[Stray Kids FF] Seraphina is a warrior. She's certain in her abilities and knows why she does what she does. But when strangers bring the so-called "east wind" with them, things are bound to become dangerous. [Contemporary Fantasy / AU]
~Yuánfèn~ It...
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Chapter 35 Luna Mentitur – The Moon is a Liar
December 1st, 2024 3:13 p.m. Achasan Mountain, Seoul
"To begin the ritual, draw a circle of salt. This is necessary to protect the summoner from the demon."
Jeongin held the tome open in front of him, the pages fluttering in the wind, and he was clearly struggling to hold the heavy book straight.
I pulled a heavy, cast-iron fire bowl to the center, the sharp-edged feet scraping against the flat rock and leaving furrows, and knelt down in front of it. After making sure that the fire bowl was not wobbling, I arranged charcoal into a nice pile.
At Jeongin's lecture, I stopped in mid-movement. We had discussed this at length; about the process, who does what when, in case something unexpected happens, and most importantly: as soon as we're done here, we'll go out to eat a lot and then to the arcade. Rituals were exhausting, they used up an incredible amount of energy, both mentally and physically. Self-care afterwards is of the utmost importance.
This one wasn't my first ritual, but Jeongin's was and that alone made my nerves fray. I looked up at him.
"We're not doing a salt circle."
"Why?"
"We want to catch the Bulgae, a salt circle would keep him at a distance, which would be counterproductive." I fished a glass bottle out of my coat pocket, its contents crumbly and black, a label revealed the name: Styrax. "Besides, it's way too windy."
I lit the charcoal with a zippo. The embers slowly burned through until after a few minutes turned into a steady glow. The gray smoke grew thicker and burned in my eyes. Jeongin was standing far enough away not to be bothered by it. With a 'plop' the cork came off the glass bottle and I sprinkled a few pieces of styrax in spiral movements onto the glowing charcoal.
Styrax is a fragrant natural resin that is traditionally used in rituals and ceremonies. It is said to have a calming and healing effect. With a quiet hiss the smoke changed color, gray turned to deep black with a bronze shimmer. At the same moment the wind whipped through the clouds of smoke as if startled.
"How much longer?" I asked and stood up.
Jeongin slammed the tome shut, laid it on the stony ground and took out his cell phone. "Three minutes."
In three minutes, it would be 3:21 p.m. That was when the new moon would reach its peak. Even though the new moon itself lasts several hours, I only had a small window of time to lure the Bulgae over, capture him and render him harmless.
"What if someone catches us?" Jeongin asked, looking over the trees down to the city of Seoul below us. "I can already see the headline: Yang Jeongin from Stray Kids caught worshipping Satan." The fire flickered in his eyes. It looked as if his hair was partly made of fire, but it was just dyed; wide orange strands peeked out from under black hair. It looked good on him.
