C-DDM07 (Nov 2, 2021)
Puzzle
“Henderson, Paulden, Prescott… connect the five dots.”
No. 2 Trivia | 2 Words
Clue
Hover over the clues if you require!
Clue 1: Manager No. 2 likes to talk about aliens.
Clue 2: Sighted at these places.
Clue 3: 5 dots? Is it in a V formation?
Answer and Explanation
Answer: Phoenix Lights
Explanation: The Phoenix Lights (5 lights in a V formation) are reported to be seen at these places.
Summary of Receipt
Manager 2 tracks Bartlett’s lights, which are currently heading eastward. Very strangely, they’re non-corporeal, which is apparently a pretty rare thing. Without a corporeal form, your soul is unbound (to the Otherside/Flipside, presumably), which is very rare. What’s more, the lights can change a customer’s corporeal form, altering the boundary lines and therefore reality. Which could very well cause universal collapse. He asks for help from those of the CaD more experienced with such magical matters.
Transcript
[BRANCH] LONG BEACH
[SERVER] MANAGER NO. 2
[DATE] 11/2/21
[INDEX ID] DDM07
[SECURITY] CAFE
I have been tracking the Dover Lights for quite some time now. I can confirm that they were last seen in Alaska by the Long Island team, and I can confidently say they are moving eastward again. I know no one really believes that this could be Aliens. And I must say I've had my doubts too. Though, we are running out of explanations, both scientific and magical. Magic, of course, is just advanced universal principles put into practice. The lights seem to defy all known laws and logic, magic included. So, I once again ask you, could this not be an extraterrestrial entity?
If not aliens… it must be something "Otherworldly." Not necessarily from the Otherworld itself but along those same principles of creation. Some form of abiogenesis, if you will. And, yes, there is a slim chance that this is the work of an Elder. Elders, while typically still bound to the same universal principles that bind our understanding of magic, can seem like they bend these principles by applying knowledge beyond the grasp of mortals. Put simply, the longer you're alive, the more time you have to figure out how things work and how to break them.
The two major areas of concern with the Dover Lights are the lack of a corporeal form and its reality-altering powers. I know it might come as a surprise to most, but a corporeal form is actually pretty critical to existing in our universe. Even "ghosts" from Achegloom have a corporeal form, though it exists and operates outside of our senses. Why is a corporeal form so essential? Well, without one, your "soul" is unbound. And, yes, souls do exist unbound at the time of one's death for a few fractions of a second. They then either rebound to a new form in the Otherside or Flipside or leave the universe à la "passing on." There are some fringe exceptions, though they are extreme outliers. The point is, no form = no known entity. (Aliens?) The second issue is the Dover Light's power to seemingly alter reality, changing the form of other entities. How exactly this works, I don't know. It… shouldn't be possible. What it's doing is essentially changing an entity's corporeal form on the fly. And I just spent a few minutes explaining why corporeal forms are so important, so it goes without saying that something shouldn't be able to change that easily. Corporeal shifting could easily lead to temporal and spatial abnormalities that could lead to universal collapse. Worst case, of course.
While I can do a great deal of analyzing on my own, I lack the esoteric and/or mystical depth a problem like this poses. Normally I'd ask my sister for help, but she's dead and busy. So, any magically-inclined takers?