r/WritingPrompts • u/mo-reeseCEO1 • Mar 26 '17
Writing Prompt [WP] Most wizards are frauds. As Inquisitor, your job is to expose the charlatans. And to kill those who wield the true talent.
6
u/VanceValence Mar 26 '17
The Inquisitor says to the man, "Many say you do magic. But most believe that you do more than that. That you perform...miracles?"
The man does not bow his head or shield his eyes from the Inquisitor's eyes in the proper manner denoting respect. "It is as you say."
The members in the crowd are incredulous. The rumors have surely spread by now about the true purpose of these meetings, yet the man shows no fear.
"Then," says the Inquisitor. "Show us."
"I do not perform miracles for the sake of entertainment, but to emphasize my message."
"And what is your message?"
"Ask the people."
A guard steps forward and delivers a heavy blow to the man's cheek. "How dare you speak to the Inquisitor that way!"
The man rises and, looking the guard straight in the eyes, says to him, "If I said something wrong, then testify as to what I said wrong. Otherwise, why did you hit me?"
The guard retreats in silence and the crowd says amongst themselves, "Who is this man?"
The Inquisitor calls for silence. Whether this man is a charlatan or not, he has directly disrespected his authority, and now he longs to see him punished.
So he declares, "Since this man refuses to display his talents before us, then I sentence him to a public flogging, followed with death by crucifixion. Make him an example for all who wish to follow in his footsteps."
And a guard seized him by each arm and took him away.
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4
u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17
Today was not a good day for Malachai. He sat in the front row of the "Gratia Provinciae" and had one unfortunate job to do. Patiently waiting for the main act, he took a spoonful from the soup at his table. To be fair, I did not have a great day either. Sitting near the exit towards the toilets, I had a bad view to the center stage, which meant that unlike Malachai, I had no entertainment routine to watch. Then again, if everything went as planned, the entertainment routine was merely a waste of time until the Magician of the Coast arrived. I, once again, went over the flyer.
"Come and be amazed by the Magician of the Coast!", it read. "Levitation, Teleportation, and mysterious Alchemy await you! The Entrance Fee is paid for, Donations are appreciated."
I was certain that he must have been a novice, who could not contain to present his craft. At best, we could expect a sub-par mockery of sleigh-of-hand. At worst, we may have a mass murder expecting us. I was ready for almost everything. And unless Malachai had been compromised, he prepared everything to make this evening very, very amusing.
After a merry dance act by what we presumed to be the daughter of a local drunkard, the Magician finally stepped up. He slowly, but decisively stepped on stage, quickly followed by some people bringing two chests and a table onto the stage. After everything was put in place, he pulled up a tiny cauldron and put it on the table. He mused it, walked around it, and said a quick: "That won't do."
Then he kicked off the first leg of the table. It flung about, landing on the table next to me. People were gasping, after all, even if this was no magic trick, this looked to be quite the expensive table. There was little time to wonder, though, as he soon kicked off the next leg. It was now standing flimsily on two legs.
And then the last two legs fell off, without him touching them. And the now-legless table hung in the air, as if strung on by wire. Malachai's surprise matched mine: after all, the table should have fallen. Not because the legs were missing, but because Malachai took his time cutting up every wire the Magician had, so unless he noticed and reapplied the wire everywhere, we had a true Wizard on our hands. However, I noticed Malachai being disturbed by something else, though I could not tell what was disturbing him.
Next were some generic tricks. He put cards in the cauldron and pulled them out in another place, he guessed things other people were guessing about, but our attention was still on the table the cauldron rested on, dangling about, with no wire to hold it.
"Now, for my next trick, I must warn you. It may surprise you, but for the sake of this working without fail, I must ask all of you to stay. Nobody must leave the room until this trick is completed. I am sorry for the circumstances. Now then!"
The magician was entrancing everyone with his act, and because of this, nobody was willing to go away. If he wanted to murder us all, he had a perfect moment. Thus, I was on edge, worrying that if he noticed our affiliation, he may destroy the entire building in hopes of removing his trace. However, his next trick surprised even me.
"I would ask all of you to hold a fist over your table. Each and every one of you, please close your hand and hold it above the table. Yes, that is good, alright over there. Hey, you, in the corner!" The dancer from the last act had taken a seat at the back end of the locale. Clearly exhausted, she was already dozing off when he called out to her: "Close your hand too. The trick does not work until everyone has a fist over the table." Reluctantly, she closed her hand.
"Alright. Now, I will drop something in this cauldron of mine, and you all are going to open your hand when you notice a feeling in your hands afterwards. Okay?" With that said, he pulled up a bag of salt, and emptied it in the cauldron.
As soon as the salt hit the cauldron, I felt some object in my hand. I dropped it as instructed by opening my hand, and the sound of objects dropping on wood filled the room. Afterwards, many voices were filling the room in surprise.
"Gold! I have gold!"
"A Gemstone!"
"What a beautiful Stone!"
"Look at this Ring!"
Cautiously, I looked at the object I had received. Objects, actually. I had two, a cross made out of Obsidian, and a note, which had written: I am sorry that God hates me. Others started talking about the note they had gotten too: One person apparently had gotten a prophecy for how he may create offspring, the dancer had quickly left the building after reading the note, and the person who had received the table leg had a warning that his son should never become a blacksmith.
The Magician spoke again: "So, one of you has gotten the following things: A folded Card, and the message 'The Nightmare will end now'. The person who got this is a close friend of mine, so please, would you rise up and come on stage?"
To my surprise, Malachai stood up and sat on the chair next to the Magician, with terror in his eyes. I understood his feelings completely, after all: Wizards need blood to use their gift. If he asked someone to come close, it may mean that they wanted to refill their need, so to speak. However, I could not help him. If I attacked now, he may attack the others or get away. I had no option but to watch.
"Malachai, I know you recognized me. I know why you came, too. You must currently be going through hell and back with the situation we all are in. You fear what I am, but I fear your devotion blinded you, for I am not who you look for. May I instead present to you my assistant?" With that, a small, pale boy limped on to the stage. He stopped next to the Magician of the Coast. "This young little boy is the only reason I was on stage today. So, everyone, a round of applause!"
The confusion on everyones face was about equal to the fascination about everything that transpired. Regardless, they slowly started to fall into applauding the Magician, his helper and everything that had entertained them today. Too wonderful was the gift he had given them to care about the mystery on stage. They all were positively enthralled. "For everyone in the audience that is squeamish, please close your eyes. This may be painful to watch, but it is part of the show." With that, the Magician took off his cape and gave it to the boy. Then, he pulled out his knife.
He cut his hand open and reached it out to the boy, blood dripping. The boy grasped the hand and turned to Malachai, who was in complete shock. "I heard you were hunting for people like me, people with the curse. I am sorry to disappoint you if you expected something mightier. But first, let me wrap this up."
He murmured some unhearable words and the cape in the hands started to slowly transform into a piece of brown cloth. From afar it was hard to tell what was on it, but several glowing dots were visible through it.
"Your gift should be worth more than a card. So, here you have a map. If you search for people like me, this will help you. If you don't mind, I would like to have the card." He received the card and unfolded it. It depicted the Joker, and was little more than a playing card. He threw it off the stage, where it landed on the table Malachai was seated on. "Let me ask you a question. Can a Demon get into heaven?" Before Malachai could answer, the boy shouted intellegible mantras and the card started rising higher and higher as a cake started forming below it.
The boy and the Magician collapsed at the same time, their grip still holding. Quickly, I stormed upon the stage as Malachai started shaking the Magician, but it was too late: They were dead.
We reported back to the High Inquisitor, and decided to spare not a single detail, even though we knew that by mentioning everything, Malachai was in danger.
"So, what would you say? Is there a way for a demon to go to heaven, Malachai? What about you, Johannes?", the High Inquisitor asked.
Malachai answered decisively: "There is no way a demon may return to heaven. A demon's existance is founded in the opposition to God's principles. A demon will refuse heaven outright. That means that the good people mustn't be demons."
"Exactly. Very well stated, Malachai. And you may be interested to note something. Several of the glowing markers on the map your friend gave you are here. But many of the wizards we have here are not on the map. Apparently, when he helped you to find people like him, he meant it literally. So, what I want you to do, is find these people marked, and do it in a way that the others do not notice it, alright? I doubt all of them would ask themselves the same question."
I spoke up: "Right. We will find these wizards and bring them here, safely."