Spell 23 - Little Ember

The ring in Ren's hand continued to emit violet curls of smoke with each step they took.

The pathway was dark, and on either side of it were traditional shoji doors, each divided into panels. Only that these panels were made of a strange and darkened alloy instead of the usual clear texture one would find in traditional places like this. On top of them were carved old kanji symbols that shone lightly as Ren passed through and faded out the moment he distanced himself from them.

Here and there, rusted lanterns swung from above, but their light was too dim and cold to actually be able to light the place properly. If anything, they were creating a more of an eerie atmosphere than anything else.

As she walked through it, Kagami's dark fur almost made her invisible in the background. But Ren felt her presence nonetheless. Maybe it was the Pact that kept his senses constantly sharp to where she was. Maybe it was the frustration of being chained to something he never really fully wanted, or maybe it was the curiosity toward things he had found out about her along the way. He had never met a witch before. All he ever knew were the stories Haruki, his brother, had told him about them. But Kagami didn't seem to fit those stories. She didn't fit much of anything, really.

The voice he had heard earlier lingered in his mind as well.

You think you're her equal? You barely know what she is.

It seemed cruel to him the way it had spoken, but he knew too little of that story to really be able to tell. Maybe the voice was right, and Kagami was in fact leading him to a darker place than he thought, just as she might have done with others before him, too.

The smoke curled toward another turn ahead.

As he walked, Ren glanced towards Kagami again, not realizing he had already done so five or six times before.

"If you keep staring at me like that, you're going to punch a hole right through me, you know."

Ren didn't expect her to notice, but was it really all that weird of him?

"Can you blame me?" Ren went, genuinely curious about a reply.

"I can't." 

Ren let a few moments pass. But then, of course, in those short moments, his mind refueled with new thoughts that pressed on him.

"Back there... when the ghosts came at me," he said finally. "There wasn't much I could do."

Kagami tilted her head slightly as if to show she was listening.

"I tried to reach for the Pact, but there were just too many of them. The only reason I made it is because the door to this place happened to be open. I guess I got lucky."

She then scoffed a little at his perception of things.

"There's no such thing as luck, Ren. Are you so sure that the door really saved you?"

Ren lowered his gaze again. It was true that this place took him by surprise from the very beginning. However, he still didn't see a different outcome when thinking about that moment with the ghosts. He got a window of opportunity by crossing that door. And he had grown up believing that even the slightest moment gained was a chance to turn things around. So, regardless of what he would find here, he was determined to make the most of it. He would find those damn eyes, or at least a solid clue towards where they might be, and then get out.

They walked a little further. 

"Teach me a spell."

Kagami took one more step before pausing. 

"No."

He blinked, surprised by how quickly her reply came.

"Why not?!"

"Because you can't wield it. It will only consume you faster. Just focus on your main task: find the eyes, everything else is just noise."

"I'm not asking you to teach me anything too complex. And by the way, I'm not a child anymore. I can learn."

He then stepped forward, blocking her path. Insistently.

"I want to learn."

Kagami moved her gaze towards him and studied him for several moments. She seemed distant in a way, and Ren didn't want to interrupt that thought process, whatever was underneath it. It might just be in his favor.

Then she smiled. 

"Fine."

"Really?" he asked, uncertain if this was another of her games.

"Don't make me change my mind," she replied, moving past him with her usual elegant feline movements.

Kagami took the lead until the hallway opened into a broader section. The place looked like an open space, a roundabout of hallways and walls depicting strange beings casting fiery spells. They were adorned with kanji symbols carved deep into the surface.

Ren placed the ring in his pocket, careful not to damage it in any way.

"Open your hand," she said.

Ren lifted his hand, then reached forward and gently turned his palm outward.

"Now breathe."

"Okay... I am breathing."

"No, you're talking." She looked at him, annoyed. "Try again. Quietly."

Ren exhaled, slower this time.

"I'm going to teach you an invocation, but it's not a verbal one. Think of it like something you say with your intention."

She then raised her paw to where Ren held his palm. A faint glowing sphere appeared above his palm, which then started swirling timidly until it turned into a small flame.

"Kindling," she explained. "It's a basic invocation achieved through a Pact. It will borrow energy from both of us and then take the shape of anything you need. If you can align what you need with what you feel and think, that is, without breaking the sync with the Pact."

"That sounds complicated..." Ren admitted.

"It's not. You need a phrase to call it. The phrase I used was: what I hold is not mine, but I am its shape. You don't have to use that same one, though. Use anything that speaks to you on the inside and keeps you balanced."

Ren opened his mouth to ask his next question, but Kagami was already ahead of it and interrupted him.

"Don't tell it to me, tell it inside of yourself. That's when it's most real."

Ren stared at the swirling shape moving around above his palm.

"What does it do?" Ren asked, "What can one do with it?"

"That's not for me to decide," she replied, with a faint smile.

"Okay... then how do you, Kagami, use it? Specifically."

"You want me to give you its purpose... sorry. It doesn't work like that. You need to find your own path to purpose when you use magic. Otherwise, you're just stealing and you don't deserve it."

Then she let the small flame fade.

"Now you."

He nodded, hesitated a bit, but then closed his eyes, focused on his breathing, and tried to replicate what she had done. He pictured the flame. He then tried not to try too hard, which was already a challenge in itself.

A tiny spark appeared from his palm. It hovered for just a moment, then swished in the air and disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

Ren realized the thought didn't hold.

"I'm learning, alright? I'm not going to get it perfect on the first try," Ren said, and his explanation was mainly for himself rather than anyone else.

"No, you won't. But keep at it…"

She then glanced back at him, smiling gently.

"...little ember."