The Mystery of Magic
A World of Draconica/Amanda Moonstone short story
By Dan Wright
By Dan Wright
Greetings, dear reader. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Professor Charles Ragule and I teach at the Valenco Falco University For The Gifted And Knowledgeable – or Valenco University for short. I’m also a part time librarian at the Esoterical Library. I teach The Theory of Magic at the University – and to be honest I’m surprised they allow this sort of thing to be taught; considering that magic isn’t exactly something that’s highly looked at these days. However, this class is only a theoretical one – not a practical one, so I guess that makes sense.
A few questions I get by my students are “What is Magic?” “Where does it come from?” and “Why don’t people practice it anymore?”
Sadly, what seems to bypass a lot of my students is that this class is only theoretical! I actually question the “Gifted and Knowledgeable” part of the University’s motto if our students can’t grasp this simple concept! Still, it would be nice if I could give my students some straight answer. But to tell the truth, in the fifty plus years of study and research, I have nothing close to an answer. Only guesses. That’s sort of the reason for the class, for people to make their own minds up.
The problem is, since The Age of Sorcery ended, virtually all known records of magic were destroyed in some attempt to prevent anyone from studying it. Those that do exist either have missing information or are barely unreadable. There are some old ruins that date back to the Age of Sorcery, but no one can seem to agree a hundred percent what they mean – and some of them even have contradicting evidence. We of course have some tomes in the Esoteric Library that are ‘surviving’ relics – but to tell the truth, many of them are just forgeries with deliberately false information. Any real ones we have are kept out of reach and only seen by special request.
As everyone on Draconica should know, The Age of Sorcery was the earliest known recording of life on Draconica, roughly about 5000 years ago, give or take. From the records that we do have, it states that the dragon Kerrigal discovered a powerful force at the centre of the planet – a force that would be named magic. This then became the way of life for the mortals of Draconica – magic was used in everyday life, be it for creating homes, warming themselves or just everyday chores. Whilst this might sound like an easy life, it wasn’t without its dangers. Records I’ve discovered tell of spells going awry and causing great damage to the land – and even the creation of ghuls. As such, Dronor, in his infinite wisdom, decided that magic should be forgotten – and this is how The Age of Science came to be. However, Kerrigal was apparently not content to let his teachings be forgotten – and this eventually led to him creating the Vortex and being sucked into it himself.
Without actually being there, how much of this is true is up for debate. However, based on the evidence I’ve found, it’s probably a good thing that magic is no longer taught, if the stories I’ve read are to be believed.
But what actually is magic? This is a question that is open to debate. Some say it is the very essence of the planet, the raw energy of the Universe contained within Draconica. Others say that it was left here from a previous race that existed long before the dragons. Others say it is the power of the dragons themselves and that all their abilities came from this very power. This I find particularly hard to believe – as why would the dragons try to dissuade us from using it if it was their means of power? Also, it was stated that the dragons found it – which suggests that they themselves had no knowledge of its existence prior to this. There is even some ancient texts that state that Kerrigal himself was changed after coming into contact with the magical energy, which may explain why he became the way he did. If this is to be believed, then it could not be possible that the dragons created it. Unless they conveniently forgot all about it somehow!
I myself have no answer to what magic is – as it seems to have its own set of rules separate from mortal understanding. Confounding the matter further is that magic is sometimes used as a general term that people use to describe anything they don’t understand. The Dragonkin are a prime example of this. For a long time, people believed their powers to be magical, but after a few tests (of which Daniar Dragonkin herself kindly consented to take part in) I discovered that their powers were in fact not magic. What they actually are is a discussion for another time though – for that is a little more complicated. And then there is also the study of alchemy – but this is not so much magic as the pursuit of controlling magic using scientific means.
I have heard that there are some that have tried to discover what real magic is – but many of them have either gone insane or worst.
Here is something that I have discovered from various texts in our library. This one I am prepared to accept as fact due to the large number of tomes that verify it. Magic in its purest form is extremely deadly – and in most case fatal to those that have no control over it. As such, the ability to control magic can mostly only be done through the use of magical items. Dragon gems are the most common – but there are also items and weapons that are said to be either forged from or blessed by magic. The long and short of it is that no mortal would be able to control magic in its purest form – not without severe consequences. There are of course some stories that seem to state otherwise – but their authenticity is questionable at best.
One such individual that is supposed to have been able to manipulate pure magic is the Darkbane Sorceress – Saevitia Darkbane herself. I’m sure you’ve probably heard the stories about her – about how she tried to destroy Celtland until she was destroyed. For all we know, this could just be some fairy tale to scare children. Sounds like something they would tell them.
You’re probably wondering why I even teach such a subject if I myself have no real clue what it is. Well to tell the truth, I was hoping to find some answers myself. I know answers to it exist – there is no such thing as a question without an answer. That’s why we have people like me – to try and find the answers to these questions. If we can find the truth in our past, we could find the answers to our future.
The dragons tried to stop us from using it – and yet somehow that has raised the curiosity of it among us mortals. There’s one girl in my class that seems to have taken a pretty thorough interest in magic, I’ve rarely seen enthusiasm in one individual. I just hope her enthusiasm doesn’t lead her into danger. I’ve seen bad things happen to people like that.
Maybe we’ll never know the answer to what magic is. Maybe it’s better that we don’t know the answer. Maybe we should just keep to our theories. But as long as there is evidence to find, I get the feeling we won’t give up our search for the truth anytime soon.
A few questions I get by my students are “What is Magic?” “Where does it come from?” and “Why don’t people practice it anymore?”
Sadly, what seems to bypass a lot of my students is that this class is only theoretical! I actually question the “Gifted and Knowledgeable” part of the University’s motto if our students can’t grasp this simple concept! Still, it would be nice if I could give my students some straight answer. But to tell the truth, in the fifty plus years of study and research, I have nothing close to an answer. Only guesses. That’s sort of the reason for the class, for people to make their own minds up.
The problem is, since The Age of Sorcery ended, virtually all known records of magic were destroyed in some attempt to prevent anyone from studying it. Those that do exist either have missing information or are barely unreadable. There are some old ruins that date back to the Age of Sorcery, but no one can seem to agree a hundred percent what they mean – and some of them even have contradicting evidence. We of course have some tomes in the Esoteric Library that are ‘surviving’ relics – but to tell the truth, many of them are just forgeries with deliberately false information. Any real ones we have are kept out of reach and only seen by special request.
As everyone on Draconica should know, The Age of Sorcery was the earliest known recording of life on Draconica, roughly about 5000 years ago, give or take. From the records that we do have, it states that the dragon Kerrigal discovered a powerful force at the centre of the planet – a force that would be named magic. This then became the way of life for the mortals of Draconica – magic was used in everyday life, be it for creating homes, warming themselves or just everyday chores. Whilst this might sound like an easy life, it wasn’t without its dangers. Records I’ve discovered tell of spells going awry and causing great damage to the land – and even the creation of ghuls. As such, Dronor, in his infinite wisdom, decided that magic should be forgotten – and this is how The Age of Science came to be. However, Kerrigal was apparently not content to let his teachings be forgotten – and this eventually led to him creating the Vortex and being sucked into it himself.
Without actually being there, how much of this is true is up for debate. However, based on the evidence I’ve found, it’s probably a good thing that magic is no longer taught, if the stories I’ve read are to be believed.
But what actually is magic? This is a question that is open to debate. Some say it is the very essence of the planet, the raw energy of the Universe contained within Draconica. Others say that it was left here from a previous race that existed long before the dragons. Others say it is the power of the dragons themselves and that all their abilities came from this very power. This I find particularly hard to believe – as why would the dragons try to dissuade us from using it if it was their means of power? Also, it was stated that the dragons found it – which suggests that they themselves had no knowledge of its existence prior to this. There is even some ancient texts that state that Kerrigal himself was changed after coming into contact with the magical energy, which may explain why he became the way he did. If this is to be believed, then it could not be possible that the dragons created it. Unless they conveniently forgot all about it somehow!
I myself have no answer to what magic is – as it seems to have its own set of rules separate from mortal understanding. Confounding the matter further is that magic is sometimes used as a general term that people use to describe anything they don’t understand. The Dragonkin are a prime example of this. For a long time, people believed their powers to be magical, but after a few tests (of which Daniar Dragonkin herself kindly consented to take part in) I discovered that their powers were in fact not magic. What they actually are is a discussion for another time though – for that is a little more complicated. And then there is also the study of alchemy – but this is not so much magic as the pursuit of controlling magic using scientific means.
I have heard that there are some that have tried to discover what real magic is – but many of them have either gone insane or worst.
Here is something that I have discovered from various texts in our library. This one I am prepared to accept as fact due to the large number of tomes that verify it. Magic in its purest form is extremely deadly – and in most case fatal to those that have no control over it. As such, the ability to control magic can mostly only be done through the use of magical items. Dragon gems are the most common – but there are also items and weapons that are said to be either forged from or blessed by magic. The long and short of it is that no mortal would be able to control magic in its purest form – not without severe consequences. There are of course some stories that seem to state otherwise – but their authenticity is questionable at best.
One such individual that is supposed to have been able to manipulate pure magic is the Darkbane Sorceress – Saevitia Darkbane herself. I’m sure you’ve probably heard the stories about her – about how she tried to destroy Celtland until she was destroyed. For all we know, this could just be some fairy tale to scare children. Sounds like something they would tell them.
You’re probably wondering why I even teach such a subject if I myself have no real clue what it is. Well to tell the truth, I was hoping to find some answers myself. I know answers to it exist – there is no such thing as a question without an answer. That’s why we have people like me – to try and find the answers to these questions. If we can find the truth in our past, we could find the answers to our future.
The dragons tried to stop us from using it – and yet somehow that has raised the curiosity of it among us mortals. There’s one girl in my class that seems to have taken a pretty thorough interest in magic, I’ve rarely seen enthusiasm in one individual. I just hope her enthusiasm doesn’t lead her into danger. I’ve seen bad things happen to people like that.
Maybe we’ll never know the answer to what magic is. Maybe it’s better that we don’t know the answer. Maybe we should just keep to our theories. But as long as there is evidence to find, I get the feeling we won’t give up our search for the truth anytime soon.