Magics and Pages

"IT'S ALIVE, IT'S ALIVE." The excited shouts resound inside a building, the three-storey headquarters of the corporation Michael has planned to launch for the next month. The door slams open with Madelaine entering with a shout, "Where is it! Where is it!?"

She hears the sounds of sliding and slamming as the paper is spat out in a minute. Michael holds it up as Madelaine excitedly looks at it. "Is this the printer you were talking about?" Michael runs his hand through the machine, tracing the runes as it spits out another printed page.

The mad cackling coming from Michael's lip earns a wrily smile from Madelaine. 'At least he's enjoying himself.' Madelaine inspects it closer as another printed page is expelled, she looks to him as she spoke, "Will you be releasing this to the public, there seems to be a lot of magic involved in this one."

The thought stops Michael's cackling before he looks at her and spoke, "No, I don't think I will." He shakes his head, "I was just trying to see if my assumption was correct." Madelaine questioningly looks at him, a face that makes Michael laugh as he replied, "The assumption that I could make it do magic without my assistance."

Madelaine nods in understanding as she mutters, "That sounds amazing," He hears it as he replies, smiling, "I know right? Do you want to learn?" Madelaine hurriedly nods as she looks at it in interest, she then spoke with a voice filled with curiosity. "What are these runes for?"

Michael's eyes light up in an eerie light as he reads every piece. He coughs first before he awkwardly looks at Madelaine, "How about you bring Mary in with you. I'm sure you would be more than comfortable when you learn together." Madelaine nods as she hurriedly went outside to drag Mary into the impromptu lecture.

Michael sighs in relief as he hurriedly takes out the stone, all the while muttering to himself. "I really need to arrange these runes better, the coding is all whacked." His eyes light up in an eerie light, as he sticks the stone to the machine and the runes rearranged themselves in a neat manner. He then thinks quickly, 'I had to find the corresponding runes for the corresponding code since the runes cant be changed only my interpretation of it can.'

'Damn I really was blessed with the perfect eyes.' He smugly thought to himself as the eyes light up once more as he reads each lines rune designated for each line of coding. A few minutes later as both Madelaine and Mary arrive in a huff, a bit tired due to their hurry.

Michael finishes as he looks back to them both with a smile. "Now, since both of you are ready. I'll be giving you both the introduction to magic." Michael walks around, "Now, has either of you seen magic in action?"

Mary and Madelaine nod in affirmation, Mary raises her hands before saying "I've seen demons use magic, they seem to summon and control their summoned magic with ease." Madelaine meanwhile raises her hands, "I've seen beastmen use magic." She taps her chin in thought before continuing, "Beastmen seems to be shifting parts of their body or reinforcing them to deal and take damage."

Michael nods, a bit impressed by their knowledge. 'Well, maybe Mary has just waiting for the day she can use it against them.' Michael shakes his head before he speaks, "You seem to have quite a knowledge of the other races."

Michael then raises his two fingers, "But you're both wrong since all of the other races can use every type of magic, the only problem would be that is, it's hard to do so." Madelaine and Mary listen closely as they asked a question, "Then what magic do humans have access to?"

Michael spoke with a wry smile, "Unfortunately, we can only use runic magic." He then smiles gleefully before continuing, an act which both girls found a bit alarming. "Unlike the monsters that can be born from the other races, like the beast king that can fight an army barehanded or the demon king that burned a kingdom down with a spell."

He gestures to the three of them as he grins, "Us humans can only stick together to survive, creating countless runes or magic items to overpower the monsters, with the sheer quantity of our magics."

He then realizes his monologue and looked at the two women watching him attentively. They looked confused as to why he stopped. He only coughs as he takes out a paper, "Here read this, each rune has to be used for full effect, you cant start a line of runes without beginning and ending with this." He points to a particular one.

He spoke like a teacher "Then what you want to be done can be interpreted like this. It's just like a sentence, It does what you tell it's supposed to do." He then waves the paper he has, "Everything you need to learn is already written here," Michael then points to himself, "And, if either of you is confused, just ask me."

"Oh yeah, for applying the runes, you have to hold the material." He takes a paper, "You have to feel the flow of magic and imagine the runes you wish to write." Michael closes his eyes as the runes flow from his fingers to the paper. "See?" The two girls nod excitedly, excited for the display of magic. Lines of runes then arranged themselves, neatly in the paper. The paper suddenly combusted. "Now understand the runes first then we can go from there."

The duo nod then look down for a few minutes before raising their arms again, "Sir, what this?" Michael who was looking at his first printing press looks back before confusedly replied, "That's English?" The sinking realization as the two only looked more confused.

"Can you guys read?" The duo sheepishly smiles as they shake their head. Michael ruffles his hair as he takes out a pen once more, something he had made jake do. He then mutters to himself "I should've known." He spoke to the two women as he looks down, "I'll be writing a reading guide for the both of you, so you guys could leave for now." As the two leave, he mutters to himself,

"I'm gonna have to increase the literacy rate if my future plan ever pans out."