From Mortal To Divinity

"Alright, so what dangers come from this ritual?" asks Scathach as she watches me carve a circle of runes on the ground in the courtyard.

"There are none." I answer her. "This ritual is purely beneficial with the only danger coming from the runes that will be inscribed on our body."

It has been two years since I have completed the ritual, and to be honest the benefits of it have exceeded my expectations. Other than Setanta and Ferdiad leaving a few months ago, Scathach officially becoming a part of our group, and Azula visiting once in a while nothing has really changed. I get up, train/study, and spend time with Azula or Scatach, or both.

"And what would those dangers be?" asks Azula.

"Well" I begin as I go on to inscribe a second circle on the ground. "The danger is that if all three of us ever lose control of ourselves at the same time to the point where we stop thinking and act on emotions alone, then we could potentially destroy a continent before our runes burn out and we return to normal."

"I see." says Scathach as she kneels next to me and inspects the runes. "I do not recognize these runes, yet they seem awfully familiar to the angelic runes. Where are they from?"

"I am not surprised. These runes are from the angelic runes, but altered to serve the purpose of this ritual." I reply.

"You never did tell me why you were adamant about making the angelic runes work. Did you expect to be able to do this when you completed the ritual?" she asks.

"No. While I knew that I would not be restricted to nordic runes, I did not expect to be able to create my own runes." I answer as I move on to carve a third circle.

"One might argue that taking runic symbols from other worlds and making them work in a different world is not creating your own runes." says Azula. "After all, someone before you created them."

"And I would have to disagree." I answer. "Since I had to turn those symbols from just useless characters into symbols of power. It's like taking the letter 'A' and giving it some kind of magical power."

"Could you do that?" asks Scathach as she gets up and stands next to Azula to observe me work. "Take a normal language and turn it into runic magic?"

"Theoretically I could do that." I reply as I move to make the fourth and final circle. "But I honestly prefer using obscure symbols that look cool. Immature? Perhaps, but it's not like I'm losing out on anything because of it. One might even argue that it is the smarter choice since I would not be starting from scratch."

"Starting from scratch?" asks Azula.

"With egyptian divine words, or the angelic runes from The Mortal Instruments, I am simply taking an already functioning structure and activating them since they already have meaning and I am just providing the power." I explain as I finish carving the circle and get up."With the alphabet I would have to turn them into a coherent structure of runes that have their own rules and constraints to follow before empowering them and turning them into magical letters. It is similar to taking a perfectly functional electronic system and powering it up for it to work, versus making my own system from scratch. It might not even work as well as the already built system."

"Is that what you spent the past two years studying?" asks Azula.

It's not surprising that she asks. Runes really are not her forte and whenever I begin to speak about them she loses interest. She only knows as much as she does because of Aife's knowledge on the basics of runes, both her and Aife prefer elemental and curse/geass magic.

"No. He spent the majority of the past two years trying to figure out how to get every single rune that he knows not of this world to work. I helped him experiment, and I must say, I find myself extremely impressed. He managed to master egyptian divine words and the angelic runes" answers Scathach

"Indeed." I answer as set about activating the runes and lighting the circles on fire. "While results have varied, with some systems working just fine when I initially try them, some only working after I have made changes to how they work, and some not working at all. The egyptian divine words easily fall into the first category, and the angelic runes from The Mortal Instruments only began working after I changed their function to work with me simply running Od through the rune. Others, like Thu'um from the Elder Scrolls, have not been as successful. I hypothesise that it's due to my lack of knowledge on them."

"Where do the runes for the ritual fall into?" asks Azula.

"I was able to master the angelic runes with some alterations having to be made to them. So the second category." I reply as I begin to remove my shirt and they follow suit.

"Alteration? We won't die because you altered the runes will we?" asks Azula with a raised eyebrow.

"No. The majority of the original angelic runes once applied faded away after some time, making it so that one had to reapply them to the body whenever they wished to use them." I explain. "Like I stated earlier, I altered their function to work by simply running Od through the rune. However, for this ritual the alterations were more drastic yet still safe nonetheless."

"Very well." says Scathach with a nod. "Other than the previous instructions, what do you need us to do?"

"Pick one of the outer circles each and put a few drops of blood inside then stand in the middle circle." I instruct.

There are four circles, three on the outside forming a triangle and one in the middle of the triangle. Walking over to the point of the triangle, I cut myself with the conjured knife I used to carve the circle before tossing it to Scathach who follows suit before tossing it to Azula who does the same. Once that is done I dissipate the knife and we step into the only circle with no blood in it, the middle circle.

Once in the circle I officially begin the ritual by placing one hand over their hearts and using my magic inscribe the first rune, the binding rune, over the b.r.e.a.s.t where their heart lays under. Following the instructions I had previously given them, the both place one hand over my heart and use their magic to inscribe that singular rune together.

There are multiple binding runes used by the Nephilim, humans with angelic blood. The one I use is based on the protagonist's 'Allied To' rune which allows Shadowhunters, Nephilim that hunt the enemies of mankind, and Downworlders, those with demonic blood, to safely share each other's abilities. This gives the Nephilim access to the strength, speed, and magical abilities of their Downworlder partners, and the Downworlders receive access to the warrior skills of their Nephilim allies.

Mine is altered to give Scathach properties of a demigod from the PJO world by drawing it from our blood. That is not the only effect however, it also allows her to have one demigod power from each of us, and lets Azula and I receive one demigod power from each other at random. From Scathach, I have no idea what it will give us.

Once that is done we set about inscribing the second rune directly over the first.

The second rune in the ritual is the parabatai rune itself. The parabatai runes will enable us to draw on each other's strength in battle. Whenever we are together in battle we will be more powerful. Even if there are only two of us present, it will still work only at a weaker level than if all three are present. It will also enable us to work together as a team in an almost flawless manner. It will allow us to maintain a strong connection between one another and be able to sense each other's life force, and when something happens to one it will allow the others to know. The last effect, and perhaps the most important, is that it will stop anything supernatural that would mentally affect us negatively from working.

The ritual is based on the parabatai ritual from The Mortal Instruments. A parabatai is a pair of Nephilim warriors, human with angelic blood, also known as Shadowhunters, who fight together as lifelong partners, bound together by oath, regardless of their gender. Their bond is not reflected only in their closeness and willingness to lay down their lives for one another, but also in oath sworn in front of the Council.

The idea of parabatai bonds came from an old tale, particularly the biblical tale of David and Jonathan, warriors who loved each other dearly and whose souls were knit together by Heaven after forming a covenant. Out of that story, Jonathan Shadowhunter and his companion David, who were coincidental namesakes of the biblical characters of the same name, took the idea of parabatai, created the rune and ritual for it, and encoded the ceremony into the Law.

The parabatai runes placed upon them enable them to draw on each other's strength in battle. They also maintain a strong connection between one another and are able to sense each other's life force; Shadowhunters who have lost their parabatai describe being able to feel the life leave their partner, and when something supernatural happens to the other. In addition, Marks, or runes, made by one parabatai upon another are stronger than Marks drawn by others, and there are Marks that only parabatai can use, because they draw on the partners' doubled strength.

The only bond forbidden to the parabatai is the romantic bond, and it has become a rule upheld by the Clave, the government of the Shadowhunters. The Shadowhunter-troubadours' in the late Middle Ages made several songs depicting the forbidden love of parabatai pairs and the inescapable tragedies, both of heartache and magical disaster, that befell them when they become romantically linked.

However, the real reason it was written into the Law, aside from the symbolic and practical reasons. True love between parabatai will strengthen their power to the point of magic. The more the pair surrenders to their emotions and love for one another, the stronger the curse gets and affects them. At first, the pair will have increased power with runes they apply on one another, more so than typical parabatai that even fatal wounds are healed with their iratze, the rune for healing, and they will have the ability to do things no other Nephilim could do, such as when Emma Carstairs destroyed the Mortal Sword, an angelic weapon said to be indestructible, with Cortana her parabatai.

Eventually, their runes will begin to burn with heavenly fire, and black lines will spread on their skin until, finally, they turn into True Nephilim. True Nephilim is the name given to Shadowhunters who are able to transform themselves into enormous beings of heavenly fire to fight demons. Because both parabatai are transformed, instead of the proper circ.u.mstance when one of the pairing should remain untransformed to anchor the other to Earth, the parabatai will have little control or conscious acts while in this form. This may cause the pair to lose complete control and kill others around them until they die themselves, burned by their heavenly fire. If they somehow survive, however, they may awaken with their parabatai rune and bond broken.

The reason for the aforementioned curse is because Shadowhunters aren't meant to wield magic, and because the rune and ceremony was created by man and not by Heaven, hence the dangerous corruption of the rune through the curse.

However, I was able to mostly negate this effect by making the rune run on our divine power as a substitute for Heaven. Normally that would be a problem since Scathach has absolutely no divine blood. That is where the first rune for the ritual comes in, the binding rune.

Essentially the way it works is the binding rune does as its name says and binds us together as allies using our demigod blood to power it, and lets one receive a power from the other two. The parabatai rune takes the bond one step further and uses our willpower and strong emotional feelings towards one another to protect our minds from negative supernatural effects, lets us sense each other's life force, know when one of us is in danger, and draw strength from each other.

It does not come without risks however. Should one of us harbor hatred or any feelings of malice towards each other during the ceremony, there will be a backlash that will severely harm all of us almost to the point of death. Should such feelings come about sometime after the ritual, then the one who is feeling hatred or malice will have their bond severed from the others. The most dangerous drawback however comes from our feelings. Should one of us be completely overcome with rage or hatred to the point of no longer being able to form rational thoughts, then they will go on a rampage and destroy everything in their way. The only thing that will be able to calm them down or bring them down from their rage is the other two. However, should all three of us become lost, then may the gods have mercy on whoever is in the surroundings for the only thing that would be able to stop us is death.

Once the runes are inscribed, we begin to chant the words that will activate the runes and finalize the ritual.

"Entreat me not to leave thee,

Or return from following after thee—

For whither thou goest, I will go,

And where thou lodgest, I will lodge.

Thy people shall be my people, and thy enemies my enemies.

Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried.

If aught but death part thee and me."

Once the words are spoken pain shoots throughout our bodies as the runes begin to glow, merge, and are seared into our flesh. With pure willpower I am able to stop myself from screaming and look towards Scathach who seems to be experiencing far worse pain than she should be. Ignoring the pain, I stumble over to her to see if I can help. Unfortunately I cannot find anything wrong and I am forced to just hold her hand while she endures. Fortunately the pain ceases soon enough and we are able to catch our breaths.

"That---" puffs out Scathach with a heavy breath. "---was far more painful than anticipated."

"Yes, it was." I say as I help her stand. "However it seems to be successful. I can feel both of your presences without even trying. I also seem to be feeling your emotions I think"

"I can also feel your emotions." say Scathach and Azula at the same time, startling each other.

"Why do I feel as if there are far more changes than we anticipated?" I ask.

"You are not the only one." replies Azula.