chapter 15: the storm

Chapter 15: The Storm

Anya sat down on her bed as she rigorously flipped through the spellbook. She hunted through the pages looking for it. “Standard Augmentation Spell” Anya read-out-loud. It didn’t tell her very much by itself, though. What else did she need? “If this increases the power of something… what was the original?” She continued flipping through the book. Finding a handy index at the back, she located a section labeled “body transference” and began reading from it.

“A gift of traits
Description: This elaborate thaumaturgical curse transfers characteristics from one subject to another. The process takes several days. Because of the nature of thaumaturgy, this process will be painful for the subject. Due to a natural “overriding” of their processes. After this, they begin to resemble the original host in mannerisms and behavior. This will gradually bend space-time as the world begins to adapt to these changes. If allowed to continue, it will be unlike the spell ever took place, to begin with.”

Anya was horrified. Was this the spell that affected Heather? How much of her had changed? She thought back to what she had said before. “I’ve always been big”. The rain outside was now pelting the hotel, Anya heard a crack of thunder again, startling her. Why was it raining so hard? Then she remembered. Something the standard augmentation spell said. She flipped back to that page. “Temporal reality storm,” Anya read out loud. Not recognizing it. She flipped to chapter 34, “Risks and complications of bending space-time chapter 34.”

“Many thaumaturgical curses cause bends in space-time. When a curse is used, it causes a bend in space-time as it attempts to react to this decision. However, if too many bends are made, this causes a fracture. Or a storm.” Another lightning strike sounded outside Anya’s window.

“A Temporal Reality storm is the result of this. The bends have caused a fracture in space-time, spawning a storm of free energy that attempts to reconcile this. The storm will cause havoc and chaos in its wake unless it is stopped by destroying the cipher. Once the cipher is destroyed, the curse will reverse itself, ending the bends. If allowed to run on its own, the storm will eventually circumnavigate the bends in space-time. However, this will cause an untold amount of destruction in its wake.” Anya looked outside to the rain pelting her window. Was this what that was? A magical spell? Was this tied to what happened to Heather? What was this cipher the book talked about? Anya sat still for a few minutes, processing the information at her head. She almost jumped when she heard a knock at her door.

“Who is it?” Anya asked. Closing the book in a hurry.