Prodigy

——— Mira ———

What an exciting day!

I was absolutely exhausted but the excitement of memories from the battles kept me awake. Minho and I beat two massively impressive… massive monsters today. But besides the victories, the discovery that my illusion magic worked on Minho - 'work' in a sense that when imposed on his body they gained physical properties - was the most exciting thing ever. 

I enrolled into the Magi for career reasons. Although I knew I could only use Illusion Magic, if I could somehow make it to the graduation and get the diploma, it would have helped my beloved Kakwaszavoot Clan greatly. Going to ANY kind of school was an extreme luxury only priviliged families could afford. Having a diploma from ANY of these schools meant you could work for the government offices with stable income - and VERY good income at that. 

Now… having a diploma from The Magi Academy… was almost equivalent to graduating from any of the respected Combat Academies that put you on the fast track to becoming an officer and commander in the military. Once you get that diploma you are sorted for life. You could spend the rest of your life peacefully in a nicely furnished office with its own fireplace to keep you cozy in winter. Just stamping and approving documents, giving orders to the juniors, taking a nap after lunch with your foot on the desk - and getting paid well for it. 

But we were a Circus Troupe. A kind of job that's far, far, far from the luxuries of such lifestyle. 

But I never felt bad about it. I was proud of it in fact. 

There were people who looked down on us as a 'freak show'. Low-class plebs who made a living by putting themselves through dangerous tricks. Making ourselves look foolish on stage for cheap laughter. We made an OK living. Nothing spectacular but we weren't starving. And although some people were laughing at us, I felt that there were plenty of people who laughed with us. A good performance and seeing the happy faces of people who were entertained made me feel good. 

I was fascinated by magic from the earliest memory of ever seeing it. My Dad conjured up an image of a little flame fairy and it danced on his palm. It spun around, jumped, flipped, and even did some funny slip-ups to fall on its face. 

I can't describe in words how happy I was when I first got to produce an illusion of a flame on my hand at the age of 4. Of course, it looked nothing like a fire fairy and I couldn't make it dance in any way. I begged my Dad to teach me the spell for weeks and he always said I was much too young for it. That I did not have enough mana reserve in my young body to be able to do it. Illusion Magic may not have physical effects, but it needed training, he said. We used it for our shows to make people laugh, but the magic itself was no laughing matter. 

Eventually, he gave in though and told me the spell I should recite. He said it wouldn't just work by repeating the words in my head. I needed to visualize it, believe in it, and put all of my heart into it. And even if I could do all that, it still required being able to connect it to the mana that flowed inside me. The spell must weave together with the flow of energy. The silent sound of internal recitation had to weave with the mana that was neither liquid nor gas, yet still had the flowing characteristic. How do you weave together 'sound' - that is not even spoken out aloud - with 'something that vaguely flows'? 

And onto this woven fabric the visualization had to be projected, and that was only the start. The conjured image inside of me also had to come out of my body into the physical realm, which was another massive challenge altogether.

Dad said it would take me years of practice. That I should be patient.

But I tried only for a few days and it all clicked. 

I conjured up a flame on my palm. 

I was over the moon and ran to my mother, yelling out - Mommy! Mommy! Fire! My hand!

She was cooking dinner but turned around quickly in panic, saw the fire on my hand, and threw a kettle full of (fortunately not boiled yet!) onto my hand. She thought my hand caught REAL fire. It didn't even occur to her that a 4-year-old could do an Illusion Magic, even if it was one of the simplest ones to do. 

When the water just went through the flame and I smirked, her jaws dropped as she asked me - is… is this… an illusion?!

I said proudly, 'Yeah! Yeah! Illusion!'

She ran up to me and embraced me, kneeling on the ground. She picked me up and ran outside to the caravan my Dad was taking a nap in. She woke him up and said - Honey! Look at Minakong!

As soon as he woke up and saw fire on my hand, he hurriedly threw the blanket over my hand to 'put out the fire'. Seeing that the flame was still burning he panicked and started slapping on my hand - Ouch! Daddy! This is just magic!

My Mom burst out laughing and so did I. My Dad's eyes widened like saucepans. 

He embraced me and Mom together, and we all spun around, hopped and jumped, and rejoiced in laughter. 

I was called a prodigy. Pride of the Clan. 

I went through extensive training and started to move on to making illusions of more and more complex matters. I just couldn't get enough of it. 

I practiced magic every day. My every waking hour was spent thinking, talking, and practicing magic. 

It still took some years of course, but eventually, I became the best Illusionist in the Clan. I wasn't only able to project things that the elders could do after a lifetime of practicing illusions. I was able to create and project things that they were never able to. 

Then came the emptiness. 

The emptiness in my heart. 

I wanted to do more than illusions. 

I was extremely proud of the images I could create and project, and I still am. 

And I believe I can get even better as more years go by. 

But I… really wished that my illusions could… touch things.

So when I aimed to enroll in the Academy, although the primary goal was only to survive through and earn that diploma that would help bring financial security to our Clan - as my parents always reminded me would be more than good enough - I hoped, I really, really hoped that I would learn something here that would allow me to make the breakthrough that no one from my Clan could over the centuries - to be able to use the 'real' magic. 

And I was closer to that dream now.