Please Remember Me Like This

I Play No Games About My Legacy

Please Remember Me Like This

Chapter 14: "I Play No Games About My Legacy"

Here they were! Tonight was the night, and tonight everything would change! The whole group had been atwitter in the group chat, talking preconceptions and what they would do once they were inundated with enough power to change people's minds. Lili in particular wanted to actually go out and let herself be known somewhere outside their circle, and Carls couldn't wait to see how she could use magic to help even more with her patients.

Ian just wanted to change Aeric's mind, change his family's mind that maybe college wasn't for him, and this was the right path. It laid so clearly in front of him, traveling the realms with this amazing group, teaching magic to whoever had the Gift. And if Aeric accepted him and wanted to come with him, even better! He knew just how much his boyfriend (?) could get out of broadening his horizons—he really needed to stop being so pessimistic.

Of course, he hated having to subject himself to school again, avoiding Aeric where he could and eating on his own again, like he had the first half of his high school life. But he willed himself to create a spell that created a radius around Aeric that only he could see—which made it a lot easier to avoid his boyfriend (?) now that they had their worst fight still unresolved. Now, if Aeric just apologized for being so harsh once he realized how crazy he was acting, and just accepted that Ian was becoming one of the most powerful wizards in the realms... They could really change things together, and Ian didn't know how he could move on from this!

Mom, and even Barley weren't much better, with Mom looking at him with nothing but disappointment, an expression he'd seen only reserved for Barley but never for him. And even Barley looked at his little brother like he didn't know him anymore.

All he had was this group, who applauded him when he was able to astral project to meetings without his staff, who had been helping everyone harness their powers and confidence in himself—confidence that started with finding magic and dating Aeric, but had escalated all by himself into being, well... a teacher! And he was good at it! Even if everyone was older than him in the group, they so often asked him questions, and Victoriana's looks of approval definitely assured him that this was what he was meant to do.

"You're not even physically here, and yet you're teaching them so much," she admitted when they had a moment alone.

And that night, she announced that next week, when they were meant to manifest... everything during the Blue Moons, she wanted him to help her lead the chant!

"I'll be there," he promised. At this point, he didn't care who he had to mow down or show his powers off to—he would make it to the most important meeting of the group. He couldn't let them down at their most important hour!

And then, it happened: during their meeting the night before, all the way out on Shale Cove (and once again Ian had to project himself to the location), Victoriana led the chant that manifested the Diamond to show itself in its walls. Even through projection, it was the most dazzling thing Ian had seen, with its many points and almost glittering surface, almost too powerful to even look at. It looked like it would barely fit in the crook of any staff, let alone his splinter staff.

"We did it!" everyone cheered, hugging each other. Morgana even teared up, and Rose reached out to hug Ian before remembering he had to project to make this meeting.

"We're about to make history," Cord declared, pumping a fist.

And man, was Ian lucky to see that Mom and Colt would be going out for a gala that night, and he watched as Barley left the house with his backpack, probably to study at the library. He'd been good about staying home; no one seemed to suspect he could even do magic without his staff, especially when he cooped himself up in his room if he wasn't at school or studying downstairs.