From my hands...(HWC2013)

You know those discussion topics along the lines of "If you could meet any famous person from history and ask them anything who would it be?", well you actually can, as long as you're a Necromancer and in possession of their skull...

It was the day of Halloween, the sun had just started to sink below the horizon and it's golden red glow permeated the room of my apartment through the Westward facing bay window, illuminating the swirling cigarette smoke that rose up within it from my four assembled guests, a halcyon moment that set off my tastefully eclectic shabby furnishings to best effect.

I was holding my annual festive meet, the spooky trickless treat, and had invited along as per usual my closest friends, the ones who managed best to put up with me throughout the year despite my generally broody contrariness and tendency toward weird.

There was the two sisters Jane and Janine dressed in their flirty finest witch outfits as they intended to go clubbing later. and then there was my blue haired angel Natusia who had taken a day off from running the Universe, and finally there was Simon who wouldn't miss anything for the world, and made sure the world wouldn't miss him either, in his tight fitting red Devil costume, complete with tail and horns, all in a giddy and lively mood as was the per usual with them, and onto their second bottle of plonk.

There was a barely audible knock at the door, which i had been anticipating, i gave a quick "keep it down" and then went to answer, after a quick glance through the peephole to confirm my expectations i opened up and there was Birk the hairless grave robber, as Simon had named him, though i knew him as Mr Birklees.

"Please Sir do come in" i offered, inwardly cringing at the suppressed giggles i could hear from behind.

"Thank you kindly Madame and don't mind if i do" he replied in his softly spoken manner, and stepped inside, toward the small table in the centre of the room which i indicated toward.

"I believe you met my guests the previous year if you recall...?"

"Ah yes yes i recall well, good evening to your fine selves..."

"Hiyeeeee..." was the general reply.

He carried with him a black leather case, this he placed upon the table, produced a key from his pocket and opened it, and there inside ensconced within red velvet was a skull which he removed and placed upon the table as i helpfully removed his case out of the way, before handing it back to him.

"Well there we are Madame, i'll say nothing except i'll say that this one needn't be returned to me, and with that i'll also be saying to you all good evening"

"I understand" i replied, though i was somewhat surprised as that wasn't traditional, though dropping three golden sovereigns into his outstretched hand was, which i duly did, before he made for the door and from thence departed.

"Byeeeee..." came from the assembled chorus behind me, before they released their nervous laughter and excitements.

The tradition as it stands is that every year at Halloween those shadowy figures that supply the ever diminishing true Necromancers and their clients with the requested skulls for their practise throughout the year, will on that day present the practitioners with a little something special as a token of appreciation for continuing with their services, this is often the skull of a historical personage or celebrity, whose identity is not disclosed beforehand to the Necromancer, as a festive surprise.

Normally they borrow these much sought after items from their contacts within the murky occultic underworld, and they are returned thereafter, thus my surpise that this particular skull need not be returned.

My guests had gathered around the table holding the skull and were leaning forward examining it, as began the first game of the evening, guessing who it had belonged to.

"It's a bit blooming grotty!" exclaimed Jane.

"And a bit blooming smelly!" laughed Janine.

"And it has hole in it's head, see here" offered Natusia, poking her little finger through a hole on the side of the left temple.

"Oh my God it's Hitler...!!!" bellowed Simon.

Everyone fell about laughing, we discussed at length the likelihood of it really being the skull of Hitler, the general consensus was well who else could it be, and after Simon had led a goose step parade around the table interspersed with the odd Sieg Heil we put the table and skull to the side for later in the evening.

While they settled down to watch 'The Nightmare before Christmas' i contemplated the past year, business had been very good, clients were increasing in number and diversity of motivation for wishing to get in contact with the deceased. There was the staple fare of those wishing to make contact with loved ones, who would arrange to have the skull exhumed and afterward returned by those who could do so, scarcely leaving a trace at the grave side, but there were increasingly clients connected to the criminal underworld and shady Government agencies that would employ my services to extract information from rivals that sometimes it seemed they had themselves recently despatched to the Nether regions.

Throughout all these summoning's i would always maintain a detached expressionless demeanour, the trance like state, necessary only really to maintain a safe emotional distance from myself and the client, creating the impression that in a sense i was not all there, and would be unable to later recall events, though that was not the case at all.


By the time the 'Rocky Horror Show' was coming to an end and the fourth bottle of plonk we approached the Midnight hour and i had began to make my preparations, i rolled back the rug in the centre of the room to reveal the protective circle of the Pentagram beneath it, turned off the light and lit the thirteen candles of illumination on their wall mounts, then moved the table into the centre of the circle.

I began to sense the nervous anticipation within my guests, and i requested they assemble around the circle, from a chest beneath the window i brought out an oil burning brazier, an inscribed copper bowl, a bottle containing fluid and a silken pouch, which i placed on the table, igniting the brazier and placing the copper bowl upon it into which i poured the fluid, which contained amongst other things the liquefied tongue of a serpent, the blood of a weasel, the semen of a stallion and urine of a bat, which i prefer to purchase from others rather than make myself...

But anyway that began to heat up and give off atrociously fragrant fumes...i placed the skull before it.

"Is this the point were we all take our kit off...?" asked Simon

"Well you can if you want, give us all a laugh..." i responded, he knew better.

"Best not Hitler might make me stand to attention..." he jokingly replied, everyone giggled.

"Alright shut it now, i'll commence."

I took up and untied the silken pouch, taking the dust contained within into my hand, compared with the fluid of forthcoming this was a relatively simple concoction, the dust of the Underworld and powdered grasshoppers and crickets, i'd also thrown some spiders legs in for good luck, this i began to gently sprinkle into the fumes above the brazier and also started my Aramaic incantation, a shortened version as i was amongst friends here and not putting on any sort of great show.


In the name of a letter from within a letter and letters from within letters and a name from within the names and gaps from within the revealed, by which were subjugated heaven and earth, and mountains were uprooted by them, and heights were melted by them, by this name i call thee forth and command that thou showest thyself to all present...


As i continued the incantation the air became chill despite the closeness of the brazier, and a form began to take shape in the swirling fumes and dust, the form of a tall and handsome young man in his mid-twenties.


In the name of a letter from within a letter and letters from within letters and a name from within the names i command that thou speak...

"Maghda..."

The spirit had spoken my name, this had never happened before and it startled me, i heard the gasps of my friends within the eerie atmosphere.

"What connection do we have that you should speak my name...?"

"I am your Father..." the spirit sighed.

With this i felt my whole body begin to tremble and emotion build up inside me, all that i had known of my Father was that he had left my Mother and myself when i was only a young child, that he had simply disappeared never to be heard from again despite all enquiries, with great difficulty i asked,

"How should i know the truth of this...?"

"Inside yourself you already know this to be true, the dark arts that you have learnt, were from the books that i left behind after i was killed, you recall that as a child you would sit with me and enjoy the funny pictures of the dragons and demons contained within those grimoire..."

"You were killed...?" i asked shocked at this revelation.

"Yes, i was taken by a group that wished to extract information from me upon threat of death, regarding a summoning i had performed for a certain client."

"And you refused to divulge...?" tears began to roll down my face.

"Oh no i divulged alright, the client had me shot and my body buried upon the moorlands."

"Who was this client...?" i asked sobbing.

"It no longer matters, and think not of dark vengeance."

I turned to my friends, and asked that they would leave me alone, they slowly departed the room, giving me a little hug as they passed, when alone with the spirit of my Father, smiling though the tears i whispered,

"I thought that you had left because you didn't love us..."

"I have always loved you and your Mother, unto eternity i will never stop loving..."

His form was becoming less distinct, the apparition was fading, the voice was becoming more distant, the last of the fumes were dissipating.

"I just want to be with you now!" i said desperately holding out my arms into the ether.

"Not yet my daughter, and this dark path was never my intention for you, i ask that you turn from it...it cannot end well."

"I will Father, i promise..." i responded in sincerity.

I felt his spirit move toward me, envelop me, his hands stroke my hair, a gentle kiss upon the cheek...and then he was no longer present and i was all alone in the candle lit gloom.

In the morning at first light, after a sleepless and tearful night through which i had deliberated upon the past and present, i went out into the local woodlands, were i recalled walking with my Father too many years previously, until i came across a beautiful glade and there within it after saying a silent prayer i buried his skull, and turned aside to brood no more.

That was a very vivid and chilling story! Bravo!

reply to post by abeverage



Thank you, i wanted to translate through the general manner in which Halloween is celebrated toward the traditional in which it is the night when the veil between the world of the living and the dead is removed, the Feast of All Souls or ancestral cult.

a reply to: Kantzveldt
So - I'm a year late...
Who cares!
That was riveting...
Brrrrrr....
Vvvrrrrrrooooooommmmm...
... I don't know what to say.
Is it obvious?
How...moving.
Thank you.