Spiders, Science and Sorcery.

“What is this dude up to now?? He’s going to blow up the whole place if he keeps experimenting with this weird stuff. Do you think he knows what he’s doing?”

“That dude as you say turned us into the most evolved spiders this world has to offer. I suggest we just let him do his thing. Who knows? Maybe he’ll make the world a better place.”

“How?? By turning every living thing in this barn into potential Nobel prize winners?”

“Come on man. Have some faith in humanity. I get it that you don’t like humans but try to make an exception for this one.”

Macchiato threw a hopeless glance at Cortado. The two barn-spiders were as close in appearance as they were different in terms of personality. It had not always been that way. Before the “odd man” came along, they had been nothing more than...well, just barn-spiders really. They spent their days waiting for small insects to get trapped in their webs and behaved as any respectable barn-spider would. The odd man changed that with his crazy experiments and seemingly boundless creative force. The spiders had no recollection of how their intellect grew so rapidly but they did remember blue fumes rising towards them. Before they knew it, their brain power had increased immeasurably while their bodies remained exactly the same.

Cortado speculated that the fumes were a combination of magic and chemical reactions. The spider thought that the odd man was trying to tap into the spiritual force of runes that lied on the round table that he used for his experiments. Cortado and Macchiato could not understand what the odd man was trying to do but they did know this: ever since he had stepped foot into the barn, the place had been transformed into some sort of parallel universe that was evolving every day.

The odd man spoke in a language that Macchiato and Cortado could not understand. As impressive as it was, their new brain power did not enable them to overcome the communication barrier that existed between them and the odd man. Macchiato liked it this way. He feared that the odd man might swat them if he discovered that the spiders had become more than just regular spiders. Cortado was more optimistic. He genuinely thought that the odd man would accept them.

“He could be our friend.”

“Hell no! I don’t trust humans. I’m not going near him.”

“But he’ll figure out that we not just spiders sooner or later. We might as well just go and try to introduce ourselves. How about we jump on his table and do a little dance?”

“Are you insane Cortado? As far as I’m concerned, I’m happy to be JUST a spider. I did not ask this guy to expose us to his blue fumes. Hey, what is he doing now?”

A purple light had enveloped the odd man’s left hand. He seemed to be directing some mystical energy towards a square-shaped stone that had cryptic symbols carved on it.

The odd man was Sam Harken. He was a Neo-Wizard.

He narrowed his eyes and concentrated intensely on the stone. The light became stronger and seemed to take the shape of a small spear that attacked various parts of the stone.

Sam Harken’s serious expression turned to frustration.

“It’s totally futile. This clearly isn’t working. If this is the limit of my power, then Fred Hurst will turn this country into his own personal hell.”

The light disappeared and Sam Harken sat down in a large armchair that was besides the table. His long black hair and tidy beard contrasted with his crumpled clothes. He breathed in deeply and thought about the fateful moment when Neo-Wizards first appeared. It was a time when the world was searching for answers that lied outside the known boundaries of science and technology. The year was 2046. Half of the world’s population has been exterminated after the appearance of Virus 60 (V60). This virus was initially meant to be a molecule that would cure nearly every known form of cancer. To achieve this, V60 had been equipped with a new generation of nanotechnology. What followed was a result of misfortune and incompetence. The wrong approach, bad decisions and a combination of unexpected circumstances turned V60 into the ultimate invisible killer on a global scale.

Obviously, this catastrophe rearranged the world as we used to know it. The most bizarre of these rearrangements came with the emergence of a new breed of humans; instead of killing them, V60 caused them to mutate. Their physical appearance did not change but their internal structure changed radically. These changes ranged from greater bone density to sharp increases in sensory perception. Scientists soon figured out that adding highly intelligent nanotechnology to these transformed individuals literally turned them into super-beings. It could have stopped here but as mentioned earlier, the boundaries of science and technology were being tested. And so, like the long-lost missing piece of a puzzle, magic came into play. While this may seem surprising, it really isn’t. When it became clear that V60 was completely unstoppable by known means, the world started to search for new ways to deal with it. And so, through a series of trials and errors that were as goofy as they were terrifying, ancient forms of magic reappeared with the most prominent being elemental magic, alchemy and necromancy. Several transformed beings soon learned to manipulate these forms of magic and they became known as Neo-Wizards.

Sam Harken could manipulate both elemental magic and alchemy. He was strong in the former and was trying to improve his skills in the latter. The old barn on the edge of a desolate suburb became his training ground. Besides space and tranquility, the barn had an essential quality: it was impossible to find on a map. It was one of those buildings that had been completely forgotten. Sam learned of its existence from Glen Rhys, another Neo-Wizard who was trying to stop Fred Hurst.

He tapped his fingers and looked up at the ceiling of the barn. The spiders looked back but Sam did not make anything out of it. Fred Hurst was giving him a headache. Over the past six months, Hurst had seemingly become the most powerful Neo-Wizard in the world. That would not have been a problem if he had not been a psychopath who was determined to use his new-found powers to take control of New-York, Chicago and Los Angeles. He was actively recruiting other Neo-Wizards to achieve his aim and was furiously exterminating those who dared stand in his way. The problem with Hurst is that his morals were as low as his powers were huge. Since governments were powerless against Fred Hurst, it would take another Neo-Wizard to stop him.

Sam Harken thought that he could be the Neo-Wizard that would rid the world of Hurst, but his powers were nowhere near what was required to achieve that. Hurst had mastered all three forms of magic and could blend them in ways that were both highly creative and terrifyingly lethal. At best, Sam could hope for a stalemate if he battled Hurst but victory was beyond reach.

“I wish I could be one those spiders,” thought Sam. “They don’t have much to worry about.”

Cortado looked at Macchiato.

“He really looks like he’s completely discouraged.”

“Yeah. He has a lot of things on his mind. Those runes are getting the best of him.”

“They really should not. He has spent the last three days doing exactly the same thing. He’s trying to create an explosive reaction that can be contained within an energy sphere. I suspect that he wants to use the sphere as a bomb that can be thrown against an enemy. All he has to do is increase the distance among the runes. A circular configuration would be ideal.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Have you forgotten that we have an aerial view of his table? The solution is obvious from our angle.”

“Hmm, ok. Why not? Too bad he cannot see it.”

“He will if we help him. Come with me. We will show him the way.”

“I am not getting down there! Let him figure things out on his own!”

It took ten good minutes for Cortado to convince Macchiato that all they would have do is suspend themselves with a silk line right above the spots where Sam Harken would have to position the runes.

“He’s not stupid. I’m sure that he will understand.”

“Alright, but I’m only doing this once.”

Sam Harken was about to fall asleep when he saw the spiders descend on his table. Macchiato and Cortado were exactly thirty centimetres apart. They looked like they were levitating.

Two spiders at the same time? Really?

He looked at the runes and at the spiders again. What was this? Some kind of code?

The spiders remained motionless. Sam Harken stood up. He picked up one of the runes and placed it beneath Cortado. As soon as he did so, the spider moved back up. Sam put another rune below Macchiato. The second spider moved up as well.

Sam looked at the new configuration. This was not possible. Had the spiders truly given him the solution that he was searching for? There was only one way to find out.

He closed his eyes and directed his right hand towards the rune that was the furthest from him. The purple light appeared again. This time however, the runes reacted differently. A tremendous energy sphere was developing around the table. Sam could not believe it. Was it all it took? A different positioning of the runes to unlock their power? Surely, it could not be that simple. Well, apparently it was. Perhaps, there were laws of magic that Sam Harken could not yet comprehend. He thought that he should investigate these laws but there was no time for that. He now had a chance to eliminate Fred Hurst. It might just work this time.

Sam Harken looked up. The spiders were back to their initial spot on the ceiling.

“I have no idea who you guys are but I will take the spider as my emblem to honour your contribution. I guess that this will make me the Spider Wizard.”

He smiled and went back to work.

Ashley Boolell | www.ashleyboolell.com