The Enigmatic Cloak🔊

In the bright and bustling city of Parvillia, there was a little oddity: a tiny curio shop known as the 'Mystic Canopy'. The store was as peculiar as its owner; an old lady named Mrs. Mcquaide. With long silver hair, piercing blue eyes and a divine aura, she was known as the city's enchantress.

Mrs. Mcquaide owned a cat named Cinnabar who never left her side. But the real intrigue was the bell attached to Cinnabar's collar; it would chime on its own will and people believed it announced the arrival of a deserving customer.

One day, a middle-aged man, James Constantine entered the shop. A renowned architect by profession, James was a logical man with no belief in magic or whimsy. Yet, something about the shop intrigued him. As he crossed the threshold, the bell around Cinnabar's neck chimed.

A wide range of antiquated artifacts caught James' eye, but what captivated him was an old raven-black Victorian style cloak. Errors were unknown to the clockwork routine of his life until he touched the cloak and was assaulted by a sudden barrage of images. The shock was such that he fell into unconsciousness.

He woke a while later to find himself on a vintage loveseat with the concerned Mrs. Mcquaide peering down at him. He tried to convince himself that the images were a trick his mind had played due to exhaustion. Mrs. Mcquaide, however, was not so easily convinced. When he spoke of the images she simply nodded and said, 'The cloak has chosen you. It has the ability to show the past of its previous owners. It chooses only those who need to learn something from its bestowed wisdom.'

Beyond the realm of logic, James was hesitant. He thanked her warmly for her hospitality and hurriedly escaped the overwhelming atmosphere of the shop though his mind was anything but settled.

In the solitude of his ivory tower-like apartment, James found sleep elusive. His mind kept returning to the cloak and the vivid images that had flashed before his eyes. In an attempt to get rid of the nagging thoughts, he decided to return, and buy the cloak.

Entering the shop again, he was welcomed by the chime of Cinnabar’s collar. Mrs. Mcquaide handed him the cloak with a kind smile, 'Remember James, embrace the visions, they can guide you on the path you seek.'

James started to wear the cloak at night in his apartment, and as predicted by Mrs. Mcquaide, the visions came, showing him countless lifetimes and pasts. He saw wars and peace, death and birth, cruelty and kindness. He felt both horrified and captivated by these visions which were sometimes beautiful and other times brutal. Over days and then weeks he began to understand each spectacle was a lesson in itself.

He was a renowned architect, yes. He was successful, yes. But he was lonely. The cloak offered him a perspective that there was more to life than deadlines and profit margins. He decided to make changes in his routinely robotic life. He took up painting, spent more time in nature, started visiting orphanages, old age homes and made the effort to connect with others on a deeper level.

The city watched in awe and slight bewilderment as the once aloof architect bloomed like a flower. The cloak had changed his life, he had become a man of wisdom and warmth, a far cry from his previous steely demeanor.

The day came when the cloak stopped showing him visions. He returned to the Mystic Canopy, giving Mrs. Mcquaide the cloak with a grateful smile. The bell chimed once, twice and then fell silent. Mrs. Mcquaide announced, 'The Cloak's work is done, it's time for it to go to its next host.'

James escaped the daze of his old life with the touch of the cloak, found happiness and fulfillment. He had been correct in one aspect of his skepticism. There was no magic in the cloak, the magic was in the acceptance of life's lessons, whether of past, present or future, and altering one's life route according to them.