Chapter 30
When the couple returned to the bunker they both had huge grins on their faces. Carlisle closed his book and smiled when he saw them enter with matching smiles and jokingly asked Edward if he'd been showing off.
In response, Edward dipped his head with a shy smile and pink ears.
Bella laughed at his response softly. "Edward's too humble to show off." She declared.
"Do you have a question for me today, Bella?" Carlisle asked once the pair were settled on the sofa.
She nodded in response.
"What are you curious about?" He asked, placing his book on the table in front of him.
"Edward and I were talking about how you can use magic differently." She responded, moving herself so that she was opposite him. "He was telling me how you can speak it, use hand movements, or you can write it down. I guess I was wondering why there are different ways. And what the difference between writing a spell and saying a spell are."
Carlisle thought for a moment, trying to find the words to explain it. He scratched his chin while his brain ticked over.
"I think the best comparison is the way we use different ways to communicate with each other. Not all communication is spoken. Some of it is body language, some is tone. We can speak to someone using our voice, hand gestures, or by writing something down."
Bella chewed her lip while Carlisle spoke and nodded her head at his explanation.
"I understand that, it makes sense when you compare it to communicating. I guess I just don't understand why you would write something down instead of saying it."
Carlisle stood up abruptly and walked over to his shelf of books. He quickly browsed the names before returning to the sofa with an old looking leather bound journal.
"You pose a good question, Bella. Many spells that can be written down can be spoken. However, there is no one way in magic, just as there is no one way in life."
"Shades of grey." Bella mumbled.
"I'm sorry?" Carlisle asked.
"Edward explained it earlier as shades of grey."
"Yes, that's exactly right. A very apt comparison Edward." Carlisle replied, praising his son. "Usually when you speak or use your body to create magic it is for a limited amount of time. Maybe it's for just a second or maybe it's for an hour, or even a week. But usually it has a limit to how long it will be needed for.
However, sometimes you want a spell to last weeks, months, years, centuries even. If you etch a spell into stone it can never be undone, unless you completely destroy the stone until it is ash."
"I guess I only considered it being written on paper."
"It could be." Carlisle reassured her. "But you have to remember, paper is quite a modern invention in the scheme of things. Before they had paper, elves would use stone and gems to write their spells on."
"Don't forget skin. "Edward added.
"Skin?" Bella asked shocked.
In response, both Edward and Carlisle began rolling up the hems of their t-shirts. They turned their backs and showed Bella what looked like a tattoos on each of their shoulder blades. Standing up, Bella walked over and gently touched the etching on Edwards skin. It looked like some kind of four-way spiral, each turning into the center of the mark.
"Did it hurt?"
"Yes." Both Edward and Carlisle replied in unison, before rolling their shirts back down.
"What did it feel like?" Bella asked, returning to her seat.
"The place where the marking is burns terribly until the person making it stops. And then for weeks after it aches. Like sore muscles after exercising but significantly worse."
"What is that mark called?"
"A shield knot. It's a very powerful symbol for protection."
"How do you get it?"
"Anyone can draw a marking, so long as they've practiced it. The etch must be exact otherwise it won't work. But this symbol in particular is made by fathers on their son's birth."
"Do you have more?"
Carlisle nodded. "I also have an X on my hands, see." He said, showing her the small X on each palm. "It is the mark of a distinguish healer. It intensifies my natural ability to heal living creatures with my hands."
"Can anyone get it?"
Carlisle ran his finger over the mark. "I suppose. It wouldn't do anything though. You must have the natural ability for it to have any effect."
"What about you, Edward? You said you contacted easily with nature."
In response he showed her the etching on his hands. It was shaped like a B but instead of round arches they were pointed to make triangles.
"What other kinds of markings are there?" Bella asked fascinated.
Carlisle chuckled and passed her the book he'd collected earlier from the shelf.
"Here you go."
Bella opened the book and traced her finger over the first marking. It was an infinity shape but with straight edges instead of curved.
"Dagaz." She read. "It means hope and happiness. What would you use that for?"
"Many things. Spells that use etchings are a complicated business though. Some are more obvious than others, but certain markings need to be paired with others to make a sequence. Together in a sequence they make the spell. A single marking doesn't always do anything. It's when you place it with another. That's where it holds its power."
Bella let out along breath. "You would have to study for years, surely, to be good at this."
"Decades, centuries for some."
"Have either of you ever tried?"
Edward nodded his head. "Just a few simple spells. But nothing extensive."
"Carlisle?"
"Yes, I have studied etchings quite a lot over the years. I've been around a long time. I've had the chance to study it in depth."
Bella nodded and went back to the book. "So, if you were trying to have a baby and you weren't having any luck, could you put the sun marking and the birch marking together since it means success and fertility?"
"Yes." Carlisle responded, somewhat surprised that she was already able to make a spell. He was impressed.
"Can I keep this book?" Bella asked suddenly. "Just to borrow." She added quickly.
"Of course, dear."
"What's the longest standing etching on Midgard?" She asked eagerly.
Carlisle thought for a moment.
"Probably ruins made by ancient civilizations."
"That old?"
"Elves have been using ruins to communicate with humans for centuries. Long, long before I was around or any of my recent family.
They often used them because the magic is in such a potent form and would last a long time. A place where a lot of elves and humans lived would've had protection spells etched into the stones or trees surrounding them. Many of those places are still around today because the etchings are still there and haven't been destroyed. Humans are redirected by the force of it as that was often their original intention, to keep ill intended humans away."
"And you said they had to be turned to ash to be destroyed."
"Yes, which takes an unbelievable amount of heat energy. When magic is potent it is hard to remove."
"How about from skin?"
"Theoretically, you would just have to destroy the skin. But I think in practice you would have to kill the elf. Our markings become a part of our DNA. It cannot simply be erased. Just as you can't scrape the top layer of stone away. The magic seeps in and changes the very structure of what has been marked."
"Will I ever wrap my head around all this?" Bella asked, gesturing to the book in her lap.
Both Edward and Carlisle chuckled.
"No child. You could live 10,000 years and not understand it all and not know everything. I've been alive a long time and I still learn new things about our ways and culture."
"Wow." Bella stated simply. "I've only scratched the surface." She said with bewilderment.