Mints and Magic

Prologue

Some might tell you that long ago, in the times before Earth was consumed by hate, war, and intolerance, there was a brief, yet most certainly important period of peace and harmony that was later lost to history. Supposedly, none realized that importance at the time, and few remain who still hold the tales of it, but those who do say that it was from this time that the stories of magic truly arose. Others claim that magic still exists today, if only in small pockets, existing as minor phenomena that pass so briefly as to cause one who witnesses them to question their very reality in the first place. Then, there are those who claim to know the secret behind powering such magic, even going so far as to say that it is a fundamental existential state which every being—whether they are aware of it or not—tries to achieve.

Of course, everyone with a lick of common sense knows that such cries are nothing more than fairy tales. After all, human beings are known to be terrible creatures at their core and always have been. They perpetuate their own cycle of self-destruction, separating themselves from love and friendship in favor of bigotry and solitude. They go so far as to consolidate their bitterness in groups, reinforcing their hatred with that of others. Anyone who were to assess the human race would know just how hopelessly corrupt their lot truly was, and how they would surely spread their corruption to others should they have the slightest chance to do so. And, of course, human beings have never had magic. That would just be silly.

It is certainly a good thing, then, that they have no magic with which to escape from that wretched little ball they reside upon, trapped in the middle of a vast nothingness so that they have no means through which to spread that corruption to other, more pure and caring societies...