Speaking of Magic and Grimm
shepsquared
Erratic Aussie
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia
-Primal Magic and Rituals
-The monsters they hunt
-The monsters they hunt
As always you rise with the dawn. You may be far from home but that doesn't stop you from greeting Shizuru as she starts her vigil. Unless this sun belongs to another god. You know that Sister Cinder is called Sarenrae by most outlanders and was worshiper as the sun rather than the hearth, but you never asked if the two goddesses share the sun.
A riddle to be answered when you know more.
Whichever god claims this sun you need breakfast. Drakōn is glad to join your hunt and though the creatures of Anima are much smaller than your normal prey they can do little to evade you.
As Skode demands you sought only the greatest of the prey available, bringing back a brace of rabbits and a boar, leaving the stag that crossed your path to Drakōn. Once you'd taken the antlers of course.
Ren wakes when you restart the fire, silently taking up the duties of a cook and Nora continues to sleep.
Once you're done cleaning your kills and tools you return to Drakōn, praying that the contents of his saddlebags survived the journey here. But your prayers are for naught.
The saddle itself is unharmed but the rest of your possessions have been damaged or lost. Your spear is gone, your spare bow broken into three useless pieces and your quivers are empty. The saddlebags fared better, but their contents were more fragile - the feathers you'd collected for arrows had fallen out of a tear, your carved icons and statues were broken and the less said about your snacks and poultices the better.
You've often been told that your possessions should consist only what you can carry yourself and this is a harsh lesson as to why, though few of your following keeps to that lesson. You can replace everything with time. Though you're not sure you'd trust a bow you carved yourself.
At least your strongbox survived. It holds your most precious belongings, along with the coin you'd picked up from traders and outlanders. The bronze bracelet decorated with ospreys and stags that once belonged to your father, the ivory wand you need for certain rituals, your small collection of paint and jewelry and the wooden pendants your mother had carved for you and Drakōn, the images of tooth and flame always making you think of your bond.
With some hesitation you put your father's bracelet on your shoulder and move the coin from your strongbox to your belt pouches. This world may not recognise the many different coins you've collected but gold and silver are always popular with outlanders.
Eventually Nora rises and you all eat your fill before setting out, the feeling or your father's bracelet giving you a greater sense of confidence, even if it is hidden beneath your sleeve.
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You hang from Drakōn's shoulder with practiced ease, one foot hooked into a leather strap and one hand clinging to another.
Behind you Ren holds the saddle horns in a tight grip, belying a nervousness that doesn't show on his face. Nora is happily taking advantage of her position behind Ren to cling to him with an eagerness that makes you suspect you disrupted more than you'd thought by abruptly showing up.
You'll have to make sure to give them privacy next time.
As Drakōn strides through the forest you do your best to remember the wisdom of the elders as you try to convince the two of the truth.
"First you must know that all things in this world live and that all are connected." You begin, envisioning the great web in your mind. "The smallest ant is as important as the tallest tree and the forest accepts both their contributions."
"So too do the elements live, though not in the same way. The hungry spark of fire that creates and destroys, the ever shifting winds and clouds, the river that unerringly carves a new path through the mountains.
"Drakōn opened my eyes to the true nature of the world and it is from the world I learn my magic. From the eagle I learned to see further and from the mighty mammoths I learned to enhance another's strength.
"I know the chants and the dances, the signs and the talismans, but they don't matter. What matters is that I listen to the world, invite the energies and spirits within and never forget that I am not their master." You say solemnly.
"In most stories magic comes from fairies, the gods or some ancient artifact. Which is what happened with you and Drakōn. But you said magic is everywhere. As if anyone can do it." Nora comments.
"Magic takes many forms and it is rare that someone cannot do any magic. Some inherit magic from their ancestors or are affected by the magic of their surroundings. Others channel the power of the gods through faith or learn to directly manipulate the world through study and practice. My path is but one of many that anyone could follow." You explain.
"So I could do magic?" Nora presses.
"I believe you could learn, but I've never been a teacher before. And Drakōn isn't always much help." You say.
"I know my place, child. As I said, I will teach you what you are ready to learn." He responds.
"And if someone else wants to learn?" You ask. This is a conversation you've had many times before, but it has taken on a new dimension here.
"I would not deprive you of the opportunity teaching would provide. But if it is advice you seek, any student should begin as you did." Drakōn says.
"With rituals then." You mutter, turning to look at Nora. "Do you know anyone needing to be married? Or a tainted place that needs to be purified?"
"W-what? No." Nora says with a blush. You can't help but grin at her reaction and Ren's awkward stillness.
"What's the difference between spells and rituals?" Ren eventually asks.
"Spells are cast in a few seconds by one person and normally have immediate effects. Rituals take hours or days, require several people to work together and are more focused on the long term." You explain.
You take a moment to think about which rituals you can safely discuss. Their existence isn't a secret, but the methods of their casting vary greatly.
"There is a spell that would let me briefly mimic the powerful nose of the wolf, but it is useless if I don't know when to cast it. There is also a ritual that sets a wolf spirit to stand guard, alerting me if it smells or hears an intruder that I cannot see. Both are useful, but they have different purposes." You explain.
There's more to the Watching Wolf ritual than that of course. It's a sacred rite that calls on the spirit the following was named for, the defiant wolf that refused to cede its territory to demons.
It's an improvement on the Elemental Sentry, replacing a telepathic warning with the howl of the wolf and forcing an intruder to sneak past a wolf instead of just the eyes of the caster but it would be wrong of you to teach someone not of the following to cast it.
Which may make it useless with only Drakōn to aid you.
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"You speak of hunters as elite protectors and seek to join their ranks. What foe demands such rigorous standards?" You find yourself asking after listening to Nora speak excitedly of her and Ren's months-long journey.
You know they don't have demons here, but they can't be this afraid of normal beasts.
"The Creatures of Grimm." Ren says, watching you and nodding when you don't recognise the name. "Monsters of shadow and bone, soulless mockeries of normal animals. They seek nothing more than the death of every man and the destruction of all he has built. They emerge in vast numbers from the dark, uninhabited parts of the world and seek out those lost to anger, sorrow and despair. They are the monsters that Huntsmen and Huntresses fight." He says darkly.
You listen silently as the two describe the Grimm. Their appearance, the way they work together no matter what relationship the animals they resemble share, their focus on humans and faunus over animals. The two clearly have a lot of experience, though they avoid giving you any personal details.
"They sound like the animals corrupted by demons. Maddened instinct and fury driving them in an endless destructive rage, but they arise through unknown means, like an elemental or demon." You say when their voices grow tired.
"What should I watch for? A great beast of black fur and white bone sounds rather distinct, but there must be subtler threats." You ask, unable to forget the horrors demons inflicted on Sarkoris and its surroundings.
Infiltrating shapeshifters and cultists that tricked people into turning on each other. The deliberate angering of the honoured dead so they'd attack any who came too close to their burial grounds.
The way they deliberately pretended to be leaderless hordes in the First Crusade, only to prove that wrong in the Second with tactical use of teleportation, assassination and the sudden appearance of balors and mariliths as generals that forced Mendev to give Sakoris up as lost.
Fortunately the Grimm are not that intelligent. Ren and Nora speak of Grimm like the Chill or Geist that possess abilities you'd assume to be magic, or Grimm like the Death Stinger and Creep that employ stealth and trickery, but they seem to never transcend the intelligence of an animal.
But sheer numbers and the tendency to attack whenever people are at their lowest would make any beast a threat.
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"Where did we come from?
Over the mountains.
Where is my hearthfire?
Over the mountains.
Where are we going?
Over the mountains."
The simple yet joyful song that you taught to Nora dies as Drakōn crests a hill, the town of Sumire visible beyond.
It would be a picturesque site if not for the Grimm assailing the walls and the bodies you can see atop them.
A/N: Splitting the update here so this doesn't get too bloated.
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