The Reality Magus

By Vincent Prince

Michael Thomas "Mike" Enoch used to be an ordinary high school anime-watchr, until one fateful day when he met Noctis Enoch (no familial relation), who taught him the ways of magic in his dojo. Now, Mike Enoch has to prove he's the top dog against some of the roughest and toughest magicians he's ever seen. And these aren't your typical hocus pocus tricks, people; we're talking world-eaters, galaxy destroyers, universe annihilators. It's a real hassle.

Can Mike Enoch survive against the wrath of these gods and monsters? There's only one way to find out, and that's to step into the grand tour of the Reality Magus.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vincent Prince
• Release date: Apr 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005448158

Vincent Prince

Born in New York City on the year of 1999, Vincent Prince had a passion for writing that he never let go of. From writing notes for stories for running around the block dreaming up new worlds, Prince's knack for creative storytelling grew each and every second. As he builds up his tapestry of literature, he hopes to inspire others to write their own novels, and enrich the greater culture of the world with our awesome imaginations.

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© Vincent Prince, 2021

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious or parodying manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Any resemblance to established fictional characters is similarly entirely coincidental.

If you happen to chance upon any anachronisms, just remember that this is a fictional story, and that main events of the plot take place within a different world or timeline than ours.

This book does not intend to promote or advocate for any religious, political, philosophical or other ideological belief. It must be repeated that this book is a work of fiction. It, and any other book written by this author, can be written with any conceivable philosophy, perspective, worldview, design, or schemata for the internal setting to be constructed with (i.e. the worldbuilding), but none of this necessarily reflects the author's own worldview in any way, shape, or form.

This book does not intend to promote, endorse, advocate, or advertise for any particular product or service in any way either.

In essence, don't take anything written in this book too seriously. It's written to entertain, not to teach or preach.

CHAPTER 1

It was January 20, 2005, and as the living room television showed George Walker Bush going through his second inauguration, Michael Thomas Mike Enoch was staying up late in his room, watching anime that he had pirated on his Windows XP desktop computer. Particularly, he was watching the classic Japanese cartoons: Dragon Ball Z (and GT), Sailor Moon (all seasons), Beast King GoLion (none of this half-assed Voltron shit), Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (and SEED), Outlaw Star, Astro Boy, Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Yu-Gi-Oh (and Duel Monsters), Cardcaptor Sakura, Trigun, YuYu Hakusho, Tenchi Muyo, Slayers, Tokyo Mew-Mew, Fist of the North Star, Devilman, Getter Robo, Mazinger Z, Cutie Honey, Steel Jeeg, the entire Leijiverse, Shaman King, and something he heard about on the Spanish-speaking internet called Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac.

He watched them all in their original languages, subtitled in English, for he thought that, aside from maybe Cowboy Bebop and YuYu Hakusho, all English dubs of anime were invariably trash that never measured up to the original language productions. He even started taking online Japanese language classes, so he could be able to watch anime in its original language without the need for subtitles.

Mike stayed up all night watching anime (even longer than he ever did playing video games on his Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 2), drinking cans of Monster energy and eating high-sugar candies to keep himself awake and continue watching anime. At many points during the night, he would watch multiple animes simultaneously, for efficiency reasons. He didn't even notice when the night had passed until his alarm clock rang at 6 AM. The ringing startled Mike, who scrambled to turn the alarm clock off, and got ready to brush his teeth and take a shower. He was still buzzing with energy from all the energy drinks and sweets he consumed, and it would take a while before that all wore off and the proverbial crash came.

After Mike finished his shower, he quickly got himself dressed and went downstairs to make breakfast. Having learned the basics of cooking at home economics classes during 9th grade, Mike made his own scrambled eggs, which he then finished in under a minute. Mike's mother (Elizabeth Gloriana Glory Liz Enoch) told him to slow down before he chokes himself, while Mike's father (John Dee Johnny Enoch) looked at him with an expression of worry, but Mike ignored them. Gotta go fast to get to school on time, after all.

Upon finishing his breakfast, Mike quickly grabbed his backpack and hopped out the door, running towards the bus stop in order to sit down on the bench and wait for the school bus. The school bus came, Mike entered, he chose a seat, and that's when the crash came.

The entire rest of the day, Mike slogged through school, going through the motions of home room, English literature, math, science, history, Spanish, and physical education classes. Not even the small break of lunch made him perk up in any significant way, even though they were serving his favorite cafeteria food: pineapple pizza. Mike really just wanted to go back home, eat some snacks, and watch more anime well into the night.

When Mike Enoch went towards the school's bus stop, his stomach grumbled; the school lunch just wasn't enough to satisfy it. The quickest route to the school's snack shop was around the corner, so he decided to go that way. As he was about to turn the corner, a man jumped out of nowhere. The man was clothed in some weird purplish-blue tunic, with an even stranger symbol of a golden-colored circle with a dot in its center at the front of this top, his leggings being a set of baggy, golden-colored pants, his footwear being a pair of black boots with white stripes running down the middle of each one, and his face being of a distinctly Far Eastern appearance. The sudden appearance of this man startled Mike, and what the man asked startled Mike even further.

Hey kid, you wanna learn some magic?

"Magic? What are you, some kind of creep," Mike asked, naturally assuming the worst about a complete stranger who just seemed to be lurking around schools filled with underage minors, and wondering what flavor of sexual favor this dude wanted from him.

Of course not, the weird man said, indignantly. "I'm talking about mind over reality, the mystic arts, the law of attraction, the secrets of the universe."

To punctuate his point, the strange man raised his index finger, and a jet of flame shot up, which quickly turned into a large bag of cool ranch-flavored Doritos. Mike, for his part, was shocked; this dude somehow conjured up Doritos out of thin air, and his favorite flavor too.

How in the hell did you do that?

Through the power of magic, of course.

Can I learn that?

Mike then heard the sounds of a school bus door closing, and realized that he was about to miss the bus.

Nevermind, I'm about to miss my stop. Gotta go.

Mike ran towards the bus as fast as he could, but the bus simply drove past him. Mike shook his head in mild frustration, and sat on the bus bench thinking of what to do.

That shithead weirdo wasted my time, and now the last bus left. What do I do?

That will not be a problem for either of us. Space and time are mere trifles to one adept at the usage of magic.

This startled Mike again, as the strange magician seemed to have made his way to where Mike was without making a single sound. But then his mind went back to the missed bus, and the surprise quickly turned to irritation.

And what the hell can you do about it?

Simple. Teleportation.

The magician snapped his fingers, and sure enough, both he and Michael Enoch were in Mike's home neighborhood in the blink of an eye.

How did you do that, Michael asked, genuinely astonished.

Like I said before: magic.

Can you teach me how to do magic?

I certainly can. But it will have to be later, maybe tomorrow.

Okay. Can I have the bag of chips though?

Of course.

The strange magician gave Mike the Doritos bag, and teleported out of sight, not even making a sound as he did it. The sight weirded Mike out to the point of causing his spine to tingle, but he soon regrouped and started walking to his house. As Mike was about to open the bag of chips, he also noticed that a business card had materialized between his fingers. Turning his fingers so that he could read the business card, he saw one name on it, placed right in the middle in an almost calligraphic cursive font.

The name read Noctis Enoch.

CHAPTER 2

Michael Enoch didn't watch any anime that night. In fact, after dinner, Mike Enoch just laid down in his bed and mulled over what he just saw, the miracles of a man who named himself Noctis Enoch. Of course, the shared Enoch surname was pure coincidence, and they obviously had no relations otherwise. Lying in his bed like this, Mike Enoch gradually passed into a state of rest, and he was genuinely surprised to have been woken up by his alarm clock that morning.

Mike got out of bed with a resolve to personally meet Noctis Enoch again so that Noctis could train him in the ways of magic. It was good timing too, for today was a Saturday, leaving Mike plenty of time to look for and find Noctis. Mike quickly did his morning routine and got dress, but this time made sure to put Noctis Enoch's business card in his pocket, in order to find his way towards Noctis Enoch's dojo or office or place of residence, whatever it may be.

Mike asked his mother and father if he could go out for the day, and they gave him permission in earnest, genuinely amazed that Mike wanted to go outside for a change instead of watching what they considered to be brain-rotting material. Mike quickly took his old bicycle and drove out to the suburbs and into the business plaza filled areas of the city, where he quickly