It was a problem Serenity didn’t have. Earth was notably free of the sort of continual magical presence that many planets had, and on top of that Serenity was performing the ritual on the edge of a dungeon; dungeons ate magical residue. Performing a ritual in a dungeon was strange because dungeon magic itself would interfere and dungeons had a tendency to eat stray mana, which meant that rituals would be weaker than they should be while still having some level of interference.
The weakening was the primary reason, at least for better mages; dungeon magical interference could be completely characterized, and at higher Tiers it became impossible to completely cleanse an area anyway, so the focus shifted from cleansing to learning how to deal with what you couldn’t cleanse. Serenity still knew how to do that, and for something as simple as a constant field from a tri-Affinity dungeon, it only altered the symbols he needed to carve into the ground.
He also didn’t need to worry about the weakening. Aki was quite happy to hold off on disturbing the ritual until it was over. Even more than that, she was happy to provide the tools he needed to create the ritual area and even sent Raz and Katya to help.
Serenity couldn’t use things she materialized in the ritual itself; the temporary dungeon items she could make for very little cost wouldn’t last if they were removed from the dungeon and also wouldn’t hold up for a ritual. While Aki could make permanent items that were useful in a ritual, they were costly enough that it was better to have Janice pick up what he needed. The only thing that Serenity even considered having her make was the casting tool, and once he settled on using an antenna, it wasn’t necessary.
There was only so much Raz could help. He was still stuck in his young dragon form inside the dungeon (and still more than happy to tease Serenity about being bigger even though he was younger). He ended up mostly carrying things from either the homes where Aki would materialize tools or to and from the parking lot as Janice dropped off supplies.
Katya, on the other hand, was a huge help with the actual setup. Rissa and Katya weren’t as strong as Serenity, but they were both completely capable of following directions and stirring a pot or slowly dripping a liquid into all of the lines Serenity carved in the ground. Even better, neither of them had any inclination to use magic to ‘make it easier’. Katya knew better, while Rissa didn’t even think of it.
Serenity was glad not to have to deal with that mess again., though he did warn Rissa for her future knowledge.
Russ helped Katya and Rissa at first, but once it became clear just how long it was going to take Janice to gather everything, he headed out to pick up some of the things that were needed more immediately, while Janice concentrated on the things for the final ritual casting instead of the preparation.
:Raz! Someone’s headed your way. I think it’s the man with the jar-in-a-box.: Aki’s warning was the first clue anyone had that Rube returned more than an hour before sunset, almost immediately after Russ returned with the last few things on his list.
Raz dashed for the treeline. He had a little time, since they’d chosen to enter the dungeon before stepping off the path, but it still wasn’t very long; he was barely to the trees when Rube came into sight. Raz didn’t mind being seen as a surprise, but none of them wanted “the mystery of Pelham Bay Park” to be revealed so easily. Aki appreciated the extra foot traffic from people searching for Raz too much to want it to end.
“Rube! You’re back early.” Serenity greeted Rube warmly. Most of the warmth was because Rube’s return helped to solidify the chances that he wasn’t controlled by the thing in the vase, but some of it was to distract Rube and make him not look where Raz was quietly moving away. Serenity knew exactly what Aki and Raz were doing, and while he wasn’t certain it was the best choice, it didn’t seem wrong.
It was another half hour before Janice arrived; once she did, Serenity only had time for a quick “Thanks” before he started the final preparations. It was cutting it close; laying out everything she’d brought to be exactly what he needed where he’d need it took half the remaining time.
A glance at his phone’s clock showed Serenity that he might as well get the people set up as well. “Rube? Can you take the vase out of the box and set it over there? The box needs to stay outside the circle, please don’t step on any of the lines.”
Stepping on any of the lines wouldn’t be horrible; that was why he’d first carved them into the ground then had Rissa and Katya fill them with a liquid that contained boiled thyme, ginger, cloves, and most importantly a large quantity of salt. The herbs were useful, but the salt was what would actually carry the magic, not the lines carved in the dirt.
He still didn’t want it disturbed more than necessary; the lines were the easiest part to see and they would help him guide the spell if any of the saltwater had splashed somewhere it shouldn’t be. Some would have, and more would have seeped through the ground; that was normal. It had to be very close, not perfect; part of the beginning of the ritual would correct all of that, and seeing the pattern was easier than doing it from memory.
There were rituals that required perfection and wouldn’t allow after-the-fact corrections. Serenity wasn’t willing to do any of them outside or on less than a day’s worth of preparation time. They were more mana-efficient and better at focusing power, but that wasn’t what he needed here anyway.
It was time.
“Places, everyone.” Serenity had already told everyone except Rube where he wanted them to sit or stand; for Janice, that was “outside the circle, probably facing Rube, but make sure you can see the vase”. Rissa and Russ both had spots inside the circle, as the other Mind-Affinity people present; they’d be watching the ritual as it progressed and had the responsibility of controlling some of the defenses.
Rissa could even completely shut it down if she felt it necessary. Serenity had offered to set that up for Russ as well, but Russ had insisted that her empathy would be better for knowing when that was necessary than Russ’s telepathy.
Even though he hadn’t told Rube where he wanted him, Serenity was confident he’d guessed; there were only two areas of the circle that were large enough for a person left, after all. “Rube, you’re over there. Okay, good. Once I start the ritual, be careful not to cross the lines, even above ground; there should be a slight pressure, but it won’t be strong enough to actually stop you until the ritual’s fully engaged and being over a line when it does click into place is a bad idea.”
Serenity was deliberately leaving what “a bad idea” was open to interpretation. In this case, all the ritual would do was forcefully push you away from the line; if you weren’t over by much, it wouldn’t be a big deal. Standing directly over a line could result in significant injury, though, as you were pushed in more than one direction. Other rituals could do far worse, but Serenity preferred to avoid group rituals with high consequences for small mistakes where possible.
Russ found his place, then Serenity started the ritual. It began with lighting the candles at the eight stations around the edge of the circle, then lighting the eight tealights in the wax warmers; they’d do well for spreading the scents of the cinnamon and lemon “wax” - alternating - that Janice had located. Scented oil was the standard, but wax designed for wax warmers was easier to find. It was Janice’s suggestion, and it was a good one.
As he did each action, he built the spellform that went with it. It was simple work, but exacting; he had to build the spellform in time with the actions he was taking with the ritual materials. Not too fast, not too slow; rushing or dallying would leave weak points, which could be dangerous if the creature in the vase was hostile or dangerously incomprehensible.
Most ritualists would time everything by their chant, but that wasn’t an option for Serenity, since he didn’t build his spellform by chanting. Instead, Serenity kept a figurative eye on the clock built into the phone that was a part of him; he knew how long he was taking, and he’d timed each step before he started. He knew where he had time to catch up or needed to pause and wait for a moment.
Mint, crushed and dropped as he walked the edge of the circle was next. It was carefully choreographed movement, only possible with a great deal of practice. After that, it was time to move to his position in the circle.
Serenity carefully stepped over the lines and crouched in his hexagon. He took a moment to stretch his wings before pulling them tightly against himself; it was the last chance he was going to have for the next hour, plus however long they talked to the djinn.
Serenity reached down and touched the spot where a circle of salt and broken earth protruded into his hexagon; the ritual was half-done and it was time to start powering the figure itself. He split his attention between the spellform he was still ever-so-slowly drawing and the ritual circle carved into the ground; they both needed mana, and they both needed it fed in slowly. He couldn’t pay attention to one or the other; he had to do both. It was one of the things that made rituals tricky; even if the instructions were clear, you had to not only know the ritual (since trying to refer to a reference during the ritual was foolish) but be practiced enough to perform it smoothly and evenly the first time you did it for real.
Only simple rituals could be done by rote, and this was no simple ritual, even though the effects were relatively low power. Rituals of the Mind were rarely simple, and this one had not only the participants but observers and defenses, some of which could be controlled by the observers.
Serenity would likely have been able to cast the ritual even outside the dungeon; It was complex, but it didn’t really need that much power as long as the defenses weren’t tested. Even so, most of the power that Serenity was pushing into the ritual circle was for the defenses; he wanted something there for it to draw on so that it could act immediately if necessary.
The steps inside the circle were far less obvious than the ones Serenity had done outside; the first half of the ritual was setting the conditions, while the second half of the ritual was turning them into reality.
While Serenity was concentrating, he saw Rube reach with his left hand (or at least the flesh past his wrist) and press it against the air above the line defining his hexagon. He seemed surprised when his hand was pushed gently back towards him. Serenity would have said something, but he couldn’t afford to break his concentration.
Fortunately, Russ also saw. “Rube? Stay away from the lines. It’s not safe to mess with magic when you’ve been warned not to.”
Rube pressed his tentacle-hand against the force above the line one more time as if to prove he wasn’t listening, then stopped.
Soon after that, Serenity finished the spellform and flowed the last of the mana necessary into both it and the ritual circle. It was time for the last step: tying them together to initiate the spell. Serenity floated the spellform over the key point of the ritual, the oval containing the vase, then activated it.
The spellform spread until its sides matched with the oval, then formed an oval-shaped dome over the top of the vase. Serenity kept his attention on it as the spellform skated along the ralls until it was a tall, thin spheroid, enclosing the entire vase rather like a partially squished bubble. When that was complete, the spell started trying to communicate with whatever was in the vase.
There wasn’t anything to see with his eyes, but almost immediately there was something to see with his magical senses. The part of the bubble that was above the vase filled with Essence and Mana that felt tainted to Serenity.
<What have you done?>
The words were unlike any Serenity had heard before, but they were clear and understandable.
Rube’s wordless scream was also understandable.
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