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Chapter 2: Farming With Magic Isn't Easy

People often look at wizards with both admiration and jealousy. The tricks they pull are impressive, yet they don't work hard unlike the rest of us who can't just make things appear out of thin air, people always say. Wizards have tried their best for centuries to explain this isn't the case and they don't have it easy at all, but no one ever quite comprehends it. Not only does it take years of scholarly effort, practice and dedication to do magic, but magic is pretty limited really, it's so far from the unlimited potential the public views it as. Taught from a young age, Moggy O'Brien knew that doing magic was more of a gentle suggestion to the universe, a slight manipulation of quantum physics to make things happen that normally would seem impossible.

The science involves a lot about consciousness and the universe being interconnected with all living things.

Take the farming that Moggy O'Brien has been doing over the last month now on the lonely planet, near the tower. Non-wizards would assume he'd not even bother, just sit back and magic a three course meal in front of him and enjoy. Sure this can happen, but only if the ingredients already exist in the fridge and the wizard actually knows how to cook. Wizards have always employed showmanship, so they've not helped themselves with incorrect impressions the public has when it comes to magic. Wizard restaurants are popular where the food can instantly appear the moment patrons pick a dish. But what the public misses is the entire kitchen of hard working chefs tirelessly cooking, ready for that food to be teleported to their table with a puff of smoke. What Moggy O'Brien has to do still involves all the hard work of farming. He has to dig a lot, plant the potatoes, water the potatoes and he has to keep the local wildlife from coming and stealing the potatoes. What the magic does though is speed things up, he can achieve a fully grown batch of any vegetable in just two weeks. Magic can also help success rates, size, improve vitamins and even influence the flavour with enough skill. Simply enough, if you don't put the hard work in, the crop fails or comes out bad no matter how good at magic you get. Moggy O'Brien quickly got reminded of this fact after trying to speed run the farming on his first week and making a tomato the size of a horse that instantly rotted inside, exploding rancid tomato goo all over him and the tower. Cleaning is also one of those things wizards can't cheat at, must to his dismay whilst cleaning the tomato goo up. His later efforts paid off nicely and he was doing well keeping stocked with food.

Overall he'd settled into his new life guarding the tower and farming over the last month. He read a lot, learning some highly advanced magic techniques and delving deep into the history of the universe. One thing he hadn't done too much of yet was explore, he wanted to but had been exhausted from all the farming he'd been doing each day. He was hoping he'd get the farming to a point soon where he'd be able to have a couple days off and go on a bit of an adventure to see more of this planet. He'd been eyeing up one of the creatures that sometimes would come and stare at him from a distance, it seemed mountable and possible to ride like a horse or camel. He knew he couldn't leave the tower unmanned for long, certainly not during night, which is what motivated him to tame a ride so he could travel far and come back quickly. Over the course of a week he'd wrangled it, mounted it and had it running about for him, carrying him over the hills at high speed. He woke up bright and early, brought a packed lunch then took off on his steed to finally see what sights were waiting for him over the biggest hill. Surprise, it was more hills. He didn't mind though, it was all stunning especially during the day and it was thrilling to ride this gentle beast. Eventually he came to a stop to eat his lunch by a giant lake, practically the sea, with a little beach and all. A twitch of desire came to Moggy O'Brien, he wanted to set sail on a little boat and go fishing. He imagined himself on the boat for a few moments before coming back to reality. With a crack of thunder the beautiful sunny sky was disrupted, suddenly becoming dark and eerie. A shiver fell down Moggy O'Brien's spine as his vehicle, startled, fled at breakneck speed in the opposite direction. A rush of panic ran through him as he knew getting back to the tower in time for the night was going to be difficult. He tried chasing the creature, but it was no use and gave up after several hours. He'd never catch up and the rain had become so powerful he could barely see. He ran under a collection of hanging trees to shield from the horrid weather. The thick leaves made it like a natural tent, it was cosy all things considered. It was getting dark now and he was worried about the tower being left, but also it was the first time he'd been outside at night here and didn't know what to expect. He huddled together and pulled out a flask from his cloak pocket, a sip of whisky to calm his nerves. Exhausted, he fell into a deep sleep and began to dream. In the dream realm he was standing on the hill that overlooked the tower. It was eerie and he couldn't shake the sense of dread, it was dark but there seemed to be an odd glow around, with purple sparkles coming from the grass. All three moons were huge in the sky, full and bearing down with incredible intensity. He heard a roaring rush come from the sky and looked up to see a meteorite speeding across the starry night, heading directly to the tower. It crashed through the tower, obliterating it into pieces. Moggy O'Brien ran as quickly as possible, as the fields lit up in flames. In the epicentre the meteorite stood straight up, radiating powerful energy. He stared at it mesmerised, hearing a foreign voice deep within his consciousness when suddenly he was pulled into the ground by rotten hands and bitten by old teeth. He could feel his blood splurt out and taint the soil, causing his potatoes to melt. He then woke up in a fright, being licked by his trusty steed and the sun basking through the tree cocoon. In his relief he quickly mounted and raced back to the tower to find it was perfectly fine, waiting for him.

First published in my webzine!