The Day the World Stopped

I whispered its name and the writing glowed a royal gold. It was inviting me to incite the changes that I see fit. I opened its pages and found first a page detailing its use. 

I am a cosmic net

Floating in the ocean

Let me catch my random bet

Or wield to find your hearts notion

I flipped through the pages, most of them were blank save for a few right near the start of the book. "You'll have to find the changes yourself, the book might spot some, like it did in the Occultar Astris, but who knows if they'll do any good." The cat had sauntered behind my head and looked over my shoulder at the book in my hands. 

'How would I do that?' I looked at the cat next to me. It was the grimoire that answered, flipping to the next empty page, the smooth pale paper shimmered and in its place a hollow silver gate opened. Peering through it I saw a familiar sight of planets, stars and power. I felt like reaching in to pluck something but pulled back my hand, and the gate closed. 

What would I seek, what sort of spell did I need? Deciding to get a bit of inspiration I turned to the pages that had already been filled. There were four in total. The top of their pages had the spell's names: Incresco, Demens, Fulgeo, and Homonix respectively.

Again the book's like for cryptic poetry was shown, as each description took the form of a haiku.

 Incresco was labelled:

A nurturing grace

The green bounty shall flourish

Let natures heart grow

Demens was labelled:

 Witness the unseen

Shatter the mind, crack the soul

Enemies go mad

Fulgeo was labelled:

Dazzling starlight 

The blinding power of change

Enlighten the world

Homonix was labelled:

The falling crystals

Gain the form of man and joy

The herald of cold

The pages flipped through the changes that it had figured out, how those words correlated to what would happen in reality wasn't very clear, but I figured I would just have to find out. It was only now that it truly was hitting me. The world had far more to it then I would have ever been able to guess. It had granted me the ability to do what constituted pretty much magic. I felt joy and ambition spread through me.

Something I'd only thought of as fantasy now lied in my hands. And it couldn't have come at a greater time. Me and Rain had been pushed and pulled this way and that, our agency gone and lost to the wind as crisis after crisis took control over our lives. Now that would stop. Now I had the power to make a change.

Emotion and pride made me feel like I was high above the clouds, and I knew just the change I wanted to make as I flipped to an empty page. 

'I want to change the fact that the aliens have invaded us, I want to send the aliens running!' I thought filled with the glee of power. It didn't take long for me to regret my words. 

The grimoire shimmered and grew transparent before zooming in on a celestial object that I couldn't describe even if I tried. An eldritch form of shapes and meanings that I couldn't understand even a slight portion off. 

My mind was filled with a sharp pain, as my vision blinded before I could even think, my hubris shattered as a single acknowledgement was left in my thoughts despite the unending pain. 'Next time I'll choose something manageable.' As I found my senses losing me.

I drifted through a void of vague consciousness as my mind struggled to recoup. I found myself calm, as if rocked by the waves of a cosmic ocean, still unsure if I'd wash up on land or drown in the waves, but I knew it was out of my hands. 

'Why did I do that?' I thought to myself. So hurriedly rushing into what was a clearly dangerous decision, I should have known better. I remembered the rush of power I felt when I had that realisation. Was that fully natural? Had the book influenced me in some way, or was being in my mind making my emotions an echo chamber.

I couldn't be sure what the truth was, but I knew now to be more careful. 'I always believed that kicking out the invaders would be a long process, I was prepared to dedicate the rest of my life to it when I made my convictions. I can take it slow and steady.

Once I made my affirmations I turned my attention to where I was, or the lack thereof. I can feel it, my senses aren't with me right now, I could be anywhere. Was I asleep, awake, in my mind or the real world. I didn't know, all I could do was hope I'd get back soon.