Sigil | Ghost The Band

Bias

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand old English, Omega." Calliope frowned at the book in her lap, Omega behind her, tracing a symbol at the nape of her neck before jotting it down.

" The Lesser Key of Salomon will help, you just need to use your little brain," Omega instructed, lightly tapping a knuckle against her forehead.

" Ow. But like, who spells 'which' that way, or 'you'. What the fuck were these people smoking?"

"Opium, mostly." He murmured, letting go of her hair and turning to a book laid open on the desk. He glanced over her shoulder. "You're still on Bael? C'mon, now."

"I will slap you. Instead of criticizing me, why don't you tell me what you found."

"The basics, a lot of crosses though..."

"Oh, that has nothing to do with the 'ritual'," She yawned, lazily paging the book, observing the sigils before her and such.

Omega didn't say anything, stopping her hand to trace a symbol on the page with his claw. "You have this one right here." As he said this, he placed a hand on the small of her back.

"So... Zepar?"

"It would seem that way, what an odd choice, though..."

"Who knows why anyone does anything in this godforsaken place." She sighed, marking the page with a sticky tab. "Question; why is Imperator so obsessed with Satan when there are so many others to choose from? Don't get me wrong, Satan is great and all, but... well, you know what I mean."

"Imperator is a mystery overall, my guess is it's for the image since everyone knows who Satan is."

"Of course, of course. Hey, isn't this one back there too?" She asked suddenly, pointing at the elaborate sigil on the page. "Malphas."

Omega stayed silent for a while, eyes wide as he contemplated what she said. Calliope took his silence as confirmation for her to continue.

"' Malphas, he appeareth at first in ye forme like a Crow, But afterwards will put on a humane shape at ye request of ye Exorcist & speak with a hoarse voice; he is a mighty president... Uh, not important blah-blah-blah ; he can destroy thy enemies desires or thoughts, and with all that they have done; if you make any sacrifices to him, he will receive it kindly and willingly, But he will deceive him who does it; his seal is thus to be made and worn as a Lamen' ."

After reading the text, she blinked owlishly at Omega. "These guys really couldn't spell. I don't even know what a Lamen is."

"Destroy thy enemies..." He repeated, brows furrowed in thought, from what Cal could tell, anyway. "Go back to Zepar. What does it say?"

"' Zepar, he is a great duke & appeareth in red apparel, armed like a soldier, his office is to cause women to love Men and to bring them together in love, he also maketh them barren, and governeth over 26 Legions of Inferior spirits, his seal is this, where he obeyeth when he seeth it.' I'm gonna be frank with you... I don't know what any of this means."

"It's an odd combination. Not to mention we don't know what the others are, they seem almost... nonsensical."

"You read my mind."

"Also, Malphas wouldn't be too pleased about sharing a sacrifice. He's... a tricky one to work with, especially given Imperator's obvious bias to Satan."

"Well, she is biased toward Satan, yes, but- what do you mean?"

"The pentacle. They're offering you to Satan, Zepar and Malphas."

"Wow, what a bitch." Cal chuckled wearily, the statement churning her stomach.

"The metaphorical joke is on her, though, she's made this ritual thrice as hard as it needs to be. It would've been simpler to find three different subjects instead of piling all of the markings onto you."

Calliope nodded along, pretending that she had any idea of what was in store for her. At this rate, she was hoping for a quick and painless death. That's probably a bad sign.

"Something on your mind?" Omega asked, tilting his head to meet her eyes.

"It's the not-knowing that's killing me. Not knowing when, where or how they're going to kill me. And the fact that we don't even know if there is a way to stop this before it happens."

Omega didn't say anything, staring off into the distance. "I... don't know of many ways to stop a sacrifice this far in, I will be honest, though there's no harm in trying. We can bargain with Imperator, if- when the time comes."

She nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"Have you been feeling... off?"

"A little. Why?"

"These things come with symptoms, always. Tell me what you've been feeling and maybe we can track its progression."

"Uhm, just tired, but a little restless, I suppose."

"Any strange dreams?"

"Nope. No dreams at all, in fact."

"Okay... anything else?"

"My memory's foggy, and emotionally... feeling quite numb. But that's super recent, as in, a week or so."

"That's not good."

"I could've told you that."

Omega scoffed out a laugh, nodding. "All we can do now is figure out what the ritual does... and wait."

"I'm good at waiting." She sighed, hopping off the desk. Light peered in from the windows above, which told her that it was sunrise.

"Fuck, I better go to bed."

"Yeah, it's late..." Omega agreed half-heartedly, stacking the books they'd been browsing into a neat pile. She waited for him to look at her before pointing up. His eyes widened in realisation and he hurried to grab the books and ushered her out of the library, shutting the door behind them.

"You burn in the sun or something?"

"Not really, I just dislike it... a lot."

"Me too, why do you think I'm so pale?"

"That's a problem, get some sun! Humans need sun!" Omega called, waving as he rounded the corner.

"You sound like a mother." She mumbled under her breath even though he was already out of earshot, at which she rolled her eyes.

Shaking her head, she wandered to her room. She couldn't place how she was feeling. Omega wasn't exactly sympathetic, but he wanted to help. And that was good enough for her.

Calliope couldn't judge him for that, not even if she wanted to. If she couldn't express sympathy, why would she expect it from someone else?

Ruling her judgement fair, she headed in the direction of her room. The air in the chapel was already starting to feel lighter as the sun reared its head, casting an orange light through every nook and crevice it could find.

It was... nice, but she was too exhausted to dwell on it for long. Her feet lead her to her bedroom, kicking the door shut behind her.

A small part of her wanted to go looking for Terzo, but she figured it could wait until the morning. Or rather, later today.