Eventually the effect faded, much to the displeasure of everyone present. Even some of the people who had contested that they didn’t dance had gotten up at some point with various partners and given it a go around the room. The night seemed to be slowly reaching a phase where people would start sneaking off. It was evident that no matter how incredible a party with this many people and this much joy was, this was a game where people became restless if they stayed in one place for too long. Eventually people started drifting away from the hall as they made their excuses and gave their thanks.

It was around a large table that the original members of what Amelia considered her family sat that the first honest discussion about magic began. They had been talking about magic on and off for some time on their journey but now that there were a few more voices to add into the mix it had renewed once more.

“I’m just saying,” Gilduirn had said crossly when Aidan had told him that he’d been thinking about the time Gilduirn had said there were no unique spells or abilities in AA, not really at any rate, “that anyone can do anything that anyone else can do. It may take some doing or something, but there are no unique spells. That would be like cheating.”

“Right.” Aidan smiled.

“What then?” Gilduirn said, failing to leave it alone.

“Well, let us think about it from an idea and imagination point of view. There are very few people in the world that can do what Amelia does because they aren’t willing to make her sacrifices, yes?” Aidan grinned. “So we can view Black Wizard as largely a unique class and ability. Gabriel too!”

“Don’t bring me into this.” Gabriel muttered from a table over, having heard his name.

“Right. People could make those sacrifices though. I mean I wouldn’t, you’re right, but they could.” Gilduirn was scowling. “Your particular example doesn’t bear weight either. There are thousands of Black Wizards now, even with the incredible requirements and sacrifices.”

“Really?” Amelia perked up, surprise on her face.

“Really?” Raven had a pinched face, and turned toward Aidan as if to confirm the fact that he could, in fact be wrong. “Aidan is wrong?”

“Why are you making that face at me?” Aidan was still grinning.

“Because I don’t want to argue with you! I feel like I’m going to be humiliated any second!” Gilduirn exclaimed, ignoring the fact that Aidan had been directing his comment toward Raven.

“I wouldn’t do that… again.” Aidan said after some thought. “Well, I would. I won’t though. Now.”

“Gee thanks.” Gilduirn muttered.

“But it all comes back to magic. So what I’m saying is that just because people could do something doesn’t mean they would.” Aidan said. “There is only one true strength equalizer in AA and it all but guarantees that there are features available to individuals that will never be available to anyone else. We might as well call them unique spells and abilities.”

“Such as?” Amelia felt like playing now. She didn’t agree with Aidan. There were many varieties of strength in AA and she thought it was pretty obvious he was overstepping himself by saying there was only one equalizer.

“Time.” Aidan spread his hands wide inviting them to ask more questions. It was obvious that he felt like he was prepared to win any argument.

“Alright. I’ll bite.” Hunter was swirling a bit of wine around in a glass without looking up. “Explain.”

“Time is the great equalizer. No one will ever be current with anyone else because we are all in our own time.” Aidan smiled. “Some people, like my friend Gilduirn…”

Gilduirn snorted roughly, almost seeming embarrassed at how violent it had been. Rat patted him on the shoulder.

Aidan continued unperturbed, “will realize the full spoken potential of an ability by using it and raising it to the perceived maximum level.”

“Aren’t you arguing for Gilduirn then?” Hunter asked. She looked like she didn’t care what Aidan said, like she was just humoring him so he would get to his point.

“Maybe.” Aidan smiled. “But what about the person who jealously continues with that skill or ability past its perceived potential? Time is the great equalizer. It allows for mastery in an area that no one else can ever obtain without knowing personally the time and effort involved in the obtainment of something. Without knowing the sacrifices, or requirements, or prerequisites involved at some point complexity is so thoroughly off a normal beaten path as to be indistinguishable from a unique skill.”

“That is so vague.” Raven complained after some thought.

“Raven. How many times in your travels have you cast your overhand sword ability?” Aidan asked her suddenly.

“Uhh, I don’t know?” Raven replied, her voice raising sarcastically as if it were stupid to count such a thing.

“But you keep using it even though there are other skills and abilities that you could be working on?” Aidan grinned.

Raven immediately began sulking at him. Her face told Amelia that she thought she was being tricked and was afraid of arguing with him.

“I use it because I know the power behind the move. I rely on that power. Besides ,there are always situations where it’s best to use that attack over others, situationally.” Raven said at last when no one stepped forward to help her.

Aidan sighed, obviously displeased with his ignorant audience. Even Amelia felt like scowling at him. He quickly continued.

“Time is never wasted. Every time you use that ability at what you think is the maximum level, you are evolving. It may not seem like it since the system doesn’t tell you, but there are situations where you use it and your brain makes associations with how well it worked. You use it time and time again and polish and refine it. You do it faster. Decide sooner. Win more rapidly.”

“I don’t get it.” Raven said at last.

Aidan sighed and looked around the table. “You all play in a world that is designed to work within certain parameters. Numbers and variables that you perceive but don’t get to see on a real basis. Does this make sense?”

“No.” Raven said immediately.

“You know overwhelm is powerful so you use it. You don’t know exactly, precisely, how it works or what is used to calculate that power.” Aidan said shortly, and then nodded his head trying to get Raven to nod along with him.

“Okay.” Raven said after some thought.

“You make associations based on how you use it that influence how you use it in the future. So time can only ever be the truest indication of power in AA. In fact, I should think that what we perceive as the maximum level of skills and abilities is only a ceiling we’ve invented so we can understand it.” Aidan sat back as if this proved his point.

Amelia was starting to get a headache. Many of the people around the table looked like they were maybe getting one too. “Go on.”

“What’s the highest tier of mastery in the game right now?” Aidan finally demanded, looking irritated that everyone around him was staring at him stupidly.

“Heavenly Grandmaster.” War said immediately.

“No.” Aidan shook his head, closing his eyes with a smirk.

“Yes?” Forsythe said, looking like even he was having trouble with where Aidan was trying to make his point.

“No.” Aidan said after a long moment. He opened his hands. “There is no highest level attainable. There is only time.”

“So you’re saying there is only the highest discovered ceiling based on time?” Hunter took a drink of her wine.

“No.” Aidan grinned. “You can’t even say it is discovered. If I told you that I have power that you’ll never have and couldn’t teach you is it really discoverable?”

“Do you have such a power?” Hunter snickered loudly. Amelia gave her credit for letting Aidan egg her on as long as she had.

“Yes.” Aidan said simply.

That got the attention of everyone at the table and Raven immediately leaned in eagerly and asked him, “why are you holding out? Show us, show us!”

“Can a fish know the sky?” Aidan said at her, looking wide-eyed. “What makes you think I’ve been hiding it?”

“Don’t make me hurt you Aidan!” Raven warned. “Amelia what does he mean?”

“I don’t know.” Amelia admitted softly. Aidan had never mentioned anything.

Aidan sighed again, but this time there was no mockery in it. He seemed tired, as if trying to explain was taxing him somehow. “Let me put it in terms you understand then Raven. I’m gonna pick on you because you threatened to hurt me.”

Raven just grinned at him, completely unafraid. She made an imitation of Amelia’s gesture. “Go on.”

“I’m guessing that your combat mastery is Heavenly Grandmaster?” Aidan asked, raising his eyebrow. When she nodded he nodded back as if she had confirmed his thought. “Well then I am a level above you. I’m a Profound Beginner 1.”

Silence met this pronouncement. Everyone was staring at him over the table with varying degrees of disbelief. Even Amelia felt a little bit cheated. How had he kept a new tier of mastery from her? Why had he done so?

Aidan immediately held up his hands. “If you could see a part of the world you couldn’t describe or explain to anyone else would you have tried?”

“Yes!” Forsythe and Raven both blurted out, glowering at him. Amelia might have glowered a bit too.

“[Fred].” Aidan held out his hands and his amber orb light globe, complete with dragonfly appeared in his palm. It hummed quietly at him before he cancelled the spell and it disappeared. “[Fred].” The dragonfly appeared again in his palm.

“Yeah?” Raven looked like she was about to explode. She didn’t get it and was mad that she didn’t get it.

Aidan cancelled the spell again and smiled at her. Fred appeared in his palm. It took a moment but then Amelia felt her stomach churn and a sense of vertigo swept over her. He hadn’t spoken or activated the spell. Fred had just appeared. Her stomach began to flip-flop. She was dizzy.

Raven actually jumped to her feet. She wasn’t the only one. Amelia felt herself rising from her chair and before long they were all standing warily at the table looking at Aidan like he had sprouted five heads. A few people at other tables started to look over curiously.

“Aidan…” Amelia began slowly. “How… the hell..?”

Aidan raised an eyebrow at her and smiled again. Another Fred appeared in his other hand, and it immediately made Amelia felt dizzy. She realized that she felt dizzy because she was fully and suddenly engaged. She had no idea how he had done it, let alone twice and at the same time.

“Magic doesn’t work like that!” Rat immediately blurted out. She had been sitting comfortably next to Gilduirn and had been keeping her mouth shut until now.

“Why?” Aidan asked her, bafflement on his face. “It’s magic. It’s a little arrogant to tell anyone you understand all the rules on how an imaginary system works.”

“How!?” Gilduirn replied hotly. “That’s a trick. You’re just funning us. You have a somatic component. You have it set so when you hold an open palm for longer than a few seconds you cast your light globe at like twice the cost or something!”

Aidan cancelled his spell again and put his hands at his side. He raised both eyebrows at Gilduirn as if he’d been caught and was surprised. Fred appeared on the table. Aidan’s expression melted into that of one who was pleased with himself.

“Spill.” Raven finally said.

“How many hundreds and thousands of times have you cast your abilities?” Aidan said quietly. “Did you ever find yourself just expecting the ability or spell to go off and then have to tell yourself to cast it? Did you ever wonder how you walk and talk in this game without having to do some sort of command? The answer might be simpler than you imagine. Simplicity is sometimes a form of high complexity.”

“Are you suggesting that we can think spells and abilities into working?” Gilduirn asked.

“But wouldn’t that be cheating?” Sen finally piped up. Amelia had forgotten that she and Shade were still sitting in because they had pulled up chairs behind the main group and were sitting behind her.

“Cheating?” Aidan smiled. “You’d still be casting spells that were available. You wouldn’t be casting special spells. They’d still go off after the amount of time they were supposed to, last as long as they were going to last, and do what they were designed to do in the first place. Instead of cheating, I just like to think of it as learning another skillset like walking. We were already born with the ability to learn new things.”

“I don’t recall learning how to cast magic in real life.” Shade said soberly.

“No, but AA reads the electrical impulses our brains provide. Maybe not everyone thinks in the same way and activates the same pathways but there are enough similarities that the system eventually makes associations with how we think, what we’re thinking about, and so on. Speech, vision, mobility. What if you cast a spell so many times that the game perfectly understands what you’re trying to do without the command? Like walking? Like lifting an arm? Like making a Fred.” Aidan cancelled Fred again, and again brought the light globe back to the table without invocation.

“Wouldn’t that be like real magic though?” Sen whispered. “You can just create with a thought or emotion?”

“Real magic.” Aidan laughed. “I love this world. Where we can have discussions about whether or not our pixelated realizations and manifestations of will are real magic or fake magic.”

"You know, I just had a thought." Gilduirn said suddenly. Aidan started to make a face and was going to say something that was probably a smart ass comment but stopped when Gilduirn lazily waved his hand at him acknowledging that he'd worded his comment poorly. "What if we really are getting old? What if there are a bunch of people out there that are running around blasting creatures with just their minds while the rest of us are still using the old style? Remember when we used to think we were the best? Front-runners of content? The good old days..." He sighed.

The table was silent, and Amelia was surprised to see that Raven was staring intently off into space. She had gone utterly silent. Amelia was about to ask her what she was thinking when Forsythe finally spoke up as he turned back to Aidan.

“Any other bombshells you want to drop on us?” Forsythe asked.

“Well, I was thinking about participating in the AA finals next week.” Aidan grinned.

“I don’t think a wizard has ever won the AA finals.” Hunter said immediately, crossing her arms.

“Betting against me?” Aidan raised an eyebrow.

“Hell no. I’d forfeit if I came up against you. Just listening to your snotty smacktalk would make me want to give up.” Hunter made a face at him.

“Why do you want to be in the AA finals?” Amelia didn’t know what to make of the last half hour. First, Aidan had totally blown her mind about magic and how he was somehow teaching the game to read his thoughts so he could cast spells, and then he was blowing her mind about wanting to actually participate in a publicized event involving player combat. She didn’t know if she was more disturbed by the fact he had blown her mind about either of those things or the fact that she hadn’t a clue he was up to anything until now.

“Someone made fun of my girlfriend on the forums.” Aidan said sourly.

Everyone laughed until they realized he was serious.

“Well that guy is screwed.” Raven finally seemed to have recovered from her period of silence. Hunter raised her glass and they all mirrored her in silent agreement. Aidan just laughed at this.