If anyone knew anything about "Evil" magics, it would be her Necromancy Professor, and many Necromancers were dedicated to the preservation of history that the old clergy had sought to destroy. She rushed out of the library, forgetting to even check the book out properly, and made her way to Skullus' office.
---
"Cthonic magic...?" Skullus repeated back to Melona, looking up from her dissection table, "It does ring a bell, but I can't quite place where I've heard of it..." She removed her gloves and waved her wand at the specimen on her table, most likely a preservation spell to keep the chimera from rotting before she could fully judge it. "May I?"
Melona nodded and handed her the tome. Silently, she seemed to scan over the introduction and flip to a few random pages. "Huh. You know, for a moment I had thought this was perhaps just another word for Necromancy, different covens occasionally used different terms before the ban was lifted, but nothing here would work as Necromancy. Melona, are you sure this isn't just Cult Magic?"
Melona frowned, considering. Cult Magic was something that Melona was well aware of, it being a small fascination for her. Essentially, back before magic was more standardized, numerous con artists would invent fake practices of their own, using anything from basic but little-known spells to outright fabrications to trick non-magical peoples into believing that if they followed and supported this person, especially financially speaking, then they would be able to learn real magic. It was such a popular scam that when the current day schools of magic were being established, the governance first had to sort through the hundreds of fake practices that spread across the globe. Firmly establishing the schools of magic did help in exposing and dissolving many cult practices, but unfortunately even to this day many cults still run rampant in the more rural parts of the world, where information on magic and how it works is less available.
"The thought did cross my mind..." Melona admitted, scratching her neck.
"Dear, it's sweet that you want to help preserving history, especially knowing how much information is no longer accessible," Skullus started, looking down at Melona sympathetically, "But you have to be careful that that feeling of helplessness doesn't evolve into something more conspiratorial. That's how misinformation spreads, and as a student of mine I'm sure you're well aware of how much damage that can cause. I think, unless you can find more evidence of it, it'd be best to assume that this book's claims are false."
Melona sighed. What Skullus was saying was perfectly reasonable, and on some level she agreed, but...
"I want to be sure." She said resolutely, "Remember how tons of documentation on Necromancy was destroyed back in the day? Well what if Necromancy wasn't the only practice that was persecuted? What if there were others, some that they succeeded in erasing, to the point where no one even knows that they're gone! This could be the only remaining copy of this school of magic!"
"Or you could be reviving something that should have stayed buried." Skullus said. She smiled at Melona, a patronizing curve of the lips that made the young witch feel like a stupid child. "Maybe you should leave this with me. I'll look into it, ask around with some of my colleagues, and I'll let you know what they find. How does that sound?"
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