In Purpura Clavis

Purpura clavis claudit effugium – The crimson key closes the loophole. Ostium cellarii opens invenire animam tuam – The cellar door opens to find your soul. Mortem meam transform in aquaeductum – I will turn my death into a conduit.

The coven spends the evening attempting to bridge the divide between our world and the next. As a large group of women with this type of power, you could imagine the fear they would strike in the hearts of the villagers should they discover what is happening on the fifty acre plot of land on Drury Lane.

“We need more wood for the fire and the cauldron, please Anya.” Mother Superior Eddie advised the young learner, who looked overjoyed to be tasked with fuelling the Eternal Flame.

“Right away!” she jumped up with excitement and ran towards the log house. She returned almost as quickly as she left pulling what may have looked like an imaginary rope to an untrained eye, but was actually the string needed to power the magic to move heavy objects for the coven.

The twenty-some strong coven have lived on this land for as long as time remembers, while the villagers believe they take in stray women who have been widowed or shamed out of their families, they take in the women that are led to their door by the sound of the magic only they can hear. The noise is akin to a rustle of leaves with a soft, twinkly bell that can be heard for miles by the right ears and is so powerful the listener cannot ignore it for very long. The main building is near the entrance to the land, separated from the main road by a long, dirt path and wooden gate. It is surrounded by maple trees of varying sizes, as well as a few fir trees. Behind the main building, backing onto it is the log house, where the wood for the fires is kept dry once cut. The large bonfire is behind a little further, as well as a smaller fire for the cauldron used for the spells they cast.

On this particular night, a Dark Lord had opened a portal between the Further and this world, which means that malevolent spirits can cross and possess the humans as there is nothing to stop them crossing. The spell needed to fix this is a big one, needing every single member of the coven to join in and for a sacrifice to be given to bond the spell permanently, and to ensure spirits stay where they belong. The person who would be sacrificed would act as a conduit for spirits crossing to the Further, they would stand within the portal entrance and allow the ones who cross to do so, but will also be there with the power of the Coven to stop the evil from coming back.

Mother Superior was troubled, but wouldn't show it. Her second in command, Nat, was sat by her side trying to figure out how they would decide who they would be choosing to sacrifice. In truly unselfish fashion, the pair each insisted on themselves.

“Eddie, you cannot do this. The girls need you and your guidance.” Nat looked at Mother Superior with a glimpse of sadness in her eyes.

“And that, my dear, is why I would be the perfect choice. A sacrifice is not meant to be an easy decision. I know I am needed, but I also need to do this.” Eddie spoke and Nat stayed quiet, knowing her decision was final.

The spell tells us exactly what needs to happen – the sacrificed will need a key, which the first line creates for her, specifically linked to the portal door so they can open and close it as needed. With the guardian of the door being there, when the door opens it reads the soul of the person attempting to enter or exit and, with the powers given to that guardian, they are either free to cross or will be blocked and never allowed through. The second line essentially links the Witch's soul to the doorway With the third and final line, spoken only by the Witch who's life will be cut short, she then has her throat cut by the most powerful to complete the link and for them to become a conduit of death. Prior to the spell being cast, the entire coven must sacrifice a small piece of their magic for the power to be allowed to be used.

Nat was spending the evening ensuring all the Witches were aware of what they needed to do and collecting the little pieces of magic required. Eddie needed to be tethered to the magic before the sacrifice to be able to take it with her. That was the more difficult part, because tethering someone else's magic required a lot of energy. The women didn't want to feel too jaded before the big spell casting session they needed to perform. The easiest way to tether was to have the Coven stand together, drink from the same cup and say the words: Irritum historiae nostrae fragmentum damus – We give the void a piece of our history. Mille inter lapidem tether vivit – Tether a thousand lives between the stone.

Once collected, the pieces enter the cauldron at the centre of the circle of the Coven, the Witch who becomes tethered to it stirs with the ladle and takes a cup to drink the contents. When the bowl is empty, the Witch will have the magic tethered to her.

With one of the more exhausting tasks completed, the Coven starts their goodbyes to Eddie. All of the girls here have her to thank for one thing or another. As Eddie wrapped her arms around each of the girls one last time, she reminded them to be perfect and clean; this was the only way they would rebuild the energy they needed to replace the power they lost this fearful eve. The fear of fear wasn't enough to break them down.

The Witches gathered around Eddie and Nat, who took their places either side of the bonfire. The tension was high, but they all hesitated to feel something. They knew this was for the greater good.

Purpura clavis claudit effugium. The key appeared, floating in front of Eddie as she kept her eyes closed to carry on the protection spell to surround the Coven so the Dark Lord didn't try to stop them.

Ostium cellarii opens invenire animam tuam. The portal door linked with the cellar of the main building and with Eddie's soul, so she could use it fully. The cellar door was directly below the bonfire, as the ground had to be connected to seal the spell.

Mortem meam transform in aquaeductum. As soon as the last word was spoken, Nat took her blade from its sheath, walked toward Eddie and took place behind her, raising the blade to the sky and swiped it across her neck. As the blood ran down her body, it bound with the earth as her body stayed in place. Nat broke her fall into the void, her soul now bound to the earth and her death in this way meant she was now the conduit for all death, past and future.

The body now had to be buried as close to the cellar door as possible, to ensure the connection is never broken. The body will decay and join the ancestors in the Further but the soul will forever be linked.

The Dark Lord felt the rift, he knew the portal had been sealed as his own energy felt diminished. He fed off the power of the malevolent spirits that hungered for another chance to live once again. Their goal was to feed off of the souls of the weak – the humans.

The Dark Lord himself was born half demon, half human. He resented his human half, as he resent the family he was born into. His mother had made a deal with Satan to have a child, and he impregnated her, but the part that wasn't mentioned to her was that upon the child's eighteenth birthday, he was damned to an eternity with his Father, doing his bidding. And, Satan loved nothing more than to unsettle poor, unfortunate souls.