A Silent Moon

Chapter 9- Strength

{Chase}

As the moon slowly descended, time felt as if it slowed to a halt. Bluish-white light cascaded over the forest, then swiftly coalesced into a single point. Towards High Priestess!

I could hear muffled screams and shouts closing in on me, ghostly wailing that split the air and wind. Dust, dirt, branches and stone flew all around me as four figures dashed towards me. Brilliant auras then rose into the air and shrouded over my body.

Gray clouds formed over the forest canopy, instead of raining down, water flowed upwards towards the moon. The inverted rain glowing with a light blue glow. The water droplets scattered across the moon's surface, and began to glow a blue-silver light in turn.

With a flash of great light, an immense wave blinded me. I closed my eyes as I felt a strong shock wave wash over me. The force nearly lifted me off my feet. Yet, thanks to Red and the others I was safe from harm. Mostly.

As the light still flashed on, I could see a dazzling scene of a glade. I could feel droplets of water prickle my skin, cold and strikingly sapping. I felt.... Serene. I looked next to me, and I saw it. Nearby was a shore to a lake, with undulating waves of turbulent blue waters..... They were indescribable to me. As if it weren't real, yet it was strong in my mind.

As the light dimmed, so did the scenery.

I felt a strong grip land on my shoulder, "Are you okay?" Red spoke in a hoarse and husky voice, it was clear he was tired. Everyone was....

"Yeah, I'm just.... Sapped." There was no other way to put it. I had no idea what this feeling was. It just felt like I had just been sleeping for a long time and only now was I awake. If I was right, this was likely a manifestation of the High Priestess's power.

"Oh. Right.... This is just due to the authority of Stagnation at hand...." Rhett seemed sleepy. He yawned and was about to doze off, until a smack to the back by Holden roused him. "Don't sleep now, dimwit! We'll need your help cleaning this mess up later....." Though Holden seemed to be the most energetic still, it seems like he wasn't unaffected by the power of Stagnation at all.

On the other hand.... Red seemed to burst with more energy than before. Well, that made sense considering his main power.

High Priestess descended from up high, her serene smile drew me to feel calmer now. "That was very bold and reckless of you, Chase. If we weren't here to stop you, the students would have died as well."

"Good thing you guys are here then." My response took them aback, but I must have said something right as it elicited wild laughter from them all. High Priestess gave me a wide grin - a comical one even.

"How utterly amusing, I assume Emperor must've instilled some confidence in you? Or was it that blasted Hermit....." The High Priestess came up to me, gazing into my eyes with fervent interest.

"Those brothers have always had a strange influence on people. Myself included. I must say, you're as insane as both of them!" Wendy continued, her voice giving an edge of lunacy. As I was about to ask her something, I felt a strange feeling grasp at my heart.

A sharp force then pushed me backwards.

"Return to your room. Your roommate is worried for you." High Priestess spoke softly, her pervasive power causing all the things around me to seem eerily still.

Veil upon veil, layers within layers of the simmering air around me shattered like glass in an instant. Invisible glass shards broke all around me, reflecting the fragments of memory of the scenes that had occurred moments prior.

Starlight shifted as dark fog settled. The forest went silent once more, with none of the divine beings that were once around me showing any trace at all.

"....Go, I'll see you soon...." A faint whisper reached my ears, softly spoken by Red.

Right. He left me alone again. In the middle of the forest no less.... With no water to teleport through. Fuck.

The glass shards were merely illusions. All melting away into the earth. If I learnt a few spells then maybe I could conjure a bit of water to form a mirror.

Or......

I took out my phone and scrolled through the messages between me and Red.

It took a bit, but I finally found what I was looking for.

Red: [If you need help here is a list of the incantations and rituals for various things. Use them well]

Below his message was a link to a document full of ritualistic magic spells. Witchcraft, Shamanism, Evocations.....

Since I needed to return to the camp. The obvious solution right now was to request help from the Hierophant..... Will.

The ritual was simple enough. I looked around me, I had everything I needed.

Will's power belongs to that of Wisdom, Guidance and Nature. I made my way through the forest and looked for a clearing where moonlight was most prominent.

Fallen branches. Leaves. Stones. No candles, so I can just use these natural objects as a substitute.

I scoured through the grounds and pushed away the leaves to uncover the dirt beneath. I made a crude circle to create an isolated space where I could work the spell.

Within the circle I arranged three of the straightest branches fallen I could find nearby to arrange into a kind of triangle. A rudimentary structure of nature.

Any shape was fine, but triangles seemed to be the more intuitive decision.

I double-checked what the document says, I.... Don't think this is a human language, but thankfully Red offered an alternative that seems like a tongue that would be easier on me.

That is, Latin. And English. Oddly enough.

I gave a big sigh, and exhaled deeply. Phone in hand, and a small stone in my right palm.

"With Wood and Stone, I summon thee. The Guardian of Wisdom, Nature and Belief." I placed the stone inside of the branch triangle, imbuing it with the 'seed' that represented my wish to invoke the powers of nature.

"Dominum Harum..... Silvarum Voco." The words that left my tongue tasted of pine and grass..... The winds picked up and I swiftly jumped out of the circle, as the document told me to.

I was merely following the ritual requirements, but since I had no substitute vessel for the Deity I was summoning, I could only do one thing.....

My mouth widened as a pale transparent egg manifested from colorless air before me. I blew into it, and the egg hatched with a squelch. Green ooze splattered over the branch and stone I had set within the small ritual space.

"Hierophant; Forger; Mentor. I call upon you. Heed me, I speak your name thrice: Menius. Menius. Menius."

As I spoke, the green ooze coalesced upon the stone and enveloped it. It squirmed and squelched and boiled into a reddish-green substance, before becoming entirely crimson in color.

The small stone became detailed, carved with veins and arteries. It became a beating, living heart. The source of a vessel.....

Green light surged into a singular point; at the heart. Towards it. A vague form outlined, stretching into a silhouette of white.

The moonlight shone down upon me. I could feel it surging into me. Reinforcing me.

I felt.... Lighter.

The green light receded. And a man I had seen only once or twice appeared before me.

"Lost, are you?" Will's voice pierced through the night, awakening me from my trance.

"I was left behind. But now.... Ah. Strength flows in my veins now that I can drink in all this moonlight."

It did not take long for Will to bring me back to the campgrounds. One flick of his wrist and we were already here.

"Your roommate seems to be worried for you. I suggest you go back now." Will pointed towards my cabin. I didn't tarry any longer and just went to my cabin without any further delays.