The shop drew colder and colder as the cloaked figure worked over a book with no name, speaking in the Forbidden Tongue.
The words seemed to claw out of his throat and swallow space in the small room, the cloaked figure rasping out each syllable with great care. Around where his eyes should have been, a dark red glow began to grow brighter, casting eerie shadows of their own.
At the end of the profane spew of dark magic, the cloaked figure rose into the air, head falling back and mouth wrenching open. The invisible but still palpable tendrils of magic forced their way into the figure's throat and tore away at their soul, the glow in their eyes extinguishing in an instant.
The invisible hands ripped from deep within them a ball glowing with a gentle light and an urgency that looked as though it was trying its hardest to escape the impossible grasp of the spell. Then, as quickly as it appeared, the magic swallowed the light into the pages of the book.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
For a moment, the book thrummed with a new power; the next moment, a sinister light began to shine around the hooded figure, permeating their entire body with a power no living mortal should possess. In an instant, the light faded, the figure dropped to the ground and landed with a thud, unconscious. A frigid gust fluttered the pages of the book until there were none left. With a loud SLAP!, the book closed, and the spell was complete.
----------------------------------------
Hours later, the figure began to stir, their body heavy with ache and pain. Taking a deep breath, the figure pushed against the floor and righted themself, their body complaining the whole way. But the hooded figure could feel the new power coursing through their veins. With a quick flick of their wrist, the discarded book flew to their hand, and with a small motion of their fingers, it opened and began flipping through the pages.
The curse had been set. Now it was time to find a place to plant the book where the right person would find it...