Lessons in Magic

"Do you think he saw us? Should we leave?"

"It is certainly possible. However, I doubt he noticed anything," he reassured, just before rumbling to my cabin.

Abraxas opened his mouth and began to breathe on the walls and roof of the cabin. As he did, I saw moss, grass, and even a few flowers grow from the ground along the cabin while still avoiding the windows and door. By the time he was done, it looked as though it was covered by the very same plant life as the ground.

"There. That should keep it far less noticeable should he fly over us again."

"How can you be sure we're safe?"

"He was flying at his fastest; he would not have wasted the time to look closely. And I have spent over one hundred years here. Eating and sleeping are the most he has ever seen me do. I doubt he would have thought anything else would happen. He does not bother with boring news. His flying by is a warning to all the nearby towns and villages that soon they will be destroyed again."

"Why would he do that?"

"Unlike myself, Gerickst is a particularly sadistic dragon. He likes to let the humans build themselves up, just to burn them all back down."

"It seems a lot of dragons are unlike you then."

"Yes, it would. Unfortunately, there are few dragons left that do not actively seek to torture humanity. But to answer your question, I think it is best to stay here. I am sure everything will be fine for us. Either way, if we did need to leave, I would be unable to go with you."

"Why?"

"I am afraid it is a long story, young Ladon."

"But it's still midday. We have time."

With a long pause followed by a slightly shorter sigh, Abraxas said, "Very well. I will tell you. Longer than one century ago, when The Great Culling was about to begin, all of the dragons had just finished fighting for their freedom. About half of us felt revenge was in order and an idea was proposed: to cull the human race. The other half believed that was far beyond the realm of necessity. I was in that half. Although we were certainly just as angry, we blamed ourselves as much as we blamed the humans for letting what happened happen. When The Great Culling began, both sides fought each other. I and a small number of other dragons preferred diplomacy and did not wish to fight. As you know, the dragons succeeded in the cull. At a great loss, they defeated and killed every dragon in their way by the end. Any dragon who wished not to die, or never fought like myself, was exiled. Even though we became their enemy, a loss of life amongst our kind is not treated lightly. When the cull was over, each remaining dragon on their side was given a territory to control and do with as they pleased. Each of the exiled dragons were forced to those territories in various places where they could most likely survive. It is the job of every dragon who controls a territory to watch the exiled ones. Because of my beliefs, I was exiled here. I have not left and can never leave."

"That's horrible—what they did to you."

Lowering his head to a more comfortable position on the ground, he responded, "It is not that terrible, I suppose. I enjoy the peace of this forest. I always preferred nature. Besides, I likely would not have ever gotten to meet you if it never happened."

I gave a light, almost unnoticeable chuckle. "I guess that's true."

Abraxas and I sat in calm silence for a few minutes riding through all of our shared sadness. I figured there was a story like that behind everything considering the last time I asked him about his life. I just never knew quite how sad it was.

As I continued to think to myself in silence, Abraxas suddenly sprang his head back up. "Very well. I will take it upon myself to remove this damper. If you are ready, I think it is time you finally learn how to control fire."

I was surprised, considering I thought I'd have more time in silence. Nonetheless, without hesitation, I answered, "I think I'm ready."

"Good. Now, look at the bonfire and tell me what you see."

"A bonfire."

"Exactly. In order to use any form of magic, you must understand it first. Otherwise, there will never be a fire there. The first mages had a limited understanding of chaos. So, rather than fully understanding it, they used what they knew of it to understand other things. Through that, they gained the knowledge behind all of the elements and how to control them. Like those mages, you do not need to fully understand chaos; you just need to understand the element and a little bit of chaos."

"Okay. . . ?"

"Fortunately for you, I understand the elements quite well. I can be the middle ground for you."

"Alright. What do I need to do?"

"Simply understand and grasp. My element is earth, but I'm sure I have enough knowledge to teach you. Now I will ask you this: what is fire?"

"Hot?"

"Yes. But there is much more to it than that. The heat is really just a byproduct and component of a greater process. Fire requires three things: a flammable source like wood, energy, and air. Give the fuel enough energy in the form of heat, and it will ignite into the air. So long as it has air and does not use up its fuel, it will keep burning."

"Yes, I know that much."

"Very good. But did you know that fire is air?"

"Wait what?"

"Yes. Fire is air. Incredibly hot air. So hot it radiates more than enough heat to cook without contact. When the air reaches a certain level of heat, it changes to a much brighter and much more visible look called plasma. There are various types of plasma beyond fire; fire is just the most common one."

My curiosity was thoroughly peaked. "What other plasmas are there?"

"Well, that is where my well of knowledge on the subject begins to run dry. I do know, however, that lightning is also plasma."

"Does that mean I can control lightning too?"

"Perhaps one day, but I imagine it will be far harder to learn that than basic fire."

"I see."

"Now, the act of creating fire through chaos begins by simply removing one of the requirements. Eventually, you will be able to do it without a second, but that is far more difficult. The requirement we will be removing today will be the need for tools and tinder to build up energy. The smallest way your abilities can manifest is in creating heat."

"How can I do that?" I asked, not understanding how I, or anyone, could create heat from nothing.

"That is where chaos comes in. Chaos is a fundamental law of the universe."

"Law of the universe? What's a universe?"

"Oh wow. It seems I forgot how behind the world became. The universe is the space in which this world, the sun, the moons, and countless others exist. The universe has a few laws that make everything function, such as gravity."

"Gravity?"

Abraxas sighed. "Yes. Gravity is the force that keeps the entire world contained."

"I see."

"Moving on, chaos is but another one of those laws. Basically, it means anything at any point in time in any place can happen, or happen differently."

"What does that mean?"

"I know it is vague, but it is basically what makes the impossible and improbable happen. Oftentimes, it is believed to cause freak accidents or miracles. It manifests in events called acts of chaos. It is hard to truly know if something happened because of an act of chaos. Because of that, if it were not for mages existing, very few would actually believe it exists. Plenty of the beasts of this world were created by a random act of chaos. Magic, as we call it, is a by-product of chaos. Thanks to it, you can create heat without needing to physically produce it."

Almost overloaded by all this information, I said, "That's a lot."

"I know, bear with me. Magic is essentially the act of controlling chaos. Instead of a random act of chaos, you make your own to make something happen that otherwise would not. The greatest mages could do almost anything from creating water in a sourceless desert to erecting mountains from the ground. You, on the other hand, can only tap into fire; nothing more. What I want you to do right now is create enough heat on the firewood, through an act of chaos, to start a fire."

"Okay. How would I do that?"

"Put your hands near the wood. Not on it; just close to it. After you do that, simply imagine a heat emanating from your hand. Do not worry about how hot it is; just imagine a heat. Once you do that, imagine it is real. Tell yourself it is real if you need to."

"Okay."

Mentally ready, I put my hands close to the wood. I imagined the nice warmth one gets from a thick blanket on a cold night. A calm, relaxing warmth. I then tried to imagine that that heat was coming from my hand and that it was real. I felt nothing. I tried again. Nothing. I tried a third time. Once again, nothing.

Frustrated, I hammered my right fist on the ground, then took a second to breathe. "It's not working. It's not going to work."

"It will in time. Try again. With more patience this time. Remember: tell yourself it is real. You need to want it to be real. Sometimes, all it takes is willpower to manifest it."

"Fine."

I put my hands back and focused on imagining the same warmth. I tried once again to imagine it being real. I felt nothing. It's real. The warmth is real. I can feel it. It can be real. So it must be real. Just when I finished my thought, I felt something: a nice, cozy warmth coming from the palms and fingertips of my hands.

"I did it! It feels warm. It feels nice."

"Very good. Now that you have it, build it. Make it hotter until the wood ignites."

Feeling the warmth, I started to imagine it getting hotter and hotter and hotter. I kept building it up, but I noticed something odd about it. It was getting hotter faster than I was trying to make it. Before I knew it, it was out of control. In seconds, my hands felt like they were close to burning. I panicked, but that only made it worse. With each second, the heat got exponentially hotter until a loud roar erupted from the bonfire with a flame bigger and brighter than any this bonfire should hold. Instinctively, I pulled back milliseconds before the burst of flame could touch me. Just as I narrowly dodged the fire, the force from the blast pushed even further. It forced me to stumble back until my heel met the stump and my rear met the ground.

Scales started forming up my neck, along my shoulders, down my arms, and on certain parts of my legs. Mortified at what I'd just done and how close the fire got to me, I yelled, "W-what was that! I couldn't control it! What in the hels!"

"Ha! You did it!" Abraxas yelled back clearly much happier than I was.

"That was crazy! I could've burned myself!"

Abraxas chortled repeatedly, seemingly ignoring what I just said.

"What? What's so funny?! That was dangerous!"

Fighting his laughter, Abraxas spoke. "I was right about you, young Ladon."

Growing even more annoyed, I rudely asked, "Right about what?"

"Your potential, young Ladon. Most fire-wielding demidragons can not do that until they practiced for months. You did it in minutes; on your fourth try too. Not only that, but the amount of heat and fire you produced was far greater than most fire demidragons can usually do in the beginning. I suspect control is going to be your biggest hurdle. Nonetheless, you have great potential."

After calming down a bit while he was talking, I realized that maybe what happened wasn't entirely a bad thing. "It felt more like an accident than anything."

"I am sure it did, young Ladon. Either way, you still did it. How do you feel? How does your body feel? Are you feeling tired?"

"I feel fine. I mean, my arms and legs feel a little tired and my shoulders feel a bit heavy, but I'm fine."

"I see. How did you feel before you did that?"

"Definitely less tired than this."

"Exactly. That is the price of your magical abilities: exhaustion. The more you do it, the higher the scale you do it, and the more densely you do it, the more tired it will make you. In the future, be careful when you use your abilities as they will tire you out much faster than exercise ever will. Plenty of magic wielders have died from exhaustion before their enemies could finish them off."

"I see." I sat back down on the stump, watching the fire as it became a much more stable and natural flame.

"Now that the fire has calmed a bit, are you ready for your next lesson?"

I turned my face to his. "What's the next lesson?"

"Controlling a fire that has already been made. Right now, the goal is to just move the fire a bit. Remember: try not to overdo it if you can help it, young Ladon. It would be best to conserve your energy."

"Alright. How do I do it?"

"Well, technically, you could do it with only your mind given you gain enough experience. But one thing that really helps is making a motion with your body. I recommend making a motion of pushing, pulling, or swiping. The fire will mimic you."

"Okay."

I looked at the fire and watched how it moved. For some reason, I felt like studying its motion; how it flowed, flicked, and whipped upward. Watching it for a while, it started to look threatening, as if at any moment, somehow, it would strike. My mind started painting pictures of the massacre inside the flames. My friends dying. Then it morphed into the orphanage burning down. Suddenly, I felt a burning sting all over my left arm even though I knew nothing was touching it.

I instinctively screamed, "No!" and pushed the air in front of me as if it would push the fire away. As soon as I did, the fire blasted forward far larger and brighter than it did before straight into Abraxas.

Realizing it blasted him, I immediately rushed to him. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I don't know what came over me!"

He didn't budge. "It is all right, young Ladon. It is alright. A fire like that could never harm me. If anything, I was glad it was just me and not anything more flammable."

"A-alright."

"I can see that working with fire is clearly upsetting you. If you want, our lessons can be done for the day."

Still feeling a little shaken, I said, "I think that'd be best."

"Very well. For what it is worth, what you accomplished today was amazing. For your first day trying, you have made wonderful progress."

"Thanks."

"You are very welcome."

I stood up, walked back to my cabin, and entered it, planning to spend some time alone. I sat on my bed that rested just next to the chimney in the back right corner. I started looking around my almost empty cabin and then to the pile of extra wood I had sitting in the corner on the other side. It dawned on me. I could use a chair. Maybe a table too. Immediately, I grabbed my tools from under my bed. Some of them were a hassle to grab since I knocked a few out of their holding when Gerickst flew by. Grabbing a long piece of wood and my tools, I began to cut, chisel, and saw something out of it.

I used my knife to round out and even out the thickness of the long piece of wood. I then sawed it in half. I repeated those steps with another piece of wood. I had four legs made now.

I had two flat rectangular boards leftover from when I made my floor. Using my chisel, I slowly chiped away a somewhat long concave oval shape on the bottom. I used my chisel and my knife to round out the top corners. The back was made. I then used my saw to saw the other board in half. After that, I used my knife to shape it a little more and remove splinters. Using my hammer and some extra nails, I connected all the pieces together to finish off my chair. It wasn't perfect and it doesn't have a finish on it, but it works. And that's what mattered.

I considered making myself a table, but upon closer inspection of my wood pile, I noticed I didn't have a good piece for the top. Realizing I'd have to collect more wood, I looked toward my window to see it was beginning to get dark. With my track of time now found, I ate half my remaining leftovers and cleaned up all the wood shavings on the ground the best I could with my hands. After that, I went to bed for the night.