100 years later
William Toma Quickfoot, the nephew of the great and infamous Blur wizard, Nurrim Quickfoot, waited patiently outside the door of his uncle’s study, fingering the letter his uncle had sent. At 15 inches of height, he was slightly smaller than the average Blur, although still large enough to be considered a man rather than a teenager. His stylish green and gold tunic proclaimed his wealth and the diamond star sewn into his left breast pocket proclaimed him the valedictorian of his recently graduated college class, an honor he attributed most to his keen powers of observation and eidetic memory.
I see Aunt Joan’s been making carrot cake again, his eyes spotting the tell tail crumbs on the floor while his nose informed him of the well-known scent. And the new secretary has been here almost a month, he thought as he quickly read the, to him, upside down papers on the nearby desk. I hope this one trusts Uncle’s protective spells enough to not panic when one of his experiments blows up. Aunt Joan hates it when she has to stand in until a new secretary is found.
Just then the secretary opened the door to his uncle’s study and gestured for him to enter. William stood, straightened his clothes, and then giving the man a nod entered. He’s not shaking or showing signs of fear or PTSD. Good! Maybe Uncle’s finally found his man.
Nurrim stood waiting, an all too familiar smile on his face indicating he had something amazing he wanted to show off. That is before Nurrim’s face was obscured by an ever increasing and soon blinding glare of magic.
His aura’s leaking again so it must be something very interesting. William pulled the Blur equivalent of sunglasses out of his pocket and put them on cutting the glare of magic from his Uncle’s aura, not to mention all the items he carried, down to a tolerable glow.
“Uncle, I know you’re excited to show me something, but would you please refresh your concealment spells? Your aura’s leaking again.”
Nurrim gave a sheepish grin as he refreshed the concealment spell. “Sorry Will, but you know how I get at times.”
Yes, we all know how you get at times. In fact, most of the known world is quite aware of how bright you can be after you cut the wings off a red dragon that was bothering you at a distance of 10 miles using just light! After that, none of your detractors dared cross you. Not to mention all the other cases of extreme bolts of power, explosions and general unexpected but extremely dangerous phenomena that accompanies you every time you go out on one of your little trips. Will settled the glasses more comfortably on his nose. Thank all that is holy that you invented these or most of your people would be blinded by your aura whenever you unveiled it in battle!
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Will heard the telltale click of the door to his left opening and turned to face it as Aunt Joan entered with three slices of carrot cake floating behind her. The bands of energy showed she was using telekinesis rather than a self-contained spell like Unseen Servant.
“Nurrim, sit down and eat your cake. Will, you sit down too. I’ll explain what’s going on while you’re eating so that you can enjoy the cake rather than worrying your uncle’s going to accidentally fry it in his excitement.”
“Yes dear.”
Will gracefully sat and started eating, enjoying both his Aunt’s cooking and the way she handled his uncle. This promises to be both interesting and tasteful.
“Now Will, I’m not as brilliant as you and Nurrim, but I’m sure I can convey the gist of what he wants to say. Do you remember the key difference between us and all other races?”
“We can actually see magic as opposed to merely detecting it or its effects.”
“That’s right. So even though we no longer have the ability to see naturally in the infrared like dwarves and many other races do, we can see by magic’s light. That means that things most races won’t see, like glyphs, spells of invisibility and magical traps, are obvious to us as well as the patterns of magic that cause them. As you know your uncle, [Nurrim waved his fork as he chewed on the cake] has made it his life’s work to understand and quantify the various types of magic and how they interact with everything else.”
Nurrim looked like he was about to put down his cake and speak up, but Aunt Joan gave him a look and he settled back down waving for her to go on.
“Recently Nurrim’s made several breakthroughs and has started devising methods of both describing and invoking magic at a fundamental level far below the crude analogies most races use. A sort of magical language if you will although it doesn’t involve sound, but rather patterns of power.”
Will felt the stirrings of excitement himself and leaned forward, his cake eaten and forgotten as he looked over at his uncle. “Is this true? Have you really made such progress?”
Nurrim glanced at his wife, quickly stuffed the remained of his cake in his mouth and swallowed it. Then jumping up, he rushed over to a teleport circle in the back of the office where he started setting the coordinates. “Yes Will, I have! But I need someone to test it and I think you’re just the one to do it. “
Will quickly joined his uncle in the circle and looked back at Aunt Joan who was now sitting and eating her own cake while giving him a look which clearly communicated her wishes. Have fun and don’t let him blow anything up!