NOVEL NEXT Chapter Fifty-Seven: Hard Conversations
When Salem and Jackson woke up, I was working on redrawing the ritual into my grimoire, and cross referencing with all of the information contained within Ketsalkuet's grimoire. Ketsalkuet's use of affinity ritual magic was so much more advanced than anything I'd seen before that I'd initially been planning to just copy it out for my own with some tweaks to incorporate the sea dragon's bloodline. Now, I was rethinking that plan.
It might seem odd to be thinking about Ketsalkuet's rituals while working on this, but there was a simple reason for it: I needed to incorporate as much of the Traitor Wyrm's magic as possible into my sealing curse if I wanted to even have a shot of stopping the Traitor Wyrm from using it, but to do that, I needed a much better understanding of the spell. That in turn meant a better understanding of the strange ritualistic magic that was being used, and the closest source to that I'd found was in Ketsalkuet's grimoire. It wasn't one for one, but it was better.
After they'd had their breakfast and gotten some coffee from my cart, I started to break down the portions I understood, and each of them began to focus on the portions they could help with.
"I don't know the prayers and alms of the Traitor Wyrm work exactly, but I do have a fairly solid grasp on divine magic," Jackson said, tracing the lines. "Still, there are portions of this magic that are entirely unlike anything I have ever seen before. It's like…"
He seemed to struggle for a moment, at a loss for words, before he finally pointed at Seren, who was also examining the papers despite saying nothing.
"It's like looking at Seren's use of flame. I can sort of follow along. I know it's flame. I can even do some of the same things. But it's still different."
"Are ya' sayin' it's usin' a differen' sort'a magic than divine?" Salem asked.
"No, no. Maybe a better example would be like if I only knew my affinity magic, and saw someone cast a fireball. I can follow along. I can imitate it with what I know. It's still fueled by ether. But for all that they're similar, they're also radically different. The ether cost between my affinity fireballs and normal ones are different. The spellforms are different. There are components in common, but they aren't the same."
"That's somewhat how I feel about this magic," I said, gesturing to the bloodline spellcraft portion that I was working on decoding. "There are portions of this that make sense, but there are also sections that just seem to work entirely differently."
"Druidry an' cultivation," Salem said. We looked at him, confused, and he continued. "It's like druidry an' cultivation. Both are usin' the same life force an' such. But they're radically different in outcome."
"Yes! Maybe it's because this is dark god magic, as opposed to mine?"
I paused and shifted my gaze to Ketsalkuet's grimoire. Both affinity magic and wizardry drew from the same force: an ether pool. But they were also so radially different, just like Jackson had been saying. There were portions of Ketsalkuet's book that would put any modern affinity spells to shame. That wasn't to say the magic in the book was all better. The ether manipulation techniques described in empowering the rituals, for example, were far worse than even most of the techniques I knew.
And yet it wasn't quite the same thing. As far as I understood it, druidic magic and cultivation were mutually exclusive paths to power. You couldn't be a druid and a cultivator, you needed to be one. Yet you could, apparently, be a master of affinity magic and of wizardry? That just… didn't sit right with me. I felt like I was missing a portion of the picture. I didn't know what that portion was. Maybe it was nothing. But I still couldn't help but feel like there had to be something…
I sighed and glanced at Salem, who was now focused on the sections related to destiny magic. He wasn't an expert either, but he knew more than either Jackson or I did. He looked up and shrugged.
"Not much I can say, ta' be honest. They've got four pools, an' that means they 'ad to get at least three orichalcum legacies. Mor'an that? Not sure I can say. Seems ta' be really woven inta' the bloodline stuff. An' it seems ta' be drawin' on the established destiny a' whoever is workin' on that portion of the spell."
I felt a chill rush over me as I looked at Salem.
"It's drawing on the destiny of the person who is empowering that portion of the spell for its effect?" I asked, then continued when Salem nodded. "What happens if they both have the destiny of 'dual unity'. I'm not sure I'm translating it right but–"
"The one flesh," Jackson said, taking a breath. "Two become one."
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"Dual cultivation. It's mergin' her with the Traitor Wyrm." Salem finished. "If they were usin' the destiny a' the summoner or somethin' it migh' be a summon, but the dual unity?"
Jackson held up a finger and began to frantically look along the parts of the spell that involved divine magic. He circled one spot, then another, then a third. He then took out a sheet of paper and re-drew the three chunks together as one unified set of prayers and alms.
"These are the rites of marriage, at least when I perform them right. But they're… warped. They give everything to one. Complete submission. Now, there are some gods that suggest that should be done right, but I've never quite agreed with it. But they're broken up. It's like they're being used, but hidden in such a way as to make it not obvious."
I spat out a curse and laid back in my chair.
"We have to speak to Yushin about this. I think we finally have enough evidence. It would also be more helpful if I was able to get her to cooperate and give me samples of her chi, bloodline, and affinity."
Finding Yushin wasn't the hard part, but her finding time for us certainly was. She was in a near-constant cultivation fugue and couldn't be easily concerned. Shé Rui sent us away with the promise that he would tell us when she had time for such trivial matters as a dinner with friends, though it seemed to make him deeply uncomfortable to do so.
I looked at Shé Rui. I didn't know his dao, and the letters hadn't revealed it to me. But I knew that he was absurdly protective of Yushin and his wife, and that he'd almost been physically rocked when Jackson had spoken about protecting his friend and family. I was betting that to Rui, it had been a strike at his dao, not just words.
It made a certain amount of sense that someone with that sort of dao would be chosen to be her protector. But by that same token, the wind cultivator would never have been brought in on the entirety of the plan. He cared too much about his friends and family. If that was true…
Going out on a limb, I spun to look at my companions.
"Can we trust Shé Rui?"
"Yes," Jackson said confidently. Salem was more hesitant, but then nodded. I turned back to Shé Rui and bowed deeply to him, drawing on half-remembered etiquette lessons to get the form as right as possible.
"Shé Rui. Yushin is going to be killed, or at least, absorbed, if we allow her to continue along the path she is currently walking."
The older man stared down at us for a long moment before muttering a curse and telling us to come in.
It still took nearly thirty minutes for us to be ready. Pulling Yushin out of cultivation was dangerous if done quickly, as it could cause a chi deviation, and his wife – who I learned was named Martha Shé – needed the time to put some defenses up over the kitchen. She was a competent abjurer, I had to admit, and I wondered if it was her specialty.
When Yushin was finally able to emerge from the basement, she was dripping with sweat, and the scent of poison around her had grown even more intense. Her bloodline was practically thrumming with power as it mingled with her cultivation, and it was enough that I almost wanted to take a step back.
With everyone assembled, we started to explain. It took us a while – Rui had a solid understanding of the chi formations involved, but he wasn't an expert, while his wife wasn't well studied in conjuration, and neither of them had a grasp on divinity or destiny magic. When we finally finished, however, all three members of the Shé family had gone quiet and silent. It was Yuhsin who finally broke the silence.
"Are you certain? It seems very circumstantial to me. When a demonic cultivator dual cultivates with their victims, they absorb much of the victim's chi, but they do not lose their mind. The dual elders are still people, simply sharing much. The bloodline portions of the spell all make sense as a way to empower the gateway through sacrifice of my core."
She held up her hand to forestall us from making any comments.
"I do understand why you are afraid. But it seems to me that none of us understand this spell well enough to make a definitive judgement. It is possible that your pessimistic view is the correct one. But I think it is also possible that it does what I have been told. My mother instructed me on certain parts of the sigils, and they indicate the opening of a path to his realm. Her own spatial dao will help with that."
"It's… technically possible it could be used either way," I admitted. "At least from the portions I understand."
"Aye," Salem agreed, and Jackson gave a grudging nod.
"But there is a risk that it could simply absorb you into the Traitor Wyrm to turn you into the avatar," Martha said. "And that's not something I want to take, not without safeguards in place."
Shé Rui frowned and seemed to struggle with himself for a long moment before he finally gave us his verdict.
"I have faith in what the Traitor Wyrm said. The old Name Magic might have given him that name, but that does not mean he would betray his own people. He has betrayed the Divine King, not us. But… so long as the defenses do not stop the ritual, putting them in place
"You can't tell your elders," his wife said. Rui turned to her, a look of shock on his face, and she hardened her face. "There's no point in creating defenses if you're just going to tell people what they are."
I could tell that they were winding up for an argument, but Salem raised his hand.
"M' a mind mage, an' I can make us swear a geas, lettin' us know if any of us break it an' doin' some severe damage to their mind. Migh' make it safer."
"And I can bind it all with a curse that will bring ruination and misfortune on anyone who attempts to break their word, in addition to the mental attack.
"We should," Yushin said firmly. "They will agree to create their defenses in such a way that they will only activate if I begin losing anything more than my core. It will force them to obey. And force us to keep it secret. Neither of us like it, but it's the best way to do it."
"Will it?" Rui asked, looking at Martha and Yushin. When both of them nodded, Rui sighed and put forward his hand, drawing a knife from storage.
"Where do we begin?"