A/N: New short story! Yay! I'm starting this one for the Wattpad 30 Day Writing Challenge. It'll be a prelude to a longer story I'm planning on starting later. I'll try to do alternating updates, one day updating the fanfic and one day updating this (JK it'll probably be this the whole time, but I'll try to squeeze in some fanfic.) The Tessa in this story is not the same as the Tessa in Home Falls, I'm only reusing it because Home Falls sucks and I really like the name Tessa. Enjoy and tell me what you think!
Tessa had returned to the mage community of Meliasvene Island, which was enchanted to be hidden from humans, after a long stay in India following her graduation from the Meliasvene School of Mages. Her family was originally from India, but had intermarried with the European, Asian, African, and South American mage families on the island. Millennia ago, Meliasvene had been cut out from the Arctic Circle and moved to the Atlantic Ocean, at the center of what the humans called the Bermuda Triangle. Mage families, who were basically humans with the ability to manipulate energy, had come to the island and formed a community. There were still mages in small groups in human countries, but the main home for mages was Meliasvene. Generations passed, and the island grew. Tessa was proud to call it home.
She stepped off of the Mage Transportation plane and into the island's main airport, Ella Marie Selleck International. Meliasvene was about 50,000 square miles, but had around 500,000 residents, many of whom lived in and around the capital city, Adamontery. EMS Airport was busy with families going and coming from their summer vacations, and as a result, everything was floating because of the untrained children, their auras making the airport shine like a disco ball. She pushed through the throng. Finally, she got to the restroom, where she proceeded to pop out her contacts. In India, nobody had greenish-gold eyes, so Tessa had to put in brown contacts every day. She rebraided her hair in a black braid, then she left the restroom and shouldered past the crowds, preferring not to waste magic to clear a path for herself. Finally, she got past customs to the baggage claim and used her magic to find and summon her suitcase. A small red-gold glow emanated from her hands until the suitcase touched the ground. She started to roll her red suitcase towards the exit.
As she neared the exit, she passed the crystal store. Tessa paused, then entered. Her old crystal wasn't doing much amplification any more. She grabbed her phone and texted her mother, saying, Stopping at crystal store. C u soon.
Crystals amplified a mage's natural powers while doing a spell. As long as the crystal was touching the appendage that magic came from, which was usually the hands (although Tessa knew some mages in the Meliasvene School who used other body parts), it would boost the power of the spell. The less flawed and more durable the crystal was, the more amplification it would give. Tessa was an extremely talented magician, but there were muggers who fought with dirty tricks, and Tessa wanted to be prepared. She looked around the shop, searching for a ring. Most mages liked wearing their crystals as necklaces, but Tessa didn't like having to reach up to amplify her powers- it took too much time, and every second in a battle counted. She liked wearing rings that had the metal securing the crystal wrap around the sides of the crystal, not under it, so that the stone would still be in contact with her hand while looking nice as well. Tessa preferred rubies and diamonds, but they were expensive. Her current ring was made of topaz, her birthstone, and it was scratched and chipped in various places, accounting for the lack of power. In growing frustration at the prices of the rings, she scoured the store, making her way from the front to the back. She was about to leave and try to make do with the failing topaz ring for a few more months when she saw something hidden in a back corner. It was a black diamond ring with a silver band. Normally, something like this would cost at least eight thousand drachmas (Tessa's mom was still upset that the Greeks had stolen their currency name) but the price tag said it was 225 drachmas. Tessa was an expert at judging crystals, as she went through a phase when she was 14 where she learned everything she could about them, and this ring had no flaws. She enchanted the ring to show anything wrong about it, but nothing showed up. It was amazing. Cautiously, she picked it up. Nothing happened. So she brought it over to the counter. She traded in her topaz ring, received seventy drachmas for it, and paid for the new ring, which she slipped on. The band shrunk to fit her finger and she rolled her suitcase out of the store and out of the airport.
Tessa debated between hailing an auto rickshaw- no, volta, she reminded herself; she wasn't in India any more- or just flying home. Well, I've just been sitting around while I was in India, might as well fly, she told herself. She enchanted the suitcase to grow straps, stuffed her purse in the suitcase, and slid the straps over her shoulders. Then she jumped and flew into the air.
Tessa loved the feeling of the wind in her hair as she flew. Remembering a book series she read while in India, she said her thanks that she didn't have to use a broomstick to fly. Or use a wand to cast spells. Or use words to cast spells. It would be so tedious, having to remember all those incantations! She was jolted out of her train of thought when she nearly flew into another person. "Sorry!" she called behind her. Finally, she got to her neighborhood. She landed with a soft thump on the driveway, in front of the garage, and stared up at the three-story house with its large bay windows protruding from the stone surface. She walked up to the cherry-red door and knocked, the protection wind chimes tinkling as she did so. A moment later, a woman who looked like an older version of Tessa opened the door- same gold eyes, black hair, light brown skin, and widow's peak. For a second, the two women stared at each other, smiling, then they hugged.
"We missed you!" Tessa's mother cried.
"I missed you guys too," Tessa responded.
Tessa's little brother Mark came to the door. "Tessa!"
"Hey, Mark!" Tessa replied.
"Your father's coming over soon," Tessa's mom said to her.
"Cool," she said.
The day flew by fast. Tessa's father came by to say hello, avoiding Tessa's mother and only saying, "Emma," as he came in, getting just a "Sam," in response. Tessa enjoyed the rest of the day, though, gorging herself on Meliasvene specials and visiting all her friends. She went to bed early that night, at ten. Her ring still didn't exhibit any strange behaviors, and Tessa decided to let her guard down about the purchase. She was too content to feel strange about anything anyways.
A/N: I really hope you liked it! Vote, comment, follow, and share please!
-Deepio the Slytherin
