Realm of Galderia

chapter 43- Ancestral Information

That night in the grand castle, Veronica was tinkering around the library, going over some of the old family books and records. She spent most of the time muttering, looking for a clue to explain the whispering. She was starting to think it was her mental state instead of a magical issue. Looking through another stack of books, she wanted to see if there was a family history of the madness. Sipping her witches' brew she leafed through another two stacks of old family records and journals before giving up for the night.

 Feeling a failure she  walked up the stairs hanging her head low in defeat. When she arrived to her bedroom chamber in the tower, she locked her door and flopped on the bed, unsure as what to do about the whispering. It gnawed at her, like a rabid parasite. She needed to know who it was and why. It was starting to infuriate her. Turing to the only other option that could help, she flipped open the book and looked for anything that might be of use to her. After sifting through it twice, she knew exactly what she needed to do.

She needed her dark guardian. Ludwig had not been around for several nights, she didn't know where he was only one left, the raven. Grabbing the amulet and holding it in an almost death grip, she had to get some answers. Focused on the amulet she called for him, needing a response. Staring into the candles flame she prayed to the dark ones to send the raven, he knew more about these things than anyone. He had to know something about all of this, he had to. She could feel it just as she could feel something different every time she had put on the amulet. She couldn't tell if it was good or evil but one thing for sure, it had more power to it than she realized. Ludwig had told her not to wear it, she couldn't understand why. It made her feel powerful, strong and at times unstoppable.

Waiting for the guardian had taken longer than she thought, as she paced around the tower chamber. After a few hours the dark sorceress was ready to just give up. She snuffed out her candles, summoned her spell book and opened it up to a blank page and crawled into the huge bed. Ready to admit a total failure for the night, she had lost all hope of anyone coming to help. She squeezed the amulet tightly, feeling the magic flow through her, an almost uncontrollable surge of power shoot through her lighting the whole room in a red neon light sparks. It scared the dark witch only a little, not enough to admit it. She let out a deep long sigh of frustration.

"Is everything okay young sorceress?"

Veronica jumped, startled by his voice, knocking her spell book to the floor.

"You made it; I didn't think you would come to me."

"You called to me so of course I would." The raven replied, giving the answer she wanted to hear.

"Thank you, come in please. I have questions." She spoke glaring at the shifter.

This isn't going to be good, thought the raven.

Probably not, as it would seem. She answered his thoughts.

He didn't know what to say or even think at this point, his mind as blank as the page of her spell book. He stammered backwards, nearly falling into her dresser.

The dark sorceress just gave him the most sinister grin that she could manage, as he looked and smelled of fear.

"Who sent the amulet? Who had it before you?"

When he said nothing she cast a spell of truth, to pry his silent tongue loose.

"By land by air or seas, from him bring the truth to me."

Against his free will, he began to answer her like a zombie of great divine knowledge.

"It belonged to her, as did I."

"Who is she? What is her name?"

"Morella, she is now an ancestral spirit but I was her familiar. She has to pass the amulet down in the family line. It will not work for anyone else. It is protected by more magic than anything I've ever seen."

"Good, now we are getting somewhere. Can you help me find the gargoyle?"

"Yes, I can find him."

"Where is he? Where is Ludwig right now?" She asked with desperation in her cracking voice.

"A different dimension, another reality that I can't get to."

"Why can't you get to it?"

"You can only get there by reassignment."

"Will I ever see him again?" She asked fearing the worst possible outcome.

All of the sudden the truth spell wore off, leaving the raven disoriented and confused.

"What happened?" He asked slightly alarmed.

"I think that you fainted when you arrived." She lied like a professional.
He shook his head, unsure as to why he would faint, it hadn't happened in centuries.

Staring at her with a confused look, the raven pardoned himself, promising to return soon. He told her it had to be a case of shifter stress, no worries. The raven flew away, to hide his shame. The dark sorceress watched him fly away until she couldn't see the mysterious acting bird in the horizon. With a prideful grin, she turned and fetched her spell book and flopped on the bed ready to write the new information from the bird, and the truth spell.

 She wrote with passion and rage, the only two emotions that fueled her anymore. She had a feeling the gargoyle was lost to her; she didn't think she'd ever see her beloved friend again. Not knowing one way or another was worse, it left room in her darkened head for complete disappointment, leaving her to wonder about him on sleepless days.

Turning back to her spell book she wrote in an almost trance like state, as if someone else was writing through her. It felt weird but exhilarating, as if she were an ancient goddess of wisdom. It put her in a divine state of happiness she'd never felt before. She wrote as much as she could at the speed of a shooting star.

 Furiously writing down the truth spell and the results from casting it on the raven she found a good amount of what she needed to know, and didn't want to forget a single word of it. When her trance state had been complete, she crept under the blankets. Feeling as drained as a victim of a vampire attack. Once sleep had claimed her again, she dropped the amulet to the floor.