A Real Life Guide to Magic. Pt. 1

Hey, you… yes, YOU. My name is Josh.

If you’re reading this, you have The Guide.

You don’t know where this thing came from (and neither do I), but it’s here in your hands. You opened the book and this is the first page.

I won’t bother trying to convince you that magic is real. You should be ready to accept a little weirdness by now.

Everything you’re about to go through, I already went through. Some of it was fun, and some of it definitely wasn’t.

You can read my whole story on page 4,793. If you skip ahead, you’ll see I’m only 16, but don’t let that stop you from checking out my tip list. If I would have known these things from the start everything would have went much easier!

I had to do a lot of work to trick this book into letting me write in the front, so you might as well do yourself a favor, take advantage of my genius and check this out…

MY TOP 10 TIPS:

1. Cast something right away (WARDS! page 12). Until you cast something, the dreams will get more and more intense, and the damn book will keep following you (you try explaining where this giant-sized leather bound book came from when you’re in swim class…).

2. First spell: Cast the WARDS (!!) spell. These will let you know if any bad people (or things) are coming your way. More on this later. Go cast it now! It’s an easy one. Come back here when you’re done.

3. Spells don’t go wrong. They either work or they don’t. When they do work, they always work as they’re intended to. Your understanding of what the spell was supposed to do can be wrong, though. THINK. Be absolutely sure you know what the spell is meant to do before casting. User error has some messed-up consequences. Make sure your pronunciation is good. Summon Glorienne if you get in trouble. You can read about her on page 167.

4. Do not cast the “Spell Of True Revealing” (page 88): it lets you see the world as it really is. Not for the faint of heart. I went through my whole weed stash trying to recover! Don’t know why that one is in here.

5. Don’t try to change people (their emotions, make them chill out, make them lose weight or whatever). You can do it. Kind of a dick move, though.

6. If the wards are triggered (you cast the wards, right?), RUN! Drop whatever it is you’re doing and go. Trust me, you do not want to wait around for whatever it is that’s coming your way. Normal stuff can’t hurt you while you have the book, but these things aren’t normal. They are mean, and they want this book.See page 1,253 for possible encounters and how to handle them...

7. The spell words aren’t really a language, as far as I can tell. You won’t talk to anyone with it. Looks like code to me. Get the pronunciation right (important!). Think of it like code and it will be easier. Was for me, at least… don’t overthink it. My motto was “See The Rune. Say The Rune.” Just do it without thinking too much and it will roll off your tongue.

8. Do not cast the immortality spell (page 492). On you or anyone else. It’s not what you think and it will end badly... or not end at all. I had a close call with that one - another one that shouldn’t even be in here. If not for Glorienne, I’d be screwed. See my notes in the back of the book for more detail.

9. You’ll be compelled to write your experiences in the book. Don’t fight it. You have to write in the book. If you try to fight it you’ll end up writing in blood on napkins, walls, sidewalks. Just don’t fight it. Write in the back of the book like everyone else... except me :P

10. Have fun! The book wants you to use it. Be smart and change your life for the better. Just don’t be a dick and try to change the whole world or anything. Read the stories in the back about some of the f*cked-up things people tried to do. While you’re there make sure to check out my story on page 4,793!

- Josh, The Greatest Wizard Ever!

P.S. - A couple of follow-up tips!

• Make sure your last spell is something you won’t need to undo. Once you’re done… you’re done.

• Don’t try to put trackers (magical or other kind) on the book - you will get hurt.

• I made a rune you can use to get in contact with me… if you’re cool. But I took precautions just in case any of you want to start any sh*t - so don’t even try it!

Sir,

The page you just read will serve as proof of the claims I make below. It is merely a copy, but if you retrieve the original photo of the page from archive you will find that it is blank, as expected.

Only I have uncovered the secret of reading those pages (I will reveal that formula later so you can verify my claims). I have uncovered a great many things.

You would have realized by now that I am gone, and you would have reported this immediately to your own Supervisor. I have no illusions that my respect for you is reciprocated. I know I am just one of your many support staff. I am not someone worthy of special consideration.

Knowing this, I was prepared for the ‘Severance Team’ that arrived at my apartment the day I did not report for work.

They would have found nothing that will locate me. You know how thorough I can be.

I was watching them from a block away. A terrible risk, given the usual efficiency of these teams.

They won’t get that close again.

I must admit a small feeling of disappointment that you reported me, but that is the man you are. I never expected anything else.

If we are to survive (by ‘we’ I mean Humanity itself), then we will need men like you to stand up and utilize the knowledge that I hope can save us.

Though I haven’t worked on The Guide project as long as some, I made discoveries that pushed the project out of the stagnation of the previous quarter-century.

What you don’t know is that I held back many other discoveries. I became more and more convinced that the Organization, our Organization… are the last people who should gain control of the book.

My research became two-fold… as I uncovered more of The Guide’s secrets, I also uncovered more and more about our employers.

The following are my conclusions, as well as my raw notes. I have separated these documents into:

• My own notes and summaries.

• Field reports of notable encounters with The Guide.

• The origin and history of The Guide.

All of which I have pieced together well beyond what others on the project know. I have made intensely personal sacrifices to accomplish this.

You may simply turn this over to your superiors, but my hope is that you will understand, as I do, that to do so would be to condemn the Human race… and perhaps everything else… to utter ruination.

Even though you know the basics of this project, I suspect (and hope) that in the days to come you will find others you can trust. These people will likely not know about The Guide, and you may supply the following pages as a ‘primer’ of sorts, to bring them up to speed.

We both know what I am. I am not any kind of ‘man of action’, let alone a hero. But you are that person.

You will know what to do.

What is ‘The Guide’?

In basic terms, The Guide is a book that appears on a recurring basis to an apparently random subset of people.

It contains formulas (i.e. ‘spells’) that allow Human magic (more on this later) to be performed, but only by the person the book has appeared for. Anyone else, even those who know what the book is for, will fail to perform any magical feat attempted.

With The Guide, a Bookholder (shortened to ‘Holder’ hereafter) can perform feats which would seem to be impossible. The power in The Guide has proven able to circumvent and/or overcome our physical laws without apparent difficulty.

The Holder is limited only by their will and the extent to which they can master the language of The Guide. There can be fatal consequences for many, including the Holders themselves.

General examples of Guide-based feats (from reports and research) are:

• Creating objects apparently out of nothing.

• Destroying objects as if they never existed.

• Control or force changes in personalities (e.g. Love spells, making someone change their mind, etc.).

• Teleportation across virtually any distance.

• Creation of money (hard currency and sometimes digital wealth).

• General change of reality (e.g. change of social status, change general perception of events, etc.).

• Change weather or force natural disasters.

There were many reports from former Holders describing how they used the book, and each of the above feats was attempted, with varying degrees of success.

Improper wording of a spell can cause its effect to fail. In addition, insufficient focusing of willpower or intent can also cause a spell to fail.

Successful Holders report meditation and supreme levels of focus when performing a spell. Unsuccessful Holders reported spur of the moment attempts or half-hearted concentration and desire when attempting spells.

The Holder’s morality, ethics, religion, politics, race, gender, age or other classifying factors appear to have no effect on the success or failure of a spell.

There is essentially no limit to what the Holder can do with the book while it is in their possession. Luckily for the world, most are concerned with their own petty desires, and thus come nowhere close to tapping the full potential of The Guide.