Eternal Love

The Phantom Chef of Le Mystère

Cooking had never been Ezekiel's cup of tea. Every time he tried to make something in the kitchen, it ended in disaster; burnt pans, undercooked meat, overflowing pots, you name it, he ruined it. His mom was an amazing cook who would whip up huge feasts for the family with new recipes she created on the fly. She even wrote her own cookbook and offered to teach Ezekiel, but he was hopeless whenever he tried to follow her instructions. After too many failed attempts, he gave up. From then on, Ezekiel stuck to takeout, pre-made meals, and anything that required minimal effort on his part.

That all changed the day his friend slipped him a tattered old spellbook with a cooking spell tucked between the pages. 

"Don't ask where I got this," his friend said with an impish grin. 

Against his better judgment, Ezekiel tried the spell that night, reciting the mystical words over a pan of oil heating on the stove. To his astonishment, whatever he tossed into that pan turned a perfect golden brown - crispy fried chicken, flaky empanadas, melt-in-your-mouth potato pancakes. For the first time, cooking was easy.

Word spread quickly about Ezekiel's newfound culinary talents.

 "These eggrolls are divine!" raved the hostess of a dinner party. 

"You simply must cater my charity auction next month."

Requests started pouring in from all over town. The spell didn't just make him a good cook - it made him a great one.

With his sumptuous hors d'oeuvres and elaborate dinner spreads, Ezekiel soon found himself running with a glitzy social circle he once only dreamed of. 

He caught the eye of Veronica, a beautiful young heiress who gushed, 

"Oh Ezekiel, what I wouldn't give for a man who knows his way around the kitchen like you!"

Before long, he earned a position as head chef at Le Mystère, the fanciest restaurant in the city. 

"Your dishes are magnificent!" cried the owner. 

"Our patrons have never tasted such scrumptious cuisine." 

Between the spell's power and his ambition, Ezekiel's culinary fame grew. He should have been satisfied, but he hungered for more.

One morning, Ezekiel awoke to find the spellbook gone. Without it, he stood helplessly over a pan of burnt scrambled eggs. How could he maintain his social status and prestigious job if he couldn't cook anymore? In a panic, he confronted his friend, demanding another enchanted cookbook.

"I'm sorry man, that was my last one," his friend said. 

"But maybe you don't need it. Your skills now, those came from you, not some spell."

Ezekiel refused to accept that. He descended into seedy back alleys, hunting the black markets for magical cookbooks, willing to pay any price. But all his efforts turned up nothing.

Meanwhile, complaints piled up at the restaurant over tasteless dishes. Patrons deserted Le Mystère for trendier bistros. Veronica, bored by Ezekiel's floundering culinary attempts and distracted manner, took up with a flashy new suitor. Ezekiel's friends whispered that he had burned out like a falling star.

In desperation, he consulted obscure occult message boards until finally, a lead surfaced. An anonymous user offered a rare invisibility spell - for a price. 

Perhaps he could sneak into Le Mystère's kitchen and season the dishes without anyone discovering his secret. It seemed crazy, but Ezekiel saw no other option. He had to reclaim his former glory.

The transaction complete, Ezekiel studied the cryptic words late into the night. 

By dawn, he felt ready. Heart pounding, he raised the blinds to reveal an empty street before his apartment window - no one would see him vanish. As Ezekiel recited the spell, his reflection faded from the glass, clothes, and all, until only empty air remained.

Giddy with success, Ezekiel hurried to Le Mystère and slipped unseen through the kitchen's back door. He couldn't suppress a cackle at the thought of those imperious chefs helplessly fumbling as he redeemed each dish. This was almost too easy! He slid between two cooks at the sauté station and opened his palm over a pan of steak au poivre.

He shrieked as he spotted his hand. His skin had turned reddish-purple and semi-translucent, revealing dark veins swirling inside like smoke. Ezekiel stared in horror as the effect spread rapidly up his arm. The pan clattered noisily to the floor and angry voices shouted in confusion, but he barely heard them. Half of Ezekiel had become a gruesome, spectral version of himself.

A terrible realization crashed over him: this wasn't just an invisibility spell.

Worse still, he had no hope of hiding or reversing the effects before the entire kitchen staff noticed the disembodied phantom in their midst, cursing loudly in panic and agony. Ezekiel's gambit to reclaim his fame and glory was backfiring in the most spectacular way imaginable. And now he would have to face those consequences.