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RAY VAN CAMARO

The Chariot is the seventh card of the Major Arcana in a Tarot deck. It represents moving forward through sheer hard work and commitment. One will come out victorious by moving forward in a positive direction.

When I was a kid (about eight years old or so), I started to enjoy my alone time. I enjoyed playing with my friends, but I began preferring to spend time at the library or reading under the tree in front of my house. It was a lemon tree that used to give my mother plenty of lemons to turn into lemonade and lemon tarts. The tree gave our house a zesty smell that gave me peace when I read under it.

But that peace was always being broken.

The leaves above ruffled around, a couple of lemons dropping. Trisha swooped down, hanging from her legs. "What are you reading?"

"You? interested in what I'm reading?" I scoffed. "Mrs Reading And Writing Is Stupid And I Will Never Have Any Need For It?"

She dropped to the ground, landing on her feet and sitting cross-legged. "You're right, I don't really care. But I'm just trying to get a conversation going, you know? The first interaction sets the mood for the rest of the day."

"You have set a mood for me-annoyed."

Without warning, Czeslaw fell from the branches and landed right beside us. A few lemons bonked him on the head followed by slow-falling leaves.

I closed my book. "Are you good?"

He massaged his back. "Czeslaw doesn't feel pain."

"You're wincing and gritting your teeth. And stop referring to yourself by your name."

"Trisha's right, you know? Isn't it a bit boring sitting outside the whole day, looking at a dead tree, and hallucinating?"

"Now you're just phrasing reading to sound boring." I sighed. "How did you even get up that tree? I was sitting here since breakfast."

"We climbed over your wall and asked your father to let us climb to the roof and jump to the tree."

"You two aren't going to leave me alone, are you?"

"Nope," Trisha said, pushing me onto my feet and out of the gate.

Mother stepped out on the porch with a cup of coffee and a book, taking a seat by the table and waving us goodbye.

"You two must be a blessing for Mother and Father," I groaned. "They're always telling me to go out more."

"Yup!" Trisha said, leading us to where Tank was resting. "Let's get going to the library. Pops says he's giving us something."

After hopping on Tank's back, Trisha took the reigns and directed us to Pop's base.

I rubbed a spot on Tank's back. "Trish, I can't believe your parents let you take Tank."

She whistled and stared forward.

"You didn't ask for permission, did you?"

She ignored the question. "Czeslaw, what does Pops want to give us? Is he each giving us something or all together?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "He just told me to bring all of you sometime today and the earlier the better."

Pops was arranging plans to cut down trees to expand the village and farm plots when we arrived. He noticed us by the door and halted the conversations he was having with the architects and farmers.

He took us to his office. "How are you kids doing?"

"What is it you want to give us?" Czeslaw asked.

"Now hold on, I want to build up to this surprise." Pops poured himself a shot of whisky. "Now, what would you say is the most impressive thing someone can do?"

Trisha raised her hand. "Give birth to a hundred kids."

Pops chuckled awkwardly. "Yes, that certainly is impressive. But something more general. For both genders."

Czeslaw raised his hand. "Fly to the sun."

"Okay, kids, you are dreaming too big."

I raised my hand. "Jynx?"

"Yes! Jynx is very difficult to learn and only a small percentage of the population actually pursues it. And only a small percentage of that become State Jynxists. Now, an old man like me has no hope of learning jynx. I have developed gates, but it takes time to master jynx and I didn't have that luxury when I was your age. The best I could do is rely on an incantation circle to perform very specific tasks. But you kids have yet to bloom, which is why I want to give you the opportunity to teach yourselves."

"Why can't Ray's parents just teach us?" Czeslaw asked.

"Because they are busy with their research. They are close to finding a discovery and I don't want them bothered." He produced three identical thin books and handed one to each of us. "So, I had them make this. There are instructions there on how to strengthen your gates. Once you're strong enough, that's when you can attempt the spells near the end. For now, just find a place to play around with the basic spells."

"What if we get stuck on something?" Trisha asked.

"Then that's when you ask your aunt and uncle for help. But don't bother them with anything else. Now go on out of here and play around with it."

We had Tank take us out of the village to an open field with a lone tree. Pops saw us on the armoured lizard and tried to chase after us, but Trisha reigned Tank to hurry up.

Tank laid under the tree and slept, opening his eyes to watch us every time we made a loud noise. The first pages of the book talked about how to strengthen one's gates. But even with our weak ones, we should be able to get away with casting a couple of basic spells.

Trisha held out an open palm, reading an incantation from her book. "Oh elixir of life, let thy strength flow through me. Lend thy power to cast afar. Water ball!"

Just then, a sphere of water hovered from her hand and shot weakly outwards.

"Woah!" Czeslaw said. "That's cool."

"What if I do it like this?" she asked rhetorically, holding up her fingers as a pistol. "Oh elixir of life, let thy strength flow through me. Lend thy power to cast afar. Water ball!"

This time, a sphere of water shot out from the tips of her fingers. "That looks so cool."

Trisha aimed her finger pistol at Czeslaw.

"Relax. Don't you dare shoot."

"Oh elixir of life, let thy strength flow through me. Lend thy power to cast afar. Water ball! Oh elixir of life, let thy strength flow through me. Lend thy power to cast afar. Water ball! Oh elixir of life, let thy strength flow through me. Lend thy power to cast afar. Water ball! Oh elixir of life, let thy strength flow through me. Lend thy power to cast afar. Water ball! Oh elixir of life, let thy strength flow through me. Lend thy power to cast afar. Water ball! Oh elixir of life, let thy strength flow through me. Lend thy power to cast afar. Water ball!"

Czeslaw was completely drenched in water by the time Trisha passed out from overexerting her gates. I dragged her to Tank, who was more than happy to let her rest on him.

Czeslaw stripped down to his undergarments to let his clothes dry in the sun. "That wench!"

I flipped through my book. "Look, there's a fire spell. Let's try using it to dry your clothes."

"Ray, I swear to the gods, I will murder you if you burn my clothes."

I held out a hand. "From within-"

"Come on. You're going to hold out an open hand? Everyone holds out an open hand. At least try to be interesting."

"What do you want me to do then?"

"I don't know. Stomp, clap, punch the air. At least Trisha's finger pistol looked cool."

I sighed. "From within a raging power, one that is mistaken for destruction rather than creation. Show us a burning passion. Fire Ball!"

I snapped my fingers, summoning a giant Fire Ball that momentarily engulfed Czeslaw's clothes. The water protected them from catching fire.

"Relax!" Czeslaw cried. "You two better stop messing with my clothes! Why are you putting so much mana into that spell?"

"I wasn't," I said, inspecting my burnt hand. "Ahh. That hurts. I summoned the fire to close to my hand. It's bubbling."

"That's what you get for shooting fire at my clothes."

"Huh? What happened?" Trisha asked as she awoke to Tank licking her face. "Tank, stop that. Yuck! And why are you in your underwear?"

"You drenched me in water! And Ray shot a big ball of fire at my clothes."

"Do it again. I want to see."

He stomped his foot. "No, do not do it again!"

The book's only healing spell was the most basic one. It would take around half an hour to heal this burn. I hovered my palm above the burn, but I was only able to cast the spell for ten seconds before its form fizzled away.

"Here, let me do that," Trisha said. "You're not putting the right amount of mana into it."

"Says the one that passed out."

"Hey, I was doing the spell right. I just overdid it."

She held her hand above my burn and held onto her elbow with the other, mumbling the incantation. "Healing!"

A green glow emitted from her hand. The burn on mine began to soothe. "See? You just have to use the right amount of mana. You were using too much earlier and the spell was breaking."

"I thought the more mana you pour into a spell, the stronger it would be?" Czeslaw wondered. "Shouldn't his wound have healed faster?"

"I'm sure that's possible with practice, but his gates may not be strong enough to control that yet." After about a minute, she stopped the spell. "Why is it taking so long to heal?"

"That spell is the most basic healing spell," I explained. "If you keep at it, my hand will be healed in half an hour."

"Half an hour?" she sighed before continuing to heal my burn.

Czeslaw stood up, holding his book in one hand and making a fist with the other. "I'll cast spells while you two do that."

He would've looked cool, but he was almost naked so the sight of him was a bit ridiculous.

He swiped at the earth and punched outwards. "Rock Bust!"

A tiny earth spike formed where his fist was and fell to the ground.

"You've got such great power, oh wise wizard," Trisha teased.

"Shut up! I'll get it right with practice."

He did the spell again and again, but the spikes got smaller the more he created them. Once my burnt hand was healed, he gave up. There was something wrong with Czeslaw, so he insisted on dropping by my place to ask my parents what it was.

That factor was gates.

The amount one had determined how good their mana output was.

Czeslaw only had four, putting him in a defeated stare.

Trisha faired a bit better with seven. This was why she was the best at controlling her mana.

I had ten, which was two more than the average. The reason why I was having trouble with the spells was because my gates were inputting too much mana.

I'll have to learn how to control it.

Trisha's house was right beside mine. The scolding she got from Uncle Tristan for sneaking away with Tank kept me entertained for an hour.

Good thing Tank was a gentle giant. He could've done a lot of damage had he gotten out of control.

"So, Grandpa Orsted finally gave you three the books," Father asked as he began piecing together his trumpet. "How are they?"

"I burnt my hand when I used Fire Ball. Trisha thinks it's because I use too much mana."

"She's right. More mana in a spell makes it stronger, but you need to know what you want to strengthen. The speed of the spell, the power, the size, the distance."

"I don't know how to do that."

We went to the backyard where Father instructed me to cast the spell at the stone wall. I snapped my fingers, summoning a ball of fire that exploded against the wall.

"Yeah, don't do that. You'll be burning down the house." Father shot a Water Ball at the small flames. "Snapping your fingers? I haven't heard of a trigger like that before. It's cool."

"Czeslaw suggested it." I inspected my burnt hand.

"Give me that," Father said as he healed the burn.

"See, it's hard for me to control."

"Hmm... Think of your gates as an instrument-"

"Really, Father? You're going to use music metaphors?"

"I practice with the village's marching band, so it's the only thing I can think of." He blew into the trumpet, creating a shrieking toot sound. "What was wrong with that?"

"You blew too much air so it sounded too loud and explosive."

He blew into the trumpet again, this time creating a whimper. "What about that one?

"You blew too little air and it couldn't create the sound."

"Good. Now think of the air as mana, the instrument as your gate, and the sound as the spell. You already know you're putting too much mana in your Fire Ball. The power and size are too strong, but the distance is too short. I want you to limit the mana you put into your spell and put just a tiny bit in the distance so it doesn't appear right in front of your hand."

"How do I do that?"

"Feel it in your body. You'll know."

I stared at the stone wall for a moment before snapping my fingers and shooting out a smaller more concentrated Fire Ball. This time, I didn't burn myself nor almost took the wall down.

Father rubbed my hair. "There you go. I know your mother and I spend a lot of time on our work. But that's because we're close to discovering a new type of jynx. Just know that we completely support you and your friends learning jynx. So if you need any help, you guys come to us."

Trisha, Czeslaw, and I spent a lot of time outside the village practicing jynx. Trisha's gates used up the right amount of mana which meant she was able to naturally progress through the book without much work. But the more I learned to limit my mana, the better I got. I caught up and in a few weeks, surpassed her.

Unfortunately for Czeslaw, he struggled behind. Every time we practiced, he would strain his gates to strengthen them. However, he would go too far and his body would go limp for the next few hours. We'd lean him against the tree and all he could do was watch us. If he didn't heal by then, we'd carry him home.

Trisha, surprisingly, had a talent for healing jynx. Since Czeslaw kept hurting himself, she took it upon herself to learn more healing spells and help him with his wounds.

When enough time passed, Trisha and I had progressed so far that Czeslaw didn't bother trying to catch up. Most of the time, he would only accompany us and watch.

Jynx is a rare skill and we are given this amazing opportunity to learn it. Czeslaw must be depressed since even with all that, it would take him a long time to even become decent at it.

This was how we spent most of our free time as kids.