Chapter 6 Ch.2- Magic Really is Dangerous.

Chapter 6 Ch.2- Magic Really is Dangerous.

It’s been about a year and a half since I woke up in this simulation. Now I am capable of speaking and walking on my own. And by walking, I mean waddling around by quickly throwing my fat legs in front of me.

Even now, I still fall flat on my face regularly. But I shall persevere. I’ve decided I wouldn’t give myself away yet. I was unsure about my objectives, but I’m sure screaming out “I was a Human Death Commando” probably wouldn’t help me achieve anything.

I’ve also finally gotten a good look at myself today. Unfortunately, this home doesn’t have any glass for mirrors, but my mother left a bucket of water outside, and I managed to see my reflection for the first time. It seems the simulation has pretty much made me a perfect copy of both of my parents.

I have light tan skin that is a mix between both my mother and father. However, I have my father’s raven black hair and my mother’s sharp chin and cheekbones. But one of my most defining features is my Heterochromatic eyes, my left eye is a purple amethyst, and my right eye is a golden pool. My irises, much like everybody else I have seen so far, also swirl around oddly.

I was staring intently into the pool of water when I sensed my father trying to sneak up on me. I quickly turned and stared right at him. “Did you actually hear me coming?” he asked with a look of surprise.

Well, of course. My hearing was astounding. I think my hearing is better than it ever was as a Human. It took me a long time to control these ears of mine, but I finally got them down, mostly.

Combine that with my years of hardened combat senses from being a Death Commando, and it was an efficient combination. I also don’t think he was trying very hard.

“Ummm... sorry,” I tried to say innocently.

“Amazing, you definitely got my hearing after all. But you got your mother’s High Elf ears,” he said while rubbing my ears.

I usually wasn’t a fan of being touched, but having my ears rubbed was actually fantastic. They must have had double the number of nerves in them compared to Humans. And this man knew exactly where to scratch them.

But he said something I hadn’t heard before. “What is a High Elf?” I asked curiously.

I had heard my parents refer to me as their “Little Elf.” I could only assume that is what they called our race. He went on to explain, “Well, your mom is a High Elf, and I am a Dark Elf. You can tell what race an Elf is by their ears, among a few other things. For example, your mom has high pointed ears, so she is a High Elf. I have ears that point downwards which makes me a Dark Elf. There are also Wood Elves with ears pointed straight out, somewhere between a Dark and High Elf. And, uh sorry... you probably didn’t understand all of that,” he said while scratching his head.

“Am I a High Elf?” I asked.

“Well... yes and no? You are half Dark Elf and half High Elf, which is pretty rare, but uh... we won’t talk about that right now. Most people will probably think you are a Dark Elf since you have dark skin like me,” he explained, his face having a tinge of red in it now.

“Mmm... okay,” I said.

I had asked my mother many questions, but she would often dodge around questions or answer them with more questions. It seems he is a more straightforward person. Perhaps now would be a good time to ask about magic. My mother had told me she would tell me more when I got older.

But I had nothing else to do than wander around the house. My parents didn’t have books that I could find, at least. So I had nothing to stimulate my brain. So to curb my boredom, I had started to pick up random items and bring them to my mom so she would tell me the names of things.

Maybe I could get lucky today.

“What is magic?” I asked.

“It’s, uh... difficult to explain to a child that isn’t even two years old.”

“I’m smart!” I attempted to say in the most childlike manner I could. I even pouted a little bit, hoping to add the extra effect.

“What are you doing?” he gave me a weird look then shrugged. “Listen, Kal. Magic is a dangerous thing for a kid. But how about I teach you about mana?”

Mmm. It seems I won’t be getting that lucky. But this is a start. I’ll just have to accept it.

“Sure!” I exclaimed with false enthusiasm.

“Alright. How about we take a walk around the village, Kal?” he suggested with a smile.

Finally.

Since my crawling escapades, that witch has kept me on a short leash. I haven’t gotten a chance to leave this home for more than a few moments. When I was just an infant, that witch of a mother took me to what I assumed was a market at one point. But she had just fed me, and I couldn’t force myself to stay awake, so I missed the entire trip!

“Yes, please!” I said while grasping my hands in the air.

He obliged with a soft chuckle while picking me up and placing me on his shoulders as we walked. I have been able to deduce that my family makes a decent income. We weren’t peasants, nor were we some noble lords. But we seemed to have an above-average home that was somewhat out of the way from the general populace.

I had also deduced that this was indeed a jungle. The humidity was high and tree coverage was highly dense. It almost seemed like the trees were crafted to shade everything perfectly.

Only after a few minutes of walking were we at the outskirts of the village. It appeared to be a decent-sized village. The village shared the same architecture as our home, using the jungle wood and accenting it with plenty of greenery. Although it was much different than the metal square and rectangle architecture I was used to, it was still very appealing.

The village just gave off a warm atmosphere, kind of like a log cabin in the forest. At least that’s what I imagine it would be like. I’ve never been in a log cabin before, let alone one in a jungle.

We had begun to walk past people on the road. The village seemed to be a good mix of Wood Elves, with their pointed ears that came out to the side, and Humans. The Humans in this simulation looked precisely like the Humanity I was familiar with, besides the whole swirling iris.

I couldn’t help but notice a select few Humans that seemed to be slaves, or maybe prisoners? Thick red iron collars were locked around their necks, and most of them looked worse for wear. Their keepers were not far from them, but they didn’t seem like police or soldiers, just ordinary people.

Despicable. Even the Federation didn’t enslave the aliens we conquered. I suppose if the simulation attempted to recreate a fantasy world, then slavery would simply be a part of it. But choosing to enslave Humans was obviously a direct, deliberate decision by the system.

Drawing my eyes away from the shackled Humans was what looked like to be some type of Human-animal hybrid. A person with a hood on and a black cat-like tail came out from behind them. They didn’t have fur all over their body as a cat would, but the tail that was swishing to the side was a dead giveaway. A pair of black fluffy cat ears stuck out from their hood. I decided to be the “what is that” child and asked as many questions as possible.

So, I sat in my little spot in the shade and guided the warm droplet all the way to my fingertips. Now I was going to try to make a spec of water, the tiniest little droplet. I focused intensely on every aspect that I wanted from the droplet; the size, shape, color, how it was going to smell, even the chemical components.

And I sat there for a long time attempting to do this until.... nothing.

I couldn’t do it!

Damn! Maybe I really needed a teacher or something. Hell, even a dang book explaining this would be more straightforward! I kicked a branch in frustration and sat back down to think, I couldn’t give up, not yet.

Mmmm... maybe I should use fire? No, I can’t. If I do something wrong, I might burn the entire jungle down along with myself.

Maybe... could I try wind? I have seen Seana use fire magic and water magic. So, if it was based on the elements, then perhaps there was wind and earth? Since I didn’t know what earth magic looked like, so I focused on making a small gust of wind instead.

I also decided to adopt another approach, I have never seen anyone use magic while meditating, so maybe I needed to be standing for it. I squared myself off with my knees just past my shoulders and dropped my base. I wasn’t sure what kind of stance I should take, but I figured this would be fine.

Then I refocused and moved the tiny drop of warmth all the way back to my fingertips, where I imagined it turning into a small gust of wind. As soon as the droplet hit my fingertip, an ever-so-small amount of air came out from my hand, it was barely enough even to shake the leaves of the tree. But I did it! I used magic. Finally!

But my joy was immediately replaced with a feeling of complete and utter death. Only a few seconds after I made that slight breeze I began to feel awful. I felt like somebody had bludgeoned my entire body with a metal bat and kicked me a few times for good measure.

I tried to move, but instead, I just fell forward as I lost control of my body and face planted into the dirt. I couldn’t move my body at all, not even wiggle my fingertips as I lay there inhaling the dirt. Nor could I speak to call for help. I just laid there for well over five minutes.

Slowly but surely, the feeling returned to my body as I regained control over it again. I was still in agonizing pain, and I was completely drained. I felt like I needed to hibernate for fifty years.

I waddled my tiny fatigued body back home, where Seana called out to me, “Kal baby, are you okay? You don’t look so good... and what happened to your clothes and face!” she said with genuine concern.

I must have looked as terrible as I felt. Seana dropped the fabric she was working on and rushed over, and began to clean my face. “I fell and I don’t feel so good,” I said.

It was a half-truth. But it was better not to alert her that I could use magic, even if said magic might just be a death trap.

“Go lay down! I’ll go get Doctor Jacobs right away,” Seana said, scrambling to get ready.

I wasn’t sure if I needed a doctor but it probably wouldn’t hurt, I doubt they would be able to tell I used magic.

—

“So, you used too much magic, boy?” said the old as dirt doctor.

He was the same old man I remember seeing when I first awoke. The geezer looked like he might fall dead at any moment, yet I didn’t actually see him struggle to move. Alanis was currently away hunting, and Seana was running to go get me some soup from one of her coworkers, so it was just him and me.

“No... I no feel very good,” I lied. The Doctor once again fixed me with whatever magic he could use. I went from feeling like death walking to just being very very tired in moments.

“Anyone ever told you that you suck at lying boy? From the day I pulled you out of your mother, I knew you were going to be a hellion. But I sure didn’t think you were gonna cast a spell before you even turned five!“ he cackled.

So apparently, five is the age where people can start casting spells?

“I don’t know magic.”

I tried to cover for myself as best as I could. I already had a train of lies, I might as well double down.

“Listen here, squirt, I have been putting people back together before your mommy and daddy even thought about having you. I know what mana sickness looks like, so don’t you lie to me. Now, what did you do?” he said while poking me in my fatty stomach.

“I made wind.”

I take that back. It seems doubling down wasn’t going to work here. I wasn’t aware there was an identifiable illness associated with this...

There was no point in lying to him any longer. He had clearly seen through me. Now I knew that there were some severe repercussions if I overused magic.

“Huh, you tried to use wind magic, huh? You are an Elf, so naturally, you should be pretty good at it. But maybe you just lack an affinity for it? You try anything else?” he asked.

He seemed less concerned for my health and more interested in my abilities.

“I tried water. Didn’t work.” I said simply.

“So, you even tried water magic. Fascinating. Elves are famous for having loads of mana and being extremely adept at nearly all types of elemental magic. They even start casting spells earlier than nearly every other race. But at almost three years old? I wonder what you are capable of... ” he trailed off and got a far-off look in his eyes.

Oh, no.

Suddenly those emerald eyes of his gazed into me and he moved close to my face with a speed that surprised even me. “I’ll make you a deal, boy. I won't tell mommy and daddy about your little magic experiments. But you have to come with me four times a week and train in magic. It will be our little secret.”

Wow. All I had to do was nearly kill myself to learn magic? I should have done this sooner. I’d be an idiot not to accept this. Yet I couldn't help but feel I was making a deal with the devil. I decided against my better judgment and agreed.

“Okay,” was all I needed to say to secure myself a magic teacher.

I guess magic really is dangerous after all.