Life continued for James… he enrolled into a ‘normal’ college quite easily and started to study his favourite subjects, Majoring in science and computing with some languages on the side. Somehow, looking at programs and imagining the universe as if it were a program made him feel closer to being a wizard. He could do anything inside a perfectly ordered system… tweaking numbers to affect the entire sequence of events that followed. He wondered if anyone else in those classes felt the same way. Did anyone else aspire to such greatness?
“What’s the point…” Here he was studying how the world worked. He adjusted his glasses a bit, reading the book… understanding the mathematical reality of the universe. Yet assuming the universe worked like a clock… if a person was able to spin those dials, change the mechanism so fundamentally that the reality was warped…
…then nothing here was of any value. It could be changed by a wizard… physics was broken.
He kept his thoughts private, not wanting to cause a commotion about it and say how his teacher was completely mad to cling to such notions as the speed of light and Newtonian laws. ‘Absolute zero is a fundamental impossibility to reach’ … a true statement as any… “Unless magic were involved.” He idly smirked to himself.
James really wanted to get a book on the arcane arts… he had many theories of how magic had to work yet nothing to test them and put it into practice. Could magic survive rigorous scientific research? Were the principles like the laws of thermodynamics? From what he could see, the rules of the universe as humans saw it applied to humans… but mages must have access to either a different way of seeing the universe- or… access to another universe. Perhaps a universe with different or… malleable laws. There were ways to test this if he could access some magic!
When class ended, James collected his books, and walked alone. He didn’t make any friends yet in college, perhaps because of his thoughts. Lunch period was a little boring to him. He wasn’t sure why he started to walk to the library, eager to read up on what the magic section would have. Of course, the only book was on the ‘Great Revelation’, something he had read a dozen times over. The ‘accidental’ exposure of the magical world ten years ago… and how society changed as a result. The various governing bodies that were set up as a buffer to mages, the task forces that dealt with rogue wizards and mages… and of course, the Arcane Commercial Consumer Laws… which stated what items of magic had been accepted for general use in the public. Magical items tended to be too expensive for the average student to own and only solved ‘basic’ things… like making a phone waterproof or a ‘magical screen fix’… it didn’t do anything that magical for… mundane people.
James had read every single book here. He knew the history very well… “Nothing…” He didn’t expect anything but… it was still a disappointment.
He was about to go when he saw someone else browsing the library in a similar fashion. He seemed like a short slight built kid, barely growing into his teenage years. Soft black hair and what James thought quietly a rather angelic face. He gave a shy look as he brushed past the books- and dropped some on the floor, his large backpack knocking them. “O-h- sorry.”
James smiled to him. “It’s okay, let me help.” He helped the teenager fix up the library again. “You interested in magic too?” He asked given he was in the same section.
“Oh- y-yeah,” He nodded. “I know I shouldn’t be… but it’s hard to ignore it you know?” He looked so embarrassed to even talk about it.
James had to smile at the boy, he certainly brought out the ‘big brother’ instincts in him, even if he didn’t have any other siblings. “What’s your name?”
“It’s- Sebastian,” He gave a quick smile again. “I’m a new student here.”
“So am I,” James nodded. He put the last book back on the shelf. “Have you ever seen real magic?”
The boy gave a quick look around as if it was a bad idea to even admit it. “Y-yeah. Once. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. A witch lit up the sky… it was like fireworks…” He sighed. “I think magic has an…emotional component to it. At least that’s my theory. Maybe something like Will power- you know like Green Lantern.”
“Ha! Yeah, I got lots of theories too… never thought of it that way though. I try to think of it in terms of physical interactions. Maybe some sort of dimensional tunnelling.” He started to think of all the notes he had made, equations to describe such a warping of normal space like a black hole.
Sebastian gave a wide dazed headlight look. “Uh- they just say spells though. It happens, ‘cause they have their special blood.”
“What’s so special about it,” James got very ‘defensive’ suddenly on that. “Blood is just blood… and I am going to figure it out.”
“S-Sorry I didn’t mean um-“ the boy looked rather crestfallen and nervous again. “I… I wish I could be a wizard too. I can’t though. No powers.” He sighed admitting it. “I thought I’d go to… you know, other things? Like maybe working in a shop.”
James didn’t like that defeated look. “Come on, that’s just because they said so. You took the mirror test like I did? Maybe it’s wrong! We can learn magic… we’ll find a way. We just need a magical spell book.”
“I-I have one-“ Sebastian suddenly put a hand on his mouth. “I mean-”
“You have one?!” James gasped suddenly getting quiet. “Sebastian… please I’ll do anything if you could lend it to me. Just… let me read it?”
“I- I can’t um- you know the rules…” He glanced nervously. “It’s written in Latin anyway and we can’t just use the internet to translate it. We would get caught.”
“I can read Latin, as well as Greek and even some Spanish and French,” James insisted. “I don’t need the internet. Trust me I can work out a translation of any book with what I have at home. Let me read it!” Even just a single spell would help confirm many of his theories! Getting access to just one spell was a big deal…
Sebastian looked very reluctant. “Um- what’s your name?” He asked suddenly realising he didn’t even ‘know’ him.
“Oh- Sorry it’s James,” he smiled. “I really should have introduced myself… sorry. I just got excited when you said you had a book. Can I ask how you came about it? It’s... it’s okay if you don’t want to say.”
Sebastian gave a coy rather embarrassed look again. “I found it… but I didn’t know what it was at the time- I um- I just kept it, just in case. I thought… I could become a wizard one day with it. I slept with it under my pillow, thinking I would gain its magical powers… but it didn’t work.”
James nodded in thought. “An…interesting idea. At least we can say magic might not have osmotic effects,” he quietly noted that in his head. At least under… those circumstances. “But we can work out so much more. You want to learn magic right? You have what I need… I have what you need. Let’s trade information.”
Sebastian sighed. He had only just met James… and it seemed like it would be dangerous if his special treasure was taken away. Though he also knew the book as it was, was completely useless without being able to read it… and he wanted to know what powers it could have. “O-Okay. Let’s try it,” he said. “But- I want to stay with the book… we’ll work on it together.” He raised his hands into a fist. “Let’s… let’s do magic together!”
James chuckled. “Indeed… together.”
So, it seemed James had made a new friend… a fellow wizard to be… they would show the magical school what they could do!
