As the wind howls and the snow blizzards outside the windows of the secluded and abandoned castle, fighting to break in and snuff out the meagre heat and safety within its walls, Emmeline kneels in the study within one of the towers, painting upon the floor.
Dressed in her usual armour, if slightly reduced for comfort and ease as she works and surrounded by and bathed in the light of candles and crackling fireplace, the red marked woman daubs the floorboards with the last few lines and symbols she needs, constantly checking her work against what is written in the dusty tome that lay open beside her. She finishes her work, the pattern finally joining to its beginning and stands back to view what she had begun.
Now scrawled against the floor was a twisting and complex work of symbols and curving lines, formed from a mix of Elemental and Human blood, all converging into the centre as it dries.
She picks up the tome and attempts to turn over the page, though finds them stuck together with an odd black substance. Finally pulling them apart she begins pacing around the edges of her work while silently mouthing what she reads next from the instructions on the weathered pages.
"...let dry the coagulation... place candles... within the heart, lay down the gate. Speak the words and open the door to let flow the dark of your desire... Huh."
She looks up from the book and glances down at the wide array of bloody symbols on the ground in front of her. "Seems simple enough... Guess I have to wait a little while.."
With nothing to do for now except wait for the blood to dry, Emmeline sits down in one of the chairs she'd pushed aside in the room, leaning back in it as she puts the book down on the desk beside her, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. A few minutes pass as she sits there, when one of the windows bursts open from the prowling wind, snowflakes beginning to blow through into the room.
Cursing Emmeline hops off her chair and over to the window, slamming it shut and forcing the latch down again, before propping a heavy book against it for good measure. She then returns to where she was sitting and resumes waiting impatiently.
Eventually she figures enough time has passed, and she stands up once again before walking over and kneeling beside the most recently painted part of her work. She cautiously pokes the blood with one of her fingers, and when she pulls it away she is happy to discover it has fully dried, allowing her to continue on with the ritual.
Moving around the room Emmeline begins to pick up and arrange the collection of unlit candlesticks she had looted from around the castle, placing them at specific spots at the edges of the patterns, as well as inside the curving lines, taking care not to step on or scuff any of the markings. Once she places the last one in its designated spot, she begins to light them all with one of the existing candles, until each one is glowing warmly amidst the macabre design
.
With that step finished, she moves on to the final preparations she needs to make. Once more she picks up the dusty tome she'd been working from, flicking her eyes over the paper to the spell she needed to speak once it was complete. Alongside it she picks up a flat disk of blackened metal. Carved with twisting designs and unknown words on its face, acquiring it had taken considerable effort and more than a few undesirable choices.
And now was the first time she'd be able to discover if it was even the real deal to begin with. Turning around she faces the painted symbol on the floor and takes a deep breath to keep herself calm and focused, before stepping into the circle and placing the disk in the dead centre. She begins to step backwards as she reads through the last of the instructions, before hurriedly stepping closer to the centre when she reads the warning "Do not exit the circle-" within its pages.
Standing in front of the disk Emmeline takss the book in both hands and looks to the page where the final inscription of the summon was detailed, and begins to read from the passage there- hoping her effort to practice had made her prepared for actually committing to it.
"Thig, dubhar. Tha mi a 'tabhann dhut mo bhodhaig agus m' anam a chreachadh mar as toil leat."
She speaks aloud as her eyes roam over the black marked page, reciting the words as best she could and just hoping it would be a good enough attempt to complete the ritual. As instructed she repeats the phrase three times as she stands within the bloody circle, closing the book on the third as she steps back slightly and watches the disk in the centre of the room. Holding her breath, Emmeline waits and prepares for the ritual to take hold entirely.
She waits.
And waits.
Furrowing her brow, Emmeline opens the tome again and flicks through the pages, running a finger over the words she had spoken as she quietly mouths the words again, figuring she must have said something wrong. Just to be certain, she repeats the passage written in the book another three times, this time giving it a little more effort and flourish in her words in case that's what it called for.
When nothing happens she looks down at the metal disk and gives it a light nudge with her foot.
As that fails to do anything she lets out a disappointed sigh, her shoulders sagging as she drops the tome to the ground out of the painted circle and closes her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose as she grumbles to herself.
"Of course- of course! Fucking spell doesn't work. Stupid lying Harpy sold me off a fake book, didn't she."
Angrily pacing around the room, Emmeline steps out of the circle as she tries to think of her next course of action. For one she decides to find and punch that Harpy for selling her a useless spell tome, but finds herself at a loss beyond that. Extinguishing the candles around her she decides to call it a night and leaves the room. Unbuckling her armour as she crosses the landing to her room, she pushes open the door as she begins to toss her plates to the ground, stripping down as she gets ready for bed.
Pulling off the last of her underclothes she exposes her red marked skin to the chill air, shivering slightly as she slips under the bedcovers, closes her eyes and attempts to sleep. With darkness pervading the room and the sound of the wind outside, Emmeline quickly drifts off to sleep.
That night her dreams are filled with unexpectedly carnal scenes. At first she is chained helplessly off the ground in a foreign dungeon, her legs spread with the hands of an unseen figure behind her tearing away her clothing before groping her body. Long fingers glide down her stomach to her nethers, rubbing gently as they tease her excitement.
