I Am Totally a Real-Life Wizard (Not Clickbait, I Swear!)

Khalil got out of the car, stretching xer back. "Alright, let's set everything up real quick. Then it should be early enough to go exploring."

Dawn flashed a bright pink light. "Exploring!"

Spoiler

I've been there. XD I've spent many a minute on Google Earth, exploring the terrain of England.

“Exploring.” Valeri echoed. “That sounds good, as long as we don’t run into any WANNABES again.”

“No need to worry! This time, I’ll protect you all!” Dawn glowed yellow.

“Oh thanks, Dawn.” Valeri smiled as Cody un-shrunk the mattresses. She helped straighten them and arrange bedrolls on them, then glanced up. “It looks light enough for an hour or so of exploring! Where should we go?”

Vendetta shrugged. "Do we have to go to any particular place? We can just wander a bit and see if there's anything good."

Dusk floated beside their shoulder, bobbing along gently. "I second that! Aimless wandering is the best sort of exploration."

"Alright." Valeri closed her eyes and spun around. "Say stop whenever. Preferably sometime soon, before I get dizzy."

After a couple more seconds, Dawn hummed, "Stop!"

Valeri stopped and opened her eyes. She was facing a copse of maple trees that lay beyond a few more yards of meadow. "Should we start with going that way?"

"Let's go!" Dawn spun in the air. "I haven't been around trees in ages. Other than that jungle, but I'm not counting that."

Vendetta laughed, offering Valeri their arm. "Come on, then. You heard the sword."

Valeri grinned and took Vendetta's arm. "'Tis a wonderful night for a stroll, my dear sibling." She started walking across the meadow.

Dusk floated alongside them, their arrows surrounding them. "Ahh... fresh air. Not quite as good as the beach, but I do love trees." The bow twirled in the air.

"The trees make wonderful music." Dawn held still as the breeze rustled the leaves. "It's beautiful."

Vendetta nodded. "It is. Music of the earth."

"It sounds like a river..." Valeri tilted their head to the side and listened, breathing deeply. "It's nice to have a moment of peace and quiet." For a while they walked, simply existing among the maples and evening breeze.

Cody and Khalil followed at a bit of a distance, talking softly.

After a minute, Valeri glanced back at them, then ventured, "Do you think now's a good time to try discovering our personal abilities?"

Khalil looked at Cody, who shrugged. "We can try. It's certainly peaceful enough."

Dawn vibrated. "Oh, I'm so excited to see what yours are!"

Khalil smiled. "Alright. It's best to start sitting a few good feet apart." He sat on the grass.

Vendetta followed xer instructions, joining Khalil on the grass crisscrossed.

Valeri sat a couple of feet away from Vendetta, then glanced at Khalil. "What next?"

"We can try this first potion." Khalil took out two small glass bottles from his pack, then handed them to the siblings. "Drink these, then take a few deep breaths and think on your unique identity. What makes you you?"

Vendetta accepted the potion and chugged it. It wasn't nearly as unpleasant as they were expecting. It was a little sweet.

They took a careful deep breath in through their nose. What made them Vendetta? Their mind flashed to all of their awkward "crushes" back when they were still figuring stuff out. Their grandma's horrified voice when Vendetta dyed their hair for the first time. The puppy eyes they always gave Valeri when they hesitated to jump into something.

Valeri downed the potion and swallowed. Okay, time to think about what made them Valeri. Her outspokenness, the way they were overly defensive of Vendetta sometimes... How they'd accidentally made three teachers cry... But also that time she'd beaten up a few bullies, and how she tried their best to do the right thing.

Valeri started to feel a little bit of a tingling in their stomach.

Vendetta's eyes started to almost hum. It wasn't painful, but it was slightly uncomfortable. as if they were vibrating in their sockets. They squeezed their eyes shut and forced themselves to take another deep breath.

Valeri's arms started tingling as well, and Amalthea hopped off their shoulder and scampered away. "Uh... this shouldn't hurt, right?"

"Not usually. We did bring some healing potions, though, just in case."

Valeri felt herself... transforming?

Vendetta's eyes popped open against their will. They felt almost different. Everyone stood out against the forest a little more, almost as if someone blurred the background. They groaned. Welcome to headache city, population Vendetta soon.