The snow hadn't been falling for long but it was already starting to stick and it was doing well in comforting Malakias Sorenson. He'd left his home to follow in his father's footsteps with the Order Caste with every intention of returning again with a family of his own. Which had proved to be more of a struggle than he would have readily admitted he was expecting. Going against the marriage contract his parents had arranged wasn't his only act of rebellion for what they had wanted for him. But it was the biggest by far. He'd love Ciara Lendragon from the moment he'd seen her and marrying anyone but her just simply wasn't an option. At the end of it all, he got the woman he wanted and they returned to his homeland as often as they could. At times they split their times between the home in the north and a home he'd had built as a wedding gift for her in a more tropical setting. But he was always headstrong on them returning for the winter as much as he could get her to agree to.
He'd found himself working more than he'd liked as well, tucked away in his office, dealing with summons, recruit paperwork, and generally handling whatever Jedidah Kazairen pushed his way. He would never complain about it though. He rarely complained about a lot of things that most would find ruffling their fur. Today was no different. He had more waivers, acceptances, and training forms to sign before he could track down his beautiful wife and spend time with her. Which was probably the only thing he ever complained about aloud.
Kai was sure she was in her workroom and no doubt tinkering with either an amulet or spirits; or both. His mother had been a part of the Spirit Caste for his entire life up until the day she passed away. He wasn't a stranger to spirits and those that worked in the magic that controlled them. Nor was he a stranger to the odd feeling that was starting to float around his office and putting more of a chill to his skin. He pushed his seat back from his desk and ran his eyes over the room for a long moment. Rolling up the sleeves of his crimson shirt, the jacket had already been abandoned at a table near the door, before he shook his head a little. "Not today.", he said to the seemingly empty room. Turning his attention back to his stack of papers and taking up his quill again to dunk in the inkpot. Shifting to the edge of his seat so he could scribble his name at the bottom of the page but something had other plans for his quiet work time.
It was a subtle start, a few papers falling off the edge of the table that barely pulled his attention away from what he was doing. But it soon started escalating to books that shouldn't have been moving starting to shift around his table. One sliding across the top of his desk as he was putting quill to parchment and making him draw a jagged line across it. "Goddammit.", he growled and looked around again. Lifting his hands up the book continued on it's path across the table until it fell off the other side and thudded to the ground. "Are you done?", he asked the room before leaning forward again to frown at the ruined paper. Letting out a long sigh he put the paper inside of a drawer so he could simply move to the next, or he'd hoped. Suddenly every piece of paper on his desk was being thrown off the table as if by some phantom wind he couldn't feel. Floating around the room on the other side of his desk before drifting down to the ground silently but while he was paying attention to that...There was a faint sound of metal scraping across stone before a loud metallic clatter to the side of his desk. One of the swords affixed to the wall, for decoration, was bouncing on the ground by the time he looked that way.
Kai pushed himself out of his seat and moved around his desk while looking over not only that but the rest of the mess. He was just about to open his mouth to yell for his wife, who was in an adjoining room, when he saw a kettle near the hearth wobbling around. Barely ducking in time when it came flying his way and he literally felt it skidding over the top of his head when he did. "Ciara!!!!", he yelled loud enough to make sure his voice carried through the walls. He wasn't so lucky when the kettle made a second attempt to hit him. This time it collided high on his cheek, leaving not only a mark from the impact, but a thin scratch as well. He raised a hand to it while putting a firm foot on the kettle after it settled on the floor. Shifting his eyes to the ethereal laughter filling the room, "Ciara, get in here please!", he yelled out again moments before something hit him in the chest and caused him to stumble backwards. Effectively pushing him into a chair, on his ass, before even that suddenly jerked backwards. Causing him to thud against the ground harshly with the unmistakeable feeling of someone sitting on his chest.
"The fuck I do to you?!", he growled at the thing he couldn't see. But that was remedied when it finally started to flash into sight and snarled down at him.
He'd found himself working more than he'd liked as well, tucked away in his office, dealing with summons, recruit paperwork, and generally handling whatever Jedidah Kazairen pushed his way. He would never complain about it though. He rarely complained about a lot of things that most would find ruffling their fur. Today was no different. He had more waivers, acceptances, and training forms to sign before he could track down his beautiful wife and spend time with her. Which was probably the only thing he ever complained about aloud.
Kai was sure she was in her workroom and no doubt tinkering with either an amulet or spirits; or both. His mother had been a part of the Spirit Caste for his entire life up until the day she passed away. He wasn't a stranger to spirits and those that worked in the magic that controlled them. Nor was he a stranger to the odd feeling that was starting to float around his office and putting more of a chill to his skin. He pushed his seat back from his desk and ran his eyes over the room for a long moment. Rolling up the sleeves of his crimson shirt, the jacket had already been abandoned at a table near the door, before he shook his head a little. "Not today.", he said to the seemingly empty room. Turning his attention back to his stack of papers and taking up his quill again to dunk in the inkpot. Shifting to the edge of his seat so he could scribble his name at the bottom of the page but something had other plans for his quiet work time.
It was a subtle start, a few papers falling off the edge of the table that barely pulled his attention away from what he was doing. But it soon started escalating to books that shouldn't have been moving starting to shift around his table. One sliding across the top of his desk as he was putting quill to parchment and making him draw a jagged line across it. "Goddammit.", he growled and looked around again. Lifting his hands up the book continued on it's path across the table until it fell off the other side and thudded to the ground. "Are you done?", he asked the room before leaning forward again to frown at the ruined paper. Letting out a long sigh he put the paper inside of a drawer so he could simply move to the next, or he'd hoped. Suddenly every piece of paper on his desk was being thrown off the table as if by some phantom wind he couldn't feel. Floating around the room on the other side of his desk before drifting down to the ground silently but while he was paying attention to that...There was a faint sound of metal scraping across stone before a loud metallic clatter to the side of his desk. One of the swords affixed to the wall, for decoration, was bouncing on the ground by the time he looked that way.
Kai pushed himself out of his seat and moved around his desk while looking over not only that but the rest of the mess. He was just about to open his mouth to yell for his wife, who was in an adjoining room, when he saw a kettle near the hearth wobbling around. Barely ducking in time when it came flying his way and he literally felt it skidding over the top of his head when he did. "Ciara!!!!", he yelled loud enough to make sure his voice carried through the walls. He wasn't so lucky when the kettle made a second attempt to hit him. This time it collided high on his cheek, leaving not only a mark from the impact, but a thin scratch as well. He raised a hand to it while putting a firm foot on the kettle after it settled on the floor. Shifting his eyes to the ethereal laughter filling the room, "Ciara, get in here please!", he yelled out again moments before something hit him in the chest and caused him to stumble backwards. Effectively pushing him into a chair, on his ass, before even that suddenly jerked backwards. Causing him to thud against the ground harshly with the unmistakeable feeling of someone sitting on his chest.
"The fuck I do to you?!", he growled at the thing he couldn't see. But that was remedied when it finally started to flash into sight and snarled down at him.
The entrance to Ciara's work room was hidden behind a bookshelf in her husband's study, and most people who visited their castle had no idea it existed. It was a necessary precaution, considering the work she did for a living: a Necromancer was entrusted with the Book of Lineages belonging to every family who consulted with them, and guarding those secrets was one of the most important parts of the job. But her job wasn't why she was in her work room that afternoon. One of Ciara's hobbies was collecting the old grimories from dead and gone magic users, and dabbling in their forgotten magic. It wasn't exactly a ladylike hobby, but sometimes the risk was worth the reward. She had found several useful spells in her dabbling... At the cost of the (sometimes more than) occasional mistake.
It wasn't her fault, exactly. Grimoires were a person's store of their personal magic, and many magic users were... Suspicious. They often wrote their spells in riddles, leaving anyone trying to cobble together their magic after they were gone up a creek without a paddle. For Ciara, figuring out the puzzle was part of the fun. It was, unfortunately, also a large part of the risk.
She should hvae known not to trust the spell at face value. It had seemed so easy, just a few lines worth of an incantation over a candle made with goat's milk... But Ciara could feel the magic going wrong even before she had finished it. There was a point during the incantation where she hesitated, stumbling over the nonsense words she wasn't certain of how to pronounce in the first place, but even that much of a pause made her sense of the interior world start to bend. That was how she saw the world: the exterior world was Sapience, where she lived and learned with her body; the interior world was the spiritual realm, where she lived and learned with her soul. She hurried on to complete the spell, though the words felt increasingly foreign on her tongue... Clumsy and awkward, which was never a good sign where manna was concerned.
By the end of the spell, the boundaries between the interior and exterior worlds were shuddering. "Nonononononono," Ciara muttered under her breath. She searched her cluttered work table for the bone handled knife that'd been made from the leg bone of one of her most famous ancestors. The blade had come from a knife used by one of Malakias's great-great-great grandfathers. It was a deeply powerful tool that she had made herself for circumstances just like these: "Et ego invocabo maioribus Sorenson Lendragon. Et nunc audi haec inrita fascinavit!" Ciara brought the knife to the back of her right hand and made a shallow diagonal cut across the length of it.
There was a sulfuric smell and a sizzling that she felt more than heard, then a pop! that she felt and heard in equal measure. Her third eye Saw the crack as it splintered between the worlds, and the slow seeping leak of paranormal energy... She leaned forward, for a moment more fascinated than she was afraid of what she'd done. Then she heard her husband yelling for her. "Kai," Ciara said under her breath. There was something in his voice that made her hurry away from the crack -- if not immediately for the door. She stopped long enough to grab her spirit pouch, which contained the many stones housing the spirits bound to serve her. It was a magic exclusive to the Spirit Caste, though bastardized variations of it existed throughout Sapience.
"I'm coming!" She called seconds before she burst into his study through the bookshelf door. The scene she'd walked into would've almost been funny if it hadn't been so serious: her big, strong husband on the ground, held there by what had to be a ghoul. They were neither living nor dead: souls from the interior world that somehow found their way back into the exterior world without going through the proper channels. (Namely, birth.) But she didn't have any desire to laugh.
"Hey!" Ciara challenged the ghoul. "Don't you snarl at him." She called a spirit orb into her hand: the orb was the first step to building a spirit stone, and what held a spirit in the stone to begin with. With a flick of her wrist, she threw the orb at the ghoul: using her mind more than any physical momentum to send it lobbing at it. The ghoul was sucked into the orb with an otherworldly scream, but Ciara knew that wasn't going to be the end of it. She ran to her husband's side, falling to her knees while she checked him over for any injuries. "Are you hurt? Did it bite you? Tell me it didn't bite you," she said in a panicky voice. "That's not going to hold it for long," Ciara continued before he had a chance to say anything. "It's not m-meant for ghouls. I need to know it didn't bite you!"
It wasn't her fault, exactly. Grimoires were a person's store of their personal magic, and many magic users were... Suspicious. They often wrote their spells in riddles, leaving anyone trying to cobble together their magic after they were gone up a creek without a paddle. For Ciara, figuring out the puzzle was part of the fun. It was, unfortunately, also a large part of the risk.
She should hvae known not to trust the spell at face value. It had seemed so easy, just a few lines worth of an incantation over a candle made with goat's milk... But Ciara could feel the magic going wrong even before she had finished it. There was a point during the incantation where she hesitated, stumbling over the nonsense words she wasn't certain of how to pronounce in the first place, but even that much of a pause made her sense of the interior world start to bend. That was how she saw the world: the exterior world was Sapience, where she lived and learned with her body; the interior world was the spiritual realm, where she lived and learned with her soul. She hurried on to complete the spell, though the words felt increasingly foreign on her tongue... Clumsy and awkward, which was never a good sign where manna was concerned.
By the end of the spell, the boundaries between the interior and exterior worlds were shuddering. "Nonononononono," Ciara muttered under her breath. She searched her cluttered work table for the bone handled knife that'd been made from the leg bone of one of her most famous ancestors. The blade had come from a knife used by one of Malakias's great-great-great grandfathers. It was a deeply powerful tool that she had made herself for circumstances just like these: "Et ego invocabo maioribus Sorenson Lendragon. Et nunc audi haec inrita fascinavit!" Ciara brought the knife to the back of her right hand and made a shallow diagonal cut across the length of it.
There was a sulfuric smell and a sizzling that she felt more than heard, then a pop! that she felt and heard in equal measure. Her third eye Saw the crack as it splintered between the worlds, and the slow seeping leak of paranormal energy... She leaned forward, for a moment more fascinated than she was afraid of what she'd done. Then she heard her husband yelling for her. "Kai," Ciara said under her breath. There was something in his voice that made her hurry away from the crack -- if not immediately for the door. She stopped long enough to grab her spirit pouch, which contained the many stones housing the spirits bound to serve her. It was a magic exclusive to the Spirit Caste, though bastardized variations of it existed throughout Sapience.
"I'm coming!" She called seconds before she burst into his study through the bookshelf door. The scene she'd walked into would've almost been funny if it hadn't been so serious: her big, strong husband on the ground, held there by what had to be a ghoul. They were neither living nor dead: souls from the interior world that somehow found their way back into the exterior world without going through the proper channels. (Namely, birth.) But she didn't have any desire to laugh.
"Hey!" Ciara challenged the ghoul. "Don't you snarl at him." She called a spirit orb into her hand: the orb was the first step to building a spirit stone, and what held a spirit in the stone to begin with. With a flick of her wrist, she threw the orb at the ghoul: using her mind more than any physical momentum to send it lobbing at it. The ghoul was sucked into the orb with an otherworldly scream, but Ciara knew that wasn't going to be the end of it. She ran to her husband's side, falling to her knees while she checked him over for any injuries. "Are you hurt? Did it bite you? Tell me it didn't bite you," she said in a panicky voice. "That's not going to hold it for long," Ciara continued before he had a chance to say anything. "It's not m-meant for ghouls. I need to know it didn't bite you!"
Honestly, he would have found it funny if he wasn't staring up at that awful thing's face and feeling the full weight of it's gnarled soul. Generally those who practiced Life Magic went where most would assume they should go, the Life Caste, it was only practical. But a Sorenson hadn't been a member of that caste for several generations due to some squabble with a former Owley. He didn't know all of the details, he really didn't care. His place and home was always going to be the Order Caste and his skills with Life magic were always important there. Yeah, they had healers from the Life Caste most of the time at their disposal but his magic, well, it had a different flavor to it thanks to his heritage. Not only was he skilled in healing but his magic allowed him to tap into life forces to the point that he could very well put a soul into an object if he really, really wanted to. He could even mend a broken soul on occasion though the only people that knew of that fact were himself, his wife and the head of his caste.
There was no healing of the damned thing straddling his chest and snarling more and more down at him. It's grimey hands settled on either side of his head before it started to lean down towards his face. Kai instantly put a hand on it's chest and another at it's forehead to keep pressure to keep it from leaning down further. It was trying to fucking bite him! "Fuck no.", he growled up at it and pushed harder, and harder. But no matter how much strength he had in his arms, and it was plenty to do some damage, the damned thing just kept pushing down. "Ciara!!!", he growled again.
His magic with death was inherited but it was by no means stronger than what he used on a daily basis. Nor was his knowledge in how to actually do things with it. Sure, he could have flexed some of it...but flexing with magic that you know nothing about is just asking for it to blow up in your face. By the time he heard the bookcase slide open the ghoul was six inches away from his face and it's rotting breath was washing over his face. Kai turned his head to the side and looked to Ciara with a heavy frown before his eyes saw the orb in her hand. The hand on the ghoul's chest slipped up to it's forehead so he could push with both arms until it sat up and looked at her. Letting him drop his arms to the ground with a heavy sigh even if it wasn't even off of him yet. He winced at the scream from the damned thing before he simply stared at the ceiling for a long moment. Only breaking his gaze from it to land on his wife with a flash of confusion, "No...", she cut him off.
Kai sat up with another groan, "Didn't bite me, what the hell is going on Ciara?", he tugged her into a soft hug before kissing the side of her head. Reassurance that he wasn't angry at her if it was her fault, though if he were being honest, he already suspected she had some hand in the thing showing up. Leaning out of the hug he glanced around the office at the mess of papers with a low grumbling noise. Putting both hands on his face before he slid them in opposite directions until his fingers interlocked behind his head. "Kaz is going to kill me...", he muttered. But that wasn't as important as...He slanted a look her way, "That's the only one right?"
Something felt like it was pulsing from her workroom though and it earned him looking past her for a moment, barely a moment. "Don't tell me it was the Jorgenson book, Ciara....", he slowly shifted his eyes back to her. He'd acquired the grimoire from one of the lesser Jorgenson family members before their massive fall. Everything else belonging to them had seemingly vanished though he had his suspicions of what really happened to it all. The book of course wasn't something he'd wanted for himself but for his wife and her collection. He wanted no part in it for a lot of reasons and had even refused to let his skin touch the damned book. (There'd been a rumor if a Sorenson, blood, touched the book that they'd be burned instantly. Could have been scare tactic but he wouldn't have put it past them to enchant it. Regardless, Ciara would be safe to touch it considering it wasn't Sorenson blood that flowed through her veins.) The two families had hated each other for generation beyond generation beyond generation over something nobody seemed to be entirely clear about. One could argue the Sorenson family used to have a bad habit of making enemies but at least in this case...Well, the Jorgensons had fucked over a lot of people to get the power they had held.
Kai pushed himself up to his feet before he held down a hand to help his wife up, giving her a soft kiss, then muttering, "What's going on, love?"
There was no healing of the damned thing straddling his chest and snarling more and more down at him. It's grimey hands settled on either side of his head before it started to lean down towards his face. Kai instantly put a hand on it's chest and another at it's forehead to keep pressure to keep it from leaning down further. It was trying to fucking bite him! "Fuck no.", he growled up at it and pushed harder, and harder. But no matter how much strength he had in his arms, and it was plenty to do some damage, the damned thing just kept pushing down. "Ciara!!!", he growled again.
His magic with death was inherited but it was by no means stronger than what he used on a daily basis. Nor was his knowledge in how to actually do things with it. Sure, he could have flexed some of it...but flexing with magic that you know nothing about is just asking for it to blow up in your face. By the time he heard the bookcase slide open the ghoul was six inches away from his face and it's rotting breath was washing over his face. Kai turned his head to the side and looked to Ciara with a heavy frown before his eyes saw the orb in her hand. The hand on the ghoul's chest slipped up to it's forehead so he could push with both arms until it sat up and looked at her. Letting him drop his arms to the ground with a heavy sigh even if it wasn't even off of him yet. He winced at the scream from the damned thing before he simply stared at the ceiling for a long moment. Only breaking his gaze from it to land on his wife with a flash of confusion, "No...", she cut him off.
Kai sat up with another groan, "Didn't bite me, what the hell is going on Ciara?", he tugged her into a soft hug before kissing the side of her head. Reassurance that he wasn't angry at her if it was her fault, though if he were being honest, he already suspected she had some hand in the thing showing up. Leaning out of the hug he glanced around the office at the mess of papers with a low grumbling noise. Putting both hands on his face before he slid them in opposite directions until his fingers interlocked behind his head. "Kaz is going to kill me...", he muttered. But that wasn't as important as...He slanted a look her way, "That's the only one right?"
Something felt like it was pulsing from her workroom though and it earned him looking past her for a moment, barely a moment. "Don't tell me it was the Jorgenson book, Ciara....", he slowly shifted his eyes back to her. He'd acquired the grimoire from one of the lesser Jorgenson family members before their massive fall. Everything else belonging to them had seemingly vanished though he had his suspicions of what really happened to it all. The book of course wasn't something he'd wanted for himself but for his wife and her collection. He wanted no part in it for a lot of reasons and had even refused to let his skin touch the damned book. (There'd been a rumor if a Sorenson, blood, touched the book that they'd be burned instantly. Could have been scare tactic but he wouldn't have put it past them to enchant it. Regardless, Ciara would be safe to touch it considering it wasn't Sorenson blood that flowed through her veins.) The two families had hated each other for generation beyond generation beyond generation over something nobody seemed to be entirely clear about. One could argue the Sorenson family used to have a bad habit of making enemies but at least in this case...Well, the Jorgensons had fucked over a lot of people to get the power they had held.
Kai pushed himself up to his feet before he held down a hand to help his wife up, giving her a soft kiss, then muttering, "What's going on, love?"
"Um," was Ciara's brilliant answer to Kai's more than understandable question. It seemed like a simple enough thing to answer - What the hell is going on Ciara?, in that serious voice that always made her frowny because she knew she'd done something wrong - but nothing was ever as simple as it seemed. Her relief that Kai hadn't been bitten by the ghoul was eclipsed by her reluctance to admit something she wasn't sure she'd done. It should've taken more effort to split the boundaries between the spiritual and physical worlds! It'd been such a simple seeming spell... Ciara needed more time before she really knew that was what had happened.
"Um, I think it's the only one -- I don't see any..." Ciara trailed off when she felt the energy starting to pulse fom her workroom. Sweet Darkness, all of her grimoires and family histories were in there! "Okay," she agreed guiltily. "I won't tell you that's what it is..." She gave Kai an unsure half smile, then accepted his hand when he offered the help up to her feet. Her working dress wasn't difficult to move in, not like some of her ridiculous ball gowns, but she still appreciated the help. Ciara took a moment to straighten her dress, which she'd matched with his red shirt without having to see him to know what he was wearing. She did that a lot, and while she always claimed something mysterious - like the spirits had told her - the obvious answer was, her maid gossiped with his valet. Ciara appreciated the kiss, because at least he wasn't that mad at her for messing up his papers, but she was still reluctant to tell him what she'd done.
There was a bang and clatter from the other side of the partially open bookshelf door. Merciful Night. "I'm sorry about your papers, um..." She took an inching step away from him. A louder series of clatters had her all but leaping toward her workroom door. "I may have been... Exploring the Jorgenson book, and -- No, not that book!" Ciara disappeared into her workroom, where two other ghouls had escaped from the crack between the worlds. "Don't do it," she warned one of the creatures. It was standing, partially visible, with a disquieting leer while it held the Lendragon's Family History over the fireplace. The flames were burning so hot, thanks to something the ghoul was doing, they had become entirely blue. If a book was dropped in that, even one gilded in gold as the Lendragon Family History had been, there wouldn't be time to save it before it turned into ash.
The ghoul dropped the book at the same time that Ciara finished muttering her incantation. Instead of falling into burning fire, the book fell onto ice: cracking it as it thumped into the stone cold fireplace. She contorted her hands into a series of quick patterns, blasting the ghoul with a burst of death energy. Being neither living nor dead, it didn't make as much of an impact as she had been hoping, but it did what she needed: distracted the ghoul long enough for her to pull the first spirit stone from her pouch. It was the triangular one, and as it fell Ciara held two fingers out from her fisted hand: using the pointed fingers to draw an invisible half circle over her head. "Fulram," she called when the dice hit the floor. It rolled in a decidedly unnatural way, flipping from one side to the other and landing firmly on the ground. The two visible sides started to glow.
She thrust her hand into her spirit pouch for another stone while she ordered the daemon she had summoned, "Cover the crack! Don't let anything else in for as long as you can help it." The second ghoul advanced on Ciara without warning, knocking her face first to the ground. Her stone went scattering from her fingers without being called, and she was too busy twisting around on the hard stone ground to kick at the teeth chomping ghoul to see how it'd landed. Her deerskin booted foot caught it on the jaw through blindly flailing luck, but it was too late. On the stone floor, the 19 started to glow: the least fortunate number they could've gotten for a ghoul infestation. The manngeshi was a trickster spirit, and without any orders from Ciara it was free to snag the unoccupied ghoul... Not to stop it, but to help it find somewhere much more fun than their offices to haunt.
"Um, I think it's the only one -- I don't see any..." Ciara trailed off when she felt the energy starting to pulse fom her workroom. Sweet Darkness, all of her grimoires and family histories were in there! "Okay," she agreed guiltily. "I won't tell you that's what it is..." She gave Kai an unsure half smile, then accepted his hand when he offered the help up to her feet. Her working dress wasn't difficult to move in, not like some of her ridiculous ball gowns, but she still appreciated the help. Ciara took a moment to straighten her dress, which she'd matched with his red shirt without having to see him to know what he was wearing. She did that a lot, and while she always claimed something mysterious - like the spirits had told her - the obvious answer was, her maid gossiped with his valet. Ciara appreciated the kiss, because at least he wasn't that mad at her for messing up his papers, but she was still reluctant to tell him what she'd done.
There was a bang and clatter from the other side of the partially open bookshelf door. Merciful Night. "I'm sorry about your papers, um..." She took an inching step away from him. A louder series of clatters had her all but leaping toward her workroom door. "I may have been... Exploring the Jorgenson book, and -- No, not that book!" Ciara disappeared into her workroom, where two other ghouls had escaped from the crack between the worlds. "Don't do it," she warned one of the creatures. It was standing, partially visible, with a disquieting leer while it held the Lendragon's Family History over the fireplace. The flames were burning so hot, thanks to something the ghoul was doing, they had become entirely blue. If a book was dropped in that, even one gilded in gold as the Lendragon Family History had been, there wouldn't be time to save it before it turned into ash.
The ghoul dropped the book at the same time that Ciara finished muttering her incantation. Instead of falling into burning fire, the book fell onto ice: cracking it as it thumped into the stone cold fireplace. She contorted her hands into a series of quick patterns, blasting the ghoul with a burst of death energy. Being neither living nor dead, it didn't make as much of an impact as she had been hoping, but it did what she needed: distracted the ghoul long enough for her to pull the first spirit stone from her pouch. It was the triangular one, and as it fell Ciara held two fingers out from her fisted hand: using the pointed fingers to draw an invisible half circle over her head. "Fulram," she called when the dice hit the floor. It rolled in a decidedly unnatural way, flipping from one side to the other and landing firmly on the ground. The two visible sides started to glow.
She thrust her hand into her spirit pouch for another stone while she ordered the daemon she had summoned, "Cover the crack! Don't let anything else in for as long as you can help it." The second ghoul advanced on Ciara without warning, knocking her face first to the ground. Her stone went scattering from her fingers without being called, and she was too busy twisting around on the hard stone ground to kick at the teeth chomping ghoul to see how it'd landed. Her deerskin booted foot caught it on the jaw through blindly flailing luck, but it was too late. On the stone floor, the 19 started to glow: the least fortunate number they could've gotten for a ghoul infestation. The manngeshi was a trickster spirit, and without any orders from Ciara it was free to snag the unoccupied ghoul... Not to stop it, but to help it find somewhere much more fun than their offices to haunt.
Kai wasn't angry, it took a lot to get him angry, and even then it was even harder for him to get angry with his wife. He could be angry at the ghoul for using his office as it's personal playroom though. But he seemed to relax a bit when she said she thought it was the only one out at the moment. He used that mental terminology because of the way the air still felt and it was generally safe to say that when there was one...There was going to at least be another. Or that'd been a case when he'd come across ghouls in the past. They weren't usually the type to travel or work together but those that held onto some part of their human side. Well, like most things spiritual or manna related sometimes they had the fun habit of surprising you. Which was why he'd mentioned the Jorgenson book to begin with. Those bastards always rigged things out of their greed to keep all of their spells to themselves.
The banging and clattering from her workroom pulled his attention more solidly towards the partially open door after his kiss. "Papers are fine...", he muttered before slanting a look at her as she took an inching step away. Doing a less than delicate dance of looking between her and the source of the noise before suddenly she was more determined to get to whatever was going on. "Ciara, wait!", he called out for all the good it did. Hearing her argue with something he moved quickly to his desk and started opening seemingly random drawers. Some fully open and others opened in fractions until there was a solid popping noise. Letting him lift up a side of the desk to access a hidden storage area and pull out an enchanted gauntlet which he started to pull onto his hand while heading towards the now fully open door. He had every intention of getting in there and helping deal with the trouble but...
There was a crackling noise behind him and by the time he turned around completely the orb she'd trapped the ghoul in was shattering. He barely flinched but did groan a bit, "Round two then.", he muttered while staring down the ghoul. It snarled a smile at him before screeching and throwing herself at him. Floating partially toward him at an attempt for his throat but he was ready this time. And he could fucking see it. His gauntlet covered hand shot out and grabbed it by it's throat instead. The gauntlet shuddered with the touch of something so tainted but soon was glowing a bright shade of green where it's palm touched the damned thing. "Back to the other side you nasty bitch.", he growled while tightening his fingers. It didn't take much now, with the manna pusling through the gauntlet, to simply crumble the damn thing's neck. Though it's head and body turned to dust before they even hit the ground and left the debris floating in the air for a few moments.
He'd only used it for healing before, working his life magic, so it'd been a gamble on if it was even going to do anything. He was relieved it had. By the time he got into Ciara's workroom she was getting knocked to the ground and he was yelling at the ghoul responsible. About to grab at it when the glowing dice caught his attention and suddenly the ghoul was gone from his sight. "Are you alright?", he asked while helping her up to her feet. Making sure she was steady and giving her a solid look over before his eyes slowly shifted towards the crack that he couldn't exactly see. It was fuzzy. Like a mirage. Looking at it the wrong way and it wasn't there but other angles let him see at least a little of it. "Here...", he said while turning his attention back to her. Sliding his hand to the back of her neck to hold her there with the hand free of the gauntlet. Pushing that tingling feeling from his own hand and into her to heal any form of wounds she could have had. Even if it was just a bruise.
The other ghoul on the ground was just getting to it's feet when he'd finished. "You.", he growled at it. Letting go of his wife so he could meet the damned thing before it made a move for either of them. He grabbed it the same as before, around it's throat, but this time shifted both him and the ghoul towards the crack. "Two way door?", he asked Ciara quickly as the ghoul grabbed at his gauntlet. Kai looked surprised for a moment when his gauntlet started to shift on his hand, "Fuck no...", he grumbled and tightened his fingers for all the good it did. In the next instant the ghoul had vanished with his gauntlet in it's grasp, leaving his hand just as bare as it'd been earlier. "You can fix this.", he said while his eyes were closed then turned to his wife. Putting his hands on her shoulders, "What daemon came out? What's 19?", he asked while stroking his thumbs over her shoulders in a soothing manner.
The banging and clattering from her workroom pulled his attention more solidly towards the partially open door after his kiss. "Papers are fine...", he muttered before slanting a look at her as she took an inching step away. Doing a less than delicate dance of looking between her and the source of the noise before suddenly she was more determined to get to whatever was going on. "Ciara, wait!", he called out for all the good it did. Hearing her argue with something he moved quickly to his desk and started opening seemingly random drawers. Some fully open and others opened in fractions until there was a solid popping noise. Letting him lift up a side of the desk to access a hidden storage area and pull out an enchanted gauntlet which he started to pull onto his hand while heading towards the now fully open door. He had every intention of getting in there and helping deal with the trouble but...
There was a crackling noise behind him and by the time he turned around completely the orb she'd trapped the ghoul in was shattering. He barely flinched but did groan a bit, "Round two then.", he muttered while staring down the ghoul. It snarled a smile at him before screeching and throwing herself at him. Floating partially toward him at an attempt for his throat but he was ready this time. And he could fucking see it. His gauntlet covered hand shot out and grabbed it by it's throat instead. The gauntlet shuddered with the touch of something so tainted but soon was glowing a bright shade of green where it's palm touched the damned thing. "Back to the other side you nasty bitch.", he growled while tightening his fingers. It didn't take much now, with the manna pusling through the gauntlet, to simply crumble the damn thing's neck. Though it's head and body turned to dust before they even hit the ground and left the debris floating in the air for a few moments.
He'd only used it for healing before, working his life magic, so it'd been a gamble on if it was even going to do anything. He was relieved it had. By the time he got into Ciara's workroom she was getting knocked to the ground and he was yelling at the ghoul responsible. About to grab at it when the glowing dice caught his attention and suddenly the ghoul was gone from his sight. "Are you alright?", he asked while helping her up to her feet. Making sure she was steady and giving her a solid look over before his eyes slowly shifted towards the crack that he couldn't exactly see. It was fuzzy. Like a mirage. Looking at it the wrong way and it wasn't there but other angles let him see at least a little of it. "Here...", he said while turning his attention back to her. Sliding his hand to the back of her neck to hold her there with the hand free of the gauntlet. Pushing that tingling feeling from his own hand and into her to heal any form of wounds she could have had. Even if it was just a bruise.
The other ghoul on the ground was just getting to it's feet when he'd finished. "You.", he growled at it. Letting go of his wife so he could meet the damned thing before it made a move for either of them. He grabbed it the same as before, around it's throat, but this time shifted both him and the ghoul towards the crack. "Two way door?", he asked Ciara quickly as the ghoul grabbed at his gauntlet. Kai looked surprised for a moment when his gauntlet started to shift on his hand, "Fuck no...", he grumbled and tightened his fingers for all the good it did. In the next instant the ghoul had vanished with his gauntlet in it's grasp, leaving his hand just as bare as it'd been earlier. "You can fix this.", he said while his eyes were closed then turned to his wife. Putting his hands on her shoulders, "What daemon came out? What's 19?", he asked while stroking his thumbs over her shoulders in a soothing manner.
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