Post by Ava Gennadios on Mar 12, 2006 16:27:28 GMT -5
Ava walked in the dead of night, the thrill of doing something bad coursing down her spine. In her slender fingers she carried The Black Book: the volume was the same size and weight as a Muggle dictionary, and had no English words. But inside the cover, on page one, there was the Latin Ars Hermetica. This was dark thaumaturgy: blood magic, an abhorrent discipline of the Dark Arts. Her parents had placed a restriction on her education. Ava was allowed to learn the dark arts, but not practice them. Now, in these harsh times, that restriction had been lifted. She had been ordered her to make herself useful once again. And that meant witchcraft. So she’d made her way to the Forbidden Forest, a place she’d had the pleasure of entering only a few times before. What better place to practice black magic than the forest the witches once called home?
There were creatures in the Forest that would destroy her. To prevent this, she stopped at the first sight of trees and took out her ebony wand. This she lifted to her lip, and murmured a splitting spell. The tip of her wand touched the droplet of blood that appeared, and she murmured auspex. Near her hands came a soft purple glow: the color of witches and wizards. Under the auspex spell, Muggles glowed a red color, and magical beasts a blue-green. Thus she would be able to see the beasts before they saw her, and she would be able to select a spot where she would be unlikely to be disturbed by looking for an area that was completely black. The auspex spell provided even more information when a more powerful spellcaster used it, but Ava was only eighteen and didn’t possess the magical finesse required. As she drew close to the Forest’s borders the auras began to appear: blue-green, all. When she saw a thin beam of purple rising up from Hagrid’s hut, Ava smiled.
There was a patch of darkness about five hundred yards away, and Ava half walked, half sprinted there. Her green eyes scanned the area quickly, and she proceeded forward cautiously, walking for about a mile, steering clear of any blue-green light. She heard creatures fighting, and crying, as they died, and thought that she should be afraid. To this end, she forced a shiver, and slumped her shoulders, but the automatic caution that fear provided never came to her. Shrugging, she gave up and decided she’d gone far enough. There was a small clearing about ten feet in diameter ahead of her, with no auras in sight. Ava examined the resources the clearing provided: wood, a coating of flammable pine needles over a rock hard earth. The needles would have to be removed before she could begin, but they would be useful later. The hardness of the ground would present a unique challenge.
She put her wand to the ground and ordered the needles to blow to the side. The bare earth was a dark brown color, and dusty: the last rain had been quite some time ago. Strange, in England, but Ava stored it in the black of her mind as something to think about later. Then she opened the Black Book to page 457 and placed a charm on the book to hold it in place. A wind blew through the area, sweeping her hair into the air, blowing her corduroy trenchcoat out behind her, blowing some of the violet petals she’d stuffed in her pockets throughout the forest.
She pressed her wand to her arm. “Sectum” she whispered, and a thin line of blood appeared. She pressed this to the earth, allowing the blood to flow for a few seconds, so that the earth would be attuned with her presence. Then Ava began to draw. The process was painstaking. She drew a perfect circle five feet in diameter using her wand, enchanted with an Archimedes charm. Inside the circle she scribed the symbols for each element, sacrificing blood for each one.
“Incendo.” She whispered, reciting the pages of the Black Book from memory. Off five feet away, the Book began to glow softly. Sweat beaded on her pale face, and flowed down the back of her neck, and she was tired. But Ava noticed none of this: all her attention was on what she was doing, the pleasure of creation. This thing was hers.
“Incendo,” she said again, louder, “Nolo te Intrare!” The circumference of the hermetic diagram began to shine, and Ava’s body shook slightly as the power transferred to the picture, building a ward and a compact. She would not be able to leave until the diagram was complete, and neither beast nor human could interrupt her work. Her arm shaking, she lifted the wand back to her wrist.
“Sectum. Do incendium maximum auctoritas!” Blood dripped to the ground, from her fingertips, from her mouth. And Ava began to dance. It was a slow and purposeful dance. She moved about each elemental pole, directing her own energy, and the numina, the energy present in all things, into each symbol she had scribed. Ava moved back and forth. The symbols grew larger as they soaked up the power she was giving to them, and reverberated as Ava spoke the words of spells. Lastly, she took fistfuls of violet petals into her hands and scattered them over the diagram. Violets were the flower of eternity. With their kiss, the diagram would last longer.
“Ire,” Ava whispered, exhausted. Go. The violet petals bloomed into fire, and then the diagram burst into light. The report of the symbols pushed Ava backwards, the earth shaking slightly under her feet. She crawled away, barely escaping being set alight herself, and rested against a tree, her head hanging limp. She gasped for breath, and tried to wipe the blood away from her mouth, but couldn’t raise her hand to do it. The completed diagram purred away, but Ava couldn’t help but feel that it had stolen away a portion of her soul.
With one last effort, Ava raised her wand in the air and whispered "Absconditus" The pine needles fell over the diagram and covered it as if it never existed, and the book buried itself deep in the ground for retrieval later. She wouldn’t be missed for a day. Ava had made a habit of making random disappearances, not telling anyone where she was going, knowing that the time would come when her services would be called on. And, of course, if someone or something came in here that meant her harm, the diagram would take care of them. Most painfully. Ars Hermetica.
----------
Ars Hermetica= The Art of the Hermetica
Sectum= Cut
Incendo= Burn, Glow
Nolo te Intrare= Don’t enter. (lit. I don’t want you to enter)
Do incendium maximum auctoritas = give the fire all power
ire= go (imperative)
absconditus: hide
There were creatures in the Forest that would destroy her. To prevent this, she stopped at the first sight of trees and took out her ebony wand. This she lifted to her lip, and murmured a splitting spell. The tip of her wand touched the droplet of blood that appeared, and she murmured auspex. Near her hands came a soft purple glow: the color of witches and wizards. Under the auspex spell, Muggles glowed a red color, and magical beasts a blue-green. Thus she would be able to see the beasts before they saw her, and she would be able to select a spot where she would be unlikely to be disturbed by looking for an area that was completely black. The auspex spell provided even more information when a more powerful spellcaster used it, but Ava was only eighteen and didn’t possess the magical finesse required. As she drew close to the Forest’s borders the auras began to appear: blue-green, all. When she saw a thin beam of purple rising up from Hagrid’s hut, Ava smiled.
There was a patch of darkness about five hundred yards away, and Ava half walked, half sprinted there. Her green eyes scanned the area quickly, and she proceeded forward cautiously, walking for about a mile, steering clear of any blue-green light. She heard creatures fighting, and crying, as they died, and thought that she should be afraid. To this end, she forced a shiver, and slumped her shoulders, but the automatic caution that fear provided never came to her. Shrugging, she gave up and decided she’d gone far enough. There was a small clearing about ten feet in diameter ahead of her, with no auras in sight. Ava examined the resources the clearing provided: wood, a coating of flammable pine needles over a rock hard earth. The needles would have to be removed before she could begin, but they would be useful later. The hardness of the ground would present a unique challenge.
She put her wand to the ground and ordered the needles to blow to the side. The bare earth was a dark brown color, and dusty: the last rain had been quite some time ago. Strange, in England, but Ava stored it in the black of her mind as something to think about later. Then she opened the Black Book to page 457 and placed a charm on the book to hold it in place. A wind blew through the area, sweeping her hair into the air, blowing her corduroy trenchcoat out behind her, blowing some of the violet petals she’d stuffed in her pockets throughout the forest.
She pressed her wand to her arm. “Sectum” she whispered, and a thin line of blood appeared. She pressed this to the earth, allowing the blood to flow for a few seconds, so that the earth would be attuned with her presence. Then Ava began to draw. The process was painstaking. She drew a perfect circle five feet in diameter using her wand, enchanted with an Archimedes charm. Inside the circle she scribed the symbols for each element, sacrificing blood for each one.
“Incendo.” She whispered, reciting the pages of the Black Book from memory. Off five feet away, the Book began to glow softly. Sweat beaded on her pale face, and flowed down the back of her neck, and she was tired. But Ava noticed none of this: all her attention was on what she was doing, the pleasure of creation. This thing was hers.
“Incendo,” she said again, louder, “Nolo te Intrare!” The circumference of the hermetic diagram began to shine, and Ava’s body shook slightly as the power transferred to the picture, building a ward and a compact. She would not be able to leave until the diagram was complete, and neither beast nor human could interrupt her work. Her arm shaking, she lifted the wand back to her wrist.
“Sectum. Do incendium maximum auctoritas!” Blood dripped to the ground, from her fingertips, from her mouth. And Ava began to dance. It was a slow and purposeful dance. She moved about each elemental pole, directing her own energy, and the numina, the energy present in all things, into each symbol she had scribed. Ava moved back and forth. The symbols grew larger as they soaked up the power she was giving to them, and reverberated as Ava spoke the words of spells. Lastly, she took fistfuls of violet petals into her hands and scattered them over the diagram. Violets were the flower of eternity. With their kiss, the diagram would last longer.
“Ire,” Ava whispered, exhausted. Go. The violet petals bloomed into fire, and then the diagram burst into light. The report of the symbols pushed Ava backwards, the earth shaking slightly under her feet. She crawled away, barely escaping being set alight herself, and rested against a tree, her head hanging limp. She gasped for breath, and tried to wipe the blood away from her mouth, but couldn’t raise her hand to do it. The completed diagram purred away, but Ava couldn’t help but feel that it had stolen away a portion of her soul.
With one last effort, Ava raised her wand in the air and whispered "Absconditus" The pine needles fell over the diagram and covered it as if it never existed, and the book buried itself deep in the ground for retrieval later. She wouldn’t be missed for a day. Ava had made a habit of making random disappearances, not telling anyone where she was going, knowing that the time would come when her services would be called on. And, of course, if someone or something came in here that meant her harm, the diagram would take care of them. Most painfully. Ars Hermetica.
----------
Ars Hermetica= The Art of the Hermetica
Sectum= Cut
Incendo= Burn, Glow
Nolo te Intrare= Don’t enter. (lit. I don’t want you to enter)
Do incendium maximum auctoritas = give the fire all power
ire= go (imperative)
absconditus: hide