Chapter 57: Chapter 57

Ena opened her kitchen door coming face to face with Abigail, offering her a half nod in return for the morning greeting she had just uttered.

Abigail laid out her coat, shrugging it off her as she surveyed Ena’s house. She had been to this house only a few times.

"I hope this is as important as you said it is Mother Witch, we are going to be late for the council meeting,” Ena announced as she led the way into the dark room.

"It is Ena, there's something I need to show you,” Abigail replied grabbing a few candles out of the bag she had with her laying it on the table. She walked to Ena’s shelf grabbing the Soul book.

"Mother Protector!" Ena protested with wide eyes as she watched Abigail flip through the book, "what are you doing? That book is forbidden!!" She yelled.

Abigail looked up at her, "of course I know that and relax, we are not doing any spells from it, but we need it as a reference for this spell to work, " she replied before looking back down at the small book flipping till she reached the middle of the book.

Ena folded her arms, her eyes still wide and a tremble in her lip. Whatever the mother which was doing only she knew of but no matter what she would not taint herself with soul magic. Not even for the mother protector herself.

She watched quietly as Abigail began to draw symbols with white chalk, a high star in the middle, outlining it carefully to make sure there was break between lines. She placed the candles on each point of the star drawing circles around each one before finally finishing.

Abigail looked up at Ena who stood a good meter away, "relax, I'm not touching the book,” she replied before moving toward her and drawing all the curtains, keeping the room a dim black except for the warm glow of the candles flickering.

She glanced at Ena’s still stoned expression sighing before opening her bag once more, she brought out a piece of paper and carefully unwrapped it.

Ena curiously leaned it to see what it was the mother which had wrapped so carefully, watching as Abigail withdrew a strand of blog hair, her eyebrows furrowed, "whose hair is that for?" She asked knowing full well none of the four witches had blond hair.

"Azian" Abigail muttered placing the strand carefully on the Soul book.

Things began to click in Ena’s mind. She knew this type of spell, it was usually done for black magic, only the item placed at the middle of the star would be a black magic totem like a voodoo doll or a black pot, it was usually done to see if someone was under the spell of dark magic.

Her eyes widened, "you think Azian...” She trailed off watching as Abigail nodded instantly, "but I good you, it is impossible-"

"I have this feeling Ena, if it's wrong then we can look for other reasons but we won't know and eliminate this option if we don't try, " she began taking out another old spell book from her bag.

She brushed it off holding it out, "this revealing spell is the oldest of its kind,” she announced showing Ena the spell,” it is used for the darkest of magic, spells revealed in the Dark Age. It isn't an ordinary revealing spell normal witches do, for ordinary magic can do nothing against Soul Magic, " she took a deep breath out, "we will know if Azian has any link to any kind of Soul magic after this ritual"

"How?"

"Azian is the prince of dragons, also a golden dragon. Fire is his nature therefore he cannot be burnt,” she replied closing her eyes. She begin to chant words Ena had never heard of in all her 45 years of witching. Her tongue twisting and twirling with a rage as the candles began to flicker, and burn brighter.

With every verse the candles seemed to melt and flicker burning brighter than ever, smoke began to appear from nowhere and a dryness reached her throat her eyes watering. She had never seen a common revealing spell so strong.

Abigail's voice grew louder and louder and louder until she suddenly stopped. The moment she did all the candles blew out and the smoke dissolved

"Augou" Abigail whispered.

Immediately Azians hair began to burn furiously in the center of the book causing Ena to gasp taking a step back and Abigail hold her breath till it dissolved to ash and left the book without blemish.

Ena was panting furiously, "t-this decant be true"

Abigail held onto the table blinking twice, she had doubted the spell would work but that nagging feeling within her had gold her to at least give it a try.

She let out a harsh breath wiping the sweat off her forehead, "okay" she whispered trying to get things in order in her mind. This changed everything.

"Abigail. Do you know what this means? Someone exists out there with Magic of a protector, how is that possible?!" Ena half screeched. She couldn't believe it at all.

Abigail tried in vain to get herself in order but she couldn't help the slight shiver that danced within her.

"Someone out there located Azian, cast a soul spell, he has never been safe here, " Ena remarked placing her hands on her hips.

"It must be Stephania" Abigail whispered to herself.

"What?" Ena asked still barely able to contain herself.

"As we were growing up in the practice" Abigail explained leaning her weight against the table staring into void of nothing else as it all settled into her, "we were told of the dark age and the age that came after, there was a certain witch from the line of the protector who gave birth to two twins, Skye and Stephania. As you know there can only be one protector, which is usually the first born, if there is a second, as it was for Aunt Emma and my mother. So when the time came it was voted that Skye become protector and not Stephania.  Stephania was so enraged she left and rumors sprouted of her dark magic here and there, a century later the second Soul book was stolen and rumor had it that it was her. But no one had ever seen of her since that fateful day, I always knew she was out there"

Ena frowned at this, "I have heard of her Stephania, it's an old story. If it were true, it cannot be possible she would have to be over four hundred years old, and even with black magic one can only live for a bare century and few years" she explained.

"Yes, but what about with soul magic?" Abigail asked slyly turning to face a dumbfounded Ena, " she could have used black magic and lasted for a century, when she saw her days were numbered she must have known only Soul magic could save her-"

"So she stole the second book" Ena finished putting the puzzle together,

Abigail nodded moving to her old spell book, " my aunt recorded that the time she gave you the first Soul book they had been a total of 35 spells the last being the Tide to earth spell, " she moved to the Soul book flipping, " remember you said the Soul book writes itself?

"Yes, it does. It has never been written"

"Okay so that means if any new spell had been done it would be shown in here,” Abigail continued flipping through. She froze, “there have been 3 new spells, bringing it a total of...38 spells" she closed her eyes, “somebody’s been using the book"

Ena rushed to see the three new spells, the ancient scribbling’s looked dead and alive and the whispers echoed through the pages in a hushed mist.

The scribbling’s seemed to be alive however as they glowed mercilessly with a reddish burn, Abigail flipped to a certain spell.

"You can read Liria?" Ena asked.

"Parts of it, it's a changing language it is created by those who speak it, especially during spells a new word can be created with power unimaginable. A few old words can be read once in a sentence but that's the best I can do" she replied skimming through it, " the thing about Soul Magic is you can never really do the same spell twice, it changes by a line, a sentence,  a character, or even a slight twist of the tongue. Usually has the same results but still it's more like a protection spell for itself." She frowned at something causing Ena to ask what the problem was.

She showed Ena the spell she had been studying so closely for the last five minutes, " it's seems to me this is the most common spell that was done in the Dark Age, the mate spell. It changes mates completely, it's complicated though because for this spell to work you must know both mates, and have the ties to them,”

"Do you think it was used on Khloe and Azian?"

"I thought so, but no this spell seems to be void and unchanged since the last time it was used, the voices are slower, and less audible like they have been screaming for way too long, the glowing is almost none existent this means this spell hasn't been used for at least two centuries" she replied.

She gritted her teeth disappointed, she had thought they had finally solved a clue. Well at least they knew something. Soul Magic was definitely at work and that an old witch that had long outlived her time still existed but what spell she had used on Azian seemed to be still in the question.

Ena took the book from Abigail studying the spell, it did seem like it hadn't been used for a long time and for good reason. The effects of soul magic was horrible, though the mate would be changed and the two new mates would be happy for some time, it clearly showed that their afterlife was horrid, changing fate was an abomination their souls changed to the book and the children that came hither from their abomination where abominations themselves.

An idea struck her suddenly, " what about the ‘destroy a mate spell?’ Isn't that what was used in the Dark Age? It should be the original spell"

Abigail's eyebrows furrowed taking the book back flipping till the first page, she watched the lines dance across the page but this felt much like the previous one, " destroy a mate" she trailed her hands across the words, " this one has the most screams" she was tempted to close the books as she could literally see the faces of mates that had been taken away from their other half, and trapped within the lines of the Soul book.

"You take a mate from the other and they become mad with rage, deadly but easier to kill, most commit suicide in a second the others run mad" she closed her eyes tears threatening to spill when she heard their voices,

Where is he?

Take me back to him.

She calls for me.

Please!

They could never be set free to the end of time. Their souls where destroyed there was no way to bring them back whole. They were merely shattered pieces caged across the pages. These souls formed the pages of the book, the cover and the spine.

"No, this isn't it" she whispered lowly, flipping  the pages quickly until she saw a red glow which she topped at near the center of the book.

She looked through the spell trying desperately to interpret it. It wasn't like the old spells this Liria almost felt new, like it was a different language yet pieces if it made it certain it was Liria.

She squinted her eyes trying to make out the symbols, the twists and curves of every loop.

Her breath stopped, eyes widening.

"What? What is it?" Ena asked watching her expression?

"It's a binding spell, a very different one" she almost dropped the book.

"Binding?"

"Binding souls"

Ena froze at this, “is that even possible? You cannot bind a soul that is already taken to another without destroying the other first,” she reasoned.

Abigail nodded, " yes, but this is Soul Magic, and you can, you can if a mate hasn't yet been found or if the soul has no mate"

Ena shook her head, "no, soul binding is only done by the gods, binding a soul is giving a soul a mate, that can only be done by the moon herself, or the gods of gods the Sun"

“Yes true! This leads me to think-” Abigail trailed off, "yes!" She finally moved down, "I know what it is." She moved down to the old spell book, “what about a simple love spell, and a binding spell? A very simple spell any novice which can utter for a few minutes of laughter but combined with Soul Magic, its version if a binding spell and the new love spell, you have the perfect spell to make anyone believe they have a mate!"

Ena’s eyes widened, "a mixture"

"Yes!" Abigail screeched opening the book, "see here, two hearts combined. Azian is a dragon, dragons have lived for centuries before finding their mates, we aren't really sure about Golden dragons but figuratively speaking according to history an ordinary dragon can take from fifty years to two hundred before finding their mate, so in a more of something in this time frame binding a soul is not against the gods, the mate has not been found, or maybe hasn't yet even been born, he has a mate but he can be led to believing he has already found her, this.." She trailer off not able to believe they had just cracked the case.

"It makes a lot of sense Abi, but a spell this powerful should be invincible, we shouldn't have been able to tell anything at all, Azian should behave like Khloe is his real mate, if not what is the point of this spell?"

Abigail shrugged, "maybe she underestimated the power of a Golden dragon, they are descended from Erania, the Queen of gods and are highly favored,” she chuckled, “they are gods themselves and Azian is the last, therefore you could say he would be the most powerful"

Ena nodded, " yes, but we need to be sure"

Abigail agreed, "way ahead of you,” she replied lighting one candle.

Ena frowned at the thought of another spell.

Abigail chuckled, "it's just a simple location spell,” she began taking a hair brush out of her bag.

Ena raised an eyebrow, "and whose may that be?"

"Khloe, She borrowed Alessia’s brush this morning,” Abigail replied laying down a map of Torent and placing the candle on the map. She drew a few triangular symbols placing a bunch of hair in the middle of the map, " don't worry, no burning this time" she mused muttering a few words Ena had done a few times.

It was truly a simple spell.

A lot of hair suddenly moved to a section of the map, "that is where she is now,” Ena translated glancing at the name, "Rodney High"

Abigail nodded as a few more strands separated and pinched themselves to another part of the map, “Wow, her energy is most at our home" Abigail muttered as she saw the location.

Ena chuckled at this, watching as the next bowl of hair bounced to hopefully the location they wanted, it stopped at another location, "is it?" Abigail asked hopefully.

Ena took a look, "well, let see, do you think Khloe lives at West hill mall?" She asked sarcastically.

Abigail rolled her eyes, "if you haven't noticed this is an energy location spell, it pointed first at Rodney high because this is where it's strongest, where she is currently, it moved to our house because she spends most of her fine there, then the Mall because apparently that's the second place she spends her time, " she trailed off as another hair ball moved suddenly, "bingo, " Abigail smiled as she checked the location, "agh, the big houses, I should have known"

She turned to Ena, "Call the girls, it seems we have a little field trip"

Ena grinned taking her phone.

$Chapter