Engraved By A Thousand Passing Souls

20260621

Prompt from “pridemonthprompts” 2025 list.

“Master Yorick?”
“Hmm?” The elderly wizard looked up from his lesson plan.
Leslie was frowning down at their notebook. “Where does the power of the Sigils come from?”
“Repetition.”
“No, no, I mean…”
“What is it which makes that arrangement of lines capable of affecting the world in a specific way?”
When Leslie nodded, Master Yorick patiently reiterated “Repetition. Someone decides on a symbol. They believe it to have meaning. Others adopt the symbol. With each use, every time the symbol is used to represent the concept, the two draw closer on the metaphysical plane. Eventually they merge, and the symbol can be used to facilitate direct communion with the concept. That is to say, magic.”
“Wait, what?? Is that it?”
Master Yorick sighed. “If by ‘it’ you mean ‘the concerted collaboration of hundreds, perhaps thousands of souls across a timespan which makes us look like mayflies’… yes, that’s it.”
“Well, b-but, then the Sigils themselves are meaningless??”
“No. They were meaningless.” Master Yorick pointed to one of the pins on Leslie’s bag. “What does that flag represent?”
“That I’m nonbinary.”
“And how does it do that, hmm? Are those colours less binary than others?”
“Wellllll… no.” Leslie scratched their head. “I guess I get it? That arrangement of colours doesn’t inherently mean anything, even though there’s symbolism behind them.”
Master Yorick smiled and gave an approving nod. “And yet, this arrangement is now linked to a concept. And every time someone uses it to represent that concept, every time a soul reaches for it as a symbol - either to cling to it, or hold it up - that link is engraved a little deeper.”
“Wait, does that mean pride flags could one day be used for magic??”
“If they remain in use for a few hundred generations.” Master Yorick said placidly. “Though, with the global population growing as it is, we may start seeing Sigils arise faster than before. There’s a great deal of ongoing research into that possibility.”
“Now!” He clapped his hands and turned back to his lesson plan. “Treating this as the collaboration of hundreds of souls, with all the awe that should invoke… let us consider the Sigil for ‘larger’.”
“Do you hold off teaching guy students this Sigil until later?” Leslie smirked.
“No. I see it as an excellent test of their wisdom, and if necessary a profound lesson on the risks of misusing magic, particularly without supervision.”
Leslie’s smirk faded. “Wait, what happens if…?”
“This Sigil is of the ‘transformation’ family.” Master Yorick began. Pointedly ignoring the question. “It dates back to the Babylonian practice…”

Prompt was “Flags or Symbols”.