Chapter 56 THE AWAKENING MARK
It was late, the sky now a velvety black filled with tiny stars. It was a beautiful sight, but everyone had already turned in for the night. Smoke ceased to rise from the chimneys, and all the doors on every house were closed. The entire village was sleeping peacefully, just waiting for another day of their wonderful, peaceful life.
In Xerxes's extravagant home in the village, everyone was also asleep. Xyra and Magnus had both been given their own rooms, and they were huge. These were better rooms than they stayed in when they went to the inns. The beds were comfortable and spacious, and there were beautiful stained-glass windows. It was like being in a church. Everything about it reminded them of a holy place.
In his room at the far end of the house, Magnus found that it was difficult to sleep. He hadn't been able to lie comfortably in his bed due to his arm. The second he was asleep, he would roll the wrong way and push against his right shoulder. With the bone being broken in a multiple number of places, everything hurt it. Even touching his shoulder to something seemed to send a jolt of pain through his entire arm. It wasn't very fair, because it made sleeping highly difficult.
He was sitting on his bed, his blankets wrapped around him. He was leaning against the headboard, his head down and his eyes closed. He was doing his best to fall asleep, but he wasn't good at sitting up and sleeping. He had never been, despite how much traveling he did. He could only sleep one way, and that was lying down. Until his arm healed, he was going to have to suffer through nights of insomnia. That or he would have to ask someone to knock him out. He would cast a sleep spell, but no one here would be able to remove it.
A sigh escaped the sorcerer's lips as he realized that he was getting nowhere fast. His legs were starting to fall asleep, so he decided to just get up and wander for a while. Just sitting around was really boring. He wanted to look around the house a bit, so he got out of bed and went to the door, opening and closing it silently so he wouldn't disturb anyone. They had all been able to get to sleep. He didn't need to burden them with his problem.
He began heading down the hallway, his eyes shifting everywhere. He was looking for somewhere to go or something to do that would keep him entertained for a while. He just needed something he could do, even for just a few moments. Eventually he would return to his room and give sleeping another try. Something about going for an entire night without getting any sleep didn't sit right with him.
He turned and began heading down a narrow hallway. Everything was dark, so he had to walk carefully, using his left hand to feel around for things. He could fall each time he came to a door, his hand running over the upraised wood and the metal handles. He wasn't going to go in any because he wasn't sure which ones belonged to which people. He didn't want to make the mistake of walking into Xyra's room and having her get the wrong idea.
After walking for a while longer, Magnus came across a narrow passageway. It had stairs leading to a lower level. He didn't remember seeing this when Xerxes had given him a tour. It hadn't been much of a tour though. He had just walked him through most of the building, not really explaining much, so now he was checking things out for himself. He wanted to see just where these stairs would lead.
Carefully, he began walking down using his hand to guide him as the stairs twisted and turned, leading him further down. He was surprised to see a light down there. It looked like the flickering of candles or torches. He began wondering if anyone was down here. After all, what was the point of keeping a room lit if no one was using it?
When the stairs ended, and he set foot into the room, he was shocked at what he saw. This room was made entirely of white stone, something he quickly recognized. It was Petalite, a special type of sealing stone. It was a powerful amplifier too, and could be used to suppress magic. It wasn't something seen much nowadays. It wasn't usually the type of material you would build a room out of either.
He walked further in, heading towards the center. Upon looking around a bit more, he could see strange markings on the floor and the ceiling. The walls too had weird black markings on them. It was probably some sort of spell written out in its most basic form. Despite being a sorcerer, he couldn't read it. That hadn't been something he had been trained in. He could chant and cast spells. He couldn't read or write them though. Spell books hadn't been his thing.
After reaching the center of the room, he stopped walking. He just stood there, staring at the ceiling in astonishment. He was going to have to remember to ask Xerxes what this room was. It was too peculiar for him not to. Wonder what spell this is and why it's written on the walls. I'll have to ask about the petalite too. There's no point in building a room out of this stuff unless you want to keep something out or in, and I don't feel a presence here.
As he stared at the ceiling for a little longer, he tried making at least some sense of the symbols. This wasn't his strong point, but he was bored and figured that this was a good way to pass the time. He began recalling everything Gareth had once told him about magic symbols. Some spells required chants, and those chants had been written out like this. If he could figure out just a little bit of it, he could possibly know what spell it was. He knew quite a few. All it would take was a few words.
"Dissero," he whispered as he made sense of one symbol. Let's see. Dissero means…wait, what's that one? He caught sight of a strange looking symbol. He knew he had seen it before somewhere. It was shaped like a teardrop, but it branched off in three places towards the end, each one ending in a spike. It almost looked like a paw with only three claws. It had a single red point in the middle. It was the only symbol with any color, but this one required it.
"Scutum," he whispered as he read the symbol, slowly recalling what it meant. "… Visporta."
The second those words left his mouth, he felt a surge run through his body. He felt his throat constrict, his breath catching in it. His head began pounding, his forehead feeling as if it was on fire. That heat soon spread to his entire body, causing sweat to instantly bead down his face.
Unable to fight the pain searing through him, he fell to his knees. He placed his left hand against his forehead, trying to block out some of the pain. All he could do was put pressure against it, but nothing was working. The pain was increasing, making it feel as if his head was going to explode. It soon went all the way through him, and his body felt like it was being torn. His limbs were being squeezed, his bones feeling like they were shattering. It was too much for him to take.
He fell fully to the ground, coming down on his broken arm. His eyes went wide as that pain was added to the mix, and he couldn't take it anymore. This was too much. It hurt so badly. He wanted out of this room. Finally, he just couldn't take it anymore. He screamed.