Magic in the World of The Veil Saga

By Steven A. Guglich

Think of the myths and legends you have read about over the years. From the gods of the Norse and Greek, to the great sword Excalibur, to the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, what do they all have in common? Fantastic stories of creatures and beings capable of performing tasks and feats beyond what any of us have ever been able to do. Mysterious occurrences, unexplainable by human science. There is an element that all of these stories have in common. Some would use the word supernatural. Some would call it magic. No matter what we call it, it is the singular element that inspires awe and wonder when we read these epic tales.

In The Veil Saga, those who have the power to do the unimaginable by human standards, call it kishuph. Over the millennia and through the transformation of language it has come to be more commonly known as magic. The stories of The Veil Saga are re-imaginings and updates to many of those tales, myths and legends you remember. They answer the questions, “What if the stories of myth and legend were true? How would they fit into our world today?” As I thought more about these questions, the world of The Veil Saga began to form. New questions developed. One question in particular, “If these stories are true, then where are the enchanted creatures and characters from those stories now?” The answer came to me in the idea of the Veil; an invisible, magical curtain that separates the enchanted from the mundane. The question that had to be answered next was, “If magic is real, how come we don’t see magic in our world today?” A very good question, and one that needed to be answered to explain how the worlds of humans and elves could exist on the same planet. The answer was simple. Magic does exist in our world, it’s just been hidden from us.

Magic is an energy that is abundant throughout the universe. It exists in every molecule. Life itself is conscious of it and sensitive to it. For some, magic is life. It is a part of who they are and how they live. Lifeforms that conduct magic are classified as biomagical beings. These beings are endowed with a biology that allows them to channel, conduct, emanate, and sense magic. In essence, a key component of their physiology, is magic. It is a part of their life force. The amount of magic a biomagical being conducts is measured in biomagical potential. Numerous biomagical species exist on earth, each with a different biomagical potential. However, there are only six sentient biomagical species that exist today: elves, gnomes, dweorg, faun, koth and goblins. These races refer to themselves and any biomagical species as keshaphim.

The Veil does not separate the magical from the non-magical. Magic is everywhere. The Veil only separates the keshaphim that have decided to remain hidden from the humans. Sometimes the enchanted decide to cross through the Veil to see what is on our side. When they cross through the Veil, the magic is still there and at their disposal.
The best way to understand the magic of The Veil Saga is to let an elf explain it…

Samil iyl Kowresh, a Mage of Sayalla, Explains Magic

Jeremy watched as the mage held the ring in his hand, studying it.

“Where is the magic, you ask?” Samil raised his head and smiled at Jeremy. “You have much to learn for someone who will take on such a responsibility. Time and space are not what you think they are, and magic is not found.” The mage shook his head. “Magic is our true and real existence. What you humans experience is merely an illusion of what truly is. Magic is everywhere. Imagine you are a fish in an ocean.”

Samil raised his other hand and caused the dust particles all around to coalesce and fill the room with shimmering blue particles. What was once tiny and barely seen, now glowed with an golden effervescence.

Jeremy stood up and stared in awestruck wonder at the sea of sparkling matter that flowed throughout the room. A group of the shimmering particles began to move closer together and change from golden to a myriad of vibrant colors. From the shifting cloud arose a brilliantly colored clown fish… not whole, but made of the shimmering visible particles.  Its tail and fins wiggled as it swam in the air among the room of the other shimmering particles.

“As the fish wags his tail he affects the body of water and the entire ocean with one wag. Magic is like this, but even more sensitive.”

Jeremy, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, followed the shimmering fish. He raised his hands to feel the particles and felt nothing. Was this an illusion?

“There are no components or materials.” Samil continued as he handed the ring back to Jeremy. “The only necessary requirement for the fish is his tail. One does not tap into magic – you are already in it… always, and it responds with perfect harmony with your thoughts and the inherent frequencies of every living thing. I have merely manipulated the magic to affect the dust within this room. What you see is there. It is visible. It is just light and dust. But as I manipulate the magic that surrounds us, it does as I will. Human science cannot explain magic because humans are too attached to their science and their stubborn beliefs that they cannot relate to magic. If they could see and feel as an elf feels, they would see that magic does have its own laws and principles that are not in the slightest bit random.”

The clown fish began to change its shape, separating into two familiar celestial shimmering images.

“They are consistent as the movements of the moon and the sun. The collective potential of all particles everywhere with their individual energies merging into one universal magic field. Some humans have come close to explaining magic with theories and scientific research in what you call quantum physics. They attempt to explain how the mind initiates transactions in the natural; how thoughts commingle with everything else, and cause matter to manifest in our lives. Humans do not understand that thoughts equal energy and that energy equals matter. Thoughts become matter. Relative thought has a frequency; change the frequency, change the thought. Observe your thoughts as they will manifest themselves in your life in the natural through magic. By manipulating the magic around us we can change the reality of any given situation. This is very hard for you humans to imagine.”

“So, if magic is all around me, why can’t I use it?” Jeremy asked.

The elder bowed his head and shook it. He then looked up at Jeremy and smiled. “You, Jeremy, are not keshaphim.” Samil gently placed his hand on Jeremy’s chest. “You have magic in you as all things do.” As he spoke, he pulled his hand away from Jeremy’s heart, and with it a wave of shimmering particles followed. “But you do not possess the physical qualities to manipulate it.”

Jeremy raised his right eyebrow, not liking the answer given to him.

Samil turned and walked away. As he walked, the shimmering particles diffused, leaving only the tiny dust motes floating. The elder sat back in his chair and faced Jeremy.

“Is there more you wish to know?”

Jeremy sighed and looked again at the ring in his hand.

“You said that I have to learn the incantations in order to make the ring work?  How?”

Samil smiled, studying Jeremy as if he was a toddler learning to walk for the first time. “Each time an incantation is used,” Samil began the next lesson. “It has to be used the same way, using the exact sound frequencies, otherwise it will not work. The words themselves play a lesser role, a means to an end, as it were. The words simply provide the vehicle by which the sound waves are produced. Our voices, human and elf, are completely unique, even more unique than a fingerprint. So it is impossible for one elf to give an incantation in exactly the same soundwaves as another elf.”

“Wait,” Jeremy interrupted. “I’m not an elf. You said that only keshaphim people can use magic.”

“I said, only keshaphim can manipulate magic. You don’t use magic. It is not there and then not there. You manipulate magic to change its form or state.” Samil stood up again. “What is magic? At its most basic level, it is a vibrational energy. Sound is itself a vibrational energy. We manipulate magic to mold the soundwaves by speaking or even singing in order to fit the incantations soundwave patterns. Learning how to use incantations is difficult for any elf. But for a human, virtually impossible.”

“Well then how—“

“Jeremy. If you are going to do this, you must remove the constraints of your limited knowledge and be willing to learn what it is I am telling you.”

Jeremy sighed again and composed himself. He nodded, indicating that he was ready to learn.

The elf raised his eyebrow and continued.

“Imagine the ring and its incantation is like a lock and key. The ring is the lock. It is already keyed or tuned to its first owner. The incantation is the key. What we must do is re-key, or re-tune it. But you must learn the incantations nevertheless, and you must say them the same way each time. You will need to be able to hit the right keys and shift the produced soundwaves so that the soundwaves fit into the lock and are able to turn it. There are two locks. The first is how the soundwaves are produced. You must learn how to create the appropriate waves with your voice, the words themselves are just the vehicle to producing the soundwaves. In the movie, The Sound Of Music—“

Jeremy laughed. “You’ve seen the Sound of Music?”

Samil stopped and looked at Jeremy, puzzled. “Why should this surprise you? Mercurio brought you to me because I am an expert in humans as well as magic. I have studied your kind for centuries. I have studied your sciences, cultures, and even your harmonic frequencies. But those are distractions right now. Focus. Listen to what I say so that you may apply the principles when it is time.” The elf rubbed his hands together and continued. “In The Sound of Music, when Maria is singing the tonal scale of do-re-mi, the words themselves are irrelevant, she is just using the words to produce the appropriate sounds. So you will have to learn how to produce the appropriate sounds using the words as a vehicle. Then you have the second lock, which is the exact sound frequencies needed to produce the results. You will use the words to produce as close to the needed frequencies as possible. That part you can learn. The ring will do the rest, drawing in the magic needed, using the vibrational energy aspect of magic to shape the sounds, shifting them into the appropriate frequency, turning the lock and releasing the desired effect.”