Death on two legs

I live nearby a forest, as I would not have it otherwise. Nature is far closer to my proceedings than humanity, apart from those few that dare to investigate. When I walk through a forest everything is reaching out to me, talking in a language only the silent hear. They teach me things almost no one can, as their reality is not based on thought, but on naked being. There is energy in everything and I need to be able to control these things, or they would control me, under certain circumstances. With my profession this is a liability, as the elemental forces cannot be underestimated. Today the ground told me that a presence had arrived in my neighbourhood with great powers of an evil kind. Yes, I can see the smile on your face. But I am not smiling, I've been here before. The ground goes on forever, but my psychic powers don't. I am still looking to solve this matter, but for now I have to accept that distance is an essential part of my magic range. I meditated and looked deep inside myself to discover the source and direction of this warlock, but he probably had a magic circle, just like me, sheltering intrusions of an astral kind.

As the shadows of the day grew longer and light slowly faded away I was ready for my daily trip to the higher states of being. I went home, moved upstairs, put on my cloak, took my wand, put my ring on my finger and moved to the attic. If you look into my house, which is half overpowered by nature, you see nothing special. I don't like prying eyes when I am in pursuit of the holy or the unholy. People don't understand these things, so if they ever see me in or out of my house I look just like everybody else, doing normal things. Today I was on a mission though. I can't let dangerous people stay in my backyard, because there are too many ways in which to penetrate my daily business and one cannot be on guard all the time. This had to be solved in a firm manner.

I drew a circle around me with my wand, as you never can know if your summoning of desired beings attracts the attention of dark spirits, waiting for unprotected souls who think magic is a game. I have seen the beautiful and the scary, but even then looks can deceive. As long as they can not get into your personal space, they are harmless, even if they are up to no good. I meditated for a few minutes until I found myself in the right state of mind, open to self suggestion and clear of thoughts. I held up my wand and imagined Gaia to materialise behind me through the image of the mirror in front of me. The candlelights were starting to flare, which is a clue that something is about to happen. There she came into the room, like a fog turning into a being. In my mind I asked her the location of my opponent, but she told me that this was to stay unrevealed, which I kind of expected. So I thanked her for trying to help me and slowly she dissolved. I meditated some more on where to go from here. How could I find the direction in which to search? I decided that if my opponent has a sealed circle it is impossible to penetrate it with the unconventional. I removed my ritual clothing and went downstairs.

There I took a map of the surroundings, trying to find a spot where a warlock would settle down. Obviously he needs privacy, especially for the things he was doing. In the end I felt the most logical place around would be the watermill next to the river. I drew my plans for tomorrow as my head grew a little weary. I lay myself to bed, as these practices always take up a great amount of energy. I slept until the daylight told me to wake up.

As I didn't want to attract any undesired attention I took my binoculars with me to be able to spear his windows for any signs of irregularities. None of the windows were unguarded by curtains, so that told me a lot already. I felt that I needed no more proof of what was probably going on there. It is rare for me to have a faulty intuition. I went home and decided to put it to the test after sunset.

I ate early and light, so my energy levels would be at the highest level when it was needed. On an empty stomache magic lacks energy and on a filled one it is slow. There are many fine lines when things get important, even the slightest mistake can lead to utter failure, which is not an option on certain occasions. When darkness came I took my ritual clothing in a suitcase with me, as obviously I cannot run around in a cloak, waving a stick. I might get arrested! The wand I hid under my long coat.

It was still warm outside, so there were still people on the streets, until I went for the unlit road to the mill. You could see it standing there aside the river, a lantern in front of it, showing the facade. I walked towards it with a wide loop, even though all the curtains were still closed. When I reached the backside I redressed. Slowly I closed in on the backdoor. As the purpose of this visit was not breaking and entering I took my Ankh key, to see if I could proceed with my plan. It glared up, which it only does if my presence in a building is not illegal in a cosmic sense. I put it in the keyhole and turned it.

The door opened without a sound. I strut into the unknown, extremely on guard, as you can imagine. I put the suitcase down in the kitchen, as to have my hands free for whatever engagement was surely to follow, as I heard noise coming from above that sounded like someone mumbling. I went into the hallway to be able to make out what the exact words were he was saying. I only recognized a few of them after listening carefully and I then knew he was summoning demons from unholy places. Whether he was consient of my presence and was doing that to send them after me was not clear to me. It didn't matter in any case, as this was going to be a confrontation after all.

I slowly went up the stairs, expecting an attack at any time. When I got to the second floor I could still hear him mutter his seemingly endless lines of dark forces, like he was going to bring the Apocalypse of hell down to Earth. My vigilance and determination were untouched though, I knew how to defend myself in case of a demon descendance.

In the corner of my eye I saw a man standing inside the room next to me. I startled and almost made a sound, which would have surely meant detection. I managed to get a hand on my mouth until I had control of my nerves again. I didn't expect more people in this house. I looked more carefully and saw he was motionless. Slowly I walked closer and opened the door. He was not alone. Three men were standing there inside an almost empty room. I could see no movement from any of them, so I neared them on guard. When I came close enough I saw that the man in front of me did not breathe anymore, I felt his heart, but it didn't throb. They seemed to be dead, but how could they still be standing there? They must be under some kind of spell. I searched my brain for any clue and soon I remembered that Ariadne might be involved, though her spells are usually not that strong.

I meditated some minutes on her image and tried to energize her astral being. When she finally materialized I asked her to release her prisoners. The men soon woke up from their eternal nightmare. I thanked Ariadne and she rescinded. The men looked around in fear, as they did not know what happened to them. I told them that I released them from their spell and that they had to be quiet, for their perpetrator was upstairs. They explained that they were taken prisoner by the warlock to be used as zombie brains, to deliver power to his dark experiments. From the look of their clothes, it must have been a long time since they were taken. Then one of them pointed with his arm at something behind me. It was not hard for me to imagine what could be behind me. I let my guard down and he took advantage of it. I wanted to turn around and face him, but before I could do that I heard the sound of wood on the floor. Now there were four of us that were immobile.

The warlock walked around me to look at my face. I was still aware of him, my senses were still intact, but my body wouldn't let me move anything. He smiled as he looked me up and down.

"Well, well. I got myself a real magician here. Or is this your carnival outfit?"

He smiled and took my wand, throwing it in the corner. He then removed my cloak and ring, as he knew these were things even a frozen magician could still use. He took a chair to sit and study my face for a while to see if it rang any bell.

Meanwhile, I was exiting my body into the astral world, where I desparately needed the strongest being to come alive. Slowly Dark Isis began to materialize behind the unguarded back of this warlock. He must have thought that he had me in his power to be so comfortable. As the shadow grew more intense her presence became more clear. I was her and she was me as so many times before. I saw a shiver rolling down the spine of this Pyrrhus as he stood up and turned around. I was as high as the ceiling towering over his head. He didn't even see me, as I was concealed under my veil. The only clue as to my presence were the candlelights flickering and a sudden cold roaming the room. He looked at all directions in utter fear, as he did not know what was happening. Suddenly I removed my veil and I shall never forget the look on that face. He stared me right in the eyes, his body froze and his eyes broke until there was no light to be found in them anymore.

The spell was broken and we stood there wondering what to do with him. We agreed that there was nothing we could do so we left him standing there as he was. Once in a while I still meet those visitors from the past. I feel obligated to guard them, as it was me who brought them into this century. With magic responsibility comes along, so I make sure they always have what they need.

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