Under the light of a purple lantern, he observed the mysterious sphere.

The lantern itself was a relic he treasured greatly, that despite its humble and grubby appearance, was the only one of its kind in existence. Behind the colored glass, it held thousands of tiny crystals, that would light up like embers if touched by magic.

The power of the lantern, however, wasn't in a cosy ambience or obscure decorum, but in the fact that the light it gave could detect any curse, no matter how well one tried to hide it.

Basking in purple, Ullie had almost forgotten what it felt like to be excited over an unfamiliar thing, especially the one that in his hands felt like the missing piece of the greatest puzzle in the universe.

He kept the sphere suspended in between two upright rods, made of some unusual metal, full of runes and glowing veins. They were another unique tool in his possession, once used by the masters of arcane arts to create tiny pockets in space, and thus a controlled environment they could influence with energy.

It was not a secret some of those old masters conspired in the pursuit of a different kind of magic, which they believed was the ultimate answer to everything, the very fabric that held the worlds together.

At a certain point, their pursuit became a forbidden art, as too many people had lost their lives to the errors made and things that came out of the rifts it created. Since that time, no one dared to follow in their footsteps, and whatever knowledge they gathered, was lost to the ages, leaving only a set of warding laws and rules to remember it by. The instruments that survived, had been locked away from the world in secret places and private collections, whose owners could only guess at their true potential.

Luckily, Ullie had spent a few centuries in the very same pursuit and he knew where to find them.

“I can feel it Juniper,” he said to the orange fur ball.

It did not answer, merely twitched its whiskers and continued to sleep.

“This is proof. This could change everything,” he whispered as he tried to hold back the excitement and keep his hand from shaking.

Once again he attempted to coax a reaction from the artefact with simple electricity, a charge only strong enough to ruffle feathers and make hairs stand on end.

Nothing happened.

Slowly he focused more power on an already-formed field just to see if he was missing something. Time and time again he had to remind himself that it was persistence and preservance that solved problems, not impatience.

The energy bounced around the pillars and through the endless layers of the artefact, only to end up dispersing into nothing like it was pulled to another level of existence. No matter what he did afterwards, and no matter how much power he used, it always led to the same result.

Eventually, after tiring himself out and coming too close to incinerating the building, he concluded that whatever the artefact was designed to do, had also made it invulnerable.

It could have been a million things and served a million purposes, but magic did not appear to be the key to deciphering its secrets.

Having used the last of his eye drops to ease the exhaustion, he leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling. The light of the lantern stayed ever vigilant and kept a promise to warn against curses, even though it failed to recognise the greatest of all, the unbreakable curse Ullie was marked with.

“A ship older than a millennia…” he said like the constellations on the ceiling held all the answers. “From another place?”

As Juniper purred, the wizard could not shake the feeling he had, ever since the three strangers walked into his shop. He tilted his chair back and forth tracing the path of stars, shaped like beasts and warriors of old. “From another plane?”

Jolting forward, he grabbed the sphere and pulled it upwards, trying to make sure he was not as crazy as everyone thought.

"Orisi?" he whispered as a story started forming at the back of his mind. A thousand things he'd heard, a thousand speculations and secret conversations could have held some truth after all. If it were real, he wouldn't have just discovered proof, but a way to conjure the kind of magic that could rewrite history itself.

Rubbing his eyes and cracking his fingers, he prepared to begin a different kind of game, the kind that required books. Turning to the tallest bookshelf in his collection, he started dislodging dusty tomes from their resting places and sending them back to the desk. He stacked one on top of the other with such precision, that it was hard to question their stability even after they were halfway to the ceiling.

"Now," he said happily dusting off his hands. "We finally get to-"

Something startled him. The sound of heavy footsteps marching around the shop upstairs was a good enough reminder there was some unfinished business to take care of.

"About time," Ullie said, keeping his eye on the ceiling and trying to count how many of them there were, not that it mattered to him at all.

For as long as he'd lived there, Kaiden Island was a safe place where life flowed too slowly and too lightly for him to ever be concerned with things such as thieves, burglars and other confused individuals. The things he kept inside the shop were valuable, but not dangerous enough to do any harm, and the things that were, he kept under secure locks, difficult even for someone like himself.

If real trouble ever came knocking, he would have known it, everyone else could be dealt with without much effort.

Sneaking like a spy in woollen socks, he climbed the stairs, only to remember he'd forgotten his slippers under the desk. Once again he went back and up, with his hands inside the pockets of his favorite house robe.

"Hello there," he sounded after appearing in the shop under the cover of darkness. "I'm afraid we're closed. Why don't you come back tomorrow?"

Slamming the lightswich with unfathomable grace he revealed the faces of the intruders.

There were four of them, dressed in black, each carrying a weapon of their choosing and a flashlight to guide their way. They'd broken into the shop by smashing the lock on the front door and they had no intention of leaving without the artefact. When they heard Ullie arrive, they shifted around, trying to surround him, like a flock of evil geese.

"The three people that came here today brought you something," said one of them, whose face was riddled with tiny scars like he battled rabid pigeons on his morning walks. "Thing is, it was not theirs to give and we'd like it back."

"I don't think that's possible," Ullie returned swinging his slipper on the floor so it tapped in a perfect rhythm.

They made another step closer, trying to choke him up with fear of violence.

"No?" said another, taller than the rest. "I don't think you heard that very well. We will take it back, and you will give it to us, or..." he pulled a metal rod from the lining of his jacket and tapped on one of the glass cases closest to him, which happened to hold a collection of golden beetles, made for some emperor long ago. "We will equal the scales with all this junk."

He swung at the glass with both hands, smashing it into pieces, and scattering its treasure all around.

"Junk?" Ullie said with a raised eyebrow and a devious smirk on his face. "I beg to differ. This is a prized collection. Now, gentlemen, why don't you head the way you came and I'll forget this transgression."

"Hear that, boys? He'll forgive us," said the third, whose oversized head was leaning far too close to Ullie's ear. "So how about I break this next?" he reached for an alabaster statue of an ancient moon goddess and smashed it against the floor while laughing frantically. "And this one as well," he added picking up a three centuries old clock and ramming it under his feet. "And..."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"This one perhaps?" said Ullie handing him a glass sphere full of light mist and white sparks, that to an untrained eye looked no more special than a regular snow globe.

Without a second thought, the man smashed it into the floor, instantly letting the mist out, which instead of disappearing remained circling at their feet and smelled of mint.

"Cheeky one. Now I'll break you as well."

He tried grabbing Ullie by the neck but his hand fell through the illusion, catching nothing at all.

"Sorcery," screeched the fourth and the tiniest of all, as the mist rose to their elbows, their shoulders and then above their heads. The entire shop quickly became a single cloud.

"I can't see anything," another one yelled in panic. "Are you still there?"

"The bastard tricked us," said the next, as he tried to pierce the veil with the flashlight, but to no avail.

"Don't move," said the tiny one. "He's here, I can hear him."

Ullie was indeed present, prancing around the room, making sure everything was in place for the final reveal.

"What do you know of magical artefacts?" he said like a mythical being appearing to a simple washerwoman.

"Get him. He's over there."

"Let me tell you a story," Ullie sounded again but his voice came as a scattered noise, from every corner, both close and far away.

"He's messing with us. Find him, now."

They moved about, smashing into things they could not see, yelling at the things that think they saw, but none of them came close to finding the shopkeeper or the artefact for that matter.

"A long time ago, in a land far away, there lived a wizard," Ullie began. "One day, while walking in the woods, he stumbled upon a pocket dimension, a tiny little world where almost anything was possible. After spending some time inside, he started getting quite obsessed with the place."

"Oh, shut up you dull idiot and show yourself already," said the tallest one, breaking the shelves in anger. Things went flying in all directions, piling up as rubble at their feet.

"Patience, I'm getting to the point," Ullie returned in an overly calm tone like the destruction of his shop had no effect on him. "One day, on his usual visit to the forest, the wizard discovered that the hidden world was no more, the gateway had vanished and no trace of it was left behind. Unable to forget about it, the wizard dedicated his life to finding his way back into it, and sadly went a bit mad in the process."

"Oh, will someone shut him up?"

"Despite all, one day he did make it happen. Through merciless effort, the wizard concocted a new and never-before-seen way of calling forth such hidden realms. Before his life came to an end, he created seven of these shortcuts, to seven places, none of which were the perfect world he'd found in the woods. Unfortunately, all of them were lost in the purges."

"Are you done?"

"Until I found one at the flea market in Bosar, and you, sir, just broke it."

A new wave of commotion flooded the room. They were getting agitated and quite impatient with Ullie's telltales. Groaning and brandishing their weapons they tried whatever they could to get to the illusive man in the room, fearing his true nature.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that," returned Ullie. "I was just looking for an excuse to break it. I have no clue what's about to happen."

They murmured in the distance as lights floated just above the floor, circling them like fish in a pond. Slowly, each of the lights got taller, almost as tall as real people, moving through the mist in abrupt, uncoordinated moves, looking like a damaged roll of film. From all sides, they converged on the four intruders until their faces were close enough to be seen properly. Except, they didn't have human faces, but an endless void falling into itself, one layer at a time in a great spiral. A long, hissing sound came out of that void and it threatened to swallow the heads of the four men.

In a desperate attempt to keep themselves safe, they swung at the creatures, yelling at them, crying for help, but no one was there to answer. They tried running for the door but the further they ran the closer they were to where they started. If they had the time to take a better look, they would have seen that they were no longer in Little Vrevramil's Antique Shop.

The things in the mist kept growing, infinitely collapsing into themselves, losing all the light and becoming something even worse. Teeth gleamed on the ridges of their empty faces that got bigger the closer they got to human flesh.

"Well... that's a bit too much," Ullie said in a concerned tone and snapped his fingers several times. With every snap, the creatures fell further away before they completely disappeared. "Let's find something a bit less traumatizing. Oh, here we go," he rejoiced as a gigantic black cat wrapped up in Christmas lights appeared and played the banjo behind the mountains of mist. It swayed and twitched its tail, to the rhythm of a jaunty tune.

For nearly a minute, they stared at the misplaced apparition, as it sang in a deep, rusty voice about the troubles of a country life.

"Nope, that's not it either," Ullie said, as soon as the shock wore off. Once again he snapped his fingers switching the setting. "Something good this time, please."

When the cat disappeared, a terror arrived. A red dragon incinerated the sky as it circled them from above. Its belly was glowing with fire as it descended lower towards the ground, leaving a thunderous sound in its wake.

"That can't be real. No... no...." The man with a scared face put his hands over his head and tried to lay low as the dragon was heading straight towards them. They knew they couldn't run even if that was an option. All they could do was watch it happen.

"Are you going to be nice now?" Ullie asked, after the four men had lost the color in their faces, and fell to the floor. He stood, only a few steps away, with hands in his pockets and an ear-to-ear smile.

There was no answer. They had no breath in their lungs to speak with, as the dragon prepared to turn them all to ashes.

"Very cool, but I can't let that happen. Sorry," said Ullie pointing his finger at the giant beast. The moment flame appeared in its mouth, is the moment it turned to an explosion of confetti. "Let's see what's next."

"Please," said the shortest one of the four, in a desperate attempt to get back on his feet. "Just... just-"

"And here come the ghosts of angry grannies," Ullue cut him off as he waved at the incoming gang of short, overdressed women who marched in like a unit of battle-ready soldiers. With their eyes focused on the enemy, they held their handbags tightly and slammed them with incredible precision against the burglars. There was no spot on their bodies they did not reach and nothing to be done to stop them. With every hit, they scolded the men for everything they ever did wrong and even the things they never did but thought of doing. Once the trashing was done, they moved on in a straight line, keeping their formation.

"Stop this please," one of the men cried in a broken tone. "Please."

"Are you sure? I was hoping to see some more of this place."

"We'll leave!" they cried together. "Just let us go. Please, let us go."

"Alright," the shopkeeper said joyfully. With another snap of his fingers, the fog began to disperse, revealing the shop as it was from the start. Nothing was broken, no monsters roamed about and no dreadful screams could be heard anymore.

There was only Ullie, giggling in the corner.

The intruders looked at one another tapping their bodies to see if they still had all the limbs. Once they concluded they were back in reality, they jolted up on their trembling legs and ran, gasping for air, for freedom and for a release. They nearly plucked the door out of its hinges on their way out, tearing their black suits and scraping their knees against the pavement when they fell.

Ullie watched them scatter in every direction, a bit saddened by their fate, but happy he'd gotten rid of the distractions. He took a long breath of the fresh sea air and stretched his arms in preparation for a long night of work.

He looked up and down the street before twitching his fingers and allowing simple magic to fix the door.

"Alright," he said confidently. "Time to get serious."

It was at that moment that he caught a glimpse of something, in the far corner of his eye.

It was tall, standing under a dead street lamp, watching him with great interest. Ullie stared back, hoping the silhouette would reveal itself to him, or at least find something else to stalk, but the more he focused on it, the more he realized that its shape was familiar to him. He took another step forward before a chill came down his spine, colder than the ocean in the winter.

He swallowed, blinked once and then like a bolt of lightning disappeared inside.

"No, no, definitely not." He crouched low, nearly crawling across the floor, until he reached the back room. From there he ran.

Ullius Olenader had but a single friend he called an enemy. There was never a person in the world, no matter how harmful or displeasing whom he would label with the same title. All the others were passing nuances of flawed humanity and he’d often forget them soon after. He had nothing to worry about. Except, one thing…

Tiptoeing to the other edge of his secret study, he quietly shuffled through the crates until he picked up a mirror. Focusing on on its twin in the shop she called forth the image the other one saw.

The light was scarce, but nonetheless, he saw a shadow moving between the shelves, slowly and patiently. Its footsteps were even and calculated like it was merely scanning the room for something more.

And then a face appeared.

“Shit,” Ullie scowled angrily. There could not have been a worse time for his arrival. He did not have to ruin the perfect score after staying away for so long.

Ullie blackened the mirror and counted the approaching steps. There was very little time. The enemy did not come to seek peace, he would never do that.

“Ullie,” a voice yelled from outside the door. “Open up. We need to talk.”

“This is my home. I’ll do what I please. Go away,” he replied, tucking the precious artefact in his unusually deep pocket and trying to get Juniper to wake up.

Juniper resisted, returning to sleep.

“We need to speak. I'm here on behalf of the Bureau. Please cooperate.”

“Why?” Ullie yelled back, still trying to coax the cat to come with him. “And why are you back in the Bureau? Have you no decency?”

“I have no time for your shenanigans Oleander,” the intruder said before the sound of scraping glass made his intentions clear.

“He’s not kidding,” Ullie mumbled weighing his options.

As the protections on the door trembled under the force of a destruction spell, Ullie was forced to turn to his last resort.

He never trusted portals, especially not his own. He’d seen too many people lose their limbs, turn to ungodly things or get lost in the netherworld, simply by being lazy and tempting the fates. For this reason, and because he was going to be discovered sooner or later, he made sure he had a good escape plan.

“Take care of the cat,” he said as he entered a rugged wooden chest and closed the lid. “He’s not really a…”

Light beamed out through the cracks as the door bursted open.