“... well, and thus a floating sphere of fluorescence or light. Uh, are you OK there?” - “Ah? Yea I just... kind of expected something else. Haha, ha.” - “Oh? What did you expect then?” - “Well, something more... magical I guess. I mean, it's a floating sphere of light you know. When I was still playing pen and paper with my friends in middle-school, it was one of the more iconic spells in the game.” Feeling embarrassed and nostalgic talking about his old, nerdy hobby, he got quieter as he finished his sentence.
“Ahh... Right, well don't be too let down, alright. It's not like there is no magic involved in the process. It is merely there to provide energy and contain the electrons and ions you know. That is how proper, efficient, modern magic works... mostly. Exploit science to make magic easier” - “Right, make magic easier. So is a fireball just igniting something flammable and throwing it?” Kael asked, laughing at the absurdity of the conversation. “No? What? That sounds terrible. Who would carry something like that around with them. That's just asking to get set on fire!” The old man shook his head with wide eyes as if he had just heard something incredibly stupid.
“Right, right, so how is it done then? Explosives?” Kael asked, smiling as he watched the old man's reactions. “Uhh... Are you, like, all there in the head?” Silence hung between them for a while as Kael answered the question by starring at the old man. “Right, thought so. Just asking, you never know with these things... No, far simpler, just a ball of superheated compressed gasses really.” - “Right superheated gasses, right.” - “Can you stop interrupting me? Here I am trying to educate you and you... Are you making fun of me? Of magic?” - “No, no its alright. Are you a science teacher?” At this point, Kael had already filed the old man as dangerous, but nonthreatening away, making him breathe a little easier. He pushed everything that he had heard and seen tonight and could not make sense of to the side, focusing on what he did understand. The conversation had even made him forget about the floating ball of light just a meter away from him.
“Science what!? After all this? I am Archmage Jacobi Myerscough; Explorer of the seven lands and conqueror of the Zamphyr-Depths; Honorary Lecturer at the 'Institute of advanced science and magic'! Science teacher! The audacity! Pff... Well what boring science teacher can do this then?” Before Kael got the chance to answer, or even recognize half of the words Jacobi said, he saw the old man lift his hand and, in just a second, a sphere of fire was forming in his hand. Waves of heat radiating out from the unstable mass made Kael question why the old man's hand was not already blistering and burning from being so close to the source. In a swift throwing motion, the archmage threw his hand forward, the magical ball of fire following along.
With a quiet swish, the ball of heat shot away and impacted a wall close by. The resulting explosion, while not the most destructive or big, was something Kael would never forget for the rest of his life. After hitting the wall, the flames began to expand outwards from the point of impact. Like water, they engulfed half a meter of the wall almost instantaneously, before lashing out, and igniting the nearby air. A bright flash later, the exploding mass of liquid fire covered more than five times its size as the detonation ran its course.
After the flames had died down a little, Kael could see the damage that the -fireball?- had caused. There was a hole, about the size of the fire before the detonation, in the wall. The edges were still glowing red like molten stone. The rest of the wall and a good part of the surrounding floor were scorched black from the flames. With his mouth hanging open, Kael could only stare at the damaged wall. “Well? Convinced yet?”
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For the n-th time tonight, Kael could not help but stare at the old man. After a moment and with a snap he closed his open mouth and tried to regain his composure. Countless possible explanations were racing through his mind, slowing it down in the process. Maybe his brain was simply overloaded by everything that he had experienced tonight, but this was not helpful for the immediate future. Quickly, after realizing he could not come up with an explanation, he simply gave up and removed the problem from his mind for now.
Be it running away from his problems, compartmentalizing, procrastination, or whatever it was called, he was happy to have it. What good would it do to keep thinking if you could not find a solution? Better make space and time to... “Heeello?! Mr. Boy. You OK over there? The heat didn't fry your brain or something like that right? Should I call an ambulance or something?”
The voice interrupted Kael's internal justification for forgetting his problems and brought him back to the here and now. Looking over at the smiling old- Ah, a very powerful, wise man, who had just blown a tire-sized hole into a concrete wall with the swipe of his hand, next to him. He gulped once before answering cautiously. “Ah yea I'm fine. Might I ask, Mr. Archmage, um, what exactly that was just now?” The smile on the old man's face turned into a mischievous grin as he said: “Magic!” Before breaking out into loud, heartfelt laughter as he watched Kael grimace.
“Well I could give you a more detailed explanation, but that would waste the last few minutes of my life, and that seems like a pretty sad way to spend them in my opinion. Besides, not like you would understand much of it anyway, it's pretty advanced stuff after all. Rather, I would like to talk about you! Tell me, and don't hold anything back, what do you want to accomplish in your life? What do you want? Riches? Women? Men? Power? Something more spiritual perhaps? A family? Knowledge? What would you ask for, if a djinn gave you three wishes?”
The grin had vanished at some point from Jacobi's face. It was replaced by an intense stare that seemed to pierce right into his soul. Kael began to think, weighing the possible consequences for his answers. What could he say that would make the magical monster dying just a few steps away happy? He did not fear any harsh retribution for a wrong answer, considering the old man's temper, but what if he angered the man? The only thing he knew for sure was that he could not lie. Quickly the old man's patience seemed to run out as he yelled: “Don't think too much. Just say what comes to mind. What is in your heart?”
Hearing the still friendly but commanding voice ring out refocused him. What was there to think about anyway? Right, wrong, he could not know what the man wanted to hear, making the only real choice to just say the truth and hope for the best. There was no need to hesitate. Everything besides his feelings was irrelevant. Taking a deep breath he opened his mouth and answered.
“Find my parents, reunite with my sister. Be strong enough to make sure we won't get separated again. Enough money to buy whatever I want and don't have to go hungry ever again. And...” He seemed to be struggling to find the words to express himself. “And knowledge. Enough to understand what you just did and more.” Kael halted for a moment. There was still something missing, but he had a hard time describing what it was. Thinking back to his earlier answers he realized what he was missing. “Most of all. I want a place to belong. Somewhere to call home, somewhere to build a family, a life.” That was it. Everything he said was important, but the last part was what welded it all together, tied it all together like a good rug.
“Hoho, quite a greedy boy aren't you? Not just one thing, no no, not satisfied with just money or power, he wants it all. Do note however, that I have no clue how you would compress that into three wishes by the way.” While the words might sound like he was mocking him, Kael could not hear any anger or displeasure in the old man's response. Instead, he found that the man looked happy and excited. “Good for you then, that I am not a Djinn. Not bound by the same limitations of their strange elk... Well what if I told you that you can have all of your wishes and more? Would you want it?”
Kael did not know how to react to the question. There was just no way that he would say no right? Opening his mouth to answer he was interrupted by Jacobi once again. “Before you answer. You have to remember: There is no free lunch in this life. Everything has a cost. Maybe you wont notice it. Not now, hell maybe never, but it is there. So think carefully. What would you be willing to give up for your dream?”