Delirious and confused

The pain in your head is still there as you pull yourself up. You fell right on diagram and had a couple pedals stuck to your tunic as a result. You stand. With difficulty you shamble over to window, putting your hands on its frame to support you.

The diagram is ruined. The circle is still mostly intact but the symbols at the centre have become blurred beyond recognition. You can’t even remember why there is a diagram. A shiver runs down your spine and the memories come rushing back.

You look out the window. The moon is out, hanging lower than you recall.

How long was I out? Was it a few minutes? Hours? The pain in your head intensifies and you drop the question.

The ritual failed, that much was clear. It must’ve been close for the diagram glowed. Maybe you would try it again next full moon. Right now you were feeling ill and just wanted sleep. It was a thirty minute walk back to the village. Forty now, you calculated, taking your current condition into consideration.

You place the candle and the chalk back into your pouch. Slowly you stagger out of the cabin and into the cool valley air.

A few branches were lying on the ground before you. Strange, you don’t remember them when you got to the cabin. You pick up a branch, but drop it immediately. It felt hot. You raise your hand to better examine it and notice there is char on your fingertips.

You drop your pouch and look down at the forest floor. Right before your feet is a hexagon that has been burnt into the grass with the symbols of your diagram. You reach down to touch it and it instantly turns blue. All around the cabin hundreds of other similar designs light up, displaying the same blue colour. You look around the surrounding area amazed.

“It worked!” you scream to the heavens. The spellbook was actually real. There was just the slight issue that you were not completely sure what you had done.

The spell was meant to summon an other-worldly servant for your command. A demon that could make all your desires come true. At least that’s what you believe. The spellbook was written in Latin, which you understood the gist of but not every nuance. You had briefly considered asking a priest to produce a more accurate translation though abandon the idea out of fear of being known as an occultist.

The pain in your head seemed to subside. The glow of the blue lights was incredible though a bit worrying. This wasn’t at all want you expected the spell to do.

But where did your demon go? Surely you had had managed to summon it. But the creature was nowhere to be seen. You glance around the blue lit forest hoping to see your new servant.

You decide to walk down the path towards the village. There are more glowing symbols here as well. There must hundreds of them, you estimate.

You stop in your tracks.

The whole purpose of conducting the ritual in the cabin was that it was far away enough that no one would find out. Father Thorne could have you burnt alive for committing witchcraft. What if some villagers saw the lights, came to investigate, and found you already here with a book of magic spells?

You pick up your pouch and sprint into the woods. You needed to get home as quickly as possible before someone notices you aren’t home. You charge through the woods, your legs are burning and you can barely breath, but you power on. The forest’s edge is only a few paces away. You rush forward and make it to the cleaning.

Your eyes widen as you gaze at your village.