A few days after.
Swoosh! A pebble soared through the hot summer air. At the end of its journey lied the rotten stump of a long-felled tree, which the pebble hit with a hollow Thunk. Reiland nodded. His calculations had proven correct. Over many tries and errors, he had finally figured out the proper strength and angle to throw a pebble, so that it would hit the tree stump every time. He wore a satisfied grin – the only thing detracting from it was the black eye and scabby lips adorning his face.
The pebble just now had been the last one in Reiland’s arsenal, and he started running to the stump. Spread out in a tight pattern were five pebbles of similar size, form and weight. After collecting them and storing them in his pouch, he started seeking the two that had overshot and gotten lost in the bushy, dry grass.
A sudden brushing sound startled the boy, who quickly attempted to reach for his knife – only to find his sheath empty. A silent curse escaped his lips, but he relaxed once he saw the white fur of a hare jumping away from him. Reiland had been full of tension ever since the mayor’s son had pounded his face into the ground.
Formally, the quarrel was settled – the two of them had met and spoken their apologies the same day, though heavily instructed by their parents. Reiland had felt great satisfaction upon seeing the bandages on Brian’s left hand. Both of them were trying hard not to physically recoil from each other when they were forced to shake hands. By a miracle, they somehow managed. Reiland’s satisfaction hadn’t lasted when he remembered that in midst of the beat-down, his knife had slipped out of its sheath. All in all, it had been a terrible day for him.
He found the two missing pebbles quickly, even though one was hidden particularly well inside a tuft of grass. After storing them firmly and securely in his pouch, he ran back to the spot where he had drawn a circle into the dirt with a stick, marking it so he could always throw from the same position. After all, his experimental results wouldn’t be very useful if he went and changed the parameters all the time.
Although Reiland knew he had to focus for this to work, the brief flashback to his recent encounter with the mayor’s son flushed his mind with fear and anger. Even though he thought he had recollected himself, fragments of emotions still lingered in the back of his mind, driving his hand harder than necessary.
Overshoot.
Grab a new Pebble.
Overshoot.
Grab a new Pebble, readjust force down.
Overshoot.
“Shit.”
After the fourth overshoot, he started swearing and kicking the ground. Trying to calm himself down, Reiland closed his eyes and breathed in long and deep. He grabbed another pebble from his pouch and, eyes still closed, took aim. He threw and opened his eyes at the same time – only to see a wanderer standing between him and his target. The road to the village ran through his throwing path, and Reiland, his concentration shutting all else out, did not notice this man approaching.
Instead dodging, the wanderer started speaking as soon as he saw Reiland throw. Reiland was unable to discern any words. A bracelet on the wanderer’s arm started glowing in an ominous cyan-black pattern, and the pebble appeared to float in front of the wanderer for a split-second before he deftly snatched it out of the air. Clearly furious, he yelled: “Watch out, kid! Are you trying to kill me?!”
Reiland was furious as well, completely unfazed by the man’s rebuke. He started shouting as he approached the man: “Screw you! That would have hit if you weren’t there!” He gestured at the tree stump behind the road. “Are you blind, or why don’t you see that I am conducting important experiments?” All the piled-up stress from the last days started unloading on the poor stranger. “How am I supposed to get good results if some bloke is stepping in all the time?”
The wanderer stood there, flabbergasted. “Your… Experiments? Listen here kid, you could have hit me with that!”
“That would’ve never been an issue if you hadn’t stepped between me and my target!” Reiland glared daggers at the perplexed man. Then, he stuck out his upturned palm in the direction of the stranger with a demanding stare. The wanderer, unsurprisingly, wasn’t amused by Reiland's request. “I won’t give you that pebble, kid. You threw it at me less than a minute ago.”
Reiland sighed in sheer annoyance, deciding it wasn’t worth trying to explain for the THIRD time that it was the man who stepped in his line of fire, and not the other way around. Instead, he simply mumbled: “Whatever. Step aside then, at least.”
Having decided that throwing the remaining two pebbles was not worth going back to the throwing spot for, Reiland started seeking for the remaining four behind the tree stump. Only now he started thinking about what had happened. How did he stop the stone? What was this glow? Did my eyes play me tricks, or did the pebble just float? These questions didn’t leave his head as he methodically combed through the grass.
Once he had finished, Reiland started moving towards the marked spot again. To his surprise, the stranger hadn’t left, but rather sat down on a nearby rock. Who was that man? Reiland knew that recognizing people and faces wasn’t his strong suit, but he was sure that he had never seen this man in the village before. His clothes reminded him of the ones that the priest was wearing during his sermons, although more travel-oriented. The man’s watchful eyes inspected Reiland with a mix of belittlement and curiosity.
It should be fine as long as watching is the only thing he does, Reiland thought. He didn’t like it, but also didn’t feel like arguing and wasting even more time. Reiland took a pebble from his pouch, and assumed his throwing stance. Carefully lining up the space between his thumb and index to the tree stump in the distance, then flinging his arm with just the right amount of force… The pebble cut through the air, and hit the stump with a satisfying sound. Reiland's mind had finally calmed down enough to remember all the throwing he had done before.
He repeated the process time after time, and time after time was met with a rewarding Thunk. After recollecting the pebbles, Reiland decided to switch to a higher arc with lower force. The first few undershot, but from the fourth one upwards he started figuring out the right amount of power, not missing a shot after. With a bit of mental gymnastics, Reiland tried to guess how much less power he needed if he raised the angle he was throwing at by a certain degree. Based on the prior changes to angle and force, a vague guesstimate formed in his mind.
It proved to be fairly accurate when trying it after another haul, only needing a single readjustment. Before he could try it with another angle, he was interrupted by someone clearing his throat. It startled Reiland and caused him to rapidly turn around, where, to his surprise, the man still sat. Lost in thoughts, Reiland had completely forgotten about the strange wanderer.
“I got a question, kid. What are you trying to do here?” Interestingly, the belittlement had vanished from his tone and eyes, replaced with full-on, genuine curiosity. Reiland – suspecting an opportunity – tried to lure some information out of the stranger. “Sure, I can explain it to you. But you tell me how you stopped my pebble in return. And…”, a smug grin forming on his face, “you stop calling me kid.”
This had peeved Reiland all the time – it wasn’t his fault he was still so damn young after all. The stranger let out a small laugh. “Ha! Sure thing, young man.” Hearing that, a small smile hushed over Reiland's lips.
A few moments of silence later, Reiland realized the stranger expected him to start. He explained the goal behind his experiments – finding the correlation between the force and angle a pebble is thrown with and the distance of where it lands. He proudly stated his results so far, and even though Reiland was missing the proper words and numbers to describe anything in detail, a faint understanding took hold in the stranger’s mind.
“Fascinating… In all honesty, it sounds a little boring for me, but that is alright. I am impressed, I thought you were talking out of your ass when you were rambling on about experiments.” Reiland’s chest started swelling with pride a little upon hearing that – finally someone that seemed to at least try to understand him. He knew all too well that his father had been feigning interest in them at best, and his mother was downright disgusted with his experiments on animals.
“Here, you can have that back.” The stranger took the pebble from a chest pocket of his coat, and returned it to its rightful owner. “As for my side of things, it is a lot less sophisticated. I just used some magic.” The stranger smiles.
“You just… used some magic?” Reiland's faint smile derailed into a bitter grimace. “You know, forget it.” He turned around on the spot, leaving the stranger, once again, flabbergasted. “but… you know that…” Reiland had gone too far to hear the stammering.
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His pace was quick and steady, headed towards the target stump. In fact, he was both mad and disappointed. In the end, the adult did as adults do, treating him like a kid. All these stories about magic… He had barely forgiven his parents, but it hurt hearing this nonsense again from a person who Reiland thought had taken him at least somewhat seriously.
“God-given magic, the divine trinity… my ass.” Reiland would have understood had the stranger simply said he wasn’t inclined to share his secrets. Though disappointing, having secrets is something Reiland understood. But feeding him an outrageously obvious lie like this…
He quickly recollected the pebbles, and made his way back. Not gracing the stranger with a single word or even so much as a glance more, Reiland continued his experiments.
“You do know that magic exists, right?” It took Reiland great mental fortitude to ignore this interjection. He had his own theories on this whole pebble-stopping thing. First of all, had he really seen the pebble stopping in the air? Thinking about it now, rationally, Reiland was sure his eyes had played a trick on him.
Secondly, the light – he heard of mixtures that produce similar light. Although it was still a mystery why the stranger would hide something like this from him and use magic as an explanatory scapegoat, or why bother with the light in the first place – was he that desperate to impress a lonely child? Weirdo.
Reiland grabbed another pebble from his pouch, and got ready to throw. While readying himself, he noticed weird mumbling accompanied by a familiar blue shine from his side. “『Grantatio, STEIN BEWEGUNG HOCH』!” The chant finished simultaneously as the confused Reiland released the stone. Subverting his expectations, the stone accelerates in the air and finally stroke a dust cloud a good two- to three-hundred meters in the distance.
Reiland was dumbstruck, staring at the distant cloud slowly setting again. He turned around to see the stranger grinning wildly. “I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I? My name is Arstibal. I am a Mage of the Trinity Church.”
The following half of an hour had not been easy for Reiland. Not so much because the things that Arstibal had told him were hard to understand, but because he had to admit to himself that he had been wrong about something. Sure, it had happened before, but never on something quite as fundamental. How he had never learned that the country was run by mages in his ten years was beyond him. Although admittedly, he did hear all sorts of things about mages. Given that most of that was in sermons of the church, he never really believed any of it. He had thought himself smart for not falling for these obvious lies.
However, this was only one part of it. Understanding the world and its workings had always been a key motivator for Reiland, and knowing that magic existed, a singular thought dominated his brain: I need to learn magic. That was why he nearly squeaked when Arstibal finally spoke these words: “Do you want to give it a try?”
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Arstibal had originally been looking forward to relaxing in the villages’ inn after a four-day journey from the village where he stayed previously to the village Cottan. He had started his journey to acquire new talent months ago, and all the traveling had left him weary, wishing for an adapter that allowed for flight. Sadly, the government only hands these out to their higher-class mages, and Arstibal had long given up hope to ever get his hands on one of them. Therefore understandably, he had been quite pissed when a random boy threw a stone at him.
However, something about the boy had intrigued him. He was not repentant for almost hitting a stranger, and even though that was far from uncommon in kids his age, the fact that he seemed MAD at Arstibal for stepping in line, babbling something about experiments, certainly was strange. So, in the spur of a moment, Arstibal decided to sit down and observe the strange boy a little while. It was apparent that the boy had not been lying about experiments as a way to get out of trouble. Watching him throw stones with a fixed routine didn’t feel like watching a child play at all.
After talking to the kid for a bit, it became apparent that strangely, the child did not believe in magic. Magic was such a reality for Arstibal that even the thought of someone denying it was ridiculous to him. However, after messing with the experiments for the sake of another demonstration, and an introduction later, Arstibal began explaining the role magic held in society, even though he thought it had been a bit silly, explaining this to a child. However, watching the kid’s expression, who introduced himself as Reiland during their conversation, he couldn’t help but notice the tension in Reiland’s face ever since he realized magic was real.
In a way, Reiland reminded Arstibal of himself, back when he was a child filled full of wonder and enthusiasm for everything magic. His father was a mage, so it never came to him to deny magic. However, having been a mage for a while, Arstibal became disillusioned with magic, and started treating it more like a tool. A useful one at that, but nonetheless a tool. That was why, when he saw that glimmer in Reiland’s eyes, he could not help but say: “Do you want to give it a try?”
Reiland's barely-suppressed squeal was enough to instantly convince Arstibal he’d made the right choice. He sifted through his pocket, and pulled out a magic adapter that was specifically built for the testing of magic potential. It allowed only for rather basic spell grammar, and could be shut down by a simple command of most other higher-class adapters. He also pulled out a cleaning cloth and a small bottle of rubbing alcohol, thoroughly cleaning the adapter’s needle. “I hope you are not scared of needles. I need you to follow my instructions, okay?”
Reiland nodded duly. “Just now, I used an acceleration spell to increase the stone’s speed when you threw it.”, Arstibal explained. Reiland nodded again, and said: “Grantatio, stein bewegung hoch, wasn’t it?” Arstibal nodded, pleasantly surprised that Reiland had remembered the Chant. Reiland's pronunciation had been bad, but good enough for this purpose. Reiland wasn’t done, though. “Why does it include the name of this god? From the holy trinity?”
Arstibal sighed, having half-expected this question. Reiland sure was paying attention. “It is because we draw the magic in prayers to the holy trinity. Mysticia for spells that create something, Grantatio for spells that change or amplify something, and Obscurantha for spells that undo or destroy something. Honestly, you don’t need to worry about it too much. The spell I used to stop your stone was an Obscurantha spell, for example: 『STEIN BEWEGUNG NULL』.” He had actually used a quicker emergency version to stop any inbound projectile, but Arstibal wasn’t keen on going into the details here.
Reiland nodded in acknowledgement. He clearly wasn’t fully satisfied, but too eager to try himself to interrupt more. “Once you are ready, take this needle and prick yourself with it. As long as it is connected to you, it will allow you to cast spells.”
Arstibal admitted to himself that these testing adapters weren’t quite as convenient as the implant versions that proper mages get. However, this didn’t seem to stop Reiland. Once he took the engraved metal disk from Arstibal’s hand, he used the leather strap to fasten it to his upper arm and stuck the needle into it without hesitation. He flinched a little upon pricking himself with the needle, but hadn’t complained at all and just continued to take a stone from the pouch on his waist. He started chanting the spell, and threw the stone as soon as he finished.
The adapter on Reiland’s arm glowed in a familiar black-blue, and the stone accelerated mid-air, flying what Arstibal deemed a good seventy meters. A weird expression settled on Reiland’s face. Arstibal almost envied him, being able to experience that for the first time. “Feels good, doesn’t it? I should’ve probably warned you before. Using magic is known to cause a feeling of happiness – we mages call it magic euphoria.”
Reiland, sunken in thought, took a while to reply. “I don’t think I like it. This imposing feelings on me, I mean. Accelerating the stone itself, however…” Reiland’s eyes began to sparkle, and Arstibal couldn’t help but chuckle. He felt all the more reminded of his own beginnings. This is why he also felt sorry for saying what he had to say now.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem your magic coefficient is terribly high. I would guess around seventy or eighty? Some more testing would be required for the exact value, but... In any case, I won’t be able to extend an invitation to the magic academy to you.” Arstibal didn’t even start to mention the age. In rare cases, teenagers as young as fourteen or fifteen get admitted, but this is only in cases of extraordinary talent or connections – and an extraordinary coefficient. Arstibal guessed Reiland to be around eight or nine - he was simply too young. Reiland looked down. He nodded, but was clearly not taking it very well. Arstibal laughed in attempt to lighten the mood, and said: “You can play around with it a bit more though, if you want!” He was technically even breaching protocol by letting Reiland use anything but the dedicated measuring spell in combination with the Magimeter, but he had never been one to strictly adhere to any rules. What is a little more?
Reiland didn’t need to be told twice. He chucked another stone into the air, this time casting the spell for annulling movement Arstibal mentioned. The stone hovered in the air for around a second before falling back down again. “How far away can I affect things with magic?”, he asked. “Around twenty-five meters, typically.” Arstibal was overjoyed in Reiland asking such questions, showing genuine interest in the workings of magic. For the next couple of minutes Reiland casted various spells, asked various questions, and went to retrieve a couple of stones together with Arstibal twice.
Once they arrived back at the throwing spot, Arstibal caught Reiland signaling him to watch. “I thought of something I want to show you. Are you ready?” It was Arstibal’s turn to nod, though he was intending to take back the adapter afterwards. As fun as this was, he was also quite tired from the long travel, and really looking forward to a nice bed in the inn.
Reiland took a step back, and started mumbling the chant for an acceleration. He angled the stone high, and threw it in a high arc. As soon as he released the stone, he started chanting again, and before the stone left twenty-five meters distance, he stopped it with a movement annulment spell right on top of the stump.
Without losing time, he chanted an acceleration spell as fast as possible, working together with gravity to pull the stone downwards. He casted again, while the stone was still in the air. It reached ridiculous speeds, at least as fast as a single cast from Arstibal, before crashing into the tree stump and breaking off a splinter.
Reiland celebrated happily, but not for the first time today, Arstibal is speechless. He stared at the stump, which was now missing a decent chunk on the side. Sure, it had been nothing special for a trained mage. But this boy had doubted the very existence of magic until an hour ago, and was now chaining four spells to great effect. What in the world?
“Give me that!” Arstibal sounded a bit harsher than intended, and Reiland hastily returned the adapter after pulling the needle out. Arstibal quickly gave him a band-aid and cleaned the needle again, before storing everything in his pocket. Still shocked, he started marching to the village’s entrance. The shock wore off while walking, and he started to regret how he had managed that situation as awe of what just happened set in. Even so, it was too late to turn back.
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“SHIT!” As soon as Arstibal was out of range, Reiland kicked the stump, breaking off even more splinters. His toes started hurting from the impact. He had the chance to learn something truly special, truly great. Then, he went and was too smart, and this shithead Arstibal got pissed off.
Casting magic felt great. Even though he said he hadn’t liked how it affected his feelings, it felt great. Not only that, the feeling of nature at his fingertips... felt incredible. He bricked his one chance of doing more magic, of learning as much about it as possible. Reiland slumped against the battered stump, and started crying. Hot, salty tears and snot ran down his face and into his mouth, causing him to spit it out in a disgusted fit.
Disgusted with Arstibal for being such an ass hat. Disgusted with himself for being such a weak crybaby, overcome by his emotions. He inspected the now crumpled band-aid he held clenched in his fist, and considered throwing it away – but reason won, as it should. He applied it to the puncture in his arm that was leaking tiny scarlet droplets shining in the sun.
Reiland took stock of the stones he still had – four of them hadn’t gotten lost in distance – and went back to continue his experiments. However, throwing rocks just didn’t feel the same now.