THE SPELL WAS anything but simple to perform. Ravenna stared at the open pages in front of her, her jaw clenched tight. Her eyes were focused on the dark scripted words that listed the ingredients required. The most glaring ingredient: a body.
A body was one of the most important ingredients for the spell — and that made total and complete sense. A body would be quite useful in the event that someone attempted to bring another person back from the dead. It would give that dead person the ability to move, to exist, to actually live again. It made perfect sense.
A body, however, created quite the conundrum for Ravenna.
She didn't have a body that she could use for the spell. One of her most vivid memories of Caelan's death was the moment she looked back over her shoulder, her eyes searching for his fallen body. It should have been in the center of the carnage, mangled and bloodied. But it wasn't. His body had vanished. There had been a visible empty spot atop the ground, where his body should have been.
Ravenna shuddered. Her fingers traced lightly over the clean edges of the open page in front of her. Her mind mulled over the possibilities.
Killing someone innocent was out of the question, especially considering that Caelan would be the one inside the body. He would absolutely detest the mere idea of it. He would never forgive her. She also didn't like the idea of looking at and interacting with someone else — someone that physically wasn't Caelan. It wouldn't seem right at all. Not that his genuine physical appearance mattered that much to her.
During her limited time with him, she'd noticed that his physical appearance changed when he needed it. Once she got a hold of his spell-book, she learned why.
One of Caelan's favorite spells had been a shape-shifting spell.
It made sense to Ravenna, the more that she thought about it. She'd seen three different physical forms upon their first encounter — and he'd quickly switched between the three with an extraordinary amount of ease. Caelan had started as a tiny lizard, shouting at her from the ground. Then he had transformed into a massive dragon that snatched her up and flew away. Only to then morph into the familiar and comforting humanoid form that she grew accustomed to later on.
The specific spell that he'd memorized had been bookmarked, its page stained with age. He had made several notes beside it, noting its usefulness. The more that he'd used it, the easier the spell was to perform, until it became pure instinct. It was clear that he had no qualms with changing his appearance to fit his own agenda.
However the idea of Caelan being trapped within another person's body disturbed her greatly. She really did not want to even explore that method.
The only solution that Ravenna could imagine was to actually create a body. She was not entirely convinced that it would work. There was only one spell that was remotely close — and that was the spell that she used to create her ice soldiers. The spell was simple enough. It was so easy for her to perform that she could practically do it in her sleep if needed. The spell only created a vessel, however. A semi-permanent one that could still be destroyed.
Ravenna sucked in a deep breath. She climbed out of the bed and held out a glowing hand. An ice solider began to materialize in the space in front of her. Nerves fluttered within her stomach. She tried to slow the spell down, to focus hard on the magic vessel in front of her. She wanted to take her time with crafting its appearance, instead of just leaving it as a featureless, humanoid shape.
The magic moved beneath her hands like bread dough. It molded swiftly into a somewhat readable face, with high cheeks and a sharp jawline. A nose appeared, followed by a pair of lips, ears, and eyes.
She stepped back and admired her work. The vessel was anything but perfect. It honestly looked like a very poorly drawn sketch of Caelan, only colored bright ice blue. However, it was still better than a stranger's body.
Her gaze returned to the necromancy spell and scanned over it. The other ingredients seemed simple enough, all various items that she could find within her room. The other ingredients could also be substituted as needed, which was a mild relief. Ravenna rummaged around the royal chambers, searching for each item that the spell requested. Once she had everything, her hands worked quick to set everything up.
A seed of anxiety planted itself within Ravenna's stomach. She pursed her lips and examined her creation. The vessel held Caelan's actual spell-book within its overly thick hands — a much needed token of the individual that had passed. Ink had been used to create eyes for the vessel. It pooled within the recesses that she'd carved out, creating very unnerving looking eyeballs. There were a few other ingredients that she'd found and utilized as well.
"Alright," she whispered to herself encouragingly. "I can do this."
She did not try to think. She knew that the moment she allowed her mind to lose focus, it would become overloaded with anxious thoughts about Caelan. It worried her to face him, to hear what he had to say about her actions so far.
Would he understand her? Would he take the time to listen to her side?
Pressing her palms flat against the vessel's chest, she exhaled carefully and attempted to calm her nerves. She focused on her goal — on visualizing what she wanted to happen. Her hands began to glow brightly. She said the required words aloud, the spell echoing against the walls around her.
The glowing that encapsulated her palms slowly started to fade. She lowered her hands to her sides and stepped back, waiting with baited breath.
She did not immediately notice any changes to the vessel. A frustrated frown appeared on her face. She reached out and tapped at the magic body's cheek. "Hello?" she questioned it.
There was no response. Not even a shudder.
Ravenna leaned in and lightly pressed her ear against the vessel's supposed chest. There was no heartbeat, no sign of life.
She heaved a frustrated sigh and sat back, crossing her arms over her chest. She examined her ingredients again. She rearranged a few items and tugged a bit on the strands of ice blue hair that framed the magic body's lifeless face.
Closing her eyes, Ravenna placed her hands on its chest. She focused all of her magic into her palms and whispered the spell. She waited a moment and then peaked one eye open.
No response. No heartbeat. No life was present within the magic body.
The spell hadn't worked.
Confusion rippled through her. She examined the spell again. It should have worked. There was no reason as to why it didn't. She had all of the ingredients — and the spell hadn't specified whose body needed to be used. It just said that a body was needed.
Part of her couldn't imagine that the spell only worked with a specific body. It wouldn't make sense. The spell would have specified that detail, as it is a pretty important and mildly inconvenient limitation.
She quickly dismantled her vessel and destroyed any evidence that she'd attempted a spell within the royal chambers. She gently set aside the spell-book she'd stolen from the library, leaving the page bookmarked so that she could reattempt the spell at a later date.
As she crawled into the bed, Caelan's spell-book clutched to her chest, a thought crossed her mind. A thought that brought about a small hint of hope within her.
Maybe the spell wasn't working because of Caelan, himself.
There was a very, very slim possibility that he was still alive — one that Ravenna had discarded long ago. It wasn't a rational possibility, and definitely not a healthy one to dwell upon. However, if he was still alive, it would make sense as to why the necromancy spell hadn't worked.
It is impossible to bring someone back to life if they are not actually dead.
~
hey friends!
This is officially week 1 of me attempting to abide by an regular update schedule. I have a few chapters saved up (as both the version on Tapas and Patreon are quite a few chapters ahead!) and an alarm set on my phone. Hopefully this will work and new chapters for Ice will be posted here every Wednesday at 12:00PM-ish EST <-- though that time is subject to change once I actually start working from the office again.
I am seriously hoping that this will work. I feel so awful that I've been slacking on updates and I'm hoping that this will help remedy it! I really appreciate your continued patience and support!! Honestly, thank you so much for even taking the time to read this book. I seriously appreciate you all so, so, so much!! ❤
I hope that you are having a super awesome week so far!! ❤
ash ❤