Spellscribed: Conviction (30 page)

The little wolf-girl returned the series of growling tones and yips that was Ulfreau. “I like it here.” She said. “So many things that smell nice.”

“I wanted to ask you about that.” He said, patting her on the shoulder. “The woman who was just here, did she smell different?”

Giselle looked at him, confused. “What do you mean?” she said, wide eyed. “Everyone smells different… except horses. They all smell tasty.”

Endrance chose to ignore the last statement. “I mean, did she smell different than the normal smells that humans have?” he asked.

Giselle considered, and shook her head. “I didn’t smell anything on her at all.” She said.

“Nothing? Thank you.” He said, turning back to Selene. Giselle grabbed his sleeve, tugging at it. Endrance turned to look back down to her.

“I mean that she didn’t have a smell.” Giselle explained. “She didn’t even smell like the room we were in.”

Endrance nodded, thanking her again. “Giselle says that she doesn’t have a scent, and Selene feels there’s something off about the wizard of this tower. Does anyone else have any reservations before we settle down for the rest of the night?”

Endrance stood, and yelped as his left heel came down on something sharp. Hopping forward, he looked behind him to find nothing. He looked at everyone else, who were watching him warily.

“Everything okay?” Joven asked.

Endrance checked the sole of his shoe, standing on one foot. The bottom of the soft soled shoe had a nick in the heel and a drop of his blood welled there. He touched a finger of his right hand to the cut and channeled a small amount of power, electrically frying the blood beaded on the sole.

“Something stabbed my heel.” Endrance said, looking around. “I can’t figure out where it is, though.”

“You probably stepped on a piece of sandstone.” Joven said. “That’s why I keep telling you to wear boots.”

Endrance sat upon his bedroll, trying to spot what he had stepped on. “Maybe I ground it down when I hit it.” He explained to himself, taking a few seconds to channel power through the meridians of his foot. Soon, his natural healing rate had stopped the bleeding and was on its way to healing the rest of the injury.

“Get some sleep.” Joven said. “I’ll take first watch.”

“You’re standing watch?” Endrance asked, sliding his bedroll up against Selene’s.

Joven gestured to the curtain. “You said there was something odd about this place,” he said in a low tone. “So, I don’t want to get killed in my sleep because I didn’t act on that instinct.”

“All right.” Endrance said, “Make sure someone takes second.”

Joven nodded, and Endrance slid into bed. The curtains did little to cut the cold desert night air, but from what he was able to tell, it would only get worse. He would need to modify his temperature protection spell to buffer him on either end of the extreme. Selene snuggled up against him, and he made a mental note to also adjust it so he could cast it on others.

He closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep, and almost immediately opened them. He was no longer in the tower, or in Ironsoul. He was floating in a deep black expanse, suspended in midair with the faint sensation of falling in slow motion. He was himself illuminated, though there seemed to be no source.

He looked down, and far below, there was some kind of reflective surface, like a floor made of one single piece of mirror. He also realized he was shirtless for some reason, his hair flying about unbound as he descended.

His fall slowed to a crawl right before the surface, and he put his feet directly underneath him in time to touch the mirror. The surface rippled like liquid in concentric circles from his position on the mirror, like some kind of field of mercury only a quarter inch deep. The sound of his landing was quiet, and yet it echoed all throughout the darkness.

“I’m sorry about the empty space.” Selene’s voice echoed throughout the darkness. “I promise this isn’t what’s going on in my head.”

Endrance turned in a circle, looking around. “I wouldn’t presume.” He said.

“Of course you wouldn’t.” Selene said again. “You always know just the right thing to say to make me feel guilty.”

“Guilty?” Endrance asked, confused.

“You’re too nice to us, sometimes.” She said, disembodied. “But at the same time, you ignore us. What is it? Do you love us, or do you not want to be around us?”

Endrance frowned. “If you want me to be honest,” he said, “I am scared more than anything.”

“Scared of us?” Selene’s voice responded.

Endrance shook his head. “Not us in the way you’re referring.” He explained. “I mean, I’m scared of what’s going to happen to you and I.“

“Tell me why.” Selene’s voice demanded, seeming to coalesce as the liquid mirror sheen parted before him. A beautiful, red dressed version of Selene arose before him. The scent of fresh rain was again strong in his nose, and he could see that everything about her appearance embellished her sexuality and power.

“I want to talk to both of you.” Endrance said, using an effort of will to not stare.

Selene reacted badly, snarling. Her wings rose into view, and her fingertips elongated into talons. “Even now, you spite me.” She hissed. “You ignore me so easily.”

Endrance tilted his head towards her, anger ticking at his face. “I am not ignoring you, Selene.” He said. “I am resisting your attempts to unnaturally influence me.”

Selene shook her head, tossing her dark ringlets around. “You don’t seem to understand!” she exclaimed angrily. “It’s totally natural for me! You change minds and hearts with words, I can only do the same with my power. It’s a part of what I am!”

Endrance shook his head. “You have the power to turn it on and off, but you always pour it on when you’re around me.” He rebutted. “You know you have my love, so turn off the leverage. It only puts me on edge.”

“I can’t!” Selene shrieked, her hair and dress whipping about as if a wind were swirling around her, several ringlets of hair curling up into what looked like horns. Her wings snapped fully open, their span putting her into a perfect backdrop against the darkness behind her. “You seem such a wise mage, and yet you can’t understand why I am unable to stop pushing you?”

Endrance shook his head. “I don’t know!” he shouted back. “I’m not your father! I have his training up here in my head, but even he didn’t know any whys… just the hows!”

At the mention of her father, Selene faltered for an instant. “Kalenden…” she growled.

“I don’t’ know the first thing about the Nephilim beyond the common signs!” Endrance continued. “And I’m trying to figure out why you seem to both want me, and want me dead!”

Selene snarled again, the mirrored floor rippling away from her as her anger built. Endrance had not gotten into many arguments with Selene before, but he knew enough now about barbarian and demonic mentalities to know that this was a display of power that he couldn’t step down from. He took a step forward, screaming wordlessly as he willed his tattoos to life.

His spells, now partially etched into his flesh, gleamed with golden light, the lines of light seeming to rise several inches off his body the way his wards alone were supposed to do. He took a stance, ready for confrontation; and in his mind, he set himself to not give in.

Selene did not react at all in the way that he was expecting. Instead of rushing in to fight him, she gasped in a way that sounded sexual, dropping to her knees as she held one taloned hand to her chest and used the other to keep herself from falling the rest of the way over.

“That’s it!” she moaned. Clutching at her body and rocking. “That’s what I need.”

Endrance hesitated, confused; and her sudden mood seemed to vanish as quickly as it appeared. She pushed up to her feet and started rushing towards him.

It clicked. This was precisely the way he’d had to deal with the succubi. Demons in the world would only be able to be kept in check if a mage with a powerful enough will could overpower theirs. Only then, could they be controlled; a fundamental rule of demon summoning that had been known by summoners since the art had been passed down, but the origins were never really known.

She wanted him, both sides of her wanted him, but the demon’s desires were too chaotic for a human mind to handle, unless it was tamed. Perhaps in time, Selene would have learned to do it herself, but in that moment…

Endrance actually focused his will upon her. His voice finding purchase again as he knew what he was willing to happen. Selene had just reached him, as his will slammed her into the mirror like a ten ton boulder. Endrance had nearly killed himself trying to match wills with a full breed succubi, and he was not willing to let up against her, on the off chance that half-breeds had weaker wills.

“Yes!” she moaned, writhing against his will as she started to push back at him in earnest. Endrance didn’t give her the chance to fight back, instead barreling his will into hers with everything he had from the beginning. He felt her start to fight, to struggle against him much in the same way that he had fought against the demon when he had encountered it. But unlike that time, she didn’t find the strength to overcome him. His will finally crushed hers, and the battle ended.

Selene groaned on the floor before him, reacting more like she had just had an intense sexual experience, instead of a potentially fatal battle of wills. “Oh… that was… amazing.” She moaned.

“You thought that was amazing?” Endrance asked. “I just did the equivalent of breaking into your mental house and dominating you.”

“Yes.” The demonic half panted. “And I loved every moment of it. I am yours to command.”

Endrance shook his head, confused. “Stand up.” He said. She rose instantly, though still panting and out of breath. She was obviously still excited from the experience.

“Now tell me,” Endrance started. “How will this affect your other half?”

The Selene in red smiled at him. “I will follow your directions now, from here until I am free again. You have proven superior; I cannot influence you with my powers anymore.”

“All right. What else changes?” Endrance prodded.

Selene was catching her mental breath. “With your will keeping my impulses in check, Selene will find me easier to draw upon. We can also start communicating more directly, should you wish it.”

Endrance nodded. “I do.” He said.

Selene looked confused. “You do what?” she asked.

“I wish that you start communicating with your other half more directly, though I do not want you distracting her during life or death moments, understood?”

The Selene in red nodded. “It is done. I shall ensure we do so.”

“I didn’t just make her my slave or anything, did I?” Endrance asked. “I really don’t like the idea of having done that.”

“No.” the demonic half replied. “The human half retains free will, which is what makes the Nephilim such useful servants. We can adjust, improvise, and even change our natures, unlike our full blooded parents who can only follow what they were made to be.”

“She’ll know what happened here though, won’t she?”

“Do you order me to let her know?” Selene asked.

Endrance thought about it. “If she asks, tell her.” He said. “I will try to figure out what happened here, and how to explain it to her.”

“She’s been here before.” Selene said. “As have you… though I doubt you remember it.”

“I have?” Endrance asked.

Selene pointed to his feet. “Look.” She said.

Endrance looked down, and his reflection wasn’t exactly right. He looked older, a little bit taller, and his body was a little more muscular. Every exposed inch of his skin was covered in glowing lines, even across his face and ears. The spell circle on his back glowed behind him, like some kind of mandala from an illustration. There was a third sigil in the blank spot of the circle he actually had, and it-

“Endrance!” Tanya shouted in his ear, jerking him awake. “Get up!”

Endrance sat up suddenly, and was nearly as quickly swatted back down. “Get down!” Bridget shouted, grunting as something clattering and buzzing crashed into her outside of his vision. All he could see was greenish fluid splattered on one wall, and a dropped torch on the stone. He was still disoriented from the interactive dream. His head suddenly throbbed with pain, likely in response to his mental ‘exertion’ in the dream world.

“Selene!” Tanya shouted. He heard a twang of her bow, followed by a screech that should have woken the girl up. “Wake up!”

Endrance turned his head to look at Selene, and found her lying face down in her bedroll where she had fallen asleep, her eyes open and red as she looked at him.

In that moment, he realized that she was waiting for him to give her directions. “You are free to act.” Endrance muttered. “Just help them however you can.”

Selene pushed off the bedroll, her blanket draping around her as she stood. She hissed, leaping out of his sight.

Endrance needed to see what was going on. He rolled over onto his back on Selene’s bedroll, and what he saw made him want to immediately pull the sheets back over himself and pretend he had been having a nightmare.

There were five huge insects in the room, having torn their way through the curtains. They were easily the size of large dogs, each with weird, banded, tan and brown carapaces, a narrow waist, two sets of long dragonfly like wings and multifaceted eyes. But that wasn’t the worst part. The creatures also had eight limbs, if he counted the two carapace-like bladed front limbs that were not only sharp, but serrated. They had circular mouths, lined with spiny teeth and the ends of their abdomens had stingers that flexed as they lashed out, trying to sting the group.