PlayerOliver

When you were a kid, you lived with your grandmother in the small town of Silvertree, on the edge of a magical forest. Grandma is a witch, and she taught you how to use your magic to affect the natural world, too. “Magic is a part of you,” she always told you. “Learning how to use it means figuring out who you are.”

Now you’re 19 and on your own. After years of living in the forest while you perfected your witchcraft, you’ve returned to take care of your grandmother’s house and crow-familiar while she’s gone. Figuring out who you are feels more important than ever - not to mention, figuring out what Silvertree is. A lot is just as you remembered: the friendly generous next-door neighbors with a kid just your age, the proud town council, the quaint little shops with quirky punny names, the gentle shadowy forest full of magic.

Stone in the shoe

Although your grandma seems optimistic about all of her tests, actually carrying out the plan itself is another matter. Such an enormous, difficult plan would take energy and concentration, and it would mean putting your trust in this machine that you've only seen put into action once.


"I think—before we actually do this—I'd like to try out another spell, just to see how it works."


Your grandma looks at you for a moment and gives you a nod.


"Okay, that's perfectly understandable, Huknock. In that case, maybe now would be a good time to test out another small spell I've been working on implementing." She takes hold of the mouse and starts searching through some of her folders, only to eventually open up one that's simply named: Teleport. "I'm sure you know that the idea of moving something from one point to another—of allowing it to teleport through space—is a very complex one to physically realize. It takes quite a lot of energy just to attempt it, even for a very small object. I don't think I'm anywhere near being able to use this on a person, but maybe for something like—"


"Maybe it wouldn't be such a challenge."


She places the pencil down on her end of the desk and starts quickly inputting numbers into the computer, with the goal of simply transporting the pencil to your end of the desk instead. All the while, she explains it's important to give accurate details about the object itself, its starting coordinates, and the position you want it to end up in (all in three dimensions). Even for something a simple as a pencil, it takes a few minutes to calculate everything, and while on the one hand it's reassuring to know just how thorough your grandma is in her preparations, on the other, it shows you just how easily things could go wrong with even a small mistake.


"Now—I think that should be everything set up," your grandma says at last. Looking over the screen, she gives a satisfied nod before turning to you. "Now all you need to do is input your final instruction: in that blank space at the top, write as simply and clearly as possible what it is you'd like the computer to do. I've already written in most of the conditions, but you'll still need to add your own mark on it in order for you to run the spell. Then just click the button, and we'll see if it works."


She leans back and allows you to take hold of the keyboard. Gritting your teeth, you try to think of the best way to phrase your thoughts—and in the end, you settle on: Teleport pencil across desk.


Your grandma's smile tells you that what you've written is perfectly acceptable. With that, you move your hand over to the mouse—and click once on the button that reads Execute.


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