3 Oregon

Viewpoint of Jason Blacks

My name is Jason Blacks, I am 42 years old. I'm 6'2" and have blond hair. I have a well-trimmed beard, small brown eyes and a very muscular body, not to mention my chocolate bars. Not to brag, but my body looks like the Greek gods of old. I have to say that I spend a lot of time in the gym to get this amazing result. At least fifteen hours a week. I am also a university professor in my spare time and I have a daughter. Her name is Sofia and she is the love of my life. As for my wife, she is dead.

Early this morning I set out for Washington DC to continue my investigation into the events of 1691 in Massachusetts. NARA. The national archives building was an imposing white building of approximately twelve meters height. Eight large pillars at the entrance supported this gigantic infrastructure, on which the flag of the United States of America was flying. The interior was a real fortress full of hidden cameras. The air conditioning inside was perfect. Hundreds of rare books and secret documents were kept in glass cabinets. A mournful silence reigned inside. In the main library, where I sat, I soon immersed myself in reading all these priceless documents. The more time passed, the more I devoured each page of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's military records.

In 1693 my ancestor Sarah Good was tortured and burned alive by the Reverend Samuel Pariss. This all started with an accusation by the Reverend's daughters and a general series of suspicions. The alleged witches of Salem. The story was much more macabre than that. Indeed, the whole town was in cahoots in this killing led by Pariss. No mercy for poor Sarah, even knowing that she had a 2 year old daughter. I thought I had reached the end of my surprises when I read this manuscript and went further down the family tree of the Pariss family. I could not believe my eyes. Albert Magenta would be the descendant of Samuel Pariss. I had before my eyes a list of all the families present that evening. A mad desire to avenge my ancestor came to mind. To calm myself I lowered my head for a moment. My eyelids becoming heavier and heavier, I soon fell into the arms of Morpheus.

A few hours later I woke up with a start, my eyes completely cloudy. It was almost dark already and no one was in the library. How could I have fallen asleep so easily and why didn't anyone wake me up, I thought to myself as I hastily put my laptop away. Suddenly I started to hear whispers coming to my ears. I must have been completely hallucinating. Voices were echoing from all over the corridors of the library. I was completely shocked and all I wanted to do was to get out of there quickly. I could feel the shadow of a presence walking around the room. I kept looking from left to right to locate the presence but nothing. In a fraction of a second I was taken by a sharp pain in the head and I fell to my knees. The pain then took over my rib cage.

I was now lying on my back on the floor, dying in this huge room. I was writhing in pain in all directions like a snake bitten by its own venom. My head was starting to wobble and my heart was racing. The atmosphere was more and more concentrated and heavy to the point that the light bulbs were going off. I was in the middle of a horror movie. Now in the dark I instinctively got back on my hands and knees to find the exit quickly. But my arms and legs gave out on me. I couldn't move anymore. The drops of sweat were talking on my forehead and my shirt was soaked all over. The silhouette of a burned woman was gradually taking shape in the dark. She was hanging in the air. Breathless and wide-eyed I tried desperately to scream for help but my voice wouldn't come out. Curses!

"Jason! Jason! An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," the figure whispered in a voice that rasped like an old record.

With my eyes and mouth still wide open, I stared at the figure, my blood completely freezing. My heart in my chest was beating so hard you'd think it wanted to rip out. I was running out of air and the feeling that I was going to suffocate was getting stronger. I was suffocating!

"It's me Sarah. Your ancestor! Listen to me carefully. You are going to help me take revenge on all those who burned me alive in the past. To do this, go back to Salem Cemetery. In my grave is a grimoire. Take it and practice your magic, you have it in you. It's been in your blood forever. There is a second scroll. Keep this scroll jealously," said Sarah, disappearing in a split second.

I could finally breathe normally and regained the use of my limbs and my senses little by little. I got up after a few minutes to look around but nobody was there anymore, she had completely vanished. I must get out of here quickly, I said. I picked up my cell phone and my computer and started to run. As I exited, a cool wind blew in my face. I took a deep breath into my lungs before starting to climb the endless stairs. A few minutes later I was already in my car, which I started quickly because I didn't want to waste another moment there. On the way I kept thinking about what Sarah's ghost had told me. Am I going to go crazy? If I don't do what she says I will never have peace again. And what guarantee do I have that after doing her a favor I will have peace? This story is crazy.

I drove most of the night to get to Danvers in my hometown. That's where the cemetery in question is located. I decided to make a detour before heading home. When I arrived at the cemetery, the headlight of the car lit up the cemetery in the distance and the semblance of a silhouette appeared in the distance. I get out of my car with a shovel and a gun that I carefully put in the trunk of my car. I start walking through the cemetery looking for Sarah's headstone. The sounds of cicadas and grasshoppers echoed in my ears. The yellow eyes of the owls on the trees were chilling. After minutes of searching I finally came upon Sarah's tombstone. With the help of my shovel, I started to dig. In order not to tire my arms, I pushed the shovel in with my foot.

For hours I dug. And finally, after so much hard work, I found Sarah's coffin. With my hands I began to wipe the rest of the sand off the coffin and finally discovered a perfectly intact wood. Normally in three hundred years termites would have completely devoured it. It is still so well preserved it is scary. I didn't ask myself any questions before opening it. Inside there was a bag. I barely took the time to open the bag before I took it with me. It was already daylight and I had to hurry. I hurried my steps. My jeans were in a bad state, and my T-shirt was dripping with sweat.

When I got home, I took a nice hot bath to relax because I really needed it. I was aching all over. I sat down on the sofa in my boxer shorts. With my cup of hot coffee in hand, I hesitated between opening the bag or throwing it away. I finally decided to open it. I put my hand in it and took out an old grimoire with a thick black cover and an old map of Massachusetts. In fact, all my attention was on the grimoire but it was impossible to open it because of a very complex mechanism around it. Latin inscriptions were on the cover page on which I was going to spend hours translating to arrive at a single translation: "the key is the liquid of life."

The liquid of life is what? Blood? Sperm? In semen there is always some blood so we can deduce that the liquid the book is talking about is blood. But how to proceed to open the book unless... I opened the drawer of my desk to take out a small knife. I reached over the book with my left arm and slit my wrists with the knife. My blood began to taste more and more on the book and disappeared at its contact. The mechanism of the grimoire made a small cracking sound and unlocked itself. Great, I finally did it, but a question came to mind. Would the grimoire react to any blood or is it only our family's blood? I wasn't at all sure that there was any Latin in this grimoire.

I put an adhesive bandage on myself to stop the bleeding. I still managed to translate the first few pages of the book with my computer. There were lots of magic formulas, magic rituals and how to wake up to magic. But for these magic formulas to be effective, they had to be pronounced in Latin. "There are three forms of magic. Instinctive magic, directive magic and ritual magic." According to the translation of this grimoire, "Instinctive magic allows one to cast simple spells that have little effect on the target. They are triggered by one or a few trigger words. Instinctive magic has two particularities, it doesn't cost any magical energy, it's like a skill. The second feature is that it takes two minutes to cast another instinctive magic spell. Magic with a defensive tendency like telekinesis. Directive magic or magic by incanted spell is the second form of magic. The length of the sentence would correspond to the power of the spell. Spells of this magic can be devastating and consume a lot of magical energy. We have Pyromancy spells related to fire, Cryomancy spells related to ice or water, Tempestary spells related to air and storms, Druidism spells related to nature and animals, Mentalists spells related to body, soul and mind, Necromancy spells related to death. Finally magic by ritual was the most dangerous and unstable."

"Magical energy is genetic. It is a predisposition of the genetic code. However, it can be awakened by too much exposure to magic or magical creatures such as elves and fairies. The bite of vampires or werewolves can also awaken the magical energy buried in us if however after the bite we do not die. But this last hypothesis has yet to be verified because we witches have always had problems with other creatures. Vampires are the most dangerous. They are fast and feed on blood only. They are theoretically already dead so no physical attack can defeat them except a magical ritual. The magic ritual can hinder the vampire for centuries, but it cannot defeat it. Vampires are immortal and very charismatic. Werewolves are a curse. Their stories go back to ancient times before the appearance of vampires. Minos was a strong warrior and dominated all the males in his clan. All the females were his. This angered the first sorcerer, our father Dinos. He cast a spell on him that condemned Minos to desire only female wolves. He suddenly had no desire for the females of his clan. From his countless coitus with wolves, the Wolf Men were born. Half man, half wolf, these beings were endowed with superhuman strength. At the full moon they transformed and went on a rampage."

"The elves are magical creatures, they are unions with fairies and men who gave the elves. They are men with long ears who possess a great amount of magical energy. Elves are peaceful beings who have always lived in harmony with nature. Nymphs are also a very sexually unstable form of magical creature. The list of creatures that we witches have made is not exhaustive. However, it can help the holder of this grimoire to fight them. There are seven degrees of magic. To master it takes a lifetime."

Is this a joke? A lifetime! That means it's a waste of time. Knowing well that the average life expectancy of a human being is 60 years, at worst I could only master the first level but not more. I'm really disappointed but it still doesn't tell me how to get magic energy.

- "Magic is a difficult art to master. Being from my lineage predisposes you to it, but don't be fooled into thinking that it's a hard skill to learn." a voice came out of nowhere and sounded suspiciously like Sarah.

- "Sarah is that you? You are not going to appear and disappear like that all the time. I'm entitled to a little privacy in my own home." I said in a grumpy tone.

- "I always pick the right time to appear." she says confidently.

- "Um 😑 I have several questions for you. Why do you want to come back to life? What exactly happened three hundred years ago in the past?" I say in one breath.

- "One question at a time. I told you to get even. Three hundred years ago look for yourself what really happened. VISIO PRE MORTIS!" shouted Sarah.