Reality Check

The Glowing Object

Pumped Up Kicks (by Foster The People)

"All the other kids with the pumped up kicks. You'd better run, better run, out run my gun . . ."

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Three Years Ago

The world had been much quieter since justice had been restored, and Magisteria and Quanterium had started finding peace in their unity. Ever since magic and science had collided, the people had never felt so whole. Neither side was complete without the other, and neither wanted to be separated by two planets again. They were both learning, and both making new inventions together each day. Well, it was a working progress. Some Magisterians were still anti-Quanterium, and some Quanteriums still despised Magisterians. Somehow, he knew this little kink would be worked out.

Kiel Gnomenfoot spent most of his days huddled in his tower, studying all forms of magic from his new and improved spell book. For a while— the first several months, in fact, he'd completely sworn off magic. Wanting, no, needing a break from it. Wanting even more, to find out who he was without it. But slowly, it crept up inside him. The desire to learn magic again, because if he was being honest, it still felt like a huge part of him. Maybe he wouldn't rely on it, not as much as he used to, but that didn't mean he had to stop doing all magic, right?

It'd only been two weeks since he'd gotten the spell book, finding a magician vendor who'd been kind enough to trade one of Kiel's items for a spell book. It wasn't as elegant as the Magister's spell book had been, but it had all the spells, which was all that mattered. Only, as he tried relearning them, he suddenly was back to square one. Having to start with the smaller, easiest spells first before working his way up. All of those, he'd learned when he'd first become the Magister's apprentice, back when he was little. So it'd probably take months, maybe years before he mastered all of it again, getting back to the impressive skill level he'd been at before.

Point blank, relearning magic was not going to be easy.

Sighing tiredly, Kiel pushed the chair he'd been sitting in away from his table, standing up and stretching. He'd been staying in his new home for months, ever since he returned from Bethany and Owen's world. Frankly, he wasn't sure how long it'd been since he last was there. He had planned to meet his friends somewhere next time they visited. When was it? Which part of the planet?

Briefly, he recalled him and Bethany planning to meet at the Quanterium fountain, where a statue of Kiel would supposedly be put up within the next couple years. But knowing him, he most likely had missed it. He was late to nearly everything. He had been in hiding for a while now, intent on finishing his studies on magic, no matter how long it took. Every now and then, he'd take a break and would venture out into the streets of the town nearest him, to make new friends and get fresh air.

Truthfully, it was to deal with the loneliness that sometimes seized him— the price he payed for dedicating himself to the study of magic. Sure, being naturally likable, he made a lot of friends here. But something about the events of the past year had flipped his world around, making his heart yearn for something different.

While he remained in high spirits, he did miss his best friends, Bethany and Owen. Two months, three weeks, and four days had passed since he'd last seen them. Even more months had passed since he'd last seen Charm, but there was no way to get to her. Not when he was still a wanted criminal in Quanterium (another reason he'd been mostly in hiding, to avoid getting arrested).

So here he stayed, trying to figure out who he was and where he belonged now that his magic was ripped from him.

Walking over to the tower window, he noticed it was beginning to drizzle lightly, and the windowsill was covered in small wet dots. Smiling at the sight, he pulled on his boots. A little bit of rain never hurt anyone.