“Magic is a combination of three things: focus, imagination, and… what’s the word? Connection?” Theo asked. “Like with the instruments?”

“Resonance?” Florian supplied, jotting down everything the wizard said in his mental journal.

“Ah yes, resonance. You need to imagine what you want to happen, you need to focus to keep that mental image in your mind for the duration of the spell, and you need to resonate with the universe to bend it to your will,” Theo marched up and down the kitchenette, walking like one of Florian’s old professors through a lecture hall.

“Why hasn’t anyone ever been able to do magic, then? That doesn’t seem all that hard,” Florian asked.

“I do not know much of your world, but I sincerely doubt that no one has ever been able to perform magic in your entire history. Did you not have these ‘wizards’ or ‘witches?’ Surely, there is some root of truth to your fantasy stories,” Theo supplied, but while his answer made sense, all it did was send lightning through Florian’s mind.

“Wait, wait. My world?”

“Ah, yes. I forgot to tell you,” Theo scratched his forehead. “That is unimportant for now. I need you to learn magic so that you can take over for me at night.” Well, Florian doubted very much that it was unimportant, but in the past week, Florian had gotten to know that when Theo changed topics, it meant that he was done talking, period.

“How long will that take?” Florian asked, still unsure of exactly what the other man did at night beside sit and meditate.

“Because I am here, it will take you a week if you are talented, and if you take any longer than that, I will ask you to send me to the nearest settlement so I may seek help there,” Theo said, matter-of-factly.

Ouch, that’s harsh, Florian thought. “Okay, sounds good. How do I start ‘resonating’ with the universe?”

“Every magic user, we call them Reyamara, but ‘wizard’ is probably more familiar to you, has their own way,” Theo explained.

Florian give him a look that he hoped expressed just how little that helped. Theo rolled his eyes.

“I was not done, Florian,” Theo sighed. “I try to imagine the universe surrounding me, the raw magic hugging my person as I sit in place. Usually, people imagine some kind of energy interacting with them.”

This felt just like every internet video he’d ever seen. Florian was shocked that Theo’s explanation was so mind-numbingly simple. Heck, he’d probably imagined this energy when he had watched cartoons as a kid.

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“I will warn you, however. Here, it appears that resonating with the universe causes no small amount of pain. You’ll notice it first as mental exhaustion – this is normal – and then it escalates into a headache, growing worse until you can barely function,” Theo said as he stood up from the table. “I’m tired. Try and see what you can figure out and wake me when it’s late into the evening.”

“Before that, one question. Can magic heal my leg?”

“Magic can do anything, if you’re good enough.”

With that, Theo left Florian alone in the kitchenette. Joe ran down not long into Florian’s solitary pondering, breaking the monotony of pretending that something was around him that he couldn’t feel. Well, it wasn’t pretending so much as attempting to open his eyes to something he’d never seen, but the philosophy wasn’t the important part.

Rather, with a new deadline, Florian knew that he needed to do what Theo asked of him, no matter how silly it sounded. Running the entire concept by Joe, who sat as a captive audience, Florian concluded that the instructions wouldn’t be much help.

He figured it could possibly be one of those “believe it!” things, but no amount of telling himself that he believed it worked. What was he missing? Florian asked himself, but his thoughts were interrupted by a howl. It was quickly followed by another three.

Florian jumped up. It was far too early for the wolves to be coming out. Was it just a group of those uncommon Hellwolves that hunted during the day? Cursing his luck, Florian tried to shake Theo awake to no avail. Cursing his luck a second time, Florian shouted for Joe to run upstairs and make sure no one came downstairs.

In between putting on his makeshift armor, Florian slowly dragged Theo back to the kitchenette, the space furthest from the front door. He’d make a little stranglehold of the door, and as long as he could take down one of them, Florian wouldn’t be surprised if they ran away as they typically did.

Scraping at the door. The wooden thing wouldn’t last long, given by the way he heard it splintering. His heart beat fast in his chest, but he calmed it and – holding his mace with a single hand – opened the door and drove the mace through the lead wolf’s head with half as much strength as he could usually muster. It failed to do much damage, the spike sinking into the beast precious little.

The Hellwolf recovered quickly, but Florian recovered quicker. With his second hand now available, Florian allowed gravity to do its thing and drag the mace downwards. The Hellwolf, seeing an opportunity to pounce, leapt at Florian’s throat, its golden maw open wide, rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth prepared to sever his head from his body.

That would never come to pass. Florian swiftly took his mace with both hands and delivered an uppercut to the monster. Without a chance to dodge mid-air, the wolf was blasted backwards, black blood dripping onto the concrete floor. Another wolf approached the door now, seeking to squeeze in through the small gap that had formed.

Florian needed to end this now. Leaping forward, Florian hit the dazed wolf with a mighty slam, crushing the thing’s head and stumbling to the ground as he did so. A litany of curses flew out of his mouth as he watched the rest of the wolves eye him with greed rather than fear.

On the ground, Florian was a sitting duck, but the moment he moved to get up would be his last. Instead, he held his mace as if he could wield it effectively and screamed as loudly as he could, hoping the sound would intimidate the creatures. It didn’t. They ran through the door, eyes gleaming.

A blue-tinged knife sailed right past him. The head of one of the wolves exploded. The next dropped onto the ground without a sound. The last saw this, turned tail, and ran. Theo let it.

The fight was over.