Chapter 10
Ollie took a deep breath, eyeing where his red leather-bound, three-inch-thick grimoire sat on the ground in the middle of the clearing, before looking up and glancing around at the others.
The others being Noble, Red, Jahla, and a very faded Annabel.
He was guessing there was a limit to how far away she could be from the item she was connected to without being pulled back.
Currently, they were in the forest behind the library, in a circular clearing.
Trees formed a border around the rather large space, and in the center, where they currently were, sat a set of ten stumps that had been used in the past for camp-related storytimes, while a few local schools booked the place for legit camp nights.
Which was why there was so much empty space—plenty of room for tents.
Ollie cleared his throat, ready with his notebook and pencil. “So…my affinities?”
“Affinities?” Jahla whispered, clearly at a loss.
When he realized Annabel was about to answer, he squeaked, “Wait! Noble can’t actually hear or see you, Annabel, as far as I know? Is there a way to…” he trailed off.
“I mean, I don’t have to hear, I’m more here for support than anything,” Noble said with a chuckle.
“I thought that may be a problem.” Red sighed, as he jumped off the stump he’d been sitting on.
Ollie’s brow rose as, from behind the same stump, his cat pushed forward what looked like a small, brown retro radio with two knobs, but it lacked the larger dial that usually showed the numbers for stations. “Use this.”
“A spirit box. Haven’t seen one of those in ages.” Noble snorted as he crouched down and started turning the knobs. They all collectively winced, aside from Annabel, at the sharp, piercing noise that first came out before it settled on static.
Spirit box? Ollie knew of the concept, not that he’d believed any of the ones people used on TV had ever worked, but apparently, he was about to be proven wrong again.
“So Noble will be able to hear her now?” he asked, doing his best to hide his doubt. Ollie wasn’t sure if he succeeded, and based on the knowing grin on Noble’s face as the man straightened up, he likely hadn’t.
“I assure you, while it may be dated, I have never made a spirit box that didn’t work.” Red hmphed.
“It will do just fine,” Annabel said, her words echoing slightly as they reached his ears, after coming through the speaker of the box at the same time. Though the ones from the spirit box were slightly staticky.
“That’s an interesting effect,” Jahla stated dryly.
“But the words are clear enough,” Noble mused.
“Right, now back to the topic at hand. As for your question, Jahla, an affinity is the connection between a witch and the beings known as arcana. They are ‘other’, even if some see them as powerful Gods and Goddesses. But they are that which all witches pull their powers from, though witches must already have some sort of magic inside them for the being to latch on to,” Annabel briefly explained.
“Either way, there are many minor arcana, but we will ignore those as, with how powerful the Cross line is, it is unlikely they’d ever have a chance with Ollie.
And so far, this has held true, with Ollie’s two known affinities being with The Endless Death and The Living Flame. ”
Jahla stared, her mouth twisting as her left eye started to twitch a little. “So, you are telling me that there are these all-powerful creatures out there that…what? Lend their powers to witches?”
“Pretty much,” Noble murmured.
His friend groaned. “I feel less comfortable knowing this…”
“But to lend them it, the person already has to have magic within themselves. Though even just a miniscule amount would be sufficient if an arcana was determined enough to attach itself to an individual,” Red added, before saying, “Moving on. Would you like to explain the powers that come with The Endless Death and The Living Flame, or would you prefer I do it, Annabel?”
“We can trade off. I’ll go first,” the ghost said with a smile. “Since I’m a ghost, I might as well explain The Endless Death, as that was what awoke inside you first.”
Ollie’s eyes widened when she waved her hand and a semi-translucent smaller copy of herself appeared like smoke.
“You asked me why The Endless Death is considered one of the strongest, and the answer is that it is far more than just the ability to communicate with, and in your case power, the dead.
It is the ability to rot, to decay, to extinguish the life of anyone around you, to be the master of the end. To have control of the after.
“It’s important to realize that it is so much more than what you have seen so far.
You have the ability to create, control, and mold an army of the undead, of beings that can harm but not be harmed.
Those who are powerful enough, with a strong enough connection, can also end a life as easily as they breathe.
“And this is my warning to you, Ollie. Do not underestimate yourself and all you can do. Your abilities are already outside the norm, with how strong they have manifested, and with how seemingly unconsciously passive they have proven to be with ghosts, with fractions such as myself being able to draw power from your very presence.” As she spoke, the copy of herself changed multiple times—rotting, decaying, and rebuilding again, even marching and multiplying at one point, before almost flopping down as if it were a puppet whose strings had just been cut.
Ollie wrinkled his nose. “And it shouldn’t just happen?”
“No, most ghosts cannot speak and be heard without a spell in place, or in my case, without a spirit box. And that book we read together was quite accurate in that it can take many decades, even centuries, to build enough power to even move something small across the room,” Noble confirmed.
“It’s odd that it is so passive for you, and a bit worrying that you aren’t really in control of it. ”
Red cut in. “Odd or not, it is the truth, based on what we have seen so far. Though the lack of control thing is why we are here. But on to the next questionable oddity: your affinity for The Living Flame.
“The obvious power with that one is fire, of course.
But it is also everything to do with the spark of it.
The very oxygen it needs to survive; the flames, the smoke, and life itself.
Birth and rebirth. To birth a creature by fire, to die and be reborn in the flames.
To be honest, with just the two affinities we're sure of, you already have control of life and death itself.”
“So, like…a phoenix?” Ollie asked with a frown, as he continued to write shit down in his notebook. There was a lot being said, yet not much of it clearly outlined what exactly he could do, aside from becoming a pretty damn good pyro by his estimate.
“Are phoenixes real?” Jahla asked, sounding a bit excited.
“Yes, a phoenix would be a good example. And yes, they are real, but not in the sense that they occur naturally outside of magical feats. Now, it’s important to understand that there are some crossovers with abilities.
Though, one of the reasons it’s believed your two specific arcana fight so much is due to The Endless Death’s ability to create the undead.
Zombies would be the best description, I suppose—”
“H-hold up!” Ollie sputtered.
“Zombies!?” his friend gasped.
Seriously, zombies?! Well, Annabel had mentioned the undead, but he’d been focused on the ghost part. It was just—!? “How are zombies, of all things, real?! You can’t be serious. Like, it’s scientifically—”
“Is the skeptic inside you breaking free again, Ollie?” Noble asked with a chuckle.
He huffed, glaring at the tall man. “Why don’t you seem shocked?!”
“I’ve seen them. Not pretty, to say the least, but they are real enough.”
“Ugh, but—”
“As I was saying,” Red snapped. “Abilities can overlap between arcana. It’s believed that The Living Flame took it rather personally that The Endless Death makes such a mockery of the living with its creation of zombies.
As unpredictable as you have been, we are going to test now for your last affinity, so there are no more surprises—in that aspect, at least.”
Ollie couldn’t help but point out, “Wouldn’t my last be The Merciless Healer? I did heal you.”
At the same time, Jahla asked, “Do all witches get three?”
“The number depends on the strength of the witch’s line. One to two is average, three is usual for powerful families,” his familiar drawled. “And as for what your third could be, while The Merciless Healer is most likely, it’s still better to check.”
Red approached his grimoire, but before the cat even reached the book, it opened. Pages fluttered as they flipped past, until it settled halfway in, as it always did. But unlike the other times, there was nothing written on the pages, they were just blank.
As his cat stopped in front of his now open grimoire, he looked up to him and said, “Come here. Crouch down and hold out your hand.”
Sighing, Ollie walked over and did exactly that, as everyone else gathered closer to his book, to watch whatever was about to happen.
Red eyed him silently for a moment before saying, “Sorry.”
He blinked. “Sorry for—” His words cut off on a yelp the moment Red batted his hand with a paw, one of the cat’s claws hitting home. As he yanked his hand back, to clutch it to himself, a few drops of blood fell and landed on his open book.
“A little warning would have been appreciated,” Ollie snapped, even as he watched with awe as his blood sank and disappeared into the old, yellowed paper.
Just as the last of the red disappeared, it started to bubble back up, an invisible hand rapidly drawing on the pages. When it finally stopped, there were four rectangular etchings, drawn in blood-red ink, or in what was likely his actual blood.
Each of the etchings were contained within two thick lines.
In the first drawing there was a bone mound with a decaying clawed hand and arm reaching out towards the viewer.
The second held a large fire, with a pair of feathery wings peeking around the flames, and a set of piercing eyes staring out.
The third had an open set of fangs, with the middle taken up by a forest and the depiction of a howling wolf.
The final one showed a person from the neck up, them grabbing at their head, eyes closed and screaming, with hands surrounding them and reaching for them.
Based on the shading, and the background being so heavily inked that it had almost turned black, they were in pure darkness.
“Umm…why are there four?” Ollie asked after the grand reveal brought nothing but silence, and a small gasp from Annabel. Though Jahla was probably quiet because she knew as much as he did about what was going on. He frowned, eyeing them.
“I…” Red started to speak, but trailed off. He couldn’t see his cat’s expression from this angle, as his familiar was looking down into his grimoire.
“The first is…the Endless Death, and the second is The Living Flame, right? But the other two… Is one of them The Merciless Healer?”
Though, he wasn’t sure either of them brought ‘healing’ to mind. Then again, Ollie still didn’t know why it was called The Merciless Healer.
“It’s…” Red cleared his throat, still looking down. “No…neither of them are The Merciless Healer. The third is The Ceaseless Hunter, and the last is The Unknowing.”
Ollie snorted. “Well, that last one fits… Wait, how did I heal you then?”
His familiar slowly looked up, his yellow eyes seeking as they seemed to scan his face, as he softly rasped, “I…I don’t know. But…just because we don’t have an affinity for something, doesn’t mean we aren’t able to use the spells.”