awe. They whisper among themselves. Then in a flash, the creature is gone.

The Young Chap stands there shocked, looking around. "What just happened?" Looking down, he sees a small wand lying on the ground. It was almost exactly like the one he saw the brute use. He picks it up and carefully inspects it. The creatures in the bushes all duck and gasp as he accidentally points the wand at them. "I wonder how this works?" He shakes the wand nothing happens. He turns it over and looks it over carefully. A beautiful crystal at the end of a stick laden with gold and silver with sapphire and a pink stone that glowed from within and a leather handle. He places the wand in a slot on his belt.

Everyone around came to see the wand. One of the elderly community members looked at it and reached out to touch it. In a second, her hand became young again. The oldest Elder saw this and stepped back and said, "This is not good for us. This wand could cause great grief." His companion said, "It could also be a blessing for the sick." The Elder looks at his companion, "I have a bad feeling about this." They watch the young Chap as he performs miracles that day.

All of a sudden, he was a famous member of the community. The community prospered after fixing, repairing, healing the sick, growing new gardens, restoring houses. The Elders started to notice people started to manipulate the young one.

In the distance, a large figure stood watching. In a flash, it was gone.

One Elder mentions the figure to the others, but it is forgotten when the young Chap performs a miracle with the wand. The young fellow says, "I wonder what this can do? So far, it has done amazing things. He lays it down beside his bed that night and falls asleep.

While he's asleep, he dreams a deep vivid dream of a galaxy at the center of the Universe where everything is controlled and perfect. At the center, there is a book where he can open the book and find a motion to wave the wand for each problem he encounters.

This world at the center of the Universe is unique and beautiful. "I wonder, is this where we go when we die?" a voice he has never heard before says, "Yes, it is. We never really die. We change form." He asks, "Are you real, or are you my imagination?" The Voice says, "You remember me? I am the one that gave you the wand." The young Chap says, "I do remember you. You can talk!" The Giant says, "I can." The young Chap says, "Why did you leave me the wand?" The Giant says, "Because you were not afraid of me." "Hmm," The Young One replies. "What can I do with this wand?" The Giant says, "Everything." The Young One says, "I was hoping for a little more specific answer there."

The Giant says, "That is specific." The Young Chap says, "No, it's not, it's general." The Giant says, "Ha!" Then falls quiet the Young One then slowly wakes up with so many questions. "Can you hear me?" The Giants's voice says, "Yes." "Are you my teacher now?" He says, "No, We are our own teachers." "What does that mean?" The Giant laughs and says, "A riddle for you to figure out while you recover. Now, wake up." All of a sudden, the young one wakes up. Raising, he says, "I thought I was awake already? How did that happen." He watches the pink stone grow dim and return to its normal color.

He gets out of bed, dresses, and walks out to find people waiting to see him. These people have come from all over for your healing. "Wave the wand" is what he hears deep from within, so he grasps the wand, and with a gentle wave, he waves the wand.

One day the oldest Elder approaches the Young Chap and says, "May we speak?" The Young One says, "Ok." walking with the Elder, shocked by his desire to talk to him.

"My child, sickness has a purpose. It is unpleasant, and yes, some disease is needless, but some are there to teach. The other day I saw you healing the young male that had fallen from the rocks. He was careless and, in his carelessness, broke his leg. When you healed him, he returned to the rocks that day doing the same thing. I would ask you, does your wand bring our kind back to life? Because if it doesn't, then you should use care in who you heal and why." The Young Chap, shocked by this, placed his finger on his mouth, tapping several times gently, then says, "So, I should be careful who I heal because it may make them more careless?" The Elder nods, "Yes." "Thank you, kind Sir. I shall remember your words and consider them carefully when I heal the sick again." The Elder smiles and says, "Very well." The Elder, not entirely convinced that the Young Chap had listened, watched with skepticism as he walked away.

The Young One walked by where he grew up, pausing to see other young fledglings like himself playing. He notices one young one smelling flowers, playing with insects, happy and content being alone. He takes notice of the extraordinary beauty of the flowers and trees of that area. "Spell bindingly beautiful." He murmurs to himself. Then out of nowhere, a group of children appeared playing with a stick but not an ordinary post. When placed in the right way, this stick was Magic and would dance in circles creating beautiful colors and lights. The game's object was to catch the post as it makes a specific color called by the child holding the staph. If the child does, they are declared the winner of that game and held in high regard for that day. The young child, alone unaware of what was coming at him, stands up and, without looking back, raises his arm, and the stick lands perfectly in his hand. The others stop losing their breath at this supernatural skill. The Young Chap himself was impressed. "Wow," he said aloud—there in, drawing the attention of the children and the young one. He smiled and awkwardly excused himself. The child, embarrassed by what he had done, dropped the stick. The others grabbed and immediately began to call him weird, freak, and other sorted names that would degrade him.

The Young Chap, overhearing this, scolded them, "Stop that right now. There is nothing wrong with him. He has special skills." One child from the back says, "He is a freak!" The Young Chap again shouted, "Enough." They dispersed, leaving the two to talk.

"You have a gift, my young friend." The child replies, "No, it was an accident. it just happens a lot." The Young Chap says, "That's not an accident. That's a power greater than you guiding you." The child says, "I don't want it. It makes them hate me." The Young Chap Laughs, "That will pass; there is a purpose for you." The child asks, "What is that?" He replies, "I don't know yet. That will be revealed later." The child retorts, "I want to know now this getting bullied is no fun." He adds, "No, it's not fun, but it will pass. You will come to understand so much more later." "If you say so." The child says, drooping his head. The Young Chap pats the child on the shoulder and then walks away. The child watches him walk over the hill into the woods.

The Young Chap stands in the woods for a while, away from all noise. He breaths in and out, feeling his body relax with every breath. In his inner mind, "I want to feel the innermost center of the universe." Immediately pictures of beautiful clouds with brilliant but dangerous colors, explosions, hot then cold. At the very center, he sees the brain of the Universe where all the Magic happens, where ever thought that could be thought occurs first. Every person, creature, rock, crystal, cloud, and form to have ever been created is created here first, then in reality. Its size is roughly One-hundred million Earths. Its power to create is infinite. He lingers, looking at it for a long time.

Suddenly, he finds himself snapping out of it. His stomach growled with hunger. He looks around for something to eat to quickly fight off this hunger pain. He finds a small tree that bore bountiful nuts. These nuts were a delicacy used for all types of unique desserts and treats. He fills his pockets and makes a fire, then toasts the nuts. Eating his fill, he lays down to sleep. The night air is crisp, and he pulls the hood over his head to hide his face.

In the night, he begins to dream. However, in reality, he rises as if someone had picked him up and were carrying him in a mystical, beautiful fog. He begins to move around and around slowly. Something begins to happen to him.

His body becomes infused with mist. The air around him seems to move through him. He can feel this new power and is thrilled with it. In his mind's eye, he sees himself as being more assertive, able to jump higher, move faster, as if he had superpowers. The Voice speaks, "Are you prepared?" The Young Chap says, "Yes!" The Voice laughs.

The Young Chap wakes up to face a pair of eyes looking at him. "What is that?" Four fangs come snapping at him. "What is that!" He screams and then jumps to his feet and notices a glow that was not there before. He grabs a stick and uses it as a bat, swatting the beast as it comes close to him. Seconds later, a second beast joins. They circle the Young Chap, and a third and fourth beast join. He looks up. There is a small tree just out of reach. He then crouches down and then leaps upward, grasping the small tree. He balances himself on the tree, being far too heavy for such a small tree. He finds this a fantastic feat but also feels light as a feather. He looks up again and sees a larger tree farther up and then leaps to it, grasping its limbs. He backflips and lands on his feet on the bent tree trunk, looking down at the beasts.

They look up, amazed, having never seen their quarry done such a feat before. They then saunter off into the night. The Young Chap sits in the tree and watches the sun come up. He notices where he was sitting is now a pinkish-blue haze left behind that quickly fades. He climbs down the tree with ease. "I have never felt so lite before. Ok, off to find breakfast." He quickly finds food. While eating, he remembers his wand is attached to his belt. He notices the wand is in different colors at different times. Now I need a sword, a mighty sword.

He then goes to work building a fire and a small kiln. He carefully raises the temperature of the fire, then adds the stones. He watches them turn from orange to bright white. Then carefully gathers the molten iron with two large sticks and places the clump on a rock. He then finds another stone fixes a handle, and uses it as a hammer. He notices that the pink mist surrounds him making his work extremely easy.

Moments later, he lays this magnificent instrument on the ground to cool. He removes a small section of leather from his belt and attaches it to a piece of wood that will later be the handle. As the metal cools, he then places the hot metal against the wood fire, and smoke rises for a moment as the sword seats its self in the wood. He pours cool water to finish the cooling process then wraps the leather around the handle to establish it. "Done." Expressing his delight aloud. Then waving it in the air, making a swoosh sound several times as the now finely tuned sword slices air with precision. Now I can deal with any beast.

Days later, while strolling through the woods, he encounters the beasts. This time he watches them. He carefully monitors them, follows them, stays downwind, and watches every move they make. There in, finding they are a family unity raising small ones, bringing food to their elderly, this changes the Young Chap. "Ah, I see you are surviving." He turns and leaves them without them ever noticing his presence.

The Deep Voice says, "Very good young one, you have learned Grace." The Young Chap remains silent for a moment. "I believe I have far more to learn now." The Voice responds, "Yes, you do."

The Young Chap then returns to where he grew up, a small portion of him wanting revenge but a new piece of him open to ideas. He stands watching. The children at play now have a new meaning. The inhabitants have a new purpose in his eyes. The Voice says, "You have grown, Young One. This is good." The Young Chap says, "I just hope I can keep it." The Voice says, "I do too."