The Lost Element of Magic

6 Part 2 . Magic Exists in its Absence

In a whisper she said , "Are you sure you do not long for magic?".

She looked at me with cat like glowing eyes, as if waiting for her prey to perform some amusing antic. Hey eyes, they were frightening. The glowing irises made everything else lose importance and fade out of focus. Her aura might have dimmed when she was near me but her eyes. They glowed bright as ever.

"Are you certain that your people do not long for magic? For a magical solution to their everyday problems? For a miracle or magical act to happen that will save them? Are you sure that at your darkest times, at your most desperate times , you let your primal animal instincts take over and do not long for magic? " she said, her voice just above a whisper.

Those eyes. They had me entranced. I couldn't blink. I did not trust them yet they were all I trusted. I could not trust them . They were malicious. No, they were not malicious, they were smart. Smart . They possessed intelligence and that was one of the scariest things about them. But I trusted them. They were the only light in the eternal gloom of the castle. Her words echoed through that gloom and they made me think. She was right. We did long for magic at times. Her words and eyes were true. I trusted them.

She backed away a little from me. I could finally blink. "Your case is similar to ours. Not all of us know fire. Most of us don't know fire. But there is an idea within each of us about fire, a primal longing for it at the coldest hour. The way you long for magical at least magical hour. " she said. "But , Magic is present in its absence in your world. It surrounds you." , she said.

"How? Magic isn't real and anyways you said it didn't exist in our world.".

She smiled ever so slightly at that. That was off-putting. Her smile was sweet and innocent but it wasn't. And there wasn't anything underneath it either. No, not her smile, her eyes . Her eyes were constantly ablaze in a place without fire, without light. Her eyes were a paradox. Her eyes scared me.

"Notice the fact that I said magic was present in its absence . Magic doesn't exist ,that's true for you yes, but the idea of magic exists quite lively. The longing for it, all the stories you hear about it. The idea that something unnatural will happen to save you. That exists. "

Her eyes.

"Now to your next question. Why ask for something that may turn against us? I think you well know the answer to this one. " she gave me a questioning look. Her eyes. I did not want to look into them yet they were all I could look into.

"Are you sure that you do not long for something dangerous? You all long for magic. But even you know that it is dangerous. Your stories say that. Even your stories warn you. They give you hope of something magical then take them away with a promise of danger. Its the same with us. We know of both the wonder and dangers , as you do too. But even then, neither of our people nor yours, stop longing for the non-existing element. Everything single thing that exists has a good side and a bad one. Every . Single . Thing . "