The alter was prepared, the orrery above, suspending in the proper configuration, her sisters arrayed, chanting. Jun-Tsu stood at the alter, eyes closed, to focus on the sound that echoed in discordant melody around her. Carefully she picked up the ritual knife and an ancient looking stone bowl. Stained from ages of use, it was riddled with spidery black lines jutting from its center. Its bottom was a well of ebony that seemed not to exist, but it did, evident by the clear, crystalline gem that rested at its bottom.
She raised her hand, and with a slash the blood welled from her arm and poured into the bowl. Ultimately, just a few large drops, but it would be enough. Joining with her sisters in their chant, she approached Fa-Lei, who held out her arm, and much as her sister had done took the knife and cut her arm letting it bleed into the bowl. She passed the dagger along. One by one, each of the six sisters added their essence to the concoction.
Returning to the alter, she ignited a small burner, resting the stone bowl in a stand atop the flame. Quickly it began to boil and char giving off an acrid stench. Jun-Tsu quickly took up a vial of pitch black liquid and poured it in. Though the odor hung in the air, the mixture ceased its bubbling, instead swirling about the bowl as the two components merged together. As her sisters continued their chant, she opened the stopper on another vial, this time measuring out in a tiny apothecary scale, a measure of tiny white granules, like salt.
Satisfied with her measurements, she added it to the concoction. As it was added, faint flashes of a white-green flame rose from the surface, but quickly calmed. As the liquid began to foam, she turned down the heat, and skimmed the froth from the top of the mixture, placing it to the side in a bulbous glass vessel, where thick, ichorous spum slowly fizzled. With a stopper at the top, the froth created a thick condensation on the interior of the glass, fogging it almost completely.
Jun-Tsu chanted and swirled the bottle ever so gently. Fa-Lei joined her, moving the stone bowl from the flames with a simple gesture. Together they rested the spherical vessel upon the brazier, its flames barely eking past the heating element.
For the next hour, they all chanted, as the two sisters let their senses enter the Force, hands moving in intricate patterns. Each minute that passed seemed to cause the glass to become more and more coated in whatever was inside. Finally, Jun-Tsu lifted the stone bowl, as Fa-Lei uncorked the glass ampoule. As a thin stream, the witch poured the cooled liquid into the clouded phial, until the basin was empty.
Fa-Lei placed the stopper back, and the two women looked at one another. The chanting ceased, and the sisters joined the circle. For another hour they sat and meditated, channeling the power of the Dark Side.
