Cody walked into the Fantasy Lands office. Julius had called a contact there and set
everything up for an interview. He wasn't sure what to expect, but was a little surprised to
find a single room, with one man seated at the desk in the middle of it.
The man stood up and extended his hand. "Hello, you must be Cody. I'm Dr. Llewell, the
head of the Fantasy Lands project."
"Uh, hi," said Cody. His eyes wandered to the paintings that covered those parts of the
walls that weren't covered by bookshelves.
"So what do you know about our project?" asked Dr. Llewell.
"Not much, really. Just that I can take part in a magical project without being a mage
myself."
"That's right. Let me start at the beginning. We've taken control of a few neglected sites
and hidden them away from the mundane world to create magical habitats. We have need
of such places because we can raise magical creatures there, and because the local
environment becomes more adapted to certain types of spells... but I don't need to go into
the details. Suffice it to say that practicing magi can use more magical sites."
"Okay."
"Now, magical places need magical creatures, which are hard to come by. The best way to
get one is to transform a mundane creature that's become imbued with magic, but there
aren't to many of those in the wild. Creatures who live on this campus, however, positively
glow with magic. That includes humans, most of whom are already here to become magi.
Those who don't care to, like you, are therefore in demand."
"So I've got the stronger bargaining position?"
"Indeed. Which is why I think you'll like the offer I'll make. We're working on a magical
lake to support water-aspected spells. We've established a community of merfolk who will
maintain it. You could become one of them. They work short hours and the underwater
home has plenty of amenities. And I might add, the mermaids are quite attractive, and
wouldn't mind meeting someone new." He winked. "So what do you say?"