On a couch in an apartment in a decent part of town, a girl has gone from questioning her sanity to fully believing magic is real eight times this morning. Here a woman is trying to psych herself up to try to read a book, and not pass out.
“Common Alice you can do this.” She said as she picked the book up again, oping the first page. The only page she could even open the book to. Which only cemented her belief further. Maybe they’re just glued together. She quickly stopped herself from that line of thinking. She was fully convinced to go down the rabbit hole. She cringed at the comparison.
She took a deep breath eyes still closed, book open in front of her. “Just don’t let it knock you out again. You can’t miss another shift.”
She opened her eyes and they immediately landed on the middle of the page. Exactly where she left off. In the eight days she’s had the book that was as far as she made it. Proceeding one letter at a time, her mind growing heavy and fogged till her mind fully blanked.
After fifteen minutes of her just staring not a thought going through her head, her alarm sounded snapping her mind back into focus and bringing a light headache. Grabbing her head she closed her eyes and the book. She took a deep breath and did not think about the crazy things she’d started seeing since she began reading the book.
There was nothing concrete or anything she could say with a hundred percent certainty that was real. It would be but for a second or something out of the corner of her eye. A pointed ear. A flowing trail. Teeth just a bit too sharp or eyes a bit too wide. Anything she could chalk up to her imagination.
Yet no matter how much proof or lack thereof she couldn’t discount it just her going mad, again. Except didn’t they all see the man performing magic? Didn’t they all see the glowing magic arrow he conjured? Though she realized none had seen the glowing clouds of something swirling in and out of reality. That was just her. So maybe she was only half mad.
She was about to go back to the book when she took a look at her phone, caught the time, and sighed. “Why do I keep losing time?”
She took one last look at the book in her hands. Maybe I should throw the thing out. It was a repeated thought she had about a thousand times since she brought the book home. Yet, she couldn’t it was doing something. It was changing her, and if she stopped now she would always wonder. She needed this. With one final glance at the book, she stood and placed it back on her shelf before getting ready for her shift on the cameras.
#
In the highest room in the tallest tower, where more than one person has regretted climbing due to how many steps. A place no one in their right mind would go. The perfect place for Rudues Sinclair to do his work. He couldn’t have anyone walking in on him while he did his forbidden work.
Rudues was ready to get out of this god-forsaken world. Well, it wasn’t all that bad. His brother was nice always willing to teach him, and his parents constantly helped him out. But the rest. Well, the rest wasn’t actually bad. They had taken technology and replaced it completely with magic. Running water, showers, toilets, hell they even had their own form of internet. If it wasn’t for the fact it looked like it was from the middle ages then he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Though seeing a computer screen in a stone castle gave him a bit of cultural whiplash.
Rudues had to shake himself. Despite all this, he still needed to get back. He had already wasted ten years, and there was no possible way he’d be able to fulfill that damn Deities mission. It had taken him a long time to gather the materials he needed not to mention sneaking them up to this glorified storage closet of a tower.
After putting on the finishing touches he began the ritual, chanting the words, and making the gestures, as energy began to flow out of him a trickle than a flood. The circle began to glow brighter and brighter as the room began to dim, and his energy became dangerously low. Then all at once the flow stopped and the room was back to normal, nearly knocking Rudues on his but from the sudden stop.
His head spinning he looked around hoping it was a side effect of a transfer home, only to find himself still in the tower. Alone and all the materials still waiting to be used. Did I not do it right? That was when he noticed something in the center of the circle. A slightly smoky piece of paper.
Confused he lifted and read:
No.
Just a single word and it pissed him off. Who would try to stop him? He would do the ritual again and this time he would succeed. Again he began, his energy draining, except he was caught off just after he began as another note appeared face up saying:
No.
Again.
No.
And again.
No
Then once more the note changed.
Please stop.
But he wasn’t. He took it as a sign he was making headway, despite the red dripping down his face, and the massive headache he went again.
You killing yourself.
He didn’t care. Again
No.
Again.
No.
Again.
Please hold a representative who will be with you shortly.
He was about to start the ritual again when he finally comprehended what the note said. “The fuck?”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a door behind him opened. He froze as he was on the opposite side there was no hiding what he was doing. Maybe I can play this off. He was about to start explaining everything away when he noticed the man who stepped out. A man in jeans and a hoody. Something the people of this world had never seen. Looking behind the man just before the door shut he saw what looked like a modern office. Did the ritual actually work?
The door closed as the man browsed the file, “You should probably stop trying that ritual. It will kill you.”
Wait then. “But I just saw—”
“That wasn’t your Earth, or any Earth for that matter.” He interrupted. “But if you keep trying that ritual as you are it will kill you. Thankfully your God cut the connection before you did.”
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
“He’s not my God. He’s my kidnapper and murderer.”
The man looked at Rudues giving him a hard stare, “Is that what you really think?”
After a minute of eye contact, Rudues looked away. “No.” But he wasn’t going to let the matter drop. “But the fact he has to stop me. Tells me it would work.”
“After killing you.”
“That’s how I got here. So why wouldn’t it be the same going back?” he argued.
The man only shook his head. “That’s not how it works.”
“What do you mean that’s not how it works? Then how does it work? And for that matter who are you? You’re not Promethus!” He was shouting at the end.
“No. I’m not. I’m Nicholas.” He held up the folder. “Do you remember me?” Rudues locked onto the folder. He thought it was familiar the second he saw it but he had chalked it up to being something from his old world. Now though he remembered an office and a man. A place where he went through a tutorial, where everything had been explained, and forgotten. Rudues was struck dumb unable to process it all.
After a long silence the man, Nicholas asked. “What is the rush to get back that you’re willing to die?”
Taking a deep breath. A memory one he held tight to his chest, one he refused to speak until now. “My son.”
Nicholas turned his head confused as he opened the folder, “Name: Malcom O’Donald. Age thirty-seven?” He said surprised, as he mumbled more random details of his old life. “Ah here. Your only son. Eighteen years old when you were taken, wife separated.” Nicholas let the folder drop as he raised an eyebrow.
Seeing the man’s reaction he took his chance. “I can’t have the last memory of his father being mangled by a truck. I need to let him know it wasn’t his fault.”
Nicholas lifted the folder again when his eyes widened.
Rudues had been in the car with his son at the time. Thankfully Promethus had told him he had survived and would make a full recovery, but they had been arguing when the truck hit them.
Nicholas closed his eyes as he sadly began. “Ok. Ok. Ok.” He took in a deep breath, “Why does this always have to be sad.” The man then began to flip through the folder before pulling out a single sheet. “Ok, here it is.” His voice was soft, as he mumbled under his breath about a mission.
“What is that?”
“Your contract.” He answered offhandedly. Which only served to confuse Rudues.
“I didn’t sign a contract. I got hit by a truck.” Did that somehow constitute a contract?
“Your soul did.”
His heart skipped a beat. “My soul signed a deal with the devil?”
“Not a devil.” Seeing his confusion Nicholas continued. “Deals with the devil aren’t made by mortal hand. If they did there would be absolute chaos as people are all too quick to bargain with things they don’t understand. But your soul. Your soul craved adventure so much and was repressed for so long. That at slightest chance for it, it exploded severing your fate and the connection to your world.”
There was a lot for Rudues to unpack and more than he wanted to know. “Please I just want to go home?”
The man found a box and took a seat. “Ok, kid. Here is the deal.”
“We can make a deal!?” If he could make a deal to go back he would.
Nicholas shook his head, “Wrong phrase. But calm down I have no control over this world.”
“Aren’t you a God?” How else would he have sent him here?
“No. Actually, I have no idea what I am anymore but I’m not a God.” With a slight pause, he continued, “Not one from this world, or any other…maybe? Anyway, we’re getting off track here. You want to go home to your Earth right?”
“Yes. My earth?”
Nicholas completely ignored his question, “And this spell is a reverse hero summons to send you home?”
Trying to figure out the man’s angle he decided to answer truthfully, “That is the goal.”
Taking a deep breath he began, “Ok. Ok. There are several issues with that. The first and probably the biggest is you don’t have the power for it. So if you cast it, the spell will kill you and you will not be heading back to your world. You are what six seven?”
“Ten”
“Ten. Despite your previous life reaching thirty-seven your mind is that of a child.”
“But—”
“Listen. You’re in a child's body. You have the brain of a child. It is developing and both your emotions are heightened, and your sense of time is off. Like all kids, everything seems to take longer than it is. Which is one of the reasons most reincarnators do stupid things. Now. I understand your plight and want to help. On top of that, you haven’t even gained your full mana capacity. And won’t for years.”
How could he still be a child and an adult? Is that why things are so slow for him? He had wondered why he had so much time. It let him dwell on everything especially when he was a baby and could barely move. He decided to latch onto the last thing the man said. “So I can cast it then?”
Nicholas rolled his eyes. “Maybe if you train your mana to its limits. But even if you do gather the power to do it you don’t have the divinity to get you back.”
“Divinity? A God has to grant me permission to cast a spell to get me home? They didn’t ask for mine to bring me here.”
“Soul contract. But that is pretty much the gist of it. Though if you get permission you won’t even need to cast the spell yourself. You’ll most likely just be sent back.”
“He could send me home?” Not sure if he felt hopeful or angry.
“Yeah. But as long as you finish whatever mission they have. You’ll be sent back. If that is what you want.”
“The mission!?” Rudues yelled incredulously. “You mean where he wants me to create a city for all the sapient races?”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.”
“Do you know how many there are?” He asked his tone clipped.
“No.”
“Twenty-seven” Rudues had thought the quest was doable until he had learned that little bit of information.
“That seems excessive.” The man’s voice filled with shock.
“Oh, that’s not all.” Rudues began to vent. “Half hat the other half. Then there are the underwater races who can’t stay on land. The flying races, who don’t like to be anywhere near the ground. The ones who refuse to leave the forests and are massively xenophobic. Then the underground races who can’t stand sunlight. And you know who else is included? Demons. Can you believe that?”
“Wow. That is a lot the pantheon must have been busy. Also, demons aren’t what you think they are. Not evil just think people that are perpetually preteen-ish in terms of emotional stability.”
That actually made him feel a bit better but didn’t know how to feel about the comparison for demons. “That aside. It’s impossible.”
“I’m not going to lie and say it’s going to be easy.”
“Impossible.” He interrupted.
“But it is possible.” Nicholas ignored the comment. “Just hard. And will take time.”
“How? Just how?” He was legitimately asking he had come up blank and with how connected the world already was he didn’t see the point of a connected city.
“I don’t know. Start with a normal city next to a lake and forest. Or use magic to allow the other races to live there like the others. It’s going to take a ton of planning and work. Make it digital. I don’t know.” Nicholas said sounding exasperated.
Listening to the man his mind was starting to whirl with ideas, but they would take years. “That the only way back?” He asked tired but a bit hopeful.
The man nodded.
#
A doll and a man are standing in front of a large corkboard filled with pins, different colored yarn, diagrams of spells, countless notes, random pictures, and newspaper clippings. It was something you’d expect to see on a detective’s wall or a conspiracy theorist’s. Drystia and Nicki had put this together to try and reorganize what Nicki was doing as he was still fumbling. Everything here was carefully selected by the two and created a work of art. Except for the pictures and newspaper clippings. They had no leads anywhere or suspects. Drystia just thought it didn’t look right without them.
The two had finished putting it together and had been examining it for a while making no progress.
“Let’s take a step back.” Nicki took a step back from the board and tilted his head. “Yup, I still have no idea what to do.”
Drystia held back a giggle. "Ok. What do we know?”
“The book is gone.”
Drystia rolled her eyes. She had read enough books now on investigation to try to help. “Yes but what else? think.” Though even she would admit she was an amateur.
This time Nicki seemed to think about the answer, “The book was taken while we were both out.”
“Yes.” She gestured for him to continue.
“I didn't misplace it,” he continued slowly, “but the door was left ajar, and the cameras showed no one else.”
“What does that tell us?” The biggest thing she had learned in getting someone to remember was to keep asking questions to make them think.
“There's another entrance?” Drystia tilted her head in question. She really wanted to raise an eyebrow but that required her other form. Nicki saw her reaction and explained. “They didn't use the door. Maybe a window?”
She thought about the apartment and if that was an option. “Possible. But they would have to have come in through the roof.”
“True, and they would have to have been watching us to know when we weren't home. But why?”
“The only thing taken was the book itself.” She added.
“Obviously, the book was the target. That still doesn't make sense. No one knows that book exists. Hell, it has only existed on this plane for like a week. None of this makes sense! We know absolutely nothing.” Nicki pauses taking a deep breath before pulling out a small binder. “This is every spell I’ve found that might be of use after searching the library. Even some that are massive hail marries.” He opened the binder to a set of spells the same as the ones on the board. “These are the only five that work in my world, right now.
“Of these five, four I have to concentrate constantly on, and the other isn't even a tracking spell. Even that one could take time. and could be broken by being interrupted. Even if it all works perfectly it would be hours if not days of following the trail.”
Drystia was starting to realize the issue. If a Hero showed up it would force him to stop, and interrupt his search, then he’d have to start over. “Can't you pause them arriving or something?
“No, I already tried. They didn’t even stop when I was in that coma.”
“Right.”
“So what do we do?” She had no idea if she could even help but he was her friend now so she would help him.
“We?” Nicki gave Drystia a thoughtful look before letting out a long sigh. “Why don't we take a break?”
That would be good. He has been running himself ragged. “Yeah, okay.”
“Want to watch a movie?”
A doll’s head turns or more it appears to shift. Something a precarious position head might do when jostled. Nothing to worry or unsettle anyone nearby, except when it turned it just so happened to look out a window, towards an inconspicuous building. A building where a book thief just so happened to watching that specific monitor. When it turned and looked right at her.
Bennet felt the gaze deep in her soul, and it felt annoyed. Thankfully for her, a man turned her head back to the TV where they just sat and watched. Not once did the doll move without the help of the man.
Get it together Alice.
* * *