The Awakening: The Aegis of Merlin Book 2

by James E. Wisher

  The rumor was she’d done a tour down on the southern border where she killed more than her share of heart hunters. While the stories made him nervous they also gave him confidence that his instructor had actual combat experience and would teach him what he needed to know if he wanted to survive a real fight.

  A regular tap, tap, tap came from outside, getting louder as it drew closer. A moment later the door swung open and there stood Mrs. Umbra, all four feet ten inches of her. Deep wrinkles lined her face and only a few wisps of white hair clung to her head. Her black robe hid everything beyond hands with swollen, arthritic knuckles. She leaned on a polished black walking stick topped with a silver skull. It was named the Death Stick and served as a potent dark magic enhancer.

  Conryu scrambled to his feet. “Ma’am. It’s an honor to learn from you.”

  She closed the door and tapped her way across the room until she was just a few feet away. “Are you afraid, boy?”

  “A little, yeah.”

  She cracked a smile, revealing a mouth full of straight white teeth. “Me too. I’ve never trained anyone as powerful as you’re supposed to be. Even with the Death Stick, you’re still easily twice as powerful as me. Since I know what I’m capable of, I also have a fair idea of what you can do. We shall proceed carefully.”

  “Yes, ma’am. May I ask a question?”

  “Yes.”

  “Everyone tells me how strong I am and that I’m capable of great or terrible things. I don’t feel strong, not in magic at least. What exactly am I capable of?”

  “That is what we’re about to find out. Leena’s a good girl, more than able to teach the basics of dark magic, but for someone with your potential a more experienced hand is best. I told Emily that the night of your testing, but she insisted you be treated the same as every other student. I was pleased when she changed her mind.”

  “So what do I do first?”

  Mrs. Umbra walked up to the chalkboard, spun it around to reveal the blank side, and wrote three words in Infernal. Conryu recognized “darkness” and “all” or maybe it was “everything,” from his studies, but he’d never seen the third. Next she drew a hand with crossed fingers followed by a figure with its wrists crossed.

  When she finished Mrs. Umbra turned back to Conryu. “This is the formula for the most basic dark magic spell. Do the hand positions, speak the words, then throw your hands in the direction of whatever magic you want to end and uncross your fingers. If you have time you can speak the words multiple times to build up more power. Want to give it a try?”

  “I’m not familiar with the second and third words and their pronunciations.”

  “I’ll just recite the whole spell: Darkness dispels everything.”

  He repeated the awkward sounds until she was satisfied with his intonation.

  “I believe I’m ready now,” he said.

  Mrs. Umbra cast a spell and a flame cat almost identical to the one that attacked him appeared beside her. “Now use the magic to cancel my summoning.”

  Conryu took a breath to calm his racing heart. He was about to cast his first dark magic spell. After everything he’d been told, he found his hands shaking.

  How had it come to this? He should be at the technical college right now learning how to diagnose engine problems. Instead he was out in the middle of nowhere learning magic and worrying about potential assassins.

  Well, as Dad liked to say, you had to deal with the problem in front of you. And his problem just now was making a fire cat vanish.

  Conryu crossed his wrists and fingers like the drawing showed. “Darkness.”

  It felt like he’d dropped into a cold, dark well. The room around him looked no different, but in his mind he was back out in the black pillar on the beach.

  “Dispels.” The darkness gathered around him formed into a sphere between his chest and crossed wrists. He saw the shape of the spell now and understood how to direct it.

  “Everything!” The dark sphere solidified.

  He hurled it at the fire cat, uncrossing his fingers as he did so. The cat vanished, but the dark energy didn’t. It kept growing, seething like flames and reaching for the enchanted lights in the ceiling.

  Mrs. Umbra spoke a single sharp word in Infernal and snapped her fingers. The darkness slunk away like a chastened dog. It gathered around Conryu’s feet and he understood that if he wished he could reform the energy into a new spell and fling it out again.

  Of course he only knew one spell and had no interest in casting it again.

  “What now?” he asked.

  Mrs. Umbra tapped her chin and appeared deep in thought. Conryu wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not. “Hold your hands palms up and repeat after me.”

  She slowly spoke four words in Infernal and Conryu repeated them just as precisely though he had no idea what any of them meant. The darkness leapt up and poured into his hands, through his palms, and into his body. It swirled around inside his trunk and settled in his stomach.

  “What the hell was that?” The dark power sat like a meal of greasy pizza in the pit of his gut.

  “That was something I’ve never seen before. When you cast the spell, so much dark energy came through that a demon spirit rode along with it. The spirit possessed the leftover energy instead of letting it dissipate.”

  Conryu stared stupidly for a moment. “There’s a demon spirit in my stomach?”

  “Of course not.” Mrs. Umbra sighed. “The second spell I had you cast stripped the spirit out of the power and sent it back to Hell. The purified energy remained inside you for future use. That way you can cast spells without drawing spirits through along with the energy you need.”

  “But I only have the power from a single spell. How long will that last in a fight?”

  “You can probably fire three decent shots with what you have stored. You’ll need to modulate your casting: whisper the words instead of chanting, cross two sets of fingers instead of four. After that, assuming the fight is still going on, you’ll have to chance casting the spell the traditional way and ending up with imps and other minor demons running around afterward. It’s not ideal, but you can always clean up the mess if you survive.”

  “So what now?” Conryu couldn’t wrap his head around what had happened. He’d never even heard of modulating spells, though he may have skimmed that section of the book. Maybe if he convinced Maria to explain it he’d understand. He was supposed to meet her for dinner in the cafeteria shortly.

  “Do you have your writing pad?”

  Conryu flipped open his lined notebook. “Shoot.”

  She wrote the words to the second spell below the first on the chalkboard. “Copy them both, but don’t cast them without me present unless it’s life and death. Study them until you know the words by heart. We’ll resume our training in two days.”

  “I thought you were busy until next week?”

  “I’ll move some things around. We need to figure out how to work around this demon issue if you want to make any progress as a wizard.”

  Conryu didn’t give a flaming crap about progressing as a wizard, but he needed to know how to protect himself and he didn’t want demons running around every time he cast a spell so he just nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

  Conryu left his class with Mrs. Umbra and headed for the cafeteria. He didn’t think he was late, but with no way to tell the time he couldn’t be certain. The spirits were good about fetching him for a class, but he couldn’t exactly ask them for the time. Conryu was still aware of the dark energy inside him, but he was getting more and more used to it as the minutes ticked by. Whether that was a good thing or not he had yet to decide.

  The halls were mostly empty as he made his way through the main building and over to the dorm. Everyone was either still in class or they had already arrived for dinner. The scent of roasting meat reached him as soon as he pushed the dorm doors open. One good thing about this school, the food was excellent. Whatever magic they used to make the meals so tasty
was one thing Conryu didn’t object to.

  He spotted Maria sitting at the end of one of the long tables across from a chubby girl in white robes. She’d introduced him to the bashful freshman last week, but damned if Conryu remembered her name. Did it start with an L? No, I. Irene, that was it. She was in his self-defense class, but seldom spoke. If he even looked her way she’d blush furiously.

  Maria waved as he approached. Conryu smiled and picked up his pace. Irene started to stand, but Conryu said, “No need to leave on my account.”

  She sat back down, her face beet red. He slipped into the seat beside Maria.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind?” Irene asked.

  “Of course not.” Conryu smiled and she looked away. “It’s not like I have any other friends here. Have you been doing your training?” At the moment she was so out of shape that even the most basic moves were beyond her.

  “I try, but I get tired so fast.”

  “That’s natural at first. Just do what you can every day and try to add one or two more reps each week. You’ll be surprised how fast you can progress if you keep at it.”

  She nodded eagerly. “I think I have lost a few pounds. If you’ll excuse me I’m going to have a salad.”

  When she’d gone to stand in line Maria said, “That was sweet.”

  She touched his hand and immediately jerked her hand back. “What?”

  “Your skin burned me, like when I touched the dark gem.”

  “Shit.” Conryu explained what happened when he tried casting a spell. “The dark magic is still inside me. I assume that’s what you’re reacting to.”

  “I’ve never heard of such a thing. What’s she going to do about it?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine. I’m meeting Mrs. Umbra in two days so maybe she’ll have something figured out.”

  “Have you written your mother yet?”

  “Not since the attack. I’m not sure what to tell her. Something like, ‘Hi, Mom. I’m learning all about magic. Pretty much everyone hates me and I was almost murdered again. Love, Conryu.’ I can’t imagine that going over well.”

  “No. I know you can’t lie to her, but maybe if you sort of glossed over how much danger you were in. Like you did when you told her about The Awakening.”

  “What if I told her your dad would fill her in on the details? Do you think he’d mind?”

  “Not at all. In fact that’s a great idea. Tell her the good stuff and that Dad has some information for her. I’ll mail my letter a day before you so he has some warning.”

  She reached for his hand again before she caught herself and touched his sleeve-covered arm instead. He really needed to sort this magic problem out. Never being able to hug Maria again didn’t appeal to him at all.

  Two days went fast and Conryu once again found himself waiting in the basement classroom for Mrs. Umbra. He’d been studying every spare minute to master as much of the Infernal language as possible. He figured the more words he knew the better he’d be able to follow her instructions. He now knew what the words for his second spell meant, though he hoped to never have to use them.

  A chuckle slipped out. It amazed him how having a goal he actually wanted to achieve helped his motivation. Before the last two days he hadn’t realized how often he and Maria would casually hold hands or she’d grab his arm as they walked down the hall together. Now that they couldn’t he found he missed it terribly.

  The tapping of the cane heralded Mrs. Umbra’s arrival. She pushed the door open and in her hand was a tome as thick as Conryu’s palm. It looked like about all the old woman could manage. He rushed over to help her, but she warded him off with the Death Stick.

  “You can’t touch it until we make the necessary preparations. I think I’ve sorted out your demon problem, but it’s going to be tricky getting everything right.” Mrs. Umbra hobbled over to the desk and thumped the book on it. “You’ve been practicing the spell I taught you?”

  “Yeah. I think I’ve got it mastered.”

  “Good. A magic detection spell will reveal the ward on this book. I want you to use the magic you have stored to dispel it.”

  Conryu frowned and spoke a single word of Angelic. “Reveal.” It was one of a handful of universal spells his other teachers had shown him so far.

  The book lit up with a combined light and fire magic ward. It looked pretty strong, but he hadn’t seen enough wards to say for sure.

  He cast “Darkness dispels everything!” and hurled all his stored power at the ward. It shattered and dissipated in an instant. The considerable amount of unused dark energy fizzled away as well.

  Conryu glanced at Mrs. Umbra, who nodded. “Good. That’s the way the spell is supposed to work. No demons running around afterward.”

  “So how do I get that result with ordinary dark energy?” Conryu felt lighter than he had in days without the dark energy weighing him down and he wasn’t eager to recharge.

  “You’re going to form a demon contract with Cerberus. Since he branded you the process is already halfway completed. I’ve written up a basic guardian contract that should serve our purposes.”

  “What good will that do?” He didn’t know much about demon contracts. That wasn’t a subject usually covered in a student’s first year.

  “If you successfully form a contract with him the demon dog’s spirit will be constantly nearby. He can chase away any lesser demons that might try to slip through when you cast a spell, thus freeing you to use your magic properly.”

  “What’s the catch?”

  She sighed. “That’s a complicated question. Maybe I should explain the way things work in Hell. The basics at least. In Hell everything is a competition and demons are constantly jockeying for better position. Battles are constant, the mighty are thrown down and others rise to take their place.”

  “What’s that got to do with me?”

  “There are two ways for a demon to grow stronger, destroy a rival and consume its essence or make a pact with a human wizard. The more powerful the wizard the more power the demon gets.”

  “So I sacrifice a portion of my power to gain Cerberus’s help?”

  She shook her head. “The relationship is synergistic not parasitic. Cerberus will get power and through him his minions, the hell hounds, will as well. You’ll get a powerful guardian who will constantly be close by and ready to appear at your summons. At least those are the terms I put in your contract.”

  “That’s why Cerberus and those other two marked my arm. They couldn’t find a more powerful wizard than me.”

  “Exactly. I recommend you use Cerberus because he’s already proven his willingness to protect you and he’s the weakest of the three, though more than adequate for our needs.”

  “Wait.” Conryu remembered how powerful the demon dog was and that was just a fragment of his might. “The other two are stronger than Cerberus?”

  “Absolutely. Would you like to meet them?” Mrs. Umbra didn’t wait for his reply before she began flipping through the thick book. “Here’s The Dark Lady.”

  Conryu moved closer. On the open page was a pen-and-ink illustration of a female demon with bat wings, curling horns, a pointed tail, and a figure that made Heather James look positively flat-chested. Underneath the picture was the caption, The Dark Lady, Princess of Succubi.

  He gave a wolf whistle. “Maybe we should use her.”

  Mrs. Umbra’s laugh resembled a dry cough. “You’d never have another night’s sleep if you made a contract with that one.”

  Conryu thought it might be worth it, but he kept his silence. His teacher flipped through the book until she came to another demon illustration. This one was definitely male. It had a massive chest and shoulders, long smooth horns, a thick, serpentine tail and a black trident. The picture very much resembled drawings he’d seen of the devil. Conryu checked the inscription and about choked. Lucifer, Demon Prince of Lies.

  “The devil himself branded me?”

  She laughed again. “Hardly
. Don’t believe all that superstitious nonsense some of the religions spout. Lucifer is just one of many powerful demons. He’s clever and sneaky and if the opportunity came to betray you, he’d do it simply because that’s his nature. At some point we’ll need to remove his name from your arm. A strong connection to that one is not in your best interest.”

  “No shit.”

  She glared at him.

  “Sorry. So what now?”

  “Now you copy the demon contract I prepared exactly. The wording has to be precise or Cerberus may be free to do things we don’t want him doing. That would be bad.”

  Conryu spent the next however many hours carefully copying the contract. He was surprised to note that he understood almost half of it. Those long nights studying had paid off.

  When he finished she took the paper from him, studied it, and handed it back. “Good, now the hard part. You’re going to have to shift yourself halfway between Hell and earth. Cerberus can meet you there.”

  “How will he know to come?”

  “The demon dog will sense his brand and come to investigate.”

  “Okay. But what’s to keep Lucifer and The Dark Lady from visiting me as well?”

  She tapped him on the forehead with a bony finger. “You’re smarter than you look. Nothing is keeping them from paying you a visit. My only hope is that since Cerberus has already answered your summons once, he’ll be closer than the other two and you can complete your contract before they show up.”

  “What do I do if we’re not fast enough?”

  “Improvise.”

  There was a cabinet behind the chalkboard that Conryu had never noticed. Mrs. Umbra removed all manner of magical accessories from it: chalk, black candles, a chalice of gold set with rubies. While she fetched supplies, Conryu cleared a space in the middle of the room so she’d have space to draw a conjuror’s circle.