#magic is dangerous

[crystalfic]

Archmage's Run

Warning: Minor character death

"Impossible," the Advisor for Magic said regally, turning away from the young man kneeling before him. "You are, at best, twenty-five. The use of magic sadly burns up our best and brightest; none have ever survived past thirty."

 Daren felt the whisper of magic-born intuition, and closed his mouth on the arguments he wanted to make. "My apologies for misspeaking. I meant twenty-six, not thirty-six."

The cruel curl of the Advisor's plump lips was almost, but not quite, obscured by the fall of his grey hair. "You are renowned as the wisest of our magic users, Archmage Daren. I am surprised you would make such a slip."

A cold chill sparked down Daren's spine as the last of the pieces slammed into place.

He knows.

Daren ducked his head, keeping his eyes on the Advisor's feet. "My lord, I am so often deep in the intricacies of spellwork that I frequently forget what day it is."

The Advisor for Magic chuckled warmly, the sound a lie like every one that came out of the man's mouth. "Perhaps that is why you have lived so long, Daren. Your devotion to the academic side of your calling does you credit."

Play along, Daren thought. Make him sure that I know nothing but my books. If he guesses how much I know about the way magic actually works, I'm, dead. "I desire nothing more than the company of my books, my lord. Which is why I wished to speak to you."

"Oh?" The Advisor draped himself in a cushioned chair—the only one in the room—and plucked a candied leaf from the bowl beside it. Candlelight glinted from the man's golden hair, echoing the precious metal that decorated the man's seat.

Daren didn't move. "The books that the Council have been so generous in providing are beginning to strain the shelves. I request that an extension be built to the library, so that we may access them more easily."  

The Advisor chuckled again, and Daren's skin crawled. "A reasonable request, young Archmage. I shall put it to the Council of Advisors. Is that all?"

It wasn't, not in the least, but the Advisor had proved himself to be part of the conspiracy that Daren had wanted to tell him about. "It is, my lord."

The Advisor flicked his hand dismissively. "You may go."

~

Sheena met Daren as he exited the Council Hall, matching his pace step for step. "What did he say?"

Magic keep her from burning, Daren was glad that Sheena understood how precarious their position was. The wrong word out in the open could mean both of them turning to ashes in the next group ritual. "The Advisor agreed to put forward our library extension proposal, so we may be freed from teetering book piles within the year."

Her stride hitched for a brief second, and Daren refused to look at her. Her reply, when it came, was bright with artfully acted relief. "Oh, wonderful! I swear, if I get one more tome falling on my head because someone backed into a stack, I'm going to make them carry the entire pile somewhere safer."

Daren laughed, partly because it was expected and partly at her clever choice of consequences. A magic-user could not be violent, said the Council; those with hot tempers burned out early, spending their rage and their lives in pursuit of magic. He'd seen people vanish into smoke for lesser threats than hitting someone with a heavy book. "Which reminds me, have you finished learning the spell for Unlocking things yet?"

"There's still one bit I'm having trouble with," Sheena said, biting her lip. "It's that complicated part in the middle where the cadence gets out of time with the gestures." Another lie, but a believable one; Sheena had perfected her grasp of the spell at seventeen, not long after he'd first started to suspect that something in the processes of the very magic they wielded was tainted. That one seeming flaw was all that held Sheena back from her own title of Archmage, now that she'd survived until her twenty-first birthday. Archmages died faster than any other rank.

"If the Working Hall is empty, I can help you practice?" Daren suggested. It would be good to be seen in public, toeing the line of the spells taught to every mage.

Sheena shook her head. "Tomlis and Bari and the others are renewing the wards on the city walls today. The Working Hall won't be free until this evening."

Now it was Daren's time to freeze. Tomlis was one of the older Archmages at twenty-four, and one of the few who were aware of Daren's suspicions about how wrong the magic being taught to them was. "We have to stop them."

He broke into a run, Sheena's long legs still carrying her beside him. "Stop a ritual? Daren, you can't!"

Can't, he thought, crushing the tidy grass underfoot as he sprinted towards the Working Hall. Can't. They teach us that rituals cannot be stopped or altered once started. Thin branches cracked and whipped at him as he ploughed through an ornamental bush. Can't. I'm throwing away everything I've been working for. Marble slipped under his feet, the broad steps leading up to the door echoing a warning drumbeat. Can't. It's too late. The Advisor was my last hope, and he is the most corrupt of them all.

He skidded to a halt in front of the Working Hall's doors.

Can't stop.

Perhaps Sheena, too, knew that there was nothing left to lose. The spell of Unlocking was perfect, elegant, and out in the open where the Mirror of Visions could see it. It saved him the power he would otherwise have spent on the spell, her sacrifice meaning that they'd both go down together now.

Too late.

Every mage in the ritual circle was glowing, but only one was smoking, fine grey curls rising from hair and skin to join the fog of incense. Tomlis met Daren's eyes and smiled sadly, the chant still spilling from his mouth.

"Change the ritual!" Daren shouted, his voice nearly lost in the thrum of the spell. "Take out those bits I showed you, the spell is wrong, they're all wrong! Magic doesn't burn you, it's the parts they added that kill you!"

Tomlis's skin glowed redder from underneath, and his face slackened in resigned acceptance. Then, from some unbelievable reserve of strength, he found the power to break the incantation.

"Run."

It was Tomlis's last word. The fire consumed him, turning a living man to ash and smoke in less than a heartbeat.

Backing up, Daren stared at the place his friend had stood mere moments ago. The rest of the circle continued their spellweaving, the magical immolation brushed aside as the commonplace it was.

Fingers, warm and alive, threaded into Daren's, and he felt the belated tingle of magic-born intuition once more. The Council were coming, and their loyal Mage-Guard with them.

"Tomlis was right," Sheena said. "Time to run."

[teccams-socks]

The University + Student Casualties

(not including corporal punishment)

----

Elodin stopped walking and turned to look at me. “Fine. Prove me wrong. Prove that you’ve thought this through. Why does a University with under fifteen hundred students need an asylum the size of the royal palace?”

My mind raced. “Most students are from well-to-do families,” I said. “They’ve led easy lives. When forced to...”

“Wrong,” Elodin said dismissively, turning to walk down the hall. “It is because of what we study. Because of the way we train our minds to move.” - The Name of the Wind, Chapter 46: The Ever-Changing Wind, pg 340

Puppet was one of the talented, not-quite-sane people who had found a niche for themselves at the University.

Arcanum training does unnatural things to students’ minds. The most notable of these unnatural things is the ability to do what most people call magic and we call sympathy, sygaldry, alchemy, naming, and the like.

Some minds take to it easily, others have difficulty. The worst of these go mad and end up in Haven. But most minds don’t shatter when subjected to the stress of the Arcanum, they simply crack a little. Sometimes these cracks showed in small ways: facial tics, stuttering. Other students heard voices, grew forgetful, went blind, went dumb....Sometimes it was only for an hour or a day. Sometimes it was forever. - The Wise Man’s Fear, Chapter 40: Puppet, pg 328

“And there’s a chance they might think he’s cracked under admission stress,” Sim said to Fela. “That happens to a few students every term. They’d stick him in Haven until they were sure--” - The Wise Man’s Fear, Chapter 7: Admissions, pg 79

Every year or so some careless sympathist with a strong Alar channeled enough heat through a bad link to spike his body temperature and drive himself fever-mad. Dal told us of one extreme case where a student managed to cook himself from the inside out.

I mentioned the last to Manet the day after Dal shared the story with our class. I expected him to join me in some healthy scoffing, but it turned out Manet had actually been a student back when it had happened.

“Smelled like pork,” Manet said grimly. “Damnedest thing. Felt bad for him of course, but you can only feel so much pity for an idiot. A little slippage here and there, you hardly notice, but he must have slipped two hundred thousand thaums inside two seconds.” Manet shook his head, not looking up from the piece of tin he was engraving. “Whole wing of Mains reeked. Nobody could use those rooms for a year.”

I stared at him.

“Thermal slippage is fairly common though,” Manet continued. “Now kinetic slippage...” He raised his eyebrows appreciatively. “Twenty years back some damn fool El’the got drunk and tried to lift a manure cart onto the room of the Masters’ Hall on a bet. Tore his own arm off at the shoulder.”

Manet bent back over his piece of tin, engraving a careful rune. “Takes a special kind of stupid to do something like that.” - The Wise Man’s Fear, Chapter 22: Slippage, pg 194

I nodded somberly. Cammar was hard to miss. The left side of his face was a web of scars that radiated out, leaving bald strips running through his black hair and beard. He wore a patch over the hollow of his left eye. He was a walking object lesson about how dangerous work in the Fishery could be. - The Name of the Wind, Chapter 44: The Burning Glass, pg 330

“Do you know the saying ‘Chan Vaen edan Kote’?”

I tried to puzzle it out. “Seven years... I don’t know Kote.”

“‘Expect disaster every seven years,’” he said. “It is an old saying, and true enough. This has been two years overdue.” He gestured to the wreckage of his shop with a bandaged hand. “And now that it has come, it proves a mild disaster. My lamps were undamaged. No one was killed. Of all the small injuries, mine were the worst, as it should be.” - The Name of the Wind, Chapter 67: A Matter of Hands, pg 496

There was little doubt that I had hurt Ambrose. He was bruised and limping. A garish red abrasion colored his forehead. He wore a sling as well, but I was fairly certain that was merely a piece of drama he had added on his own. - The Name of the Wind, Chapter 85: Hands Against Me, pgs 663-664

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Analysis: Students get hurt a lot at the University, throughout all the ranks. People are used to it - it’s normal.

It leaves me wondering: Why do “well-to-do” families still send their children to the University, if there are so many children who don’t return the same, or at all?

The potential benefits of becoming an Arcanist are immense. Someone like Kvothe needs to advance himself in order to improve his lot in life. That probably also applies for many students of moderate means.

But for someone like Ambrose, the firstborn son of a Baron, it doesn’t make sense for him to risk exposing himself to the stress of the University, and the dangers posed by fellow students. After all, he could hire a proficient arcanist and let them do all the dangerous stuff.

There must be something he wants there other than proficiency in the sympathetic arts. My guess: it’s the Four-Plate Door in the Archives. Something utterly unique to the University, something with the potential to grant him more power than the King of Vint. Why else would a highborn son work a menial desk job in the library? He’s trying to get in good standing with Master Lorren while getting inside knowledge about how the Archives work.

TL;DR

The University is dangerous. Ambrose must be there for a reason important enough to risk his own health and sanity. He’s there looking for a way through the Four-Plate Door in the Archives.

And since he and Kvothe are after the same thing, there’s a guarantee they’ll keep butting heads over and over until something breaks.

[araminakilla]

Svtfoe review: Eclipsa's decisions and the use of magic in general

Just saw Swim Suit, I knew this episode was going to be important.

Anyway, I felt sorry for Eclipsa and the situation with her husband and I was a little mad at Rhombulus (it was necesary to re crystalize the tip of his head?)

But something felt... off.

Eclipsa practically kidnapped Rhomb and was forcing him to do her biding. Yeah, all for a greater good as far as we know but still is not the right way to do things.

Even though Star has questionable choices of who is her friend and who is her boyfriend, I really liked her in this episode. She was like the middle part of two points of view, trying to understand both Eclipsa and Rhombulus and why she couldn't do that with Toffee for the love of God!?

Anyway, I think that there's a really high posibility that if Eclipsa dated someone apart from Globgor (which she did, by the way) she used magic on them when things didn't go her way.

There, I said it

Eclipsa could use her spells in monsters she was dating for one reason or another and of course they were scared to death or felt violated of their rights. I think the type of monster who Eclipsa was more prone to use magic was the Septarian she dated. She would be like:

Hey, you're not a trustworthy species. One of you killed my mother, so just to be sure *insert the name of a spell here*

I know It's not confirmed that a Septarian killed Solaria, but I have the theory that it was one.

And if that Septarian happened to be Toffee...

Tsk tsk tsk then things were very rough with those two (I'm sorry Toffclipsa/Eclipsafee shippers)

I'm 100% sure that Toffee is the kind of guy that would be really MAD if his mind and body were controlated by someone else, especially if it's a magical Mewman Princess.

I have heard theories in videos (in Spanish) that Toffee wasn't going after the Butterflys, but wanted to neutralize their magic forever because the use of it was dangerous for everybody.

If that was his plan, I'm with him in this one.

Magic, in the right or wrong hands, it's always going to bring trouble for things that can be resolved normally.

Just ask Miss Skullnick, Eric and Marco when the Monster Arm comes back.

So, that's all. I'm not saying that Eclipsa is a bad person, only that she doesn't make right decisions when it comes to disagrements and magic.

[pjo-hoo-nextgen]

Magic Is Dangerous I

The Sorting

Andy sat at the Slytherin table waiting impatiently for the newcomers to arrive. He was always eager to see new people, and what better way to be introduced than the sorting ceremony. Of course, he, like everyone else, remembered his own sorting like it was yesterday.

The tables were packed with ogling kids all craning their necks to identify fresh meat. Andy, unlike some of the others, had comfort in the great hall. His brother shouldn’t have been too far away, nor Maria, or Grey, or Sol, or Eli. In fact, he had eyes everywhere belonging to familiar faces.

However, there was the fact that Jaxon was one of the best wizards at the school and a prefect for Gryffindor. Andy couldn’t afford messing up like he did at home all of the time. Swallowing hard and stuffing his hands into the pockets of his robe, Andy watched others go before him.

Then, at last, it was his turn. He didn’t have to look to know Jaxon was watching him closely. Raising his chin, pushing his shoulders back, and walking with purpose, Andy took the stool with an aura of confidence he didn’t actually possess.

‘Mmmm. Another Grace. Interesting, your brother-I remember him,’ The Sorting Hat mused. ‘Currently the Gryffindor Prefect. But you, you’re different. Brave yes, but cunning too. A bit mischievous at heart but caring and playful too. Tricky, tricky, tricky.’

“Did I stump you?” Andy wondered softly to himself.

‘Quite on the contrary,’ The Hat replied, ‘Slytherin!’

Andy could practically feel Jaxon deflate. He’d been hoping to mentor his little brother, but instead, Andy shuffled off to the Slytherin table where Maria slung an arm around his shoulders.

“Welcome to the dark side,” She teased, ruffling his hair.

“Uh, thanks.” Andy smiled thinly.

Shaking his head Andy focused back on the current event at hand. He was aware of Maria beside him with a sort of distant look in her eyes. He supposed that she too was remembering her own sorting. He’d heard plenty of stories about it.

Maria couldn’t understand the insecurity of those around her. It was a hat. That was all. It could hardly hurt a fly unless it ate the fly. Still, there were kids all around her quaking at the knees over the prospect of a dusty old piece of clothing shouting out a word.

Sure, she had some empathy, but she was certain of one thing. She was Gryffindor like both of her parents. It made sense, the stats didn’t lie, and more times than not a kid with parents from the same house was also destined to be a member of the same house.

So Maria waited impatiently until she was finally called. With a few mumbled excuse me’s she took the steps with perfect poise and plopped upon the empty stool. “Alright mister hat, lets get this over with shall we?”

‘Bossy are we?’ The hat grumbled. ‘Well, that explains it. Jackson blood. Mother and father both champions of Gryffindor. True genetics must be impeccable. Yes, you’re brave, smart too, but there’s something else....yes...you’re a trickster aren’t you? Sly, cunning, prideful too. You know what you want and you take it. Efficient at everything but not without a little fun. Yes, I know where to put you. Slytherin!’

Maria’s heart froze. Slytherin. She couldn’t be Slytherin. It wasn’t possible, she’d done as much preparation for this as she could! How would she explain it to her parents? They’d both teased her about being anything other than Gryffindor but she knew a bit of truth was there.

She felt like crying. How could she be so different from them and yet so similar?

Grey laughed from his place at the Hufflepuff table, watching Andy make faces at Maria as she zoned out. He couldn’t believe how much they’d grown. He remembered each of their sortings. The way he’d comforted them against their doubts. It had been equally scary for him, as he’d been the first to go through he process, but it wasn’t too bad.

Grey locked eyes with his father swallowing nervously as he tried to convey his nerves through his eyes alone. Will gave him a reassuring smile, but Grey wasn’t too comforted. He wasn’t sure what to make of everything. Most kids ended up in a house associated with their familial relations but he was adopted! He’d grown up most of his life believing magic was a hoax and yet there he was.

“Mister Solace!” Grey snapped from his daze and awkwardly stumbled up the steps muttering apologies as he went. As soon as he was settled the hat set to work.

‘Aha! A Solace! I remember your father! Dashing young man, good natured, helpful, kind, and nurturing. You’re a shivering little lot aren’t you? Nervous?’ The hat chuckled.

“Y-Yes sir. I am.” Grey stammered.

‘Sir?! I quite like you!’

“Th-Thank you sir.”

‘Hufflepuff!’

“Really?” Grey’s eyes widened in surprise and he nearly took the hat off to hug it. Then, without thinking, he bolted from the stool and tackled his father in a hug. “Dad! I’m like you!”

“I know!” Will laughed, blushing slightly at the looks he was earning, “Go sit at your table. I’ll talk later.”

Grey nodded and after waving at the other teachers scampered off to join his fellow house mates. He couldn’t sit still the rest of the night.

Grey even recalled the night Eli joined him. How he’d sat so stoic on the stool, face unmoving, no indication of nerves, and then he was declared Hufflepuff. The singular word brought a bright grin across his face and he all but skipped over to Grey. The two hugged and the elder boy was happy to finally have a companion.

Eli had been worried he wouldn’t fit anywhere but the Sorting Hat saw a friendliness in him, a kindness, and a fierce protectiveness despite the cool demeanor at times. Grey couldn’t have agreed more.

Sol glanced up from where she’d been examining the table to scan the room. She felt a bit detached from the chaos at hand but she wasn’t keen on getting involved where it wasn’t needed. The last thing she wanted was another upstart Ravenclaw to think they knew everything. She remembered her first night in the common rooms, how it’d been a competition between first years to see who was the smartest, and how she’d gotten our first. It was humiliating.

She still couldn’t see the intelligence that stupid hat said she had. She couldn’t spout facts, emend unimportant things, solve riddles with ease, or anything of the sort. Her father was a mechanic at the ministry but magic usually solved everything. Her mother didn’t dabble in machinery of any sort, and focused on cooking more than anything. So Sol couldn’t figure out how and why she was so good at working with her hands. In a school of magic there was no use for it, and each day was a struggle. She hated the place, her inadequacy, and the fact that she was in Ravenclaw. She’d have complained but she didn’t have it the worst on sorting day. Thia took the icing on that cake.

Thia sat quivering on the stool. She was terrified. Too many people were watching her at once and what was worse-her friends and family were all there too. She was so rattled she nearly missed the sorting hat’s initial greeting.

‘Another Grace, my goodness. Well, I suppose you know where you want to be.’ The hat waited for an answer, but all This could do was shiver like a frightened chihuahua. ‘Interesting. You’re quite complicated.’

Thia swallowed hard and prayed no one heard the small whimper she’d made.

‘Brave, indeed. Protective too. Nothing stops you from doing what’s right. Your moral compass is driven in the direction of justice and kindness. However, you’re loyal to the bone. Impressively so. Never one to turn your back on a friend or family member. An intense compassion thrives in you. So strong I haven’t seen it in years. It’s tempting to stop there, but I sense other attributes. You’re clever. Not in the outright sense. No, you’ve got brains in other areas. Your mind wanders to the unknown. Contemplates the deep reality existing below the everyday surface of life. Cultivated your mind could be deadly. Then, beneath it all, and equally as strong-ambition. You know what you want. You desire to do something spectacular, grand, and meaningful. To right the wrongs of the world and to bring justice and strength to the weak. Noble in intention. Yes, you are very complicated.’

Thia wanted to puke. This was taking impossibly long. The longest had been an hour. She was certain she was already creeping up on that time mark.

At first she thought finding Jaxon would help but it didn’t. She nearly burst into tears and asked him to take her home then and there. The only thing that helped her remain relatively in control was the idea of her moms playfully arguing over what house she’d be sorted into. Even they had struggled to decide.

Still, the anxiety ate away at her temporary memories. It was always a nuisance that anxiety, and it only worsened with each second. Thia was certain she’d fainted at some point but upon refocusing he realized she’d simply zoned out.

When the voice burst out in a triumphant decision she fell backwards off the stool in fright. “Gryffindor!”

So shocked was she that Will, the medic, had to help her over to Jaxon. She’d never been so embarrassed in her life.

Even now Sol knew Thia felt the same she’d always had. ‘I’m not brave. Not like they say I should be’ and Sol only had to take one look at Thia to know despite the other girl’s seniority, she had identified every single first year that would be far better than her at any field.

Sol only paid attention when the names were finished and the food appeared because then she didn’t have to think. She just smiled like everyone else and set about the evening, destined to hear first years compete for their intellectual prestige, just as And and Maria would hear kids talk about their biggest wrong doings, or Grey and Eli would comfort home sick kids, and Jaxon and Thia would listen to people boast about everything and nothing.

“Here’s to Hogwarts,” Sol sighed, watching Thia shrink in her seat from afar, Andy go into his own world, Maria glare at unfriendly kids, Jaxon puff out his chest to appear authoritative, and so on, “and another year of disappointment.”

[megarobosensei19]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lblanl_Z8D0) Are people this dumb to believe that such discoveries are harmless,  And that there is good magic along with black magic?  Yes they are.  They are conditioned by Satan to go right along with the rest of the lies he tells.  The only good these archeological discoveries are is for informing the public, that such witchcraft is still in existence today.  All witchcraft is heresy and God hates it.  Wake up, you cannot drink of the cup of devils and the cup of the LORD.  Anyone who practices sorcery, magic, divination, witchcraft, idolatry will have their bodies and souls cast into the lake of fire that burns with Sulphur.  Read the book of Revelation, and wake up.  The scientific community is full of crap.  Why would you go along believing that magic spells to ward off demons, or to invoke the power of love is a good thing.  Such manipulation and familiarization with the dead is an abomination.  Even if cartoons, anime, Hollywood, books, and TV popularize and glamourize the fascination of the occult.  Just know that the LORD God hates such things.  And anything the LORD hates, he will make an utter end to it.  Satan has blinded the eyes of the unbelieving.  That’s why Hell’s borders are growing wider, because the eyes of humanity are never satisfied. Humans are selfish, and wicked to the core.  The only hope for them is Jesus Christ, not some dumb magic spells that can’t even tie a person’s shoes together.  Awaken to the truth and stop falling for Satan’s spells.  Your soul is at stake.  These magic spells have no real good qualities.  The ONLY good spirit is the Holy Spirit.   Obey him, and let him lead you into all truth.

[gyrrakavian]

Visit Original Link

There are many dangerous thing in this world and the next. Those who would toy with that which they have only the slightest grasp upon are as foolish children dancing upon the precipice of death.

Working on a creepy/unsettling voice. It’s kind of meh, I know.

[trombonechurchill]

I've been exploring the witchery mod when Matt and I play Minecraft and earlier today I wanted to show off some new magic I learnt to him and long story short it started with me saying "Hey lemme show you something" ended with me accidentally vaporizing Matt and his entire inventory in a lightning storm.

[snowboundmystic]

...I am still suspicious of most magic users. I am quite content with not taking my meteorite off and invoke the wrath of the nameless ones.