Madeleine Grows a Pair

10 - The Other 1%

Madeleine absorbed so much magic that it gave him wings. At least, that was the conclusion Espresso came to. It made sense. The wings were made of magic, they radiated light magic.

But they couldn't just be magic.

They moved when Madeleine did, they made involuntary gestures, and they were physically attached to him.

But why was Madeleine the only one to experience this?

Espresso prided himself on his vast knowledge of magic. He knew about the flow of magic in everyday life. He learned how to use spells with more than one type of magic. Hell, if someone wanted a spell to be created, he could reverse-engineer the idea into existence.

All of that, and he couldn't figure out exactly what happened to Madeleine.

He was navigating a book on the effects of magic, which seemed like a logical place to start.

A few brief pages discussed how magic could be infused with someone's very dough, whether by being baked that way or through constant exposure to magic. The latter half was typically how paladins and healers acquired their magical capabilities.

Having magic in their dough could have some adverse effects on cookies. That's because it genuinely became a part of them, and by extension, their health.

Using too much magic at once for those cookies could spell death. It could cause drowsiness, fatigue, and even memory loss. Having a low amount of magic was detrimental to them.

Conversely, having too much magic... there was next to nothing on that.

It was considerably difficult to have too much magic; since magic seemed to have its own highs and lows over the day, the only ways to purposely get more would be stealing it or storing it.

Storing magic...

Espresso grabbed another book off the stack on his deskside and paged through it.

Most magic storage, of course, was done on magic items.

Magic items were enchanted to complete certain tasks, much like how the streetlamps were embedded with light magic so they could glow well into the night.

Madeleine was a different case, though. He stored magic within himself. Easy enough when he happened to use light magic, just about one of the easiest magic sources to cultivate. He simply had to take whatever magic lingered in the daylight to keep it for himself, simple enough.

But that didn't account for his job.

Madeleine was a paladin who patrolled the streets of the kingdom. Even when his magic wasn't actively used to defend his home, it was still used passively. After all, he liked to be the center of attention 99% of the time. He often walked with a radiant glow as his orbital shields floated nearby. In fact, it seemed more likely that Madeleine would be losing too much magic rather than gaining it.

Espresso slammed the book shut and held his head in his hands. It was all so confusing.

Did Madeleine just have that much magic? Was that possible? Espresso didn't even have to look to know that none of the books on his desk had anything on growing wings. But unless there was suddenly a new type of magic, there was no other logical explanation.

He felt so uninformed. The only other cookie he could think of asking about this was Pure Vanilla, who was skilled in magic beyond the spells he could cast. Though it might be a violation of boundaries to meet him. After all, this was Madeleine's issue. Espresso shouldn't have gotten himself involved in the first place.