aT Centon, ismagic— a tale Unicorns and Nobody believes in any of it. But we're giving that the lie rightnow as we step through this wall... likeso... ah, and those flatfootson the other side will have no idea whet we've gone Go ahead and sit down a moment; you'll need to absorb what I'm saying, and I need to catch my breath. No, don tpick up that board. I'm not $0ing to kill you or ensorcel you or eat your flesh or any of that crap. So shut upand listen, or you'll have a very short life in the next few minutes, and not because of me. Hang on.I've gotta dosomething else. Allright. We can hide herea bit without worrying about those cops. They'll B ‘busy on the other side of the block. Gives mesome time to bring you up tospeed. Mace: THe AsceNsieNTHEITIAGICAL \X/@RLD K You'vestumbled through your life with the belief that this is an orderly, rational world, that science can explain everything and that myths and fairy tales are for children: You've worn blinders put on you by a hun- dred years of engineered history. Everybody buys intoit and if you don't, you'rea crank, a psycho ora crystal-waver. The problem is, that's [_& just the world people buy becatise it's safe. It's orderly and mundane and everything's explainable. Everyone can get fast food and a boring job without worrying about crazy things like demons or magicspells. You're different. You thought you wep insane when you looked out tonight and saw what was really going on, 1 a had1to bea tumor and you werej icinating — that's it.Cq bcognition of magic, all of your life 6-Pagan ritualsto kung e ark on this world. Unlike the days of yore, though, its quer and it’s carefully hidden from the eyesofnormal people. See, normal pedpledon'twanta ical world. They wanta safe world whe thea have to face the pail f demons, dragons, imagination and drea: people just don't fit old of “normal,” as you've so recently learned, We open our eyes to.a wor! e we can make our own rules and Choose for ourselves what we wantigBelieve in. We Awaken to the magicthat's been hiding in plain sight. Don't believe me? You just saw a little magic when we stepped through that wall, I bet you feltsomething when I made thatsigil with the amulet too— hairs’ onthe back of your neck, a sudden feeling likehaving a word on the tip of your tongue, right? That's magic, too. Just because itisnot visible doesn't mean it's not powerful-Ir'sthere, and once you've seen it a few times, you'll believe. Once you believe, you'll see it al/thetime. No, you're not crazy, and neither am. You've just taken a step into a larger orld. Takes some getting used 16, but you'd best acceptit, because youcan'tstep | back through that door. The sudden realization that exploded into your mind ill never go away now. Tknow how you feel because I know what!'m talking about: Least you can dois listen. PROLOGUE THROUGH A DARKENED MIRRERTHacic IO] Don'tlook at me like that. I'm trying to help you out here. Allright, you'veseen a couple of neat tricks with your own eyes.Justto help push you over the edge, I'm gonna show you what's really up. Don't move; I'm not gonna hurt you. Just watch what! do. Hang on— damned elixirs are always in the wrong pocket. Allright You know thatsort of vibration that you can just feel in your skull, theone that told you something was wrong with that guy back at the shop and weirded you out when we stepped through the wall? Focus on that feeling. I want youto think about the power behind that feeling. I know you're skeptical, but not a goddamn bit of this will work if you don't believe. So just remember how we ent through that rock like it was mist. Take a deep breath, and close your eyes r a second. Think about that power and open them again. See it? Neat, huh?‘What you're seeing in my hand is what we call Quintessence. It's basically the energy of magic itself: All of creation stems from Quintessential enersy; it's just bound up into what we call Patterns. You're a Pattern, I'ma Pattern, and any- thing with a representation that we can sense or affect has some sort of Pattern. It can $et much more complex than thatso'll keep itshort. ‘When you get this metaphysical kick in the head, you have the potential todo magic. Some people can do magic without ever really seeing the world in this way, but there's no way to separate them out. This Awakening toa wider world,on theother hand, always signals the capacity to learn teal magic. You'veseen that there's more to the an you wereever led to believe, -and you can learn to e. It's tempered with will and enlightenment, ile to exert change. Magic $ives us all sorts of ence of the universe. By changing that energy, we he w6rld around us. Your magic isa tool. cuses that energy and twists it around. 1 piienguats and westep through awall: ic things. oPHE PRICE Obviously, nothing in this world ‘Magic is noexception. Although magic brings power, it’ att powerful. A magician can only do what he has the will, belief and training to backup. [never learned-to control weather, for instance, and it'ssuch a nastily cOmplexand large-scale task that it's out of my league anyway. You might build a spell to fly, but you're not going to ‘suddenly unweave the concept of gravity. Remember, you can only handle so much atonce, suppose I could build a magical portal to Tokyo, but the effort would besoenormous thatit’s really just simpler to take a jet. The other problem is that magic has a tendency to get out of hand. It's not that it's totally chaotic, but it does have side effects. Since magic reflects your desire, it iturally shows off yourintentionsand youremotions. Cast a spell with the PraLocue-THR@USHATDARKENED MIRRORintent to kill someone, and your magic will show it— ir Il be intense, violent and angry. Cast something with lust in mind and it'sa totally differentpicture. The really blatant stuff runs the risk of Paradox. See, I know from my train- ing and my understanding of magic that can move through a wall with the right rituals, yet everything that we know about the world says that doing so is impossible. It's a Paradox! So, the more outlandish your magic, the more you run the risk ofan outright backfire. Doing something that just nudges reality along its appointed rounds is simple. Going hell-bent on whacked-out spells and drawing down all sorts of nastiness, on the other hand, not only takes work, but itinvolves some major changes. The more you try to change theuniverse around, the more likel} itis to whip you upside the head in return. Paradox ould just crash your magic, or it could cause all sorts of weirdness to afflict wouldbother Truth close your eyes agaith 3s that normal peopledon’, andhas a result, we $et dragged in| (ess that you thought only existed in no That's reall] _ pay attention.Mou see, now that you're Awake, you're going to find your way into this magical world. That means that you can learn to do magic responsi- ly, or youcan blow yourself apart. Chances are, if you screw up, you getto take someone | know along for the ride. Call it enlightened self-interest, if you will, but I think I'll spare thecouple of hours to at least let you undérstand this mess. AHIST@RY LESSON I firsi discovered magic many, many years.ago, but wasjustas iff” rantas you. [thoughtI'd cracked, that'd seen too much horror and my mind had just broken. It took a few weeks forme to run intosomeone From my teacher I learned therudiments of magic, history and society, mystical style. Now I'm doing a favorand passing it on to you. lace: Tie AscensiélMagicians have always existed. We're the pioneers and visionaries who do th impossible: the men and women who explore the unknown, take up causes and ‘Seek answers to the great mysteries. For the better part of say, about ten thousand years, these people dug up bizarre secrets, cavorted withstrange entities and basically ran around engaging in all manner of experimentation in the pursuit of power, wisdom, security and anything else that humans could want. It's there in history if you look for it— stories like the epic of Gilgamesh,the Bible, the tales of King Arthur People really did all of those miraculous things, and they stilldo today, ‘ So, when you'vesuddenly realized your potential to change the world and opened your eyes to the big picture, how do you learn to use that power? The earli- est mages probably had to improvise as they went along. Somewhere along the way, they started talking to one another about how they did things. Mages shared ideas d theories, they concocted reasons for their spells, and they passed down their beliefs from teacher to student. From these roots were born magical orders. PReLECUE:-THR@USH AY DARKENED MIRROR