Shadows flickered and danced on the ceiling as a young girl scampered about the room causing mischief. She knew she hadn't fooled her nanny by pretending to be asleep after she was tucked in and read a bedtime story. No, Mirriana was too smart for that, she always knew when the girl was awake or asleep. . .somehow.

Still, the girl adored her and generally tried her best to behave. She did her lessons, she ate all her dinner, and she even brushed her hair even though she hated it. Tonight was different, and she knew she was up to no good as she carefully lit the last candle and quickly spit a giant wad of slobber onto the match to put it out.

Stepping back she cocked her head and carefully counted out the candles on her fingers before nodding to herself happily. Quickly skipping to her bed she threw back the thick blankets and with both hands and a strained expression, drags out an enormous leather bound book. Waddling with the weight of it, she quickly places it down next to the circle of candles that surround her biggest teddy bear.

She took a moment to do her happy dance, quietly of course, before sitting down and setting everything in order just like she had been shown. Thirteen candles in a big, big circle. Twelve pretty drawings that took so long to practice, one for each space between the candles.

The book sat in front of her, to her left she put a key, carved from bone. She didn't like it; it made her hands feel icky, and she wiped them on her dress after placing it on top of its own pretty drawing. To her right, a large coin made of crystal sat inside a simple circle of salt. Practically bouncing with glee, she took the last and most special candle and lit it using the very first candle she lit in the circle.

"Xor, Xor Kal'thaz Urun", the girl whispered before sticking her tongue between her teeth and concentrating hard for a moment. With a nearly inaudible sound of moving air the candle flame in her hand shifted, subtley, from a warm and happy orange to a bright, acid green a moment before all other light in the room was extinguished.

"Xor, Xor Kal'thaz Urun!", she intoned again. Louder this time, making sure to enunciate clearly as beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Another almost imperceptible pulse traveled through the room as the candle floated free of her grip, rising gently above the darkened circle she'd worked so hard on. Almost lazily, the flame split from the wick, swelling in size, filling the room with sickly light before shattering with a faint moan of agony.

A cloud of tiny green flames chased and bit at each other like a swarm of hornets before separating and zipping to the circle like pins drawn to a lodestone, each relighting a single candle as darkness consumed the room entirely. It shifted and clawed outside the now pale ring of candlelight, hungry and reaching but unable to fully approach the circle.

The girl hummed to herself and drummed her hands on her legs excitedly as she beamed to herself. Wiping her forehead with a sleeve, she reached out with her left hand, holding it above the key as sinister green light glimmered within the drawing below. Reminding herself that this is the hard part; a scowl of determination formed as she began to recite from memory.

"By blood, bone, and night I call you."

The floor creaked behind her as something breathed down her neck but she ignored it. They aren't even real until you look at them, she reminded herself. Extending her right arm above the coin, it too filled with light. Dark, terrible, purple light that made her hand sting; her face screwed up in a grimace.

"By flame, flesh, and pain I bind you."

Something like breaking glass, felt not heard, snapped suddenly from the center of the circle as her teddy slammed to the floor as its arms and legs were drug out. Faint cackling laughter could be heard, fading in and out in time with the candle flame as the bear floated a few feet above the floor and slowly faced the girl, who unashamedly wiggled in place and hurried out the final words.

"By the Fountain of Night, The Fallen Star, and the power of my name I call you forth to serve! Come, Zeptik!"

Flames exploded towards the ceiling as the candles melted to nothing in an instant. The mad laughter climbed to a fever pitch, hundreds of voices, thousands, all laughing at once for a single moment before all was silent. The girl slumped forward exhausted, heart racing, ears ringing painfully.

"I'm telling you Mirri, it's getting bad out there. He really kicked over a wasps ne- wait, what the fuck?", a nasal, decidedly grouchy voice suddenly bleated from the center of the room.

Before she could respond the voice barked something in that itchy sounding language Zeptik always used when he was mad and suddenly light filled the room again. Natural, bright flame spang from the sconces on the wall and a dozen candles arranged neatly upon the desk and writing table.

Her teddy hauled back his foot almost behind his own head and viciously kicked at a candle as he stomped over before planting his little velvet paws on his hips and leaning forward to stare at her with eyes dripping green fire, the drops fading before they hit the floor.

"LEYLA!", he snarled, "You little shit! Why?! We're supposed to be lying low right now, Master commanded tha-"

"You said I was a baby, and I'd die if I tried to summon you! I'm not a baby! You're a baby! You're a baby toy! Nyeeeeeh!", she finishes her mockery with a loud raspberry and a smug look.

Orange flame tinged with green so dark it was almost black exploded through the stitching of the teddy bear as the once adorable face ripped along the mouth, revealing nothing but swirling fire and a single green eye peeking out.

"Aksh loahsh rhupi! Reeeeeeeeeee!", with a shriek of rage the carpet was promptly incinerated in a neat circle around the Imp before he appears to immediately calm as Leyla scrambles back with a shocked expression, eyes filling with tears.

"Okay. Okay, it's cool. I'm cool.", thin knobby fingers suddenly ripped the bear's mouth open from the inside as a long nose poked through, followed by a pair of suspicious squinting eyes. With a habitual nervous glance around the room the Imp shrugged out of the old toy and turned his gaze on her more fully.

Leyla snickered and pulled her legs up to her chest while he stalked towards her and ramped up the glare. He was a hunched thing with long arms and short legs, only up to the knees on most grownups. His hands and 'feet' were the same, all having long slender claws and a thumb. A mane of dark unkempt fur ran from his scalp where two sharp horns poked through the fur, all the way down his back to the tip of his tail, where it ended in a scorched looking little puffball.

Leyla never thought he was pretty, not like Mirriana was, but she had to admit he did look kinda funny when his eye started twitching like that. She giggled a bit through her tears and Zeptik froze suddenly, with a sinking feeling she realized he hadn't just been griping at her like usual.

"Leyla! Are you listening at all?! This is bad, there's no way they didn't sense that. They were just a few houses over -- Fel! Master's going to be furious girl!"

That got her attention and she stood up in shock, eyes widening in horror. She'd only ever angered Teacher once before, when she spilled ink on an important scroll. He hadn't looked or sounded mad as he'd called for Mirriana to take her away, but it had been weeks before he would continue her lessons. It had been so BORING!

"Am I. . .grounded?"

"Grounded? Kid, you don't get it. We're leaving, now.", he cocked his head to the side as if listening to something she couldn’t hear., "Too late, just distract them for a minute."

"Huh?"

Then he was gone, the faintest of shimmers in the air the only hint he'd ever been there, before that too quickly faded. Leyla stood there at a loss for a few heartbeats before the door blew off its hinges and crashed into the far wall, missing her by inches. She shrieked in fear and ran straight for her bed, jumping under the covers and pulling them over her head as a din of shouting filled the room.

"IMPERIAL ARMY! STAND DOWN!"

"Tommin, secure the door!"

"Was that a fucking kid? You didn't -"

"Silence! Guard! With me!"

The sound of hard boots and armor filled the room as soldiers rushed in. Leyla pulled the pillow down over her head and tried unsuccessfully not to cry as rough hands ripped the blanket away and dumped her onto the floor before a boot slammed down and pinned her roughly.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"I have apprehended the-"

A vicious thud sounded as Leyla saw a tall man with golden hair backhand the soldier pinning her down, the man flying off of her as though he'd been kicked by a horse. He looked down at her cooly, but not unkindly as he addressed the general direction of the man he'd struck.

"Swiff, you have now experienced what it is like to be throw across a room by someone you cannot hope to overpower. As one of the Kings own men, I should hope you never comport yourself in such an atrocious manner ever again.", his voice was even and low, showing no sign of anger.

Leyla curled up into a ball on the ground and sobbed into her pillow as she pulled it over her head, trying once again to crawl into the blankets she'd been dumped with and hide. The man with golden hair continued to watch her, nearly impassive for a moment, before he spoke again.

"Lieutenant. You will explain to me why, on your word, I personally led a squad of five Imperial Guards to storm the home of a girl that cannot be more than ten winters old."

Leyla peeked out of the blanket as the silence stretched for an uncomfortably long time and she could no longer bear not knowing what was going on.

Swiff, if that was his name, had regained his feet but looked unsteady. The others were spread about the room. The tall man still stood next to her, his armor much more expensive and ornate looking than the others. Two soldiers inspected the candles and smudged chalk on the floor. Nearly the entire room, save the bed, had been destroyed by the swift breach. With a start she realized the Grimoire was nowhere to be seen.

"Sir Blackstone, our mages detected an exceptionally powerful entity successfully summoned at this location. They were unable to determine the exact nature of the creature."

"And why is that, lieutenant?"

"The seer on duty had their eyes melted from their skull shortly before the scrying orb exploded, almost killing them and half the people in the room."

Blackstone blinked slowly as he processed that, before turning to Leyla. He continued to study her with increasing interest for a moment before extending his hand over her and clenching his fist. Deep golden light flashed in his palm and spilled between his fingers, soaking into her through the blankets. Instantly, her scrapes and aches disappeared as the healing magic did its work.

"Come out child. None here shall harm you. You have my word.", Blackstone motioned politely for her to stand. "Do you have anything to say child? Can you tell us what happened here? Where are your parents?"

Leyla stood, but wrapped the blanket around herself nervously. Her eyes darted around the room before her face scrunched deeper into confusion. She looked up at Blackstone as if she was trying to solve a riddle.

"Four."

"I beg your pardon child?", Blackstone tilted his head as if to hear her better.

"You said five of you. There's only four?"

Blackstone's eyes darted about the room before pausing at the empty doorway. His eyes went hard as he grabbed Leyla and tossed her behind him into one of the soldiers, a thin elf woman, standing in the back of her bedroom. The elf caught her gracefully and set her on the floor in a daze. It had happened so fast she hadn't even noticed Blackstone draw his sword.

Nobody moved. Leyla didn't even breath until she her lungs burned and she remembered she needed to.

From the darkness of the hallway outside her room, quietly at first, but quickly dropping all pretense. . .

A woman giggled.

It was high and clear, pure girlish innocence unable to be smothered or contained. It bubbled out of the darkness and bounced around the room with a life of its own before slowly fading into a chuckle as Mirriana stepped into the doorway, shaking her head.

Leyla always thought she was pretty, even wearing something as simple as her rough spun brown dress.. But sometimes when she was serious she was. . . too pretty. It made something twist in her tummy like when she saw a snake or spider. Sweat broke out across Leyla's forehead as she noticed none of the mirth in her laugh had reached her beautiful yellow eyes.

Mirriana leaned against the doorframe with a sway of her hips that made Swiff gulp loudly across from Leyla, and she shot a glance at the man who seemed to be completely disoriented. He took a drunken, staggering step towards the door, the blade on his hip still undrawn.

Blackstone had assumed a typical Spellblade stance, left palm up and blade held diagonal in front of his body. More golden light bloomed in his hand and quickly wriggled into sigils and runes that felt warm and happy somehow, spreading into a small circle in the air above his hand.

"Tommin is dead then?", Blackstone said in a tone that suggested it wasn't really a question as Mirriana nodded agreeably. Leyla wrapped the blanket around herself tightly and tried her hardest to be invisible as the two remaining soldiers drew their weapons.

"Snapped his neck on accident pulling him back from the door. I was in a bit of a hurry, and frankly I didn't expect an Imperial Guard to be so fragile.", she shrugged and brushed a lock of her long fiery hair behind her ear before continuing.

"Still, he got off easy. Zeptik, get it over with please. Spare the blonde one, master might want a word..", Mirriana's eyes never left Swiff for a second as the doorframe exploded into matchsticks, the air cracking as she blurred and vanished.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion and all at once to Leyla as she slammed the back of her head into the wall in shock.

Blackstone's spell didn't fire in time, the golden barrier reflecting most of the shattered door frame back into the hallway as it futilely attempted to block the door Mirriana no longer occupied. He pivoted even as she vanished, not able to follow her movement but experienced enough to guess.

Zeptik materialized with a savage grin, hanging from the back of the blonde man's breastplate. With a cackle of glee he held a single clawed hand towards the two soldiers standing in front of Leyla and snapped his fingers. Carefully planted and hidden runes flared with light, spreading like thorny vines from seemingly random points on their armor.

In a heartbeat they covered the soldiers, whose eyes began to bulge. One even had time to suck in a breath for a scream that never came. A torrent of green fire poured out from the runes, writhing upwards like angry serpents as the fire poured into their armor before exploding upwards into the ceiling.

Mirriana's hooved foot impacted Swiff squarely in the chest and blew an enormous hole through the man with a shriek of tearing armor. She continued the spin, leaning into the impact as the force of it blew the rest of the corpse away from her to splatter through the far wall, killing some of her momentum.

Blackstone's focused expression slipped a bit, eyes widening in shock as the body flew back through his line of sight before he'd even fully turned towards where Swiff had been standing.

Leyla finally found the agency to stand just as the soldiers' empty armor clattered to the floor. Zeptik slapped his palm against Blackstone's oblivious back, a large sigil quickly spreading to fill the entire backplate before pulsing with a sinister purple light.

Blackstone stiffened instantly, managing a single surprised grunt before sagging on his feet like a discarded puppet. His blade slipped from his grasp and sank soundlessly into the floorboards up to the hilt without slowing before bouncing slightly. Veins bulged in his forehead and neck as he fruitlessly commanded his body to do anything.

Mirriana straightened up and observed the room with a bright, cheery smile. She pranced a bit as she spun happily before finishing the movement with an exceedingly rude gesture towards the hole in the wall. Leyla had only taken a single step before Zeptik turned and shot a snaggletooth glare at her and she froze.

A draft passed through the room suddenly, extinguishing the few heroic sconces and candles that had somehow kept burning in the chaos. The house groaned as if pressed by a great weight before a sudden stillness fell over it. The short silence that followed was so deep that Leyla could almost hear her own heart beating before it was broken by a voice that slithered down the hall without losing a single grain of potency.

"It seems I am not the only one to have had an eventful night. Mirriana, do be so good as to put on some tea for our guest. I would speak with him."

Teacher had returned.