Somewhere in a rather nice apartment building a man and a witch, ride an elevator.
"So this fidget spinner is really a compass of desire? Jillian watched as it kept spinning and pointed off in random directions. “It doesn’t seem to sit on one thing.” She had decided to follow Nick to his apartment, he had agreed to do the sympathetic spell in exchange for the compass. When he pulled out a fidget spinner she thought he was trying to pull a fast one.
“People’s minds jump from one thing to another.” He said as the two made their way up to his apartment. “One moment you want a car, it moves pointing to the car you want. Then suddenly you’re hungry, and it’s pointing to food. Then you feel like a milkshake, changes again.”
That made a lot of sense. Though she thought a compass of desire would be a little less fickle. She thought of wanting to find Nick’s apartment, focusing on it. The arrow pointed as the elevator opened and pointed directly towards a door she was sure they were heading towards. Seeing how easy that was, “l feels like if you could concentrate long enough you’d find the book.”
With his hand on the digital lock Nick shook his head, “Apparently, it can also draw on subconscious desires.” He said sounding exasperated. “I had no idea I was crushing so hard on Lilly. I just thought it was a tiny little passing crush. You know the kind where you think someone’s cute and prefer them over other employees. Nothing serious. At least I thought not.” He pointed towards the compass in her hand. “That led me to her six different times, enough to make me feel like a stalker. I’m not even counting the cauldron.” He said opening the door and inviting her in.
Jillian thought him not knowing he had a crush was kind of funny, a bit cute, and only twenty-five percent self-delusion. Stepping inside she found the place much bigger and more spacious than she would have expected based on how Nick dressed. I guess he’d have to have money for that insurance. “Nice place.”
“Thanks.” He looked around a bit sheepish, “I’ve got to decorate at some point. I just need to grab the copy. Feel free to make yourself at home.”
“Sure. Where can I set up.”
“You can use the table in the kitchen.” He shouted before she heard a door shut.
Jillian sets her bag of accouterments onto the table and curiously looks around the corner apartment. It was a lot more normal than she expected someone with enough money to afford a place here. Does he sell his spell-work? She wondered looking for a clue of what he did to make money. The more she looked the less she found. It was just a really basic apartment with a few nice pieces of furniture but that was it. Nice, it could use a few decorations.
With her quick tour done she went back to the kitchen and began to set up for the spell. She was just about done when she heard the bedroom door open and shut.
“Alright if you got the book. We can—” Her voice trailed off to nothing as she watched a little doll in red dress walk into the kitchen.
She opens the door to the fridge grabbing a couple of chocolate bars. The doll shuts the fridge turned, and freezes as she sets eyes on Jillian. She looked at Jillian and then down at the chocolate, looking guilty. “I was never here.”
“OK?” Where the hell did she come from?
The little doll in a red dress nodded seriously before running out of the room.
“What?”
#
“Congratulations. If you are reading this you have learned everything you need to know.
Yes, these ten pages contain everything you need to know, and you have demonstrated the skills needed to utilize them. Now you may be wondering, but I haven’t learned any spells, techniques, or cultivation. Also, what are the remaining pages for?
To answer to make your own. In my research, I’ve found there were countless numbers of worlds. Every world is different, with different rules and restrictions. Some are known as cultivation, mana pools, magic circles, rune circles, and even card magic. There were even somewhere the powerful used the belief of the masses. These are just a few examples. Yet they all have almost the same starting point or origin. Energy, chi, and mana, are all different names for the same thing, just with their own flavor.
The rest of this book is meant to teach you to create your very own path tailored perfectly to you, your body, affinities, and talents. Yes, it can be used for others. Knowledge is power, and once learned can’t be unlearned. Knowing this knowledge is very powerful and dangerous for others to know of. Draw your speculations from this.
Study hard. Follow the exercises. Knowing these fundamentals will help with any extra professions or understanding of the world. After all, everything is energy.
Now to help with your journey let’s determine what kind of world you’re in.
On the following page, if you do not know the type of world I will guide you through determining what kind of energy the world uses. Simply place your hand on and move energy through the empty page.”
#
Alice read the page in disbelief as her hand moved twirling knocking motes of stagnant mana into motion. She had only that morning unlocked her current page after doing all the exercises stretching her unseen muscles, slowly gaining skill. Lately, she had gotten into the habit of just playing around with the free-floating energy, liking the feeling of shifting the world. It was like popping her knuckles; a little force then a satisfying pop then they were free to fly. It did tend to leave a pile of what could only be described as dark dust behind if she moved a lot of it around, and her apartment was covered in it. Ever since she noticed Alice felt like she was non-stop cleaning.
Through the incessant cleaning, she started to notice, that the air felt more energetic, alive. The air itself felt cleaner than when she traveled through the mountains, there had been a tang of fresh then that saturated her home. Alice wasn’t sure she was imagining the phenomenon until Lilly stopped by and her hair had literally bloomed flowers. After that she didn’t want to leave, saying her apartment was better than a hundred customers.
Stolen novel; please report.
Alice now held the book that showed her such wonders open, staring down at a blank page. Contemplating what to do. She would have to turn in the book tomorrow, she knew. Mercer had told her to bring the book for her debriefing in a few hours.
Well, I’ve come this far. Alice held her hand over the blank page, hesitating.
“Did you finally get a spell?” Lilly startled Alice slamming the book shut. She had forgotten Lilly was there.
“Dammit Lilly.” She shouted.
Lilly laughed.
“No. Something different.” She tried to distract from her embarrassment.
Lilly smirked, “Then what is it.”
“How to make my own.”
Lilly let out a low whistle, “Damn, that’s pretty sweet. Do you have time for that?”
Alice looked up at the clock, “I don’t know. I guess I could try to scan everything over the next three hours.”
“Would that work? I’ve heard some of this stuff goes weird when pictured.”
“Is that why no one ever gets a clear photo of the Sasquatch?”
“If he was real; maybe?”
“Wait he’s not real?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. There’s a lot of lost shit, but I don’t think he is.”
Alice felt a little bit of magic leave the world learning that. “Well,” her tone now somber. “Let’s see how far I can get.” Alice reopened the book and shoved her hand on the page channeling power into the page. Ink began to form on the page writing and shifting constantly under her hand. Then she felt something reach into her. Her eyes widened and she tried to cut the pull or throw the book only to learn she couldn’t move. She couldn’t do anything except pour power into the book.
She could only watch as the ink slowly slid across the page, shifting between strange runes and circles, and words she couldn’t read. Until the power drain slowed, her head felt heavy. She easily fought back the drowsiness, as she had learned when reading the first page.
The ink began to settle into words she could read, listed almost like a checklist.
* World:
* Mana Based
* Heavenly cultivation; is possible, not recommended.
* Primary path Mana empowerment and spells
* Martial arts are not required for spell work but may increase mana capacity.
* Can increase longevity with magic or mana channeling. Immortality unknown.
* User:
* Affinity: Mana Blessed
* Bloodline: Human
* No Non-Human DNA detected
* Spirit root: Undeveloped
* Cultivation:
* Body: none
* Chi: none
* Soul: none
* Mana: awakening stage
* Recommended Plan:
* Develop Mana cultivation technique to replace heavenly cultivation: Pages 21-340
* to develop a workout plan to stay healthy: pages 660-710
* All spellwork Viable; Spell formations and spell theory pages: 341-853
“Holy shit!” Alice slumped over feeling drained.
A hand fell on her back. Warmth and reassurance flow through it. Alice looked up to Lilly grateful.
“The hell was that?” Lilly asked shocked. “You just froze, then fell over.”
“Not sure.” She read the page again. Eyes wide. “I think it scanned me and the world.” The implications of that finally hit her. How many worlds were there that they had to make a page just for that?
“That’s not ominous. What are you gonna do now?”
“Take a nap. Then do my debrief…” Alice hesitated looking down at the book. The ink on the page fading. “With the book.”
“I don’t get it. Why would they wait so long for a debrief I thought those happened ASAP. Also, if they knew you had the book why would they want it now?”
“Honestly?” Alice had been thinking about it for a while. There was a lot that didn’t make sense, and for the past few days was trying to make sense of it. “To the second. I think to see what I’d do. Would I run? Claim I don’t have it? Return it? Use it?”
“Why?”
“If I ran they probably have someone to catch me. Maybe they don’t actually know I have It and Mercer is tossing out an accusation to catch me. I just don’t know. As for the debrief.” She shook her head, “I can only guess. Maybe to put my notes in order. To screw with me. Maybe they simply want more info on their end. Doesn’t half to be anything nefarious.”
“And how likely is that?”
Alice didn’t know.
#
Moving through the city, a man is driving a car, while a witch guides him through the following threads only she can see. She had cast a spell, one which she was shocked at how simple it was to weave. It was like the book wanted to be reunited with its twin. Jillian was quite curious about what was contained inside but Nick had only promised to let her borrow it while at his place.
She was excited and only a bit dubious about the prospect of reading it while at his place. Though she wasn’t getting any bad vibes or the feeling he was coming onto her. Still, she needed to think about that. He was a powerful Artificer, or at least she thought he was until they got to talking in his car.
“So you weren’t in a coma?”
“Maybe. My soul was traveling the multi-verse untethered. My body was in a coma or asleep. Though I don’t know the difference.”
“A coma is similar to a deep sleep, except external stimuli can’t wake you. Like a pinch won’t wake you. Nor losing a limb.”
“Bit extreme example. But yeah I guess it was like a long dream.”
“And the doll—” She trailed off. This was the part that didn’t make sense. If he was in a coma the entire time, She could have seen him believing the outrageous tales as a dream. Hell, he could have been astral projecting, but the doll from his dream and the stories from that time.
“Same one.”
“And You sure she wasn’t there before?”
“Yup.”
“Then how-”
“How was she moving? Or how did she come back? Both have the same answer. Her original body was destroyed so she became like me a disembodied soul.”
“Dolls have souls?” She interrupted getting caught off guard. She never thought dolls could have actual souls.
Nick Shrugged, “Some. But she heard me and helped me out. When I came back she came with me manifesting in her familiar form. It was a while before she could move outside the office in doll form. The energy here is pretty stagnant.”
Jillian laughed, “Don’t I know it? Honestly, I just thought someone gave you the during the treatment and I didn’t notice.”
“I was still out of it at the time. I didn’t even question how she was physically there till a few weeks in.”
Jillian wanted to believe him. There was too much detail. Too much emotion for it all to be made up, not to mention she was beyond curious, and strangely hopeful it was real. “I’m not sure how much of that j believe. If you could show me the office—”
Nick shook his head, “I can but if you stepped through your fate would be severed and you’d never be able to come back. I wouldn’t be able to simply tie it back. You’d need divinity for that.”
“How convenient.” She goaded playfully, “You can prove it but I’d disappear forever. Or what everyone else says. I can tell you but I’d have to kill you.”
Nick looked uncomfortable as he squirmed in his seat. “I mean you’d get a new life in another world but here it would be like you died or disappeared. Like Will. He became an archmage there.”
Her eyes widened, “So that was you!” She had heard of the man’s disappearance from the same door Nick appeared she knew they were connected but not how.
“It was an accident. I left the entry open and he stepped through.” His head drooped as they stopped at a red light. “I felt so bad.”
“Wow...” she wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He had so much power and accidentally disappeared a kid. Before she could say anything the threads leading their way locked onto one of the cars passing in front of them. She couldn’t see the traffic being heavy, “Heads up. Your book was in one of those cars.”
“Left or right?”
She watched the threads grow in the distance, “Left.”
“Fuck.”
Hearing Nick curse she looked up trying to understand why. Then it dawned on her, they were in the wrong lane.
* * *