[centre][h2]Morgana Faith[/h2][/centre]

Well, that was the first step over and done with at least.

Morgana had never made a contract with a spirit before, even though she knew the principles behind it, and this was already a very unconventional situation given that the spirit had already manifested in their world and had no contract or master to speak of; even so, binding and sealing were among her specialities so she was confident that her makeshift solution would work. If anything, she had expected actually getting the Roggenwolf into the circle to be the hard part; she couldn’t possibly anticipate Madeleine managing to [i]befriend[/i] a conceptual being of the harvest.

Still, in the circle it was, which meant the next part was all on her.

[color=c4df9b]“I can’t promise it will be a complete pleasant experience. As I said to the spirit, I was expecting an unwilling participant and structured the circle as such; it won’t hurt them, so long as they don’t try and fight this, but they may feel… [i]restricted[/i] for the time being.”[/color]

Half of the work she’d put into the thing had been making sure it could contain a spirit that was trying to forcibly extricate itself, after all. Ever since the Roggenwolf entered the circle, it had bound itself within it; not permanently, not irreversibly, but it would find it difficult to move from where it currently stood, should it try.

[color=c4df9b]"I’m not much of a witch these days; I’m more of a heretic.”[/color] She’d never learned anything from being a witch other than the wrong way to things anyway. [color=c4df9b]“The ‘other side’ is not a true plane of existence like Heaven or Hell, or even the Fae realm. It’s less definite than that. The spirits reside in a place that is more a mirrored reflection of the plane where we are right now, a place slightly off centre from us rather than a separate place entirely.”[/color] Or so they believed. Everything Morgana had read on the subject, and she had read quite a bit about a lot of subjects, said as much; proving it was another matter, but it hadn’t been disproven either. In other words, it was the leading theory, but there was always room for improvement in their understanding. [color=c4df9b]“Spirits are conceptual beings; they aren’t… [i]real[/i] in the way that we are. Our existences are our own and are not dependent on anything but ourselves, but spirits only exist because other things exist. In the case of the Roggenwolf, it is a corn spirit; most of them are tied to a specific cornfield and can only exist as long as it does. That’s why the solution to a Roggenwolf if often to simply cut down the corn until only a single stalk remains, in order to contain it.”[/color]

But this one had been summoned; it had no field, only a master feeding it over their connection to allow it to exist on this plane. Or at least, that was how it was supposed to go. Without a master it would eventually return to its own plane by itself, with this plan just being a way to speed up the process.

[color=c4df9b]“Truthfully, I only know the basics of spiritlore. It’s not my area of expertise, though sealing and binding [i]is[/i] and those are fields often closely related to the handling of spirits.”[/color] She waved a hand to gesture at the circle. [color=c4df9b]“I know how to do this, but not much about their nature. Anyway, that’s enough distraction. I’ll make the contract now.”[/color]

Morgana walked forward, stepping closer to the circling binding the Roggenwolf and locking eyes with the spirit. As before, it stared back with a strange sort of understanding in its eyes. Clearing her throat, the witch began to pour mana into a connection between herself and the boundary of the circle she had drawn.

[color=c4df9b]“Hmm, how should I word this? A binding resolution requires the right syntax after all. No need to include anything related to your summoning since you are already here; the focus should be on the agreement and the bargain. Let’s go with… [i]Spirit of the bounty and the harvest. By my words an offer is made, and by my deeds see it repaid. My oath is thus; submit yourself to this beckoning, submit to this will and render unto me a service. If you abide by this call, let a covenant be struck.[/i]”[/color]

Despite the fact that Morgana spoke no differently than normal and despite the fact that she weaved no visible magic, the words rang with a strange quality. The air felt heavy with the weight of their meaning. [color=c4df9b]“A little ostentatious, but that should suffice. A single service; that is all I ask, that is all this contract should require of you. Then I can end it and you can go home. But you need to agree to it.”[/color]

[@Kumbaris][@Martian]