Draconia Offline vol. 1

9.2. I Can Do Magic IRL! - Part 2

"M-magic!" Fefnir is the first one to exclaim. "Must be! How did you do that, Aefener?"

"I-I... I have no idea," I gulp. "I couldn't reach it so... a strong wish I guess?"

"Do it again!" Liana sits up and her expression is mad.

"Come on!" Ingri grabs my phone off the floor and puts it in front of me again.

"Not with my phone!" I shake my head violently.

"It's a good thing that I made you buy that screen protector, right?" Erik laughs but it's the kind of nervous laugh that precedes a mental breakdown.

He somehow successfully came to terms with me being a telepath and having wings but now he's facing another unbelievable phenomenon. Poor Erik. And there doesn't seem to be an end to strangeness any time soon. I hug him and now it's me comforting him.

"DO IT!" Liana and Fefnir shout at me at the same time.

"Use this instead," Ingri readily positions a pillow in front of me.

"E-ehm... okay," I say timidly.

Still, I have no idea how I did it in the first place. I try focusing on the pillow and sending a strong wish to move it but nothing happens.

"Well? Don't you feel anything? Mana?" Liana nudges me.

"I've been feeling something pulsating inside me but I thought it's my bones getting hollow," I say. "Mana... I'm not sure, Li. I can somehow accept DNA changing even if it's stretching science too far, but mana? Magical energy?"

"But you did magic, we all saw it," Liana insists. "Right, doc?"

Dr Stein finally closes her mouth and simply nods. I guess it must be much harder for her and Erik to accept such a thing as magic because they've never played virtual games where it exists. As for me and my gaming friends, we were experiencing magic every day in the world that was almost indistinguishable from reality so we got used to it. But still... in real life? Seriously?

"Heyaa," out of the blue Fefnir takes the pillow and throws it at me.

I know it can't really hurt me but I flinch on instinct and the pillow changes its trajectory, hitting the wall behind me.

"Magic confirmed," Fefnir grins and his teeth flash for a moment. Did I just see... small fangs?

Erik must have seen it as well because he blinks, dumbfounded again.

It's real... it's real... it's happening... they're... my Ryuu is..., he's thinking frantically.

I'm still me, I assure him and try calming him with lots of love. It does seem to work as he gets his cool back.

"Real magic," he speaks aloud and caresses my face. "How is the world going to react to that?"

"We have to keep it secret as long as possible," Liana says resolutely. "The world is panicking already now that it's been proven we're really changing into our avatars. I'm afraid we can even expect violence and limiting our human rights if it comes to the worst scenario. Confirming magic isn't wise at this point, we have to keep our people safe during the transformation when we'll be utterly vulnerable."

Our people, she says. I shudder at what it might entail—dividing the population into 'us' and 'them' is never a good thing. But what else is to be expected? Soon there'll be five races on the planet. Everything's going to change. And now that magic is confirmed, it's only logical to expect that other races will get their abilities as well.

What does it all mean!? Erik starts freaking out again. I calmed him just a moment ago but because he can perceive my emotions and thoughts, he can also catch what I'm pondering about and get nervous as a result.