0. Introduction and Track Listing – by tfes8
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Spellbound -- A TG Mix-tape

by tfes8, PunchlinePress, Emberend, CL, Paradox, EliteShade, cabbitgurl

The boy was running down the street as fast as his legs would take him.  He needed a place to hide.  The first storefront he came to, he opened the door and dashed in, slamming the door behind him.

The door’s chime rang loudly throughout the store.

The boy peered out of the window to see if he was followed.  The coast was clear.  He turned around to take in his surroundings.  He was in one of those old antique bookstores he’s heard about.  His home doesn’t have any books, but he’s seen his grandparents use books as decoration.

He slowly walked through the store.  The small shop had wall to ceiling bookshelves that overflowed into stacks of books on the floor.  In addition to books, there were various other media.  It looked like there was a section dedicated to movies, music and games as well. 

In the center of the store, he found a gentleman sitting in a recliner with wired earbuds in his ears.  

The man noticed the boy, removed the earbuds and looked at him. “Can I help you?”

“I..” the boy said.  “Was just browsing.”

The man had a small smirk.  Young people rarely walked into this store unless something else was up.  “Can I interest you in a book?  A movie? Music?  We carry a lot of vintage media here.  If you’re interested in vintage video games, we have that too.”

The boy saw a glimmer of disks on a table nearby.  “What are these?”

“Those are CDs.” the man replied.  “They were primarily used to store music.”

“Why don’t you just copy them to the cloud?” the boy asked.

“Sometimes when you copy media it loses some of its original magic.  Take vinyl for example”  He held up a large black disk.  “The sound quality is better and the cracks and pops give it a different feeling.”

A CD in a clear plastic case caught the boy's attention.  It had a symbol of an eye on it.  The boy recognized the universal symbol for man and woman adorning the eye.  The shiny disc itself had “TG Mix Tape” handwritten on it.  He picked it up.  “Is this music?”

“It’s a collection of stories,” the man said. 

“Oh, Like an audiobook?”

“But those stories are special.  Legend has it, those stories contain magic that will bring out the true identity of the listener.”

“Magic isn’t real.”

The man chuckled. “Maybe.  Maybe not.”

“Can I listen?”

“I don’t think you’re ready for what’s on that disk.”

Just then, a tablet on the table lit up and played a ringing sound.  The man picked up the tablet, got up from his chair, placing the earbuds and the device attached to the wire on the table.  “Excuse me,” he said, walking further into the bookstore with his ringing tablet.

The boy picked up and examined the device.  It was the size of those CDs.  Is this used to playback the contents of a CD?  He swiped over it with his hand expecting it to pop open.  Nothing.  There were no touch screens on the device so he pried it open with his hands.  It easily opened up revealing another CD.  Likely the one the man was listening to when the boy interrupted him.  He took that disk out and replaced it with the mixtape.  He eyed the wired earbuds and stuck them into his ears.

A piece of yellowed paper fell from the CD case.  The boy examined it.  It was a track listing.

Tracks

 

  • 1. Rewind
  • 2. Darkroom
  • 3. One Way Out
  • 4. Confluence
  • 5. The Spectacles 
  • 6. Carol of the Bells 
  • 7. In the Eye of the Beholder

 

He found a physical button with the ‘play’ symbol on it.  He pressed it.

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