P-Grove Chapter 45

Read Table of Content | +Kyla Scurchio
=======================================================================

      The Wight mouse did one last thing before he fled into the darkness. He chucked his mace at the back of my head only it reflected off the glowing dome around me. My body seemed to go on the defensive, protecting itself and the knowledge it held. It was strange how I had no control over it, but it was nice to watch the Acolytes retreat.
     My trap was a few yards away yet and I was trying to make them back towards it. Slowly we moved, I stepped towards them and they hesitantly stumbled back. They began to franticly whisper to one another but I didn’t care what they were saying. I was too close; it was so close to over that I could taste it. The veins in my head pulsed painfully as the magic around me became too much. I held
steady, not willing to let the power fail me.
     I kept them moving shuffling them back and forth to keep them in line with the trap. They became aware only too late what I was doing. I stopped when they were within range of the trap. The runes on my skin started to burn. I held the pain down, putting only the Acolytes in the front of my mind.
I searched the runic language in my mind looking for the word for fire. When I found it I spoke it, my eyes glaring down the Acolytes. I felt the heat touch my lips as it escaped into the air. Fire sparked the ground; the dead grass caught instantly sending the acolytes stumbling. They were inches away now, just inches from the end. The Mouse to my right waved his hand and extinguished my flames. My eyes grew red hot as I stared him down. I watched one hiss and look away from me, not able to handle my gaze.
     I felt the power around me finally reach a peak and it exploded outward. The grounds caught fire once more the light blinded me and the acolytes; my body rapidly grew weak. But it was enough to shock an acolyte back another step. He tripped over his robe as he stumbled away from the fire falling into the trap behind him. The other mouse reached for him but with a flick of my hand I pulled the box down upon them both. The magic sealed around the base trapping them forever.
     I paused for a moment before I released the magic. As it ebbed away so did the burning on my tattoos. I slumped to the ground, too tired to do anything else I reached for my spellbooks. The one I stole from my enemies had runes on it as did my own. When they were lined up it formed a phrase but it was unfinished, I didn’t have Z’s volume. I flipped through the pages looking for something, anything that would tell me what to do next. The box shook violently as I gazed into the ancient spell books. I found nothing in the old runic text so I slammed the book shut and shoved it away from me.
Frustration boiled within me for a moment before I realized what I had to do. The runes weren’t of my world, but they were of a world built to punish mice like this. My tattoos, my spell books, all things meant to help do what I needed to do. I flipped through the books one more time digging for a way to send the acolytes to the Realm. I came across a page that didn’t look quite right. The sentences were unfinished; I found the same thing in my other copy. It suddenly clicked and I pushed the pages together. The spells were all there complete and perfect.
To banish the old ones…
       Beneath the phrase was an intricate set of runes; a phrase that once said should vanish instantly from the book, sealing the banished mice in the realm forever. I spoke them out loud, my voice shaking slightly. I watched as the air above my trap began to open and tear. Electric currents sparked around it, wind kicked up blowing harder as the tear in reality got bigger. It grew closer to the box, to me. I scrambled back and when it took the box I thought it would be over. It wasn’t. The rip between worlds closed in around me taking over the grove completely. I dodged the shocks and the debris from the wind as I sprinted towards the catacombs door.
     The air around me wavered reality was being severed and I was being tugged into the Acolytes prison. I felt my body grow cold, I didn’t want to be trapped in the realm. I reached the door just as the world around me disappeared. The door closed with a crash of stone hitting stone. I sat panting against it, complete darkness consuming me. It was done.