The soul is measured by weight not by volume, and yours is as dense as a neutron star. ~Anubis
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I remember the moonlight as it crawled in the eaves,
sparkling on water through the shade of the leaves.
I sat cross legged looking around at the sheaves,
and saw all the aces you'd shoved up your sleeves.
Nothing is really as one quite perceives,
or at least that's what everyone believes.
I followed you down to where the shore receives;
we skipped through the sand and swam through the weeds.
If I was the forrest you were the trees...
thicker than the water from the womb that concieves.
We stole ourselves away and they branded us thieves.
Then spit us up out like the frost when it heaves.
When the summer is long, the winter it grieves,
like I miss the moonlight as it crawled in the eaves.
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Zion, drenched and sullen, sat cross legged on the shore next to Lucky. Lucky chirped at the unbound lich.
"First of all, this is the Acheron river. What you're thinking of is the river Lethe and you have to drink it to forget. Secondly, I don't typically come this way, just when you are unbound the longer you're unbound the stronger the pull of the river. It's kind of like getting pulled under in a current. It starts with hearing running water and then suddenly it's flowing all over you unless you can grab on to the shore. So to answer your question I'm as ok as something undead can be, yes I remember you and literally everything else, and the short answer is I was unbound for too long." Zion anwered Lucky.
Lucky chirped again. She crawled up on Zion's shoulder and into their cloak.
"Yes and no? I was unbound on purpose but didn't intend to be unbound for so long." Zion let out a long sigh. "I can tell you the whole story but you won't remember it, because he can't know. We should head back though. I'll tell you on the way." Zion got up and started walking. A raven could be seen circling in the distance.
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A pile of old books littered the Fae King's room. The mirror, having seemingly a mind of its own, tilted itself to focus light on one particular text. The light had an odd effect though, instead of burning the book it seemed to activate it. The book drew in the light and started glowing like a magickal ember, a strange sparkle that sounded like stars when they sing to each other at night. The book began to shake and then thrust itself open. The broken mirror still sending out powerful magick millennia after it was broken.
"Are you surprised it's still discharging spell fragments like some kind of Magickal radiation?" Coyote said noticing the book and the strange reflection it made in the mirror shard.
"Did Zion blow a really powerful spell mid transit?" Cerberus asked.
"Yes and no. Zion intentionally connected mirrors together to strategically amplify the spell and it did what it was supposed to, it just also blew out the mirrors in the process." Coyote replied.
"What of spell were they trying to pull off? A resurrection?" Cerberus puzzled.
"A resurrection and binding of fate." Coyote clarified.
"Binding of fate?" Cerberus was even more confused.
"You recall in magick that spells build on themselves and each other like math. And the inertia is remarkably similar. Resurrection isn't just a spell, it's an entire extremely complex ritual. And like thermite it requires a lot of energy initially to start the reaction. Zion because of how experienced they are being undead, is uniquely equiped to do this much more efficiently than others because they are a walking resurrection waiting to happen. But Zion being Zion is also acutely aware of how magick works beyond the initial spell because magick attracts other magick. So they reasonably had resolved to kind of not use that power except on themselves." Coyote explained
"So someone they cared about died unexpectedly?" Cerberus asked.
"Kind of. You should ask the Raven. Binding of fate is pillar of Familiar ritual." Coyote said.
"Zion resurrected Corvis in the mirror gate? Were they that inexperienced then and didn't realize that was going to blow out the gates?" Cerberus felt like Wisdom was always holding out on him.
"Zion never really wanted a familiar. They disagreed with the fundamental premise seeing it as a magickal slavery." Coyote said.
"I don't understand. Then why would Zion resurrect Corvis only to make him their familiar?" Cerberus asked.
"You don't understand because you don't really know Zion. And right now you figuring out why that is when you've spent many lifetimes both observing and experiencing their magick is important. Magick takes its seed from the soul. You've observed and experienced Zion in ways most never will, but seemed to miss every time this fundamental understanding of who they are." Coyote said.
"Did you just call me a bad boyfriend?" Cerberus felt offended