Boy Sorceress Pt. 02

My fists tightened as I grit Ashley's perfect teeth. I couldn't believe this news.

This second ritual will expand the limit of their power times thirteen. Their cut-off will be at one hundred and sixty-nine disbelieving minds, while the feedback would become unbearable at over a hundred, depending on the improbability of the spell.

My insides traded places at the idea of The Thirteen casting mass effect spells. That must never happen.

They can repeat the ritual during each of the next twelve full moons. With each repetition of the ritual the limit of their power would increase by a factor of thirteen. If they repeated the ritual nine times, their limits would be extended beyond the number of people on Earth. They could change the world, while experiencing manageable feedback. If they repeated the ritual ten times, humanity would never be able to rise from under The Thirteen, who would doubtlessly install themselves as the rulers of the planet. I cannot stress enough how bad this would be. With nine or ten repetitions of the ritual, they would have the power to make everyone in the world explode if they talked about rising up against their magical overlords. The Thirteen could do any damn thing they pleased, no matter how ludicrous. They must be stopped at all costs.

Mentor was preaching to the choir. I really wanted to stop The Thirteen. But how? Wanting was one thing, getting it done was something else, entirely.

There are only a few ways of stopping them. The first is to take the book from them. If they lose joint ownership of the book, their string of rituals is broken. The power they had gained by then would remain with them, as well as the limitations, but they couldn't increase either. The second way is to stop them from sacrificing any more people on the nights of the full moon. That might be tricky.

Might be tricky? This guy, whoever he was, had a gift for understatement.

The third way is to obtain and hide the corpses after they do their ritual.

After they do the ritual?After they kill more people? Option C sounded like the c stood for crap.

The ritual ends with leaving their sacrifices out in the open, where the world can surely find them and soon. It's a sort of gruesome notice that the supplicants are making a power play and an invitation for the powers that be to stop them. It's a requirement of cosmic balance. The residents of a reality must have their chance to stop the rituals, or the powers gained by it fade away. I suspect that they guard the corpses until they're discovered, so this is an unlikely option for you. The ritual was initiated with thirteen supplicants, which defines how many times it can be performed, but it doesn't have to continue with all thirteen supplicants. If there were less supplicants making sacrifices during the next twelve full moons, the limitations to their powers would be increased only by multiplying it with the number of sacrifices, but they would continue to grow. Even a smaller number of supplicants could reach world-changing power with thirteen repetitions. Thus, the fourth way of stopping them is to kill them all, not just one. That might prove to be beyond you.

Yeah, it might, but that didn't necessarily disqualify option number four. I might be able to do it, if it meant no more people would be murdered. The thirteen victims I could see every time I blinked were more than enough for me. I didn't want to add any more.

Most of The Thirteen had not chosen magic as their power. They had chosen specialized powers. The more specialized the power, the stronger it is. For instance, the pyromancer's powers cannot be overcome with your magic, no matter what you do. His power is limited to fire, yours isn't. You will never be able to cool his flames, nor will you ever be able to match them, unless if you were to participate in more rituals and increase your power and limits, while he didn't.

I pressed my lips together in anger. I wanted to scream that I hadNOT participated in the ritual. I wanted to scream that I had nothing to do with it. I heaved deep breaths and kept reading, instead.

If the pyromancer chooses to participate in more rituals (and the fact that most of The Thirteen chose specialized powers gives me hope that they might not), he will gain immunity to all fire and even the most extreme temperatures. Eventually he would be able to simply dictate the exact temperature of each and every square inch of the planet, regardless of the sun and the seasons. If you ever get into a conflict with any of The Thirteen, you will have to be creative. Blunt force can not prevail.

Wow, this guy was doing wonders for my self-confidence.

Ask me anything you want to know! I'll tell you the truth.

I rallied myself and tried to crack my knuckles. Ashley's hands were too dainty for that. I blew on my fingers instead and tapped away.

Asker: so, if i plant claymores at the clearing and detonate when they gather, it's game over?

Mentor: They are not bound to any location for the ritual. They only have to do it under the light of the full moon. They can ever erect walls on every side, they just have to have no roof overhead.

Well, fuck. So much for option four. I needed to think of something else. I needed more information.

Asker: can they join their powers to overcome the limits?

Mentor: No. Each of them is limited to less than thirteen disbelievers. They can work together, but they all lose their power when seen by thirteen people.

Asker: what if i only did one kind of magic from now on? would i be as strong as them?

Mentor: No. Definitely not. Your magic is versatile. Open for any and all utility. If you chose to only use it to freeze things from now on, you would still be vastly inferior to any of the specialists among The Thirteen in any regard. Your only hope is to get creative.

How the fuck did this guy know that my power was versatile? A pang of dread shot through me.

Asker: how do yoiu know my power?

Mentor: I overheard The Thirteen say so. They seemed pretty convinced.

Asker: what are the powers of the thirteen?

Mentor: I haven't been able to determine all of them. There is a werewolf, a weretiger, a pyromancer, a necromancer, a pair of vampires, a pair of all-round versatile magicians (those will definitely do more rituals) and a manipulator of electromagnetism. There are two women whose powers I haven't been able to determine, as well as two guys.

Vampires? Fuck. Me. Sideways.

Asker: vampires?

Mentor: Yes. Unaging, superstrong, superfast, life-draining monsters. They might be a tough nut to crack.

Might be? Yeah, sure. Why not? They're only superfast and superstrong and immortal. Fuck, this guy was very chill.

Asker: do they burn in the sun? does garlic turn them away?

Mentor: No. When they took the powers of their archetypes, they didn't take their weaknesses, too. It was supplicant's choice.

Well, that's just not fair. Not fair at all.

Asker: so how the fuck does one kill them?

Mentor: The ritual grants no weakness, only power. They can be vampires that tan and eat garlic and laugh at wooden stakes. That was probably the whole point of choosing the specialized powers. Anyway, I would prefer it if you stole the book from them, or disrupted their ownership of it. Interrupting their rituals might also prove feasible. No offense, but trying to kill them all would lead to you dying before you could get each and every one of them. I strongly suspect that interfering with the corpses or ritual would also prove fatal for you.

I rubbed my temples in frustration. I didn't know if I could believe this person and I was beginning to hope I couldn't. The Thirteen being immortal was sounding way too depressing.

Asker: if i got a vampire in public and blew their head off?

Mentor: If you had thirteen or more witnesses who stuck around after a murder, then the vampire would remain dead. Its immortality would be dispelled by the disbelievers.

Murder in plain view of the public. Thirteen counts of it. As far as plans went, it sounded un-ideal.

Mentor: Just to clarify, you don't count. You accept magic as fact. Both your magic and theirs. You need thirteen witnesses, who do not accept people rising from the dead as a possibility, to stay and watch the vampire for as long as it would take a regular human to die.

Regular humans. That was one thing The Thirteen were not. I rubbed my temples as I tried to think of creative things. I was too stressed to come up with anything, so I fell back on some clichés.

Asker: what if i make something invisible?

Mentor: Things remain invisible only so long as less than thirteen minds are fooled into not seeing them. You can't use magic to overcome its own limitations.

Asker: what about mind control? can i make one of them steal the book and end this?

Mentor: Your question gives me hope. You are creative. Alas, the answer is no. Mind control isn't really possible. To establish control over another's mind, you would have to know exactly what was going on in it. To exert control, you would have to be able to imagine that person's mind doing every single thing you wanted them to do, in excruciating detail. Even if you could do that, the moment the controlled person perceived something new, your control would be broken by their unforeseen reaction.

How splendid. I couldn't make myself invisible, walk up to the bad guys with a gun and end it. Nether could I make one of the bad guys my bitch. This was sounding more and more difficult with every passing second. I needed to know more about my enemies.

Asker: they changed. they looked differebnt after the ritual. only the weres were the same.

Mentor: That was deliberate on their part. They chose sacrifices that resembled them so that they could destroy their own forms in effigy. The weres had to do it to gain their transformational powers. The rest did it to make themselves prettier. They can sacrifice anyone in future rituals. They only need one sacrifice per supplicant.

Vanity. What a motive for killing other humans.

Asker: who are they? can you tell me anything about them?

Mentor: I've identified several of them. Susan Hamilton is the necromancer. James Horton is the electromagnetist. The weretiger is Daniel Sturbridge. One of the girls whose power I don't know yet is named Lisa Tuttle. At least, those were their names before their transformations. They don't look like their old selves, excepting Sturbridge and the werewolf, so they will most likely take on new identities.

My eyebrows rose in surprise. That was fairly specific information. Even if they didn't go by their old names anymore, those were still an asset to me. I could investigate their pasts, see what they were really like. I grabbed my receipt and willed those names to be written upon its back. Nothing happened. I willed for the print on the receipt to move around until it depicted those names. No one saw the writing magically shift around on the receipt, so I took no feedback. I folded the piece of paper and placed it into a pocket. There was one identity I needed to know.

Asker: who are you? how do you know all this?

There was a brief pause before they wrote back.

Mentor: I used to own the book. Susan used to run with me. She murdered me, took the book and gathered The Thirteen.

Asker: you type versy well for a dead man. what hapopened?

Mentor: I survived my death in a different form. I can't do anything to fight Susan's gang directly, but I can spy on them, from time to time. And I can help you stop them.

Asker: why sghould i trust you? you used to have the book

Mentor: Since I've died, I've gained a new perspective on things. Let's just say that I'd like to see my wrongs righted. And I'd really love to see Susan suffer.

That actually seemed to me like an answer that was on the level. I'd definitely like to get some payback on anyone that murdered me.

Asker: how did you survivde your murder?

Mentor: I won't tell you that. If you were to fall into Susan's hands and get interrogated, you might tell and then she'd finish the job properly. Can't risk that. Not before she's stopped and the book made safe again.

Well, ok. That sounded fair enough. Then I frowned. What about me? Would I be safe?

Asker: your call said they knew who i was. how?

Mentor: The werewolf had smelled you at the mall and they got a copy of the security tapes. At least one of The Thirteen is very good with computers. They made a list of people that might be the intruder from the clearing and went visiting. When they came to your place, the werewolf confirmed it was you, by your scent.

Well, that was fucked as all fucking fuck. My hands trembled, but I managed to tap out a question.

Asker: whgat will they do?

Mentor: Find you and kill you.

Asker: how exactly?

Mentor: The instant you turn your phone back on, or call anyone you know, they will trace it to your location and show up to kill you. Do not hope to be safe in crowds. They're not above using mundane means of murder. They will be keeping a continuous watch on your house, from now on. They're certain to tap the phone lines of anyone you know, as well.

Asker: so if i get a new phone and don't call anxyone i know or go back to my plasce i'm safe?

Mentor: Relatively safe, yes.

I wiped my hands on my sweatpants repeatedly. If I couldn't go home, then I was cut off from most of my money. I only had a thousand dollars on me. The rest was hidden in my bedroom. All my Kevin clothes were there, too. Changing back into me was suddenly unfeasible. Shopping for Ashley was annoying, but it was nowhere near as trying as shopping for Kevin was. Most stores just don't carry clothes that big.

Plus, every link to my old life and college education was back at my place. In light of The Thirteen hunting me, those seemed irrelevant. I only wished the video of Ashley rolling around on my cash wasn't in the porn folder of my laptop. I identified her by name in it. If The Thirteen saw it, they'd recognize her as the blonde from the clearing and know where to find her.

Mentor: As a matter of fact, we should use a code to identify ourselves every time we chat. Do you know any poem by heart?

Asker: yes the national antghem

Mentor: Good. From now on, every time we start chatting, we'll identify ourselves with the anthem. Next time, you'll start our chat by typing the second verse of the anthem and I'll respond by typing the second-to-last verse. The time after that, you'll start with the third verse and I'll reply with the third-to-last verse. That way, we'll know it's really us in the chatroom. If we're under duress, we simply omit the verse, or choose the wrong one, so pay attention to the anthem and the order of the verses. We don't want the computer geek among The Thirteen to get in on this.

Asker: ok

A fresh fear came over me and I asked about it.

Asker: can't they just cast a tracking spell or something? they know my name. they have my clothes and stuff

Mentor: No, they can't. Magic gives you the ability to reshape reality according to your will, but you have to conceive the change in your mind, first. Magic cannot be used to gain knowledge and information out of thin air.

Oh, that made sense. I couldn't read the faces of the cards I hadn't seen earlier today. And if magic could be used to gain knowledge, they would have known who I was and where I was hiding long ago. This made me feel relief. The Thirteen weren't all-powerful and all-knowledgeable. I could hide in their blind spots and strike out at my leisure. A lot of text showed up on the screen while I tried to come up with a plan to use this restriction to my advantage.

Mentor: This is a hard limitation that cannot be overcome no matter how many innocents are sacrificed. The mind that is altering reality must have the entire alteration fully worked out in its imagination in order to be able to enact it in the real world. It is for this reason that you will probably not see the mages among The Thirteen conjure complicated machinery, or organic materials out of thin air. They could do that, but only if they could imagine each and every part of the thing they are conjuring and that is far more intellectually difficult than it would seem. For instance, to conjure a gun, they would have to know the exact shape and chemical composition of each of its parts, no matter how small, as well as how those parts worked together. To conjure organic matter, they would have to know each type of cell it was made of and how they worked together to create a whole, down to how biomolecules interacted. If they failed to imagine any single part of their creation, they would wind up with a faulty creation. To sum up, the mages among The Thirteen have the power to create live human beings armed with guns out of thin air, but they surely lack the intellectual capacity to conceive of it properly.

I gaped at the words on the screen. Conjure humans out of thin air? "Fuck me," I muttered in astonishment. This was the power of creation in its raw form and I had it, too? My mind immediately ran in the direction of making an ally for myself. I couldn't even hazard a guess as to how much weight that would cost me. Maybe, I'd make a small, flying bug, armed with a poisonous sting, and send it at The Thirteen.

Fuck, that was a good idea! I hastily typed up a question.

Asker: how much weight does creating a live being cost?

Mentor: This is the second time you've mentioned weight loss. I have absolutely no idea what you are referring to. Please explain yourself!

I frowned. How could he not know about the weight price?

Asker: for every change in reality that i make, i lose weight of my true form.

Mentor: I have never heard of this. I assure you that The Thirteen have no such limitation. No one that ever participated in the rituals had. You must tell me everything there is to know about your power and its usage! Leave nothing out!

I again worried that this might be The Thirteen chatting with me, fishing for an explanation as to why and how I had piggy-backed onto their ritual. I shook it off. If this was them, then they were toying with me and I was fucked no matter what I did. If this wasn't them, if this was truly an ally from beyond the grave, then holding back would only hurt me and my chances. I explained everything, making many typos along the way.

I muttered curses directed at whichever idiot had thought up of typing on touchscreens. Yes, I was actually scared for my life and more than a little embarrased at telling a stranger that I turned into a woman and those were the real causes of my anger, but it still felt good to vent. Touchscreens suck balls. Keyboards rule. I quieted down when I noticed people giving my muttering ass funny looks.

Mentor gave me an email address and asked me to send him pictures of the symbols, arranged as they were on the petals of my flower.

Mentor: But open a new email account that can't be traced back to you! Do not send it my way from any of your existing accounts! Those are watched! Tell me you've seen this!

Asker: relax dude i wasn't going to. i'll open a new email i just gotta find me a way to scan and upload the pictures

Mentor then sent me the link to a site that let people draw online and share the drawings. I went there and drew the symbols as they appeared on my flower. I sent Mentor the link to the image. He quickly replied.

Mentor: Those are symbols used by the secret language of the book. When the book was first brought into existence in our world, hundreds of symbols from all the known civilizations of the time had been appropriated and used to denote syllables of the secret tongue. It was considered the perfect code, both because the symbols no longer meant anything even remotely similar to their original usage, and since everyone would see the combinations of the symbols as gibberish and disregard the book because of it.