Spell Detection

[kyonides]

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Spell Detection


Written by Kyonides


Chapter I : Signals


Those Strange but Addictive Stories

Reading “Looking for a Save Point” series had been entertaining for our hero, if a lazy guy can ever become one in real life. Usually you would imagine he is some sort of muscleman or a scientist. The truth could not be more deceptive than in this laughable case. Being a reader instead of a man of action prevented him from hitting the spotlight any time soon. What was worst there is that he did not show any sign of interest in becoming famous, and still, he could see himself becoming a star capable of doing almost everything you could have read in the comic books and manga. A body in a good shape… We better skip that topic for a while, not even he deserves to be the lone target of all kinds of denigration, do you not agree?

The connection, right, there was one since people started posting some fancy stuff on their blogs, all of them made him think about the books he had bought in the last couple of weeks. The more he surfed the web, the more he dived in the written stories printed on that good old paper. Actually he also joined several discussions that handled the topic in all stupid ways, as if they were part of a large conspiracy of sorts. What a bunch of fools indeed!

One tale was so well woven by its narrator that our noble reader pay that more attention than necessary. Do not even ask me but his beloved popcorn with cheddar cheese and chili toppings. That scene would make us believe he was watching the best thriller or action movie out there.

After washing his sticky hands he posted the following on the board “Would you mind to record this tale and upload it as a podcast next week? It’s enticing but also heartbreaking, spooky and weird in a dramatic sense!”

Should we start discussing the other works that influenced him? Probably that could explain a few unusual events in no time. The Spell some weird term saga had caught his attention for its convoluted way of describing worlds or those realms were confusing by nature… Anyway, we all know they could not exist, not even for a second. Even the title of the present story was among the books he had bought at a store he was no longer able to recall its name nor its address.

“Unbeknownst to its very own author, this story points to the existence of distant kingdoms, and they could be filled up with some powerful magic!” Brad uttered in the middle of a lecture.


For us, normal people with common jobs and lots of habits, such things would mean nothing, this young man thought otherwise. He dared to called them signals, and he offered his “expertise” to find out where they came from because there got to be some mysterious beacon emitting those distress signals. That was his educated guess after thinking about it for a couple of days.


Oh no, that was not the end of his madness. His next step was to ask a favor of his friends, namely a lovely housewife that could rarely see her own husband, a fellow comic book reader who lived in his parents’ garage, some relatively scary librarian apparently in her early fifties that might have fallen in love with our clueless protagonist, and a construction worker who had failed to pass perhaps many of the strict examinations he had gone through to become a police officer. What exactly did they need to do? They just had to express their very own opinions on the matter.


You know, there was a reason why I have never said he was a great material for a hero of the year or century. By the way, it could have been convenient to let you know he was not even capable of dating a given girl for more than a couple of days. Come on! Try guessing why he was single once again. Nope, it was not because he had told her about his crazy theories. Are you ready to give up now? It was due to his unforeseen reaction the day she agreed to meet him a third time. He just called her the latest signal right in her face while she was drinking her milkshake. And no, it was not her favorite.

“Why on earth do you ever think that our own world hasn’t collapsed already?” she inquired of him, not expecting to get a decent answer to that and many other questions she was afraid of asking there.


Brad remained silent till he could gather enough courage as to reply back “I guess it’s because of our basic knowledge of their existence!”


Seemingly, he knew beforehand that it would be hard to make an unbeliever even consider it as a mere possibility. A blind guess like such knowledge would not satisfy anybody’s need for explanations. It did not make it plausible to expect strange creatures like the sasquatch to show up at anytime now, why would we believe in magic then?


“Alright, I’m gonna search for those deceptive signals thoroughly” the loner stated feeling as if he had stupidly volunteered to lift the whole world over his own head even for a brief moment.


Few hours later, he had posted on his favorite board that he had just started that impossible quest and would welcome anybody that were interested in revealing this so called important truth to the blinded mankind.


“We grew up thinking magic did only exist whenever a magician or our own relatives tricked us to believe in it to fool us, and we thought it was amazing. As adults we disregard such ideas unless we wanna lie to other people or entertain them by making a movie full of special effects. Time has come for me to demonstrate that magic itself has already infiltrated our lovely world as a sly ninja, ready to cut our throats while we keep struggling to safeguard our own ignorance.”


Many members of that online community mocked him or also accused him of disguising his ulterior motives behind a mask of integrity when he actually had some specific political agenda. It did not take long before Brad strongly denied it to no avail. What took such a valiant champion of such a truth by surprise was the unexpected visitor that had recently registered and posted his or her reply few minutes before midnight on October 31st.


“Ignore the blind crowd, it was self evident they’re unable to sense that everything keeps changing at a high pace to never come back to normal ever again. From this very same moment on you can count on me to find any portal between our world and those we’d only dream about.”


Statements like the one above made everybody else laugh or pretend they did by posting LOL or some related emoticon. On the other hand, Brad believed in every single of Black Seer’s words. Quickly he sent her a couple of private messages hoping this unknown character would agree to meet in the real world anytime soon.

My Do Not Disturb Sign is Missing

Early morning did not bring good news to Brad since he hated and still blames his mother for making him believe a decent guy has to start the day in a desperate rush to purchase some vegetables or milk bottle or even some chips she might have seen on television lately. It should be forbidden to open a store at 5 or 6 in the morning! Being honest with you, that was a quote of his that I love to make mine. If he ever meets me, he would prefer to say I have infected his poor mind with such ideas.


“Well, you know, that’s exactly what I’d tell you” my unexpected guest commented and after a brief break added “If it weren’t because we do agree on that, mothers can get quite grumpy every other day.”


This is not supposed to surprise you since we have seen this happening on movies every time they just apply a coat of makeup on an old science fiction film, although you got to know it stinks when you become part of your own story against your will!


For I could not be a terrible host and ignore him, I greeted him nervously and made a silly attempt to shake his hand and miserably failed to reach it. Something invisible like electromagnetism was preventing us from doing something as polite as a shake! Patting him on his back was a real exercise that let me realize that could not be happening right there, in my comfortable living room.


Strange events only let us talk about anything we could think off at the time. That is how I learned he wanted to meet a girl with a cap that resembled an octopus. My warning of her having a playful attitude that would drive him insane and then just empty handed did not persuade him of paying her a visit. It is self evident he could not do anything like walking down my street, that man from another reality could not be standing there, right?


“I do think it’s shameful how you’ve been trying to manipulate my life!” he complained out of the blue.


Futile should be any serious attempt to try explaining a contemporary guy that this was supposed to be a crazy story to entertain a small audience for a little while at most. We all know what that means and still, we could not plainly accept it is real just because we cannot change it. Keep in mind that let him make me waste over an hour speaking like a true parrot, only to feel impotent, as if I were an idiot for hoping he would understand I meant no harm. Go find a solid proof that I could not make his city blow up high into the sky if I ever dared to type it on my computer.


Obfuscated I just went back to my lappy and searched for any movie I could watch to forget all that had taken place in my sanctuary of amateur literature. Spoilers let me figure out that the villain was a man in his thirties or so and suddenly started attacking people because some obscure anime inspired him.


“Tsk, now you wanna blame me for what you’ve done to me and my world!” Brad calmly stated, as if he had given up on dealing with my unreal situation.


At this point I hate myself, I was a failure as a host. How could I not notice that was the only thing I ever needed to say to make him vanish?


Forgive me for not explaining this in detail. Something went wrong when I described the film because he began to turn into some sort of grains of sand, made out of tiny portions of skin, bones and flesh, that the wind easily blew away. I was relieved indeed, though I cannot tell for sure whether or not I had taken some pills that might have expired long time ago. Where did that ill wind come from anyway?

A Month Has Become Part of Modern History

In October nothing really important had happened if you take a close look at it. What was about to happened next was what would actually matter or at least make it look cool up to some point.


Originally, my first idea was to discuss Brad’s obsession with the mysterious Black Seer. Sadly, the coronavirus hit us first. Yes, us, including Brad and his whole world. That is what happens when you take a long break since the last time you added a single paragraph to the present story, I suppose. Meeting that character was forbidden for the authorities suspected a new virus with an unknown mortality rate was already circulating in some parts of the world. You got to know there was no official announcement but either Brad or Black Seer could be working for some important company or public institution that would take any risks.


Do not ask me how the hell they got infected, that remains an unsolved mystery as of yet. And yes, I am fully aware I am the author, still, I have no slight idea why it took place on my back.


When the Covid-19 starting spreading across China during November and December, some of its citizens had traveled to other countries and continents without any restrictions. Our hero’s mysterious contact admitted he or she had taken an international flight. Even so that person did not provide any further information. Could it be possible that guy or gal was some sort of secret agent?


Such series of events made me suspect it was actually me posing as an evil magician or Brad had been contacted by another person living in my own world. Of course, there is a slight, highly unlikely possibility we were dealing with somebody that lived in a third world we knew nothing about. The next time we both met, I let him know about these suspicions. He laughed at first but later he shut his mouth and starting meditating on it for a while.


“I guess we can only keep exploring the map” Brad suddenly commented out of the blue while being submerged in his own thoughts.


“That was the phrase Kyonides found printed on a piece of cardboard if I remember clearly” I added just in case he could recall the actual source of it.


“Yeah, you’re right! You know, I don’t think that was the only time he or his twin ever read it!” my vanishing guest yelled out before disappearing once again.


So could a virus and a strange phrase ever be remotely related? Nah, that sounded like a crazy conspiracy theory only Brad would buy for a good price, he, he. Or am I wrong about labeling it as insane? Do not take me seriously, please. That is something we still need to think about it thoroughly.

This is just a short story...

Yeah right!