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The Tape

A brown-haired boy with green eyes backs away from the screen and sits down in a wooden chair in what appears to be his bed. He is wearing a ragged red T-shirt and blue jeans. The boy shouted, "Hey sleepy head, rise and shine, for there is no time to waste. Remember this face for it is yours. Look I'm going to give it to you straight: we both know that you or we don't remember a thing since you woke up. Well, maybe one or two things but not much is in that noggin of yours right now. No, you don't have brain damage. Let's say you live on an island with many people and in a city full of them. Oh and a monster that steals and reads off of memories as well. Now, we both don't know what it looks like. Suppose it's a humanoid, a reptile, an alien, or a mutant bunny. All I know is that it will be coming soon. Now I would like to tell you that memories contain a power for they are the essence of life and reality itself. Now, why doesn't everyone have a journal to write down what happens, so they know what's been going on like tape? Well, that's easy to say. The original memory of the event of that written moment was stolen. So the person won't simply forget about it but what was written will also be erased from existence. Now I bet that I am thinking. So then how did this tape survive? I don't remember making this recording. That's easy to explain to my older self. Even though you or we have forgotten about the tape and what was on it, the core memory was not stolen as it should have been. But how is this possible you may ask? Is all that I find still true? That's a good question. Well to answer that one I will make a statement. Names have power. Once you know something or someone's true name, you will have complete control of it. So I was able to find the true name for saving core memories but after I did that for this tape and what will be on it was saved and safeguarded how to save or guard core memories was forgotten. This is even the second recording on this tape. I believe so anyway. I think the monster has been watching me this whole time and only let me do this for its amusement. It will regret it someday soon. And now as I was saying, to have complete control over something in its integrity once you know it's true name. And now I will demonstrate for myself. The boy took out a lighter from his pocket and lit it. A little flame danced and flickered on top of the lighter. The boy muttered the words "Flarice." The flame jumped from the lighter and burned like a little sun above the palm of his hand. He put down the lighter on a nearby desk. Then, as he noticed his hands, the flame expanded to the size of a soccer ball and split into serpents of flame that slivered across his body but not burning him. They slid across his body and returned to the ball of flame above his head now. As the boy looked like he was taking a big breath, the flame was pulled into his mouth. As you can see, once you know something's true name, you have absolute control over it. If it's an elemental, you can consume it and use it again without having to go to a raw source, but you can not consume what you have created. Now, I believe that this sort of thing is called magic or something like that. Flarice he breathed as he snapped his fingers and a new ball of fire appeared, but he extinguished it some after. The boy looked a little perplexed for a moment and then turned his head as he jolted out of his chair exclaiming, "Who are you?" The boy quickly turned and ran to the screen, but his face turned to that of confusion and stopped as he mouthed "What was I doing now?" A creek of the floor boards could be heard as the boy turned once again towards the mystery person. Exclaimed, "Who are you? How did you get in here?" The boy backed up towards the screen as everything went dark. The tape stopped and started to rewind.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

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