Today's #flashfiction #MagicIsAHammer

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.”

Wile E. Coyote* #quote

Been hangin' with CJ, anyway onto the flash fiction!

Magic is a Hammer

           I've found out that magic is like a hammer. Give it to a responsible adult and they can build wonderful things. Give it to a child and they just end up hitting their thumbs. Maybe their work together some shambling shack with nails that makes a sensible structure quake in shame.

         I'm a god that traveled from my world to another and decided to give it magic. Tons of magic. Then select myself the races that should use it. First off elves. They had long life spans so I thought it was appropriate. They used it responsibly. Like adults. They warred with it but any tool could be used for anything. It was used more for making marvelous things than for evil ends.

        I then gave it to humans with a bit of hesitancy. They were responsible too. Sometimes even more than the elves. Sometimes less. They created marvelous things as well. Both races had their own forms of wizards and used magic in their own ways and made their own magical arts. The world in the end became better as they worked with it.

        Next I gave it to the fairies. I thought to myself “Aw, look at the little fairies! They're so cute and they can fly already and they're so nice and adorable!” And they were the children I talked about. They couldn't use the hammer like the others to build wonderful things. As tiny, weak creatures that survived either through diplomacy with other talking intelligent creatures or just their vast numbers magic was their first taste of power. They made magical “castles” for themselves that looked like honeycombs of dirty rock. All these castles tore away at whatever was in the way. They didn't care because it was shaped good for them to live in. The magic of the castle and its form protected them. But its spawning tore away forests and meadows and so much more.

       They waged war with the beasts of the land that were their natural predators for generations and even the sentient creatures that did not wield magic that had taken advantage of them in generations past as well,.such being the goblins and imps. They waged war for vengeance of the oppression of their ancestors as they first told themselves. But then they just waged it for whatever seem fit. Most often it was to pull themselves up the food chain. When born as the weakest species and now free they had to seize the opportunity.

       This went on for generations. Then they got bold and went for the biggest fish in the pond. They thought with numbers and magic they could conquer their oldest enemies of all, humans and elves.  The fairies decided to wage war with them. Before the war began I looked at what the elves, humans and faeries had built. Not much but fortresses and war. When I started giving out the magic I wanted not to interfere. I had hoped that the faeries would stop being so destructive after a few generations. The elves and humans evolved to make many great things so my philosophy of not interfering had worked so far with them.

       But I didn't need to interfere to wipe out the barbaric faeries. I called magic a hammer. Human and elves used theirs to crush the faeries. They had mastered it and created so much more. The poor, weak, erratic, child-like creatures died in the magical warfare.