2406 Strilaxis 4, Kindreth

Kymalin mussed her hair, a scream gurgling in her throat. Mountains of dusty tomes flocked her so high she couldn't see the other desks in front of her. Her voice echoed in shrill ringing across the dim room. Thank the gods she was alone here. Nobody ever goes to the library at this hour. In fact, as Kymalin had noted since she started coming by, nobody was going here at all save for a few blaxis no doubt punished by their mentors to midnight cleaning for whatever infarction they committed.

Her eyes wandered to the stack of tomes to her left. It's mostly about books tackling the synnavaim of a banshee in detail. It was good research for her next session with her lecturers but it wasn't going to help Vaeri's case since...well, his synnavaim was stable.

The stack to her left contained each and every tome she could find about fairy sicknesses and the possible cures. She would rival the scholars in Lanteglos specializing in brewing and healing by the time she was done with all those tomes. Some of those weren't even about Carleon. Why in Umazure were they in the Temple, in the first place? Who organizes these things?

Kymalin sighed, stirring more dust on her desk. She waved her hands in front of her face as she coughed up some more. She'd end up with a runny nose soon at this rate. No matter. A drop of sugorice draught should do the trick.

"Oh, gods," Kymalin groaned, letting her head fall into her hands. With one, two rubs, she raised it again. "Okay, back to work."

She gave her cheeks three good slapps and forced her eyes to focus on the tome lying open in front of her. In the dim light of the library, the Keijula squiggles looked almost like they were crawling out of the old parchment. She skimmed past diagrams depciting how magic works in theory, no doubt written out by the scholars thinking they'd help in making things simpler. Well, they didn't. Explaining magic in terms of paragraphs and words would never work.

Just trust your feelings. Should be good enough.

Kymalin skipped a few pages and a word flashed in her periphery. She stopped flipping pages and backtracked until she came to the page containing the word. The ink made it more ominous than necessary.

The letters read: summoning.

Her tutors said she wasn't ready to try her hand on the sacred banshee art of summoning spirits from the afterlife. To them, teaching a child necromancy was the equivalent of giving them flammable materials and asking them to tend to the fireplace. It's dangerous and apparently idiotic.

But should the same child have the curiosity and tenacity to search through the archives books about summoning...that wasn't technically against the rules, right?

Right?

Kymalin hummed to herself. If she was to make her search easier, she should use her synnavaim to do just that. Instead of wasting away in the library, combing through tons of information that might or might not help, why not summon a spirit who already did? Why not just force them to give her a rundown of stuff and she'd decide if it was useful or not?

A plan began forming in her head. It wasn't much, but it's a start. They, after all, have to start somewhere.

Has her mother thought of the same thing? Or done the same thing? Kymalin shook her head. If the High Priestess did and found something, then Kymalin would, as well. It didn't matter if the both of them wanted to share or not.

Kymalin focused back at the tome. To start a summoning ritual, it is important to have your mind and form in prime condition. Dealing with the Land of Wonders is tricky and should never be taken lightly. The dead are known to pull the living in with them if they are not careful.

Stand in front of a plot of land blessed by the priests and cleansed in the last year. Make sure you have a scent of xamine flowers with you. This would serve as your anchor in the realm of the living. Make sure you have a paneldoja with you as a last layer of protection. This should protect you from being touched by a spirit without burning them first.

Take a wrile and strike the hammer component into the disc component at least three times. This will alert all the spirits who hear it. Now, with your synnavaim, open the gates between the living realm and the Land of Wonders. To do that, consider the air being made up of particles, one of which are magic—

"Oh, Rudik's ass, when does this stop talking about theory?" Kymalin shook the tome as if that would change the written information inside it. "Damned thing."

She considered going to the School for Magical Arts just to write her own instructional tome but decided against it. First off, she hated structured schools. Second, that's not why she was here. So, she skimmed through the paragraphs full of theoretical gibberish and just headed straight to the summoning part.

Once you have succeeded in opening the gate, tstrike the wrile thee times once more. Then, with your magic, call forth a spirit that would answer your call. This is usually characterized by a thread-like consciousness emanating from you and whoever the thread attaches to, that's the spirit who can be reeled in.

Hmm. A little bit like fishing, then. Although, Kymalin had never been in one event. She just knew how it worked.

Using the thread, speak the following incantation to bind the spirit to you.

Kymalin's eyes rolled through the spell, mouthing the words under her breath. It didn't sound too hard. The tome didn't need to tell her that bad things might happen if she messed up at least one word in the spell.

If you want to summon a particular spirit, it is best to know their name, the tome continued. That should make the thread pinpoint the spirit faster since spirits are drawn to their previous identities as a remnant of the souls they once are. If the name is not available to you, having a specific quality in mind will be the next best step. As an example, if you want to summon someone who knows about animals, it might be helpful to summon a shepherd, a breeder, or a scholar. When doing so, project images of things associated with your goal. These mental projections will be sure to draw the spirit it as it reminds them of the lives they lived.

That's all for this topic. The next topic will be about the priestal—

Kymalin shut the tome. That's it, then. She has an assignment to do tonight.