Flashes of imagery went through my brain, I saw those glowing hazy figures of my visions being pulled off and out of sight, they vanished in ripples of white light as this…relief and lightness washed over my body to the point that I nearly dropped to my knees at the very idea of feeling that relaxed and at ease. I have been such a taunt bow-string of tension and stress that the moment any of that tension is released that my body just doesn’t know what to do and breaks down. As the endless shapes of people vanished in those puffing ripples, a chorus of soft, whispered, less angry and harsh voices filled my mind, but they all said the same thing “thank you”, just “thank you” over and over and over. My breath caught in my chest as my eyes watered, I choked softly as I looked up towards the sky of the flashing imagery, that impossible relief washing over me in an intense wave as I realized that…if someone had just told me all of this earlier…how many years of peace would I have been able to have? How many years did I waste by not knowing that this is what I’m supposed to be doing? There was also this weird feeling of guilt…making me want to shout out to them to tell them that I was sorry for taking so long, that I didn’t know I could help them and that I didn’t know I was supposed to be there for them.

A sound I could only describe is someone gargling tar seemed to fill my head enough to entirely snap me out of it

I gasped sharply as my vision suddenly returned to the hospital room, my hands were a death-grip on Ander’s wrists, my legs weak and wobbly under my own weight as my head was pounding from the ideas of what could be passed across my mind. I panted in deep, heavy breaths as my hands trembled in that white-knuckle grip I had on his wrists, luckily my hands were covered in bandages like that because if not, my nails would have caught into his skin without a doubt. He shifted as he tucked my other hand into his other, easily able to hold both my hands in his one as he rested his now free hand on my shoulder.

“Breathe” he whispered, I nodded softly as I closed my eyes and focused on calming my breath and slowing my racing heart.

“What…what was that?” I asked

“A very powerful spell” he sighed, “I have had a long, long time to develop and train my magic allowing me spells from the 9^th level of magic.”

“Release…us…”

That was mentioned in the packet, like a target or something; cantrips were spells that were not learned, but gifted to someone through the weave and each ring going outwards was numbered, ending in 9 as it said that 9^th level was the highest levels of spells that someone can cast, but that magic was that target method and not something like a pyramid because almost all spells of the interior rings can be casted at a ring outside of their origin, they cannot be casted inwards because that would use less magic than needed for the basis of the spell, but more can be used to increase its power to that of a spell of the next ring. It could always get bigger and more powerful, but magic could not be made weaker.

“Is it…okay that you…used that for me?” I asked, the pages talking about that target diagram of magic said that depending on your classification of magic, the most a regular person will be able to cast is 1-2 9^th level spells a day, that they are incredibly powerful spells that require extensive magic to fuel them…it also mentioned that beings of various magical races have a more solid or larger pull on the weave than others and have a larger base of magic to pull from with their casting so they often can have more magic to cast spells on a daily basis. He just…smiled softly as I asked that.

“Of course” he assured with a soft nod, “I am here to teach you about the magical world and magic itself…any resources I use are validly used to assist you.”

I only then noticed that my hands were still in his, so I quickly took my hands back, looking at the bandages covering them as I shifted back and sat back on the edge of the bed, he didn’t seem fazed by my rather sharp draw back of my hands, just softly tilting his head over as he folded his has in front of him and took his seat back across from me.

“Magic is by all means…the essence of possibility, it’s a raw…unbridled, powerful resource that when used by the hands of someone who knows what they are doing can cause great good or horrible destruction to occur” he explained, “Imagine yourself as…a reservoir, holding back the tide of magic inside you with your curse…wandering into Rook formed a crack…learning about your curse and everything made it wider and your magic is leaking out hence why you’ve been informed of the electrical disturbance and temperature fluctuations that are occurring around you.” He went on, “By me being here and teaching you about magic, I’m essentially showing you how to safely open the floodgates, so that that untapped magic inside you can be released in an appropriate and controllable manner.’

“The whole…purge and overflow thing?” I asked glancing back to the thick stack of paper, he nodded.

“Someone…please…help…me”

“Magic needs balance; use too much and the body panics to keep itself together, like running an engine with no fuel in the tank…but if you don’t use any, it accumulates and builds before it cannot be contained anymore, that excess magic has to go somewhere, so people have uncontrollable effects that persist until that excessive magic is drained off.”

“And that’s like…what’s happening to me now?”

“Very minorly, I’m guessing that it’s mainly by the fact that your body is just now taking in a bodily system that it didn’t even know was there.” he sighed as he crossed his legs, folding his hands on his knee as he looked towards me, “Your body doesn’t know what to do with your magic, so it’s panicking a bit and trying to get rid of a form of energy it doesn’t know what to do with.”

“They said that it would be…difficult for me to use magic.”

“That is a possibility, not everyone can adapt to magic easily…like swimming, some people take to it easily, other people need some work and others don’t learn at all. People out there, not magical, are the people who don’t learn. Because of your biology being that of an expected nonmagical person, you will have some difficulty, I can assure you of that, but nothing that cannot be worked through.”

“Like…someone afraid of water?” I asked, using his own analogy of swimming, he nodded at that.

“Exactly and a phobia can be worked through…with time, Edward, with time.”