Magical

Editorial Note: this story was inspired by

Scoot

‘s prompt: write about a Wizard. It follows Secret Relic, The Call, and Sunflower and the Commander.

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“They’ve never noticed us,” Vencentus the Mighty grumbled to himself as he calculated the position of the final ley line that would ensure his Incantation of Power would be fully activated. It was a common theme with him; his tiny city-state was tucked away somewhere in Europe, lost among the great-power conflicts and wars cold and hot, not even worth a sidebar in most geopolitical analyses. “I will make them notice us.”

“Hi,” a voice said in the doorway of his chamber. “I’m Tasha. You okay in there?”

“What?” Vencentus said. He turned, hoping it was a temporary illusion brought on by the strain of attempting to conjure so much powerful magic. It wasn’t.

There she stood, a woman of medium height, brown-haired, wearing drab clothes and seemingly unarmed. Vencentus could see nothing intimidating about her at all, not even with the Eye of Unseeing. An American, surely, who’d gotten themselves lost. It happened, even in their tiny corner of Europe. He hated it.

“I’m fine,” he said brusquely. “Go away.” He turned his attention back to his calculations. The final coordinates needed to be written out just so…

“I can’t, sorry,” Tasha said. “I’m with the Department of Engagement with Risk-Identified Persons. You’re tampering with forces you shouldn’t tamper with. You need to stop.”

Now he was annoyed. “I am Vencentus the Mighty, Grand Master of-”

Tasha cut in before he could even get properly into his monologue. “No, you’re not, your real name is Eugene Flem, you work for a flower shop, you picked up an old book at a shop that talked about magic and you decided to try it out because you’re profoundly bored with your life. Now, let it go and move on, okay? Get another book, meet a girl, see the world-”

“I mean to conquer the world!” Vencentus said, losing his temper in a fury and instantly conjuring a lightning storm that ripped through his chamber and tore a good bit of it to shreds.

“Oh, crap,” Tasha said, backpedaling rapidly. She hadn’t realized the guy had gotten this far, had even questioned the need for the usual backup drone. Now she didn’t. She shot a rapid mental command.

What the lightning hadn’t fried, the drone exploded. Vencentus crawled out of the wreckage, smoldering both literally and figuratively. “I’ll get you for this, you mercenary little-'“

“Save it,” Tasha said, hitting him with her surprise sleeve blaster. Vencentus crumpled.

She shook her head, staring at the shattered remains of his workshop. She was starting to hate her assignments dealing with magic. First the relic, now this… “You know what,” Tasha said, “I’m done. Next magic mission that comes up, I’m calling in sick. You watch me. I will.”

Little did she know what would happen next.