Spellscribed: Provenance

by Kristopher Cruz

  Endrance quietly chanted as he cast one of the more simple spells. Upon finishing he held up a fist and opened his hand, and the brilliant white light of his light spell flooded out from a seemingly infinitely small speck. He flicked his wrist and it flit up into the dark, to hover over her head just like he had done for the soldiers when he fought the goblins.

  With the tiny beacon of light hovering over her head, Selene continued her ascent. She found that when she reached the center of the door there was a strange depression in the face of it, with a blood red gem the size of a person's head set in it. Around the rim was a ring of ancient script, and two fist sized yellow gems, one on either side of the large one. “I found something!” Selene called.

  “What is it?” Endrance called.

  “It’s some kind of gemstone seal.” Selene said, examining it. “I can't read it of course, but it seems simple.” She relayed the symbols that she saw in order from the top around in a clockwise fashion.

  “It says only someone who has the blood of Rothel can open this door unhindered.” Endrance said at last, having done the translation in his head. “So, hopefully one of you has the blood of Rothel in you.”

  Joven shrugged. “Well, I might. My families’ bloodline began during the years of Rothel's reign.”

  Anna and Bridget shook their heads. “Nay,” Bridget said. My family came from Betton, two days ride north of Mount Balator. And Anna came from yet another border town.”

  “Well I still think you four are the best choice we have.” he said. “If Joven's blood doesn't work, then one of yours might.”

  Anna raised a brow. “And if none of ours works?”

  Endrance shrugged, while inclining his head towards the door. “Then we probably will have to come back again once I’ve figured out how to do that.”

  Joven raised a hand up. “So how are we getting our blood up there, and how much do we need to give?”

  Endrance dug into his satchel and produced a piece of cloth which he tore into four strips. “We should just need enough for it to touch the sphere in the center. Here, take a strip and soak some of your blood in it. But it has to be enough to stay wet until it touches the sphere.”

  Joven frowned. “Why?”

  Endrance handed him a strip. “It has to do with blood sacrifice. Fresh blood carries a small portion of you in it. A small portion of your magical energy as well. But as it dries, the easily attained essence of you also dries out, until it’s pretty much worthless.”

  Joven pulled a dagger and used it to cut a slice into his palm. He held the strip wadded up in his hand as his blood trickled into the cloth. “If that's so, then why did you have all the stuff that had your dried blood on it burned, instead of just washed off after the assassination attempt?”

  Endrance handed the other two strips to Anna and Bridget. “Because,” he explained, “Even though it is dried out, blood still has power. A skilled enough necromancer can draw your essence out of the dried blood, and use it not only to cast spells on you that you cannot defend against, but it's even rumored that they can learn your darkest secrets, or even gain some of your power by consuming it.”

  “Necromancers?” Bridget asked, carefully nicking her hand against her weapon. “I never heard of them doing that before.”

  “Hope you never do!” the young mage exclaimed. “Necromancers perform all kinds of dark and illegal magic.”

  Joven frowned. “What makes necromancy so bad?”

  Endrance shook his head. “It’s pretty complicated. Magic is about potential, while necromancy is a form of stagnancy.” The mage shuddered. “Necromancers use their magic to gain power, no matter what it costs them or more preferably, others. They perform dark rituals, sacrifice innocent lives, steal souls to power vile experiments, and some have even tried to steal power from the old gods.”

  Joven sighed, handing the bloodied rag to Endrance. The young mage collected the other two as Joven muttered. “Well, there's yet one more thing I have to figure out how to kill.”

  Endrance quickly cast the levitation spell, floating the first blood soaked rag to her.

  “That's Joven's.” he said.

  She took the wadded bloody cloth, and wiped it across the crimson gem's smooth surface, smearing some of the barbarian's blood across it. The door rumbled, and one of the two yellow gems glowed with an inner fire. But the second did not light, nor did the door open. Selene looked down at Endrance, puzzled. “Maybe the bloodline's too diluted?” she asked.

  Endrance frowned. “Well we have no choice but to try someone else blood. How about you Selene? What about your bloodline?”

  Selene shook her head. “I don't know. I was orphaned when I was an infant. All they could trace back was my totem animal.”

  Endrance sighed, “Well, pick one of the others then, and hope it works!”

  Selene looked at the two cloths, and then down at her fellow Keepers. They looked up at her expectantly. “Which one of us?” she asked.

  Anna shrugged. “Why not yours?” she asked. “We know we aren't the right lineage, but you might be.” She looked at Bridget, who nodded. “Give it a try.” Bridget called.

  Selene looked at them a moment more, then nodded, more to affirm it to herself than to acknowledge it. Carefully cutting her left hand with her blade, she hesitated a few seconds, her open palm hovering over the crimson gem.

  “Go ahead, Selene.” Endrance encouraged. “There's nothing wrong if it doesn't work.”

  Selene pressed her hand against the gem, hoping desperately that her blood was indeed the right lineage. She felt a strange sensation pass through her body, starting at the top of her head, and rushing down her body, through her arm and into her palm, but then it was gone.

  At first it seemed that it had worked, for the second yellow gem lit up and the door started shuddering in its frame. Selene smiled for a moment, but that vanished the instant that the door stopped and the two yellow gems went dark. A dull, steadily beating red light pulsed through the gem in the center. Something warmer seemed to pulse through Selene's body as she stared into the red light.

  The skeleton she was perched on twitched. Selene seemed not to notice as it started to creak. Several of the skeletons began to shift, and twist, and move of their own accord. Selene was thrown off her perch, and dropped only a few feet before she landed in the arms of a skeleton which had reached out and caught her. Her eyes stared blankly at the terror as it pulled her in, its mouth clattering.

  A scream, as clear as a clarion rang through the dark depths.

  Endrance saw the trap trigger, and knew he had to act fast or else Selene would be killed. He quickly started casting a spell, his chanting out of sync with the clattering of metal bones. He plucked the silver knife from his belt and released the spell, the magic propelling it like a shot. After having time to refine the spell, it was far more accurate than before; it didn’t even backlash his hand as the knife spun through the air and impacted with the skull of the skeleton holding her. The knife recoiled, spinning off into the dark, with the tip chipped and the blade bent.

  The skeleton silently recoiled, dropping Selene. She tumbled down the still struggling to move skeletons, and landed on the walkway with a hard thud. Bridget dashed over to her, grabbing her by the arm. Dragging the still limp girl away from the door, she readied her heavy blade. The two standing Keepers took position in front of Selene and Endrance and were ready for the attack.

  The skeletons writhed in the door, and they watched in horror as the iron bones began pulling themselves out of its surface as if they had only been submerged in sand. The first skeleton landed on the stone walkway with a loud Krang of thick metal hitting stone, and the dread thing stood, its eyeless stare focused on the group of five before it. Several more of the things landed shortly afterward, easily numbering five to their one.

  “Uh, Endrance?” Joven called. “I don't have a weapon that can cut steel!” he cried. “Stay back there! It's safer for you!”

  The
young mage watched as Joven struck the first skeleton with a hand ax, whose handle shattered under the force of the blow, barely knocking the iron horror back. “Shit!” he shouted. “These things are hard!”

  Bridget and Anna worked together, a pair of beautiful warriors in action. Anna parried clumsy striking hands with her shield and knocked yet others out of the way with her short spear, while Bridget's weapon chopped in powerful arcs, thudding into skeletal iron and cracking limbs, severing some of the thinner bones. But the fight would not last long. Anna could only defend so long, and Bridget's weapon was already nicked and dinged badly from striking only a few of the attackers.

  Joven resorted to wrestling maneuvers, grabbing a skeleton and trying to wrench it out over the edge of the walkway. His strength was the only advantage he had; even though he could toss one over the edge another would enter the space the prior had left behind.

  Endrance had no spells strong enough to destroy that many creatures, and he wouldn't be much help if he joined into the melee himself. He drew his dagger, with one last desperate ploy. Perhaps the magic in my blood is strong enough to confuse the trap. He thought. If they target only me, I buy them time to take Selene and retreat. He quickly slashed at his palm, wincing as his knife dug deeper than necessary. His blood welled up in his palm, and he snapped his hand at the door as he cast the propulsion spell, flinging a spatter of his life’s blood at the ruby gem.

  The bloody spray splashed across the door, from yellow gem to yellow gem. The effect was almost immediate. The crimson gem went dull, and the two yellow gems lit up brighter than before, their flame burning at the inside of the gems like they were trying to escape.

  The skeletons stopped in unison mid combat, one of which had a bony iron hand around Anna's neck. The iron sentinels of the portal shuddered as one, turning their backs to the defenders, and marching back to the door. One by one they walked right into the iron surface, and it accepted them as if it were a vertical wall of water.

  The walkway was soon empty of all but the five on the walkway. The iron door's surface was smooth, unblemished. The yellow gems in the door shone brightly. The door began a slow, grinding descent as it sank into the floor. The door sank all the way out of sight, stopping as the lip of it lie flush with the floor. Darkness waited beyond the door, but it did not loom out from the opened portal nor did it disgorge more horrors for them to battle.

  The young mage stooped to a knee and examined Selene, who was still lying limp on the stone. Her breathing was regular, but she stared directly ahead as if she were looking at something far away. Her hair spilled across the floor like a puddle, the gleam of the light spell giving her hair's black color an almost violet sheen. He stared into her eyes, calling her name as he held her. He wasn't sure what had happened to her from the fall, but something was wrong with her.

  She didn't hit her head. He concluded, thinking back. Remembering those critical moments right before the fight began he realized that she had not fallen off because she had been shaken, but rather she had fallen off because she suddenly went slack. Maybe the trap in the door did something to her. He noticed then that in the light of the spell her black eyes also appeared to be red. No, her eyes were red, and her hair had in fact turned violet. It wasn't a trick of lighting. The pupils of her eyes were disturbingly square.

  Selene murmured something as Endrance continued to call her name “Selene!” he whispered. “Selene! Come back to me! Selene!” He held her with both hands and wished that there was a better way to help her, but he could do nothing but call her name.

  She blinked once, twice, and her eyes came into focus. They were black and round again. “Endrance!” she whispered faintly. “What happened?” she sat up, and her hair was its normal color.

  Endrance shook his head, helping her to stand. “I don't know. I saw you touch the gem, and then right as the trap went off you just... fainted.”

  She held her head with a hand. She shook her head after a moment. “I don't know what happened,” she began. “I felt this weird...energy flow out of me, and then suddenly it was if I wasn't even there with you all.” she looked haunted. “There was this fire, and I felt very hot. And there was this horrible smell, and I think I heard someone laughing in the distance while dozens of other voices moaned.”

  Endrance looked at her quizzically. “Do you remember the smell? Was it like rotten eggs, or like rotted flesh?” he had a bad feeling that he knew the answer already. Things he had observed about her before were tumbling into place, and the information she just relayed was related to some of the research he had done while examining the summoning circle they had found.

  She nodded, her face contorted as if she couldn't get the smell off her tongue. “Yes.” she said. “It smelled kind of like rotten eggs, but worse and it burned at my nose.”

  Endrance hung his head with a sigh, his heart plummeting. “Well,” he said. “I figured out what happened.” he concluded morosely.

  Selene looked at him until he lifted his head, and met his eyes. “What?” she asked.

  “The door reacted to a presence it didn’t want to get through it.” Endrance stated. “There was something in your blood that made the enchantment on the door think you were an intruder.”

  She stared at him as he explained, not understanding. “I don’t understand.” She said weakly. “What is so different about me that it would do nothing for Joven but attack me?”

  Endrance looked up at the other three who stood around the young man, and they were also paying attention to what he was saying. He closed his eyes and willed himself to state his theory.

  “You feel agitated around me despite your feelings for me, you have an affinity for nighttime activities; you practice when you think we’re asleep and won’t notice. You have an unconscious allure that I can hardly resist. Your eyes and hair changed color during your vision. Have you ever been sick?” Endrance expounded.

  Selene shook her head. “Not very often. Usually I only get sick for half a day if I do.”

  Endrance breathed deeply. “And have you ever been injured?”

  Selene nodded. “Yes, of course. We train with real weapons as we get better as Keepers.”

  The young mage knew the next question to ask. “I can guess that you keep the bandages on longer than you really need to don’t you? You get better faster than many of your sister Draugnoa?”

  She frowned. “I…” she trailed off, looking up at her fellow Keepers. Anna and Bridget looked at her as if to say ‘go on’. She gulped, but answered.

  “Yes.” She admitted. “I usually got better fast, but everyone else took a long time and I didn’t want to stand out, so I pretended I was still hurt.” She looked down at the ground. “Sometimes I would have to hurt myself again when the healers came to change my bandages.”

  The young mage ran his hands through his hair. He had finally put together the last pieces of the puzzle. Now her unconscious animosity towards him made sense. It wasn’t her fault; it was just instinct. He didn’t know how to tell her.

  “I’m so sorry that you found out like this, Selene,” Endrance stated, “You are a Nephilim.”

  “A what?” Selene exclaimed, glaring at Endrance.

  Endrance, your spell is half-expired. Gullin advised him.

  The young mage inclined his head to her, and turned to start walking to the open portal. “If we’re going to discuss this we need to keep moving.” The rest picked up their weapons and followed. He walked over the threshold as he spoke, his pace remaining clipped and quick.

  “Nephilim is the term for someone who is descended from the pairing of a mortal and a being from another realm. Records say they can be half angel, demon, pretty much half any being that lives in another realm.” He explained. “Your signs that you have shown point to demonic in origin.”

  Anna and Bridget flanked him, but Selene pushed past so she could look her Spengur in the face. “Half demon!” she shouted. “You're accusing me of being half demon! That's impossi
ble!” her eyes flashed angrily, and for a split second Endrance could see the red in her eyes again. She walked backwards slowly as she stared him in the eyes.

  Endrance looked her in the eye, his pace slowing only slightly. “Selene, I know the signs. I have seen the traces, and that is what you are. We really should save this discussion for later and finish what we’re doing.” his voice was gentle, but firm.

  Selene's face screwed up, and she turned forwards again, and only the darkness could see the tears on her face as she stalked alongside Joven as the tunnel beyond the door got smaller. The stone looked smooth cut, polished at one point, and even had ornate torch brackets set into the walls, though the wood of said torches had long since corroded. The tunnel eventually shrank into a passage, just tall enough that Joven could reach up and touch the ceiling, and only wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Silence reigned between the group for moments as they moved further down.

  “What I want to know is,” Bridget commented as she fell behind Anna and Endrance, “Why on earth did they bother with such a huge door, if there only was a small passage beyond it?” She gestured with her free hand, which went unseen since she was in the rear. “Was it even necessary?”

  Endrance shrugged. “I would guess ego.” he said. “Though, I suppose the door behind us was a safeguard; perhaps a challenge as well. To protect the tomb from people who would take their possessions, just like us.”

  “Oh yeah!” Joven blurted, turning to Endrance and almost knocking Selene in the head with his torch as he pivoted. “How did you stop the trap? You couldn't have been of the right bloodline.”

  The young mage looked confused, holding up his hands and shrugging. “I have no idea. I hoped that my blood was magically charged enough to draw their attention away from you. Then I could have led them away while you figured out how to deal with them.” he prodded Joven, and the barbarian resumed walking. “I didn't expect it to stop the trap entirely.” Anna noticed the blood slash in his hand and grabbed it, tending to the wound as they walked. Endrance had almost forgotten the stinging pain, but it came back as she bound the injury.