Magic

My days went on, understanding this new world and learning about magic. This world seems like the medieval era in my old-world technologically, but with magic that makes life much better. Magic fascinates me. As soon as I discovered the book of magic, I spent hours hiding and reading it. According to a small introduction chapter of the book, there are four basic elements of magic: Water, air, fire, and earth. Each of them has different specialties and attributes. Usually, most people would have an affinity for one kind of magic and would concentrate on learning that one during their lifespan. According to Mom’s stories, some special people could understand two or all of them, but not grasp the whole extent and possibilities of their magic. Close combat warriors would usually learn the basics of all of them to make simple and destructive attacks. The book didn’t go into details of each kind of magic, but I could learn the basics from it.

In this world, power was not defined by physical strength, but by magic. The bigger the magic pool of a person, the more powerful he or she would be. You could be a weakling by my old world standards, but if your magical pool was big, there was no physical power that could stop you. People whose magic pool was small would train their bodies as a way to compensate for their lack of magic. But physical strength would never beat magic power. That is the reason why women and men are seen as equal. Even though men have a bigger body build, anyone who uses magic is far stronger. People with a large magical pool are skinnier than people with a small magical pool. The use of magic requires a significant expenditure of calories and energy from the body, causing people to lose body weight more easily.

I have seen Mom use elemental water magic for cleaning and laundry. She also knows how to use fire magic to turn on the black stove that heats the water for the bath. Fire magic is used to ignite the kitchen, and water magic is used to propel the water at high speed.

I pay attention to my mom's incantations to make fire and to use water. She says, “By the Gods bring your presence before me, burning power of fire that keeps us safe and warmth, refine and purify our path and bring judgement upon our foes, come forth and ignite from within, fire.”

Out of nowhere, in the palm of Mom, a fire like a revolting tennis ball appears. It is like a small explosion or ignition in her palm, which Mom controls to make it compact and stable. She points out the inside of the stove and fires the wood in it. I get closer to Mom in the process and hold onto her leg in awe.

“Cato, no, don’t come any closer, I can burn you. Paul! Take your sister out of the kitchen.”

I’m just close enough to feel the heat and see how it works. Every time, I’m astonished. I cannot close my mouth because of what my eyes see. Brother cannot separate me from my Mom's legs, my arms are too strong. How is it that the fire is so close to Mom's hand but doesn’t burn her? Magic, it doesn’t make any sense. Magic bypasses all the laws of nature that I knew from my world.

I have memorized the words my mom uses for fire magic. I don’t know if this is a chant or a prayer. Do I ask the god I saw for magic to appear? Why does it have to be said out loud? Where is this fire coming from? Is the fire being created by matter around me, or does it appear from nothing? Just thinking about magic makes my jaw drop. Natural laws are entirely different in this world. There is only one way to find out.

I went to the bath one day. This is the safest place to try fire magic. Mom and brother are busy right now, so I can try this without them noticing. I look around and then proceed. My family cannot discover me using magic as a baby. Imagine Mom hears her one-and-a-half-year-old baby chanting magic. I would certainly be put on a stake and burned as a witch.

I sat on the edge of the bathtub and concentrated for a moment, meditating on all the times I have seen my mom do magic. Closing my eyes, I repeat, “By the Gods, bring your presence before me, burning power of fire that keeps us safe and warmth, refine and purify our path and bring judgement upon our foes, come forth and ignite from within me, fire.” Suddenly, I could feel my body heating up. In a fraction of a second, something happened, and a small, tiny light appeared in front of my hands. “Fire,” I couldn’t process what was going on. I couldn’t take my eyes from what I was seeing, “Magic.” I feel like my whole body is putting energy into my hand that transforms into fire.

I had prepared the bathtub with water to try to throw fire into it, but when I was aiming the fire, I suddenly felt my body trembling. My head was spinning. With all my might, I tried not to fall into the water, but I couldn’t do anything. My body was not responding. My whole body was hurting. I was unconscious, drowning in the bath water.