Walking through the forest as the sun began to set was probably the first time Jonny realized exactly how magical this new world was. Even while literally learning magic, and witnessing people regularly using it, it just never quite felt real until now. Or rather, he never realized exactly how pervasive magic was until now.Before, when he was in the forest, it was to rescue Tommy. He had been so focused on finding Tommy that he didn’t really have the mental bandwidth to look around. Now, everywhere he looked, he saw something cool.To his left, he saw a pair of birds flitting around a tree, one moment blue, the next green, then yellow, then violet. Nearby there was a squirrel crawling up a tree, mouth stuffed full of nuts, and even more nuts hovering in the air behind it. Far beyond the tree with the squirrel, he swore he saw a fox walk right through a solid tree as if it weren’t there.On his right, he saw a patch of moss slowly creeping around a tree like a sentient blanket. A bird landed on the bark beside it and tried to rip a piece off, but the moss recoiled away from its beak. Angered, the bird tried grabbing it again and again, but the moss kept backing away, silently wrapping around behind the bird until suddenly, it enveloped the bird’s feet. Jonny did not see what happened next, because they got too far away.Overhead, a low cloud drifted. At first, Jonny had paid it no mind, until he realized that it wasn’t moving with the wind, and in fact seemed to be changing direction to circle over an area somewhere ahead and two his right. When he squinted, he could have sworn he saw a dark, winged shape in its center.“It’s a cloud hawk,” said Igrette, catching his gaze. “Fairly intelligent magic beasts. They are (...)