REAL MAGIC

At this point in my life, there is very little that brings me any real joy.  In my younger years, I was always so optimistic and filled with hope.  Time on this Earth, however, would prove to wear those naïve feelings down and cast them into the wind.  They say people usually find happiness in things like family, money, love and passion.  With all of my family at peace, my wife gone in the wind and already quitting my miserable IT job, my only source of happiness is my passion.  My passion…as a magician.

“Is…this your card!?” I asked the birthday girl.

She giggled, but was sure to cover the cute gap in her teeth.  “No!”  The audience of parents and elementary schoolers laughed.

“Huh?  Really?”  I looked at the card as if I were puzzled.  “Well I must’ve put it somewhere…”   I turned around as if I had no idea where the card was.  I even scratched my head under my hat for comedic effect.  

As always, the kids bursted into laughter.  “It’s stuck on your hat!”

“Wha?” I turned around and looked back at them.  “It’s where?”

“On your hat!” the birthday girl said.  I took my hat off, but looked at the top first.  “Nooo on the back!”

“Oh!  Is this your card?”  She said yes, and everyone would give me a firm round of applause.  I could tell by the parent’s faces that a healthy tip was to come my way.  The money is nice…but that’s hardly why I do this.  The wonder, the skill to trick the eyes and minds of others, the happiness it brings them in that moment--this is why I do what I do.

Darrel, the birthday girl’s father, would meet me afterward to cut me a check.  “Here.”

I requested three hundred, but he gave me five!  “Mr. Porter, this is too much!”

“Nonono, you earned it.  The kids absolutely loved you and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate how un-creepy you are around them.  You got a card or a website?”

“I have many cards, but none for business purposes.  You would think after ten years of this I would.  I’ll give you my number if that will suffice.”

“Sure!”  I then thrust my hand toward his table and out would come what would appear to be a slurry of cards.  Upon further inspection, he found that they were in the order of a phone number.  “Son of a bitch,” he said with a delighted smirk.  He snapped a pic of the cards with his phone.  

I arrived back in my dingy, tiny apartment.  As soon as the party was over and I got in my car, all the joy I felt seeped away.  I wish I could hold on to those feelings like how normal people do, but there is very little in my life to be happy about.  Maybe it's my fault for not making more friends or publicizing myself to make more money.  The reason I don’t is because I see no point.  This world does nothing but take.  It took away all of my loved ones and in turn, my ability to love anything without expecting it to one day be taken from me.  All but my magic.  No matter what happens, this world will never be able to take that from me.  

I took a long shower as I usually do at the end of the day.  I had to cut it short because I heard a suspicious thud come from the kitchen.  When I came out to pour myself a drink, I would find two masked men in my kitchen.  We all froze upon seeing one another.  I knew what was happening, but I couldn’t move.  Finally, the man on the right raised his right arm and aimed a gun straight for me.  I thought that if I ever got into a situation like this, that I would have no fear.  With so little to appreciate, I thought--even found solace in the fact that death no longer scared me like it used to.  So why…why do I fear for my life now?

“Be cool, old man,” he said.

“I have nothing,” I pleaded.  “Please…please don’t shoot.”  My trembling hands were lifted and open.  Tears started to well in my eyes.

“Let’s go!” the other said.  Quickly, they booked it out of the front door.

My already depressing apartment was now in shambles.  Even with my life as empty it is, I was still scared to die.  How pathetic am I to actually want to continue living?  I used to see death as my one and only true escape from all of my sorrows…but I still fear it.  If I can’t enjoy my life and I still fear my death, what am I supposed to do!?  I was so naïve to believe this world couldn’t take my magic from me, but of course it can!  

The tension left my body and my legs would become weak.  My back hit the wall behind me and I slid to my rear.  Experiencing this would do well to dredge up my pained past.  All of my failures and tragedies would resurface.  For the first time since my mother and father died in a tragic accident, I cried like a newborn.

“Please, brother, raise your head.”

A new voice would speak to me.  I raised my head from my hands to find someone clad in tattered robes with overlapping, circular patterns.  I presumed it was a woman, but their face was not visible under their large hood.  I shot back up to my feet.  “Wh--who are you!?”

“You can refer to me as Echo.  I come from another world attached to your own, but separated.  I have been watching you for quite some time.  Your love and passion for magic can not survive in a world devoid of just that.  I want you to bring real magic to this world.”

Something about the mysterious person’s presence called to me.  I hung on every one of their words.  “What do you mean by ‘real’ magic?” I asked.

Echo would reveal their arm from underneath their cloak.  They wore a long, leather glove and bandages that covered every inch of their skin.  They then closed their hand.  Just what will they do?  What is this real magic?  Finally, they opened their hand to reveal…a baby chick?

“Uhhh…I mean that was impressive…but even I can--.”  Then, a second chick would appear next to the first out of thin air.  “Oh!  Okay I see--.”  Two would turn into four, four would turn into eight and soon enough, I had an entire army of chicks that flooded the surface of my apartment.  “I--I can’t believe this!”  

“This is what I mean by real magic,” Echo said, still summoning more chicks.  In my world, many are able to manipulate specific particles found in everything.  They build our universe like how atoms build yours.  Since our worlds are connected, your atoms travel to mine, and my particles into yours.  You don’t have the necessary genetic structure to sense them, but I will--.”

“S--sorry to interrupt, but it's hard to hear you over all these--.”  They would return to her hand as if she had a vacuum meant for chicks specifically.  When they touched Echo’s palm, they would vanish.  “Thank you.”

“As I was saying, real magic is manipulating these particles with your will and imagination.  The greater the will, the greater the spell.  You can’t feel these particles like I do since you were born here.  If you accept, I will give you the means and ability to manipulate these particles.”

“I mean…it seems amazing--truly wondrous…but why?”

“I, just like you, thrive on sharing my experience with magic.  I only share it with those like you and I.  So?”

“...Why not?”

“Excellent.  Here!”  She waved her cape and out would come a monocle and wand that landed perfectly in my hands.   “The eyeglass will show you the particles while the wand will help you manipulate them.  Remember, it is through your will that spells are created.”

I placed the monocle on my face, and sure enough, I found the air and surfaces to be littered with tiny, shimmering speckles of light.  When I looked at Echo, they would be so covered that I couldn’t even see them.  “....Incredible!”

Echo chuckled.  “You’ve yet to even manipulate them.  Why not try making…a new deck of cards?”

“Why not?  So…I just wave the wand and--?” Sure enough, one wave would pull a bundle of particles my way.  They gathered at the tip of the wand to form one, brimming light.  With a flick, a deck of cards would spawn in midair and fall to the floor.  I stared at the mess of cards at my feet in absolute awe.  “I just made it…out of nothing…”

“Excellent,” Echo said.  “Continue to use it, and you will find the fulfillment you desire.”  Suddenly, all the lights in the room began to flicker before turning off completely for only half of a second. Within that half-second, Echo had vanished.

I wondered about many things, but her last words would intrigue me the most.  “The fulfillment I desire…”  I snapped out of my stupor to realize my front door was still wide open.  I took a step forward to step on some cards and something awfully wet and squishy.  It took me until now to realize the mess on my floor.  “And for my next trick…making bird poop disappear.”

For the next three months, I used and studied magic thoroughly.  The magic particles that crossed from Echo’s ‘world’ seemed to be attracted by many things we already perceived as magical.  I would find most of them spawn or gather in places like wiccan stores or the tarot card store near my apartment.  No one could actually manipulate them like myself or Echo, but some almost seemed to show a slight awareness.  I presume since I am a magic aficionado that the particles seemed attracted to me as well.  As a matter of fact, I found myself completely covered in them most times.

As for my magic shows…they had become better than ever!  I could do or make up any trick I so desire.  I went what they call “viral” when I displayed my newest trick where I used a conjured sheet to cover someone in the audience.  Through my will, I made it so the sheet would use the magic particles to make the audience member float.  After showboating by making them hover around, I brought them back to the ground and removed the sheet…to reveal a pair of bunnies.  Seeing the crowd’s expressions of intrigue and shock--I can still remember it fondly.  As for the audience member…the audience would be appalled when I picked the cloth back up and waved it to conjure their friend.  I could have made her literally disappear before their eyes and make her float, but where’s the fun in that?  Anyways, they had filmed me and people started to book me left and right!  Before I knew it, I had a show every day--some of which I wouldn’t even need to use real magic.  The joy and wonder it brought made me realize even more that this was what I was meant for.  Slowly, but surely, I could feel the fulfillment in my soul that Echo promised.  For once in quite some time, I looked forward to my days ahead.

There was another very important discovery that came from these three months.  The magic particles…at times, it was as if they had a will of their own.  When there were enough concentrated in one area, they would sometimes manifest and affect our world.  On one hand, they performed amazing miracles.  During a free show I did for some kids in the children's hospital, a mother told her son that she would do absolutely anything to make him feel better and give him a normal childhood.  At that moment, the magic particles in the room went into him…and sure enough, I got a call from the mother saying his disease had vanished!  

Magic, however, seemed to be like a coin.  On the other side would lie tragedy.  I performed a show for a family who had invited their neighbors.  I could tell there was some strange tension between the two husbands.  With enough time and alcohol, they revealed to me that one of them had quite the chip on their shoulder with the neighbor making more money and being better looking.  Sadly, his wife seemed to agree and would occasionally flirt with him.  I don’t know what he was thinking that night, but it was as if his emotions and feelings made magic particles gather all around his neighbor where they would eventually make their way into his body.  As I was leaving, the neighbor collapsed.  The paramedics at the time could not pinpoint a cause of death…

In this time, I wondered if my joy in using magic would have any sort of adverse effect on my world.  I would soon find my answer…

I awoke that morning to a roar so loud that it shook my entire apartment.  Quickly, I ran to my window and opened the blinds.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  In the sky, magic particles had gathered and tore a hole open in the air itself!  A hideous beast reared its head from inside.  I had only seen such a monster in movies and depictions. “...A dragon?”  Its claws peaked out of the hole and attempted to further pry it open.  For a moment, it looked like it had succeeded until the hole snapped back and prevented it from further entering our world.  It roared once more in frustration.

“Brother, with me,” Echo’s voice said from behind.  Their cloak would then cover my eyes, and when I blinked, I was standing on top of a tall building.

They would now stand to my right.  “Echo!  What is this!?” I asked.

“With your spells, we have finally weakened the barrier between our worlds.  Your magic casting has increased the magic particle concentration of this world.  The barrier is now struggling to differentiate our worlds and will soon combine them!”

“How is that a good thing!?”

Before they answered, the dragon would open its jaws and let loose a surge of scorching flames that swept over a few buildings in the distance.  “Because with magic in your world, the ones who dictate it are the ones who can control it!  No longer must you sit in your sorrows wishing your life could be different.  Those without the ability to cast magic will look to you as a teacher, guide and most of all…a hero.” they said, now gesturing to the dragon.  “Let the beast in and slay it!  Glory, power and fame await you, my brother.”  

“...”  I raised my wand and pointed it toward the Dragon. I focused hard while flicking the wand outward.  With a large swish, and one final flick, I casted a spell I was not quite sure would work.

“No…NOOOOO!”  By Echo’s response, I was successful.  Millions of magic particles would retreat back into the hole made by the ferocious dragon.  They buffeted him to no end, forcing it to retreat back into its hole.  “YOU FOOL!” Echo roared.  “I gave you everything you needed to attain happiness!  Why would you rid this world of magic!?”

I smiled at Echo, but I too was sad.  “Don’t get me wrong, your deal sounds absolutely incredible…but I’m not so filled with misery that I would subject an entire world to something that was not meant to be here in the first place.  However, I thank you…giving me the opportunity has made me learn so much about myself.  Spreading the joy of magic is my calling--and I refuse to let others suffer as I have in order to attain that joy.  What good is magic if it does not bring happiness and wonder?”

The particles that made up  Echo began to float toward the hole as well.  “I will be back…and you will regret this.”   Slowly, they vanished into thin air.

In time, the particles would continue to enter our world.  When the concentration became too heavy, I casted a spell to send it back. These were the only times I would ever use real magic.  Even though it had mostly gone from our world, the happiness I gained would stay.  I realized when using real magic, that what held me back from feeling fulfilled and happy was my own mindset.  The tragic events in my life had done well to muddle my senses, but my recent experience seemed to light a new fire in my belly to share my version of magic with the world.  Unlike before, I would use those negative emotions as fuel to create new ideas and tricks.  No longer would I allow my emotional scars dictate my life.  

“The party was fantastic!  You’re really as great as they say,” my newest customer said.  

“I appreciate your kind words.  Please refer me to any others who may wish to be astonished,” I said with a bright smile.  

“Absolutely!  Have a card?”

“As of just yesterday,  I do!”  I reached in my suit pocket and handed her one with pride.  Oddly, she seemed a bit disappointed.  “Is everything alright?”

“No--well…it’s just that I heard you do some kinda cool card trick to give out your phone number was all.”

I chuckled as I prepared my secret deck under my sleeve.  “Very well then,” I said happily.