Embarkation

 
It was lunchtime, and Fiona and Mary walked to the cafeteria of their high school. Kyle was waiting at the cafeteria door, as usual.

“Hey Fiona, where are all your friends?”

“Go away Kyle.”

“Oh, I forgot, that's your only one.”

“She is not my only friend. Go away.”

“Just ignore him.” Mary suggested.

“He is such a pain in the ass.”, Fiona mentioned to Mary, deliberately talking as though Kyle wasn't there.

“Don't let him get to you. That's what he's trying to do. Just ignore him.”

As they walked by him into the cafeteria, Kyle threw a pen at Fiona, and jeered, “You dropped your pen!”

Fiona turned and picked it up, and looked angry enough to throw it back at him. He fled in mock surprise, laughing at her. He knew she wasn't going to throw it back because that would mean she was stooping to his level. She dropped it on the floor and kept walking with Mary.

“Ugh, why does he keep doing that?”

“Because you don't stick up for yourself. That makes you an easy target.”

“And why didn't you yell at him or something like usual?”

“You need to stick up for yourself. I was trying to leave you an opening so that you could do that this time.”

“He's so childish and immature. He needs to grow up.”

“Why don't you remember to tell him that when he's bothering you?”

“I don't know. Anyway, I don't want to think about it any more. Let's just get lunch. I'm starving!”

***

Fiona stepped off the school bus and made her way up the driveway. It had been a long, boring day at high school. Kyle's usual tricks didn't help either. She unlocked the door, walked in and locked it, and then went upstairs. As she dropped her books on the floor of her room, she was taken completely by surprise. A powerful and odd sensation, like nothing she had ever experienced, prompted her to look over to her bed. On her bed was an envelope and a book. She slowly walked over to her bed, and sat down to take a closer look. The envelope simply had her first name, `Fiona' handwritten on it.

The book seemed heavier than she originally thought. The binding was of dark brown leather, and it looked very well used. Fiona couldn't remember ever handling a book bound in leather. There was an ornate circular symbol, and the words “First Steps: Being an Introductory Treatise on the Use of Magik” handwritten in black ink, only somewhat distinguishable from the colour of the cover.

That's odd, she thought, isn't magic spelt with a “c”? Come to think of it, I've seen it spelt “magick”, but not “magik”. She rifled through the book's pages, and saw that they were all blank.

“Huh?” She wondered aloud. “Is this supposed to be some kind of diary?”

She opened the envelope roughly with her fingers, and took out the letter. It was also handwritten.

 
The Protectorate has offered you this book so that you may understand the Ability that you have. Your Ability is a rare gift, and the talent to control the gift, rarer. This book will first help you to realize you have a gift that most people have not. As you continue to explore this book, you will gain the talent to control your Ability. Not everyone who has the Ability has seen this book, and some with the Ability never will.

You must discuss this book with no one. Ask not your parents, for it does not pass directly from parent to child. If you attempt to show this book to people who have not the Ability, it will appear not to them. If you rustle the pages, those without the Ability will hear them not. If you press further to make those who have not the Ability aware of the book's existence, The Protectorate will reclaim the book as easily as it has been left for you.

More information about The Protectorate you will not find in this book, for it is an organization shrouded in secrecy, and must remain that way. As you progress through the book, more and more chapters will become open to you. Once you finish the third chapter a member of the Protectorate will meet with you to discuss the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of membership. The fact that this book is in your hands shows you The Protectorate has invested considerable time in ensuring you will be able to meet the requirements of membership. However, an organisation which forces membership on its members will eventually crumble. It is the strong hope of The Protectorate that you become a member, however, it is your choice to make.

If you choose to become a member after completing the Chapter Three, you will immediately be granted the rank of Initiate, and you may continue reading the book at your leisure. You will be free to leave The Protectorate at any time.

If you choose not to become a member, you will not be allowed to continue to read the book. It will be reclaimed.

Now that you have read this preface, the first chapter will be open to you.

 
Good Luck,
The Protectorate

 
“Kind of clumsy writing. It seems like someone's trying to write like Shakespeare, but I'm getting tired just trying to read it. Open to me?” In confusion, she looked at the book again. “Now I see chapter one written here! I hope the book isn't written like the letter.”

She looked at her watch. As usual, she would have about an hour and a half until her mom got home. Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt to read a little, she thought. I wasn't going to do my homework before supper anyway. She threw the letter and envelope on the bed, and started reading the book, not even taking the time to get up and sit at her desk.

 
First Steps: Chapter One: Feeling Your Energy


Those with the Ability naturally attract magikal energy. You probably aren't aware of this energy right now, but this chapter will show it to you and teach you how to feel it.

To help you, this book has its own energy, and some of the examples will use it up. Once an example has been completed, you will need to provide your own magikal energy to perform the example again. The book will show you the way, but after you complete an example, you will not need the book to perform it again.

Magikal energy is a type of energy, just like heat, light, sound and movement. The difference between it and other forms of energy is that most people feel heat, see light, hear sound, and feel movement, but only those with the Ability can feel and use magikal energy. Popular works of fiction and some role playing games refer to “mana”, and this is a simple word to say and write, so when we refer to mana, it is magikal energy that we are talking about.

The first example will reveal to you where around you your mana is and how much of it you have. People have the Ability to varying degrees. If your Ability is strong, you will attract mana faster, and your mana will be packed more tightly around you. Mana is not bound by matter or other types of energy. It will flow through air, water, light, stone and fire with equal ease.

When you finish reading this page, and turn to the next, you will see your mana around you as a blue fog. The denser the fog, the denser the mana. Shortly thereafter, the fog will dissipate. When the fog dissipates, it will dissipate from the centre outward, so you will be able to see how far away from you it stretches.

 
She turned the page. Suddenly, the book glowed a soft blue, and the fog formed quickly in the same colour. It was difficult for her to see. She could only make out the book, parts of the bed and herself. After a few moments, the fog started to dissipate, and a few moments after that, she saw the edge of a sphere of fog reaching out to the far wall, and she was in the centre. Then the fog vanished. She continued reading.

 
When the fog first formed, if you were unable to see the edge of the fog, then you have the Ability strongly. If you were still able to see everything around you, then you have the Ability weakly. Remember, it is not black and white, strong and weak, but shades of grey, in degrees. No two people have exactly the same strength.

 
Her final traces of doubt were completely gone by this point. Her world had changed. She checked her watch again, and noticed she had an hour until her mom came home. “I've been looking at this book for half an hour? Where did the time go?”, she wondered aloud.

 
It is time for you to feel what you just saw with your mind. You now know that you have the Ability, and you now know your mana is surrounding you at this very moment. It can travel through all forms of matter and energy and it forms a sphere around you, called your mana field. This book also has its own supply of mana imbued within it. First, you will learn to feel this book's mana. When you first walked into the area around the book, you likely felt its power. It was probably a feeling you would not be able to describe to another person, because it is likely you have never felt it before, and were never taught the language to describe it.

 
“So that was what that feeling was...”

 
At the end of this paragraph, leave the book where you found it, and walk away from the book. Go further away than when you first experienced the sensation, then back toward the book again. You will likely start to feel it again when the periphery of your mana field crosses the book. Do this several times to orient yourself with the feeling, until the feeling becomes more familiar to you.

 
Fiona walked out of the room and waited for a moment to try to contain her excitement and nervousness. She walked back into the room and felt the strange sensation again. She also felt tingling down the back of her spine. She walked in and out of the room a few times until she no longer felt the tingling in her spine. She walked back to the bed.

She noticed that the letter and envelope were gone. She walked over to the bed, and felt for them, as if they had turned invisible to her. She couldn't see them or feel them. I know I threw them on the bed, she thought. Oh well, maybe they slipped down the side. She continued reading.

 
Now you know how to experience the feeling you are searching for. Imagine that this feeling is a sixth sense. You have always had it, and you have always felt your mana around you with this sixth sense. Over time you have learned not to pay attention to it because the amount of mana around you doesn't change unless you start to use it up. If you ever noticed that you felt it again, or tried to describe it to someone else, they wouldn't understand, because they don't have the sixth sense that you do. Until now, you didn't know what to do with the information you were getting, but now you know what it is. Imagine that this information you are getting is similar to the sensation of touch. You can touch things, and move them around with your hands. You can use this sixth sense to feel and manipulate mana in the same way.

Try to once again feel the mana around you, as you once did as a child, not knowing what that feeling was, and unable to communicate it to others. Concentrate on the same experiences you had when you walked in the room, and use those experiences to guide your search. Remember the size and density of the blue fog you saw earlier. Now search for that fog again, only with your sixth sense, your magikal awareness, instead of with your eyes.

 
Entranced by the words and the meaning behind them, Fiona gradually started concentrating on the experiences she had had. She remembered the fog that had surrounded her before. She was just starting to feel something when she heard the door unlock. She quickly put the book back on the bed, dived into her backpack, and grabbed the book she was supposed to be reading for English class, “Who has seen the wind”, by W.O. Mitchell. As she picked it up, her mom walked in the door downstairs. Phew, just in time, she thought. Fiona walked to her door.

“Hi, honey.”

“Hi, mom.”

“Anything interesting happen today at school?”

She hesitated and said, “No.”

“Is that book for English class?”

“Yep.”

“We're going to have lasagne for supper.”

“Great! I can't wait.”

To herself, she thought, I can't wait to keep reading that book. She remembered reading that those without the Ability would not be able to see the book, so she thought it was safe for now to sit on the bed. She also realized that if someone caught her reading the book, it would look like she was staring at her hands. She started reading the book for English, but couldn't put the other book out of her mind.

She couldn't concentrate on what she was reading, so she just set the English book back down. She closed her eyes and concentrated again on feeling her mana. After what seemed like a full minute, she started to feel the mana all around her. She kept at it, each time reducing the amount of time it took to find her mana slightly. Her mom's voice broke her concentration.

“Honey?”

Fiona opened her eyes. “Yes, mom?”

“Are you tired?”

“Yeah, it was really boring at school today.”

“Maybe you should go to sleep earlier tonight.”

“Mom, I'm 17 years old. I think I know when to go to sleep.”

“Alright, alright. Could you come and set the table for me, please?”

Fiona hestitated slightly, and gave in. She set the table quickly and returned to her room. She picked up the book for English again, and tried to read, but the words didn't sink in. Her mind kept wandering to the other book. She shut the door to block out the sounds of supper being made, but it wasn't what was keeping her mind from her homework.

After more struggle to read the book for English, her father came home. She knew it must be close to supper time. She could hear her father and mother talking through the closed door, but couldn't make out the words. After a moment, she opened the door, and walked downstairs.

“Hi dad.”

“Hi honey. Anything interesting happen at school today?”

“No.”

“Your mother tells me you were actually getting homework done before supper today. I'm impressed.“

“Well, I have to get two chapters read by tomorrow.”

“Supper is in about 10 minutes.”

“Thanks.”

She went back up to her room, and started to take notes to force herself through the book for English. Supper was good, but she was preoccupied, and participated even less than usual in her parents' discussions. After supper, she went back to her room and closed her door again. She worked on her ability to find her mana until it only took a second or two with only a little concentration.

Fiona looked her watch again, and was surprised to see that it was getting late. After the effort of the day's mental concentration, she was able to fall asleep easily.