UTOPIA THAT ISN’T (OR IS IT?) by Griffin Moonstorm
Moonsday, White Chocolate Moon 3, 11000
Dear Spell Book,
Today I turned 11. For my birthday I got you, my first real spell book. Before today, I used a plain pad of paper to record my spells. I don’t mean spells with herbs or anything, though. The reason spells work is because the combination of sounds projected into the atmosphere when a spell is said cause certain effects, which are carefully experimented with until they work the way they’re supposed to. Speaking of magic, I’ll have to remember to record spells in you, as well as using you as a journal.
I created my first spell when I was 3. I was just thinking, not doing much of anything, really. Suddenly, a bit of a spell popped into my head! “Once upon a wavelet, that’s bound to swirl and sway,” I quickly got a notebook with a hurriedly cast summoning charm (that was another thing, I mastered spells more quickly than most people.). I messed it up a little, though, and it(the notebook) whacked into the wall. I jotted down my spell, and resolved to carry a notebook and a pen with me from that time forth to write down all my spells.
Unfortunately, my mother found me writing some time after that. She then proceeded to lay a sleeping spell on me so that she could read my notebook. It bounced off my hair, the only part of me that wasn’t pale. (It was black and slightly iridescent.) The spell hit a chair, which promptly fell apart, snoring. When I looked around, my mother had vanished so that I wouldn’t think she had seen me.
After that, I found a spell for concealment and bespoke it onto my notebook. Nobody has found me writing in my notebook since. And that’s when I discovered I had a talent for fine tuning spellsound in my mind. The end of the spell is “. . . I long to be free, so please let me be free, free to swim and play.” It causes the speaker to be transported to a beach and to be able to swim well.
Sincerely,
Pegasis
P. S. I’m going to magic school tomorrow.
P. P. S. Mom’s been acting weird, but when I asked her about it, she said, “This is Utopias.
When our ancestors left earth to come to this dimension, they left all their problems behind.” I think she’s jealous of me, though, no matter what she says.
Magicsday, White Chocolate Moon 4, 11000
Dear Spell Book,
Today I was sent to the public elementary school of magic. It’s a boarding school, and I’m lucky because I get a room to myself. Well, actually I don’t, or I’m not supposed to. I have a roommate, Unicornia, and she let me perform a spell that enlarged a small cavern under a patch of floor. So, even though I’m not supposed to, I have my own room.
When she went to class (my classes don’t start until tomorrow), I performed a complete illusion charm on my furniture. It looks and feels like it’s there, but really it’s in my cavern. The reason I waited until Unicornia had left is because I want to fit in and I don’t think I can if people know about how extensive my magical talent is.
Sincerely,
Pegasis
Moonsday, White Chocolate Moon 5, 11000
Dear Spell Book,
Today we got our schedules. Mine looks like this:
Theory – 8:00 Moon. Water. Fire.
Spells – 9:00 Moon. Water. Fire.
Runes – 10:00 Moon. Water. Fire.
Spellcraft – 11:11 Moon. Magic. Water. Thunder. Fire.
Charms – 8:00 Magic. Thunder.
Enchantments – 9:00 Magic.
Transfiguration – 9:00 Thunder.
Note: The afternoons are given over to the pursuit of practice and independent studying. The use of magic without supervision is strictly forbidden.
Unicornia said that everyone uses magic, even though they’re not supposed to.
Moon., Magic., Water., etc. mean Moonsday, Magicsday, Watersday, etc.
I hurried to the first class of the day: Theory. We were treated to a lecture on the reason magic works and how to use that knowledge to our full advantage.
Next was Spells, which luckily was just memorizing a chant designed to summon water “(Wave after wave, come lap at my feet. Current, direct your course towards me.)” I memorized it in the first 15 minutes and spent the rest of the time sneaking peeks at what other people were doing. Nightshade, Centaurous, and Basaliska were sitting near me.
My next class was Runes. I copied down the runes we were supposed to learn the meaning of (ψ= nature, Ф- poison, ╬ = pain).
Next, we went to lunch. We had some watery bark soup and stale bread.
When I got back to my room, I sensed that a note had been hidden in my bed. It said, “Sleep here to give up all things to me, sleep here to give me your magic.” It was hidden in the comforter, but I sensed it because it was written in spell ink. I don’t know who was trying to steal my spells and charms in my sleep, but I had to spend a few hours reweaving the illusion over and around the words, dissolving them.
Sincerely,
Pegasis
Magicsday, White Chocolate Moon 6, 11000
Dear Spell Book,
Today I went to breakfast (burned bacon, dry toast, and undercooked eggs.)
I bolted my breakfast and hurried to my room. There, I found Unicornia eating a breakfast of bacon (not burned), raisin toast with butter, and a cheese omelet (cooked just right). She explained that usually people used magic to adjust meals. I thanked her and hurried to Charms.
As I walked through the halls, Nightshade (at least I think it was Nightshade, I’m not really sure though) summoned a cloud that rained on me all the way to charms.
When I entered the classroom, the rain cloud vanished, leaving me wet and unhappy. Someone, I don’t know her name, sent a blast of warm air at me, which dried me off somewhat. In Charms, we were told to read Stimulating growth, a Beginners Guide. I was one of the few who did. Most people chatted through Charms.
Later, I was told that anything we did in Charms would be glanced through in Spells the next day, and most people preferred to talk to their friends.
My next class was Transfiguration. We busied ourselves taking complex notes on the precise adjective to use to transfigure a match into a needle.
M N
Dull brown to silver
Potential flame to sharp point
Flammable matter to metal, inflammable
Solid to slim hole at one end
Match to needle!
When I got back to my room, I conjured/summoned a box of matches and practiced in my cavern for an hour or two.
Later I slunk into the school library and selected a stack of spell books. I know I can’t let anyone know how good I am at spells, and to do that I won’t be able to use magic in class, to do that I’ll have to pretend I can’t do the spells. I want to get some education here, and it’s going to be hard to learn if I have to pretend not to be able to do the work. I’m going to study as much as possible in my free time.
Sincerely,
Pegasis
P. S. No one here has heard of me, so they won’t know I’m faking unless they read you,
And they can’t while I’m in Utopias.
Magicsday, White Chocolate Moon 7, 11000
Dear Spell Book,
Today I didn’t even bother to go down to breakfast. I summoned it and made it edible.
Then, I hurried to Theory. We busied ourselves taking notes on why words matter in spells and why spells usually outline what they do.
Next, we hurried to Spells, where we were supposed to perform the water summoning spell we had memorized on water.
When it was my turn, I muttered “Wave after wave, go strike where you will. Current, direct your course the same.” It was a spell to release water from spell bindings. As I had known, nothing happened. I knew I had just earned an F. I wish I could get good grades and still have friends.
Next was Runes. All we had to do was write the runes and their meanings.
Then, we had Spellcraft. We hadn’t had it earlier because the Spellcraft teacher had been on vacation. She had come back at 11:11 p.m. the previous night. In Spellcraft, we were taken to the library to read about spells and review them. In this course, I know I’ll get straight A’s.
When the class was dismissed, I stayed in the library, reading.
Sincerely,
Pegasis
Magicsday, White Chocolate Moon 8, 11000
Dear Spell Book,
Today, when I summoned breakfast, there were several charms on it to make sure that no spells could affect it, so I had to eat it the way it was (burned, all of it) because some of the kids had decided to play another trick on me. I hurried to the library, determined to use my free day to study.
All day, kids sent sparks flying at me, sent waves into my shoes, sent blasts of icy wind to chill me and rip my book away from me, and even made mud puddles on my book. Some of the more accomplished spell casters sent birds to bother me. They kept pecking me!
Finally, I went to my room to study. Now, I knew what I was looking for, an interdimensional travel spell to take me into you. Because I know that the teasing is just going to get worse, not better. It never gets better.
Sincerely,
Pegasis
Magicsday, White Chocolate Moon 9, 11000
Dear Spell Book,
Today was worse. Breakfast vanished when I summoned it. I was constantly plagued by illusions. I looked through several books, and found a spell for interdimensional travel, a spell for creating (or shaping) a dimension, a spell for intensive warding, and a loop spell.
I hurriedly retired to my room with the notes that I had taken to start shaping my dimension, where only a mind, not a body, existed. It took the rest of the day.
Sincerely,
Pegasis
Magicsday, White Chocolate Moon 10, 11000
Dear Spell Book,
I forgot breakfast; Theory slipped right out of my head, Spells was a blur. If I had other classes, I forgot about them. As soon as possible I hurried to my room.
I spent hours working that spell, but when I did, I felt as if I were finally free. I thought up poems, not spells, for once. I could rest for eternity, and never need to exercise if I wished.
I had just decided to see if I could find the image of bliss, when I heard voices:
“Burn it! Then she’ll never have a chance to recover it and use its spells against us!”
And, “No, we’ll keep it and use her own spells against her!” And, “We should copy the spells down and then burn it! Then WE can use the spells and she can’t if we use exclusive ink!”
But someone else said, “Don’t do anything to that book. What’s she ever done to you?”
The response, “Shut up, vermin!”
I exploded out of you, my Spell Book, roaring into Utopias……!
Magicsday, White Chocolate Moon 14, 11000
Dear Spell Book,
I never finished telling you what happened, did I? So, here goes.
Panic exploded. They’d had no idea that I was actually in you, Spell Book. (That’s what all my studying about dimensions had taught me—that I could put myself into the pages of a book and still be alive and thinking.) In nanoseconds, I was holding a bolt of molten power infused with anger. It kept getting brighter and brighter. It had just started to fly out of my hand and fry everyone when I remembered Unicornia. She’d been kind to me, and I didn’t want to hurt her. When I realized that I would hurt her, too, with my thunderbolt, my anger lost its grip on the magic. It exploded into a marshmallow cloudburst! Everyone loved it. They asked me to make more, but I said I wouldn’t until they apologized. They did so quickly and I made a rain of candy kisses to show that I forgave them. Then we all hurried inside so we wouldn’t get in trouble for being outside.
I made a new friend, Dragonia. She was the one who dried me off when Nightshade got me wet.
Now, if anyone attacks me with magic, I’m not afraid to fight back. Next time, if there is a next time, I think I’ll create some butterscotch toffees!
Don’t worry, Spell Book, I’ll still visit your dimension when I need to unload the spells I’ve thought of. I won’t be running away, then.
Sincerely,
Pegasis
Thursday, March 8, 2007
