This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Extension_Switch_823 on 2026-02-06 05:38:15+00:00.

Cities are weird places, Miles surmised.

Everyone has to go around trusting each other not to do anything bad then noone trusts you to do anything good. He'd done well enough to escape a prot to be a puppet for his Baron uncle but now with nothing and noone to his name everyone turned away from letting him help.

Frustrating.

Oh the things clairvoyance could solve, if only the god of time weren't such a stickler.

Rules being rules, and wanting to express gratitude, Miles let himself be foisted off to clean a random storefront. Sure one owned by his newly entitled benefactors, one that was already mostly clean but one he would clean.

He had nothing else to do.

So he basked in the light of the morning sun and swept. His broom slowly gathering all the dust in the shop into one spot, a horse hair brush doing the same with the shelves and glass display cases. Once everything was in one spot he prepared.

It was a small spell, as far as spells go, a few words and a mental picture. But the warlock who taught him was sure to express the more basic the spell, the more it grows.

Everyone can use the word 'phasmagoria', but its a very specific word, everyone uses it the same way.

'But' though. That's a word so basic its used everywhere and can be put in anything, thus people choose when and how to use it.

The splendor of the sunlight casting colored prisms a round the room of plaster walls and deep amber timber was a very specific thing. The words to describe the feelings were very specific and narrowly tailored to only be invoked when they were needed.

Like the pigeon blast spell the warlock also taught him, though it sounded a lot like a sneeze to cast.

Everyone used 'but' differently. A child or chanced, or just a lawyer might use 'but' as often and 'the', but when a mother or guard says it, you'd better start listening.

So with that thought in mind, his mana stirred up, Miles spoke his 'but' and expected a slight wave of light to ripple out onto the gathered dustbunnies.

It was with some surprise that he was buffeted by a blinding light and crackling heat.

Stumbling back and checking himself over he found nothing wrong, so looked back at the pile where he'd cast the spell...

Where a 3 yard wide sphere of pristine clean left the cases looking waxed, the wood polished and any metal buffed.

For a few moments he was incredulous.

Then he brought the picture and words to his mind again, letting them gather in his hand as he focused on the feeling. The rush of mana down his channels was heady and thick, not like the unruly wisps of fog he'd commanded before.

It felt like lifeblood flowing along g his arms, a tide of warm bread and fruity pie fueling what once felt like sliding paper across a desk.

He was so lost on the feeling he didn't notice the spell taking physical form in his hand, pulsing with eager purpose, adding to the prism light of the room.

Miles pulled his mana another way without thinking and realized as a wave of light pushed off his arm and began echoing back and forth in the corner he'd been facing.

He heard someone cackle a bit in the silence of the room, it wasn't until he exclaimed "wow" that he realised it was his cackle. Which made him cackle more.

Like a sea foaming within him another spell was cast, traveling down the length of the shop and echoing half the way back. The light didn't damage anything, didn't push anything, but it left a perfect clean in its wake.

It was something he was doing, something he made happen, like the universe was one big, incomprehensible instrument, and he figured out how to play a single note.

There was joy, elation, testing and pain. But the shop was clean. And he thought the town could do with some more birds.

Incident report on the 'birdnato'

Small child found at its center, aged 12. Young mage who tried altering spell components to alarming effect. Declared spells: 2

• "Spot clean" - summons a wave of light that antihalates dirt and filth while restoring an the area to a 'newer' condition. Demonstrated on roads and plasa post flock. Restored several potholes and piles of bricks. Take care when propagating.

• "Bird blast" - summons creatures at a velocity and sends them in a direction. Mostly pigeons currently. The cause of the 'birdnato' and now a restricted casting. It is unclear where the birds come from but they emerge moving outward in a mostly flat "fan" formation. Harmless if not incredibly messy.

Both are prone to unpredictable miscast effects, including the...'birdnato'

Tell Jacobson that if I have to write his made up, mashed together words in another report I'm using dissapearing ink and casting bird blast into his latrine. And I'll make sure he gets it when he's got to go in the worst way.