Navigate to the beyond. #4

[ Seattle ]

[ Alec's apartment ]

He loves the power, the many applications, its flexibility and absurdity. Magic saved him, it's what allowed him to thrive, this apartment is just another proof, another benefit of magic.

Putting the content of the bags on the table, Alec looks at the dead separated head drom the rest of its body. He places it delicately on a gray steel table and takes of what's in the second garbage bag, the 6 legs that he had to cut to make them fit.

He will be able to extract one or two liters of poison from it, knowing that the last Empu'sa summoned was in 1211, this greenish liquid is in fact the rarest poison on earth right now.

However he didn't took the risk of returning to the hotel for that but for the head, or rather the brain.

At the back of the room, plastered against the wall, a metal cupboard the same color as the table hold his collection of tools. He takes the quill with the diamond point. He stole it from an old herbalist who probably got it in a very dubious way.

He also grabs a jar of blood and walks back to his operating table where the head is placed, Alec opens the jar then dip the diamond point in it, he lets the surplus fall back in the jar before moving the quill the Empu'sa forehead.

He engraves in the dead flesh not a circle but a triangle, he then carefully adds symbols pertaining to the domain of death.

When he finish the preparations, he puts his forehead against the triangle he made, he feels the cold of its dead skin as the blood stains his forehead with a replica of the triangle and symbols.

He concentrates, his nerves are strains by anxiety. A mix of fear, liveliness and determination dominates him as he recite the words of power, paying attention to the pronunciation of each letters.

" Mors, mihi cantores vitæ, reducas ens in planum, pro liberanda repente arripiet aeturnum, ostende mihi quid est videns. " Alec casts the spell, his latin perfectly spoken.

His usually gray eyes starts to glow in a toxic green reminiscent of the Empu'sa poison. The surroundings walls fall apart to give way to the stage, draw from the memories of the dead creature.

He finds himself in a thriving oasis, there are brightly colored exotic plants and juicy fruits, the sun above is hitting fiercely as dozens of Empu'sa move in the oasis they populated thousands of years in the past, their many legs crash against the reddish soil caused by clay, it creates a loud background cacophony like an armed battalion which parade.

Suddenly, in a blurry mix of colors and images, the scenery changes.

This time he is in a world of black and white. He understands that it is another memory, which unfolds not in the real world this time but in the space between dimensions.

He's in a city, the streets and buildings are particularly strange, it's as if all the time periods have been mixed.

Buildings dating of different periods from the past stand next to curved futuristic buildings made of materials that he cannot recognize which streches as far as the eye can see towards the sky covered by black clouds so thick that they look more like ashes amorphous balls.

His body moves forward without being order to, he's forced to recreate the original scene lived by the Empu'sa, he can't change the scenario of a memory, it has already been written. In response, he's contents to accept being only a witness to what has already happened, he don't have another choice unless he want to stop the spell.

He enters a house, a big mansion, the outside his painted white and black like the rest, the inside is empty, there is no furnitures or soul that live here except for what covers every inches of walls. Two parallel spiral staircases lead to the first floor, the architecture is beautiful but what catches his attention are the paintings on the walls. There are hundreds of them, so much that it fully covers the walls.

These paintings have something else different, they are in colors. In this black and white world they are the only things that pulsates with life. Woven with threads of time and coated with space pigments, these paintings retrace a life from the first instant to the last of a person.

The first starting from the front door depicts a child, a baby a few months old in the arms of a blond woman surrounded by 3 boys and a man dressed in colorful tunics, the woman is wearing a linen under dress that falls on the ankles and her platinum blond hair are braid. Alec is then led by the memory to another painting, the baby is no more, now it's a little boy who's holding a bow and an arrow, a deer grazes further unaware of its imminent death. He goes from one painting to another as if the Empu'sa had been looking for something.

He stops in front of a much darker painting than the previous ones, the boy has become an adult. Slumped on a throne while the corpses of women and children litter the stone floor. Partially hidden in the shadow of a column, a man with ebony hair observes the man on the throne with whom he grew up, his gaze is loaded with sadness but also disgust at the sight of the blood dripping from the man's mouth and flowing on the bare chest of the man on the throne. A subtil reflection of light reveal a blade, more precisely a dagger, the man with the ebony hair is holding it, his hand clenched around it more than necessary. The following painting shows nothing, literally. Just gray which spreads over the whole canvas.

The memory continues to replay itself and finally he ends up going upstairs. He enters a room also covered in paintings, the window is a stained glass that it also used to tells part of the story.

He advance towards the window, a black sky without stars or moon is painted there, three peoples draped in red cloaks which conceal their faces stands around a big fire. Their hands outstretched above while a stream of blood flows from the right hand of the three into the fire.

Alec tries to understand, however what he see does not remind him of anything except a magical ritual. He lacks the context, who is this man ? Obviously a vampire but who exactly ? What is the purpose of the ritual and who are the two other persons ? He set out on this journey in search of answers on his past and here he is with even more questions without having obtained any results.

It's time to take back the wheel he tells himself before trying to exercise control over his direction in the numerous memories of his dead Empu'sa.

The scenery changes once again with a blurry whirlwind of sounds, sights and smells. He's still between the dimensions but this time in a place that is much more familiar to him. A clearing. A path of unlit torches leads to a large hut, he blinks then when he re-opens his eyes he is inside.

The form has changed but the function is the same as the paintings, glass balls hang from the ceilling hut, they come to life when he pushes them.

He see his mother's fiery hair tickling his face as she tell him an ancient myth about the Ascension.

In another glass globe he's in the wood, birds land on him as he stat as still as a statue, he hears the sounds of crows invading the hut as his mother appears in the past moment contained in the ball. The next one is the one that interests him but also the most scariest for him.

He see that night, he can hear the rhythm of the drums and feels the effervescence of the ceremony. Faces whose features he had forgotten appears refreshing the details of his own memories, the young boys dressed in ample white clothes kneel in front of his mother Alaina, their heads bowed in a sign of respect and devotion.

While he sees himself lying on the wooden altar, two men from the coven brings large buckets made from natural materials. They put them in front of his mother who's taken a knife that have patterns on its blade and is set with jewels on its pommel.

She cut the throat of the younger boy while directing his neck above a bucket. She repeat the action 10 times, each times the boys fighting more or less depending on their willingness to die for him. She recite words of power as the blood collects in the buckets, the song of black magic necessary for the ritual flowing out of her mouth catalyze the life force of the young boys, making their blood somewhat more nourishing and invigorating, its appearance changed to an orange-red liquid because of the quantity of magical energy in it. It result in ten empty shells which appear to have aged an eternity in a few seconds, the 10 boys lost everything in his favor.

Then the women of the coven each take a bucket then stand in a circle around Alec before they pour the liters of blood on him as his red head mother recites words in an ancient language he does not understand.

" Naturae fili, surge et in omnibus fulge,

Tu primus et novissimus,

Nutritus gaea es favitus

Naturae ipsius, haec vita tibi principi tuo. Cælum et terra partem tibi dabunt,

Quia tu es princeps repromissionis eorum ! " She sings in a loud and determined voice, the words flowing from her mouth like forbidden truths burning the corner of the fragile tapestry that is reality.

Washed by blood, nourished by bones, enlightened by souls, the answer given is more insightful that it seemed to Alec at first, a magical ritual designed to change him took place he concludes before a sudden throbbing pain start in his head. He quickly understands that it is time, staying longer in the memories of the dead creature present too many risks. He could stay stuck in the memories without ever being able to escape, or die, or become crazy... This is why he closes his eyes and makes a choice, more precisely his will connected to the spell and interact with it.

When he opens his eyes, he's back in the bedroom of his appartement, his forehead still pressed against that that of the Empu'sa. He gets up and stabilize himself with the help of the table, his skin is pale, his cheeks sunken and his eyes slightly sunken in their sockets, he seems sick, devoured by cancerous cells.

Such are the effects of necromancy practiced in a hurry, blood is not enough for complex spells, a sacrifice is necessary, a soul for a soul, a mind for a mind, a body for a body, a life for a life, skipping this step is very unwise unless the caster is channeling enough power from a particular place for exemple, or an expression triangle, in this case necromancy can be used without paying a price, in theories. Otherwise magic, God or nature depending on the cultures, will reap its due in most often extremely unpleasant ways.

Channeling an enormous amount of energy is also a viable solution to bypass the components necessary to a particulary complex spell. Unfortunately he didn't have a rare astrological event or a soil consacrated with the spirits of hundreds of witches to use immediately, but luckily, Alec like to be prepared.

While struggling with the disorientation caused by the exposure to the between dimensions, he can only imagine what it's like to visit physically. Alec walks over to the cupboard where is things are as he wipes the blood he spat on his hand on his pants.

He rummages inside and takes out a jar hermetically sealed with a large cork. Inside there a Lily flower, it's white and rose petals symbolizes very well the idea of purity and chastity associated to this flower by human and witches alike.

He places his finger on the cork and taps exactly 3 times, he lifts his finger and the cork follows. Alec pulls out the flower by its rod and immediately puts its the Lily flower on his tongue then he closes his lips, sealing the petals in his mouth.

[ Mystic Falls ]

[ Salvatore Boarding School ]

[ 2 hours later ]

Hope is part of the oldest students, as such her room is larger, she have a view on the lake and no chaotic roommates too enthusiastic about sharing secrets and emotional intimacy. There is an artistic theme in the room, half finished sketches, paint palettes, canvases and a tripod

Currently she's not putting brushstrokes on a immaculate canvas but at her desk, thinking, inferring. Her family necklace is hanging from her slender neck above a printed, enlarged picture of the circle she found in chamber 38 of the Hotel Plaisance. Just aside an open book on Greek mythology from the library, she found nothing useful in it, the Empu'sa written about in it not corresponding to the one she encountered except for its feeding habits.

She examined the photo on the plane on the way back and has been coming back to it ever since. Something is wrong, there's a detail she's missing. If she was honest with herself she would admit that it has to do with Alec. The circle he drew on the door, the more she compares it with the one in the chamber the more she sees a connection being established. Coincidences do not exist.If he was there then there was a reason.

Hope hears footsteps, the shuffling of clothes, the weight as well as the speed of the steps are all informations that helps her instinctively deduce who's coming.

" So partner... Ready to solve our new big mystery ? " Lizzie says as she enters, hopping enthusiastically on her feet.

" Ric said that we would come up with a plan later. " Hope answers as she pretends to read her book as if it were more interesting than hunting Landon.

" He's- afraid, I don't blame him after what he went through but I think you agree with me that finding Landon is urgent. " Lizzie retorts then she walks over her, she grab the printed and image before Hope can prevent her.

" Ah ! You're still on this..." She adds while raising her eyebrows at Hope. " Anyway we'll talk about your new crush on the new guy later. Right now I think I have an idea of how we could find him. " She finishes with a mischievous smile on her face that inspire anything but trust in Hope.

[ Basement ]

Hope walks down behind Lizzie, they enter the part of the basement dedicated to the werewolves.

Creatures made from an ancient curse casted by a witch on 7 witches, their bloodline as a whole was cursed, every descendants, which have reproduced over thousands of years. Comdamned to change into wolf every night of a full moon and locked away from magic since birth, the actual process to transform is abominably painful for those who undergo the transformation but in return, strength, speed and inhuman physical capacities become accessible to them one night per month. Accidentally or intentionally, being responsible for a death is the way to trigger the curse.

" Why did you ask me ? " Hope questions as she looks at the prison cells fitted out with chains strapped to the black stone wall.

" What do you mean ? " Lizzie responds while they advance to the back of the room.

" You could have asked Josie or M.G to help you but instead you came to me. Why ? " Hope says as she smell aconit growing not far, it's toxic nature it has on werewolf stings her nose.

" Uh.. I... I didn't want to put them in danger, you saw how it was in Seattle and Josie- Josie was already stirred up by the bus thing. " Lizzie answers as they finally reach a cell that holds a young man with dark skin and beautiful but angry hazel eyes.

" Rafael !? " Hope exclaims as she recognize who's locked inside the cell, she then looks at Lizzie, her demeanor demanding an explanation.

" Don't look at me like that I know nothing more than you. It's him you should ask for the reasons. " Lizzie says honestly, referring to the reasons of Rafael imprisonment.

" I've done nothin', I was only trying to help my brother, Landon isn't some kind of serial killer. You're all judging him despite not having any kind of inkling about who he is ! " Rafael stands up and say, he is pissed of but not only, he feels rejected again, treated unfairly.

" Or maybe it's you who don't know him as well as you thought, a bus full of carbonized bodies was found and we're sure he was there. He's not some kind of wrongly accused guy, he stole a knife and killed people. " Hope says just as angrily but in the end can't help but regret saying it this brutally.

" You're lying, he would never do that ! Never. " He retorts while grabbing the bars of the door of his cell, he shakes them violently making Lizzie jumps in surprise. " Let me out and I'll prove it to you ! I can find him, I know him better than anyone, I know how he think. " Rafael adds while both girls look perplexedly.