Bishop's Incantation

In the dark, starless, artificial sky of the Magic Tower, two crescent moons emerged from the fog. While one moon descents from above, the other rises from beneath. As two crescents slowly meet, they glowed into a bright, full moon. The magician, a cloaked figure who had been passing by, suddenly stopped in his tracks to stare at the glowing artificials above. His clipboard in hand was filled with scribbles of ancient text, ones that were left unciphered, suddenly fell to his feet in a panic as he gazed mournfully at the Ring Moon in the sky. While full moons were warmly welcomed, this moon came with a hole in the middle. One can only see it as none other than misfortunes calling.

"G... Grand Wizard!" The magician frightfully called, his voice cracking as it echoed through the dark walls of the Magic Tower. In his haste, he failed to notice his cloak in the way and tripped on his feet as he ran his way out of the Premonition Room, leaving the Ring Moon to glow menacingly in the sky.

Under the bright clear skies of the peaceful Emerald Empire, a dashing figure swiftly passed through the straw dummies of the training area. With moves of graceful swan's steps, and the strength of a thousand warriors, he ran his sword through the thick straw dummies like paper, slicing the moving dummies in half as he waded through them like stone through blades of grass. Catrice Everlock, the Crown Prince of Emerald Empire, wiped the sweat off that trickled down his chiseled face with his sleeve. His creamy blonde hair lay damp as it clung to his face. With his rough hands, he ran his fingers through them, pushing them out of the way from his brown eyes. He had been training ceaselessly for the past three hours now. His butler, Gerard, a wise, lanky man had been standing off the area throughout this entire time, the wrinkles around his eyes expressing his deepest concerns for the boy he had taken care of all these years. The iced cold drink in his hands had now melted away, leaving only the now tasteless saturated drink on the tray. Gerard sighed in defeat before damping the undrinkable beverage to the side. As he damped the drink away, another servant came rushing down towards him, panting and sweating from haste. Gerard took note of him right away. Confusion written all over his face, the servant pulled himself up on his feet as he leaned to whisper a few words to the butler.

"Your Grace, the Emperor calls for you!" Gerard called from across the field.

At this time, Catrice had slowly grown tired from lack of breaks, but even so with his aching body and restless mind, he couldn't get that wretched memory out of his mind.His eyes glimmered like honey under the sun as his brows knit together in deep thought. A memory that has plagued his mind since 6 years ago has come to resurface once more. Like an endless nightmare that has come to taunt him even as he grew. In his muddled state of mind, he failed to notice the thick bundle of straw headed for his way. The clenched straw hand socked him right on his jaw, knocking him out of his trance as he let out a pained grunt. Catrice, startled, struggled to find the balance on his feet as he staggered down to the ground in utter defeat. The straw dummy too, crumbled into a heap of a mess right beside him. It had already deemed the training done and over.

Gerard, along with the servant, both grimaced in pain as they immediately turned away before Catrice could notice them watching that embarrassing spectacle. But it was too late, Catrice could only pull an annoyed face to hide his embarrassment as he walked off the training grounds. As he grew closer and closer to the two awaiting figures, Gerard stiod poised and collected as he offered Catrice a towel, in which he gladly accepted. Catrice wiped his face, careful not to disturb the scratch on his chin.

"Are you alright, Your Majesty? Shall I call a Healer for you?" Gerard offered, ready to send the servant off to call the Empire's Healer, to which Catrice declined with a raise of his hand. "No need. A simple wound is all. It will heal on its own," Catrice dismissed the servant before walking away with Gerard following in toe.

"Your Majesty, pardon me for intruding but—" Gerard started before being immediately cut short by Catrice's hostile words. "Then don't intrude." Honey brown eyes stared straight ahead of them as they made their way back to the crown prince's quarters. But even with Catrice's words, Gerard could not sit still and let him be as is. His concern grew everyday. As mushrooms would to abandoned furnitures. Gerard's brows began to knit themselves together as he watched Catrice rinse off the sweat from his body.

"But, Your Majesty, I am merely concerned for your health. The least you could do is let me help. You've been out of it for days—" Gerard insisted as Catrice stared at the clothes laid out for him on his bed by Gerard. "I swear," Gerard swore, "One more but come out of you, Gerard, and I'll be welcoming in a new butler tomorrow." He threatened.

By now, Gerard could barely contain himself. "But, Your Majesty!" Gerard, exasperated, sighed deeply. "You are wearing your shirt backside-front!"

Catrice finally stopped his ceaseless movements as he stared at his reflection on the mirror. A defeated oh leaving his lips as realization struck his face. In the mirror, he could see his state perfectly well. His eyes had grown circles beneath them from lack of sleep. His hair was a heaping mess on his head, wet and untamed. His once lively skin had grown a bit pale from skipping meals. To top it all off, he had a scratch on his face and a shirt on backwards. He could see why Gerard had grown concerned these passing days. If he saw someone like this, he too, would have been concerned.

"Ha..." Gerard sighed in defeat.

"Really, Your Majesty. You have not been like this since 5 years ago. What has gotten into to you? I wonder... Are you perhaps nervous about the upcoming Celetial Bond Ritual?" Gerard began taking matters into his own hands. He made Catrice turn his shirt front-side-front before forcing him to sit in front of the mirror where he grabbed a few essentials from a drawer. With years of experience and techniques, he effortlessly groomed Catrice's hair into perfection. But not without a few failed try-outs.

"Honestly, Your Majesty. The Celestial Ritual isn't until a few months from now, and possibly not until Summer!" Gerard slicked the blonde hair back, and Catrice couldn't help but grimace at his appearance in the mirror. For him, he looked like some wizard he had seen before but could not quite recall.

"You need not worry about a thing." Gerard offered a few comforting words before pulling Catrice's hair up into two horns. With wrinkled eyes of a million lives, he carefully inspected the piece before deciding it wasn't a good fit. Much to Catrice's relief.

Truth be told, it wasn't the Celestial Bond Ritual that had Catrice worrying his head off. It was something entirely different. Something that had something related to what he had done when he was a young and stupid teenager. An action he would immensely regret for a lifetime.

"There! You are good to go!" Gerard inspected his work proudly as Catrice stood up from his chair. His ruffled clothes now looked neat and safely tucked. His damp hair, now dry from sweat looked no less than a perfect mop of blonde on top of his head. Nothing too messy and not too cleaned up. Gerard helped him put on his royal garbs, a white vest with red accents, a long cape and his sword by his hip.

"Even just meeting my father, must I wear all this?" Catrice complained as he looked at the mirror. The cape landed at the back of his needs, shimmering in white, red and gold, attached with the royal crest if the imperial family. "It's heavy."

"Heavy!?" Gerard exclaimed. Slapping Catrice's shoulder as he did. "That's because you haven't been eating the meals I brought to you!" The slap resonated through the halls, and Catrice flinched in pain. "Ow!"

With a heavy sigh, Gerard hovered over once again over the drawers, "Every trinket of the royal family is to be worn during the presence of beguiling news. The purpose of His Majesty's sudden summon might even be..." Gerard froze, the twinkle in his dazzling like a million stars. "Or perhaps..." He started.

"Perhaps His Majesty has summoned you to discuss your courtship with Lady Rachel?!" Gerard turned with great enthusiasm towards the crown prince who... hm?

"Crown Prince?" Gerard surveyed the entire room, his eyes flickering as fast as statics. In the next moment, his voice resonated throughout the entire palace, even frightening birds away in his wake. "Crown Prince!"

"Ugh, how many time must I say this? The moon is as we have seen it an entire 6 years ago!" Magician Administrator, Daelus rubbed the temple of her head in frustration. Right now, all three Magic Ministers gathered in the audience room bickering amongst each other. As one would debate, all three ministers barely gather together in order to have a discussion, for they could barely stand the presence of one another. They all have the passion for the same thing: Magic. But like Philosophers, they all had a different view on magic. For the three of the Ministers to gather like this could only mean nothing but trouble. And that is what Emperor Jericho feared as he clasped his hands together, anxiously tapping his feet as he ignored the noise in the room, also known as the Ministers bickering.

Seige, a minister from the Magic Weapon Department, turned away as he mockingly mimicked Daelus's words, his own face morphed into one of a bullfrog as he animatedly made what seemed to be an impersonation of Daelus. "We've seen this 6 years ago,"

Irked and annoyed as Daelus was, it was Mike that feared that the visible blood vessel on Daelus's neck would explode at any given moment. To keep the peace, he raised his staff and smacked it against Siege's frog head. The frog head vanished in a puff of smoke in a second, leaving Siege surprised and momentarily stunned.

"Then what do you suggest that is, dumbass? You're all muscles you don't have, and no brain to add to it!" Daelus rolled her eyes as magic hovered over her hair, twinkling ever so slightly like a scared child as it carefully braiding her long hair into a side tail. For Minister Daelus, magic was one similar to a companion, and her magic depicted exactly that as it tried to calm her down.

"Both of you should calm down! Have you no respect in front of His Majesty!?" Mike sighed exasperatedly as he leaned against his staff. "Your Majesty, Daelus is right. One of the watcher's reported the sighting of the Crescent moon. The only other time we've seen this happen was during the boutade six years ago. Back then we had no time to prepare but this time could be different."

Six years ago...

The Emperor buried his face further into his rough hands. Six years ago, an unexplainable occurrence killed a total of 1019 people in no less than five months. No one knew of its cause or why it suddenly happened and vanished without a trace. Although many people have died, most of the residents nearby the empire were not harmed. This incident has come and passed by without the nobles knowledge, and as Emperor, he planned to keep it that way. But if this mysterious recrudescence was making a comeback, the Emperor did not know how long he could keep this a secret without anyone finding out.

Minister Daelus decided to speak up in the silence, "Your Majesty, forgive me if I misspoke but we need to prepare for an upcoming epidemic. The last one may have only lasted a few months but who is to say this one will come and go just as easily? For all we know this could last years!"

At this, Minister Siege pouted his lips in pure annoyance but he too could not help but agree with both Ministers as he knelt in front of the Emperor, one knee sunk deep into the red carpet beneath them as he clasped his hands together in front of the emperor.

"We beg Your Majesty to make a wise decision." Siege said, with both Mike and Daelus following his lead. "We beg Your Majesty to make a wise decision!"

Now that the three Ministers have come to an agreement, this left the Emperor even more distraught than before. To initiate a sudden pandemic would cause a massive panic to the public but to not do anything would also lead to one day, at the very least, a rebellion against the royal family. But most of all, that wasn't the most of their worries.

"And... What does the Bishop say?" The Emperor asked, eyes shut tight from the strain. Or perhaps in silent prayer for good news. At this very moment, he couldn't decide on either.

"The Bishop..." Minister Siege spoke in a low voice, "Well... We haven't heard back from the Bishop since we've sent our last message. In my theory, I think he's trying to lay low," Minister Siege glanced away in worry, his hand caressing his face anxiously. That's when he received another thwack on the head from Minister Mike and a punch to the gut from Minister Daelus.

"The man's literally a century old, Siege! Give him a break!" Mike cried.

The door creaked open, breaking the moment of despair in the room as Crown Prince Catrice stepped in. His presence cutting through the atmosphere like metal to ice. The three Ministers all greeted him courteously as he stood in front of the Emperor, with his head lowered, he placed a hand above his chest.

"Father..." Catrice spoke. "I heard you summoned me."

The Emperor finally rose his head from his hands but before he could speak, another presence entered the room. The messenger knelt in front of the people within before making quick haste towards Minister Daelus. Letter in hand, he offered the letter to her to which she gladly accepted. The letter itself was pristine in shape with sharp edges, on the outside it looked like an ordinary letter. It was the wax seal on the envelope that made her eyes nearly pop out of their sockets in anticipation.

"It's a letter from the Bishop!" Minister Daelus loudly proclaimed, nimble fingers swiftly ripping open the sleeves as she retrieved the letter. At this moment, even the Emperor became intrigued as he began to sit upright in anticipation. "What does the letter say?" He demanded to know immediately. Has the Bishop offered a solution to this predicament?

Catrice, who still had a speck of dust of an idea of the situation, stood idle by the side as he waited for the Minister, who have now huddled together, to reveal the contents of the letter.

"I will read aloud the letter, Your Majesty." Minister Siege offered, taking the letter in his hands.

"With utmost respect of heavens and skies, The Bishop humbly greets the Emperor of neverending reign. It is to my knowledge that the two crescent moons have met again for...an untimely fate, as I would call it. Just as it did 6 years ago,"

At this very part of the letter, Catrice's eyes widened in shock and horror. Six years ago... Has the same incident occured once again? Could this possibly be why he felt restless nights recently? Because the two crescents have met once again?

So many questions, all of them leaving him with cold feet. If what he thought was true, then he already dreaded the next words to come out of that letter.

"Truthfully, all my heart goes to those who have suffered in that tragedy. In all the years that have followed that misfortune, we, as hands of the Holy Celeste, have never known rest in order to prepare for the calamity in the possible case it would come back. To our horror and dismay, we now have to come face this treacherous wave once more."

And Catrice, with no fail, had come to dread these words. The room spun into mud in his daze, and his mind went blank. Just how slow was he going to read that letter? Is there no good news in there at all? If none, then stop reading it! Stop keeping him on his toes for some hope that might not even be in that letter! Minister Siege's words no longer made sense the longer Catrice listened in. His ears rang loudly in his mind, as would a bell chime swung in churches. The ground disappeared beneath his feet.

"Therefore, we, as Hands of Holy Celeste, have come to offer this Incantation in Your Majesty's possession."

As if life had forced it's way back inside, Catrice sprung up to his feet, full attention now on to the Minister as he clung on to his words with bated breaths.

"May this Incantation help Your Majesty in every way that I imagine. I am sure the Magic Ministers are talented and promising to understand the complications of this magic, therefore, I leave the rest to you."

"This humble Hand of Holy Celeste, Bishop Inquer." Minister Siege ended the letter, his voice slow and quiet as he carefully took out the incantation mentioned above. The incantation was merely attached to the letter as is. With nimble hands, he took the flimsy paper between his fingers. It looked nothing more than ordinary. A piece of worn out paper with a bunch of tiny magic circles and a few words in ancient text scribbled around it.

Needless to say, all three Ministers were perplexed. What...is this?

An ancient artifact?

A long lost relic?

Toilet paper someone used to wipe their bum with?

Likely not the last one...hopefully. In all their experiences and expertise, one would automatically assume these self-proclaimed genuises would understand the magic behind this paper immediately. That was what the Emperor too assumed.

As he tapped his finger on the wooden lion of his arm chair, he raised a brow at the three magicians. "Well?"

Startled, they all scrambled for words. Daelus hid behind the two men as she began to furiously read between the lines of the Bishop's letter, hoping for some sort of clue. Mike was the first to make a move as he took the paper from Seige.

"W-well, Your Majesty," He cleared his throat. "This paper, well...Ahem... The Bishop clearly constructed it!...or found—Ahem! But nevertheless, it is an easy use! With this we can save the Empire from falling to ruins! We just need to use this whenever someone turns to stone—" Mike stumbled in between his words but immediately shut his lips as an elbow came crashing onto his gut. He sucked in the pain as Seige, frantic as he was, had been quick enough to spot the mistake in Mike's words. "The Bishop literally said to use it sparingly, you idiot! Were you not listening?!"

At this, Daelus fully erupted from behind them. The letter contained no other elements as she had hoped for. For now, they just needed to go back to the magic tower. They just needed an excuse.

"Your Majesty! What the Bishop was implying was... We use the incantation to develop more of this magic! All we need is a sample, study it's bases, and soon, we'll be able to create enough to never worry about the epidemic!" Daelus claimed, squeezing herself in between the two men, her hands tightly clutching on to their arms as she tried to compose herself. Seige and Mike immediately caught on to this and vigorously nodded their heads in unison. "That's absolutely correct, Your Majesty!"

"Yeah, what she said!"

The Emperor had not been paying attention this entire time, he heard the words make more and immediately latched on to the idea. His rough hands caressed his jawline as he stared at the three Ministers, who all gazed at him with wide eyes.

"More you say? Then very well. You shall work on this project as soon as possible, as soon as progress is made, I demand you call for an audience with me immediately." The Emperor set down his golden cane, provoking a thunderous sound that echoed through the audience room, leaving the three Ministers to huddle in fear.

"You may be excused."