Emy Nash found yet again respite in this boring day. She had inspected some factory blueprints and reports from their future owners. She had found no fault in them: prevention and mitigation procedures were convincing, and the degree of risk the installation incurred was acceptable. As an industrial risk consultant, she could only give the green light for this project. The locals and associations may show some resistance, though.
"It’s not my problem anyway !"
Despite some slight apprehension– she was new to the job– , she began to enthusiastically cover what she had just read about.
After writing down a few densely packed pages, she left her office to refill her cup with coffee. It was also the opportunity to get further acquainted with her new coworkers. Ms Nash stood out like a sore thumb because of her dressing style and unusual demeanor, but they did not seem to mind it, fortunately. Nevertheless, she did feel a bit awkward among them; the habits from the time she worked on offshore oil rigs stuck hard, and that made her feel like a foreigner although she had come back to her home country. She hoped it would only be transitory and that she would not be eternally perceived as too much of a weirdo. It was time she settled!
When Emy went back to work, she looked out the window and wondered if this kind of life really suited her. Not that she did not like this dullness– she rather enjoyed the peace it brought– , but she had the impression of being out of place. In her youth, something had viscerally compelled her to lead a hectic life. She had thought that this something had burnt out while her previous job increasingly wore her out, yet here it was, haunting her once more! She now oh so wished for adventures and novelty to drown her to no end, for her heart to beat forever in longing, for her soul to remain feverishly homesick. She had tried staving off this rekindled urge with thrill-seeking activities– extreme sports, drugs, shady esoteric dealings, you name it. Alas, to no avail! This foolish desire kept gnawing at her no matter what she did. After this musing, the dreamer sat deflated, then resumed what she had begun. Only the rythmical sound of typing remained.
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The lass left her workplace humming and hopping. The bystanders stealing quizzical glances at her were not deterring her from prancing around with a rabbit-like gait. She went to the parcel locker at the entrance of a nearby mall, took a package and raised it in triumph.
"Today is the day!"
Her outburst stopped when she realized that people were giving her judgmental looks. The young woman coughed, then left without a peep.
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Upon entering her appartment, Emy made a beeline for her desk and proceeded to unpack. Thoroughly wrapped in layers of sheets, she found a bundle of herbs- the so-called chef’s special recommandation.
Afterwards, she feverishly opened a drawer and took out its content: a booklet, a few small plastic bags, three candles and a lighter. She skimmed through the familiar notes to pull herself together, and with practiced ease, drew a human-sized circle on the floor using white powder from one bag. From the others, she took a few herbs to decorate the outline. Finally, she placed the candles, lit them and proceded to burn a stalk of rosemary.
"Where the hell have things gone wrong for me to attempt wizardry before turning thirty ?" She lampooned. "Here goes nothing!"
She lay down inside of the shape, breathed in the scented air and let her thoughts wander, chewing on the unknown mixture she had just received.
Among her current crazes, there was astral travel. The experienced thrill-seeker did not fear ingesting or inhaling dubious substances to achieve an adrenaline rush. She had become a celebrity on the website she would order through because of her diverse and somehow exotic requests. Because she had been consistently failing despite following advice to the letter, she was considering whether she had been fed lies. Yet, some strange confidence, deep-sitted in her guts, convinced her that she would succeed this time around.
The ceiling seemed to get farther away, as if her body were sinking. The world around her darkened menacingly and spun. Something pressed on her chest- it was suffocating. Nonetheless, Emy did not falter and remained unmoving. Soon, she felt herself detaching from her flesh ; the gloom receded. She turned and looked in extasy at the wispy chains which anchored her soul to her physical shell.
"At last! The stuff was no scam!"
She fiddled with her tether while squatting next to her body.
"The wait was totally worth it. Now, let’s have fun!"
She walked towards the edge of the magic circle, beaming. The outside was teeming with vibrant colors. Blobs of darkness would occasionnally swim by, leaving smoky trails behind. A massive one saw her and approached. Pitch-like drops were falling from its contorted maw, which fizzled out before reaching ground. The fooldhardy girl cackled, observing the thing attempting to probe its way into the magical ward she had set up. It seemed that the instructions had been reliable: it could only glare at her with its single eye while embracing the breadth of her barrier, daring her to take a step outside. She kept jeering at the monster, drunk with mirth.
However, that joy was short-lived: something suddenly tugged at her spiritual bonds. The wannabe astral traveler was yanked backward, hitting the opposite side of the protective formation. In the periphery of her vision, her strained bindings started to crack. She scrambled for her body, albeit too late ; the bonds broke. The suction from the outside made her livid.
"Shit! Shit! ‘Not planning to get karmaed now!"
"Good luck, my kin!" a metallic voice boomed.
"Wait, who the hell are ..."
That rude mysterious entity did not let her finish her sentence before yeeting her somewhere unknown.