Fantasy |Fiction |Humor
Sorcerer Daycare
A TKL Mashup response
This story adventure is inspired by Monday Mash-Up #30, and dedicated to anyone taking care of the younglings… 🤣
Bruce squinted hard and wiped his drenched brow in the hot summer sun. He had — perhaps too hastily — agreed to forgo the usual 2-year moratorium on joining the Knights Academy in favor of a six-week internship program at the kingdom’s Royal College.
Specifically, he had drawn the dreaded sorcerer’s daycare!
“Diego, stop eating the chalk. That’s for drawing your runes,” he scolded one of the children, gnawing on his white piece of chalk.
Diego pouted at Bruce and threw the chalk onto the ground, which immediately caught fire and landed like a melted marshmallow as it hit the cobblestones.
Another young spellcaster, a tiny halfling sorceress named Gilda, slapped a warm potion vial into his hand. “Please drink this, Master Bruce. I brewed it especially for you!”
Her giggle at the end was both adorable and frightening. Her innocence was matched only by her alchemy skills, so, with a shrug, he popped the cork and guzzled down the tiny elixir.
It tasted like ash, then seaweed, then like burning hot magma! Bruce turned to spit out the last of it from his mouth, but accidentally ignited a nearby shrub!
Bruce bolted towards the pool and jumped in, ignoring the line for the diving board in the far corner and taking in gulps of water in doing so. His charges all roared with laughter at the sight of their senior all soaking wet.
As he climbed out of the pool, the laughter was silenced as he cast a spell on the kids sealing their lips shut.
Gilda ran up to him, yelling muffled words that he couldn’t comprehend. She grasped a silver amulet around her neck and the illusion he had created was dispelled.
Clever girl!
“Master Bruce!” Gilda, out of breath, merely pointed towards Diego and some other charges as they lobbed flaming goop through the air, the fist-sized globules exploding as they touched the cobbles, grass, or anything else!
He reached for his magic whistle around his neck and blew it, freezing the spellcasters in place for a few seconds. The whistle disintegrated into dust, its magic used up. As the spell effect faded, the children all fell to the ground, momentarily stunned.
Gilda ran over to Diego and gave his face a mighty slap. “That’s for ruining my love potion delivery, you… you GOON!” She took off in the direction of the cafeteria with streams of tears running down her cheeks.
Bruce turned to Diego sternly. “What did you do to her potion?”
“I just added a little Dragon’s Flame for fun,” he answered, rubbing his red cheek. “She’s always gotta take everything so serious…”
“Dragon’s Flame? You could’ve killed someone!” Bruce exclaimed. “Least of all ME!”
Bruce asked another wizardly intern to watch over his students while he raced to the cafeteria after Gilda. As he neared the doors, he could hear her small voice recounting the events to her familiar, a small kitten homunculus she had created. The patchwork cat listened intently as it sat.
“…And then Diego and his friends began throwing fiery goop bombs all over the place, probably dispelling whatever magic was left of the potion… Oh, Cat, I’m so cursed in love! Master Bruce is never going to fall for me now…”
Check out the continuation of Gilda’s story here.
My score: 13/14
A potion doesn't have the desured effect: 2 points
Diego starts a fire: +1 point
Bruce skips the pool queue: +1 point
Gilda uses a magic amulet (from the Mashup image): +1 point
Gilda slaps Diego in the face: +2 points
Gilda unravels the play: +5 points
The Almighty Tally Box: +1 point