The Unveiling - Modern Magic: Book 1

Chapter 4

Author's Note:  This is coming along so well, I'm loving it.  A lot has changed from my original ideas since I started writing, but I definitely like where things are going!  New characters and some more intricacies of Magic are coming in this chapter, so please let me know if things get too confusing!

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Chapter 4 – April 12, 2019

I had spent the last day and a half trying to reason out the events of Wednesday night. I still can't determine how the attacker was shielding his presence. I worked deep into my genetic memory, and I only found one instance of an attempt. The Magi in my memory tried to surround himself with an Antimagic barrier, probably thinking he could block or contain the energies in his body. It caused a nearly opposite effect. Using that much Antimagic was like firing a flare in the middle of a moonless night. Magi from miles around him could sense him with ease.

With that trail reaching a dead end, I moved over to how he destroyed my barrier. The answer to that actually came fairly easily, once I had the time to think while not under attack by magic and a fire escape. I brought the idea up to Diana as we ate lunch that Friday afternoon. We sat in one of the campus cafés, surrounded by many groups having their own conversations. I had little to no fear of eavesdroppers. Anyone who actually overheard anything would simply think we were talking about a book or TV show.

Diana and I sat down with our food and I started into my idea. "I think I figured out the explosion. I mean it was actually pretty obvious when I stopped and thought about it. Let me give you a little example to put it into context." Diana nodded, starting into her lunch, but I could tell most of her attention was on me. Since telling her about this new aspect of the world, she had become hungry for more and more when it came to knowledge about magic and the Magi. "During the early months of the Revolutionary War, the Continental army was losing battle after battle because they tried to fight a well-trained, experienced army using the same tactics. The British had been using the same battle tactics for standing troops for... probably generations. Trying to win when you're out-trained and out-gunned all while doing exactly what your enemy expects you to do – well we all know the outcome."

Diana nodded, listening and taking a quick drink before adding her own thoughts. "So, Magi have fallen into that rut? Always using the same kind of tactics against other Magi?"

"Exactly, but in our defense, it is and extremely effective rut. The tactic this guy went with was dangerous and could easily have backfired if I hadn't been so confused by how strange he felt."

Diana looked a little confused, but was so engrossed in our conversation that she talked around a mouth partly full of salad – looking incredibly cute. "Why was it so risky?"

She quickly covered her mouth and blushed in embarrassment, looking even cuter, but I just smiled. "You've heard of antimatter, right? Mostly theoretical because no one has created a particle for very long before it interacts with normal matter and destroys itself, but it has a basis in physics." Diana nodded along, looking like she was trying to understand how this concept applied to magic. "The most effective way to fight another Magi is Antimagic. Unlike kinetics, one hit from an Antimagic attack can either disable a Magi, burn out their genes completely, or even kill. It's far more effective and efficient that throwing kinetic bolts at each other for hours. Where it starts acting more like antimatter, is when Antimagic reacts to magic condensed and manifested outside a human body."

I looked at Diana expectantly, her fork having paused halfway to her mouth. "Just like matter and antimatter – it explodes." Her voice dropped in volume, showing her self-control despite her interest. "In the alley. You did what all Magi do. Expecting an Antimagic attack, you defended with the same type. But he knew this would be your knee-jerk reaction, so he used normal magic – the one thing you would never expect."