------ Michael------
"Welcome to The world of Terra Michael, my little helper." Those sweet smooth words were the last words he heard before he died. This has to be the weirdest, and arguably the worst, week, ever... and everything faded to black.
It started with my mom and her damn armoire. Anna Casterly, my drunk but beautiful adoptive mother, asked me to help her bring in a creepy armoire. I quickly put on a white tee-shirt, comfortable gray jogging pants, and a pair of hard-sole high-top sneakers, my looks weren't too important to me but practicality always mattered. And when I say this thing was creepy, I mean wooden dragons, snakes, and gargoyles on the edges and corners. With what seemed like dead cats as handles on each door as well. I mean I'm usually into such detailed decorum but this... this felt wrong.
I don't know if she couldn't see it, or just didn't care, but there seemed to be a red, shadowy aura around the armoire. It was both enticing yet disgusting like my hands were going through mush. She didn't seem to care either way so I assumed it was just me. It's just in your head Michael, don't think about it. I put some back into it.
When we finished bringing it up the stairs, Miss Casterly looked at me while patting the top of the chest and said, "You sure you don't work out?" she jested sarcastically. She had seen me struggle push and carry it the rest of the way up the steps and couldn't help but jab at me.
"Well I used to I guess. Used to be pretty intense, but now just a little here and there." I grunted out as I pushed the armoire deeper into the building. "Why?" I knew the answer to this question, or at least I thought I knew, but I often enjoyed testing my ability to predict people's reactions.
"Well because you moved it so easily." she struggled to hold back her chuckle. I mean what else would she say? Ugh, she's no better than those stuck-up bullies sometimes. Her eyes looked me up and down in a predatory manner, and if I didn't know any better, I'd say she was checking me out.
"And your arms are so-"
I cut her off before she got a chance to continue, "Where do you want me to put it?" Bad phrasing she could take that wrong. "I mean like, are you sure you want it here, where people can see or in the attic where we can hide it till you realize we need to burn it?" I said playfully as she kept eerily staring at me. My question seemed to serve as an ample interruption to break her gaze from me and pull her attention back to the armoire.
"Stop it I'm serious, it's beautiful, but I'm not sure where to place it really. Try putting it in the attic, since you're so strong." She teased with baby talk as if I were a dog.
Is she gonna call me a good boy after too? Is she serious? Knowing her, she'll probably choose to call me a good boy like I'm a pet. Why is she so insistent with this armoire? "Not that it really matters to me, but why would you want such a creepy armoire, I'm like 75 percent sure that thing is possessed" I chuckled out nervously. I wasn't exactly joking, but this seemed to be the best way for her to answer.
"I don't know" She pondered as she pressed a finger to her chin in thought. Nodding as she decided on a reply, she smiled and said, "I guess it just called to me."
"Definitely possessed. No doubt now." I jested.
"It's not, stop it Atlas!" We laughed till our sides hurt.
As I slowly broke out of laughter, I told her "Whatever you say, Miss C" and started moving the chest back up the stairs.
"Okay, that's all I need, close the attic on your way out!" She yelled in my direction as she struggled to descend the ladder.
"You got it, Miss C" I smirked as I made the comment.
"Call me Anna, Mike."
"You got it Anna."
As I reached the top of the attic, I took a breath and looked around. Hearing a strange -vibration? I don't know what it was, neither a voice nor sound, but it came from the armoire. If I didn't know any better I'd say it was talking to me, the fiery shadow that cloaked the armoire. Is this what she meant. Yeah absolutely haunted, but what is that around it. Shadows? I need to leave. The latter folded up and the opening to the attic shut.
Shit, you have some nice timing. I took a deep breath and inched closer to the armoire, ghost demon or supernatural entity I wouldn't just sit idle and wait. It was dark in the attic, so of course never actually looking down to remember what the floor looked like, I tripped. I fell forward landing right in front of the armoire. "Okay Satan, I'm not really a fan but I'm willing to give it a try if you let me leave." As much as I like to say I don't believe in religion, I hold out hope for every single one.
Stupid, if Satan exist, he wouldn't waste time on me.
I grabbed one of the cat-like handles on the door to the armoire. As I stood up I pulled the door open accidentally, at least I think it was me, it felt like it flew open on its own. As it came open I lost and regained balance in an instant.
Woah. An old red candle rolled out and there was an unrecognizable brand of matches with it, so I grabbed them. Like an idiot, I let my curiosity get the better of me, I placed it upright and away from me, and lit the candle.
After I was sure it was fine, I held onto it. Suddenly a burst of energy, like liquid electricity flowed into me, and after some time, it felt like it was resonating more within me.
Another candle, this one blue, rolled out. Okay, I'll bite, creepy armoire. I played with the end of it just thinking of it burning and suddenly my finger caught fire, it didn't hurt, in-fact the candle just lit, and another surge of energy flowed into me.
I used the lit candles to look through the Armoire. I found more candles on the inner shelves and in the two drawers, finding 13 total candles. I proceeded to light the rest of the candles. I also found a book.
It was lying flat on one of the shelves. It was titled Book of Known and Unknown Spells. I opened the book and there were only three spells written...
Spell one: Wish. Description: Wish is the mightiest spell a mortal creature can cast. By simply speaking aloud or thinking, you can alter the very foundations of reality in accord with your desires. Currently can only be cast 2/3 times this year.
What the hell is this book? I should research at school maybe? I kept reading.
Spell two: Fire Flicker. Description: Create fire at the tips of your fingers, control the spread and effects of this fire in a limited range of currently 1 foot; Spell three: Lesser Divination: includes detect magic, detect poison, detect sickness. I immediately had several questions, is this book sentient, can it read my thoughts, did it see me do these things, when did I use lesser divination or wish? This is a recording device. It must read my thoughts in some way. What is the wish spell? I should look into that later. Let me test some things. If I use the weakest lowest amount of energy, that the fire flicker can accept then... I poured the least amount of energy that the spell could accept. It took 15 tries as I had to be thorough.
I continued with my experiment turning the timer on my phone on but not starting it. I then used the fire flicker spell eleven more times. Hmm, that's about thirteen fire flickers. I stood up, walked about five yards away from the armoire, extended and held up my hand to the armoire. I imagined my pool of newfound energy, I then imagined a pump attached to this pool I lightly turned the valve. Liquid energy rushed to my palm. Then I imagined the energy-burning, it was an unnerving feeling as I felt my actual hand begin to heat up. The sensation almost caused me to lose focus, but he didn't want to restart the process. Soon I started to form the fiery energy into a ball. So hard. It's struggling to get out of the skin. Soon fireball shot out of my skin and hit the armoire in less than half a second. My hand felt cold like the body heat was sapped from my arm.
Fireproof? Not very fast. When I visualized my pool of energy, I guessed I had about ten energy left. Fire is hard to control. This time I went through the entire visualization process in less than a second. This time I directed the fire seemed to cost four fire flickers. Looks like the act of breathing helps the fire intensify and speed up. I rested till all of my energy recovered. This time I sent energy to my hand again, but I vibrated it as fast as he could and seemed to create a chain of electricity from the nerves in my hand and the energy, then a blot of electricity shot forward, crashing into the armoire. Again, it was unfazed. This time my brain seemed to slow for a second and a sharp pain shot through my head.
Ahhh. Okay, lightning is a pain to use. Four fire flickers worth of energy. What happens if I... I sent fire mana to my mouth and then just before blowing fire I sent electrical mana to my lips. First, the fire came out as normal but soon it grew to twice the size and speed, and I could see the electricity travel up and down the blast of fire. Unaffected? What is this thing made of? It can't be wood, can it?
My mom always told me I could never wait to advance, so getting used to it isn't something I can wait for. I stood up. Let's try some other elements. I spent the rest of the night practicing spells, trying new elemental spells and elemental combos.