The Committal

Part Two-Committing the Ring Wizards

The cloak brushed mine as the others were debating the Committal. Jenna was busy writing it down, and Marcellus and Julius were reconciling...I had been watching until a hand pulled me into the corner. And no one seemed to notice.

"Why would you let them do it?" the person's voice asked. I could not make out whether it was a man or a woman speaking; the voice was like a sweet shore breeze but at the end of the sentence it gained a hard edge, almost like an unexpected bone in a piece of meat, but somewhat pleasant. The voice was shockingly wonderful to listen to.
"Would you let a person with no Magykal ability to do it? For everyone's fate to rest on this surely weak attempt?" The voice made a valid point. I stared at Jenna copying down the spell. Why shouldn't I do it? I wondered. The voice wormed into my brain, and the more I thought about it, the more I knew it was true.
"And what's to say you even have the whole spell?" The person mused. "What's to say that they're not missing a word that will make it more potent? I know the whole spell. If you do it, I can tell you as you cast the spell. Word for word. Leaving no word behind."
I stared up into his cloak. The glory had been suggested, and I couldn't unthink it. I'd be known as the one who Committed the Ring Wizards. Properly.
It was like an unsatiable urge, one I couldn't quell. One I knew I'd have to fulfill. I was so compelled...
He handed me the ring, lying in the palm of his black gloved hand. I took it, the idea of doing the spell engrained in my mind.
"I will tell you the spell when the time comes." The soft voice uttered, then faded.
We had just taken the elevator down to the Fyre chamber, and I had planned it perfectly. When Beetle proclaimed he would go, I interjected. "I'll go too."

Marcia objected, of course. Said that the more of us went, the more dangerous it would be. But I couldn't shake the idea, like it had been implanted in my head. I couldn't get it out.
"Whatever you say, Marcia, I'm coming." Whoever that person I kept seeing was, they were right. I had to do this myself.

I didn't say anything about how the ring Jenna carried wouldn't work, that I had the real one. They'd just make me give it to her, and questions would rise. I could not allow that, for a reason I felt in my bones rather than knew.

Jenna straightened and denied us all, like a Queen. I would not listen. I would deny her.
"I am doing the Committal. The fewer people in danger, the better. Marcia and I will go, no one else." They exchanged looks. I felt rage boiling inside me, but also felt a soft, unspoken word in my head.
Go anyway.
Marcia drew out the ring, handed it to Jenna. There were tearful apologies between her and Beetle, and she went down the walkway.
Marcia was Shielding her. They crept up on the Ring Wizards, and I followed. Milo and Beetle were too busy consoling each other, and Marcellus too busy consoling them in turn. No one noticed that I followed them.
I heard Jenna say she was ready. As Marcia pulled down the Shield, I ran between them like I was possessed. Perhaps I was. All I knew was, that if I did the Committal now, I would fulfill something. I didn't know what, but I knew that if I did it right now, I would be finishing something. Something.
I pushed Jenna aside.
"I will do the Committal!" I screamed. Marcia stared at me, aghast. Before she could push me aside, however, I felt the words appear in my mind for the first line. The cloaked figure's doing, no doubt. And I started to speak, saying the words in order as I was taught them, with Marcia there, stricken by her Apprentice's boldness at rejecting their plan, Jenna staring at me with horror at her brother stealing her moment. I didn't notice, didn't care. I was focused utmost on what the figure was telling me, and when I finished the spell, and Milo caught the ring-

-there was utter silence.

I half wondered why I had done it.