Six years was a long time to be away from home. Wilbur McKenzie felt the weight of all of those years easing up as the train chugged along and the miles vanished. The two weeks after graduation had dragged on forever. Now that he was on his way, it all passed in a blink, like a rubber band stretching and then snapping forward.
One second he walked onto the stage accepting his diploma and award, the next he sat with his head pressed up against the window watching the countryside roll by. In truth, the three-day-long train ride passed by in a fog. Now with only an hour to go, Wil found himself just staring outward, thinking about the family and town he hadn’t seen in over half a decade.
Harper Valley was a small city or a large town; Wil couldn’t tell the difference. Maybe it would be different now that he’d been gone. Maybe a drought blew in and everyone moved away and they no longer had use for a resident wizard. Maybe it grew and his work would overwhelm and consume him and he’d have a nervous breakdown at the ripe old age of 23. Wil closed his eyes, sighing.
The job scared him, but not half as much as facing down his friends and family. Would they even remember him at this point, or were they going to be strangers and have to get used to each other again? Did they hate him for leaving and for staying longer? What had changed since he left?
No, as much as he yearned to be home after all of this time, things were complicated. It warmed Wil’s heart to see the familiar sights of Appleton and the orchards whizzing by. It tormented him to know time ticked away until he got off the train and had to face his family. There was only one thing to do about it.
The dining car remained open most of the day, and a good snack would take his mind off the terror of homecoming. Inside sat a little old lady at a table, and the young woman running the place stood behind the bar. Smiling at the old lady, Wilbur quietly bought a scone and tea from the bartender, taking a seat at the counter. The buttery smell coming off the scone instantly soothed him.
“You wouldn’t happen to be the VIP passenger would you?” the woman asked, sliding his tea and scone over to him.
Wil snorted. “VIP? I don’t think so. I’m just going home.” He took a sip of his tea.
“No, I’m pretty sure they told us you were a VIP. Are you really a wizard?”
Oh, so it was him. Wil smiled awkwardly. “Oh. Yeah, that’s me, then. Not that I’d call myself a VIP, mind you.”
Her bright blue eyes glittered with interest. “What kind of things can you do? Can you throw big fireballs?”
“Well, sure,” he said, “but I --”
“Can you fly?” Her eyes widened.
“Sort of. It’s very difficult but I guess I --”
“Ooh!” The pitch of her squeal pierced Wil’s brain. “Show me something, show me something!”
It always came down to this. At school, he rose above about two-thirds of the class. Above average, but nothing he’d consider special or notable. Outside though, everyone had questions and everyone wanted a demonstration. Most of them would be bored if they knew he focused on magic dedicated to farming and taking care of the land. That didn’t mean Wil neglected his personal passions or that he was opposed to giving them a show.
“Alright,” he said, smiling and setting his tea and scone to the side. “Watch this, it’s one of my favorite things to do when I’m bored.”
The server clapped her hands and watched intently.
Taking a deep breath, Wil pictured in his head what he wanted. Images, sounds, textures, behaviors. Something half between imagination and memory, letting his instincts guide him. At the same time, he opened himself up to the ambient power of the world, becoming a channel for power and intent to flow through and become reality. That sense of wonder and euphoria came, as it did with every spell.
The train shook violently. Wil grabbed hold of the bar and caught the server before her head could hit it. He released her at once and looked around. The trees and fields passing by through the windows slowed as the train ground to a halt.
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“Was that you?” The server asked, wide-eyed.
“No,” said Wil, frowning at his spilled tea, “definitely not.” His stomach did a little flip. Something was wrong. Ever since opening himself up to arcane power, his gut told him many things that ended up being true. Every wizard eventually developed a danger sense. Wil thought he didn’t have it until now, when it screamed for the first time.
“Excuse me,” he said, leaving her behind. He helped the old lady up off the ground and back into her seat and then went to the next car over. People stood out in the hallway, staring out the window with a mixture of boredom and anxiety. No one knew what caused the train to stop, and either it was nothing and a waste of time, or…Wil pushed his way through, apologizing every three seconds until he got to the driver’s compartment.
“What’s the trouble?” Wil asked, peeking over the heavyset driver’s shoulder.
The driver turned around and glared at him. “None of your concern, sir. Return to your compartment, we’ll have this dealt with in no time.”
Wil ignored him and twisted, finally getting a good peek. “Oh, a tree on the tracks? That’s no problem. I can take care of that if you’d like, and we can be off.”
The driver considered him, and then considered the way he looked. The academy uniform favored formal suits and looking like dignified gentlemen, no matter how low a status you came from. Here only a few miles out from Harper Valley, Wil was overdressed. “You? You know what? Sure. I’d love to see you take care of this.” The driver pulled on a lever and the door on the side opened up. He gestured for Wil to go first.
The first step into early summer warmth felt like waking up. Wil took a long, deep breath. They were miles out yet still but it smelled like home. Smiling, he stepped up to the tree. Trees. There were three in a row that had very clearly been cut down intentionally. Probably recently. The driver seemed to realize it right as Wil did because he let out a gasp.
Then out of the trees came a dozen men, armed with knives and clubs. “Afternoon,” A particularly husky man Wil pegged for their leader called out. “Sorry for the inconvenience, but this is a robbery. If you’ll kindly empty your pockets and sit on the ground, we can get this out of the way with minimal violence. Cross us though…” He slapped his club down in his other hand.
Wil looked behind him. All along the train heads were peeking out of windows to get a better look at the problem. There were kids there. Violence towards them wasn’t acceptable, no matter how minor. He pasted a smile on his face and held his hands up, pretending to be harmless.
“Yeah, sure, no problem. I don’t carry much money on me though. Mind if I get my friend? He’s way richer than me.”
All around, the bandits waited for the signal to strike. The leader held a hand up. “Sure. Whatever makes this easier and less of a pain in the ass. We’ve got other places to rob to meet our quota.”
“Of course,” said Wil. Still holding up his hands he breathed and opened himself up. The power he’d already gathered flickered back to life and greedily sucked in more mana from the surroundings. He knew this land, even before he knew his powers. The same image he’d obsessively created in his mind remained fresh. All he had to do was make it bigger. Much bigger.
First came the wind, summoned with practiced ease, kicking up bits of dirt and buffeting the bandits. When Wil opened his eyes again, he saw the first signs of realization on the bandit’s faces. Too late to stop him now! A loud, thunderous crack knocked several of them on their ass as a rift appeared in the ground. Massive red arms topped with horrible black claws burst upward, kicking up dirt and flames as the archdemon ripped itself from the earth.
As it stood on two cloven hooves it opened its beak-like mouth. A jet of flames shot out and the few bandits still on their feet took off running while those on the ground scrambled to get away. The demon screeched, a deep, ugly piercing noise of the kind that makes you freeze. Within seconds all the bandits were gone, the screams tapering off as they fled for safety.
He waited as long as he could to make sure they weren’t coming back. Then he cracked.
Wil threw his head back and laughed, perhaps a little too maniacally. A gasp behind him had him whirling around. The driver and the other passengers were looking on with horror, jaws dropped and some children crying. Well, that just wouldn’t do.
Wil made a show of snapping his fingers. The illusion wavered, becoming a giant unicorn with a glowing white body and shimmering rainbow mane. It whinnied and reared up, kicking its hooves up at the treetops. Maybe he chose the right animal because the fear quickly turned to understanding and then delight. Families stepped off the train to get a better look.
“I think he wants to help out,” Wil said in an over-the-top stage voice. Once created, the illusion wasn’t too hard to maintain. Seeing it himself helped feed into itself, becoming borderline self-sustaining. He directed the unicorn to the trees along the tracks. Another deep breath and he harnessed raw magic, letting it out in one of its most pure forms. To his audience it looked like the unicorn threw the trees with its horn, when in reality he pushed out with force and threw the trees as if they were twigs. He snapped his fingers again and the unicorn turned to bow to the people before disappearing in a rainbow flash.
Wil turned from the cleared tracks to the driver. “I think we can get moving again now,” he said with a smile.
For the most part he tried not to make it a bigger deal, graciously thanking people for their applause and even feeling a little embarrassed about it. He didn’t regret solving the problem and keeping them from being robbed, but maybe he didn’t have to be flashy about it. On the other hand, what good was his education if he didn’t get to have fun with it?
He returned to the dining cart and got another tea and scone. This time, on the house. With a rolling lurch, the train got moving once more.