Summoning

The silver dagger was shiny, with a metallic gleam to its smooth appearance. There was no sheath, but the guard and hilt were a bit darker than the glistening blade.

It wasn't very sharp, at least not as sharp as the knives I had in my kitchen, but that was to be expected. According to the book and my own internet research, silver daggers aren't used in rituals for their sharpness.

Instead, silver is said to be a sacred tool that can direct spirituality more easily than other metals. It's also effective in warding off negative forces, so that was going to be helpful when I opened the gates of hell.

The other item I ordered was a piece of black obsidian. It was glossy in appearance, resembling black glass. It was no more than the size of my three fingers and perfectly triangular in shape.

A cord was passing through the hole that was drilled in it so it could be worn as a locket.

Why was this thing necessary? For two reasons.

Most demons naturally have a corruptive aura. One can't stay near them without causing harm to their soul.

Black obsidian is said to protect against negative energies, psychic attacks, and spiritual harm. So it could shield the summoner from the demon's aura.

If that's not all, then it's also used for spiritual cleansing. It has natural healing properties. So even if one's soul takes some damage, black obsidian could heal it over time.

The other reason is that black obsidian is associated with grounding, meaning it is connected to Earth. So, keeping it near ensures that I do not fall into hell while summoning something from there.

So, yeah, with these two final things at hand, I was now ready.

Ready to summon a demon, that is.

•••

I lit up all the candles one by one. It was a time-consuming task since there were dozens of candles to be lit.

I made sure not to smudge or ruin the summoning circle by stepping on it while moving around.

After I was done, I took one final look around and drew the curtains. As soon as I did that, the room was plunged into total darkness. Or it would've had it not been for all these candles burning around.

The room was still brightly lit, not as bright as when the ceiling lights were on, but still bright enough to see every single thing.

I tiptoed to where I was supposed to be sitting, once again making sure I did not accidentally ruin the ritual circle by kicking the salt.

Finally, I took my seat at one end of the salt circle by sitting cross-legged on the ground. Then, I grabbed the very same book that started all this and opened the page where incantations were written.

The writing was in Latin, but it was not a problem. I knew enough Latin to not mess up the pronunciations.

Yes, by the way, I was multilingual. It was my hobby to learn languages. Latin and French were among the first ones I learned before moving on to Hindi and German.

Anyway, the chanting itself was easy. The way to summon a demon wasn't very simple, though.

There were two ways to summon a demon.

If you want to summon a specific demon, then you must invoke its True Name before reciting the summoning incantation.

This method is the easiest, with little to no risk involved.

But if you don't know which demon you want to summon or don't know any demon's True Name, then you can use the other way.

What was the other way?

Well, it was to just open the gates of hell and wait until a demon gets out. It won't usually take much time, as most of them would pounce at the opportunity to escape hell and walk the mortal realm.

What method was I going to use? Obviously, the second one, as I don't have an encyclopedia full of True Names of hellspawns, despite how much I would've liked such a thing in this situation.

Anyway, after making sure everything was in place, I grabbed a ceramic bowl from my left and looked inside it. There, a tiny goldfish was swimming, unbeknownst to the grim fate that awaited it.

I couldn't help but let out a wistful sigh.

At that moment, even though I didn't want any doubts, it hit me. Everything that had happened since I found this strange book at the library.

What was I doing? Was I really going to kill a living creature for… for what?

It's not like I was a vegan, so I had no qualms about animals being killed to be prepared as food. Hell, I love non-veg.

But that and this was different. That killing served a purpose. Does this? I mean, what if after all this, nothing happens? What then?

How would I justify killing a helpless animal?

Maybe I was being a hypocrite, I don't know.

I prided myself on being a scientific person. Why was I even doing something so superstitious and supernatural? Occultic, even?

"Haa," I sighed again. Licking my lips, I shook my head. "No, this is not the time to develop doubts. I've come this far. Let's just do it."

Right, I started all this so I could find the strength to never run away again. So, I shouldn't run away from this. Even if it all turns out to be meaningless, I was going to see it all through till the end.

I gazed down at the goldfish again. "I'm sorry, Swim Shady. Your sacrifice will forever be remembered."

Well, actually, I myself had the memory of a goldfish, so I doubt I was going to remember this guy, but whatever.

Ironing out my resolve, I caught the fish with my bare hand and pulled it out of the water. Without waiting, I tossed it at the center of the summoning circle, where it squirmed and withered helplessly.

Quickly, I began reading the chants, "Venite, spiritus tenebris, ad me vocor te, obsecro! Per umbram et ignem, per silentium noctis! Duc me ad locum interitus et evocatio!"

I had read these chants a few times to practice, so I didn't think much of anything until my throat started to get dry with each word I uttered.

My heart started racing wildly, slamming against my ribs like a caged beast gone mad.

Ever so slowly, the shadows in the room also began to darken, as if they were suddenly more… alive?

And that feeling of unnatural discomfort was only accentuated when the candles began to burn taller, their flames licking higher, making all the shadows in the room go crazy as if performing an eerie, macabre dance.

It took everything I had in me to not freak out and stop the incantation midway. I needed to finish the chant before the creature I had sacrificed died.

I didn't know how long goldfish could live out of water, but I bet Swim Shady was not for this world for long, so I hurried.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw one of many candles flicker out. I paid it no mind until another one next to it extinguished as well.

Considering the odds that out of dozens of candles by each other, only those two went out, it wasn't unnerving but also not natural… right?

Before long, a third candle, and then a fourth, proceeding clockwise around me, sputtered out in turn. As I turned my head, I saw the candles flickering out all around me until only those on the edges of the circle remained lit.

Okay… umm… scratch that! It was unnerving!

However, I didn't stop chanting. I had to keep going.

And so, keep going I did. I grabbed the silver dagger and made a small cut on my index finger, letting a single drop of blood fall on the salt circle as I continued to chant:

"Da mihi potentiam tuam, et revela arcana tua. Invoco te, daemon, ut servias voluntati meae! Suscipe hanc sacrificium, et accede ad me, nunc et in aeternum!"

And that was the end…

I finished the invocation…

As soon as I did, the two remaining candles extinguished as well, throwing the apartment into complete darkness.

I waited and waited, sitting there on the cold, hard marble floor cross-legged, barely keeping my nerves calm. Even the sound of my own breathing sent a chill crawling up my spine now and then.

It was… perhaps one of the scariest moments of my life to sit there in complete darkness, waiting for something to happen… something to reach out… anything!

An old aphorism entered my mind, 'It's not the fear of being alone in the dark that scares us, it's the fear of not being alone.'

I immediately shook my head. No, you idiot! Don't start scaring yourself now!

After taking a few long breaths and done with waiting around for something to happen, I stood up, fished out my phone, turned on its flashlight, and carefully walked over to the curtains to pull them off.

I was… relieved for some reason. I was relieved that nothing actually happened.

Huh, despite all that talk about how I wanted to perform real magic, was I actually just scared?

Scared that my reasonable mind wouldn't be able to comprehend the logic behind magic and the supernatural?

Scared that I would have no excuse to not run away from my problems anymore?

Scared that something would actually answer my call from the dark and manifest itself before me?

Scared that… the world as I knew it would indeed turn out to be fake?

"So stupid."

Indeed, I had been so stupid. Did I actually believe something would happen? Way to embarrass myself in my own eyes.

Shaking my head, I pulled the curtains, letting the interior of my apartment bask in the light once more. Sighing, I turned around… and froze upon seeing someone standing there in the center of the summoning circle not too far from me… someone not quite… human.