Siderius dropped a handful of salt on the floor of the destroyed house. His hand moved into the order of the signs.
Instantly, the salt scattered on the ground and formed into a particular symbol. It was a symbol of a school of magic.
"Schizomancy..." Siderius muttered.
Schizomancy was the school of magic that focused on delusion. It was different from illusion, where a fake image or sound was created. Delusion magic did not create a false image, it created false beliefs. At the height of its power, Schizomancy could even mind control and distort the memories of its enemies.
There were many ways to practice and execute Schizomancy. A cult was its most common iteration. However, what really concerned Siderius was one of its rarer versions.
Schizomancy was also called the school of Nightmares as it could plant nightmares into the victim. From then on, the victim would slowly be consumed by that nightmare and fall under the control of the witch.
"A nightmare witch. And a nightmare phantom. It can’t be a coincidence." Siderius mumbled.
The witch did good to convey their traces and tracks. But they didn’t know they were dealing with a witch hunter, a master in locating and tracking with nothing but their wits.
Siderius could see the floor was cleaned. It was too spotless compared to the dirty state the last time he had seen Caterina.
The hunter walked over to the ruined part of the house and examined its structure. It was torn away forcefully and with great power behind it. This was not the type of magic a Schizomancer could do.
It was Caterina’s magic. The house looked like it was blown away by a hurricane. The only one who could do that was the owner of this lonely house.
Images flashed in Siderius’ mind as he conceptualized the series of events.
The barrier was strongest in the front of the house. The Schizomancer knew this. He would not be able to tear through the barrier that had both the power of Caterina and Siderius.
So he had intruded the house from behind.
Behind the house was a wall of thick trees with sharp needle-like leaves. Coming from behind would be difficult unless the witch wanted to hurt themselves. Siderius observed the foliage and saw that there was no disturbance to the trees. They didn’t come from behind.
The only way left to make use of this weak point without going through the trees was from above.
Siderius looked up and saw a part of the roof was suspiciously torn away. The pattern of its brokenness was different from the remaining parts that were destroyed by Caterina’s winds.
The intruder entered from there. They broke through the ceiling and landed on the floor.
Siderius turned his back to look at the disheveled bed. This part of the room was mostly intact. This meant that Caterina woke up and fought back. Her wind blew to this side, the side of the intruder.
Siderius squatted down at the floor around the bed and scraped his hand gently. There wasn’t any dust on this side of the room, confirming his suspicion.
Caterina’s wind bit like a blade. The intruder must deal with it quickly or they would be ground down to death. They had some kind of way to nullify Caterina’s wind.
Siderius deduced because Caterina had put more strength in her magic. There were thousands of cuts on the other side of the room. It was a much deadlier wind than when Siderius had faced her.
She wouldn’t have any reasons to do that unless the intruder gave her a reason to. Or maybe, she reacted like that because she had met Siderius a few days before.
Siderius went out of the house and took a look at the magic circle on the ground. The intruder had somehow defeated Caterina. She could be already dead. But the intruder dragged her away for some reason.
The intruder destroyed many parts of the magic circle for some reason. Siderius could even see the orders of his destruction.
"Why did they do this?" Siderius mumbled.
If it was him, he would just destroy the circle completely then go on his way. The intruder seemed to overthink everything and tried to confuse whoever would come here.
"There is no reason for them to do this. The only possible explanation is.. Panic." Siderius thought silently. He looked over to the toppled cairns on either side of the doorway.
The intruder was probably trying to deactivate the barrier by attacking the cairns. They knew how to deal with Caterina. Logically, they should be able to deal with her magic circle as well.
But they didn’t know about the Alchemy Seal Siderius had hidden beneath the cores of this magic circle.
Siderius dipped his hand in water then spread white salt onto them. He hovered his palm over the area of the cairns. Suddenly, a red mark appeared on the ground. Then, it converged into one single drop of blood. The blood landed gently on Siderius’ hand. Chapters fırst released on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝙣𝙚𝙩
"You think you can get away from me. You thought wrong." Siderius smiled gently.
This time he conducted a second seal in sulfur. The seal was drawn on the back of his left hand. It was the same seal that Siderius used to locate Bas in the monastery, a seal that looked for the connection of the soul.
The drop of blood turned into a thin strand of orange line. It led deeper into the Rottin Woods.
The masked man stretched his right hands then closed them again. He’s trying to get rid of the numbness inside the bones.
Behind him, Caterina followed the masked man. Her movements were mechanical like a puppet on a string and her eyes were pure white without any irises.
"Didn’t know you have friends, Caterina?" The man spoke up. His voice was not soft nor rough, making it difficult to tell whether he was a man or a woman.
He was very surprised to be struck by a strange type of magic when trying to discard the magic cores of Caterina’ circle. It blew off the nail on his index finger and caused his entire hand to feel numb even now.
What was surprising was that the man hadn’t even detected any type of magic from the trap. It must be some kind of Sacred Spell. The masked man thought.
He knew Caterina very well. This spell couldn’t be made by her. So it must come from someone else.
Suddenly, he felt the dreary feeling from the core of his soul. The masked man snapped his head back and saw an arrow screaming through the air. Its precise pathway aimed directly at the middle of his forehead.