Irrational Summoning

My morning looked the same as the previous day's. It would seem I had fallen into a little bit of a routine for my mornings. I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing, but I shouldn't get too comfortable with the way my life was currently going.

I was, at the moment, sitting in a large soon-to-be-cotton field. Today's job was to plant the maximum amount of seeds this field could fit. I found it to be very tiresome yet oddly fulfilling work. I knew I would almost certainly never see what this field looked like when it was ready to harvest, but helping others could make you feel satisfied with yourself. What was that saying again? The greatest gift you can give yourself will always be giving to others or something like that. 

It did not take us long to finish planting. In fact, I'd say we finished planting a lot faster than we expected to. I guess that's what happens when you are extremely motivated to finish because you can't wait for the activities you have planned for the afternoon. 

I wiped the sweat from my brow while standing up and admiring our work. It felt good to see what you had accomplished laid out in front of you. Wanting to really get into the farmer's spirit, I did something extremely uncharacteristic. I bent down and cupped up some overturned dirt, holding it in my hands like a bowl. After having the dirt on my hands, I did something that was so unlike me that I even surprised myself. I smelled it. It smelt fresh and intense. I didn't find the odor to be pleasant, but it certainly tickled your nose with an unforgettable smell.

Glancing over at me, Georgis saw me smell the dirt and looked on with a face that seemed to say, "We all have a first time to smell the dirt." 

Georgis came trotting over to me as I watched the dirt blow out of my hands and get swept away with the wind. It brought me genuine joy to assimilate into a life I had never before lived and get into the character of a farmer. 

"Beautiful isn't it," Georgis spoke in a soft voice. 

"Feeling the dirt in this moment right now is very satisfying to me."

"Of course it is, the simplicity of this life, being able to provide for others as well as yourself brings you inner fulfillment that chasing power and materialistic things could never give."

I sensed a sense of regret and pain in his voice I had never heard before when he said that to me. I decided to act on my suspicions and asked him straight up, " It sounds as if you are speaking from experience on this matter. Is it the past that led you to this philosophy?"

"Indeed it is, you are a sharp one. Once long ago I wanted to learn to be a strong fighter and join a guild. I wanted to travel and couldn't wait at every turn to leave my small town behind. How foolish I was. When I turned 18, I left immediately for a large town with a guild and joined it. I had my fun as an adventurer in a team for a couple years but no matter what we did I always wanted more. More power, more thrill, more control, the urge and thirst never ends. Until one day we went on a very dangerous job that ended up costing one of our members their life. That experience seemed to break the spell of greed on me, and I retired from being an adventurer. After my retirement I returned back to my hometown which is right here and have been a farmer ever since. Doing this work has led me to find peace and enjoy the world around me. The best advice I could ever give you is not to let your vices and desires dictate all of your actions as it will only lead to pain."

I just stood there and listened to his story. The story seemed to have a strange power tugging at my heart to confess everything to Georgis about the portal and my true identity. I held myself back from doing such a thing but made the decision that someday I would tell him everything. 

Besides the weird but powerful conviction the story laid onto me I really thought about the deep past Georgis opened up to me about. As a young person I suppose he saw his former self in me. Which I guess, in many ways is a fair judgement. I had a desire that would eventually lead me out of town and into the large grand world, but in one sense I was unlike a young Georgis. The desire that would lead me into adventure and trouble was not materialistic or power but was rather the ability to return home and the personal development that this experience and quest would bring.

Georgis's piece of advice, however, should naturally be followed and heeded no matter where I am. It was never a bad thing to be reminded of good principals, especially ones coming from past experience. Advice formed by experience is true wisdom.

"I will make sure to keep your warning in consideration," I said solemnly. 

"It would have done me good to listen to my elders as a lad," he replied with a very shaky voice.

"Well, I can understand how you feel. However, you cannot hold onto such a pain. The young typically never consider all the advice the wise can give them. Even now, I will eventually leave this town to complete my goals for the future. Everyone has to learn some things on their own that can't be taught. That is just a part of life."

Georgis looked at me the whole time taking in everything that I said slowly. After a minute of standing there, he spoke, "Everything that you said is true. You are right, I cannot keep beating myself up for things I did years ago. I guess we can both learn from each other."

We both chuckled at his little remark just taking in the whole landscape and enjoying the sunshine.

"Well, no use continuing to dwell on such a sad topic. I think it is time to call it a day out here," I said starting to gather some tools and getting ready to head back to Georgis's property. 

"You are right, I'm going to go put my legs up for a bit and take a well-deserved rest."

"I would usually get behind such an idea but today I have a couple of things to do first."

"In that case, I don't want to hold you up. Take the key to the storage room for these tools, when you are done leave the key on the little table inside and I will come and lock it up when I get there," he said explaining his idea to me. 

"That is a pretty good idea," I replied snatching the key and breaking into a brisk jog.

Georgis's property is about a 10-minute walk from the place where we were planting, with a jog I made it back in around 5 minutes.

As I reached the door to the storage my hand ached a little bit because I was gripping the tools so tightly. My face felt flushed, and I worked up a little bit of sweat which appeared almost entirely on my arms. I had a very unique way in which sweat would appear on my body when I got hot. The only 3 places I would sweat would be my arms, feet, and face. Every other part of my body remained as dry as a desert. 

When the tools were successfully back in the shed and the key on the table. I was ready to go and practice drawing a basic magic circle and testing it out. 

I didn't even need to go inside because I put a pen that could be used to write the magic in my pocket that morning when we were leaving. Planning for the future is never a bad idea you know. The whole idea was that I could immediately look for a spot to practice magic and avoid going back inside to the tempting lure of laying down. With this in mind, I tramped back onto the dirt road and strolled heading opposite the village trying to find a good spot to practice. 

The further and further I got from the property and society the more my heart pounded, and my legs trembled. My head felt like it was about to pop like a balloon in anticipation of writing my first magic circle. 

After scouting for a great place to practice for about 5 minutes, I finally found it. It was right off the dirt road so my way back was easy, I simply had to come back the way I came following the road back to George's property. 

The spot I found was absolutely beautiful. It was a clear field of tall grass that ran up to my knees situated next to a plateau ledge. I cautiously approached the ledge and looked out at the land below. It was nothing but farmland and open field as far as the eye could see.

Before I got started on such a fantastical task of casting magic I decided to just sit on the ledge of the cliff and enjoy the sunshine. Deep down I myself knew I was really just stalling but who could blame me? Everyone would stall in such a situation. 

After I had taken a few moments at the edge of the cliff to clear my non-stop, rushing thoughts, I knew it was time to get up and cast my very first ever spell. I didn't have infinite time to do this. Neither in the sense of the day as I had somewhere to be at 7:00 nor in the sense of my life as things could change at any moment. From this moment forward, if my first spell comes to fruition, I know I could be the greatest magician in the world.