Forbidden Arcana: Valaria

by Tamryn Tamer

  If only they weren’t so weak and stupid. Owl growled as he thought about how Jericho’s familiars offered him knowledge while his offered him hardly anything useful. Everything he accomplished, he accomplished on his own while Jericho was handed the world because he found the right familiar.

  Owl activated elemental overload and began filling his elemental pathways with anger and frustration as he looked down at the summoning circle. In one powerful blast, he released everything instantly charging everything. The gems and lines radiated power as the spiritual weight came crashing down on all of them. Owl gritted his teeth and quickly began his incantation.

  As he spoke, the lines burned brighter until they became almost blinding. He continued to recite the words from memory since he could no longer see the parchment in front of him. Owl could feel the raw energy emanating from the lines even from high in the sky.

  “Master!” Whim whimpered as he trembled under the weight of the spirit. “Help.”

  Owl ignored the suffering familiar and continued the incantation. He was useless, they were all useless. He needed good familiars, strong familiars. All he needed to do was finish it and with one more string of words, he was finished.

  “What?” Aldo panted while climbing to his feet. The pressure subsided as did the glowing as the summoning circle returned to normal. “Did it…”

  “Dammit,” Razixithura said with his natural guttural voice as a powerful blast of energy shot upward from the center of the summoning circle.

  Owl smiled as a dark silhouette formed in the beam of light. An ominous dark figure emerged from the beam and looked around as the light dissipated. Owl was surprised by the hooded being standing in the center of the circle. It was about the size of a normal human and Owl started to wonder if he’d done something wrong.

  “Disgusting,” the Primordial’s voice shook Owl to his core. That single word made him feel like half of his life was being drained away. “You’re all so disgusting.”

  It lifted its hand and Owl plummeted to the ground unable to breathe. Aldo quickly moved to catch him but only managed to cushion his fall as the werewolf found himself barely able to move. Several of the players and mercenaries backed off while waiting for orders.

  “Are you okay master?” Aldo panted while rising to his feet. The werewolf trembled as he glared at the ominous figure. He stepped to the side as if to protect Owl. “I’ll…”

  “Move,” Owl panted as he rose to his feet. His body still felt like it was being drained of life. “Finally, a familiar worthy of me…”

  “Worthy,” Aldo hung his head as Owl passed him.

  “What a disgusting world,” the voice echoed as Owl moved toward him. “How did it get so infested with life.”

  “You,” Owl growled as he approached the cloaked figure. “What’s your name?”

  “Death,” it responded while turning to Owl. Its eyes were two tiny golden spheres and there was nothing else where its face should be. “Are you the creature who summoned me?”

  “Yes,” Owl answered coldly as he cautiously stepped toward the Primordial. The players and mercenaries looked on in curiosity as he approached. “I summoned you.”

  “You did well,” Death said with disgust in his voice while looking around. “The disease of life permeates this world making it disgusting. It needs to be eradicated.”

  “Sure,” Owl laughed while stepping toward the being. “We can get to that once you become my familiar.”

  Death held out his hand and Owl felt like his insides were being torn apart. Death twisted his hand and Owl dropped to his knees. Owl looked and realized it was spirit magic beyond anything he’d ever felt.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Mortiax roared while launching a dozen dark spears at the cloaked figure. “Aldo, protect our master!”

  “Disgusting,” Death said appearing behind Mortiax in a blink. A hand of glowing light emerged out of the nothingness of the cloak and tapped the Fallen warrior. Instantly Mortiax fell to the ground completely lifeless as the glowing hand absorbed a small orb. “So much disgusting life.”

  “Mort,” Aldo looked at the corpse. “Mort buddy…”

  “He’s dead,” Whim said while backing away. Several of the soldiers and mercenaries were already fleeing. “He pulled out his soul and devoured it.”

  “What do you think you’re doing!” Owl growled while climbing to his feet. “I summoned you! You will obey me!”

  “Death does not obey,” the robed figure appeared rapidly behind the fleeing soldiers killing them and pulling out their souls in an instant. He finished by appearing behind Whim and then Razixithura. Both of the familiars dropped to the ground as Death devoured their souls.

  Owl’s heart pounded as he realized Plague was right. This wasn’t some rational being to be reasoned with. It found all of life disgusting and wanted it gone. It only wanted death.

  “Seriously?” Owl laughed while shaking his head. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

  “Master,” Aldo struck Owl across the face. “Run. I’ll hold him off.”

  “You?” Owl chuckled. “You couldn’t hold off a shapeshifter. What makes you think…”

  “Go!” Aldo interrupted. “You are my master and I love you! Now let me protect you!”

  “You what?” Owl said in disbelief as the werewolf rushed forward into the arms of Death. His words echoed in Owl’s head as he watched the werewolf dodge a series of attacks from the Primordial. At that moment he realized that Aldo wasn’t weak. He looked around at the corpses of his other familiars and it finally clicked.

  Jericho told him that being a mage was about selfishness. It was about doing whatever you wanted and for the longest time Owl thought that’s what he was doing.

  But as he watched Aldo trying to save him, he wanted something different. Mages were selfish, he finally realized what Jericho meant. He realized why Sapphire’s choice to do something stupid was important. Mages did what they wanted, no matter how stupid, no matter how selfish, no matter how unfair to everybody else. Owl wanted to be selfish for once. He wanted his familiar to live.

  “I’m a bad master,” Owl said to himself as he shapeshifted his legs to increase his speed. As he approached the werewolf, he summoned up a stone pillar launching Aldo backward. “Run!”

  “No!” Aldo snarled while rushing toward him. Owl wasn’t going to allow it. He stomped his foot creating a wall of stone to lock the werewolf out of the fight. “Owl!”

  “I said run!” Owl yelled as Death stared at him blankly. “I am your master and you will obey me!”

  Owl smiled as he sensed Aldo running off. He wasn’t sure how far the werewolf would get or where he would go, but as long as he was alive, Owl was happy. He laughed as he realized it’d been a while since he was really happy. He’d spent so much time trying to be number one, he’d forgotten how much fun it was to just play with those around him.

  He hoped he could find Aldo again. He’d do better next time. Take him hunting monsters or something. Whatever werewolves liked to do. He never even really asked. God, he was a bad master.

  “You summoned me,” Death’s voice echoed as he approached. “You did well. I will summon my daughters to this world and we will purge it of all the filth. Take your well-earned rest.”

  Death touched him and everything went black.

  Chapter 11

  Finally

  Jericho researched nonstop looking for something that’d trap a Primordial while getting nowhere. He was exhausted, frustrated, and at the end of his ropes. He needed a break before he broke.

  That’s probably why he didn’t ask any questions when Mirage whispered in his ear to sneak upstairs with her. She said she had a special surprise that he’d love and all he had to do was make sure none of the other familiars saw him.

  He didn’t need much convincing as they both used blink and other assassin abilities to quietly make their way up the stairs to the bedroom. That was one downside of the increased size, getting fr
om the first floor to the bedroom was a bit of a chore.

  “Huh?” Jericho whispered as Mirage stopped before the top floor. She quickly moved to Terra’s bedroom door and gestured for him to come inside. “Wait…”

  “Come on,” Mirage said quietly while holding the door open. “Quickly.”

  Jericho followed her inside and closed the door behind him. Mirage smiled and stroked his chest while gesturing to Terra quietly sitting on the bed.

  “What are you doing?” Jericho asked nervously as Mirage dragged him toward Terra. It wasn’t his first time in her room but it was the first time he ever saw it without piles of clothing laying everywhere. They’d obviously spent quite a bit of time picking up. “Is this some sort of trick?”

  “No trick,” Mirage said as she unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it onto the floor. She pressed her hands against Jericho’s muscular chest testing its firmness. “But there are conditions.”

  “Conditions?” Jericho looked at Terra suspiciously. She sat there silently while avoiding his eye contact. She looked absolutely stunning in a transparent black negligee with a lace thong. His eyes gravitated toward her nipples showing through her transparent garment as he savored her gorgeous figure.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” Terra mumbled as her face turned red. “This was all her idea.”

  “It may be my idea but you didn’t take much convincing,” Mirage teased. “Don’t worry darling, it’s nothing you won’t agree to. Then again, you’d agree to anything to be with Terra, wouldn’t you?”

  “I feel like that’s a trick question,” Jericho said as Mirage stroked his chest. Mirage’s insecurity about Terra certainly made it a dangerous question and he needed to be careful about how he answered it. “You know I wouldn’t abandon you for Terra, right?”

  “I know,” Mirage lovingly smiled at Jericho. “And Terra said she wouldn’t leave me either. She said she loved me. Isn’t that right Terra?”

  “Shut up,” Terra’s growled while avoiding eye contact with Jericho. “You can’t go around telling people that. And it’s not even that kind of love. It’s not like I obsess over you like Jericho does.”

  “No,” Mirage laughed. “You reserve that type of obsession for Jericho, don’t you?”

  “Shut up!” Terra snapped while covering herself in a small throw blanket. Her entire body turned pink and tears were welling up in her eyes. “It’s not like that.”

  “Darling,” Mirage looked at Jericho. “What am I afraid of more than anything in the world?”

  “Being discarded,” Jericho answered somberly. Mirage’s life of being used as a tool and then tossed aside as soon as it became convenient had rightfully scarred her. She loved him completely so her greatest fear was that he wouldn’t love her back. Suddenly it clicked why she’d asked him.

  He turned to Terra and realized she wasn’t just embarrassed, she was nervous. In a world where you could get eaten by a dragon or slaughtered by an army and wake up unharmed, there was still a way to get hurt and she was protecting herself from that.

  Jericho understood what Mirage was telling him yet he found himself completely unable to speak. He loved Terra probably more than he’d ever loved anybody. It wasn’t any specific thing about her that made him feel that way but more the way everything came together. And as much as he wanted to tell her, he had no idea what to say.

  “Darling,” Mirage stroked his chest. “She needs to hear it. That’s one of the conditions.”

  “Fine,” Jericho’s heart pounded in his chest so forcefully he felt like everybody in the room could hear it. “But if this ruins things between us, it’s your own fault. I love you.”

  Jericho suddenly felt the urge to spring out of the room and never come back. He’d done some stupid things but telling Terra that he loved her was by far the most idiotic. All he could do was wait powerlessly for her response while lying to himself it didn’t matter.

  “Like you love your familiars? Or Mai? Or Riseva?” Terra said skeptically. “You love everybody. That’s what makes you so easy to be around. Don’t think I’m just going to follow you and worship…”

  “I don’t love you like that,” Jericho interrupted. A soft whirlwind flowed through the room as his emotions leaked out through his elemental pathways. “Sure, I can’t think about Jinx, Ariel, Mirage, or the others without smiling. But when I think about you it’s everything. It’s your stupid little fights with Mirage. It’s the way you let yourself be bullied into taking Jinx and the wolves on hunts even though they bore the hell out of you. It’s the way you loot books from dungeons and libraries that are completely useless because you know Sable loves reading them. It’s the way you psychotically laugh when you’re out killing players. It’s the way you greedily horde gold only to end up spending it on others. And it’s even the way you’re unreasonably expecting me to put it into words. Yeah, I love easily but that’s a choice. It’s not a choice with you.”

  “Wow,” Terra buried her face in a pillow embarrassed. But Jericho was positive she wasn’t embarrassed as he was.

  “Yeah,” Mirage smiled at Jericho while holding back tears. Jericho quickly grabbed his warm familiar and squeezed her like he never intended to let her go. She laughed into his shoulder, “I’m fine darling. I’ve always known how you feel about her. It’s just strange hearing it. Just promise you won’t forget about me and the others.”

  “Terra’s right about you,” Jericho stroked his familiar’s soft hair. “You’re absolutely crazy. You’re mental. You’re psychotic. Because you’d have to be all those things to think I would forget about you or the others.”

  “Absolutely insane,” Terra confirmed from behind her pillow.

  “Promise me anyway,” Mirage whispered into his ear.

  “I promise,” Jericho smiled. “I’m not letting go of any of you.”

  “And now I’m jealous,” Terra joked while tossing the pillow to the side once again revealing her lingerie covered form. “And for the record, if we’re doing this, we’re going to be establishing some boundaries.”

  “Oh no,” Jericho shook his head. “You don’t get to change the subject.”

  “Change the subject?” Terra looked at Jericho confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “He told you how he feels,” Mirage looked back at Terra with a smug grin. “You haven’t.”

  “Seriously?” Terra looked at the two and let out a reluctant sigh. “Fine. I love you too.”

  “Really?” Jericho laughed.

  “Terra,” Mirage shook her head judgmentally. “If you’re going to be like that, I’m not going to let you have him.”

  “You’re a real bastard,” Terra gestured at her sexy outfit. “I’m the one putting myself out on a limb here. You’re mister fucks everything that moves! Diana, Raven, and don’t think I haven’t heard about your threesomes with Mai and Riseva. God knows when you’re going to get with Carrot but let’s be honest, she moved into this house for a reason.”

  “You have nothing to worry about with her,” Mirage assured Terra. She turned and whispered in Jericho’s ear, “I don’t mean that. We’re absolutely going to fuck that cute little cat girl.”

  “I heard that!” Terra pointed to her elf ears. “And you need me to say more than I love you? Look at what I tolerate! You’ve bankrupted yourself several times buying jewelry for Jinx but have you ever bought me a present? No! And you’ve sat through Ariel introducing you to all of her plants! Three hours of plant introductions and with her new garden, god knows how long those introductions are going to be! Would you listen to me talk about nonsense for three hours? And Mirage, you always take her side against me, always! Obviously, I love you! I don’t even know why or when it started! It makes no sense! But I do!”

  Terra paused to take a breath. Jericho tried not to laugh as she adopted a face more suited for battle than a confession.

  “It was probably during one of those stupid times I saw you struggling to take down an easy mo
nster with magic,” Terra said angrily. “No matter how things were and how many players talked trash about mages, you kept doing you. And it wasn’t just that. It’s the way that stupid do whatever you want personality carries over to everything you do. You do whatever you want and smile through it. Every minute with you, even when you were a weak mage being chased by orcs was so much fun. So yeah, I love you. Now quit being a dick about it.”

  “I suppose I should have expected that,” Jericho laughed at the red-faced elf. “God, you’re beautiful.”

  “Shut up,” Terra tried to hide her smile. “Now let’s get back to the topic I want to talk about, boundaries.”

  “Like no butt stuff?” Jericho teased hoping to avoid the conversation about boundaries. He wasn’t really a boundary type of guy.

  “Funny,” Terra said. “I’m talking about partners.”

  “Terra darling,” Mirage started to unbuckle Jericho’s pants. “Are you really going to ruin such a beautiful moment with such an awful discussion.”

  “Absolutely,” Terra said confidently. “Because I’m not going to become another woman chasing him around like a lovesick puppy.”

  “I hate to break it to you darling,” Mirage chuckled as she slid down Jericho’s pants revealing his massive cock. “You kind of already are.”

  “What are the boundaries,” Jericho said as Terra’s eyes immediately gravitated toward the blonde shapeshifter stroking his massive cock. She playfully flicked her tongue under the tip, “Fuck, Mirage. You can let her talk first.”

  “She can talk all she wants,” Mirage said while playfully kissing the side of his shaft. “But I’ve waited long enough darling.”

  “I’m not going to be second to anybody,” Terra said biting her lip as Mirage put on a show for her. The mischievous shapeshifter was obviously teasing her. “That’s my boundary. That means if I want time, I get the time. If I want a weekend, I get the weekend. If I don’t like somebody you’re sleeping with, she gets the boot. If I tell you not to sleep with somebody, you don’t sleep with her.”