The Sight: Divination for Dummies

"Now," your grandfather continues as he takes his seat across the table from you, "the first thing we need to do is to open your eyes. Once you've got The Sight, lad, it'll all make sense."

You stay quiet, simply staring at your Grampa in confusion. Either he's playing games with you, or senility has finally gotten to him. He, however, takes your silence as a signal to continue, which he does with no small amount of joy creeping into his deep voice.

"Now first thing, open your grimoire to a page, any page at all. Doesn't matter, just do what comes natural."

Alright then, you decide. Why not humor the old man? With eyebrow raised and tongue firmly in cheek, you flip open the book. Or rather, you go to flip it open, discover that the cover is actually kinda heavy, and then have to put a bit more effort into what was supposed to be a flippant maneuver, resulting in you looking like a real tool.

Regardless, the book's open now to a page of hand written calligraphy on old yellowed parchment. All over it are crossed out bits of text and notations along the edge of the page, making it look like a handwritten first draft of a particularly scatterbrained essay. Your eyes are immediately drawn to the words, and before you can even think to stop yourself, you're poring over the page at a rapid pace.

Alchemical formulae, ancient incantations, and side commentary flow into your brain. You're not really reading. You're barely even conscious of the world around you. You're understanding, for what may be the first time, what It's really all about. It. The nebulous, undefinable It.

You reach the end of the page and fall forward onto the book, gasping for air. You didn't even realize you were holding your breath. Almost as though it were through a tin can telephone, you can hear Grampa Ryan's comforting voice. You can't make it what he's saying, not quite, but you know he's trying to calm you down. You pick yourself up from the table and back into your seat, shaking the cobwebs out of your mind, and your eyes refocus to see the world around you.

You're in the kitchen. That's right, you're in your Grandpa's kitchen. It's your birthday. It's been your birthday for the whole day so far. You can see there's most of a chocolate cake on the counter, and next to it are the frosting smeared dishes you just used. There's a pleasant amber light streaming in from the kitchen window, letting you know it was getting late in the day. And sitting across from you, pleased as punch, is your dear Grampa, a look of beatific pride on his face.

Only one thing in the room strikes you as different from before. Floating above your dear Grampa's head is what looks like a red bar. You recognize the design, actually. It looks just like an HP bar, the kind you might find in an RPG. And above it, in clear plain text, you see, "Ryan Craig Findlay, Human: Level 10 Wizard / Level 10 Grandfather".

After you recover from your startling existential journey, the two of you retire to the living room. You flop heavily onto the plush couch, which your Grampa half-heartedly admonishes you for. He's made a cup of tea for the each of you, and seems eager enough to explain just what the fuck is going on.

"So, lad, you've finally taken a step into the world beyond the Veil and into the realm of magic,"

"Yeah, sure, great," you interrupt, quickly becoming exasperated, "but what exactly is this "veil"? What do you mean by magic?"

"A great question", he says, beaming. "The Veil is old magic, powerful magic, that separates the World of Humanity from the World Arcane." He pauses to take a sip from his mug, presumably for emphasis. "Long ago, before The Veil was set, the two worlds were much closer than they are now, and Arcane beings could easily interact with humanity as a whole, while humans could not influence the Arcane at all. But the first Wizards, our ancestors, found a way to bend the Arcane to their will, and placed a barrier between the two to protect humanity from the malign influences of those on the other side. That bending of the Arcane is magic."

It's quite obvious from the dramatic tone his voice takes that he's prepared to give this lecture for some time, so you politely motion of him to continue.

"You see, the Wizards are the shepherds and guardians of humanity. We stand at the gates, ready to defend our own from the slavering hordes on the other side of the Veil, and we use our magic to try to uplift and enlighten our fellow man. You, lad," he says, pointing at you for emphasis, "must now shoulder this burden, as I did, and as my father did, and his father before him, going back ages and generations."

"Okay," you say, letting it all sink in. "Wow. This... uh, this is a lot of responsibility."

"Erm, well, in a sense," he replies sheepishly. "Actually, we haven't had to really protect anyone for some time now." He shrugs. "Nowadays the government handles most of the protecting against supernatural threats, except for the rare Wizard who gets a hair up their arse and goes into the service."

"But... you just said I had to shoulder the burden or whatever."

You Grampa scratches at the back of his neck, avoiding looking you in the eyes. "Well, that's the story my da told me anyway. Felt like I ought to carry on the tradition, I suppose." He waves his hand dismissively. "Not for you to worry about, lad. If I were you, I'd just focus on learning the basics of spellwork to start."

You look down in your mug for a moment, contemplating the new things that have shattered your previous worldview, before you have a stray thought. "Wait, does that mean Dad is a Wizard too?"

You grandfather's face turns sour for just a moment before he regains his composure. "No, lad, your father isn't a Wizard. Well, technically he is, but he wants nothing to do with magic." For a moment there's something else on his face, but before you can figure out what it is, he changes the topic. "In any case, I'm curious to know about your Sight."

You blink. "I can see fine?"

"No lad," he says, waving his hand again. "Not your sight, your Sight. When the secrets of the Arcane are first revealed, and you can begin to see through The Veil, a Wizard gains the ability to sense a person's true nature by looking at them. For some Wizards, people might have colored auras in a wide range of hues, or perhaps when they peer into another's being they hear a song in their mind that clues them into their true self."

Huh. That probably explains the health bar. "Yeah, I can see something, I guess. There's this red bar above you with text."

"Aye, lad! That's probably your Sight manifesting itself. Not a Sight I've heard of before, but I haven't talked to any other Wizards in some time now."

"Uh..." you shrug. "There's more. There's text above it. It says... you're human, and a Wizard, and a grandfather."

There's an awkward moment where you see a flurry of emotions evident on your Grampa's face, chief among them confusion. "It... what? There's text?"

"Yeah," you answer. "Like, words. It's in plain English."

"That's... strange. Can you... erm, look harder maybe? Can you try to focus your Sight on something specific?"

You shrug, but give your best effort. You peer... more intensely at him? It's strange, and while it does come naturally to you, you're not quite sure how or why. It's almost like focusing your eyes to look at an object close up to you, but in a different direction than usual. You definitely do something, though, because the HP bar falls away to reveal... a text box?

Ryan Craig Findlay, Human: Level 10 Wizard / Level 10 Grandfather. A somewhat relaxed and lazy gentleman, with a heart full of love. He's very proud of his only grandchild. Would absolutely destroy you in a Wizard's Duel. 100/100 HP.

Well that's weird. "Uh, yeah, I can see more now," you say, and your Grampa relaxes back into his chair smiling. "It says you're very proud of me," you let him know tactfully, leaving out the part about him kicking your ass.

"Well, I'd say that's the truth!" he shouts as he gives a big belly laugh.

The next few hours are spent in a bit of a blur as your Grampa explains the basic workings of magic and how your grimoire is supposed to work. Apparently, the thing is linked to you and you alone, and your Grampa had to have it custom enchanted by artificers and shipped overseas. The massive crystal on the center, which is apparently some sort of magically resonant amethyst, cost more than your car did last year. And the grimoire itself will write spells onto its pages for you to learn as you become ready to cast them, as your power grows. At the moment, though, the entire thing is blank, except for the first page you opened to that is now full of information about your Sight.

Not that it was useful information. Most of the page was taken up by explaining what The Sight was, rather than how to use it, and the one explanation provided lets you know how to focus to get more information; something you've already figured out how to do instinctually. Still though, you can't help but be excited. You're eighteen now, and apparently a Wizard, and you're going to be able to do a bunch of cool magic shit. Who doesn't love cool magic shit?

As you let go of your goodbye hug and get ready to leave, though, Grampa stops you as you go to open the door. "One more thing, lad," he begins, his voice dropping into that lower register, letting you know what he was about to say was serious business. "Don't tell anyone about The Veil, or about Magic, or about creatures of the Arcane. It's a serious thing, being brought into this world, and it's kept secret for a reason. The minds of normal humans that aren't descended from the Wizards of old could snap in two, if you were to bring them into this life."

You nod, the gravity of the old man's words sinking into you. "Okay, yeah. Don't tell anyone. Sure, no problem."

"Right!" he says, back to his jovial self. "Off you go, lad. See you next Sunday for lunch?"

"Of course, Grampa," you say, heading out the door. "Love you, bye!"

You get into your Camry and you drop your grimoire unceremoniously into the passenger seat. As you start your car and head out, there's only one thought on your mind; this is easily the weirdest and coolest birthday you've ever had.