Bishop rose from his chair slowly. He walked toward the center of the room, his footsteps echoing softly against the wooden floor. Nero watched him, his curiosity mingling with a faint thread of apprehension.
The Pharmacist stopped in an open space between the shelves, turning to face Nero with an oddly serious expression.
"Before I show you anything," Bishop began,"you need to understand that sorcery is very dangerous. Everything I show you, you must doubt. Everything you see today, you must also doubt. Never trust your eyes or your ears. The world bends to desire wuite easily."
Nero swallowed hard.
’This... What kind of warning was that?’
It was far too ominous. Plus, he didn’t know what he ant. Still, Nero decided to cautiously nod his head.
Seeing that, Bishops nodded and clasped his hands behind his back, his gaze turning distant.
"Most believe sorcery is structureless, defined by the even more flimsy laws of this reality. It cannot be truly understood, for understanding requires a set of concrete laws established in the first place. The laws of sorcery on the other hand, often tend to break down in the presence of greater powers..."
Bishop paused,
"However, there is sothing that can be understood. Not the chanisms themselves, for those remain forever beyond our grasp, but the pathways through which power flows."
Nero leaned forward slightly in his chair, his attention fully captured.
"The Crown provides the Will—the intent behind the change. Without Will, there is no direction, neither is there purpose. The Heart provides the Spirit, the balance... And the Body provides the Roots— the physical channel through which power manifests, the form it takes, the transmission from internal to external."
Nero’s mind struggled to grasp the full implications. It sounded both simple and impossibly complex at the sa ti.
"In practice," Bishop said, his tone shifting slightly, "there are many schools of thought on how best to channel Ein Sof for sorcerous purposes. So believe in pure visualization, creating ntal images so vivid that reality has no choice but to conform. Others rely on complex geotries, drawing patterns that force energy into specific configurations."
He smiled faintly.
"But the thod I favor, the one I find most reliable, is invocation. Calling upon the nas of the powers that be and the elents themselves. It is the best way to channel Ein Sof, in my opinion, although it is quite demanding. After all, why do it yourself if you can just ask for it to be done?"
Nero frowned slightly. "Asking? You an like a prayer?"
Bishop’s smile widened. "In a sense, yes. Though prayer implies supplication to a conscious entity that may choose to ignore you, invocation is a bit different. You are speaking the true na of a natural force most of the ti, and in doing so, establishing a connection that allows you to guide it."
He gestured around the room, at the vials glowing on the shelves, at the runes etched into the walls.
"Everything in this world has a na. Nas that describe the essence of what sothing is. When you speak a true na with intent and with the pathways aligned, you create a bridge between yourself and that essence."
Nero’s pulse quickened.
"How do you learn these true nas?" he asked.
Bishop’s expression grew more serious. "That is the work of a lifeti for most practitioners. True nas are mostly passed down through history as our forefathers have learned from the ancient deities. However, there are even more nas that can be discovered. As for the thods of discovery... those can vary."
He paused, seeming to consider his next words carefully.
"When you invoke a na," he said, his voice quieter now, "you must align all three pathways. Your Will must be focused on what you wish to manifest, your Spirit must be balanced, neither forcing nor hesitating, and your Body must be prepared to serve as the channel through which the invoked essence will flow."
Nero watched as Bishop’s breathing slowed, becoming deeper and more rhythmic. The air in the room seed to shift subtly, the thrumming energy that had been constant growing slightly more pronounced.
Nero’s hands gripped the armrests of his chair.
Bishop’s lips moved, forming a single word.
"Shemhazai."
The effect was instantaneous.
The entire room erupted into flas.
Nero yelled in panic, his body instinctively recoiling as fire blood from every surface—the walls, the floor, the shelves, even the air itself seed to burn. The flas were brilliant, shifting between shades of orange and gold and white, moving and dancing with a life of their own.
But then, even as his heart pounded in his chest, Nero noticed sothing strange.
The heat was there, washing over him in waves, but it wasn’t painful. It wasn’t searing his skin or making it difficult to breathe. The vials on the shelves weren’t lting. The wooden floor beneath his feet wasn’t charring.
The fire didn’t burn.
He stared, his panic giving way to wonder and confusion. The flas moved like real fire, crackling and shifting, casting dancing shadows across the room. But they consud nothing. They were fire and yet not fire, existing in so state that defied his understanding.
Bishop stood at the center of it all, perfectly calm, surrounded by flas that licked at his clothing and hair without harming him. He raised one hand, and the fire seed to respond, swirling around his fingers like living ribbons.
Then, with a simple gesture, he closed his fist.
The flas vanished instantly, as though they had never been there in the first place.
The room returned to its normal state, the only evidence of what had just occurred being the faint sll of sothing like cinnamon and ash lingering in the air.
Nero sat frozen, his mind struggling to process what he had just witnessed. His heart was still racing, adrenaline coursing through his veins.
Bishop lowered his hand and turned to face him, a slight smile on his lips.
"What you just saw," he said calmly, "was the result of invoking the Na of Fire while specifying the aspect I wished to manifest. I called upon Shemhazai, but I did not ask for flas that consu. I asked for flas that illuminate and transform without destruction."
He walked back toward Nero, his movents relaxed,
"This is the power snd danger of sorcery."
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