Visions and Ley Lines
San Francisco, Halliwell Manor, Basement, Dusk After Kramer’s Death
The basement had clearly been the site of a struggle between members of one (or at least most likely one) of the other Secret Societies, and some terrible spectral creature which Corinth seemed to recognize. Granted he was a monster hunter, so such knowledge must come with the territory. Unfortunately the thing’s carcass was making the place smell bad, and Lumina had work to do. The ley line’s presence was very potent here, and Lumina very much intended to take a stab at tapping into that power.
Before she got a chance to pull out her spellbook, Corinth made his way to a small black book away from the dead creature and announced the title.
“The End Rite”
Not spooky at all. The book emitted a strange purple light and appeared to immediately have some effect on Corinth as he looked into its contents. He seemed dazed as he subsequently tossed her the book, which she barely managed to catch. The book had similar wards to the spellbook in the attic, but there was a very different sort of power to this one as well. Lumina hesitated, then opened the book. Before she could even attempt to read text, she was bombarded by images and scenes from all over the world. Portals, pyramids, a strangely familiar swamp, angels, and gun battles in jungles and malls appeared in her mind and left just as fast. She also heard some names spoken. Emma and Marquard. It all happened so quickly that Lumina couldn’t process it all.
Lumina found herself on back, the book lying on the floor near her. The left side of her hip, her left shoulder, and the back of her head hurt. She must have fallen while she was seeing whatever vision the book had shown her. Lumina pushed herself up as she struggled to recall all the things she had seen. It took her a moment to realize that Corinth had said something, and when she looked up, she could see concern etched in his expression. “Marquard… I’ve heard that name…” she murmured. She tried to explain to Corinth what she had seen but found she could barely describe her experience. “Shit, I’m going to need to do this again…”
Deciding to remain seated in case she collapsed again, Lumina forced herself to open the black book again. This time she was able to focus more on the visions and events that seemed to make more sense to her, burning those pictures and words into her mind. She noted the backdrops of the portals, the face of the woman holding the scalpel, the form of the man clothed from head to toe in black, the man dressed in an ancient tunic surrounded by bleeding candles, the swamp she had seen through her clairvoyance spell through the anomaly the prior evening, the visage of the terrified man with the old telephone in a crypt, and the angelic figures gathered in an alien environment. The voice, whoever it belonged to, claimed that someone named Emma was anima, and that she was a key, while also mentioning the end of days. The voice seemed to be speaking to Marquard, which as the scene transitioned, appeared to be the target of agents of the Templars and other groups. Following the scene of violence in a shopping mall, another voice reiterated that the end of the world was imminent.
The next thing Lumina saw was Corinth kneeling beside her, and it took her a moment to realize that this new image heralded her return to reality. Shakily, she was able to elucidate what she had seen, after which she pulled a notebook and pen out of her bag and began writing it all down to make sure they would have a record of it. Corinth did a quick sweep of the rest of the basement while she did this and helped her back to her feet. Although the stench of the dead creature and the haunting visions were oppressing her, Lumina had one more item of business to address while she was still in the basement, and it wasn’t going to be quick.
Going to where the aura of the ley lines had been strongest, Lumina pulled open her spellbook and reviewed the photos she had taken in the attic, and then got to work figuring out how to cast the spell the Halliwell Sisters had recorded for tapping into the ley line junction. Through careful attention to annotation, intuition, and trial and error, Lumina at last felt something happening as she adjusted the position of her left index finger during the umpteenth attempt at the spell. A few more adjustments and she finally got it. The power of the ley line flooding into her was not quite familiar, but it was nonetheless comforting. It felt almost like a certain fog she had not even realized she had been wading through had been lifted, replaced by clarity, focus, and energy. For a moment, she felt like she was the queen of the world.
And then she came back down to earth. Lumina quickly jotted notes into her spellbook to clarify the actions she needed to take to make the spell work, then performed it again to make sure she had dialed it in. The effect was significantly more mild this go round, leading Lumina to conclude that there was a limit to the amount of power she could hold from the ley line at any given time. Her business was done here.
Lumina persuaded Corinth to leave the The End Rite where he had found it due to her suspicion that the wards might trigger a trap if they tried to leave with it. There had to be a reason the other Secret Society(s) had left it after all.
As they made their way out of the basement, Lumina asked Corinth, “Is there anything else you think we need to do here, or do you think it’s time we hit the morgue?”