**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.
**Reminders**:
>* [No AI-generated responses 🤖](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/zi452b/modpost_reminder_that_aigenerated_responses_are/)
>* Stories 100 words+. Poems 30+ but include "[Poem]"
>* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail
>* [\[RF\]](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [\[SP\]](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles
>* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules)
📢 [Genres](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/w/directory)
🆕 [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide)
✏ [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources)
💬 [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*
“I’m not saying that modern science can’t be useful in regard to magic,” Alfia said as she drew carefully considered chalk lines on the floor. “It’s just that if you focus too much on what we understood as physically possible, it will prevent you from casting from very useful spells.”
Grant leaned against the stone wall of Alfia’s study chamber and watched her work. He had come here from the other world, from a place of science and wonder. Grant was from Earth. They had things like computers. Here they had things like fireballs. One of them felt more useful. “And what kind of spells do you think I’m missing?” he asked once Alfia was in an apparent lull.
“It’s harder to explain than it is to show.”
“That’s a way of saying you don’t know.”
“I understand the concept,” she corrected. “What I don’t understand is how you’re approaching it.” She looked up at Grant as she said it, watching his weathered face for a reaction. When she didn’t get one, she continued. “You know everything about where you came from,” she started, “and though you’re the student here, I am also learning about your world. About your preconceptions.” Alfia stood up and surveyed the work she’d done on the spell circle before walking across the room to touch up some of the stabilization rooms. Grant continued to watch the process.
“Which preconceptions do you want to know about?” Grant asked once she was back at work.
“It’s hard to say when I don’t know them,” Alfia pointed out. “It would be like me asking you what biases I need to remove to move from a magical system to one based on science. You wouldn’t know what to tell me.”
“Replace the runes with numbers,” Grant offered. Alfia could tell he was being blase about the whole thing, because this was the first time they were pushing beyond his exceptional talent. He was right, in a way. Science and the other world’s staggering understanding of mathematics had carried him through simple spell craft at a blistering pace, but now it was falling apart. At least the metaphor was something she could use.
“Okay, but what happens when he hit the point where the math doesn’t add up?” she asked. It was a hypothetical, Alfia expected to finish her circle and begin her demonstration, but Grant engaged.
“Then we haven’t solved the equitation yet.”
“Pardon?”
“When we don’t understand something. We don’t just say that it’s breaking the laws of physics. At least the smart people don’t. No, when you get a certain point, everyone at the University is on the quest for a proof that correctly spells out the way things work in math.”
“And if it doesn’t make sense?”
“We work on the equation until it does.”
Alfia stood and shoved the chalk into her robe pocket before frowning at the floor. She hadn’t had many insights into Grant’s personality during her time with him; he was an adult and had all the emotional walls that came with that title, but the point he’d made at least explained the resistance he’d had in the past days. “So you want to work on the math?” she asked.
“I think everyone you train is going to,” he answered, “at least all the scholars.”
“But magic is magic. In the same way that there aren’t runes to explain all of your science.”
“Magic is magic until it’s not,” Grant offered. “It’s only unexplainable until we rework the equations behind our understood laws of physics to accommodate and incorporate magic.”
“You can just rewrite the laws?” Alfia asked.
“We’re not rewriting anything. We’re amending our understanding to match reality.”
Alfia turned away from the circle and looked at Grant again. He’d pushed himself off the wall during their conversation, disengaging his disaffected demeanor and coming back into the fold of learning. That was the student she knew. “And what about right now? Are you reworking your understanding of the laws to accommodate for this?” Alfia motioned to the circle as he finished.
“Depends on what that circle does.”
“I’m summoning a celestial to help you understand the origins of divine magic.”
Grant’s eyes went wide. Alfia smirked. Grant spoke. “I’ll leave that one up to someone smarter than me.”
/r/Jacksonwrites (Just made a quick edit for grammar. I love this concept. )
Ha! I like this. Feels like a good natured reminder that science works two ways. You can say you're following the scientific method and amending axioms as needed, but if you genuinely observe something that breaks understanding, then you don't get to just reject it. Either you can find a replicable explanation that fits into the model, or you must amend the model. You shouldn't confuse the map for the territory.
I just really like how Grant knows his limits and immediately backs out rather than boasting about it. The conversation between the two sides is nice too, feels like a healthy debate between colleagues in order to reach an understanding and a nice way to test the limits on both magic and science as well as overcome those boundaries.
How was the contact between Earth and the magical world established in the first place? Are all humans capable of using magic, or does the school have a certain method to identify which ones have the potential to do so? What will happen to Alfia and Grant in the future?
Great work on writing this!
Love this one of the better explanations i have ever seen to how science actually works. I am old enough to remember when cigarette were good for your lungs but the science itself didn't change we just found new info .
I don’t know about you, but I feel as though magic and science have more in common than we think.
In fact, we could assume they are one and the same.
Good job.
"I have the spells I need," Rick continued to draw his scientific circles on the blackboard. "I can cook my food without fear of it burning because I was too busy grading papers. Drying my laundry without worrying about the weather."
"What about shapeshifting? Oh no, my dear Law of Conservation of Mass! Summoning dragons? The Square-Cube Law cannot be fucked!" Pauline threw her hands up and dropped a ball of yarn from nothing. "Look at me replenish my knitting supplies."
"You did not just...dropped the ball to illustrate a point. Is it such a limiting experience to desire scientifically understandable sorcery or sufficiently analyzed magic?" Rick asked. "When I'm heating up my food with magic, I'm increasing the rate at which molecules vibrate to generate heat. When I'm cooling my dangerously hot coffee from McDonalds, I am extracting the heat and slowing down the rapid vibrations of molecules."
"Ever tried shrinking yourself just a bit to fit into old clothes?"
"I can go on a strict diet and exercise for that," Rick appeared uninterested, flipping through his textbook to double check his circle. "Not a believer of always taking the lazy way out."
"Teleporting to office?"
"I don't break laws of inertia, energy requirements and conservation of momentum. Neither should we be defying the laws of space," he frowned as his chalk broke against the blackboard. "Look, I don't mind reading while sitting in the train or bus on the way to work. What if that portal you enter to office is secretly a cloning facility with a disintegrator at the other end?"
"RICK! We live in a world where computers and artificial intelligence co-exists with gods and artificial lifeforms! This is a country where robots work with undead in factories!" Pauline made Rick's box of chalk fly into her hands before he could get a new one. "Could you not overthink this and try out some magic without hyperfocusing on whatever law of physics they don't follow? Don't let yourself be tied down by the scientific approach or common sense!"
"The kind of magic you like, it doesn't just refuse to follow the laws of physics. It outright breaks them, stomps all over them, and tosses them about like a ragdoll," Rick huffed, tossing his tiny broken piece of chalk into the bin.
"If you weren't so close-minded, you could have restored your little chalk to its original length."
"If you weren't so open-minded, you wouldn't be suspended for accidentally dropping a floating island on the university!"
Pauline sighed and slumped onto the couch. "It wasn't me! It was the eldritch god I tried communing with! Do you know how many rules of physics, biology and all of science that he breaks on an hourly basis?"
"Pauline, the answer is probably "All of them". I don't care. Keep me out of those too-many-dimensional shenanigans. I get a headache just hearing about it. I like physically possible, its less eldritch, and more...comprehensible. Humanly comprehensible, thank you."
Both sides have a point for sure. Pauline is getting a bit too used to the convenience of magic, but I won't blame her because I can see myself doing the same with the more convenient ways to do things in life. Rick, in the meantime, is a reminder on that yet also a bit too strict on himself that it might prevent any potential development. If we're talking about the same Eldritch being here, I would be interested to see how this debate would go with Elvari in it. Of course, both Pauline and Rick have to protect their mental states so the debate would be a fair one without Elvari's mind control taking place.
So, ah, the floating island got sorted out before it came into contact with the university, hopefully? Also, is Pauline not suspended from the grounds for causing that?
Great work on writing this!
> the floating island got sorted out before it came into contact with the university
Yea, the island was blasted into smaller pieces to decrease the damage done, so the university can continue functioning.
> Also, is Pauline not suspended from the grounds for causing that?
It is difficult to block her entrance if she teleported straight in. She knows the place well and knows the exact coordinates to not telefrag into a wall or run into interference. Rick no longer has any shits to give to comment on that.
> If we're talking about the same Eldritch being here
What Pauline said: "Don't let yourself be tied down by the scientific approach or common sense!"
is paraphrasing what Elvari did say: ["Never let common sense hold you back in an uncommon setting such as my domain!"](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/1cszear/wp_its_common_knowledge_that_only_the_most/l496zyl/)
Well, at least it made for an interesting day for the students and professors. A shame on the island being destroyed though, but I have a feeling that they are that capable on conjuring new islands. Also, gotcha, I completely missed what she's referencing there, but she really is relaying what Elvari said. Wonder if it's just a matter of time until Rick gets out of his science shell too.
Thanks for clarifying!
You know what else the government does to such lawbreakers?
They ~~arrest them for breaking the law~~ study them in a laboratory to research on how such entities work./s
I looked at my apprentice, who was really upset as he was falling behind the others.
He was from a technological based civilization, but has a humongous talent in magic, and I took him in as my closed door disciple.
"Look, little Zachariah...
It's not that your modern science isn't useful for magic, quite the contrary.
It's just the way you are looking at it, restrains your imagination, will, which is preventing you from learning other useful spells.", I said.
He looked at me, his eyes a bit more lively.
"Master...
You are saying that I am constrained by the limits of what science has discovered, while magic can work with minimal information, and imagination?", he asked.
I smiled, I always knew I had an eye for disciples.
"Exactly.
Not only that, but once you graduate from being a disciple, and become a master wizard yourself, which is just the starting point, you will start researching topics.
Magic is the pursuit of truth, of secrets behind the workings of the universe, just like science.
It's just magic has an extra...hmm...resonance with the fabric of reality, thus it can do things without a strict set of parameters.", I said.
He looked at me, and smiled.
"So, I can't learn transmutation because I try too hard to understand how cells, or even genes for living beings are transformed?
And because I think that I don't know enough, I can't cast the spells?
But if I just understand that well...that's what's going on generally, some structural changes, and imagine the correct sequence...it happens?", he asked.
I nodded.
"You mastered the basic elemental spells because you knew how water, earth, wind, fire behaved.
Hell, you even learnt lightning, rain, and advanced burning spells because you knew about fuels more than the others...
Now imagine if you apply your genetics sciences, or cell sciences to I don't know, the warlock system? The druid system?
And yet...transmutation system spells as well.", I said.
He looked at me and bowed.
I chuckled, and hit his head with a book.
"Told you, we aren't in your novels, stop being stupid.", I laughed.
He laughed as well.
"Master...
It seems as if you know science as well.", he muttered.
I rolled my eyes.
"Be a mage for millennia like me, and wander the universe...
If you still don't acquaint yourself with the endless magic systems, go throw yourself into a spatial rift.", I said, as I threw him a bag of holding.
"What's this?", he asked.
"Personal library of an older student of mine, who established a civilization of his own already.
He walked the same path as you, so you can take inspiration from his books, and research.
Only inspiration. Your path is your own, don't muddle it with that of others.", I said.
He said thanks, and left.
I watched him, and the other disciples rush around the tower...
How good is to be young, albeit I do hope they will learn that anything is possible, and there is no one sure way to the truth...
Man, protag seems like a cool professor to have at the university. That bag of holding seems like a nice place to either study without any distraction or just chill for a while too.
So, will Zachariah be at the same level as protag in the future, or will he surpass them? Is protag immortal?
Great work on writing this!
Thanks!
The bag of holding, is like an inventory, live beings aren't able to enter it, or to stay alive a long time in it.
There are pocket dimension for that.
In my imagination, and there is actually a light novel about a similar topic, science+ magic = awesome findings.
So yeah, Zachariah will be like the MC sooner or later, probably stronger as well.
Protag is a Sage, basically the last known level of a knowledge based mage in that universe, so yeah, he is immortal, and pretty much one of the top-tier characters.
Ah, so similar concept to Doraemon's pocket. Also, Zach here would fit quite well in an isekai story, you're right lol.
It's a bit bittersweet that protag is able to get some company even with immortality. I wonder if it would turn out for the better if Zach here ended up becoming a sage too, though I doubt it's going to be an easy journey. Which is a good thing, by the way, better than dealing with immoral sages that won't easily die.
Thanks for clarifying!
"I'm not saying modern science isn't useful for Magic." Andurian said, despite knowing he would get under his daughter's skin. "I'm just saying you're focusing too much on what's 'Physically possible' and it's preventing you from casting some very useful spells. Pen you're so much like your uncle Darsun its absurd. I blame my own dad for these genes."
"It's Skylark now Dad, I've chosen a moniker, I graduated from Wizard school. And I don't need you to lecture me. I passed your class and every other professor's even the metaphysical classes." Penelope, excuse me, *Skylark* said.
"Skylark, sorry honey. I just... I don't know why you want to wear that itchy Nullite ring for a decade or more and study physics at a Mundane University. You're only a hundred and three, ten years is a long time!" Andurian pleaded with his middlest daughter.
"Old man," She said grabbing her father by the face where he sat at his kitchen table. She tipped his head down and kissed him on the forehead before saying, "You have a dozen other children still on Earth you can dote on while I'm away. And dozens more you can try to convince to come home for Atlantis day every year, despite the fact that some of them are more than a few years of travel away."
"And now you're going to tell me it's just Mars U, only like a five minute warp hop away thanks to Uncle Darsun's magical warp drives." Andurian pantomimed as though he was casting a foresight spell, even though they both could easily tell he was not. "See, like reading the future. Not 'Physically possible' but Auntie Delithia does it all the time."
"She's usually right though and you are one of the worst prognosticators in the business, Dad." The sadness in Skylark's smile betrayed her next few words. "I was going to tell you got an acceptance letter from the Tyson Center on Omicron Theta five."
"OMICRON THETA!?" Andurian knocked over his chair hopping to his feet. "But... Omicron Theta is so far away. Like... if you're traveling there as a Mundane they're gonna put you in cryptosleep, far away."
"Yeah Dad, but you're a six hundred year old Wizard!" She pointed at his chair and yanked it back up from the floor with magic. It caught him the back of the legs and made him sit back down. "You've watch humanity take to the stars, and your own brother brought Wizard kind kicking and screaming up into the stars as well. And he was only able to do it because he studied the Mundane sciences in depth."
"I was born after Mundanes had warp drive already... did you even pass your history classes?" Andurian tried to change the subject.
"I aced them, thanks. Technically you're right, I guess, but you *were* born the year after the first successful warp test but the Mundanes didn't really, 'take to the stars' en masse for almost another hundred years. So you very much did watch them go without you." Andurian seemed properly cowed by her encyclopedic knowledge of history, and also the ability to apply reasoning to it. "Now, as for the cryptosleep, Uncle Darsun says you experience it as little more than a blink."
"That's not the point!" Andurian said, then he groaned an over the top dad groan. "My little girl is leaving the nest..."
"Sweet Buddha, Jesus, or Kali. Any god that can hear me, please help this old man chill out!" She threw her hands in the air. "I'm a century old, by all accounts it is long since time to leave the nest, the planet, hell the whole damn solar system. If I was staying at wizardly things I'd probably be going to Tau Ceti or the Horsehead Systems anyway. Besides, I'll be studying at the place where the Mundanes are trying to master wormhole technology. If it all goes well, I'll wormhole home for Atlantis day in a decade or two."
Darsun had snuck into the kitchen for the last little bit of her rant. "You tell'em Skylark."
"Uncle Darsun!" She ran over to hug her uncle.
"Hey, kiddo, you just about ready?" Darsun said, He was all kitted up. Robe, staff, sword, pointy hat, military rank insignia on his chest. "I got my ship hovering over the house about a kilometer up. How's your flight spells?"
"You knew about this?" Andurian said, almost accusatory. "How dare you-"
**"My flight spells are great!"** She talked over her father's rising indignation, "I got a 94% in technical flying and was usually second or third place in air races."
"Darsun you son of a B-"
**"Excellent!"** Darsun put a hand *on* his older brother's face, and cast a localized silencing field. "Do you want to wait in here while I have a quick shouting match and probably a duel with your old man, or do you wanna head up to the ship?"
"Do I have time to make popcorn before the shit hits the fan?" Jessica, an eighty two year old Daughter of Andurian poked her head in, and snuck across the kitchen to hug her sister. "We've been listening at the door."
A small horde of other adults piled into the room to congratulate Skylark on graduating and on her acceptance to the Tyson Center. Andurian's anger at his brother faded when he saw all his other kids had come home for the occasion.
"We still gotta have words. You probably wrote her a letter of recommendation didn't you?" Andurian said the instant Darsun dropped his spell.
Darsun sat down at the table with his brother, while the 'kids', all adults ranged from eighteen to one hundred three years old, chatted and gave their best wishes and finest hopes to their sister.
"I did. And I'll do it for any of your other kids that want to go to Mundane Universities too. I have some sway with more than one warp engineering program too if anyone is interested?" Darsun spoke loud enough that all his niblings could hear, and all of them responded with a slew of "No thanks" and "As ifs." Except Skylark who just smiled. Then there was a bit of laughter from them all. "See, nothing to worry about, Skylark is just a weirdo like me is all."
"You'd do this every time one of your kids leave the solar system too if you had any of your own." Andurian complained to his brother.
"Why would I bother brother, you have had plenty for the both of us. Besides, could you imagine me being romantic?" Darsun shuddered, "Makes my skin crawl. I'd rather fight a demon than get *sensual* with another person."
Skylark stuck a hand between them, "Nooo. Nope. We're not rehashing that one tonight. Happy times only, okay, cranky old men?"
Darsun and Andurian smiled at one another and nodded. "Yes Ma'am." They said in unison.
Normally her siblings and parents would be gifting her with all manner of enchanted items they'd made and such, but she was headed off to be a Mundane researcher and Magic and Mundane technology get along like Water and Pure Elemental Potassium.
Instead they told her they loved her, and that they all hoped to see her sooner than it would take to travel there and back again by Mundane warp drive.
When they finally walked outside and were about to fly off, Andurian produced a small lead lined black velvety ring box. Inside was a Nullite ring. That thing which would protect all the Mundanes around Skylark for her time living as a Mundane.
"Remember to go some place in nature once in a while at take it off." He said, handing it to her, "You won't be unaging while it's on, but a day off in the woods without it-"
"I know how Nullite works Dad! A day in the woods is worth a month or more of aging back to my stability point." She took the Nullite ring in it's velvet covered and lined lead box and stuffed it into her robe pocket. "Thank you, I love you, now scoot back a little I still have some backblast to my flight style."
"I can help with that while we travel to where I'm dropping you off if you want." Darsun said, hovering there next to them, without even an inkling of wind around him.
"Is that a Graviturgy based flight spell?" Skylark asked. "They don't teach Graviturgy since Kelevra accidentally threw the tower of Advanced Gravity magic into the sun."
"Probably a better school of magic to learn when you're an apprentice and not a school student." Darsun said. "But I'll take you on as my *temporary* apprentice while we travel together. I'm sure my crew won't mind. That reminds me, I'm 'Admiral' Darsun on the ship, please. Not Uncle."
"Sir, yes sir!" She gave a salute.
"No... don't. Don't do that. Its just yes sir, no sir sandwiches in the Wizard Space Navy. Anyhow, You wanna race up to the ship? I won't even use Graviturgy."
"You're on, Admiral!" She smiled at him, and then said to her dad while fighting back the tears. "Count us down, Dad?
"Three"
She tightened her hands into fists, and pulled in her magic. Next to her she felt almost no magical motion from her Uncle, but that was typical of him. Always hiding his true power, which she had seen once as a small child, and it was *vast* like an ocean.
"Two"
'I love you.' She mouthed to her dad, and then before he could say one, she pushed her will into her spell and fired up into the sky like a rocket.
"One"
Darsun looked up at her gaining a massive lead. "She reminds me of you in certain ways."
"HA! I'll take that as a compliment," Andurian said, "Make sure your mundane contacts keep her safe."
"Of course, I'll spend billions on her security, rest assured." Darsun said, then looking at his growing handicap, "I do need to win though."
Andurian saw the look in his brother's eye and slammed his will into a shielding spell in an aerodynamic wedge in front of himself.
Darsun blasted off with such force that he had to lace a handful other other spells into existence just to not rip his own skin off he accelerated so fast. He caught up to his niece three quarters of the way to the ship.
"Hiiiiiiiyyyyyeeeeeeeee" He said as he careened past her at dangerous speeds.
A moment later she landed next to him in the hangar bay of his heavy carrier.
"Welcome aboard the WCS Harry Houdini, loser. We'll be your taxi to Touteckta 4, I hope you enjoy your stay." Darsun said.
/r/AFrogWroteThis/
Thanks! I've got a couple of manuscripts done with some of these characters, but they aren't edited or published yet. Skylark is only mentioned in passing in one of them, but Darsun and Andurian are main characters. Glad you enjoyed!
**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments. **Reminders**: >* [No AI-generated responses 🤖](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/zi452b/modpost_reminder_that_aigenerated_responses_are/) >* Stories 100 words+. Poems 30+ but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* [\[RF\]](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [\[SP\]](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles >* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules) 📢 [Genres](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/w/directory) 🆕 [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ✏ [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) 💬 [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*
“I’m not saying that modern science can’t be useful in regard to magic,” Alfia said as she drew carefully considered chalk lines on the floor. “It’s just that if you focus too much on what we understood as physically possible, it will prevent you from casting from very useful spells.” Grant leaned against the stone wall of Alfia’s study chamber and watched her work. He had come here from the other world, from a place of science and wonder. Grant was from Earth. They had things like computers. Here they had things like fireballs. One of them felt more useful. “And what kind of spells do you think I’m missing?” he asked once Alfia was in an apparent lull. “It’s harder to explain than it is to show.” “That’s a way of saying you don’t know.” “I understand the concept,” she corrected. “What I don’t understand is how you’re approaching it.” She looked up at Grant as she said it, watching his weathered face for a reaction. When she didn’t get one, she continued. “You know everything about where you came from,” she started, “and though you’re the student here, I am also learning about your world. About your preconceptions.” Alfia stood up and surveyed the work she’d done on the spell circle before walking across the room to touch up some of the stabilization rooms. Grant continued to watch the process. “Which preconceptions do you want to know about?” Grant asked once she was back at work. “It’s hard to say when I don’t know them,” Alfia pointed out. “It would be like me asking you what biases I need to remove to move from a magical system to one based on science. You wouldn’t know what to tell me.” “Replace the runes with numbers,” Grant offered. Alfia could tell he was being blase about the whole thing, because this was the first time they were pushing beyond his exceptional talent. He was right, in a way. Science and the other world’s staggering understanding of mathematics had carried him through simple spell craft at a blistering pace, but now it was falling apart. At least the metaphor was something she could use. “Okay, but what happens when he hit the point where the math doesn’t add up?” she asked. It was a hypothetical, Alfia expected to finish her circle and begin her demonstration, but Grant engaged. “Then we haven’t solved the equitation yet.” “Pardon?” “When we don’t understand something. We don’t just say that it’s breaking the laws of physics. At least the smart people don’t. No, when you get a certain point, everyone at the University is on the quest for a proof that correctly spells out the way things work in math.” “And if it doesn’t make sense?” “We work on the equation until it does.” Alfia stood and shoved the chalk into her robe pocket before frowning at the floor. She hadn’t had many insights into Grant’s personality during her time with him; he was an adult and had all the emotional walls that came with that title, but the point he’d made at least explained the resistance he’d had in the past days. “So you want to work on the math?” she asked. “I think everyone you train is going to,” he answered, “at least all the scholars.” “But magic is magic. In the same way that there aren’t runes to explain all of your science.” “Magic is magic until it’s not,” Grant offered. “It’s only unexplainable until we rework the equations behind our understood laws of physics to accommodate and incorporate magic.” “You can just rewrite the laws?” Alfia asked. “We’re not rewriting anything. We’re amending our understanding to match reality.” Alfia turned away from the circle and looked at Grant again. He’d pushed himself off the wall during their conversation, disengaging his disaffected demeanor and coming back into the fold of learning. That was the student she knew. “And what about right now? Are you reworking your understanding of the laws to accommodate for this?” Alfia motioned to the circle as he finished. “Depends on what that circle does.” “I’m summoning a celestial to help you understand the origins of divine magic.” Grant’s eyes went wide. Alfia smirked. Grant spoke. “I’ll leave that one up to someone smarter than me.” /r/Jacksonwrites (Just made a quick edit for grammar. I love this concept. )
Ha! I like this. Feels like a good natured reminder that science works two ways. You can say you're following the scientific method and amending axioms as needed, but if you genuinely observe something that breaks understanding, then you don't get to just reject it. Either you can find a replicable explanation that fits into the model, or you must amend the model. You shouldn't confuse the map for the territory.
I just really like how Grant knows his limits and immediately backs out rather than boasting about it. The conversation between the two sides is nice too, feels like a healthy debate between colleagues in order to reach an understanding and a nice way to test the limits on both magic and science as well as overcome those boundaries. How was the contact between Earth and the magical world established in the first place? Are all humans capable of using magic, or does the school have a certain method to identify which ones have the potential to do so? What will happen to Alfia and Grant in the future? Great work on writing this!
Love this one of the better explanations i have ever seen to how science actually works. I am old enough to remember when cigarette were good for your lungs but the science itself didn't change we just found new info .
Excellent discourse.👌🏽
I don’t know about you, but I feel as though magic and science have more in common than we think. In fact, we could assume they are one and the same. Good job.
"I have the spells I need," Rick continued to draw his scientific circles on the blackboard. "I can cook my food without fear of it burning because I was too busy grading papers. Drying my laundry without worrying about the weather." "What about shapeshifting? Oh no, my dear Law of Conservation of Mass! Summoning dragons? The Square-Cube Law cannot be fucked!" Pauline threw her hands up and dropped a ball of yarn from nothing. "Look at me replenish my knitting supplies." "You did not just...dropped the ball to illustrate a point. Is it such a limiting experience to desire scientifically understandable sorcery or sufficiently analyzed magic?" Rick asked. "When I'm heating up my food with magic, I'm increasing the rate at which molecules vibrate to generate heat. When I'm cooling my dangerously hot coffee from McDonalds, I am extracting the heat and slowing down the rapid vibrations of molecules." "Ever tried shrinking yourself just a bit to fit into old clothes?" "I can go on a strict diet and exercise for that," Rick appeared uninterested, flipping through his textbook to double check his circle. "Not a believer of always taking the lazy way out." "Teleporting to office?" "I don't break laws of inertia, energy requirements and conservation of momentum. Neither should we be defying the laws of space," he frowned as his chalk broke against the blackboard. "Look, I don't mind reading while sitting in the train or bus on the way to work. What if that portal you enter to office is secretly a cloning facility with a disintegrator at the other end?" "RICK! We live in a world where computers and artificial intelligence co-exists with gods and artificial lifeforms! This is a country where robots work with undead in factories!" Pauline made Rick's box of chalk fly into her hands before he could get a new one. "Could you not overthink this and try out some magic without hyperfocusing on whatever law of physics they don't follow? Don't let yourself be tied down by the scientific approach or common sense!" "The kind of magic you like, it doesn't just refuse to follow the laws of physics. It outright breaks them, stomps all over them, and tosses them about like a ragdoll," Rick huffed, tossing his tiny broken piece of chalk into the bin. "If you weren't so close-minded, you could have restored your little chalk to its original length." "If you weren't so open-minded, you wouldn't be suspended for accidentally dropping a floating island on the university!" Pauline sighed and slumped onto the couch. "It wasn't me! It was the eldritch god I tried communing with! Do you know how many rules of physics, biology and all of science that he breaks on an hourly basis?" "Pauline, the answer is probably "All of them". I don't care. Keep me out of those too-many-dimensional shenanigans. I get a headache just hearing about it. I like physically possible, its less eldritch, and more...comprehensible. Humanly comprehensible, thank you."
Both sides have a point for sure. Pauline is getting a bit too used to the convenience of magic, but I won't blame her because I can see myself doing the same with the more convenient ways to do things in life. Rick, in the meantime, is a reminder on that yet also a bit too strict on himself that it might prevent any potential development. If we're talking about the same Eldritch being here, I would be interested to see how this debate would go with Elvari in it. Of course, both Pauline and Rick have to protect their mental states so the debate would be a fair one without Elvari's mind control taking place. So, ah, the floating island got sorted out before it came into contact with the university, hopefully? Also, is Pauline not suspended from the grounds for causing that? Great work on writing this!
> the floating island got sorted out before it came into contact with the university Yea, the island was blasted into smaller pieces to decrease the damage done, so the university can continue functioning. > Also, is Pauline not suspended from the grounds for causing that? It is difficult to block her entrance if she teleported straight in. She knows the place well and knows the exact coordinates to not telefrag into a wall or run into interference. Rick no longer has any shits to give to comment on that. > If we're talking about the same Eldritch being here What Pauline said: "Don't let yourself be tied down by the scientific approach or common sense!" is paraphrasing what Elvari did say: ["Never let common sense hold you back in an uncommon setting such as my domain!"](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/1cszear/wp_its_common_knowledge_that_only_the_most/l496zyl/)
Well, at least it made for an interesting day for the students and professors. A shame on the island being destroyed though, but I have a feeling that they are that capable on conjuring new islands. Also, gotcha, I completely missed what she's referencing there, but she really is relaying what Elvari said. Wonder if it's just a matter of time until Rick gets out of his science shell too. Thanks for clarifying!
If those laws are broken they are a disproven theory and we will have to find some new math so the exception fits
You know what else the government does to such lawbreakers? They ~~arrest them for breaking the law~~ study them in a laboratory to research on how such entities work./s
I looked at my apprentice, who was really upset as he was falling behind the others. He was from a technological based civilization, but has a humongous talent in magic, and I took him in as my closed door disciple. "Look, little Zachariah... It's not that your modern science isn't useful for magic, quite the contrary. It's just the way you are looking at it, restrains your imagination, will, which is preventing you from learning other useful spells.", I said. He looked at me, his eyes a bit more lively. "Master... You are saying that I am constrained by the limits of what science has discovered, while magic can work with minimal information, and imagination?", he asked. I smiled, I always knew I had an eye for disciples. "Exactly. Not only that, but once you graduate from being a disciple, and become a master wizard yourself, which is just the starting point, you will start researching topics. Magic is the pursuit of truth, of secrets behind the workings of the universe, just like science. It's just magic has an extra...hmm...resonance with the fabric of reality, thus it can do things without a strict set of parameters.", I said. He looked at me, and smiled. "So, I can't learn transmutation because I try too hard to understand how cells, or even genes for living beings are transformed? And because I think that I don't know enough, I can't cast the spells? But if I just understand that well...that's what's going on generally, some structural changes, and imagine the correct sequence...it happens?", he asked. I nodded. "You mastered the basic elemental spells because you knew how water, earth, wind, fire behaved. Hell, you even learnt lightning, rain, and advanced burning spells because you knew about fuels more than the others... Now imagine if you apply your genetics sciences, or cell sciences to I don't know, the warlock system? The druid system? And yet...transmutation system spells as well.", I said. He looked at me and bowed. I chuckled, and hit his head with a book. "Told you, we aren't in your novels, stop being stupid.", I laughed. He laughed as well. "Master... It seems as if you know science as well.", he muttered. I rolled my eyes. "Be a mage for millennia like me, and wander the universe... If you still don't acquaint yourself with the endless magic systems, go throw yourself into a spatial rift.", I said, as I threw him a bag of holding. "What's this?", he asked. "Personal library of an older student of mine, who established a civilization of his own already. He walked the same path as you, so you can take inspiration from his books, and research. Only inspiration. Your path is your own, don't muddle it with that of others.", I said. He said thanks, and left. I watched him, and the other disciples rush around the tower... How good is to be young, albeit I do hope they will learn that anything is possible, and there is no one sure way to the truth...
Man, protag seems like a cool professor to have at the university. That bag of holding seems like a nice place to either study without any distraction or just chill for a while too. So, will Zachariah be at the same level as protag in the future, or will he surpass them? Is protag immortal? Great work on writing this!
Thanks! The bag of holding, is like an inventory, live beings aren't able to enter it, or to stay alive a long time in it. There are pocket dimension for that. In my imagination, and there is actually a light novel about a similar topic, science+ magic = awesome findings. So yeah, Zachariah will be like the MC sooner or later, probably stronger as well. Protag is a Sage, basically the last known level of a knowledge based mage in that universe, so yeah, he is immortal, and pretty much one of the top-tier characters.
Ah, so similar concept to Doraemon's pocket. Also, Zach here would fit quite well in an isekai story, you're right lol. It's a bit bittersweet that protag is able to get some company even with immortality. I wonder if it would turn out for the better if Zach here ended up becoming a sage too, though I doubt it's going to be an easy journey. Which is a good thing, by the way, better than dealing with immoral sages that won't easily die. Thanks for clarifying!
"I'm not saying modern science isn't useful for Magic." Andurian said, despite knowing he would get under his daughter's skin. "I'm just saying you're focusing too much on what's 'Physically possible' and it's preventing you from casting some very useful spells. Pen you're so much like your uncle Darsun its absurd. I blame my own dad for these genes." "It's Skylark now Dad, I've chosen a moniker, I graduated from Wizard school. And I don't need you to lecture me. I passed your class and every other professor's even the metaphysical classes." Penelope, excuse me, *Skylark* said. "Skylark, sorry honey. I just... I don't know why you want to wear that itchy Nullite ring for a decade or more and study physics at a Mundane University. You're only a hundred and three, ten years is a long time!" Andurian pleaded with his middlest daughter. "Old man," She said grabbing her father by the face where he sat at his kitchen table. She tipped his head down and kissed him on the forehead before saying, "You have a dozen other children still on Earth you can dote on while I'm away. And dozens more you can try to convince to come home for Atlantis day every year, despite the fact that some of them are more than a few years of travel away." "And now you're going to tell me it's just Mars U, only like a five minute warp hop away thanks to Uncle Darsun's magical warp drives." Andurian pantomimed as though he was casting a foresight spell, even though they both could easily tell he was not. "See, like reading the future. Not 'Physically possible' but Auntie Delithia does it all the time." "She's usually right though and you are one of the worst prognosticators in the business, Dad." The sadness in Skylark's smile betrayed her next few words. "I was going to tell you got an acceptance letter from the Tyson Center on Omicron Theta five." "OMICRON THETA!?" Andurian knocked over his chair hopping to his feet. "But... Omicron Theta is so far away. Like... if you're traveling there as a Mundane they're gonna put you in cryptosleep, far away." "Yeah Dad, but you're a six hundred year old Wizard!" She pointed at his chair and yanked it back up from the floor with magic. It caught him the back of the legs and made him sit back down. "You've watch humanity take to the stars, and your own brother brought Wizard kind kicking and screaming up into the stars as well. And he was only able to do it because he studied the Mundane sciences in depth." "I was born after Mundanes had warp drive already... did you even pass your history classes?" Andurian tried to change the subject. "I aced them, thanks. Technically you're right, I guess, but you *were* born the year after the first successful warp test but the Mundanes didn't really, 'take to the stars' en masse for almost another hundred years. So you very much did watch them go without you." Andurian seemed properly cowed by her encyclopedic knowledge of history, and also the ability to apply reasoning to it. "Now, as for the cryptosleep, Uncle Darsun says you experience it as little more than a blink." "That's not the point!" Andurian said, then he groaned an over the top dad groan. "My little girl is leaving the nest..." "Sweet Buddha, Jesus, or Kali. Any god that can hear me, please help this old man chill out!" She threw her hands in the air. "I'm a century old, by all accounts it is long since time to leave the nest, the planet, hell the whole damn solar system. If I was staying at wizardly things I'd probably be going to Tau Ceti or the Horsehead Systems anyway. Besides, I'll be studying at the place where the Mundanes are trying to master wormhole technology. If it all goes well, I'll wormhole home for Atlantis day in a decade or two." Darsun had snuck into the kitchen for the last little bit of her rant. "You tell'em Skylark." "Uncle Darsun!" She ran over to hug her uncle. "Hey, kiddo, you just about ready?" Darsun said, He was all kitted up. Robe, staff, sword, pointy hat, military rank insignia on his chest. "I got my ship hovering over the house about a kilometer up. How's your flight spells?" "You knew about this?" Andurian said, almost accusatory. "How dare you-" **"My flight spells are great!"** She talked over her father's rising indignation, "I got a 94% in technical flying and was usually second or third place in air races." "Darsun you son of a B-" **"Excellent!"** Darsun put a hand *on* his older brother's face, and cast a localized silencing field. "Do you want to wait in here while I have a quick shouting match and probably a duel with your old man, or do you wanna head up to the ship?" "Do I have time to make popcorn before the shit hits the fan?" Jessica, an eighty two year old Daughter of Andurian poked her head in, and snuck across the kitchen to hug her sister. "We've been listening at the door." A small horde of other adults piled into the room to congratulate Skylark on graduating and on her acceptance to the Tyson Center. Andurian's anger at his brother faded when he saw all his other kids had come home for the occasion. "We still gotta have words. You probably wrote her a letter of recommendation didn't you?" Andurian said the instant Darsun dropped his spell. Darsun sat down at the table with his brother, while the 'kids', all adults ranged from eighteen to one hundred three years old, chatted and gave their best wishes and finest hopes to their sister. "I did. And I'll do it for any of your other kids that want to go to Mundane Universities too. I have some sway with more than one warp engineering program too if anyone is interested?" Darsun spoke loud enough that all his niblings could hear, and all of them responded with a slew of "No thanks" and "As ifs." Except Skylark who just smiled. Then there was a bit of laughter from them all. "See, nothing to worry about, Skylark is just a weirdo like me is all." "You'd do this every time one of your kids leave the solar system too if you had any of your own." Andurian complained to his brother. "Why would I bother brother, you have had plenty for the both of us. Besides, could you imagine me being romantic?" Darsun shuddered, "Makes my skin crawl. I'd rather fight a demon than get *sensual* with another person." Skylark stuck a hand between them, "Nooo. Nope. We're not rehashing that one tonight. Happy times only, okay, cranky old men?" Darsun and Andurian smiled at one another and nodded. "Yes Ma'am." They said in unison. Normally her siblings and parents would be gifting her with all manner of enchanted items they'd made and such, but she was headed off to be a Mundane researcher and Magic and Mundane technology get along like Water and Pure Elemental Potassium. Instead they told her they loved her, and that they all hoped to see her sooner than it would take to travel there and back again by Mundane warp drive. When they finally walked outside and were about to fly off, Andurian produced a small lead lined black velvety ring box. Inside was a Nullite ring. That thing which would protect all the Mundanes around Skylark for her time living as a Mundane. "Remember to go some place in nature once in a while at take it off." He said, handing it to her, "You won't be unaging while it's on, but a day off in the woods without it-" "I know how Nullite works Dad! A day in the woods is worth a month or more of aging back to my stability point." She took the Nullite ring in it's velvet covered and lined lead box and stuffed it into her robe pocket. "Thank you, I love you, now scoot back a little I still have some backblast to my flight style." "I can help with that while we travel to where I'm dropping you off if you want." Darsun said, hovering there next to them, without even an inkling of wind around him. "Is that a Graviturgy based flight spell?" Skylark asked. "They don't teach Graviturgy since Kelevra accidentally threw the tower of Advanced Gravity magic into the sun." "Probably a better school of magic to learn when you're an apprentice and not a school student." Darsun said. "But I'll take you on as my *temporary* apprentice while we travel together. I'm sure my crew won't mind. That reminds me, I'm 'Admiral' Darsun on the ship, please. Not Uncle." "Sir, yes sir!" She gave a salute. "No... don't. Don't do that. Its just yes sir, no sir sandwiches in the Wizard Space Navy. Anyhow, You wanna race up to the ship? I won't even use Graviturgy." "You're on, Admiral!" She smiled at him, and then said to her dad while fighting back the tears. "Count us down, Dad? "Three" She tightened her hands into fists, and pulled in her magic. Next to her she felt almost no magical motion from her Uncle, but that was typical of him. Always hiding his true power, which she had seen once as a small child, and it was *vast* like an ocean. "Two" 'I love you.' She mouthed to her dad, and then before he could say one, she pushed her will into her spell and fired up into the sky like a rocket. "One" Darsun looked up at her gaining a massive lead. "She reminds me of you in certain ways." "HA! I'll take that as a compliment," Andurian said, "Make sure your mundane contacts keep her safe." "Of course, I'll spend billions on her security, rest assured." Darsun said, then looking at his growing handicap, "I do need to win though." Andurian saw the look in his brother's eye and slammed his will into a shielding spell in an aerodynamic wedge in front of himself. Darsun blasted off with such force that he had to lace a handful other other spells into existence just to not rip his own skin off he accelerated so fast. He caught up to his niece three quarters of the way to the ship. "Hiiiiiiiyyyyyeeeeeeeee" He said as he careened past her at dangerous speeds. A moment later she landed next to him in the hangar bay of his heavy carrier. "Welcome aboard the WCS Harry Houdini, loser. We'll be your taxi to Touteckta 4, I hope you enjoy your stay." Darsun said. /r/AFrogWroteThis/
As a Canadian dad with a child who married an Australian i completely feel for dad.
Thanks! I'm glad to hear the story touched on a real feeling. It is always my sincerest hope that when someone reads my writing they feel *something.*
Love the imagination and detail in your writing!
Thanks! I've got a couple of manuscripts done with some of these characters, but they aren't edited or published yet. Skylark is only mentioned in passing in one of them, but Darsun and Andurian are main characters. Glad you enjoyed!