“Eli, we’ve been searching for hours. I have dirt in places where dirt was never meant to go. It’s time to call it a day.” I glared at Roger frustrated with his spotless business casual clothes, perfectly coiffed brown hair, and mirrored shades as well as his attitude. The guy looked liked he just stepped off the set of some Reality TV dating show and here I was covered in dirt.

Spending most of a day crawling through the muck looking for one particular type of mushroom does not seem like a sign of great success in life but you have to crawl before you can walk, right? The complaints from Roger seemed especially disingenuous considering I am the one who had been in the dirt while he was mostly keeping lookout. It doesn’t help that at 5’10” and *cough* *cough* pounds (I keep meaning to get to the gym) that getting through the brush is not that easy.

“Roger, this is our test assignment from the Custos. We can’t just give up because we are a little dirty. The Lepiota Magia can be very damaging if it isn’t caught early. You know how fast it can grow when unchecked and it can seriously weaken the Velum if it gets too large. That also doesn’t consider what it can do to an Inci if they came across it!”

Roger was horrified when we were paired together as I barely qualified for this work. No one is supposed to be aware of the results of our Trial, but Roger isn’t just anyone. He comes from Custos royalty, a direct line descendent of an Artifex, one of the designers of the Velum and “saviors of humanity”.  As for me, if I didn’t succeed at this then I would have to go back to trying to live life as an Inscius, or Inci. Otherwise known as an uninformed, unaware, etc. Someone who doesn’t know about magic. Growing up as I did, the dregs of Custos Magia society, I was always at risk of dropping out entirely and fought tooth and nail to retain even the little status I had.

“Inci’s would never see it, as you well know. It’s inherent illusory properties are the only reason you were given this chance at all. The Sensor said it was in this area so go find it!” Roger’s frustration was starting to come through. He clearly felt he was meant for bigger and better things.

I tried to buy a bit more time. “Give me a little time, sensing illusions is difficult work, and Lepiota is especially good at blending in.” Having people walk by every few minutes was not making this conversation any easier as we constantly needed to stop to avoid being overheard. Luckily, this is New York, so two people wandering in places they were probably not meant to go wasn’t drawing that much attention.

Roger was right in that an Excursor, one of those who had an affinity for sensing, had identified this remote area of the Ramble in Central Park as giving off an aura indicating a patch of the mushroom. My problem came from, as usual, the fact that my affinity never worked as it was supposed to. It should work just fine. My family on my father’s side has been practicing Illusion magic since before the Velum, or barrier, was created. We had been one of the few families dedicated to peaceful co-existence with all those things that go bump in the night and so, which made us less than popular with most of the Custos. When they finally decided that Humans needed to be protected they bullied my family and other into providing power for the Velum. Even after its creation and the banishment of all (or most at least) non-humans, we were not looked upon favorably and so our magic use was curtailed by the Custos. The Velum removed non-humans from Earth, but did nothing could protect Humans from each other. Even after all these centuries my family is still considered traitorous for having spoken up against the Velum originally.  

Anyone else in my family (well really just my Grandmother, since she is all that is left) would be able to sense an illusion immediately and likely be able to counter it. At the very least they could reveal it and trace it back to the source so that it could be dealt with. With years of daily study, training at every opportunity, and innumerable sessions with other Concelos (people with Illusion Magic affinity) I can create simple illusions about the size of a brick. In fact a brick is one of the only illusions I can successfully made; a far cry from the buildings, mountains, or planes that my family has been known to create in the past. Luckily I also worked on other skills.

“I think I found something here.” I used my fingers to feel along the roots of yet another tree and felt a bulbous outcropping that my eyes would not register. I had done my research and know that Lepiota generally likes the shade and so I have been dragging my fingers through shady dirt for hour after hour. Upon touch the illusion was broken and there was the three inch tall mushroom in all it’s white (with softly glowing red spots) glory.

Roger quickly joined me and began dragging his feet around the area revealing more and more of the fungi. “Let’s sweep the whole area so we can make sure we find all of them. We can then get started removing them.” said Roger as he tries to take control. For all of his whining, he has been very well trained. He is a better fit for this than I while being younger by more than 5 years. Luckily for me, my wit is a well-honed weapon which makes me that much more valuable.

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“Ten-Four sarge! I’ll get right on that!” I said while giving a sloppy salute. I realized I looked ridiculous considering I was dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a black t-shirt with a picture of vampire Betty Boop saying “I go Boop in the night” but sometimes you just have to go for it. Do it for the laugh.

“You do realize you are not as funny as you think you are, right? Let’s just get this done” sighed Roger. Luckily the patch of mushrooms was in a section off the path from the Boathouse, and with the clouds starting to roll in there are not many other people around. Roger and I proceed to move around like we are doing some combination of break-dancing and Tae-Kwon-Do in order to cover the ground as completely as possible and after about 5 minutes we have been in contact with enough of the area to feel confident we have found all the mushrooms. They are concentrated in a small clearing  with overhanging trees almost complete enclosing it.

“I’ll do the burn, you keep watch. Warn me if someone is coming” Roger said while concentrating. I can see his hands begin to glow orange as he focuses his energy. Roger is one of many with Fire affinity, though his family is one of the most powerful. The reason he was assigned this lowly task (with me as his lowly partner) is that he is able to create Eldritch Flame, the core ability of his family, unique among the Ignis. Eldritch Flame can actually burn the magic out of creatures and therefore ensure their destruction. Many magic-infused creatures can survive normal means of removal. I can create small non-magical flames but those would only cause the fungus to disperse so I’m on lookout duty.

After walking down the trail a few steps I practice some of my basic magics while keeping an eye out for any unwanted observers. It’s a wonderfully warm May day in New York and I am only able to accomplish my task because of Mother Nature’s wonderfully rainy assistance. The drops start as a slow patter but quickly increase into that drenching warm rain that will require you to put your shoes in the dryer. After about ten minutes me creating small flames, levitating sticks, and failing to create the Illusion of an Elephant on the trail, I hear Roger call out behind me “Come on back, it’s done!”

I squish my way back, realizing I should not have worn sneakers for this adventure, and rejoin Roger at the burn site. “Looks like Mushroom flambé is on the menu!” I say as I walk up earning a glare from Roger.

“How long did that one take you? Knowing your wit, you probably started working on it before we got here” he commented before leaning down to inspect the site further. “With age comes patience, young grasshopper. Even the wittiest of repartee must sometimes marinade in the soup of time” I lectured in my best old-man voice. As I looked around I noticed some odd burn marks on a few nearby trees. “Hey Rog, did you lose a little control here? Your toilet seat must look like a Jackson Pollak.” Roger grunted “We’re done here so we don’t need to spend any more time together. I’ll see you back at the office for the debrief.”

In fairness, Fire does not like to be controlled but why should I let that stop me from using a good art joke.

Roger is from a group of high muckety-mucks so he doesn’t need to bother with such things as clearing the scene, or documentation. God forbid he gets mud on his shiny black Testoni’s considering they cost more than a small car. On the other hand, I am barely hanging on so I go through the whole procedure. Pictures/video of the whole scene, ground inspection to ensure the infestation is fully cleared, soil collection for further analysis. I even work on my mana sensing which, since I am not an Sensor, after no more than 2 minutes causes me to be out of breath and feel the beginnings of a migraine.

As I take pictures of the trees I notice that the burn marks on several seem very contained. Unusual if this was mere blowback from the larger burn. One of the basic things Illusion magic should be good at is tracing. Imagine the old pencil-and-notepad-to-reveal-words-written-on-prior-page trick from all the old movies but on all different kinds of objects, skilled practitioners can even use it on the air to get a view of the recent past. While I do not have that level of skill this is one of the skills I am better at than most. If only skill with tracing translated to being able to use the core of Illusion magic.

I flash back to countless conversations with Gran. “Picture what you are trying to create. See it in three dimensions. Imagine exactly how you want it to look and push mana into that vision as if pushing air into a balloon. Maintain the image on the outside of the balloon and allow the mana be the air inside, supporting the structure but conforming to your will.” She would say in her raspy voice. I swear that after the 1000th time hearing this analogy I never wanted to see another balloon for the rest of my life. She stopped using it after I started making a loud “POP!” sound after each repetition. Gran just doesn’t get my sense of humor.

Tracing is different as you build up the trace layer by layer with the object itself helping form the mold. The depth of the burn would make it difficult but I had been practicing tracing practically my whole life and I liked a challenge. The first layer took almost no time at all, and each subsequent layer builds on the first but as I got to layer eight I noticed a change in pattern. It seems like something had been carved into the tree but as I continued the trace a realized that the bark had then grown over the symbol. I removed the top few layers of the trace and took a picture of the symbol which had been carved to add to my report.

After looking at the other trees it seems the same symbol had been carved in several of them. It looked like some kind of Incantron, or written Incantation. These are usually formed by one or more pictographs representing the main focus with multiple glyphs then positioned around the pictos to adjust the result. The door picto was very clear but glyphs had never really been my thing. Oh well, not my problem.

I was now as wet as wet can be, along with being covered in dirt, and so I packed up my things and left the park doing my best impression of the creature from the Black Lagoon. Just another day at the office.