The Maji’s Pact

“Magic is not innate, it is borrowed from a larger source. No one can see it until it’s too late, all Magi go thinking they’re the exception only to become another moth bewitched by fire. That’s why you can’t trust ‘em, another force unknown and beyond controls their fate; although willfully promising what they can take. It is true Magi can change outcomes in hopeless hours, and it is why militaries became infested with them as it’s cost effective. But it’s a bargain with something else and it’s foolish to deal with the hidden.

I’ve seen it twist and distort beyond any humanity. Red eyes red blood weeping for eternity pulling all and conquering all in its center of hateful immolation. You cower below the earth clutching your charms screaming to grace that its gaze overlooks and takes the one next to you. No one dies they are harvested with great scythes of light arcing like phosphorus in the night rending flesh and the bones ripping forward their coveted soul —howling and helpless. Then it becomes silent, and the horror slips back to its host a sickly grin on their face. We smothered them that night.”

- Underlined passage from “The River Ran Red” by Sylan Marigold 2nd Ed. Trovic’s copy