Law of Shadows

“One last spell to end it.”

- A memory of the Old Ones.

***Carinthia***

***Magnus***

Sely takes a peek into my workroom. “Magnus? Why don't you come out of your room? The others are all waiting at the table. Oilell roasted a really tasty beef fillet.” It's the first time that she visited me in here. It’s located in the mansion’s basement where I can conduct my work in peace.

Half of the room is a large storage area with long rows of storage racks. They are filled with countless items. All of them enchanted. It’s a given that, as someone who fights with magical tools, I'd need a large reserve of my consumables.

Many people choose to fight with only their own power. There is value in being strong without having to rely on proper equipment. But my cards and dices have often won a fight which I should’ve lost without them. So I’ll never give up on enchanted items.

I grunt. “Just allow me to finish this card.”

When she realizes that I am working on new enchanted items, she enters the room to take a look around. “Whoa, you have quite a lot of equipment for enchanting. Don't tell me that it's your speciality? After I saw you fight, I thought that you specialize in force magic.”

She studies the shelves with enchanted items. Boxes, cards, cubes. Most of them are items which people come across every day.

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I shrug and add some glue to the upper side of the magic card. The card is a common shock spell and I found it funny to turn it into reality. “I am not bad at force magic. Placing an enchantment on an item needs a lot of control, which is an aspect of force magic. Most people who are good at force magic, are also good enchanters. The required talents for both traits are very similar.”

She picks up a little box. “Chewing gum? Seriously?”

I draw in a sharp breath. “Please put that down. Those can blow up the whole mansion!”

Sely furrows her forehead and very carefully places the chewing gum back on the shelf. “Why would you enchant chewing gum with an explosion spell!?”

I clear my throat. “Because nobody expects it. The last time I used them, I fed one to a fae and sent her back to Fairy.”

“That's devious.” She nods, appreciating the idea.

I concentrate on my work. Before Sely entered the room, I had detached the card's front and backside from each other. Then I'd used a special technique to add a little magical circle to the inside of the card. All I have to do now, is to attach the two halves to each other and place the correct enchantment on it.

Sely halts in mid step and studies the device on the table next to me. “Are you serious? You are using a 3D-printer to print magical circuits into your cards!?”

“Don't laugh. It's a special technique. If I add enough metal to the filament, it becomes conductive and carries enchantments much easier. The spell doesn't dissolve with time like it would normally.” I press the two halves together, satisfied that there is no excess glue on the edges. Then I weigh down the card with a heavy tome which serves no other purpose than to weigh down my cards while the glue dries.

I smile at Sely. “Enchanting items isn’t only about creating the most powerful weapons. The strongest trait of an enchanter is that he can turn anything into a weapon. Unless my opponents know me well, they would never expect that a thrown dice could spell their doom. The same goes for the doormat over there.”

Sely tilts her head and studies the item. “What will happen if I step on it?”

“You will most likely lose your foot. The mat is enchanted with a powerful disintegration spell. I advice not to test it.” My eyes wander to Sely’s belly. She is showing now. Not much, but anyone with an eye for detail can see her pregnancy by now. “Are you sure that you don’t want to check on it? If we know the gender, we can choose a name.”

She snorts. “I want it to be a surprise. And as for the name, we can choose that anyway. What do you think of Helmut if it’s a boy, and Kaia if it’s a girl?”

“Maybe Hatlix if it’s a boy, Eleanor if it’s a girl?” I suggest. I am not really into this hypothetical approach. My only reason for mentioning the names was a small hope to learn the child’s gender. I don’t understand why Sely wants it to be a surprise.

“Eleanor is acceptable, but using your grandfather’s name is just bad taste.” She turns around and heads for the door. “Come on. Oilell can’t keep the food warm forever.”

On her way out, her eyes stay stuck to a small pedestal. On top of it lies an orb, pulsing with a faint light. “Is that the orb from our banner? What’s it doing here? I thought you would protect something so important better.”

I get up and walk over to the pedestal. “Depends on how you see it. The real thing is hidden deep down in the mansion’s dungeon. This one is a weak copy which I made. I wanted something like a personal power stone, small enough to carry it around. The real one emits so much magic that it’s hard to wield. Certainly not an item for practical purposes. More like a doomsday device.

“The poweroutput of this one is much easier to wield, but I never managed to hide the stray energy emissions. Inside the reality marble it’s no big deal, since the whole area is saturated with magic. In the real world, it’s a very different matter. It’s as if you're carrying around a damn foghorn, combined with a flashlight. Every supernatural in the territory who can sense magic will know that something is on. Until I’ve solved that issue, I don’t want to use it.”

Sely’s expression turns into a broad grin. “It would still be a very useful item if you don’t care about announcing your presence.” Then she notices the Horus on my table. “What did you do!”

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I look at the disassembled artefact. “I studied the magical circle inside it. The circuit was cast in gold, so I had to scrape off the surface. I must admit that the enchantment is very tricky. It won’t be easy to ward my Veil against it.”

“It was a priceless artefact!”

I raise an eyebrow. “The cost of the materials lies somewhere around two hundred Euros and it takes about an hour to make a new one. I doubt that it’s priceless.”

Sely gapes at me. “You can make a new one? But you said that it will be hard to protect your Veil against it. What about the other items with which we paid you?”

I smile about her obvious shock at discovering a new side of my talents. Seems like she isn’t the only one who learned a few things in her long life. “I said that it will be hard to secure my Veil against it. It’s not hard to replicate the enchantment. I didn’t take your payment because the items have any real worth to me. It’s just interesting to take apart the work of other enchanters. Sometimes, I come across an unconventional solution to a problem and learn something new. Like with the Horus.”