Twilight Paradox

Wisp

When Eric was a young boy of 10 or so, his grandfather took him out to the local arboretum for a walk among the trees. As they walked, his grandfather would point out various kinds of trees and plants. Telling him a little about each. As it got close to dark, his grandpa said,
“If we’re lucky, we’ll see a will-o'-the-wisp! But you must be very quiet.”
“Why, Grandpa?” Eric asked
“Because, they say that they are the spirits of witches, and you might scare them.” His grandfather said, then continued in a whisper “Let’s wait a bit here quietly and see if one comes up from the swamp.”
So they waited for what seemed to be an eternity to Eric. Then, suddenly a small ball of gas floated above the weeds and started weaving slowly back and forth. Eric’s breath rushed in in excitement, then he put his hand out and whispered “Come.”
He felt an internal rush of what he came to call “the heat”, and slowly the will-o'-the-wisp made its way toward them.
“Come on, it’s ok” Eric coaxed and threw more “heat” toward the thought. The mysterious light then traveled a straight beeline to Eric’s outstretched hands.
His Grandfather gasped, then said “Be careful Eric!”
But Eric didn’t pay him any attention. He was sending the ball through his fingers and around his head. After a while he sent it spinning around his Grandfathers crouched form.
“How are you doing that?”
“I dunno. I just told it what to do, and its doing it.”
Eric had an idea. He left the will-o'-the-wisp hovering above his head and concentrated really hard. Nothing happened. Then he took some of the loam from between his feet and held it out.
He concentrated again and a glow flickered in hand and quickly went out. He concentrated harder, and the “heat” flowed from his body and into the palm of his hand. Soon another wisp flared up in his hand.
He laughed in joy and soon had the two will-o'-the-wisp’s chasing each other across the swamp.
“E-Eric. Please stop doing that.” His Grandfather stammered. “It’s not right. People shouldn’t be able to do such things”
Eric dropped the ‘heat’ and the wisps faded away.
“You should never do anything like that again. It’s not natural”
“Ok grandpa, I’m sorry. Can we go now? I’m really tired.” And he was; He felt exhausted but happy. It was natural to him, no matter what grandpa might say, and he promised himself he would learn how to do all kinds of things. But now he needed to sleep.
In the following years, Eric had tried, and seen, all kinds of spells, but even with all of that, he wasn’t ready for the spells that drove that door when he stepped through in that little kitchen in a Virginia housing project.