Fate and the story of blood

Chapter 4: The wonders of magic

The crunching of the dry leaves under our leather boots was all we could hear through the short walk towards the center of the entirety of the large forest. The evening sun that hung over the orange skies had already started to make its way down the mountains far off in the distance. The clinking of the metal could be heard from the knives that constantly hit the metal of her beat as she walked ahead of us with both hands up on the back of her head. Staring longer than I should at the back of her, I thought of her sudden tears dropping back then when we were resting.

"What could she have experienced in the past that caused her to not even remember the past?" I thought, my mind forming internal thoughts that could possibly fill in the gaps of her unknown background. 

"Hmm... We're not far from our destination now. It's just right ahead~" The witch said as she steadily traversed through the landscape easily as if she was used to the style of traveling for a long distance.

Ahead of us stood a pillar that stretched far more higher than the rest of the stone pillars across the land. With its tall height along with width, it was definitely a large structure that had formed in the past through many events. However the closer we reached the structure, the more mysterious it became as it could be seen glowing with small blue particles emitting from within the very pillar itself.

"Woah, that's so weird! What's with this stone pillar? Why's it glowing all of a sudden while the rest doesn't?" Jackie questioned as she dragged her hand across the rocky pillar.

"Hmm... that is a good question you have proposed. You see, I wanted to try something different on this pillar that many had failed to do so in the past. This stone pillar that emits the blue particles you see here is a weird phenomenon that occurs elsewhere as well. It was theorized that these things gather and condense the mana from underground and bring it up into the pillar to channel it out. The reason the other pillars here don't glow as well is because they are far too small to collect any noteworthy. Although, with this pillar's sheer size, it's able to emit the very mana from the ground. It is also why the surroundings and ecosystem are different here, and the frequent monsters that appear here including chimeras that we had encountered before. It's all the cause of this thing~" She explained thoroughly to us as she looked up to see the top grassy part of the pillar.

"Nyaa, is that so? That sounds pretty neat if you'd ask me. Then what was the reason you wanted to come here? Surely it isn't just to observe and look at right?" Jackie said as she fidgeted with a crooked twig she pulled from the forest floor.

"Hm...hm...hm... Of course, it isn't. I'll show you what I'll be doing to the surface of this pillar today, so you better watch closely. It's something I have been researching for quite a while~" She told the two of us as she pulled out a red piece of chalk.

With swift writing, she quickly drew symbols all around the sides of the pillar while we waited. As soon as it was all done, she stuffed the piece of remaining chalk back into her purse. In the end, eight writings unknown to the two of us were made along the side of the pillar; each one of them was drawn differently with the very size of them varying as well. 

"Hmm, that's about done then. Now then, I'll put down the finishing touches and I'll show you what was the reason I came here. It will be like something you've never seen before~" She said pulling out that staff of hers and held to point it at the structure.

"From the earthen soil, from the irminsul of the world trees, from the minerals of the deepest deposits... I order thee, to seal and store, to condense and hold, Magical sealing!" She said aloud, then a second later, the stone pillar immediately halted its emitting of magic particles; the very pillar now remained as a still object like the rest.

"It stopped emitting magic? Was it the writing here that stopped its output?" I asked as I focused my eyes on it for a better look at the pillar.

"It is as you say, the writing here along with the ritual I performed had taken effect nicely. All there is to do now is wait... Though, what's within can already be used right now at this moment~" She said as she shuffled away from the two of us to a more empty area.