Two white foxes sat in the middle of a meadow, one visibly older than the other.

“Do you understand what you are getting yourself into” the older one spoke.

“Yes.”  the younger one answered without hesitation.

“You sound so certain.”  the older one said with a slight chuckle in his voice. “It is as though you know what you are talking about.”

For just a second, the youngster flinched, but he quickly regained his confidence.

“I am sure.”

His elder sighed and stood up. He reached into his light blue robes and pulled out something, clenching it in his fist.

“Hold out your hand.”

The young fox did as he was told, presenting his opened palm.

“Are you positively certain you want to do this” the old fox put his fist on top of the palm.

The young fox nodded. The old fox smiled. He opened his hand.

“This way you can track when you’ve made true progress.” he said and motioned his apprentice to stand up. “It won’t be easy, but I have faith you will you mange, Zhei.”

#

-Zhei? Zhei? Are you even listening to me?

-Huh?

Zhei came to his senses. His eyes scanned the room, trying to remember what had been happening before he zoned out. He was in his home. No. Not his home. His boyfriend’s home. There was coffee on the table. A large black wolf stood in front of him. He looked tense, almost angry even. But his blue eyes were as beautiful as ever.

“You don’t really care, do you?” the wolf asked. He tried to sound tough, but his voice cracked. He was probably hurt.

Zhei looked down at his own hand, just now noticing that he had been spinning a golden coin between his fingers. He stopped himself and grabbed the coin tightly.

“I’m sorry, Raeder” Zhei spoke, squeezing the bridge of his nose. “What were we talking about”

Raeder’s face contorted. Something between confusion, frustration and sadness. The last part was most definitely sadness. Zhei was slowly getting better at deciphering others and he was absolutely sure he sensed sadness.

“I can’t believe this…” Raeder murmured. He got out of his chair and walked around the kitchen, mumbling to himself.

Zhei didn’t really care. He didn’t feel like caring. He opened up his palm and gazed at the coin. “Cum cogitant Magia” so brilliantly etched around an eight pointed star. The coin hadn’t always looked like that. Nor had it always been gold. Zhei lifted his eyes up. Raeder was staring at him. Piercing eyes. Could almost melt your soul.

“Well?” Raeder asked on the brink of a meltdown. He was waiting for an answer to something, that Zhei didn’t quite catch.

“Well…” Zhei began, the word sluggish in his throat, barely able to pass. He wasn’t feeling up to it. Not today. The whole charade, where he would pretend to listen, pretend to care, pretend to understand. The days were melding together, nothing of importance ever happening. Everything had run its course a long time ago and they were working off fumes. Zhei knew it. He had known it for a few months. And Raeder had finally managed to catch up.

“Well?” Raeder repeated, angrier this time.

“Well.” Zhei repeated, without any notion of continuing.

“Well?!”

“Well…” Zhei said lazily. He didn’t continue. He spun the coin on the table and observed it. He felt Raeder’s gaze on him. He felt how the wolf just wanted to snap. He knew he wouldn’t, so Zhei just continued to watch the coin turning and hitting the tin coffee mug.

Perception was a marvelous invention and Zhei practiced his every time he got the chance. The simple exercise of just thinking about the concept of perception and looking at a spinning coin can do wondrous things. A sphere made out of a disk. So simple in words, so impossible to be comprehended by the common sense and yet here it was, on the table. It was something that Raeder never understood. Or more likely didn’t want to understand.

“I can’t fucking believe this…” Raeder repeated to himself. “It’s always the same with you! You never talk! You never listen! You’re always away! What the fuck are we even doing here?!”

Zhei tapped lightly on the table. He didn’t want to engage. He didn’t feel like it at all.

“Listen!” Raeder slammed his hands on the table. Zhei didn’t look up, but he flinched as the coin jumped a bit and lost some of its momentum. “You live in my house! Under my roof! I feed you! I buy you everything you want from me and I never ask anything in return! You will show me so damn respect!”

Zhei didn’t look away from the coin. The house was tiny. The furniture old and breaking. Everything smelled like mold. The summers here were hot and the winters cold. The food was cheap and disgusting. Raeder offered nothing that Zhei couldn’t find on his own. Why was he really here?

“Will you fucking look at me when I’m talking to you?” Raeder yelled out. “And get rid of that fucking coin!”

Zhei snapped his fingers and the coin stopped. The air in the room changed. Zhei slowly looked up at Raeder, observing the wolf. He had stepped back, his shoulders were slumped, his ears to the side. He had gotten scared.

“Yes?” Zhei spoke.

“I…ugh…” Reader struggled for words. Zhei raised his eyebrows, trying to motion him to say something. “I was…”

There was a knock on the door. The fox and the wolf stared at each other. The knocking continued.

“Would you get that?” Zhei asked, his voice tired. He watched as the wolf got out of the kitchen and headed towards the door. He turned towards his coin, still suspended mid-spin. He sighed, grabbed it and got up.

He passed through the living room, so tiny that barely two people could fit. He grabbed a bag from underneath the table and slowly walked towards to the front door, just as Raeder was opening it. On the doorway stood a minotaur, towering over the black wolf by at least one head. 

“Yes?” the wolf said, his voice meek, not from the unexpected visitor.

“I’m looking for Zhei.” The minotaur said, looking around. “Is he here?”

“I’m sorry, who are you exactly?” Raeder asked annoyed.

“Is he here or not?” the minotaur asked again, his tone angrier.

“Right here.” Zhei spoke from behind Raeder.

The minotaur raised an eyebrow. “You are Zhei?”

“Sure am.”

The minotaur violently exhaled through his nose. “Riveting. Let’s go.”

He turned around and slowly walked down the street. Zhei passed by the stunned wolf and followed the minotaur closely.

“Hey…hey! Wait!” Raeder yelled out, but the fox didn’t pay him attention. He had a job to do and he wasn’t ready to let his boyfriend make a whole thing out of it. They both needed this.

The pair walked down the alleyway and headed towards the main street.

“You know what we are going to be doing, right?”

“Yes.” Zhei answered running his hand through his hair. “It was all in the letter.”

“Do you need any sort of briefing?”

“We can do it later. Now’s not really the best time.”

“Suit yourself.”

They were almost at the end of the alley, when Zhei heard footsteps behind them. He turned to see Raeder running, barefoot on the cold, wet pavement. He doesn’t give up.

Raeder grabbed the minotaur’s shoulder and violently pulled him back. To his surprise, the minotaur barely moved – he simply stopped and turned around on his own volition.

“Yes?” he said trying to sound polite and almost succeeding.

“Who…” Raeder panted as he tried to form his sentence. “Who the fuck…are you…”

“Why do you care?”

“You just…you just walked in and took my boyfriend…you…”

The minotaur raised an eyebrow. He turned towards Zhei and back at Raeder.

“Him?” he pointed at the fox.

“Yes. Him.” Raeder had finally managed to grab his breath.

The minotaur turned back to the fox, his brow furrowing, as if trying to figure something out, before turning back to the wolf.

“Don’t worry. He’s not my type.” And with that the minotaur walked off.

“Hey!” Raeder grabbed his shoulder once more. “Don’t you turn…”

He wasn’t able to finish the sentence as the minotaur grabbed his wrist and threw him over onto his back, slamming the wolf on the ground. Zhei watched as Raeder body, for a moment, jumped off the pavement and the minotaur buried his fist in the wolf’s abdomen, almost completely disappearing inside. Zhei knew he had to feel something right then and there. Shock? Fear? Maybe anger? But he couldn’t really muster anything. He watched his boyfriend’s eyes bulged out while the air from his lungs shot out at full speed. He observed how the wolf’s hands had suspended themselves in the air, most likely due to the sudden shock to the body. He listened to the wheezing of the final precious molecules of oxygen exited through the trachea and how his jaw was on the verge of snapping.

The minotaur then kneeled down next to his helpless opponent and whispered in his ear. “If you touch me again, I promise you, I will break your shin bones, tear them out of your body and shove them right in your asshole. Got it?”

Raeder didn’t answer. His eyes had started to cross, but his overall gaze was directed towards his boyfriend. Zhei didn’t react. There was nothing he could react to.

The minotaur stood up and finally Raeder could breathe. The sound of a long and vicious inhale echoed through the alley. The minotaur walked off. Zhei took a moment to look at his boyfriend. He was almost sure that he was looking back. Zhei turned around and followed the minotaur.

“Sorry I hit your…ahem…boyfriend…” the minotaur said, a little embarrassed. “He came up behind me and…you know…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Zhei said coldly.

“I’m Xurdon, by the way.” The minotaur said, realizing he hadn’t introduced himself earlier.

“I figured as much.” Zhei replied. He was silent for a moment. “I’m Zhei.”

A minotaur and a fox walked briskly through the streets. The town of Brin, although relatively small, had quickly increased its populace due to a boom in trade and the town itself made for an excellent middle stop for passing merchants from the East to the West and vice versa. Still early, the streets were empty, drunken songs echoing in the distance to the tune of raindrops, increasing in frequency.

Brin was getting bigger. But its populace was always the same – little people with little problems living their little lives. No one truly able to see anything just over their nose. And even those who tried, couldn’t really comprehend any concept beyond their domicile existence. Zhei was glad to be getting out of here.

#

“What is a Miracle?” Zhei asked while intensely watching his coin.

“Try to answer it yourself.”

Zhei closed his eyes and gripped the coin. He ran his hand through the wet grass and smeared the dew on his face. It wasn’t refreshing. It wasn’t meant to be. But it felt right.

“I don’t know.” He said. The light breeze blew across the field, making his face twitch from the cold.

“You’ve heard the word before, haven’t you?”

“I have.”

Zhei looked up at the sky, the sun still young, barely risen. It stung his eyes, but he couldn’t look away. It felt right.

“Miracles are…things that shouldn’t be possible…” Zhei said. He looked down at his coin. It hadn’t changed. “…but they still manage to happen…”

“So you know the answer to your question, don’t you?”

“What is a Miracle…to a wizard?” he asked. He didn’t know what he meant by this. But it felt right to ask.

“The same thing it is to everybody else, Zhei.”

“What do you mean?”

“A Miracle is something that shouldn’t be possible…but still manages to happen.”

Zhei gripped his coin tightly and fell to the grass.

“Don’t wizards deal in Miracles?” Zhei asked, his breathing shallow.

“Everybody deals in Miracles.”

Zhei clenched his teeth.

“I don’t follow.” he managed to spit out.

“No one will tell you this, since nobody really wants to admit it. Especially the “real” wizards. But majjixk is, at the most fundamental level, is all about stacking the deck of the universe in your favor.”

Zhei rolled in the grass, curling into a ball and stretching out his limbs as much as he could.

“Everything is possible, Zhei. But certain things are much less likely than others. With majjixk we try, as much as we can, to make these things much more likely."

“You said everybody deals with Miracles. And we use majjixk to deal with Miracles.” Zhei said, skygazing.

“That is correct.”

“Then what is the difference between a wizard and a normal person?”

“Everyone deals in Miracles. But only a wizard understands that.”

#

“Do you understand?”

“Whu?...”

Zhei looked up from his drink. Xurd was standing across the table. His eyes were cold, but they always were. Zhei looked down at the table – one hand was spinning the golden coin between his fingers and the other had tightly gripped a metal cup.

“I asked if you understood?” Xurd repeated himself, his voice no different than usual.

“I…um…” Zhei let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry, could you repeat?”

Xurd didn’t answer right away, instead he opted to loudly exhale and to take a drink from his own mug. He was fierce, more so than Raeder, but he had a greater amount of self control. The wolf could learn a thing or two from him.

“You don’t really pay much attention, do ya”

“Whu?...”

Xurd chuckled and leaned back in his chair. He lifted his hand and waved to the barmaid, motioning her for another mug of coffee.

This place. It was somewhere at the edge of Brin, a quick rest stop for comers and goers. A shabby old barn, tastelessly repurposed into what they called a travelers haven. This place was a dump like the town which had spawned it. It should have been burned and salted decades ago. Truth be told, it would have been considered a mercy killing, instead of leaving it like this to fester in its own filth…

“Zhei!”

“Huh?”

“For Crom’s sake, kid! Can’t you pay any attention?” Xurd asked, this time with genuine concern in his voice.

“Sorry…I’ve been a bit…” Zhei struggled to find the words. “…distracted these past few days…”

“Distracted?” Xurd repeated to which Zhei barely nodded. “Distracted. I need to repeat every sentence at least three times before I even hope to get an answer. That’s “distracted” in your book?”

Zhei gripped his coin, almost embedding it in his palm. The minotaur was starting to sound more like Raeder. Although there was something different. His tone sounded more concerned with the fox rather than to try and embarrass him.  And his entire demeanor was much more worldly and traveled than that of the backwater wolf. Zhei’s grip loosened.

“I’ve been having some trouble…concentrating as of late…” Zhei began sheepishly.

“Concentration problems, eh? Is that part of your…” Xurd waved his fingers “…your wizarding conduct? The whole trickster attitude?” Xurd snickered.

“Please stop that.” Zhei answered, sinking in his chair. “I’m not a wizard. Not yet at least.”

“Still, it helps to start early, right?”

“I’m sure you would know.” Zhei glared at Xurd for a few seconds trying to hammer a point, that was most likely lost on both of them.

The barmaid came around and left the mug in front of Xurd and in return he tossed her a few coins. They exchanged smiles and her eyes lingered on the massive minotaur a few seconds too much to be deemed appropriate. But Xurd did not seemed phased by this at all. Zhei stopped playing with his coin.

“So, Zhei…you know what we are doing, right?”

Zhei took out a piece of paper from his inner pocket. “Everything is here, right?”

“Just the basics.” Xurd replied and took a gulp from his mug. “There is a bit more.”

“There is…?” Zhei said, his voice turning a bit more wispy. “Then, no. No, I don’t know what we are doing.”

He could see that Xurd thought he was making fun of him.

“Atilus had made some…fierce discoveries. You and I have to go to his tower and gather a few things. After that we need to go to a town where a friend of mine lives. He mentioned that there were sightings of a strange creature in the area and it’s our job to find it and put in the menagerie. Understand?”

Zhei looked inside his mug as he tapped on the metal surface, stirring the coffee inside bit by bit. He watched as black, bitter waves bent back and forth, twisting and turning and spinning. Why did they have to fill in Atilus’ zoological project? Why did Xurd want Zhei of all people on this? Why did Xurd even care?

“Could you stop that.” Xurd said in a cold manner.

Zhei didn’t move, but his eyes widened and turned to the minotaur. He looked down at the mug and snapped his fingers, causing the coffee to cease still. He looked back at Xurd, who didn’t really seem all that impressed.

“Thank you.” He said and downed the rest of his drink.

Now Zhei felt uncomfortable, but at the same time a bit excited. Normally when he did something like that in front of Raeder, he would expect much more of a visual reaction. There was nothing like that from Xurd. Although the minotaur had probably seen his fair share of parlor tricks, Zhei still felt a bit intimidated.

“How long will this whole endeavor take?” Zhei asked, once again fiddling with his golden coin.

“Honestly?” Xurd scratched his chin. “Best case scenario is about a week.”

“Mm…”

Xurd leaned over the table. “You feeling up for it?”

Zhei wanted to leave. He wanted to be out of this town so badly, that it could almost physically hurt him. Away from the imbeciles and cretins. Away from Raeder. But he thought about it for a moment, Raeder wasn’t so bad. And when he thought about it for another moment, he concluded that he didn’t feel like there was anything left keeping him here.

“When do we leave?” Zhei raised his eyes to the minotaur, who in return simply smiled.

#

“Purple. Orange, yellow…blue…” Zhei couldn’t continue.

“Again.”

Zhei shifted on the burning rock, the sun lashing at his back.

“Black…green…white?”

“Again!”

Zhei let out a sigh and rubbed is eyes. He looked around for the water, but there was none.

“You can drink when you are done with your exercise.”

Zhei groaned. He closed his eyes.

“Blue…orange…uhh…”

“Enough. Why is it so hard?”

“I don’t know! There are too many!”

“It’s extremely simple, Zhei. Eight types of magjjixk. Eight colors. Evoke them quick, so you can learn to harness them on the spot.”

“Yes, I get that…I just…can’t remember them.” Zhei rubbed the back of his head.

“You will be the death of me. Repeat after me: Red war; Orange thought; Purple sex; Yellow ego; Green love; Blue wealth; Black death; Octarine pure.”

Zhei furiously scratched his head.

“There are too many!”

“You’ll learn them in no time! You just have to practice, practice, practice!”

“It’s not working! And what even is the last one? Oct…octi…”

“Octarine, Zhei. Octarine. That’s the color of pure majjixk.”

Zhei grit his teeth.

“What is it even used for?”

“Majjikx for majjikx’s sake, my boy!”

An old laughter boomed through the fields.

Zhei shook his head.

“What does that even mean?”

“It’s the purest distillation of intent and creativity. At this point in time, you can evoke it for motivation and help for your studies. But the later points are what most people think of when they think of magic.”

Zhei didn’t understand. He didn’t really try. He closed his eyes.

“Red war. Blue sex. Black death. Oc…octa…”

“Enough. That’s all for today. We can stop here.”

#

It hadn’t been a long journey, the better part of their day, to Atilus’ menagerie – a collection of odd and rare creatures, held captive for “preservation of the species”. Zhei found it disgusting. There was no point to it, just a waste of space and a way for a crazy man to fill his time.

Xurd had taken it upon himself to leave enough food for all the critters, meanwhile instructing Zhei to gather some of Atilus’ most recent findings from his personal chamber.

For all his talk about possessing an alternative view on wizarding, Atilus’ room was the first thing that could come to mind when someone heard the words “wizard room”. Old dusty tomes, gaudy interior design with blue, purple and gold being the primary colors, an enormous telescope, that by all accounts shouldn’t really be able to work, placed on a tiny, glassless window. But Atilus would often talk about the importance of theatrics and traditions as a means to a majjixkal end and not the other way around. Zhei clicked his tongue.

The fox examined the books on the oaken desk – grimoires with wooden, ashen covers, held together by leather spines, both wood and pages pierced with a thick twine rope. Each of the books were written by the wizard himself, with the titles carved into the wood and painted in gold and silver dust.

Although they were numerous, three books caught the young fox’ eye, three that looked brand new and not aged. Zhei took them aside and ran his fingers across the covers.

“Memeology: restructuring the Noosphere and the indirect path to the Kaoskube”

“Beastly therianthropes, mindbreaking narcotics and cosmic tears – the true history of the world”

“Cryptozoology: a comprehensive guide to all manner of things that shouldn’t exist”

Atilus had a soft spot for overindulgent book titles. Zhei found it annoying.

For the next half hour, until Xurd came to pick him up and venture on with their travels, Zhei went through the books, not really paying much attention to what they said. They were, for the most part, incomprehensible, more an exercise in flow of consciousness than any form of actual coherent scientific text. There were rants, crudely drawn pictures, diagrams, constant changes in topic. Nothing of importance.

“I’m done here.” Xurd said when he entered the room. “Did you find what we came for?”

Zhei violently slammed the book shut. “Here they are. I don’t think they’ll be of much use to anyone though.”

Xurd didn’t respond. He knew Zhei had a point.

“Why are we doing this?” Zhei asked, putting the books in a burlap sack.

“Someone has to.”

“Alright. Why am I here? You know, instead of anyone else.”

Xurd scratched his nose and helped Zhei with the bag. “Wizards are hard to come by. Less so wizards you can trust.”

“I’m not a wizard. And why do you think you can trust me?” Zhei huffed, his voice light. His attention started to drift once more.

“Atilus did.”

“I…am not sure he did.”

Xurd raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. With a heavy exhale he pat the little fox on the shoulder, making him stumble forward.

“Let’s go. Don’t want to waste anymore time.”

As Xurd lead the way, Zhei dragged his tongue across his teeth in annoyance. He wanted to say something, but really couldn’t.

#

“Staying in one place is all fine and dandy, little Zhei. But there hasn’t been a wizard that has managed that much.”

“But it makes sense, right? If you find something worth exploring, of course you will stay in one place.”

“Until you get bored of it.”

Zhei looked down at his feet, trying to figure it out.

“Nothing lasts forever. Your attention isn’t infinite. And wizards are much harder to chain to one place. They rarely have any greater goals than that which is right in front of them. Once you get bored, nothing will stop you from moving on. You’ll always search for the next oddity.”

The wind blew gently through Zhei’s fur.

#

Two days had passed when they reached the town of Krekh. Traveling by coach, Zhei and Xurd, both robed and hooded from the rain, jumped out of the coach. Zhei waited patiently for Xurd to pay. Clutching his cloak, trying and failing to keep himself warm, Zhei stood by the town border, only decorated with a sign and a guard station.

For two days the travelers only shot the breeze without getting too deep into any conversation. And when Xurd would notice that Zhei was starting to drift off, he would stop talking altogether. Zhei appreciated that. There was nothing forced with the minotaur and he really did seem more comfortable when he stood in silence than when he talked about nothing in particular.

That being said, Xurd had told Zhei that they would be staying with a friend of his, who would often, and not entirely by his own volition, could start getting on anyone’s nerves.

“He’s a good guy.” Xurd would say. “But he’s just a bit…odd.”

“Define…odd...” Zhei would then retort.

“He…” at this point Xurd would let out an uncomfortable cough. “…talks…more than he says.”

All manner of images and scenarios popped up in Zhei’s mind by then.

“Xurdon! You little rascal! I’ve been worried sick when you’d get here.”

“Hey, Amar…” Xurd grunted as he stepped into the house and took off his cloak.

Zhei followed him closely by. He stepped lightly onto the red carpeting in the entry hall, looking around and admiring the interior design. He had never seen such an impeccable home before in his life – so clean and tidy with shelves upon shelves covered with books, walls decorated with paintings, with pleasant, flowery aromas drifting through the air. And apparently it was three stories large.

“Oh, and who might this be?” Amar slithered up behind Xurd, examining the small white fox.

“This…is Zhei. He’s a wizard.” Xurd answered without paying much attention.

“A wizard you say?” a playful, impish grin spread across the wingless dragon’s face. “My, oh, my, how exotic.”

Zhei turned around towards Amar, his eyes slowly dragging across the dragon’s form. He was fairly large, as dragons tended to be, but he had never truly seen one in his life. They were a rarity, or so they would say, and even more rare would be one living in civilization.

“He’s a bit…slow…” Xurd mentioned, his back still turned to the pair. “Part of his…spiel or whatever…”

“Ah…I see…” Amar extended his arm towards the wizard. “I am Amar. Welcome to my humble abode.”

Zhei violently shook his head, snapping out of whatever trance he had gotten himself into and quickly grabbed the hand in front of him. They size difference was enormous, with the fox managing to barely envelope the dragon’s finger.

“You’re a cute one, aren’t you…” Amar smiled softly. “…I didn’t catch your name.”

“Huh? Oh…um….Zhei. My name is Zhei.” Zhei let out an uncomfortable chuckle.

“Zhei…such a nice name. Fitting for a wizard.”

Zhei’s heart started pounding faster.

“Yeah…well…I’m not really a wizard…”

“Oh, you seem like a smart boy. I’m sure you’ll be one in no time.” He slowly lifted his hand away, leaving Zhei’s to float in place.

Amar lead the pair to their rooms, each one larger than the entirety of Raeder’s home, to his indoor shower, which used rainwater as well as underground water reserves, and to the dining room, where they would have a lunch consisting of fried bread, smothered in jams and freshly hardboiled eggs. 

After a table conversation over a cup of coffee, in which Zhei barely participated, preferring to mostly spin around his coin, Amar suggested for both of them to rest up and gather their strength.

#

“You really think you can truly love like the rest of them, Zhei?”

Zhei stared out of the window, focusing on nothing in particular.

“Why not? You’re talking like we aren’t even people most of the time…”

“Oh…we are people. But we are different.”

His mentor walked by his side.

“Different people are naturally drawn to majjixk. And majjixk is naturally drawn to different people. I’ve never met a wizard who could love one person for the rest of their life.”

“Have you ever met any other wizard at all?” Zhei groaned.

“You can try. You can try as much as you want. No one is stopping you. But don’t be so certain that it will last long.”

“It can last as long as I like.” Zhei gripped his coin.

“That is true. That is correct.” His mentor nodded. “But how long do you think you will want it to last?”

#

By the time Zhei had woken, it was already dark. Xurd had apparently gone to town, looking for information on whatever it was that they will be doing and so Zhei was left in the presence of Amar. He didn’t mind. In fact, he was pretty sure Xurd had overreacted when he said that the dragon would crawl on his nerves. In fact, Zhei found him to be a delightful conversationalist. Indeed the fox would drift in and out of concentration, focusing on the golden coin each time, but the dragon didn’t seem to mind and even found it a bit endearing.

They talked for hours. First they talked about their towns and their past. Then about Xurd; to Zhei’s surprise he learnt that Amar had great respect for the minotaur, calling him extremely well-read in all manner of fields and only criticizing his brutish nature, that he claimed was merely tacked on for the sake of appearances.

The first hour they talked about people.

The second hour they talked about majjixk, a subject in which Amar had a great interest in, but could not really find a good source of information on. Zhei was more than happy to explain, in his own staggering and drifting way, the basic ideas behind majjixk; the different schools and practices, as well as claiming that his had been the newest and easiest form of majjixk to comprehend, the power of belief and how essential it was to everything; the cosmetic aspects which were only used as simple referencing points and how everyone can do majjixk as long as they tried hard enough.

The second hour they talked about ideas.

The third hour they devoted to dreams. Dreams of the past, present and future. Hopes, fears, wants and needs. They talked as much as they could.

Art. Poetry. Literature. Music. Science. Mathematics. Crafts. Majjixk. Zhei hadn’t held such a stimulating conversation in a long time. Although Amar commended Xurd’s mind, he was obviously a strong silent type while with Zhei. And Raeder could barely even grasp simple concepts beyond his carnal desires. Zhei started to understand what had been missing from his life.

Three hours they talked. And after three hours there were done talking.

#

“I just can’t seem to do it.” Zhei grunted in defeat, his arm going limp, dropping the coin.

“You’ll get it in time. You just need to practice.”

Zhei grit his teeth and his eye twitched.

“Is something on your mind, Zhei?”

“No…”he lied.

“Are you sure about that.”

A moment of silence and then came the songs of the magpie in the distance.

“I’m tired of practicing.” Zhei muttered beneath his breath.

“Oh, you’ll get tired of many things in life. The most dangerous foe any wizard will face is boredom.”

“So you’ve told me.”

“This time is different. If something catches your fancy, you should always strive towards it. But don’t overlook everything you’ve done to that point. You are bored now with training, but do you think you can get any further without it?”

Zhei didn’t answer.

“Boredom keeps us on our toes, Zhei. Always looking and searching. But it can also break our knees, if we aren’t careful.”

#

Zhei stared at the ceiling, viciously tapping the side of the bed, angry at himself for not bringing his coin. Amar shifted into a more comfortable position, sleeping just fine. It didn’t seem like he was going to wake any time soon.

Besides his furious drumming, Zhei didn’t move much. A quick blink and a spontaneous facial twitch were all the extra movement he allowed himself.

The night before had been…interesting. But as the morning sun rose and the fox found himself reliving the entire thing over and over again in his head and he wasn’t impressed. He couldn’t really grasp what made him do it. Sure there was the lust and the infatuation, but now, when he turned, he just saw a sleeping lizard and nothing more.

Sack of flesh.

Why did he do it? The first thought was that he believed that he would feel something. He knew that he wouldn’t but he still believed it. That’s how majjixk worked – believe and it will come true at some point. He had felt himself wanting to ravage the dragon, but that was a shallow feeling that didn’t last long. The entire act had been very mechanical for him – in, out, in, out, touch here, touch there. He was starting to believe that maybe sex as a whole had lost its charm.

He turned around and observed his partner. Good thing he was charming and smart, because now as the sunlight gently found its way between the curtains and onto the Amar’s naked form, Zhei could see what he had been mounting, drunk on wine. Fat. Scaly. Grotesque.

Zhei’s eye twitched.

They were all the same.

No matter how many lovers he would have, they all seemed disgusting in the morning. Raeder might have been an exception. Well, until recently at least.

Raeder somehow just stopped being attractive. It was the little things really. That is where the devil lurked, in the details. Raeder looked more and more tired, less and less interested. His hygiene dropped a bit, he stopped being romantic. Little things piled up into a big mountain. And so, Zhei started sleeping around. And the worst part was that it didn’t even matter with who he slept with, because by morning they all looked the same. Sure, they were different species, different weights and heights, but they were all the same. Thirsty, fucking animals.

“Hey…”

Zhei shifted his eye slightly. Amar had woken up and was crawling towards him.

“Last night was beautiful…” the dragon murmured as he nuzzled in the fox’s chest.

Zhei didn’t answer. He continued to stare at the ceiling and his drumming became faster.

“You know…last night was my first time…” Amar said, his eyes twinkling.

“You don’t say…” Zhei answered, his voice monotone and hoarse.

“Mhm…it was…fantastic…”

“Mhm…”

Amar circled Zhei’s chest with a finger. Zhei grit his teeth. This physical contact. It annoyed him. His drumming became faster and faster. Why did he forget his coin? His eye twitched.

“Are you alright?” Amar whispered.

“I’m fine…” Zhei lied badly.

“You don’t seem fine. You know I once read there was a disease which causes…well…uncontrollable movements…like that…”

“I’m not sick.” Zhei simply stated.

“Hmm…can you stop the drumming?”

“I don’t want to.”

“Want or can’t?” Amar smiled fiendishly.

“Want.”

“Why is that?”

So this is what Xurd meant.

“It makes me feel better.”

“Would you please stop it?” Amar said with what he believed to be a cute voice.

“I don’t really feel like it.”

“Not even for little, ol’ me?” Amar fluttered his eyes.

“No…”

“Ah!” Amar grabbed his chest. “So crude! So vulgar! My heart can’t take it!”

It was becoming painfully obvious that the dragon couldn’t really catch the subtleties of Zhei’s body language.  

“So what do you want to do today?” Amar asked, slithering beneath Zhei’s arm.

Zhei’s eye twitched. His drumming stopped. His fingers were now preoccupied with carving up the bed frame, the sound of which Amar didn’t seem to notice. Or he tried to ignore it.

“I was thinking that we could go around town, show you the place, nothing spectacular…”

The entire concept of being able to do majjixk was so one could ease up their life. There were many methods and schools of majjixk, with Zhei’s school being the most liberal, believing that the only reason majjixk worked was because you believed that they would work and each other school just dressed that belief in fancy symbols. Now, Zhei concentrated all his belief so something might happen to break him away from this conversation.

There was a knock on the door. A very rude, aggressive knock. Apparently, his improvised spell worked.

“Wake up, fairies! We got a job to do!”

Maybe he should have been more specific.

The knocking continued, getting louder and more aggressive.

“Xurd! It’s 8 in the morning! Go to your room!” Amar yelled out.

“Fuck you!” Xurd responded from behind the door and continued slamming his fist.

“Xurd I’m warning you!”

“Warning my foot is what you are doing! Now get your asses, both of you, out here!”

“For the last time, Xurd! Stop knocking….”

A loud crack cut off Amar completely. He stood, jaw agape, as he watched Xurd continue hitting the crack until the entire door broke down. He popped his head inside the room.

“Downstairs. Dining room. Now.” He said and left.

Zhei turned his head towards Amar, who still didn’t know how to react. A light smile crept on the fox’s face before getting up and getting dressed.

“I swear, that minotaur is going to be the death of me.” Murmured Amar as he and the wizard went down the stairs to the dining room.

“He’s not so bad.” Zhei said, his voice barely audible.

“You don’t know him as long as I have. Also, what do you mean, not so bad? He broke my door! I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind.”

“I’m not sure if you can handle it if he decides to give you a piece of his.”

“We’ll see about that…” Amar said menacingly.

Just as the pair entered the dining room and the dragon was ready to start shouting at Xurd, who simply sat on the coach, hand on his forehead and gazing off into the ceiling, the dragon tripped on something on the ground and fell face first to the floor.

Upon further inspection, that something turned out to be a small blue kobold. Amar was ready to start asking questions and cursing the minotaur, when he noticed that the kobold wasn’t the only uninvited guest sleeping.

“Xurd?”

“Mmm…” the minotaur answered.

“What the hell is going on?”

“I went to the bar last night. Got drunk with these guys here. Decided to hire them for the mission and invited them here to sleep over.”

While Amar was trying to process the information, Zhei took a look at the new roommates – a kobold, a minotaur, a gnoll and an orc. They didn’t really seem like mercenaries. They barely looked equipped enough to handle a wild boar, let alone whatever Xurd was thinking about hunting. As Xurd and Amar’s discussion, slowly turned into a quarrel and their voices raised more and more, the band started shuffling around and waking up.

“Could you please keep it down? Some of us a trying to cut off our mortal coil here…” the kobold said, his voice high pitched and scratched.

“Oh, I’m sorry, were we interrupting your nap?” Amar snapped at the kobold.

“Hey! Don’t you talk to Cheesy that way!” Xurd pointed at Amar.

“My name is not Cheesy…”

“Pipe down, Cheesy!” the orc yelled from across the room, snuggled up in the corner.

“But…”

“You heard the man, Cheesy! Pipe down!” the gnoll snarled as she pushed herself up from the floor and fell back down.

 “For the love off…what’s wrong with you Xurd?” Amar turned back towards the minotaur.

Xurd massaged his forehead and grabbed a jug of water and poured it on his head, to the absolute surprise of the dragon.

“I’m hung-over. What’s it to you?”

“What’s it…what’s it...” Amar took a deep breath and politely continued. “Xurd. You are a guest in my home.”

“Mmhm.”

“And as a I guest, I don’t believe it’s appropriate for you to just invite your drinking buddies…”

“Mercenaries.”

“…mercenaries into my home. And to have them…” Amar looked around as everyone was slowly starting to move and get up. “…sleep here…”

Xurd scratched his chin and grabbed a small piece of pie which he shoved in his mouth.

“Duly noted.” He said, crumbs flying out of his mouth. “I’ll keep it in mind next time.”

“Nex…what next time? You broke down my door! Do you really think there’s gonna be a next time?”

Xurd groaned and stood up. He slowly started to do light gymnastics, to Amar’s annoyance.

“Didn’t I give you an earnest in advance for any damages that might be caused during my and Zhei’s stay here?” Xurd turned towards the dragon.

“Yes, but…”

“Didn’t you say, that such a thing won’t be necessary but you still took the money?”

Amar didn’t answer.

“Isn’t the money enough to buy yourself one hundred new doors.”

“You are despicable.” Amar spat, eyes squinting.

“I am sure I am.”

#

“There are fundamental forces always at work, Zhei. Majjixk are used to manipulate them. The more specific you are, the better the final result.”

Zhei turned the coin between his knuckles.

“Can these forces…act in majjixkal ways…even if no one actually uses majjixk?”

“Naturally. You see, there is a certain law that governs reality. The law of Entropy.”

Zhei stopped spinning his coin and turned towards his teacher.

“Entropy declares that energy…spreads.”

“Spreads?”

“Exactly. Energy spreads out as much as it can. Entropy means that it spreads evenly. Miracles occur when it doesn’t spread evenly.”

Zhei furrowed his brow.

“So…by practicing majjixk…we are overriding the law of Entropy and we create Miracles?”

“Correct.”

A moment of silence and then came the songs of the crows in the distance.

“This…doesn’t sound right. You’ve been making me draw sigils and meditate on clouds and imagine birds. There were results, but those weren’t Miracles?”

“Why wouldn’t they be?”

“Miracles are supposed to be…grand. There is nothing grand about seeing a sparrow after you imagine yourself seeing one.”

“High majjixk and low majjixk. Low majjixk are the coincidences that seem to happen when we need them to. High majjixk are the things that make you question the laws of physics.”

“Even so…”

“To have grand Miracles, first you need to start with the small ones. You need one simple Miracle to open the floodgates to grander ones.”

“I see…”

“In this universe…and in our world…the floodgates have not only been open, but completely obliterated. Everything works the way it does only because people believe that it should. So to answer your first question – yes, the fundamental forces can act as if by majjixk on their own. Our little own natural Miracles.”

#

Xurd had brought home four mercenaries – a kobold named Chety; a gnoll – Rik; Bron the orc; and a minotaur going by Tarek. All of them claimed to be battle-hardened warriors, each specializing in different military tactics. To Zhei’s eyes, none of them looked the part – out of shape, slow, without discipline. But if Xurd had trusted them, then so could Zhei.

Amar on the other hand just thought they were a bunch of drunks and ruffians, looking for quick cash. After about half an hour of more arguing with Xurd, they reached the consensus that the entire squad would be leaving in a little under an hour. Zhei knew that Amar wasn’t as angry as he tried to show himself to be. Maybe he did it just for Zhei’s sake? The wizard didn’t really know, nor did he care. He was simply happy to leave the house as soon as possible.

As the band set off Amar insisted that Zhei promise him that he would visit him when he returned home. Zhei did so, but didn’t plan on keeping the promise.

They traveled for about three days by coach. Three days filled with vulgarity, drinking and small brawls, all of which ended when someone got hit in the stomach, strangely enough. They claimed that they wanted to spar with Xurd and each one met a similar fate – bulging eyes, puffed up cheeks and empty lungs. Zhei could almost swear that they were made from gelatin, the way their entire bodies would just engulf the minotaur’s fist. Everyday Miracles.

Although the group was unlike anything like the people Zhei hopped to be surrounded by, he slowly started to feel a sense of warmth for them. He had been around people like them before. But these were a different breed. They weren’t simply vagabonds. They were adventurers. Majjixk lived in the unordinary. Maybe that’s why Zhei had been here, attracted by them. Or could it be the other way around?

Regardless of synchronicities and fates, after the group reached their destination, Xurd instructed Bron, Terek and Chety to gather supplies, while himself, Rik and Zhei would go on an investigation. And they all listened without questioning him. He commanded a kind of respect in them, it wasn’t just the money. They way they would hang on every word he said, it was almost like Xurd was practicing low majjixk. Then Zhei remembered that the minotaur most likely was.

Neither Rik nor Zhei asked Xurd where they were going, although Zhei had an odd sense of discomfort about the whole thing. Their trek ended by the a house, in which they were graciously invited by an old cat-woman, who offered them tea and biscuits while they waited in a modest dining room. After about fifteen minutes, during which the old lady was gone and the group ate in silence, she returned.

“She can only have one visitor.” The lady said and left the room.

Xurd downed his cup of tea in one swoop and turned to Zhei.

“Alright, my boy.” he started, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. “Here’s the thing. You are gonna meet a girl…”

Zhei waited patiently as Xurd struggled for words, although the fox’s attention was waning a bit.

“She…supposedly…has…” Xurd waved his hand around. “A sixth sense, I believe it’s called. And, possibly, paint the future.”

“Alright…” Zhei answered, trying his best to keep his focus.

“And you…have to go and talk to her.”

“About what?”

Xurd scratched the back of his head.

“Here’s the thing. Supposedly, there’s a bird that causes snow storms around the mountain.”

“What do you mean it causes snow storms?” Rik interjected.

“I mean that the bird causes snow storms. It’s not a hard concept to grasp.”

“Arlight, but…how?”

“Pff…magic.” Xurd simply stated. “There were a few storm storms in the past few months…”

“It’s the beginning of Autumn…” Rik murmured to herself. “That doesn’t sound right.”

“Well…there have been. People claim it’s a magical bird. That why we are here. Zhei. Go upstairs and ask the girl about this whole thing and if it’s true, where and when it will happen again.”

Zhei stared in his tea cup.

“Why me?”

“Ugh…you’ll find out why…”

“Is it because I am a wizard? Because I’m still not…”

“No.” Xurd interjected with a solemn sigh. “It’s not because of that. I just think that…it will be easiest for you to talk to the girl…than either me or Rik.”

“I don’t quite follow.”

“Don’t worry about it, just head upstairs and…you know…do your thing.”

Without complaining, Zhei simply sighed and got up. The lady was waiting in the hallways and guided the young fox upstairs. What did Xurd mean? Surely he sent him because of his majjixkal knowledge. Although Xurd did poses some knowledge himself. What did he mean exactly then by saying that Zhei would have an easier time talking to her.

The lady stopped in front of a door and motioned Zhei to go inside. The fox gripped the handle, a sense of worry overtaking him. He reached in his pocket and grabbed his coin tightly, squeezing it his palm. He pushed the door.

A dark and messy room, clothes haphazardly thrown on the ground and bed. Dozens of paintings, some finished and others barely started, were either hanging from the walls or thrown aside on the floor. In the corner stood a figure, throwing its arm around violently. Zhei stepped forward and gently closed the door behind him.

“Fox?” the figure asked with a slight lisp.

Zhei froze, the coin boring into his palm. The figure turned around. Hooded and covered in numerous pairs of clothes, the figure limped towards Zhei, who didn’t move, although his leg started to tense up and gently tap the floor. The figure got close, almost burring it’s face in Zhei’s and his heart started racing even more. Underneath that hood was the face of a young cat, one eye milky white and spasming, while the other brilliant blue, although apparently lazy. The cat slowly lifted her hand and dragged her palm across Zhei’s jaw.

“White fox. Young…younger than me…around sixteen…a sense of…not fear, but…” the cat smacked her tongue as she tried to pinpoint whatever she was searching for. “…nervousness…” She smiled gently, although her smile was as crooked as her eyesight. “Are you nervous, little fox? Don’t be, nervous. Your big sister Grewh won’t hurt you…”

“G-Grewh?” Zhei repeated, his voice shaking.

“Mhm.” Grewh smiled once again and turned around, limping towards her bed. She sat on top of the clothes, pulling her legs up to her body. “Come and sit by your sister, little fox-boy.”

Zhei stepped cautiously, while just slightly rubbing his coin. He sat next to Grewh, who bent her neck to one side as she tried to look at him.

“What is your name, fox-boy?”

“I…um…I’m Zhei…” he murmured. “I’m here for…”

“I know why you are here.”

“You…you do?” Zhei asked. “Ah…yes…you can see the future…right…”

“Only sometimes…while I paint. But otherwise everybody is here because of my paintings.” She sighed and slammed herself on the bed.

Zhei looked over Grewh and smiled slightly, the girl now looking more like a young woman than any creature he might have imagined earlier. He noticed that she was rapidly drumming her fingers on the bed and, if his ears did not lie to him, grinding her teeth at the same time. For a brief second out of nowhere, a sense of pity overflowed his entire being, unlike any other he had felt in his life. He wasn’t normally all that emotional and he would be the first to admit it, but watching the girl jittering and staring at the ceiling with her left eye, while her right one drifted off into the corner, made him feel…something. He looked at his palm. He wasn’t playing with his coin anymore.

“Grewh?”

“Yes!” she jumped up, her lisp spraying him slightly.

“Do you…are you feeling alright?”

The cat’s paw disappeared somewhere inside her hood, most likely scratching her neck.

“Yes…Don’t I look alright?”

“No, I mean…you were…” Zhei stopped. There was an air of comfort here. “Here.” He offered his coin to her.

Grewh waved her hand around the coin, just enough for Zhei to understand that she was trying to find it. With embarrassment he pushed the coin into her hand.

“I…I usually…” Zhei bit his lip. “I usually play with it…when I’m a bit…you know…nervous. You can have it for now…you know…if…” Zhei didn’t know what exactly to say, as if there wasn’t a word in the entirety of language which wouldn’t sound stupid when spoken out loud.

“Thank you.” Grewh answered with a smile, rubbing the coin between her thumb and index finger. “I am a bit nervous. Always am around people. I promise to give it back.”

This was unbelievably strange. The way Grewh talked and smiled made Zhei feel like he knew her his entire life. Suddenly he realized that he gave her his coin. The one thing he wouldn’t give up to anybody. Not even Raeder had his permission to touch it. And here he was, giving it freely to this girl, who he barely knew. And the strangest part was that, for the first time in so long, he didn’t feel like he needed it.

He watched as Grewh examined the coin, slowly turning it right in front of her lazy eye, licking her lips and from time to time, making an odd clicking sound with her mouth. It dawned on Zhei why Xurd preferred him to go.

“You’re a sweet guy, brother.” Grewh said and clutched the coin. “What do you want for your picture?”

“I…ugh…there’s a bird…”

“A bird?”

“A…snow bird…” Zhei exhaled. “You’re the future teller. Shouldn’t you know what I want?”

Grewh turned her head to one side, as if to examine the fox.

“I know what you want. It’s not the bird painting.” She said, in between tongue clicks and verbal tics. “It’s gonna take some time though.”

She jumped off the bed and lumbered over to her corner. Zhei scratched his chin.

“What do I want?”

“That would be telling, fox.” She laughed.

Zhei smiled, even though he didn’t know why.

“You are…pretty easy to talk to. Strange that they had to send me here…”

“Oh…I’m…not that easy to talk to.” Grewh said, stopping in her tracks. “You just prefer to think that I am.”

“I…what?” Zhei frowned.

“People…all people…” Grewh started to spin Zhei’s coin between her fingers. “All people have a sort of…energy…about them. And some people’s energy just…doesn’t mesh…with others…”

Zhei got a gist of what she was trying to say. Low majjikx. Psychological tricks and actions. The same way when you see someone, you can tell if they will annoy you or if you might hit it off.

“My energy…rarely meshes well…with others…” Grewh said with a hint of sadness.

“Well…we seem to be doing fine, right?”

“Right…” Grewh turned around and walked back to Zhei.

She stood right in front of him. She bent down towards his face, caressing his cheek and sliding her thumb across his jaw.

“Umm…” Zhei protested.

“Shush. I’m working here. Never turn down advice from an extra-sense.”

Zhei stopped. Although it came from nowhere, it did feel nice. Something about her palms felt…like home.

“Love troubles…shallow lust…” her hand moved up, sliding across his closed eyes. “pathless…lonesome…”

Grewh’s hand moved down to his throat and under his shirt, stopping on top of his chest, all the while light scratch marks.

“You are not a bad person, little brother. Too bad your heart is frozen.”

“What?!” Zhei jumped.

“So cold. And yet no shadows linger. Odd.” She turned her head, so she could look at the fox with her lazy eye. “You are an odd fox, brother.” And with that she lightly bumped his nose with hers.

She turned around and sat on the ground in front of a cupboard, pulling the drawer and rummaging through it. Zhei stood, confused scratching the back of his neck, from time to time his index finger lightly tapping.

“What…what did you mean…frozen heart…no shadows…”

“What’s his name, brother?”

“What? Who?” Zhei replied, confused.

“The wolf. What’s his name?”

“I…um…Raeder. His name is Raeder.”

“Raeder…” Grewh replied quietly. “A warrior’s name. Sadly he doesn’t win much fights.”

“He wins fights. He works as a bouncer. He has to fight.”

“Not fistfights, brother.” She said with a note of mystery as she pulled out a small tube. “If I squint my eyes, I can almost see an inkling of love inside you, fox. Almost.”

“I…” Zhei was left speechless. “I love him. I really do.”

“Love is not a fungus, growing in the dark and damp. It’s more like a flower. It needs air. And light.”  She pulled out another tube. “Ugh…I’ve already read this story. I know how it goes. I know how it ends. You will figure it out as you walk your road, brother.”

Zhei, although confused, let out a chuckle

“Can’t you just tell me…sister?”

“Don’t try to sugar me up. That’s not how it works.”

Grewh grabbed a few more tubes from the drawer and went to her corner, where she started to paint. For the next few hours Zhei and Grewh talked about nothing in particular. Life, hobbies, food and anything else they could think of. Grewh explained how her personal energy  was very strong and most people would have a very strong reaction to her, one way or another. Zhei could understand how that could work. He hadn’t felt so relaxed and calm in a very long time.

At one point, during their conversations, Zhei drifted off to sleep. He was later gently woken up by the old lady, who whispered to him that he should come down stairs. He got out of the bed, carefully pulling his hand from underneath Grewh, who had curled up beside him and fallen asleep herself.

Zhei followed the lady downstairs to his companions, who themselves looked like they had just woken up. Xurd, under a furrowed brow was examining the picture drawn by Grewh, while Rik was drinking another cup of tea.

“How did it go?” Xurd asked, not looking at the fox.

“Better than you expected, I suppose.” Zhei answered.

“Mm…”

After Xurd gave the lady a bag of coin, they headed out, but as they were leaving, the lady gave Zhei a folded up note. It was heavy. As he left the house, he cautiously opened it up. His coin fell from the folds and he just barely managed to grab it. Zhei inspected his coin carefully. Nothing was amiss. He turned his attention towards the letter. The writing was shaky, but still readable.

“Until we meet again, little brother. Keep a stiff upper lip.
-Grewh”

He didn’t think much of it and simply folded it back and put it in his pocket, next to his coin.

#

“Red war; black death; green love; blue wealth; purple sex; yellow ego; orange thought; octarine pure.” Zhei spurted out in one breath.

“Well done, boy. Well done. Explain to me the principles of their usage.”

“You use the color or its act to fuel whatever spell you might be casting. They best work for their own specific aspect, but can be used to fuel any and all sigils if the wizard is can will it.”

“Give me examples.”

“You can enter the black gnosis of death through still meditation and cast a sigil for a sexual partner. You can evoke death majjikz by killing a critter and casting a spell for self-improvement. You can enter a battle frenzy through war dances and cast a spell for rain. You can indulge yourself in hedonism to evoke the yellow…”

“That’s enough.” The old wizard cut him off. “You’ve learned quite a lot.”

“I don’t feel as if I have.”

The teacher smiled to his student. “That’s how you know you’re making progress.”

“All I’ve done is cast sigils about seeing magpies and hearing sounds. That’s barely anything.”

“Have they worked?”

Zhei was silent.

“Little miracles pave the way to big ones. There is one more challenge for you.”

The teacher lifted up Zhei’s copper coin.

#

“What are you doing?” Zhei sheepishly asked.
Xurd looked up, red paint on his finger tips and dripping down on the head of his hammer covered in unfinished symbols.

“Can’t you guess?” he responded and continued painting.

“Shamanism.”

“Bingo.”

Zhei clicked his tongue and resumed drinking his coffee by the campfire.

“You don’t agree with my methods?” Xurd asked, his voice slightly below speaking tone as to not wake up their other comrades.

Zhei didn’t answer and simply looked at the mountain range. They were pretty high up, located in a clearing. The bird was supposed to show itself around midmorning, waking up from its slumber and swooping down towards an unsuspecting village. It had been three weeks since their journey started.  Three weeks of traveling, fighting, laughing and drinking. So much drinking. Zhei was almost sad to see it go. Almost.

“You didn’t answer my question, Zhei.” Xurd said with a sardonic voice.

“Simple runes with not much thought put into their creation.”

“The power of tradition is a strong force, as you might be aware.” Xurd said with a half smile and finished up. He looked at his weapon. Crude, inelegant, but gets the job done. A bit like him. “Atilus taught you about the Noosphere, right?”

“He did. He also taught me that personalized majjikz work better than ancient superstitions.”

“Only if you believe they do, right?”

“I…” Zhei fell silent.

“You know about the principles of belief.” Xurd stated, still examining his hammer.

“Yes…well…” Zhei put his hand in his pocket, trying to grab his coin. He rummaged around, but accidentally grabbed the note from Grewh. Suddenly, his need for the coin vanished. He pulled out the note and read it to himself once more. The edge of his mouth curved.

“The letter from your girlfriend?” Xurd chuckled and put his hammer down.

“No, she’s…” Zhei clicked his tongue. “You know I’m…not like that…right?”

“I know, I know.”

“When…when this is all over…could you perhaps not mention what happened to me and Amar to Raeder?”

Xurd scratched his chin.

“Who?”

“Amar? The dragon? The one I slept with.”

“No, I mean the other one. Who’s that?”

“My…my boyfriend.”

“Ah.” Xurd waved his hand. “Don’t worry about it. It’s none of my business.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

Zhei gazed off into the fire, drinking his coffee from time to time. He didn’t really enjoy night watch duties, but it was his turn. He felt pressured to talk with whoever he got paired up with. Tarek was his favorite, he didn’t talk much and appreciated the silence, except for the times he felt that he had to talk about his religion. Something about a desert elf. Zhei could never pay much attention at those points. Bron and Rik were simple enough. They didn’t have much to say and preferred to play card games with him, while they were awake. Chety, on the other hand, couldn’t stop talking. It drove the fox insane, each time he opened his mouth. But he did prove himself more than once to be useful in numerous ways.

Zhei sighed and turned towards Xurd.

“Why are we doing this?”

Xurd lifted his head and cocked an eyebrow.

“The bird hunt?”

“Yes. The bird hunt. What’s the point?”

“Well, someone has to do it.” Xurd simply stated.

“But why us exactly? Can’t someone else just go up and kill the thing.”

“We aren’t here to kill it, we are here…”

“…we are here to capture it. Yes, I know.” Zhei huffed. “But why? Why should we capture it?”

“It’s a mythical fucking bird! It’s one of a kind! Isn’t your wizarding sense telling you that you have to examine it?”

“I’m not a wizard.” Zhei exhaled.

“Yeah. Apparently.” Xurd sneered. “Didn’t Atilus tell you about his theories about mythological creatures?”

Zhei glared at the minotaur. “No. He must have missed that lesson.”

Xurd let the fire crackle before he continued. “A one of a kind creature. Literally. Atilus had apparently discovered them and decided to add as much as he could to his little collection.”

“That…that doesn’t sound right?”

“Doesn’t it? Sounds like Atilus to me…”

“No…not that.” Zhei waved his hand. “The other part. How can it be…literally one of a kind?”

Xurd shrugged and threw his drink into the fire.

“I don’t know. How can a bird cause snow storms?”

“…by flapping its wings…” Zhei murmured.

“Yeah…that’s not how snow works. Or storms even.” Xurd let out a deep sigh. “Atilus…believed that these creatures are…manifested from…pfff…something he called  the “Collective Unconscious”” Xurd said while making air quotes. “You know of it?”

“Hm…a bit…” Zhei scratched his chin. “It’s just…why did Atilus neglect to mention all this to me?”

“The same reason he didn’t give you the key to the menagerie.” Xurd said without missing a beat. “The thing you always say. You aren’t a wizard.”

 “Yeah? Wel…what makes you so perfect at it then?” Zhei snapped back.

“Simple. I understood what Atilus couldn’t.”

“What might that be then?”

“He believed that wizards should build themselves into wizards. I believed that to be a wizard, you only had to acknowledge it.”

Zhei stood still, the night breeze ruffling up his white hair. Xurd stared at the boy, his gaze unimpressed. After a sigh and a grunt, Xurd stood up and motioned Zhei to get some sleep. He complied, but sleep didn’t catch him.

#

Small miracles into big ones. So simple to understand, yet so hard to do. Until he did it.

Zhei ran through the fields to his teacher’s home. Grinning from ear to ear, he burst into the small hut, holding his now golden coin up.

There was no one there to see it.

#

In the early hours of the morning, Xurd woke the entire group. They still had a few hours before the bird would appear, so they dedicated the time to get ready. Tarek grilled a few vegetables for an impromptu breakfast as Xurd went behind a rock for a morning wash, as it was his morning ritual. Only Zhei didn’t eye him with disbelief each time he did it. “Cleanliness is next to godliness” the minotaur would say, when asked. The mercenaries didn’t exactly have a strong grasp on the concept of hygiene, but soon enough they accepted the odd antics of their employer.

Zhei, staring at the mountain peaks, bit into a grilled pepper. Through careful inspection of the painting, he and Xurd figured more or less the time when the snowbird would appear, based on the sun’s position in comparison to the trees and mountains. Without much thought, the fox decided to take a glance at the painting one more time.

The painting itself was average at best. The colors weren’t top notch, the proportions of the trees were a bit wonky and the perspective was a bit tilted. The last part could be forgiven since Grewh’s head was always a bit tilted.

Zhei gnawed on his pepper and walked away from the campsite, positioning himself at where, supposedly, the painter would have been. He compared the landmarks. A bit bent. Out of nowhere, he decided to bend his neck, just to see what Grewh might have saw.

A few half-masticated lumps of food fell from his mouth as his jaw dropped. A cold breeze blew through the campsite. From this angle, the sun was at the exact position as the one in the painting. They had made a slight miscalculation by a few hours. There was a shriek in the distance.

Zhei dropped the painting and ran, screaming at the mercenaries.

“The bird is coming!” he yelled. “Get your weapons!”

By the time he reached the band, another, more powerful shriek echoed. And from the horizon, the snowbird blew above the mountains – a beautiful creature of death, with white and blue feathers glistening under the sunlight.

Everyone dropped what they were doing and quickly grabbed their weapons. Bows, crossbows, nets, spears. All at the ready for the beasts descent. It was heading straight for them and with it came furious winds and freezing mists.

Bron was the first to attack as the bird was just above them. With all his might, he threw a spear, managing to stab the bird in the wing. Another skull cracking shriek. The bird spun in circles, its blood dripping onto the ground, radiating coldness. When it stabilized, it saw it’s attackers. Although fairly high in the air, Zhei could see the anger in its eyes. It started flapping it’s wings, sending gust of wind. Their entire camp flew past them from the strength of the winds and what was left untouched, slowly started freezing over.

“Get to cover!” Xurd yelled out, running naked from behind his rock towards a tree.

The band scattered in all directions, hiding behind rocks and trees themselves. The bird didn’t move. It continued flapping it’s wings, the cold getting stronger and stronger. It was getting harder to breathe, the air like ice, piercing Zhei’s lungs with each inhale. Was this it? He wasn’t ready to die. Not so suddenly. Not on some mountain, frozen to death by some bird.

“I…I want go home…” he whispered to himself, thoughts of Raeder’s warm embrace filling his mind.

Why was he even here? Why did Xurd had to drag him into this? Why couldn’t he just hunt down the fucking bird on his own? He was always Atilus’ favorite. During Zhei’s entire training, he had been always reminded of that. The damn bull even received Atilu’s fucking zoo! Zhei always lived in his shadow. And now, even after his teacher’s death, he was going to die in it as well.

The fox closed his eyes and sat on the snowy ground, feeling the frost growing on the tree behind him.

“By Crom, Zhei! Get off your fag-ass and do something!”

Zhei’s eye shut open. He turned his head. He saw Xurd, naked, grabbing the tree as tight as he could, yelling obscenities at the fox.

“Don’t you look at me like that! Why the fuck do you think you are here?! You’re a fucking wizard! Now do some wizardry!” 

 Zhei blinked. He wasn’t a wizard. Reflexively, he put his hand in his pocket, grabbing his coin. He pulled it out and the note from Grewh flew away, instantly freezing.

The note.

“Until we meet again, little brother. Keep a stiff upper lip.”

Until they met again. She knew that they would meet again. This wasn’t where Zhei would die. Not a nameless, white grave in the middle of some mountain. What had Xurd said the previous night. Wizards weren’t built. They simply acknowledged they were wizards. And this was it. It was time for Zhei to acknowledge it. What did wizards do?

Wizarding conduct. To be a wizard, you had to act like a wizard. That’s what Atilus had said. How do wizards act? They can be scary, menacing, mysterious, witty, crazy, funny, clever. Zhei was none of those things. He was neurotic, unfocused, twitchy. The cold made his palm hurt even more when clutching his coin. He furrowed his brow and looked at his coin.

Cum cognitant Magia.

When you think of magic.

Majjizk. The art of creating Miracles through the manipulation of Entropy. The law of Entropy dictated that energy spreads evenly. And Miracles occurred when that wasn’t so.

Zhei grasped his coin with both his hand and closed his eyes.

Gnosis. The state in which one uses majjizk. Different schools, practice different methods and use different names, but it was all the same when one got down to the basics of it.

His particular school used eight types of gnosis, corresponding to basic laws that governed life in one way or another. Zhei was used to the Black Death gnosis, but this time around, it seemed like it would be in bad taste. What was he feeling?

Fear. Fear of death. That was obvious. But what did death mean? He would never be able to go back home. Never be able to tell Raeder that he was sorry. Never manage to build a home with him. Never truly express his love. Never hug him tight. It wasn’t enough.

He would never again drink with Xurd and the company. He would never have a meaningful conversation again with Amar. He would never spend a lazy afternoon with Grewh.

It wasn’t enough. It was not about sex or love. Those things seemed…incidental and fleeting. The cat was right. Zhei’s heart was frozen. But there had to be something else.

The time he spent on the road, although as if it he had passed through a fog, was still one of the best times of his life. He would never be able again to experience anything like that.

Wealth. Wealth was not about money. Not only about it anyway. It was about control. Control over one’s life. Wealth was just a way to gain control. The more money one had, the more control they had and they could have more experiences. This is what he truly craved. Experience. He wanted to experience life once again.

Wealth Blue gnosis. The easiest way to evoke the gnosis was through its color. And Zhei simply imagined blue. Nothing else. And he started rubbing his coin between his hands, slowly heating it up.

“I…am a wizard.” He said as he rubbed more fiercely.

“I am a wizard!” he yelled out, gritting his teeth. “I…I control my fate! I will live today!”

He opened his eyes.

“Small miracles into grand ones.”

He stepped from behind his hiding spot and opened his palms towards the bird. Fire spewed out from his hands, sucked into the beasts flapping wings.

Cold wasn’t a thing in itself. Cold was the lack of heat. The bird’s wings didn’t cause cold winds. They simply sucked away the heat. Still miraculous on its own, but far more easier to manifest in terms universal laws. The bird was lit aflame.

Everyone came out of their hiding spots and attacked the bird, throwing spears and shooting it with arrows. Most of them missed, but that didn’t really seem to matter at this point. They were winning.

As the bird screeched in pain and anger, it started to fly away. Zhei thought quickly. He glanced around and saw Xurd’s hammer, unmoved, slumped down onto the now wet grass. He concentrated on the weapon, trying to move it with the intent of throwing it at the beast, but the last spell had taken almost everything out of him. He gritted his teeth and yelled out. The hammer flew back, towards Xurd’s extended hand. Zhei’s mind was blank. Xurd had been Atilus’ favorite. Of course he could do something like that.

The naked minotaur ran out into the clearing and spun around, throwing the hammer towards the bird.

As if time had slowed down in Zhei’s eyes when the hammer hit the bird in the stomach. He could see how the beast’s flesh bent inwards, engulfing the weapon completely. There was no cry of pain. The bird’s beak opened up and a horrendous burst of cold wind swept the adventurous, the stench of rotten meat heavy in the air. It’s eyes slowly crossed as less and less air was left in the creature’s lungs. And finally when it’s wings were about to give out over the cliff side, Bron stepped forward, having grabbed the little blue kobold. With a quick calculation, the orc licked his lips, uttered the quickest prayer he could muster to Crom and threw Chetty over the bird.

The kobold, who had been tied up with a rope, landed on the opposite end, right into Tarek’s hands. Tarek and Bron both pulled the rope, trying to pull the bird on the clearing. Xurd jumped towards Tarek and Rik and Zhei went to Bron. It took them all the strength they could muster, but they managed to land the bird on the clearing, saving it’s life.

Unfortunately, the hammer had still been imbedded into the beast and as it slammed on the ground, it got deeper in its belly. The new hit shocked the bird, it’s eyes bulging and its beak opened like a cave. No air came out, only a low rumbling, followed by spit and pieces of dead animals. It soon fell unconscious. They had won.

#

Zhei stood in the green fields, where he used to practice with Atilus. He spun the golden coin between his fingers, under the songs of magpies. He did not know how to feel. He knew how to feel, but he couldn’t muster it up. He felt numb. It might have been shock. But he always had a hard time with feelings. They just didn’t seem to work correctly.

Maybe that’s why he found black majjizk to be easier than any other form.

He could never muster up the rage for red.

Love, although present towards his partner and some of his friends, always seemed too distant.

 Sex. Sex was never something that really worked right. He enjoyed the thought of it, but the execution was always mechanical and passionless.

Yellow majjixk. The majjixk of the ego. What ego? He was a neurotic mess, who sometimes could barely scramble together a sentence.

Same went for Orange. His thoughts were always scattered and uncoordinated.

He had no desire for wealth or experiences so Blue majjixk could barely apply to anything.

And Octarine. He still couldn’t understand Pure majjixk.

 And so, Zhei sat in the grass and closed his eyes, engulfed in his darkness. And one desire came to him.

“I want my teacher to be proud of me.”

#

Three days of celebrations. Drinking, food and laughter. The bird’s wounds had been taken care of and it had been teleported to its new home. The mercenaries had been paid and were promised to be hired again if need be.

“So…now what?” Zhei asked Xurd as they both waited for their carriages to arrive.

“I’m gonna go to the menagerie. Going to see what I can find about the bird. Continue Atilus’ legacy.”

“You never really seemed like someone who would care for something like a legacy.”

“Yeah…well…he was on to something. I want to find out what the thing with mythical creatures is.” Xurd huffed. “You are still welcome to join me. I can’t really do this properly without a wizard by my side.”

“I thought you said you only had to acknowledge that you were a wizard to be one.” Zhei chuckled.

“That is…correct. I’m no wizard. I don’t have the patience for it or the resolve.”

“Still. The way you moved that hammer.”  Zhei said, looking around, wondering when the carriage would get there.

“You could have done it too, you know.”

“And you could have set the bird on fire as well. But you didn’t.”

“Hey. I had to give you a chance to shine, didn’t I?” Xurd smiled softly. “What about you? You gonna visit Amar, like he wanted you to?”

“I don’t think so, no.” Zhei’s eye twitched.

“I don’t blame you.”

“I’m…I’m going to return home. To my boyfriend. I want to build a life with him. I understood that now.”

Xurd scratched his chin, noticing his carriage was arriving.

“You know that wizard’s don’t really…do…domestication, right?” he said.

“Mm…maybe I don’t want to be a wizard.” Zhei murmured.

“You know, you should really learn not to speak under your nose.”

“I said that maybe I don’t want to be a wizard.” Zhei repeated himself, feeling as if Xurd might lash out at that statement.

“Hey, preaching to the choir here, kid. Wizarding is a lonely endeavor. It can take a lot out of you…and not give that much back.” Xurd turned to fox and smiled. “I wish you luck. No matter your choice, just know, that it’s the right one.”

With that, Xurd’s carriage arrived and he climbed in it.

Zhei was left alone, sitting on the bench. He pulled out his coin, charred, but still shimmering. Cum cogintant Magia. When you think of magic. He didn’t want to think of magic. Magic was burdenous. And he had carried enough burdens for a while.

Now it was time to rest.

PROLOGUE

Zhei examined the coin. Simple copper. Cum cogintant Magia.

“Remember, Zhei.” Atilus began. “The road ahead is difficult. And once you start, even if you stop, you will always be drawn back to it. Although it’s filled with wonder and excitement, it’s also filled with regret and loneliness. You would never be able to settle down in one place for too long. Friendships will be fleeting and love would so easily wither. You can only hope that someday you will meet someone who can understand your plight. And even that may be a unstable.”

Zhei didn’t answer. He wanted this. He wanted to break away from everything. He wanted to be able to change himself and the world around him. And he would do whatever it took.

“Do you have any second thoughts?”

“Only that I didn’t start sooner.”

Atilus smiled at the young fox. A smile both filled with happiness and sorrow. He knew the treacheries of the path. He gave Zhei the warning he had never received. But even if he did receive it, he knew he would still had walked the same steps.

“Let’s begin. Majjixk, or as ordinary people call it – magic, is an art.”

#

There was a knocking in the dead of the night. Xurd had just fed all the creatures in his zoo and was having a delightful conversation with the snowbird, who apparently happened to be named Ezekiel, when he heard the constant knocking. He excused himself from the company of his newfound friend and descended numerous flights of stairs.

Nobody should have been able to find the menagerie. Even weirder, nobody should be able to knock so loud as to be heard throughout the entire building.

Xurd came to the front the door and yanked it open with great furry.

“What is it?” He yelled out and instantly froze.

“Hello, Xurd.” Zhei said, his voice low and hoarse.

Covered up with a raggedy, old cloak, once obviously black, but now faded and grayish, the fox stood under the pouring rain, unmoving.

“Oh…hey, Zhei. Wans’t really expecting you.” Xurd scratched the back of his head.

Zhei lifted up his eyes. His hood cast a shadow over his face, but his eyes were cold. Collected, yet menacing.

“When we parted way a week ago…” Zhei said, his tone lethargic, but not in its usual way. “…you mentioned that you’ll need a wizard.”

“I…I did…” Xurd said cautiously. His hand rested on his back, placed over his knife. He wasn’t planning on hurting the fox, but he knew that something wasn’t right with him and he wasn’t willing to take any chances.

Zhei slowly turned his head off to the side, staring off into the forest, his usual lack of focus manifesting in a most grim way.

“Are you still looking for one?” he said.

“I am.”

Zhei’s eyes turned back to the minotaur.

“Are you willing to accept me?”

Xurd’s hand let go of his knife.

“I am. But weren’t you planning on quitting?”

“I was. But you know it doesn’t work like that, right?”

Xurd exhaled. He stepped aside and opened the door fully, motioning the fox to come in.

“Far too well, my friend.” Xurd said. “I take it…you are done with that wolf-boy?”

“Apparently the heart grows frustrated when weeks are spent by your lonesome.” Zhei replied in a cryptic manner.

“I see you are starting to adopt some of the wizarding methods…” Xurd closed the door behind the fox. “You didn’t…hurt him, right?”

“No…” Zhei said absentmindedly, taking off his cloak.

“Can I offer you a drink?”

“Might as well…”