Is this prompt a prediction or a prayer for how the return to work tomorrow will be? :)
Mundane "Is there some way of practising resisting magic?" asked Fabian. If he wasn't amongst the best then maybe he just needed to practice until he was. "Enter magic school," said Rystin. "It's practically a third of the curriculum since you really don't want your mages being commanded to attack you by the enemy. But... why do you want to?" Fabian hesitated. "I guess I was just interested," he said, wondering how lame that sounded. "I've never experienced anything like that before." He brightened, seeing a way to change the conversation. "You said the spell was unfinished though?" Rystin nodded and walked away from the altar. Fabian noticed that he was very careful around it, as though he wasn't entirely sure it was safe. "Finishing the spell makes the change permanent until the spell ends," he said. "Which you might think doesn't sound very permanent at all, but if the spell was cast using an altar like this, for example, the spell doesn't end until the altar runs out of stored magic." "You can store magic?" "Obviously," said Rystin. He looked at Fabian as though he'd grown another head. "How do you think figurines, wands, rings, etc. work?" "I... I never thought about it," said Fabian. He pondered it for a moment. "No, I've never asked myself that. I think I just thought they worked. Like, rain, you know? Just mundane, every day stuff. Hey, how does it feel when the spell is on you?" Rystin's face relaxed into a smile. "It's interesting," he said. "I'm not sure I'd want to be under a finished spell... you noticed that the spell affected you as well, making you believe in what I was and what I was doing? Well, it's like that for me as well; I could feel the idea of being a knight taking over me and I was starting to wonder where I left my horse and squire, and if the little idiot had polished the rust off yet or not. It... it wasn't really me." "It's not just a disguise then?" Rystin looked slightly taken aback. "That's the point I've been trying to make," he said. "It's wisp-elf magic, it's controlling. It controls your mind, it makes you see something that isn't there and then makes you believe in it. There's no knight, no armour, no sword. The grass was never cut, but you believed it. It's a strong illusion, and the more minds it ensnares, the stronger it gets." Fabian sat down on the altar stone, his legs suddenly feeling weak. Rystin took two steps to him and hauled him back up, pulling strongly on his arm and hand. "Sit over here," he said, gesturing to the waist-high remnants of a stone column. "Wisp-elf altars should be mistrusted unless you've spent quite a lot of time with one." Fabian leaned against the old stone instead, feeling the edges crumble a little and hearing the pik-pik-pik of stone fragments bouncing on the grass-invaded tiles. "Someone was going to do that to me," he said. For the first time the spell that had been set up, at least partially, outside his office seemed comprehensible. "I was going to walk around in a little dream-world believing nonsense and acting on it." "And probably pulling the people around you into the same kind of fugue state," said Rystin. "Yes."
2 comments:
Is this prompt a prediction or a prayer for how the return to work tomorrow will be? :)
Mundane
"Is there some way of practising resisting magic?" asked Fabian. If he wasn't amongst the best then maybe he just needed to practice until he was.
"Enter magic school," said Rystin. "It's practically a third of the curriculum since you really don't want your mages being commanded to attack you by the enemy. But... why do you want to?"
Fabian hesitated. "I guess I was just interested," he said, wondering how lame that sounded. "I've never experienced anything like that before." He brightened, seeing a way to change the conversation. "You said the spell was unfinished though?"
Rystin nodded and walked away from the altar. Fabian noticed that he was very careful around it, as though he wasn't entirely sure it was safe. "Finishing the spell makes the change permanent until the spell ends," he said. "Which you might think doesn't sound very permanent at all, but if the spell was cast using an altar like this, for example, the spell doesn't end until the altar runs out of stored magic."
"You can store magic?"
"Obviously," said Rystin. He looked at Fabian as though he'd grown another head. "How do you think figurines, wands, rings, etc. work?"
"I... I never thought about it," said Fabian. He pondered it for a moment. "No, I've never asked myself that. I think I just thought they worked. Like, rain, you know? Just mundane, every day stuff. Hey, how does it feel when the spell is on you?"
Rystin's face relaxed into a smile. "It's interesting," he said. "I'm not sure I'd want to be under a finished spell... you noticed that the spell affected you as well, making you believe in what I was and what I was doing? Well, it's like that for me as well; I could feel the idea of being a knight taking over me and I was starting to wonder where I left my horse and squire, and if the little idiot had polished the rust off yet or not. It... it wasn't really me."
"It's not just a disguise then?"
Rystin looked slightly taken aback. "That's the point I've been trying to make," he said. "It's wisp-elf magic, it's controlling. It controls your mind, it makes you see something that isn't there and then makes you believe in it. There's no knight, no armour, no sword. The grass was never cut, but you believed it. It's a strong illusion, and the more minds it ensnares, the stronger it gets."
Fabian sat down on the altar stone, his legs suddenly feeling weak. Rystin took two steps to him and hauled him back up, pulling strongly on his arm and hand. "Sit over here," he said, gesturing to the waist-high remnants of a stone column. "Wisp-elf altars should be mistrusted unless you've spent quite a lot of time with one."
Fabian leaned against the old stone instead, feeling the edges crumble a little and hearing the pik-pik-pik of stone fragments bouncing on the grass-invaded tiles. "Someone was going to do that to me," he said. For the first time the spell that had been set up, at least partially, outside his office seemed comprehensible. "I was going to walk around in a little dream-world believing nonsense and acting on it."
"And probably pulling the people around you into the same kind of fugue state," said Rystin. "Yes."
Greg- honestly? The similarity in pronunciation to Monday was all that triggered this prompt.
Huh. Fascinating explanation. Terrifying implications. Nicely done!
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