Aurora’s World: Calix: Knowledge, Unchangeable Knowledge
Sauin was the first magic user to bloom, almost five centuries before Calix had. Sauin was the son of the king, the crown prince because his older brother had died young, and ever since that day the number of magic users had slowly grown. Before Calix’s life had changed it had been hard for him to believe there had been no magic users in the kingdom before that day, and it wasn’t known until a century after that at least one child of the king would have powers. As he walked through the palace he thought about what was to come, because it was likely that there would be a time when there were no magic users in the kingdom once again.
Ever since the crown prince, Calix’s older brother, had married Tuula, a woman from a kingdom where magic had already been made illegal and all magic users were executed, Calix had found himself being slowly sidelined. No one asked for his opinions, the way they had before her arrival, and people he had grown up with looked at him as though he might hurt them. Every time he saw that look in someone’s eyes he felt a pang of pain.
Calix knew what Tuula thought of him. It was obvious when he looked into her eyes and he didn’t doubt that she was looking for a way to get rid of him for good. He wanted to be able to talk to his brother, the way they had before Tuula, and share his problems, but knew that would be playing into her hands. Either his brother wouldn’t want to believe what he said or Tuula would say that he was being paranoid, and both would make it worse for him.
When Calix unlocked the door to his rooms he thought about Sauin. Calix wondered what it must have been like to be the first magic user, how Sauin would have convinced others that he had powers, and whether there was someone who looked at him in the same way that Tuula looked at Calix. Sighing, he stepped into his rooms and locked the door behind him, because he didn’t trust her. It was even getting to the point where he didn’t trust his own family or anyone else in the palace. He hated feeling that way, he hated knowing that she had done it, but there was nothing he could do to change the way he felt.
Even though he had made sure that the door was locked every night Calix had found it hard to sleep. He doubted that Tuula knew how to lock pick, but that didn’t stop him from worrying. A lot of his time was spent wondering what Tuula might be saying about him or magic users in general. He ran a hand through his hair. Maybe he’d been complacent. Slowly the hatred of magic was passing through all the kingdoms in the land, so really it was only a matter of time before his kingdom, his father’s kingdom, followed the example of their neighbours.
Up until the day Tuula had walked into the palace Calix had believed that he could convince his family that magic itself wasn’t bad. Being a magic user didn’t automatically make someone evil. Yes, there were those people who would use their powers in the wrong way, in the same way that someone could use a knife to hurt someone rather than just to gut a rabbit, but that wasn’t the majority. Then she had started telling stories about the magic users in her kingdom. With every day that passed she made it seem as though having powers made the person wielding them unstable, because she had an unlimited supply of stories about magic users who had worked against the king in his endeavour to make all magic illegal. In all honesty Calix wasn’t surprised that people had worked against it. Having magic did make some things easier, depending on what powers the user had.
Running his hand through his hair again, Calix couldn’t help wondering if that was part of the reason why some people disliked magic users. Anyone who didn’t have the ability to make their lives a little easier using magic would be jealous. It made him wish he could give everyone powers, so those jealous people could see that having powers was much harder than it seemed. Blooming was just the beginning of learning to control their powers and every day there was the possibility that the magic user might lose control. Thankfully, very few people did lose control, and there were safe powers that did make it less of a worry.
When Tuula arrived, and it became obvious what was happening, magic users had slowly begun leaving the kingdom, hoping to find somewhere they would be safe. It had crossed Calix’s mind, several times, that the only way he would keep his life would be to leave, but he wasn’t going to. The other magic users in the kingdom, whether he knew them personally or not, needed someone to keep fighting for their rights, and he saw that as his duty, no matter what happened to him because of it. Some magic users didn’t want to leave the kingdom and some couldn’t.
Calix’s best friend could see the future, so he knew that the history books would one day talk about him as the man who made a mistake that led to magic being made illegal. Unfortunately neither of them knew what it was going to be. Sighing, he sat down at his desk and tried not to think about what was to come, but he couldn’t stop himself. Leaving the kingdom would be a mistake, not only because of the other magic users. It could easily be used against him, to make him seem guilty of doing something he hadn’t done, in the same way that staying could, so really nothing he could do was right. Nothing would save him from being the man written about in the history books.
Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.