The shiny things

Mika was born in a land called Arix, where people had magical powers. They all could develop their abilities and when they turn twelve years old, their skills would be defined for good. Every person in his family had a specific talent and not knowing what was your ‘extraordinary attribute’ was treated as a sign of weakness. The ones who could not manifest a trace of magic wouldn’t be considered apt for the role of a true magic conjurer. This would be a shame for a family, causing the person to be even sent away when turning twelve, to look for 'their truth’ and the ‘magic within’.

Mika’s family never accepted such things as being sent away just because a kid wouldn’t have magical power. His aunt Noola never showed any vestige of magical potential but this wasn’t important for them; She was loved by every person in the family, and she cared about Mika very much. Noola’s concern was that her nephew would have a hard time trying to figure out what was his special gift, since he was eleven already and nothing magical has ever occurred throughout his childhood.

Even though Mika wasn’t a magic conjurer, his friend Kara liked to hang out with him every day after school. Their favorite activity was to sit by the river and listen to the sounds of nature around them. The fall made the forest look even more beautiful and every time they were there it felt different and special. ‘’Don’t you think you’re ever going to be a conjurer?’’ - asked Kara. That question had Mika thinking for a while. Dozens of What-ifs started to pop out, his head was full of fear and the doubts grew even bigger. Suddenly Kara took a little rock and made it levitate with the power of her magic. The little stone then went up so fast they both lost its sight in the blink of an eye. Kara used to do that to scare Mika. He would cover his head with his hands, in fear of having a rock smash into his skull on the way back from the skies. Kara always laughed out loud with the look of his face, and she couldn’t help it, making Mika even angrier.

‘’You know what? I’ve never cared about you not being a conjurer yet. I feel you have an even more special talent. You bring shiny things to the ones around you’’ - said Kara, now with a blush on her cheeks. ‘’Shiny things? What do you mean?’’ - Mika didn’t get it. Kara then took Mika to the past – She could make people remember things that they experienced with her – showing him in less than ten seconds many situations where he acted kind and helped another person. “Do you remember when you told Mr. Lane that you were sorry about his loss? Nobody else did that. I saw his face from a distance, and he had tears in his eyes’’. They didn’t say a word after that, and on his way home by himself, Mika understood that that was his power. Being nice and helping other people had always been a part of him. For the first time, he was glad to see that he was magical too.