Oleg thought for a second, then suddenly saw. He saw everything around him, 360 degrees, above, below, to the sides, with the eyes of the hundreds of tiny snakes growing on his head instead of hair. He realized that he could single out a hair-snake at will and send it wherever he wanted to, controlling its movement – an ideal spy and killer. That he could deal a blow with his hatred, cause pain or kill at will, and rip the strongest armour to shreds with his claws. He realized many things about this body which had fallen to him, and not everything that he realized could be put into words.
‘Well, what’s there?’ Heliona repeated impatiently.
Oleg laughed. Madam likes to joke? Well, we can do that, too! And with great pleasure he showed her the finger, drawing in his claws.
‘This sign, your ex-divine Flamingness,’ he informed her with maximum sarcasm.
‘Yeah, you win,’ Heliona said embarrassed, lifting a fiery hand to remove the sign from the top of the boulder Oleg was leaning his back against. But her embarrassment didn’t last long.
‘Well then, do you appreciate your advantages? And now quick march back to your own body. It’s been waiting for you long enough!’
Oleg obediently walked over and brushed the hand of the body lying next to him. The world about him began to spin dementedly at once. Instinctively, Oleg closed his eyes tightly, and when he opened them he realized he was lying on his stomach, face-down in the incredibly green emerald grass. And the world around him had changed once more. Now it was a perfectly normal forest clearing, the only difference between this one and the ones he was used to was the absence of any smell.
‘And nothing has changed,’ Heliona’s voice rang out above him. ‘It’s just that before you saw it through the eyes of a demon, and saw the real nature of this little place. I fashioned it in a hurry so that you wouldn’t freak out from being in our world so long. Of course, I created it out of the elements that I had to hand and your demon eyes easily distinguished them. But human eyes, which you are using now, are not so difficult to trick.’
A long silence followed. Oleg looked at himself and at the world around him, trying to find signs of the change in his condition. Not having noticed anything special, he turned to Heliona: ‘You said I’d get some sort of magical super-powers?’
‘Yes, that’s what I said, and you will get them. Why?’
‘How can I use them?’
‘How should I know? I’m not a human magician, am I? You’ll have to learn the art of wielding your powers from them, and you’ll have to study long and hard. My energy will only help you to control fire a bit. The most primitive way to use it is simply to make a wish connected with fire, imagine whatever it is and exert your will. It might work, your powers are already sufficient for many things.’
Oleg made a wish. After a few minutes of very hard straining and frowning, a small flaming sphere appeared on his palm.
‘Oh! A fireball! Not bad for a first try,’ Heliona passed judgement on his achievement. ‘Oh and by the way, besides practising and developing your fire talents, I suggest you develop your own strengths, too.’
‘My own?’
‘You have a natural talent for dark magic. It’s not by chance that you received a demon body here. So I would recommend you study that art, too, especially necromancy. After all, you’ve already been acquainted with death, and those kinds of meetings are never without their consequences.’
Oleg nodded silently, but thought to himself: something is pushing me intensely towards “the dark side of the force”. Why?
‘You’re pushing yourself!’ the auburn ex-goddess protested at once, still shamelessly reading his mind. ‘You think it’s my fault that you have that magical leaning? And for your information, to be a master of the dark magic doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.’
Oleg at once thought sarcastically: yeah of course, because you probably can’t become a dark magician and still be human.
The salamander neighed like an untamed horse.
‘You got it! But I didn’t say “magician”, I said “master”. And that is totally within a human’s reach.’
At this point Heliona suddenly turned her attention to Oleg’s long-suffering guitar, still hung over his shoulder.
‘Are you a bard?’ she cried out gleefully. ‘Sing something!’
Oleg frowned: ‘I’ll be happy to play something. But as for singing… You see, there’s only one good thing about my voice – it’s loud. As for the rest… Sorry.’
‘Bullshit!’ The salamander exclaimed. ‘Take on your demonic form and sing. Demons have a very wide vocal range, after all they have to be able to tempt and terrify. Demons are wonderful singers.’
Noticing how Oleg grimaced, imagining himself trying to play the guitar with fingers topped with hooked claws two centimetres long (and that was when they were drawn in as far as they would go) she came up with another variation:
‘You don’t have to take on the full form of a demon. You can just take a few demonic organs. And by the way, that’s a really useful ability. Could you sing like that?’
And Oleg sang. It took him about half an hour to learn how to invoke the necessary organs of the demon body, swopping them for his own, and then twice as long to learn how to use this “bodily assortment”, but once he had mastered the right tools, he gave a concert for his lone spectator, singing his favourite rock ballads.
Heliona listened, holding her breath. In that instant she no longer looked like a powerful flaming spirit, a salamander able to reduce cities to ashes and travel over continents like a fiery tornado, nor like a wise pagan goddess who’d lived over three thousand years, all-seeing and all-knowing. No, she was like a little ginger-haired girl, a first-year student at her first ever rock concert.
Heliona shuddered and suddenly came closer to Oleg with a flowing movement. Her graceful figure gave off a strong heat. Pressing her lips to his cheek for a second, she leapt away with a jerk and began to dance. Tongues of flame shot out around her and although Oleg was now quite far away from the girl, he could feel a tremendously strong heat like that from a well-stoked, red-hot stove. Unable to withstand the rising temperature, he took on his demon form which was more heat resistant.
The temperature was rising and Oleg was getting afraid. The guitar was already beginning to carbonize. And just then, what Oleg was afraid of happened. Having taken on his demon form to save himself from the heat, he continued playing the guitar but accidentally snapped one of the strings with his claw. It snapped with a loud twang. Heliona stopped and looked at Oleg. Her eyes were still full of dreamy longing
‘It’s wonderful! What did you stop for?’
Then her eyes fell on the half-charred guitar in Oleg’s hands, on Oleg himself, fully demonized, but even so clearly feeling extremely uncomfortable, and on his skull, quite bald of hair-snakes (so that his handy little beasties didn’t get burnt alive, he’d sent them further away). She gave a quiet ‘Oh’ and the fire abated at once.
‘A string snapped,’ Oleg answered as though nothing had happened, returning the snakes to their place and then taking on his human form. ‘Claws really do get in the way when you’re playing!’
‘Thank you.’ The girl hung her head guiltily and suddenly snuggled up to him. Oleg found her lips. Coolish at first, they soon warmed up and got hotter. The slim girly figure relaxed in his hands for a second. Oleg managed to feel a wave of heat running through her, and then Heliona carefully extricated herself from his embrace. Oleg couldn’t suppress a sigh of disappointment. To his amazement, Heliona blushed, embarrassed.
‘Remember I told you that most of your desires can’t be fulfilled yet?’
‘Yes. Sadly. And now I’ve just been convinced of that. I really have to bump up my heat resistant capacities as quickly as possible,’ Oleg gave a sly smile. ‘But once I do – watch out! I’ll seduce you and lead you astray!’
Still embarrassed at the beginning of this speech, by the end Heliona couldn’t hold back her laughter.<
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‘OK, it’s a deal. You can take it that you’ve already seduced me and led me astray. Now you just have to bump up your heat resistant capacities. But actually I wasn’t talking about that, but about your desires. I would satisfy them all with pleasure, and not just once, but, alas, until you bump up your “heat resistant capacities”, that won’t be possible. Nevertheless, one of your wishes can be met considerably earlier than the others.’
Oleg looked at her in amazement. The girl laughed.
‘No, not that one… and not that one, either… And what kind of position is that? Stop guessing right now, I’m getting horny!’ Heliona sighed. ‘Sadly, all of that is impossible for now. However, amidst all that chaos filling your head, there is one tiny little thought. I’ll quote: “Ah, if only I could take her to one of our discos all the guys would die of jealousy, and Lyova the mouse catcher would eat his hat!” I of course have no idea why the mysterious Lyova should eat his own hat… Ah-ha, a bet. Now I get it. But anyhow, about those desires. It’s unlikely that there’s discos in the world where you’ll be studying magicianship, of course, but there will be balls, receptions and other such events. So, if you like…’ At this point the girl’s voice sounded very solemn: ‘I, Heliona Clear Flame, a free fire spirit, give the human standing in front of me the right of immediate invocation of my true appearance in the world in which he finds himself for the purposes of…’ here she paused for thought, obviously trying to find a more-or-less ceremonial expression for dances.
A new voice rang out. A thick, masculine bass, coming from somewhere down below pronounced: ‘Helia, my child, maybe you shouldn’t make rash promises?’
Then a cheery little voice seemingly belonging to a little girl interrupted the bass from above: ‘Hi, can we come in?’
Heliona frowned, vexed.
‘OK then, come on in, both of you. Only in human form. I’ve got a visitor.’
‘Yes, we already know. We’re not deaf, you know,’ came grumbling up from below.
Then the boulder lying not far away suddenly shuddered and began changing shape and form. For a second it reminded Oleg of the boulders he’d seen while he was in flight, then it stretched upwards, took on a likeness to human form, and turned into a mighty, thickset man of around forty with a curly black beard, dressed in a non-too fresh tunic and a scorched leather apron.
‘My uncle,’ Heliona introduced the newcomer. ‘The earth elemental, but he prefers to work with metals. He spent quite a long time in your world, and was known by the name Hephaestus.’
With some trepidation, Oleg shook hands with this living pagan god. His hand was firm and blistered.
Suddenly there was a noise something like the yowl of a crazed Ninja coming through a small girl’s voice: ‘Owwweeeeee!’ And down fell a small meteorite wrapped in flames. Landing with a soft thud (from the centre of the flaming apparition could be heard a disgruntled ‘Oh!’), it shot out clods of fire.
And out of the fading flames popped a small figure with light gingery hair, strongly resembling Heliona herself. Judging from her appearance and behaviour, if she were human, you could have said she was twelve or thirteen.
‘My cousin, please be nice to her. Due to her youth and extreme disorderliness, she has not been allowed to meet humans yet and doesn’t yet have her own name,’ Heliona reported.
‘Hi! You play really well! I really liked it! And you’re a human? Maybe you can give me a name?”
‘Hold on, Younger One,’ Hephaestus interrupted her. ‘First of all we have to deal with this coquette who, it would seem, has once again decided to bestow the right of invocation to...’
The end of his sentence – “to anyone she bumps into” was left unsaid, but clearly understood.
‘Have you forgotten what happened last time?’ her uncle said angrily, turning to Heliona.
‘And what did happen? I had a great time! And anyhow Uncle, don’t be such a bore. After all, I ought to thank Oleg for his song.’ And here she gave Oleg an imperceptible wink so that he would pick up his jaw – which had dropped - and she walked over to him slowly, swinging her hips flauntingly. She embraced him passionately, after which they faked a prolonged kiss. Oleg guessed what this was all for. In answer to his mental question: ‘You want to shock your Uncle?’ Heliona gave a barely noticeable little nod.
‘Wow!’ Younger One clapped her hands loudly.
Hephaestus frowned disapprovingly but held his tongue.
When Heliona at last tore herself away from Oleg (he was sweating mainly from his titanic efforts not to turn the fake kiss into a real one, so as not to get high-degree burns), she went on: ‘I’m glad you decided to pop in. I could do with direct witnesses to strengthen the transfer of power.’ And without giving her relatives a chance to come to their senses, she intoned: ‘I, Heliona Clear Flame, a free fire spirit, give the human standing in front of me the right of immediate invocation of my true appearance in the world in which he finds himself for the purposes of…’ She stumbled at this point again, thought for a second but then, with a wave of her hand, finished in a far from ceremonial manner: ‘…for the purposes of really living it up!’
And so saying, she stuck her tongue out at Hephaestus, who had frozen like a stone idol. Younger One squealed enthusiastically: ‘Bravo, Helia! You’re fantastic! Hey, can I come with you? Just a sec, your guy’ll give me a name and then I’ll pronounce the word, too.’
‘No,’ Heliona said firmly. ‘You are too small to go roaming around different worlds.’ And turning to Oleg, she warned, ‘Whatever you do, don’t call her anything but Younger One. Otherwise, she’ll immediately announce her name and shoot off somewhere, then we’ll have to search for her…’
She was interrupted by Hephaestus’s displeased voice: ‘You’ve outdone yourself this time, my girl. How many times do I have to tell you: be more careful with a summons. You can’t go leaping in there straightaway and trip out the word. Think about it, who knows how he might like to “really live it up”!’
However, without paying attention to the long-since familiar remonstrations of her divine uncle, Heliona turned to Oleg: ‘Now, all you need to do is call me by name and I’ll come. And if by then you’ve become a more-or-less respectable magician, you can think about the fulfilment of your other wishes, too!’
Oleg gave a solemn nod.
‘OK. Well, that seems to be it then.’ The salamander looked Oleg over with pride. ‘Are you ready for transfer?’ Oleg nodded again, inwardly preparing himself for anything and everything. ‘Then we need to find someone who’s invoking a demon in some suitable world.’
‘Will it take long?’ Oleg was really nervous.
‘No, not really. There are a lot of worlds, most of them have magic and magicians. In some there are universities and academies of magic, and in nearly all of them you can find two or three idiots who are bursting to summon demons at any moment. And if my uncle were to help… he’s a real expert in interworld relations…’ Hephaestus made a suffering face but nodded. He and Heliona froze, transforming into two statues, obviously searching for a world suitable for Oleg.
Meanwhile, Younger One, making the most of the fact that the elementals watching over her were otherwise engaged, quietly sidled up to Oleg: ‘Are you really a human?’ she asked in a conspiratorial whisper.
‘Well, I was before, at least,’ Oleg whispered back. ‘Why?’
‘So you are a human, then. What difference does it make if you got the body of a demon? What a shame!’
‘Why is it a shame?’ Oleg asked, taken aback.
‘Well, you humans don’t live long. But we like you, Oleg. And we liked your songs. And so did the rest of us, the fire ones, the water ones, and the air ones. And it looks as though Helia has really fallen for you. I can easily understand it – you sang her such a song! None of the fire sprites could have resisted. And it’s time for her to…’ here she broke off abruptly and fell silent. Oleg pretended not to have noticed her slip of the tongue.
‘Well, what’s to be done?’ he shrugged. ‘I am who I am. I was born that way. I can’t become an elemental like you. So I’m looking for a world where I can study to be a magician. Helia says that we can date each other then. I really like her, too.’
‘But what do you want to be a magician for? You’ve got a demon body! And by the way, it can probably prolong your life. You can become a demon way faster. And they’re more powerful if they’re high-ranking.’ Bewilderment was written on the girl’s face.
Oleg was just about to explain that demons, unlike magicians, didn’t really have positive associations for him and anyhow he didn’t really want to become a dark one, but Hephaestus’s bass voice interrupted him mid-word: ‘Younger One, come here! It’s time. And this young man‘ – there was a heavy note of sarcasm in those last two words of the five thousand year old god- ‘should soon be on his way, too.’
Sighing sadly and muttering: ‘It’s always the same! They never let me do anything!’ Younger One jumped up and, scampering away from Oleg, wrapped herself in tongues of flame. Then the flames scattered and a bird something like a seagull, only a strange reddish-ginger colour, flew up. It circled Oleg’s head and with a cry of: ‘Bye-ee! See you again!’ it disappeared into the sky.
Following her with his gaze, Hephaestus growled,: ‘Farewell. Have a pleasant journey!’ and making the nearest cliff open up with a nod of his head, he stepped inside. The cliff silently sealed itself after him.
Heliona went quietly up to Oleg.
‘We’ve found you a suitable world. Magic is developed, although the dark magic has been driven underground. There’s an academy of magic, although there are very few real magicians of high rank, and you, with your capabilities and your demonic appearance, will be in a pretty advantageous position.’
‘How about the language?’ Oleg asked quickly.
‘Well, since you’ve become a demon you can easily converse in any language of the Universe. For instance, maybe you didn’t notice, but on principal my uncle only talks to humans in Ancient Greek, and my little cousin doesn’t know any human language at all.’
The Road to Magic (Book 1 of the Way of the Demon Series) Page 4
