Bursting into house drenched like a mouse Todor felt alive again. Mihos jumped from the cupboard to greet him, six kilos of orange fur bumping into his sheen. After a moment of kitten affection, the tomcat stopped and stared at the book Todor dropped on the sofa. He observed as Mihos jumped on cushions, curious how would feline react to the strange book. The sense of amusement radiated under his scalp which wasn't entirely his.

 Mihos touched the book with its paw and then jumped away as if the leather cover burned him. The cat puffed his fur and started hissing and growling at it. Then he sneaked closer and sniffed it few times, whiskers bobbing left and right. After few seconds of olfactory exploration, he apparently concluded book was alright and he nuzzled it the same way he did Todor a moment ago.

 "I guess you are friends with my empathic book. Good. I don't want you to piss on it," Todor said amused. He felt satisfaction wash over him from Ezezu.

 Todor got out of his wet clothes, thanking his luck that his house retained the day's warmth. Once he was free of damp fabric and standing in his socks and underwear he rummaged through pockets of his coat salvaging things from the dreadful faith of becoming soggy. While doing that he got the paper cute Morg girl gave him. Cassandra The Morg, why the hell did you gave me your phone number, he wondered, staring at the writing. The paper started getting mushy and the numbers blurry.

 Letting out a loud theatrical sigh he got his phone and typed the number to save it. Instead, his wet cold fingers missed and pressed call. Fumbling with a phone he managed to stop it but not before it sent few rings Cassandras way. He let out a frustrated growl throwing the phone on the sofa. Walking up the stairs he got into fresh dry clothing and a towel to wrap his hair. Once he came back to the living room his phone buzzed. He glanced at it and shook his head, it was a text from Cassandra. It said 'Who is this?'

 With an exasperated smirk, he picked up the phone. He wasn't planning to contact the girl, he really wasn't. But now by mistake, he gave his phone number away. He could just ignore the text and let her think it was a mistake. But that would be rude. At least Todor saw it as rude. He typed: 'It's a guy who asked about Nintendo 64 today. My name is Todor.' Ugh, that is such an awkward thing to say. He thought but pressed send anyway. The phone buzzed after a few seconds. 'Great, I'll save it. Hear you soon.' He slowly put the phone to charge hoping nothing comes from it.

 "Now, let us be a bit criminal," Todor proclaimed to no one in particular. He went from window to window dragging the drapes to hide his living room from any unwanted eyes. Not that storm outside would let anyone spy on him, but he liked to be sure.

 Thunder and lighting raged outside even more furiously. I am glad I am not out there anymore. Hope Mab got home one time. He thought as he pulled the last drape over the window.

 Then he pushed the cupboard a bit so that he can lift the loose board under it. He crammed his hand beneath it and grabbed mind-link stone he hid there. Since he got the thing on the black market he managed to contact few like-minded individuals who he met every Friday in that strange mind shared space.

 He made himself comfortable in the plush armchair and tied the leather cord on which the stone was suspended around his head. He felt a second presence next to Ezezu. The strange presence of the book sent an emotion of inquisitiveness and curiosity his way. Todor reached for that familiar spot that let him jump into shared mind space and embraced it.

 Suddenly he was floating in the clouds. The strangeness of this space was disorienting at first but after a while, he reasoned it was similar to lucid dreaming. You think and it happens. So he thought of a place. Flat granite surface with jagged rocks around. In the center of that surface, a ring of chairs and swords stabbed in the ground behind each. And he was there.

 The only difference to what he imagined was that there were four other people already there. Mia Lanternglow, shy human student obsessed with Dungeons and Dragons. She was so in love with a game that she risked breaking the law so she can play it in the first person. Todor only knew she came recently to the city and that she had a problem paying off her student loan. The second person was pureblooded Morg warrior, Torug Mordonglosh. He was basically a gun nut who thought Anadori controlled all international laws and that they should build a magical wall around Moriganhold before Anadori High Meet decides all free cities must be under their control. Good fellow but a bit on the nutty side. The third was Anadori mundane. She has a rare genetic disorder which prevents her from casting magic. So she found solace in a place that responds to her will. The fourth was the most mysterious of them all. They only knew the person under the name Meek. Species, gender or anything else was a total mystery. Since they could look and sound like anything they imagined, this person always showed as a shadowy figure with glowing pink eyes.

 Todor always took a form of a muppet Count von Count from Sesame Street. At first, he thought it was funny, after a while he just got used to it. Only John Miles was missing but he told them that he will be busy with homework.

 "Oh, look who it is! It's a sock puppet," Torug said once he saw Todor approaching. The other three turned to regard him.

 After a short bout of greetings and 'how do you dos' they started chatting on what happened to them during the week and all the gossip and news around town. Todor stayed mostly quiet. He knew only tidbits about this people, they weren't friends or anything similar. Just correspondences.

 Somebody asked him what was going on with him and he thought of saying he found the maharoon and managed to open it. But Ezezu sent a pulse of panic and fear at the thought. What is it, buddy? You don't want me to reveal that? He sensed approval at that. Alright, but I don't know what you are so afraid of.

 "Oh, nothing. I will attend Sunhawk ball this Sunday."

 "Oh, big baller," and "Big shot," resounded among the group.

 Usually, he found these gatherings incredibly interesting but now he just wanted to take a peek at Ezezu. So after the talk and chat died down he excused himself and disconnected from the shared space. He opened the eyes and met Mihos feline stare. The cat was sitting on his chest mewing and licking his nose.

 "Oh, I forgot to feed you, didn't I. Poor thing," he said snapping the stone off his forehead and hiding it in the hurry.

 He fed the cat, showered and went to bad. His desire to grab the book and read it got overwhelmed by yawns.

 Todor woke up to amusement coming from Ezezu. He looked at the nightstand where he left the book and had something to see. Mihos was licking the covers and purring.

 "Well alright. That is weird," he said getting up "Good morning, Mihos. Good morning Ezezu. I hope I am not interrupting," he chuckled at his own lame joke and went downstairs hafting the book under his arm.

 Entire Saturday morning passed by with him leafing throw the book. But he knew that just staring at the strange symbols will not help him understand it.

 "If only I could at least see the magic or maybe have an idea what magic even is," he murmured in frustration. His voice startled Mihos who jumped off the table knocking Ezezu on the floor. Todor sighed and knelt to pick it up. The Book fell at some page with writings annotated with bullet points and ... letters which he did understand.

 "What a hell?" he gasped staring at the list of written ingredients. On the page, written in plain English stood a text he could read. It was a recipe for some kind of alchemical potion. The title of it said 'Spectral Eyes' and below in tiny neat handwriting was an explanation. 'Imbiber of this concoction will be granted the sight of the wraith. Seeing the auras of magic and lay lines of Great Beyond. WARNING: Only works on humans. In Morgothlites it causes lust and in Anadori wrath. NT' Todor read in amazement.

 "Who the hell is NT?" he asked no one in particular. From Ezezu he felt shame and sadness. Was that your previous owner? Todor asked the strange presence in his head. From it came the feeling that Todor couldn't quite understand.

 "I guess you can't tell me what happened to him or her?" he asked but from Ezezu came the same feeling of shame and sadness.

 Todor shrugged and started reading ingredients for this Spectral Eyes potion. He was surprised that he had all the listed items. The rarest thing on the list was an orange cats hair but he had that by some insane coincidence. He started cooking before he even knew what he was doing.

 As soon as he was done his phone buzzed. He looked at the time and gasped. It was 21:56. He was so consumed by this insane pet project he lost twelve hours of his Saturday. He sighed and checked the text he received.

 It was Mab. It just said 'So boooooored'. He smiled and responded 'Hang it there :)'. He hit send and realized he already had a text he didn't hear while he was busy cooking the potion. It was from Cassandra. 'Are you free Sunday night? I know great coffee shop close to the place I work at. They have awesome cheesecake'. Todor stared at the text for a minute considering his replay. The girl was cute, hot even, but he hasn't considered any romantic relationships entering his life anytime soon. But it has been so long. Ezezu sent an emotion that Todor translated as 'Why not?'.

 "Why not indeed," he whispered to himself typing: 'Already have plans for Sunday. But I do love cheesecake. Maybe Monday evening?'

 Ten seconds passed before he got a replay. 'It's a date. Meet me in front of MagicWaveStop where I work at nine.' 'It's a deal' he responded wondering if he was doing the right thing.

 The recipe for potion said to leave it on low heat to simmer for twelve hours and cool it slowly for five hours before drinking it. Am I seriously going to drink this? From Ezezu he got an emotion that Todor likened to encouragement. Will think about that in the morning.

 But the morning came all too fast. He woke up, checked if his simmering potion didn't burn the house down, got it off the stove and let it cool down. Then he went to do all the other things he had to do. He got his suit ready for tonight. Got his timepiece from the safe, old Soviet-made wristwatch that was a present from his grandfather. He only wore it during special events and he guessed this could count as one. You don't meet the cream of the Anadori society every day.

 "Hey, Ezezu. You there?" he asked looking at the book. The feeling of peace and calm came from the tome. "Can you translate some educational chapter today?" he asked. Ask and you may receive, my father always used to say. Seconds passed and Todor felt agreement coming from the old pages.

 "Huh, that worked," he murmured and opened the book randomly. And indeed the text was understandable. He started reading eagerly. It said: 'Magic comes in many forms and shapes. Harvesting it is possible in as many ways as there are stars in the sky and drops of water in the ocean. I, No Terror, Grand Magi of House of Merlioth entrust this pages with my knowledge and my anima in hope that some of what we know survives The Breaking of Chains. I know that some things will transpire that we can't predict and that we may as well doom our descendants to live without magic. But magic is like water, it flows and erodes all the walls set before it. If someone is reading this, there is hope. The walls may be strong now but you will find the way. You carry the seed of rebellion against all tyranny. Don't judge others by their breed or their parentage, but the conviction of their word and effects of their actions. You will eventually find a way to cure your handicap. I can't know the nature or path you will choose to achieve such a goal but I am sure that eventually, you will. Stay strong and carry the torch of humanity.'

 "Well, that was super cool ... and super useless," he said amazed. Will entire book eventually become understandable to me, Ezezu? The feeling Todor concluded meant yes echoed in his brain.

 "At least I know more than before," he said leaving the matter for now. He had to get ready for a ball.

 It has been a while since he had to wear a tie. It took him an hour until he was happy with a result. The rest of the ensemble was quick and easy, but when he finished with all the preparations he realized his potion was ready to be used. From Ezezu came the urging to do it.

 All dolled up and fancy he stared at the coffee pot where the reddish liquid glittered. Well, I am the greatest idiot in the world. He thought and poured it in a cup moving as if mesmerized. The rim of the mug came close to his lips before he could stop himself.

 "Cheers," he said to the Mihos who jumped on the kitchen counter looking at him. Then he drank it in four large gulps. It tasted like stale soup.

 At first, nothing happened. Then the world shifted. Everything he looked at had a twin or triplet of different color coming in and out of the original object. Mihos turned into the entire pride of cats. But after a minute all returned to normal. Except there was a slight glow to everything. He looked at his hands and they were glowing dark red. Mihos had pure white light around him.

 "What a hell is this?" he asked opening the Ezezu to the chapter that explained the potion.

 "Seeing the auras of magic and lay lines of Great Beyond." he read it again "Ezezu, what is Great Beyond ... or lay lines for that matter?" he asked the book hopefully. From the tome he got a feeling of concentration and struggle. The feeling grew stronger and then happiness replaced it.

 Todor opened the book at the page he sensed Ezezu tugging him. And true enough the page was not written in alien glyphs but in plain old English. It said: 'Great Beyond is the realm of existence that overlaps everything. It is the source of anima. Some call it mana, Magicka, ethrogon, love waves or even soul. All that grows and multiplies has it, and even most of the things that don't. It is firewood for a fire that is spell casting. To cast a spell you need to let the ambient anima infuse your own and shape it in a form that you want. Since our brains are having a really hard time grasping this secret of creation we make shortcuts. For example, if a person wants to create a simple spell, creating a ball of fire, they link such creation to a word or a movement. In such a way we can recall the way we created that ball of fire but not by recreating the method first used but by using the word or a movement we associated with it. In that way, hard, body and mind demanding feat of creating a ball of fire with our minds are reduced to just a whisper or flick of a hand.'

 "Cool. So, magic words are just macros. Neat," he said closing the book. "And this glowing stuff is mana."

  At that moment his phone buzzed again. It was Irry. 'Get out of your house. I am outside on the street.' Todor laughed. He fed Mihos and grabbed his phone and keys. He made a glance at the mirror for the last time and he saw his entire body had a red glow like he was drenched in radioactive red paint.

  Irry waited on the sidewalk next to a parked car. What struck Todor is that Irry didn't glow from the outside but from the inside. It was like he could see the white-gold fire burning between her breasts. Oh, I guess that is why they say we don't have souls. Because they can't see anima burning inside of us. Todor concluded.

  "Shall we go annoy some prim and proper Anadori elite?" Irry said with a twinkle in her eyes.

 "You know what? I have been reluctant to accept this but just for that I think it will be fun," he responded.

Irry motioned him to enter the parked car and he did. They started moving as soon as Irry closed the door behind herself.

 "You look dashing," Irry said

 "Thanks, you look great, too," Todor said even though he was so distracted by the potion effect he didn't even notice what she was wearing. He sneakily checked and had to admit she was breathtaking. It was a red silk dress that with a side cut showing a lot of shapely leg but by Anadori standards, it was downright priestly. What Todor found more interesting was that dress was definitely human fashion and not Anadori.

 "Something changed about you," Irry said eying him.

 "What?" he said looking out of the window.

 "I don't know. I can't quite put my finger on it," she said thinking "Did you got laid?"

 "What!? No," he spattered in surprise.

 But before they could continue any further the car rounded into the large golden gate that opened before them. They were at Sunhawk estate.