Tales of magic: grimoire of transmorfigration
Chapter 5
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Opening Arc- "Crow and Quill"
Chapter 5- "Words and works of magic"
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The green putrid-smelling liquid inside the cauldron bubbled.
The interior of the dark cottage where a witch was brewing a potion was lit only by light from the stove, and the light green steam coming out from the open cauldron.
The door was wide open, and someone had come inside.
This person - a middle-aged man- walked up to the witch.
"What kind of a potion is that?" The man asked, smiling.
The witch cackled unevenly. She coughed a bit, before she replied.
"A wicked one."
~ The witches' guide to malicious magic. ( Date unknown.)
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April 29th,1886.
The Crimson Corridor,
Pridon?
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"I've sold my soul for power."
Jordan was still grinning after saying that. He knew well enough that that wasn't what happened. But to him, it felt just like it.
He felt better that he ever had in ages.
His wound- the one on his wrist fron the gunshot- was gone. Only a small scar remained. Jordan was curious as to what caused it, but it wasn't as important to him as what he had done and said a few moments ago.
"I've sold my soul to some demon for power.."
The soldiers were backing up. Or rather, most of the soldiers were retreating. Ross stayed, pointing his gun at Jordan but not firing.
"Ross, I think we should stay away from that one. You saw the glowing lights coming from the symbol, right?"
"Yes sir."
Ross still positioned his weapon at Jordan.
Jordan wasn't flinching. He was only acting confident over the assumption that now he has magical powers, a common gun couldn't defeat him. But as he thought that, rational mindedness, common sense and doubt started to creep into his mind.
'I'm not Fated anymore, now that I have achieved my destiny. I can die. And Desire said I will die soon...That fucking bullet can kill me!'
His brows started to sweat.
"Sergeant Ross, you did see him disappear right before you fired your gun, and then reappear a minute ago, right?"
"Yes sir. Permission to shoot, sir?"
"Ross, Are you a retard? That boy is a wizard! We can't predict what he would do next. He's just like the Queen!" The third soldier- a bit plump- who hid behind their captain, warned.
Jordan's ears twitched as he picked up that bit of information.
'The Queen is a Mage. Good to know. It makes sense now why she has anything to do with all this. It also makes sense why she'll be trying to kill me.'
'But Lisa's death doesn't make sense. The queen is here, somewhere. If I could take down, or escape these guys preferably via not getting shot again, I'll track her down, and demand answers. That's the plan.'
'After doing that, then I kill her.'
Jordan remembered all that Desire said, without even trying to memorize it. He remembered that his main magic ability as Quill involves inscribing ink on surfaces- like a regular quill.
From the depths of his Knowledge- information forcefully inputted to his brain by the demon or god of Desire - he could find instructions on using one's Name/ Title spell.
'If I imagine writing it, and I focus on it, it's written. This is pretty useless in a combat situation like this one- when this trigger-happy soldier is armed and ready to end my life.But It'll do for little notes.
Jordan focused on it. He held his quill- It was easier that way apparently -and visualised writing the words on his mind in his Journal. There was no glowing, no special indication that what he imagined was written down. But when he searched his bag, and opened his Journal, he found out that all he focused on, and wanted to Write - his thoughts about the queen- were written down as he wanted it.
He couldn't help but smile, again.
Ross fired the gun..
Jordan instantly remembered his situation.
The pain in his stomach forced him to.
Jordan screamed in pain.
He fell down on his knees, keeled over, blood oozing out of his gut.
'Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.'
'Why am I so f*cking stupid! Playing around with magic, as if I'm a kid with a new toy.'
Ross reloaded.
"It seems even wizards can bleed. Well, then again your hand bled before. How much extra life do you have, wizard?"
'I have to get my act together. I'm not immortal. I can get hurt. I can die. I have to f*cking focus.'
The sharp pangs of pain were messing with his thoughts, but he still managed to concoct a plan.
He believed that he had what it took to at least escape in one piece.
All this mental gymnastics happened during the brief moment before Ross fired again.
Jordan's plan involved ignoring the pain. But he discovered that that was impossible. The pain from his newest gunshot wound was fresh, and just as painful. It was his right foot, exactly at the ankle.
Jordan squealed.
Ross smiled.
His captain frowned.
"I get the feeling that you're enjoying this, Sergeant Ross."
"Oh golly! What gave that away?"
He fired again. Then he reloaded his gun and fired again. Particularly aiming at non-vital spots on Jordan's body, so that the poor boy would remain alive to feel all the pain and suffering.
At this point, Jordan was barely conscious. He could hardly remember anything from his plan, all he thought of was the pain.
'It hurts'
"This is too much."
"You were the one who said we could kill him, right cap?"
"Just shoot him in the head already. End it."
"But it's just begun. It's not every day I get live targets for practice. Also, sir if I may add, this young man is a magician. He's one of the main reasons why this whole nation is going to shit, tell me why making him suffer doesn't benefit us."
"It doesn't benefit anybody."
"It does. I helps to show an example for anyone who dares to cross the Queen. Also, it's fun."
"You're sick."
Ross was reloading his gun, as he replied.
"I know, that's why I joined the army. To have fun killing people."
Jordan tapped into his Knowledge, desperately searching for some kind of healing magic.
He found what he was searching for.
'Please work.'
And then he recited it with the Words of Magic -language of the spirits- under his breath.
"Spirits of blood, flesh and bone, fill me with your substance, and by the authority of the book of magic, feed on my broken parts, while replacing them with new ones forged by your Power all in exchange for Power greater than that which you possess."(Words of Magic)
While reciting it, he extended his power to Quill, to draw the spell diagram on his chest, using his blood as the ink.
"Body replacement."
The spell was complete, and the spell diagram shone with Power.
He felt the presence of the 'spirits' around his body. He couldn't explain how that feeling was. It wasn't exactly pleasant. But it was something he had never felt before.
He also felt even more excruciating pain from the healing, that he did from the actual injuries.
He forced himself to ignore it. He didn't succeed.
"Aaaaah!!!" Jordan yelled.
Ross frowned.
"Would you look at that. Soft red light coming from his chest. It's hard to spot from over here, since he has his chest downwards. But he's actually glowing. Which means, it's a good idea to do this." He said those words as he positioned his gun again, waiting. The captain didn't respond to him.
Soon, Jordan could feel his body slowly coming back to normal. The pain stopped abruptly, and he was left gasping.
Ross didn't show it, but he was wary of magic. For all he knew, the red light could mean anything, he didn't want to take any chances by interrupting whatever spell he was casting.
The moment the light stopped glowing, Ross would pull the trigger. But this time, Jordan was ready.
'Magic symbol - explode'
'A spell casted without the need for chants. Not a command to spirits or a request. But a force that gathers spirits of fire and heat in one particular location, and instantly releases them and all the accumulated momentum in a explosion when the symbol changes in a certain way. The main weakness of the spell is the diagram having to be drawn on the target. Thankfully Quill can draw things alot faster that I normally can. I just have to think.'
'Now!' Jordan held his quill up and literally screamed the spell in his mind.
The symbol drew itself with Jordan's blood on Ross' hand.
"Hope you can regenerate!"
In the split second before Ross pulled the trigger, his right hand exploded.
Now it was his turn to scream.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit" Ross repeated over and over again. The captain readied his gun. But he was also too late, The symbol was drawn on his chest. The explode magic symbol was drawn on all their chests.
Jordan picked himself up, and tried to look intimidating.
"You should think twice before shooting at me."
Jordan watched their response.
"You see.. the kid's a demon!"
"Shut up, Calvin. You're a full grown man, act like one!"
"Shit,shit, shit.."
The Captain frowned.
"What do you want?"
"The Queen, where is she?"
"I'm sorry, I can't tell you."
"But, I could kill you." Jordan bluffed. Killing someone- even a stranger - felt wrong to him. Of course, when it comes to people like Hunter and the Queen, that's a different story. To Jordan, anyone who would murder a child didn't qualify as a human being.
"If you can, go ahead. It's not possible for me, or any of us for that matter to tell you exactly where she is."
"Why?"
"She made us swear. We can't disobey her, because of her magic."
Somehow, something about the way he said it made Jordan believe him.
"Thanks. Really. I'll just keep those things on you. The fire spirits shouldn't hurt you unless I release them from the diagram. And I'm not doing so unless you try to hurt me. Rest assured, once I'm safe from you, those things will be gone."
"That's fair enough."
The Mage didn't hang around. He left the scene, heading towards the only open door - the one marked CENTRAL CITY.
"Central is the capital of Pridon. That's where the queen should be."
Jordan felt like he wasn't ready.
'It would be stupid to just rush in without a plan.'
He decided that his best option would be learning spells, by focusing on his Knowledge.
And that was exactly what he did.
He started committing spells to memory, but he soon discovered that there were too many spells to completely remember at once. He decided to write them down using Quill- turning his journal into some kind of spellbook.
It was exhausting labour, and after about half an hour of that he still hadn't written down up to 1/100th of the spells in his Knowledge.
'If this is just a small part of what magic is, then what's the full thing?'
Jordan rearranged the spells in his spellbook/Journal manipulating the ink using Quill. He made sure to classify the spells according to their uses so that it was easier to use later.
But he still thought he wasn't ready.
'I could just stay here, and learn as many spells as I can. But I think staying here may pose it's own risks."
He looked at the door marked WEIDSON one last time.
'There is no going back at this point. Full dive down the rabbit hole'
And then he walked through the portal/door into CENTRAL CITY.
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Meanwhile, at that moment,
In Central city, Pridon.
"Seer, you predicted this as well, didn't you?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Then did you see the outcome, will he survive?
"I didn't sir. Whether he lives or dies is a future that would require more resources to look into"
"Then don't do it,then."
"What shall I do, your Majesty?"
"Nothing. I shall send a small servant to deal with him. We'll guage his strength and see if he can be useful."
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