Chapter Text
It's been about three weeks since we saved the world from the Transmutation Stone. We are now spending some time on hobbies and self care. So, of course I decided to help the young detective Angus with some spell-casting. He has been interested in it since he saw me cast fireball at the fire crab on the Rockport Limited. Also, I feel bad about how my ‘friends’ have been treating him. I did return his silverware though after that mess of a journey.
I told him that I would be teaching him in the Cafeteria, which, oddly, is empty today. I shrug my shoulders and shake it off.
“Miss Lup! Miss Lup! Today is the day you said you’d teach me magic!” I turn to see Angus running in holding up a pretty crappy wand.
“Hey kid, tone it down a bit. But, yes, I will be teaching you magic. First, though, we need to get you a better wand”
“What? But Leon gave me this!”
“Huh… I thought there was a rule against giving magical items,” I mumble. I then reach into my bag of holding and produce my old wand which I then hand to Angus. “Here, this should serve you better than that thing”
Angus looks sad, for some reason. I shrug. “Well, today we wont be using that wand, anyways. I will be teaching you a cantrip”
“Not… Not using the wand? But I thought you need wands for magic”
“No. That's one of the most common misconceptions about magic, you see. Magic comes from within. The wand is just channeling and amplifying what you already have. If you cannot use the magic you have inside, the wand will be practically useless. What would happen if someone disarmed you in the middle of a battle? You would die.”
“Oh…”
Shit, I think I scared him.
“Well, today I will be teaching you Fire Bolt. One of my favorite cantrips.”
“Shouldn't you be teaching me something less… destructive?”
“Offensive magic is very important”
“I guess so.”
“What do you know about magic?” I ask the child.
“Well I know the different schools of magic, that transmutation changes things, that necromancy reanimates things, that illusion creates illusions, that-”
“Alright, got it. Fire Bolt is an Evocation cantrip. It has an instant effect. Basically, you're throwing fire at someone.”
“Should we be doing that indoors? Miss Lup, what if something catches fire?”
“Then I teach you Frostbite as well, two lessons in one.”
“Okay”
I spend a while attempting to teach him the spell. I teach him the incantation. It takes ten minutes for him to conjure a half burnt ball of ash. I do praise him and put out the small fire it started on the table. Angus looks upset.
“Hey kid, what's wrong?”
“That was terrible… I can't even properly light a fireball”
“It wasn’t terrible! It was your first try. You created something out of nothing! That's magic baby!”
“What was your first spell like?”
“Oh, that…” I scratch the back of my head and begin to tell the story.
“I used to be a famous traveling chef, nobody really paid any attention to me at first so I started trying out evocation magic to add some pizazz to it. That started to turn heads. I mean, nobody really cares if you just light the stove. Anyone can do that, right? But when you light the stove using a magic fireball? People go crazy and eat that shit up.”
“Yeah! That's amazing!”
“Well I wasn’t very good at it at first. But as I got better, I got more powerful. And, well… something bad happened.”
“Well, absolute power corrupts absolutely! As my grandpa said”
“Um… well that's not exactly what happened, but its a good point”
“Why don’t you cook anymore, miss?”
I sigh, I don't like telling this story. No matter how many times I tell it, it never gets easier.
“Well, the fireball… I lost control of it… and it hit many people… and people, well, people on fire tend not to live very long. So I decided to stop cooking around anyone I cared about until I can control my magic much better.”
“But you made those chocolate chip cookies at the Candlenights party.”
“I did, didn't I? Well… I guess I was just excited to be cooking again. And I didn't use my magics for that one.”
“You didn't mess that one up though, why not start cooking again, miss.”
I laugh a little. “Well, I do see a bit of your sleeve is singed. Maybe the cookie did it,” I am trying to change the conversation. I don’t like talking about this.
“No- No it isn’t!”
“Well, lets get back to casting.”
We continued to work every day for a week, and by the end of the week Angus runs into the cafeteria excited.
“Woah there, calm down kiddo.”
“Miss Lup! Miss Lup! Look!” he holds out his hand. There’s a small fire in it. I recognize the cantrip as Produce Flame.
“Good Job! Congratulations!”
“T-Thank you miss!”
“If you keep it up, maybe you’ll become a better wizard than I am!” I say as I point a finger at him. I lower my voice, “And when that day comes, little man, oh when that day comes... I will summon whatever powers I still have at my disposal, that you have not siphoned away from me, and I will take all of my canny and all of my cunning and all arcana still within my reach, and I will use it to strike you down. Little man, don’t ever, EVER, again challenge my power.” I pause for a moment then laugh, “Just kidding. Just trying to practice for my next live appearance.”
“O-Oh okay…. C-Can I get tickets?”
“Can’t you conjure them yourself yet?” I laugh, “Of course you can, then”
Angus then takes out a small box and holds it out to me.
“I made these for you, since you've done so much to help me.” He says, handing it to me.
I open the small box, inside there is a dozen chocolate chip cookies. I take one and bite into it.
“Wow,” I say through my mouthful, “These are pretty good. Though, you forgot to add sugar”
“I knew I was forgetting something! Maybe you could use magic to fix it.”
I hesitate, “Well, you see… Oh what the hell.”
I raise my Umbra Staff to begin casting the spell, but the wrong spell comes out. It casts Magic Missile instead. And the box of chocolate chip cookies is destroyed. The spell is so strong it jerks my body backwards.
“What the hell…” I mutter.
“If you didn't like them… I understand, but exploding the box... Miss, don't you think that's a bit much?”
“No- I didn't mean to… I was trying to cast Prestidigitation, not Magic Missile.”
And then my umbra staff begins to cast again, this time it is casting Scorching Ray at the wall. Its pulling my arm so my arm is straight out and it starts tracing a shape.
First it writes the letter “T” and then “A” and another “A” then a “K” and, finally, an “O.”
“What the… T A A K O, what does that even mean? What the fuck?”
Angus begins writing the letters down, “Amazing! A new mystery! It appears youve given me another wonderful gift!”
“Oh shit…” I sigh.