Life is but a fleeting performance in the endless stage of infinity.

The stillness of a moon lit back alley was disturbed by frantic sounds of footsteps pounding against the cold pavement. 

Underneath her silent gaze was the figure of a young man tearing across the dimly lit narrow streets, his presence instilling motion in an otherwise static scene. 

He wore simple clothes, denims matched with a white collared shirt. Inconspicuous  clothing.

Whenever he looked behind him he never saw a hint of his pursuer, no outstretched shadow, no loud thuds that matched his own and yet he knew there was someone there, lurking just barely out of sight. 

The young man ran further into the twisting alleys like prey caught in a spider’s web, his desperate struggle only serving to betray him.

Soon he found himself at a dead end. The path was blocked by a tall brick wall that was sandwiched between two buildings. As he turned around, a sudden flash of light caught his attention. 

There he saw his pursuer looking down on him from above, bathing from the light cast unto him by two strange spotlights that suddenly appeared.

The man donned a black top hat with a white stripe running along the middle matched with a black swallowtail coat that fluttered in the night wind and on his hands were a pair of white gloves. The combination that gave him the image of a stereotypical old school magician frequently seen in old recordings and cartoons.

Unfortunately, the classy and mysterious image ends there.

In a jarring clash of casual and elegance he sported a yellow t-shirt underneath his coat with the words “MAGIC FOR THE SOLE” printed in red, his jeans a blue faded denim and his shoes a metallic grey.

Without mincing any words, he looked like a cosplayer that bought an expensive hat and ran out of budget halfway through.

In a single motion, he jumped from the great height and gracefully Landed on his feet, the two lights followed in pursuit. A faint fog now ominously loomed over the back alley, only ever so slightly visible thanks to the intensity of the spotlights. 

His sky blue eyes observed the shivering mess of a man, flashing a gentle yet mischievous smile and for a few seconds they just stood there, frozen in silence.

“Good day-errrr evening to you sir!” The strange man removed his hat and placed it on his chest. He then bowed dramatically with his free hand extended into the air.

“My name is Sylvester Clearsight.” The man says as he pulls out a metal rod with white tips at each end from inside his hat, placing it back on his head once the cartoonish looking wand is fully revealed. 

“And I-!” He then spun the metal rod in the air, caught each end with his hands and squashed it. After a few seconds he opened up his hands and presented the frightened man a deck of cards. “-Am a magician.” Sylvester said with a mischievous smile “Who just happened to be passing through.”

“Would you like to see a magic trick dear mister?” Sylvester said as he offered the deck of cards that was now on his hands.

The man in front of Sylvester looked in bewilderment as this wasn't the turn of events he was expecting. After a while, he seemed to have regained a bit of his composure and began to speak. 

“M-magician? Why are you following me, man?? Where the hell am I? WHAT IS GOING ON?!” He began screaming in a very pitiful and confused tone.

“Do you want money? Here! Take it! J-just let me go man please!” He threw his wallet in front him then knelt down with his forehead touching the ground. 

Silence fell over the back alley oddly lit up by the two spotlights. Then suddenly Sylvester started clapping his hands.

“Bravo, BRAVO!” He said in a praising and sarcastic voice. “Sadly this kind of drama isn’t really my thing, can we please move on to the main event?” 

Upon hearing these words, the man who was face down on the floor suddenly stopped crying and shivering.

“You and I both know where this is going.” The magician continued while still smiling. 

The man then moved his head. Slowly raising it, easily passing the range of motion allowed by the neck joints in the neck would allow, stopping only when his eyes met that of the magician standing before him. 

Smiling eerily, he asked in a sinister and cold voice. “How did you know?”

The magician continued to smile unperturbed by the man’s sudden shift in disposition. 

“First and foremost, leaking all that mana isn’t a good idea, you stuck out like a sore thumb out there!” Sylvester said, clasping his hands together and then pointing it at the man opposite him.

“As for the rest…” Sylvester then gestured towards the night sky, “Let’s just say that a magician worth his ticket price never reveals his secrets. Wouldn’t you agree?” 

“Is that so..” The man replied, his scared expression slowly changing into a serious one. At the same time, his body that was visibly shaking in fear suddenly tensed up in anticipation of something.

“Hmmhmm. HAHAHAHAHAH!” The man started laughing all of a sudden. His voice distorting with each breath. 

“I see so that was it huh? Sorry, but I was busy feasting these past few days.” He said as he looked at the magician who had no reaction to this sudden change. He looked at him with eyes filled with hunger, like a starving beast that found its prey.

“Even so, I am still quite famished.” He looked at Sylvester with malicious eyes. “So now, you will be my next meal!" A loud and thunderous roar echoed throughout the streets as the monster then let out a blood curdling scream. Its body contorted and convulsed while growing rapidly in size, his clothes ripping apart in the process.

A disgusting concerto of wet and sloppy sounds reminiscent of flesh being mangled accompanied the metamorphosis and led to the climax that is its true form.

The man transformed into an unsightly creature that was about 4 meters tall, his left arm elongated to roughly equal his height and right arm was now a convulsing mass of flesh with veins visibly pulsing with every heartbeat. 

Sylvester however didn’t react and simply inspected the monstrous creature that was standing before him. 

“What’s the matter “magician”? Are you so frozen with fear, gripped by sheer dread that all you can do is watch and wait for your inevitable death?” The monster said in a delighted tone. 

Sylvester placed his left hand under his chin as he continued to inspect his adversary, eyeing the monster from head to toe. After a short while his gaze met that of the monster’s.

“Huh, I was honestly expecting a bit more with all that mana, but I guess this is all you can expect from an overgrown ghoul.” Sylvester replied in a disappointed tone, shaking his head with added exaggeration. 

“Y-you, you dare mock me?!!” The monster roared as he swung his elongated arm towards Sylvester, ploughing through the wall adjacent to him as if it was nothing.

“Showtime!”

Sylvester avoided the attack by leaping high into the air. With the spotlights still following him, he landed on the wall behind him and stood perfectly perpendicular with his coat tails pointing towards the wall.

The monster however continued the assault and with a great roar, lunged at his nimble opponent with incredible speed and force.

Sylvester jumped behind his opponent and with superior agility, he used the monster’s head as a platform, stepping on it and jumping towards the back landing on the ground gracefully.

The monster crashed into the building, a scream of frustration can be heard from within.  Then, a slab of concrete the size of a small car was flung from within the decimated building and headed straight for Sylvester.

Sylvester in response pulled his wand out from inside his coat and pointed it towards the incoming rock.

“Shatter.” Sylvester said in a calm tone.

The slab of concrete suddenly exploded into tiny little pieces, The monster then used it to cover his oncoming attack. 

Using the large object to obstruct his opponent’s view and close the gap between them.  Now that he is close enough the monster cocked back his gigantic arm preparing for a devastating strike at his opponent who simply looked at him blankly. 

“I got you now Magician!” The monster proudly declared, sure of his victory. Sylvester simply stood in place and smiled at his opponent. 

This condescending act enraged the monster even more as it let out a deafening roar as its mutated fist landed on where Sylvester stood. A mighty blow struck the ground and a cloud of dust rose from the carnage.

The two spotlights then went out.

The moon once again illuminated the streets, and after a period where the monster’s eyes adjusted to the moonlight, he could finally see the result of his attack. He was expecting to see blood and gore splattered everywhere and yet all that met his gaze was the cracked floor that received the full brunt of his attack. 

There was no trace of the “magician”, it was as if he disappeared into the wind. 

Suddenly, cards started falling from above him with one landing right on his face. He flailed around clumsily as he struggled to get the card off of him using his elongated arm. 

As he inspected the card that landed on his face the lights suddenly flashed once again. He looked up and saw the magician floating in the air as if he were flying, and yet his feet looked like he was standing on something flat like an invisible platform.

Sylvester let out a sarcastic and mocking laugh as the monster looked from below.

"Smoke and mirrors. Now then, Time for the final act! You already picked a card after all.” Sylvester exclaimed as he looked down on his opponent. After enjoying the look of confusion and anger clearly written on the monster’s face, Sylvester then started explaining the magic trick he was going to perform.

“Behold, the most common card trick you could ever see.” Sylvester did a quotation sign with his hands.

“It’s simple really, you pick a card and then you return it to the deck, and then I present it to you even though I never looked at what card you got.” He explained in a cheerful tone. “There may or may not be some added flair during this trick but it’s all up to the performer really.” Sylvester explained while “walking” back and forth in the air.

“Damn you, DAMN YOU, DON’T MESS ME WITH YOU-YOU" The monster could not even finish his words before he completely gave in to his rage. Now at its wits end, threw away the card to the side as he prepared to attack once again. Sylvester just stretched out his left hand in response.

“Point return.” 

When these words came out of Sylvester’s mouth, the cards scattered all over the floor came flying back to his hand with incredible speed. They sliced through everything that was on their way back to his hand and the battle has now drawn to a close.

With the precision of a surgeon’s knife and the brutality of a chainsaw, the monster’s arms were now severed and his body riddled with wounds. The right side of its chest showed a large chunk of flesh missing and its right shoulder barely attached to the rest of the body by  strands of flesh and skin. 

With an inaudible groan, the monster fell on its knees and weakly looked up to his opponent who was busy shuffling the cards than were now back on his hands. 

Sylvester then took the card on top of the deck and presented it to the bleeding mass of flesh below him. Even with his vision fading, the monster could clearly see what card the magician was showing him. A smiling mischievous face can be seen on the card, the smiling face of a jester. 

The Joker card.

“Now good mister, is this your card?” Sylvester asked as he threw the card like a shuriken.

The monster could only let out a whimpered growl as the card struck its head, embedding itself on the monster's forehead. With that the monster fell down on his back and drew its last breath. His body then began to disintegrate leaving only a mummified index finger and the card behind. 

The spotlights went dim once again as Sylvester jumped down to pick up the mummified finger and the card. Two figures then emerged from the wreckage of the building that the monster recklessly charged into.

One of them was a beautiful woman who had a youthful glow. She had slightly curly blonde hair that reached a little beyond her shoulders and round blue eyes that reflected the moon’s glow. 

In contrast the other figure with her was a tall man with a rugged looking face. He had layer of facial hair covering his chin and cheeks. He had short black hair and sharp black eyes. 

The woman was gleefully clapping, while the man sighed in disapproval.

“That was a brilliant show Syl!” The woman said as she went to hug Sylvester.

“Well I am glad you enjoyed it mom.” Sylvester hugged his mom back. 

“I think that was pointless. Skillfully executed, yet filled with so many unnecessary movements .” The man voiced his disapproval.

“Dad, I’m not a boring man like you who destroys everything with a single spell.” Sylvester retorted.

“Oh just let him do what he wants Jericho, magic is very flexible after all. You can be anything you want, well almost anything.” The woman said, defending Sylvester.

“Claira, you need to stop doting on him so much.” Jericho replied while shaking his head.

“Okay whatever dad. I’ll just take it as a win since you did admit it was “skilfully executed”." Sylvester said while smiling. 

“Sigh.. Fine.” Jericho said with a small smile forming on his grumpy face.

“At any rate.” Jericho interjected. “This ghoul was definitely not normal.” He said while Claria took the mummified finger that was left behind by the monster that Sylvester defeated. 

“Yes, it was clearly overfed, but I don’t think there were any reports of missing people in the London area right?” Jericho expressed his concerns as he grabbed something from his pocket.

“Yup, no missing persons report from anywhere. I even checked the news over a month back.” Sylvester replied.

“We really don’t need to bother with it. I’m sure someone from the Academy is already investigating the matter. Plus we’re not here to go hunt some random ancient evil awakening; we’re here to celebrate the start of a new phase of Sylvester’s life!” Claira exclaimed cheerfully.

“Yeah sure mom, I just hope that your stories about the Academy are up to par and not gross exaggerations.” Sylvester said as he removed his black coat and white gloves. He then shoved his stuff back inside the hat.

“After all, I think I’ve seen everything after all the crazy travels I’ve had around the world with the two of you. Oh and give me that back mom.” Sylvester then pointed at the mummified finger.

“Oh right.” Claira returned the finger to Sylvester who then placed it inside the hat as well.

Sylvester then gave his top hat a flick and it transformed into a baseball cap.

“You guys ready?” Jericho said while holding on to a delicate crystal ball he took out of his pocket.

“Yeah let’s get out of here; we’re almost late for lunch!” Claira replied.

“I don’t want to miss out since I had to reserve the table 2 months in advance for this.” She continued

“Okay.” Jericho smiled as he crushed the crystal ball.

The sky above then suddenly cracked and the moon that was silently gazing above all was now shattering into pieces, raining down like shards of broken glass revealing a bright noon sun.

The family was now surrounded by people walking through and fro. A red double decker can be seen cruising through the roads followed by compact and small cars that seemed to be commonplace. Two kids can be seen running chasing their dog that somehow escaped its leash while the shadow of the big Ben loomed overhead.

Coincidentally a red double Decker bus stopped right in front of the family and opened its doors.

“Come, let’s go, I'm really hungry!” Sylvester said as he entered the bus, his parents following closely behind.

In just a few short moments, the drab and dark depressing streets that only knew the light of the moon crumbled and gave way to a familiar urbanscape; London.