Cassius felt his gaze start to drift off as the world around him faded to white. The serpent held its gaze and simply nudged him on the cheek. Cassius felt its cold skeletal frame press against him and immediately regained consciousness. He stared at the creature and then at the ground beneath him. He could see someone, or something, trapped beneath the surface staring back at him. The thing held its hands up the to ceiling almost as if it was trapped in some sort of box.
The serpent twisted its head to look down at the creature and hissed at it. Cassius chuckled a little and calmly attempted to remove it from his body. The moment he put his hands on its frame, the serpent uncoiled itself from him. Cassius sighed and simply patted the snake on the head. He then turned his attention to the eclipse which lingered far above them. Cassius squinted and fixed his gaze on the outermost ring of the eclipse. He could just barely make out several runes just beyond the circle which encapsulated the entire eclipse.
Then he turned his attention farther inward, and more runes followed. Well, this time he could actually recognize them. They weren’t runes at all, no, they were sigils!
”This doesn’t make any sense at all!” He told himself.
”What doesn’t make sense?” Silas inquired.
”The eclipse! It has symbols on it! It’s just a celestial body! It shouldn’t have symbols on it!” Cassius screeched.
”Well look who finally managed to wake up!” Silas jeered.
“Would the two of you please stop arguing?” A voice echoed from nearby.
”Oh, hello again Xyun, so lovely to see you.” Silas groaned.
”Wait a minute? You know this thing?” Cassius asked.
”Yes sir, I’ve known her ever since I first kicked the bucket.” Silas answered.
“Well then, does she know anything about all of this?” Cassius inquired.
”I’m going to leave that answer to her if you don’t mind.” Silas insisted.
“Sadly, I don’t know anything about what you are referring to. Frankly I haven’t been out here in a while.” Xyun declared.
Cassius nodded and sighed before observing that the creature from earlier was following them. He looked down at it and drew his revolver. The creature smiled and readied its scythe in response. Cassius rolled his eyes and holstered his revolver before heading towards the spire. While he was nearing the outer edges of the tower, Cassius spotted a man with burgundy robes off in the distance. It was Luxcious, surprisingly he was still here wandering the Abyss. Cassius quickly strode towards him and tapped him on the shoulder. Luxcious recoiled a little before turning around to face him.
“I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.” Cassius chuckled.
”Neither did I, what exactly do you want to discuss?” Luxcious asked.
”What do you know about the eclipse?” Cassius responded.
”Not much, all the information I have on it is back home. Would you mind joining me there for a little while?” Luxcious inquired.
”Sure, I wouldn’t mind, and I guess Xyun wouldn’t either, right?” Cassius smiled and looked down at his companion.
Xyun nodded in response and looked up at Luxcious. The scholar smiled and opened a portal before stepping through. Cassius lifted Xyun onto his shoulder and followed the scholar through the portal. The trio arrived back in Luxcious’s office which was cluttered with countless books. A large corkboard covered most of the wall closest to the door. Luxcious walked over to it and traced his finger from photo to photo. He then went to his desk and grabbed a small notebook from it.
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”Most of what I’m going to say will honestly sound like nonsense to you.” Luxcious sighed.
”You do realize that you’re talking to the physical embodiment of someone’s humanity, right?” Cassius laughed.
”My apologies then, all of this is going to sound completely normal if that’s the case. Though I do suppose that there are going to be some things that probably don’t make much sense though.” Luxcious chuckled.
Cassius nodded as the scholar opened the notebook and skimmed through a few pages. After a brief moment, he gestured over to Cassius who walked over to him. Cassius gazed down at the notebook which contained countless symbols etched into the paper. Some of them were familiar to him, but most of them were completely indecipherable. The tree sigil was probably the most common out of all of them. It stood for balance and was used as a protective barrier for most rituals. Then there was the eye which let the user see into other dimensions. Cassius gazed up at the corkboard and noticed that the eye sigil was crossed out.
Frankly the only sigils that were on the board were the tree and four others which he did not recognize. Those four being the Talon, the Bone, the Crown, and the Mind. Cassius gazed back at the notebook and panned through the pages in search of the remaining sigils. After twelve pages of searching, he found the first two, the Talon and the Bone.
The Talon: that which rips the soul to shreds, none shall pass through any gateway on either side while it is marked with this sigil
The Bone: the sigil which binds one to the world, when combined with the Talon one could lock someone way from the outside world
Cassius smirked and turned several more pages in search of the final two sigils. To his dismay the remaining sixty-two pages were completely blank. Cassius put the notebook down on the desk and rummaged through the desk in search of something. Luxcious walked over to him and placed a small aunyx lens on the desk. Cassius picked it up and held it to his left eye as he stared back at the empty pages. Only now the pages were no longer empty for they were now drowning in words. Cassius looked down at the page and saw the last two sigils staring back at him.
The Crown: only those who are a blood relative to the branded may commune with them
The Mind: once marked with this sigil any psychokinetic abilities, such as telepathy, are nullified
Cassius looked up from the notebook and turned his attention towards the corkboard. He could see that images of all four of the sigils were pinned to the board. They were all connected to one another by a series of red strings. These strings were all leading to the center of the board which held a small picture of the eclipse. Cassius titled his head in confusion before turning around and facing Luxcious.
”So, what do you think is going on?” Luxcious asked.
”It’s a prison.” Cassius answered.
”A prison? How exactly did you come to that conclusion?” Luxcious inquired.
”What I want to know is how you didn’t!” Cassius snapped.
”I’ve been busy studying these creatures.” Luxcious exclaimed as he gestured over to Xyun.
”That is a valid argument, but you could have at least taken some time to research this!” Cassius yelled.
”I guess I could have, my apologies sir.” Luxcious muttered.
Cassius rolled his eyes and opened a portal back to the Abyss. He beckoned for Xyun to follow him but she just sat there with Luxcious. Cassius shrugged and entered the portal, leaving the two of them alone together. Now that Cassius had some form of information on him he could finally start to piece together what was going on. He gazed down at the floor one last time and noticed that the creature from earlier was using its scythe to try and cut a hole through to the outside world. Cassius frowned and pulled out his revolver, but the creature did not notice him. He stood there and watched as it continued to try and chip its way out of its prison.
Cassius debated pulling the trigger but stopped himself short. If he were to do that then he would just make a hole for the creature to escape from. So, he shrugged and started to move on but as he did, he noticed that the creature had stopped chipping away at the wall. Someone was dragging it away from the wall, using the creature’s own scythe as a shepherd’s crook. Cassius smiled and breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the creature wouldn’t be getting out any time soon. Finally, he turned his attention to the eclipse and began to decipher the sigils along its outer edges.
The circle, when read clockwise, started with the Talon sigil which was then followed by the Bone sigil. This pattern repeated itself for the outermost ring. The next ring only used the Crown and Mind sigils in its pattern. The third ring combined both the Mind and Talon sigils. The fourth ring did likewise, only this time the Crown and Bone sigils were used. The fifth and final ring utilized a combination of all four sigils, starting with Talon and ending with Mind.
”The base component of this “spell” is to trap whatever’s beyond that thing, that much is clear. After that, the remaining sigils are just used as extra defensive measures. Whatever’s beyond that obviously shouldn’t be let out, but why?” Cassius thought to himself.
Cassius’s vision remained fixed on the eclipse for a while. He could vaguely sense that someone or something was watching him. He blinked and quickly came to his senses and realized that he was completely alone. After a little while of staring at the eclipse, he heard a faint voice whisper to him.
”Release me…” it said.