The book was tucked in between a bunch of 80's study books and some magazines on magicians, but Tiana wasn't stupid. She new an authentic when she saw one, and the book was practically screaming it at her. She picked it up and ringed it off without even opening it. A nice trophy for her first day. She'd give it a good spot somewhere.
Back in the car she studied it's contents, carefully turning over each page. It was made of genuine parchment. It was written by an Englishman, although she gathered he was mostly just a mouth-piece for a shaman from Madagascar.
The old man had been nearing retirement and deemed none of the younger tribesman fit to inherit his knowledge of the art of hypnosis. Over the years he had watched as his people had become dependent on the ways of westerners, soft and clumsy. Afraid the knowledge would be lost forever, he had convinced an English zoologist to write this book for him. The shaman would be relieved of carrying the burden, and the knowledge would be kept somewhere safe. The full writing had taken a total of 5 years, during which the zoologist was forced to live under abominable conditions. A few pleas for help were scribbled in the margin, along with descriptions of the lousy weather.
She skipped over a few pages, doubting the whole thing had gone down fairly. Although... if this hypnosis was real, maybe the zoologist wasn't really forced to do anything. At least, not in the conventional sense. The first few chapters were aimed at the hypnosis of animals. Basic stuff, like what movements to make not to spook an animal, but also things like making sure an animal could not break your gaze even if it wanted to.
The last chapters was more interesting to her. They concerned the actual modification of the human psyche, as the zoologist called it. How to put a person in trance, how to give them instructions, how to change everything about them with nothing but eye contact.
She was still skeptical, though. Either way, she was eager to try it out. She did a few of the mind-exercises described in the book. They were like meditation, but with a few twists. For one, she needed to empty her mind as much as possible, while staring at a pattern on the page. Focusing on the edges of a shape while staring at it's center. After a while she started feeling dizzy, but something forced her to keep watching. Like a truth that would not be forgotten any longer, it blossomed in front of her. Reaching into her mind. Then it all went black.
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