Distilled Light
Chapter 3: Witches Four of the Deliverance of the Bond
Sunday morning dawns bright and early. The sun is out and the chill in the air foreshadows night showers. No one will be at the beach this time of the year in December. They meet together for a picnic around ten am and wear light clothes while Dice's breezes warm them of the chill. Chris has made some sandwiches with shredded chicken, herbs and spices, mayonnaise, and some other chunks of things like cheese. If there was one thing his mother ever gave him (besides the blood and powers) it was his skill in cooking. Compared to his brother, he was God of Food. Wyatt Halliwell could not cook to save his life-much like their Aunt Phoebe.
Christopher always regretted that his mother hadn't noticed him most because they could have bonded in the kitchen. But no, it had never happened. He tried to chase away those thoughts but it took some kisses from his girlfriend before he could will away thoughts of the Halliwells.
They brought some books and their custom robes that Bianca had conjured for them weeks ago. Bianca had the red of fire, the element she would be; For the symbol, red, orange, and yellow arms reached up from a swirly globe like the flames reaching high for heaven. Chris had the deep sea blue waves of water, his own symbol element. The sea water hitting the shore had him in his element. Nic had the green of earth, the emeralds of Dice's eyes, because he was unmoving like a rock. Sometimes it made Chris wonder if they had some elemental in their past, but he knew nothing really of proof, just speculation. Dice had a subtle off-white grey because she was the control of the winds.
Bianca picked up the bottles of colored sand from four corners of the earth one by one and made a four-cornered symbol that they would have to connect them. For Chris's corner, the sand was a dark inky black, while Dice was styled by a white dirt. Nic's was a dusty brown while she herself was circled by a golden hue that still had a contrast from the sand around them. Dice circled a wind ward around them that kept the other air out of their way and made sure their positions would not get moved.
December in San Francisco was not a time most beings of magic chose to celebrate by the water.
In tribute, they each brought a source of sacrifice. For wind, Dice had a butterfly with purple and blue wings in a jar. For water, Chris brought a glass shell full of some water that had been ice from both poles of the world an orb away. For earth, Nic chose to sacrifice a layer of corded willow reed and ash that did not need to grow in plotted ground. Bianca set a fireball inside of a glass orb that would hold it until the orb was broken.
In a small chest, they each wrote a small paper with ideas and dreams and things that might be seen in a time machine one buried beneath a tree. They circled the cornered design with blessed as and holy water. By the time the sun began to set, its inky warmth falling beneath the horizon, they were ready and the calm sky seemed to hold its breath in the eegerness to watch them.
Before they took their places, they hugged each other and kissed their lovers passionately. It would be their last until the new beginning.
Slowly, they began.
"We gather here," they spoke in tandem, strength obvious in their words, their bond fully open to keep their words in sync, "today, to offer our magic into the ether, to bring within us a bond of magic."
"Brothers," the young men spoke together, raising their hands above them, and then bowing to the center of the circle.
"Sisters," the young women spoke as one, raising their hands above them, and then bowing to the center of the circle.
"We are human," light flashed above them and the conjured robes sizzled away from them, the magic of one falling away and leaving bare skin for color and sound to stream gently across like the wind Dice swayed.
"We are beings of magic," light flashed again and the wards around them were gone with a black and blue pummel of magic.
"We hide nothing," a blinding light entered each other their minds and there was pain as if everything was being torn out of their skulls. But still, they went on. If they stopped this would all be worthless and they would cease to exist.
"We are one," and suddenly everything was being put back into place but now there was more than one life, as if they were one person, one being, one past. one blood.
"We are one," lightning strikes the water three times in tandem and the sky moved now as if in a dream, a supernatural speed where the storm moves above them but goes no farther. The world of all else stilled. They were out of time on the will of Magic and Life itself.
"Christopher Perry Halliwell, son of an Elder, son of a Charmed Witch of the Warren line, brother of the Twice-Blessed first son," he is still kneeling but now he sits up and spreads his hands to the sky. His eyes bleed.
"Bianca Lynn Perry, daughter of a witch from the line of Diason, daughter of a Phoenix Witch from the line burned in Salem and reborn in the ashes," she spread her hands to the sky as her boyfriend had. She wants to blink away the red tears but does not fall to instinct. She is controlled.
"Candice Mauve Hendrix, daughter of a witch of the line of Emeran, of the Fae and of the Siren," she sat up and offered her self to the sky. Dice has to blink the tears when the winds do no break it away.
"Davinick Liamason Berkley, son of the last Witch from the line of Estwar, son of the line of Naraed," Nic welcomes the blood from his eyes. His pulse beats rapidly among the others. They all feel as if they are in some sort of sensation room where everything has thrown them together and sewed all of their hearts and veins in one single lenthy string.
As one, they continued, "I offer myself to the sky," they united their hands and bowed again, "I offer myself to the earth," they grabbed a handful and came back up, the sand spiraling back down in a storm of dust, "I offer myself to the flames," the pain was still there and it was joined by the burning intensity that Bianca's ancestors must have felt, "I offer myself to the waves," and they were suddenly covered with everything-memories, feelings, thoughts, everything-and then there was still a little room, "I am an offering to the ether," their eyes exploded in their heads and their teeth chattered and though many may have sunk to the ground. Blood fell in globs, sinking into the sand around them as their skin and muscle fell to bone and only their spirits truly remained alive.
Somehow, through the pain and the shock their mouths still moved and they continued on, "I am an offering to the life of magic," something seemed to surround them in a brilliant white light. If they weren't already blinded by the state of having no eyes left then they would be taken from the stark whiteness, "I am the protector of the innocent, and the hunter of the damned," lightning struck, "I am one with magic," blood flew from cuts in their right wrists and their skin paled the rest of the way until they were white as snow and the land around them turned inky black with the red falling away, "I am one with this circle!" Light burst forward that though they couldn't see, they could feel it as the warm echo of the wombs where they were born from and the fire they sent their enemies to.
They inched forward to give their offerings, having placed what they needed securly close to them. Chris reached his glass and cut his finger, but picked it up and cupped it in has hand. Bianca took up the class orb before it could roll away and cradled it in her hand as a strip of skin was cut. Candice struggled with the latch but managed to catch the butterfly in both of her hands, keeping it from getting away as she peirced a finger. Nic took his small branch and readied himself, fingers split, for the upcoming.
And as one, they launched their offerings to the center where the small chest they had written words into. There was a flash, and then the lightning gathering around them struck the center. Their skin was electrocuted, the insides burst with the power and all they were and all they could be was cut off. And as blackness took them from the bloodied sands, they were put back together.
Slowly, they came to. The waving consciousness was surrounding them, swinging them in a cradling softness like a cotton mattress. A gentle breeze shot around them, giving their reborn bodies a little feeling; massaging gently their new skin to begin the blood working within them. Pins-and-needles was the second thing each of them felt. The first was the pressure of another body holding them still, unable to move. Slowly, they opened their new eyes in the darkness.
There was no light at first but the small flickering images of the liquid around them. Once upon a time it may have startled them that they were underwater. Candice would have sent bubbles of oxygen to where they would were suspended.
Once upon a time was not now.
Now, there was only contentment. Their brains had been rewired and now they were seeing all the energy around them as if they could see nothing else. Chris's arm twitched. And he blinked, coming to, finally. He moved to swim upwards, but found they were already seeming to float up though oxygen wasn't something he understood. He felt new, his fingers unscarred. That oval shape from a demonic insect years ago that his brother hadn't believed him about was gone. All of the little scars that had once damaged them were gone.
It felt like he was new, a soul in a conjured body almost. All the little veins in his arms seemed unperturbed by fat cells. All the tunnels that lead from his core seemed greater with a number of more tunnels leading around him. He flexed his arms to feel it and his skin was baby soft and uncalussed.
He decided to let the current run with him. Glancing around him, he could see that Dice, Nic, and Bianca were all doing the same thing. Before the current of water or whatever was surrounding them cradled them back to sleep, he wondered slightly what else he was feeling was different. He didn't realize his thoughts were the exact thoughts of those three around him.
Something on the back of their necks pounded.
Something where their wrists had bled pounded.
Something where their hearts were newly grown, pounded and then a bunch of little tunnels like the roots of a willow tree spread out and gathered them into a web.
A Triquetra on a family book of magic blinked a blinding white before going back to normal, no one nearby to see it.
A scroll way up high in the metaphorical sky blinked, flashed, and the burnt up in a fire of ash catching many of its watchers in shock.
Magic everywhere seemed to hum a delighted sigh. A twinkle in the night sky came anew, a star for the new One.
And the paths changed.
Somewhere, a prophet tilts back her head. Her fellows glance at her. She has not given a word in a millennia. Why start now? What will she say that is so important? She breathes the words as she would bleed red rivulets of crimson blood of she could.
They come, bonded of magic
Children of the stars, they come
Forgotten heirs
Forbidden hearts
Forever One they have come
Watch as the world bears new fruit
Watch and rejoice for they come
Magic his reclaimed her children
Truth must be set
They come
One
She bows her head and smiles. Cassandra, the Lady of Prophets, the great Prophetess herself, has spoken. In every world, in every time, she smiles.
TBC… It's a short filler piece, I know. But I hope you enjoyed it. There isn't much left for this part of the story. But at least I finally gave you the... ritual.
Hoping for reviews... -Goddessa39.