Mage School Story

Date: 11/12/2022

Specific scenes and events in the dream are slipping away, but I at least remember the main characters and the overall setting. The characters were teenagers attending some sort of mage school. One looked like a combination of Steve from Stranger things and Landon from the webcomic "This is Not Fiction." Imagine Steve, but very slightly lankier with slightly more pointed features, bright red hair, and eyebrows that are more circular than they are any other shape. The other looked like a combination of Aang from ATLA and Danny from Danny Phantom. He had shaved hair, a small and nerdy appearance, and bright blue-green eyes. I'll call them Stan (Steve/Landon) and Andy (Aang/Danny). At Stan and Andy's school, it was well known that every generation there would be one student who would awaken to special powers. Not the structured, practiced magic they did -- a more innate, more powerful kind of magic that could make the impossible easy. They could destroy cities or bend reality with that power, if they wanted. This person was called, if I'm remembering the dream right, the Beacon. Initially, Stan was convinced that he would be this generation's Beacon. Not for his own reasons, but because everyone said it and so it must have been true. He was a classic popular school kid who had let that popularity get to his head. Overdramatic, arrogant, kind of a jerk. He bragged about how he'd develop his powers any day, and their rival schools would be sending their own students after him to try and... do something that I can't remember, though I know it had more weight and meaning than he gave it when he did all that bragging. He pretended to cast Beacon magic at people to freak them out or impress them, but I can't remember if he actually thought his normal magic was that powerful or if he knew it was all a hypothetical -- a joke, really. The teachers at the school were invested in Stan's potential as the Beacon, and also in quiet Andy's potential. Too invested. They seemed to be orchestrating things behind the scenes to manipulate the students and test who was really going to awaken. If anything, they were trying to force the awakening itself. Every time one of these tests happened -- without any student knowing that it was a test -- Andy ended up... protecting Stan? Upstaging him? Coincidentally being near him? Whatever situation they were in, it was a spark to get them talking. Not just Stan talking at Andy, but both of them having conversations. Through these talks, Stan learned that it was actually really overwhelming to potentially be the Beacon. He started to feel sympathetic toward Andy. Andy also learned that there was more to Stan than meets the eye, and started to fall in love with him. There are a lot of scenes that happened in this time frame. Things that showed how the teachers were behind the tests. Things that showed the tests weren't safe little practice drills but events that put the students in very real danger. Scenes that hinted at why it was so important to the teachers to force an awakening, giving a sinister feel to the entire Beacon setup. Scenes that showed Andy and Stan falling in love, and no longer putting importance on Beacon powers in the same way. Scenes I can't remember clearly, where Andy's powers started to manifest and it became clear to Steve and the teachers (the other students hadn't caught on yet) that he was the Beacon they'd been hoping to find. One scene in particular where Andy's favorite teacher had drinks with him at a restaurant (not sure if they were alcoholic or not) and said something about one Beacon needing to celebrate the next. Most importantly, there were scenes where Andy could feel the power's potential to overtake him. He started to worry that he would change, become more Beacon than Andy. Become a different person. After he'd started dating Stan, Andy had also started confiding in him about these fears. Stan always said exactly what Andy needed to hear, but secretly he was also worried and was always looking for ways his boyfriend could avoid having to use any Beacon powers. He even went back to bragging that those powers were his own, so nobody would suspect Andy and he'd at least be spared from being a circus attraction for his classmates. He also pretended to be the Beacon when actual rival students finally launched an attack on their school. The students of Stan and Andy's school were very confident and reckless at first. They believed that, Beacon or no Beacon, they were all much more powerful than any rival mages could be. They only realized how clumsy their own magic was when the rival students got them on the ropes. Once again, they were in real danger. They were more aware of it and scared than ever. The rival students claimed they'd leave everyone alone if they could just take the Beacon back to their school. Stan naturally started claiming to be the Beacon they were looking for and taunting them away from his classmates. Andy was having a breakdown over not wanting to harm these rival students but also wanting to prevent harm to the students of his own school. He didn't want to use his powers and lose himself any further, either. He was scared to become a monster, but more than that he was scared to lose his current self. He sat curled up in a corner of the school's courtyard struggling with this. Then the rivals actually went after Stan, and nearly hurt him in the process. Naturally, that was the last straw for Andy. He loudly announced that he was the real Beacon, his eyes suddenly bright green instead of blue, and let his powers guide him on how to fight. The rivals didn't believe him at first, but once he started levitating huge objects around the courtyard menacingly and breathing huge streams of fire... they had no choice but to believe. Believe and retreat. He pursued them, flames nipping at their heels, until he'd driven them to the roof. They made it safely back to their school after that somehow, the dream was sure to communicate that, but students left behind in the wake of the fight didn't see that happen. They immediately started shouting that Andy had killed 30 rival students all by himself. Driven them to jump off the roof. It was a sudden, senseless rumor but one everyone knew would stick -- including Andy and Stan themselves. At that point, Andy somehow became aware of the color change in his eyes. He also realized how little control he'd had over his body and his powers while chasing away the rival students. He started to have a breakdown about this, too, and for a long moment the teachers were visible in a window behind him. They were very pleased, and that sinister feeling came back stronger than ever. Then Andy fled from the rooftop, jumping off to fly around the building. He didn't notice the teachers. He didn't notice much of anything, in his angst, until he passed a balcony. A blanket was thrown onto his back and he had to grab at the edges to keep it from falling down. Stand had thrown it, and said with sparkles in his eyes that Andy was flying. Andy landed on the balcony, clearly still distressed, and Stan gave him an incredibly soft, loving look before hugging him close and rearranging the blanket to be more comfortable. He told Andy quietly that he would be okay, feeling a little overwhelmed by love and anxiety for his boyfriend as well. That's all I can concretely remember. Teenagers being used for their magic powers, and falling in love and dating in the process. It could make a decent novel. Until Next I Wander.