Prey to the Aswang

With a deadly monster hot on his heels, Gareth flees through the streets of Chicago. It's taking all of his shamanic abilities just to keep him from death. And then his salvation arrives, but it may be too good to be true.Magic is alive and well throughout the world. It's always been there, and it still is; just waiting for those willing to see it. For most it is but a passing dream, too elusive to grasp, but for those who look closely it comes roaring into their lives with the strength of inevitable permanency. Long ago a mighty spell was cast. Merlin, the greatest magician to have yet lived, summoned forth a single drop of blood from each living human, and upon this ocean of blood he cast a potent curse with the greatest of intentions. His spell changed the nature of mankind's interaction with the arcane forever. With this curse he insulated the species against the very fabric of the arcane. Future generations became all but impervious, and oblivious, to the effects of magic. In time all that was magic became forgotten by the masses, and it had to be discovered anew by each magician as the generations rolled by. But once the magic was touched it shattered the protections upon that individual, and brought the pervasive realities of the unbelievable into stark view all around them. A new community of magicians, in all their varieties, began to form throughout this new world. They formed out of necessity for survival. With the entrance of magic into their lives, so too came the monsters. This is a series of short stories delving into the adventure and mystery of modern magic. Stories that take us from university teaching wizards with their logically precise incantations, into the art-fueled magics made by clerics of faithful dreaming, through the ranks of druids wielding the powers of life in environmentalist activism, past the potion brewing shamans with their storefronts of homeopathic medicines, and to the contraptions and creations of mechanically-minded enchanters. Trolls roam state parks, imps battle in the sewers, bodies claw their way out from cemeteries, and gods walk the streets. There's an entire world of magic out there. A dream just waiting for those who will look, and make it real again...