Meliorath...
Meliorath, here!
`Do not overestimate your abilities, assassin!' she sneers. `Remember, you are only one of the lesser races...'
Slowly I get over the initial shock of learning her true identity. I suspected she was a dragon-spawn, a half-dragon, or perhaps even a lesser dragon in human shape, but Meliorath...
No matter. For all I know, she could be lying about who she is. Yet, her magical power suggests me that she is indeed who she claims to be. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who she is, all that matters is what she wants.
`Whatever...' I respond to her arrogant taunting. `Now tell me, do you have a plan to get me into the city? As you said, I must be aware of my limits. I can kill them all, but I can't get in. Re'Cas is out of reach for me.'
`Indeed, it is no simple matter to infiltrate the great City of Mages, but I happen to have just the solution... North of here there is a small settlement called Drraum. There, you will find a dwarven merchant by the name of Aaron Chraem. He is a distant associate of mine, someone I do business with on occasion. Right now he's looking for mercenaries to guard his special shipment due for Re'Cas. Drraum is not far, you can make it there in a day or two. If you arrive within the next five days, you could go with them.'
`Will he hire me?'
`He will hire anyone with sufficient skill. He is not a simple merchant, he is a smuggler who deals in... exotic merchandise... His caravan will be a target for many a bandit raid. Someone with your skills will be of great value to him. He is expecting you. I told him I'd send someone to his aid, as a token of my appreciation for our past dealings. Here, take this!'
She tosses a coin towards me. At first it seems like an etched crown coin, but it is not an Ess'yerian coin. It is a gold coin with a stylized dragon carved on both sides, with flames coming out of the dragon's mouth.
`Give him this, and he'll know that I sent you. He will hire you, and with him, you can get into the city. Once there, he will give you some of his merchandise that I purchased for you. It should help you in your task. When you're done, you'd better watch your back! If you succeed in your task, every mage in Re'Cas will want your head.'
`Don't worry about me... I'm good at disappearing.'
She smiles with vicious pleasure.
`Excellent! So, do we have a deal?'
I nod to her, and we begin to discuss my payment. She was not exaggerating about riches beyond my wildest dreams. She even gives me a nice big sum in advance. It makes it all sound very believable and appealing. Not that it's wise for one of the lesser races to trust dragon-kind. No matter. It's not the coin that matters here...
When we are finished, she leaves and I remain at my table waiting for my dinner. I am pleased to see her leave, as I am left with mixed emotions. An hour ago, I thought this day would be like any other. But now, she has given me the assignment of my life! An assignment that can very well mark me as the greatest traitor of the lesser races in the history of our world.
Not that it would make me sink any lower than I already have...
No, this would be nothing in comparison... and it will be my pleasure to oblige... For the first time ever in my entire life since the day I was born, I will set off to kill someone whom I will enjoy slaying! This will be the first... of so many thousands that I've slain...
Nightmare
Life is Hell and death is a blessing for the likes of me. Yet I am not looking forward to an existence in the Afterlife. I am a child of a Demon Lord, and in my life I have killed so many, unwillingly. Their very presence in the Afterlife will make my stay in that place into a true Hell. Then again, my life has already been a living Hell. In death I shall at least be free of this curse. The curse that I was born with. The curse of being what I am.
I am the last of the spawn of Th'Mesh, and now the inevitable final confrontation lies ahead of me. The very thought of this sends shivers down my spine. It makes me remember. It makes me remember the day when it all began.
Fifteen years ago...
In the forest of Enyth in Ess'yer, fifteen years ago (17 years, 7 months, and 22 days before Twilightfall)
It's been fifteen years but I remember it as if it had taken place yesterday. The day when our Master sent us out on yet another petty chore. Our Master, Councilor Jenathar of the Supreme Council, had often sent us off to complete petty little tasks to test our abilities. We, as apprentices of a Councilor, often had to prove our worth. A rare few get to be taught personally by one of the Supreme Councilors.
Prior to my birth, Jenathar in fact had just one apprentice, a talented young woman called Elaine Vogan. My mother.
She died when I was born. Since no-one knew who my father was, Jenathar decided to raise me himself. He said it was the least he could do as a sign of respect for my deceased mother, who was so skillful and talented that she was meant to succeed Jenathar in the Council eventually. He was the one who gave me the name of Jason Vogan. At one time he said he knew for certain that my mother liked the name Jason.
He didn't spend much time with me until I was old enough to begin my studies. I was six when I started showing signs of talent for magic. Then he began to teach me. I've been his number one apprentice ever since. Others have joined me later on. First, the elven twins Reqa and Lerui. Councilor Worriil of the elves did not feel like he had the time to waste on teaching apprentices, and so he recommended them to Jenathar, who immediately accepted them. Perhaps only to show everyone that he cares more for apprentices than Worriil, whom he has been having a quarrel with for who knows how long.
Reqa and Lerui were quite talented girls, but Jenathar always said that I was better. Perhaps I was, I don't know. But I know this...
She was decisively better than Reqa and Lerui combined...
Carrie...
She joined us when I was about fifteen years old. She was human, and she joined us after winning a difficult tournament that Jenathar organized for mage apprentices. She was full of determination from the first day, and never backed down from any challenge. In the beginning I often heard her brag about how she would one day be the number one apprentice. In retrospect, this was something I should have paid attention to.
Half a year later, she slowly accepted that I was the number one apprentice, and she faithfully followed my every command whenever Jenathar gave us a task to complete together.
Each time she proved her skill, each time she showed her talent. Each day, she got better and better. It was amazing to watch her development. She always said it was likewise amazing for her to watch mine, but I adored her for much longer than vice versa.
That day fifteen years ago, all four of us where out on yet another petty chore, and I was certain she'd show her talent yet again. Our quest took us on a journey into the forest of Enyth, the woods east of the city of Ashkel, where many wild animals prey on travelers. As dusk neared, we set up a camp in a small clearing. I ordered Reqa and Lerui to conjure a protective ward around the camp, to keep the wolves away. Inside, we were safe.
While they were doing this, I watched the sun descend among the surrounding trees. Carrie admired it a few steps away. She wore a traditional red apprentice robe, like we all. The color of the falling sun matched this color well.
`Beautiful, isn't it?' she asked.
`Yes.' I replied.
It was indeed a beautiful sundown. The last that I ever looked at with joy for the rest of my life...
We watched in silence until the very last rays of the sun vanished beneath the horizon.
By then, Reqa and Lerui were finished.
`Well done!' I told them. `Now go and rest. We will have a long way to travel tomorrow.'
`As you command, Jason!'
Since I was the number one apprentice, and as such, I was above them in rank, they should have called me Master Vogan, but I never cared for such formalities. I was no Master... I never understood why Jenathar insisted on this ridiculous protocol.
`Carrie, you may go to sleep as well.
I shall remain briefly to reinforce the ward.' I told Carrie.
`As you command!' she said, and she retreated into her tent.
Reqa and Lerui had a close bond as twins, so they preferred to sleep in one tent, while Carrie and I had our own separate tents. Once I was finished with the wards, I entered my tent, pretending that I was about to go to sleep.
Then I used a small spell to make myself partially invisible for a short time, and snuck out of my tent in silence. I snuck to Carrie's tent, and carefully stepped inside.
The moment I folded down the canvas over the tent's entrance behind me, she cast the spell she always does when I go to see her. It was a spell that is considered sophisticated at the level of an apprentice, but it was really a series of fairly simple spells. It served to create the illusion that she was alone, and to ensure that no-one could spy on us.
My partial invisibility broke just moments after she finished the spell.
Then she walked to me and reached her hand towards me. She ran her fingers through my brown hair and smiled at me. Then she slipped her fingers down my cheek all the way to my beardless chin, and then she gently pulled me close by the sleeve of my robe. She embraced me and we exchanged a long kiss.
`I missed this so much...' she told me.
We've known each other for five years, but we've only been lovers for about a year. We had to keep our romance a secret from everyone. This was her request, just a few weeks after we first kissed. She didn't say why, but I suspected Jenathar was the reason, and therefore I didn't press the issue. The secrecy even made it that much more exciting. The big downside was that we had to keep pretending in front of everyone at all times, and had to take special care when we wanted to be together.
So, whenever we were able to be together, we used our time as best we could.
`I missed it too...' I told her, and I kissed her again. Then she dropped her nightrobe on the ground, and led me to her bedroll.
We enjoyed every minute that followed. In the safety of all that magical protection, we gave ourselves over to the sexual pleasure that our bodies craved for. We let the pink cloud of joy overwhelm us, and for the time being we lost all sense of reality. We cared not for the rest of the world around us. There and then, the whole world was just her and me...
*
Later, we lay on her bedroll. I lay on my back and she was huddled to me beneath the thin blanket. The night was cold, but we were kept warm by each other's body. We lay like that, enjoying each other's closeness. We didn't want to fall asleep. I was supposed to leave her tent before dawn to avoid trouble with the twins, so our time was limited. We wanted to enjoy every second of it.
About an hour passed like that, when she whispered in my ear:
`Do you know what day it is?'
`Well, it has certainly been a beautiful day...' I replied with a smile.
`It's your birthday, Jason!'
`Really?'
`Yes!'
`I always forget it. Jenathar never bothered to remember, so after some time, neither did I.'
`But I do...'
`Yes, you certainly do!' I told her, and I kissed her gently.
Then she knelt up, with my waist between her knees, and she reached for her nearby belt. She took a small pouch from the belt, and pulled out something from it. It was an object about as long as her forearm, wrapped in black silk.
`I have something for you...' she said, as she handed me the gift. I unwrapped the silk, revealing a dagger with a black scabbard and black hilt. The only color to be seen was in the pommel. It caught my eye immediately.
`Do you like the pommel?'
The pommel was a round, transparent gem, with a symbol engraved in it. The symbol was an almost entirely black pentagram. Only two edges of the pentagram weren't black, which touched in one of the peaks: these were vividly red.
This was my family crest. The Vogan family crest.
I knew from Jenathar that my mother was the last in line of a family of mages, the history of which reaches back to the time of the Great War. The pentagram is a symbol of magic, and the reddened edges were red to symbolize fire, as spells that manipulate fire were exceptionally dear to those of my lineage. Although these days I am reminded of something else by that color...
Previously I had only seen this crest in some books I inherited from my mother.
`I love it! Thank you!' I told Carrie, and I pulled her close and kissed her.
`There's more to it than the pommel! Draw it!' she told me, as she sat back up.
I did as she said. The blade was shining like silver.
`The finest steel as only the dwarves can forge. Coated with the finest silver as only the elves can do.'
The silver coating made it possible for the blade to be enchanted.
`This is your twentieth birthday, so I wanted to give you something special. I wanted to enchant it for you...' she continued. `... but then I thought, maybe I should let you do it yourself, so that you may give it what enchantment you would most like. If you wish, I'll enchant it, just tell me what you'd like!'
I admired the blade, and admired her reflection in it. It was beautiful. And so was she...
`I don't really know.' I told her, wondering about the enchantment. `I don't fight much in melee, I don't know what would be best.'
She laughed.
`Don't fight much in melee? You don't do it at all!'
`You know, I'm not much of a melee fighting kind of guy...'
`I know, but don't you ever think of how boring we are? I mean, we mages.'
`Boring?' I asked, with a surprised smile.
`Yes. All we do is throw spells. Imagine how much more exciting it would be if we could wield enormous weapons that could shame fighters! Swords, axes, maces, weapons that strike fear into the weak-hearted!'
`Such fantasies you have!'
`It's more than fantasy. Night elves do it all the time. Why couldn't humans? One day, I will learn it, you'll see!'
`Well, then I do not have to. You'll be there to protect me...'
`Oh, Jason! You're so impossible!'
She jumped up and pulled the blanket off me.
`Come on, get up. Pull up your pants, and show me what you can do with that dagger!'
I did as she asked. I stood in a pose ready for battle, holding the dagger in front of me.
`No! That pose will do you no good. You're vulnerable! Here, let me show you... Stand like this, and hold your hands like this!'
She showed me how I should stand and moved my hand into a different position. It was quite uncomfortable.
`Is this supposed to be good?'
`Yes!'
`I feel like I'm going to fall...'
`That's because your too rigid!' she said, laughing. `You should practice, you'll get the hang of it.'
`Maybe I should use it as a throwing dagger instead. Maybe you could enchant it such that it will always strike my target and then fly back into my hand.'
She laughed.
`You're a hard nut, Jason!' she said. `Well, let's sleep on it. If you really want that, I'll see what I can do. It sounds like a difficult one, but I can probably do it sooner or later.'
`Alright!'
I smiled, and pulled her close to me.
`Thank you, my dear!' I told her, and I kissed her.
She embraced me, holding me tight. She knew I'd soon have to go. She was trying to gather her strength to say goodbye to me when the time comes.
But she never had a chance to say goodbye.
*
I had a dream. A nightmare... I saw Carrie in the remains of her ruined tent, staring up at me. I was not myself. I was a huge monster. A massive, roughly eight-foot tall monster. Mostly humanoid, but quite monstrous, and very clearly not of this world. Dark scales covered its entire body. It had four arms, all ending in vicious claws. And it had three faces on its head, one at the front and one at each side, each looking a different way.
Just moments before that, I was in her arms, in he
r loving embrace. Then I felt a sharp pain in my heart, and fell on my knees.
`Jason? What's wrong?' she asked. Her voice was full of worry. Worry for me.
I was numb with pain, I couldn't even reply to her. Then, I began to transform into something.
She stepped back, looking scared. And there was something more in her eye.
Sadness...
The tent collapsed as I changed into that huge, eight-foot tall monster. She did not run away. She just stood there and looked up at me. Looked up at the monster I had changed into.
Then... the monster reached for her, and grabbed her by the neck. It raised her to the height of its own face, and looked into her eyes. Her eyes were without fear, but full of sadness.
She opened her lips, but she couldn't speak. She could barely breathe in the monster's grasp.
Then, it raised another of its arms, and reached towards her chest. It pierced her flesh with its vicious claws, and reached deep down. It grabbed her heart, and ripped it out of her chest.
Then it dropped her lifeless body to the ground, and let out a sadistic laughter from two of its faces, as it swallowed Carrie's still beating heart through the mouth of its third face.
Just moments later, Reqa and Lerui emerged from their tent, and attacked the monster.
`Carrie!' they screamed. `Where are you? We need you! Now! It's time!'
There was no reply. Yet, they did not notice Carrie's corpse among the ruins of her tent.
They used every possible attack spell they knew to try and stop the monster, but they didn't even faze it. It just laughed, and quickly leapt towards Lerui. She tried to jump out of the way, but the monster was too fast. It caught her by her arms, and pulled her to itself. Lerui screamed, but it was no use. The monster ripped out her right arm, and then dropped her to the ground.
How she survived that, I do not know, but she lived. She sat up, held her left hand on her bloodied right shoulder. She was in shock. She didn't even try to move away as the monster struck towards her head with her own torn-off arm.
A moment later, her head was severed from her neck.
Emptiness Page 3