The driver, a thin wiry man in a neat black suit, parked on Nico’s brick street.

Giddiness replaced the bizarre, surreal feeling of having not only interacted with one of the world’s most dangerous Holders, but also benefited from it. All Nico could think about on the ride home was how excited he was to test his new ability.

Nico stepped out of the sleek black car. Before he closed the door, he said to the driver. “Thanks for the ride, man.”

The driver rolled down his window as Nico shut the back door, and muttered in what sounded like a Brooklyn accent. “No thanks needed. My job ain’t done yet.”

Nico looked dumbly at his apartment right across the street and pointed at it. “That’s my apartment. I’m home.”

The driver rolled his eyes. “I was instructed by the big guy himself to be at your disposal for the remainder of the day. Don't freak out from just sitting in front of your apartment till my time is up. If you got a problem with that, feel free to bring it up the Mr. Patel.”

Nico gulped. The last thing he wanted to do was talk to Batlhazar now that he knew his real identity. “Uh. No. Friggin. Way. How long do I have you for?”

The driver pulled out the day’s newspaper, obviously bored with Nico’s conversation. He answered before rolling his window back up, “Witching hour.”

Midnight. Nico shrugged. Balthazar seemed to care a lot about he and his goons kept their word. If the driver wanted to waste his time doing nothing for another four hours, that was fine by him.

Nico walked to his apartment, and tried to contain his excitement. He could finally use his ability in the privacy of his own home. Balthazar warned it wouldn’t be good to reveal his ability to anyone affiliated with the Coalition

Did the criminal mage see a kindred spirit in Nico for possibly killing multiple people? He shivered the thought away.

Nico didn’t even bother taking off his boots, and sat down at the kitchen table. Despite his excitement, he took a moment to breath. The day's events settled inside him like dust in water. He thought waking up as a failure for not passing the Mages Union apprentice exam was bad enough. Then things only got worse, and weirder. News of the redlisting had hit Nico like a pile of anvils.

He somehow stopped the possession of Sameera by not only one haunt, but two. Apparently members of the Grey Dead working together in the mortal world meant the coming of storm. Nico wasn’t even sure he’d survive long enough to see its first thunder.

Then Balthazar Patel of all people helped him conquer his new ability before it took over him. The thought of his new ability calmed Nico, but completely. There was one thought he couldn’t shake.

Someone had framed him for the death of four youngling mages. A mixture of confusion and anger bubbled up from the pit of his stomach. Why him? Nico was a nobody. Who would benefit from pinning the deaths on him by using his sigil? It wasn't like he had any enemies. On the magical power scale, Nico was at the very bottom of the totem pole.

A few hours earlier, the question still confused him. But as soon his ability formed and he asked himself the question again, the answer came to him clear as day. Someone used Nico as a scapegoat because he was a nobody.

He was sure of that fact as he was of the number of hands on his limbs. It was all because of his new ability.

It didn’t provide him new knowledge. Everything inside Nico --his experience, magic, knowledge of magical theory, memories he thought were lost forever, and even the most mundane information-- was measured against each other to reach the absolute truth. Or more accurately, the most likely truth he could grasp at the moment.

If his new ability could be pared down to one word, it would be Measure.

“Yeah,” Nico confirmed to himself with a smile. “I like the sound of that.”

All these years of study, he thought he wanted the knowledge of other mages and their magic systems. What he really wanted wasn’t just a system of his own, but a tool to make his own system, to tailor it however he wanted.

Measure was both a library and a computer, using his body and mind and magic as the base. It felt like a second brain. With Measure, magic would no longer have to be a mystery. He could define it and explore it as efficiently as creating a new font or designing a logo.

He tapped the surface of the table and focused his senses on his new ability. He muttered, “Since my ability is based on my mind, I can visualize it however I want.”

As soon as he said the words he could feel his mind twist and bend and rotate to make sure what he said was correct in an instant. He knew it to be true. But that wasn’t enough. If he asked Measure the wrong question, it might flood him with an overwhelming amount of information. He had to put it somewhere away from his own mind. He did not want to have that headache again.

Luckily, he had a lifetime’s worth of gaming experience to draw on. Nico did what any good graphic designer would do in his position. Why innovate when you can steal?

Nico smiled, and said. “Any new knowledge concluded with Measure will now appear as windows only visible to me, similar to the role-playing video game, Star Fields of Manna.”.

A blue, translucent screen with new information blinked into existence.

[Measure will now manifest in game windows visible only to you.]

Nico felt his eyes widened with excitement. It wasn't more magical potency like he wanted. It was better. And yet, something about the screens bothered him.

“Change font to Helvetica. Embolden title of information screen,” Nico instructed.The letters changed their font, and Nico breathed out a sigh of relief. It was a small detail, but there was no way in hell his status windows would show up in Papyrus.

He added. “Any that is directly affecting my body, mind, and magic, like damage, poison, or deterioration of mental health will be combined under the new screen labelled ‘Status’.”

A subtle flower of power swirled inside him. It felt like his organs were rearranging. Several blue screens appeared, each one stating different aspects of his health: his current heart rate, vision acuity, fatigue, and a dozen other odd little curious bits of information. They fused together to form a Staus window as he instructed. One line caught his attention.

[Absorption of Balthazar Patel's Mir Seed, Mark 48: 89%]

Hadn’t thes eed done its job by guiding Nico through his ma’rifa? But according the the Status window, his body still had more to absorb..

“Would you look at that,” Nico mused. “There might be more benefits to the seed other than stabilizing my ability.”

Still, it was odd that Measure knew the name of Balthazar’s seed. Nico had never read or heard about a Mir seed before today. Was it because the seed was now a part of him?

“Great, my Status windows are set,” Nico concluded. Next was to organize his own magic. This was the key to his growth, and the source of his excitement.

First, he had to choose or create a unit of magic to determine his current and total magical capacity. The magical community had no standardized units for magic output of power. It was an impossible tasks since magic completely relied on drawing on emotions and memories.

Many mages had tried, and failed. The closest had been Gallahad, but even he couldn’t get anyone to use Gallahad’s Thaumaturgic Units in their spell calculations

“Maybe because it’s a mouthful,” Nico joked.

Still, Nico had to start somewhere. He might as go with Gallahad’s Thaumaturgic Units. He hadn’t steered Nico wrong so far.

“It doesn't matter if the magical units aren’t completely accurate,” Nico reminded himself. “I just need to know how much power I have compared to others.”

Nico focused his intentions on everything he knew about Gallahad’s Thaumaturgic Units. Measure pulled every bit of information from his memory, even things he thought he didn’t know but was somehow tucked in the corner of his mind.

He said, “Use Gallahad’s Thaumaturgic Units as a base for measuring current and maximum magic potency. Abbreviate to GTU. Place current GTU over maxim GTU in the form of a fraction.”

A new window appeared.

[48/48 GTU]

He blinked the window away. Even Nico had calculated magical potency with GTU before, he still felt a sense of disappointment. He had only increased his total GTU by five in five years.

He pushed the disappointment aside and muttered, “Calculate cost of using Gallahad’s Fire Formation to summon flame to light a campfire while using most efficient memory.”

Measure turned the gears in his mind. It was an odd feeling. He knew it was his mind and knowledge, but it felt like someone else was doing the thinking for him.

A new screen appeared.

[Used most efficient memory: Ice Cream with Dad, increasing efficiency of spell summoning by 38%.

Measure ability heightens clarity of memory, increasing efficiency of spell summoning by additional 12%.

Chance of summoning intended spell with no modifications: 100%]

Nico stared at the message. Holy crap. He knew what the window would say, but seeing it made him all the more excited. Measure had solved the biggest problem Nico had faced with expanding his magical repertoire.

Before Measure, he could only expand his magic in two ways. He could learn new formations, theories, and spells. That had proven both nearly impossibly and costly to his wallet. Magicians all over the world held their traditions and knowledge as deeply kept secrets.

The other option was to test his own theories of magic and create minor modifications to the spell formations he already knew. That required a lot of trial and error. Most of the time, he didn’t feel he had enough knowledge about the theory that backed up a new modification. Testing new modifications he wasn’t nearly one hundred percent sure on meant the spell could go berserk on him.

That meant a lot of untested experiments.

With Measure, he could instantly get the probability of success for a new modification, or even come up with new ideas he was confident.

Nico waved the window away. Now wasn’t the time to test new modifications. He still needed to clean up his magic. He said, “Change GTU to Magic Points, abbreviated as MP. Use knowledge of biology and health classes I took in college as a base to create new units on par to MP. Name these units as Health Points, abbreviated as HP. Calculate both current and maximum health. Create a separate unit for general stamina, both current and maximum. Abbreviate as SP.”

His magic organized all the information in his brain, and he felt like his muscles had loosened. Before he could feel the information pile into a window, he said, “Create Heads Up Display, abbreviated as HUD, for HP, MP, and SP in the shape of bars like the game Black Souls.”

A blue bar, a red bar, and a green bar, each with their own set of numbers inside the bars appeared. They filled up most of his vision.

That was annoying. “Shrink to size fifteen font. Lower opacity of HUD to zero percent when my vision is not focused on it. Increase the opacity to seventy percent when I focus my vision on the HUD.”

He could feel the presence of the HUD, but it wasn’t annoying. When he focused on the top left corner of his vision, the three colored bars appeared again, although a little faded.

Nico smiled. “Now comes the fun part.”

It was time to organize his spells. He felt a little frustrated even after all the research and modifications he acquired over the years. Nico still only knew a few spells.

Well, that was okay. He could now experiment with new modification, theories, and even create new spells with relative safety. Measure would use all of his knowledge to calculate not only how safe his experiment would be, but also the likeliness of its success.

Nikko commanded, “Create a new window labelled ‘Spells, Abilities, Formations’. Separate each category as toggled lists with further details explained after opening the toggles. File known modifications and possible modifications under each spell formation with their own toggled list. Lower opacity of untested modifications to fifty percent.”

A new window appeared just as he wanted it.

[Spells, Abilities, Formations

►Spells

►Spell Formations

►Abilities]

.The designer in him felt happy at seeing his knowledge so well organized. A bulleted list would eventually become too cluttered. With a toggled list, he could keep the overall window clean, while still have the ability to expand the chain of knowledge with each toggle.

He said, “Use Mages Union spell classification to categorize Spells.”

Nico tested the toggled list, and expanded Spells with only his will.

[▼Spells: All spells rely on memories and emotions. Power varies.

►Level 0 (Cantrips)

►Level 1]

He untoggled the list for Spells, and expanded his Spell Formations;

[▼Spell Formations: Formations can increase output and efficiency of spell. With modifications, can tailor spells to fit the need. Can lower and increase cost and power level of spell.

►Gallahad’s Fire Formation:

►Gallahad’s Mind Formation:

►Gallahad’s Control Formation:

►Anti-Possession Formation:]

Nico felt a sense of accomplishment.

The spell classification the Mages Union used wasn’t exact, but he could at least use that as a jumping off point.

With that finished, he blinked the screens away.

Nico took a moment to take it all in, tapping his finger on the kitchen table. He said to himself, “Measure can fact check anything my questions and calculations with my own knowledge. Anything that has to do with my body and magic, I can know instantly at no cost of magic power.”

If he wanted to, he could even open the Status window to see his current heartbeat. That wasn’t something he needed to know at the moment.

“But can I Measure things that aren’t me?” Nico asked.

[You may Measure items and people other than yourself. Cost of MP will vary.]

Wanting to test it, he said, “Measure distance between kitchen table and front door. Round to nearest inch.”

[Distance is 13 feet and 8 inches. Cost to calculate distance is .004 MP.]

Nico went to one of the drawers in his kitchen and pulled out measuring tape. He measured the distance between the door and the kitchen table. It was exactly the same as Measure calculated.

He knew it would be, but still, the implications of getting knowledge like that about his surroundings was insane. On top of that, Measuring the distance had cost such a small amount of MP, that he could feel his magical power replenish almost instantly.

Nico whistled, impressed. “Separate Measure into two abilities: Measure and Examine. Measure is for anything I analyze within myself and anything within my direct influence and control. Examine is for when I use my new, inherent ability for anything else.”

A thought struck him.

“Why does it cost MP to Examine things other than myself?” Nico wondered.

Instantly, a new window appeared, flooding with a long list of information. Surprised, he saw the window contained what he thought was once seemingly useless knowledge on the theories of pranic barriers. It was something he had read absently in some bargain bookstore novel. Apparently, Examine thought that knowledge was a good explanation for his question.

[Pranic Barriers: All things have a pranic barrier. Its purpose is to protect the identity of the person or object. MP costs will vary to Examine object or person due to strength, nature, and relationship of the pranic barrier.]

“Alright,” Nico muttered. “Let’s try it out. What is the cost to Examine the vase on the kitchen table?”

[.1 MP]

Well, that was a relief. If it costs even one MP to bsomething as simple as a vase, who knows how much it would cost to examine something magical. He said, “Any Examination with a cost of .4 MP or less will automatically Examine. Information will present itself in the window in an auto-categorized toggled list to prevent overwhelm and clutter.”

A new window appeared.

[Nico’s Kitchen Vase

►Measurements

►Material

►History

Note: You have an option to spend more MP to learn more information about the vase.]

“That’s convenient,” Nico said. “It looks like Examine gleans a base amount of information I would probably find useful. If I wanted to learn more about something, it would just cost more MP.’

He sighed. “I guess I can’t just examine a spell and get all the secrets of magic in a neat little window. No free rides.”

Obviously, things like the secret of the universe would cost MP more than a lifetime's worth of MP for him. Some things like learning new spells or someone's intentions weren’t completely out of the realm of possibility.Although, he suspected that would cost him much more than it would with the vase.

“Now, what about people?” Nico wonder.

He walked to his porch window, and pulled down one of the blinds. Balthazar’s driver was still parked across the street, all the tinted windows rolled up.

“Examine the driver,” Nico whispered.

He felt his magic reach out, but run into some kind of invisible resistance.

[Car contains magical workings which resist, deflect, and prevent divinations. Cost of MP to break through simplest working is 400 MP.]

Nico gulped. Well, crap. Even a car had more magical power than he did. It was nice to know that the nature of his magical ability was divination. He could go back to Fu’s and test his ability on some mortals sipping their coffee...

A black SUV pulled on to his street and halfway down the block. Two sat in the front, each with black glasses and well fitting black suits. The back door opened, and a black woman who looked to be in her thirties stepped out. She was followed by a ginger haired, thin man. They wore matching grey trench coats.

Perfect. New test subjects.

A thought occurred to him, and Nico hesitated. He was pretty sure Examine wouldn’t hurt them. Sure, it breached their pranic barrier, but he was pretty sure doing that wouldn’t harm them in any kind of way. All he was doing was getting information.

“It’ll be fine as long as I control the MP output. I don’t want to shatter their pranic barrier, not that it’s even possible for someone of my power level,” he assured himself. “Examine them as a group for a total of 2 MP.”

[Members of the Coalition of Holds. Male and Female.]

Nico sucked in a breath. Alarm bells rang inside his head.

Why would two people from the Coalition be here of all places?

[Status: Your ominous feeling warrants attention based on knowledge of the past twelve hours.]

“Yeah, no shit,” Nico replied, then blinked the screens away. Maybe he was just being paranoid. Maybe they were here to look into the two haunts.

“Or maybe they’re here to give you a check for a million dollars,” Nico joked darkly. He pulled the blinds down a little farther. “I need more information.”

-

He focused on the black woman, and said, “Examine her for 3 MP.”

Magic drained from his body, and fed through his eyes.

[Pranic barrier too strong with predetermined MP. Likeliness of possessing magical abilities: 87%.]

The woman’s head snapped at Nico’s window, and he drew back quickly. Did she somehow notice? Nico steadied himself and peeked the blinds once more. The woman’s attention was back to the man walking in tandem with her.

He knew it was stupid, but he needed to try again. This time, he focused on the red haired man. “Examine for 3 MP.”

[Name: Francis Benson

▼Sentinel for the Coalition of Holds

►Standard mortal partner for mage sentinel

▼Carrying gun

►Make and type unknown due to lack of knowledge and proficiency with firearms

►Height, Weight, Age

[42/48 MP]

Nico’s heart leaped to his throat.

Sentinels. They were the police enforcers for the Coalition, and always came in pairs of a mortal and a mage. His mother had told him to run if they ever had a reason to knock on his door. With everything that happened so far in the day, they were definitely here for him.

Nico pulled himself back from the blinds, and reminded himself to think clearly.

He heard footsteps on his front porch and a knock on the door. A woman's voice spoke. “Nico Kanazawa, my name is Abigail Freeman. We are acting Sentinels on behalf of the Coalition of Holds. We know you’re home. We’ve already scanned it with a spell.”

“Uhm, hi,” Nico managed nervously.

“We would like it very much if you could come in for questioning,” she finished.

Nico’s heart raced. He needed to buy time. But how could he do it in a way that wasn’t suspicious?

He walked back to the kitchen table and fake yelled, “I’ll be right there. I just got out of the shower. I just need to put on some clothes!”

“Oh, alright,” replied Abigail.

It wasn’t elegant, but her response showed it worked. He heard the whispers to the door, but couldn't get anything clear.

If only he could hear the mumbling.

A new notification appeared in this vision.

[You may spend 1 MP to temporarily expand your hearing to a maximum of 15% for a total of five minutes]

Nico blinked at the window before it vanished. He didn’t have time to dive into the theoretical basis for spending magic to expand his auditory awareness, but apparently he had that knowledge somewhere inside him. He confirmed the message, and felt his MP drain to forty one.

“Holster your gun, Francis,” whispered the woman. “We’re only here to bring him in for questioning.”

“Don’t feed me none of that due process bullshit, Abby,” replied the man. Something metallic clicked. “That kid in there killed four people in one night at the same time. He’s no hedge pr practitioner. He’s been hiding his skills. Who knows how many others he’s killed over the years?”

“And that attitude is why you were dismissed from the mortal police force,” Abigal shot back.

“Yeah, and I don’t regret putting that killer behind bars,” Francis replied. “It’s why you hired me in the first place. You know the red-listing was just a distraction to get him off guard.”

A tense moment of silence passed before Francis continued, anger steeping his words. “The kid is vermin. We’ve both seen it too many times. The power has gotten to his head.”

Nico cursed inwardly. So much for talking his way out of this one. They were here to bring him in or bring him down.

The woman spoke again. “Think. Didn’t you read his profile? I didn’t even have enough power to pass the apprentice trial. Something’s missing.”

“Yeah. You’re common sense. It was his sigil!”

“Don’t lecture me on magic! Sigils can’t be used other than the one who created it,” Abigail explained. “There’s a good chance someone more powerful and with more influence. If we bring him in, we get answers.”

“I’m not holstering anything,” Francis declared firmly. “What makes you think he’s working with someone else?”

“Keep the gun, but don’t lose your cool or we’ll lose our only lead,” the woman conceded. “To a non-practitioner, the points of death wouldn’t make sense to you. There were three other locations. Menkin’s Lot. Forest Lawn Cemetery. Duncan Hollow. The points made a perfect square by the crow flies. That's an indication of a spell formula. Only a mage with the power and proficiency to cast multiple level two spells could pull that off.”

“I read the profile,” Francis answer. “He was known for those odd modifications around the city, right? They made his spells more efficient and powerful than any the Union had seen.”

“That’s all the more reason we have to bring him in,” she insisted. “Worst case scenario, he isn’t the killer and can’t provide information. He turned twenty one today. We can just hold him until his thirty days are up. Then he’ll be transferred from the red list to the black list.”

“Either way, he’s dead, is what you’re saying,” Francis asked with a little glee that did not escape Nico.

Panic ran through Nico. He felt his blood drain to his feet. Even if he played the good boy and cooperated, they would hold him until his thirty days were up.

“How screwed am I,” he whispered absently.

[You are 98% screwed.}

For some reason, the notification pushed back the dread tensing Nico’s body. Even his magic knew he was screwed. But it wasn’t quite one hundred percent. If cooperating meant death, then he only had one option.

His hands instinctively went to his belt.

Nico's fingers found nothing in his belt loops. He looked down. His stamps weren’t there.

He must've left them behind when fighting the haunts.

With no stamps, he needed the next best thing. He hurriedly tiptoed to the kitchen counter, grabbed two fresh black permanent markers, and pocketed one.

His most obvious escape route was to go through his bedroom window located at the back of his apartment. But if sentinels were anything like regular mortal cops, they’d have a contingency plan for that. With no obvious way out, the only thing he could think of was to make a way out.

It was then he realized how quickly he resolved himself to escape from the police. The feeling wasn’t as surreal as he thought it would be. A day earlier, he would have whimpered and opened the door immediately. Now, his hands weren’t exactly steady, but he wasn’t quite pissing in his pants. He really had changed. And he was okay with that.

They would not catch him.

The problem was Sentinels were allowed to cast spells up to level two. With preparation, Nico could barely deflect and block a level one spell. But that was before. He was new, and he had a plan. If he managed to shake off the Sentinels, his only option was the driver afforded to him for the day.

Wait. Did Balthazar see this coming? Nico shivered at the thought.

Nico opened his spell window, and he realized that he hadn't been spoken in a while. He yelled to the door. “Sorry that took so long! Feeding my fish and heading to the door now!”

He tiptoed to the door, his hands still shaking a little. In his spell list, he had already chosen the one he wanted to use.

With his shaking hands, he couldn’t guarantee a steady line when drawing the formation. It was why he created stamps in the first place. A window appeared in his vision. It was a hologram of the exact spell formation he wanted to use. Beneath it was the message:

[You may trace spell formation.]

Nico felt a smile split his lips. He loved his new ability. He willed the window containing his spell formation to stick itself to the back of the door with Sentinels on the other side. His magic-powered hearing began to fade, but he heard the last traces of a whisper..

“I don’t like his tone,” the man said. “He sounds too calm, even if he was innocent.”

“You’re right,” the woman agreed. “I have a bad feeling.”

She raised her voice to that of a command. “Nico Kanazawa, if you do not open this door in ten seconds, we will assume you are not cooperating with us, and will open it for you!”

The woman began chanting. Nico made sure to listen carefully to hear the chant. His ability might be able to copy it, or at least use parts of it to expand on his magical theories.

Good. Nico noticed the lines of the spell formation varied in thickness at areas he never had thought of. Now that he looked at them, the variance in line thickness made complete sense. It was like looking at a better, cleaner logo design. He realized the power efficiency had more than doubled. It was a theory he had from a long time ago, but had been too nervous to test. Apparently, Measure was confident enough in the theory to put Nico’s life on the line.

That was fine by him. He needed all the help he could get.

The liens were thinner and other parts thicker and as soon as he saw it. Even with Measure, he didn’t have any spells in his repertoire to force himself past a Sentinel mage. He had to rely on the only trick he knew when dealing with someone more powerful.

▼Gallahad’s Control Formation:

►Mod: Redirection

Since there was no use in pretending anymore, Nico said, “Examine door!”

[Door: Fire Spell currently being summoned on other side of door. Estimation of spell summoning in 10 seconds.]

Nico finished tracing the last line in formation. He ran to the kitchen table, and flipped it on its side so he could hide behind it. The timer went down to two seconds when the door exploded with flame.

Magic sucked out of Nico, and he felt his arms go weak. He plugged his ears with his fingers, and squeezed his eyes.

Another explosion rocked the front of the house, twice as loud as the first. When he unplugged his ears and opened his eyes, he ventured a look over the kitchen table. Half of his small kitchen and the entire wall of his front porch had shattered into dust. Two bodies lay in the street, thrown back by the force of Nico’s counter spell.

He focused his sight on the top left corner of his vision, and was happily surprised to see his MP bar had only drained by five. The line thickness variance for the formation had saved him a lot of MP.

The fire spell had converted into pure force, so there were no flames to worry about. No time to think. Nico ran to through what was once his front door, and jumped the small flight of stairs. He stopped in front of the limp Sentinels, and yelled, “Examine!”

[Due to unconscious state, cost to Examine is .8 MP for base information.]

He quickly scanned the window for their heartbeat, and overall health.

[Irregular heartbeat. Severe concussion reduced to mild concussion due to spells woven into trench coats. Estimation of full recovery within a day: 87%.]

Nico shook his head. He did not want to have lives on his hands.

The driver side window of the car rolled down, and the driver’s mouth hung open, his expression completely shocked. “What the fu...”

Halfway down the street, two people stepped out of the large SUV. One pointed a gun at him, and the other a wand.

Nico threw open the back door in front of him, and dove in. A gunshot thundered. Slammed the door behind him. He shouted, “Step on it!”

The driver didn’t even bother looking over his shoulder. His gloved hand adjusted the center mirror, reflecting a cool, and serious face. He turned the keys to the ignition, and deftly shifted gears. He said grimly, “Buckle up.”