Curse of Ravens // Mikaelson

19 A Game of Chess

I pulled the skull out of the liquid, and set it on the floor in the center of the circle I had drawn. The bone was clean, and shined with dampness from the candles burning nearby. I set the obsidian stones in a semicircle in-front of the skull, on the collection of herbs laid out. My hands were stained from my work the last few hours, but my entire appearance looked like a mess. An intentional mess.

Kohl was smeared down my face, and my hair was mostly loose around my shoulders. Multiple thin braids had been styled, and all of them adorned with stone beads. I wore a dull blue tee-shirt sweater, the color of which brought out my eyes. But as I was underground, it didn't do much for me. I was barefoot, my feet dusty. A pair of black harem pants billowed when I walked around the basement.

Candles of all shapes and sizes filled the room, flicking and casting shadows against the walls. I snapped my fingers and the flames all instantly brightened. I was below the Mikaelson compound, the closest place to the earth.

I sat with my legs crossed within the circle, before the skull of the departed Catcher. My heart hummed in my chest, a steady rhythm of magic. I placed a couple of damp palms against the pile of kohl in a nearby bowl, and rubbed the black powder across my hands and up my forearms until it was smeared to my elbows.

"Vie magien din til gudinnen." Consecrate your magic to the goddess. I whisper the prayer, pressing my thumbs into the kohl next and leaning forward, dragging my thumbs down the cheekbones of the skull.

"Bli med i klanens magi." Join the magic of the Clan. Next I pressed my pointed finger into a collection of my blood mixed with several other ingredients. I smeared the crimson liquid on the forehead of the skull.

"Din ånd vil leve videre gjennom meg." Your spirit will live on through me. It was a promise, a dedication to the dead. I grabbed the corpse of the Raven I had coerced into the compound, and placed it before the skull. It's feathers were inky iridescent under my fingertips. It's body impossibly lightweight for the size of the bird.

"Hør min oppfordring fra Valhalla." Hear my call from Valhalla. "Redde meg gjennom dette blodet." Save me through this blood. I closed my eyes, took a deep and slow breath, focusing on the energy in the room. The feeling of magic that I had spent hours crafting, just for this moment. I could feel the veil thinning, the sound of song and music in my head. As though I was there too, witnessing the spirit of the Catcher dine with Odin.

"Redde meg gjennom dette blodet." I whispered, and then again. I listened as the music began to fade. Behind my eyelids, a bright white light bursted, and I winced as my eyes watered from the brightness. "Hør min oppfordring fra Valhalla." I urged.

I clenched my jaw tight as the light heated up, hotter and hotter. My eyes felt like fire, as though it might blind me. I squeezed my eyes tighter, like that would help, but it wouldn't because the brightness came from a place beyond sight. My stomach tightened into a knot, tension like a rope, making my heart pound harder. Suddenly, it released, and I felt the energy in the room snap back within me.

The candles all blinked out, and the caw of a bird made me finally open my eyes. Before me, the Raven cawed again, alive. A smile split my face open.

"Incendia." The candles all relit, and the Raven hopped towards a grouping of white sage, picking at it in interest with it's beak. "Let's get you something to eat." The Raven seemed to understand me, and hopped on my fingers when I stretched them towards him.

I stood up, and headed up the stairs from the basement, whispering softly to the bird about nothing important. "...maybe some salmon left over from last night. You probably prefer it raw but my Aunt Hayley can't eat anything unless it's cooked all the way through. The first time she tried raw sushi she was sick for days. She's not allergic, she's just a drama queen." I whispered, and the Raven cawed.