Twilit Mage

Chapter 15: Illusionist

"Well, that was unexpected."

Mercury gave a start. She hadn't noticed Mr. Salvatore approaching her at all, but now he was standing in front of her, seemingly out of thin air, his eyes wide as he smiled with appreciation. "Not technically what we're teaching here, but we can't complain after seeing such a show, can we?"

"M-Mr. Salvatore," Mercury stuttered out, taking a step backwards. "What...I mean, do you know what happened just now?"

"That, Mercury, was a bona fide illusion."

She blinked. A few others blinked too. "Illusion?"

"Yes. A perfect sensory illusion that fooled even yourself." Mr. Salvatore gestured to the water drop in her hand. "Looks like we have a natural illusionist in our class! A rare talent, even if most people say it has no practical use. But it's pretty to look at, isn't it?"

Mercury nodded slowly. An illusion, huh. That made sense, more sense than a sudden expansion spell, at the very least. So the giant water bubble and the bird hadn't been real...but...

"How do you know it was an illusion?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Simple. For one, the alternative would've been an expansion spell, highly unlikely for a beginner. Two, actual telekinesis always requires some act of communication with whatever you're shaping, and you never spoke a word to that water drop of yours. And third–" he pointed to the window– "illusions don't show in reflective surfaces. An illusion alters the senses of the perceiver, but mirrors always reflect what's actually there. So all I had to do was check the glass."

Mercury gazed numbly at her distant reflection in the window. She was still overwhelmed. An illusion...she had created an illusion, fooled the senses of everyone in the class...How had she done that? She had never even tried...Had it been an accident? How could she just naturally create something that looked and felt so real on her first try?

Unless...it hadn't been her first?

That day at school flickered back into her mind, the day her teacher and her whole class had looked at her as if she had appeared out of thin air. If she could create illusions, then maybe...?

But most of all, why did she feel so tired?

No, tired wasn't the right word. Emotionally drained fit it better. She felt as if she had spent the entire day feeling nothing but her strongest emotions, crying, laughing, getting angry or excited until she had no energy left to feel anything anymore. Of course, she had been anxious all day...but that was different. She hadn't been anxious just now, and yet the exhaustion had kicked in now of all possible times.

"Mercy?" Raoul's voice called, snapping her out of her thoughts. "You okay there? You look kinda sleepy."

"Huh? Oh..." Had it been that obvious? Mercury gave a nervous laugh, her eyes flitting back and forth between Raoul's face and her hand. "No, it's fine! Don't worry, I'm just...a bit tired, I guess?"

Raoul gave her a grin and a nudge. "Don't pass out on me again. We still got two more classes, I don't wanna die of boredom alone."

"Hey!" Mercury laughed again, genuinely this time. "I'm not that tired!"

"You sure? You really sure?"

"Come on!"

They both left the classroom laughing, but even so Mercury couldn't deny that she didn't have a lot of energy left to talk. Two more classes sounded like a pain...she wished she could take a nap somewhere. Or maybe she just wanted to withdraw and be alone for some time, maybe read a book or curl up with her headphones until her battery was recharged again.