The Double Bladed Sword

Magic: An Introduction

"Magic, as with every tool of mankind, is no more evil than the man who wields it." The man at the front of the class seemed intent on ignoring his students, who were mostly fucking off and ignoring the man standing on his soapbox. "The same magic that causes some to be healed causes others to wither, that which causes angels to grace the earth brings demons to reign hell upon it, and that which pierces the veil to bring back the dead can force a soul into the veil before its time." 

Rapping his long cane against the table, he startled the class back to reality, shattering the veil idle chatter, returning an illusion of order to the class. "Throughout my life I have seen many men try to regulate or legislate magic. Not once has it worked, and it never will." The finality of the man's sentiments echoed through the stone room, reverberating off  the arches that had supported the classroom for countless generations of students. 

"Not to encroach on the realm of politics," he started, causing nearly a dozen simultaneous sighs of reproach to emanate from the rows of desks in front of him, "but our current system is broken. That is why I was hired: to teach you the magic that others are too scared to teach." 

For the first time since the man with the cane had begun his insufferable monologue the class began to pay attention. When he mentioned magic that was forbidden and powerful, the haze of boredom and frustration burned away, leaving a class of nearly thirty pupils staring intently at the man at the front of the room.

The man with the cane smiled, slyly reading the room. Returning to the aloofness that he used to begin his lecture, he twirled the cane within his hands and turned away from the class.

"The same magic that causes one to be healed causes another to wither. Why?" He asked quietly, leaning casually against the desk. The class sat silently and stared. After a beat, a brave young girl from the front of the class dared to break the focused silence that had fallen upon the room.

"Because all magic must come at a price." She said confidently, summarizing nearly eighteen month's worth of coursework.

The man fiddled with the head of the cane thoughtlessly while he considered her answer. "No. While that is in many cases true, the balance of the universe cannot be generalized to answer every question." He replied with visible frustration. "Think young ones." He commanded, his fidgeting reached a climax before he sighed with frustration. 

"What have they been teaching you?" The man beat the cane against the ground twice and a transparent blue circle formed in front of him. "Obviously I must perform a demonstration." Blue magic trailed out of the circle as it slowly began to rotate itself in every direction, picking up speed with every rotation.

After picking up sufficient speed the disk seemed to be a continuous globe. "This is a simple spell which demonstrates the core nature of magic." He looked around at the class, watching the captivated class slowly fall one by one to plague of boredom and ignorance. He rolled his eyes briefly and focused his energies towards the students who still stared with incredulous looks at his demonstration. 

"This globe is made of nothing but disks." He gently tapped his cane onto the stone floor and the globe shattered into a thousand pieces which flew across the room lodging themselves in the walls and floor disappearing the second they made contact, leaving scrapes and holes in the formerly pristine classroom. 

The explosion was silent, but caused a dozen of students to cry out in fear. The man at the front of the room knew that no students were hurt, but they looked amongst themselves to ensure that none were injured by this seemingly dangerous demonstration.

"Magic is power." He said when the class settled back into their seats and calmed down. The atmosphere of fear and admiration in the class was electrifying to the man, and he was feeding off of it with every breath. "You want to see power young ones?" He asked the star struck class, "Write this down..." he started. Quickly, the class divided into those who were dedicated enough to follow his complicated thoughts to learn, and those who just loved the shock.

As he finished the lecture he rapped his cane on the table again, bringing even the daydreamers back into focus for his thesis. "All magic, regardless of the source, is neither good nor evil. Magic is simply a reflection of the caster. Who you are determines what spells you can and cannot cast, what magic works for you. Who are you? Who will you be?"