Biomancy

by Desdemona Gunn

  “And when exactly did I appear ‘in your sights?’”

  “About three turns ago. It appears you discovered a spellbook in the storage of an alumnus of ours. This book seemed to unlock a surprising hidden potential in you.”

  “And here I figured it gave me the powers.”

  “Oh no, Mister Arroway. Arcane ability is innate in most sorcerers. Very few are ‘given’ their powers. Your magic wasn’t a gift, the book simply inspired you.”

  Elon made a bridge with his fingers, resting his elbows on the arms of his chair. “Your agent here—”

  “Recruiter.”

  Elon shot a glare of disdain at the woman. Don’t you fucking interrupt me you piece of self-righteous shit. He bit his tongue. “Your recruiter said you were considering me for something.”

  “Yes. You seem to have quite the innate skill. Mister Tecov reported a casting of a second level spell, and that you claimed it was a spontaneous first attempt.”

  That put a smug grin on Elon’s face. A level two spell, eh? Better than I thought. “So I’m a prodigy, huh? You want me to grace your esteemed college so that you look good compared to Tyrecho?”

  “I assure you, Mister Arroway, that our motives are nothing but altruistic. We simply wish to provide you with the perfect venue to nurture your skills.”

  Oh, I’m so sure. Pure altruism at work here. “How much would it cost?”

  “Naturally, the fee is-”

  “See, let me stop you there. I’m not paying a fee, Miss...” He looked to the small wooden stand on her desk. Dean Kiana Altera.

  “Dean Altera.”

  “Miss Altera,” he said smoothly as though she hadn’t interrupted. “Your recruiter here picked me up off the streets. I have no money. The last few nights, I’ve barely scrounged food. When I want knowledge, I go to the library, not some hoity-toity college of esteemed mages.”

  “Smashing crates together will only get you so far, Mister Arroway, as will a library, especially one as simple as Marath’s. A swordsman can swing at dummies as long as he likes, but only another trained swordsman will show him how to face against a real opponent.”

  “I thought you didn’t train for combat here.” He leaned back smugly in his chair.

  “It’s a metaphor, Mister Arroway. I’m sure you’ve heard of them. Play on your roof all you like; you will never get as good as you will here. We have a far greater library of the arcane than Marath could ever hope to have. We have professors trained in the arcane arts that can take your skills and hone them. You can have the sharpest sword in all of Antra, but if you don’t know how to use it, what good will it do you?”

  She’s still recruiting when I told her I have absolutely no money. They must be fucking desperate. “That’s all well and good, but I’m casting second-level spells offhandedly because I was bored. I have a feeling I’ll only get better by simple trial and error.”

  “Why settle for the street when you could have the luxury of this place?”

  “Why surround myself with holier-than-thou magicians when I could hone my abilities alone and stay at home?”

  “Because you won’t. You might get good, but you won’t ever get great. Mister Arroway, you’re a talented mage. This is obvious. We would love to have you on our list of alumni. We have unparalleled master sorcerers that could help you like no one else could. Why pass up this opportunity?”

  There it is. They want me; they want me bad. “You know, I can’t deny that your facility is a lot nicer than the streets. And, now that you mention it, having some mentors could be nice.”

  Miss Altera smiled. “Now I can make you a deal, Mister Arroway. For only two thousand gold-”

  “Do I really need to tell you again? I don’t have money. I’m not paying you so that you can teach me. You obviously want me here. There’s no bartering, Miss Altera. I will join your esteemed college, and I won’t pay a thing.”

  She glared at him, at first in disdain, then in careful contemplation. “You’re in charge of room and board. We won’t feed you or give you a place to rest without compensation.”

  “Fine. You have a roof, and even if that’s off limits, I’m sure I’ll find a place.”

  “Pleasure doing business with you, Mister Arroway,” she hissed through thin lips.

  Elon shook her hand and smiled. “Please. Elon. I’m sure we’ll be seeing much more of each other, and I’d hate for our meetings to be so formal.” Turning to look at the suited man, he calmly said, “Now then, you mind sending me back to get my things?” The man pointed to the corner of the room where a trunk sat. “Well. Never mind then.”

  He promptly stood up, grabbed the trunk, and walked out of her office, casually saluting as he went. “See you soon, Kiana.”

  The halls twisted and turned every which way, but thanks to the frequent maps, Elon found his way to the housing office without much trouble. As he walked in, he saw a long counter with two Northmen men sitting bored behind the counter. One looked up at him and asked, “Can I help you, sir?”

  “Yes you can. My name is Elon Arroway, I should be in your roster now. I need to get a room and a meal plan.”

  The man poured through a book, and eventually pointed at a name. “There ya are. Okay, you just want a normal dormitory?”

  “No, I want an exceptional dormitory, and with no roommates. I won’t be disturbed by prattling students when I need to sleep.”

  “Just so you know, that costs extra.”

  “Oh, I’m not worried. The deanstress’s got it.”

  The man looked up at him blankly. “The deanstress?”

  By the gods, I’m not sure they could hire slower office drones if they tried. “The fucking dean. Altera. You heard me.”

  He sighed and marked it in his book. “And a basic meal plan?”

  “I’ll require all three meals each dess.”

  “That costs-”

  “Must I repeat myself?”

  He looked up at him again, eyebrow raised. “Um.” Elon just stared back at him expectantly. Again, he sighed and made a mark in his book. “Please place your hand on this plate.” He drew a white slab from under the desk out and placed it in front of Elon. In response, he placed his hand calmly on the plate. A red rune flashed on the plate under his palm, and the man drew it back. “Room 4937.”

  “Thank you.” He walked out of the office and sauntered through the hallways. After ten minutes of wandering, he found himself in the dormitories. The carpets were a brilliant red, the doors a clean white aspen. After traversing three flights of stairs, he strolled to the end of the hallway to a door marked “4937.”

  A similar rune on the door flashed the same red color as Elon approached and the door opened easily. The flat was roomy, complete with a bed, dresser, closet, and table with three basic chairs. Two windows rested on the west wall, covered by red tapestries with the emblems of AIB inscribed.

  He sat on the bed calmly before falling back onto the mattress and staring at the white ceiling. With a few minor changes, I could certainly get used to this.

  That was too easy.

  Shut up, internal dialogue. It’ll be fine.

  Monologue, isn’t it?

  Well, it is just me, even if I’m making two voices.

  Regardless, something’s up. Why do they want you so bad?

  ‘Cause I’m fucking awesome. Don’t worry about it.

  You’re physically incapable of ‘not worrying about it.’

  I got classes and shit now. I won’t have time to worry about shit.

  Yes, you will and you know it. You’re being lazy.

  You’re being lazy.

  Yes. That’s the point. ...You’ll regret not investigating and you know it.

  He stared at the ceiling with a furrowed brow. “
Yeah… Probably...”

  Turn 1540 of the third age

  Nightfall

  Chapter 9: The Atroks

  The City of Kandra, Octavian Prefecture

  Her office was quiet save for the soft whistle of the wind against her window. Snow fell just outside. Tabitha lost herself staring out at the snow from her desk chair, watching it slowly pile up on her sill remarking on the suddenness of winter. The sun fell no more than two desses ago, snow should have been a good few desses out. A metal fist hammered against her door, rapping with authority and almost jarring her out of her chair. She righted herself and calmly responded with “Come.”

  A woman walked in garbed in full plate and ducked slightly under her door. At first sight, she appeared to be a wickedly large Northman woman fresh off guard duty, though she sported an extra set of arms sprouting from just under her armpits. Two daggers sat on each thigh in addition to a claymore resting on her back.

  She took off her helm to reveal a face somewhere between a typical Northman and a bestial lion. Her face featured a nose noticeably wider and squatter than a Northman’s average, rounder eyes taken up entirely by pupils, and a wider mouth hiding rows of sharp fangs. Obvious marks for whiskers sat beside her nose, though they all appeared to be plucked.

  In addition, her entire face was coated in a thin, extremely fine fur much akin to a housecat’s head. Her ears appeared as a Northman’s would, though the fur continued over them and down her neck into the armor. The hair on her scalp was dark brown, cut short and slicked back, not a hair longer than seven centimeters. She spoke in a thick North-Milakrian accent in a voice more gravelly and deep than one might expect a lady’s to sound.

  “Ey, kwara. How’s me Tabby?”

  Tabitha leapt from her seat and hugged her as all four of the Atrok’s huge arms enveloped Tab’s body and lifted her off the ground with ease. “How the hell are you, Rue?”

  “’Ey, that’s Sergeant Yruesagd to you.” She smiled wide, showing off her pristine white fangs.

  “Whaaat?” She dragged the word out in mock disbelief. “Sergeant? When’d you get promoted, hon?”

  “Just half a moon ago. It’s the only reason I could go to switch with a Kandrian guard for a few desses. Now as much as I absolutely need to swig a few beers with my little Tabby, catch up ‘n all, you got a class, right?”

  “That I do. It’s a Sentience Studies class, and I figured rather than putting up diagrams and paintings, I’d have an actual Atrok to show the class.”

  “Aw, and here I thought you just wanted to see me, kwara. Ulterior motives an’ all?”

  “I do! We’re having beers later, you’re absolutely right, but I wanted to show you off. Many of the students don’t know a lot about you folk, and fewer have seen a transformation in person, not in books.”

  “It’s all right. I assume you want me out of me armor?”

  “Jeez, you’re here for two minutes and you’re already getting naked? You wicked temptress you.”

  Rue laughed heartily, her voice echoing through her office. “You know it.”

  “But seriously. If you do, I’d rather you have loose-fitting clothes, or even just underwear if you’re okay with it. I wanna show off as much of your body as I can, show them exactly how the visible muscles work. Many of them probably haven’t seen one of you outside of a book, I’d bet none of them have seen one without clothing.”

  “You want me to do it naked?”

  “Well, no. I mean, not if you don’t want to. It’d be optimal for the class, since the other species were introduced with nude models.”

  “I’ll just do that, then. Come on, Tabby. I grew up in a small tribe; I spent half my life naked. Just ‘cause livin’ in Terathor’s got me all civilized don’t mean I got shy all a sudden.”

  “You got a point,” she sighed. “Let me run down to the art department and get you a robe that fits you. You just wanna chill here, Rue?”

  “Sure thing, kwara.” As Tab closed the door, the Atrok woman reached back with two arms to start undoing the threads on the back of the armor while bending over, putting the upper arms on unbuckling her waist and legs.

  Tab walked through a few hallways before exiting her building and walking to the art department. The campus was covered in a light dust of snow and more danced down. Kandra never got much, being so far south and at the foot of the mountains, but it got enough to make a nice postcard. She looked up and the glowing blue orb in the black autumn sky; it made every flake seem to glow a subtle blue.

  A couple buildings over, she found an art professor who, from her request, immediately started sorting through his closet, eventually grabbing a large, four-armed robe. “Holy shit, Greg. I didn’t expect you to actually have an Atrok robe.”

  “You think I don’t bring them for my drawing and painting classes? They’ve got fascinating muscular structures that I love to set my students to. That, and they get used to painting skin, so the fur throws them off. May I ask why you need one?”

  “Sentience Studies. I got a friend of mine exhibiting her body so the students can learn about them.”

  “Ah, fun. Have at it, then.”

  She disappeared, waltzing back to her office. When she entered, Rue was naked and resting on a plush chair of hers. Every centimeter of her was covered in a fine hair, though while most was a golden yellow, a stripe of dark brown stretched across her spine while she sported white hair from her breasts to her groin, going as wide as her belly. Her upper arms were crossed over her breasts, covering them slightly, while her lower arms rested on the armrests, and her legs stayed crossed. A blush almost betrayed Tab as college memories came back to her.

  “Got a robe for ye,” she said as she quickly ducked in and shut the door.

  “Shit, Tab. You actually found a fuckin’ Kruger robe in Kandra?”

  “Yes, and watch your damn mouth.”

  “What? It’s not racist if I’m the one sayin’ it.”

  “It’s not racist at all, it’s species-ist if anything. Just discriminatory and prejudiced.”

  “Whatever. Not prejudiced if it’s meself.” She donned the robe, which belted below her breasts and at the hips. The upper arms had full sleeves while the second sleeves stopped halfway up the biceps. “You ready to go, Tabby?”

  “Yep. Follow me.” Tab grabbed her materials and walked out the door as Rue followed behind.

  The classroom was full of present and chatting students until Tab and Rue walked in. At the sight of the four-armed lion woman, the entire room fell silent. Rue looked around at the two hundred and twelve students and bellowed, “Ey, I appreciate the compliment, I know I’m smokin’, but staring’s rude, ye know.” At that, most of the students flipped their heads to their books, to Tab, or in a random direction that wasn’t her, eliciting a toothy grin from Rue.

  “Hello, students. I’ve brought in a guest since we’re expanding into a new species. How many of you are familiar with the Atroks?” Three quarters of the students raised their hands. “How many of you have seen one in person, other than our lovely assistant?” A fifth of the class remained with hands up. “How many of you actually know one personally?” Three hands remained up. Ugh, better than I guessed, I guess.

  She looked over to her left and asked, “Hey, Rue. You wanna stand in the middle of the room for a second?” She did as she was asked. Louder, Tab announced, back in lecture tone now, “Can everyone see her well from where you’re sitting? If not, I’ll be blowing an illusion up above her.”

  She pulled out a runic parchment, lifted the ink, and pushed it at Rue. It flew at her and coated her while she stood stiff with obvious disdain. After a few seconds, it reformed, shot into the rune below, formed the projection ball, and it shot out tendrils forming a perfect three-dimensional illusion of her, moving as Rue moved, like a mirror. Gods, this
new illusion tech is unbelievable.

  “This class, we’re covering Atroks, obviously. Rue, if you wouldn’t mind?” She cast her robe off to the side and stood tall, relaxing her arms and straightening her back. Half the class blushed along with Tab. If I can say one thing to her credit, time with the guards has definitely suited her well.

  Her legs dropped forward from her torso, ducked backward to an additional joint, then went forward once more akin to a horse’s leg before ending into a large split hoof, each toe far larger than the average hooved mammal to allow for stability on two legs. In addition to the two “toes,” the leg also rested on a longer blunt almost claw-like “hoof,” acting like a high-heeled shoe.

  “Now as you can see, and I’m sure you all know, Atroks have an extra set of limbs compared to most other species. Their shoulders sport two arms, and their pelvis sports two legs, but two more limbs come out of their back. Note how if you look at her back, the upper portions of the arms slide right under the shoulder blades, then, with an additional joint, bend outward around the ribs.

  “Now just real quick, how many of you already know this and want me to stop, or do you want a biological tour?” A chorus of replies hit her, an obvious majority of which egged on the latter option. Isn’t this stuff taught in secondary school anymore? “Well all right then.

  “You’ll notice that the upper arms are stockier and muscular while the lower arms are slightly longer and feature an oddly-shaped hand. Her fingers are longer on that hand while the palm also has a flat, hard edge, almost heel-like before sloping up into a flexible palm. I’m sure most of you know why, as you all know the Atrok’s special trait. However, Miss Rue here is gonna show us nice and slow, since I’m guessing most of you haven’t seen a transformation in person. Pay close attention to the muscles being flexed. Rue?”