The whole family had been cursed since. It was not by any fault of theirs, or by the fault of their parents; this was not a case of the sins of the fathers being visited on the children. They were not paying for their crimes or for the crimes of others, they were just facing life, as painful as it seemed there was nothing anyone could do about it, not because there was no solution but because of their ignorance; a stubborn feigned ignorance, born from unbelief in the existence of spirits.
Maybe if they had asked questions, then I would have been able to help them, I would have cut the link, severed it, I would have used every charm, spell and concoction within my reach, I would have dared the portal between our worlds and that of our spirit ancestors, I would have faced every ghoul, battled every spirit gargoyle and crushed every gnome just to save them. But they had not given me the opportunity to help them, they rejected all my offers to help them, called me a witch and laughed in my face when I told them their problems were not ordinary, now just when I have given up all my magic and am ready to retire, they request for my presence with an urgency I do not understand. What do they want me to do now? After ignoring and laughing at all my incessant warnings, they come to me now like orphaned children, Lord knows that if not that I held a connection so ancient and historic with them I would not have heeded their call or even sent a reply to them. And so I sit before the mirror of direction and seek answers, this is an ancient tradition that has been handed down through generations in my family, it is unheard of that a counsel of the spirits will embark on a journey of such gravity without seeking direction first.
I take out the items for the ritual; a bowl of salt from the bottom of seven cursed seas, a jar of oil from the olives in a mad man’s garden, a length of white cloth, a spoon of decayed sugar and most importantly a map, I know you will ask me why I need a map, seeing as I know the location of the family whose hex and curse I want to lift, I have a map because those coordinates will decide if I need to go to the black witch market for items first or if I would visit the home of the family in need first. I put all the items for the ritual in my mortar, an item passed down through generations, starting first with the rancid olives for a smooth journey to and fro, I throw it in first because in a ritual of such temerity the most unpleasant parts of the ritual go in first, next goes in the salt a symbol of peace, then I spread the white cloth a few meters from the concoction and a meter from the mirror, this is a sign of my purity, finally I add the sugar, the concoction begins to boil on its own, this is a sign that all the items have been mixed properly in the right quantity and right order, next I spread the ancient map on the length of cloth, making sure that its edges are equal with that of the cloth, this act makes the map pure and prevents the entrance of dark spirits. I sit on the floor and close my eyes, singing in the fashion of my ancestors before me;
Mirror of light,
Mirror of right,
Open my eyes,
Give me sight,
Help my plight,
As I go on yet another fight.
Before I can even finish the last words of the ritual song, I hear thunder outside, it sounds like the earth beneath my feet is at war with itself, it is so loud that I fear it will tear down the roof of my family’s ancestral ritual hurt. I am both awed and afraid, this is a strange occurrence, strange but not impossible, and in all my years as a counsel I have not experienced it, it has not happened to any of my family members either, even up to five generations before me, the last time it had happened was in the time of my ancestor Lauren, a strong counsel whose client had wronged an evil more powerful than any witch, demon, werewolf or counsel that had walked the earth, he had not survived the night and his corpse had gone missing, when it was later found by the river, it was a raggedy bag of crushed bones with bite marks on it, like that of a werewolf, this had led to two decades of a bloody war between our people and the werewolves, that was called off when the culprits; the vampire tribe owned up and brought the guilty youths up for punishment. I shut the thought out of my mind, I know that it is impossible for a vampire attack to happen to me right now and in this place, seeing as my family members relocated to this hallowed ground after the dark war, this of course is just me trying to ease my fears and ignore the worry nagging my mind.
As each horrific thunderbolt hit the roof of my hut, I cower in fear, not being able to bear it anymore I begin to clear out my ritual items, just as I am about to pick up the sacred items, I hear a voice say; “That which you seek is beyond the thunderbolt”, I drop them quickly and resume my sitting position before the mirror and continue my ritual like nothing abnormal has occurred, humming the tune to the ancient ritual guide song slowly closing my eyes and allowing it to guide me as I fall into the trance that will guide me to the answers I seek.
All of a sudden, I feel a calloused palm on my back, it is a familiar palm that sends shivers down my spine as it has done from the first day I saw him and I know where I am, a sad feeling goes through me as I remember with pained fondness that the palm belongs to my betroth, the only man for whom my heart has ever beaten loud and proud. “Welcome”, he says to me with a smile on his face, not the familiar smile of fondness, given to a long lost loved one, but a smile one gives to a stranger, I feel so much pain inside of me, I can never get used to the feeling that we will never be remembered by our loved ones, but I keep myself in control, because I know that no matter how long I look in his eyes, he will never remember me, I walk to the great eye and sit before her, she is nothing like what earthly folklore describes her to be, the old stories tell us that she is an old woman stricken in years, but the woman before me is young and full of life, the only similarity between her and the great eye of the stories is that she sits covered in blinding lights on a bed of roses.
Before I can drop to my knees before her, she holds me, “Do not bow before me great one, the child who is also the mother, the daughter who obeys her father’s instructions and hearkens to her mother’s words, rise and sit before me my successor, may all of the earth, seas, underworld and the heavens bow before you”, I am confused at her words and even more appalled as the spirit beings bow before me, I am still in shock when she asks “What do you seek my child?”, I quickly swallow the lump forming in my throat as I sit on the platform facing her, “I seek guidance concerning the family of Watkinson, most knowledgeable one”, I say bowing my head slightly to the floor.
Suddenly, darkness covers the palace and a cold wind passes through but her eyes shine very brightly and everything goes back to normal, she smiles and says, “The Watkinson’s were cursed by Lauren as she breath her last, and no enchantment can raise the curse, but if you want to try you would have to sacrifice something precious. Carlos will see to it that you have a safe journey home and if you still decide to embark on this journey he will see you through it.”, with these words she closes her eyes and is once again covered in light.
I feel more confusion, and I wonder why Lauren will curse the Watkinson’s, but as I open my mouth to ask, my betroth takes my hand and once again I am on earth. On getting to my hut, I notice something is not right; my body is missing!!!!!!!!!, I look at Carlos with wide eyes, he shrugs idly and says, “You want to, embark on the journey right? Your body is the precious thing you have to sacrifice, if you do not succeed, you lose it forever and become a lost soul but if you do, you will get it back alongside with anything you want but trust me dear no one who tried has ever succeeded” he finishes with a coy smile and I know that this is not going to be an easy journey.
Hello @dympha.lady! This is @indayclara from @ocd (Original Content Decentralized) team. We saw that you already posted your first blog here in Hive! Congratulations and welcome!
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Greetings, @dympha.lady
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Welcome to Hive and to The Ink Well, @dympha.lady! I really enjoyed reading this piece (although I highly recommend adding some paragraph breaks throughout, as it is much easier for the reader to follow). You take us on a mystical journey and a world beyond our own. You clearly have a vivid imagination. I look forward to reading more of your stories.
Thank you very much for your review and correction, will take note of them
@jayna thanks for the corrections, the story has been updated