Suburbs outside of Metropolis
Zach grinned into his webcam, spreading a deck of cards between his fingers with practiced flair.
“Tonight’s feature: The Infinite Card Cascade. A tribute to the one and only Giovanni Zatara. Don’t blink.”The ring light glowed softly, illuminating his top hat, silver eyeliner, and the thrift-store stage jacket he insisted gave him “main character energy.” His chat exploded across the screen:
> Don’t mess up this time, king
> ooooo fancy
> backwards spell time LETS GO
> do NOT catch your room on fire again
Zach smirked.
“Have a little faith. I’m a professional.”He absolutely was not.
He tossed a single playing card into the air, letting it turn lazily above him. His wrist flicked to prepare the hidden stack he’d palmed…
-and it slipped.
The extra cards scattered across the floor like confetti.
Chat immediately pounced.
> LMAOOOO
> PROFESSIONAL BTW
> REVERSE IT ZACH
> SPEAK THE WORDS
Zach huffed, cheeks flushing.
“Fine. You want backwards? You get backwards.”He snapped his fingers at the lone card spinning above him and spoke with all the dramatic flare of a boy desperate to reclaim his dignity.
“Edivid dna ylf sdrac”The card froze.
Not fell.
Not fluttered.
Froze.
Then it glowed.
“…uh,” Zach whispered, leaning back.
The single card split—once, twice, ten times—until dozens of identical cards orbited him in a ring of violet energy.
His heart stopped.
Chat lost its mind.
> THAT IS NOT CGI
> WTF IS THIS
> META AWAKENING LIVE ON STREAM
> BRO WHAT DID YOU JUST DO
Zach didn’t know, and that was the terrifying part. A buzz built under his skin. The lights flickered. The air around him hummed with an energy he’d never felt before.
Then some stuff in his bedroom started floating
His chair levitated, his desk lifted three inches off the ground, the curtains billowed without wind, and every object, including Zach himself, rose weightlessly off the ground.
“NOPE. NOPE. NOPE! THIS IS NOT PART OF THE TRICK!” Zach yelped, grabbing for something solid. The cards spun faster and faster. Encircling him in purple energy.
His cheap plastic wand, lying forgotten on his desk, also started glowing.
Then the cards caught fire. Purple fire no less. It didn’t burn. It just shimmered.
And then…
THUD.
Everything dropped at once.
The wand rolled on to the carpet. The cards vanished in a puff of smoke. The ring light flickered back to life with a sad electrical whine. Zach lay sprawled across the floor, hair sticking up like he’d stuck a fork in an outlet. His chest heaved. His hands shook. His mind raced.
Chat was going ballistic.
> IS HE ALIVE
> ZACH WHAT WAS THAT
> NOT CGI. NOT CGI. NOT CGI.
> MOM GET THE CAMERA
> bro is a wizard
“…okay,” he whispered, voice barely audible above the ringing in his ears.
“That… was new.”A knock slammed against his door. “Zachary!” his mother shouted from the hallway. “What was that noise? Did something break?”
Zach scrambled to mute the stream. His heart was racing. His room was still vibrating, just slightly. It was like the aftermath of an earthquake no one else felt. He stood there in the ruins of his bedroom studio, surrounded by props, singe marks, and a wand that absolutely should not be glowing.
“Uh… It’s fine mom! Just livestreaming!” He called out, desperately trying to sound normal.
In fact, it was not fine. Everything in his life had just changed, and he had no idea what to do next.
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