The next morning, I made the worst mistake of my life.
I opened Twitter.
Correction: I opened X, but calling it that makes me feel like I'm browsing something illegal.
And what did I see? Memes. Hundreds of them. Thousands.
Clips of the demon tripping off the roof set to clown music. Slow-mo edits of me holding the camera while sparks flew behind me, captioned: "MC in the background be like: đïžđđïž."
And then the big one:
> #PutTheCameraOnTheCameraman
It was trending. Worldwide.
The comments stabbed me straight in the dignity:
"We don't care about the witch anymore. Give us the cameraman."
"Bro's the real main character."
"Imagine surviving demon attacks with the power of sheer plot armor."
I slammed my phone down. "Nope. Not dealing with this."
Of course, that's when Seraphina burst into my apartment, cloak trailing, sunglasses still on indoors because she refused to acknowledge social norms.
"Good news!" she announced, ignoring the fact that I was in boxers eating cereal. "You're famous."
"I don't want to be famous."
"You don't get a choice. The people have spoken."
She shoved her phone in my face. A livestream schedule. For us. With my name plastered right beside hers.
"'Us?'" I croaked.
"Yes," she said smoothly, pacing my tiny living room like it was a stage. "We are a duo now. Witch and Cameraman. Darkness and Lens. The people demand you step out of the shadows."
"I like the shadows. The shadows are my home. I pay rent here."
Seraphina just grinned. "Then tonight, the shadows will follow you on camera."
---
That evening, I found myself standing in the middle of a neon-lit arcade downtown. Seraphina set up her tripod between rows of blinking claw machines. Gamers glanced our way, muttering about "those TikTok people again."
Chat was already boiling:
> [CHAT]
"CAMERAMAN FACE REVEAL PLS"
"LET HIM COOK đ„đ„đ„"
"HE'S TOO POWERFUL TO BE JUST OFF-SCREEN"
"nah this is all staged, no way someone is THAT lucky"
Seraphina winked at the lens. "Tonight, mortals, you meet the man behind the camera."
I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole.
Still, I waved awkwardly. "Uh⊠hi."
The chat detonated:
> [CHAT]
"đđđ HE'S REAL"
"bro looks like he hasn't slept since 2016"
"this man's eyes have SEEN things"
"protect him at all costs"
Seraphina shoved a plastic token into my hand. "Your trial begins. Win a plushie. Prove your strength to the people."
"It's a claw machine, not Excalibur."
"Same thing," she said.
I sighed, slid the token in, and grabbed the joystick. The claw descendedâstraight onto the one plush that looked like it was mocking me.
The claw clamped down, lifted⊠then slipped.
Chat erupted in sympathetic "L" spam.
I tried again. Miss. Again. Miss.
Seraphina leaned into the mic. "Mortals, do you see? His true gift is not skill⊠but fate itself."
And then, without warning, a kid ran past me, bumped the machineâand somehow knocked my prize into the chute.
I blinked. Plushie in hand. Crowd cheering. Chat losing its collective mind.
> [CHAT]
"HE DID IT AGAIN đ"
"LUCK STATS OFF THE CHARTS"
"bro just RNG'd his way into victory"
"INVINCIBLE EVEN IN ARCADES"
Seraphina clapped dramatically. "Behold! The Cameraman triumphs!"
I wanted to argue. To explain it was just an accident. But the more I looked at the plushie in my hands, the more I realized something terrifying:
This wasn't normal luck.
---
Later that night, when the stream ended, Seraphina leaned close and whispered, "Elias. Tell me the truth. Has it always been like this?"
I swallowed. Images flashed through my headâbike accidents I walked away from unscratched, falling objects missing me by inches, storms where the lightning struck everything but me.
I forced a laugh. "I'm just⊠lucky."
Her eyes gleamed with something that wasn't humor. "No one is that lucky. Which means⊠you're hiding something."
And for the first time, I wondered if maybe she was right.