THE MEDALLION OF DEATH
The morning in the meadow was fresh and beautiful, as lush green vegetation, grasses canvassed the entire landscape before their eyes leaving the picture denuded of any form of trees, strange. Not far from where they camped, a stream divided the landscape into two, flowing downwards in the gentlest of manner, adiabatically cooling the environment and at the same time giving the sweetest of burbling sounds.
Beauty stood in front of them as the sun smiled upon them as they advanced towards the stream. Filling their watering cans, they treaded afterwards on the surface of the stream moving into the forest that beckoned to them.
'Sam,’ Alkali whispered.
'Yes,’ came the reply. 'why the whis............?'
'Shhhh. I think we are not alone,’ he continued.
'On it,’ Sam whispered, crouching gently to touch the earth, whispering some spells as she did so, as her eyes glowed, taking the form of that of a snake afterwards.
Around them, the once silent forest continued in its silence, as writhering out of the earth’s surface, barks of trees and fallen leaves were snakes, slithering into positions to listen as Sam listened on looking through their eyes.
'It’s not safe here,’ Sam spoke up in yet another whisper. 'Those who tread behind us are not human in any way, for my eyes are dying upon contact with they. Smoky is the description of what approaches as they are formless.’
At that moment, Adrian who had been quiet the entire journey immediately stopped, waving his hand in an arch path, muttering as he did so, then directing both of his palms to the earth and at that instant, two concentric circles began burning on the earth, with him as the center, connecting all four. Upon its circumnavigation, strange symbols began appearing as Adrian made pronouncement in addition to hand gestures. At the completion of his spell, a light of somewhat emanated from the seal dissipating those who stood on the seal till, poof, none existed only the seal which was burnt and charred on the earth.
Meanwhile in the forest, neighs and gallops edged closer to the seal. Closer and closer the noises drew until puffs of smoke materialized from the woods, stooping at the sight of the seal.
'Master,’ a voice sounded.
'Zelpaux,’ came a deep growl.
'It is a teleportation path.’
'Resuscitate it,’ came the order.
'Master,’ came the submissive plea.
'Do I need to spell doom on you,’ the growl continued, approaching in proximity as a puff, darker and denser than the rest floated forward, condensing to produce a wraith wearing a black armor and from his head cascaded white and black hair in their mixture.
'I see,’ he confessed, smiling as he did so, taking time to study the seal, running his fingertips which were buried in a somewhat metallic glove, over the seal, chuckling afterwards in the deepest of voices as he did so.
'You might have prolonged your life,’ he let out, 'but you will surely end your breadth by my sword,’ he continued, drawing his sword, whose blade was jagged as death and plunging it deep in the earth, at the middle of the seal.
'Prepare the corvelus trace, for the moon will be highest tonight. For live once more shall return to the dead,’ he commanded before speaking in a bellowed voice.
'Your soul shall be mine nevertheless,’ he said clenching his fist in death, releasing embers bright in their darkness.* * * * * * * * *
Somewhere, still in the forest, a seal, same as the one Adrian casted upon the earth, produced the five it had transported, after which it burned its existence, leaving charred earth to witness.
'You teleported us using the path of Acrad,’ Avelline began.
'It is as you have noticed,’ came Adrian's reply.
'You do know its backdrops?' She continued.
'Yes.’
'Then well I suppose we should hurry,’ she came to her point, scanning the forest before her.
'Well, .....erm..... I modified the spell so that a back trace if possible, even in the hands of a powerful mage would take hours, possibly close to a day to achieve,’ he explained.
'Eluttuppilai varaiyarai,’ Rachel exclaimed. 'How did you learn and master it?' She continued, eager for an answer.
'Eluttu ........wada what?' Sam inquired puzzled.
'Yes what did you just say,’ Alkali joined the party.
'I said Eluttuppilai varaiyarai,’ she began. 'It means ..........’
'Spell definement, in direct translation,’ Adrian chipped in.
'Yes, and it is the ability to write and modify spells,’ Rachel continued.
'So why all the fuss about it? I guess quite a ton of people can do such. Shouldn't spells be easy to write?' Avelline asked.
'Yes, for some zero point zero, zero, zero, zero, one percent of the practicers of magic for the past three hundred and sixty-seven years. Currently, only thirteen alive can perform the Eluttuppilai varaiyarai technique and five of them, break bread with the Veneficus, while the remaining eight varnished upon their hunt about one hundred and forty-seven years ago,’ she lectured.
'So, how did you do it,’ she turned to face Adrian.
'Let's see. I am going to put it this way. Magic like nutrition depends on knowing the right stuff to do. When maybe, am interested in growing fat or chubby, I will lean towards taking fatty foods instead of foods rich in carbohydrate, because as we all know, the results will be far different, so is magic. To write or modify a spell, you must know some key elements which include balance in a spell and secondly, the tongue of the earth. Balance, as I said earlier calls for attention of the writer towards the alignment of all the wording constituent of a spell in the sense that a water related spell will have the earth, fire and air wordings in balance and alignment, leaving only the water constituent out of alignment because of its role to play in conjunction with the casters Akash. Secondly, the language of the earth is the natural tongue of all spells. Spells said in the nature tongue are more potent that those translated into a different tongue. In understanding the language of nature, you are then one step towards hearing the voices of your elemental inclination. Every spell cast, has a voice. For example, in the transportation spell I cast, every one of you knows that I summoned the twelve paths of time, requesting them passage through their path into another, our current location. But what you don't know is that each path of time has its own voice, thoughts and will of its own. Leaning towards Pisces, I was able to not only transport us here, but temporarily destroy the seal to delay any who seeks passage through the same path. Initially, the controller and destroyer of seals, Libra, was my target audience but his voice, I could not wake.’
'That's quite a mouthful of words,’ Alkali broke the silence that ensued after.
'That, I agree with you,’ Sam joined in as they continued their trek, watching the sun set slowly as their journey sniffed its long awaited break.
YOU ARE READING
THE FOUR REASONS TO DIE sentinel chronicles #2
Fantasy'I am he who must bring the death of the other, my blood will quench the last ray of hope and my life force, dark it is, shall reign in place of balance. I am what will continue to be, for my life is yours for the taking and my will, immeasurable to...