The witch can wait, right now I needed to gather the materials. I decided to go to the abandoned camp first to see if they had anything useful. Suddenly something slowly floated by my head and I quickly snatched it out of instinct, it was a long silky smooth hair. My smile only increased, it was a hair from a small girl. With this single item, I could track the witch no matter how hard she tried to hide as long as she had recently been in contact with the girl. With careful hands, I placed the delicate hair into a special container that was by my knife.

The ceremony needed to be completed when the sun or moon was at its highest, so I had a bit of time to gather and process the needed items. Still, time was precious so I sprinted towards the camp and arrived in a few seconds. I quickly began ransacking it searching for anything of value. After a few minutes, I had two metal one-gallon pots, a box filled with four lilac scented candles, three wooden bowls, a purse of what looks like silver coins, two purses of copper coins, and eight well made black cloaks including the one I had grabbed previously. After thinking for a bit I decided to pack one of the large hiking bags and take it with me.

I started to head back along the path I had taken previously. I took this chance to observe the energies around me, I had already failed to notice the witch and I didn’t want to miss anything else. I could feel quite a few different kinds of spirits and monsters. This forest apparently had an abundance of supernatural forces, all the more reason to complete the claiming ceremony. A sigh escaped me, so much to do and so little time to do it.

After a few, I arrived back at my necklace and sack. I put on my necklace and slung the sack over my back. Even though I wanted to check the cave I awoke in for spatial anomalies, I needed to set up the ceremony. Instead of going further up the trail, I decided to follow it back down to the blood-soaked clearing. The blood will act as a good catalyst to bring out any spirit who wished to dispute my claim.

I dropped my supplies in the middle of the clearing and adventured off to gather the needed herbs, fungus, and tree sap. I did not truly need these materials but the ceremony was more formality than anything. I knelt down and sent a magic wave into the ground, I carefully intertwined my threads with the web of light green strands that interconnected the forest. Once connected with the network a wave of information flooded my mind, most of it went from one ear and out the other but I was able to filter out the information I was looking for. The forest I was in was apparently much bigger than I first thought, the cave I woke up in was on the edge of a large mountain range that stretched on a few hundred miles, and beyond that was the area I was currently in which also stretched as far if not farther than the mountains. The town, Rafton, was not at the edge of the forest but was actually quite a distance into it. While I was in the network I decided to look for the witch as well but when I tried nothing came up as expected, she either has a close connection with the forest or a heavily warded area.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Now for the real reason, I was doing this, the ingredients. I needed a grove of bloody leafed ferns, forty-two petals of bone fall flowers, one devouring tree, five feet of flesh vines, eight seeds(doesn’t really matter what kind), a tortured tree, a bundle of pine needles, etc. each where surprisingly easy to find, I suppose it’s the abundance in mana. Most of my materials are just normal plants that just had to be grown in certain conditions.

After receiving the needed information I disconnected from the network and began to venture out to collect them. Each ingredient were a reasonable distance so I began rushing to gather them. The day had reached around mid-morning by the time I had finished my adventure. With a sigh I began my preparations, first I needed specific tools. This is where the fledgling's bones come into play. I gathered a bundle of sticks in front of me and arranged them into a standing cone. With a wave of my hand, the sticks instantly combusted and a flame rose high into the air. A mere natural flame wouldn’t work for my needs so I grabbed the bag I prepared beforehand. It contained forty-two different ground-up herbs, the left foot of a weird rabbit I found, and three feathers of a crow.

When the bag made of grass landed at the base of the fire it blew up into a ball of green flames. The green fire spread until it was all a menacing green.

Now the next step, I grabbed the pot beside me that was filled with water and set it into the fire. Almost instantaneously the water rose to a rolling boil, I grabbed the wooden bowl beside me and dumped the assortment of freshly crushed black-blooded fungi and twenty-one petals of fall bone flowers. The water stopped boiling and turned vicious, I needed to wait for it to boil again. After a few the rolling boil started up again and now the last step could be performed. I retrieved my knife and raised it above my left forearm, without hesitation I drove it in-between the bones. With a twist a few black drops of blood fell into the pot, turning it into a pitch black. I proceeded to slowly place a doll of grass, blood, and hair into the pot and it pumped out a volatile mana infused with the curses I gathered from the expedition. Screams erupted abruptly from the black viscous liquid, each yelling and spitting the worst curses imaginable. A small chuckle came from me as I listened to the beautiful symphony.