Post by Hayden Outlawe on Jun 25, 2013 19:09:34 GMT -5
The walls seemed alive with movement in the dimly lit room, the single light source of the large black candle's flame projecting shadows off everything that seemed to dance around the room, waving and reaching for the young man sitting in the center of them. The only sound present was the sound of ancient pages, crisply sliding off of each other as they were turned again and again.
"Son of a bitch..." Hayden silently swore, slamming his fist onto the small amount of unoccupied space on the altar around the book. Even in his rage, he made a conscious effort NOT to damage the already aged text in front of him. "I know that friggin' spell was in here somewhere. I saw it... Yesterday."
Despite being totally alone, Hayden spoke aloud to himself. Honestly, he did that pretty often. When he was younger, he never did. His mom did though. "It's not crazy unless you answer yourself," she used to say, always followed by both of them laughing. He figured he had picked up the habit from her, his own little way of being closer to her despite the fact he hadn't seen her in years.
"Where are you... Where the hell are-" Hayden stopped himself mid-sentence, blinking hard as he flipped the page. Like every other page in this particular grimoire, everything was in Latin, but something about the illustrations looked really familiar.
Sighing, he ran his fingers through his hair, his eyes bouncing back and forth over the page, reading the handwritten Latin spells and instructions. Two words stood out to him. LOCARI, SPIRITUS. This was it. The locator spell he'd been looking for.
Sighing, he went over to the wooden chest in the corner, running his fingers over the sigils engraved in it before flipping it open. Digging through it, he grabbed every herb he'd seen listed on the page, every animal part. Gathering them all into a bowl, he carried them back over to the altar, using his right hand to draw the circle of sigils while the left held the bowl.
Upon finishing, he looked over it, making sure it was perfect before placing the bowl in the center of them. Looking back at the book, he made sure he had everything, then grabbed a map of California from the floor. Moving the book onto the floor, he placed the map on the altar in its place. Looking around, he double checked that everything was in place. Upon confirming that it was, Hayden took a deep breath before picking up the little box of matches that took up what little space remained on the altar.
"Alright... Here we go," he said, lighting the match. "Locari, spititus!" Dropping the match onto the herbs, he flinched as they basically exploded into flames. Picking up the bowl, he ignored how quickly the heat was causing the bowl to burn his hand, focusing only on finishing the spell as he let the the flames touch the map. "Ignis illuminet tenebras! Absconde eos non amplius!" Sitting the bowl aside, he watched the fire quickly consume the map, burning it to ash in mere seconds. When nothing but ash remained, he looked around, eventually finding the little circle of map that had survived. His left eyebrow shot up as he picked it up, examining it.
"What... Where the hell is that?
Sitting the little slip of map down, he blew out the flames in the bowl and the candle before standing up and walking over to the closet to pack his bags. The text on the little piece of map shown bold as Hayden flipped on the lights in the room, several lines and landmarks shown, but in the center, only two words remained.
BEACON HILLS
~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~--+--~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~
"Son of a bitch..." Hayden silently swore, slamming his fist onto the small amount of unoccupied space on the altar around the book. Even in his rage, he made a conscious effort NOT to damage the already aged text in front of him. "I know that friggin' spell was in here somewhere. I saw it... Yesterday."
Despite being totally alone, Hayden spoke aloud to himself. Honestly, he did that pretty often. When he was younger, he never did. His mom did though. "It's not crazy unless you answer yourself," she used to say, always followed by both of them laughing. He figured he had picked up the habit from her, his own little way of being closer to her despite the fact he hadn't seen her in years.
"Where are you... Where the hell are-" Hayden stopped himself mid-sentence, blinking hard as he flipped the page. Like every other page in this particular grimoire, everything was in Latin, but something about the illustrations looked really familiar.
Sighing, he ran his fingers through his hair, his eyes bouncing back and forth over the page, reading the handwritten Latin spells and instructions. Two words stood out to him. LOCARI, SPIRITUS. This was it. The locator spell he'd been looking for.
Sighing, he went over to the wooden chest in the corner, running his fingers over the sigils engraved in it before flipping it open. Digging through it, he grabbed every herb he'd seen listed on the page, every animal part. Gathering them all into a bowl, he carried them back over to the altar, using his right hand to draw the circle of sigils while the left held the bowl.
Upon finishing, he looked over it, making sure it was perfect before placing the bowl in the center of them. Looking back at the book, he made sure he had everything, then grabbed a map of California from the floor. Moving the book onto the floor, he placed the map on the altar in its place. Looking around, he double checked that everything was in place. Upon confirming that it was, Hayden took a deep breath before picking up the little box of matches that took up what little space remained on the altar.
"Alright... Here we go," he said, lighting the match. "Locari, spititus!" Dropping the match onto the herbs, he flinched as they basically exploded into flames. Picking up the bowl, he ignored how quickly the heat was causing the bowl to burn his hand, focusing only on finishing the spell as he let the the flames touch the map. "Ignis illuminet tenebras! Absconde eos non amplius!" Sitting the bowl aside, he watched the fire quickly consume the map, burning it to ash in mere seconds. When nothing but ash remained, he looked around, eventually finding the little circle of map that had survived. His left eyebrow shot up as he picked it up, examining it.
"What... Where the hell is that?
Sitting the little slip of map down, he blew out the flames in the bowl and the candle before standing up and walking over to the closet to pack his bags. The text on the little piece of map shown bold as Hayden flipped on the lights in the room, several lines and landmarks shown, but in the center, only two words remained.
BEACON HILLS
~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~--+--~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~
The drive had been long and grueling from his most recent apartment in Virginia to California, stopping only for gas. His stomach was practically screaming at him, begging for him to stop for food somewhere, ANYWHERE. And honestly, as he'd now been in Beacon Hills for like 2 hours and counting, he was pretty inclined to listen to it. After all, the day had gone great. No issues with anything. No run ins, no cops, and with a quick smile, some flirting, and a little pathokinetic help, he even had a gorgeous apartment. Saying he got it at a steal would just be corny, but hell, if it's true, it's true!
Now, now he needed food. And he knew all too well, Cali usually meant good food. Question was, where to find it?
"Food... Food... Food... Where to get some food?" He asked himself, his hands still drumming along the steering wheel and his head still bobbing to the Breaking Benjamin CD blaring through his speakers as his truck rumbled down the road through town.
That question became less about finding a place and more about making a decision rather quickly though as he made his way through the restaurant district. There was a little of everything it seemed. What did he want? Something fancy? Something fast? Something sweet? Hell, hungry as he was, he wanted it ALL. But that wasn't really an option, so he chose the next best thing. A good ol' fashioned diner. It didn't matter where you went, there was always bound to be a few somewhere, and with few exceptions, the food was often pretty damn amazing.
Pulling into a parking place near it, he hopped out of his truck, clicking the button and locking the doors as he walked away. There was a nice breeze blowing through the street as he made his way to the diner, and he had to admit, it felt pretty good. October or not, the California sun was quite warm on his black leather jacket, so the breeze was a nice relief. The air conditioning as he walked into the diner, though, was a little chilly. He didn't mind all that much, but it was a stark difference from outside.
Glancing around at the people already seated, he nodded his head in greeting towards the few who actually looked up at him, then walked over to an empty booth and sat down. Looking around, he nodded his head lightly as he got a feel for the place, and the people. The readings were mixed, but nothing felt too off. With his paranoia sated for the moment, he smiled up as the waitress walked over to him.
"Hey there, handsome. What can I get you to drink?"
Chuckling at the cliche waitress greeting, the little bit of flirting tossed in from the start in hopes of a tip, Hayden looked down at the menu.
"Uh, let me get a Mountain Dew," he replied, returning her large smile with a small smirk. "Actually, make that a chocolate shake."
"Sure thing, sweetheart. Oh, great choice! I'll get that, and be right back to take your order."
"No problem, ma'am. Take your time," he said, nodding his head before looking down at the menu. So many choices... And honestly, his stomach wanted him to choose each and every one. Tapping his fingers along the table to the beat of the song now stuck in his head, he looked around, trying to empathically focus on each customer to see what they were feeling.
If they liked what they were eating, maybe he would!