by Jillian Keep
“Yea,” she agreed as she rubbed her eyes. “Kept having weird dreams.” She sat down, rolling her shoulders and trying to work out a kink in her neck. “How was work last night?”
Her father wasn’t as good a cook as she was, but he gave it his full attention, which was something she wasn’t always capable of with her thoughts so prone to returning to her books and dreams. The fried dough he served up looked appealing though, and was likely a sign that they were out of other food again.
“I need to go pick up some food today,” he said sheepishly. That had always been his task, despite how she had more free time than him. She knew he thought it allowed him to hide how tight their finances were, but it didn’t work. She was well aware, despite his best efforts.
“Looks great,” she rebuffed him, forcing a smile to her face. Her black hair was tousled from sleep and she’d tried to fix it, but the vision of that… demon had distracted her. She pushed some loose strands behind her ear.
“I’m not feeling great today. I could pick some things up until you get some time.”
“No, that’s okay,” he said immediately, smiling to her as he set down the modest helping of amber syrup between them. It wasn’t the fancy stuff the elvish families used, but then, few humans could afford that. “I like it,” he said, lying to himself as much as to her, she was sure, “gives me time to think.”
She didn’t have classes to attend. They had ended for all intents and purposes for the human students. That is, she hoped, all of them but her. The weeks following graduation were spent amongst the top tier students – almost exclusively elvish – competing in displays to earn the attention of the Academy’s professors, or independent wizards, in the hopes of getting a billet at the school, or if not that, then an apprenticeship with someone of some renown.
The human students mostly went on to apprentice under their own mothers and fathers, carrying on their family’s role from generation to generation. Her father was a night time groundskeeper because his mother was one, and she because both her parents were.
It was a less auspicious career than Firia had hoped for, scrounging for meals and lying to herself about her life. It was misery. She could see what her future would be just looking into her father’s eyes. So often he tried to look away, but she knew why.
He was just as lonely as she was.
“Alright, dad. If you’re sure. I’m just going to rest for as long as I can today.”
He cut into his fried dough-cake and smiled. “I’m sure sweetie. You make the most of this time,” he urged her with a smile, though she knew the unspoken undertone of that was: Make the most of it, because after this, you’re future is like mine.
Chapter 3
It’s funny how being utterly alone, being so far away from civilization in the heart of the forest made her feel somehow less alone. It always had, but now it was even more comforting. She sat on a fallen log, her eyes closed as she breathed in the mossy scent of her surroundings.
Finding peace and silence was a big key to her abilities, her success. Everyone else was so busy with so many thoughts and worries that they never got anywhere. She took time to do nothing so that she was focused when she did work.
When finally she exhaled and her blue eyes fluttered open, she spoke to no one in particular.
“Are you real?”
His charmingly foreign voice came to her so velvety: “As real as you.” She immediately traced it back to him, sitting beside her on the log. She hadn’t noticed how he’d done that; there was no warning as such. He was just… there. Smiling at her handsomely. Still garbed in that luxuriously exotic robe, coloured in burgundy, brown and gold.
She took in another breath.
“When I was a kid, I used to make up friends. And that’s really embarrassing to admit to, so I almost hope I made you up too.”
He screwed up his lips in one corner, looking across at her with a perplexed expression. “That is an odd thing to say,” he remarked, standing up and peering about her reclusive forest glade. She noticed then he wore not only the robe she’d given him, but a set of tall boots that went to his knees, and were capped with metal at the toes. It made him look all the more like some foreign prince out of a storybook.
“If I didn’t make you up, then I actually summoned you. And it doesn’t even matter because now it just makes me feel crazy to think about.”
She’d put her hair back in pigtails, and brushed her bangs so they lay flat along her forehead, swept to the side. The sun filtered down through the trees and played against her peach-toned skin.
Pivoting upon one heel, a thumb hooked in his fancy belt, he gave her a curious smile. “Why do you fear it? What is done, is done. And you still live to tell the tale.” He shrugged his shoulders and moved back to her, dropping to one knee, his robe parting as he reached out and touched her wrist with a gentle, warm hand. “My lovely young summoner, you have grander things to worry about than the past.”
“Right. Such as the future.” She sighed and her shoulders slumped even as her body warmed to his strange touch. She didn’t know whether to scream and run or roll around in triumph, but she didn’t feel much like celebrating.
She’d done something so great, yet she knew he was right. No one would give her this accomplishment.
No one would let her do anything but go to work as a grounds keeper.
“Do not look so sad,” he said softly, lifting his free hand and delicately brushing her bangs back just a bit, his fingertip grazing her forehead just momentarily. “While I was inside you,” those words felt so significant with how he said them, “I felt your apprehension. Your fear. Not the details, no,” he remarked, looking upon her with a mix of warmth and happiness, “but what drew me most was your ambition.”
Her button nose crinkled slightly as she looked away. “That sounds weird when you say it like that. Those things are private. Those feelings.”
He laughed delicately, “I could not read your thoughts,” he said gently. “I felt them, as I can feel them now.” That notion made her worry, though he continued, clarifying. “I can read your emotions through your expressions, sweet dear. They are as plain as day to me.”
She wasn’t to call him her slave. He told her to see him as an equal, but it was tearing her in two directions. She wanted to revel in her power, at her success, but she was unable to with him… lurking. Being a part of her. She hadn’t understood what she was agreeing to.
And at the same time, the sense of being… with someone. Of having someone that cared, close at hand, was so nice. It was something she’d longed for since she was a child.
She swallowed. “Then what am I feeling now?”
The wry smirk he gave her might’ve been construed as something less wholesome, but for some reason it only felt playful to her as she gazed on that smooth, blemish free face of his. “You are conflicted,” he said, and he rose up from his knee and retreated back a couple of steps, twirling in such a casual way that caused his robes to lift and spin, showing a glimpse of his bare knee and thigh. “You need to impress the masters of your world, no?” he asked with one brow cocked high.
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have summoned a demon from some hellish place into our world,” she agreed with some sarcasm.
“And time is of the essence,” he added as a statement rather than questioning.
Casually he began to move his fingers in the air, meticulous little gestures like she’d seen wizards sometimes do, though his seemed so much more fluid than theirs. His whole body, with every movement, had a fluid sort of grace to it that was captivating to watch. “Only by showing them powers you were denied the knowledge of, do you stand a chance to rise above your station, hmm?” Conjured from the air before him, she watched wisps of light begin to form, like crackling fire.
“And something that they couldn’t chastise me for stealing a book containing it,” she added on, remembering what he had said last night. She was captivated by his motions and she felt that lin
gering power in the air come alive.
The billowy sleeve of his robe flowed back as the air churned, and she watched as the tendrils of flame took shape before him. He was silent, but she saw as strands of his glossy black hair whipped about his face. It took some force of will to accomplish on his part, but before her eyes the visage of a fiery fox took shape.
It was orange with the embers of fire, but it was unmistakable. It’s large, triangular ears perked, and when Varuj at last finished, the flames died down, and the creature before her looked like a beautiful rainbow of lights, taken on animal form.
Her lips parted, and she was rendered speechless. The young woman was blown away by the sight and wasn’t certain what to make of it. He made it seem so easy. So graceful.
“How?”
“The how is the hardest part,” he said, brushing back his hair and fixing it after his display. Though as he smiled, the prismatic fox sniffed at the air, then bounded over to her, its large tail swishing in the air as it buried its nose into her lap. “I will teach you the how, but it will take the rest of the day.”
For the first time since she’d met him, she found it hard to focus on his words, for the beautiful familiar before her licked at her hands, its tongue warm, but pleasant.
Her eyes watered, and she cursed herself for being so easily moved to tears. She tried so hard to hide it, that sensitive, needy part of her, but it was so much harder around him. She was exposed to him, and even the fox reminded her of that memory he’d dredged up the night before.
As if in response, the fox lifted its paws up onto her lap and it licked at her face, as if chasing away the tears with its smooth, warming tongue.
Varuj moved back to her side, sitting upon the log as he leaned in close and pet the creatures head. “He is your familiar now,” he remarked. “I created him, which is not how it is usually done, but he is linked to your soul. A mirror of your essence in magical form. And shall not leave you lest you wish it so.” He smiled warmly at the fox first, then her. “My gift to you.”
Her entire body trembled as she held back the crashing waves of affection, rubbing behind the fox’s ear. “How can I trust you? Aren’t you… linked to me as well?”
He pondered her question a while then said, “No. Not as you think.” He turned his ruby-eyed gaze towards her. “I am tethered to you on this plane of existence. Like…” he searched his head for some metaphor appropriate for their cross-dimensional understanding, “like an anchor tying a boat to the seabed.” He nodded, satisfied with his effort.
She crossed her legs, her hand still petting at her new familiar. “And, what? … This is all in thanks for me bringing you here?”
Varuj’s hand brushed hers as they both toyed with the chromatic fox, the creature eagerly licking at her face and making soft little yipping noises that sounded so happy. “It is my thanks for your agreeing to my terms,” he said softly. “It is not often one of my kind can meet a mortal who will entreat with us fairly.”
“Maybe I’m just stupider than most mortals, then.” She looked at him sidelong, trying to read his expression but seeing that gorgeous visage just made her more distracted and uncertain. She’d seen him for what he was. A monstrous demon.
She cursed him for looking so attractive.
“No,” he said, sounding so sincere. “You are clever beyond your years. That much is true,” and she could detect none of his deception, none of his charm put to work in that compliment beyond what he exuded naturally.
“Now I will teach you to command and use your familiar,” he said to her, his eyes moving back to the fox with a smile. “He may be more than a mere pet if you know the proper incantations and methods. He may be a fierce ally. A cunning tool.”
She pet the fox again, staring at him curiously. “And I’m allowed to call him a tool, even with his cunning?”
She wished he didn’t choose to look as he did. Her barriers were being chipped away and she had to keep reminding herself of what he was.
It was so easy to forget.
“Do not confuse he and I,” said Varuj to her softly. “You summoned me. You did not create me,” he explained. “I existed, thought, lived a life of my own, long before you tore me from my place across the gap between dimensions to aid you. Him?” he looked to the fox. “He did not exist as separate from you. Not even for a second. He is made up of the aether, crafted from the blueprints of your soul.” He shrugged his shoulders casually. “You may call him what you wish. It would be no more insulting than saying your toe is an instrument unto you.”
She nodded, putting her hands on either side of the log. “Where will he stay?”
He gave a wry smile, “That is what I shall teach you first.” He reached out and took hold of her wrist, turning her hand palm-up and unfurling her fingers. “He is linked to your soul. Not merely tethered as I am,” he explained, though with his delicate touch upon her palm it was not as easy to focus as it should have been. “A simple magical gesture is enough to dismiss him, so do as I instruct…”
With gentle care he guided her through the motion, the gentle swish of her hand in the air, from left to right, the light wriggle of two fingers, then curling her hand into a fist as a strong closure. “Memorize that. Then repeat.”
She was keen with magic and memorized it instantly. How else could she have summoned him if she hadn’t any skill or natural grace with it, after all?
Yet even though she followed through with the motion with such diligence and interest, she couldn’t stop focusing on him. On his touch, on the way he felt against her. On what he truly was.
The sparkle in his ruby eyes caught it, and he smiled. “Try once more,” he said, demonstrating for her with that fluid grace.
It was enough, and she got it on that try. The kaleidoscope of colours that was her fox-familiar, drained into her palm then vanished into her flesh. Though truthfully, similar to Varuj, she felt the thing settle against her very soul. Unlike the dark monster, however, it felt quite… familiar. Nothing was odd about it at all, it felt as if a piece of herself was merely returned.
It took her breath away and she closed her eyes, letting herself enjoy the sensation. When at last she managed to open them again, she looked to him.
“Are you using me?”
His beautiful face did not falter in the face of that question, though he retorted. “A curious question for a woman who unquestionably is using me for her own ends.” He arched a singular brow – the dark hairs so perfectly sculpted – as if challenging her to deny it.
“I’ve never denied that,” she argued. “But… I’m not a being of… evil.”
“And I am?” he responded, looking slightly insulted, though he brushed it off quickly. “Why do you presume I am evil, hm? Because I am different? Because I come from a realm that abides by different rules of order than yours does, Firia?” The challenge was delivered smoothly, and he crossed his legs, some of his bare, chocolatey dark thigh showing from beneath his robes.
“Because you’re a heathen and the first thing you did was start looming over me and touching yourself?” she retorted. “I can feel it.” She touched her chest, overtop of her heart. “In here. You’re not like me.”
“Precisely,” he said, back arched, shoulders out, that well-shaped chin of his pushed up in the air. “I was born of another realm. Where the laws of the universe were different. Do you expect otherwise any more than you would expect a foreigner to eat the same food as you or dress likewise?”
“I pretty much expect all strangers not to touch themselves in front of me.”
“Where I come from it’s simply a display of interest,” he stated, his eyes dipping down over her form for just a moment. “We don’t hide such things as your kind do. I ceased as per your wishes, however.”
“Interest?” She almost laughed as she thought back to it. “You looked more like you were just trying to scare me.”
He sighed a bit. “See how pleasant you would be if you were ripped between rea
lities from your home without clothes or items by a powerful summoner. It puts you in a rather sour mood, and leads to you feeling defensive. I got over it,” then added, “with you.”
“You said you were glad to be rid of that place,” she stated, trying to sound confident but the blush of her cheeks gave her away. She looked aside, hiding her face from him as she stared into the forest depths.
“I am,” he confessed, “now.” He watched her quietly. “Were it some cruel summoner who intended to only use, abuse and toss me back when done, however, I would not have that sentiment. When I realized how pure of heart you were, however?” He shrugged his shoulders. “I thought I had found someone who might deal with me. And help me to stay. As a free man one day.”
Her gaze fell to the forest floor and her heart thudded loudly in her chest. She was sure he could hear it, but then, she wasn’t entirely certain what he could sense within her. What he experienced in kind.
Her tongue pressed from between her lips and dabbed them thoughtfully. She’d let him in so quickly, so eagerly, and she wondered what that said about her. What that said about how lonely she was. How much she desired someone in her life, even if he was a demon.
“I see.”
“Your world is softer than mine,” his words delicate. “Existence is not so cruel for those who live here.” He reached over, gently laying his warm hand upon hers. “I wish to help you become a great sorceress. Powerful and respected. That one day you might use that power to free me, and let me live here as one of you.” She could feel the hope on his voice, it was palpable. The gentle touch of his smooth hand against her flesh; it was exquisite.
Her heart stopped and her breath hitched. She wanted so badly to believe him, to feel close to someone. To know someone.
Yet there was still that wall of defensiveness, of caution, and she withdrew her hand from his. “We don’t have a lot of time for me to get into the academy.”
