Red Mountain Chronicles: The Illusionist

Chapter 16

       "What a jerk!" Mary exclaimed. After the day was over, I decided to tell her what happened after Spell Exploration. "If I ever see him again, I am going to lose it. He's going to pay for what he did to you!"
       I looked at Mary. She was serious. She was even more angry than she was at Sparring the other day.
       I shook my head. "Mary, please. It's no big deal. His comebacks weren't even that good—"
       "What did he say to you?"
       "He called me a Scrapper or something—"
       "What did he call you!" I could tell by the tone in her voice that her question was rhetorical. Her face was starting to become as red as her hair.
       I was hesitant to ask her what Scrapper meant. I was afraid to set her off even more. But I had to know.
       "Mary, what's a Scrapper?"
       Mary took a deep breath to calm her down. "It's a term used for humans. Or, in your case I guess, a mage who acts like a human."
       "What's wrong with being human?" I knew there was no offense to me, but it still hurt. I grew up with them. And for the longest time I believed I was one of them. And I guess somewhere deep inside I still held onto that identity.
       "Nothing. It's just," she sighed.
       "What?"
       "Mages often see humans as dirty and inefficient, since they do everything with their hands. The term Scrapper was developed to emphasize this idea. Along with other words, like Crumb-picker."
        "What does it mean?"
        She hesitated as if saying it would hurt my feelings. "It's the equivalent of Mage slave."
        I was quiet. « It would be better for you if you cleaned up by my feet like a beggar » I just thought his comments were shallow blows... but apparently I was wrong. This is what mages actually think about humans.
        "It's a derogatory term. Not all mages feel that way about humans."
       "Do you feel that way?"
       She looked at me, appalled. "Of course not. Did you think I would be your friend if I did?" When I failed to answer, she continued. "It's a stupid old slur for the human race. You would have to be a helpless idiot with a narrow minded view, and an outrageously big ego to actually believe that humans are below mages."
I shook my head. Now it seemed like she was trying too hard. But then she said:
"I mean, why else would we leave the other world? Because we would get a kick out of it? 'Come on guys, let's go through this portal! It'll be fun.'" She shook her head.
      I shrugged, smiling. She made a good point.
      She grinned, and put an arm around my shoulders. We continued walking. I didn't even remember stopping. "Now that that's settled, let's talk about our assignment for Spell Exploration."
      "What about it?"
      "They're books on your wield. If you're gonna do the assignment right, you need to know what books you're allowed to have."
      "I thought they were just Spell books for certain wields."
      "Exactly."
      I was confused. "So what's the problem?"
      "You need to know what your wield is."
      "What?"
      "Yeah. How else did you plan on doing the assignment?"
      "I don't know. I guess just pick out a book and learn the spells regardless of my wield."
       Mary stopped in her tracks. "Are you serious? Do you want to get yourself killed?"
      I stopped, and joined her again. "What do you mean?"
      "There's a reason why people stick with their wields. It's the only specialized magic we can perform."
      "Yeah, I don't expect to perform them well—"
      "That's not what I mean." She looked me dead in the eyes. "Remember how I said humans can practice magic, but it could harm them?"
       "Yeah." Then it clicked. "Are you saying that it's the same with wields?"
       She nodded.
       My stomach dropped. "What do we do?"
       She shook her head. "We have no choice. Practice."

"Alright, let's try this again." Mary was standing in front of me. "I want you to imagine yourself alone in a dark room."
"Ok" My eyes were closed and I focused to try to imagine her words for the eighteenth time. I guess we're trying this technique again.
"Now, imagine there is an object on the other side of the room. You can't move and you can't use unspecialized magic to get it either."
I tried to imagine a book or something in front of me. I already knew what the next step was: try to get the object.
"Now, try to imagine yourself trying to get the object. But you can't. Let frustration and concentration build..."
I did. The thought of it alone felt like an itch you couldn't scratch. I felt unsatisfied. But I didn't know how to get it. I continued on, letting it build. There was a knot in my chest, and I started to feel a slight tingling sensation all over my body. It was not very strong, but I was positive that it was stronger than the last few times this happened. Getting excited, I asked: "See anything?"
I waited, trying to stay immersed. "No," she responded. I then heard her plop onto her bed.
Sighing, I opened my eyes. I fell back, letting myself rest on the floor, in a weird spread eagle crisscrossed position. I stared up at the ceiling.
"I don't know. I'm stumped" Mary said.
"Should we call it a day?" I asked.
"No, we called quits yesterday. We have to keep trying."
"Well then, what do we do?"
She was silent for a long time. Then she stood up. "What happened when you sparred the other day?"
I closed my eyes, then slowly opened them again. "We already discussed this. I moved."
"Yeah but, I remember seeing two of you for a split second."
"I thought we agreed I just moved really fast."
"Perhaps."
I sat up, twisting to look at her. "You weren't even sure yourself."
She nodded. "That's true."
"Then what are you suggesting?"
"Well, it's a hunch, but you could have used it then. It's a pretty natural reaction to use your wield in life threatening situations."
I wanted it to be right. That way we were closer to identifying it. But as much as I wanted her to be right, I couldn't. I needed solid proof. I needed to know without reasonable doubt. So it hurt me to shoot down her theory. "Or I could have just ducked really quickly. I was pumped with adrenaline, so that could have also happened."
"Yeah, I know."
I sat there for a moment. She was starting to sway me, but there were other factors that could have come into play. I couldn't just go on a maybe. I couldn't afford to go on a maybe. But out of the faintest possibility it could be true, I decided to ask: "Lets just say we knew that I used my wield at that time. What wield would that be?"
Mary was silent. She then answered: "I don't know." As she said that, she looked up from the floor in front of her to me. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was telling the truth. At that moment, I knew that I was screwed.