7 years, Forest clearing. Three months

I let my gaze wander over my surroundings. Treetops if I look up, shrubbery if I look down, and wood everywhere else.

I am sitting on a huge boulder, located in the middle of a forest clearing. This became my favorite spot over the course of the last three months, the time after I had my first contact with magic, and I had to adjust my view on the world.

But magic – What is that even? I thought a lot about that question. Magic is a way to add energy to things, just by thinking of doing so. But where does that energy come from? I look down on the book in my hands. It is my most precious possession, besting even my treasured knife. It is related to the time I got into contact with magic for the first time: Arstibal, a wandering magician, gave it to my parents for me before he left.

At that time, I was not able to read. With a lot of effort my father convinced someone in the village to teach me, but in return he had to work for them two weeks. I am grateful that he did so. If not, I would have had to learn it by myself by simply trying to find patterns in the book, and comparing them to what I know about the language itself. It would have worked, but it would have taken a ridiculous amount of time. With someone explaining me the system, it went without problems, however. After roughly three hours of learning the Alphabet and what sounds the characters correlate to, I was able to read very slowly, but without much mistakes.

I remember two children watching me, the ones who also were present when Arstibal conducted the coefficient tests. They even got both the highest and the third highest value out of all participants. The girl was named Ione, and her brothers name was irrelevant, that much I still know.

After I said that I was now able to proceed learning it on my own, the lady that taught me was baffled at first, but quickly realized I meant it. My fathers hours were halved, as I comprehended it a lot quicker than they expected. I think that the mayor deeply cares for every Villager, and allowed this rather uncommon deal only for that reason.

With new-acquired skills, I was finally able to read the books content, and its title: “What Is Magic? - The Basics.” Contrary to its title, however, it contains surprisingly few Information on what magic actually is. There is a chapter solely dedicated to the founding of the magic academy, a chapter about basic magic theory and history, and a small Chant Language grammar and vocabulary compendium. There are some more chapters on how to actually chant magic, but naturally, they take the possession of a magic adapter as a given.

Still, I do not think that one really needs an adapter to use magic. Arstibal said when we first met that there are people who cast magic without the aid of an adapter, but that this is an exceptionally rare skill. I thought a lot about this especially, and came to an conclusion: The reason why so many people are bound to the usage of an adapter is solely that they are only using it, without understanding what magic is, at its core.

That leads me back to my initial question: What is magic? I found an interesting phenomenon described in the book: Magic exhaustion. According to it, if too many spells are cast in a small area within a short span of time, they loose effectiveness, until magic stops working altogether. If the chanting stops at any point, the effectiveness gradually restores up to the former maximum. Therefore, magic is no unlimited source of energy. My theory based on those facts is that there is a form of energy, which I will call “Magic Energy” for the lack of a better name.

This energy seems to be present anywhere, and we cannot detect or directly interact with it. Yet, we can change it into other energy forms, as movement energy, or heat, and add this energy to objects. This magic energy restores over time after its use, and the consumption seems to be tied to the amount of energy added to objects, therefore someone with a higher coefficient will use it up faster that someone with a rather low one. I do not know how it restores, and decided to research it at a later point in time.

But first, lets put this all into action, shall we? I flip the book around, revealing a spiral on the back. It is a coefficient meter, the same concept as the one Arstibal had, only simpler and cheaper. The magic coefficient seems to describe the amount of magic energy a person can transform over a specific amount of time. Mine seems to be low, in comparison to the norm... Not that I care about such trivial things. Like I did it all the days before, I try to recall the feeling I had when chanting the measurement spell. That time, the magic adapter forcefully induced it, so everybody was able to do it.

This time this induction is missing, and I somehow have to cope with that. It is like trying to stretch a muscle with the intention to heat up a fluid. According to the book this fluid is a liquid metal, Mercury, and highly poisonous. Over the past weeks, I made some, but little progress. The temperature of the mercury droplet rises once I concentrate, and this mysterious feeling comes with it. However, it rises only very, very slow, a tiny degree of how it rose when I was aided by the adapter.

But this time there is no time limit at all, so I can do it for as long as I want. While the change was barely noticeable at the first time, and if not for the feeling, I might have missed it entirely, it was at least visible to the bare eye now. If I concentrate for a few minutes straight, I reach values surpassing the hundred mark. I think that this rate will rise further and further until it approaches the rate it rose when I first used the adapter. Until then, I think the best approach is to just train my magic while thinking about the principles behind it.

As of now, I never reached the point of magic depletion, even after concentrating for hours straight. The reason for that is obvious: My consumption rate is so low that the regeneration of the magic energy overcomes the depletion. While this means that the effects that I achieve are low, it also means that I can test and train for as long as I want, which is at least one good thing.

I take a look at the sky. It is cloudy, yet it does not look like it is going to rain. It is afternoon, and since it is Autumn with Winter on the doorstep, the sun is going to set very soon. Again, I sat on this boulder from sunrise to sunset, a common occurrence taking the last weeks and months into perspective.

A thought crosses my mind: In winter, I would turn eight years, another year closer to adulthood. Having such a frail body annoys me, it is one thing I envy the adults for. I slide of the side of the boulder, the book in my tight grip, and turn homewards. We would be having vegetable stew again today, not the most pleasant meal to come home to. It is partly my fault however, since I did not catch any animal today. Not that I even tried, I was too sunken in thoughts, and busy staring and concentrating on the coefficient meter.

While passing through the rather thick forest, I think about the change that my life underwent. Had I not discovered magic and halted my research in this area, I by now would probably now everything about the normal nature. Yet, I do not feel any regret. Knowing how something works is useful, because you can use it to your advantage. The things to do with the tools at hand and my body were rather limited, though. It is a good thing that I found a way of manipulating things that does not depend on the strength of my body, but rather the strength of my mind. I reach the forest outskirts, and home. Today was a good day.

8 Years, Village outskirts. Deadlock

I ready a stone, and throw it. It flies exactly like it was supposed to according to physics, without me concentrating on it having any Influence at all. Over the course of the last eight months, my ability to control magic rose greatly. Three months ago, I had read the book “What Is Magic – The Basics” so many times I knew it contents by heart, and I only used the integrated magic coefficient meter to train. Two months ago, I decided that my usable coefficient was high enough to shift to heating up other things, and I left the book at home entirely to keep it safe from eventual harm.

At first, I tried to heat a cup of water, and quickly realized one thing: Different materials have different rates in which magic energy is transformed into heat. After only half a minute of concentrating, the water began to boil and vaporize. This took me by surprise: I was heating up a way larger amount of fluid, a whole wooden cup opposed to the medium-sized mercury droplet I trained with before.

I also succeeded in heating up solid materials, like stones, wood and fabric, meat and part of my own skin. When I tried heating up my skin it started of as a pleasant warmth, but quickly evolved into unbearable heat, so I canceled the experiments on my own body for the meantime. Every material had its own effectiveness, with water having the highest, and mercury having the lowest by far. This is probably also the reason why it is used in coefficient meters, to ensure nothing burns or breaks due to the heat.

Once I succeeded in heating my own skin, I tried hunting with this Technique. However, as much as I concentrated, the Rabbit I had be my involuntary research partner never showed any sign of discomfort. When I killed it with my knife and tried it again, it worked like expected, however.

Living animals, and Humans as well probably, even though I had no chance to test it out yet, seem to subconsciously hinder foreign magic manipulation of the own body. Whether the effect works only as a hindrance or a complete nullification that cannot be overcome I do not know, but it is relieving to know that no magician is simply able to cook your heart without any way to resist it. Luckily the rabbit was not burned too badly, so mother was still able to make stew out of it.

While the energy output is limited, I also learned that I can focus it on a specific point, tremendously increasing heat generation. I called this Technique Focused Heating, and it works by not concentrating on a single object, but rather mentally dividing this object into imaginary smaller objects that are only connected, and then focusing on one of those specific objects. A good explanation for it would be to concentrate on a single water droplet, even though it is in the middle of a pond. The power that made a cup of water cook in half a minute evaporated a water droplet in the span of a split second.

Another useful Technique I developed is what I named Coefficient Regulation, and it basically allows me to vary the magic energy transformed into heat by a certain degree, from zero to hundred percent, with hundred being the normal and maximal power output. It is done by flexing the imaginary muscle not to the fullest, but rather only a bit. I deemed it necessary after conducting an experiment which failed horribly. When I learned about the different material coefficients, I tried to heat up the Glass directly surrounding the mercury droplet, instead of the mercury droplet itself.

This worked out extremely well, the meter shot to the maximum value in a few seconds. It worked a bit too well however, as the glass shattered only a few moments after I started concentrating, not being able to handle this immense heat and rapid temperature change. Mercury spilled all over the book, and I quickly distanced myself from it, and tried to clean my precious book. This happened on the top of the boulder in the middle of the forest clearing, and since I do not really know how toxic mercury is exactly, I refrained from sitting there after that. Most likely this was unnecessarily cautious, but better safe then sorry. I would not like my odds if I had to find a doctor who is capable of treating mercury poisoning in this village, if there is any treatment to it at all.

All in all I do not think of this incident as a bad occurrence, since it gave me the final push to start researching the magic arts a bit more thorough, and to not mindlessly repeat the same action again and again, like I did it for almost six months at that point. The training paid off however, as this usable coefficient I gained from it is more than sufficient to back up further experiments.

I am very satisfied with the results of the last months, since I rapidly advanced in the art of heating objects efficiently. Yet, I craved something else, an energy form left completely untouched by me in my former research, which also takes me where I stand today, and where I stood pretty much exactly a year ago: The place aside of the road, with the tree trunk and the wide fields stretching leisurely behind it, the place where I first met Arstibal, and where this whole Ordeal began.

I still had the same stones I threw that Day, they were stored in a corner of our shack where I store my few possessions, namely the knife, the book, those stones, a wooden figure carved by my father long before I was born, and some other trinkets. Most of them serve no practical purpose, yet I never was able to get rid of them. I do not like that part about myself, because collecting random junk is bringing nobody anywhere, yet it is a part of me.

I ready a stone, and throw it. It is a hit, yet hitting the tree trunk is not my primary goal this time. Even though I tried to concentrate, the stone flew just like it did all the times before. I recover all stones, since this was the last one I had at hand, and the only difference I could notice is that it felt warmer than usual, almost a bit hot. This explains the feeling of my magic muscle being used, but is getting me nowhere.

There are mainly three things that make the acceleration of objects more difficult than heating them:

The main reason is that it is a totally different form of energy, and requires a totally different approach on thinking. Also, you have to focus on a moving target which is harder than concentrating on a static one. You have to take the direction into account as well, all things that differ in comparison to heat generation.

It is extraordinarily hard to imagine controlling all this with a single muscle. I think of my magic prowess as a additional imaginary muscle, and so far I was able to explain everything relevant with this model. However, I have no guarantee that that this is the best model, and whether I am able to explain every magic of energy manipulation with it or not, I do not know. If I were to feel how to move this muscle, I could replicate it, probably. This is what I did with my initial heat manipulation, I simply tried to recreate the feeling I had when I chanted the measurement spell.

I wont get my hands on a magic adapter in the foreseeable future, however. The magic guild, which is leading the magic academy, has a monopoly on them. They produce them, and the only people who are allowed to possess one are either students of their academy, or later on members of the guild. This was what was written in the book, which seems to be standard disciple issue from them. When I meet Arstibal again, I really need to thank him for giving it to me. Had he not, it is uncertain whether I would be where I am today, from a magic perspective.

Since I have no option to get a taste on the feeling, I have to think about it rationally, and try to figure out how to do it on my own. For that matter, I have to ask myself a question: What is Movement, even?

Movement is the change of position in a room, with a room being a closed room in a house, or all vast space under the sky, from one horizon to the one on the opposite site. Movement always has a velocity, with velocity being the distance an object traverses in a specific amount of time. What I want to add to a stone now is Acceleration. Acceleration is nothing more than the change in velocity. That much I can say, as it is quite self-apparent. It is important to clarify those seemingly self-apparent things to oneself, however.

A good training to get a grasp on all would hopefully be to just stretch out my bare hand, lay a stone on it, and try to accelerate this stone skywards. Like this, I do not have to worry about direction much, since there is nothing like the throwing arc. I also start with a resting object, therefore changes should be very easy to notice. Maybe I should start with only Twenty percent of my magic coefficient, since I do not want to lodge stones around like a maniac. Twenty percent should be more than enough to notice a difference, taking the power output I got used with while heating into account.

I start to focus on the stone. I try and try, but nothing happens. I do not even get the feeling of magic flowing through my veins, so there is most likely absolutely nothing happening. Yet, I cannot give up. I concentrate, and concentrate, and always try to approach the problem from a different angle. On a regular basis, I reposition myself to avoid an eventual magic depletion. Morning turns to noon turns to afternoon, and I make no visible progress whatsoever. I only sat on a spot, so I was in good shape physically, but I am totally exhausted mentally.

Yet, I do not feel frustrated or taken aback. A weird feeling starts dominating my body, it is a bit like a headache. Despite it being painful, it feels good, really good. On every failed attempt, after thoroughly testing the new thought I had, I catch myself grinning like a madman. I once heard that if you work really hard for a long time, or run, swim or something similar, you can start feeling a high, even though you are exhausted. Even though your arms and legs hurt, it feels good, and even better when you finally look back on all the things you achieved. I always used to think that this was nonsense, but now I can see where this stems from.

It is only natural that I made that little progress, I am an autodidact trying to learn high-level magic theory all by myself, all while being outclassed even by an adapter adept in terms of coefficient and spell repertoire. Would the answer be so easy on this problem, more people would come to it, and would I figure it out in a measly day, I wold not be human. Using my brain in this way is new, and it is a really pleasant experience. I had a head start, but it ends here. Thanks to it, I got a grasp on the magic muscle, and on heat magic, but now, I need to do it on my own.

I keep sitting and focusing, and slowly my mind succumbs to the exhaustion. Would I think reasonable in that situation, I would go home and sleep. That reason died in the past hours, and I stayed on the fields, gazing into the stars, hand on my belly, stone on my hand. My thoughts became less and less coherent, and I finally shifted into sleep, hand on my belly, stone on my hand.

Dream 2

I am standing on an open, vast field. All the plants seem to carry stones instead of seeds, it is a beautiful sight. I pick one of them, prepare, and throw it as high into the sky as I possibly can. It remains there, and the sky fills with gray dots. Those dots quickly grow larger, and I realize that those are thousands, if not millions of stones raining from the sky. I stretch my arms and embrace the rain like a kid would do in a puddle of mud, and the stones come splattering down, devastating the fields and my body alike. My field of vision turns black, and a gentle cold envelops me. I am floating in a dark space, other objects fly around as well in the distance- Dolls, Swords, also Envelopes and every other imaginable thing. It is a nice place, I think I will stay here for a while.