Chapter 10:
First lights
Daniel:
“So, magic. How does it work?” I ask Constantine, who bites his bottom lip.
“There are many schools of magic. You have to be more specific,” he tells me. I raise an eyebrow.
“What connects them?” I try to ask him again. Magic is real. That boggles the mind. I mean, magic must be real, if a half-human, half-snake exists. But still. “Wait, can you do magic?”
“No,” he tells me. “I wasn’t born a shaman. Now, before you ask, shamans in the Cosmos are not like shamans on Earth. Our shamans can throw fireballs, talk to spirits, cause downpours...”
My eyes are wide. Wait, why does he keep saying the word Cosmos, as if Earth is not a part of it?
“Is the solar system...not part of the Cosmos?” I ask. He shifts in his seat then. I can see it in the way he looks towards the playpen, where Beth is sniffing, that he wants to go to her. Still, he does not, and looks at the clock instead.
After a pregnant pause, he answers me.
“Technically, it is. But after the liberation of the Cosmos, it legally is not,” he tells me. Then, Beth gives out a wail, and he stands up. “I’m sorry, I have to go see her.”
He slithers away from the phone, and I am left to stare at the pink walls. Liberation of the Cosmos? Just what happened, that the Cosmos needed to be liberated?
I feel a dread pooling into my stomach. There is something he is not telling me. When he comes back, it is with the little girl clutching at his neck. Her face is tear-streaked, and he is patting her on the back every so often.
“What did the Cosmos needed to be liberated from?” I ask. He gets a better hold on Beth, and sits down on the pink, fluffy carpet.
“Humans,” he tells me, and sighs. “Look, it is a long story, that happened more than 100,000 years ago. Back when Atlantis existed. The anti-magic shield was placed around the solar system as a result.”
He shuddered at the mention of Atlantis. I saw it. I am fairly certain that I didn’t imagine it.
“What did we do?” I ask him. It sounds like something that will make me feel uneasy. Knowing the history behind the colonies in the New World, and all the wars fought for territory since the dawn of time, I will probably think less of my ancestors than I do now.
“It was horrible. The humans spread in the Cosmos like a plague. Taking over planets, and enslaving the population. They had this machine that drained entire planets of magic, and placed the magic on Earth. Now, Earth is the most mana rich planet in the Cosmos, but the anti-magic shield is keeping us safe,” he bites his lower lip. I have many more questions for him, but then the little lady begins to fuss.
“Pictures,” she exclaims, and Constantine nods. He looks at me, his face still in an uneasy expression from what he told me.
“It was a pleasure talking to you, but do you mind if we cut it short? If I don’t show the little acorn pictures, I’ll need to put her in time out again,” he tells me, and his lips turn up just a bit. The look suits him. A child in his arms suits him even more. I nod, and am the first one to turn off the connection.
I am left with more questions than answers. Questions, which I can’t find the words to express. Ones that follow each other on a never-ending string.
“Earth is mana rich,” I whisper into the air. “But we can’t use the mana.”
I lay down on my bed, and look up at my white ceiling. The ceiling fan is moving slowly. I can count the blades. I really should change it up. What would it be like, to be able to throw a fireball? To speak with spirits? Would Constantine tell me how the people in Ursula 590 access the magic, if I ask him?
Probably not. We, in typical human fashion, committed war crimes.
War crimes on cosmic scale.
I get up, and go about my routine to go to sleep.
Still, when I bundle up in my blankets, I can’t even so much as close my eyes.
Mana rich...
The words don’t leave me any respite. I turn this way and that, yet, my mind lets them swim back up to the forefront of my brain.
Mana rich...
If the magic was sucked out of entire planets, then, did that mean that their cores were sucked dry? In the forum, Constantine claims that only the planets of the solar system were abandoned. That the cosmos thrives. So, can a planet even be sucked dry?
I get up, and stare at my hand.
There is an anti-magic shield around the entire solar system...
That doesn’t stop me from concentrating on my hands. It doesn’t stop me from feeling the vibration that is present in all living things. It doesn’t stop me from listening to my heartbeat.
Doesn’t stop me from believing.
From trying.
When the first light bubbles float up from my hands, I know that life will never be the same for me. When they connect, and form a light sphere, that lights up the dark room, I smile.
This is a miracle.
I think, and then begin to play with the light. Is the anti-magic shield wearing off? Are there people on Earth, that can do the same? What of all those magicians who perform for the masses? Can they do what I just did? Why haven’t they told anyone?
I shouldn’t tell anyone from Earth, either.
I nod at myself, and extinguish the light. It takes me just a thought. I go back to my bed, and bundle myself in the blankets. Tomorrow, I will tell Constantine of this. I will ask him what is possible, and what not. Maybe, one day, I will even see him in the flesh. Him, and all those places and things he gives me glimpses of.
Chapter 10:
First lights
Daniel:
“So, magic. How does it work?” I ask Constantine, who bites his bottom lip.
“There are many schools of magic. You have to be more specific,” he tells me. I raise an eyebrow.
“What connects them?” I try to ask him again. Magic is real. That boggles the mind. I mean, magic must be real, if a half-human, half-snake exists. But still. “Wait, can you do magic?”
“No,” he tells me. “I wasn’t born a shaman. Now, before you ask, shamans in the Cosmos are not like shamans on Earth. Our shamans can throw fireballs, talk to spirits, cause downpours...”
My eyes are wide. Wait, why does he keep saying the word Cosmos, as if Earth is not a part of it?
“Is the solar system...not part of the Cosmos?” I ask. He shifts in his seat then. I can see it in the way he looks towards the playpen, where Beth is sniffing, that he wants to go to her. Still, he does not, and looks at the clock instead.
After a pregnant pause, he answers me.
“Technically, it is. But after the liberation of the Cosmos, it legally is not,” he tells me. Then, Beth gives out a wail, and he stands up. “I’m sorry, I have to go see her.”
He slithers away from the phone, and I am left to stare at the pink walls. Liberation of the Cosmos? Just what happened, that the Cosmos needed to be liberated?
I feel a dread pooling into my stomach. There is something he is not telling me. When he comes back, it is with the little girl clutching at his neck. Her face is tear-streaked, and he is patting her on the back every so often.
“What did the Cosmos needed to be liberated from?” I ask. He gets a better hold on Beth, and sits down on the pink, fluffy carpet.
“Humans,” he tells me, and sighs. “Look, it is a long story, that happened more than 100,000 years ago. Back when Atlantis existed. The anti-magic shield was placed around the solar system as a result.”
He shuddered at the mention of Atlantis. I saw it. I am fairly certain that I didn’t imagine it.
“What did we do?” I ask him. It sounds like something that will make me feel uneasy. Knowing the history behind the colonies in the New World, and all the wars fought for territory since the dawn of time, I will probably think less of my ancestors than I do now.
“It was horrible. The humans spread in the Cosmos like a plague. Taking over planets, and enslaving the population. They had this machine that drained entire planets of magic, and placed the magic on Earth. Now, Earth is the most mana rich planet in the Cosmos, but the anti-magic shield is keeping us safe,” he bites his lower lip. I have many more questions for him, but then the little lady begins to fuss.
“Pictures,” she exclaims, and Constantine nods. He looks at me, his face still in an uneasy expression from what he told me.
“It was a pleasure talking to you, but do you mind if we cut it short? If I don’t show the little acorn pictures, I’ll need to put her in time out again,” he tells me, and his lips turn up just a bit. The look suits him. A child in his arms suits him even more. I nod, and am the first one to turn off the connection.
I am left with more questions than answers. Questions, which I can’t find the words to express. Ones that follow each other on a never-ending string.
“Earth is mana rich,” I whisper into the air. “But we can’t use the mana.”
I lay down on my bed, and look up at my white ceiling. The ceiling fan is moving slowly. I can count the blades. I really should change it up. What would it be like, to be able to throw a fireball? To speak with spirits? Would Constantine tell me how the people in Ursula 590 access the magic, if I ask him?
Probably not. We, in typical human fashion, committed war crimes.
War crimes on cosmic scale.
I get up, and go about my routine to go to sleep.
Still, when I bundle up in my blankets, I can’t even so much as close my eyes.
Mana rich...
The words don’t leave me any respite. I turn this way and that, yet, my mind lets them swim back up to the forefront of my brain.
Mana rich...
If the magic was sucked out of entire planets, then, did that mean that their cores were sucked dry? In the forum, Constantine claims that only the planets of the solar system were abandoned. That the cosmos thrives. So, can a planet even be sucked dry?
I get up, and stare at my hand.
There is an anti-magic shield around the entire solar system...
That doesn’t stop me from concentrating on my hands. It doesn’t stop me from feeling the vibration that is present in all living things. It doesn’t stop me from listening to my heartbeat.
Doesn’t stop me from believing.
From trying.
When the first light bubbles float up from my hands, I know that life will never be the same for me. When they connect, and form a light sphere, that lights up the dark room, I smile.
This is a miracle.
I think, and then begin to play with the light. Is the anti-magic shield wearing off? Are there people on Earth, that can do the same? What of all those magicians who perform for the masses? Can they do what I just did? Why haven’t they told anyone?
I shouldn’t tell anyone from Earth, either.
I nod at myself, and extinguish the light. It takes me just a thought. I go back to my bed, and bundle myself in the blankets. Tomorrow, I will tell Constantine of this. I will ask him what is possible, and what not. Maybe, one day, I will even see him in the flesh. Him, and all those places and things he gives me glimpses of.
