Chapter 17 - Hocus Pocus
“Hmm…a little higher,” Magus instructed, glancing down at the gold pocket watch in his hoof, as Trixie levitated the pebble to his commands. With her eyes shut she was in full focus, her mind clear and body at ease as the mystical energies of her power enveloped her. “Now, move it to the right. More…more…stop. Maintain that height.”
Some time had passed since Trixie had begun her training in the Circle’s magic, exercising her mind and resolve in an effort to control her newfound powers. The small pebble that she’d been tasked to lift without the use of her horn was now being flung through the air with ease, without the faintest hint of a magical aura around it. Day after day of practicing the trade and flipping through books about concentration and the proper way to unleash her power had drastically improved her skill.
She still felt somewhat foolish sitting in the library or her room in utter silence, shutting her eyes and quieting her mind, but in the end it had increased her power and helped her to better control it when she focused it on the stone.
The best part of all, though, was that she’d done it all on her own, with no help from her reclusive master. For the entire week Magus was either in the room beyond the dining hall, known to her as the kitchen, or somewhere in the west wing, hiding behind locked doors. On numerous occasions she tried speaking to him, only to receive a hasty answer through a small crack in the door, if she wasn’t ignored entirely. She practiced her magic day and night while her ‘Master’ locked himself in the kitchen for days on end, doing who knows what, only coming out briefly to go up to into the west wing. He didn’t even show up for meals, but simply left small, sometimes peculiar, dishes on the dining room table for her every morning, noon, and evening. At least she knew he was still alive.
Yet, for all her personal training, the amount of energy she had to call on was still meager, and her reserves depleted, sending the rock to the tiled floor of the library’s heart. Trixie exhaled slowly, ending her trance-like state, now able to maintain her composure.
Magus glimpsed his watch once more before expressing an approving grunt. “Three minutes on the dot. Decent, considering the first time you tried you couldn’t even keep it in the air for ten seconds. How do you feel?”
“Well, I can’t feel the magic anymore, but other than that, pretty good,” Trixie answered with a smile as she stood tall, improving her posture considerably.
“And you don’t at all feel like you’ve just been struck by a locomotive?” he asked in a snide manner.
She scoffed and with a roll of her eyes said, “No.”
Magus gave her a brief, glassy stare before shutting the watch’s case and putting it back into his robe. “Then I suppose your command over the magic is complete. I must say, I hadn’t expected you to master the technique so… expeditiously.”
Trixie arrogantly chuckled. “Was there any doubt?”
“Plenty, but this is where the easy part of your training ends and the real challenge begins.” Magus walked off to Trixie’s side and stared at a bookshelf. “You‘ve mastered the summoning of the magic, now you must apply it to conjuring something. In order to be admitted into the Circle and become one of us you must be able to cast a spell.”
Trixie eyed him. “…That’s it?” she asked, lifting one eyebrow.
“In a manner of speaking, yes, that’s it,” he repeated.
“So, all I have to do is cast one, single spell, any spell, and I’m a mage.”
“For the second time, yes,” he snapped, glancing back stiffly. “I assume you have a question?”
“Well, it’s just that, I’ve cast that Atterio spell twice--”
He jerked his body around to face her. “You cast it once as a fluke and a second time which was either dumb luck or sheer stupidity, I’m unable to decide. The point is, a successful cast includes you purposely summoning the magic on command and being able to control it properly; of which you’ve done neither. In addition, casting through emotions does not count.”
“Uh, emotions?”
Magus groaned, briefly shutting his eyes and shaking his head. “If you had been reading the books that I gave you, then you would know this by now.”
“You mean that ever growing tower in my room? Between your exercises and the casting, I’ve barely had time to make a dent,” she retorted, widening her stance aggressively.
“It would’ve been mentioned within the first few chapters of any of them. How could you have missed them?”
“Well, I…” she started to retort until she quickly realized why she never saw that part and cleared her throat, “…may have skipped the parts that weren’t about the practice of the magic specifically.” Trixie gave him a false smile, barely able to maintain eye contact as he glared.
Magus broke his judgmental gaze with a momentary shutting of his eyes as if to collect himself. Upon opening them, he took a deep breath before saying, “As a mage of the Circle, we must learn to exercise restraint to ensure that we will always be in control of a situation and ourselves. A factor that our magic reacts to is that of the wielders feelings. Powerful emotions such as despair, fear…love--”
“Anger?” Trixie deadpanned.
Magus went silent, mirroring her expression with narrowed eyes to boot. Averting his gaze, he said, “…Yes…anger as well.” He moved past the discomfort and continued on as normal, looking at her once more. “To experience such feelings can easily cause a mage, regardless of their level of proficiently, to lose control of his or her power, inadvertently turning it against them. Emotions can cause our magic to be unpredictable in a number of ways, such as, in your case, random spells being cast impulsively. It’s the reason you’ve managed to cast any kind of spell without being trained how to summon the energy. It is because of this that all mages are trained to control their feelings in order to master the magic of the Circle.”
Trixie glanced at the ground and bit her tongue to keep from mentioning the incident back at Trottingham. For the most part, he appeared in control of his feelings with his expressionless face, only rarely showing any indication of sentiment. Anger seemed to be the only thing he expressed fully. ‘Am I going to end up like him someday?’ she thought.
“Alright, alright,” Trixie hastily said, wanting to change the subject. “Only use controlled magic, not with emotions, got it. Now can we move on to spells?”
“Very well, is there a particular technique that you’re interested in?”
Trixie’s brow furrowed as her body and muscles stiffened, unable to relax them. She knew what she wanted but had to choose her next words carefully as she was unsure how he would respond to her next question. “You mean, you’d teach me any spell? Any one I wanted?”
“To a degree. Nothing too easy or too difficult of course, but you don’t get to name the exact spell, only the type.”
“Such as?”
“Well, do you wish to alter the world around you? Transform something into something it isn’t? Perhaps provide curative aid to yourself or others?”
More cautious than ever, she asked, “Would you teach me…your magic? Casting fire? Using it to fight?”
His face became pensive as he went quiet for a moment before answering, “…I could if that’s the path you choose.”
“Then that’s my decision. Teach me to use fire.”
Magus paused when, at that moment, a target materialized from a dark sphere as it had before, taking its glassy shape off to the side of the floor design. Magus took a few steps back and faced the target. Widening his stance, he pointed his horn at the object before shouting, “Disira Maxime!”
As the word was spoken, a bolt of red-tinted lightning leaped from his horn at the bull’s-eye, so fast that if Trixie were to have blinked she would have missed it entirely. When the spell struck the target, it exploded, releasing a bright, white light and a thundering boom that shook the very room. Trixie shielded her eyes as best she could as the trembling ground forced her to her haunches and the sound resonated around her.
When the ringing in her ears stopped and the light died down, she removed the hoof from her eyes to see nothing left of the glass object. Trixie’s jaw dropped and her mind was unable to form words in awe of the destructive power she’d witnessed. As she returned to her hooves, Magus looked back at her and solemnly said, “Destruction spells of the elemental branch are one of the fiercest and most powerful kinds of magic. But, they’re also the most unruly of their kind, making them difficult to learn, especially for a beginner. They’re not for one who wishes for a shortcut to power. Knowing this, do you still wish to learn this branch of magic? You are allowed to change your mind, but now is the only time you may do it.”
Trixie went quiet, glancing at the empty space where the target had been, then back at Magus. “…Is it really one of the hardest spells?” she asked.
“…It is.”
“Then…of course I want to learn it!” Trixie said with a smile and a gleam in her eye.
“…If I may, why?” he asked, surprised.
“Simple, when I learn this, then I can learn just about anything you or your Circle has to offer. Plus, I’ll prove just how superior of a mage I really am,” she boisterously said. Trixie had never felt more at ease with the situation. If there was one thing she could do under his tutorship, it was this.
The crimson mage was silent for a time, still with a slack expression, processing her statement and energized confidence. After clearing his throat, he said, “Well, you certainly have a…unique way of looking at it.”
Through a heavy sigh and a face of stone he said, “Very well. If you wish to follow the path of destruction then I have no right to deny your request.” Without breaking eye contact, Magus’ horn glowed as he levitated a small scroll from a nearby shelf over to him, taking it in his hoof before holding it upright in front of her. “But it’s not up to you or I what power you’ll command. Every creature is different, the same goes for magic.”
Presenting the roll to her, he said, “Take it.”
Trixie observed the bleached paper of the scroll and noted that it was tied by a black ribbon with a gold colored seal of wax on the fabric. The seal had a picture of a hoofprint in the center with a five-pointed star drawn in five straight strokes overlapping it.
As she gripped the paper, it reacted instantaneously, releasing a flurry of sparks and a surge of electricity that shocked her hoof. Her body tingled at the sensation of the current as it ran up her foreleg, spreading to the rest of her form. Trixie yelped as she jerked away in response, clenching her leg tightly against her chest until her skin ceased prickling.
“Lightning,” Magus said, returning his hoof to the ground.
“Lightning?” she responded, looking over her hoof to find it unharmed.
“Yes, from the array of elements to choose from, it appears that lightning is the most suited for you to wield. Quite odd if you ask me.”
“So…I’ll be shooting lighting?” she asked, her ears reaching for the ceiling as she put her hoof back down. The current that coursed through her a moment ago had completely vanished from thought as she listened intently.
“Indeed, but you’ll now need to cast an electrical based spell to gain admittance into the order.”
Trixie gave a playful smile. “Easy.”
“We’ll see. Now, repeat after me: Vexius.”
“Vexus?” she said, fumbling to pronounce it correctly.
“Vex-e-us,” Magus repeated, enunciating each syllable clearly and slowly.
“Vexius”
“Again”
“Vexius”
“Good. You’ll do well to remember that word. It’ll be the key to using the spell properly.”
Magus turned around and walked toward the bookshelf behind him. He scanned the top shelves for a minute before his horn glowed, encapsulating several thick books in its crimson radiance before they were pulled from the shelf and brought down inches from the floor, stacking up next to him. With the books still levitating, Magus turned back and approached her, the hardcovers following by his side.
Setting the towering stack down, he said, “These are guidelines and studies into the art of elemental magic, focusing primarily on lightning and destruction class spells.”
Trixie stared blankly at the stack of massive tomes, not at all looking forward to all the reading she would have to do, in addition to the mountain of books that still cluttered her room. “Will casting this spell be the same as lifting the pebble?” she asked.
“Most certainly not,” he sternly replied. “The pebble required just focus and concentration. This will still include those concepts, but you’ll now need to direct the magic and conform it to the needed spell as well as maintain it to a certain degree so as to get the desired effect.”
As she eyeballed the tower of parchment, Magus pulled out his pocket watch again and briefly checked the time before putting it away. “Right, well, I’ll leave you to it then, good luck.” Magus quickly rushed past her as he headed for the door.
Trixie spun around wide eyed as he passed, her thoughts almost scrambling to understand his madness. “What!? You’re leaving? Again!? I’ll need a little help if you want me to cast this, don’t you think?” Trixie said.
Magus didn’t stop, but quickly replied, “Your magic still needs a while longer to return, so my assistance for the time being is pointless. Study the books and try the spell when you’re ready. Just be careful not to overdo it.” When he reached the door, he quickly stepped through, slamming it shut behind him as he left.
‘All alone…again!’ she thought with an exaggerated sigh. This was becoming a running theme with her so-called teachings. “I’m starting to see a pattern here,” Trixie grumbled to herself. Turning her attention to the stack of books behind her, she huffed and levitated a tome over, opening it as she sat it down in front of her.
Lying down, she started to read the large volume. ‘The Novice Elementalist Guide to All Things Electrical,’ the title page read with fancy ivy borders decorating the font. Turning the page, she began to read, propping her head up with a hoof. The book talked much about the use of lightning magic, although it was mostly boring theoretical stuff with only a few interesting bits.
About an hour into reading and retaining little of the information, Trixie was bored out of her mind. It would’ve been better if Magus was teaching her the technique, like he was supposed to, instead of some dusty old books. The text became very dry, very fast, and the magic word stayed fresh in her mind, making it hard to concentrate when she had the ability to shoot lightning.
Luckily, the information she needed to cast the spell was in the first few chapters and her power was almost completely recharged. She felt strong enough to use her magic again, and trying the spell was certainly more entertaining than reading at this point.
Pushing the book aside, Trixie stood up, eager to try out her new power. As she did, a glass target took shape across from her, as if knowing what she intended to do. Disregarding the mark’s seeming telepathy, Trixie got into position and cleared her mind.
Taking a deep breath, she entered into the magical trance. She took hold of the power and began to focus it into her horn as she pointed it at her mark. Directing the magic to a single point proved harder than she’d thought. It was difficult enough to focus the energy in her body but keeping it in one spot proved a much greater challenge.
When she managed to get enough power to her horn, she shouted, “Vexius!” The word echoed throughout the room before fading, not creating so much as a spark. “Vexius!” she shouted again only to have the same result as the power slipped away without a purpose. “Oh come on!” Trixie muttered sharply to herself. “Vexius!”
Trixie wasn’t sure how long she stood there; harnessing her magic and shouting the incantation to get not even the slightest hint of an effect. “Vexius!” she said for the thousandth time, still with no result. Trixie grinded her teeth as she thought, ‘Why won’t you work?’ She felt a headache coming on, but it mattered little as she shut her eyes and hastily shouted once more, “Vexius!” Slightly lifting one eyelid, she saw the target still unharmed. Behind her baring teeth, she growled at another failure. She didn’t even feel any pulsation of energy or see any sign that it was working as she had with the Atterio spell. It was becoming ridiculous.
The spell seemed like an impossible task only meant to frustrate her. Trixie wasn’t expecting to master it on the first try, but figured that she would at least see some sign that it was working. The Atterio spell she’d used before may have been powered by emotion, but at least she’d seen results. Asking Magus came to mind, however, she could hear the insults and belittling now, and could do without that at the moment. It would be better not to say anything. If she mastered the pebble on her own, she could do this, no matter what.
‘Casting a spell can’t be this hard, no matter how different it may be to unicorn magic,’ she thought. Glaring at the target, she widened her stance and stomped a hoof as she said, “Vexius!” To her amazement, a small spark popped from her horn, spurring her to try again with more force.
Trixie’s muscles quivered and her nostrils flared, before rearing up on her hind legs, falling back down as she shouted at the top of her lungs, “Vexi-!” Before she could finish the incantation, fire and lightning exploded wildly from her horn, knocking her away and onto her back.
An unstable ball of red smoke and yellow flames started for the target, but before it could make contact, it shot up into the sky, ricocheting off the ceiling and falling towards her at an alarming speed. Trixie shirked and rolled out of the way, just in time to dodge the wild spell as it bounced off the floor, leaving the ground scorched, and headed towards a bookshelf. It rebounded off the shelf, sending papers, scrolls, and books into the air to scatter onto the ground. Like a pinball, the destructive sphere ricocheted off every surface in the library, throwing the orderly room into a state of chaos. For fear of being struck and with nowhere to hide, Trixie kept her head down and pulled her hat over it as the light show was dancing above her.
The crackle of the burning orb continued above her with seemingly no end until it was abruptly silenced, replaced by the brief sound of cracking glass followed by a loud crash. Trixie, dreading the thought of what had happened, reluctantly popped her head up from under her cap and looked to the massive window. A fairly large, very noticeable hole could be seen in the center, the edges melted. Through the window, the scenery outside had stopped moving for the first time since she’d entered this room. ‘Uh-oh…’ Trixie thought with a wrinkled brow, immediately regretting her actions.
Her mind leaped from one worst case scenario to another as she hastily made her way to the door and entered into the hall. In full gallop, Trixie headed to the foyer, hoping that everything was alright. Just as she arrived at the door, she heard something that she wished was just her paranoid imagination.
“Why have we stopped!?” Magus’ voice snapped. Turning around, she saw him standing in the entrance of the opposite corridor, glaring at her.
“W-what?” Trixie said, pretending not to have heard.
Magus proceeded towards her, saying sternly, “The caravan has stopped moving, why?”
“I-I’m not sure,” she said nervously as her muscles twitched and quivered before the steady stream of fiery energy radiating from him. If there was even the slightest chance that this was her fault, she wanted to behave as innocently as possible. “I heard a crash and came to see what it was,” she said, trying to sell her oblivious behavior with a false grin.
The pony’s dagger stare followed her as he came close. She tried her best to meet his gaze, but found it difficult to look into the crimson orbs that peered into her soul. Even as he passed by and arrived at the door, his eyes remained trained on her until he opened it. Trixie started getting the sinking feeling that she had already been found out as she followed Magus outside.
A gloomy sky loomed overhead as she stepped onto the cold, wet ground at the base of the stairs. The once green, fertile landscape had been replaced by shadowy bogs and dead trees, few toppled over with their roots in plain view. The sun was almost nonexistent with grey clouds blocking out much of the light, leaving the land in a never-ending shadow. Gentle rain trickled down in a fine mist, filling each breath with water, and cold breezes chilled her as they blew by. Just a few yards away, an expansive, foreboding forest could be seen, holding nothing but darkness beyond its twisted trees.
Despite the unwelcoming scenery, it was nice to be outside again. Smelling the fresh air and feeling the dirt under her hooves was a pleasant change from being cooped up in the caravan for days on end, even if she was learning magic.
“Trixie!” Magus’ voice called as she realized he was amiss. Following the sound, she went around to the side of the caravan to see Magus glaring at her once again as he stood beside the charred remains of what appeared to be one of the caravan’s wheels. “Would you mind explaining this?” he sternly asked, gesturing to the black, still smoldering pieces.
“Um, w-well, it looks like one of the wheels is…broken,” Trixie stammered, sensing her ignorant act slowly failing her.
“Obviously, but can you tell me what happened to it?” he said, before directing his attention above the destroyed wheel. “And to my window?”
Trixie tried not to cringe when she saw the gaping hole in the glass. Never mind that the comparison between the window inside and what she was seeing now were completely different, she had to come up with an excuse. “I’m…not really sure. Maybe it was a…uh…phoenix…?” she said with little confidence, falsifying a smile.
“A phoenix? Really?” Magus replied the look on his face not showing any indication that he was falling for her lie. “And how did you come to that conclusion?”
Subconsciously, she rubbed the back of her neck as she hastily came up with an explanation. “Well it…it…could’ve lit the wheel on fire,” she said slowly and unconvincingly.
“And the window?”
“…A rock?”
The silent stare remained glued to her eyes. “I see. And do you know what I believe happened?”
“Well--”
“I believe, and do listen closely,” Magus said as he began to steadily approach her. “I believe that some ignorant and foolish pony became impatient with her studies and decided to try spell casting, even though she was far from ready. This in turn led to the damage of my window and the utter obliteration of my transport’s and home’s wheel. Thus costing me valuable time and making me second guess how imprudent my companion is by believing I would fall for such a laughable display of false innocence.” By this time, Magus was in her face, staring her down with his cold eyes as he invaded her personal space.
His close proximity coupled with the fact that he had hit her deception on the nail caused her to break out in a nervous sweat. Thinking quickly for some way out of this, Trixie timidly said, “I--AH!” Her response was cut short as Magus whacked her on the head with the binding of a book that he quickly summoned and dismissed from thin air.
At that moment, the rain started to pick up with the once gentle mist turning into heavier droplets. The two glanced up at the sky as the shower fell, Trixie rubbing her sore head as she did.
“Wondrous,” Magus said, glaring up at the sky. Looking back, he briefly eyed the nearby forest before facing her again. Donning his hood, he said, “Due to your impatient nature, it appears that we’ll have to walk the rest of the way in the rain.” Magus turned and started toward the forest without another word.
“What? Why?” Trixie said, her voice briefly rising in pitch. “Can’t you just use magic to fix the wheel?”
Stopping, he glanced back at her before he said, “Ordinarily, yes. But in this case, where the object is completely incinerated, I’ll have to make a new one and I don’t have the necessary materials to do that. Now are you coming or not?” He didn’t wait for an answer as he started forward again almost immediately, following the dampening road to the forest.
It was tempting to stay and not have to trudge through the mud and rain, but it was even more alluring to follow Magus and see where he was going. Perhaps she would be able to meet this zebra he was talking about and find out what he was working on. Adjusting her hat and cape, hoping they’d be enough to keep the rain off her, she caught up to Magus and followed as the looming forest grew closer.
With every step, Trixie became more drenched as the rain continued to fall. The damp road was slowly becoming mud, every hoofprint filling with water as they walked. The rim of her hat grew limp as liquid soaked into its fabric, rainwater flowing off more and more until the edge drooped in front of her eyes. Trixie was forced to remove it and flick the water off, exposing her silver mane to the downpour. The water was freezing as it touched her ears, snout, and the back of her neck, compelling her to put her soaked hat back on.
“Do you still think your attire was the most sensible choice?” Magus solemnly jeered, glancing back at her, his brow raised.
With an angry glare and a quiet growl, she hurried past him. Magus didn’t complain when Trixie increased her distance, moving a yard or so away. It was bad enough that she was trudging around in the mud and the icy rain, but she didn’t need his snide remarks to make things worse. The sooner she got to the cluster of trees, the sooner she could dry off.
Yet, when she neared the forest, her advance slowed to a stop as she eyed the crooked trees and leaned back from the unflinching darkness beyond. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as a strange, unfamiliar energy radiating from within, even the trees appeared somehow foreign, almost seeming to fuse with the force. It was far different from any she had experienced before, producing no pulse but remaining, ever-present like an invisible cloud of lethargic particles. It carried no definable weight with it, just an otherworldly atmosphere. She was suddenly gripped by a desire to walk away, paranoid that something was watching her.
“Don’t just stand there,” Magus said as he passed, entering the thicket. “If you’re coming, then I suggest you try moving your legs, you’ll get there faster.”
“Master!” Trixie shouted, getting his attention as he stopped. She bit her lip at first, reluctant to say what she wanted to say, but it managed to force its way out. “Are you sure we need to go in there? Something feels…wrong.”
“You may not have to, but I must. Come along if you like.” He proceeded further, Trixie holding her ground in unnatural stillness as she watched him go, refusing to blink even once. Her mind buzzed at what she should do as her legs remained locked in place.
As suddenly as he’d started, Magus stopped, remaining silent for a moment. “Just remember,” he began, his focus remaining on the path ahead. “I promised to be more attentive and so long as you are under my watch, no harm will befall you if I can help it. And I’m not the kind of pony to go back on his word.” With that said, he continued on again.
Despite the cloud of black energy that surrounded the wood, she did feel safer with Magus around. She just hoped that he was serious about his promise. Trixie could feel her muscles loosening at the thought of her safety and she rushed forward, getting out of the rain as she accompanied him into the poorly lit brush. The unsettling of energy engulfed them both as they left the safety of the road and the damaged caravan behind to fade into the darkness. The sense of someone or something watching them from the shadows became ever more prominent, but whatever it was remained just out of sight.