"The Magic Particle" by TJ Hudson (Short Story)

Genre:  Fantasy

Type of Short Story:  Short Story

Summary:  It is 2012, and humanity believe they may have finally found the Higgs Boson. Little do they know that not only have they discovered the origin of mass in the universe, but also the source of magic; The Magic Particle.

A group of magical beings are called to attend a rare Grand Summit, where they must discuss the new discovery's impact on the magical world. Then they must decide the future of the entire planet.

A fantasy with a friendly dose of science.

This book is in British English.

Excerpt:

The worldwide news story called for a special event, an incredibly rare special event. A Grand Summit would be called, and a representative of every magical council, organisation, sect, cult, nation or combination of the previously mentioned were required to attend. If you were called, attendance was compulsory. However, this time this particular rule did not have to be enforced, everybody called for wanted to be present.

The selection of the venue was a daunting task, it had to have the required gravitas for such an event, but no superfluous over the top pomposity. This was not a state occasion, a coronation or any other form of ceremonial event; it was a meeting, a meeting of the so-called wise and powerful, who had to make some very important decisions. Then agree on them.

The venue had to be on as neutral territory as possible, at a convenient place and at a convenient time. Due to the urgency of the meeting this was far harder than it should have been. The venue would also have to cater to the needs of each representative, as if the existing requirements were not already enough.

The mysterious Stewards of the Grand Summit outdid themselves, they always did, even with time so constrained. There was a reason they had earned their titles, that, and managing to stay completely neutral in all magical matters; just how did they do that?

And so it was chosen, the most prestigious venue for the 156th Grand Summit of the Magical World (an event that had not occurred since 1945) would take place at The Golden Dragon Pub, out in the Wiltshire countryside on a typically British rainy summer's evening.

There were seven beings present. Beings, not people, as the magical world has sentient creatures beyond humans. The number for a Grand Summit had never been set at seven, but since time immemorial (or time as far back as anyone can remember, or as far as records went - having the occasional immortal around blurred these lines) there had always been seven present. As they were all of the magical persuasion, (some literally existing more in other worlds, realms and dimensions than our material world) they tended to take their superstitions a bit more seriously than those of us in normal, non-magical, society. That even includes the astrologists and homeopaths amongst us. Due to this, the number of attendants became unofficially/officially fixed at seven and no one wanted to take responsibility for any potential consequences of breaking with tradition.

The news story that had driven this meeting into existence was reported everywhere in normal and magical society alike. It was not about a war, or terrorist attack or natural disaster and it was not about a wedding, a birth or a world record being broken. Instead it was of a scientific nature, a new particle had been discovered, the scientific community at the Large Hadron Collider tentatively announcing it as the famous and very elusive Higgs Boson; the particle that proves the existence of the Higgs field which in turn gives mass to everything in the universe, so quite important then. 

The discovery of this particle was remarkable enough in the normal world, it had been theorised for many years, providing the final piece of the puzzle to the Standard Model of particle physics. If this final piece was found then it would indicate to humanity to concentrate on this theory and discover even more fundamental and new physics. The Standard Model however, was not the only theory to the building blocks of the universe, there were many others, all taken with varying degrees of seriousness. 

The discovery of this new particle prompted further debate about these theories; whether this Boson was indeed the Higgs, did it give mass, could it be broken down, did it have sibling particles and many other exotic questions. The people undergoing these discussions and debates could not have realised that the discovery would be at the centre of another, far more important debate, one that would decided the future of the peoples of the Earth, magical and non-magical...

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