Chapter 21

“...”

“...”

“......”

“Urgh this is taking forever! You’ve been at this for hours now…” (A/N more like months Lisa hahahaha...haah).

Lisa’s frustrated voice reverberated inside my eardrums as I sat cross legged in front of Walburga’s roaring fireplace. The delicate edges of the tome rustled as they flipped to reveal what was written on the subsequent pages.

Amazing...there is a spell for just about everything. From everyday sorcery to more sinister and deadly enchantments it is all here. I noticed a few recurring symbols next to certain spells, unlike the spells themselves, these symbols were not translated. I wonder what they meant?

Although this book listed and referenced a wide variety of magic, there was nothing written about how to cast it. It just listed the spell itself, written in what I could only imagine were runes, along with a small translation of what spell it was and its effect. Memorising the layout of the runes and translation was easy enough, but I could not imagine how I was going to bring these spells to life.

Like Lisa said a good few hours had passed and I was reaching the halfway mark with the tome. Walburga had dozed off a while back and I could hear the gentle hum her crooked nose made when air passed in and out of it.

The further I progressed, in the book, the lengthier the runes displayed next to a spell became. There was a distinct difference between the various symbols and the runes. Runes would always appear next to a spell’s translations but the symbols would only show next to a select spell here and there.

From simple observation, I could tell that the runes were a written reflection of whatever language this book was originally in, however the symbols were more like a formula, they somehow reminded me of Gladus’s arithmetic lessons from my village school days.

More time passed and soon complete immersion in the task at hand superseded my discovery of the distinction between the runes and the symbols. On another note, Lisa had finally decided to turn in, her heartbeat and breathing synchronised and I could spot her out of the corner of my eye. She had managed to pull up an empty chair and nestled herself close to the crackling fireplace. It seems like the so called “void” was a no go for her, even when she was asleep.

The warm hue of the fireplace sparkled on her clear skin as she slept. The pressure that was exerted by her when she stared daggers into me with her sharp expression was now a distant memory. Vulnerable is how I’d describe her now. My heart melted as I attempted to burn the image of her defenceless demeanour from the corner of one eye, while keeping the other firmly on the task of text memorisation.

Another few hours passed and the thin yellowed parched pages became increasingly thinner. It would only take a few more minutes to finish reading this book. The last few spells were superseded by pages worth of runes, they were spells that would cause natural disasters on a whim and it looked like they were more than a one warlock job. In fact from the translation, I could tell that you would need a specific Bane to even think about casting them.

I finally turned the last page, committed it to memory and gently closed the book. Almost with complete continuity, Walburga awoke when the front and the back of the book met. Lisa’s eyes also flickered, she used her hand to rub away the fatigue in her eyes and her patented pressured poise returned as soon as our eyes met for a split second.

“*yawn* So you’re finished boy? A lot quicker than I thought”

“Thanks master!”

“Master huh? Hah, I like the sound of that”

Walburga’s mouth contorted to reveal her sharp fanged teeth.

“Master, I have memorised this tome, however it feels like something is missing when it comes to these spells, the book doesn’t show me how to cast them, just what runes and symbols are linked to the casting OF them.

“*cackle* You catch on quick boy, it seems that Cassie’s loins were not wasted when giving life to you.”

I put what Walburga said about my mother’s loins to one side for a moment and waited for an explanation...

“Eh? What is the meaning of this you old crone!?”

“Quit you!”

They only just woke up and they were already at each other’s throats, it felt like these two were never going to see eye to eye.

“Now now you two, is there a reason why you asked me to memorise this book master?”

“Hah...Boy! When you combine the runes and symbol for the water element, what do you get?”

“Huh?”

“Answer the question!”

I thought back to the chapter on water magic from the book and pictured the runes and symbol for the water element, if we were talking about simple water then it was pretty straightforward, it wasn’t too difficult to understand it’s makeup. In fact it was interesting to learn that you needed to infuse two separate forms of wind or air element to forge it.

"H2O...Its H2O."

“Excellent…”

Walburga grinned like a cheshire cat, then in an instant she raised her right arm, formed a blade shaped jet of water and fired it directly at me. There was no time for me to react, the cottage itself was small and there was only a short distance between where Walbuga lurked and I stood. From the corner of my eye I spotted Lisa attempt to come between the ever approaching sharpened stream and my motionless frame, however it seemed like something was holding her in place, was it Walburga? Despite my predicament...I did not feel afraid, if anything there was a part of me that found this whole situation somewhat amusing.

Almost on instinct I raised my left hand and directed it toward the water, I combined the runes and symbol for the water element in my head again and focused on the blade, right before the blade sliced my left arm in half...it vanished. I could feel it, it was me, I made it vanish, no...it wasn’t completely gone, it was gone but…

Walburga laughed maniacally and Lisa sighed deeply, but the show was not over yet, far from it.

I stepped forward and raised my right arm, I directed my hand toward Walburga and shouted

“Water blade!”

The same water blade that Walburga fired at me reappeared, no, it was the same blade, but it was much sharper, the water element within the blade felt heavier and purer than before. I marvelled at my creation for a split second and then noticed Walburga and Lisa’s expression, for the first time they both seemed to be on the same page, they both stood in place, mouth agape. I smiled to myself and without warning, the crescent shaped water blade dissolved as quickly as it appeared. Curiosity and confusion welled up inside me, I wondered why the blade dissolved? I emulated the water element in my head as clearly as I could, yet it didn’t hold? I thought about this for a few more seconds and then felt searing pain in my right arm. It became difficult to breath, I looked toward the bewildered Walburga and Lisa for one last time and fainted…