{%hackmd theme-dark %} # Wizard Federation: An Origin Story Alien or genie - it was hard to tell. All Mark knew at first was that the creature definitely wasn't natural. It appeared at midnight in his room, coming in through the window, with a sound that sounded like a handful of mud being thrown against it. It began as a façade of a shadow against the wall, cast through the curtains by the sliver of moon. The shadow grew thicker and thicker, gaining a grayness and hints of color, taking the form of a [twisted humanoid, with the body of a blocky robot in the form of some venomous snake](https://wiki.white-sands.space/Holoparasite). Upon the sight of this, Mark let out a scream and scooted back until he was wedged deep in the corners of his dorm room, but within less than a second, the creature caught his mouth with its flickering tongue and muzzled it before the sound could be released. "**Hush**," the thing rattled. "**There is nothing to fear**." "Who are you?" "**A wishmaster's spirit**." "What?" Mark realized his fists were still cleched white. He let his fingers uncurl. "**Call me Somna Indigo**," the thing rattled. Its voice was deep and rattly, like the rumble of a car engine or dried bones tapping together, but smooth at the same time, like the sound of cloth rubbing against cloth. "**I am here to invite you into the League of Wishmakers**." "What even is that?" The only league Mark knew about was the one at the bowling alley. "**Special people with a special talent**. **There are those in the universe who can make their wishes become real**." Somna pointed a claw at Mark. "**It is a rare talent, and one that requires training**. **It is my task to discover those who posess this ability and teach them to master it**. **Are you ready?**" Mark nodded blankly, even though his mind was numbed. "**You've already begun**," Somna rattled. "**It was a wish that brought me here**. **You called me when you yelled about the unfairness of life**. **It was a powerful call**." Mark remembered the tantrum. His PlayStation controller broke right after dinner. He'd asked his overseer, the station's quartermaster, to take him to the GameStop that night. It was a completely reasonable request, but they'd refused. He argued. They ignored his pleas. And then he shouted and threw the controller to the floor. That was why he went to his dorm room earlier than usual. And why his throat was sore. Before he fell asleep that night, his mind was filled with wishes. Not all of them were very pleasant. Somna Indigo showed Mark how to incant a wish so it became a reality to him. At first, he had Mark wish for unimportant things - a fire extinguisher, a sheet of paper, a pencil, a button. Finally, Somna told Mark, "**Wish for something of value**." "Anything?" The back of Mark's neck shivered as the possibilities flooded his mind. "**Start small**," Somna rattled. Mark wished for a PlayStation controller. It appeared on the bed. Then he wished for money. His hands filled with coins. Some were from Earth. Some others bore strange markings. Many seemed to be made from gold, or plasma. "This is awesome." As Mark took his time counting his wealth, Somna Indigo drifted back out into the shadows. "*Enjoy your harvest...*" the shadows whispered into Mark's ear. Over the course of the next month, Mark worked on mastering his wishing skills. He learned to get precisely what he wanted. A wish for money, as he had seen, would bring all sorts of things, some that wouldn't be useful for his needs, but a wish for a crisp, new one hundred-dollar bill would bring exactly that. Not that he needed money anyways, considering how he could just as easily wish for anything money could buy. At midnight, exactly one month later, on the next silver beyond the new moon, Somna Indigo returned to Mark. "**You have passed the trial examination**," it rattled. "**Do you wish to become a full member of the League of Wishmakers?**" "Of course." Mark replied. "**Then your wish is granted**." Somna Indigo grasped Mark's forehead with a claw. "**You are one of us**." All of a sudden, Mark quickly felt as if a thread had been pulled from his mind and stretched across the entire universe. He tested his powers to make sure nothing had changed. The clink of coins filled the room as seventy-seven silver dollars fell on his blanket. It was exactly what he wished for. He didn't really need something as useless as coins anyways, but he liked the feeling that came with owning them. "Hey, where does it come from?" Mark asked. "**The money?**" Somna Indigo replied with his own question. "Yea." "**From others among the League**. **Don't you know Newton's second law? It is a closed universe**. **Nothing new is created**. **Objects simply move from place to place**. **Coins, cars, camels - it doesn't matter**. **It all has to come from somewhere**." "Okay." That was fine with Mark. He didn't really mind wishing things away from other members. He didn't know them, and they didn't know him. A perfect arrangement, in his mind. Somna Indigo began fading into the shadows once more... "Wait a second..." Mark said as another thought cast a shadow across his newfound joy. He scooped up a handful of the silver dollars from his bed and clutched them up to Somna Indigo's ghostly skeleton face. "Does that mean another member can wish this money away from me?" "**They could**," Somna rattled, "**if any of them wanted something as useless to us as money**. **Most League members have other needs**." "Like what?" As Mark sat up in his bed, his jumpsuit fell open. He glanced down and saw that the zipper was missing. "**Whatever we want**." Somna Indigo rattled ominously. "Hey, wait, that's not fair. That's -" Mark's sentence ended with a yelp as he slipped to the floor. For a moment, he couldn't figure out why he wasn't standing. When he tried to get up, he saw the reason why he lost his balance and toppled over. His left foot was missing. "**It looks like someone made a wish**." Somna rattled. Mark tried to make a scream, but his tongue was gone. He tried to wish them back, but his hippocampus vanished, taking away his ability to think. Other parts of Mark lasted a bit longer, but the League of Wishmakers was vast and had many needs. Soon, there was nothing left of Mark. Not even a wish.