Magic

“Darling, I know we will have to make a difficult decision eventually, but what Flay told us still worries me terribly. He’s gonna have a rough time from here on out, right?” Glinst asked with a somber tone as Grif cleared his throat. The couple was lying in bed, having a discussion about the day’s events.

Earlier that afternoon, Grif was wielding a wood cutter’s ax and headed for the forest, but his heart skipped a beat when he noticed footprints in the direction of his destination. Silently he worried it was his son, as he dropped the ax and followed the footprints in a hurried pace.

Lying next to a weird looking glowing fruit was Flay, who was out cold. Immediately, Grif picked him up and breathed a sigh of relief when he could feel he was still breathing, though his face showed immense discomfort.

“I’m just glad Flay is safe right now. At least, I hope he is. I got a look at the fruit he bit into, but I couldn’t recognize it. The skin seemed to glow, and was coloured with beautiful shades. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.” He recalled. The appearance of the fruit looked beautiful, but there felt like a danger hidden within it as well. Grif was rarely spooked, but this was the one time he felt wary about something.

“I think that fruit is called a Drolive Fruit, but it’s been a long time since I read about it.” She said, trying to recall the details. Having been so long since she thought about it, it’s natural that there were some things she’d forget, but it was such a striking topic that she knew she couldn’t forget about it completely.

“Okay, well, what do you remember about it?” He asked patiently, wondering if it had anything to do with the voice Flay said he heard.

She placed her hand on her chin in a thinking pose, causing Grif to chuckle quietly. “Let’s see… Well, to start, I’m pretty sure it only started growing after the Evilord was defeated.” Such a detail couldn’t be anything less than suspicious, especially given its unique design. “Furthermore, it must have had a strange power, but what that was is eluding me at the moment. I do have a theory though…”

“I’m guessing it has something to do with Evilord, considering what you said about the growing thing.” Grif said with a slight frown.

“Hmm… I agree, if the voice Flay heard was any indication… Wait! I just remembered something about it. There was a report recorded a long time ago of the fruit being eaten, and it kind of reminded me of what happened today.” She said, with a rising urgency in her voice.

“We’re unsure who it was now, but someone took a bite of that fruit, and fainted just like Flay did, only when they woke up they were able to use magic despite the inability to do so prior to eating the Drolive Fruit. The problem is that the fruit lost its colour after that, which I have a bad feeling about…”

Grif’s eyes were wide with shock at the implication. When Flay first found out he was completely hopeless with using magic, he was devastated, and even the other kids didn’t want to play with him because of that, but if what Glinst said is true, that fruit could very well change Flay’s life forever.

Glinst placed a hand on Grif’s. “Tomorrow, I’m gonna talk with Flay about trying to use magic. He may not believe he can at first, but I’ll just have to try to get him to believe.” She assured him with a smile. Grif smiled as well, as the two finally went to sleep for the day.

The following morning, Flay sat on a stump in his backyard and mulled over what his parents were talking about yesterday. Was something that scary really going to come back? Flay felt anxious about what would happen in the future, and tried his best to calm himself down as he stared at the garden.

“Sweetie, I want to show you something.” His mother asked him, as he turned his head to see her holding a thick book he’d never seen before. He stood up from the stump and wondered what the book was.

“What’s going on?” He asked, pointing at the book.

“I wrote this book a long time ago, and there’s something I need to tell you before I hand it to you for you to read,” She started. “Remember that fruit you ate yesterday?”

He nodded, wondering where this was going. Upon closer inspection, he noticed there were a handful of symbols above some words he couldn’t fully make out.

“Well, I remembered something about it, and something exciting might happen because you ate it.” She said with a hint of joy. “Here, this book is about beginner spells, and I want you to do the incantation for the first spell in it.” She revealed with hopeful eyes.

Flay frowned, not understanding what she’s trying to say. She knew full well how he felt about magic, although if she looked this happy about it, maybe he could do as she says without worry.

She flipped the book open and turned the page to a spell that formed a small ball of water at the tip of the index finger of the user’s primary hand. Flay wasn’t very good at reading, so what she did was read aloud the incantation while pointing to the side. When she finished, a ball of water formed as described in the book.

“See? This is a very easy spell, and should be no problem for you to try after you ate that fruit yesterday.” She explained, tossing the ball to the ground with the downward flick of her wrist.

Flay was a little skeptical, but he complied nonetheless. Reciting the incantation as best he could, he held his left hand out, but nothing seemed to happen.

“Oh, dear, that’s not how it’s said, it goes “Aquorb”, got it?” She said, saying the spell slower. Flay shook his head and tried it again, being absolutely sure he said the spell correctly this time.

“Aquorb!” He shouted, as after a few seconds a ball of water slowly formed in front of his finger, before bursting before it could reach the same size as his mother’s attempt at the spell.

Glinst gasped, as she suddenly pulled her son into a hug. “Well done! Very well done! I’m so proud of you!” Flay could feel himself tearing up a bit. He dreamed of being able to use magic when he first found out he couldn’t, and now he was suddenly gifted with what was just out of his grasp up to that point in his life. Even though he felt a sense of fear from eating that fruit, now he also felt a sense of happiness from it as a result of what it gave him.

“Aquorb! Aquorb! Aquorb!” He repeatedly chanted, as more balls of water formed and fell from the tip of his finger. Each time he cast it, the balls gradually got bigger than the last one, but were still bursting before they touched the ground.

“Just keep practicing your magic for a while, and I’ll teach you more spells when you’re ready for them!” His mother said. Excitedly, she ran back into the house with the book in hand.

Once again Flay kept repeating the chant, trying again and again to master that spell. What his mother forgot to tell him though, was that you can’t use more magic than your Magical Power will allow, or you’ll become dizzy until it’s recovered.

“Aquorb…” A small ball of water formed, and stayed in place at the tip of his finger as he sat back down on the stump to catch his breath. While he was recovering, the ball seemed to gradually grow, until it was finally as big as the ball his mother was able to cast. Before he could get up and show his mother, she was already out with his father, as he looked at Flay with surprise,

“Papa look! I’m doing it! Magic!!” He exclaimed, as the ball wavered slightly and returned to a calm state. Grif smiled and walked up to the stump.

“Good job my boy!” He praised Flay. He’d never seen this excited or happy for him before except for on his birthday.

“Come on, let’s all cast Aquorb!” Glinst suggested. The boys nodded, as they all chanted the spell simultaneously. The biggest ball was Glinst’s, followed by Grif, and then Flay. Then, they each tossed the balls of water to the side, though Flay struggled to do so.

“Woohoo! Now I can finally play with the other kids!” Flay exclaimed excitedly, eager to show off his new capabilities for magic to everyone in the village. Before he could run off though, his mother stopped him.

“Flay, I know you must be excited to show everyone what you can do now, but you still need to learn how to use magic and what it’s all about, which I can help you with. After all, I am a great teacher.” She bragged, as Grif laughed.

“She’s right. If it weren’t for her, I would be worse at magic than I am now, but I make up for that with my strength!” He said, playfully punching the air in an offensive stance. Glinst and Flay laughed at the display.

“Well, just watch, one day I’ll be just as good as you two are, maybe even better! That’s a promise!” His parents simply smiled at him.

“I know you will, and I promise I’ll support you with all I’ve got. We both will.” Glinst motioned a cross over her chest, with Grif doing the same after she elbowed his side when he didn’t immediately catch on.

“Thank you, I won’t let you or myself down!” The two of them nodded, as Grif retreated back into the house.

The following week was spent with Glinst finding out just what kind of magic Flay can cast, and what came as a shock to her was that he was capable of using more than one type of magic. It was somewhat uncommon for someone to have affinity for two types of magic, and even rarer for an increasing amount of compatibility. Not even Glinst was able to cast both Water and Fire type spells, but Flay could do both of those in addition to Earth and Light type spells.

So far, he wasn’t able to do anything more than beginner spells, but that was expected of a fledgling magic user. Although she remembered being able to use intermediate water spells early on in her youth, she was aware of how that was seen as unusual to others, but in her opinion, it was already unusual enough for her son to use multiple types of beginner magic. Not that she was off put by it all things considered. In fact, she was overjoyed, and happy to do her best to teach him how to handle his newfound ability.

Maybe one day, his hard work will pay off, and he will eventually come to stand up against what life throws his way. For now, he would have to tackle his first hurdle: finally making friends in the village.