We didn't always have magic.
What we did have, before that, was the idea of magic. We realized that it had to be possible, to call upon the spirits around us, to bid them to shape the world in ways beyond what our minds and bodies could muster.
And so we searched for a way to achieve this. Scholars developed methods to find the spirits, to contact them, to crudely communicate with them. To offer them gifts in exchange for their services. And with those services, they began to enact miracles.
There were some catches. This research was expensive, and lead by the wealthy. Which could have meant they were the only ones with access to magic, but fortunately, it did not. Some spells were easily repeated, once discovered, and soon became accessible to anyone who offered the small gifts the spirits asked for them. But many larger spells are still recorded only in the vaults of the wealthy. Others can beseech them for use of this magic, but only on its holders' terms.
Some of us celebrated the discovery of magic, while others were not so pleased. The wealthy's control of access to many spells was one of the things that raised concerns, but it was far from the only one. Some people felt that it was wrong for the mages to call upon the spirits, that the knowledge the spirits held was not meant for them. Others claimed that rather than miracles, magic was merely a cheap trick and its workings were worthless. Some called it lazy for someone to make a request to the spirits rather than bringing about the result with their own hands. Others distrusted the spirits, pointing out how they seemed to roughly understand many concepts but with their own interpretations, leading to some unpredictability in the results. Some worried that if magic could perform the tasks they had trained their lives to do, even poorly, it might put them out of work. Others raised concerns about the gifts offered in exchange, that we might offer more than we could spare. And some even speculated that calling on a sufficiently powerful spirit might lead to it killing us all.
Many of those who took issue with magic, even for different reasons, began to band together. They decried it as witchcraft, and its practicioners as threats to their way of life. Some practitioners began to hide their uses of magic, while others abandoned the practice entirely. Other mages did neither, continuing to openly perform magic while speaking of what it can do for them and others.
I do not know how this conflict will resolve. But I can say this:
I have tasted magic for myself, now. Only a handful of spells, only on a basic level. But I can see how much more I could do with it, with more time and practice. I can see what we could accomplish by breaking open the vaults of the wealthy and sharing the knowledge of their magic among us all. I can see ways to improve our communication with the spirits, ways to work towards bigger and more reliable results without asking more from them than we can afford. I can see a path to a life where we do not need to work to live.
I have seen infinity, and I would not trade it for the world.
turnnoffyourmind
prguitarman
ellievsbear
andulkaphoto
theartofmadeline
areudirty
origamiaround
pixelskylines
snowghoul
