Thawing the Master's Heart

I must get home, this storm isn't lettin up and its getting dangerous to drive! Katelyn stared with intent focus through the windscreen of her car trying to see the road through the torrential rain, suddenly a flash of light blinded her vision and a crash of thunder sounded loud in her ears before....nothingness... As the storm raged outside, the French doors of the large isolated manor house blew in, a gale force wind whipping into the room with its sparse but luxurious furniture causing the room to chill significantly. The butler in residence, Mr Shaw, quickly moved on shuffling slippered feet to close the doors, battling against the billowing curtains as he reached out with both hands and tried to pull against the unnatural storm's strong wind to close both doors at once. Abruptly the wind ceased and a deathly calm pervaded the late night scene. The butler’s eyes were transfixed on the sky beyond, frozen in place by fear and awe as purple lightning of a definite unnatural manner lit up the sky in the near distance, illuminating through the dark rolling clouds in the ominous sky. Beyond the well-manicured gardens and expanse of neatly cut lawns and meadows lay the woods, a vast Redwood forest and as the lightning forked and struck the butler knew it had struck there within the woods – at The Clearing. This was no ordinary strike of lightning that streaks from the sky in a flash of light and is gone just as quickly leaving the witness temporarily blinded and blinking away the scene etched into their retina. When this lightning struck it stayed, becoming a writhing column of light that blazed with unknown power shown in its eerie purple colour. “What is it, father?” A young man approached the butler’s shoulder and looked out at the supernatural spectacle happening before his father’s eyes. “I’m not sure, Toby…but it can’t be anything good.” The butler muttered as the light show continued, the rolling clouds flashing with that same purple light writhing inside them and booming with continued thunder that shook the house for several minutes. “It’s the Clearing, isn’t it?” The son hardly dared breathe. "What on earth could be happening out there?" “Yes, I believe so…” Mr Shaw agreed grimly. “Should we go and see?” The son asked hesitantly. Before the butler could answer the light show ceased, as if someone had merely flicked a switch and turned it off. The only evidence to it was the distant echoing rumble of the last sounds of the thunder as the scene was once again plunged into darkness. “It…it’s snowing!” The son announced in awe as they both watched the first flakes of winter start to fall. The butler quickly closed the doors, locking them securely with the latch and closing the heavy drapes. “Shouldn’t we go and check…” The son started. “Not till day break, it' is far too dangerous.” The butler cut his son’s demand off. “We must also inform the Master, that lightning storm was definitely not natural, that was powerful magic…more powerful perhaps than the Master himself.” “More powerful….?” The son breathed hardly believing it possible… . As the new day dawned the butler and his son along with the groundsman set off for the Clearing. The cook (who was also the butler’s wife) and the maid (the butler’s young daughter) watched with nervous apprehension as the trio walked off through the magical looking winter wonderland that had appeared before them as the sun had hit the horizon. The new blanket of snow causing a strange, serene calm after the theatrics of last night’s hijinks. As the men approached the towering Redwood forest they stopped, cautious, for a moment as they peered into the gloomy interior. The Clearing was not a place they would usually want to go. The long walk down past the gardens and across the lawns to the meadows bordering the woods had given the sun enough time to rise allowing enough light to filter in through the massive trees so they could see the well-kempt and tidy pathway that led through the trees to the Clearing, the snow hardly even filtered through the thick canopy. It was a fifteen minute, half mile walk into the depths of the woods and the men all noticed and felt uneasy about the eerie silence. No birds were twittering good morning this morning. They looked at each other wary as they walked but no one dared speak. As they approached the Clearing the butler signalled for them to stop and looked out from the edge of the path with consternation and wonder. . The Clearing was a massive circular area open to the sky, but strangely no snow had fallen within. Five huge stone slabs stood inside that clearing creating a circle of their own. Each stone slab was easily two yards across, half a yard thick and stood three times the height of any man. On each of the stone slabs, facing inwards, was engraved the runic symbols for each element – fire, water, air and earth. On the fifth one the runic symbol for Soul. It was this fifth slab that stood as the prominent head of the circle, each stone placed evenly around from there creating the points of a pentacle star, but today this stone slab was split in two. Still standing perfectly erect but now in two equal parts, a crack no wider than a man’s finger and blackened with soot as from being burnt ran through the middle of it. It was not this however that had the attention of the men, rather their eyes were drawn to the massive stone altar that stood in the very centre of the circle, raised on a dais of circular stone. The altar which was stained and smelt of the ingrained blood spilt from centuries of sacrifice, on top of this altar was clearly the body of a person.