Finishing the tea, he found himself feeling more collected, though he felt dirty and his clothes had gotten tacky from repeated exposure to sweat whenever he had been too intensely focusing on his writing. He supposed it was also a good idea to get a change of clothes and take a bath.
Endrance walked to the bathing room, stripping off his shirt. The room was dark as he entered; the fire had either been put out or burned out on its own and there were, obviously, no windows in the back of the house.
He held up a hand in the dark, and clenched it in a fist as he incanted the final word of power to a spell he had since internalized.
"Silustrius." he spoke. He opened his hand, and a brilliant pinprick of light radiated from his palm. It shivered a split second later and exploded, spraying hundreds of smaller points of light in every direction. The specks of light bounced off surfaces of stone, wood, and the water in the bath, hovering throughout the air like particles suspended in water, each mote was only a quarter the brilliance of the initial light, but there were many hundred times’ more lights. They never completely slowed after most of their momentum was lost, instead drifting serenely throughout the room.
Among the sea of gentle stars, Endrance could see the family bath had been full, but the fire to heat it had not yet been set. Instead, several small logs of wood had been set near the entrance to the fireplace. Endrance smiled. Selene again. Endrance walked up to the bath, the stars weightlessly bouncing off his body and whirling lazily into the wake of his passing. He placed the logs in the fire pit, lit them, and tested the water. Cold. It must have been hours since she’d prepared it.
He considered going and asking her to join him. Though the hardships of the last month had put a damper on their passion, Endrance still felt his heart stir whenever he was near her. She loved him, and he had never felt anything like what he felt around her. It would be nice to spend some time with her. She had been working so hard to help Bridget and maintain the house whenever he and Joven were off performing his duties as Spengur, and some time together might make her feel better.
He left the spell active and went out of the room into the kitchen of the home. Sunlight gleamed through the windowpanes, making him blink at it several times. It was already day, not just early morning like he had thought. Endrance sighed as he searched the area by the front door. Selene’s coat remained on a hook, so he figured she was still in the house. He turned and padded up the stairs, careful not to be too loud. The last time he had made a sudden noise in the upstairs hall, Bridget had nearly taken his head off with a wooden stool.
Cautiously, he passed the door to Bridget’s room and moved on to the other bedroom. Here, Selene’s things and Endrance’s sparse possessions were kept, though most of his presence was just a pretense; too many nights he had slept in the cot in his workroom. It was no more evident that he was neglecting his Draugnoa than that moment as he stood outside the bedroom with the late morning light shining in the halls, his hand on the door latch and his forehead on the jamb.
Endrance took a breath, and tightened his grip on the door. He had killed a hydra, fought his way through soldiers and assassins and a mage-king, yet trepidation ran through him. It would have been easier to return to the downstairs and talk to her later once she’d awoken. He could just return to business as usual and she would accept it.
He shook his head one time and opened the door. She was his Draugnoa, his ‘ghost woman.’ To him, she was life bonded to him, forever his keeper and his assistant. To her, he was the only one she could be with, much less the only one who could understand her. The barbarian’s custom was that anyone ‘sacrificed’ to the Spengur was dead, and were as ghosts among the living. And since they shunned anything unnatural, they were effectively ignored as if they weren’t even there.
He knew the Draugnoa was his responsibility; they had been sacrificed to him as an appeasement after all. He no longer railed against being forced into what the barbarians would consider ‘marriage’ and understood then that they had no choice left to them. He even admired the strength of character it took them to remain optimistic about it.
The interior of the room was dark, and he paused in the dark as he closed the door behind him to keep it from waking Selene unnecessarily. He knew the layout of the room from the several times he’d been there. A large double bed in the center across from the door, dressers in the corner, lamp on an end table on each side of the bed, and a closet on the far wall to his right that had room for all of his and Selene’s possessions several times over. Of course seeing as they had lost most of their possessions in the fire that took their longhouse, it wasn’t much.
He stood for a moment, letting his eyes adjust. His gaze slid over the form in the bed and he could tell she was sleeping. She lay under a blanket of furs on her side, her face barely visible in the dark in contrast to her midnight black hair. The mage considered letting her sleep in, and shifted a step to the right-
Almost as if she had just been feigning sleep Selene’s eyes snapped open, but instead of their usual dark color, her eyes were glowing red and her pupils were square. Endrance’s head rocked back, surprise rising.
“Selene?” He whispered quietly. “It’s me, Endrance.”
The eyes continued to stare at him for many moments without blinking. The wizard’s brow furrowed, wondering what exactly was transpiring. He had never known of Selene consciously using her abilities as a Nephilim.
“Is it even Selene I’m speaking to?” he asked quietly, trying not to disrupt the stillness that was suddenly evident in the room.
Silence reigned for several seconds, but she eventually spoke. “You tell her that we are one.” The demoness’ voice was Selene’s, but had a sultry quality that felt more seductive; more sexual than he believed Selene could have mustered on her own. “So you do speak to Selene. But only for so long; I can only supplant her control of our body when she sleeps.”
It was her other half. “I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting.” Endrance replied quietly, padding over to the side of the bed farthest from her and placing his hands on the furs.
“Pleasure?” Selene said with a girlish giggle that seemed disturbingly alluring. “We both know we have shared that kind of pleasure before. Nothing she experiences is unknown to me.”
Endrance was feeling too disturbed by her behavior to feel embarrassed by her statement. “But is what you experience known to her?” he asked.
“When she wants to know.” Selene said. She rolled onto her back, her head at an angle towards him, though her eyes never lost contact with his. He couldn’t help but notice she slept naked under the furs. “I could… share a few things with you, if you want. Then we could have our own pleasures.”
“Are you trying to say you want me to… sleep with you?” Endrance asked.
“Sex? Why, don’t mind if I do.” She replied. “I don’t think she’ll mind; in fact, it might excite her.”
“That doesn’t seem… right.” He responded. “Doing that in her sleep.”
Selene shifted in the bed, slowly wriggling under the furs. Endrance could tell her hands were meandering up and down her body. “It’s not like she won’t remember.” She said, one hand stopping at her breast. “And you get to have the fun of being with two different sides of the same girl.”
Endrance studied her face intently. It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen her naked before, in all her wondrous beauty. It was more that he realized that the personality he was dealing with was demonic, not human. It thought differently than humans did, and its priorities were likewise alien. There was something she was trying to achieve with this interaction, and he knew it.
“Tell me, Selene,” He said, putting one knee up onto the bed. “What is it that you want from all this? It can’t just be sex. You’re half succubi, sure, but you have to have awakened as the other half of who Selene is. Why the distinct personality?”
Selene’s eyes narrowed at him. One hand slipped out of the furs and caught him
by his shirt collar, pulling him towards her. She kissed him fiercely, but not painfully. She pulled him away from her long enough so that she could look him in the eyes again.
“She loves you, you ridiculous idiot.” Selene huffed. “What do you think that means for me?”
Endrance froze, perplexed. As he considered it, Selene’s hand let go of his shirt and he realized he was supporting himself with his arms. Her eyes lost their luminance, turning round and black as her eyes fluttered closed for but a second before opening. She saw her husband leaning over her, his hands on either side of her shoulders and his face inches from hers. Her eyes opened wide in surprise.
“Uhh…” Endrance said awkwardly. “Good morning, love?”
Selene blinked up at him. “Good… morning?” she replied meekly.
Endrance thought quickly. “I was going to give you a wake up kiss, but it seems that I wasn’t subtle enough getting into bed.”
Selene blinked again, this time wiping the sleep away from her eyes. “Oh.” She said. “For a moment there I thought you were going to have your way with me.”
“W-what?” he exclaimed. “Why would I-”
She put a finger over his lips. “I was just joking, love.” She said with a giggle that sounded far too familiar. “But you look so cute when you’re flustered like that.”
Endrance sighed, rolling away from her and sitting up at the far side of the bed. He lit the lamp on the end table, so they could see. “I wanted to talk to you, but I had been drawn into my work and I didn’t really know how much time had passed.”
“I know.” Selene said, crawling up next to him. “I saw how engaged you were. I don’t think you even noticed me in the room.”
Endrance rubbed the back of his head, several strands of hair falling out of the ponytail he’d kept it in while he had been working. “That’s what I wanted to talk about. I-”
Again Selene managed to silence him with a touch to his lips. “Love.” She responded. “I know that you have duties to the kingdom and those can keep you busy for days at a time.”
“I know but-”
“And it’s not like I can’t just grab you and have my way with you when I really want your attention.”
“Your other half would probably like that.”
“She would, wouldn’t she?” Selene asked, raising an eyebrow. “Maybe I should.”
He wondered if she knew about the conversation they’d had. “I would guess she does, all things considered.”
“I have such erotic dreams when she wants something.” Selene admitted demurely. “These last few nights have been very… hot.”
Endrance remembered the feeling of her lips pressed hard to his. “I would love to hear about it sometime.”
“Really?” Selene asked.
Endrance hesitated a second, thinking. He nodded. “Yes.” He agreed. “I want to be able to love all of you, no matter which part of you it is. Maybe in time they can become one and the same.”
“You mean you want to love both of us?” Selene asked.
Endrance waggled a finger. “Now, now,” he mock chided. “The goal is that the both of you become one, not two conflicting forces in your body. Thinking of it as you and her is the wrong direction.”
“Right.” She said, hanging her head.
“But loving all of you is a start, isn’t it?” he asked, touching the ringlets of hair shrouding her face.
Selene nodded. “Yes, it’s good. For now.”
Endrance mocked stretching. “You know,” he began. “I was going to go take a bath, the water’s sure to be warmed up some by now. We could talk some more about whatever you want in the bath.”
“Are you sure?” Selene asked with a wink as she sat up. Immediately his face heated. “We don’t have the best record of successfully… talking for very long whenever we share a bath.”
Endrance nodded with a grin. “Then I’m all the more sure.”
The bath was fantastic.
He awoke at noon, having had a few hours of sleep. He came downstairs and found Selene busily storing cloth into a trunk. She was wearing a simple white dress and doeskin shoes, so she must not have been going out in the cold. He caught a glimpse of red before she shut the trunk lid and then turned to him with a smile. “Sleep well?” she asked.
He winked at her. “Never better.” He lied, not wanting to complain about every little ache and pain he felt. He had rested enough for the day, and he had vowed to get more sleep that night. “So did you do anything with the parchments that I had penned last night?”
Selene shook her head, her black curls bouncing. “No, I left everything where you left it.” She stated.
He looked around the room. “Excellent. Is Bridget up?”
Selene shrugged. “She’s out running. Joven’s with her.”
Endrance nodded. He wondered how long they had been doing that. “I want to show you what I’ve been working on!” he said, walking into the other room without waiting for a response. Selene followed, puzzled.
“You know I can’t read that language of yours.” She stated.
Endrance shook his head. “No, I wrote up what I needed, but I was too mentally fatigued to test it. Now that I’ve been very well rested, I can show you what I’ve been working on.”
Selene watched as he picked up the short stack of parchment and walked to the outer wall. He opened the window shutters and then the window itself, letting cold winter air drift into the room. He turned back to her and smiled as he cleared the table of everything upon it.
He took a minute to review his notes, making sure everything was fresh in his mind. He committed all of it to memory as quickly as possible, but was prepared to study it again if he felt unsure about his retention. He handed the parchments to her and turned to the table. “Watch.” He exclaimed.
He began the long form casting of the spell, his hands and arms weaving and forming the proper positions as he supplied the power of his aura through his body. The words of power he carefully enunciated gave his spell substance, and when he completed his spell he clapped his hands together once.
As his hands came together, Selene felt a sudden rush of wind through the window which swirled around her, and in an instant, spiraled into his hands before they met. He kept his hands closed for a second, and she could see his eyes shut in concentration as he muttered something incomprehensible. Mere moments later he turned to her, his emerald eyes bright and his smile broad as he slowly opened his hands.
Hovering in the air half an inch over his palms was a beautiful winged woman made entirely of whirling winds. Like a miniature cyclone, her body was vaguely humanoid, but composed of dark swirling clouds that never ceased motion. Wings formed of slowly arcing lightning danced in the air, seemingly moving as a flat surface like a butterfly. The tiny storm creature had eyes like twin orbs of clear sky.
Selene’s breath caught in her throat. Endrance smiled and made a little shooing gesture with his open hands. “This is a storm sprite!” he explained joyfully. The sprite flitted through the air in the room, zipping up to examine Selene before going about in a quick circle to explore the room before settling into a slow rolling hover over the table surface.
“She’s beautiful.” Selene said. “How did you- ?”
“I called to her.” He said. “On the surface it seems like summoning, but in essence it is completely different.”
“I don’t understand.” She said. “It seems like you summoned her.”
“She would say otherwise.” He said, digging in his pocket and pulling out a copper coin. He set it on the table on its end and spun it with his thumbs, causing it to spin underneath the sprite. It playfully zapped the coin with a tiny stream of lightning, causing it to arc in a scatter across a few inches of the table. By the time the coin had ceased its spinning, the table had a new pattern of tiny scorch lines across its surface.
“The spell just sent out the call to a nearby elemental within range. If the sprite were truly unwilling to c
ome, it would not have.” He explained. “Even so, the sprites usually have no noticeable physical form, so the spell also uses some of my power to give it form for a short while.”
“So,” Selene reasoned. “you’re not summoning then?”
“No.” Endrance said. “Summoning comprises an imposition of my will upon another, forcing them to act against their base nature. I don’t think I could ever do that to something.”
“So what are you going to do now that you have one?” Selene asked.
“Well, this sprite is a fast flyer, and her element also resonates with someone I need to speak to.” Endrance summed up.
“Oh, she can deliver a message.” She said. “Is it about those Ironsoul men Joven has locked up?”
“Who?” Endrance asked, for a moment not remembering. “Oh! Right. No, not them. I still haven’t figured out what is going to happen there. Send them home, I suppose.”
“Then who are you sending this to?” she asked.
“Someone that I met that might be able to help Bridget.” He said. “Let me talk to the sprite some more, then I will happily explain it to you.”
He relayed the message to the sprite, giving it instructions. It was capable of sensing the position of the artifact that Valzoa carried, and with a few words of explanation, the elemental shot out of the open window, into the sky and vanished in nearly an instant.
“Now, perhaps, I can make some progress on one of my problems.” He said with a sigh. He felt dizzy, lightheaded and he steadied himself on the table as Selene took his arm in hers.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“New spell.” He said. “They always take more energy than they should. There are ways to make a new spell more efficient, but you don’t know until you try it out, in most cases. This one was many times more expensive than I thought. I must have had something grossly out of order.”
Selene didn’t really understand the depth of what he meant, but got the general idea. “You’ll be able to make it better if you practice it though, right?” she asked. “Joven always says if you practice a tiring exercise, eventually it won’t tire you out so much each time.”
Spellscribed: Ascension Page 6