Chapter 13: Strange Waters
The message arrives at dawn. A small black box bound in red ribbons and sealed with the Blackrose heraldry. Naohiro brings it to Qaelemont at once.
Inside is a note scrawled in frantic handwriting on a scrap of parchment that smells faintly of salt and panic.
*"The well in the Shroud has turned to seawater. For thirty seconds. No one knows why. Please, come quickly."*
The words are smudged in places, as if the writer had been trembling when they wrote them. The Gridanian seal at the bottom is barely legible, but the urgency is unmistakable.
Qaelemont unfolds the note again, staring at it as if the words might rearrange themselves into something less alarming. What lies between the lines? What clues have yet to be found in this unfolding mystery?
Thirty seconds.
The Shroud is a place people go to disappear.
Not to send messages.
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This is our stage. The carpet in the middle has a floor to ceiling cylinder of magic. If anything possesses aether, the magic circle acts as a physical barrier, preventing entry. Inside the cylinder, a container empowered with dynamis floats ominously at the center. Outside the cylinder is a spellcraft station, and alchemy station, and a back wall full of books on taboo magics. Topics range from the tame Blue magicks, to lengthy necromantic rituals.
Ravena will inform Scarlett and Mizuki that if her lab lacks anything they require; Ravena will craft or purchase what's needed. Otherwise, Ravena will act as a dedicated assistant. She will maintain the integrity of the magic circle.
Scarlett enters the room and looks around, investigating everything. The anti-aether area makes her eyes widen. "Brilliant." She whispers as she starts taking off the aether-infused jewelry and scrolls on her possession. She hands each item to Mizi, followed by her enchanted bag and hat. The only thing she's left with is an oversized shirt, tights and boots. At this moment, this was the most vulnerable she'd ever be, but she trusted Mizi and Ravena to have her back completely.
Golden eyes stare into Mizi's red ones as she nods. Then she looks at Ravena. The other mage would now be able to get zero read for aether on the viera. Her power truly was only in the items she siphoned from, which for this current predicament they faced, was finally a most useful trait! Despite all she was capable of, at the moment, she would seem no more than a common person on the street. "I just step right in now?"
Ravena can't help but blink as her magical senses war with the evidence of her eyes. "Uh, yeah... " Ravena casts a spell to examine Scarlett to make sure she's reading nothing. "If what I'm sensing, and what my magic is telling me is true, then you will not be impeded at all by the barrier. I gotta be honest, you remind me of a Dynamis entity; but, now's not the time for prying. We can talk about personal quirks after the work's done." Ravena goes to the large book near the center of the room. Scarlett and Mizi can see the text magically change as Ravena gets close to her barrier. It takes little effort to deduce that Ravena has linked the properties of her barrier to the open pages of the book; allowing for easy near real-time reporting of fluctuations. "I'll make sure that nothing gets in or out." Ravena nods to Mizuki. "Don't worry about any messes. You just use what stations you need to when supporting Scarlett. I can handle cleanup when we're done." She gives Mizuki a warm smile. "Guests of the Blackrose don't need to trivailize themselves with such matters."
Mizuki scans the room, taking in all the details she can. When she nears the circle, she taps the "wall" of the cylinder, her finger bouncing off the invisible force, "Oo!" That little experiment complete, she turns to Scarlett, looking into her golden eyes and return the nod. She pats her long dagger at her side and smiles before receiving all of her wife's aether-infused items. Not even the enchanted dampening tattoos can completely hide Mizuki's own aether, built up just in case. She rests the items on the desk near the alchemy items, pulls a book, a pen, and a marked hourglass out of her bag and sets them on the desk. She then pulls out a canister and places it next to the other items, "I think that's everything. I'll still try to be messy." She nods at Ravena, "I think I'm ready for whatever happens next."
The books on the back wall, filled with arcane knowledge, begin to tremble slightly as the magick circle is activated. The titles, ranging from 'Blue Magicks: A Compendium' to the more ominous 'Necromantic Rituals: The Art of Death,' start to glow faintly. The air in the room grows colder, and the scent of brine and something darker, more primal, begins to fill the space.
As Scarlett stands within the magick circle, the books in Ravena's sanctum seem to come alive, their pages fluttering and turning as if unseen hands are furiously flipping through them. The glow from the watery tomes pulsates, casting eerie shadows on the walls, and the scent of brine and decay grows stronger. Mhachi hydromancy glyphs come to sinister life, glowing in lurid shades of green and blue, like bioluminescence within the depths of the ocean. The pages of the sodden tomes turn rapidly, almost violently, like crashing waves, as if an abyssal entity is trying to force its way through the barrier, desperate to communicate.
The air grows heavier, and the temperature drops further, the cold biting into the skin despite the warmth of the room. The magick circle hums with energy, the dynamis-infused container at its center pulsing in time with the books' frantic movements. It's as if the very fabric of reality is being stretched thin, the boundary between the world of the living and the realm of the... other... growing perilously thin.
While something like this would normally induce a panic, Ravena relies on her professional training as a mage to remain calm and analyze the situation. Then, Ravena gets a clever idea. Remembering how pixies sometimes navigated through objects like books, Ravena attempts to make a 'magic bridge' of aether from her tomes to the large book in the center. This is an attempt at a baited trap. She tries to get the presence attracted to, and hungering for, the large book in the center of the room. If the entity takes the bait, Ravena tries to create a closed-circuit loop of magic, cutting her 'magic bridge' off and taking advantage of the large book's connection to her magic circle to create an expanded field of containment. Since the book in the center is full of lots of juicy data and knowledge, Ravena hopes it'll make good bait to grab the monster's attention. As a closed loop, Ravena attempts to trap the entity's probe by having it record it's own presence on her magic tome.
Scarlett starts describing to Mizi and Ravena what she's seeing. Each glyph in detail, along with the glow. "These aren't glyphs I use.. or have used. See what you can find!!" She continues to try to read the book to see if any context clues might help as well!
Mizuki takes notes, carefully edging the glyphs into her book and noting the time since each event or change so there's a complete timeline of the ritual. She looks at the glyphs after writing them, trying to recall anything she's seen in her past studies that match or are similar.
The glyphs glow and pulse. They remain a mystery to Mizuki, her youth and inexperience leaving her unprepared for this encounter. They assume new shapes, wavering and shifting like the sea lapping at the shore. Too quickly for the Auri woman to record them properly.
But there’s an inkling of familiarity to Scarlett. Something strikes a chord with the over a century old Viera. A tidbit of knowledge once gleaned from the Noumenon. Even Ravena takes note of the glyphs, having come across them now and then in her work and research.
Mhachi.
Hydromancy.
The glowing glyphs and the books reacting with watery properties indicate that ancient Mhachi hydromancy magick is at play.
The frantic turning of pages, the violent movements, and the desperate attempts to force its way through the barrier suggest that an entity from the abyssal realm is trying to make contact or convey a message. The entity seems drawn to the books, particularly the ones held captive in Ravena’s barrier, suggesting that it's driven by a hunger for knowledge or information. The heavy air, the cold, the pressure, and the humming energy of the magick circle indicate that the barrier between the world of the living and the realm of the entity is growing dangerously thin.
While it's trying to force its way through, it's not clear if its intentions are malicious. It could be trying to warn them, communicate, or perhaps it's simply driven by curiosity or a desire to learn.
Ravena calls to Scarlett and Mizuki amidst the crazy machinations going on. "The veil grows too thin. Friend or foe, we'll have more than that to deal with if we let it get thinner. I highly advise we stop the experiment for now!" Having given her advice, Ravena stands by to aid Scarlett with whatever decision the senior witch makes. Having offered Scarlett the lead, Ravena shows herself an ally by supporting and counselling without acting against the group.
Scarlett nods to Ravena, her ears falling to her head in a clear sign of defeat and disappointment. She knew not gaining much more was a possibility but the sting of failure never hits less, even after a century.
"I agree." She looks over to Mizi. "Next time, we will be more prepared." She shuts the book and exits the barrier swiftly. Once out, she looks around to be sure there was nothing left amiss.
"Ravena, we may want to put up an extra barrier around your lab. I'm happy to aid with runes if you wish. Mizuki can power them once I have them in place to give the books an added layer of security. Your wards are immaculate, of course. I am feeling as though we should take extra precautions after seeing and feeling the glimpse of power we just witnessed."
Ravena nods to Scarlett. "Your help will be greatly appreciated. We're dealing with something capable of rending the veil between our world and others. What that means exactly? We're not yet ready to know. But we've got a starting point for research. Mhachi hydromancy may hold a key to reinforcement, containment, and maybe even communication. I know what I'll be researching next."