The large bell rang through the halls of the Seiwon Magical Academy as the Spring sun was leaning to the west. The halls were then filled with the chattering and footsteps of hundreds of dark-green-robed students off towards their next class. One student’s movement was a bit slower than the others.
Sebius made his way through the crowd of students. His thin frame, even compared to most apprentice mages, made it easier to fit through the small gaps between the various social groups. He made it to his locker and was greeted with a ‘friendly message’ enchanted on the door.
‘Prodigy to mediocrity.’
His eyes paused as he reread the first word. Every mage could learn to be good at any type of magic they chose. However, each one was born with a weakness that was unique to them and them alone. Sebius’s didn’t rear its ugly head until the start of his junior year.
He shook himself out of going down the rabbit hole. He waved his hand over the locker and the text vanished. At least he could still do that much. He placed his ‘History of Magic’ textbook inside with a heavy heart. The one class he was still good at was over and was now time for his worst one. He picked up the ‘Art of Spellcasting’ textbook and closed the locker, heading toward his final class of the day.
He made his way to the classroom. It was already half full of students all chatting amongst themselves. No sign of Professor Rulphor. Sebius went straight to his seat and buried his head in his arms over his desk. He ignored all the other students and kept reminding himself he would be going home soon. That only brought so much comfort as he knew he would be doing this all over again tomorrow.
A quiet moan left him. He hated this class. It pretty much only served to add fuel to other students mocking him. The thing he hated most about it was the fact it used to be his favorite.
Sebius then realized his feet were no longer resting on the floor. He lifted his head and saw the room from too high a viewpoint.
“Look everyone!” said an all too familiar voice. They all turned and looked up at Sebius helpless in the air along with his desk and chair. “Sebius is making himself float!” A wave of laughter swept over them as Sebius kept his eyes locked on Dilenk.
“Oh, wait.” Sebius and his desk crashed on the floor. “I did that.” The laughter continued even harder.
Sebius ignored them again and set his desk and chair back.
“I didn’t realize this was play time,” an older woman’s voice chimed in.
The laughter stopped as they turned to find Professor Rulphor at the door. They immediately scrambled to their desks. “Good afternoon, Professor Rulphor,” they said in unison.
“Good afternoon, class.” She moved to the desk at the front of the room. “Well, we are approaching the final days of the school year, and you all know what that means.”
The entire class groaned.
“That’s right; final exams. Now, I know all of you are more than ready for it. I have every confidence in you.”
Sebius lowered his head.
“But, let’s go over a brief review, because why not?”
For the next 15 minutes Professor Rulphor went over the basic principles of spellcasting; picture the effect you wish, enunciate the incantation clearly, and will your spell into the world. She then said Sebius’s least favorite words.
“Let’s have you all do some demonstrations.” She gestured with her hand and spoke a few arcane words. The side of the room started to shift. The wall folded in on itself like origami until it was gone and revealed a small greenhouse. Professor Rulphor went over and conjured a large pot, each with rich soil inside.
“Now, for this demonstration, I would like for you all to come up one at a time and produce a tree from this pot. The tree can be as lush and as wide as you wish, the only requirement is it must be as tall as you. Everyone understand?”
Everyone said “yes” together.
“Excellent, now form a line around the classroom.”
The students did as instructed. Each one tried to get as close to the front as possible. They were very eager to show off their magical skills. Sebius made it a point to be last.
One by one, the students stepped up to cast the spell, be graded, and then disintegrate the tree before the next student stepped up. Each tree passed the required height. Some had many leaves on them. Some were as thick as a desk. Some just barely made the height requirement while others went above and beyond. Dilenk’s was among the latter, and he decided to remove it with a flash fire spell, of course. As Sebius watched he was hoping against hope the bell would ring before it was his turn.
He was now standing in front of the class with the pot before him and all the students and the professor looking at him. He took a deep breath. There was no way around it now. He closed his eyes, pictured the tree he wanted, recited the arcane words, and put as much will as he could into the spell.
He heard the soil break open. He dared not open his eyes until he had completed the spell. The sound of the tree growing continued for what felt like an eternity until it finally stopped. There was nothing more Sebius could do except behold the result.
Forcing his eyes open, he saw the tree in front of him was barely taller than his shoulder. If he remembered correctly this one was about an inch taller than the one he made to barely pass junior year. His ears were met with another roar of laughter. He hung his head, not able to look at anyone. Of course, now the bell rang to end class. The students’ laughter trailed off as they left the room.
Sebius stood where he was. He knew class wasn’t over for him yet.
“Come have a seat, Sebius,” said Professor Rulphor as she sat at her desk.
Sebius went over and sat at the desk in front of her rather than his own.
“What happened to you Sebius?”
“I don’t know. Ever since junior year, my magic hasn’t-
“I’m not talking about your magic.”
He finally looked up at her with an incredulous expression.
“I’m talking about your love of magic.”
Sebius didn’t say anything, not knowing how to respond.
“You used to love magic so much. Even when you were stunted in your growth you still wanted to study. The staff and your parents all agreed you should pause and wait for this time to pass and your phenomenal abilities to return, but you said ‘no’.”
“I didn’t think it would last this long.”
“No, I don’t believe any of us thought that either. However, you chose to continue studying, and for that, I look at you with much respect. Now, why don’t you love magic anymore?”
“It’s not that I don’t love it, it’s just difficult to love something when it now brings you so much pain.”
“Your magic didn’t cause you pain, your caring of what the others say about you did.”
Sebius stood up. “Okay, so what if I do care about what others think about me. It’s not like that’s so uncommon. Besides, it’s not like they’re my only problem. We’ve got final exams coming up, the exams that are supposed to show we are ready to become full mages. And well…look!” He gestured to the failure of a tree.
“Sebius,” Professor Rulphor responded. “You have a strong mind. And there are far more things a strong mind can do than simply cast strong spells.”
Sebius paused. “So, you’re saying I should just give up on being a mage.”
“That’s not-
“No, no. I agree. Why pretend I can do something I clearly can’t?” Sebius grabbed his textbook and stormed out of the classroom.
He exited the school and started running. He didn’t know why he was running or even where he was running to, he just ran. After a minute, he found himself in the middle of the park bent over and leaning on his knees trying to catch his breath.
Why did this happen to him? Out of all the weaknesses he could have been born with, why did it have to be this one? Why did it have to happen right now? Almost everyone else has weaknesses that aren’t obvious, and they can avoid them while focusing on other areas. How was he supposed to avoid the fact his spells are just so pathetic?!
Before he could find any answers, a small seed tumbled and landed at his feet. Sebius then found himself hanging from his school robe as it was caught on a large, newly sprouted tree.
“Ha ha ha!” Dilenk cackled. He came into view from behind the new tree and he was joined by his cronies. “You see, Sebius? That’s how you grow a tree.”
“Well done,” Sebius retorted. “Full marks. I’m sure your parents, the teachers, and everyone you’ve ever met are the luckiest people in the world just for having known you. Now get me down.”
“I could, but where’s the fun in that?” He turned to his friends. “You guys remember what a hotshot this guy was back in freshman and sophomore year, right?”
They all nodded with stupid grins on their faces.
“Always the first to master a new spell. Aced every assignment he was given.” Dilenk’s words were now filled with venom. “I’m guessing at some point the professors just start putting ‘100’ on the parchment before they even gave it to you. Everyone called you a prodigy!”
“I never called myself a prodigy!”
“No, but I bet you thought it. You certainly weren’t against everyone else saying it. Now, why don’t you show us some of that prodigious magic?” Dilenk pulled a seed out of his pocket and tossed it up to Sebius.
Sebius looked at the seed in his hand hating that it was completely useless to him.
“Come on! I’m giving you a fair shot. I won’t even try to avoid it.” Dilenk held out his arms to the sides. “Show me what you’ve got, prodigy!”
Sebius threw his head back and stared upward. What he had was nothing and everyone knew it. How was a ‘strong mind’ going to help now?
Something caught his eye. He looked at one of the leaves and noticed it was starting to dry and change into its autumn colors rapidly. Sebius thought back to freshman year. It was revealed that Dilenk couldn’t sustain his magic for very long. That was why every time he was asked to conjure something he got rid of it as soon as his grade was marked. That was his weakness. He could cast magic better than most, but he couldn’t sustain it or control it for long.
Right now, he probably didn’t think it mattered when dealing with someone he thought was inferior.
Wait! This might work…
Sebius threw the seed down at Dilenk’s feet and began his casting. He focused all his knowledge and energy into the spell and released it. Dilenk and his goons were standing around, their eyes fixed on the seed. It didn’t move.
“Seriously? You couldn’t even-
When Dilenk looked up he was greeted with a branch from his own tree wrapping itself around him and yanking him off the ground. He looked around confused and saw his friends were in the same situation.
“What?! What is this?!” He looked over at Sebius who was also wrapped by a tree branch only this one was gently setting him on the ground. He looked up with a satisfied grin on his face.
“That. That is what I’ve got.”
“But how? Your magic is weak!”
“You’re right. My magic is weak. However, controlling something created by magic is much easier than creating it. You weren’t maintaining control over your own tree, so I took it over. What’s more, using magic on a few branches is much easier than using it on the whole tree.”
“When we get out of here, you’re going to regret this!”
Sebius paused for a moment. “No, I don’t think I will. You all sit there and reflect on today’s lesson. I’ve got some work to do.”
He walked away with his head held high and many new ideas running through his mind.
———————————————————————————
Professor Rulphor came in the following morning before the school opened to prepare her lessons for the day. When she opened the door to her classroom she was taken aback as she saw an enormous tree sitting in the center of her greenhouse. Upon closer inspection, she saw the tree was actually a collection of smaller trees woven together. The design more than made up for the weakness of the individual trees.
She also discovered the vines wrapped around the trunk formed a pattern that spelled out ‘strong minds’.
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