Rose & Kat | S1Ep2.6 | Looking for Answers

 PORTUGUÊS | ENGLISH

[...]

When they reached the city centre, Joan headed straight for the Municipal Library. She was looking for answers, and she would not rest until she found them.

I was nowhere near the real reason for her concern, but nothing, absolutely nothing, could have made me imagine what was coming.

In one of her dreams, Joan had seen a book with unusual clarity. Focusing on the image, she had managed to make out two words on the cover: “MALLEVS MALEFICARVM” They appeared in capital letters, standing out from the rest of the title.

Determined to discover their meaning and origin, she researched the words. As soon as she identified the language, she translated them.

Joan was stunned by what she discovered.

— How could anyone be so evil?!

If her research was correct, the book was a manual that, from the end of the fifteenth century onwards, became a reference for inquisitors who persecuted people accused of witchcraft. Without facts, without evidence, and often without any truth whatsoever, those individuals, hidden beneath their black hoods, embarked on a veritable hunt for their fellow human beings, executing entire villages at a time.

The Municipal Library had a section devoted to the occult. The more Joan read about the subject, the stronger her desire to learn more became. Her curiosity had been piqued, and in that section lay her hope of finally finding some answers.

She had been looking forward to that moment all week. But she needed privacy and concentration. So there was no better time than a Saturday morning, when the library would be practically empty.

Joan: There has to be something in these books that can explain what’s happening to me.

After several hours of leafing through book after book, Joan had learned a great deal about a subject that had fascinated her for a long time because of the countless possibilities it seemed to offer. The idea that, with a simple gesture or a thought, one could make a difference, transform something ugly into something beautiful… For a long time, she had wished it were true. She had wished that magic existed.

Now, however, that wish came with a certain sense of unease.

What she had seen did not seem to come from a pure heart. Perhaps it was merely the result of their own weakness. Of fear in the face of something they could not understand.

Even so, she wanted to know more.

She wanted to understand the voices she heard. Where did they come from? Why could she hear them?

She wanted to understand why she kept having visions of herself and me in places that seemed to belong to other eras.

And, above all, she wanted to discover why her dreams were, as she kept telling herself, “cursed.”

She had found nothing that referred to what she was experiencing. No explanation for the voices, the visions, or those strange dreams.

Until, finally, she came across a symbol that was not entirely unfamiliar to her.

Joan remained still for a few seconds.

Joan: This symbol… It looks a lot like the symbol from my dream!

As the hour grew later, the Municipal Library drew closer to closing time. Joan gathered the material from her research, photocopied the pages she considered important, carefully returned the books to their places, and left.

She headed home with her mind fixed on a few specific words, repeating them over and over, as though, by saying them silently to herself, she might finally discover their meaning.

[...]

[S1Ep2.7 | The Elements of the magic circle]

[S1Ep2.5 | You're not yourself]