Colygraphia E-Book

Jesse Wilson

• Herausgeber: Next Chapter
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Bruce has lost his inspiration and is struggling to come up with anything for his latest project. A writer, he is deep in the depths of despair.

Meanwhile, a group of wannabe cultists have gotten their hands on an ancient book of power, and plan to perform a ritual to summon a demon that will make all their dreams come true. But when the leader of the cult gets greedy, things go awry.

Soon after, Bruce awakens too early in the morning because is dog, Max, is barking... and what he finds lying in his driveway will change his life forever.

Leseprobe

COLYGRAPHIA

JESSE WILSON

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

About the Author

Copyright (C) 2022 Jesse Wilson

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2022 by Next Chapter

Published 2022 by Next Chapter

Edited by Tyler Colins

Cover art by CoverMint

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.

CHAPTER1

Bruce stared at the screen. A white square with a blinking cursor in the corner. He had the title. Dark Sunset. He had his name. Bruce Redstone, not his real last name, but the few people who knew his work seemed to like the improvised version.

A few spaces under that, the number one, the first of many chapters to come.

The easy part was over. That blinking cursor waited for the words, but nothing came to his mind. Not for the past month. Well, he had plenty of ideas and words swimming around in his brain but none of them felt any good. He’d write something down and it felt as if the magic just disappeared. The words were dead on the page.

“Damn it,” he said, looking at the computer screen that felt like it was mocking him at this point. Two-twenty in the morning. Another night, another failure. Thunder started to rumble outside and he glanced out his window. It was dirty; he needed to clean it someday. A distant flash of blue light lit up the sky.

“At least cleaning the window is something I can do,” he said to himself. Writers, all the same, talked to themselves more than they’d ever admit. To combat this, he’d talk to his coffee mug instead. He hoped that was more reasonable. He shut the screen off. It was time to give up for the night, again. Hours had gone by and the only thing he could write were more dead words.

He didn’t feel good enough, the spark was gone. Writing used to be the easiest thing in the world until last month. Any idea, any genre, he’d give it a try. Now, the curse of writer’s block had given him a visit.

Bruce stood up too fast before pulling back in his chair and slammed his knee against the shelf. “Damn it.” He fell back into his chair, more worried about the desk than his leg; thankfully the desk seemed fine.

Max looked at him from the couch, an older Golden Retriever.

“Just me being stupid, go back to sleep,” Bruce said apologetically, and Max lowered his head with a small, almost annoyed whine. Bruce was getting too old to be this reckless. He’d be feeling this mistake for weeks, he just knew it.

Another flash of blue in the window. More thunder. He picked up his phone and checked the weather. Just a garden variety storm, nothing terrible or unusual in the summer. Being a writer, he was well aware of how lightning liked to come through the pipes sometimes when you were taking a shower, and lots of other weird facts.

Right now, he didn’t feel like he had much to live for. You were only as good as your last book and his last book was done. God, how long ago was it now? Six months? Longer?

Maybe it was his time, and a good zap might take him out. That would be just fine. No one would miss him for a few months, it would be as if he never existed. Just his books would float around out there in the void, only to be forgotten, too.

He shook the negative thoughts away from his mind and stood up again and finished the last of the cheap whiskey in the glass, set it down as the weak burn faded just as fast. He’d be using that again.

The soreness had faded enough and he made his way to the bathroom. Looking into the mirror, he didn’t look terrible for forty he supposed. Still had all his brown hair and teeth, but so tired. How long had it been since there was any sleep? Decent sleep? He wasn’t sure. He could only look at himself for so long before that was enough.

The nightly routine went the same as it always had. He was amused. It was in these parts where nasty critics would accuse of him of just telling and not showing all the details of someone taking a shower. To him, telling the reader everything was just the same as sticking a knife into their imagination and killing it. Or watching television, or a music video.

It only took a few minutes and he stepped out. The thunder was louder now and the rain was starting to hit the window. “Just in time,” he said again to his coffee mug in the other room. The coffee mug had yet to respond.

Bruce hated it when it was time to sleep. Sleeping felt like such a waste of time. He imagined all the things he could write if he never had to sleep or get tired, but he was only human. He shuffled towards the bed, turned the lights off. “Damn it,” he said, realizing his phone was still over on the desk three seconds after laying down.

He didn’t have anything to wake up for in the morning and Max was a natural alarm anyway. He pulled the covers over as a brighter flash lit the room up again. “Please don’t hail on my car, thanks” he said to no one—or maybe to God. He wasn’t sure at this point. It was the closest thing to a prayer he’d have tonight.

Then he closed his eyes and hoped for inspiration in a dream or a nightmare, whatever came first. The only way he could get to sleep these days was imagining he was stuck in his car during a snowstorm, trying to make a list of all the things he’d need to make it through the night. He was always out like a light halfway through making the list.

CHAPTER2

The storm clouds approached the ritual site. There was a circle of four men in black robes standing around a strange symbol in a circle on the ground, carved with white chalk. There were three dead cats inside the circle.

“We’re ready,” one of the men announced, doing his best to hide how nervous he was.

“Confidence, Ray. This isn’t some do-it-yourself internet spell. It won’t work if you you’re not invested with all of your willpower. This will never work unless you man up. We waited months for this storm, so it has to be tonight,” Edward explained, opening the book as the thunder grew louder.

“First storm after the summer solstice,” Jack said. “I guess spells have to be exact.”

Edward looked at him. “Everyone always said my great grandmother was a witch. When she died, she left her book to me, her favorite grandkid.”

“I think you stole it,” Rich stated.

“Shut up. I wouldn’t steal it. She gave it to me. It was in the will,” he responded. Thunder, louder this time.

“Did we really have to kill the cats? I feel bad about that,” Ray said, unable to take his eyes off the things, the guilt getting to him.

“Hell yeah, we did. If this works, we are going to get everything we ever dreamed of,” Jack said confidently.

“The man is right. This is the spell, the only one that seems reasonable, the only one that doesn’t mention bloodthirsty demons or curses,” Edward said.

“Yeah. Are you sure this is a good idea? What if someone comes around and catches us?” Rich asked.

“Don’t worry about it. The only one who lives out here is Bruce and he rarely leaves the house, you know that. No one is going to catch us this late and I don’t want to wait a whole year to try again. Now, are you ready for this or not? Everyone has to be in it to win it, so you ready? It’s now or never. And I don’t know about you but I don’t want to kill any more cats,” Edward declared.

The other three looked at one another. The rain started to fall and there was another flash across the sky. “I will take your silence as a resounding yes,” Edward said, smiled as he turned to the right page. There were sticky notes on the page for the English translations, but he had practiced the words several times; they all had.

Edward lifted his right hand into the air and the others followed. “Remember, all together, concentrate and please don’t mess up any of the words. Ray?” Edward looked over.

The man shrugged. “I’ll do my best. I’ve been practicing, I promise.”

“Good, now, repeat after me.” Edward cleared his throat, then began to speak. “Colygraphia Te chem cu puterea primei furtuni a verii pentru a ne aduce la iveală cele mai mari dorințe și dorințe. Apare acum și fă poruncile noastre, ține seama de voința mea, Întunericul ne leagă, sângele ne leagă. Puterea ne leagă. te chem.”

The others followed his lead. As they chanted, the wind began to pick up around them and the rain got stronger. Nothing they hadn’t expected; this was all in the book and by all accounts it was working out just as they planned. They chanted again, over and over.

On the sixth time, a bolt of lightning came from the sky and hit the center of the sigil on the ground. It was enough to knock them all back from the circle, bringing the chanting to an end.

Edward thought he hit his head on a rock. The book hadn’t said anything about an explosive finish to the spell. He felt the back of his head. It was wet but everything around him was. Pulling his hand back to check, he found no blood, another small favor. He reached inside his cloak, pulled out the flashlight and turned it on.

“You guys okay?” he shouted into the rain.

For a second, no response. Did he get them all killed? He hoped not. He scanned the area with the flashlight, then sighed with relief when he saw the others do the same. Edward stood up. Despite the blast, the book remained on the pedestal. He walked to it and found it was dry, then picked it up.

“Oh my God,” Ray said, shining his light into the circle.

The others did too. The beam of light illuminated a shadow of a woman. At least, the shadow was in the shape of a woman, but their light couldn’t penetrate it. She was living darkness, there was nothing to see but the black.

“What the Hell, Ed? You said no demons, nothing like that. That looks like a demon,” Rich said angrily.

This thing should be invisible in the dark. A bright flash of blue in the sky allowed them to see the shadow standing there.

“Look at the ground, the circle,” Rich said.

“It’s dry inside,” Jack said, surprised, trying not to lose his mind in the process.

Edward looked at it, then to the shadow. “Boys, it worked, this must be Colygraphia. She’s going to give us anything we want.”

“You said no demons, what the Hell. I thought this was just like a typical wish granting spell or something,” Jack said.

Edward looked at him. “Nothing we can do about it now, but we’re going to have it all so stop bitching about it.”

The four of them gathered in front of the circle. “Hello, Colygraphia,” Edward said, but didn’t know how to proceed from here.

“Dude, every movie I’ve ever seen says don’t ever break the circle, don’t get too close,” Jack advised, pulling him back.

“I know what I am doing, so shut up.” Ed pushed ahead.

The shadow woman didn’t move and wasn’t bothered by the wind or the rain. “Hello, do you hear me?” Edward asked, thinking that maybe he messed up somewhere along the way and taking another step forward.

Bright blue eyes opened.

Edward was entranced—they were beautiful, like a model’s almost, inhuman really. He shook his head to remember where he was.

“Why did you call me?” she asked, the voice horrible yet having a hint of sweetness.

He held up the book. “This says you will give those who summon you anything they ask for,”

“Chemarea Abisului,” she murmured the title of the book. “Yes, I will give you what you need, but I require a sacrifice. The bigger the request, the bigger the sacrifice. These are the rules. Do you think nothing comes from nothing?”

They had not expected this.

“Where is the banishment spell? Send her back. I knew this was a trick,” Rich said, annoyed.

“Hey, calm down, we don’t know what she requires. Let’s talk a bit,” Ray said, trying to be reasonable in an insane situation.

“What do you require?” Edward asked.

Those blue eyes shifted and looked at Rich. “Him.” She pointed at Rich. “Oh, Hell no,” Rich said, taking a step back.

“Money, women, power, all the things you dream about,” she said. “But I require him.”

Rich was ready to run when there was a sharp pain in the back of his head and he was pushed back into the mud.

“I say we do it. Who’s gonna care about Rich? He’s a loser who plays Minecraft all day and hangs out in fetish rooms, trying to catfish women out of his league. Let’s let the demon have him,” Jack declared.

Ray looked at him. “Yeah, you’re right,” he said after thinking about it for a second.

Edward grabbed Rich by the back of his skinny neck. “Alright, Dick. I never really did like you. I just needed a fourth person in the club. I always thought you were kind of gross.”

“Sacrifices don’t need to be willing. Screw it. Don’t break the circle,” Jack said.

“Lift him up, toss him in,” Ray suggested.

Edward wondered about this for a second. Usually Ray was the reserved one, but now, in this storm and the chance to get everything, he changed. There was no going back now.

“Guys, I can change. Please don’t do this,” Rich begged, but the three of them picked him up and before Rich could squirm his way free—careful not to break the circle—they tossed him over the line.

“Goddamn, I need to ask to be stronger, that was more work than it should have been,” Jack said, shaking out his arms.

Rich scrambled back as fast as he could, but once inside the circle, he couldn’t escape. He backed into the invisible wall as the shadow woman looked at him.

“I’d tell you in your next life to get better friends and be a less disgusting person, but you don’t have a future,” she said. Before Rich could blink, she had her black hand around his neck and picked him up off the ground. “You’ll do.” Her blue eyes began to shine and the remaining three watched as Rich turned to dust in her hands.

“Holy Hell,” Edward said and backed off.

The others did the same.

“What the Hell did we do?” Jack said, reality setting in.

“You opened the door. You kept your end of the deal and I will keep mine. Humans, start talking. What do you want?” she asked, never taking her gaze off them.

“Ed, man, we just got someone killed. People are going to ask questions. Maybe we can just ask for Rich back and call it a day? This has gone too far,” Ray declared.

“Yeah, we might get something that looks like Rich back, but there is no telling how much of it would be him, you know?” he replied.

He had a good point they supposed.

Jack knew what he wanted: the same thing anyone wanted. “Demon, I want a million dollars in my bank account.” He forgot the request for strength, the chance was here why not take it?

“Done,” she replied, then looked at the other two. “What do you want?” Ray and Ed looked at one another. “I want a million dollars in the bank, and a super model, obedient girlfriend,” Ray replied, and Ed looked at him, almost disappointed. “What? If you can ask for anything, why not?”

“Done,” she said and turned her blue yes to Edward. “What do you want?”