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The Book of Cagliostro was not enough, I figured that much soon enough, after all, it was easy to see, that the knowledge within the book was incomplete, a part of something else, a single piece of the puzzle, meaning, Alice was going to use what she thought was a complete spell to absorb a Celestial being or try to, possibly dooming us all, because by my calculations, if she failed, the cosmic energy within her plus that of the Celestial would implode causing a cataclysmic event that would erase the entire milky way, perhaps even more.
I sighed, I knew what I had to do, I had to find what was missing from this spell, and for that, I had to visit the past.
"Well, now or never," I nodded, equipping the Time Stone, to travel to the age of Cagliostro, or rather, to a time where his library was still intact, there, I was sure to find the answers to my problems.
Taking a deep breath, I moved my hands forward channeling the power of the stone, concentrating on the time I wanted to visit as little by little, a green aura started to envelop me whole, soon after, the time around me come to a halt before going backward.
—------------
By the time, I stopped forcing the flow of time to move at my whim, I found myself in a forest, surrounded by wildlife and trees, and the sounds of nature.
"Well, that was easy," I muttered, looking around.
"Who are you?"
I blinked in surprise, turning around to see who had asked that, to find a man a few meters away staring at me stoically.
[Cagliostro - O'Bengh LV 265]
"Alex," I replied, waving at him.
"What are you doing here?" Cagliostro asked, his eyes never leaving mine.
"You want the long version or the short one?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.
Cagliostro said nothing.
"I came here to learn how to… eat other creatures," I replied, resolving to tell him the truth, after all, honesty was the best policy anyway.
"That's a new one," Cagliostro said for a moment seemingly befuddled at my answer, "Follow me," he added.
I smiled, doing just that.
—---------
I followed Cagliostro through the forest for an hour or so, without talking or anything, the man simply walked, and I simply followed, eventually, however, this led to me finding myself face to face with his library, the building in question was fucking massive, like twenty stories tall, at least, and was covered in protecting eldritch runes.
"So, this is…" He was gone, apparently, the moment we had reached the library, the legendary sorcerer had decided to ditch me. "Rude," I sighed, before jumping to the door, quite literally, the entrance was at the last level, and the building had no stairs, so it was either jumping, or teleporting, and well, I picked jumping.
Landing on the last level, I looked around the entrance, finding it a bit… suspicious, for one, it was… a bit too dark, like, I wasn't able to see shit, and two, there were at least three thousand runes around, most of them traps.
I sighed, sending a pulse of magic to temporarily deactivate the runes.
"So you are a sorcerer," I heard someone speak behind me, that someone being Cagliostro.
"Well… kind of," I nodded, in terms of knowledge, the Ancient One was leagues above me, I learned the basics, and stopped, heck, Emily knew more spells than me, but when it came to raw power, I was unmatched, then again, I learned tons of spells thanks to the roots of Yggdrasil, so… maybe I do know more than the Ancient One now.
"Follow me," Cagliostro said once again.
"Are you gonna ditch me again?" I asked with a chuckle.
"Not this time," Cagliostro replied, at least he admitted his shit, I liked the guy.
"So, what's your name?" I asked because while it was true I knew his name, I found it was best to ask anyway.
"You already know the answer to that question, but if you must address me, please call me, O'Bengh," Cagliostro replied.
"Will do," I nodded.
"By the way, do the sorcerers of your time, used those clothes?" Cagliostro asked.
"Ha! No, my friend, and teacher, uses clothes much like yours," I replied with a small smile, imagine the Ancient One wearing what I was wearing, sweatpants, and a sweater.
"Good, you dress weird," Cagliostro replied with a chuckle.
"Hey! I dress for comfort," Nothing beats the sweatpants and sweater wombo combo!
"Not for the eyes," Cagliostro chuckled.
—-------------
I followed Cagliostro once again, this time, however, having a pleasant conversation with him about various topics, eventually, though, our pleasant conversation came to an end, the moment Cagliostro opened the doors to his library.
Revealing thousands upon thousands of books, books I had never seen, books the Ancient One had never seen.
I grinned, for I knew what I had to do, besides learning how to eat a Celestial, I would copy every book in this library, and give them to the Ancient One, effectively reviving the Library of Cagliostro.
Bringing back the lost books.
"So, how long will you be staying here?" Cagliostro asked.
"Hm," I paused, pondering over that, "I don't know, time is relative when you can travel through it."
"Fair enough," Cagliostro shrugged, walking away, "If you need me, don't call me."
"Haha!" I snorted, I liked the guy, too bad he was super dead in the future. With Cagliostro gone, I snapped my fingers, sending a wave of magic around the library, drawing dozens of books off the shelves, making them orbit around me, as I perused the titles.
"Those books better be back in their place!" Cagliostro shouted from the shadows.
"They will be!" They would, I mean, I'm not organized, but having the time stone fixes that.
Now, enough talk, it's time to learn, after all, time is on my hands. Quite literally.
I wonder how The Ancient One will react when I give her the books?
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Kneeling on the floor, I opened another book on the subject of soul transmutation and started to read, I had lost count of how many books I had read so far, or how many days I had spent in the library, weeks? Months? I guess it really didn't matter.
The book I had opened, described in great detail how to gain power through the absorption of other beings, and how the ritual in question changed depending on the being.
The process seemed easy enough. According to the book, all I had to do was carve a runic circle following clear instructions to summon the being I wanted to absorb, and then pull his soul into mine, overpowering his, with mine.
Needless to say, this particular spell was seemingly easy, was deceivingly hard, for it required a vast array of rather complicated runes and spells to work, with each one having to be perfect, for even the slightest mistake could lead to an unstable fusion.
But I wasn't worried, not for me, my powers left very little room for error, I was worried about Alice, and the damage she could do to my universe in this quest of hers.
"Why do you seek to absorb another being into you?" Cagliostro asked, snapping me out of my train of thought.
"Not that I want to, but is either that or the end of all life, possibly," I sighed, turning to face the old sorcerer.
"I see," Cagliostro nodded, seeming to muse over my answer, "Is it an absolute point you seek to prevent?"
I shook my head, my lips forming a thin line before answering, "No… It's complicated…" I sighed, brushing my hair with one hand as I tried to organize my thoughts.
"I find all stories have a beginning," Cagliostro smiled, taking a seat on the floor in front of me.
I chuckled, he was almost like the Ancient One, "I guess I can share if you are willing to hear."
He nodded, giving me the green light to go.
"Well, let's see… Are you aware of the multiverse? Forget, stupid question, like sixty books you wrote talk about it," For a moment there, I had forgotten he was the author of several books I had read about the subject, "Anyway, a version of me, that's not really a version of me… came to our universe, and from the get-go, it was easy to see she was… unstable."
"How so?" Cagliostro asked.
"Well, she was the literal definition of crazy, but that was okay, it was… something I didn't mind that much," I sighed, closing my eyes for a second, "The thing was, I never felt completely relaxed around her, you see… my powers allow me to see and feel with certainty whose an ally or whose not, and she never was… an ally."
"But she wasn't an enemy either," Cagliostro concluded.
"Yes, she was in the in-between, the grey area, not an enemy, not an ally," I nodded, "I attributed that to her not trusting me, or to things of her past, and decided to give her time, but well… she decided to do something really dangerous, she decided to… eat a celestial, with an incomplete spell of yours."
"I see," Cagliostro sighed, "And I suppose you intend to do just that, but before her, right?"
"Yes, sadly, when I discovered what she was doing, I didn't… deal with her properly at the time, I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, to let her explain, but instead, she escaped my grasp, and is, as we speak, absorbing power to have enough to eat the celestial… and well… if she fails, we are fucked," I sighed.
"Do you seek to save her?" He asked, and for a moment, I pondered over his question, at one time, sure, I did, but now? No, she was far too dangerous, too unpredictable to be left alive, she was a threat I didn't have the luxury to ignore.
"No," I replied, my tone full of resolve as I looked into his eyes.
Cagliostro nodded, and without a word left without looking back, I wasn't sure if he was judging me or contemplating my answer, I honestly did not care, Alice had to die, she had carved her own destiny in blood, and now, she had to reap what she had sowed. After all, you eventually have to face up to the consequences of your actions.
—---------
After a few extra days of research, it was time to test the spell and see how it worked at firsthand.
Drawing the runes on the floor with a simple thought, I pushed my body a few feet above the air, levitating my entire body while crossing my legs, setting myself in a comfortable sitting position midair.
"Here goes nothing," I said, activating the runic circle. Invoking my first creature, a giant black bird with six eyes, sighing I looked at the creature who defiantly roared in my face before proceeding with the spell.
Light pouring out of my eyes and mouth, I pushed the creature into a merging state, transforming his very being into pure energy as thousands of feathers flew off the creature merging with me, as the beast roared defiantly fighting my pull before I finally managed to absorb its entire being.
I panted, the merging process had been, weird.
I could feel the creature, no longer as an individual, but as a part of me.
I could also feel all of his power, being mine.
I was stronger, that much I knew, not by much, but enough to be noticeable, the creature itself had given me a few levels, just by consuming it.
Not only that but all that made this creature unique, his power, his memories, everything.
"Well, this will come in handy," But before I jumped the rope, I had to confirm it would not bring me any side effects, the last thing I wanted was to turn into an Eldritch being because of it.
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