Once Eliot felt confident enough in the hand exercises that was illustrated in the book, (The book says daily practice is a must, but he can remember all the simple moves.) he thought he was ready to move on to the actual magic. He was of course wrong, it never occurred to him that humans didn't have an innate mana pool or anything that would allow them to wield or utilise magic.

If they wanted to wield magic they would have to unlock it within themselves or have someone else unlock it, it explains that every creature can have their magic unlocked through many different magical methods such as rituals or sacrifice even tattooing yourself with magical script can do it; The book calls it ‘recludam’. The downfall is that a sudden burst of magic can kill the recipient literally burning them from the inside out until there's nothing but ashes, but the chances of that happening are slim. ‘Well fuck, they should really put that on the front of the book or something.”

It also mentions that you should choose your method wisely. Each recludam has requirements after you succeed, in order to further your magical capabilities you would need to train and fulfill the prerequisites to strengthen your magic. For example, the book of Tut requires you to take the life of a living being with an enchanted weapon of your making releasing its star (soul?) and then you have to guide it inside your ‘Stargate’, The more you accumulate the more your magical prowess increases.

So apparently the book of Tut was used by large groups of fanatics who sacrificed lives in order to strengthen their magic. This was not expected, Eliot never assumed that the contents of the book would get so grim, then again if thralls counted as living beings then he shouldn't have a problem he already killed at least a dozen of them; not that he enjoyed it.

‘So in order to use magic you need to unlock it inside of yourself, so what about all of the abilities. Most of them seem like magic, so how can people just use them off the bat?’ Eliot thought to himself, he knew that question is going to be on his mind for a while now; but he didn't have any answers so he dismissed it for now and continued reading.

Luckily the ritual did not require any loss of life, what it did require though was a lot of time. The ritual by itself would last at least two hours of hand movements and deep meditative breathing; helping your mind align with the natural world forcing you to feel the magical particles that's all around us. ‘If I haven't seen the things i've seen today or if I wasn't currently in my mind. I would think this was a bunch of crap, but now it's hard not to believe.’

Eliot spent the next twenty hours memorizing and practicing the ritual over and over again; luckily fatigue did not exist in his mind. It was still gruelling work, there where so many different hand movements and subtle interlocking of the fingers that you couldn't mess up or the whole ritual would be void. He was sure that each hand sign actually meant something, like he was speaking sign language or a more complex version of it at least.

In the beginning it was hard remembering certain sequences, but after a few hours it felt less awkward and more like dancing. He started matching certain hand positions to the background music that was always playing in his head. It was incredibly hard but at the same time fun and thrilling. After a while, time just flew by and he was getting most of the signs right, he had to take multiple breaks to let his arms and hands rest but the pain would quickly fade and he would be right back at it.

Once his rate of success was to the point where his mistakes didn't matter, he got ready to leave his mind. He couldn't do the ritual inside here because he needed to interact with the magic outside for it to work. Eliot dreaded this moment, the last time he left his mind he was overwhelmed by fear from the ‘silence’ he was hoping that was a one time thing; but deep down he know it's still out there watching him.

He took a deep breath preparing himself for the inevitable, once he was ready he turned everything off, this time it was instant, the silence instantly engulfed him in its shadowy vestige. He opened his eyes and he was back in the small apartment with Anubis resting his head on his chest. Eliot’s chest was rising up and down rather quickly, he was having trouble breathing but it faded as the panic subsided. ‘Holy shit, how is someone supposed to get used to that?’

Eliot got up and rubbed his tired eyes when he looked up he noticed how dark the room was, he couldn't do the ritual in here there was just not enough light. He decided he would do it on the rooftop where they first saw that person in front of the fire; hopefully they kept it burning. He slowly crept out of the apartment, with Anubis right behind him; it was incredibly difficult finding the staircase to the rooftop in the absolute darkness.

Once he made it up to the rooftop he spotted the fire that was still burning bright, he looked around for the person who waved at him and Thomas. He didn't see anyone so he prepared himself for the long arduous ritual, he first took off his boots resting his bare feet on the cold damp floor. It sent a small shiver up his spine, he almost forgot how cold it can get at night. He then took off his shirt, letting the cold breeze instantly harden his nipples. ‘Fuck it's cold.’

He looked over at Anubis to give him a fair warning that this would probably take long when he took a double take. Anubis looked like he's been hitting the gym, he grew in height and in bulk gaining a more vicious looking physique; not by much but it was noticeable. This is all just from 100 points, if Eliot said he wasn't impressed he would lying. He gave him another once over before turning back to the ritual.

Eliot sat crossed legged next to the fire feeling it’s warmth warm his very bones, the fire flickered in the night's breeze casting moving shadows and an eerie light throughout the rooftop. ‘Perfect for some magic rituals’ Eliot thought as he drew his dagger from its sheath and began poking holes in each of his finger tips, small droplets of blood began to appear on each of his fingers; he took a deep breath and held it in for twenty seconds before he commenced the ritual.

Eliot started off slow, releasing small breaths of oxygen with every successful sequence. After he ran out of the initial air intake he began to hum the melody that continuously plays in his head to keep him in rhythm with the hand movements. The cold breeze coupled with the hot fire next to him kept him oddly comfortable and before he knew it he was moving faster and faster, feeling more comfortable with the movements. The blood on his finger tips were leaving trails of blood on his hands and arms at first it seemed random with no purpose but they were beginning to look like geometric designs of all shapes and sizes.

Thirty minutes into the ritual, Eliot's fingertips emitted a faint glow, he felt like his hands were being engulfed in warm water, it soothed the aches and muscle fatigue he was beginning to feel. He kept at it with new vigor, seeing magic actually happening in front of his very eyes, and him doing it himself gave him an all new appreciation to the art.

An hour in the glow from his fingers began to spread from his fingertips into the now dry blood that was coating his entire hands becoming the geometric designs the lower on the forearm it went stopping at the elbows. Eliot was still humming and trying to feel the magic around him, he knew it was there he just couldn't feel it yet. All of a sudden the dimly lit blood flashed brightly and then began to dissolve into his skin.

Eliot let out a scream as the blood began to burn its way inside of his arms, he wanted to just stop the ritual at that point but he came way too far to quit now he was so close. He slowed down his pace afraid that the pain will fuck him up. He was sweating bullets now, his hair was sticking close to his scalp and forehead, the blood was now gone only leaving his pale arms to do its work.

Close to the two hour mark he was close to giving up, the soothing magic he felt before was gone and his arms have been heavy for at least thirty minutes now. He was about to just quit and call it a night when he finally saw it, it looked like glowing dust just hovering in the air everywhere. There was a multitude of colors intermingling with one another, the second he noticed it he felt a deep burning sensation in his heart. His heart beat disappeared and it began to vibrate rapidly.

Eliot fell to the floor clutching his chest as the seizure overtook him, he was foaming at the mouth in the fetal position and his limbs were going cold. His heart only vibrated faster and faster as time went on sending jolts of agonizing pain throughout his entire body. He felt like molten lava was running through his veins burning new channels and destroying old ones, he couldn't take the pain anymore and blacked out.

***

Thomas awoke to the beams of light that made its way into the small dingy apartment, it took him a few seconds to figure out where he was. He looked to the left of him and noticed that someone was under the sheets with him, he quickly got out of the bed and tried to leave.

“Hey there rockstar, you going to make me some breakfast?” Came an unfamiliar female voice.

Thomas slowly turned around to see a black haired girl, with hazel eyes staring at him.

“Do I know you?” Thomas asked hesitantly

“What, you can't remember my name at least your other friend was a gentlemen he was a bit ruff in the beginning but nice enough towards the end. You must be one of the bad boy's, mum always told me to stay away from the bad boys.” Genesis said with a playful smile.

Thomas was confused he didn't remember talking or doing anything else to her last night, he just collapsed on the bed and was out like a light or atleast thats what he thought. He didn't show it as much as Eliot did, but he was completely exhausted from yesterday's fight; that's why he was so insistent on meeting these people. Genesis started laughing seeing Thomas’s confusion.

“I’m fucking with you mate, the names Genesis. Eliot let me stay over, didn't even ask him too but he insisted, he must like me. What's your name?” Genesis gushed out her words, Thomas couldn't understand how someone spoke so much so quickly.

“...Thomas”

“You two brothers or something?” She shot back quickly

“No, barely even know each other.” Thomas replied honestly

“How’d you two meet?”

“Long story, look I need to take a piss and check up with Eliot. So you can go back to sleep if you want.” Thomas said quickly leaving the room, way too many questions for this early in the morning on a full bladder. He walked into the living room only to see it vacant, he checked the other room and it was the same.

“Must have left early.” Came Genesis’s voice

Before Thomas could reply the front door slowly creaked open, Eliot looked like he was trying to sneak back inside the flat with Anubis without alerting anyone. He looked paler than yesterday and he didn't have a shirt or any shoes on, he couldn’t see them because they were out of his line of sight. After closing the door he collapsed into the couch muttering to himself.

“..Who the fuck steals clothes from someone while they're passed out, the fucking prick.”