Chapter 5: Illusion magic.

I arrive to Croix's lab at the usual hour, wearing a happy smile on my face. Happy because I don't have homework today, and by what Croix said yesterday it seems like she won't either. And I already know all the spells I'll need to pass my exams without blowing everything up for once! I know Croix probably wants to keep working on my technique and control (areas I'm still lacking in), but I've decided that today I want to have fun! I want to learn more about the magic that entranced me so much as a child. I want to learn illusion magic.

"Croix! Hi!" I greet her as I charge into the lab as usual. Of course, she's reading a book at her desk as she usually does, and doesn't even look up when I greet her.

"You're late." She answers curtly.

"Five minutes late is still on time." I argue, puffing out my cheeks.

"Sure, sure." She shrugs before finally turning around and meeting my gaze. "Now, I was thinking that today we should study the basics of elemental alchemy, since you're still severely lacking on the subject and honestly it's not one of my specialties, which is why we haven't dwelt on it too much." She pauses, turning around to search for a book. "Now, if I remember correctly from last year, your first exam should cover…"

"Wait, Croix." I interrupt her. "I was thinking… I mean…" I bit my lip, suddenly nervous about actually voicing my request. After all, I don't want to make her angry, but when she keeps staring at me with a raised eyebrow, clearly upset that I interrupted her, I decide to just go for it. "Uhm… m-maybe we could do something more f-fun? Just for today?" I smile, but because of my nervousness I'm sure it looks more like a grimace.

"Fun?" She practically spits out the word, looking at me with contempt. "You think magic is for fun?"

"Well… I mean… it's okay to use it just for fun sometimes, r-right?" I answer, looking to the ground as I'm too nervous to meet her gaze. I feel rather chastised right now. "After all, the only reason I decided to become a witch is that… w-when I was a child, magic brought me so much happiness, and I just want to share that happiness with everyone in the world, you know?" I finally chance to meet her eyes as I said the next words. "It's… is it bad to wish for something like that?"

She holds my gaze for a few more seconds, so many emotions and hesitations reflected in her eyes that I can't be sure if she's mad at me or not, but then after what feels like an eternity, she deviates her gaze with a heavy sigh.

"I suppose that, even if we're both witches, you're allowed to have your own motivations and desires." She frowns. "I mean, I don't think I've ever done magic just for fun, but I guess it can't hurt."

"So you'll teach me illusion magic?!" I practically jump in excitement.

"If that'll finally make you stop whining about it everyday, then sure." She shrugs, trying to appear annoyed, but being betrayed by the small tug at the corner of her lips that form the subtlest of smiles. "Come on, let's go to the fields." She gets up and starts walking to the door, gesturing me to follow her. "I'm sure even when casting harmless magic you'll find a way to cause an explosion and I'm too fond of my lab to allow it to happen here."

"Hey!"


We arrive at our usual clearing in the forest just a few minutes later, and as usual she asks me to get out my wand. I take it off my sash, as she requested, and try casting the only illusion spell I know. This one I didn't learn it in any book; it's the first and only spell my grandma taught me… before she died. It's the spell that made me fall in love with magic and the only thing capable of bringing me joy even in my most desperate hours, so I'm rather fond of it. But I always wanted to learn more magic like this one, and unfortunately there was no information about it in any of the books I've read so far.

The spell I cast is simple enough; just wave my wand around making sparkles of raw magic appear from thin air as yellow butterflies sprout out of nowhere and start flapping around us in a beautiful dance that never fails to put a smile on my face. Nowadays, I'm able to do it with almost fifteen butterflies, and sometimes I even manage to change their colors! But when I was little I could control a maximum of five before I was overwhelmed by the effort, so that's an improvement. Even if I wished I could do more.

"Not bad." Croix says, intently eying one of my butterflies. "At least you know the basics, but I need to make sure you understand the theory behind illusion magic. What do you know about it?"

"Uh…" I trail off, dispelling the shiny forms as I look to the side, unsure of how to respond. "Well… illusion magic creates illusions, right? Things that aren't really there."

"Correct." She smiles, and I sigh internally in relief I didn't make a fool out of myself again. "Illusion magic can't create physical objects because it's just a projection of whatever is in your mind; imagination is really the only limit when it comes to it."

"Okay! And what's the spell?" I ask, unable to reign in my enthusiasm as I pretty much invade Croix's personal space, which of course prompts her to take a step back and give me a warning glare.

"Seriously? You just casted it!" She answers frustrated. "There's no way you already forgot about it."

"Well… no, but… I just thought there were other spells. More fancy, awe-inspiring, over-the-top ones. Not like the magic I learned before I could even walk!" I protest, hoping Croix will just laugh, say she was joking and proceed to teach me more awesome spells, but to my surprise (and disappointment) she just shrugs.

"That's illusion magic to you; it doesn't require fancy words to be casted, and there's no need for any special wand-waving tricks. Anything you can imagine will come to life as soon as you pour some magic into your wand." She explains. "The only difficult part would be maintaining the spell and being able to control it, since even a little distraction can cause it to disappear."

"Really? And just like that I could make… I don't know, a realistic looking dragon, if I just concentrate?" I ask.

"No." She deadpans. "For something to look realistic you need to work with concrete materials, so metamorphosis magic would be better for that purpose."

"Which then means anything I create with illusion magic will look like those luminous butterflies?"

"Yeah. Exactly." She nods. "That's why most people won't use it."

"Oh. Okay." I don't know if I'm feeling disappointed or excited. Probably a very weird combination of the two. On one hand, I wanted to make more realistic illusions, but on the other, my butterflies made of light look prettier than real butterflies, so there's really no telling how much more wonderful a bird or a lion made of illusion would be compared to the real ones, so…

"Allow me to demonstrate." Croix says, probably noticing how torn I am about this new information. But as soon as I see her getting out her wand with her left hand, I'm reminded of something very important.

"Wait!" I grab her hand, pretty much panicking. "You can't do magic yet."

"It's just a simple spell. I should be fine." She says nonchalantly.

"Doesn't it hurt?" I argue.

"Not as much as before." Croix shrugs. And I'm baffled to see how little she worries about her own body.

"Croix!" I chastise her. "No. I'll do it, and you'll just tell me how I can improve, okay?"

"But I want to do magic! I'm so tired of being completely useless." She pouts in frustration, and even though a part of me thinks that seeing the prodigy Croix Meridies do that is super cute, I know I can't allow her to hurt herself just because she wants to show off.

"Croix, no." I reiterate with as much authority as I can. And to accentuate my point, I give her hand a gentle squeeze. This of course, causes her too look down to our joined hands and realize I haven't let go of her during our whole conversation. Instantly, she takes a step back and pulls away from my grip, looking awkwardly to the side and blushing.

Right. I forgot she's not a fan of physical contact.

"Just cast the stupid spell then." She grumbles.

"Okay." I sigh. Why does she have to be like this? I was just trying to help! Anyways, I guess it's time to concentrate on what I want to do. I mean, it's not like I've never ever tried to do something other than just butterflies with this spell, but it's never really worked like I want. Maybe I'm just too unfocused? I can never quite decide what I want to create. A phoenix, maybe? Or a giant bear? Oh! Maybe a wolf! Or perhaps a faerie? Uhm… What about an angel? That'd look pretty. Wait… I'm doing it again, aren't I? Okay. Let's focus. Make the first thing that comes to mind and be done with it, Chariot. One, two three!

I pour some magic into my wand and as light starts coming out of it I try to shape it into… something. Come on, be a… a… what was I trying to make again?

"Nice shapeless blob." Croix smirks, being as sarcastic as ever. I just pout at her.

"I'm trying, okay?"

"Just relax, clear your mind." She chuckles. "Come on, take a deep breath and close your eyes."

I pout at her for a second longer, but then follow her instructions; she's the boss after all. Okay, eyes closed, breath steady… now what?

"Chariot, I can see you practically shaking in excitement." She deadpans. "I said relax."

"But…"

"Clear your mind." She quickly cuts off my protests. "Just focus on what I'm saying, okay?"

"Hmf. Okay." I say grumpily.

"Alright. Now… everything is black, okay? You only see black."

"Is that your soul?" I tease.

"Chariot." I can perfectly imagine her glaring at me by her annoyed tone of voice, but I just chuckle and then proceed to concentrate on what she told me to do. Black. Okay. Black. Huh… what about a black horse? Nah, it'd look prettier in white! Or even pink! Yes, pink is pretty. Wait… stop it Chariot. Black. Everything Black. Okay, good.

"You got it?" Croix asks after a while, and I answer with a curt nod. "Good. Now… imagine there's a bird. A dove."

"Okay…" I nod as I imagine a pretty boring white dove inside my head.

"And now make it blue."

"Right."

"And imagine it flying in circles."

"Got it."

"Good. Don't forget that image, and just pour magic into your wand." I nod, following her instructions. "Alright... Now open your eyes."

As soon as I do just that, I'm filled with the most astounding vision ever. A blue bird. But not just any bird. It looks like it's made entirely of blue flames of cold fire. And yeah, the shape is kinda like the dove I imagined but bigger, and more majestic. I can't help immediately wanting to touch it.

I extend my hand towards it as it passes flying next to me, but once my hand touches the blue flames that form its body, I notice it's just like touching air. Like the dove isn't really there, and the contrast between what appears to be real and what my senses are telling me, startles me. Instantly, my creation disappears.

"As soon as you start doubting of its existence, the illusion will be dispelled." Croix explains. "Pretty intuitive, really."

"I-I… I did it!" I exclaim, barely paying attention to her and smiling so much my cheeks start hurting. "I actually used illusion magic to create something other than just magical butterflies! I-I… yes!" I start jumping in excitement as I swing my wand creating some sparkles just for fun. My heart is racing from the exhilaration, and I'm feeling giddy, restless. It's so good to see I can actually use magic to make something impressive and fun! I was starting to feel a little disappointed with my classes here at Luna Nova to be honest.

"Yes, you actually did it." Croix says, smiling genuinely, which makes her look a lot less grumpy than usual. "It was very impressive. You're a fast learner now that I think about it, which is good because I'm not all that patient."

"Fast learner? Come on, you just said that's a spell for little kids." I try to shrug off the compliment, blushing slightly as I always do every time Croix says something positive about me.

"Well, yeah, but it still took me a few tries to learn, and I made a simple unmoving sphere of light, not a flying bird." She chuckles.

"Wait… then why did you make me do that, if you really thought it was so difficult?" I pout.

"I wanted to put your powers to test." Croix answers nonchalantly. "Honestly, teaching a descendant of one of the Nine Olde Witches makes for a very interesting experience."

"I'm not one of your experiments!" I exclaim indignantly.

"Sure, Chariot, whatever you say."


A/N: Thanks for reading. Please review!

Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13.