A flawless tune echoes throughout the room as the kettle in front of them starts to shake. Cyrzana is pleased with Lyssa’s natural ability to pick up what she taught her so quickly.
“The metal’s heating up”, the succubus exclaims. “You’re doing really well! Now, make it louder without changing your frequency. It should have a bigger effect on the metal.”
The siren nods and follows her command. Her volume goes up. The red hot metal shakes more intensely and turns white. Her success breaks her concentration and she coughs, cancelling the spell’s effect and rapidly cooling down the metal.
“Fuck.” She coughs again, louder. “I need to keep my focus or else I can’t use this in combat. It’s too risky if I can’t control it.”
Cyrzana nods.
“But when you are fully in control, you can be devastating. You can burn the hands of anyone wielding a sword and cook everyone wearing metal armor.”
Lyssa widens her eyes.
“Wow”, she whispers, “that’s kind of gruesome.”
“But effectively painful, I suppose.”
They hear Dargothoth's voice and turn around. The cleric walks up to them and his shadow falls over them.
“Lyssa, do you remember when we were in the Way of Woods? With the gnoll shaman?”
She nods.
“Of course I remember him. He nearly made us permanently deaf with that explosion of sound he created. When it’s very quiet, I still think I can hear an annoying ringing in the back of my head.”
Dargothoth feels the same way about it. He also remembers the pain, the feeling his head was going to burst.
“Well, I think it might be wise if you tried to practice something similar to that”, he says and an ominous smile appears on his face. “You have seen him do it. I think you could try to recreate it with your voice. It’s sonic magic after all.”
The siren turns to her teacher.
“Do you know what spell we’re talking about? It was as if the air around us exploded with a thundering noise. He used his hand to cast the spell, but maybe it's possible to use my voice instead?”
Cyrzana takes a few steps back and points at a window. She moans with her mouth closed and they can hear the glass rattling in its frame. She opens her mouth and releases a very short but ear-deafening shout. The two spectators can feel the trembling inside their own bodies. The window shatters into hundreds of tiny pieces and after they all fall on the ground with a jingling sound, all the noise disappears.
“You mean something like that?” The succubus smiles and shrugs her shoulders. “Yeah, I think I can teach you that.”
With Lyssa practising her newly acquired skills somewhere in the background, Dargothoth finally has the time to sit down and ask Cyrzana the question he wanted to ask her since they met.
“Do you know what this is?”
In his hand he holds the amulet he took off Simion’s corpse. The most prominent decoration on the golden talisman are the five red symbols, all unknown to him.
“Where did you get this?” She sounds surprised and she looks at the object with a concerned stare. She takes it and he lets her.
“This isn’t even supposed to be in this plane or any other plane but Abaddon. Please, tell me.”
He feels like she is going to tell him something he wants to know, something he can use. Hopefully, it will bring him power.
“There was this group of cultists who stole one of the Beholder’s mirrors. He had this around his neck and used it to summon a demon.” As he tells her this, she looks up. “He used an incantation to do so. He had it on the paper I took off his corpse and I memorized it during the short moments of rest we had. It goes like this: Maka’an eratu neghep-”
“Stop! Don’t finish that sentence. I know how it goes.”
She clenches her jaw. Dargothoth can read the tension off of her face.
“You can’t say that here. I would rather you don’t say it at all, anywhere. Calling upon an unknown demon is unwise. That thing doesn’t give you control over whatever you might bring into this world. So, don’t. Also, I don’t think our host can handle another guest.”
He smirks without making a sound and taps on the amulet a few times.
“Fine, I will not say it, for now, but can you at least tell me something else about it? Do you know what these symbols mean? Tell me something I can use.”
Cyrzana runs her fingers across its surface, feeling the shallow notches underneath her fingertips.
“I don’t recognize all symbols, but I most certainly know what these two mean.” She holds up the amulet and rests her index finger on one of the symbols. “This sigil is often referred to as the Mark. Other demons call it the Cursed or Curser. It’s used by occult groups to mark their territory. They are most often drawn on temples or near graveyards, marking them unsafe and making them a home for those who practise necromancy. They seek the answers to the questions how to escape death and become immortal. Some advisors of my mother’s court thought it was all part of something bigger. I was still looking into that when I got exiled.”
She looks him straight in the eyes.
“If someone were to seek power without worrying about the means to get it, this is an easy way.” She whispers, but she makes sure the priest can hear everything clearly. “A very dangerous way, but an easy one. Do you understand what I’m saying, Dargothoth? I’m saying the Mark will give you anything you have been longing for.”
His eyes widen and he feels a rush running through his body.
“And where would I find these Cursers? Are they in your city?”
She shakes her head.
“I don’t know their location, but every town or city has a temple or graveyard. Every region has some demons who practise the occult arts. But it doesn’t matter, right? You are smart enough to not go looking for trouble?”
They smile at each other.
“Of course”, Dargothoth says slowly and ominously. “Why would I do that?”
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten