Tales of magic: grimoire of transmorfigration
Chapter 3
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Opening Arc- "Crow and Quill"
Chapter 3 - "Descent into insanity II"
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"My sincere apologies, Master Vlad."
"What is the matter?"
"It appears some humans have stumbled upon the truth of our existence."
"Is that a problem?"
"No sire. It's just that.."
"It makes no difference whether they know we exist or not. There is no threat to us whatsoever, only a bigger threat to them."
~Common conversation between A vampire lord and his demonic servant, conducted in The Ancient Castle sometime in the 1500's.
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April 29,1886.
Weidson, Pridon
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19:00
It was a Thursday evening.
The streets of Weidson were nearly empty, save for a few children and their parents who were moving quickly towards the tent at the far eastern corner of town.
Thursdays were the days the circus came to town.
These particular travelling band of performers usually make trips around the entire Flintshire Region, but they only stopped in Weidson on Thursdays. But Jordan wasn't going to the circus.
'The little Mountain' was on the southwestern part of town. It took a fewmoments of trekking on foot for Jordan to get there. When he did get there he was shocked at the place's transformation.
The hill on the southwestern outskirts of Weidson was popularly referred to by the people who lived around it as 'the little Mountain' due to it's size and structure. It was big green and quite a sight to behold...
Now, it is ugly, stained with an abnormal amount of blood and a sickening pungent odour has invested itself into the once glorious hills surroundings.
"Ugly huh? Our very own little mountain could now be more accurately described as the bloody hill of horrors." A gruffy old man with an exotic accent spoke to Jordan.
Jordan looked towards the speaker, and opted not to respond.
Hopefully the stranger took the hint and walked away.
He looked at the hilltop from the ground, seeing no house or structure of any kind. Without hesitation, Jordan started the climb upwards.
'I have to know'
'Things have to make sense'
The seething rage within Jordan's heart was almost completely overshadowed by his fear and his curiosity. The young man embarked on the journey to the heart of the chaos that had encroached his otherwise peaceful life, in search for answers. And he was determined to make sense of it all.
Why was Lisa murdered?
What is this Book of Magic that William spoke of?
But alas, the most pressing question Elyas middlesworth had on his mind, was none of those. It was a question of if he would survive the ordeal that lay ahead.
'William said the queen would try to kill me. But he also said I'm immortal until I achieve my destiny - or rather that was how I remember it. So, should I really be doing this? Isn't going here and 'becoming a Mage' according to William going make it possible for them to kill me?'
Jordan had had a similar conversation with himself a day before, just after his talk with William. He wanted answers as soon as possible,but he couldn't bring himself to climb up the hill at that time. He felt as though it meant he had accepted and believed that killer's words- meaning he believed in magic.
But he convinced himself to go, telling himself that the real reason he was going was to disprove the mad man's ramblings as the untruth that they are. The plan was that after proving him wrong, he would report what had transpired between them to the police, and in the end William would be behind bars- where he belonged.
Jordan made sure to prepare, in case there were ruffians and thugs on the hill who were sent there by Williams to finish the job. He brought with him a bag containing a knife, a rope, a small pistol- stolen from Lloyd's desk- his quill and ink, and his journal. The knife and pistol in case things went down to a fight and the rope for restraining the potential criminals. His writing materials served no other purpose than to be there for him to draw and write notes on whatever or whoever he found there.
Soon, the young man had reached the top of the hill.
"I'm here."
Jordan wasn't too surprised when he saw nothing at the top of the hill. He was only glad and relieved. He was happy because this 'magic' did not exist- meaning he was right, and relieved because there was no threat to his life whatsoever...
He turned to leave, cursing himself under his breath for even climbing up there in the first place.
"Who the bloody hell are you?"
Jordan yelled.
Standing at the top of the hill was the old man from earlier.
As the man opened his mouth to speak, suddenly there was a flash of crimson light that nearly blinded his eyes.
As Jordan opened his eyes, he saw the same old man collapsed on the floor, in a pool of his own blood.
Without even having a moment to process what he saw, his body was suddenly grabbed. Dark arms got hold of his arms and his legs. He was desperately flailing around, trying to break free from their grip, as his body was dragged in through some kind of door, and dropped on the floor.
The shadowy arms disappeared into the shadows, leaving Jordan confused.
"Was that..."
'No. Those hands might have been people. Yes, some ruffians carried me and dropped me inside this building....that doesn't explain the red light and the wounded man, I don't remember hearing a gunshot, or any noise for that matter...'
The more Jordan thought about it, the more the truth became obscure and unclear. He almost entertained the idea of something supernatural being the cause, but he didn't even finish the thought before changing his mind.
He resigned to focus on what he can see now, and what he saw was an old decrepit passageway. On both sides of the corridor, there were doors and windows. Upon inspection of those windows, Jordan discovered that they were all tightly shut, and through them he saw nothing but a deep crimson light coming into the room. There was apparently nothing outside.
"Wow, 'magical' indeed."
Jordan dismissed that thought for later, and resumed his inspection.
Journal,
I have been abducted and brought into a mysterious corridor.
I am not sure if I'll survive. The door behind me with a label of "WEIDSON" is locked, and no matter what I do, it doesn't open up. I'm in quite the predicament, aren't I?
I haven't given up hope yet. The curious corridor seems to hold all sorts of secrets. The window for one, ushers in crimson light, which lights up the corridor. It seems the night outside is so overshadowed by the light, that I don't see anything else when I look outside.
If I listen closely I hear a strange whisper. The words are indecipherable, but I know some people are saying something. I think it might be latin. The same phrase is repeated over and over.
The other doors, are labelled with names of famous towns in Pridon, and a few less popular ones. "CENTRAL CITY" was there. So was "TOPIS" and "BRIARBROOK". Even "BRADLEY" was there.I tried to open the doors just now, not one of them budged. Isn't that curious?
Honestly, I know I'm not stupid. The evidence is there. Since,the WEIDSON door obviously leads back to Weidson, the other doors should lead to those respective towns. But It doesn't make any sense. What? Am I meant to just turn off my brain and believe it's some kind of magic? No! I won't.
Even if I don't have a proper answer for what I'm seeing and hearing, I will continue to try..to find one.
Signing out for the moment, I just saw some strange symbol, across the room, thanks for listening to me rant like that, Journal. You're a true friend.
Jordan closed the Journal, and moved towards the symbol.
The symbol was in the other end of the corridor, opposite the CENTRAL CITY door. Unsurprisingly, it was also crimson red. But it appeared to be real blood. The blood was used to paint a strange symbol, bounded with a circle, housing straight lines inside which formed a simple pentagram. Outside and within the pentagram, at certain places, there were smaller symbols that Jordan couldn't identify.
He stretched his hands forward, and touched the symbol, feeling the smooth texture of the dried blood on his skin.
He quickly removed his hands.
'When I touched it, it seems as though those voices increased in tempo,...and something was calling for me..'
'Yeah, now I'm the one not making any sense? Nothing was 'calling' for me. I didn't even hear my name!'
Not too long after, there was a loud noise, followed by the creaking sound, of an old door opening up.
Jordan's head shot towards the direction of the noises. The CENTRAL CITY door was open ajar. And three men, clad in military attire and armed with a blunderbuss each, were marching forward towards the other end of the corridor.
The soldiers were marching towards Jordan.
Jordan groped inside his bag until his hand got hold of his pistol. The moment the soldiers saw a pistol in the boy's hand, they thought it best to halt and point their guns at Jordan.One of them spoke, while the others kept silent.
"Who are you and why are you here?"
The soldiers' voice was loud and intimidating.
Jordan wasn't prepared for this.
"..." Jordan was speechless. He opened his mouth, but not a single word came out. He was staring at the soldiers and their huge guns, pointed at him and he realized that in the presence of these men, with superior skills and training, his gun might as well have been a banana.
"Who are you!"
The voice was louder this time. Whoever these people were, they were pissed.
'What do I do? Do I shoot? Will that help? But then again,do I want to just shoot a soldier. Why am i not saying anything.. there's no point either way, this place isn't where I should be...If I tell them I was dragged in here, will they understand?'
"He's not saying anything, Ross. I think we should kill him. After all, he must have seen the symbols."
"You're right. The Queen's direct orders were to terminate any and all intruders. Too bad it's a kid."
"We have to kill him."
Jordan barely had a moment to think, before hearing the loudest noise he had ever heard in his life.
And then there was a feeling of intense pain from his right hand as the bullet had successfully hit it's mark. Jordan's hand was bleeding away, and his pistol was across the room.
Jordan screamed in pain.
The soldier on the left reloaded his gun and aimed at Jordan's head.
"Don't miss this time."
"I didn't miss before, cap."
Throwing his body to the ground, Jordan attempted to dodge the bullet.
It was a success. The bullet landed on the wall, narrowly missing the symbol, and completely missing it's target-Jordan.
"Now, I missed."
The soldier reloaded and pointed the gun at Jordan again. He walked closer, keeping the gun trained on him. Jordan was once again paralysed with fear.
"I won't miss again."
'He was fooling around! I don't stand a chance... I'm..... I'm going to die!'
The man aimed his gun properly.
'I am going to die'
Jordan remembered the symbol, that was now right above his head as he lay awkwardly on the floor.The pain from his right arm was disturbing his thoughts.
'Magic...'
Jordan looked up towards the symbol, his hands stretched upwards, his eyes pleading.
"Help me, please.."
The soldier stopped, confused.
"Please.."
Jordan didn't know who he was talking to, or why he was saying that, but those were the only words that managed to come out of his mouth, before Ross had enough and pulled the trigger.
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The Book of Magic
29th April, 1886
Page 7
A vague shape resembling that of a man was suspended with thick strong bronze chains wrapped around his hands, feet and part of his torso. Around the 'Man' there was a golden-white glow, coming from the surroundings. The being that was locked up stirred all of a sudden.
"I can't have that." It said with it's sinister voice.
And then it grinned.
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