Protective brother
"Pleeeeaaaassseee, Takeshi?"
"No. You're not going to the multidimensional basketball tournament."
"But I'm not--"
"Even as just an audience member. You're not going, Leon."
"D:"
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Chapter 8: Magic in the Coral Sea
Magic in the Coral Sea mainly evolves around two concepts: (1) equivalent exchange and (2) fair trade. Many would call the magic used in the Coral Sea dark magic, but the Coral Sea itself has a very different concept of dark magic that is much, much more taxing and costly than the surface's view of "dark magic".
(In the Coral Sea, Ea's magic is "normal magic", things that can sometimes be reversible. "Dark magic" in the Coral Sea is often called curses or cruxes, magic that is irreversible under any circumstances.)
The source of the Coral Sea's magic is believed to have come from Ea, a Mesopotamian deity, the deity of magic, wisdom, and the creation of water. The myths say that he lives beneath the ocean and is associated with fertility, and is the first of the merfolk.
To practice Coral Sea magic is to worship Ea. Ea's rules of creation determine that all living things are born with a fixed asset and that cannot be altered, even by magic. To obtain something, one must give back something of equal value. For example, if a man wishes for riches and wealth, no doubt they will hit the lottery and get riches and wealth, but their eldest child might mysteriously die in their sleep or a shipwreck in exchange. Not all Coral Sea magic is that dark, however. The smaller and more inconsequential the magic, the less effort, and price it cost. To make a clam sing, one might only need to trade it with a tree branch. To transport one item to another destination, it costs nothing at all except to know the right incantation as it doesn't upset the balance of the world.
However, no one knows these rules better than merfolk, since it's magic exclusive to the Coral Sea. Though as rumours find themselves to the surface, sailors would occasionally hunt for merfolk just so they could force them into using their magic for their own gain. These merfolk would usually agree to it, but they get their revenge by tricking the human into trading something they're not prepared to lose. Sometimes the cost is enough to drive them mad, but their problems no longer concerns the merpeople.
Sadly, most of the time merpeople are, technically but not literally, trying to protect humans from using magic they don't understand, but when enraged, merfolk would not stop them and let them bear the fruit of their own actions.
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