Synthetic Magic

Unhappy Birthday

The day began with a gentle tap on my window. I smiled as I threw off my covers and quickly opened my window.

Michael's ever growing blonde hair popped into view "Happy Birthday!" he yelled, waving his hands back and forth before having to quickly grab the edges of my window to keep from falling off the ladder he was perched on.

I laughed as he awkwardly made his way inside nearly tumbling onto the floor.

"Behold the graceful prince of Sadona!" I giggled as he straightened. I was happy my parents had already left for the day and wouldn't hear all this ruckus he was making. We would celebrate as a family later that night.

"Hey I go through all this trouble to surprise you and all you do is tease me" Michael pouted.

"I'm sorry Mikey thank you for surprising me" Michael gave me a small smile showing me he forgave my teasing.

"That's better now come on let's go I have an amazing day planned for you" Mikey grinned as he pulled me down the stairs and out the door.

Michaels amazing day for me consisted of buying me as many sweets as I wanted with his allowance, chasing me around the town square pretending I was a fearsome monster and he was a royal enforcer and lastly splashing around in the lake near Pindle forest.

We were laying on the grass soaking in the rays of sunshine our hair still damp from our swim when Michael turned towards me a glint of excitement in his eyes.

"Time for your present," he said before sitting up and reaching towards his bag.

He pulled out what looked like a tiny intricately designed metal vase with a stopper that had a chain running through it.

"What is it?" I questioned tilting my head.

Michael's only answer was to smile mysteriously before pulling at the stopper until it was released from the tiny vase. He looked up at my confused face before turning it over until one drop fell from the container and onto the forest floor.

A couple seconds past before I opened my mouth to repeat my question when the ground around where the drop landed began to shift.

A curled stem emerged from the ground growing in size until a brilliant blue flower with yellow spots emerged from the bud, the flower continued to grow until it reached my knees.

"It's beautiful" I whispered as I touched the flower's beautiful soft petals.

"It's called a Perxle flower they're from the land of Helit it's supposed to rapidly speed up your healing process if you eat the leaves". Michael explained.

"How did that make the flower?" I questioned pointing at the metal container.

"The wife of one of my dad's enforcers bought it from a witch to keep him safe when he goes to Suma this week but he doesn't trust witches so he threw it away but I saved it," he explained proudly.

"A witch?" I questioned curiously.

"yeah I've heard some of the old guys in my dad's army talk about her, they say she lives in darkling forest doing horrible experiments creating something called synthetic magic to make potions and objects to sell to people daring enough to visit her," he whispered making his voice ominous and ghost like near the end.

I look at the necklace with a hint of mistrust.

Michael notices my nervousness and rushes to reassure me.

"But this is safe I promise it will heal you if you get hurt so if you get hurt I know you'll be ok" He placed the chain over my head the small metal container settling against my chest.