NOVEL SIMPLE Sara sat, staring outside the windowsill. The first rays of the sun slowly painted the landscape, awakening it from the respite and returning to work to accomplish the goals either deigned for it or somehow concocted on its own . Small mammals emerged from their dens amidst the evergreen trees they were surrounded by, eager to start their day and continue preparing for the long winter ahead.
”Yeah. Never had I been more disrespected.” She glanced at the bag of coins at her bedside table, the sun’s rays now reaching it. Her now full stomach was on the verge of releasing it’s contents all back out, but sleep seemed to be hard to find that night.
Ashara’s voice was just as tired, but still interested, “Well, I’m just glad you got over there all in one piece!” Blankets shifted and a pillow was tossed, Sara was not sure if she was having an early morning or a late night as well, “Oh yeah, how’s your new tutor treating you? Quite the character, huh?”
The succubus’s mouth stretched as she tilted her head side-to-side, “Eh, he’s alright. I’m not really sure he’s cut out to be a teacher. Kinda shit at it, really.”
“He’s kind of a goofy guy, isn’t he?” Despite being as tired as she sounded, the witch’s cackle was alive and well, “I’ll tell ya what though, he genuinely is the real deal! Like, we could not have this conversation right now if it wasn’t for him!”
“What do you mean?”
“The sending spell! He invented it! Couldn’t you tell by speaking with him that it’s all he does?” Getting her second wind, the tiny witch suddenly grew excited, “A good chunk of modern magic theory is stuff he discovered! Mind you, he did all this a good while back…”
“I had no clue. He wears a mask all the time.” As her stomach begged for the call to end, questions rose to the surface of her now tired mind. “Why don’t I feel noxious when I talk to him, then? More than I usually do?”
“Eesh! What a burn!” It took a minute for the witch to calm down, “I’m not too sure, but the guy’s a savant when it comes to magic. He probably knows better technique or puts more mana into it than everyone else. Guy invented the spell, I mean.”
Sara rolled her eyes, “I kinda got that he’s something else. He doesn’t even know how to cook, he invited one of his servants in to live with us…” Although, even though she had only been there for a day, Proudmore Manor had miraculously returned to it’s prime overnight.
“Yeah, he’s useless outside of magic.” More bedsheets flitted around, “So wait, what was that thing about the mask?”
“Oh, The Eternal wears this bird mask and massive coat all the time. Very strange.”
It took another minute for Ashara to come down from her laughing fit again, “Really? He told you to call him The Eternal?!”
Bringing back her headache, the witch’s cackles alone almost made Sara lose the meal she just had, “Yeah? He said to call him by his title?”
“Geeeez! What an absolute dweeb!” She continued to cackle, “The man learns about onomancy for the first time and suddenly gets all paranoid? Holy moly!”
“Wait.” Sara could not but help chuckling along, “I thought his payment for teaching me was learning your name?”
Ashara suddenly stopped. “Yeah, that’s a big deal. Don’t give it to him.”
“But you just made it sound like-”
“Sare-bear, you’ve got a lot to learn about magic, still…” The witch’s mouth was full, possibly some kind of bed-side snack she kept, “Just because he’s a huge dork, doesn’t mean he isn’t right. I mean, the man practically invented magic as we know it. Ergo, he’s the best guy to help you do what again?”
The succubus leaned back on the windowsill. She had almost missed the flippant nature of the witch. “You know I want to kill Merle with my own two hands.”
Looking down, she saw only one of the instruments she needed for revenge. It was time to get the second one back.
“Then keep up the good work my little familiar, and make sure you pay attention to what he says, alright?”
- - - -
“What’s a faster way to learn magic?”
Sara gave up all forms of reverence around the man. Still clothed, she slammed her only good arm on the table, shaking the glass of milk The Eternal enjoyed alongside his breakfast Farazad carefully made for him.
Despite the mask covering any and all expression, she felt the Sage’s gaze upon her, “And what makes you so interested in learning faster, monster? Please tell me it’s out of wanting to make the most of our short lives by educating yourself as much as possible.”
“Fucking mages…” She sighed, “I might’ve jumped in too deep by trying to pick up a regeneration spell when I can barely even float. I need to get better.”
“Hmmm…” The masked man more than likely was in the midst of more than just this conversation, as he spoke slowly, “Tell me once again, how badly do you want your revenge against the Pontifex?”
Taking a seat, Farazad slid Sara a plate of fluffy white scrambled eggs. With her stomach already full, she slid it to the side, “More than anything. You don’t know half of what I had to put up with to make it even just this far.”
“Tell you what,” Her teacher’s cadence suddenly got quicker, seemingly free from the multitude of conversations he was having, “I will teach you an accelerated way of learning spells, but I’m going to need two favors for you.”
Letting the servant take the plate, Sarakiel leaned back in her seat, “Two? Doesn’t sound like a fair trade to me.”
“Well, consider me listening to the absurdity of your request as an additional favor, then.”
She crossed her arm, “So, you’re saying you can’t do it?”
Mirroring the succubus across from him at the dining table but actually able to cross his arms, he let his plate be taken as well, “I did not say it was impossible, just that you besmirch my, and the thousands of scholars, millenia of work just to kill a man.”
Sara narrowed her eyes, “What do you want, then?”
“Hmm…” Returning to his slower speech, he tilted his chin with his gloved hand, “You piqued my curiosity the other day when you mentioned the ‘weird charm thing’ but proved to be ineffective on that vendor, so I want to see that in action.”
“In addition,” The Eternal adjusted his thick blue coat, something that appeared more and more useful as winter drew near, “I need you to kill someone.”
Her warrior instincts kicked in, “That should be ea-” Stopping to check her stump of an arm and the two massive mounds in the way, she reneged, “Never mind that. Am I killing this person with magic?”
“Magic, poison, knives, or through your expertise, succubus.” Overexaggerating his shrug, her teacher seemed to not be a stranger to this sort of morbidity.
Sara rolled her eyes, “If I have to, I guess. Just point me at the man, then.”
“That’s the trick, they are only a man sometimes.”
She pinched her brow, “Let me guess, are they a mage too?”
The beak of the mask bobbed up and down with his nod, “An eccentric elven diplomat. They are not a scholar by any means, but are still quite skilled in self-transmutation. A friend and I figured Merreign would be best served if they were removed from the picture.”
“Whatever, just tell me where to go.” Sara pushed her bangs out of her face, ready to do what was asked, “And give me a name.”
The Eternal stood and walked over to an empty wall in the dining room. Producing a piece of chalk from one of his massive sleeves, he drew a perfect circle the size of a person, the interior of which suddenly shifted to a portrait of an ornate office lined wall-to-wall with dark wooden shelves of books. “I’m taking you to my home in Al’Cygnus, I’ll tell you more details once we get situated.”
Before she could ask another question, the masked man stepped through the portal and walked out of her view.
“You better keep up,” Farazad finished cleaning the plates, wearing a simple lime green apron, something Samuel never had in his home before, “Speaking from experience, he will leave you behind.”
“Right.” Sara stood as well. She teleported only a handful of times in her prior life, but this mage appeared superior to all others in this field as well. He genuinely was a cut above the rest.
With just a simple step, she had traveled to the other side of the world.
- - - -
She was not alone in the office.
A number of elves, each far more darkly complected than her, gathered around The Eternal, holding his hands up to the chattering people. Even in her old life, she could never wrap her head around the complex fluidity and rhythmic cadence in which the elves spoke in their language. Each one sounded stunted and unable to navigate the relatively simpler language of the tallmen, but when speaking their native tongue, they’d put the best Alzahettian orator to shame.
Few broke their gaze from the mage towards her, their expressions ranged between sheer disgust and a scandalous smirk before returning to their kind.
Looking around the room, it was a gorgeous study. The vantage through the portal failed to convey the intricate marble floorwork, the towering columns that seemingly reached upwards forever into a vast expanse of white, and the sheer amount of books and paper sitting on the lone desk in the room, carved from some form of unusually colored wood. Samuel dabbled with woodwork, so the type of blue tree used for this research table escaped Sara, but it certainly had to be native to the continent they suddenly found themselves on.
The only space along the walls not covered in books was a simple window. Releasing a torrent of sunlight in an already bright room, Sara drew closer to examine the view.
At first, all she saw was sand. Desert stretched for leagues around until colliding with the bright blue sky that contrasted with the golden expanse. Upon closer inspection, she soon discovered they were high up a tower. The city beneath appeared to be constructed from the same ivory marble the floor of the study beneath her was made from. Tall spires, wide domes and streaming beams of stone sat beautifully below, a pearl shining effervescent amidst the sun’s rays.
A foreign and exotic world away from the usually cloudy forests of Alzahett.
“Succubus Sarakiel,” A familiar voice shook her free from the visual splendor, “I have arranged for one of my researchers to examine you a bit further before we resume our discussion over the deal.”
Turning around, she looked down to meet the gaze of a relatively young looking elf.
“This is Mujad, he will take some research notes on you during our downtime.” The Eternal pushed the short boy closer to the monster.
“N-nice to make meet with you…” Looking to their mutual teacher for approval, the young elf put a hand out. His skin was as black as coal, the whites of his eyes and teeth contrasted sharply with his ebony tone. Wide, straight ears shot from his head, a bit goofy looking but something he would grow into. His hair was a dark chestnut, ruffled and scattered possibly due to indifference.
Using her only hand, she met the boy’s grip, “Likewise. Don’t ask too many questions though.”
The young elf lit up with excitement and curiosity, but with another assuring pat from the Sage, he left the two.
“Please refrain from killing my student. He’s young, but he’s bright when it comes to understanding devils. It’s a small miracle we did not lose him to the church.” The Eternal crossed his arms.
Sara returned the request with a look of disgust, “I’m not interested in kids.” She knew, in truth, that Mujad was older than she was, even across two lives, but it still felt wrong.
“That’s fine. But now that you are in my home, you obey my rules without fail. Got it?”
Daggers shot from the succubus’s eyes. However, only a moment passed before she relented, “Fine. Now, tell me about who we’re killing.”