The World Against Magic

[We Just Write]

(late Mesolithic)

In what could one day be southern Turkey, an extended family was running for their lives through the full moon night, pursued by a lightning-breathing bear-bat that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The two mothers, uncle, three sons, and four daughters were still alive; but two fathers, a son, and the family's three dogs had stayed back to fend the beast off, surely dying in the process. What was worse, the oldest surviving son knew exactly what the beast was, since he had made it up.

As the group of desperate people ran down the mountainside, the uncle yelled at the oldest son "I thought you said you killed that beast, so why did it show up at our camp and start shooting lightning at us!"

To this, the oldest son answered "It wasn't supposed to even exist! I came up with it for the tale only!"

As she slid down off a boulder, the third daughter said "Well clearly it exists now!"

Dashing over a field of rocks to keep up as thunder crackled behind the group, the first mother, sister of the uncle said "There's something important. I saw the bear-bat appear, and it wasn't from nothing. There was a blue floating spark that it came from that got bigger as the tale was told. When the tale was finished, it suddenly grew into the beast."

There was a moment then when there was no talking, only desperately climbing down the mountainside as everyone processed this new bit of information. Eventually, the uncle spoke up, saying "I can see some blue light from that bunch of trees downhill and off to the left. It's probably another one of those monster sparks. We'd best avoid it."

That's when the oldest living son said "No, I have an idea! The beast that attacked the camp fit every detail I told of it in the tale. If we find another of those sparks, we can tell it a different story and make a creature that can help us fight back!"

At this point, the oldest daughter said "Good idea! However, better would be making a creature that can give a person power to protect their family. I don't want to be stuck relying on a creature that isn't a person to protect people."

To this the oldest living son added "Best make it so that they have to fully explain what happens when they give someone powers, and that the person getting changed has to fully agree to it. I don't want to make a trickster spirit that causes problems by giving people powers without telling them."

This is when the uncle spoke up, saying "Fools, both of you! You're guessing that a thing that made a monster one time can be used to make something helpful. How do you know that it won't twist your tale against you to create some new terror!?"

At this, the brother answered "We don't. But it seems likely from what mother saw the first spark do that it can be guided."

At this, the uncle grunted in disapproval and said "You talk to your monster spark. The rest of us will steer well clear of it."

There was a general approval of the uncle's words among most of the family, but the oldest daughter instead said "I will go with my brother."

Thus, the group split. The majority of the surviving family members stayed clear of the blue glow in the trees, while the brother and sister headed for the stand of trees. Following the blue glow through the gaps between the evergreens, the pair soon arriving at a hovering blue spark. It looked almost like an ember from a campfire aside from the color, swirling in the air as it slowly dimmed, struggling to exist.

Briefly meeting his sister's gaze, the oldest living son spoke "I will tell you now of Enablers, a friendly type of creature."

The spark got the tiniest bit brighter as the brother continued "An Enabler is able to become any small animal with fur or feathers, but their true shape is that of a squirrel with the wings of a bird. They can speak without need of words and always be understood, and can always understand the same way. They are knowing in the ways of magic and strange beasts, and will gladly share this knowledge."

The brother inhaled as he prepared to continue, his sister silently urging him on even as the spark grew to the size of a small pebble.

"Enablers have the ability to grant a person magic beyond what they could normally wield; lightning, fire, or healing are but few of the kinds of magic an Enabler can grant. This granting of magic is forever, and remains even if the Enabler is dead. Enablers cannot grant magic to one who is unwilling, deceived, or who is unaware of being granted powers. Enablers can make changes to the magic of one already gifted, but cannot strip them of power, and it has the same conditions as granting magic in the first place."

The spark had grown significantly now, being about the size of the brother's fist and glowing nearly as bright as the campfire had before. Not wanting the process to finish, he quickly inhaled before continuing.

"Enablers are all female and can give birth without sex. Lastly, they care about the wellbeing of the people they grant magic, and desire to grant magic to people as a regular event."

With that, the brother stopped speaking to get his breath, the sister saying "That was a wonderful story." as the spark began rapidly inflating.

Abruptly, the glow ceased and the brother and sister looked around. Then they… didn't exactly hear a voice, but a message made its way into their heads regardless. This message said "I am Garan, first of the Enablers. I thank you for creating me. Time is short, I must grant magic to someone before dawn, or I will cease to exist."

The sister replied "I will gladly accept your offer of magic, Garan."

She then felt a small creature perch on her shoulder as Garan answered "First, I must explain what receiving magic will mean for you. Reality itself hates magic and is constantly altering the past to erase it from ever having been; you will need to hide what you are and what you can do from existence itself, or in barely more than a ten day you will have never existed at all. Aside from that, you will not be truly human afterwards; you will not truly age, though you will appear to do so in your true form. In addition, you must stay emotionally connected to humans or cease to be, the same as I must grant magic or assist mages, lest I fade from existence."

There was a brief pause, before the sister answered "I mostly understand, but I do have one question. If I will need to hide magic from reality itself, then will I even be able to use it for anything?"

Garan answered this question with "I will grant you two forms; in your true form your magic will be weaker and more subtle, but you should be able to get away with using it if you are clever. In your false form your magic will be significantly more powerful and blatant, well suited for combat. Reality will not be able to keep track of you switching between forms, so if you use your false form for blatant actions then switch back to your true form, you will be able to escape being erased."

The sister listened to the nonexistent words, then answered "Thank you Garan. I will become a Mage, despite the burdens."

The brother chimed in as well, also saying "I understand the burdens, and will also become a Mage."

To that, Garan answered "Good. I will make both of you into Mages, and accompany you from now on."

 

[Rilitar]

Neat story, going to keep an eye on it for updates best of luck with continuing the story and life in general.

 

[ValHor]

As usual, you came up with a new interesting story. I look forward to where you will take this. Although, i have to say that I'm waiting impatiently for the sequel of Titan of Steel.
Keep up the good work !

 

[We Just Write]

Maxie's kite was soaring high in the midday winds of summer, the eagle-shaped construct of Balsa and lightweight cloth pulled taut on its string. Seeing the kite in the air and feeling it tugging at the string, Maxie simply relaxed alongside the other members of the Merrimack Watershed Kite Association. Off to the left was Seena's kite, a series of interconnected rings; meanwhile off in other directions were dozens of other kites, all flown by other members of the Kite Association.

Still, there were other things that Maxie wanted to do with his day prior to his overnight job saving lives, so he called out to Seena "I'm going to pack it in for today, alright?" as he started reeling in his kite.

Seena called back "Sure thing, Maxie! See you next hand1​."

Maxie simply nodded, turning the crank to reel in the line his kite was attached to. A few minutes later, he finished pulling the kite down and got up from the grassy hill he'd been flying his kite from. A couple minutes later, Maxie had everything neatly packed up in his bag, and walked off towards the bus stop for the park.

Checking the clock on his phone, Maxie confirmed that the bus was running exactly on time as he saw the blue-green box on wheels pull up to the stop. Hmmm, that paint job meant it was Forann driving. The door opened, and Maxie stepped up off the curb and aboard the distinctly unique example of public transportation. The bus wasn't currently very full aside from an old woman wearing a knit wool beanie and the strings of rainbow-colored beads hanging from the ceiling, but that was expected.

Either way, Maxie walked towards the back of the bus, and sat right across the aisle from the old lady. The woman glanced up, and casually noted "Didn't I see you at the grocery yesterday? You've got a very distinctive mustache."

Maxie just chuckled while racking his brain for where he'd seen this lady before, eventually looking out the window of the bus as he responded "Well, I do put a lot of effort into keeping my mustache looking nice, so thank you for noticing. That said, I can't remember seeing you at the grocery yesterday."

The old lady nodded as she said "Figured as such. I don't tend to stand out in a crowd all that much." before pointing at Maxie's bag and asking "What you got in there?"

Maxie smiled as thoughts of kites zipped through his mind and said "My kite, reel, some repair materials. I like to fly kites in my spare time, when the weather allows for it."

The woman raised an eyebrow, then said "That's a wonderful hobby young man, though I am wondering why you aren't looking me in the eye when you're talking to me."

To this, Maxie simply shrugged while still looking out the window at the mid-rise urban scenery the bus was passing by, before answering "I'm autistic. I don't mean anything by looking away, it's just how my brain's wired."

There was a brief awkward pause before the woman eventually said "I'm sorry to hear that."

Maxie answered, basically on reflex "Don't be. Most of the time I can get on with life just fine."

The conversation trailed off after that, and the old lady got off at the next stop. Of course, since this stop was the library, it was also where a very specific person was getting on. In response to the tall, athletic woman with her hair dyed electric blue, Maxie just called an enthusiastic "Hi Sonore!"

On Sonore's part, she was quite happy to see her brother after a long day of helping keep the library running, greeting him with a cheerful "Hi Maxie!"

A few moments later, the pair of siblings were sitting side by side in the bus, both happily fidgeting away in their own particular ways as they silently enjoyed each other's company. After a couple minutes of this, Sonore noted "So, it's been a few hands since you got rotated to the midnight shift. When's the next rotation?"

To this, Maxie shrugged and answered "I'll be getting rotated to the evening shift in two days, but for now I've still got to head out in the middle of the night."

Sonore nodded in sympathy, before the pair of siblings went back to riding in silence, both quietly waiting for their stop. After another ten minutes, the grizzled old african bus driver called out "Hey you Brosser twins, it's your stop now."

Sonore called out "Thanks, Forann." as both she and Maxie got up from their seats and left the bus. Behind the pair of siblings, the vehicle trundled off, its electric motor making a barely perceptible whine as it accelerated.

Forann's bus having departed, Maxie and Sonore walked down the short pathway towards the coliving development they'd been living in for the last six years, since they moved to Amoskeag. Greeting Old Man Fallser at the door, the pair walked up the stairs to the second floor, arriving in one of the dining areas… why was there a blue jay on the table?

Both twins stood stock still as they tried to process the presence of the unexpected avian. Meanwhile, the bird in question intently stared right at the pair for a moment, before cawing at them and flying off down the hallway. This jolted both of them out of their trance as both of them realized the blue jay was heading right towards their room. Thus, Maxie and Sonore dashed off down the hallway, hurriedly pursuing the unexpected avian.

As could be expected of such a situation, the blue jay maintained its lead effortlessly, casually banking and turning into the Brosser Twins' personal living space with plenty of room to spare. Moments later, the twins dashed into their room, only to be confronted with a total lack of blue jays. Instead, sitting on the coffee table in the 'lounge' area was a frankly bizarre creature that looked like someone had taken a squirrel and tampered with its genome to make it grow a pair of birdlike wings out of its back.

Neither Maxie nor Sonore had much time to contemplate what they were looking at, as a strange voice-that-wasn't echoed in their minds "Hi, I'm Jega. Could you please close the door so we can talk privately?"

Maxie reached behind him and closed the door, his face involuntarily locked in a stoic expression as he asked "What exactly are you, Jega?"

Meanwhile, Sonore tried to speak and failed, before immediately going for the text to speech app on her phone. After a moment, Sonore finished typing, the synthesized voice emanating from her phone asking "Why are you in here?"

The strange squirrel-bird awkwardly scratched behind their head, before answering "So, I'm an Enabler, a magical creature that can turn humans into Mages. I'm actually here because I got kicked out of my mom's place for being a useless shitposter and I need to make some new Mages or I'll fade from existence."

Maxie's facial expression was still stoic, but starting to soften up a bit as he asked "Hold up, how long have Enablers been around? I would have thought magic and such would be common knowledge."

This is when Jega answered, 'sounding' distinctly bitter as she replied "You're not wrong. If we weren't outright forced to hide, the secrecy of magic wouldn't last a day. But if we try coming out in the open with magic, then in a few hands we never existed in the first place, and none of the people we came out to remember."

Maxie's expression went involuntarily stoic again, as the implications of what had just been said whirled through his mind, constantly hanging up on the point that events and memories were being constantly altered.

He didn't get a chance to ask another question before Sonore preempted him, managing to use her own voice to ask "So, what does being a Mage entail? We won't have to go hunting for lost souls to keep our gems clean like in that one show, will we?"

Immediately, Jega recoiled, all her hair bristling and feathers ruffling as she 'shouted' "DON'T YOU DARE compare us Enablers to those manipulative Anathema! They were sending deceived children to their deaths for their own gain. We literally can't operate that way, since if someone doesn't provide their full informed consent based on accurate information, we can't turn them into a Mage."

Both Maxie and Sonore winced a bit, even as they each made their way to their respective chairs by the coffee table. After a moment, Sonore asked "So, being a Mage, what can we actually expect?"

To this, Jega answered "Yes you get a transformation sequence; it lasts about a beat2​ and in your combat form you get some minor psychological mods so that you can actually handle a major battle, a brightly colored costume along with some variety of lethal weapon. Also, you get a bunch of other magic powers related to some sort of theme; no idea what theme either of you will get since it's pretty random. Reality can't track you switching forms, so if you do all your really blatant stuff in your combat form then change back it should work just fine. You can also get away with a bit of subtle magic in your normal form and even have it stick if you're really careful to keep it deniable. Last couple things are that Mages don't actually age, they just look like they do when they aren't in combat form. Also, you need to stay emotionally connected to humans, or you'll fade."

Maxie made the logical connection near instantly, asking "Does every single magical being have some sort of weird thing they have to do or else they fade?"

To this, Jega simply answered "Yes. That's just how it works."

There was another brief pause, then Sonore asked "So, will we need to fight monsters? You said that we get combat forms and weaponry as part of the standard package, which implies that we're expected to get into fights."

To this, Jega reluctantly answered "I won't lie, there are extremely dangerous and malicious magical beings in the world, with Mages being the only really viable counter. Fortunately, you aren't anywhere near alone in this; at least one in twenty people in the Amoskeag area is a Mage, meaning that most of the time the really nasty monsters tend to get collectively pummeled by a few dozen pissed-off Mages all at once before they can hurt anyone. This never makes the news of course, since the fights usually get erased from time along with all the damage they caused."

There was a brief pause as the Brosser twins both did a quick bit of mental math to figure out the statistics. About 120,000 people lived in Amoskeag, divide that by twenty, and you arrived at the conclusion that there were somewhere around 6,000 Mages in Amoskeag alone. Extrapolate to the rest of the world...

Sonore was the first to speak after figuring this out, noting "You weren't kidding when you said magic being a secret wouldn't last a day without actually being forced to hide."

To this, the Enabler on the table simply asked "So, yes or no, will you become Mages?"

On Maxie's part, he answered "I'll certainly go for it."

Meanwhile, Sonore simply raised her hand in order to indicate her approval.

Inhaling, Jega said "Got that." and her eyes started to glow as they flickered through every color of the rainbow. A beat later, there was a brilliant flash as both siblings felt raw undiluted power flow through them.

In Maxie's case, this power felt vibrant, alive, growing and changing and constantly adapting to whatever was thrown its way.

As for Sonore, her power felt bright, multi-spectral, energetic, and very, very fast.

A few moments later, Jega awkwardly realized "So, I never did ask for your names, did I?"

To this, the Brosser twins just chuckled, telling Jega their names as they went to attend supper.

---

1​Due to historical differences, the unit of time known as a week never caught on, the same general role instead being filled by a five-day interval known as a hand.

2​Another divergent time unit, the Beat is roughly comparable to half a second.

 

[ConfusedPotato]

Interesting. Watched.

I like the way that the Maskerade is a universally enforced thing yet magic is a bit of an open secret anyway.

 

[TortugaGreen]

I see you're having fun with worldbuilding. I noticed that distinctive bus paint jobs are a thing, and drivers appear to have at least a fair bit of authority over the particular bus they're assigned. That said, this bus is apparently relatively unique, so I guess most bus drivers either can't or don't want to customize their vehicle. Is Forann exceptionally well-positioned in his ability to customize his bus, or is such modifications just not particularly fashionable? Also, how is the public transit system organized? And why particularly busses, rather than trams or grade-separated systems like subways?

 

[Rhyne]

This looks like a good start, although I have a few critiques. Your dialogue is klunky, and siblings don't exactly talk like that. and 1 in 20 people are mages despite the universe working to make it never exist in the first place? that mechanic is going to have to be explored in great depth to explain how magic managed to spread so far. Another question, is this an alt-Earth, or is it a completely fiction world (geography/history wise)? And if the fights are erased from time, did they ever actually happen?