"There is no such thing as a small ceremony. In the life of the spirit, every act is a sacrament." — Unknown
…
The group began their journey into the forest in the early morning.
The tent had shrunk and was stowed away in a pouch. Breakfast was a quick affair made from local game. The map had been thoroughly memorised by every member of the team.
There were five potential targets: The Ruins of the Albanian Forest.
The map was crucial for analysing the terrain. Since the country itself was covered in jagged mountains, flying would have saved them a lot of time. However, flying over a cursed forest was a death sentence; the magical turbulence and aerial predators made it impossible. They had to trek on foot.
For convenience, the ruins were designated simply: Ruin 1, Ruin 2, Ruin 3, Ruin 4, and Ruin 5. These five locations were scattered across the vast wilderness. The most accessible location from their current position was Ruin 3, situated on a nearby mountain range.
The group had to trek down their current elevation and climb the next peak. They set out at 8:00 AM.
The formation:
Front: Anders, Akiko, and Regulus. (The Vanguards).
Middle: Emma and Sulaiman. (The Support/Long-Range).
Back: Charlus, Hestia, and Ximena. (The Rear Guard).
This arrangement ensured that the support mages were protected from sudden ambushes from either the front or the rear. In the event of a battle, Emma and Sulaiman could retreat to a safe distance to provide healing, buffs, or artillery support to either end of the line.
The exploration began.
Regulus took several detours to avoid the territories of large magical creatures, but some encounters were inevitable. Specifically, snakes.
The Albanian Forest was infested with them. Some were harmless; others were venomous enough to kill an adult with a single graze.
For Hestia, it was a haven.
She was currently walking with a highly venomous viper hanging casually around her shoulders. This terrified Ximena and Charlus, who were stuck in the rear guard with her. They tried to keep their distance, but they couldn't stray too far, or the formation would collapse and create a blind spot.
"Hestia, could you please put the snake in a pouch like the rest of them?" Charlus asked, his voice trembling slightly.
"Why?" Hestia asked, her expression was deadpan.
The snake on her shoulder hissed at Charlus, as if sensing the insult.
"Nothing... It's just terrifying. Look at Ximena!" Charlus pointed.
Ximena was clinging to her bag, walking on the absolute edge of the path to be as far away from Hestia as possible. Originally, she had been walking next to Hestia. But the moment the snake appeared, she had practically vaulted over Charlus, forcing him to take the spot next to the Snake Queen.
"Oh," Hestia said. She looked at Ximena. A very slight, rare smile touched her lips.
Ximena, usually cheerful, glared at Hestia's amusement.
"Guys, focus," Sulaiman's voice cut through the bickering from the middle rank. "It is not advisable to be careless now."
They dropped the matter. Hestia did not comply with the request, and the snake stayed on her shoulders, slithering happily.
Regulus did not interfere. He knew Hestia had absolute control over her animals. She would never let an unpredictable reptile endanger the group. The fear of the others was simply a fear of the unknown.
Regulus was focused on something else: the magical signature of the terrain.
To the naked eye, the path ahead looked absolutely normal—just trees and moss. But to Regulus's sensory ability, it was screaming. A magical signature was emitting from the earth itself, focusing on a single, twisted tree in the middle of the path.
Regulus halted the group with a raised hand.
He stepped inside the affected radius alone. He walked for about twenty meters, leaving the group behind. As he approached the twisted tree, he felt his magical energy slowly starting to drain, sucked away by the soil.
He stopped, turned, and retreated to the group.
"This terrain is cursed," Regulus stated. "It drains magic to feed the flora."
Now that he knew the specific signature of the cursed land, he could navigate around it.
They took a long detour, finally reaching their destination at Ruin 3 by 3:00 PM.
The ruin was a remnant of the ancient world, echoing Greek architecture. It resembled a small, dilapidated temple with crumbling marble columns. Regulus sensed heavy magical energy emanating from the structure, but there were no signs of life inside. The ambient magic of the forest seemed to bend around the temple, repelled by it.
"Are we going to explore it?" asked Charlus, eyeing the dark entrance.
"No way," Ximena spoke up, her face serious. "It is too dangerous to enter blindly. We need to explore the perimeter for signs of our target. But Rakepick knows she is hunted; she will not leave traces like an amateur."
Sulaiman cleared his throat.
"I can accurately position our target. But I need to conduct a ritual. I need a venomous snake to sacrifice."
Ximena frowned. "Then why did you make us trek all the way here? Couldn't you do it from the camp?"
"It is not that simple," Sulaiman explained patiently. "I need a place that is festering with ancient magic to amplify the signal. This temple fits the criteria perfectly. It acts as a natural ley line node."
Regulus nodded. "Alright, start the ritual. If you need a venomous snake... ask Hestia."
Hestia, who had been stroking the viper on her shoulder, suddenly retreated a step. She looked at Sulaiman warily, shielding the reptile with her hand.
Seeing this, Regulus sighed. "Hestia, you have collected many snakes on the way. You can give him one from the bag, not specifically the one on your shoulder."
Hestia paused. She nodded slowly.
She opened her magically expanded bag and looked inside. A tangled knot of snakes wriggled and writhed within. Ximena leaned in to look curiously, then shuddered violently and hid behind Charlus again.
Hestia stared into the bag for quite some time, as if giving up one of her new friends was the hardest decision of her life. Finally, she sighed. She reached in and pulled out a ferocious-looking adder.
The snake was injured; it had been hurt by a predator before Hestia found it, and she knew it wouldn't live long despite her care.
She reluctantly handed the snake to Sulaiman.
Sulaiman took his cane and tapped the ground, muttering in his native tongue. The snake, which had been writhing in pain, suddenly went docile. Its pitch-black eyes turned a glowing red.
Sulaiman took a stone slab from his pouch, inscribed with glowing runes. He placed the snake on the stone, treating it as an altar.
Then, he reached into his pouch and withdrew a dagger. It wasn't made of metal. It was white, jagged, and radiated menace.
It was carved from the bone of a Basilisk.
"Ona kwa macho ya nyoka. Fuata kivuli, leta ukweli!"
He began to chant in a language incomprehensible to the rest of the group. The chanting grew more and more vigorous, rhythmic and heavy.
The group wasn't clueless about rituals; they had learned the basics in school. But Regulus alone could see the true flow of energy. The ambient magic of the Greek temple was being pulled toward the altar and the bone dagger like a whirlpool.
Sulaiman's surroundings were now oozing with visible magical pressure.
He stopped chanting abruptly.
He pierced the dagger into the head of the snake.
The snake did not wriggle. It did not bleed. It lay perfectly still.
Suddenly, the body of the snake began to blur and shift. In a grotesque display of Transfiguration and Blood Magic, the reptile twisted until it formed a voodoo doll.
It was a crude, flesh-coloured figurine.
Sulaiman did not pick it up immediately. He wiped the Basilisk blood from the dagger, chanted a closing verse for a few seconds, and then the doll stood up on its own.
He packed the altar and the dagger away. The heavy atmosphere dissipated.
Sulaiman picked up the doll and whispered into its ears. Then, he placed the doll's mouth against his own ear.
The doll whispered back.
"It worked," Sulaiman said calmly. "The target is currently protected by anti-tracking magic. If I had tried this at the camp, it would have failed. Fortunately, the ruin amplified the ritual enough to bypass her shields."
"Where is she?" asked Regulus, opening the map.
Sulaiman dropped the doll onto the map.
The little figurine walked across the parchment. It marched over mountains and rivers until it stopped at a specific point.
It pointed to a valley near Ruin 5.
It was the furthest ruin from their current location. Situated at the bottom of a deep valley, reaching it would require crossing five more mountain ranges.
The journey would be long, uncomfortable, and dangerous. But at least they wouldn't be wandering aimlessly.
They had the target.