A Wizard's Woes

     It had been a while since he had performed magic. He had never been fully comfortable with it and his teachers at the academy had definitely noticed that. His report cards had always come back with average grades; there wasn't anything specific they could deduct points for, but there wasn't anything that made them wow and want to give them extra credits. He was annoyingly, frustratingly, decidedly average at magic. Sure, he could see octarine as all other wizards could, but he didn't have that je-ne-sais-quoi, that indescribable *air* of being a wizard. He flicked his wand with efficiency, not with a flourish. And magic was *all* about the flourish.

     While many of his classmates at the academy stayed for further study, he left as soon as possible and chose to build a career. It was hard finding a job in wizardry, and he soon found himself going further and further into the outskirts of the city, and then even outside of the city and to the plains to find jobs. The jobs he did were menial and more often than not required more logical reasoning than any magic at all, which suited him just fine. The people hiring him seemed almost disappointed by that, and he tried to compensate for it by hiding bottles of different potions – freezing potions, exploding potions, glittering potions, and the like – in the folds of his robes so he could attempt a dramatic flourish with them as he solved the task he was hired for. The potions he bought from Kauvara, and it had taken quite some convincing to ensure that she would not share his secret. She had also let him practice his covert potion-throwing, so it looked semi-decent to those in the plains that didn't see much proper wizardry.

          This job had really tested his patience. He had just finished solving a case of a "cursed invisible child" (who had just hidden in a nearby tree, and he had heard the giggling while entering the parents' house, *yawn*), when someone had busted through the door and knocked him over. The timing was incredibly bad, as Leudes was trying to do his "uninvisibility reveal" and already had his freezing potion hidden in his hand and was about to throw it on the floor for dramatic effect. He barely managed to hold on to the little bottle as he fell to the floor and stared up at his rude interrupter. It was a young Aisha he didn't recognise. Look! I found it! I found it!"

     Leudes responded with a loud harumph. In the Aisha's hand was a piece of paper that looked like it had seen many, many better days. It was starting to tear at the folding lines, and had been taped and re-taped several times.

     The others in the room didn't seem to be impressed by it either, and the Aisha was quickly moved to the side with a "yes yes, I'm so proud of you, let's talk about this later". Leudes was helped up by the invisible child's father, who impatiently told him to hurry up and bring back his kid.

          Leudes finished his "uninvisibility reveal" quickly and sloppily, accepted his payment and beelined back to the inn. He knew he wasn't much of a wizard, but he deserved more respect than that! That Aisha didn't know he was a hack! His whole reputation could've been destroyed had he dropped the potion at the wrong moment, all because of her!

     He packed his few belongings, determined to put as much distance between himself and this wretched place as possible, when he heard a knock at the door. Who is it?" He opened the door a peek to see outside, making sure the person outside couldn't see in and see all the different bottles in his luggage. I'm so sorry sir!" she started "I didn't mean to hurt you, It's just… I've been looking for this map so long and it's a family heirloom, you know, because my grandfather was a pirate and he had told me I could also become a pirate if I found some treasure but he never told me where it was and he was always such an inspiration to me… I haven't ever been to the sea or to Krawk Island but he used to tell me all those great stories from there and it sounded so amazing so that was always my dream…" Leudes just looked at her blankly, trying to process the speed and fervour in which she was talking and struggling to keep up "and I should've just known it was hidden in plain sight! That's such a grandpa thing to do! But now I need to find the actual treasure and I need your help with that." She looked up at him expectedly.

          He blinked. I can pay you… Money up front, of course, and I can give you a ten percent split of the treasure. It's bound to be a lot, just look at this!" She pointed at the map.

          He blinked. Sir?"

          Leudes attempted to think quickly, which was regular speed for most others, and concluded that this could be a very profitable endeavor for him. Twenty percent split" he said, after quite a while.

     "Does that mean you'll help me?!" The Aisha jumped up and down excitedly. Yes, but I *will* need that money up front. Bring it to me, and leave the map here so I can perform some preliminary magical checks on it, and meet me at the plaza tomorrow at 9AM."

     While continuing to chatter and jump, words that Leudes didn't deem worthy enough to spend any brain cells on, she gave him the map and a hug and a quite hefty envelope filled with neopoints. He would be eating well tonight.

     And now he was here. Sat in a dusty room, in front of a disappointingly small chest, surrounded by the young Aisha (he still hadn't bothered to learn her name) and a bunch of her friends that she had brought along with her, to his absolute dismay. He had protested at first, but she had promised to increase the split to 25%! And that had shut him up quick. He regretted that decision now.

          The chest in front of him couldn't have been bigger than the map itself, and while at first glance it seemed ornately decorated with amethysts and even a Dragoyle, closer inspection would determine that the amethysts were nothing but glittery plastic and the Dragoyle was quite shoddily carved. Everything about this journey had been underwhelming, and Leudes felt that this was some karmic retribution for his initial greed. He should've not answered the door, and he shouldn't have accepted this job, and he shouldn't have allowed her to make any conditions on bringing other people…

     And now he had to perform some actual magic to open the chest. Opening charms hadn't been his forte in the academy and he hadn't practiced it since, preferring to take the more logical approach of finding the missing key. However, this time, there was no key. The map had specifically pointed to the chest requiring magic to open, which is why the Aisha had contacted him in the first place. He cursed at the grandfather under his breath.

     He held his wand and felt unsteady. He practiced the movement in his head, attempting to add the necessary flourish but struggling to, even in his mind. He took a deep breath and decided to go for it. He closed his eyes, said the incantation out loud in a voice that he hoped didn't sound as insecure to the others as it did to him, and moved his wand through the air. He smelled the magic in the air, could feel the octarine glistening around him, and opened his eyes.

          The chest had broken neatly in two, revealing some glittering silver dubloons. While the others gasped and ran towards it, he nodded quietly to himself and gave himself a mental pat on the back. He had performed magic, successfully. Sure, the spell should've opened the lock instead of breaking the chest, but the end result was the same: an open chest revealing treasure. That was all that mattered, right?

     To his astonishment, the Aisha had picked up a dubloon in front of him and… peeled it? She broke it in half, laughing, and gave one half to him while she put the other half in her mouth. What is it? Don't you love chocolate?" She laughed.

     He had done all this for some chocolate dubloons?!

     The End.