Different perspective

„Would you rather see the world from a different perspective or let the world see you in a different way?“

„What does it say?“, asked Taylor. Mike showed him the card. Taylor was as clueless as Mike after he read the text. Seeing the world from a different perspective could mean anything but letting others see him in a different way is most likely connected to the way people perceive him. Given that the other cards were not beneficial for him, it could have dire consequences for him. What if people would see him as a person that is not worth talking to or even worse. That could significantly impact his career after he graduated. The risk was just too big.

„I choose to see the world from a different perspective.“

The card vanished, but neither Mike nor Taylor were really surprised. Both were now waiting for what was happening next. Taylor out of curiosity and Mike out of fear.

Mike was overcome by vertigo and needed to hold onto the wall to not loose balance. He looked Taylor in the eyes with a pleading glance, as if he could do anything when the vertigo overcame him again. It took him a second to realize that he was at eye level with Taylor, while he was usually slightly looking down on him. Vertigo again. Now he was a bit below eye level. The feeling returned a couple more times and at the end Mike was slightly looking up to Taylor.

„Did you just shrink?“

Mike took a step back after getting himself back together. He had indeed shrunk considerably. He estimated that he lost around 5“ bringing him down to around 5‘7“. That is by no means short, but compared to the 6‘2“ before it is noticeable.

„I guess that was meant with different perspective.“

„You really must have pissed off something or someone.“

„Yeah but I have no idea whom… wait a second. That old lady!“

„What old lady“

„I bumped into this old lady yesterday. I am not proud of it but I was kinda rude to her. She threatened me and I ignored it. How could I’ve known, that she can use magic!“

„But that is good news. No we just have to find her and ask her to make it stop. Nothing too hard about an apology.“

„But I have no idea how she looks. She was just another old hag. There is no way we can search for here without any other clue.“, desperation could be heard in Mikes voice.

„What about the cards? Don’t they have this strange symbol on the back? Maybe we can find out something about that?“

„Maybe, but do you know exactly how it looks like? Because I don’t and the damned cards disappear all the time.“ Both paused and began to think. After a while Taylor spoke again:

„You won’t like it but we have to wait for the next card and copy that symbol from it.“

Mike sighed. „I guess you are right. Let’s go to class and hope that the rest doesn’t notice that I am suddenly shorter.“ With that Mike and Taylor left the room and got to their next class.

To both of their surprise, nothing happened during lecture. Mike got a few frowning glances, and the new underwear was still giving him a strange feeling when sitting, but overall the time went by fast. On the one hand that was a breather for Mike who didn’t need to endure whatever the next card held for him right away, but on the other hand they could not investigate further until they knew exactly how that symbol on the card looked like.

Taylor suggested to go back to Mikes room and search the endless knowledge fund of the internet. Maybe he is not the first one to encounter the cards. Mike agreed but wanted to grab a coffee before. He expected it to be a long night. In the absence of alternatives they found themselves at the nearest vending machine shortly after.

„You know that stuff tastes like piss?“, Mike said as Taylor got himself a cup.

„Yes, but we are broke and the next proper barista is at the other end of campus. And my wild guess is, that you don’t want to much publicity at the moment.“, Taylor said while looking at Mike with a raised eye brow.

„I keep quite…“, Mike responded and hesitantly choose his coffee. While the machine was brewing the brown liquid it labeled as coffee, Mike was waiting for his change. At least the machine was modern enough to give out bills instead of only coins. But currently it refused to work.

„Common you stupid thing.“, Mike cursed as he gave the machine a hearty blow. That seemed to work as he heard it rumbling from the inside. But instead of change, the slit spit out a new card.

„Would you rather…“