So, I had found a house that shone brightly in the mystical realm. I consulted my books, but they were of little help in this. It wasn’t a ley line – it would have continued through the house and out. Haunted houses flicker as the haunts move around inside. Spells fade.
Finally I got a clue. It was from the other book I had bought from the wino – the Aethronomicon. The upper dimensions, also called the Aether, the Immaterium, and the Realms of Magic, are the part of the universe constructed of substance and magic. The Aethronomicon was a cross between a tourist guide, a road map, and a wiki entry. It was the Conjuror’s Book, telling you how to bring down the entities that lived there into our 3D world.
Oh, did I forget to mention the Immaterium is inhabited?
The Immaterium is shaped by imagination. Our minds are a part of the Immaterium, and our thoughts shape bits and pieces of it. If something goes viral, with millions of minds concentrating on it, it builds up to the point where it becomes real. Real things can be conjured.
You’ve probably heard of conjuring up demons. That’s because demons have been imagined for centuries by millions of minds. The Lesser Key of Solomon lists the 40 or so most well known demons, and these are the ones most conjured, but anything that has enough thought put into them become real enough to be conjured. Ten years from now, you should be able to conjure up Superman – he’s been read, watched, and imagined enough over the years, by just about everyone in the world, to make the cut. I’m looking forward to the day when one of my many enemies gets to face someone who can punch a hole in the Moon.
Getting back to the house, the glow seemed to match that of a conjuring circle. Most were temporary creations, things of chalk or powder, but you can make permanent ones with enough time and effort. A cult hideout might have one. I asked around and found out it was a group home for girl gangers on parole – a halfway house. It might have been a hideaway at one point, but that would have been a LONG time ago. It was likely the current inhabitants didn’t know anything about it. I watched the house secretly (Unseen Eye spells – accept no substitute!) until I got their routine down. Everyone left the house every Saturday for a meeting with the Parole officers. I spent a week perfecting my unlock spell, and then I was ready.
The rear door led directly into the basement. Must have been a separate apartment once. Had a bathroom, sitting room, bedroom. The sitting room was in use – posters on the walls, weird art, bad furniture, obsolete video gamestation and flat screen TV that had seen better days. Reeked of old perfume. The real prize was in the middle of the room, however. Under the carpet, but still visible to mystic sight was a conjuring circle. It matched the circle the Aethronomicon called a vestibular, which meant it could be used not just to bring things down from the upper dimensions, but to physically move your 3D self up there into the Realms.
Which is something I wanted, and NEEDED, to do.