The first circle

If his calculations were correct... which was highly debatable at this point, the first valmasia based co-ordinates would be around the old Lionheart building. Not too far from it actually. Though he didn't have the best way of measuring things... oh it'd be alright, he was trying to cast a wide net anyway, it'd work just as fine... Hopefully.

Dumuzid's storm cloud made it easy to get around the place at least and one crimson bolt later he had made it to the edge of the bygone, the edge of Dumuzid's current reach. And, thankfully, close enough to the area to begin the ritual. Crimson lightning sparked up around him and began to collect in his palms. With a thrust it began to char the grass before him.

He would of course have to do more than this but it was the first key step... He hoped there'd be no distractions.
(Gorandis)

What a shit show the bygone had become ever since Dumuzid had made it his nest. The Yokai forest wasn't too far away now, as Ella and Charlie ventured through the dreadful forest. They had taken a boat to New Alteros, just to avoid the vile Marshlands. It definitely was the safest trajectory, though even then, the grove and areas surrounding the Citadel remained perilous.

Nonetheless, the duo was powerful enough to engage any potential danger without any real issues. Charlie only worried for the destination, where the powerful fiends congregated and plotted along with the monstrous imperfect. The two would meet the first landmark, and the only relevant one before marching into Citadel territory.

"Heh. Almost there."

As they progressed, however, they could notice a flickering red light in the distance as the fort became more and more visible. Something or someone was doing something rather peculiar, and upon further inspection, the doctor recognized the sparks of the unique lightning she herself employed.

A hand gesture signaled at her daughter to stay on her guard before pointing at the potential threat before them. Gorandis would not be warn of them intentionally, but a few steps of fallen twigs would easily give out their position.
(Charlie Avaline)

Dumuzkid warned her that it would attempt to slaughter them all if Ella didn't go alone... so she did bring Charlie along, as she had her own business in the citadel but when the time comes she hopes her mother would take a step aside for her... She didn't feel in danger of such a meeting, she could die of course; but it would be a mutual death if she did.

But as to the agreement Ella didn't have her weapon, this did not mean she was defenseless... A magi was a lot more potent without a weapon then perhaps her mother without a sword as she was still a threat as she needed to be.

The stopping of her mother would have some blood pooled to her hands, she didn't have time to create metal in a real combat situation yet, but things could be fine as they were..
(Ella Avaline)

The first circle was slowly being gouged out of the land. The red sparks making the base imprint for what came next. Unlike runewriting, a spiritual ritual required more than just a few fancy letters and a lot of mana. When spirits were concerned far more emotion was required and that meant effigies and fetishes abound.

Thankfully they had already been completed and it would be simple enough to place them where-- His ears twitched beneath his hood. The snapping of twigs behind him not too far off. Sure, this was likely just one of the many yokai running around, drawn out to his occultic power. but it would still interrupt the ritual if he should start it...

Without turning around, so sure that it was a minor threat, two arcs of lightning raced across the grass to where the two were hiding, hoping to deal with the approaching problem before it even became one. He had to focus here. No distractions... The intensity of the lightning coming from his hands seemed to increase and the dirt beneath the grass began to vaporize alongside it.
(Gorandis)

A closer look would reveal that this individual was performing some sort of ritual. The circles that she could recognize as some form of runic circles were being worked to achieve some goal she did not know of. But it did look all too familiar to the days where she worked with Ophrem on spirital communications.

And then, lightning came their way. Eyes widened as the doctor saw said assault and quickly proceeded to avoid it by employed her own, crimson lightning enhanced speed. The doctor ported a few meters away, now in the open and exposed to Groandis' gaze if he were to face her direction. Ella was to dodge it herself, as Charlie deemed her competent enough to deal with it.

Squinting at the ritualistic man, the Avaline could only speak up after such an uncalled for assault.

"Hey, what the fuck? At least warn before randomly attacking y'dip."

She opened her arms, clearly annoyed and somewhat still confused as to what was going on here. As familiar as the ritual looked, runes were far too open ended to interpret just like that. There needed a context, an intention spiritually inscribed into them.
(Charlie Avaline)

Ella was only slightly curious, it was the Bygonegrove and the realm of the imperfect, it was a given that something odd and shady may be taking place around there as she would look with her mother, though a bit more unknowing what it was she would see the bolts of lightning just as well.

A small stream of water would grow over her head and connect to the ground, giving the lightning a better earthing rod to char into the ground instead of her... Perhaps helping him with his ritual... or messing up it a bit, hopefully they were far enough away it didn't matter.

She would shrug towards her mother. "I mean we were watching him and he just noticed... I think that's a reasonable response..." She expected a level of uncaring and cruelty outside of a town for safety reasons.
(Ella Avaline)

He didn't turn when he heard her speak, just cursed under his breath. He whipped his arms around again and forcefully completed the circle, perhaps messing it up a little in his haste. Finally, the crackling of lightning stopped with a fading roll of thunder as he slowly lowered his arms and turned to face the two that seemed to be interrupting his progress.

"Perhaps you should announce yourself to people who are obviously busy." His voice snapped out as he finally turned to face her. He was not exactly a man of imposing stature, standing thinly at five feet eight. A small black goatee adorned the only visible piece of face beneath his hood. "Instead of simply sneaking up like a common Yokai."

"Maybe then I wouldn't treat you like one, eh?" He sighed, exasperatedly before turning back to the circle. A soft growl escaped his throat again as he looked down at the shoddy work. "If you don't mind I am trying to finish up this runic circle so that I can start this ritual... The spirit realm isn't going to funnel itself now is it?" His voice was one that seemed well practiced.

It oozed slightly and had a nasty slickness about it. Definitely not a voice that sounded trustworthy.
(Gorandis)

An eyebrow rose. Both at her daughter and at the individual performing the bizarre ritual.

"Excuse me for now showing myself to the weirdo performing whatever ungodly ritual in the middle of the Bygone. How could I be so foolish?"

Her eyes rolled, already exasperated with this exchange. There was enough to do with just dealing with whatever was waiting for her at the Citadel, no need to waste too much energy on this outlier.

"Uh-huh. Right, you have fun with that."

So it was another one of these weird summonings Ophrem had done in the past. The doctor wouldn't have any regrets just ignoring this strange proceeding, the last experience she had with it wasn't exactly the most thrilling of things.

Turning her gaze toward Ella, a small tilt of her head would indicate a desire to depart from the area. If Gorandis cared so much about finishing this ritual, who were they to bother him and his itchy trigger finger?
(Charlie Avaline)

There was a puff of her cheeks as she would have to disagree with her mother again. "Excuse you for creating plagued fused creatures in the middle of town where they can hurt me and others... This guy has the right idea by doing his things in the middle of the woods."

Though not really noting the figure and talking through him more then to him. The ritual was none of her business either though she wonders why her mother got so defensive because she was seen? Did she pride herself on stealth?

Whatever the case would nod her head, this wasn't the Citadel and there wasn't anything invested from her sake with the goateed man or his ritual. "Yeah... let's get going then..."
(Ella Avaline)

"I take it you're another one headed to the citadel?" He turned back around, there was venom in his tone. "All sorts of... what would be the best word... riff raff? Turn up there nowadays. Most of them bratty little kids." His gaze shifted back to Ella for a moment. "But I don't see why, Dumuzid is about as useful as he is subtle..."

He peered out over the circle again making minor adjustments with bursts of occultic lightning here and there. "Depending on what you're going for it might be better for you to just not waste your time. It's hardly even worth it." As he spoke, his burst got more and more violent, betraying his feelings on the place and of the people there.

"Stupid... blasted...!" As his words and actions got more violent, his voice lost its luster, becoming more and more like a common man. "The stupid bastard up there wouldn't know a good idea if it crawled its way up his arse..." After fixing up some of the rougher areas the circle was now actually serviceable and it began to glow a deep crimson.

"So yes." The slickness returned. "You might be better off not going."
(Gorandis)

"Are you really going to be salty over this NOW?"

Eyes narrowed toward Ella. While certainly a good kid, her attitude would possibly be a good explination to her hollow dating life. But, in the end the girl would agree that they were better off to move on. As they started to depart, the strange man spoke up again. The Avaline entered a halt, curious as to what the shaman-like male had to say.

"Yeah, we're going there."

And with that, the guy started to go on a tangeant, no a rant about Dumuzid's acolytes and kin. And the monster itself. The woman would just give him a dull stare, letting Gorandis lose his shit over what seemed to be something he pitched to the imperfect, but probably got turned down.

The runic circle was also acting up as this went on, seemingly entering a state of completion as the man appeared to calm down near the end.

"Look, I know it's kind of a shithole there, but the guy owes me a body. And permission to experiment in his lair. He's got it. He has absolutely no benefit in fucking me over. So I think I'm fine."

However ...

"As for Ella ... Actually, why'd you even care about this at all, Ella?"
(Charlie Avaline)

"I'm not salty! I'm just saying he is smarter to do his experiments where if something goes wrong it's the yokai and the trees taking the brunt of it! I just used myself as how stupid your decision is!" It was more of a joking fight as Ella's face was not red nor angry at all but she doubts that the man would care much as she would just puff her cheeks out and wait.

Allowing her mother to do the talking the crimson lights from the runes were neato but nothing too extreme, she found the ones on her back to be more complex than those.

Then her mother ask her about why she was going and she would shake her head. "I told you, I needed to talk to Dumu for a few moments alone..."
(Ella Avaline)

"Good luck with talking to him, you're a nobody..." He began to move around the circumference of the circle, placing items along it. Seemingly random things at random places. A branch, a stone, a small scrap of paper... all pulled from the depths of his bag and carefully placed down around the edge of the circle. Effigies they were, representations of something.

He continued to speak as he did his preparations. "You'll never get to speak to him alone, even I have trouble with that and I have actually made myself useful around the place..." The next effigy was placed down with less care than usual, a quick stab more than anything else. "And it isn't 'kind of' a shit hole. There are only about three decent people there, myself included."

"Maybe four if Aita decides to show his face for once. You don't want to stay in 'his lair' for any period of time at all. You'll guest get harassed for training or attacked for some stupid fucking reason..." He stops, sighing. "Trust me, it's not worth it, the only reason I ever went there was to help control occultic madness... it had hit me pretty hard."

"I found no respite from Dumuzid nor from most of the others. It took me beating two people nearly to death to help combat some of the urges but it's just massively temporary..."
(Gorandis)

A gesture of dismissal was thrown Ella's way, eyes rolling at the remarks made about Charlie's decisions. There was no need for justifications, the girl was fully aware of the doctor's every 'why' on matters. Well, most of them anyway. Gorandis however managed to stay somewhat captivating. His words didn't really concern Charlie, but nonetheless she remained intrigued.

"I assume a lot of people want to speak with the imperfect. A lot of nobodies as you way."

She clicked her tongue at that last part, amused to know that many did come over in the hopes to get something from probably one of the most vile and selfish beings of this world. Charlie perhaps had it right on that level, keeping it at business and nothing more was the way to go.

"But, Ella and Dumuzid have a history, you see. I'm sure he could free his schedule for five minutes. The I.O.U for such meager time can't be too severe~"

She smirked, quite confident in her perception that she could compromise with the Yokai. The doctor was fully aware of how fickle these beings were, especially in times of uncertainty. But, if that thing had managed to live for so long, it'd at least have some reason present in its mind.
(Charlie Avaline)

The effigies were placed and the circle was ready for the ritual, near enough. With a crack, Gorandis held his left arm out and the air split, coalescing into the shape of a man, a spirit. Though unlike most, this spirit appeared beaten. He had scars, some still bleeding, across his entire form. His body posture told it all as he cowered in Gorandis' presence.

He was shunted into the centre of the circle, ready for the ritual to begin. "Yes well I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. I doubt there is anyone he would actually listen to, no matter what history they had. He barely even gave the old Queen, Astoria, the time of day when she approached him earlier. So I very much doubt what you two would get from him..."

His arms came up before him and the circle began to shimmer a deep red, it span through the colour wheel before landing on a putrid, vile green colour where it began to shimmer and rise. Walls of energy rose up, trapping the spirit within where it began to writhe and wail in pain loudly. "Now then, let's get this stupid ritual done..."

He frowned as the spirit winked out of existence, leaving a thin white trail that the green strands began to poke at, probing it before disappearing entirely, from any sort of detection.
(Gorandis)

"I'm unsure why anyone would give that slut a second of their time with what she is now. A nobody."

Nasty and venomous, Charlie could never get over the hatred for this individual. Even in times where it'd be humane to simply cut them some slack.

"He'll oblige. He bothered to make me those nice, little letters. He'll bother to pass me that fucking corpse."

The ritual seemed to indeed approach its end, and like the caster, Charlie wanted it to end as its flashiness was starting to get tiring to the eyes. Plus, they had been here for a while, they may as well see how this shit show could actually end.

"Summoning a malignant spirit, aren't you? Careful ..."

She put a lot of emphasis on that last word, as she spoke out of experience. The doctor took a couple of steps back, avoiding as much proximity with the circle as possible.

"If you happen to have a spirit that tries to lick your eye, you might want to smack the center of that circle."
(Charlie Avaline)

It seems her mother was being quite nasty again, though it was none of her business though perhaps it was with her aunt being one of the one to take the cuts but she would not really care being called a nobody, but after a quick span of thought she would look towards her mother. It seems she had a revelation.

"I actually don't think I need to talk to Dumuzkid anymore..... I think I may just skip out and head home, or I can stay if you need me to that is fine as well... Security reasons and what not as she would just follow her mother not really knowledgeable about the spirits either, she was usually sleeping with Ophrem's little actions with the spirits.


(Ella Avaline)

"Well you're half right, it is something to do with spirits but I'm not summoning one just yet. No, I'm planting a channel in the spirit realm. I'm going to thread two or three more of them about the place so that when I do the summoning I can draw in spirits from the entire length of the country. A giant beacon to pull them all into the right spot..."

"Almost like a mass summoning, but there is going to be just a little bit more to it... the theory for it is quite marvellous..." He brought his hands round and the green energies were drained from the circle itself, pouring into the almost wound looking area of the air. It writhed and wormed its way through like a sentient appendage before winking out.

The black circle of grass faded as the effigies turned to dust and faded away. The sound of wailing could be heard again as the spirit was dragged back with even more scars appearing on its form and now, it seemed to be missing a chunk of itself, a hole in its midsection. Gorandis seemed to notice this and smile. "Well the first one has been planted just fine then..."

The black and charred grass was ignored now. "Now I just need to go and do the rest..." He grumbled slightly before turning to face Charlie fully for the first time. "Be careful with the imperfect..."
(Gorandis)

Interesting approach, something that would likely interest Ophrem a lot more than Charlie. Nonetheless, she listened. Lips pursed, the woman nodded in approval of the approach.

"Alright. Seems interesting enough. Hopefully you don't die in the process."

There wasn't much to note about the ending of the ritual, other than the spirit taking an extra load of scars. What it meant, Charlie did not know. The doctor mostly took note of the shape and details of the circles employed, as well as the effigies. In case these were to ever become an issue, as least she'd know what they were.

Another nod was given to the warning the man had given to the duo concerning the Yokai.

"Don't worry, I ain't turning my back when he's around."

A smile of confidence was given before she'd turn toward the general direction of the citadel.

"Good luck on these rituals. And Ella, I'd be happy if you'd keep me company, at the very least."
(Charlie Avaline)

Gorandis: Then be careful around him is all I can say
Charlie Avaline: <*A little wave*>
Charlie Avaline: Oh.
Charlie Avaline: Oooooh.
Charlie Avaline: May as well ask.
Charlie Avaline: I never caught your name?
Gorandis: Oh, Gorandis
Gorandis: And yours?
Charlie Avaline: Charlie.
Gorandis: Charlie... Avaline?
Gorandis: You said you were a doctor right?
Gorandis: I had considered coming to you in Nostvale for help...
Charlie Avaline: That's me, yes.
Charlie Avaline: What do you need?
Gorandis: It was about the occult madness... you seem to be doing fine with it so...
Charlie Avaline: Hmmm. Come to think of it ...
Charlie Avaline: I could have something that'd help.
Gorandis: And what would that be?
Charlie Avaline: Research from the Sanctuary and perhaps some devices they may have used in the past.
Gorandis: Hmm... that... might help. But it might already be too late for me to go back to how I was...
Gorandis: I...
Gorandis: <*He seems to visibly shrink as his hand comes to his face*>
Gorandis: No, no I think it is too late.
Charlie Avaline: Can't hurt to try.
Gorandis: No, it would hurt me...
Charlie Avaline: Well, my door remains open to patients in need.
Gorandis: But... <*He straightens up, seemingly back to 'normal'*> Thank you for the offer... I need to head to the grasslands next..
Charlie Avaline: Good luck with that then.
Gorandis: Good luck to you with Dumuzid.