Pisces 17. Getting on his hands and knees, a man uses a piece of white chalk to draw a circle around himself.
At his death Serapis bequeathed to me a stick of chalk — or so I thought it was. I found that the chalk would only draw circles. Any attempt to use the chalk to draw anything else yield to line from it whatsoever. I found then when I drew a circle around myself I was protected in ways that I did not expect. For instance, once I was lost deep in the woods during a blizzard and could not find my way. I pulled the chalk out of my sack, and drawing a circle around myself found that I was in a circle of warm spring forest, in which I slept all night in comfort. In the morning I found I could walk and this circle would follow me, opening up green and blooming plants in a circle around me, by means of which I found berries to assuage my hunger.
Experimenting with the chalk I also found that once I had drawn a circle around me, if I reached down and smudged it the whole circle would disappear, freeing me, but that no one on the outside of this circle could disturb it whatsoever.
Not wanting to use up this precious chalk I was sparing in the use of it, until I eventually realized that no amount of circle drawing diminished it at all.
Searching the diaries and journals of Serapis I finally found several references to it, and learned that it had through some secret process been fashioned of starlight, which, being difficult to condense in such a form had taken three generations of alchemists to complete.
It is also interesting that no matter how uneven my circle drawing was, the circle always came out perfect, seeming to right my wavering as I inscribed the circle.
I also found that when I drew this circle around others and they dwelt in it for a time they experienced a growing sense of peace and clarity. When the denizens of Aab learned of this many came to me for healing and succor, which I was most happy to impart to them through the chalk’s power.
Over time this piece of chalk is the implement that came to be known as “The white Wand of Serapis.”