Dark Red Roots

Chapter 37

Bill was cautious in his work. He took his time reading the runes in Hades's notes. The cleansing that Hades had to go through before the starting of the inking was long enough for Bill to read the first half of the book. He knew exactly the kind of magic Hades was trying to master. It wasn't necessarily Black magic but it was definitely in the Dark reaches of it.

After years working at Gringotts all over the world, Bill knew that Dark Magic wasn't really bad. It all had to do with intention. This magic was revered by many magicals all over the world. Bill was honnored to help Hades with this now. Bill took one more look over of his ink pots. The magic in them were all from Hades himself. It wouldn't do for Bill to mess up that delicate little bit of magic that he knew nothing about. Making ink magical and so it would move was very different from what Hades needed.

Hades came into the room a bit dazed, "William?"

Bill startled, jerking his head around to see Hades almost completely naked. Hades had only a black pair of tight boxer briefs, "Hades." Bill's brain shorted out after the name. He didn't know what else to say. All he knew was that Hades had far more scars under his clothes and that Hades wasn't a scrawny kid from the streets anymore.

"Ready?" Hades asked, slowly moving over, "Where do you want me?"

Bill dragged his eyes away, "On the table. Face down. We'll start with what the book says. It'll be the longest sequence and we can't stop once we start. It shouldn't hurt but your magic will start feeling the rewiring and pulling. You'll start to feel drained and maybe even tired, but I need you to stay awake at all cost."

Hades nodded, "Yeah. How long do you think this will take?"

"This first one?" Bill grimace, "Two, maybe three, weeks."

Hades looked at him abruptly, thinking past the mild haze in his mind, "Three weeks?"

"Yes." Bill looked up at him, "Does Marvolo know about this?"

"Yes." Hades finally laid himself down on the table. It had no magic on it, so all the comfort he got was a pillow for his head and chest, "You'll need to tell him about how long it may take at times. He's already started talking with my new teachers about not making it for the first few months of school."

"Alright. Let's start." Bill brought over the vials of ink. He was going to use so much of it, and in so many different colors. The first sequence was going to be right on Hades's spine. He'd thought long and hard about what he was going to do for this one. The rune marks were going to be the most tricky but Bill had drawn out the design beforehand. Hades had approved with mild interest.

At first Bill thought Hades would like two blades going down his back but Bill thought it tacky. He thought of wings next but when he looked through his new phone for ideas, he came across the entire solar system going down someone's back. It looked good and it would be even more impressive if done with magic to move.

Starting with the sun, Bill made sure it looked like the real sun and not those muggle balls of yellow with squiggly lines. He used red, yellow, orange and white. Each rune was expertly crafted with the ink as it sunk into skin and made itself permanent in flesh. The magic and ink would change the skin's pigment permanently to these colors. Even if someone were to try and peel off chunks of skin, it would always regrow the same as it was before.

The sun started at the dead center of Hades's back. It was only four inches across in diameter. Bill put the largest of the Rune lines here. It would be the base surrounding the rest of the starting foundations. This alone would give Hades extra strength, speed, and endurance to everything he did. Hades magic was a wild thing that turned the spelled ink into a force to be reckoned with.