Story No.3

Chapter 3: J

Somewhere in New York, there exists a house. It sits in between Hellraker Street and Nightcrawler Avenue, Which have different names by now. That house is one nonexistent on a map, instead it lies only in your imagination.

September 1st, 2024
5:00 PM - Hellraker House, New York?
Theon flipped through the pages endlessly, then sighed in exasperation. "I've never seen any language like this. There are- and has always been- 6 magic languages. Heaven, Hell, Earth, Dream, Death, and Cosmic. Whatever this is, it's none of those. Not even a combination, only one signal matches any language and it's just the pentagram, which is literally a universal sign of magic!?"
"Calm yourself," Mav said to him, from across the room. While Theon was sat in front of the fire, sheets and books spread around him, Mav sat on a couch, investigating the case in her own way. Theon never knew what was going on in her head, but she was the most clever, cunning, and outsmarting woman- no- *person*, he had ever met.
Theon had a mother, who apparently had been friends with Mav for a while, but he never met her. Mav and his mom had agreed to be aunts to each others children, but Mav never had kids, and Theon's mom disappeared before Mav had even met little Theo. One day he just appeared on the Hellraker House doorstep in a crib, and that was that (how did he even get there?). Theo had the benefit of youth on his side, unlike many other magicians he had been exposed to magic since birth, and out of all teachers Mav was probably one of the best. Even though she wasn't the most powerful, not by a long shot, it was her sharp mind that made her one of the most dangerous magicians out her. Theo had been working with her on their occult cases since he was four years old, and while he didn't know even close to the amount of spells as her, he had studied the magical languages intensely, more than most other magicians and therefore had a deeper understanding of them. He had at least mastered two of them, Infernus (Hell), and Purgatorion (Earth, what most magic users use), and had a semi-understanding of Somatic (Dream) and Necrosis (Death), but was not even close to an expert in either of the latters.

Oftentimes the languages used in a case like this could give critical insight into the identity or motive of a culprit. Cults, devils (which were rare) and satanists tended to use Infernus, other magicians used Purgatorion, spirits and demons would use Somatic, and ghosts, undead spirits, etc... would use Necrosis. Whatever language used here though, it was foreign to Theo completely.

"Theo, you can put the papers down" Said Mav.
"Eh?" Replied Theo
"They're unhelpful, and it's getting late." Mav smirked. "I think it's time we visit the scene ourselves"