All sentient life is connected. The appendages may be different, we may eat different things, and live in different universes, but at the end of the day, we’re all one big family.
It’s time to explore the branches of the multiversal family tree, and today, we present:
The Old House
– Issue 5 – Sacrifice
Before she left the swamp, Leilar arrived at Ariel’s request.
“I was on Endla,” Leilar said after she landed. Ariel was sitting on a log and practicing the formations of her fingers. “I got here as soon as I could. Why are you getting involved with Death Magic?” Ariel moved her fingers through the formations methodically and she didn’t acknowledge Leilar, until Leilar smacked her hand. “You made me come all the way here to ignore me?” she yelled.
“Sorry,” Ariel said and stood. “Sene has been drilling me so hard I don’t know how to stop. Did your mother ever teach you hand magic? Or spelling casting?”
“My mother doesn’t cast spells,” Leilar said with confusion. “No Mmoatia does.”
“How do they get around so quickly?”
“They cast portals…ohhh,” Leilar said with realization and Ariel smiled at her. “Well, maybe, then. But I can’t be any good at it.”
“I need you to come with me to hide this house. Death marked it and it’s leaking curses. Sene taught me the formations, but I don’t really know what to expect. I need someone to watch my back, and no one will come with me because Death is involved or they’re busy with other things. Is your mom busy?”
“Lorv ain’t coming to Earth,” Leilar said frankly. “Let’s go. I need to get back to Endla. Top will arrive soon and I want to be on the next mission.”
“You’re going into space?”
“Yes, if I can get off of this planet and back to Endla before Top leaves on its next mission.”
“Fine,” Ariel said and extended her wings. “Let’s get this done.”
The two flew from the swamp to Monroe, North Carolina, and even before they arrived at the house, Ariel could feel that Owuo’s influence had spread. She could see streaks of purple magic snaking through the sky and they saw that it all originated from the old house. The neighborhood around the house was in shambles, roads torn up, trees knocked down. There seemed to be a military presence surrounding the destroyed area; there were tanks and armed soldiers maintaining a safe perimeter.
Ariel and Leilar flew over the military presence and landed in the haze of purple magic that billowed in the backyard of the house.
“This is intense,” Leilar said and she lifted both her hands high over her head and moved her fingers to cast a sphere of protection around them.
“Mmoatia don’t do spells,” Ariel said mockingly.
“Shut up. What are you going to do? Even if you learned spell casting, it has to be some powerful stuff to deal with this. It’s like a well of pure Death Magic.”
Ariel moved both her hands in sync as she created the formations Sene had taught her, and she said an incantation that caused a bubble of silver-white energy to form between her hands. Then she hurled it through Leilar’s protection spell and at the house. Before the bubble collided with the house, Ariel separated her hands, arms out at both sides, as the bubble inflated and became large enough to enclose the house. When it was surrounded, Ariel did more formations with her fingers. She expected the bubble and the old house inside to disappear, but the bubble just existed for a moment before it popped.
“Damn it,” Ariel said.
“Try something else,” Leilar said.
“That was the only thing I learned that could hide it the way my uncle described. I don’t know nothing else.”
Then she heard her uncle’s voice in her head.
“I’m glad you made it back.”
“It’s not working,” Ariel said aloud and Leilar assumed that she was communicating telepathically.
“It will, but you need Death Magic to do it properly. You need a sacrifice.”
“I’m not sacrificing somebody,” Ariel said with disgust.
“You’re not the one sacrificing,” her uncle said, “I am. I will be there shortly.”
“Unk? Where are you?”
“Up here,” both Ariel and Leilar heard the man above them and when they looked up, he was floating. “They had me in jail because I tried to stop the demolition. I stayed there because I didn’t want to cause a panic or anything. But now that you’re here, we can finish it. Use the energies of my spirit to do the same spell you just did.”
“Will that kill you?” Ariel asked.
“I hope so, but I’m marked by Owuo. Even without a body, I am destined for his Deads’ Town in the Fonlands. I will always be there. Now please, Ariel. Do this and save everyone in this town.”
Ariel argued, but Leilar convinced her that what her uncle said was the best thing. Eventually, Ariel refocused to do the bubble spell again, only this time she started with the spell to seize the energies of her uncle’s soul, which left his body limp as it hit the ground with a thud. Then she created the bubble that was a deep shade of purple rather than the silver-white of the first, and she was able to surround the house, and make it disappear from the landscape. The purple magic issuing from it ceased and the environment around them settled. Leilar dropped her protection spell and hugged Ariel as she sobbed. Ariel flicked her wrist and moved two fingers, which caused the body of her uncle to levitate once more, and she followed it to the former site of the house. Leilar used her magic to excavate a grave and Ariel buried her uncle where the house had been.
“You know,” Leilar said, “I’ve heard of Deads’ Town before. Maybe you can visit him sometime.”
Ariel nodded silently and she said a silent prayer over the grave. Then the two left Monroe, North Carolina, and headed back to the umbatia swamp.
PRL Serials 