Fandom 𝕸𝖆𝖌𝖎𝖈'𝖘 𝕻𝖗𝖎𝖈𝖊 - (1x1/closed)

[Reid]

BlazinGemstone

The inside of the school building was quiet for the night as it usually was. There was no curfew for the students. Ravenwood tended to operate on a sort of do as you like policy. It always has. Which was a stark contrast to Skylar Star-Temple's upbringing, the schools she attended as a younger child (a distant and dim memory almost entirely difficult to grasp now), there were strict rules for everything. Down to when and where one was allowed to go to the bathroom. The schools were tightly knit, labyrinthine hallways and squished in classrooms. Skylar couldn't fathom ever going back there, to no magic. To mundane-ness that would have had her screaming at the wall. Here, in Wizard City, she was allowed freedom. Having been drawn to the school of Myth, at first, being presented with Professor Drake's dour attitude was a shock that she quickly grew accustomed to. He could come off as mean or brash, but he cared about what he was teaching and simply didn't suffer hooligans. Skylar liked to think she somehow passed whatever test the man privately had when he categorized a student as a hooligan or an "alright student".

At least, he didn't seem to cause a fuss when, after Skylar's graduation, she told him she wanted to ask the Headmaster for the job as his teacher's assistant. Honestly, she thought perhaps he seemed somewhat relieved that the grading wouldn't always fall on his head. She came in about two times a week to help grade papers and projects and over time, he grew to trust her judgement and didn't hover as much. However, most of her time was spent traveling the Spiral to meet up with Harold Argleston's associates to study and observe various odd creatures big and small native to these different worlds and bring this information back to the Wizard City Library for the Ravenwood Bulletin. Though in the back of the newspaper in a column called "Beasties and Curios" (A name Skyler was heckled by Boris to choose... But she wouldn't say that to his face). It was quite fun, even if the pay wasn't that great. It fed her curiosity and kept her magic sharp since the job sometimes entailed going into dangerous places.

The chalk on the board paused in its scribbling. Skylar looked up, confused. The chalk at the front of the classroom never stopped its movements, ever. It was always scribbling. And for some reason, the fact that it stopped unnerved her. Putting down the quill she had been using (in the process of writing, D-, you do not clap your hands to summon a golem minion. Please revise) Skylar frowned, getting up from the desk. Tempted to grab her Sky Iron Hasta that was resting by her seat, she instead pulled her old novice wand from her boot and listened. She could have sworn she heard something...​

 

[BlazinGemstone]

Wizard City was quiet. Most of the citizens had gone in for the night, which left the streets quiet and barren. On the path to Ravenwood, the sound of footsteps approached, hard and fast as if someone was running. A young wizard came dashing down the path, breathing hard and appearing to struggle to keep on running. However, she still didn't stop, even though her legs were aching and her lungs were burning. She had to get to Ravenwood and find Cyrus. He'd be able to help her.

Jasmine Drake, daughter of Malastaire Drake and Sylvia Drake, was just your ordinary wizarding student at one point, but things had changed since her mother had passed. Ever since then, her father had become obsessed with finding a way to revive her. It was an obsession, and it scared her. Jasmine had pleaded with her father to stop the research, but he didn't listen to her. So when she came home from school and he called her down to his lab, she knew she should have been more aware, but he was her father. He wasn't going to hurt her! Apparently, whatever semblance of sanity he had was completely gone because he had tried to use her as a component for a spell to bring her mother back. It was one of the most painful things she had ever felt. Knives like ice through her skull and almost like her entire being was being ripped apart, but somehow, she managed to disrupt the spell with a simple hex. She ran out of the house and straight to Ravenwood.

Her head pounded, and she felt like she was struggling to maintain her grip on reality. There was someone else inside her head, a familiar voice, one that was undoubtedly her own mother's, screaming in torment. Whatever the spell did, it wasn't complete and she didn't dare go back. As she crossed the threshold of the school, she made a sharp turn and immediately ran for the Myth School. Ignoring all of the manners she had, she rammed her shoulder into the door as hard as she could and the doors flew open. She fell to the ground, gasping for breath, and looked behind her as if she were still being chased. "Uncle Cyrus!" She called out, turning to look up at the front of the classroom and paused as she only saw Cyrus' TA. Her heart dropped in her chest. No... No! This wasn't good! "Where's Cyrus?" Her voice was high and quiet, almost coming out in a whisper. Her eyes were wide and full of fear, and now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off, she was trembling. If Cyrus wasn't here to help her, what was she going to do?

 

[Reid]

Skylar jolted at the loud bang! of the great big double doors of the classroom opening with such violence she thought that maybe someone had accidentally summoned a troll outside or something of that nature. It wasn't uncommon for students of all schools to practice outside... Leading to some rather unfortunate incidents here and again. However, what greeted her as the doors swung back and forth was not a troll. It was a person. A person who seemed frantic. Skylar didn't let go of her wand. Just in case.

"Professor Drake isn't here right now," She said, holding out the hand that wasn't white-knuckling the wand as she slowly descended the short steps of the little alcove in the front of the classroom. Her eyes didn't move from the frantic woman's. Upon closer inspection, her features were pretty similar to Cyrus Drake's. In a vague sort of way.
"He's not actually in the city right now. So um...." Skylar added slowly, "Can I take a message?"

 

[BlazinGemstone]

Jasmine’s eyes filled with tears and she violently shook her head. “No! By then it’ll be too late!” She finally managed to get to her feet, trying to calm herself. Being panicked wasn’t going to help her describe the situation any better. “I needed my uncle’s help. My father he—“ she flinched as a spike of pain shot through her head and she reached a hand up to her forehead, pressing her palm against it.

“I… I apologize, I should probably introduce myself.” She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to fight back the pain shooting through her skull. “My name is Jasmine Drake. I’m Cyrus’s niece. I need his protection. My father tried to use me in this ritual to bring my mother back from the dead.” She scrunched her face up, thinking hard. “He called it the commutatio ritual.”

 

[Reid]

Skyler was honestly still apprehensive about this woman. The way she behaved, with this almost manic energy, set her on edge. Her gaze flickered toward the belt she had tied around her waist in the inside of her Myth-colored robes. Like most Ravenwood wizards, Skylar carried a deck of cards that aided her in casting magic. Particularly battle magic. If the woman--- This... Jasmine... Tried to attack her in some way, she could summon a troll....

"Professor's.... Niece?" Skylar blurted, caught off guard by this revelation. Cyrus Drake wasn't a chatterbox by any means. He was rather.... Private about almost everything. He especially hated if the topic of his brother came up. The man would get this insistent twitch in his left eye and his lips would practically disappear into his skin with how hard he pursed them. Every school year, without fail, there had to be some smart ass student who tried to be snarky about him being the brother of Ravenwood's most prominent boogey-man and he was quick to shut that down instantly. So of course he wouldn't say anything about a niece. If people knew.... well...

Headmaster Ambrose probably did, but then again, that man seemed to know everything.

"Ritual??" She exclaimed. Skylar was trying her best to catch up with the sudden shift in the situation. Because one minute she was grading papers, minding her own business, now... this...?

"Okay, okay. Hold on. Let's back it up. Niece, I got that. But... A ritual?? Is that right?" Skylar gestured toward a chair, "Sit down before you pass out or something... I dunno. Walk me through this and take a deep breath."

 

[BlazinGemstone]

Jasmine nodded and took a seat, taking in deep breaths to try and calm herself. She was still shaking from the ordeal she had gone through and trying to not completely lose her cool. “Okay… Okay.” She took a deep breath and began to explain.

“My mom died a while ago. He’s been trying to find a way to bring her back and he found this ritual that would bring her back. Someone gave it to him apparently.” She looked down at her hands, nervously picking at a hangnail on one of her fingers. “I don’t know how he talked me into it… He said it was just going to bring my mom back and I should be happy that he’s going through all this effort for her to be back with us, but when the ritual actually started…”

Jasmine finally looked back up, her eyes full of fear. “I don’t think this ritual was what he said it was. My mind feels like it’s being split in two. I hear screaming constantly and it hurts…” Another spike of pain shot through her head and she flinched, briefly reaching a hand up to her head. “Please, you have to help me contact my uncle. He’s the only one I can think of who can keep me safe right now. My father’s probably looking for me to finish whatever this ritual is to bring my mom back.”

 

[Reid]

Skylar herself leaned against one of the student desks behind her. By now, she slowly put her wand back into her boot. Straightening herself, she listened intently at this rather... Fantastical tale with a dubious ear. Mainly because the story of Malistaire was one that most... If not all students of Ravenwood knew. By Bartleby's eye sockets, the reminder was right there for everyone to see. The giant, gaping chasm near the Fire School where the Death School once was. And where poor Malorn Ashthorn gathered confused youngsters for a rather barebones introduction to Death Magic before ushering them off to Dworgyn.

Honestly, Malistaire kind of scared Skylar, especially with the way he was painted by most of the academy. Twisted and crazy. Rogue. And was the woman sitting right in front of her not proof of this?

Skylar shook her head, "I'm sorry but Professor Drake isn't in Wizard City. He took some of the older students to a field trip to Wysteria. An exchange program with Pigswick...." She bit her tongue to keep herself from going into too much detail about the intricacies of the exchange program, mainly because from how the woman looked like she was on the verge of agony, she probably wasn't in the mood for academia.

She then added, rather hesitantly, "Perhaps I could help?"

 

[BlazinGemstone]

Jasmine furrowed wed her brow and bit her lip. She should have expected this, but it was still disappointing. Was she just going to have to hide until her uncle returned? Or would her father end up finding her and finishing the ritual? She looked up at the wizard, raising an eyebrow. "You can help me?" She didn't mean for it to come out rude and her cheeks colored a little. "Sorry. I'm just surprised."

She took a deep breath and managed a tense smile. "I would appreciate it if you could, but... how could you help? I don't even know what I would ask my uncle to do to help aside from hide me away from my father."

"I'm sorry, I just realized I didn't ask you for your name." Her face reddened and she gave her a rather tense smile. "My mind's not all here today."

 

[Reid]

Skylar folded her arms, chewing on the inside of her lips as Jasmine threw question after question at her feet. And while yes, these were perfectly valid questions because she was only a perfectly ordinary teacher's assistant... Not a hero in any sense of the word, Jasmine's questioning made her teeth itch. And honestly... All the more determined to prove her wrong.

"Skylar Star-Temple.... I sometimes help your uncle with the students," She shrugged, "I liked his classes when I studied here and I guess I figured... Why not?"

Tapping her fingers along the desk she leaned against, Skylar thought for a second before slowly saying, "Myth is more like a cousin to Death. While Life is more of a sibling. It's why we're constantly being grouped together, right? All of it has to do with creation. Life is born, Myth is the creation of life through creativity, and Death is the natural conclusion to all of that. Your father---" She awkwardly glanced at Jasmine with a sort of sorry, please don't take this the wrong way sort of expression, "He upset that natural order by doing--" She gestured, "This to you. I'm not that well versed in Death Magic but I assume that by doing this, it goes against the rules of Death. Whatever those might be."

 

[BlazinGemstone]

"Skylar..." She nodded gently and managed a slight smile in her direction. As Skylar spoke about the connection between the schools of Myth, Life and Death, Jasmine nodded slightly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Death is connected to life as life is connected to death. While necromancy can be used to summon the spirits of the dead to fight for you like we're taught in school, there are clear rules to not try to bring someone back from the dead."

"You cannot create or bring back a life through necromancy. The consequences can range from effects on your own body to effects on the spirit of the person you're trying to bring back." She furrowed her brow, glancing back at the doors to the Myth school. "I think my father may have forgotten this rule or does not care."

"I don't know where he found this ritual, but it wasn't familiar to me. Its in none of the books we had and almost felt like something darker..." She frowned, leaning back against one of the desks. "I think whoever gave him this ritual didn't have the best intentions."

 

[Reid]

Skylar was hesitant to overstep in her words. Mainly because... She was a little afraid of Jasmine in a way. Her father was a very powerful wizard, something of legend due to his terrifying reputation. There was a time when she was a young student, just barely getting used to the fact that magic existed, that learning about Malistaire gave her nightmares for weeks. She couldn't sleep, imagining him climbing through her window and killing her. A ridiculous thought, honestly. Since there was no reason such a grand-- albeit, infamous figure would care about some no name student. But Skylar's young mind equated the fact that Professor Drake was Malistaire's brother, and perhaps his insanity extended to being hateful toward Myth students. For some reason.

She said none of this, of course. Not wanting to make things worse by admitting that she used to have nightmares about Jasmine's father.

Instead, Skylar said, "Well, he did steal the Krokonomicon years ago and tried to summon a creature that would have," She snapped her fingers, "Destroyed the Spiral just like that if one of our students hadn't stopped him-- It was all over the Ravenwood Bulletin front page for weeks!" A fact that still had Skylar side-eyeing Headmaster Ambrose for, since the unnamed student who had wanted to remain anonymous was about twelve years old, "So I wouldn't be surprised if he'd grown frantic. Have you seen your father talking to anyone new? Anyone suspicious? Or does he keep his correspondences hidden from you?"

 

[BlazinGemstone]

Jasmine nodded slightly. "I remember that. It was a huge source of his frustrations for years. Especially being beaten by a twelve-year-old." Her father had been quite upset about the whole ordeal and Jasmine had made sure to stay away from him for the next few weeks while he had let his anger blow over. While back then, she had been certain he wouldn't take his anger out on her, she didn't like being around him when he was that angry.

"I mostly stay at the house, so I don't see him often. He only mentioned that someone gave him the ritual when he was out a few days ago, which is already fairly suspicious when you think about it enough." She ran her thumb across the decoration on the sleeve of her robes. "The only thing he mentioned was that it was a figure in a deep red cloak with strangely colored eyes.

Jasmine glanced back at the door again, as if she were expecting her father to show up at any moment. "I don't know where to hide from him or what to do. My only thought was to find out more about this ritual and try to reason with him, but if he finds me, he's going to want to finish the ritual and I don't know what finishing it would do."