Hastum

62. Pieces don't fit

Ophelia looked at the thing curiously. “What is that?”

“An artifact. It used to be very popular among summoners and ritualists.” I raised it slightly. “It’s a container for souls....

61. Obsession

“Speaking,” I said.

The voice on the other end was young. I considered hanging up, expecting a prank call with the “Samuel the exorcist” title, especially as my broker didn’t inform...

60. Possession

Daniel didn’t know what to do. His brother was acting more and more strangely. He walked around half-asleep, groaning and grunting throughout the day, and then screamed or sleepwalked at night. 2025-08-30 10:53:39 +0000 UTC View Post

59. The reading

The old woman sat me down at the table, and then went out back. After a few seconds of rummaging, she came back carrying a crystal ball. I could sense an energy radiating from it. The air started t...

58. Fortune teller

The next week was spent on my new routine. I would teach some basics of magic to Ophelia, then let her meditate on the cube and read. In the meantime, I was digging through all the clutter in the s...

Interlude 6 - Oppression

The party died down pretty quickly after the Ouija board incident. Daniel and Matheo got into a screaming match. Daniel called him an asshole for picking on his younger brother, and Matheo called h...

57. Your consciousness

“The god I serve is different from other gods. Much like the contract I have with it, it is unique. But what sets us apart is that if I ever gain any Faith in my god, that means I’m lo...

56. Secrets, Mysteries and Enigmas

“Let’s say you went through the first two stages. You activated the mana with runic symbols. You told it that you want it to create a flame. Now comes the most important part. Mana listens to y...

55. First magic lesson

“So, um… weren’t we supposed to start with magic lessons?” Ophelia asked me as she slightly adjusted her crouching position.

“That’s exactly what we’re doing. Technically speaki...

54. Apprentice returns

I was watching a video on my phone, trying to relax after spending the entire morning struggling to open the pouch. But opening it was impossible, at least not before my first ascension. Every atte...

53. A path forward

They stood looking at each other awkwardly. Neither knew what to say in this situation. Ophelia was the first to break out of her stunned silence. She noticed that the woman looked at least a coupl...

52. Hesitation

Ophelia woke up looking at an unfamiliar ceiling. She was in a hotel room that the cats had found for her yesterday.

She continued to lie there, staring ahead, her eyes fixed on a wet spot ne...

51. Some time to breathe

It squirmed and pulsed with sickly, unnatural light. I looked in fascination upon the meteor traveling through the void of the universe, its surface remembering the strange eons before the age of g...

Interlude 5 - Ester

Liam was not happy with the plan. Not happy at all. They sat around the board with candles lit everywhere. Everyone except him was considerably drunker than before.

To make it worse, his brot...

50. No way forward

“Please wait, I’m getting dressed!” I screamed back at the doors. I then turned to the cats and whispered. “What do we do?”

“WE are going to go through the window. What you two do...

49. Poor craftsmanship

The cat looked at me flatly. “Okay, where are you going with this, aside from torture critique?”

“The torture critique is the point. I thought that they figured out the curse and then s...

48. Red room

I managed to replenish around half of my mana before I felt it. My curse started moving once again. As the cat suggested, after a few hours, as the sky turned grey with the first light of the dawn,...

47. Not a good plan

I went back to Ophelia, who was now sitting with her eyes closed. I took a look at her aura. It was calming down, like a sea after a storm, with the waves slowly flattening out.

“Ophelia,�...

46. Friendly fire

I landed on the chasing car. Armor spell already cast, and two other second-circle spells ready. I could sense three mana signatures inside. To my surprise, all were in the second circle, though at...

45. Fast and feline

Ophelia looked back after they left Samuel in the storage unit's backyard. She watched as he stepped to the side, and the chasing car swerved into a wall. The crash was the last thing she witnessed...

44. Rookie mistake

We were driving from the airport in the direction of the broker's house, looking around for any suspicious activity. The streets were mostly empty in the middle of the night, only the main roads se...

43. Cats' origin

After the cat stopped hissing at me, I went to tell the one stewardess on board that we would like some privacy, as Q’Shar needed to make a phone call, as explaining why the animal was using the ...

42. Emergency return

I left the hut where Ophelia rested, happy that my new apprentice was doing relatively well. I quickly paid a visit to Astrid’s house, but she did not explain to me about her eyes, this apparentl...

41. Never fear your own power

Ophelia woke up from a nightmare. She had dreamed about the strangest things. She dreamed she had been taken by some pagans, that she was going to be a priest of an unknown god, and that… she loo...

Interlude 4 - Something's in the attic

“Drink, drink, drink!” chanted the small audience as Daniel shotgunned another beer. “Yeeeeeah,” they finished as the last drop of drink made its way from the beer can and into his mouth. 2025-08-30 09:56:34 +0000 UTC View Post

40. The blessing

The messenger slowly levitated down from the sky. He descended with otherworldly, inexplicable grace. It was like watching a tornado slowly extend itself from the clouds, a sense of nature’s dead...

39. The descent

The ritual took place where the feast had been held. It was completely redecorated for the ceremony. On both sides, there were audience seats for the common folk to witness the event. They resemble...

38. Ophelia's choice

We made our way towards the barn, where a small group of people was gathered. The group included the chief and the oracle as well as a few warriors and priests.

I stood to the side with Astri...

37. Stjarnmosa

We both stood in front of the altar, looking at the statue of the creature.

“The altars in the forest, the ones that outline the barrier around your holy land, do they represent the messeng...

36. The centerpiece

They all gazed at her with the same look in their eyes. It was clear she was no longer part of the group, not one of them. Inside their heads, they were the victims, and she was the executioner. 2025-08-30 09:44:49 +0000 UTC View Post