Chapter 10: Hybrid Magic

After lunch, Wess and CJ went back upstairs and entered the dark lab once again. The more they searched, the more frustrated they became. There had to be some kind of clue to the curse. Or a clue to why Weston had a dark lab with a dark spellbook. Weston wasn’t a dark Wessier. Everything CJ had been taught about him said that he was kind and caring. Nothing about this made any sense. After the fifth time around the room, they were ready to give up.

“I don’t see any clues to anything,” Wess said.

“I was sure there would be something about the curse,” CJ said, “or at least something to explain this room! I say we just give up!”

“I agree,” Wess said, “but I want to look at the book one more time.”

“Just hurry,” CJ said. “I’m getting hungry.”

Wess walked back to the dark magic book. He examined the book again. He had a feeling that the book had all of the answers. But where’s the key? How do you get it open?

“Weston!” he said out of desperation, “what am I supposed to do?” There was a sudden flash of a memory in his mind. “I just saw something,” he said to CJ. “It was like a memory.”

“What kind of memory?” she asked.

“I saw the podium,” he said. “Only it’s facing the wrong direction. Help me!”

“Help you do what?” she asked.

“Turn this podium,” he said. “To the left.”

CJ joined him by the podium. They each grabbed a side and pushed to the left. It didn’t budge, so they tried harder. Pushing as hard as they could, the podium finally started to move. When they turned it ninety degrees, they heard a click. Before they knew it, the back wall just faded away. There was a whole other room behind it. This room was an exact mirror image of the first room, except everything was white instead of black.

A white Podium was now next to the black podium with a white book. The white book looked exactly like the black one. The podiums were connected where the wall used to be. Where they were connected, there was a statue of an arm. It was standing straight up with the hand bent back, palm up, and holding a clear gemstone the size of a baseball. Examining the white book, Wess noticed that the stone would fit perfectly into the keyhole in the book.

He took the stone from the hand, put it in the keyhole, and turned it. The stone turned white and sunk halfway into the book. Tendrils of white rose from the book, twisting around the stone capturing it in a white cage. Then moving out from the gemstone, it formed half of a yin-yang and lifted out of the book. Wess realized that the pattern matched the black one perfectly. He picked it up, flipped it over, and placed it on the black book.

It sunk into the book completing the yin-yang. Wess turned the yin-yang to the right, and Black tendrils rose from the book copying the white ones exactly. The entire thing turned silver and lifted to float above the book’s cover. Then it transformed into a silver ball with green vines of jade wrapped around it like a net. It was slightly larger than a marble and perfectly smooth. When Wess grabbed it, a chain formed attached to it.

As soon as Wess put the chain around his neck, the room started to blur and spin around. Everything started getting brighter until it was too bright to see. When they were able to open their eyes, they couldn’t believe what they saw. The two rooms combined into one. It was the size of the original room and looked the same, except instead of black or white, everything was silver. The book was also silver and twice as big. He opened the book. Right there, on the first page, was a handwritten letter. CJ was now standing beside him, and they read it together.

To my next incarnation, I write this as I am dying. I’ve searched all my life for a way to remove this curse.

The curse seems to be ineradicable, but I haven’t given up. I just don’t have the time.

As incessant as this curse may be, it is my sincere belief that every curse is removable.

I did, however, find a way to deal with it. Possibly a new kind of magic. Or a hybrid!

There is an explanation in this book. But this solution won’t remove the curse.

It may, however, allow you to modify the curse slightly and use it to your advantage.

Read this book carefully! It’s not a dark magic book! The next page will explain.

Good luck, Weston.

“A handwritten letter from Weston himself,” CJ said. “This would be worth a fortune in certain circles. Don’t tell anyone about this. Every dark collector would be all over us if this got out.”

“My lips are sealed,” Wess said, pulling his thumb and index finger across his lips like a zipper. “I’m turning the page now.”

He turned the page, and they read.

This is not a dark-magic book! This is not a light-magic book! This is a silver magic book! In the search for a way to remove a dark magic curse, Master Weston discovered a new form of magic. Silver magic takes light magic and dark magic and combines the two using natural magic to balance them. Natural magic is the power of nature. Only tree spirits can use this form of magic: tree spirits value order and balance. In Weston’s search for a cure to his curse, he traveled to the mythical forest deep in the center of the earth. There he met with the tree spirits. After a long debate and a heartfelt plea, they taught him to harness natural magic to find a balance in his soul. By the time he learned to use this magic and achieve that balance, it was too late. No amount of balance could save his life. So, he had this book written in the hope of finding and using it in his next life. However, realizing that the natural magic can’t be duplicated, he removed it from himself (with a part of his soul). He placed it in the amulet so that his next incarnation could reclaim that piece of his soul along with the natural magic. Use the charm, then read this book carefully from cover to cover. It won’t eliminate the curse, but it will find a balance within you. Be aware, though, if you find a way to remove the curse, you will no longer be able to use natural magic. There would be nothing to for the magic balance.

“Silver magic!” CJ said. “Weston really was a genius! I guess there’s nothing more I can do here. It looks like this is a journey you’ll have to take on your own.”

“Thank you for helping me discover this,” Wess said.

“All I did was look around,” she said. “You’re the one who discovered it.”

“But it was your idea to look for clues and helped me look,” he said. “And for that, I thank you!”

“Then, you’re welcome,” she said. “I’ll be leaving now, and good luck with Nina.”

CJ exited the room and used a transport spell. Wess turned the page and started reading the book. As he read, Wess realized that it would take a long time to read this book. The book itself was about twenty-four inches wide, almost thirty inches tall, and about twenty inches thick. The print, however, was tiny, like what you would expect to see in a small paperback book. Most of the vital information was in the front of the book. Wess noticed while taking a break and flipping through the rest of the book.

He would still have to read the whole book, but he was already learning to use silver magic and combine light and dark spells. But with pointers, explanations, and ways to improve potions. He could learn how to be a powerful silver wessier, but it will take years to master it. He decided to stop for the day just before dinner. Wess closed the book and headed for the door. He looked to where he had hung the dark cloak. It had changed too! It was now a green color sewn together with silver thread.

Wess put it on. It was now more of an over-jacket that fit Wess perfectly and matched his style and personality. But something felt strange about this jacket. It was some kind of feeling, or more like an extra feeling. He realized that the coat was alive. It didn’t talk to him, but it shared his emotions and its memories with Wess. One thing that he learned was, natural magic was a physical kind of magic. That meant that gestures, finger snaps, and other motions were added to activate the combined spells.

Among the memories shared were memories about the silver candle, now standing in the middle of the room in place of the dark candle. It would do the same thing as the dark candle, but now, it was more powerful and could do more than making the room dark. Wess had learned a spell from the book that could light or extinguish one or more candles with a snap of the fingers. For Wess, that meant that he didn’t have to stumble through the dark to enter or exit his laboratory. As he left the room, he snapped his fingers, and the room was once again bathed in darkness as Wess lit the silver candle.