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“Actually, you should be warned.” The woman paused in opening the bottle of white liquid, “The man who did this wasn’t captured, right?” the three nodded, “Until he is, your friend will search for justice, never able to rest. Also the ritual itself is dangerous. The newly dead are trapped in the spirit world, awaiting judgment. That is also the home of, how would you say it? The Dark Ones? Something like that.”
“So?” Aibon questioned, the sight of her friend’s remains making her antsy, “What does that mean?”
“To bring back your friend’s spirit, I must rip open a hole between realms, giving the Dark Ones a chance to escape. If they do, they will wreak havoc on the city, even the world. The longer they are out, the more powerful they become.” Madonna set the bottle down on a small, wheeled table beside her, intent on her explanation.
“What does this have to do with us?” Yossui forestalled anymore of Aibon’s complaints with a hand on her shoulder.
“If any escape, you will be responsible for their defeat and recapture. You will have access to the abilities of the ten original mages who trapped them in the beginning. And you will have help. Six others of your clan. Clan? Something like that. Anyway, are you still willing to go through with this?”
The response was a unanimous yes. Of course, they would do anything to have their Nono back and they had already come so far. With a final look at each of them, Madonna began the ritual.
She poured the white liquid down the length of the ashes, then turned and opened up the book. The three couldn’t see what exactly she was doing, but realized she was mixing something with her back to them. “First we must reform the body. To do that, I must ask a favor from those closest to her. Blood, from each of you.”
The three looked at each other uneasily, even more when Madonna turned with a ceremonial dagger in her hand. Finally, Rika and Yossui pushed Aibon forward, “You go first.”
“Why me?” Aibon eyed the knife fearfully.
“Because you were her closest friend.” Rika put her hands on her hips.
“Makoto was her closest friend! We just shared the apartment.” The youngest flinched when the mystic reached out and grabbed her wrist, bringing her hand closer to the dagger.
“Makoto’s not here. So you’ll have to do. Now quit being a baby and give her your finger.” Yossui patted Aibon on the head.
Squinting her eyes shut, Aibon presented her index finger to Madonna, wincing when the tip of the dagger pierced the tip of her finger. The blood dripped into the black goblet, mixing with the ingredients already there.
Stepping back behind the older girls, Aibon clutched her wounded hand, which had already stopped bleeding, like it would fall off at any moment. The other two scoffed at her, before Rika stepped forward. They watched the blade be quickly sterilized and then the process repeated.
“Ow!” Yossui laughed lightly at the tears that filled Rika’s eyes, rubbing her back and admonishing her gently.
“You guys are weak, watch this.” But when Yossui put out her hand and the dagger sliced her finger, she hissed sharply through her teeth. Then she saw the blood and swayed woozily. She got no sympathy and the other yonki laughed at her.
“So much for being tough.” Aibon pinched her arm, snapping her back into a steady position.
They laughed for a second, the seriousness of the past couple days fading. Madonna stirred the mixture in the goblet a moment, before placing it in the middle of the altar. “Now, the next thing I must ask of you is to join hands around her remains. It might sound a little cliché, but I need you to think of Nono as she was the last time you saw her alive. I will take that image and use it to recreate her body.”
The girls complied, standing on three sides of the altar with Rika at the head. They closed their eyes and thought of their friend, Aibon remembering a time Nono came to visit her in Nara and Rika and Yossui remembering her performing at the concert that night.
They didn’t hear any chanting or strange whispering and they couldn’t see the motions Madonna made in the air, the runes that appeared over Nono’s ashes, or the dark forms that escaped through the ceiling. All they could see from behind their eyelids was a bright white light.
For a while they kept their eyes closed, almost afraid of what they might see. Then a voice sent them into shock, “Ugh, my head hurts.” Nono said, blinking wearily.
----And there, I have plotted out my entire story! Can you guess what happens next?
Topic: Justice, Death and the Fool (Read 17920 times)