[ WP ] Science and Magic are merely opposite sides to which the pendulum of time swings . It has leaned for the past few centuries towards the Laws of Science but even now it begins to return ever faster back towards the Laws of Magic .

`` Hey, was that store there yesterday?'' 
 
 I looked up from my mug of coffee, and followed my companion's gaze across the street. He was looking quite intently at a rather odd-looking curio store stuck into the middle of the otherwise rather mundane strip mall. Sitting between a laundromat on one side, and a shoe store on the other, was a shop covered in odd runes, with glowing crystals, monstrous skulls, and stranger things hanging in the window. 
 
 Of course, the *Grim Grimoire* was n't new. The old store there had been around since at least the 70s. But there was no way that Mike could've known that. See, the *Grim Grimoire* was only visible to supernatural creatures: vampires, fey, dragons... 
 
 Mages like myself. 
 
 `` Ahh, that? Yeah... it's been there for years.'' I tried my best not to let the surprise register on my face or in my voice. I've known Mike for three years now. Guy was a wizard with computers, it's why I managed to get my boss to hire him. 
 
 He just, well... he was n't an *actual* wizard. 
 
 Maybe... maybe this was just a temporary rip in the Veil. Maybe some of the *Grim Grimoire*'s wards got scratched or something, so its illusions fell and mundies could see it. 
 
 `` So anyways, back to what we were talking about earlier. You really think that our client needs that-'' 
 
 `` OH HOLY SHIT!'' My attempts at redirecting the conversation was completely blown off course by the fact that an ogre had just appeared in the middle of the street. 
 
 Well, not `` just appeared.'' He'd been walking down the street normally, minding his own business, disguised as a human and all... and then his disguise fell, and now people were running away from the 8-foot-tall behemoth standing among them. 
 
 Once was odd. Twice, within seconds of each other? Something was going on here. 
 
 Though a part of me was deeply tempted to go and help the poor ogre, I would probably be of more use to the other supes here in preventing the Veil here from falling further. 
 
 `` I... I need to check something,'' I smiled at Mike rather unconvincingly, standing up in a single, swift motion that, unfortunately, knocked my chair over. 
 
 `` Lamar, what the heck is that?'' 
 
 I looked over at the ogre, who was desperately trying to get away from the screaming people and, what was worse, the countless smartphones. `` A very bad day.'' 
 
 I turned and headed inside the coffee shop, making a beeline to the bathroom. I needed some privacy to work out the spell here. I'll admit, I cringed internally at the people gawking at the ogre's misfortune. You know, if it had been any other day, these mundies would have been completely oblivious to us supes, but apparently the world had different plans for us today. 
 
 I fished around inside my jacket for my stick of charcoal as I entered into the washroom. First thing's first, a quick divination to determine the range of this breach. Then I can figure out who to contact to get a handle on this... I think I still had that MIB agent's number on me. 
 
 I quickly scrawled a few runes on an unmarked section of the tiled wall -- last think I'd want is to add somebody's witty insult to the sigil and proceed to turn my skin purple, or blow out the entire wall. A quick glance to confirm I scribed everything right, and then- 
 
 `` Seriously, Lamar, what the hell is-'' 
 
 Well, guess which genius forgot to lock the door? 
 
 `` Lamar?'' 
 
 `` Shut. The. Door.'' I growled though gritted teeth. `` NOW!'' 
 
 Thankfully, Mike was n't an idiot and locked it as well, before asking `` Umm... why are your eyes glowing?'' 
 
 `` Because I'm in the middle of channeling a divination spell, so please be quiet!'' 
 
 `` A *what? *'' 
 
 `` Not now!'' 
 
 I really could n't handle any kind of interruption, not with my mind's eye pulling back as it did. Way back. Not the neighbourhood. Not the city. Not the country. 
 
 The spell was showing me the entire damn planet aglow with magic. 
 
 Well... shit. This was a Class 2 Apocalypse scenario right here. 
 
 `` Lemar?'' 
 
 Well, hey, at least the powers that be had better things to worry about than me casting a spell in front of a friend and colleague! 
 
 I let my hand drop from where it was pressed against the wall, and my mind's eye cleared, returning my focus entirely to one of the most ignoble places one could find oneself at the start of an apocalyptic scenario: a coffee shop bathroom. 
 
 I sighed and I slumped down against the the stall's siding. Okay, where to start... 
 
 `` So... umm... man, I got ta ask this... are you some kind of wizard?'' 
 
 Well, we can start there. `` Yeah, actually, I am.'' 
 
 `` And... and so was that some kind of spell?'' 
 
 `` Pretty much, yeah.'' 
 
 `` And... and all that stuff out there, in the street, that was actually magic?'' 
 
 I tilted my hand back and forth. Not *technically, * but wasting my time explaining the difference between magic and other supernatural bullshit seemed a bit too academic at the moment. 
 
 `` So... so does that make me a wizard too?'' 
 
 I looked up and stared Mike in the eyes. `` It took me a decade of study in my grandfather's basement pouring over the old books my ancestors started writing down back in New Orleans and Haiti, as well as a bunch of seriously dry theoretical crap written down by some of self-important sage back in Rome or Cairo or Shanghai some five hundred years ago before I could even cast my first spell, so what makes you think your punk ass could cast a-'' 
 
 Wait... the entire world aglow in magic. 
 
 Shit. 
 
 I grabbed Mike and slammed him against the wall, ignoring his protests, and scribbled a rune onto his forehead with my charcoal. 
 
 `` WHAT ARE YOU-'' 
 
 `` Not now!'' I growled, and lay my palm upon the rune, letting my mind's eye loose once again, this time sending it racing along Mike's own anima trail. 
 
 A trail that was now brimming with potential, the kind only heard about in legends of the olden days, when the world was young and magic was everywhere. 
 
 Well, shit. Mike was n't a wizard, but he had magic. A lot of magic. 
 
 And he probably was unique in that regards. 
 
 I let the scrawny IT guy go and staggered back a bit, muttering under my breath. Now, to become a proper mage it took years of instruction and training to harness the thin strands of anima that was running through the human body. However, if every human was blazing like a ley line network, then all that training just went out the window. Talking to someone via a spell could actually be easier than talking to someone on your cell. 
 
 I really was n't certain I could handle the ramifications of that now. 
 
 `` Okay, man, you wan na explain what that was?'' 
 
 I sighed, once again, and shrugged. `` I was trying to confirm a hypothesis on how fucked we all are.'' 
 
 Well, that seemed to deflate Mike's attitude like a balloon. `` Oh... uhh... and?'' 
 
 `` It's as if the Queen of fucking England was on the other end. It's a royal fucking for the entire world.'' 
 
 And now the poor guy was scared. I felt bad, but at the moment, I was bloody terrified. If there was any horrors around, they'd be having a feast... if their feasting would n't reveal the fact that they're monsters who are suddenly surrounded by juiced-up humans. 
 
 Yeah, okay, in that case might want to bump it up to a Class 3 Apocalypse scenario for horrors. And vampires. And all the other supes which relied on humans to live. 
 
 Shit. 
 
 But thinking about it... right, if there was any place that would have answers to this, it'd be the Parliament. 
 
 Now, to remember that inscription... I began scribing the runes for fear and darkness and oblivion onto the wall with my charcoal. Now, these were n't very friendly looking runes, and Mike got the jist of them pretty quickly. 
 
 `` Lamar, what are you doing?'' 
 
 `` Right now, getting the hell out of dodge.'' 
 
 `` What?'' 
 
 `` The world is probably going to Hell fast, and I need some answers. Thankfully, the place that has the best answers here is n't in this world, so we can fix both these problems here real quick.'' 
 
 There, I think that should do it! I placed my hand upon the wall, and muttered `` Open...'' beneath my breath. 
 
 The tiles cracked apart, creaking inwards as if I had just pushed on a set of double doors. Black, billowing shadows oozed out of the door in the wall, wrapping around our feet, as a sense of existential dread pervaded the room. 
 
 `` Alright, let's go,'' I said as I began to head on through to the other side. 
 
 `` You know what, I think I'm fine.'' Mike replied, making his way to the exit. 
 
 I looked over my shoulder. `` Suit yourself, but when the bombs start falling, you ca n't say I did n't warn you.'' 
 
 Mike took one nervous look at the bathroom door, before deciding that maybe the billowing blackness was n't so bad, and raced in after me. 
 
 The door slammed shut behind him after he passed through, leaving nothing but black stone behind him, and oppressive darkness all around us. 
 
 I scrawled the rune for light on my hand, and held it up, creating an impromptu torch, driving the gloom away. 
 
 `` Alright, Mike. So, stick close, ignore the eyes in the darkness, and do n't touch anything, okay?'' 
 
 `` Where are we?'' 
 
 I headed down the corridor, looking for any sign of direction to the nearest library. `` Think of it as the magical United Nations.'' 
 
 Though given how the mundane world had magic now, well... 
 
 Let's just say I hoped someone here had answers. Or at least a spare room I could crash it until this whole thing washed over. 
 
 After all, the end of the age of magic through the supernatural world into turmoil for nearly a millenia. I really was n't looking forward to what the end of the age of science heralded. 
 
 
 
 

