“One more time,” Oscar said as he lay on his bed gazing at the ceiling, “you were summoned by death to take part in a war. You met a dwarf named IronBreaker,” Marco coughed before correcting, “SteelBreaker” which Oscar ignored, “then you fought with some skeletons. And now the game system, thing, is in your head?”

“Yep.” Marco said, letting quiet take the room. Oscar sighed, his mind warring to accept the situation, “It’s just so unbelievable.” he said shaking his head, “And I wouldn’t have believed you for a second if you didn’t have that magic.” Marco smiled before agreeing, “Yep.”

For a few minutes Oscar lay there on his bed, contemplating the ethereal experience he was going through while Marco watched him curiously. Finally Oscar broke the silence by asking, “What can I do to help?” to which Marco simply shrugged, “Not much.”

“Can’t you bring me in with you?” asked Oscar, rolling over to face Marco. “Not that I’m aware of.” Marco said before wincing, “And even if I could, I wouldn’t. I left some stuff out of my story, Oscar. Fighting isn’t like in the games- it hurts, it's terrifying.” Oscar started to shrug but managed to stop himself, “I believe you.” he said.

“Well if I can’t help then the least I can do is support you. Want to go off campus today? How about we go over to that fair down in vienna?” Oscar asked pleasantly. Marco smiled, “That sounds great!”

Together Marco and Oscar drove to the fair and boarded every ride they could find. But every time Marco found himself hurling towards the ground at speeds that traditionally terrified him the usual surge of adrenaline did not come. Instead Marco thought to himself with displeasure, ‘Wish this thing would move faster.’

After trying all the rides the pair made their way back on campus, making a stop to pick up burgers on the way back. Oscar tore into his burger, only pausing to say, “I was thinking about how I can help and I had an idea.” Marco looked up from his burger with a questioning gaze.

“I’m not sure if this means anything but I was wondering, that magic is called ‘Shadow Shuriken’, right?” Marco nodded before taking another bit of his burger, “So then why doesn’t it look anything like a shuriken?” Oscar asked. Marco shrugged before replying, “I thought the same thing when I first saw it.”

Oscar grinned before continuing, “Yea, but have you actually tried to make it look more like a shuriken?” The question caused Marco to drop his burger onto its wrapper before standing up and raising his palm.

“Shadow Shuriken!” Marco said, the magic taking form in his palm. The increasingly familiar glob of darkness slowly spun counterclockwise after appearing in his hand. “What now?” Marco asked as he looked to Oscar for suggestions.

Following a ponderous look Oscar said, “Try and make it spin faster.” Marco knit his eyebrows as he asked, “Ok, but how do I do that?” Oscar smiled and suggested, “Well the system can read your thoughts so why don’t you just try to think about it spinning faster?”

Marco agreed with an, “Ok.” before closing his eyes and doing his best to picture the magic in his hand. ‘There it is.’ Marco thought to himself, “Now, spin faster.’ he commanded his mental image, causing the magic in his mind to whirl faster.

A short amount of time passed before Marco felt his concentration interrupted by the cold energy moving, just a thread this time, heading towards his hand. Once it got there he heard an exclamation of, “Holy shit!” causing him to open his eyes to see that the magic in his palm was spinning faster, albeit far slower than the image Marco had conjured in his mind.

“It worked!” Marco exclaimed, accidently sending the magic flying into the ceiling as he threw his arms in the air. When it hit the ceiling a dull thud echoed in their room, and probably the room above them, scattering some powder onto the floor.

Marco and Oscar held their breath, preparing for something worse to happen. When they accepted that the only damage was a scratch in the roof the two instead burst out laughing, “I wonder what the guys above us think just happened?” Oscar chuckled. With smiles on their faces Marco and Oscar started to theorize what else they could do to the magic Marco had discovered.

…

By the time it was 11 Marco’s smile had broken into a gaping yawn a few times, resulting in his saying, “I think it's time for me to hit the hay.” Oscar nodded as he agreed, “Yeah, me too.” before he said softly, “And Marco?” Marco turned to look at him, “Yes?”

“Promise me,” Oscar said with a serious expression, “that you won’t use magic on any other, erm- regular people. Ok?” Marco’s smile faded in response before he agreed, “I think that’s a good idea. I won’t use magic on anyone who doesn’t have it themselves.”

“Thanks.” Oscar nodded before hitting the lights. While Marco began to fall asleep he couldn’t help but question, ‘Can I really keep that promise?’ as he thought back to the dark feeling of power he’d basked in after his fight with Chad. ‘Guess we’ll find out.’ he told himself, the image of his mind exiting through the green doorway passing through his head.