The Shape of Magic

What? You want to know what magic is?

Okay. Close your eyes.

Imagine green. No, not the rolling fields by your house on a warm sunny day. Not the leaves on the oak tree that squats above the riverbend. I’m talking about the essence of green. The very heart and soul of it.

See the shape and contours of the color. Strip away the forest and the lime shadings, the turquoise, teal. Boil away the happy memories of your childhood paints. The scent of mold clinging to cavern walls. Lay bare everything that is connected to what has already been established as real, and concrete, and boring.

And now, you are looking at Green.

It appears as an amorphous ball. Hazy, and ill-defined. All definitions have been cut away, and lay strewn on the floor. In its place is this eerie orb in the midst of a void of gray. And even now as you look at it, the Green starts to change. It starts to grow an ear, and a yellowish tint. The mind is already starting to wander, and wonder what it would look like…

Stop! Stop that mind! Don’t let it take you down paths! The pathways will lead you to imagination, and away from reality.

Step away from the path. Look at imagination, and bid them adieu for now. We’ll come back to them later.

Instead, hold the Green in your hands. Go ahead, pluck it out of the air. It isn’t poisoned, it isn’t prickly. Remember, it isn’t anything. What you are holding is not even an abstraction. It is an essence of nothing, held only in the confines of your mind. Once you open your eyes, it won’t be there. You know that already.

But what if it could? What if…say, the Green were able to help you?

Impossible, you think. It’s not anything. And besides, what could a mere color do?

A mere color? Mere? You don’t hold anything mere in your hands. You hold the essence of Green. The sulfurous fire sparks. The Emerald Eye. Your fingertips tingle as roiling waterfalls from the murky depths beneath the rocks play. You are holding back a monsoon!

Look back down the pathways your mind wandered towards. Do not fall into their embrace, but instead call forth your dreams. The realms of imagination are unlocked, and set forth a host of possibilities for the Green. Butterflies as big as houses. Harps that pluck sadness and delight upon the heartstrings. The venomous dagger that suspends above your enemies is just beginning of the power of the Green.

Faerie courts that dance upon the night of the Solstice. They twirl around you under the boughs of the great shining willows of the east. Horned beasts that bellow and bleat your name. All the while lords and ladies are looking upon you with envy. The Faerie Queen Ardenne stands in your presence, and declares in awe the power of your majesty. You are the true master of magic. You have beheld Green, and control it. You are her master.

Magic is about holding onto the impossible with confidence, young man. You are no mere mortal. The elements, the planets, the very nature of existence is bound to your beck and call. It is our duty to understand this fact, and to make reality something a little less mundane.

And you can do this. You are no mere boy. You have the potential of magic wound into your core. You can feel the spells coursing through your veins. You hold the mysteries of the universe within you as surely as you hold onto Green. And now, it is time to prove it.

Grasp a hold of the Green. It wants to be defined, and now it is time to do so. Strip away the fantasies, and hold onto that which you want in the here and now. The rest is mere theater, flights of fancy that you would be better not bothering with.

Do you have it? This isn’t a dream anymore. Dreams are for fools, beggars, and artists. Puffs of wind upon the mind to keep it cooler in the summer heat. No, you are holding onto unrealized reality. You have the future in your grasp. It’s time to show the world.

Now open your eyes, and show us all.

Well…that is different.

“Why did you summon us?”

Queen Ardenne. Um…I did not realize that you were listening.

“Our name was called in the halls of magic. By a novice, true, but called nonetheless. We were curious. And now have been pulled from our lands to satisfy what? Your fantasies?”

No! No, we apologize. I’ll have the boy send you back immediately.

“That will not be necessary. We will be speaking with him from now on. As for you, reckless mentor, we do believe your life has reached its peak in meeting us.”

No. No, wait. Don’t take me, take the boy. Stooop!

“Imbecile. And a dangerous one at that. Speaking secrets in such an easy manner, not suspecting anyone stupid enough to be his student could also hold power.

“And you, boy. You desired to know what magic is. Its shapes and contours? There are none. Magic is a capricious force, an element with quirks. She desires what she will, and likes twists most of all. To have a kingdom in her presence is as exhilarating as it is unnerving.

“If you call upon magic, she will answer. Almost never the same way twice. Today you summoned a Faerie Queen. Tomorrow, you may be transporting yourself deep inside the maw of a ravenous cavern worm, your insides already on display for nourishment.

“Don’t call upon magic lightly. She is far too eager to grant the wishes of dullards and dreamers.

“In fact…come with us. We shall teach you better manners, better magics.

“No. You don’t have a choice.”

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