Chapter Ten

Half a year had passed since Claude was first taught spells. Nowadays, he always had a book with him whether he was eating or talking with his parents. He was trying to learn spells from the spellbook given to him by his parents. He had a different spellbook for every element. In a spellbook, along with the spell a brief history was also given about that spell.

For example, FIREBALL was a amateur spell, but it had a incredible history. It was one of the first created spells. It was also the most powerful spells among the first spells. It was created by Bane, a mighty dragon who had conquered many world with this spell. He was the one who laid the foundation of Varys Dynasty, a powerful family from Dragon Realm. The purpose of providing a little bit of history was to give the learner a insight on how did the creator came to this spell.

Let's take an another example, SPLITTER, another amateur spell but it's rank do not justify it's importance. It was a spell related to earth. When casted it would create deep cracks on earth surface. This spell was created by a dwarf, he created this spell as dwarfs were weak and weren't able to escape their enemies, his race was the favourite prey of the predators in his realm. But this spell changed the outlook of the realm. It enabled them to create forts underground, excavate ores easily which paved way for development. Slowly but surely they eliminated their predators and became the dominant race in their realm.

This was one of the many example, every spell had a story behind it. Some were created due to need, some coincidentally but every aspect was important for that spell.

Claude has been learning about the spells rigorously, trying to find insights from the spellbook. He felt like he was onto something, but just couldn't grasp it. Exasperated, he sighed and said loudly at the dinner table, " Ah, what is wrong with me? I'm just cramming spells right and left but not understanding the meaning. " With this he laid his upper body on the dinner table, while Milo had an amused expression, Leslie didn't.

She said " Manners, Claude. When are you going to show appropriate behaviour? What's wrong with you? "

If Claude feared something or someone, it was Leslie. He knew that she couldn't be angered, so he said timidly " Sorry, mother. It wouldn't happen again."

" It shouldn't. " Leslie

Milo suddenly said " Come on Leslie, cut him some slack. He has just started on this path, who wasn't someone like him at some point in your life? Let him be so, it would increase his experience and point him towards the right direction. " Milo said this and gave a smile to Leslie.

Leslie was quite for a moment and said with a sigh and looked at Claude and then at Milo, " Yes, you are quite right. I was too harsh on him. Why don't you teach him some basic science? It would be a good refresher from cramming and it would clear his mind. Additionally, it may help him find some epiphany. "

" Yes, that's right, why didn't i think of this earlier. You are the real genius in our family. " praised Milo.

Next day in the garden, many types of things were kept there. Some thing Claude recognized, some he didn't. There was a burner, a tube with one end closed, a glass slab which he recognized, for others he had no clue.

Leslie was nowhere to be seen. Only Milo and Claude were present in the garden. Milo indicated Claude to take a seat. He cleared his throat and started of with a question,

" Claude , do you think magic is powerful? "

Claude replied without thinking, "Yes, it's the most powerful thing in the world. I've read in books that it's godlike. "

Milo gave a deep sigh, Claude was confused with this action. According to him, his reply wasn't perfect but it was good.

Milo then said, "Cluade, don't ever believe what books say wholeheartedly because they may be wrong, after all it was written by a living being whose sense of right and wrong is different from you. Next time, if you find yourself questioning the facts written in the book, try to research about them, then you will get to know how world actually works. "

These words were too difficult for him to understand but he still nodded, Milo knew this but he said it anyway because he was going to prove himself right.

" Come I'll prove it to you. Do you know how many colors are there? "

Claude began counting in his head, (Red, blue, crimson, green..... )

He was counting for a minute now and still he didn't get an answer. So he stopped and said to Milo " There are too many, i can't count them."

Milo laughed and said " Will you believe me if i say there is only two colors and rest are just parts of it? "

Claude said hurriedly, "No way, there are so many colors, how come there are only two? I don't believe it."

"Not now but you will after 2 minutes" Milo

Milo took a solid object which was transparent. Maybe it was made up of glass. It had two parallel side inclined at an angle and it had a base too.

"This is called a prism. It is one of the most basic equipments. Now come over here."

Claude did as he was told and came over to the edge of table. Milo took a page of white paper and kept it under the prism. He bent down till his eyes were in level with the table and starte d adjusting it. Claude was curious on what his dad was doing.

After some adjustments, Milo called Claude to his side and told him to bent down as he did. Now he said, "Look into the prism amd look at the opposite side to you."

What he saw next, took his mind away. It was real, it was all real. His father wasn't joking. He could see a color pattern forming, he looked back and saw his father smiling, he didn't have words to speak, so he went back to looking the pattern.

After 5 minutes, Claude asked, "How did you do it? "

"I didn't do anything." Taking the prism in his hand he said, "This did it." Milo

Claude didn't really had words to say, so he asked "What about the other color? You said there were two colors. "

"Well, how to explain this. See, the light you see coming from the sun has many components but you can only see the visible range. This is white light. While white light is the sum of all the colors, black is absence of light, thus absence of colors. Do you get it?"

said Milo.

"I will show you one more experiment, okay?"

"Yes, i would like to see it." Claude replied. Though he couldn't describe how he felt, he really wanted to see another experiment.

Milo questioned him, "Do you know the fisherman story, Claude? "

" Yes. "

" Very good. "

It was a story about the the first fisherman in the world. According to it, there was a great famine a very long time ago. All the crops had withered, leaving people without grain. Without grain, animals couldn't be fed, so no meat was available. People were dying of hunger but what could be done.

One day a man was in the jungle in search for food but due to drought nothing could be found. Dejected, he sat by a brook looking into the water. He saw some fishes in the river and had an idea. He thought why don't i hunt the fishes and take them back home. Since there is nothing available, fishes could be good.

So he started to catch them, but he failed every time. Whenever he threw his spear, the fish would some how escape. He thought fish was using some sorcery to escape everytime. But one day, he accidentally caught a fish with his spear. He had a feeling that his aim was somewhat off. He tried again with this method and began to get a good catch. Since then it was assumed that fishes would cast a illusion to escape and that fisherman was the first person to solve that illusion. But how wrong were they, it wasn't the fish that did the illusion.

Claude also did think so, he never questioned the authenticity of this story. But from now on he will.

Milo took a beaker made up of glass and filled with water. He took a white paper and wrote something on it. He called Claude and said

"Today i will prove that story wrong. "

"Look closely, Claude"

As he saw the paper being moved below the paper, his eyes started to widen. He couldn't believe what he saw. All the words were being magnified. It was as if the words were flowing in the water. He focused his eyes again and looked at the words which said "Look Closely"