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Weeks after the ritual was done, he could still feel thepower that thrummed in the ground. It set his teeth on edge, made his skin crawl, and made the small fine peach fuzz of hair at the back of his neck stand on end. He walked the largestof the three circles he had etched into the earth, recalling the ritual. Pausing, he spread fire over the already scorched earth to burn away the magic he had infused the earth with. He was urging anything to grow.
It was asif the very earth itself was mocking him, reminding him that he had committed sacrilegein that very spot. The two adjoiningcircles only served to let him know that he had held two friends at hisback. Two friends that had come withoutquestion and followed his lead in a ritual he knew nothing about. Ilyea and Vy’thanis had trusted him. They had no way of knowing that he had put infail safes in the circles to make sure he did not drag them down with him if theritual had claimed his life.
I called upon you, Vy’thanisand you came without complaint. You questionednothing even after the first ritual I put you through. Did you know it was a test? A test to figureout if what I had tasted in that first meeting could stand at my back. I wanted to see how well we could worktogether and what you could offer in ways of power. It was more than I could have imagined andmore. I was not prepared to feel Celestine dying asI pulled you into the Void. Did you seeanything that frightened you? No. Obviously not if you came to my side when Iasked for your aid.
You came even afterour strange moments on a ship headed for disaster. Did you stay to see that Fool’serrand through? Did it all make sense in the end? I bowed out but there is a curiosity thatremains not to play but to have the answers. Answers to whatever the purpose of it was…or perhaps still is. It matters not, I suppose. I walked away with much more than I went inwith.
Thank you, Vyth. Thank you for answering my summon. I know I would not have answered it if I had been you. I would have been suspicious no matter myloyalty to the Queen. Lending power isnever an easy thing and even now, I am ashamed to say I could not trust many totake the helm as I rode passenger in such a wild ride. You came to me and trusted me to keep youalive in a ritual that I knew nothing about. What made you trust me? Was ither that you trusted and by de facto, me?
I am afraid I do notunderstand how you could trust so easily. You make me question my suspicious nature. What lies beneath that smiling façade ofyours? I know some of it. It explains the powerhouse that you are but not your trustingnature. Surely you have been alive longenough to know that everyone lies at some point. What will I do to break your trust? What will you do to break mine?
I owe you now. You helped bring her back. It was not duty. You could have said no. Thank you, my friend. And by gods, if you continue to call me boss I might curse your tongue … orgive you indigestion if you continue to threaten to eat me.
A small chuckle escaped the sorcerer as he leaned down tothe scorched earth, urging the wild to grow and swallow the site of the ritual. He did not stay toolong, the skin-prickling feel of lingering power and of spirits did not allowhim to remain in that place. They knew him, they knew what he was capable of and they were hungry for attention. But he wouldbe back to tend to the earth and wipe all trace of their blasphemy away, however long it took.
[ @felbane ]
[ Mentions : @wolf-queen , @thebuildingcacophony ]