I have had the pleasure over the past few years of creating the flavor for the world of the game line Never Going Home (publisher Wet Ink Games) through my short fiction and inventing historical artifacts. This year, we wanted to stretch the magic of the game a little further, and I had to the idea to write out the pages of a mysterious spell book that is featured in several of the stories I have written for the line. My goal was to have the reader ask themselves, “what am I reading?” I have heard that I hit the nail on the head.

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Locked in the book of secrets, we bear witness—

Nature leads us into the eternal tree.

When the whisper comes, climb the tree to reach the barren star.

The old gods and new gods and dead ones are born in the depths.

Come, follow the sound of the water that falls from the darkness.

Bring with you a lamp of your enemy, the hair of your familiar, the skin from your first wound.

Be silent in the presence and it will show you how to unfold your wings.

Climb, climb high.

Climb the eternal tree.

 

To seek the blood of the newest lover, be like the honey that drips from your tongue.

In a caress like dreaming, you will encircle the branches

Each tendril a reaching finger that stirs your memory.

Be bold. Be silent. String up your demons and press them forward into the fire.

The new gods will burn you when you break the spear.

 

Five cuts along the stone

Five strokes painted in blood

Five kisses, dampened with death

Five long sighs. Climb.

 

The klumskaag will find you when you close your other eye

To summon it, trim the light from your mind.

Its wings will carry you to the source of the power

Where the other eyes will see your whole self,

The glamling, the orobing, the guldenshafen

All naked with power.

To take it as your own, bring your outer thoughts inwards

And call the name of the ancient mother.

Then open your eyes and drink the darkened sunrise.

 

A prayer for binding:

Bring the head of the oldest goat to the center

Fill the skull with vinegar and dust

Silence the thoughts that disturb the fear

Whisper to the god of your choosing, old or new

Then bring the skull to your lips- three sips

This will bring you closer to the star.

 

These six words will let you forget:

Daag glash naag abaat glaag blan

Use sparingly.

 

We take the blood of the ones who never lived

Bring it back to the circle, enfold it into the fire

The barren star brings life to them

The deep sings the songs of their birthing.

The ancient mothers watch with wonder

As we work this power, this magic.

They climb into the great tree. The eternal tree. We climb.

 

To unfold yourself, first prick your finger

Then let the pain carry you forward.

Press the bleeding tip to the wood of the tree

Light the fire at your feet and dance.

 

We have learned how to evade death by becoming it. It takes practice.

Sometimes you die before you can fully learn. Take care when learning.

 

For a wish that walks:

Find a rider, one who brings bad news. Take a hair from the horse’s tail, store it in oil for seven days. Burn the oil in your enemy’s lamp on the morning of the eighth day. Then walk in a circle four times around the flame without turning your face from the fire. Wish for the things you want, invoking the old gods and new gods as you see fit. Blow out the flame and drink the oil.

 

Three odd figures will come from the tree when the world is at its end.

The first will bring the fire, the second will bring the water, the third will bring the darkness.

Befriend them and they will let you climb the eternal tree.

 

The streaks of light will come when the tree splits

From the tear, a terror never known before.

It will draw itself from the wounded tree, flowing like poison across the land.

It feeds on fear and apathy, disease and death.

When it is finished feeding, it will leave dry husks and return from whence it came.

We will follow it to the barren star.

We will climb the eternal tree.

 

To feed a fever, first make a slash across the roots of the tree

Lean your face to the ground, press your lips to the earth

Taste the iron of the soil, the blood that was spilled in the dirt.

Whisper the words you learned from the gafklaagun

Your lips will taste like sweat if it has worked.

 

Deep in the pit the ancient mothers sing

They bring new souls from the fire

They climb the eternal tree.

When the tree splits they will fall to the earth.

They will feed on us, and we will fear them.

They will feed on us, and we will love them.

 

If the whispers stop it will be too late for you.

The fulfuhra has already cut you from the branch.

Your leaves will wither and there will be no more roots.

If the whispers stop then you will know

That you have been pruned from the eternal tree.

 

We bear witness—we have seen the ancient mothers.

In the roots of the eternal tree they brew their poisons

We go from branch to branch, they remain firmly set.

Without them, there is no tree, no roots, no life.

We bear witness—the ancient mothers give us life.

 

To call a new god to life, first make a circle of clay

Cross the circle with two lines of chalk

At the center lay a wreath of wax, preferably with honey.

Light a fire outside the circle, then name the one you wish to birth.

The ancient mothers will hear you, but they may not intervene.

If the fulfuhra intercedes for you, then you will taste ash in your mouth.

You will know that the birth has begun when you taste blood.

Lift the wreath of wax, break off a piece and eat it. Throw the rest into the fire.

Then sleep for three days at the center of the circle.

When you awaken, the new god will be born.

 

If you feel weakened by the whispers it is your own doing.

Bring the fur from a white wolf and offer it at the table.

The old gods will take it as a sign of strength and wipe away your weariness.

Be careful not to do this often, or else the new gods will throw you into the fire

Where you will become like the dead ones.

Then you will belong to the ancient mothers

And they will send you back through the eternal tree

Where you will have to begin again.