Hastum

8. So, what now?

I took that in. It meant a massive change to the world, to me, to everything.

“So, when will it happen, and do others know?”

“The answers are… we don’t know, and we don’t know. But I don’t think anyone else noticed.” The cat put on a smile. “Well, we might get to know something, but information like that costs.”

“Out with it.” I groaned internally, dreading the coming negotiations.

“We want you to make an exclusivity contract with this branch....

7. Talk to the cat

It was morning, and I was supposed to wait for the meeting, but I couldn't sit still. Theories about what had happened and how raced through my mind and wouldn’t let me relax. So I decided to turn to the one thing that always managed to distract me.

Magic.

I made my way to the storage, but this time, I didn’t go for one of the tomes lying openly on the shelves. I opened one of the coffers. Some books were considered unimportant. Of course, my father still made me read...

6. Chaos is coming

The being on the other end answered according to the contract made years ago.

Back in the real world, I awoke from the trance to the accompaniment of a shattering dome spell as the arrows of darkness made their way toward my heart.

But that didn’t matter.

An eldritch energy exploded from me, an energy with a will to twist, corrupt, and unmake all it touches. With a titanic flex of my will, I forced it under control before it could start corrupting everything around me, mys...

5. Call upon the abyss

I had to give it to the creature. The mental work was excellent. Every ghost has the natural ability to cause fear, but this show was really good—so good, in fact, that I almost missed the slight poke in my mental landscape. The presence in my mind slowly made its way deeper, towards the part of the psyche where surface fears and phobias resided.

Breaking into someone's mind was difficult if you did not have a natural ability, like ghosts or seers. But even for those creatures, it was...

4. What hides in the mist

I quickly focused my mind on my surroundings. I could feel my ability to sense my surroundings was diminished, and penetrating the fog was almost impossible. Shit, I was somehow in the creature's home turf.

My senses warned me. A tingling feeling down my spine told me something was watching me. I suppressed the urge to turn around and focused on the periphery of my vision. I could see a presence in the fog on the edge of my eyesight. A shadow that did not seem to be made by the constant...

3. Something's not right

The day at uni was a slog. All that was on my mind was the strange haunting that I was supposed to deal with. And as the last lecture ended, I bolted out of there like a bat out of hell.

With everything loaded and prepared I made my way into my old family car and drove to the meeting place. After an hour of driving, I arrived with 45 minutes to spare.

It was a warm, cozy cafe in Manhattan. It was decorated in a vintage style with old newspapers on the walls and some pictures of fa...

2. Preparations for the real deal

“Real haunting?” Now, that was interesting. The last time I actually got to use some magic was three months ago against a barely solidified spirit. “You sure?”

“Do you even have to ask?” came a self-assured voice from the other side.

“Okay, okay, wait. Don’t tell me. Let me guess.” I was giddy like a child before Christmas now. “A family moved to an old, weirdly cheap house, and it turned out that the house was haunted.“

“Nope.” I could hear the amu...

1. Exorcisms can be boring

I never know what to do in such situations, I thought, looking at the widow and her family's tears. Is it better to just lie to them? Put on the standard fake exorcism, take the money, and go? It's not like I cared much about the morality of the whole thing. Even if I refused, they would probably find some charlatan to “help” them.

And those people always left a bad taste in my mouth. They parodied something steeped in history and tradition they couldn’t begin to understand, just ...