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Scholomance 12 Chapter 3
🕑 Added 2021-09-11 15:00:00 +0000 UTCAfter Akira and Faye announced their news, I took them back up to the bedroom to join the rest of the coven. So much had happened since I’d received the premonition in the banquet hall, and now my head was a fuzzy mess of new information and plans. I had so much to work through, and so much to think about, but I knew I’d work it out in time.
“I guess this explains why I was so hungry today,” Akira snickered as we ascended the final set of stairs.
“Is that when you started having those thoughts?” I asked.
“No, they came the other day, but our suspicions solidified today,” Faye answered. “We both felt off, but we couldn’t explain why, and then neither of us could control our hunger today, so we decided to check.”
“And now here we are!” Akira bounced on her toes excitedly.
Then Faye opened the main door into our suite for me, and I wandered in to see the rest of the coven all lounging in the living room. Most of them were busy reading books and studying, whereas some were in conversation with each other and playing with their familiars. It pleased me to see that Astrid, Freyja, Della, Remy, Tally, and Cleo were busy studying. Those women were smart and powerful, and I didn’t see them as weak in the slightest, but there was still a lot for them to learn, so I was glad they used their free time wisely.
Once the group had noticed my arrival, they all stopped what they were doing and gave me their full attention. The familiars scurried off to a different corner of the room, and Marina and Revna moved to the opposite sides of the couch to give me a place to sit.
“Are you okay, my lord?” Marina asked as I made myself comfortable.
“Yes, what did the premonition show you?” Beatrix added, and the timid brunette chewed on her lower lip.
I didn’t know how long I’d been in Theodora’s office for, but I assumed a couple of hours, so it must have been hard for my coven to be kept in the dark for so long.
“It showed me a lot, but also nothing at all,” I said as I rolled my eyes playfully.
“Is it the Elder Lord?” Circe asked, and her forked tongue slid out of her mouth in distaste.
“It is,” I replied. “And we have a lot of work to do, but first we need to discuss something else.”
I glanced over at Akira and Faye to see their reaction. Both women had flushed cheeks while Faye nibbled on her bottom lip anxiously, and it looked like they were excited yet nervous to tell everyone their secret.
But before I could say anything else, and before the women could mutter a single word, the main door opened again.
Vanessa wandered into the room with a flustered look on her face, and she mumbled a silent apology as she found somewhere to sit.
“Have I missed anything, master?” Vanessa asked.
“No, not yet,” I replied. “We were actually about to talk about something else, so you’ve come just at the right time. When I left Theodora’s office, I noticed Akira and Faye waiting for me in the hallway.”
“Yeah, we wondered where you’d gone,” Samara said.
“The two of them wanted to talk to me,” I continued to explain. “Now, would you like to tell them, or should I?”
I looked at the two women in question again, and seeing as it was their secret to tell, I wanted to give them the option.
“Um…” Akira mumbled as she played with her fingers. “Faye and I are pregnant.”
A tense silence followed as the rest of the coven processed that information, but then it was a mess of activity as the women exploded into squeals and brought Akira and Faye into tight hugs. The entire coven congratulated the pair and told them how excited they were, and they shared the embrace with me, too.
“This is amazing!” Penelope giggled as she tightened her arms around me.
“You’re the first to receive the Dark Lord’s child!” Della added with wide, adoring eyes. “You both must be ecstatic.”
“We are,” Faye said with a smile, and she settled her hand on her still flat stomach.
“I wonder when we’ll experience the same thing…” Nyx said with a faraway look. “Satan, I hope it’s soon.”
“Me, too!” Tally gasped with her hands clasped in front of her chest, and given her past, the Edrian woman was understandably excited. “I cannot wait to see my stomach swell, but until we’re given that gift, we can watch as Akira and Faye grow and protect those babies.”
“And soon Scholomance will be filled with the Dark Lord’s powerful children,” Vanessa added with a smirk.
“His name and power will be passed down for generations to come, and it’ll be a pleasure to watch and experience,” Morgana sighed as she relaxed back into her seat. “And like Nyx, I, too, can’t wait to be given that opportunity.”
“All of that will come in time,” I said as I motioned for the women to calm down. “But as exciting as this moment is, we have something else to discuss.”
“The premonition,” Samara said as her expression grew serious.
“Exactly.” I nodded. “I didn’t see much, but I did see the Elder Lord. He’s returned again, and there seems to be only one thing on his mind. A realms-wide apocalypse.”
“The same war you sensed before?” Vesta asked.
“Yes, but since he’s realized he can’t defeat me on his own, he’s decided to take a different route,” I said. “Fortunately, Lilith experienced the same vision, so we managed to put our experiences together to work out what the Elder Lord is up to. The premonition is vague, but Lilith noticed something. She saw the Cylinder of Sight.”
The room was filled with silence once again, and from the expressions on my women’s faces, I knew some had no idea what I was talking about, but others knew exactly.
“The Cylinder of Sight?” Morgana echoed as her face paled. “As in, one of the five cursed artifacts?”
“The very same.” I nodded. “For those who don’t understand, the five cursed artifacts, when put together, have the ability to cause the greatest harm and destruction, especially when put in the wrong hands. The Elder Lord wishes to seek out these objects, and if he does, then no one will be safe.”
“I don’t understand…” Samara frowned. “The artifacts were destroyed long ago.”
“That’s what we thought, too,” I said. “What we think has happened is the Scroll of Malediction was destroyed, so without that, the objects can no longer be found.”
“What’s the Scroll of Malediction?” Circe asked.
“It’s essentially a map for the artifacts,” Morgana said. “There’s no way to find the objects without that scroll.”
“Wait… how do you know about this?” Vanessa questioned Morgana. “No new generations had been informed about the artifacts, due to the danger they could cause. How did you come across a book that included them?”
“Um… my grandmother told me.” Morgana shrugged. “She’s very old and knew of the artifacts, and she didn’t want me to grow up without knowing about them. So, despite how my parents felt, my grandmother told me the entire story.”
“Then you could be the perfect person to help work out the clues,” I said. “We’ll need to stop the Elder Lord from finding the artifacts, so we all need to work together to track them down.”
“What about the scroll?” Beatrix asked.
“Don’t worry, we’ve got that.” I smirked. “At least, we’ve got the clues the scroll held.”
“And what about once we’ve found the objects?” Marina frowned.
“I’ll destroy them for good.” I shrugged. “But I can’t imagine it’ll be an easy task. These objects are hidden for a reason, so they won’t be in plain sight, and I doubt we’ll be able to walk up and grab them without any issues.”
“What about Akira and Faye?” Morgana asked.
“What about us?” Akira responded as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“I mean, are you two strong enough to come on the journey with us?” Morgana explained.
“Um, Morgana, we’re pregnant, not missing all four limbs,” Faye scoffed.
But Morgana’s question made sense to me, and it made me briefly think about Akira and Faye’s condition. Of course the pregnancy didn’t weaken them at all, at least not for many months, and they were all covered by the Blood Pact, but it made me consider how far that pact’s power travelled.
“Morgana’s right,” I said to break up the small squabble. “The Blood Pact protects us all, but does it protect the babies, too?”
“They’re a part of us, so I assume the charm protects everything about us.” Akira shrugged.
“But not necessarily,” I replied. “You two are the first to bear my children, so until we know how far the pact goes, it’s not worth the risk.”
“What do you suggest, master?” Vanessa asked.
I thought through Vanessa’s question before I fully gave my answer. The Blood Pact connected the witches to me, and that was obviously the case for the children already, but perhaps there was a way to increase the strength of the charm, which, in turn, increased the protection around Akira and Faye.
“When we initiated the Blood Pact, we summoned the darkness and asked to be bonded by blood and soul,” I said aloud. “So it should be easy enough to increase the bond and have the connection run deeper.”
“But, my lord, these babies share your blood,” Faye spoke up. “Surely they’ll be protected with or without an added charm.”
“But can you say that with certainty?” I asked. “Would you want to risk your child’s life?”
“No, of course not.” The redhead shook her head as one arm slipped around her slim stomach. “I’d never put this child’s life in jeopardy.”
“Then there you go,” I said with a slow nod. “I cannot have you leave this academy without increasing the pact first.”
“Of course, master.” Akira bowed her head. “If that’s what you want to do, then Faye and I will be sure to obey your word. Thank you for caring about us and our protection.”
“It is what I want to do,” I said without a second’s hesitation. “Now, let me think about how to do this, and then we can increase the bond.”
“Cole, do you think we should work on the clues first?” Vanessa suggested. “Lilith and Theodora have already set off on their quest, so if some of us could go now, it would give us more time to find the artifacts.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” I agreed. “There are four more artifacts for us to find, but there’s nineteen of us. Vanessa, you can plan to head to Jinarus, but make sure to gather a few more students together to assist you.”
“Of course, my lord,” the professor replied.
Vanessa selected Cleo, Beatrix, Revna, and Remy, and once they were set, I worked on pairing a few others together.
“Marina and Morgana,” I said as I looked at both witches in turn. “I want you to head to Theodora’s office and travel with them.”
“No problem.” Marina nodded.
Morgana then held onto Marina’s hand, and the two of them vanished into the air as Morgana transported them from the room.
I then chose Nyx to lead the third group, and she chose Vesta, Freyja, Circe, and Samara.
The remaining four were Akira, Della, Astrid, and Faye, who would be accompanying me this time. I wanted the two confirmed pregnant witches with me so I could make absolutely sure my protections on them held, and Della and Astrid were new to the coven, so I decided to give them the chance to accompany me.
And if they weren’t already pregnant, I’d assure they were.
“I want you all to pick a riddle,” I said to the room. “You’ll work together to decode the words, but you cannot leave before you’ve run the riddle past me. We all need to be absolutely certain of the location before you head there.”
My coven nodded their heads, and then I took out the paper of riddles and the book of hidden objects for the women to look through. Once they’d each chosen a riddle to decode, the groups sat in their assigned pairs as I took the remaining Faye and Akira over to a cauldron. I had a spell in mind to increase the blood pact, so I just had to hope it would work.
“Illuminana,” I said with my wand aimed into the center of the cauldron.
The pot began to boil and bubble seconds later, and clouds of red smoke erupted from the cauldron. Then I sat my wand beside the pot and brought out my dagger.
“Do you each remember what to do?” I asked as I looked at Akira and Faye in turn.
“We do,” they said with a nod.
“Excellent,” I replied.
Then, with the tip of the dagger, I sliced a small cut into my palm, waited for the blood to pool, and dropped it into the cauldron.
“Vocaui, et tenebras petere quod sit conjunctio fiet, et anima per sanguineim,” I said slowly.
As the smoke in the cauldron increased, Akira and Faye copied my movements and sliced their own palms. They repeated the incantation, and we all watched as the smoke practically covered the entire pot.
Then I asked the darkness to increase the bond both inside us, but most importantly around the unborn children.
“Diabolus peto ut proventus vinculum inter nos, et operimentum omne intus et extra infans,” I intoned, and my voice was quiet yet firm.
The light around the pot grew larger and thicker, and all of a sudden, shots of red light flew from the cauldron and attached itself into the center of the women’s abdomens. Akira and Faye let out squeaks as their eyes grew wide, and no one said a word as the light swarmed into their bodies.
I couldn’t imagine what the women felt, and whether it was painful or not, but this must have meant the spell was working.
Once the spell appeared to be complete, we allowed the cauldron to die down again. Akira and Faye kept their hands over their stomachs, but the look of shock was still to leave their faces.
“What was it like?” I asked.
“Almost like…” Akira began and then hesitated. “I don’t know.”
“It felt like someone had placed a heater in front of my stomach,” Faye laughed. “The warm feeling spread throughout me, and I just knew the spell had attached itself to my child.”
“Good.” I smiled.
The only way to truly prove whether or not the spell worked was to jeopardize the children they carried, and that wasn’t something either of us wished to try out. So until we knew for certainty, we simply had to hope.
“Master,” Cleo’s voice interrupted my thoughts.
“Yes?” I asked as I turned to see her and Vanessa slip on their cloaks.
Beatrix, Revna, and Remy stood behind them, and they slipped on their own cloaks, so I knew this was Vanessa’s team.
“We’re going to head to the black waters of Jinarus to see if we can find the tiara,” Cleo informed me.
“And you’re absolutely certain that’s where it’ll be?” I asked.
“We can’t think of anywhere else.” Vanessa shrugged. “The riddle said to head to shallow water that’s black, and I’m certain Jinarus only has the one black sea. The main issue will be locating a specific spot, but I hope it won’t take us too long to find it.”
“The artifact could be anywhere across the shoreline, or it could be in the tide pools,” I thought aloud. “Make sure to have your group searching every area of water, and remember a location spell may not work, so you’ll need to use your senses.”
“We’ll do our very best, master,” Vanessa said as she bowed her head. “We won’t return until we have that tiara in hand.”
“I’m confident you’ll find it.” I smiled.
The two witches then formed a circle as they shadow-ported from the room, and I turned my attention to my group. Akira, Della, Astrid, and Faye had the book and paper laid out before them, and they all appeared to be in deep discussion about something.
“Which riddles are we working with?” I asked.
“Well…” Akira paused. “These final two riddles look like they could be in the same realm, so all five of us could go after them both.”
“These two,” Astrid said as she pointed to the riddles in question.
The first one said:
Two minds together work as one, go to where the sand is thick, and there you will be done.
And the other one was:
What’s written in stone, but also in fire, hidden there brings your biggest desire. It’s soft to touch, yet bittersweet, make sure to watch what’s under your feet.
“Sand…” I muttered to myself. “The second riddle also refers to a soft texture, so I guess that’s sand, too.”
“That’s what we thought,” Akira agreed. “We just need to work out which realm they mean, and also which artifact they’re referring to.”
Fortunately, I’d always been a natural at decoding riddles, so I chose the first riddle and worked through every word to discover what it meant. It said two minds together worked as one, which, I assumed, meant one needed to be more powerful in order to collect the artifact. It then went on to say ‘there you will be done,’ so all I had to do was work out what that part meant.
I scanned over the pictures of the artifacts as I attempted to work out the final part of the riddle, and just as I thought I wasn’t going to get anywhere, my eyes landed on one picture in particular.
The Urn of Annihilation.
“This one,” I said. “This is the most powerful artifact out of all five.”
My group was silent for a moment as they processed my words. I was confident of my answer, but I needed them to understand how I came to that conclusion.
“There you will be done…” Della repeated the words. “You said something about all the artifacts need to be put together in order to work, so is that what the riddle means? Once you’ve found the Urn, you’ll be done?”
“That’s exactly what it means.” I grinned. “But what does the second riddle refer to?”
“Well, it mentions writing, so that could either be the Diabolic Headstone or the Oblivion Inscriptions,” Akira mumbled. “But which one?”
The Oblivion Inscriptions was the second most powerful artifact, so the chances of the Inscriptions and the Urn being placed in the same realm were slim, but not completely impossible, so I stood from the seat and spoke loudly to the room.
“Has anyone been given a clue about writing?” I asked.
“We do!” Nyx replied as she jumped up from the ground, and the blue-haired witch skipped over to me and pointed at the riddle she was working on with Vesta.
I write the words of the fiendish and wicked, but do not trust what I say. Regardless of what you think, on the snow you must lay.
It seemed like the easiest riddle of the lot.
“Fiendish and wicked are synonyms of diabolical.” I smirked.
“So, there’s our answer,” Astrid giggled.
“Thank you, Nyx,” I said to the witch.
“No, thank you!” she laughed. “We were still trying to work it out.”
“We have the two artifacts, but which realm is known for having sand?” Della asked. “Surely every realm has sand somewhere?”
“But it’s not talking about a small amount of sand,” I explained. “We need to go to the realm which is practically made out of sand. So, can you think about where that could be?”
I already knew it was Goshotha, and I could already imagine the issues we’d face, but like with the artifacts, I had to make sure my group worked it out by themselves.
For the next few minutes, the four women worked through every realm and quickly ticked them off the list when they realized they weren’t right. I was confident they’d reach the right answer, but I also knew to jump in and help them if they took too long.
“Hovanna?” Della suggested.
“No, they have more mud than sand,” Akira muttered
“Abrudolon?” Astrid asked.
“Too many trees,” Faye said. “What about Ettorea? Isn’t that realm known for its giant sand sculptures?”
“You’re on the right track,” I said with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh!” Akira said suddenly. “Didn’t we once read about this? There are two realms known for their sand sculptures? Fuck, what’s its name?”
“Guh… gas… fuck,” Faye sighed. “I can’t remember, and it’s on the tip of my tongue!”
“Goshotha?” Astrid suggested.
“Yes!” Akira cried out with a laugh. “Goshotha, that’s the one!”
“Well done.” I smirked. “Both Ettorea and Goshotha have sand sculptures, but Ettorea has far less sand than Goshotha. So, unless I’ve read the riddle wrong, then Goshotha is where we need to go.”
“Let’s go then!” Akira said as she jumped up from the seat.
Then I quickly checked on Nyx’s group to see how they were getting on, and the blue skinned beauty with the red horns informed me that they had worked out which realm to go, so they were about to leave, too. My smoking witch told me she hoped she was smart enough to complete the mission, but I wouldn’t have split them into groups if I didn’t think they were capable. These witches were part of my coven for a reason, and they were about to prove themselves wrong.
I waited until Nyx’s group had left, and then I went back to join Della, Akira, Astrid and Faye.
“Are you all ready?” I asked them.
“Ready as we’ll ever be,” Della laughed lightly.
“Then let’s go.” I grinned. “Alexander, do you want to come along?”
The wolverine stood up from beside the fireplace and looked at me with excited eyes.
You know I’ll never say no to an adventure, sir, Alexander said as he flew over toward us.
“Bring Damien along with you, we could use his help,” I said.
You got it, Alexander replied as he motioned the komodo dragon with a swoop of his wing.
Once the familiars were beside us, we all joined hands, and I visualized Goshotha clearly in my mind.
Then the purple mist appeared, and we began our journey.
