Kennedy Cavan
"Magic… is real," Rae repeated, staring at Mikki DuBois.
Mikki smiled the patient smile of someone who dealt with children a lot. "Yes, Rae, for the fourth time: magic is quite real."
Kennedy blinked, remaining silent himself. He had since Mikki had pulled the two of them aside. It definitely felt as if he was in some sort of waking dream, one where his boss's boss was now explaining to them that the world he knew simply didn't exist anymore. So, yeah, you really couldn't blame Rae for having Mikki repeat this a few times.
"Yeah, did kind of figure that when Kennedy used his magical rod," here it became readily apparent that Rae was fighting the urge to start giggling, "do you know, form a protective force field straight out of some sort of weird ass movie involving midgets or maybe some space wizards or something along those lines." Rae leaned back against her seat lacing her fingers behind her head. "I just kinda like hearing you say it. Bit like having my dentist explain death metal," Rae smirked, "only I could probably believe that happening a little bit more than this."
Mikki actually rolled her eyes slightly at that, before turning to look to Kennedy. "I realize that you're quite new here, so this is probably coming as a very big surprise. I'm sure you have a lot of questions…" Mikki paused, turning and looking around the room.
After they'd escorted the various other passengers off of the roller coaster, Rae and Kennedy had been taken to one of the first aid stations. The people there had recognized Kennedy immediately and he'd been smart enough to just let them do their thing. He wasn't entirely sure that the "magic Rod" didn't have some sort of weird side effect, and he wasn't going to take chances. But they barely had time to have other magical items waved at them by people who Kennedy was beginning to realize were much more comfortable with magic he was, when Mikki DuBois herself had arrived, and after confirming that everything was okay, had escorted and what appeared to be some sort of break room tucked away in one of the outlying sections of the park.
Drinks had already been offered, and Rae had mostly guzzled down something that looked to literally be sparkling. Kennedy had opted for a bottle of water, even pausing to check to make sure that the brand was something in it. Now they are both sitting in seats that had no right to be this comfortable while Mikki explored the strangely drab surroundings.
"You, uh, looking for something?" asked Rae, sliding forward a little on her seat. She tilted her head in an appraising way that Kennedy already recognized as probably being secretly sexual in some form or fashion. "Not that I'm minding the view…"
Mikki shifted slightly and finally produced what appeared to be some kind of projection. She reached up and tapped a wall, making it turn it completely simple shade of white that reminded Kennedy of a whiteboard. She set the projector on a table and pointed it at the newly whitened wall.
"So, we actually have an introductory video that we like all employees exposed to the more intricate levels of the park to view. We actually got a famous actress to help participate," she gave the two of them and overly eager smile. Mikki flicked a few switches and the projector hummed into life. The logo of the park fluttered onto the wall in front of them and much sharper clarity than it should.
Rae shifted her attention though she quickly looked back to Mikki. "Should we be getting some popcorn? Oh," she scooted closer to Kennedy, "make sure to dim the lights so we can get up to some naughty action." She wiggled and gave Kennedy a smile.
Kennedy didn't know if Rae was doing on purpose or not, but her return to normal behavior was actually somewhat comforting. He wasn't quite sure how she wasn't freaking out or celebrating or shooting sparks into the air, but it was definitely refreshing to have something that was completely unchanged a few moments ago. He studied the logo, bringing a hand up to his chin. Was this something that he needed to think about that hard? He needed this job. The pay was good, and they weren't thinking too much about what he got into in the past. True, he'd officially been exonerated of all that, and he done his best to put it behind them. That didn't mean that people weren't quite eager to take second guesses.
There is also the simple fact that Kennedy liked his job. He felt like he was actually helping people, if only to make sure they were repaired after some sort of basic accident around the park. The park itself is pretty friendly, and most of his coworkers were all right. So what if there was some sort of weird magical thing going on here? Did that outweigh the benefits, not to mention the pay?
"Right," said Mikki nodding towards the screen, "this should explain everything. Hope you enjoy!"
Rae leaned closer to Kennedy talking almost on the side of her mouth. "This ought to be good."
"I'll settle for educational," said Kennedy his voice a little raspy.
The screen had shifted yet again, showing an altogether too real look at the park. It appeared to be some sort of aerial view as if it were shot from a helicopter or something. But Kennedy had seen shots like that in movies and documentaries and the like, and they just worked this clear. He just mentally chalked it up to magic, and told himself to stop thinking too much about this sort of thing.
Swelling music played as the "camera" darted and weaved his way around the park showing off the various attractions. They saw dragons breathing fire, fluttering pegasi, flashes of various dancers, what appeared to be a variety show of some kind, the very mine ride that they'd had to save people from, just about every little attraction at the park was shown in little flashes.
After several minutes of the montage of scenes a voice that did sound vaguely familiar began speaking: "you're probably quite aware of the secret lands. Despite its name, we're awfully out the open, aren't we? With our incredible rides and attractions, we attract families from all over the world. They come to see the sort of attractions that they simply cannot see yet another park. Guests come away thinking that they've had a truly magical experience. Memories and memorabilia are carried away, sometimes with the sort of treasuring that we have our entire lives."
"Wow, this is super corny," drawled Rae. "But that voice is weirdly bubbly. She reminds me of the stupidly pop girl who came in second to me…"
The screen shifted onto a girl who looked well, "stupidly pop." She had that sort of bright cheerful smile the overly made-up face, and the fashionable clothes that just screamed that somebody had spent a few hours dressing her. She leaned in towards the camera as if she were sharing a secret. "Well, I'm Dakota Joy, yes, that Dakota Joy from all your favorite TV shows."
"She is going to be so disappointed," whispered Rae.
"And I'm here to tell you the real secret to all those magical memories: the magic in the Secret Lands is real," she gave the camera wink and a fairy fluttered on the screen. Dakota watched the fairy flutter around her smiling and dancing for a few moments. While Rae fought back laughter, Kennedy could just see Mikki shuffling her feet awkwardly in the corner, obviously slightly imitating the dance.
"This is Dandelion," said Dakota gesturing towards the fluttering glowing fairy.
The fairy giggled. "What you can call me Dandy, Dakota!"
"But if I call you dandy Dakota won't people get us confused?"
"Hey!" Rae leaned forward so sharply that Kennedy thought she might shoot out of her seat. "I slept with that fairy!"
At that Kennedy had to turn to her and raise a brow.
Rae gestured toward the screen. "Well she was a lot bigger at the time it's not like I just shoved her into—"
Mikki coughed and the two of them took the hint, falling silent to watch the screen.
With Dandy now established as Dakota's cohost the screen shifted to something like a laboratory. The two girls were now wearing what appeared to be some sort of mixture of lab coat and wizard's robe, complete with long pointed hat and safety goggles.
"So how does the magic work here exactly?" asked Dakota.
"I'm glad you asked!" said Dandy. "See, some of us have magic naturally," the fairy fluttered around for a few moments sprinkling glitter as she went, "so we come here is something of a sanctuary. Our magic comes from us producing it but I couldn't get into details like that. It would just bore you, and we don't want to encourage people to do anything naughty."
Dakota shook her head. "No, we would when people to want to become a Dark Lord or something like that would we?"
"Oh, don't worry, we have the sword of light just on hand in case that happens," Dandy gestured to a wall where very impressive sword was encased behind a glass box right next to the fire extinguisher.
"Boy, I feel safer already!"
Dandy nodded. "Right, so those of us have natural magic, but there is still some ambient magic out there. See, what they don't want you to know is that the world actually produces magic!"
"Wow! That sounds…"
"Don't you dare say magical you poppy---" said Rae.
"Absolutely magical!"
Kennedy had to fight the urge to laugh.
"Yep! And there's even more of it produced here than anywhere else in the world! That's part of why we made the park here, but will get into that in a moment. See all that excess magic has a tendency to linger in certain things. And on top of that some of us need to get rid of our magic, and we want to do it in safe ways. So, what will do is inject magic naturally in the various items. You'll find the scattered around the park and use by various park attendance, particularly ones like you who are humans!"
Dakota was now holding what almost look like one of those poppers you saw the party. "Like this thing? What does it do?"
"Why don't you pop it find out?" asked Dandy, adding a few giggles.
"The suspense is killing me," mumbled Rae, and Kennedy couldn't help but barked out a slight laugh.
Dakota popped the device in a shower of glittering dust that looked almost identical to that that fluttered around Dandy at all times erupted into the air landing around her. It gathered particularly in her hair, making her look even more sparkly, something that really should not be possible, when she started to float slightly off the ground. "I'm flying! This must be fairy dust!"
"It sure is! But it doesn't always do things like that. Fairy dust can have all sorts of different effects, but you definitely don't want to inhale it through your nose or something. It's certainly not a drug and definitely has no hallucinogenic effects whatsoever."
"First chance I get I'm taking the biggest snort of fairy dust…" mumbled Rae.
"But you'll find that there are various magical items that all have different effects. These are given out to different park workers to complete various tasks around the park. So, you might use dust like this if you need to get somewhere high, or you might have a wrench that will help you deal with a particularly pesky nut. We even have some various healing kits in our first aid stations that will help heal wounds within seconds!"
That definitely explain a few things to Kennedy. It did make him wonder though: why does something like that come so easy to him?
"I hear that sometimes magic and come easier for some people than others though. Is it true that some of us actually have some innate magic of our very own?" asked Dakota, tilting her head to the side.
Dandy nodded, "You sure do Dakota!" The scene shifted to show various normal looking people using what appeared to be some sort of sparkling rod that bared an uncanny resemblance to the one strapped to Kennedy's side. "Some people resonate with magic more readily than others," magic sparkled in particular around one particular person while the other only produce a smaller amount of fluttering lights. "Sometimes this is based around a person's genetics, like when someone has the blood of a magical creature somewhere in their line, or their belief in magic. But sometimes," she giggled, "it's completely random!"
"What was that about having the blood of magical creatures? That sounds kind of icky, I hope I don't have that in me!"
"Don't worry you're not that interesting," said Rae.
"Oh, it's not icky at all Dakota. See, sometimes us magical creatures will fall in love with a human," the scene now showed what appeared to be a shy, willowy looking elf girl holding hands with a guy that look like he'd stepped off the covers of a teen magazine. "And from that love will, person who has a bit of magical blood in them. In humans, this means that you have some sort of natural enhancement. It can also mean that the various magic in the park works a little bit easier for you. Sometimes people like that who stay in the park for some length of time will finally get magical abilities of their very own!"
For once, Rae remained silent, as both she and Kennedy took a few seconds to ponder what that meant. They exchanged looks with one another, likely the same thought going through their minds: that meant that they could pick up magical powers, could actually do magic on their own. Kennedy saw Rae's gaze slip, and for a moment, he thought she was looking back at the screen. As he followed the tilt of her head, however, he saw her looking to Mikki.
"That sounds awesome!" the screen continued. "It makes me wish that I could stay and work at the park! It would just be awesome to have magic of my very own! If only I'd won a contest that made me have to perform here!"
Kennedy snorted at that.
"That had to have been added later," mumbled Rae, glaring suspiciously at the screen.
"But where does all this magic come from?" asked Dakota, tilting her head quizzically to the side.
"I'm glad you asked that, Dakota!" said Dandy, waving an arm. "Follow me!" The two giggled together, and then literally flew off, the scene transitioning to what appeared to be some kind of museum. Kennedy didn't immediately recognize it, but some of the construction on the walls looked familiar. There were several displays, namely a series of what appeared to be tapestries and scrolls. The camera panned across them for a few moments, with swelling music playing.
"This is the Hall of Beginnings!" said Dandy as the screen shifted back, showing the fairy and her pop star companion, who was, of course, gaping at the scene around her. "Established shortly after the founding of the Secret Lands! It shows the history of the park and the idea behind its very foundation."
"Just what I always wanted: a history lecture. Don't people usually sleep through these?" asked Rae, shifting. "And aren't they usually delivered by ghosts?"
"Once upon a time," Rae groaned at that, "there actually was magic everywhere."
"Like in the fairy tales?" asked Dakota.
Rae groaned louder.
"Almost exactly! Elves and fairies like me and dwarves and just about every magical creature you can imagine used to exist right alongside humans in the wide world," the screen shifted, showing each in turn. Kennedy actually recognized the image of the dwarf, mostly because it was the woman who'd demanded his help on his very first day on the job. That had his eyes widening slightly. "But humans aren't exactly an accepting lot, as you probably know from your own history," an image of humans going to war with one another flashed. Kennedy glanced over, seeing Rae give an almost apologetic look toward Kennedy. His expression went serious as they both focused back on the images. "They spread out more and more, taking lands that had traditionally belonged to magical creatures."
"But couldn't the magical creatures have fought back?" asked Dakota.
"No shit. Pretty sure a dragon could take most armies out," Rae pointed out.
"They could, but they didn't want to damage the world too much. Plus, magic is a sort of ambient energy, as we said earlier. So, like," Dandy waved, "use too much, and it could disappear. Some beings have burned themselves out that way. That didn't stop several of the higher ranking magical beings from arguing that fighting back would be a good idea."
Dandy gestured toward one of the tapestries, showing various magical creatures conferring, before walking to a scroll. It beautifully illustrated several creatures on two sides. On one, Kennedy could see fairies, elves, a few dragons, many woodland creatures and the like. On the other were a few other dragons, dwarves, witches, and what appeared to be some fiercer creatures (though there were certainly imposing creatures on either side).
"There was a schism, until the High Witch made a Call to Order, pulling on the Deep Magics," intoned Dandy. The scene started to shift to a scroll.
"What the heck does that mean?" asked Dakota, while Rae said the same thing at the same time… only with harsher language. When Kennedy gave her a wry look, Rae responded with a rude gesture.
Dandy giggled. "I guess there's a lot of proper nouns in there, huh?"
"No shit," said Rae.
"A 'Call to Order' is something the head of a magical body can do. It insists that all present magical leaders cast a vote together, with magic being a deciding factor. And, as most people know, Deep Magic is the most primal form of magic. Some people think it was there from the beginning, possibly put in place by God or something similar."
"Sure, magic comes from God. Explains all the witch trials," offered Rae.
"So basically, the Head Witch used some sort of sacred magic ritual to have everyone, like, vote on the decision?" asked Dakota.
The screen shifted back to the scroll as Dandy spoke. Kennedy leaned in, finding himself interested as the fairy explained: "Exactly! But the vote was exactly tied, or so legend has it," the fairy giggled, "and unlike other legends, ours are backed up by people who were actually there!"
Rae snorted.
"The magic itself cast the tie-breaking vote, and it voted in favor of leaving the humans alone," said Dandy, pointing to a scroll, where what appeared to be a shining light was flaring and the two sides were looking very nervous. "of course, that still meant that the various magical people need to figure out where to go."
They shifted to a tapestry then. "Some decided to try making their own world near one of ours, borrowing on human imagination," it showed what appeared to be some kind of fantastical place made in the minds of several different children. "Others opted to try and hide among the humans, integrating their children with the humans," showing what appeared to be various elves, spirits and the like taking on human forms and sitting with humans in classrooms. "And some decided to set up various magical communities, cut off from the human world," again another tapestry, this one showing what appeared to be towns and villages with magical barriers around them.
"Is that what the Secret Lands are?"
"Kinda, but not really," said Dandy, bobbing her head. She gestured for Dakota to follow her back to the scrolls. "See, the Secret Lands were made because a human approached the magical creatures after their meeting. She begged the creatures to not totally abandon humanity, arguing that their magic was part of humanity's imagination, that they inspired humans who could inspire them in turn. She said that what was needed wasn't separation or integration, but celebration, putting the magical beings out there for people to see and marvel at."
"That actually kinda makes sense?" said Rae, glancing at Kennedy. He found himself agreeing, if somewhat, though he also thought there were a few potential dangers.
"Several agreed, including nearly a member from every race present at the meeting. Yet one who lost the vote wouldn't have the other side leading them. It was decided that the human would Coordinate. The magic itself, still present at the time, agreed, and let the human become a conduit for it."
"Wow, that sounds incredible!" said Dakota. "But wait," she cupped her chin, tilting her head to the side, "isn't there a Coordinator here?"
"Well of course there is! The Secret Lands was actually the first park to develop! First as a sort of mystical place hidden in the United States, then as a well-advertised park like we know it today."
"I thought the Coordinator was a guy though?"
"Having trouble figuring out sexes there?" asked Rae.
"He is! See, the Coordinator role is passed down to various humans each time. Traditionally it's always gone to someone from outside the park," explained Dandy. "They're chosen by the magic itself. So, whenever a Coordinator loses their coordination and stops becoming an effective Conduit, the magic will pick a human hire from the Secret Lands to take their place, first as a Candidate, then a full time Coordinator!"
"And that's supposed to be us, right?" asked Rae, twisting to look at Mikki, who started slightly in response.
"The video is explaining that---" she explained, gesturing toward it.
"Yeah, but you're right here," said Rae, moving further to outright rest on the back of the chair, "and I'm getting bored with making fun of it."
Mikki frowned, folding her arms over her chest. "Well, more or less…"
"So, you think that we can become Conduits of this… Deep Magic?" asked Kennedy, turning to look himself now. "Even…" he glanced over at Rae.
"Yeah, I'm surprised I'm in the running too."
"Yes, you both have high affinity for magic, which is how it works," explained Mikki, nodding. "The magic itself chooses whoever our next Coordinator happens to be. We really don't have a choice," she glanced back at the screen, where Dandy and Dakota were apparently looking through various parts of the park, explaining how the different areas were established according to race or something. Kennedy glanced over, not at all surprised by what he was seeing, since it matched up with the map and areas he'd more or less memorized already.
"Okay, I've heard enough," said Rae. She slapped her knees before rising to her feet, stretching lazily. "I've got magic, and I'm gonna go use it to have some fun."
"That's not---" protested Mikki, but Rae was already scampering off, very nearly skipping. "Wait, there's more video to---" Mikki turned, as did Kennedy, but Rae barely even broke stride. Just like that, she pranced right out of the room.
Mikki looked back to Kennedy, a pleading look on her face. Kennedy heard his phone chirp, and shifted to look at it. A message from Rae was there, telling him he should stop being a loser and come do magic with her.
"There really is more video," said Mikki, looking almost sad.
Sighing, Kennedy typed a quick response to mollify Rae, then turned back to look at the screen, ready to hear all about the exciting new job he'd just found himself thrust into.
And he just wanted to earn some money for college…