She flipped through the pages, her brows furrowing as she scanned the text. Sealing a being in a tome required a very distinct, difficult form of arcane writing. For the spell to work, not only did you have to essentially "write" them in, but also write them out. Summoning was not a one-way road--for those words to hold any kind of power, magic had to be able to flow through the object, in a way. Of course, making those summoning rituals extremely difficult was one of the best ways to ensure that whatever was trapped in the book never actually got out. From what scraps of the summoning ritual she could translate, the creator of this tome certainly never intended for Zargga to be released. Organic matter of some kind, whether living or dead, would be required as a conduit, an indicator that this was no simple spell.<br/><br/>She huffed quietly, closing the book and setting it to the side. Well, if she was doing this, there was no time like the present. Her rucksack carried several powerful reagents that she suspected she might need for the ritual, but to her frustration, she found she had neglected to pack any candles--a critical part, according to the tome. Making a trek back to the nearest village would take days. With a growl, she closed her pack and shouldered it, taking one last look at the cavern. As her green eyes roamed the gloom, she caught a glimpse of something pale sticking out of the dirt. Intrigued, she moved to examine it. When she knelt down, she saw that what she had initially thought was another shard of bone was in fact an old wax candle. She blinked in surprise. Perhaps it made sense, seeing as this cavern was under the ruins of a mage tower, but still, it was one hell of a coincidence. Maybe her luck was finally starting to turn?<br/><br/>She searched for a bit longer, wondering if there were any other bits of flotsam that had fallen from the tower above. Pale shafts of light lanced down through the cavern in places, marking gaps in the floor of the tower overhead. In the fitful light, aided by the orb floating at her shoulder, she was able to find a few more candles, enough of them in good condition that they could be used for the ritual. She wasted no time in preparing, marking out a multi-pointed star with arcane chalk on the dirt around the bones. Candles were placed at each point, lit with a whispered spell. Then came the binding charms, taken out from her pack to be arranged around the skeleton. Made of wrought silver bent into rune-shapes, they would help her assert her will over the being as it was evoked, preventing it from acting against her. Herbs were sprinkled over the pentagram, filling the air with a musty scent, and finally, she nicked her finger with an ornate blade, allowing a few drops of her blood to fall into the center.<br/><br/>All that remained now was the ritual itself. Valena stood before the circle of candles, tome in her hands and opened to the summoning spell. She let out a breath, steeling herself, then began to chant in accordance with the spell, calling up her own magic as she did so. Her fingers tightened around the book as she probed her mind into its depths, past the physical pages and into the swirling magic trapped within. As her consciousness brushed against the dormant yet enormous power within, she flinched, but continued to chant, trying to guide it through the portal the chalk glyphs and candles would create. She dared not take her eyes from the page, but she could see a glow beginning to form around the bones, even as she felt her strength flagging. This required large reservoirs of magical energy, and in trying to finish the spell, she was pushing herself to her limits. Her hands shook, but she refused to give up until her legs gave out under her.