Chapter V: Old Sparks

Virgil is about to practice charms with Carson, but he forgets one thing.

Virgil’s head didn’t hit the ground, did it? Everything sure appeared dizzy after falling like that… But as long as no bones were broken, it’s fine.

Before he could tell Carson to not run downstairs, Carson had already arrived next to him.

“Virgil?! You good?”

“Yeah…”

Virgil pushed himself up, as his balance was still unoriented from the crash. Guess he’s still not used to having just one eye, considering how it made him clumsier in all ways. But even then, it’s been years since the accident.

After getting up, Virgil and Carson headed to the living room, as they moved some chairs away—to make some space to practice charms. Just by preparing, the fond memories of Virgil’s excitement towards charms returned—along with the memories of losing an eye from a self-inflicted accident, and how he was practically useless to his family’s work afterward. At the thoughts of each event unfolding that time, he sweated.

But now that he had gotten a grip on his metalworking job once again, trying charms again wouldn’t hurt, right? After years of recovery and avoiding charms, this might be a good time to practice it again.

Now that Virgil made some space inside the living room, he skimmed through the book’s basics again. Charms—it was said to be an art of imbuing magical essence onto clothes or gems, using complex phrases from the ancient ages—which Virgil would need some time to get used to that language again. For power, defense, speed, and so on—they were all the ways he could enhance things with charms.

Now that he was about to practice charms again, he remembered one thing.

He didn’t bring any clothes from the upstairs, or even leave any clothes behind on this floor. Despite how Carson just got a bunch of new clothes earlier, it might be a better idea to use some of Virgil’s clothes instead.

Virgil was sure he had some fabrics that stood well to charms. And that was what he thought—until he checked his wardrobe and scanned through his clothes. None of them were great for charms, but they were good enough.

“Virgil, look,” Carson called from behind.

“Yeah?”

As Virgil turned back, Carson showed him a bronze-chained necklace, with an intact citrine gemstone. “Would these work for your practice?”

“Where’d you get this?”

“Some random wizard. It’s the only one intact in my bag.”

Oh, right. Carson did steal.

When Virgil looked closer at the necklace, he didn’t sense any magic energy within it. If Carson snatched this from a wizard, they probably didn’t have the time or the money to get it charmed, despite the necklace’s potential.

With the necklace in his hand, Virgil thought for a moment. This necklace would be perfect, but Virgil didn’t know what to do about the fact it was stolen. Or he could use his own clothes, which wouldn’t be a terrible choice.

Searching for Carson’s clothes was still an option, though he didn’t know what to do with the possibility of ruining his new clothes, too.

Chapter V: New Scar

Virgil finally starts practicing charms, but something goes wrong.

Virgil’s clothes were good enough to practice charms with, and Virgil wouldn’t want to bother with Carson’s things too—if he were to fail again.

“You can keep it.” Virgil returned the necklace to Carson, and picked up some old clothes he had. Now that he had the material, it was time to practice.

As he went through the pages in the Art of Charms book, he recalled each sigil arranged in the book. From the basic ones—such as Power, Agility, Defense, and a few other attributes—Virgil did recall how did they look, but it took him a few minutes to remember the pronunciations for each sigil. It was as familiar as a language he used to study, but as unfamiliar as a language he hadn’t spoken for literal years.

While Virgil was practicing the chants under his breath, Carson looked at the book and Virgil with a completely clueless look.

“What’s wrong?” Virgil asked, switching back to their native language.

Carson glanced at the book for a moment. “Just trying to figure out what were you saying.”

“Oh, I was rehearsing these ones.” Virgil pointed at the sigils for Power, Agility, and Defense—along with each sigils’ arrangements, that would be needed for each step in charming. And now that he’d gotten a grasp on the words, he added, “I’ll start practicing this on the clothes. It’s like casting a magic spell, but you’ll have to focus on the magic energy surrounding the cloth, instead of the ones inside your body.”

Virgil laid an old shirt down in front of him, as he sat down. Carson followed, though he didn’t look like he understood what Virgil just said.

“So, like, you focus on the cloth, and say the words?”

Virgil nodded. “Quite. And it doesn’t end there. You’ll notice how the magic energy moves around—what comes next is trying to control the energy with your words, so they could properly infuse into this cloth. Just pretend you’re trying to calm an angry or a sad person, and get them to sleep in their bed. Then you make sure they fall asleep.”

“I see… Say, are you like a big brother or something? You sounded like you had some experiences of getting people to sleep.”

“Oh, no. I’m the middle kid. My big brother just liked using that wording.”

“Oh.”

Now that Carson brought that up… During the week after he went to an abandoned town with Carson, Virgil was the one who got Carson to sleep almost every night. Carson probably got the impression that Virgil had always been the caring brother figure, but if he’s being honest, it was more of the fact Virgil had always been the one on the receiving end, and Carson was one of the very first people he took care of.

Virgil had always thought he didn’t do a good job of taking care of people. But if Carson’s happy, Virgil would be welcome to lend his hand for him again.

Now that he finally stopped thinking, he realized he was just sitting in silence for a while. He then noticed how Carson was so close to the cloth, so he nudged him away for a little.

And at last, he could finally start.

“Power,” Virgil spoke, as his eyes remained locked on the cloth rather than Carson. Carson wouldn’t understand anything Virgil would chant next, so Virgil might as well clear his mind and not get distracted.

As Virgil repeated the word, his surroundings changed. In front of him, he only saw a cloth lying on him, and the orange magic energy he could finally perceive—swirling around the fabric.

“For power.”

The orange energy formed an aura surrounding the cloth. As all the sigils appeared in front of him, he repeated each letter, slowly, so it could rearrange itself into the Power magic essence, that may seep into the fabric.

And now, it was time to imbue this essence into the cloth. As Virgil repeated the words over and over, he adjusted the speed for each syllable so it may enter the clothes as smoothly as possible.

Noticing his own anxiety about the outcome, he realized he had just said the last few words too fast, and now that he looked at the cloth again, it appeared as if it was about to tear.

Old clothes rarely reacted this way towards charms, but he better slow down.

But even then, the magic essence threatened to tear this cloth apart. And no matter how much Virgil tried to slow down, he—

Reality ripped his magic-induced trance apart—just like the cloth itself, as Virgil noticed Carson clutching his face.

“…Ow.”

Virgil’s heart dropped, just like the time he realized he had lost an eye.

Carson would’ve felt disappointed in him, considering how much Virgil’s hand shook as he applied the bandage on Carson’s face.

Virgil had already convinced himself that Carson would be shocked by the accident, until Carson seemed to shrug the pain off.

“Huh? You sure you’re not hurt?” Virgil asked, as panic remained in his voice.

“Come on, it’s just a cut. I’ve gotten way worse.”

“I know, but…”

As Virgil continued to tell Carson it could’ve been worse, Carson reached one point where he just stopped talking back—his expression looked as if Virgil was spouting pure nonsense.

But knowing how Carson could’ve ended up like him—and knowing how harsh everything seemed after that event—he couldn’t let Carson face that, too.

Chapter V: Same Problem

After dealing with the charming accident, Virgil takes a break from practicing charms and focuses on his job for a while. On the day he finally practices charms again, someone visits his house.

You should be more careful—was something Virgil had always heard, ever since he was still a rowdy child. But as he grew, each of his mistakes was accompanied by harsher disappointments.

And if he’s being honest, he wasn’t any good at dealing with disappointment, even now. Even if Carson didn’t scold him like his family, the sense of failure still weighed inside his mind. Sure, all the mistakes were his own fault—but it sure was draining, being reminded that he would eventually mess up‌ somehow.

As Virgil kept the rest of bandages back in the shelf, he wondered. If he were to accidentally cut Carson’s eye instead of his face, Carson wouldn’t have to face the same thing as Virgil. Family, aspirations, and so on—Carson lived a different life from him. But knowing that he would be the one who made Carson lost his eye, he couldn’t help but to worry about the thought—

“Virgil?” As Carson snapped Virgil from a mess of his thoughts, he had a glass full of water in his hand.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just drink this.”

Carson shoved the glass in Virgil’s hand. With a filled glass in his hand, Virgil could’ve ended up dropping this glass at any moment. But Carson didn’t seem to be bothered by that possibility—not at the slightest.

When Virgil caught Carson staring at him, he finally realized he had to drink it. Knowing Carson, he probably hadn’t gotten used to this side of Virgil. This would be the first time Carson had seen this side of Virgil, wouldn’t it?

“Hmm…” Carson’s eyes remained on Virgil. It sure didn’t feel any reassuring, being stared at.

“What is it?”

Carson shut his eyes, as if he was deep in thought. But moments later, he opened his eyes again. “You mind if I go to Ace’s place?”

“Oh, not at all. Is he home?”

“Eh, no idea.” Carson stood up. “But I’ll figure out.”

Virgil nodded as Carson headed outside. It’s been a while since they had seen Ace, so this could be a good change of pace for Carson. And for Virgil, he finally had some time to himself. And since John would be late at home, Virgil might as well contact with his family, again.

As days passed, Virgil hadn’t practiced charms since then. And with the letter he got from his family, he was basically told to put work first—and so he did.

And he received another letter from John, stating he would be gone for a month because of his family business.

Now that John was away and Carson was hanging out with Ace, he might as well use this weekend to practice charms again.

But as Virgil was reviewing the chants from the book while having the clothes laid down on the floor, Carson and Ace arrived at the house.

“Ace bought you some snacks,” Carson said, as Ace handed a paper bag to Virgil.

“Ah, thanks. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. How’s the work going?”

“Good.” Ace’s uncharacteristically bothered expression said otherwise, unlike his usual stoic expression—as he took a glance inside Virgil’s house. “Were you practicing charms?”

“Mhm, I’ll go clea—”

As Virgil was about to head inside, Ace grabbed his arm. “Follow me. I know a place for that.”

“Where?”

“Ironport’s tower. I have the key.”

With anything he recalled about the Ironport’s tower—it was known as the alchemist’s tower, with only a few families being able to access the place. And he had no clue on what kind of connections did Ace have, let alone ever knowing Ace as an alchemist or anything similar.