Veritas

Chapter 28

With a blizzard raging, and Ryan keeping his distance, Aislinn wasn't at all surprised for another dream. What she wasn't expecting, though, was for another experience where she was in someone else's body.

The woman was looking down at a book written in a language that Aislinn didn't recognize. On the webbing between her thumb and index fingers, she had "Veritas" tattooed into her skin. She had black bangs hanging down in her eyes as she skimmed the page before her, then shifted her attention to a stone bowl she'd already poured some powders into. Quickly, as if she was suddenly afraid of being caught, the woman grabbed a few vials of liquid and added single drops from each to the bowl.

Footsteps could suddenly be heard approaching the door, and the woman's heartbeat quickened. She began to softly whisper, reading words from the book.

After whispering "Incipio", the tip of her index finger began to glow with a brilliant, blue light. She dipped her glowing finger into the bowl of ingredients before her, and began to stir the contents together by moving her finger in the shape of a pentagon. While doing this, she was whispering "Corporis creo...Tego...Texi...Tectum...Veritas!"

With the last word, she added more emphasis and nearly hissed it at the bowl. A puff of smoke came out of it, immediately blowing out into every direction in the room. It was exactly that moment that the door opened, and a woman barged in.

The smoke gave the stranger time and distraction enough to snatch the contents out of the bowl, and hide her book. She made a show of coughing out a greeting to her visitor, while waving away the smoke in front of her.

The visitor was a young woman, a bit younger than Rei. She had a blonde pixie-cut, and would be pretty if she didn't have an ugly scowl etched into the lines of her face. It gave Aislinn the impression that all she did was scowl.

"What did you destroy now, Gwen?! You know you're going to get kicked out if you keep wasting ingredients" the woman teased, although there was an undertone of a threat to her statement.

"Good thing I used my own money, and my own ingredients then" the woman called Gwen replied to the blonde flatly.

The blonde just made a "tsk" sound, and came closer to her companion. "Why don't you give up on these stupid attempts at making your own spells, and give me more time like I deserve?" She demanded in a pouty voice, slipping into Gwen's lap to begin kissing her neck.

Aislinn could feel the effort it took for Gwen not to roll her eyes right out of the room. "I told you" she said, placing her hands on the blonde's hips despite the feeling of disgust their proximity sent through her body. "My mother was an amazing witch...I am just trying to recreate spells that I remember her doing. Some day...I have to be able to get one right, and then you'll all see why it was so important" Gwen explained quietly, trying not to let sadness seep into her voice.

The blonde scoffed, and sat back to glare at Gwen. "Seriously? That's what you're saying while I'm literally here to give myself to you?!" the blonde continued, screeching in frustration. Without giving Gwen a second to reply, the blonde cuffed her upside the head. "I don't know why I waste any time on you" she spat, hopping from Gwen's lap. "You're just pathetic, like everyone says" she continued while heading back to the door. "If you ever decide to straighten out your screwed up priorities, come find me...I won't be waiting, though" she added, then stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

Aislinn felt Gwen relax, and she let out a sigh of relief that the blonde had left. She then snuck out the items she'd snagged from the bowl earlier, and to Aislinn's surprise, Gwen was holding three beautiful, pentagram-shaped talismans.

"You'll find out my worth soon enough" Gwen vowed to the room quietly.