A dream:

You find yourself in a room you have seen before, a sort of yellow and light shades of brown make up the walls chaotic structure. Small sconces stand in the corners and you can see a small humanoid figure hunched over a table working at something. You can see on the table next to him a small pile of gems each appears blackened and dark. There are various other containers open on the table and a small pile of glassware also on the end of the table small vials now empty with only remnants of what they once contained set inside larger glass cups and tubes. The figure moves over to a stand and you can see it once again scan its finger across the page. As it does it moves and removes a measured amount of something from the container and adds it to a sort of bowl resting above a flame. He then takes a small crystal gem from a box under the table and wraps a wire around it before lowering it into the liquid. You have seen this procedure before. This time however when he removes it the gem has retained its clarity and there is a steady green glow coming from the inside of the stone. Even as he lifts it away you can see bits of the green light illuminate the dim room. After just a few seconds of holding it by the wire he carefully unwraps it and holds the gem up in the air between his fingers holding towards a flame. He examines it closely for quite some time. He then takes the gem and places it delicately into a small golden box. He waves his hand and says a word or two under his breath and the box flashes with a bit of light for only a second. He motions his hand towards the door and says something else. Not a few moments later 4 figures appear through the door. Most of what can be seen of the figures is armor, large sections of plate armor with mail in the gaps each having a longsword at their side and a shield slung over their back. Their armor still has some shimmer of the metal that it is made of but it is coated in something dark like soot or charcoal. They march up to the small figure in near perfect synchronicity, coming to a stop all together in a close square. The small figure holds out the box in his hand, one of the large hulking armored figures kneels and lowers its healmed head. Then slowly it reaches out its gauntlet covered hands and takes the box. It stands again holding the box in front of it the group now takes up a new formation one in front, the one holding the box in the middle with the two others flanking just behind the bearer of the box and the stone inside. The small figure makes a small gesture with one hand and says something to the armored figures. They then all start marching together out of the room, the door closing behind them. The one small figure remaining in the room now turns to the table and carefully pours off the liquid in the bowl into a glass bottle. Once complete he places a glass stopper in the bottle and takes a cylinder of wax off the shelf and holds it to the flame on the desk before carefully smearing the melted wax all around where the bottle and stopper meet. Satisfied with the seal he takes the bottle over a chest in the corner of the room. He places his hand on the top of the chest and says something. He then undoes the latch on the chest and places the bottle carefully inside. Once it is inside he closes the lid carefully redoes the latch and places his hand on it once more and again says something before going back to the stand where the black bound book rests open. He turns a page and begins carefully reading the next blocks of text. After a short time reading he stops and returns to the chest from before and using the same procedure opens the chest and retrieves something. As he returns to the table you can see it. A dagger or knife, it is sheathed in a wooden scabbard with intricate small carvings on it, some of the carving appears to be arcane script. The figure takes a pestle off the table and breaks the wax seal between the handle and sheath. He then pulls the blade free. It is about a foot long and the metal appears copper in color, dual sided with a furrow down the length of the blade. The handle appears to be made of carved bone or ivory, the pommel is made of the same material and as he turns it in his hand you can see the pommel is carved into a skull that is oriented away from the blade and its mouth is open. The short figure places the dagger on the table and sets to work gathering different containers from shelves all over the room. He takes a black stone slab a couple feet across but only a few inches thick from a shelf and places it on the wooden table. There something carved into the surface of the balck stone. There is a large circle carved into it along with a series of symbols around the circumference. He takes the unsheathed knife and places it in the center of the circle, then he starts taking small bits of different items and placing them between the symbols around the circle. The leaves and flowers of some plant, small shavings of some metal, a stack of platinum coins, a brown powder of some kind, the bones of some small creature as well as an assortment of other items are arrayed carefully on the stone slab. The small figure often refers back to the book from which he has been reading in order to place the items just as they should be sometimes adjusting their orientation or placement slightly after reading or rereading the book. Once he is satisfied with their position he moves the book so that it can be seen as he places his hands on the two nearest corners of the stone and begins some kind of incantation or chant. He continues for several minutes and as he does the top of the slab begins to glow, until distinct lines radiate out from the center under the blade to all of the symbols as well as the items placed on the slab. The light steadily gets brighter as the incantation continues. The light flashes brightly suddenly as you see sparks jump off the figures hands to the stone. When the light of the flash diminishes all that is left on the slab is the knife. All the other objects are gone and even the carvings are gone, all that is left is a blank jet black stone slab.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

You wake