Biomancy

by Desdemona Gunn

  “I absolutely would. You know how many archons have been biomapped? Not a damned lot, that’s for sure. You’ve done exceptionally well, my good man. Unless you feel like going back out and finding us more members for our community to fill niches I have not yet found, you’re free to spend the evening with Liz as you see fit. She should be out in the gardens. Tell her she has the wake off too.”

  “Thanks a plenty, boss.”

  He stood up from his chair, but he knew that Lea had one more thing to ask.

  “Oh, and Elon.” Really, he knew he should have known better, but he did it anyway. Calmly, he sat back down and bridged his fingers.

  “Yes?”

  “Seeing as you have yet to remotely let me down in finding people, I have but one request. Well, two, actually. For one, I’d like your input on what member of our society would be best suited to be mayor of this town.”

  “This a town?”

  “It might as well be. As it keeps expanding, it will be very shortly. I have no time to deal with all the politics and small choices; I have more important things on my plate. I’d like your input. Please, at your own convenience, look around and see what you find.”

  “No problem. What’s the other thing?”

  “See if you can find the Chief.”

  The statement hung in the air, stale and unwanted by both parties. Lea didn’t want to say it; Elon didn’t want to hear it. Silence filled the air, letting the weight of the question grow exponentially with each passing second.

  “How?”

  “You’ve done so well in finding everyone else. Just... see if you can find him.”

  “Look, I’ve tried. With a blend of the scry and life schools, I could put feelers out for him since I’ve spent significant time with him. I’m not strong enough to search the world from here, though. If I really push myself, exhaust myself for the rest of my wake, I might be able to cover half of Milakria and a chunk of Runnir from here.”

  “What if I helped? If you drew a circle and I lent my strength?”

  “I might reach Vol’Tyr and possibly the ends of Runnir. Maybe.”

  “And if we can get Liz?”

  “Look, Lea. This isn’t the way to go about this. He disappeared in a bramble of golden tendrils. He’s not on this plane.”

  “Then can we... scry onto another plane?”

  “Lea. I don’t have to answer that. You’re smart enough to know the answer.”

  “Fuck. I just... don’t know what to do about him.”

  “Well, if he skipped planes, he’s probably in the fae forests or the realms of the gods. Since a demon priest escaped with him, I’d venture to guess he’s in a godly realm.”

  “It’d make sense. How do we look into any of the seven hells?”

  “Well, it just so happens we have a demonologist now, don’t we?”

  “Hell of a damned interview.” She didn’t seem particularly annoyed, simply startled.

  “We need to test your skills, Miss Atwood.”

  “Mis’ess Atwood.”

  “Oh, my apologies.”

  “You’re good.”

  “With your grasp of demonology, how are your information gathering skills on the ethereal planes?”

  “That entirely depends on the knowledge of the archons I pull. I have control over which demons I pull, and what variety they are, but not what they know. I can, however, yank a guy out and tell him to get me information.”

  “Can you do that?” Elon was relaxed, knee on his leg, slumped over, eyes expectant.

  “Of course I can do that. I just told you I can. Why would I tell you I could do something whe—”

  “In that case, we’ll need you to show us.” Lea sat at her desk, fingers interwoven betwixt each other, fingers rigid, her nose resting in the valley between them.

  “Wha— Right here?”

  “Yes.” The words came from both simultaneously, to which Elon looked at Lea both amusedly and attempting to gauge a reaction. She continued to stare at Tabitha, so Elon switched his gaze back casually to her.

  “Um... Ooookay. What am I looking for?”

  “We have a friend missing. A demon priest exorcised himself and our friend, and we’re not quite sure where.”

  “A ‘demon priest?’ So he worshipped an archon?”

  “We assume so. I’ve never heard of a god named Emiaroth.”

  Tab’s posture suddenly shifted, her back stiffened and her gaze locked into Lea’s. She knows something, Elon thought as he grinned. “You know this name?”

  “Uh... Yeah. Shit. He’s actually caused some trouble in our world a few times. Some members of high-ranking archaeological teams believe that Emiaroth was the archon that turned the Milarics into what they are now. However, there is good news.”

  “What?” Again, the two spoke simultaneously, though neither broke their gaze at the demonologist before them.

  “He’s… probably a lord of Ik’Thar. I know this much. In fact, lemme just grab someone I know. You guys... got a room for this?”

  “We can.” Lea got up and led the two into an empty stone room and handed Elon a piece of chalk. “I assume we’ll be wanting a circle of protection.”

  “Couldn’t hurt.”

  He begrudgingly knelt down and began sculpting his circular rune. His calligraphy left something to be desired, and he knew this and it pissed him off. In school, he could rely on Arianrhod to do the best rune-work possible, but now that she was in the slammer, he was left to his mediocrity. And nothing pissed Elon off more than his mediocrity being made known.

  When he was done, Tab walked over to inspect it. No doubt gonna criticize it, how it won’t hold a demon of the caliber she expects to summon. I swear to the gods, if the next words out of that bitch’s mouth are—

  “I’m impressed.” Oh. Well fuck, never mind then. “You know your way around a shield, Mister Arroway.”

  “Your fuckin’ right I can make a shield.” Lea shot him a stern look. What? She’s doing us a personal favor. I can drop the professional fuckin’ attitude. Quickly, he drew up his hands and whispered into them, “Liz. Get up here. Room four seventeen. We got a summoner.”

  What kind of summoner? Elemental? Demonic? Foodstuffs?

  “Demon. Well, Archon. You know what I mean. Should be fun.”

  No response came back. He assumed she either didn’t care or was on her way. Either way, he’d know when the creature got here. It would take long enough that she’d have the time, easy.

  Tabitha was at this point pouring arcane energy into the center of the ring, her hands infused with runes the color of mustard. These dull yellow runes poured dull yellow tendrils into a dull yellow rune carving itself in the floor, and, before long, dull yellow tendrils shot up from the rune, forming a shape like a stretched dome. Elon figured this was as good a time as any to activate the rune and sit on standby for additional shielding.

  He felt a tongue touch his ear, and he shuddered, just after the protective shield went up.

  “Fuck, Liz. She’s summoning a fucking demon, not a time to distract me,” he whispered at the starry lady beside him, giggling to herself.

  “Good thing I have such a driven, intelligent, powerful boyfriend.” He kissed her quickly and looked back to the tendrils.

  “Shh. This is just about to get interesting.” She put an arm around him and leaned.

  Taking a cue from his last word, the tendrils all disappeared into dust simultaneously, leaving a hulking beast of a roughly-humanoid figure standing in the three-meter circle. The creature had what appeared to be rotting red skin, six glowing eyes each pair above the previous. Bone showed through in multiple areas and organ meat was easily visible.

  It bellowed a bone-chilling shout in a language indecipherable by c
ommon scholarly means, and glared down at the woman in a flowing black dress and tightly-pulled corset and growled. “Send me back, you two-faced whore.”

  “Hello again, Ikraskator. Such a pleasure to see you!”

  “Fuck you, bitch. Have you brought your friends to waste my time as well?”

  “No, I brought my friends to get to watch.”

  “Torture is a fantastic spectator sport. But only when it’s physical. Social torture would bore anyone to tears. Why do you bring me, shrew of a woman?”

  “I desire knowledge.”

  “Of course you fucking do.” Its voice was deeper than any mortal’s could bear to reach, to the point it’s words were hard to make out. It freaked Elon out more than he cared to admit, and based on the mild trembles of the lady on his arm, he guessed it did her too. What freaked Elon out more was the rapt attention that Lea was paying. She wasn’t scared, she was fascinated, intrigued, curious. This gained her more respect from Elon as a woman of knowledge, though it gave him strange chills. Any woman who could keep her cool around a monstrosity like that for the sake of science was a woman to be reckoned with.

  “There’s a man in your plane, theoretically. A mortal.”

  “A golem.” Lea spoke up.

  “Shut your mouth, worm, or I will shut it for you.” The demon’s words bellowed with force enough to bring a man to his knees, but Lea simply smirked at him.

  “Now now, that’s no way to treat a friend.”

  “A friend of yours means nothing to me, bitch.”

  “A golem stalks your land, Ikras. An artificial man. You will find him, you will do nothing to him whatsoever, and I will summon you once more in a cent’s time. Then, you will tell me what you have found.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Pleasant searching!” The mustard-yellow tendrils appeared again and dissipated, leaving no trace of the demon to be found.

  “He didn’t even try to break my shield. He must be used to you.”

  “If there was no shield, you’d all be dead.” She spoke matter-of-factly as she turned around. “Well, at least possibly. Nah, not really.”

  “Why did I make it, then?”

  “You offered. Like I said, couldn’t hurt. Who’s your friend?”

  “Idrilis, but friends call me Liz. How long you been doing this?”

  “About... a centiverte, probably? Gods, a hundred turns already... I got into it partway through college as a hobby, and kinda quit when I became a teacher.”

  “That’s so cool! Where do you teach?”

  “OUK.”

  “Never went there, but I had a girlfriend that did.”

  “Maybe she took one of my classes. I was mostly anthropological studies and history.”

  “Maybe... I didn’t catch your name.”

  “Tabitha Atwood.”

  “That name is scholarly as hell.”

  “Thanks.”

  Elon smiled at the interplay, Liz trying to distract herself from what she just saw, Tabitha either doing the same or, more likely, so used to the sight of horrific extraplanar monsters they didn’t even phase her anymore. His ability to eavesdrop on the conversation, however, was severed completely by Lea, who was suddenly by his side. “By the stars themselves, Elon. Did you see that damned thing?”

  “Scared the piss out of me, how could I miss it?”

  “It was amazing. Beautiful.”

  “Beautiful? It was a hulking demon. Something made for the torture of mortals.”

  “And a gorgeous specimen. Something so... unusual. I’d like to study it.”

  “You want— By the Timelord, it’s a fucking archon, Lea. It’s a sentient being designed for war amongst the immortals.”

  “I know that. Did you forget I study sentient beings all the time? I’d at least like to get the corpse of one. I’d pick it apart.”

  “Pick... Pick it apart? Like, dissect it?”

  “Exactly. I want to see what makes an immortal fleshy construct of destruction tick.”

  Elon stared dumbfoundedly. I mean, I respect her knowledge and her drive to learn more in her field, but come on. You can only go so far. “What would you do with this?”

  Lea then shot a dumbfounded look back at Elon. “Write it down? Publish it? Come on, there isn’t a single piece written about anatomy of an archon. No one’s killed one that came of its own volition, and those that’re summoned have pacts. What else would I do?”

  “Fuck, dude, I’d read the paper you publish, but I wouldn’t summon a fiery pit lord from the depths of Ik’Thar’s hell and tear it to pieces so I could tell other people what it was made of.”

  “That’s why I’m running this show and you’re my consultant. Drive, dear Elon.”

  Every bit of Elon’s body was clenched and ready to firebomb her face, just beat her nose in with either her fist or a nice ball of fire or lightning or really anything. He restrained and settled for a glare, which Lea didn’t even have the courtesy to notice, as she was busy looking at the circle.

  “So, are you gonna be around here for a while?” Back to Liz’s conversation.

  “I dunno, it depends on the pay, the work involved, and what my husband has to say.”

  “Oh, it’s great here. What does he do?”

  “He’s a smith.”

  “Oh, we need smiths, right Lea?”

  “Yes... We most certainly do...” Her voice was distant, lost in thought.

  “Uhhh... Well, we do need smiths. So bring him too! The town’s in this castle right now, but we might be expanding into real buildings and stuff too.”

  “That’d be preferable.”

  “Well, I have to go back to tending the gardens. Those guys are out there are useless without me.”

  “Wait, you did the gardens out there? Those are freaking gorgeous.”

  “You’re too nice. Come visit me out there sometime. Later babe.” She pecked Elon on the lips and attempted to leave. Elon grabbed her, pulled her in, and kissed her in full.

  “If you’re gonna kiss me, kiss me. Besides, I gotta correct you. You have the wake off, as do I.”

  “Oh yeah?” The words poured out like honey, sweet and alluring.

  “Indeed, just let me wrap up some things here.”

  “Meet me in the room?”

  “Sounds good.” She smirked and waltzed out.

  “So... are you hiring me to do this kind of stuff?”

  “Yes.” Lea responded immediately without hesitation.

  “Aaaand to tend her library. We need a librarian. And someone with your knowledge of anthropology, as well as the evolution and anatomy of sentient beings could be useful in our research as well.”

  “And what might that be?”

  “We’ll fill you in when you decide to take the job. Tell your husband men of his profession are needed out here too. Do you need a port back?” Lea spoke clearly and in a businesslike manner, which Elon still wasn’t quite used to. Since she took over the keep, he supposed it was necessary, though.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “Elon will get you there.”

  “Indeed I can. Do us a favor and stay here for a cent or two until you call back your demon.”

  “Of course. Mind if I chill in the pub ‘til then? I was quite enjoying the company of the lumberjacks.”

  “Naturally.”

  She smirked and went for the door. “Would one of you care to walk me back? I have an odd feeling I’d get lost on my own...”

  “My pleasure,” Elon said. “You get used to the labyrinth.”

  The news was both heartening and disappointing, both hopeful and disconcerting. A cent had passed, and she resummoned the demon. Despite apprehension on the part of both Elon and Lea, the beast was
summoned without a rune of protection. It stood as stoic as it had before, not reacting to a lack of shield.

  Unfortunately, the beast had little information. Upon searching its sources, such a mortal was reported in a few areas, but the domain of Ik’Thar was decidedly expansive. The best that the beast could tell them was that an artificial life form was found in the realm, supposedly, and that he was now furtively skirting detection, either through hiding in the realm or escape.

  When pressed for information on “escape” from the “realm of death,” the demon had nothing to say. Tab informed them that demons are not known for lying or withholding information, as their social structures don’t mimic the mortals’ very well. This most likely meant that he had no idea. This disheartened Lea, but made Elon happy to simply know their companion was still kicking.

  “He’ll find his way here eventually,” Elon repeatedly told Lea, but to no avail. She had decided to get her mind off the situation by showing Tabitha around the library, giving her a better idea for the job she’d be up to. Still undecided, however, Elon ended up sending her back to Kandra, telling her he’d be back in a week’s time to get an answer.

  Kandra to Xin was a feat of teleportation, he knew he’d only be able to make that jump once this wake, so he grabbed Liz and proposed a couple cents out on the town. The three ported, Tab went to find her husband, and Elon, exhausted and shaking even half a cent after, joined Liz to a tavern. He took a corner table with a pipe and Liz, leaving him to a bit of introspection, chatted up some local workers.

  His mind wandered, wondering just how it came to be that men would be jealous of such an activity. Could men be so insecure that a lady who’s pledged herself to him merely talking to another man could incite such paranoia? Is the woman who’s pouring her time into you and that you do the same to into truly going to abandon you simply by conversation with a man beefier than you? Wages, muscle, and profession do not take your date away. A better personality might, though.