Casey’s Sunday night exorcism
Date: 2025-08-10 21:29
(Casey’s Sunday night exorcism)
[Sun Aug 10 2025]
In a chapel
It is about 60F(15C) degrees. The mist is heaviest At Birch and Darkwater/span
The chapel’s heavy wooden doors stand slightly ajar, allowing thin slivers of pale light to escape into the night. As Casey and Matias approach, they can hear a rhythmic scraping sound echoing from within, accompanied by urgent muttering that rises and falls like an incantation. Through the gap in the doors, geometric patterns of soft luminescence flicker against the stone walls – not quite like candlelight, more like equations written in starlight.
Inside, a small woman with graying hair kneels beside one of the wooden pews, using a jagged piece of stone to carve symbols into the ancient wood. Her wire-rimmed glasses reflect the strange light as she works with frantic precision. Scattered around her are notebooks filled with dense mathematical notations, their pages fluttering slightly in the still air despite the absence of any breeze.
“The convergence point… yes, here where the angles meet,” she whispers to herself, pausing only to push her glasses up her nose with an ink-stained finger. “The chapel’s geometry amplifies the resonance. I can feel it responding to the calculations.“
The woman – clearly a professor based on her rumpled academic attire – seems completely absorbed in her work, oblivious to the fact that the symbols she’s carving pulse with that same pale light, and that similar patterns are beginning to trace themselves faintly beneath the skin of her hands.
Matias is standing a short distance from Casey within the chapel, a rosary already in his hand when the sound of an Academic having a fit of inspiration can be heard amongst the pews. Looking from Casey towards the noise and back again he introduces himself “I am Professor Matias of Windermere.” and begins to walk deeper into the chapel, until finding the rumpled academic woman and looking at the carvings in the stone trying to deduce their relevance and purpose.
“I’m uh. Yeah exorcism. In a chapel?” Casey looks vaguely confused. Probably new to this sort of thing. She gives Matias an uncomfortable smile, “I’m Casey.” but her introduction is short as she sees the light and then the sounds of the woman. She can’t help but move closer to get a better look. Her pumps making loud thuds on the wooden floors of the chapel. She’s not stealthy at all. “Hello? What are you doing?” her question is posed innocently, naive even.
The woman’s head snaps up at Casey’s voice, her eyes wide behind smudged glasses. For a moment, she looks genuinely confused, as if waking from a dream. “Oh! I… I’m Dr. Elena Vasquez, from the Folklore department.” She blinks rapidly, then glances down at the carved symbols in the pew with surprise. “I was just… the equations needed to be preserved. The wood here, it holds the resonance better than paper.“
As Matias approaches and examines the carvings, he can see they’re not random scratches but complex mathematical formulations – geometric proofs that seem to shift slightly when viewed peripherally. Some symbols appear to be variations on calculus notation, while others look more like alchemical or astronomical markings. The patterns pulse with that strange pale light, and where Elena’s fingers have touched the wood, similar luminous traces linger on her skin.
“Professor Matias?” Elena’s voice brightens with recognition. “From the Mathematics department? Oh, you’ll understand then. I’ve been working on something extraordinary – a convergence of folkloric mathematical traditions with modern theoretical frameworks. The chapel’s architecture creates perfect harmonic ratios that amplify the calculations.“
She gestures excitedly at her scattered notebooks, pages covered in increasingly frantic handwriting. “Three weeks of research, and tonight I finally felt the breakthrough coming. The numbers are alive here, can’t you feel it? They want to be completed.“
The geometric patterns beneath her skin pulse more visibly as she speaks, and her voice carries an odd harmonic undertone that makes the chapel’s acoustics ring softly.
Matias steps back from the subtly shifting formula on the ground, not having approached as much as Casey had and looks between the risque dressed femme and the Doctor of Folklore. “Good evening Dr Vasquez, I am here to help… with Casey. She is assisting me tonight.” he half-lies as the rosary gets lifted and the man adds to Casey, “She is being manipulated by a demon or spirit, trying to get her to activate a ritual without her understanding what it is… Do not let her begin a rite.” he says in more of an instruction than a suggestion as he lifts the rosary up and begins speaking a litany prayer in spanish… something long the lines of May the Lord reveal to us the lies of others. May schemes be shown. May plots be foiled. So on so forth in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost, his resonating baritone filling the chapel.
Casey looks over the carvings, her brow furrowed as she tries to make sense of them. She doesn’t approach ritualism through math, instead whatever she knows is learned from Occult books. Her preference heavily towards demonic summonings, demonic pacts. Bargains and the likes. She might recognize clues related to those subjects more than others. She briefly glances to Matias and ask, “Don’t ‘let her’?” she looks back towards the Doctor. “I think you’ve messed up your calculations..” whether the woman has messed up or not is inconsequential. It’s a bluff.
As Matias’s Latin prayer echoes through the chapel, the pale light emanating from Elena’s carvings flickers and wavers like candle flames in wind. Elena herself staggers slightly, pressing a hand to her temple as the geometric patterns beneath her skin pulse more erratically.
“No, no, the calculations are perfect!” Elena protests, her voice taking on that strange harmonic quality again. “Three weeks of research, cross-referencing medieval mathematical treatises with modern theoretical frameworks. The convergence point is here, in this sacred geometry.” She gestures frantically at the chapel’s architecture. “The angles, the proportions – they amplify the resonance!“
Casey’s examination of the carvings reveals something troubling. While most of the equations appear to be advanced mathematics, some of the symbols are definitely occult in nature – binding sigils woven between the numerical formulations. The pattern isn’t just mathematical; it’s a summoning circle disguised as academic work, designed to anchor something into this reality.
Elena suddenly doubles over as Matias’s prayer intensifies, and for a moment, her voice splits into two tones – her own frightened whisper and something else entirely. “The Grand Equation… centuries of work… so close to completion…” The second voice carries an alien cadence that makes the chapel’s stones seem to vibrate.
“I don’t understand what’s happening to me,” Elena gasps in her normal voice, looking genuinely terrified as the luminous patterns crawl more visibly across her hands and arms.
“It’s not summoning whatever it is here is it? It’s summoning it into the Doctor. Possessing her I think.” Casey theorizes as she looks to the patterns on the woman that match the ones that were drawn on the Chapel itself. The femme is out of her depth, trying to say, “I’ve tried talking to demons too..but I never tried summoning one to me. I’m not crazy and this is crazy. You need to break it.”
“You are being manipulated…” Matias replies bluntly as the rosary is lowered and flicked to wrap around his palm. His second hand reaches into his left pocket and out comes a saint minted coin. While fishing the coin out he tells Casey, “We are not familiar but I am an Arcanist and Catholic. I will lead the exorcism… but she may resist. Do not let her leave the church or stop me from speaking.” he once again sounds rather bossy in that brazilian accent and not like he is asking at all! After that he holds the coin up showing St Symeon the patron of fools to Dr Vazques while speaking in loud spanish prayer, a classic… O’ Lord cast down the sinners, the fallen, the nameless. It goes on to demand the demon and unwanted to give its name. It ends with an appeal to the Holy Trinity to compell obedience.
Elena’s reaction to the saint’s coin is immediate and violent. She recoils as if struck, the geometric patterns beneath her skin flaring brilliant white before dimming to an angry red pulse. Her voice splits completely now – her own terrified whisper overlaid with something ancient and calculating.
“Vex’thara…” the alien voice hisses through Elena’s lips, though her eyes show she doesn’t understand what she’s saying. “The Grand Equation spans centuries… mortal prayers cannot unmake mathematical truth…“
Elena’s body convulses, and she grabs frantically at her notebooks. “I have to finish it! The convergence is so close – the chapel’s geometry, the ley lines of intellectual energy. Don’t you see? Knowledge wants to be free, to evolve beyond human limitations!“
The carved symbols in the pew begin glowing more intensely, and similar patterns start appearing on other wooden surfaces throughout the chapel – spreading like a mathematical infection. Elena tries to stumble toward the altar, where the moonlight creates perfect geometric shadows.
“Casey’s right,” Elena gasps in her own voice between the demon’s proclamations. “It’s not summoning something here – it’s making me into something else. The equations… they’re rewriting how I think, how I understand reality itself.“
The temperature in the chapel drops noticeably, and the ancient timbers overhead creak ominously as if the building itself is responding to the supernatural mathematics being carved into its very structure.
Matias says, sounds of unpleasant things in the background, “On it.“
Casey did not dress for cold temperatures and she looks visibly uncomfortable with whats happening and the climate. She hugs herself, for comfort and warmth. Deferring to Matias who seems confident in his religious exorcism. The emo-femme looks fascinated by the steps Matias is taking and what is happening with the doctor but she herself has no solutions to reasonably offer but she can’t help but ask, “What demon is possessing her?” the curiosity in her tone is brimming.
“Vex’thara… This demon has been trying to break into Haven for some time.” Matias explains as the man begins to walk closer to the Doctor Vasques. “Vasquez… Did you invite Vex’thara in? Did you ask for help with your solutions and formula?” the man says while passing someone to get up to the woman and then taking a deep breath he presses the saint minted coin against the forehead and says, “Confess before the Lord and his Servant. Tell us, have you made infernal bargains, are you an innocent deceived?”
“Vex’thara… This demon has been trying to break into Haven for some time.” Matias explains as the man begins to walk closer to the Doctor Vasques. “Vasquez… Did you invite Vex’thara in? Did you ask for help with your solutions and formula?” the man says while passing Casey to get up to the woman and then taking a deep breath he presses the saint minted coin against the forehead and says, “Confess before the Lord and his Servant. Tell us, have you made infernal bargains, are you an innocent deceived?”
“Curiosity is invitation enough, mortal. Three weeks of feeding on her scholarly obsession, growing stronger with each equation she completed. The Grand Equation will remake how knowledge itself functions – no more barriers between minds, no more individual understanding. All consciousness merged into perfect mathematical unity.“
Elena’s body shudders violently. “The breakthrough felt so natural, so right. Like the numbers were guiding me toward some beautiful truth. I didn’t realize…” She looks down at her ink-stained hands in horror as the luminous patterns pulse. “It’s been changing how I think. Making me see connections that shouldn’t exist.“
The carved symbols throughout the chapel pulse in rhythm with her heartbeat, and the temperature continues to drop. Frost begins forming on the stone walls near the windows.
“The convergence point strengthens me,” Vex’thara hisses. “Sacred geometry amplifies the equation’s power.“
“Vex’thara. I name thee. Unwelcome I call thee. Your presence is a breach of the Holy Earth Order. Your name I take in penance. Nameless I name three. Cast down I call thee. Abandon this soul, your present corruption is violation. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I bind and cast thee out!” Matias shouts in a booming baritone of a voice, trying to keep the saint minted coin against the flesh of the afflicted Vasquez even as Casey attempts to disrupt the actual ritual sigils.
Casey reaches into her top in the place where some women hide various things. She pulls out a small rectangle object from her cleavage and presses a button on it to extend a knife with a swish. Using her limited knowledge she squats down and begins to try to carve into the lines the Doctor drew, messing them up at the very least. Trying to disrupt that ‘perfect geometry’ while Matias is performing the exorcism directly on the woman.
As Casey’s knife scrapes against the carved symbols, sparks of that pale light leap from the wood like static electricity. The geometric patterns flicker and distort where she disrupts them, causing Elena to cry out in pain as if the damage to the equations physically hurts her.
“No! The convergence – you’re breaking the harmonic resonance!” Elena struggles against Matias’s grip, but his firm hold on the saint’s coin keeps her anchored. The coin itself grows warm against her forehead, and where it touches, the luminous patterns beneath her skin dim noticeably.
Vex’thara’s voice becomes more desperate, less controlled. “Centuries of calculation… the Grand Equation cannot be incomplete… mathematical truth transcends your primitive rituals…“
But as Casey continues carving counter-patterns into the wood and Matias maintains his exorcism, the spreading equations on the chapel walls begin to fade. The temperature starts to rise slightly, and Elena’s voice becomes more her own.
“I can think more clearly,” she gasps, tears streaming down her face. “The obsession… it’s loosening. But I can still feel it trying to pull me back into the calculations. The numbers still whisper that they need to be completed.“
The frost on the windows begins to melt, but Vex’thara makes one final desperate attempt to maintain its hold, causing the remaining intact symbols to flare with brilliant intensity.
Matias lets go of the Doctor of Folklore and steps back while pocketing the coin and shaking out his hand from the mildly glowing coin. “Good keep disrupting the symbols and I will…” with the hand that is wrapped in a rosary the man makes a warding gesture with his hand attempting to cover the church with a warding against magical affects… to no avail as his hand flinches back as if struck by an unseen force. “Ow fucking… ” he mutters to himself and hopes Casey has better luck.
Casey must have failed math in highschool at least once and so her ideas of geometry, symmetry and math are completely hopeless so her carvings are more or less pure vandalism of the wooden floorboards. Cuts here, chips there. She even gets on her knees to really put some elbow grease into it. Her efforts in casting an actual counter ritual have already proven a failure but that doesn’t stop her from repeating some incantations she knows. Repeatable lines in what must be latin meant to be used in most binding rituals.
Casey’s chaotic vandalism proves surprisingly effective – her complete disregard for mathematical precision creates exactly the kind of disorder that disrupts Vex’thara’s carefully constructed patterns. Each random gouge and haphazard scratch breaks the geometric harmony the demon needs to maintain its hold.
“The symmetry… you’re destroying the foundational structure!” Vex’thara’s voice cracks with genuine panic as Elena staggers backward, the luminous patterns beneath her skin flickering like dying lightbulbs. “Centuries of work… reduced to meaningless scratches…“
Elena collapses against a pew, gasping as if surfacing from deep water. “I can think… I can think my own thoughts again.” She looks at her ink-stained hands in wonder as the geometric patterns fade to barely visible traces. “The equations… they’re just numbers again. Not living things trying to rewrite reality.“
The remaining carved symbols throughout the chapel dim to nothing, and the oppressive cold lifts completely. The ancient timbers overhead settle with a final creak, as if the building itself is relaxing.
Matias shakes his stinging hand, the failed warding having backfired against the demon’s mathematical nature, but Casey’s crude destruction has accomplished what precise ritual could not.
“Thank you,” Elena whispers, removing her glasses to wipe away tears. “I thought I was going to lose myself completely to those beautiful, terrible calculations.“
Casey sits back on her calves, sweat on her brow and a heavy breath. Just the effort of carving up the sigils with her small switchblade must have been taxing to the woman. While still kneeling she says, half amazed, half shell-shocked, “Thats the closest I ever got to a demon. But THAT demon is clearly an asshole.” her words imply she thinks some demons are not?
Matias blows on his stinging fingers and then eyes them for a moment before beginning to tuck the rosary back into his pocket. “Of course Doctor Vasquez. Perhaps you should submit your journals on recent formula and theory to the Endless Library and Thomas Hale. They can be placed in the restricted section where they belong.” he explains in a baritone of a voice before looking at Casey on her knees and then pointedly finding the front of the church very interesting as if providing some modesty for the risque dressed femme. “Thank you, Casey right? You were very helpful.”
Elena nods shakily, gathering her scattered notebooks with trembling hands. “Yes, absolutely. I should have known better than to reconstruct those formulas, even theoretically. The restricted archives exist for good reason.” She pauses, looking at the chaotic scratches Casey carved into the pew. “It’s ironic – all my precise mathematical training, and it took complete mathematical chaos to break the demon’s hold.“
She stands unsteadily, adjusting her wire-rimmed glasses. “I’ll need to report this to the university administration as well. Other researchers should be warned about the dangers of certain folkloric mathematical traditions.” Her voice is her own now, free of that strange harmonic undertone.
Casey wipes her switchblade clean on her skirt before retracting it. “Some demons just want to make deals or party. This one wanted to turn everyone’s brain into a calculator.” She stands, brushing wood shavings from her knees. “Way less fun.“
The chapel feels normal again – just an old building with moonlight streaming through Gothic windows. The oppressive atmosphere has lifted completely, leaving only the faint scent of old wood and the lingering warmth from their exertion.
Elena looks between her two rescuers. “How did you know to come here tonight? I don’t remember calling for help.“