Finding Magyk

"What do you mean, 'maybe'? How long is 'soon'?"
"Impatient, aren't we?" I ask jokingly. She scowls.
"Only because you're annoying."
I roll my eyes. "Yep, sure."
"So?"
"So?"
"Are you going to answer me?"
"I suppose."
"...Well?"
"By 'maybe' I mean that it could not happen, which is what maybe generally means. And 'soon' could be anywhere between sometime this week, or a few decades. Large timeframe."
"You've got to be kidding."
"Do I look like I'm kidding?"
"Not really."
"Oh. I mustn't be doing it right, then."
"Doing what?"
"I'm kidding."
"Oh." I give a slight chuckle at her dumbfounded expression, and she scowls at me again. "Anyway, when are you gonna show me more magyk?" She shoves her hands into the pockets of her jeans, smiling slightly.
I give her a small smile back, thinking about what I could show her. "To start off with, what do you reckon your element would be?"
"My element? Like, fire and earth and that?"
"Yeah. Which one do you feel closest to?"
She thinks about it. "I don't know. Probably fire."
"Oh," I murmur rather disdainfully.
"Oh?"
"That's my worst element. But! We can still work with it. Start simple. Here," I say, holding out my hands. She takes them, seemingly eager to try the magyk again. I ignore the butterflies that assault my stomach at her touch. "Same deal. Repeat after me, 'right?"
"You got it, Cap'n," she says, mocking a salute. I smile, then focus.
"Flamma Mecum," I murmur, a typical beginners' fire spell. She copies my words perfectly, and I feel the magyk flow between us. The sheer amount of her ability is still intoxicating for me, the rush of energy, not to mention magyk sharing is pretty intimate. Even for one as experienced as I in what magyk feels like, it's still amazing. Heat builds around our hands, and a fire sparks into life. It flares, surrounding our hands, and she gasps. "It's okay. The magyk wont hurt the caster," I tell her. She relaxes a little, changing to admire the swirling flames. I, on the other hand, frown at it, not liking the way it's moving. With her amount of Aura, if it gets out of control... "Focus on keeping it small. See if you can form it into a ball."
She furrows her brow, her intense green eyes catching the light of the fire. The flame flickers, condenses, forming a loose, sort of round shape. She smiles at it, then focuses again. It curves in an arc, then forms into the shape of a bird, which then proceeds to fly up away from our hands. She lets me go, still focusing on the fire. It changes into a snake and twirls around her outstretched arm, a rather majestic sight. I smile, taking a step back -I'm no longer protected as I'm not part of the casting now- but stay close enough to intervene if I have to. She's better than I thought she would be at this. With fire being my worst element, it took me a month or so to master the basic flamma, whereas here she is, doing it within the space of a few minutes. She lets the snake shoot off the end of her fingers, and it disperses, a pale sheen of smoke rising from where it last was.
"That was so cool!" she cries excitedly.
I nod. "You learn pretty quickly. I knew you would learn fast, but I never thought you'd be this good, to be honest."
She sticks her tongue out teasingly. "So is that what it's always like? Just with different elements?"
I shake my head. "They're not all the same. Some Magyk requires artefacts or imbued drugs, but not a lot of it. Mostly it's just elements, but the spectrum is more than the typical fire, water, air and earth. There's also ice, psychic, light, bestial, electric, biological, sacrificial, pure Magyk... shadow." The last word comes out a little choked as my mind flashes back to what my poor brother has done to himself. I shake the thought from my head, continuing. "Each one feels a little different when you cast them, and some require more power and focus than others. The typical mage can only master the more basic ones, namely sticking to a single element. The more talented ones, such as your or I, are able to master a broad spectrum of elements, and perform greater feats of Magyk. In short, there's a lot of variation."
"Riiight, okay. So I'll be able to do heaps of different kinds of Magyk?"
"If I've figured this out right, aye."
"Cool. So, what happens now?"
I check the time, seeing that it's about mid-afternoon. "We should probably head back. Maybe give your brother a call to let him know you're okay. Can hang at my place for a bit if you want, perhaps show you something else. Depends whether or not you decide to hang around.”
"I'll call him when we reach your place." She takes some food out of her bag to share, which I promptly decline, and we start walking back. "Tell me more about these other Magyk’s. What's pure Magyk? You think I'll be able to do shadow? It sounds interesting." She takes a bite out of her apple and gives me a look that shows she's listening rather intently.
I think about it carefully before I tell her, perhaps more careful than I really needed to be. "Pure Magyk is when the caster uses their own life energy to perform spells instead of an element. It's rather draining, and can even kill you if used too often, though it's much more powerful than elementals. As for shadow..." My voice turns more serious as I get to her second query. "It's not fun. Remember how I told you about Magyk influencing the body? This is a prime example. Darkness takes over the Magyk part of your body. It's powerful, yes, but it changes your state of mind. Even the kindest people become twisted and dark. And once you've accepted even the tiniest shadow into yourself, it's near impossible to turn back." I don't meet her eyes as I say this. I don't want her picking up on anything to do with my 'family matters'.
"Like Dan. If I remember correctly from last time, he isn't what he used to be. I guess I won’t be using shadow then. What do you excel in?" she asks me, finishing her apple core and all.
I look away, disliking how perceptive she is. "Yeah, kind of like that. And not if you want to stay sane. I'm best at ice Magyk, but I have a lot of earth abilities from my parents. Explains the green."
"Show me ice? It'll probably be weaker 'cause I'm good at fire," she says and takes her phone out to call her brother as we arrive at my poor excuse of a humble abode.
"Will do. After you call him." As she does, I fish through my pockets for my keys, find them, and open the back door. I lean against the frame, letting the door swing open.
She finishes the call with a sigh, walking up to the door. "Well?" she asks, walking past me into the house. I roll my eyes and follow her in, closing the door behind us.
Given I live alone, the house is pretty empty, with just the common furniture placed sparsely around the interior. The back door took us straight into a spare room, a couple boxes sitting around the otherwise bare space. I head straight through to the living room, which just has a lounge, a television and a console or two for when I get bored. "Sorry about the house. Never had people over," I say with a dismissive shrug. I perch on the arm of the lounge, waving a hand as an invitation for her to feel free to sit.
"So you live here by yourself?" she asks as she takes a seat on the floor, crossing her legs.
"Pretty much. My mentor used to stop by every now and then, but that's as close as it came. And you? It's just you, your brother and your grandfather right?"
"Mentor? And yeah, just us three."
I nod. "Alright. Yeah, mentor. The guy that took me in and taught me Magyk after my parents died."
"Huhn, okay. You never told me much about your parents..."
"Probably not."
She cocks an eyebrow, then changes the subject. "So, ice?"
"Right, uh... Yeah. You seem pretty competent with animal shapes, so we'll try that. Pick an animal."
"Any animal?"
"If there were any specifications, I'd have specified."
"What?"
I roll my eyes. "Yes, any animal."
"okay. How about... a griffin?"
"Taking your myths straight off the bat, 'ey? Alright then." I move off the arm of the lounge to sit on the floor with her, leaning my back against the lounge. Now that I've relaxed, I notice that the pain in my shoulder has come back, but I ignore it and hold my hand out.
"One hand this time?" she asks, picking up on the fact that both other times we've done this we've held both hands.
"Yeah. I doubt you need the extra Magyk."
"Alright then." She takes my hand, then looks at me. "Same deal?"
"Similar. The ice won’t act as freely as the fire, but same basic concept. Think of the ice, then the griffin. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it."
"Okay. Ice, griffin, easy. Spell?"
I think back over my training to find the most basic ice spell, remembering it. “Haven't used this one in ages”. I murmur a telepathy spell to tell her what to say -if she can perform it without me interfering as much, it would be a big step. I reckon she can do it.
She gives me an odd look, maybe because she wasn't expecting me to give her mental instructions, and then says the spell. Her eyes shimmer that same beautiful violet mixture as her Aura, something I hadn't noticed happened before now, and in the same instant they return to their deep green. The air between us instantly cools, the water vapour condensing and forming ice crystals, which then bond together to form a small ball of ice. The ball hovers there for a moment, then a piece breaks off and moves to join back on in a different place. I smile.
"I forgot to tell you. Because ice is solid, to change its shape you need to melt it and reform it."
"Gee, could have told me that sooner," she mumbles, then concentrates again. The ice forms into loose water, then freezes again in the shape of a slightly malformed griffin.
"That's pretty good for a fire girl," I say, taking the floating block of ice from between us and letting her hand go. "And the good thing about ice Magyk? You can eat it." I snap a piece off and put it in my mouth, sticking my tongue out at her. She scowls at me, and I toss her the rest of it.
The next few hours fly by as I show her more, teaching her about anything she wants to know. I show her different types of Magyk, leaving out the more precarious ones. By the end of it all I'm tired and worn out, ignoring my shoulder not really working to keep the pain at bay. What really surprises me is that with all this use of Magyk, she doesn't seem at all tired, just as peppy as before. That intrigues me, but I haven't the energy to study it right now. A little past seven, Max's brother convinces her that it's time for her to go home. I offer to walk her home, she declines, but I walk her to the end of the street anyway -she wouldn't let me go farther than that.
"Thanks, Art," she says when we get to the corner.
"For what?"
"For showing me all that stuff."
I give a lopsided, nonchalant shrug. "It's what I do."
She punches me lightly, thankfully in the right shoulder. "Don't do that."
I cock an eyebrow. "Don't do what?"
"Don't be modest."
"Why not? I reckon it suits me. Besides, I'm not going to be totally up myself, am I?"
She laughs, then waves, turning. "I'll see ya at school."
"Not if I see you first."
"Don't do that either. It's too cliche."
"Is there anything I'm allowed to do?"
"Depends."
"Goodbye high-five?"
"Man you're weird," she mumbles, but gives me one anyway.
"I know. See you."
I watch her for a short time as she heads down the street, then sigh. I turn and head back home, thinking back over today and what had happened. Her interest in shadow... I skip that part, not wanting to think that all I’d taught her today would be for nothing. I head up to my room, but pause in the doorway of the living room. I put a hand on the wall next to me, leaning my forehead against it.
"Tell me I'm doing the right thing," I whisper, closing my eyes. I listen for a moment, but get nothing.
I sigh, again making my way upstairs. After a brief shower I head back down to find something to eat, glumly realising I need to restock my fridge, then go back up to my room. I eat, then slump down on my bed, exhausted from all the Magyk use. I'd never had this problem in my realm, where the air is so full of Magyk. I roll onto my side, holding my damaged shoulder, and close my eyes.
Please tell me I haven't chosen the wrong person.