Our Past Does Not Define Us ~ Spectre

As soon as I left Lykfilia with Zachriel, I went over to Argotaurius to get some facts right.

"You're still a hundred percent sure this is going to work?" I asked him, still trying to get him to reconsider the whole thing.

"Yes, I am. If you make the correct alterations, it should go smoothly." His reply came immediately and confidently.

"And what makes you think that I'd willingly take the risk with a friend?" I said, turning slightly to Leviathan.

"Because you don't have much of a choice. If you don't, Raziel will most certainly get to know where you are, and I'm quite sure you'd like to keep under his radar. Although, blowing up the Godsends's headquarters wasn't very subtle."

"That wasn't me, that was Vine." I said, defending myself from the matter.

"Besides," he continued. "You're the only one who can do it, Ygraine is no longer alive and Valerie isn't here anymore since she went back to Yevalone, to her old family.."

"Does it have to be a female?" I asked him. "Does it affect it at all?"

"No, but barely anyone else has the power of performing rituals in their blood. If Dagon was here, I'd have asked him, but he's off doing god knows what with Vine."

I nodded slowly, understanding the basic point of what he was saying.

"I'm going to warn you one last time, Leviathan isn't a pure demon, so the ritual will most likely kill him." I said, making my final attempt to make him change his mind before tragedy.

"And if it does work, he'll be fine within a few days, and we'll prepare for war. "

I felt my jaw clench.

"Fine. But don't put the blame on me when your son is dead." I said, walking over to Leviathan, who was currently standing completely paralyzed in the same spot as he had been when I came in.

He turned his head when he noticed me coming.

"You know it can only be done of my own free will, right?" Leviathan said to nobody in particular, but I felt like it was adressed to us all in a way.

"Yes, and if you refuse, the fairy dies from energy drain. Really, it'd be a shame to see her-" Zachriel was cut off by his older brother.

"I'll do it!" Leviathan shouted at their father. "I'll do whatever you need me to do, but please, please. Don't hurt Lykfilia."

He sounded close to breaking down, but that couldn't happen. Not now.

I turned back to Argo.

"I'll get the runes ready then, shall I?" I asked him, as well as I could speak without saying something I would seriously regret. Argo nodded in agreement, and then turned to say something to Zachriel, who let go of Lykfilia afterwards.

"We'll leave you here Spectre, you're in charge of making sure they don't escape." With that, he left me with my two former friends and a ton of bloodrunes to draw. Oh dear.

I kneeled on the ground, not making a sound as I cut my finger open, causing a decent flow of blood. In that moment I secretly thanked the angel's quick regeneration or I'd have died from blood loss. Then, the rune process started.

This ritual in itself includes two rune and symbol circles, one larger for the subject of ascension, and one smaller for the one doing the spellcasting. It also requires the spellcaster to be of magic levels 20,000 or higher, otherwise it will end in the destruction of the spellcaster and the ascension subject.

Oh and it requires a blood sacrifice for it to actually work.

I was silently working on the second circle when Leviathan's voice cut through the silence.

"Spectre, what happened to you? The old you, the one I met here a thousand years ago? The one who ran at danger like it was a walk on a beach, and fought for her own beliefs, not someone else's?" He asked me.

His voice was filled with emotions, and I could tell that the hurt and curiosity were the strongest.

"I grew up. I adapted to the ways of the world. I was told the truth, for once in my life." I replied, not looking away from my work.

"What on earth does that mean?"

I let out a low, bone-chilling chuckle.

"It's funny how you're accusing me of betraying you, when all you did was assume I'm doing this of my own free will." I said to him, finally looking up.

"What?"

"I'm not doing this because I want to, I'm doing this because it's just a step in the actual goal. Besides, I alredy told you Leviathan. I made a promise to your father, and I never go back on my word."

Lykfilia inhaled deeply.

"Spectre, when we were walking here earlier, were you really doing those spells you said you were?"

Lykfilia's voice was demanding, I'd never heard it like this before.

"No. And it wasn't any of the magical languages either." I paused, contemplating whether or not I should tell them. I came to the conclusion that it didn't matter, seeing as they were stuck here anyways.

"What you heard was fluent Mizechz, the demonic side to the angelic language. After all, what are they but former angels?"

"You know Mizechz?" Leviathan asked me, surprised.

"It's not so different from Mithrain, which I learned at a young age." I replied.

I stood up, mentally going over my work, seeing if anything was missing or wrong.

"Well, all I need is a blood sacrifice and this suicide attempt is ready to roll!" I said, turning to the two people in the hall.

Leviathan immediately started removing his glove, taking a few steps closer to me.

"Leviathan, believe me, you're going to need your blood and strength."

I looked over to Lykfilia, who understood immediately. As I walked over to her, I could hear Leviathan protesting, but it didn't matter. I didn't care. I raised the blade, and sliced Lyka's palm open, spilling the blood over the larger pentagram.

I handed Lykfilia a roll of bandages to wrap her hand with, and gestured Leviathan to come over and stand in the larger circle. Drawing a symbol on his forehead, I told him not to worry too much.

I stepped back, getting myself into the smaller circle. Leviathan never took his eyes off of the runes while I went over the spell in my head.

"Lyka, I'm going to ask you to stay back." She hesitated, but reluctantly stepped back without a word.

"Are you ready, Leviathan?" I asked him.

Leviathan only nodded and closed his eyes, calming his mind and soul for the ascension itself.

"Then, I'll start." I took a deep breath before starting the spell.

"Nomine luna sol et stellae Sanctus. Descende: ascendesque tu, et de profundis animi tui revelasti quod occultatum in meam. Et factus magis potens, cum flammae latere tuo et in corde tuo, cum daemonibus inita potentiae imperare gens Mizeareigh. Surge Lesauvage enim militans deo soli renatis."

After I finished, I immediately sensed something wrong. The runes, that should have been bright red, were instead emitting some sort of smoke, and they were rapidly turning black.

As soon as I realized what was happening, an agonizing scream broke my focus, making me look up.

Leviathan was enveloped in black fire, the fire of the void. I immediately started reciting counterspells against the flames, calling the entire ascension off in the way. The flame died midway, which was strange, but I brushed it off. I didn't realize what was wrong until I heard Lykfilia scream.

I turned around just in time to see Lykfilia rushing towards Leviathan, but she couldn't get past the runes.

My mind felt like it was spinning in circles as I fell to my knees, feeling my power drain away. I watched, helpless as my friend drew his last breath, falling down inside the circle.

The ascension had indeed failed.

Leviathan Lesauvage was dead.