Aim Shorts

The Book of Thoth

Aim to Engage Prompt from @mythandlegend, November 2022: "You decide to go to the library to find books to study for an upcoming exam. What you weren't expecting to find was the Book of Thoth, a legendary book that contains the strongest spells known to man."

Story word count = 494

**** Contest Winner ****

I have always had a strange perception of the universe, how threads of probability wove themselves into the fabric of reality. The secretive Phoenix Coven, sensing my ability, recruited me and taught me how to manipulate the weave.

"Be wary, Rue," warned the High Priestess one day. "Magic is a harsh mistress, and seductive are her ways."

But I was as much a scientist as a witch, and to me, magic was science not yet understood. We bent the laws of thermodynamics that govern cause to effect, but did not break them. With simple incantations, I might redistribute thermal energy to burn, or concentrate pressure to push. The less probable the outcome, the more difficult. Over the years, I grew powerful.

An upcoming physics final exam was my immediate concern. I studied best in silence, away from the petty school dramas. What better place than the library? I tied my long dark hair in a ponytail and spread books and notes across a table beneath a stained-glass window.

As I poured myself into quantum mechanics, subtle whispers reached my mind. Holding a breath, I perked up. They were not auditory, rather aetheral vibrations, something ancient.

Come to me.

Irresistible curiosity overwhelmed me, and I had to find the source.

Come.

From somewhere near, somewhere within the library, it called. I stood and followed the voice like a bloodhound on a scent. The trail led me to dark passages deep within the basement.

"Lux," I muttered, and a glowing globe appeared above my outstretched hand, illuminating the way.

I came to a locked metal door, but locks were no barrier to me. "Motus clostrum," I said. After visualizing the lock internals, I rotated the mechanism with a click. The hinges squealed as the door swung open.

So long have I waited.

Rows of dusty plywood shelves, dimly lit by high casement windows along one wall, were lined with old scrolls and artifacts — recently discovered in Egypt, as I recalled from the newsfeed, perhaps from the Library of Alexandria itself.

Destined, we are.

My heart raced. So enticing...

Magic pulsed from the ancient scroll, flooding through me. I unrolled it on a nearby table, but the writing was too faint to see. "Ostendo," I said, and the old script revealed itself, and somehow, I could read the old language.

I gasped. This was the legendary Book of Thoth, allegedly written by the Egyptian god of knowledge, and the most powerful spell book in existence. My finger traced the text — spells that altered the mind, so powerful.

Join me, and the knowledge of gods shall be yours.

I jumped as a voice shouted, "What are you doing here?" An older woman in a library apron extended a bent finger.

"Obliviscatur eius." The words came from my mouth, but were not mine.

Her scowling face went blank. Nothing of this would she remember.

Joined, we shall transform the world.

Stillness overtook my mind as I responded. Yes, together.