Chapter 3: The Brothers Of Stigma

"What do you think you're doing?"Richard asked, "you can't use that book, it's far too dangerous" He cautioned

Daniel dropped the penknife down and rubbed his eyes to clear them. For a moment he lost control of himself and he could tell it was the book's doing. He didn't know what would have happened if Richard hadn't gotten here on time.

"What are you doing here?" He asked weakly, still trying to gain full control of himself.

"Trying to save you from killing yourself. You can't practice magic with that book, the more you use it, the easier it is for the others to track it." Richard revealed. "I think you should return it to your Dad" He suggested

"No, no!" Daniel answered sharply. "I can't, I won't"

"Why? I mean he's the one who gave it to you in the first place and you don't even like sorcery" Richard reminded

"I said No!" Daniel shouted.

Richard almost fell, startled by his friends sudden outburst.

"Are you okay?" He asked, this time with a caring tone

"I don't know, it's the book. It's in my head" Daniel replied his hand rummaging through his hair violently.

"It's okay calm down" Richard said trying to hold him down for the moment. His eyes travelled to the book on the floor and he rushed towards at it. He held it down and closed his eyes before finally saying.

"Be bound by the chains of hell" he withdrew his hands immediately before a dark cloud engulfed the book. Dark lines appeared on its cover and interlocked at the center. He turned to Daniel who was now on the floor, soaked in sweat and breathing heavily.

"How are feeling now?" Richard asked as he handed him a glass of water.

"A bit better now. The voice in my head is gone" he replied before taking a sip of the liquid.

"What happened?" Richard inquired as he settled beside his friend on the floor.

"I don't know, I tried to cast a spell from the book and then everything went blank" Daniel explained.

"Did you make a sacrifice?" Richard asked, he knew that as a blood sorcerer that a sacrifice was required for any spell. if Daniel didn't make one, that might be why the book lashed out on him.

"Yeah, I did" Daniel replied, showing him his bleeding palm.

"You're feeding it" Richard exclaimed

"Excuse me, what?!"

"It's a cursed object, and curses aren't broken so easily. You haven't actually broken the curse of the book, you're only weakening it and making yourself it's new vessel. The book wasn't in your head, it's the curse" Richard explained. "You have to take it back to your father"

"That bastard, this was his plan all along" Daniel said amidst clenched teeth. "He couldn't break the curse all those years and he had the guts to use me as a pawn in his games. I can't give it back to him, not when I'm the one suffering for his benefit" Daniel deciphered. He couldn't imagine how low his father could stoop just for power even at the cost of his son's sanity. His hatred for him grew the more.

"Then there's only one place I can think of, the church." Richard suggested

"The church? What business do they have with sorcery?" Daniel asked. He couldn't believe there was much he didn't know about his own kind.

"Not the church in particular, the Brothers of Stigma." Richard explained.

"I'm still lost"

"They are a group of people believed to be blessed by the heavens, they bear the mark of Christ and are good with handling this type of mess. They would have been a full blown war amongst our factions if not for the Brothers" Richard elaborated. "They'll know how to handle this better than us and maybe, they might exorcise the curse already in you"

"Well, guess we should get going" Daniel said and rose from the floor.

"Wait, now? You can't be serious, I need to get home ASAP. If my parents find out I'm missing I could be grounded worse end up with a locator spell on me" Richard protested.

"Wait, you're not planning on leaving me alone with that book, I don't even know any protection spells. I mean, what if it acts up again" Daniel said. He was clearly scared and didn't want to be left alone especially with something he didn't know a thing about.

"You're such a crybaby you know that" Richard teased.

†††††††††

"This is it" Richard's voice announced immediately they arrived in front of a large edifice. The loud ringing from the belfry and the saint statues were already enough to give the impression wanted.

"How do we know which amongst them are members of the Cult" Daniel asked.

"First of, they're not a cult and secondly, we don't go to them, they come for us" Richard explained as he alighted from the vehicle.

"What do you mean for u..." Daniel was cut short as the floor under them gave in and they found themselves in the middle of monks.

"We're not especially welcome around here" Richard whispered.

"Thanks for the update" Daniel replied sarcastically.

"What do you seek here you impure souls?" One of the monks spoke. He looked rather too young for a monk and wasn't bald as most of them around.

"We mean no harm, we've only come to keep a cursed object in check" Richard replied while motioning for Daniel to bring forth the book

The elderly ones amongst the circle gasped at the sight while the younger one stared at it perplexed by the sudden reaction of his seniors.

Richard took the book and slowly dropped it down on the floor.

"Which of you has been cursed by it's magic" one of the elderly monks asked slowly walking forward towards them.

Daniel slowly raised his hand and all all gaze fell on him.

"He must be killed"

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Aniagboso_Martins

Hey, hope you're enjoying so far? This is my WSA entry, and I could do a lot better with your support. Please vote and leave your thoughts in the comments, they could really go far to encourage me.

Hope you have a wonderful reading

comment 0 comment

Vote

SEND GIFT

Load failed, please RETRY