Even though they now had a good idea of what the bull was for, it didn't mean the young mystagogues knew why it should be so. Something purely symbolic ? Doubtful. But what else ?
It was a puzzled Miach that was driving a bunch of mystagogues toward a ranch he had chosen on a whim. It was quite far, but he didn't mind, trusting his instincts. With time on their hands though, the tongues were loosening.
"Well, the tauroctony is the act through which he sacrificed a bull. A sacrifice is made for some reason, usually to get someone on your side. Will we be praying to a Spirit, or something ?"
While he knew they existed, the Enchanter had no idea of how they operated, but hoped the others might be able to shed light on it, prehaps.
"Makes as much sense as anything to me," Orobas comments, scrolling through the directions he'd downloaded onto his phone. "I mean, secrets and knowledge tend to come with a price. Spirits aren't my forte..."
He pauses, glancing to Miach before giving a shrug.
"Well, I'm certain Dr. Primoria knows what she's talking about," he points out. "Probably already has a deal all worked out. If it all it costs us is the cash for a bull then I'm not gonna question it."
The journalist drums his fingers on his armrest as he nods to the other Mystagouge.
"Wouldn't do to let her down on such a simple request either, would it?" he points out with a smirk.
"Definitely not." Orpheus smiled, he had never familiarized himself with the tauroctony, wasn't part of his college studies. "Still, if we're expected to do what I think we're going to have to do, it'd be nice to have the why bit at least somewhat figured out by the time we get there." the Obrimos fell back furthur into his seat, the thoughts in his head mixing around like a warm soup.
Sacrificing a bull certainly wasn't mentioned during the recruitment speech, the whole thing was a little unsettling for the Obrimos. Even if it was just an animal, death wasn't something you dealt out without a second thought. It was taking a living thing, a living pattern, and ending it.
"Hey, uh, crazy thought here." Orpheus sat up a little in his seat after a time, not entirely sure he liked where he was going with this. "You guys know how we can scour our own patterns for Mana?" He started, "By tearing up our patterns we end up suffering physical harm." By tearing out a bit of their pattern, a mage was also tearing out a bit of their actual being, which had physical repercussions. "Do you think that could also work in reverse?"
By destroying something, completely and utterly, would that indirectly damage that thing's pattern enough that it would turn into Mana? Matter and energy are interchangable, after all. Still, sounds far-fetched...
Even though he was driving, and so perhaps a little less forcused than the other two mystagogues, Miach tried to share his ideas with the other mystagogues.
"There are several possibilities, of course. To see what we're made of, is one of them. To have us walk in Mithra's shoes, for some reason. I mean, the place is called a Mithraeum !"
Orobas's practicality didn't fall on deaf ears either. "I wish it could be that simple, really. But you've met her... Nothing is ever that simple with her..." he said somewhat ominously.
Hurtling through the sun-drenched landscape over the black asphalt, Sacramento rapidly became a fading memory. Miach had to contend with bad-drivers, slow-drivers, and impatient drivers while watching the signs and remembering the directions. The rest held the tidbits of understanding in their hand.
The Mystagogues traveled North, the temperature slowly sliding downward as the altitude slowly grew. Hat Creek Ranch was, indeed far, and it felt like a whole world away with evergreen trees overtaking the more temperate ones. The blue bowl of the sky was crystal clear.
It was a beautiful day to shop for a seemingly odd request.
"So, you got any idea how we'll choose the bull ?" the Acanthus asked to Orobas (
Anubite25
) and Orpheus (
Cryotic
). Perhaps some divination would help, he silently mused as they passed by a beautiful bridge.
"Hmm, unfortunately no... Orobas admits. "I don't usually deal with livestock."
Of course, that's probably true for the other two.
"If there were some kind of important quality it had to have, I'm sure Dr. Primoria would have mentioned," he reasons, drumming his fingers along the side of his phone. "I'm a bit more concerned with transporting it. Last I checked we didn't hook up any sort of livestock transport to this car. You think the ranch would rent us something or deliver the animal for us?"
"Rent the transport if we can, It's probably for the better that we don't let the Sleepers get curious as to why we're bringing a bull into the city much less a museum." Of course, there were much simpler options. "Any of us got the knowledge with Space to just portal the thing over once we buy it?" He asked, the less curious looks from civilians, or god forbid the police, the group got the better.
Miach had checked, and hoped they would indeed be able to rent a transport at the ranch. Otherwise, Fate would hopefully provide...
"I don't know yet how we'll get it back, but we'll find a way." he sighed as Orpheus pointed out something obvious. "Much as I wish I could, I'm sorry but I can't..." Learning more about the Arcana of Space was on the Acanthus's to-do list, but there were so many things to be done, and so little XP time.
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