Occult Awakening: From Commoner to Archmage

The first spell Luca tried from the tome was the Scry spell. Out of all the spells Crowley left behind, this one stood out as the most intriguing.

So far, combat spells were the only ones Luca could rely on, but the Scry spell felt different. He considered it the most important spell in his arsenal, especially because Crowley himself had written that it was the very tool he used to gather much of his information.

There was another reason Luca placed such weight on it. Unlike most other spells, its effectiveness did not diminish even when used at the Ninth Degree. That alone made it unique, and its utility was clear.

Scry was multipurpose. It had several ways it could be used, which was why it had three possible primary catalysts. Rainwater and the obsidian shard mirror were most often tied to divining information and glimpsing fragments of the future. The third, the dowsing rod, leaned toward finding things or people.

Rainwater served as the cheaper alternative to the obsidian shard. It had a symbolic meaning as a product of the heavens, while obsidian was considered sacred because of its mineral properties and its long association with truth-seeking rituals.

The last catalyst, however, could never be replaced. Dried yarrow leaves were required for every casting. They were believed to be tied innately to the stars, making them vital no matter which primary catalyst was chosen.

Luca pulled a plain bowl toward him and poured in the Rainwater he had carefully stored in a sealed bucket.

When he had realized Digger could supply him with most of the catalysts he lacked, Luca had asked if he could obtain an obsidian mirror. The mirror was infinitely reusable; it was the most efficient choice. But obsidian was rare in this part of Hesperia, and Digger said it would take at least two weeks for a shipment to arrive from a distant region.

Luca had no patience to wait that long.

The bowl he prepared was inscribed with a bind-glyph. A bind-glyph was composed of multiple glyphs woven together into a single form. The one Luca used took the shape of a half-open eye resting at the center of a spiral, the spiral curling outward as if to pull the gaze into its depths.

He placed two dried yarrow leaves onto the surface of the water. They drifted apart in lazy, random movements.

Luca fixed his eyes on the leaves, then set his hands on either side of the bowl. He channeled his energy into the carved glyphs.

SWISH.

A sudden unnatural gust of air swept through the cellar, rattling the flickering light crystals above him. The water stirred, and the leaves began to shift more violently.

Every divination required a question. The same rule applied here. Without a question, there was no direction for the magic to answer. The sharper the question, the clearer the result would be, so long as the caster was capable of receiving it.

Luca closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and steadied his voice.

"The outcome of my advancement into the First Degree."

He repeated it.

"The outcome of my advancement into the First Degree."

One more time.

"The outcome of my advancement into the First Degree."

The words left his lips for the third time. Only then did the surface of the water react.

The bowl vibrated faintly. The two leaves spun apart from each other, drifting until they shrank into tiny flecks. One after the other, the flecks dissolved and disappeared into the water.

Then the surface shifted.

A shimmering image formed. The scene was of the city at night. Two dark, indistinct silhouettes floated in the sky, locked in confrontation.

The streets below were shrouded in smoke and haze. A vast figure loomed above the chaos, the outlines only half-formed, yet immense in presence.

The smoke spread, and from within it emerged the clearest figure of the vision. A body cloaked in rolling black miasma and flames. The being was human in its frame, but its head was not. The head was that of a locust, with two massive horns curling backward, their tips dissolving into the same shifting miasma.

Luca had never encountered this creature, but he recognized it immediately

Pestewind.

Before he could see more, the water rippled again and revealed another vision.

This time it was himself.

The same city still burned in smoke and flame. The same day as before. In the vision, Luca's expression was tense as two opponents landed before him. He recognized them instantly—Haider and Finley. Behind them, a crowd pressed in, their forms indistinct but hostile.

The image held steady for only a moment.

"What happens after?" he whispered without thinking.

That slip proved disastrous.

WHOOSH.

The water flared, evaporating into a cloud of mist. It rose into the cellar air and dispersed silently. There was no heat at all. The water simply transformed into that.

Luca's breath caught. His chest rose and fell as his heart thudded with unease.

'What was that?'

He was faced off against Haider and Finely. He saw close up what Haider could do against Crowley's student. And Finley. Finley had nearly killed him once before. it didn't bode well that he would be facing both of them at the same time, along with the hostile figure behind them.

The tension lingered, pressing at the edges of his mind. He forced himself to still his breathing, one slow exhale after another, until calm returned.

"It is only divination," he muttered. "If the water dispersed like that, it means the result was beyond my reach. Interference. Something is blocking the outcome."

It did not mean survival. Nor did it guarantee death. The vision had merely been obscured. Something unknown interfered with the chain of results. That much he could take away.

The thought unsettled him, but he pushed it down.

What mattered more were the fragments he had seen before the collapse.

Pestewind was free. The city was in flames. Two silhouettes fought above the rooftops, but their features were beyond him.

All of it was distant, as though hidden behind a veil he could not pierce.

Still, one question remained.

"What does any of this have to do with my advancement?"

That was the thread that tied it all together, yet it made no sense. He asked about the outcome of his advancement, and that was the answer, which meant they were related somehow.

The visions hinted at disaster, but their connection to his advancement remained unclear. He could only hope the answer was not as grim as it appeared.

Luca leaned back, gaze still fixed on the empty bowl.

He thought carefully about which spell to test next. It took only seconds for him to decide. The choice was obvious. Perhaps the next spell would provide some more insight.