Brinus was with six magi recruits. He wore his military uniform and the children wore the brown and tan robes of Magi adoptees. They looked young at about 11 years old. To get noticed, the kids would do a feat of magic that attracted the attention of the magi. Hearing stories about the kids’ amazing feats of magic was humbling. As a dark fire mage, Brinus had the ability to hide his magic for most of his life. The magi didn’t find out about it until he was 20. There were theories about why dark fire mages could hide their abilities.

One theory was that over history they were misunderstood as being evil. Another theory was that they were more in tune with dark magic and had more control over their powers than most mages because they were honest with their ambitions.

He chewed orange creamsicle gum and swung his arms back and forth as he scanned the exits, analyzed fire equipment, and took note of the mood in the room. The chewing gum helped keep his mind off the relentless need for a vape as he shook his left leg at his desk. The kids were quiet and talking amongst themselves. Brinus noticed they were solemn and one of the boys seemed on edge, more so than the others. The classroom was empty with a magi archivist in a suit and tie standing at the end of the room in front of a hologram projector.

A second magi archivist in a black suit and tie entered the room and handed the other teacher a piece of electronic paper. Brinus stood by his desk, saluted out of habit, and stood at attention.

The archivist rolled her eyes as she entered her password into the computer terminal. “Brinus, the Magi are not military. You don’t have to salute every time a magi archivist walks into the room.”

“Yes ma’am. sorry ma’am.”

“My name is Gloridia. Not ma’am. I swear working with the military is irritating.”

“Yes archivist, ma’am.” He then flashed his screw you smile. Brinus found people like this civilian very grating because they didn’t recognize the sacrifice he and his shipmates made every day. She was generally a smug, old lady.

“The military is a bunch of savages. The magi are more civilized.”

Brinus tasted the cotton candy and pink bubble gum vape in his mouth and felt the urge to blow vapor in her face but realized he didn’t smoke anymore.

The archivist squinted her eyes and said with disgust, “Aren’t you a little old for this? How did you get past the magi undetected?”

Brinus started biting his nails and shook both legs after sitting back down. “I have to go. Get on with your lesson.”

The archivist slammed her foot down and yelled in frustration, “No! You aren’t gonna smoke! I know you’re vaping! Everyone knows you’re sneaking vape hits in the utility closet!”

Brinus laughed. He then said with a sly smile, “That isn’t me. I don’t vape anymore.”

The archivist crossed her arms and curled her lips in silent rage. “It isn’t the crew or one of my kids.”

Brinus raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Is it?”

“Well Brinus…”

He said with irritation in his voice, “My name is Midshipman Helios or Smokestack.”

The archivist scowled and then said with a sneer, “Tell me, boy! What is magic?”

Brinus was quiet for a moment in silent thought.

The archivist crossed her arms in front of her chest and said, “Human magic started as sleight of hand with magic tricks to fool one another. Then it changed into a sleight of hand over physics to make it look the other way. Over thousands of years, it evolved into bending the laws and completely fool physics to our will. Magic as a term has had a juvenile connotation, but it is serious now. That is the gift you and others in this room have.” The archivist studied Brinus for a few moments, “No, you are different, you can entertain physics, make it laugh, it likes you.”

Brinus noticed one of the boys getting nervous. He knew the kid was starting a nic fit.

He looked at the boy with an evil smile. “Do you need to go to the bathroom?”

“These are my students!!”

“Mrs. Gloridia, can I go to the bathroom?”

“Sure.”

The kid left.

Brinus popped his gum and chose not to rat out the kid.

“We’ll be at the temple in an hour. Just relax everyone. The next 24 hours will be rough.”

----------------------------------------

An hour later, Brinus was in his magi guest quarters. They were simple with a small bed — almost too small for him. It also had a desk with a comms device, and an ashtray next to the computer terminal. The furniture was utilitarian and basic in a very modern style, which was typical of police buildings.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

He lay on his bed listening to the gangster rap song Big Daddy Bitch. It was a song about how a prisoner from Penitentiary Five bailed on child support to deal a drug called Rage to the police force.

He heard blaster fire. Immediately, Brinus took off his earbuds and yelled. “Shots fired!” He jumped down off of the bed and rolled behind it, reaching for his blaster pistol.

An agent came into Brinus’s quarters. “What the fuck? Why are you screaming?”

“The federation is here! I need my weapon!”

Brinus charged at the magi officer who then put him in a bear hug and restrained his arms and legs. Brinus attempted to get into back control by throwing the officer but he had much more combat experience and choked out Brinus by squeezing his vagus nerve.

The officer tapped his comm badge once Brinus was unconscious. “Medical emergency in guest quarters 10.”

Suddenly the ship lost power. Brinus screamed as loud as he could, “WE’RE UNDER ATTACK! BATTLE STATIONS!”

Two more mages and a medical tech came into the quarters. They put themselves between the door and Brinus. “Smokestack, the ship is in friendly space. We are not under threat. I am going to give you a sedative.”

One of the magi pointed his wand at Brinus and flicked his wrist immobilizing him. A technician then put a hypospray to his left shoulder and then Brinus fell asleep.

The two mages looked at each other. “I think it started. We should check on the kids.”

----------------------------------------

The archivist and four agents on the ship fanned out in a grid pattern. The vaper was in the corner of the room doing the thousand yard stare like soldiers in world war one. He also had his vape pen in his hand.

The magi looked at each other. One of them said, “He will be fine won’t he?”

“I am not sure. He didn’t get his crystal. Should we take him to the medical bay?”

“I told the magi council letting in smokers was a mistake. We will just leave him for a while and see if he snaps out of it.”

“Brinus isn’t a mistake. Doesn’t he smoke?”

“Brinus is a naval officer in training. He isn’t a kid with no experience.”

The magi closed the door and left the boy crying, curled in a ball.

Other people were in various states of hallucinations or had actual ghosts talking to them.

The test started as Brinus lay sedated on the bed after the magi checked on him again. The ship lost power and he was drugged. He could hear blaster fire and heard screams on the other side of his door. He got up and hid under his bed.

The sedatives kept him from completely going off the rails. However, as the minutes ticked by he wondered why the magi sedated him and did not give him a weapon. He wondered why, if the Feds were killing prisoners, they weren’t in his room.

The ship’s red alert blared and Brinus’s hands shook.

He heard the door open and saw shadows. He heard footsteps but couldn’t see the marines’ boots. It was too dark and the flashing red light obscured his vision. Brinus continued to hide under his bed. However, something wasn’t quite right.

“Where’s the little fucker. I can’t find him.”

“Did you look under the bed?”

The marine trooper bent down and looked under the bed. As soon as he saw him, Brinus blasted him in the face with a 400-degree Celsius plasma ball and burst from under the bed; the second marine stabbed him in the back with a bayonet. However, Brinus felt no pain or hot blood.

The truth was he felt nothing. Brinus turned and faced the trooper. “I know you aren’t real. None of this is.”

The dead trooper stood and then looked at Brinus. Both of them were healed perfectly.

They took off their helmets and then everything around them disappeared. There was no attack. There was no power outage. The ship was at the Battle of Alpha Centauri and Brinus Saw Simmie and himself on their first date.”

Brinus yelled over an explosion as a light bulb exploded, sending sparks and white hot glass in all directions. “Hey! What the fuck!?”

“Sorry hon.” Simmie slapped Brinus’s ass and they both laughed.

Brinus remembered this battle. This moment was when he fell in love with his now husband. However, it didn’t happen quite like this.

Simmie welded a metal plate to a damaged astromech as Brinus watched himself smelt ore ingots in the smelting room.

The shadow of Brinus came up behind Simmie and kissed his lips after they finished four astromech droids. This moment was the first romantic kiss he had since Harper. Again, it didn’t happen like this. It was like the vision was a hyper romantic vision of what actually happened.

A light bulb exploded sending more sparks and glass in all directions. then a control panel short circuited causing a fire. At that moment, they locked lips in each other’s embrace, tuning out the chaos around them. They must have been in a romantic embrace for a few seconds because the fire spread to some electrical wiring. The fire suppression system kicked in as they continued kissing each other passionately.

A chemical spray activated showering Brinus and Simmie in white foam. It dispersed in a few minutes and they resumed work.

All that mattered was Simmie and not the chaos around them.

He looked on the table and a blood-red crystal lay on the desk. Brinus was suddenly in an empty classroom. He walked into the classroom after the fever dream where the magi sat.

“I got my crystal!”

Brinus showed them what looked like a blood-red, half-inch, quartz crystal.

One of the mages pointed at his left hand. “You’re right hand!”

Brinus looked and on his knuckles were ancient ruins.

----------------------------------------

Brinus was in the wand room. It had endless rows of finished wooden shelves, white marble floors, and eight workbenches. The walls had eight blocks of polished wood paneling and a crystal chandelier to light the entire room. He stood with his red crystal in front of four magi. The magi wore suits and ties and had military haircuts. They also had shiny black dress shoes.

The room had microscopes and building tools scattered through workbenches. He could feel the magic pulsing through the room. He could taste the acrid smell of burnt wood and polish. The room felt claustrophobic and small with how many cabinets were on the walls.

The archivist said to Brinus knocking him out of his trance, “Smokestack! go to workbench one.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The archivist followed him. She then inspected the crystal under a microscope. “Why did you get a blood crystal? You don’t strike me as a dark fire mage. Annoying, yes. Rebellious, definitely. A wild child, most certainly. But you’re not the typical dark fire mage. Oh well, let’s start building your wand. I know you haven’t had the standard training so I am going to guide you through the process. Pick your base. I want you to use your magic to guide you.”

Brinus closed his eyes, He slowly walked to one of the shelves. Opening the third shelf. He opened his eyes and then saw it was a two-part wooden stick in the shape of an ice dragon with the top part being tipped with a metal alloy. The bottom half was black with a rubber hand grip.

He came back with the two pieces. They were stained chesterwood from the North American Federal Republic.

The archivist looked at Brinus. “American Chesterwood with a blood crystal. Interesting.”

Brinus spent the next hour trying to join the ends. He failed repeatedly until finally, they created a fifteen-inch wand with a metal tip. He held the wand over his head causing a red lightning bolt to flash.