Ryo woke up with a splitting headache that felt as if someone was trying to separate his skull into two. Opening his eyes, he found himself sprawled out in the workroom’s corner. He had used this as a place where he slept since he couldn’t leave the room. Slowly sitting up, he rubbed his face and temples, trying to ease the pain in his head. Every movement felt dull and stiff as he slid across the floor and propped himself against the wall. 

The mistress had probably dragged him over and dropped him here before leaving. Slowly he stretched and moved his body, trying to work out the stiffness. As he did this, his stomach rumbled, and complained of the lack of food. Using the wall as support, he stood up on two shaky legs and walked over to the door in the back. Opening the door, he stepped inside and grabbed whatever food he could get his hands on. Walking back out of the room, he laid the food down on the desk and flopped down into the chair. 

With a heavy sigh, he reached over and grabbed some food he had brought and ate. Silently eating, he began processing everything that had happened during his vision quest. It just all felt unreal, almost like a dream, but he knew that wasn’t the case. The reason being is that when he thought about the sigil, a flood of information would bombard him. He knew this had to be a part of the knowledge the unknown-being had given him before he left. 

Ryo wanted to know who exactly that being was, and how it had so much knowledge. Whatever it was seemed to understand magic at a level he could only dream of. When he sifted through the knowledge, the unknown being gave him, it filled him with awe. But it also worried him to know that such a being was seeking revenge on something or someone. If it was so powerful, then what about its enemies?

“What is happening to my life?” Ryo sighed, before taking another bite of bread. 

The gnawing pain in his stomach subsided, and he felt better after getting some food in him. After he had his fill of food, he sat back in the chair and closed his eyes. What am I going to do now? Ryo thought to himself, as he tried to think of his next steps. He would probably need to practice making the sigil on parchment, so there wouldn’t be any problems during the ritual. Although he was now happy to be one step closer to finishing the sigil, it also filled him with dread. 

When the mistress came for him, she will probably ask to see what he had learned through the vision quest. Upon seeing the sigil, he was confident the mistress would lose her mind. It was far more complex than any of the examples he had seen. The arrays, runes, and magical syntax were all highly complex, and none of them existed in any of the books she provided. He was confident she would use everything possible to pry the information out of him. Ryo could only hope that the star-being would handle it as it said. 

Ryo didn’t think it would be like this when he had agreed to become a forbidden magic-user. He had expected to come down here and learn powerful new spells or something. A part of him had wanted to quit a week ago, not thinking it was worth it. If all he would do was prepare for some ritual, was it worth it? But he would then remind himself why he was down here, and what his goal was. If it wasn’t for that he would have left, when the mistress had asked to experiment on him. 

Pushing those gloomy thoughts aside, Ryo decided it best to just focus on the sigil. From what he had read, after the vision quest, he would have usually needed to add the syntax to it. But with everything complete, he could skip a few of the steps. Now all he needed to do was practice making it according to the instructions in his head. 

Reaching over the desk, he grabbed a quill and slowly began making the outline of his sigil. Although this was only practice, he would still treat it seriously. It was something he picked up from Robert when they practiced with the spear. “Practice as you fight” was something the old man would constantly say. Hours passed and there was now a stack of discarded parchment by the desk, with his failed attempts. He had tried to recreate the sigil in its entirety but quickly learned that wasn’t a good idea. 

Focusing on the task at hand, he went about drawing and re-creating the most complex parts. Since those were the things that had given him the most trouble. After several more hours, Ryo had felt like he was finally getting better at drawing a single magic array. Putting his quill down, he rubbed his hands, trying to work out the stiffness in them. The doors burst open, causing him to jump in fear as he turned towards it.

“Good, you are awake.” The mistress remarked, standing in the doorway. 

“H-hello, mistress.” He stuttered, quickly getting up from his desk.

“I told you there was nothing to fear about the elixirs.” She grinned as she walked toward him.

“Y-yeah, thank you.” He replied, giving her a slight bow. 

“Now that you have, how hard it is to do it on your own. Why don’t you...” She tried to stay before losing her stopping mid-sentence. 

The moment he had been dreading since accepting the star-beings offer had arrived. Ryo followed the mistress' gaze to the parts of the sigil he had been practicing. He watched as her eyes went wide with shock and her jaw dropped. She pushed past him and began picking up the parchment he had used and closely examined each. 

The mistress would point to certain areas, and mumble to herself as she traced the outlines. Ryo couldn't quite make out what she was saying, and just stood there preparing himself. His heart was racing and he could feel its pulse in his ears. Sweat formed on his brow as he watched her. It was only a matter of time before she would turn his attention toward him. A suffocating feeling came over him as he stood there silently. 

“H-how...did you learn to make this?!” The mistress finally shouted, turning her gaze toward him. 

“I-uh found inspiration on my spiritual journey.” He muttered, looking toward the ground. 

“Bullshit!” She cursed, looking as if she was ready to strangle him. 

“Don’t you dare lie to me!” She raged, grabbing his jaw and forcing it up, so she could see his eyes. 

“I-i swear, mistress!” He exclaimed, not daring to resist her hold. 

“We will see.” She replied, squinting her eyes. 

She released his jaw before storming out of the room and into the hall, slamming the door behind her. As the door closed the strength in his legs gave out and he crumbled to the floor. Clutching his chest, he tried to take in deep breaths to calm himself. Using the sleeve of his shirt, he wiped away the cold sweat from his face. For a few minutes, he just sat there on the floor, unable to get up.

The mistress was probably on her way to get wherever she had left the control rod. Reaching out for the chair, Ryo used it to help himself stand. It wasn’t a wise move for him to be laying on the ground when she returned. Using the chair as support, he took deep breaths in and steadied himself. He could only hope that what the star-being said was true. The door burst open again, a visible crack forming in the middle of it.

“Now tell me how did you learn to make this!?” The mistresses roared, holding the control rod up. 

The runes around his collar sprang to life, as he felt mana surge into it. But unlike the usual feeling that compelled one to answer, their master never came. The memories of his vision quest became a blur, almost like a thick fog had come over his mind. All he could remember was waking up in a field of cherry blossom trees. There he used a stick to write in the dirt and create his sigil. 

Yet, something did not feel right about this memory. It was like a dream that one had but couldn’t quite remember the next day. No matter how much he tried to recall what had happened, it wouldn’t surface. It was teasing him like at any moment the answer would come, but it never did. Feeling the pain in the collar slowly intensify, Ryo spoke up. 

“I-i found inspiration on my spiritual journey, in the cherry blossom trees.” He answered honestly, hoping she would believe him. 

“Trees?” She questioned, walking up to him with a bewildered look. 

“Y-yeah” He stuttered, reminding himself not to back away from her. 

“I don’t give a shit about some stupid tree. Tell me how you learned to make this sigil.” She snapped at him, poking his chest with the rod. 

Ryo then recounted his entire journey, from waking up amongst the trees. Sitting down in the dirt to begin creating his sigil, as he took inspiration from the beauty that surrounded him. As he recounted his tale Ryo could see the mistress' face turn a deep red, as she gave him an icy glare. Finally finishing the story where the image of the pedals from the cherry blossoms raining down on him. 

Seeing that he wasn’t in any pain, she had to take what he said to be the truth. But Ryo could see her gnashing her teeth as she glanced at him, then toward the parchment on the desk. The silence dragged on as he felt the weight of her gaze upon him. His legs quivered as he stood there before her until she finally broke the silence. 

“I see.” She dryly replied, her jaw clenching. 

“Is that all?” The mistress added with a stern gaze. 

“Yes, mistress.” He answered, slowly nodding. 

“How,” She hesitated, looking past him at the parchment. “unfortunate.” 

Lowering the control rod, she placed it inside of her robe. Walking toward the desk, she picked up one of his drawings and studied it. 

“I will prepare everything. You have three days to master that sigil in that time.” She told him, picking up everything he had written or drawn on.  

As she continued to study his drawings, a slow smile formed on her face. Gathering up all his drawings, she put them under her arm, before turning towards him. 

“You are to practice making it until your hands can no longer write. I will keep a close eye on you, so don’t disappoint me.” She said, walking past him toward the door. 

“Yes, mistress,” Ryo replied, bowing his head. 

***

Wading through the thick forest brush, a small group of people made their way through the forest. They were trying to move as quietly as possible, so that they didn’t bring attention to themselves. This made their journey slow and arduous, especially in the summer heat. The ones who had only full armor, especially the paladin who was in plate, were sweating profusely. They were trying to sweep the area, looking for any clues on anything foul or evil happening within the forest. 

“Brother Kyle, do you really think something lurks here in the forest?” Martha asked, walking up to her fellow paladin.  

“Sister Martha, whether I think so or not isn’t important. Father Necco has asked us to explore the forest to look into some rumors.” Kyle replied, wiping the sweat from his eyes. 

They were warriors, priests, and paladins from the Church of the Northern Star. They had been sent out to look into rumors the church had overheard. They had left Maribo and made and stopped into every village, town, and city, to listen to any rumors. Most things they heard had been about monsters, fey, or some wolf attacks. But as they ventured south, the villages spoke of a witch that lived somewhere in the woods.  

“I’m not doubting our orders, brother, I’m just curious about your opinion,” Martha said, trying her best to pass the time with small talk. 

“Again my opinion is worthless.” He grumbled as he ducked beneath a tree branch.

“The only rumors we could find are about some old witch that visits the surrounding villages. But from what the villages said, she is a nice old lady that trades medicine for food and supplies.” Martha pointed out, following behind the man. 

“You're forgetting the rumor about the missing slaves.” Kyle reminded her, pushing some brush aside. 

“Ah, yes, but that’s a rumor from the capital. And from what I heard, the merchant is in a desperate spot. He could just be lying to try and save his skin from the debt collectors.” Martha shrugged, skeptical that they would actually find anything strange in this forest. 

“Possibly but considering the timing and place it’s a little strange. Plus, I heard none of the slaves the merchant lost could be tracked down.” Kyle replied, again wiping the sweat from his brow. 

“I mean this forest is dangerous, so it’s likely they were all killed off by wildlife.” Martha quickly suggested. 

“Aye, that is a possibility, but something tells me that isn’t the case.” Kyle answered, stopping in his tracks. 

“Did you or anyone else get a divine message?” She asked, trying to find out why he was so confident.

“No, but my soul is screaming that there is something evil lurking in these woods.” Kyle explained, shaking his head. 

“Let’s take a rest as we send out two scouts to try and probe the area. Tell them not to wander too far and have them bring a flare scroll just in case they bump into something they can’t handle.” He added, signaling the group to rest. 

“Yes, Brother.” Martha replied, giving him a quick salute before carrying out his orders. 

***

As ordered, he spent the next few days practicing drawing the sigil. The mistress only ever returned to give him more supplies and to check on his progress. Ryo was a little upset that he was wasting too much ink and parchment on this, but said nothing. He just kept it to himself and just tried to use every space on the parchment. It had come to a point that he had looked and drawn the sigil so much that it haunted his dreams. 

Although the sigil was beautiful and interesting, it was becoming boring just to practice it. Ryo wanted to leave and grab some books he had set aside in the other room and spend some time reading them. He wanted to copy down a few new spells, so he could take them with him when they eventually left the cave. But he dared not leave this room, worried that the mistress would catch him. The workroom felt like a prison, where he silently toiled away. He missed Robert’s and Beth's company and wished he could see them. 

On the third day, the mistress burst through the door, her eyes gleaming with excitement. 

“I have everything prepared, are you ready?” She asked, giving him a wide smile. 

“Uh-yes, mistress.” He stuttered, surprised by her abruptness.  

“Good, follow me!” She ordered, turning around and walking away. 

Nodding his head, he got up from the desk and walked towards her. The mistress whirled around and started briskly walking down the hallway. Following close behind her, she led him through the cave and to the same room she had used to try and figure out what was on Ryo’s soul. However, the room had almost been stripped of all the furniture, materials, and items. Now the only thing in the room was the desk, some parchment, and a stack of materials in the middle of the room. 

“As you can see, I have already laid out everything you will need for the ceremony. I have even taken the liberty to label everything, so you don’t mess this up.” She explained, pointing to the middle of the room. 

“Thank you, mistress” He replied nervously. 

“First thing you will need to do is take the spectral chalk I made and create your sigils outline.” She instructed, walking over to her desk. 

“While you do that, I will light the shade candles and the jenglot incense.” She added, picking up some black and candles. 

“Yes, mistress.” He answered, quickly nodding. 

Walking over to the pile of material in the room, he picked up the spectral chalk and did as she ordered him. He recreated the shape, then added the complex magical syntax and arrays. An untold amount of time passed, and he could feel his body trembling with exhaustion. Although he had done this several times before, it was still nerve-racking to get everything perfect. There was also the fact the mistress was breathing down his neck as she closely watched him. If it wasn’t for the fact he had such a clear picture of the sigil in his mind, there was no way he would have been able to do it.

After adding the last of the syntax he stood up, bending his body backward, stretching his aching back. Looking down on his work, he looked at everything closely, making sure everything was in order. Just then a weird sensation struck him as images flooded his mind. Bending back down, he drew a faint line leading away from the sigil. Following the images in his head, he slowly made an outline for his hands, followed by additional syntax and arrays. 

It wasn’t until he finished adding the new section, did he realize what it was for. According to the images, he was going to need to place his hands onto the sigil. If he did that there was a high chance he would smudge some of the lines. This would weaken the sigil's integrity, making it less powerful and possibly causing the sigil to backfire, killing him. By adding this new section, he could safely place his hands on it, without damaging the sigil. 

“Are you sure everything is perfect?” The mistress asked, bending down beside him to examine this new section. 

“Yes, mistress” He slowly nodded, wiping the sweat from his brow with his sleeve. 

“Interesting…” She mumbled, her eyes sparkling as she looked down at it all.

“Take the six mana cores and then place one at the center of each primary mana array.” She told him, still studying his sigil.

“Okay.” He replied, turning over. 

Walking over to the middle of the room he quickly found the mana cores. Looking down at them they reminded him of polished marble, albeit much larger. Each of them was the size of a large apple, and half of them were a fiery red color, while the others were a deep blue. Picking them up they were warm to the touch and were smooth like glass. Just by touching it, he could feel an incredible amount of mana in them. Chewing on his lower lip, he forced himself to remain on task. Ryo wanted to ask more about the mana cores, and if possible study them. 

But he knew if he tried to ask the mistress, she would likely say no, and then punish him. He would just need to ask about them later and hope to get his hands on one. Walking back and forth he placed the six cores, in their rightful place. 

“Now you need to place the ethereal silver dust and the fire crystals in the very center on the core array.” She said absentmindedly, still studying the sigil. 

“Yes, mistress.” He nodded, walking back to the material in the center of the room. 

This back and forth continued for a while until all the materials were now spread out across the sigil. Ryo had to be careful not to smudge any of the spectral chalk lines. It was a nerve-wracking that was mentally exhausting. 

“Finally, the living metal.” She said, walking over to the desk and opening one of the larger draws on the side. 

Reaching in, she pulled a large glass cylinder, that was probably the size of his head. Inside the cylinder was a dark greenish silver liquid that glistened in the light. Walking back over to him, she sat it down in front of his sigil, before standing back up. She cast her eyes across the sigil and then back towards the living metals. A cat-like smile formed on her face, as the mistress’s cheeks became flushed red. 

“You are lucky I favor you so.  Normally I would have just given you iron living metal, but this one is made from orichalcum.” She told him, looking back down at the glass cylinder. 

“Living metal?” Ryo asked, looking closely at it. 

“It’s a creature that eats metals and then changes its body composition to match that metal. Some theorize it’s a distant relative of the oozes you can find in caves, but no one really knows.” She explained, stroking the cylinder slowly. 

“Oh…” Ryo mumbled, not sure what to say. 

“I fed it the only orichalcum I had, so that it would transform. Now it’s a premium material that will be used in your sigil ceremony.” She told him, shooting him a serious look. 

“Thank you, mistress.” He replied, bowing to her. 

“Thank me by succeeding.” She shot back before giving him a smile. 

“O-of course.” He stuttered, unnerved by her actions. 

“You do know that you won’t have much time, once the spectral chalk is activated. If you can’t complete the ritual before it burns up, you will experience a backlash, that might kill you.” She pointed out, still giving him a friendly smile. 

“I-uh,” Ryo hesitated, “Yes, I know.” 

“This ritual can be split up into three phases. First you will need to place your hands on the sigil and pour your mana into it. That will activate the spectral chalk. Then entering closing your eyes, you will enter a meditative state, while you spread your mana veil across the sigil. Once you have encompassed the whole sigil, you will begin to pull everything back towards yourself. After that it will be pressed against your soul, marking it with the sigil.” She explained, crossing her arms over her chest. 

The books she had provided had spoken about the ceremony, albeit very briefly. Taking in a deep breath, he steadied himself before getting down on his knees and placing his hands on the new section of the sigil he had added. After taking in another deep breath, Ryo started to pour mana into his hands, and then into the sigil. The chalk glowed, before bursting into green flames and spreading across the whole sigil. 

Once the flames hit the center of the sigil where the silver dust and fire crystals were, the flames took on a new life, growing in intensity. It was then the mistress picked up the cylinder with the living metal and poured it onto the flames. Ryo could hear a hissing sound, much like when water gets splashed onto fire. The flames then turned purple, and that was when it felt like the surrounding mana was being devoured. It was as if some invisible vortex was eating every morsel of mana in the room. He could feel it tugging on his own magic, and if it wasn’t for his training, he was sure it would have drained his mana. 

“Now relax and try to enter into a meditative state, while you spread out your mana viel across the sigil.” She told him. 

Nodding his head he closed his eyes, and calmed his mind, before sending out his mana viel. To his surprise, he could clearly feel the edges of the sigil, making this process rather easy. Once he felt that his viel had covered all the sigil, he heard the mistress say. 

“That’s it.” The mistress whispered. 

“Now begin to pull your sigil back calmly.” She quickly added. 

Again doing as she said,  he pulled back his mana viel towards him, but found it quite difficult. It was as if he was pulling on a rope that had been tied around a boulder. Although he could feel it move, the speed felt terribly slow. Beads of sweat began to drip down his face, as his body began to tremble under the strain. A searing pain hit his chest, as he reeled in the mana viel, causing him to clench his teeth in pain. 

Once the veil was finally contained within him, he could see and feel it. He could see a massive ball of green and purple flames burning wildly, as he watched he got the feeling it was trying to speak to him. It was screaming at him how hungry it was, that it needed to be fed. But for some reason, Ryo felt that this hunger was eternal. That he could feed it the world, and it would still not satisfy it. Breaking his thoughts away he purchased (not sure if purchased was the word you intended) the massive ball of fire, towards the center of his being. 

As he forced it towards his center, it began to condense and take on a shape. As he moved closer the flames lessened to reveal his sigil, which looked to be made of polished silver. Looking over to the direction of his soul, he could see a massive ocean, or what looked like to be one. He wasn’t quite sure what it looked like, but it was massive and blue. Putting every ounce of strength he had, Ryo pushed the flaming sigil against his chest. A massive explosion rocked the area, as the two collided against one another. 

His skin felt like it was on fire, and his chest felt like someone had poured molten iron down it. He gripped his chest, as he toppled over, barely able to cling onto consciousness. He watched as the sigil melt into the massive blue sea, before finally disappearing. His body shoke, as he gasped for breath. Once the sigil was gone, the pain began to fade until it was gone. 

Opening his eyes, he found himself in a pool of his own sweat. His entire body was shaking, as if he was standing out in a blizzard. He felt ice-cold, as his body laid their limply on the stone floor. Ryo heard footsteps beside him, but didn’t have the energy to look toward them. That’s when he felt someone grab him, and roll him over. Once he was on his back, he could see the mistress towering over top of him. She grabbed the collar of his shirt, and lifted him up towards her face. 

“Finally!” The mistress grinned, turning around. 

“After so long!” She added, pushing him down in the chair beside the desk. 

Ryo couldn’t control his body, and began to fall out of the chair, before the mistress stopped him. She straightened him up before stepping back and clasping her hands together. She began to hum and skip around the room. Watching through heavy eyes, he wondered what was going on. At first he thought he was having a dream or something by the way she was asking. After she finished her little celebration, she walked back over to him.

“You did so well, little boy.” She told him, grabbing his chin and lifting it up. 

“I’ll be sure to reward you later.” She purred, licking her lips.” 

“Ah poor little thing, you look so tired.” She teased, sitting down on top of Ryo, straddling him.   

‘Don’t worry you can rest, I’ll take good care of you.” The mistress said, pulling his head into her bosom. It was then that his body went numb and the world around him dark.