A New Lens

The wind on this night seemed to sing a different tune. She flipped to the first page of the book and it read as such.

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This pathway focuses on the basics of witchcraft The more conventional sorts of magic and illusion.

This path allows one to see things that others can not and obtain knowledge not yet revealed to the world.

Sprits roam the land and you must become their voice and their advocate.

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Belle looked confused but continued to read on.

Realm 9 – Shaman

- Allows user to form pacts with spirits to serve them and carry out their will

- User can create trinkets that have varying effects based on the inscriptions used.

- Reader can now process the ancient language of spirits.

Advancement requirements

- bathe in a solution of an item possessing the essence of this realm or consume the brain of a Shaman

At the bottom something was scribbled in her father's handwriting.

"The solution must be vinegar and salt or else the item wont dissolve. This is universal no matter how far the advancement. A witch's cauldron is best used for this. One is located in a hidden room behind your bookshelf."

Reading the last word. She closed the book and sighed. Her father had really gone mad.

She let out a few soft tears before taking a stroll down the empty hallway to clear her mind.

Something about this felt wrong…Her mind immediately began to race. Why is the hallway empty? Why is it suddenly so dark in here?

She continued to walk forward although clearly unnerved. She reached the corridor which Silos' room was.

Her uneasy mind relaxed a little and started to walk over. Unknowingly the surrounding corridor became extremely dark. As she inched closer towards the door she could hear the muffled sounds of an argument.

"Silos what happened to you!? What's wrong!? TALK TO ME PLEASE!"

Sounds of a vase crashing was heard. Belle could vaguely make out the sound of Liz's voice screaming. Her footsteps slightly hastened.

In the room…

Liz with tears and makeup running down her face looked towards Silos. Her eyes and face flushed red and her hair was in a mess. She looked extremely anxious and stressed.

Standing before her was a poker faced man. No remorse sympathy or any other emotion permeated through his thick hazy gaze. It seemed like he wasn't human like he was just a shadow of his former self.

His silver eyes turned black and shadows pranced around in them. He took of his gloved to reveal delicate hands. Hands that knew no other hardships than the ones of royalty of the highest caliber.

His hands gently reached forward and caressed her cheek.

Liz gently pressed his hand against her face hoping to feel the warmth of his touch once again.

Silos raised the other and rested it against the opposite cheek.

Liz began to regain her composure feeling that he still cared about her. She looked up as if to wish upon a star. However, she was met with the inky blackness of a sleepless night. His face contorted and melted. His skin fizzed and bubbled into a black shadow like substance.

The lights surrounding them went black and it was dark. So dark…She still felt his hands around her face but couldn't see him. Not even the silver in his eyes were visible. Shadows seemed to dance around her even in the inky darkness. She felt uneasy as if there were multiple presences lurking around her.

As she opened her mouth to speak. A finger touch it gently preventing her from speaking. Liz was terrified about what was going to happen to her. She felt a slight grasp along her lower jaw. She didn't scream at all…she closed her eyes. Crack.

Liz felt nothing. She felt as if she was floating. She opened her eyes to find her vision red.

She could not see past the red curtains.

She waited for what felt like a long time but the curtains never raised. Her show stopping performance was never seen by the masses.

'What a shame' she grumbled internally.

Visions of her life flashed in her mind.

The day she became a princess of a small foreign land. The day she caught the sights of a beautiful young prince with bright silver eyes…

The memories fast-forwarded. The day he proposed and she said yes…The day she would have given birth to his children and lived happily ever after. She couldn't see that last one it was more of a longwinded fantasy.

The lights backstage slowly cut off one by one and everything went quiet.

Black tailored shoes stood calmly as a pool of red drifted across their soles. The sight of a beautiful hand could barely be seen putting on a black glove. Standing over a body was Silos. He looked at the girl he once loved.

Her head was facing her back. Her eyes lay open completely red. Her arms and legs twisted into unnatural positions. The light returned to the room and he slowly placed his hands over her eyes and closed them.

Silos' eyes turned completely black and his eyes bled an inky black tear.

He slowly waved his hands over her body and she slowly disappeared into her own shadow before a new shadow appeared in his eyes. It gleefully interacted with the rest.

Walking towards his dresser which was plastered with makeups eyeliners and other cosmetics he looked at himself. His pupils had turned completely black and a streak of a black tears ran down his eyes.

He slowly picked up an item from a hidden cabinet in the dresser. It was a small baby head which drank the inky black tears it cried in an infinite cycle. Tied to it with some rope was a tattered notebook. He began to walk towards his bookshelf when he heard an audible shriek from outside his door.

His face immediately turned sour. He drifted towards the door without moving a step.

He slammed open the door. Outside was blood that had leaked from Liz's body. On the carpet there were hurried heel prints. He could clearly see that they belonged to a woman. He hissed his teeth and sighed. The guards would be back relatively quickly. He was only able to distract them for a small window of time by getting a favor from a friend.

He whipped out a charm from his breast pocket and checked its condition. It was slowly breaking apart meaning he had less than a minute left before the guards hurriedly returned to their stations. He cleaned the blood stains off of the carpet and before shutting his door made a note of the direction of the footsteps.

The sound of hurried footsteps from all directions began to sound in the area.

'Towards Belles room' he muttered behind the locked door.

In the opposite hallway running towards her bedroom. Belle had tears rolling down her face.

Blood…Blood…She didn't even hear her scream. She crashed into her room and locked the door. She began profusely throwing up on her carpet. She became increasingly desperate to throw her lungs up. It reached a point where she almost passed out.

Luckily she had built up some sort of mental resilience from being a princess and slightly regained her composure.

She immediately whipped out a piece of paper. She began writing a letter and it read.

"

Jameson this is an emergency Silos has gone mad.

I know you have no right to believe me or anything I say right now But please take Planchett and leave the capital.

Do it discreetly I think he knows someone saw him. I screamed when I saw blood leaking from under his door.

I know you of all people have noticed the anomalies and changes in the castle and with our family in the past few years.

You've watched us grow so you know I wouldn't lie about something like this.

Love,

Princess Bellerose Sola III.

She folded her letter and stamped it with some ink making it an official document that couldn't be replicated. She then waved a guard over and sent him to Planchett's room to deliver the letter.

The guard looked at Belle's haggard figure with concern and wondered why she would send Planchett a letter but did not question her and hastily delivered the letter.

He had the opportunity of witnessing the princess's odd behavior two nights in a row and was beginning to get worried.

Belle seeing that he was doing his job breathed a sigh of relief the rest of her family were abroad. She knew with the few suspects Silos would immediately find out who it was so she began to pack her things.

She then grabs the object and heads to the kitchen to retrieve some salt and vinegar. The chefs were confused as to why the princess didn't just let them make whatever she wanted but seeing her persistence let it go.

2 AM In Belles room…

A bookcase was open like a door. After 1 hour of fiddling with the books she figured out what she had to do. While racking her brain she began to think of why her father humming that specific song from her childhood. It didn't seem to make sense.

Sure it may have been to relax his decaying mind but there were plenty other songs he liked better than that one. It took a minute of contemplating to realize it was him helping her.

She then looked at the book shelves and noticed that each shelf had a string of books that spelt out a line of the song when rearranged properly.

She spent the next 20 minutes humming and rearranging the books. In the end they formed archway similar to the one at the entrance of the throne room. A locking mechanism clicked and the shelves opened.

Inside was a clean room with empty shelved and a black cauldron seated on a pedestal. The pedestal was adorned with small stones which helped to illuminate the slightly dark room.

She immediately got to work and mixed the Vinegar and salt into the cauldron which she filled with bath water.

Seeing that the salt was completely dissolved she added the item.

The cauldron immediately bubbled and began to dissolve the item. She didn't know if this was an item possessing the essence of a shaman but it did seem to have that familiar language written on it and she was willing to take the risk.

As it dissolved she could hear foreign whispers in her ears and she began to have brief blurry visions of the distant future. She saw herself much older on a ship sailing with what seemed to be a teenage boy who she had never met in her life.

As the item finally dissolved she was almost hypnotized by the whispers that coerced her to walk into the cauldron. She subconsciously took off her clothes and gazed into it.

The illusory liquid was white and every now and then images would flash of different places and of different people.

She slowly sat inside of the liquid. Instantly her mind turned blank and her eyes rolled back into her head.