Chapter 13: Ghosts
Today I taught Serene her first magic spell. That means the first magic spell not including unicorn telekinesis, which is not really a spell, and what I thought her as soon as her magic talent had grown strong enough to do it.
But we were already past that, past the meditations to feel and control the arcane flow, past the yoga exercise to form the astral body. This night we were sitting in the study, comfortably stretched out on large pillows on the floor.
Serene was staring down at the spell thesis I had provided for her. Eventually she would be able to copy those from my vademecum and start her own spell book, but for now I made copies for her myself. She studied the complex geometric pattern that made up the spell matrix in the dim light provided by the fire and a few candles scattered around the room, the tip of her tongue sticking out at the side of her mouth.
“You want me to explain the thesis to you again?” I offered.
“No, no!” she replied without looking up. “I can read this just fine, just let me make sure I memorized it alright.”
I nodded and waited for her to finish, idly watching her, listening to the cracking of the firewood and the late autumn rain dabbling against the windows. My apprentice had grown much more confident in the past two years and always held herself with a certain dignity, I would normally only expect of a sorceress twice her age. She wore her gray hair braided into a top knot, as she always did when she was working. It gave her a kind of stern look, but I knew how nice and comely she looked when she let it back down.
“Alright, I think I'm ready.” Her sudden exclamation jolted me from my thoughts. I blinked at her a few times.
“Oh, good! Then let's get started.” I cleared my throat and shifted a bit on my pillow. “This is a very basic spell, but surprisingly useful, and more complicated than it first looks, so make sure to take your time.”
She nodded, her lips drawn tight in concentration.
“Now, focus on the object you want to cast the spell on. Focus on me for now; my aura is the strongest in the room. Take your time, focus on the spell matrix and summon your arcane powers, let the words guide you through the spell.”
Sweat formed on her brow, her left eyelid twitched, but her voice was loud and clear as she spoke the words of: “Odem Arcanum!”
For a moment she just stared at me with wide eyes, and I couldn't help a proud smile spreading on my lips. After a few seconds the spell stopped and Serene began to cheer: “It worked! It really worked! I could see you in a bright red light.”
I gave her an approving nod. “You managed to cast it on first try, very good! Well done my apprentice.” I went over to her and drew her into a hug, patting her back with my hoof. “Well done indeed.”
When I sat back down again after a moment, she was grinning from ear to ear. I nodded at her once again. “Keep practicing this spell. When your mastery of it improves, you can gauge the magic power of whatever you are looking at and you can modify the spell matrix to expand it onto your whole field of view. When you get really good, you can even tell the nature of the magic you are looking at, if it is just an illusion, an enchantment or an elemental summon.”
She listened to my words intently, nodding several times.
“Now, lets keep on practicing it. You should have the arcane reserves to cast the spell at least four times. So, do it again!”
“Yes mistress!”
.oOo.
“Apprentice, what have you learned about ghosts?” We were walking through the snowy Canterlot streets of early winter. The full moon shone bright in the clear night sky. It was freezing cold, our every breaths showed as puffs of steam.
“Sometimes a pony's soul does not leave this world, because something is keeping it here, usually something they regret.”
I nodded. “That's right. Often those are murder victims, or ponies insanely obsessed with something; serial killers for example. Ghosts are actually pretty rare in Equestria, but even in Bosperan, where they are commonplace, people don't see them. Why is that?”
“Because ghost are incorporeal! They only have a spirit body, invisible to the mundane eye. Only a spell of clairvoyance like the Odem Arcanum or Occulus Astralis will reveal them to the caster.”
A proud smile came to my lips. “Very good. Some ponies with supernatural faculty may be able to communicate with them. Other than that they are only able to interact with the world in very limited ways. Some may appear once a year at the date of their murder and haunt the place they died as a translucent specter, others might only be able to make their presence felt to ponies they touch, usually as a shiver easily mistaken for a gust of cold air. So how does a sorceress interact with a ghost when she wants too?”
Serene grinned widely at that question. “By summoning them with the Phasma Vocatus spell. Using this spell a sorceress can not only summon every ghost in the spell's reach, but also give them the ability to appear as a specter and speak with her.” She pranced a few steps. “Are we going to summon an actual ghost tonight mistress?”
“Maybe, just wait for it. You know of course that I get commissioned to banish ghosts that haunt places around Canterlot, even though I have not done so since I took you as apprentice. How do you banish a ghost?”
“The Pentagramma spell can be used to banish every off worldly creature, be it ghosts or demons.”
“That's one way to do it, and keep practicing the spell. If you ever encounter a demon, it might be the only way to defeat it. Be careful though not to cast it if the the demon or spirit possesses the body of a pony or has one in its grasp, for they will be banished with it.” That was something my own teachers neglected to tell me, resulting in me banishing my friend Morlea's soul from her body, luckily for her only into the skull the spirit was bound to. It was a nightmare getting her and only her back into her body anyway.
I shook my head at that memory, and quickly focused back on the lesson. “My customers actually always paid me extra for not using the Pentagramma, even though I offered. Why is that?”
She had ponder the question for a moment. “Because the place the spirit is banished to is unknown, but most likely the nether hells?”
I nodded. “Most ponies don't even knfreow about the nether hells, but once I told them of it, they always wanted me to banish the ghost some other way. What other way?”
“The sorceress can speak to the ghost, find out what is keeping it in this world, and then help it sever the connection and pass on to the next life.”
“What of course is far more sumptuous than casting a Pentagramma spell, thus the extra charge. It might only require to pass on a message, but could also lead to a full blown murder investigation. Priests may do this too, but I found that the expertise is surely lacking in this world. I think apart from me, only the princesses could actually banish a ghost. And you of course, once you finish your training.”
We came to a halt, and Serene let her ears sink, when she saw where we were. “Oww, the workshop? I was hoping to see a ghost.”
“Patients apprentice. And you shouldn't look forward to this, ghost can be dangerous. Some may attack you at a whim, others are nightmares that only exist to drain the live from their sleeping victims.” I opened the door to my workshop and stepped inside.
“Yes mistress.” Serene stepped after me, holding her head low. She closed the door behind her.
I hang my cloak on the rack, but didn't take of my boots; I left a wet trail behind me, as I walked across the floor towards the office. Serene noticed this with a raised eyebrow when she took off her own boots and followed me.
As I entered the study, I lit the fireplace with a spell, then took a single unlit candle from a shelf with my telekinesis and placed it on the empty space before the fireplace. Only now did I take of my boots, leaving them at the door and walked to sit besides the candle on one side in front of the fireplace.
“Take out your vademecum,” I said to my apprentice when she came in and motioned her to sit at the other side of the candle with a nod of the head. “And cast the Phasma Vocatus spell.”
She walked over to me, wearing a disappointed scowl. “Another dry run?”
I couldn't help a mischievous smile coming to my lips. I interrupted her before she sat down: “Oh, I forgot to take of my boots before. Would you be a dear, and bring them to the door?”
She raised an eyebrow at this, but quickly turned back and picked up the boots in the golden aura of her telekinesis. When she had left the room I counted down the seconds. Five, four, three, two, one.
Frantic hoof clopping came from the stairs, as somepony galloped up on them. “The water stains on the floor!” Serene said with a breathless gasp as she came into the door. “They're gone!”
“Of course they are!” I replied with a big grin. “Now, calm yourself and sit down.” She quickly followed suit, rushed through the room, threw herself onto the floor and only when she noticed my disapproving look did she take a deep breath to regain her decorum.
I gave her a satisfied nod. “We are going to summon a ghost this night.” An excited smile came back to Seren's face the instance she heard that. I gracefully ignored it. “This very building is haunted by a poltergeist, but a very peculiar one; instead of breaking things and attacking ponies by throwing furniture at them, this one keeps the place in spotless order.
“He is actually the very reason I bought this place. Though he is a benevolent spirit and a useful one at that, the last ponies to live here were afraid of the unexplainable cleaning and wanted it sold. But nopony wanted to buy a haunted house, so the broker hired me to purge it. And of course when I offered to just banish the ghost with Pentagramma, he instead payed me extra to deliver the ghost.”
Serene raised an eyebrow at this. “How come he is still here?”
I shook my head with an amused smile. “Because I couldn't! It's the ghost of the house's former butler and apparently he liked working here so much, that when he died he just continued to do so. So, because I'm not afraid of ghosts, and I wanted to keep my reputation intact, I declared that I had purged the ghost and then just bought the place myself.”
“Huh,” she pondered this for a moment, rubbing her chin with a hoof. “But is he really happy here? Or is he just bound to say that he is?”
“Why don't you find out yourself?”
A sudden gleam came to her eyes, she pulled her vademecum from her bag and quickly flipped through the pages to the spell she wanted. She concentrated on the spell formula for a long moment, gnawing at her lip. Then, with a sudden flash of her horn, she ignited the candle standing between us and began to focus on the smoke rising from the flame.
Minutes passed, the only sound in the room the occasional crack of the firewood. I rested my head on my hooves and watched my apprentice sunken deep into trance like concentration while she cast the spell. Finally her lips moved, whispering the words of: “Phasma Vocatus.”
“You have called me young mistress?” The room became drenched in eerie white light, as a translucent specter appeared floating above us. Even in death the former butler of this place radiated a calm decorum, bowing before my apprentice and me, barely opening his eyes.
Serene looked up at him in open mouthed wonder.
“How can I serve you?” In live the stallion must have had a deep, soothing voice, but in death it had a hollow ring to it.
Only now did my apprentice realize that a pony was talking to her, she quickly closed her mouth and shook her head to collect herself. “Ah yes, I did. Say, you have been the butler of this place?”
A proud smile came to the ghost stallion's lips. “I'd say I still am young mistress. Major domus Silver Cutlery at your service.”
“Oh, thank you. My name is Serene.”
The specter nodded. “I know young mistress. You have honored this house with your presence many times, and always have I served you, even though you didn't notice until tonight.”
Serene just looked at him for a moment, her yaw working, but no sound coming out. “Oh, yes, of course. Thank you for your services Mister Cutlery.” He just bowed before her.
Serene shot me an unsure look, but I just motioned back at the ghost with my snout. She boggled when she remembered what she had summoned him for.
“Ah yes, I almost forgot. Say Mister Cutlery, why are you still working here? You know, in your condition?”
“You mean dead?” He didn't even lift an eyelid at the question. “That's quite simple young mistress. You see my cutie mark? It's a tray of tea. My special talent is serving the ponies living in this house with utmost decorum. I have served three generations of Goldengleams in this house and I see no reason why I should stop doing so because of my minor inconvenience.”
He made a deep, rattling sight. “Unluckily, the family didn't understand that I was still serving them, because they couldn't see my ghostly form, they were afraid of my work, thought the place was haunted, so they sold it. I could speak to nopony until the mistress came and summoned me. The mistress has no objection against me continuing my work here, and I am eternally grateful for her giving purpose to my existence once again.”
Serene gave a hesitant nod and looked back at me. “He seems to be honest, but I'm still unsure.”
“Well, we could always sever his worldly anchor by burning down the house.” I raised my hoof in an offering gesture.
“Please refrain from doing so!” Silver spoke up, looking at me lifting one of his eyelids. “This place is very dear to me, I would hate to see it destroyed.”
I chuckled, and waved at him dismissively. “But we won't have too,” I looked back at my apprentice. “Take a look at his flank.”
She raised an eyebrow, but did as she was told and looked up to the old stallion's flank. “What about it?”
“Don't you see it?” I pointed at it with my hoof. “He still has his cutie mark. Even in death he has not lost his special purpose.”
.oOo.
Hearth's warming eve. The day that ponies celebrate the founding of Equestria. It is a nice little tale of how the three tribes overcame their differences and started to live together in harmony. And that's what it is, a tale. Actual records from this time are even harder to get than of the pre-classical area. I can only imagine what really happened back then. Was it an all out war? Were the Windigos actually demons, called by the ponies to annihilate their enemies? Did they turn on their masters, when there was no enemy left to slaughter?
Something like that had happened in my world while I was still a child. The province city of Gareth declared itself independent of Bosperan, after the Emperor raised their taxes, because he envied the treasures the trading town had accumulated. When the Garethiens rebelled, he marched against them with five legions. But Gareth got aided by every other province that saw an opportunity to break free from Bosperan's shackles.
It came to a battle at the meadows before Gareth, the largest battle in recorded history. For five days and nights the armies clashed, and the ground was drenched in the blood of men. When finally the Garethiens got the advantage and the legions were on the edge of defeat, emperor Fran Horas himself called down the Arch-Demons from the neather hells to defeat his enemies.
But after the demons had slaughtered the Garethiens, they turned against the Bosperans, annihilating them to the last man. Fran fled the field of battle. “What have I done?” he supposedly has said. The Emperor withdrew himself to his solar, for five days his lamentations could be heard through the palace. Then on the fifth night, screams echoed from his chambers, and he was simply gone.
The empire did not recover from the loss of five legions. One by one its provinces declared independence. Gareth was overrun by Orks, and the field of battle was transformed into a demon haunted swamp, called the 'Dämonenbrache' by the locals.
I write this down to point out what makes this world so different from mine. So maybe the three tribes almost annihilated each other in a great war, but after that the survivors overcame their differences and founded Equestria, a nation that has lasted hundreds of generations, a nation that has embraced love and harmony as its prime virtues.
In Dere Bosperans, Tulamyds, and Orks just continued fighting each other. I wonder if they will eventually succeed where the three pony tribes had failed and wipe each other out. Or did they already manage that in the time I was gone?
I fail to understand the why of the differences between the two worlds. Maybe the situation in Dere was not dire enough for the survivors to work together. Maybe Dere is the playing field of immortals, and men are just their game pieces. Or maybe it just pure chance. A cosmic whim that Equestria is the only peaceful place in the myriad of worlds.
Whatever it is, I am happy to have found this place.
Tonight Serene came home a few hours shy from morning. Lionheart was still out on guard duty. We had planned to celebrate hearts warming in the morning when she would be back.
Serene opened and closed the door with a listless quiet, and I heard her carry herself up the stairs and into her room without ever stopping to greet me. I knew imminently that something was up, and I actually had a hunch what that might be. I sat down the book I was reading and followed her on gentle hooves.
When I came upstairs I heard muffled sobs from her room. I took a moment to breath and gather my courage, then I slipped through the door. She was lying on her bed in darkness, her face buried in her pillow. I carefully closed the door behind me, lit a candle on the nightstand and sat down on the bed behind her.
“What is it that grieves you my apprentice?” I said, stroking her shoulders gently with my hoof. She looked up from her pillow, her eyes red and swollen.
“I went to the place our house burnt down. . . where my parents died.”
I gathered her up, so she sat cradled in my hooves and nuzzled her behind the ear. “And you tried to summon them with the Phasma Vocatus.”
She sniffed and nodded. “I cast the spell three times until I was too exhausted to try again. And nothing! They just didn't come.” She turned around and buried her face in my mane. “That's when I realized that they're gone. They didn't stay as ghosts, there is no way to raise them from the dead, they are just gone! And they left me all alone.”
“Hush, hush.” I wrapped my hooves around her. “Your parents might be gone, but you are not alone,” I said and tightened my grip. “Never alone. Your parents could leave this world in peace, because they knew other ponies would take care of you. You are part of this herd now. Both me and Lionheart love your dearly, you know that.”
She calmed down a bit, untangled herself from the strands of my mane and rested her head on my shoulder. “But what if you die too?”
I faked an amused chuckle and pushed Serene from me so I was holding her with my hooves on her shoulders at legs length and looked her in the eye. “What about it, my apprentice? We are necromancers you and I. Death holds no meaning to us.”
How could I have told her that that I am actually terrified of death? That I am so unsure what would be my fate, that I can't even find brief relieve in my sleep? No, I had to be strong for her, I had to be an example of a master sorceress.
I made a dismissive gesture with my hoof. “Even in the unlikely event of my demise there is no reason to despair. You will hold you head high and rejoice that you have known me, and you will overcome your grief and come out better and stronger. Just like I know you will overcome your present grief and will become a better mare for having known this pain.”
I held her eyes for a moment longer, waiting for a sign that my words had their desired effect. Finally, she nodded and dried her tears on her fetlock. I let go of her, but then, without warning, she threw herself around my neck and hugged me tight.
I heard her whispering in my ear, her voice trembling with barely restrained sobs. “May I call you mommy?”
A smile crept to my lips and I felt my own eyes water up when I heard this words. I slung my legs around her and returned the hug. “Only if I may call you my daughter.”
I began teaching her actual necromantic spells the next day.