E.C. EDWARDS - The Mighty Antimagic Spell

Elizabeth, Johnny and Alexander were in the library. Today there were exactly two weeks since they spent their time in the library reading, apart from the time when they had lunch and rested, of course. It was very hard for them during these two weeks, as if they had to wait for a human life time. During all this time, apart from a few talks with other colleagues or professors, the three only talked to each other or to the professors Knudlac and Harmony, who often came to discuss with them what they read.

"These Ice Golems ... how do they know what to do?" Elizabeth asked Johnny.

But the boy just shrugged.

"Magic ... I think," the boy answered.

Alexander didn't sit next to them. He read alone without asking questions. But from time to time, he responded to the others, to show them how well prepared and educated he was. When did he come up with answers? Well, whenever the other two had such questions, such as those about the Ice Golems.

"These golems belong to those who can use the 'puppet' spell or Pertractatio. They can guide them as they please, as they think. In other words, they can be their puppeteers."

"How do you know?" Johnny intervened, very curious about Prince Soimesti's explanation, given that they read the same books. He and especially Elizabeth couldn't skip that.

"My dad took me once to see these Golems. On a trip to the far South Glaciers' territory. They were as tall as two people on top of each other. I heard that the present ones are even taller. He also gave me a book to read about them, which I read and reread.

Elizabeth and Johnny looked at Alexander as one looked at a true sphinx. The girl with admiration, while Johnny more with envy. Especially when he saw how amazed the girl was at his explanations, at the fact that this smug, vain and arrogant guy had answers almost for any question.

"Thanks, Alexander," Miss Edwards said, smiling.

Johnny put up his nose, because he was aware that Alexander knew a lot about magic and mystical creatures. It wasn’t very pleasant for him, because he wanted to know so many things too, to be such an encyclopaedia of all magical stuff and creatures.

As arrogant as usual, Alexander ignored their thanks. The truth was that he fed on these thanks in secret, fattening to the point of burst his pride.

Elizabeth wanted to ask something more, but they were interrupted by Professor Knudlac who entered the library.

"Hello dear, I hope you enjoyed your time in the library and I hope you liked what you read. The children didn’t respond. For them, two weeks in the library, without being able to relax in thousands of places where magic let them go just snapping fingers, or without doing a thousand other things with spells, was rather a punishment.

"Come on ... reading is the most beautiful punishment anyone can face. Especially as you learn new things now."

As the children kept being silent, Professor Knudlac began to ask questions waiting for answers:

"Johnny, what do you know about Ice Golems?"

The boy thought a little, and then he replied:

"They’re mystical creatures that, with the help of puppet magic, 'Pertra ... ctatio', or something like that, become puppets in the hands of those who command them."

The professor smiled.

"Well done, Johnny, pretty close to the truth. They’re not mystical creatures, but some kind of ice robots created by magicians. Mystical creatures, like us, are alive."

The professor, moving wand gathered some chairs in a circle, and then he signalled the three children to sit down. Alexander also approached them.

"Ostende Revelare Golem", Knudlac said. A dense fog appeared, focused in one point, followed by a small explosion and a projection of an ice golem popped up.

The professor swirled it with his wand to the left and to the right, enlarged it and shrank it, rotating it in all directions, so that the three children could see it better.

"You probably wonder why I asked you to read about this ice golem ... and why I present it in detail."

The children nodded heads.

"Because you’ll meet him at the first event of the magic Contest of the Decade," said Professor Knudlac. "You’ve proven to me you can work in a team and I want you to form that team. The contest will take place only after two full months and we must prepare for it intensely."

Elizabeth, even though she recently started to be initiated into the mysteries of magic, knew this event very well. Actually, she read and heard a lot about it. Johnny was happy like a kid who got what he wanted for Christmas, though he never expected such gift. Even Alexander smiled more than usual over the past two weeks and had nothing to say when Johnny tapped his shoulder.

As for Johnny, he realized only after a few moments that he tapped the grumpy Alexander as if they were lifelong friends. He looked at the boy and was glad to see that the arrogant and always belligerent boy wasn’t upset.

"It’s a contest where you get a very powerful magic parchment, my dear," Professor Knudlac needed to explain to them.

The professor made the image of the Golem disappear, then looked at Elizabeth and said:

"My dear, do you have that parchment with you?"

The girl took out of her coat the magic parchment she got two weeks ago.

The professor took it in his hand with great care and spread it as if it could get loose instantly.

"You have to read this parchment. Depending on how you read it, on what your magic mind considers you need and suits you best, you’ll get a magic skill right for you."

After a brief pause, he asked Johnny:

"Johnny, do you have the parchment on you?"

"Yes, sir," the boy answered.

"Let's see what your hidden magic prepared and offered to you. Read it, Johnny."

The boy took the parchment out of his pocket, made it scroll and began to read it quickly:

It helps you ... when it wants your life.

Or kills you ... no offense, that's strife...

That parchment caught fire, and the smoke that came out approached the boy's forearm. That smoke began to draw something on Johnny's forearm. It was a little tattoo.

The tattoo glittered, but only for a few moments, and then disappeared. When the fog and the tattoo vanished, Mr. Knudlac said:

"Revelare!"

A tattoo appeared on Johnny's arm depicting a miniature badger, standing on rear limbs, prepared to repel even the attack of a lion. This was the symbol of Johnny's Imperium magic. In addition, the new tattoo appeared too. It represented a sea monster, a Kraken that with two tentacles controlled rough stormy waves, with the others he controlled the calm sea, and with the other tentacles he controlled snow and ice.

"Domandi Aqua ... or control over water," Knudlac said, smiling at the boy. "It fits you, as expected. You’re as quick as water. You’ll learn how to model water, to use water in all its states, in all its forms. And along with the magic of Imperium and other you'll gain over time, this magic will definitely help you become a powerful wizard.”

After a short break, he went on:

"The parchment I gave you is for initiation in choosing your path, a kind of ... magic to begin with. It’s as if a child first learned to read and then he use what he or she learned. Then they can learn increasingly powerful magic or improve the spells acquired. You’ll see that over time this magic will become extremely powerful in your hands, Johnny ... it will be supplemented by other magic too, making it devastating in specific combinations. In my case Domandi Aqua was one of my first magic tricks," said Mr. Knudlac, looking at Johnny.

"All you have to do now is improve it."

The boy was even prouder when he heard that Professor Knudlac mastered the magic he just got. Who knows, maybe one day he'll be a wizard as powerful as his professor. Or even stronger, the boy thought, proudly.

Knudlac turned to Elizabeth.

"It's your turn…"