1 Week Later (after the last part)
Callum shut the book. They had spent a week in the Library, looking for a way to free Rayla's parents from the coins and they had found nothing. I know this is for her, but it's really starting to feel like a waste of time. This sucks, why can't there just be something? Callum stood up, "Hey Ibis, I need to go stretch my legs, I'll be back in a bit." Ibis, without looking up from the book he was going through, gave him a thumbs-up.
Callum wandered the library. The many bookshelves that housed nearly all of the knowledge in the human kingdoms. The only thing missing was the texts on Dark Magic that Callum needed to free Rayla's parents. He had not forgotten his promise to Queen Zubeia, but that promise would be useless if he found nothing to begin with.
What you need cannot be found in books Callum. Callum jumped at the voice. Can you not do that? What do you want? The voice laughed. I am a part of you, it's your own fault for forgetting that. Riiiiiiight. I can give you what you seek. Can you now? Callum thought skeptically. Yes. I can teach you how to find the knowledge you seek. I suppose you can't just tell me what I need to know? There would be no fun in that.
Of course, that would just be too easy wouldn't it. The voice laughed again. Now you're starting to understand. Well spit it out, how do I find the knowledge to free Rayla's parents. I cannot just tell you outright, sit down my young apprentice, it's storytime. Apprentice? I made no such agreement. Oh but you did, the moment you accepted my help you became my apprentice. Whatever I don't have time for this so just get on with it.
How rude. Speak. Fine. We'll start off with a little history. History? Do you want to know how to save your pitiful friend's parents or not? Callum didn't respond. I thought so. We shall start off with the creation and nature of Dark Magic. I already know the nature of Dark Magic, you squeeze the magic out of something to fuel something else. That is the functionality, not the nature. The nature of Dark Magic is survival. Dark Magic, much like myself, was created out of a need to survive.
Dark Magic has its own need to survive. It's possible that the information you seek has hidden itself away in order to survive. A mind of its own? How is that even possible? The six arcana each have a "life," so does Dark Magic. A life? HAHAHAHA, you call yourself a mage, and you don't even know how to commune with your arcanum! HA! I'm talking to you, aren't I?
Hehe, fair enough. Great, now how do I find this information? How do you think you're supposed to find it, use Dark Magic. No. I won't ever do that again. It's quite a simple task, really. I can even teach you the spell. What makes you think that I want to learn any form of Dark Magic? Your overwhelming need to save your friends parents, no matter the pain it may cause you. As much as he tried, Callum just couldn't be surprised that the voice knew his emotions.
The voice claimed to be a part of him after all, and Callum just couldn't seem to get rid of it. Do you recall the basic functionality of Dark Magic? How could I forget? Callum thought sarcastically. If not for your own incompetence and lacking creativity, I wouldn't have to explain this to you. You claim to be me right? So my incompetence is also your incompetence. HAHAHAAA! Now you are learning, my student. I'm not your student. The voice just brushed off the comment. The basic functionality of Dark Magic is taking the magic from one thing, to give magic to a mage who has none, to then be used by that mage as they see fit.
I already know all this. However, given your special situation, you can skip some of those steps. What do you mean? You have your own magic, so why take magic from something other than yourself? One, that sounds dangerous. Two, that sounds like it will be permanently detrimental. Your inexperience knows no bounds, does it? Magic runs through your veins, just like any creature that has a connection to an arcanum.
Their magic runs through their blood, just as your magic runs through yours. So, you want me to take my blood, and use it to perform Dark Magic to find this hidden information. Took you long enough to figure it out. And why should I trust you? You shouldn't. The presence of the voice dissipated, leaving Callum to wonder what he should do with this new information. No, I can't do it. I made a promise to Queen Zubeia, and I don't want Rayla to go through what she did the last time I came into contact with Dark Magic. We just have to keep searching.
Five days later
"Did you find anything?" Callum asked, not really expecting anything special. "Nope." "Nothin." Were the only replies. Callum groaned, "Are you sure? Double-check and everything?" Rayla set her head down on her arms. "Callum, we've been here for almost two weeks and have found nothing. These books barely even mention Dark Magic." Ibis sighed, "I hate to tell you this Callum, but I don't think what you're looking for is here."
Callum shook his head, "I don't believe that. It's here, it has to be." Callum stood up and began to wander the library. Argh, why can't we just find what we need? I know that it's here, I can feel it. Callum heard a shuffle of feet and turned a corner around a bookcase, but no one was there. "Hello?" He called out, cautiously making his way down the aisle. He noticed what looked like a letter opener sitting on the bookshelf, next to a really old looking book.
Callum grabbed the book and opened it. "Of course, nothing, again." Callum sat down on the ground and leaned his head back against the bookshelf. "I don't know what I was expecting," he said. It felt good to say his thoughts out loud. "It's not like we're going to find anything any...way." He looked up at the letter opener. It probably belongs to one of the librarians. Callum grabbed the letter opener and turned it over in his hand. Hmm, I wonder why they left it here. Maybe they just forg- AH! He accidentally pricked his finger, drawing blood.
Damn it, that stung. Callum looked at his bleeding finger, then at the book that was left on the ground. It couldn't hurt to try at this point, I guess. Callum picked up the book and wiped his finger across the cover. "Um, how do I do this? Uh, Reveal." Nothing happened. "Reveal yourself. Show yourself." Nothing happened. Tch, a waste of time. Unless… let's see. A source, and a command. "Flesruoy laever." Callum was surprised at how easy the incantation came to him, almost as if the words themselves begged to be spoken. Nothing happened for a moment, then the book began to glow purple, it hovered in the air for a moment before opening itself and flipping pages until it rested on a page about Dark Magic.
Then he felt his legs go weak, but Callum caught himself on the bookshelf before he fell over. Damn it, I knew this was a bad idea. Whatever is in this book had better be worth it. Callum stood up, slowly, and grabbed the book, then headed back over to where Rayla and Ibis were in the library to show them what he found. He decided to leave out the part about using Dark Magic, knowing that both Rayla and Ibis would not be happy with him. Callum flipped through the book, wanting to try and make sense of the information presented.
Callum brought the book back to the table where Rayla and Ibis were. "Hey guys, look at what I found." He placed the book down on the table and spun it around so that they could read the text. Rayla and Ibis read for a moment, then both their eyes went wide. "Callum, where did you find this?" Ibis asked him, regaining his composure as he said it. "I'm not sure, I was just wandering the library, lost in my thoughts. I ended up in a row of old bookshelves, I happened to notice that this one looked older than the rest of them, so I opened it, and here we are." Ibis relaxed a little bit, though it wasn't noticeable.
Rayla still hadn't said anything, opting to stay quiet and let Ibis do the talking. "Callum, this book- Do you know what kind of magic this is?" Callum cocked his head to the side. "It's Dark Magic, obviously." Ibis shook his head. "But do you know what kind of Dark Magic?" Callum still looked confused. "What's the difference?" Ibis sighed. "Callum, this is a sub-type of Dark Magic. It's called Blood Magic. It uses blood as a magic source instead of outright killing the magic source. As far as I can tell, it's experimental and ten times as dangerous." Callum looked Ibis in the eyes. "As far as I can tell, Dark Magic is Dark Magic. All of us here know exactly just how terrible it is, even you should have guessed that we wouldn't find something pretty." "Callum-" Callum shook his head. "This is the only thing that we have found after a week and a half of searching. We should at least look into it a little bit before we completely dismiss it."
Ibis looked to Rayla to back him up. "I hate to admit it, but Callum's right. We've been here a long time, we should at least find out whether or not it's viable before we get rid of it." Callum thanked Rayla by squeezing her hand slightly. Ibis was outmatched and he knew it. "Fine, but only looking into it. Don't do anything without first talking to me. Got it?" Callum nodded and immediately dove into the book.
Yet Another Five Days Later
Callum had read the entire book, twice. He hated every minute of it. It was sick, it was disgusting and it hurt his very soul to read it. But at the end of the day, he was more knowledgeable about it. It looks like I have to perform a ritual to get them out, he sighed thinking of what awaited him, aaaaahhhhhh, that's going to hurt a lot. But he was still willing to do it. He wanted to see the love of his life happy.
All Callum had to do was set it up, he wanted to get Ibis's approval, but the chances of that happening were zero to none, not when he had to use his own blood for it. Who said you needed that blue idiot's approval? Shut up, why are you here again. I want to see how my student has taken to my teachings. I am not your student. Callum pushed the voice out before it could continue. It does have a point though, I don't actually need approval before I start...hmmm.
A few hours later
Callum had gathered everything he needed to begin the ritual. He was in Viren's secret Lab area underneath the castle. Callum had no idea how that place hadn't been cleared out but decided not to question it since it had just about everything he needed. This is going to be hard, there's no moon tonight, but at least a storm is predicted to pass through. That should ease this process a little bit. Callum inhaled deeply and exhaled before setting the coins on the ground in a triangle formation.
Callum drew three small, circular outlines around the coins in what he hoped to every god that may or may not exist in the world, was chalk. Next, he drew three lines connecting the circles making a triangle. Then he drew a slightly bigger triangle. The points of the new triangle barely fit over the circles. After that, he drew a bigger circle that connected all three points of the bigger triangle evenly. Finally, he drew a big square, the sides of which barely touched the edges of the circle.
Callum was sweating by the time he was done. Finally, everything is done by the book and ready, all I need now is…Callum's train of thought derailed itself. My blood. He thought sullenly. He came prepared with a knife but actually cutting himself, that was going to be difficult. It's ok, you got this, it's for Rayla. Remember that, and keep your head. Callum hopped back on his toes, getting himself ready for what he was about to do. "Here goes nothing." Callum grabbed that knife and cut his palm, making sure his blood dripped on the four points of the square.
When his blood reached all four points, the drawing he had made began to turn crimson red. Ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, ok. Incantation, command, success. Easy, right? "Ok, here we go." Callum began to speak, the storm going on outside increasing the power behind his words. "yB eht rewop detsev ni ym doolb," Callum's voice turned dark as he finished the command. "hguorht ym dnammoc, I tes uoy eerf!" A flash of light, smoke and a loud bang rang throughout the surrounding area. HAHA yes, it...worked. Then a wave of pain overcame Callum and he fell forward on his hands and knees. He looked up from the ground, and three figures stood in place of the coins on the ground.