The Seal of Magic III

As Azael started his explanation, the humming of side discussions fell until you could hear a pin drop.

"Ascelpia was never meant to be a place humans inhabit. It was more like a wasteland where the evils of the earth existed and thrived, All manner of vile, malevolent magic existed, curses and bewitched humans possessed by the most dangerous evils were confined here."

I nodded. "Confined?"

"The best the sorcerers of that time could manage was a binding spell that would confine these beings to this city location. It was the walls. When the walls were completed after months of battles with the demons that left 50 sorcerers dead, all the builders involved were killed and their blood was used to paint the four gate pillars..."

My eyes grew wider in horror. "What?! How could they..."

"This was a hundred years ago, Leo!" Panthera reminded me firmly but softly. "Civilization wasn't what it is now. A lot of things were done extremely for the general good of man. We can't do anything to change what was done then, after all."

I said nothing.

"But then, one sorcerer - a mysterious man called Abraxas - decided that this place was perfectly habitable and that he would be the one to bring an end to the demons here. He was the only one who knew of the Ocular Pentagrammic Grim Seal; that accursed magic that now keeps this village safe. But his method of doing this was something despicably wrong..."

"How wrong?" I asked.

"Cerberus, the hound of lucifer."

My eyes widened. "Impossible..."

"If you know about Cerberus, then you'll understand how logical, but evil what he did was. The hound of Lucifer is known to hunt and devour other evils for its own gain. He summoned it to Ascelpia, and let it loose. Within six hours, all the demons in this land were gone. and Cerberus was a 20-foot tall, 11-foot wide-roaming threat. It was ready to begin consuming humans too, and everything in its sight..."

"But he was ready for that, wasn't he? With more human sacrifices and those Grim Seals?"

"That was the first time magic like that had ever been used. The builders sacrificed at the pillars only lost their lives, but in this Grim Seal, the souls of those killed are confined to this land, and their fivefold power coupled with the circle made sure the seal could hold Cerberus in. But there was one last problem that needed to be solved. Cerberus was an incredibly strong presence here, even underground."

I caught his drift. "Something that powerful was bound to break out someday. Whether it would take a hundred years or even a millennium, it would break out, eh?"

Panthera nodded. "Exactly. Which was why the ban on magic was put in place anyway. It was our last defense mechanism, a contract that exchanged our use of magic within the walls of this city for assured security at all times. You can now see that the price to pay for our continued stay in Ascelpia was an expensive one. There is a 70% chance that if someone uses any magic spell at all right now, the seal would be broken."

It was a long story. But something stood out. "Why then have you continued to leave the people of the city in the darkness when you could just tell them these things? I'm sure everyone would be more understanding and generally more likely to adhere to these set rules if that's the case."

Azael laughed at my suggestion. "You really have this trust in humans that shows your naivete and inexperience. For you to believe that everyone is such a good person... but then I can't blame you, since you aren't in the know..."

"The know of what?" I asked, sitting up. "There's even more to this than that horrifying story?"

"A Chaotic order, the knights of the demonic Feretory, have set their sights on freeing Cerberus from wherever he is kept and using him to bring the world under demonic control. Apart from us elders and now you, no one else knows where Cerberus currently is. An inability to summon it will however prove that it is being sealed somewhere, and right now the knights of that ungodly order could be right in this village among us, looking for an opportunity to set it free. We won't be doing that."

I understood. If the general opinion was that the people of this city could not use magic due to inability, no one would bother trying. "A=They could have their suspicions, however," I reminded them.

"It's a waste of time. Only a spell cast by a citizen of this village, born and trained here, could affect that seal. Anything else is inconsequential. So..."

"IN THAT CASE, THIS SHOULD DO THE TRICK!"

We all turned our heads to one of the guards, who had forced his way into the room.

"Free Sealed Entity," he said, uttering the required chant, before stabbing himself in the chest.

The rumble that ensued was ominous.

*****

To be Continued.