As I entered my humble abode the stench of rotten wood and energy drinks hit me.
I really have to clean. Like really.
After putting that mental note inside my brain I proceeded to open my bag, laying out all the ingredients.
500 grams of Arcane Crystal, 1 Golden Mandrake, and the magical formulas. I already had the magical binder in the office, so I took that out from one of the cabinets.
After getting everything ready I opened the door to my bedr- The closet I called a bedroom. Apparently Hiroto from Arinia couldn't afford an actual one.
They were... familiar, somehow. The geometric patterns, the way the symbols interconnected—it reminded me of quantum physics diagrams from Earth. Particle interactions. Probability fields. Wave functions.
I didn't bother trying to decipher the meaning of each symbol—that would take weeks, maybe months of study. Instead, I started copying the circuits verbatim around the limited space I had, using the Arcane Crystal dust to trace each line.
After forming what seemed to be a star with intricate symbols laced in between I nodded as my depiction matched the diagram.
After finishing the diagram I added the final incantation.
Superma, Dogma, Takt, Laktn.
I carefully traced each word around the circle with more crystal dust, forming the letters exactly as shown on the parchment.
My hand cramped. My eyes burned from focusing so intently in the dim light. But I kept going.
Superma at the top point of the star.
Dogma to the right.
Takt at the bottom left.
Laktn at the bottom right.
And a final symbol—something that looked like a spiral crossed with a eye—at the left point.
Done.
I double-checked everything one more time. Then triple-checked.
This is it. No going back after this.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then—
A resonant humming sound filled the tiny room. Deep. Vibrating in my chest. The kind of sound you feel more than hear.
The light pulsed once, spreading from the center of the circle outward along every line, every symbol, every letter of the incantations.
When it reached the outer edge, the entire ritual circle flashed brilliant white.
Holy fuck it worked!
I looked at the Golden Mandrake sitting on my desk.
Right. The part that might kill me.
I picked up the root with trembling hands.
It was heavier than it looked. Dense. The golden color looked as almost if was dipped in liquid silver.
The shopkeeper's words echoed in my head:
Eat it raw. Don't cook it. It tastes awful.
And then comes the paralysis, sleep, then trial.
I brought it up to my nose and sniffed. It smelled like dirt. Like copper. Like something foreign, wrong. This is a terrible idea.
And then I bit into it.
"Oh fwuck" I said through a full mouth.
Oh god.
That's awful. It tasted like what I imagined battery acid tasted like. It was so bitter it burned the innards of my mouth. A chemical taste that didn't belong in this world.
I forced myself to chew. The texture was fibrous, stringy, like trying to eat a stubborn tree bark.
Chew swallow. Don't think. Don't think.
My throat burned. My eyes watered. Every fiber in my body screamed at me to spit it out.
I kept going. Each bite was worse than the last.
By the time I'd choked down half of it, I was actively gagging between every bite.
Don't spit it out. If you spit it out, it would've been all for nothing.
I forced down the last piece, swallowing hard. Then I waited, my eyes watered, I was trying not to throw up honestly.
Five minutes til the paralysis.
I quickly lay down on my bed, in the center of the ritual circle. Staring up at the moldy, cracked ceiling of my closet bedroom.
The incandescent glow from the circle cast strange shadows, it almost felt like they were moving. They weren't moving right?
One minute passed. My fingers started to tingle.
Two minutes passed. My vision started to swim. Colors started to blend, the cracks started to form words. Was that Shakesepare?
Three minutes. My fingers went numb– I tried to move them but nothing happened. The numbness started to spread upwards to my arms.
This is supposed to happen. Breathe.
Four minutes. I couldn't move my arms. My legs were nothing more than lumps of skeleton and muscle. The paralysis slowly crept to my torso.
Then the panic kicked it. Right on time.
What if I did it wrong? What if I was slowly dying. What if the circle was incomplete and I'm slowly dying?!
I tried to yell. My mouth wouldn't move.
I can't breathe. I can't–
Calm down. This is supposed to happen-
Five minutes.
My breathing slowed. Deepened. Became rhythmic.
My eyelids grew impossibly heavy.
The glowing circle beneath me pulsed with my heart.
Please-
Then the darkness took me.