Apparently the gods think I hadn’t suffered enough lately.

I mean, on top of introducing me to the girl of my dreams, who was hopelessly smitten with my best friend, now the girl in question believed that I wasn’t up to snuff. I mean, it was technically true. I was only apprentice level. I never carved my own staff, I didn’t have my own familiar, and I didn’t have the stamina to keep up with normal mages in combat. So…I guess, in retrospect, Sheena had a point.

Damn it.

So here we were, outside this godforsaken forest, with the full moon peeking out from behind a cloud. Alicia was glaring daggers at me. She was not amused by the fact that she was missing her beauty sleep simply to oversee some mage’s rite of passage. Naturally, Sheena’s insistence that Alicia be present had insured that I had probably lost a good deal of our recently gained goodwill, so I was on thin ice.

The Forest itself was one of many places in the world where wild, untamed spirit creatures ran free. Mages would venture into these areas to bind a familiar to them, a contract between spirit and mortal, that would last until the end of the mage’s life. The city of Ethenia had purposefully been built near this particular forest so that its mage acolytes could be supplied with plenty of familiars for its fledgling population.

Familiars were a mage’s constant companion. They shared their master’s life, served them until death, and were sworn to protect their master. A familiar could not be killed unless their master was killed as well. They were intelligent, intuitive creatures and obeyed any order given them by their masters. I had long wondered what my own familiar would be like; alas, with the fall of Marevar, and my lack of knowledge in how the binding ceremony worked, there had been little chance for me to get my own familiar. Here, now, I thought I finally had a shot.

Sheena gestured to the two guardsmen standing watch over the wrought iron gate that served as the entrance to the Forest itself. A large “fence” had been built along the Forest’s border, designed to keep anyone from entering. I could recognize magical wards placed at regular intervals along the fence’s length, which no doubt functioned in some manner to keep people from climbing over it. But then I had to question myself. Was it truly designed to keep people out…

…or to keep whatever was inside, in?

I’d read a few books on the subject of familiars, but that had been years ago and not all of that knowledge had stuck so well in the cavernous expanse between my ears. Most of the things that I had managed to retain were about how familiars were animal in nature and thus possessed animal-level intelligence, with very few exceptions. And like animals, familiars had no problems with demonstrating aggressive animal instincts as well.

And then, Sheena hit me with yet another revelation.

“You need to go in alone.”

I stared at her. Surely she couldn’t be serious. It was a forest. A dark, creepy forest. A dark, creepy forest full of big, nasty spirit creatures that would probably bite my head off and eat the rest of me given half the chance. And if Sheena’s pet wolf Kelda was any indication, those creatures were definitely the kind to kill me first and ask questions later.

And yet I had no choice. Alverd, Sheena and Alicia saw me off at the entrance. Carrying nothing but the staff of my mentor, I made for the opening in the trees. Sheena called out to me. “If you survive, I’ll teach you how to carve your own staff!” I was not reassured by her choice of words. Not that the woman could see the look of abject terror on my face. I walked down the beaten path into the dark, scary woods, my heart beating fast.

I walked and walked and walked, jumping at every little sound and movement in the brush. The sound of beetles and dragonflies buzzed all around me. I pulled some heat from my body to cast an illumination spell. A spark of light flickered to life at the tip of my staff, condensing into a ball of light that hovered around my head. The moon above provided plenty of light, but it wouldn’t be long before I entered the heart of the forest, where the entangled branches of the trees would block out the moon’s radiance. I gathered up what courage I had and plunged deeper into the darkness.

While I walked, I took a look at my staff. It had long, jagged cracks running along the length, probably from when I had used it to shield everyone from the assassin’s suicide attack. I knew that if I used any more high-tier magic, the staff had a good chance of shattering. Then I would truly be utterly helpless. And most likely, somebody’s dinner.

As I wandered through the forest, I wondered just what exactly I was supposed to be doing here. How exactly was I supposed to form a contract with a familiar? Sheena had not elaborated on the details necessary for forming a contract. She had provided only the basics. She had also delivered them in a rather manner-of-fact tone that I had found somewhat irritating, as though she were talking down to me like some problem student who didn’t do his studying. In all likelihood, that was probably how the older mage saw me.

“Familiars are drawn to strength of character,” she had said. “You must draw them out by revealing who you are at the core of your being. If you prove yourself worthy, then a familiar will bend its knee to you, and you can bind it with an incantation. If it accepts, then it will stay. If not, it will flee back into the forest.”

Strength of character? Then I was doomed. I wasn’t exactly the most courageous man. Or the most honorable. Or reliable. What manner of familiar would ever consider me worthy? My spirits fell as I stumbled through the brush, since the dirt path had disappeared some time ago. I had to watch my footing, as the gnarled roots of the various trees snaked across the ground, threatening to trip me up. Great, I thought to myself. If it came down to me running, odds were I’d trip and get dragged into the dark by some toothy monster. I shuddered again, trying to block out the image of said toothy monster forming in my mind.

After a bit of time had passed, I began to notice something. Everywhere I went, I felt that I was being watched. I could feel eyes on me from all around. Cautiously, I looked around. Sure enough, eyes glowed in the dark undergrowth of the trees and bushes surrounding me. However, they were not hostile; instead, they seemed to regard me with wariness, maybe even fear. Out of curiosity, I took a step toward a cluster of these eyes; they scattered back into the darkness, the rustling of the plants heralding their departure. I was perplexed.

Why were they afraid of me?

Mages had long hypothesized that animals possessed a sixth sense that gave them a kind of foresight into certain matters. Even my old mentor Professor Farnus had been convinced that his dog had had the ability to sense whenever he was in trouble when he had been a child. Many non-mages attributed this to animal instinct, but what they didn’t realize was that mages equated that instinct with the sixth sense. They were one and the same.

These creatures were fleeing from me. They sensed something…wrong about me. Somehow they knew that I was a threat and were regarding me as an intruder, and chose to flee rather than fight something they knew they had no chance against. With this revelation, I let out a heavy sigh.

I backtracked to a clearing I had stumbled across, seating myself on a stump in the middle. I looked up at the moon. “I just can’t get anything right, can I?” I smiled bitterly at the glowing ball in the sky. But then bitterness gave way to full-on anger. I rose up and began swinging my staff in impotent rage. I screamed angrily, then slammed my left hand against my chest, drew lightning from it, then threw the bolt at a nearby tree. The bolt nearly split the tree in half. I turned, pulling electricity from my body for another lightning bolt, and made to throw it…

…and found myself face to face with a girl.

The girl was…cute. Very cute. She was adorned in a kind of outfit I’d never seen the likes of, even after five years of constant travel; it had long red pants that reached all the way down to her sandaled feet, tied with a bow just below her plump bust. From there, her upper body was clothed in a loose white robe that had red stitching. What was weird about it, however, was that extra stitches had been sewn haphazardly over the bust area to draw it tighter, as if to hide her chest. Crude straps of white cloth had also been sewn into the robe to go over her shoulders, as if she were afraid it would slide off, exposing too much of her already noticeable chest. Her petite hands were covered in white gloves that continued up her arms, and disappeared into her sleeves. Hanging from the sash keeping her pants bound to her waist was a very small knife in an ornate sheath.

Then I stopped looking at her odd clothes and looked at the girl herself. She had long hair that spilled down her back, as dark red as a summer bonfire. She had eyes the color of gold, that seemed to accentuate the moonlight that poured down from above, hiding under her thick, unruly bangs. Her rosy cheeks were slightly flushed, as if she were embarrassed. The healthy amount of skin I could see due to her low-cut robe was pale, almost as pale as the stars in the sky. Her mouth fell open in surprise, and I could see that she had cute little tiger teeth among her pearly whites.

We stared at each other, speechless, for a few seconds, less than half a foot away from each other. I stammered. Then, finally, I took a step back, nearly tripping over myself. The girl had been carrying a lantern in her left hand, a no frills affair with a candle burning inside of it, on a short stick; she dropped it suddenly as her hand covered her mouth, and it rolled away with a metallic thud. The blush in her cheeks became so intense I could almost feel the heat radiating off of her face. Then I realized the heat I was feeling was in my own face. Words tumbled out of my mouth. “Oh, uh…I guess I didn’t see you there.”

Her face turned even redder and she backed away. “I’m so sorry…am I getting in the way?” Her quiet, shy voice and apologetic tone struck me like a thunderbolt from the sky. She was grasping a staff in her other hand, a four-foot long piece of mahogany with a wrought metal head consisting of several prongs of polished brass, cradling a flawless ruby. “I hope I didn’t throw off your concentration on…whatever it was you were doing.” Oh gods. She was so adorable. I wasn’t afraid to admit that I found shy girls attractive. That naive, almost helpless look on her face really suited her.

I fumbled for something to say. This girl was amazingly cute, but nothing came to me. Damn my mouth and brain! I could find something to say when my mouth could get me killed, and yet I was speechless when it came to pretty girls! Ugh! Think, dammit!

Finally, the impulse to introduce myself and apologize won out. “I’m terribly sorry. I just got frustrated, is all. My name’s Kuro. I was out here looking for a familiar. Who are you?”

The girl walked back to me, clutching her staff close to her chest. “I’m Deotra. I’m also looking…I’ve been in this forest for a while now. I’m starting to think maybe I’ll never form a contract. Then I’ll never achieve my dreams…” She sniffled, her eyes becoming a little watery, and her mouth turned downward into a frown.

It was a terrible expression, because it turned her beautiful face into a picture of depression. I felt a great deal of sympathy for her. Her feelings of doubt echoed my own. Her fears of inadequacy reminded me more of myself than I was comfortable with. I couldn’t let this girl fend for herself. I boldly took her hand. “Heh. Well, looking together might be a good idea, hey? I mean, I could use the company. I’m pretty sure I’ll go crazy at this rate if I go it alone.”

Deotra blushed again when my hand gripped hers. Gods, she was too cute. This was my chance. If I could just man up and prove myself to this girl, there could be hope for me yet. I reluctantly let go of Deotra’s hand and picked up her lantern, and pointed toward a hole in the brush. “I think there might be another clearing in that direction. Should we check?”

Deotra nodded. “Yes. Let’s go.” She moved next to me and and grabbed onto my arm tight with her left arm, and I could feel her full bosom pushing into my elbow. I felt the heat rise up in my face again, and was grateful she couldn’t see my face. Unfortunately, she must have felt my body stiffen, because she let go and backed away in surprise.

“Oh my…is this the first time you’ve ever been so close to a girl? I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable…” Despite the concerned look on her face, I got the feeling that she seemed oddly satisfied that she had been the first girl to initiate physical contact with me of her own free will. I waved my hand nonchalantly. “No, not at all. You’re not making me uncomfortable,” I lied. “If it makes you feel better, you can hold my arm. I was just…not expecting it, was all.”

She snuggled up to me again. Her grip on my arm tightened too. “Alright. I’m glad I’m not being a burden…” Gods, this was why I loved shyness in a girl. She was too adorable! As we began walking away, deeper into the forest, I chanced a look at her face. Her face was buried into my shoulder, a content smile plastered on it. She was making happy little purring noises, too.

I found it very odd, to be honest. We’d known each other for maybe three minutes but she was perfectly fine with grabbing hold of me like I were a piece of driftwood in a raging sea. I had never met this girl (and trust me, I would definitely remember if I’d ever met a girl who was the walking representation of my ideal woman), and I was starting to get very suspicious. But in the end, I decided there was no harm in enjoying the attention; there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to be so close to such a pretty girl.

We made our way through the brush, scaring away the familiars around us. Poor Deotra. Just by being close to me, I was ruining her chances of finding her own familiar. The longer she stood by me, the longer I perpetuated my lie of omission. I didn’t want to part from her; her company went a long way to not only feeding my ego, but ending my own pitiful loneliness.

As we walked beneath a canopy of trees that once again blocked out the moon, leaving only trace amounts of moonlight to guide our path, Deotra pushed up against me more. In an attempt to make her feel more at ease, I tried to break the ice. “So…you said you needed to form a contract too? How long have you been looking?”

In her small, shy voice, Deotra answered. “A very long time. But the conditions were never right. I’ve been patient for a very long while, but I’m sure that with your help, I’ll find what I’m looking for.” She smiled at me bashfully.

I could not believe how quickly this girl was melting my heart. It was almost like she knew exactly what to say, to do, to make me fall for her. More disconcerting was how ready I was to talk to her. I wasn’t exactly the social type, but here I was all the same, trying to learn more about her. Then I started telling her about myself. The reason why I had ended up in the Forest of Familiars in the first place.

“I understand. I probably would have become a full-fledged mage about five or six years ago, had my homeland not been invaded. My best friend and I ended up becoming mercenaries. This isn’t even my staff, it belonged to my late mentor.” I showed her the cracked staff. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to spill my guts to someone I had just met.

Deotra cocked her head to the side, which made her so cute that I almost swooned. “So, you only have your mentor’s staff? You never tried to carve your own?” I nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know what goes into it. The way it was described to me, it sounded like it involved more than just magical power. Something that had to be applied, or some technique I wasn’t aware of. Trust me, if I knew, I’d have made my own staff years ago.” I looked down at the cracked staff in my hands. “Not that it makes much of a difference.” I said bitterly.

My new companion let her gaze fall to her feet. “I understand. There are a lot of things I don’t know how to do either…and the people from my home were very unforgiving. I guess that was one of the reasons they kicked me out. They just…didn’t want a little screw up like me around.” I could detect a hint of anger in her voice, but mostly she was sad that it had happened. I wondered for a moment if I should press for details, but decided not to. Her past was her past, and if she wanted to discuss it then I’d let her bring it up.

Still, my curiosity was piqued. I decided to let slip a few details about my own tumultuous childhood to try and get her to open up about her past. “Yeah, when I was a kid nobody wanted me around either. I…I don’t even know why my parents didn’t want me in the first place. I was raised in an orphanage until I was about five years old. Then I discovered I had magic and…well, I got lucky, I suppose. My mentor caught wind of my potential and took me to the capital city of Marevar to receive training. And I met my first real friends there…Alverd and Laura…”

I felt a short pain in my heart when I mentioned Laura. She was still a sore topic, given how close I’d come to avenging her death and yet failing at it. But I continued on. “Alverd and Laura…my two best friends in the world. We’d spend as much time together as possible…” I glanced in Deotra’s direction for a moment, but then trailed off. She was staring at me with wide eyes, two golden orbs hidden by red curtains. She was chewing her lip nervously, as if anticipating an answer. Finally, she spoke, barely above a whisper. “This girl…you were close to her?” Her eyes bored into mine with almost frightening intensity.

I didn’t see how that pertained to anything, but I had nothing to hide. “Well, to be honest I always saw her as more of a big sister than anything else. I always thought she and Alverd would end up together. And they probably would have, had she not…” I couldn’t help but notice that Deotra’s voice had gained an edge to it when she mentioned Laura. I was certain it was nothing, but I looked at her again just to be sure.

If I had noticed anything out of place, though, it had only been for one fleeting moment, because Deotra was right back to being shy again. “Ah…I see.” Again, she seemed somewhat pleased by my answer. “I’m sorry. My big sister was…well, to be honest she wasn’t a very nice person. Neither was my father. My mother died when I was very young, and it kind of sent my family down a dark path. My home started to feel less like a home with every passing day.”

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I could feel her right hand tighten around my arm. “My sister told all kinds of nasty lies about me, and my father never listened to me because he always favored her. But my mother, before she died, said that I was destined for better things. So when I was exiled from my home, I swore I’d make her proud, and I’d never be dishonest if I could help it.” There was a waver in her voice when she mentioned being exiled. I couldn’t tell if she considered such a thing a boon or a bane. “I guess when you stop and think about it, being exiled isn’t so different from running away from home…”

I felt a sharp spike in my chest when she said that. Thinking about home always brought a bitter taste to my mouth. Deotra let go of my arm and put her hands to her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to make you think about that…I’m sure you lost a lot of people you cared about when those dreadful Ishmarians invaded. I was appalled when I heard about it. A lot of other kingdoms condemned that action, but then they didn’t do anything about it. It made me sick to my stomach.”

Strangely, this was the first time I’d ever been so interested in hearing about the fall of my homeland from someone else’s perspective. “Yeah. When Alverd and I found out later that the Guilfordians had sold us all out for a massive sum of gold, we were livid. But there wasn’t anything we could do. We were just two people, and we didn’t have any way of taking our revenge on anyone, much less an entire country or its king.”

Deotra wrapped her arm in mine again and leaned into me. “Don’t worry. We have a saying where I come from. “Any one who carelessly sets fires will one day be burned by them.” The Ishmarians and Guilfordians will get what’s coming to them. Just like…” She cast her eyes down. A dark cloud seemed to roll in over her, and I fidgeted awkwardly, as I had no way to contribute to her line of thought. Then I saw a pair of silver streaks fall down her cheeks. She was trying very hard not to openly cry in front of me. When I saw those tears, my mouth fell open uselessly and realized that I could say nothing to comfort her.

Fortunately she slid her arm across her face, wiping the tears away with her sleeve, then smiled at me with that overwhelmingly charming shyness of hers. “But I’d rather not talk about that. I’m glad that I found you, Kuro.” She giggled, a short, quiet laugh that made me think of younger, more innocent times. “I guess I just needed some help finding my confidence. And maybe you just needed someone to do the same for you, too.”

This time it was my turn to be bashful. I reached my free arm back and scratched the back of my head in an absent-minded gesture. “Yeah, I guess so. Thanks for that.” And it was the truth. Even since the two of us had paired up, I hadn’t thought once about whether I was a failure as a mage, or if the animals would eat me, or even if I would fail at finding a familiar. Having Deotra with me made me feel as if I could do anything.

We talked like that, back and forth, for a little over twenty minutes. We wandered aimlessly, not seeming to care that we both had a job to do here in the forest. But eventually, we stumbled across a clearing with a pond, just outside of a large cave. The massive opening yawned like the maw of some beast, waiting to swallow us up. Deotra peered into the gaping darkness. “I can sense something big. Something ancient. A powerful familiar dwells within.” She picked up a rock and tossed it into the inscrutable depths. The rock echoed as it bounced a few times, then silence reigned once more.

I didn’t want to go into that cave, even to impress a girl like Deotra. It was literally walking into a monster’s den. Fortunately, I was a mage, and I had options. I set the lantern down next to the cave entrance, then coaxed the lantern’s flame into my hand. The lantern extinguished itself as the red flame within bounced into my hand. I nodded to Deotra. She moved away from the opening. Counting to three, I threw the ball into the cave, and watched as it worked its way through.

After I lost sight of it, something roared deep down in the recesses of the cave. Something monstrous shot out of the opening. It had teeth, claws, scales, and horns. As I fell on my arse in shock, I wondered how in the seven hells my luck could possibly be so bad.

Familiars could take on any form they desired to test a mage’s skill. More often than not, they chose forms that played upon a mage’s fears, a classic move to see how the mage would respond under pressure. The process of gaining a familiar was a test on every level, not just a measure of a mage’s power. As the beast reared up, I saw the form it had taken; Alicia’s dragon.

Perhaps the word form was not the best way to describe it. The familiar had taken on the shape of the dragon, but there were no details, no features. Instead, the entire mass resembled a pool of mercury given shape. Distorted images played across the mirrored surface of the familiar’s “skin”, making it hard to tell where it was looking. But then the thing’s “head” swiveled in my direction and looked straight at me. I could tell, because I saw my own reflection staring straight back at me, dropped jaw and all.

The beast hissed and shot fire from its maw. I rolled away and began running from the dragon. In the clearing, I did not have the luxury of cover, nor did I have Alverd to distract the dragon. I searched frantically for Deotra, but couldn’t find her. The dragon roared again, and when I turned to look, I saw it was ready to spew more fiery death at me.

I hastily conjured a defensive spell. Like the shimmering shield that my old mentor had once used, it wouldn’t hold against repeated attacks, but it would be enough to hold the first blast. As the dragon’s breath washed over me and the shield, I frantically hatched a plan.

When the fire subsided, I searched for Deotra. She had taken cover behind a row of trees. I called out to her. “I need you to distract it for a few seconds!” Deotra was scared, I could see it in her eyes, but she nodded firmly and leaped out of her hiding spot. My opinion of her soared. Brave girl. With a twirl of her staff, she launched a ball of blue fire at the dragon, which impacted the beast in the chest. It roared, and wheeled around to find the source of the attack. It quickly located Deotra, and moved to counterattack.

When the dragon turned away from me, I began my incantation. I opened my mind and called out to the spirits in the area. The spirits I sought, not the simple servant creatures that could be bound, were true spirits, entities of power that would only lend me their strength if they looked into my heart and decided that I was worthy. The spirits within the pond flowed toward me, drawn by my invitation. A ball of ice swirled into being at the tip of my staff, growing larger as the spirits drew closer.

But then something began to happen. I saw the cracks in my staff begin to spread. As the power surged through the staff towards the tip, the cracks elongated. Snapping sounds began to punctuate the spread of the cracks. I gripped the staff tighter, struggling to aim the ball at the dragon. I saw Deotra trip as she leaped out of the way of a blast of fire. Time seemed to slow as the dragon circled over the fallen girl like a vulture eying a corpse.

If I didn’t release my spell, the familiar would kill her. I didn’t have a choice. No staff outweighed a life. I didn’t even hesitate. I threw as much power into the spell as I could. I pulled all the moisture from the surrounding air as I could get, and reinforced it with more from my own body. The glowing ball of ice grew yet again, pulsing now. The vibrations from the staff were almost too violent for me to hold back. I begged whatever gods who were listening to let the staff hold just long enough to safe Deotra’s life. Slowly, the staff aimed at the flying dragon.

When I lined the dragon up, I spoke the incantation.

“Oh, frozen glory! Return this hated memory to its rightful place! Bind it within a coffin made from impenetrable frost! Let it be buried for all time in the darkness from whence it came!”

The ball shot forward, and the staff splintered into pieces with a small but violent explosion. The dragon paused to breathe fire at Deotra; it never saw the spell coming. With a thunderous crack, the spell slammed into the dragon’s side, just under its wing.

Instead of doing what had happened the first time I had cast a similar spell against this dragon, however, the entire creature shattered into fragments, as though I had taken a mace to a mirror. The fragments disintegrated into vapor, which in turn disappeared into thin air. I marveled at what I had done, and then the grim reality sunk in.

I had killed the creature. I had just destroyed my chance, and also Deotra’s chance, of creating a contract with this creature, whatever its true form had been. I fell to my knees, weariness spreading through my limbs like a cancer. I barely even noticed when Deotra kneeled down next to me, looking up at what few pieces of the not-dragon were still fading away.

“It’s not your fault, Kuro.” Deotra put her hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at her, then did a double-take. This close, I could see right down the plunging neckline of her robe. I’d felt her chest push up against my arm earlier, but, as I wasn’t rude enough to stare openly, I had tried (and not really succeeded) averting my gaze from her breasts before. They were perfect. So round and full, but not big enough to just be obscene…dammit, it wasn’t my fault! I was just being a young man! I couldn’t help but look!

Deotra must have seen the color rising in my face, because she looked down and saw where my eyes were really aimed at. Her face turned a shade of red that I didn’t think was actually possible in a human being. She quickly yanked her robe closed, pulling the folds over her chest, which only served to make her even cuter in her embarrassment. She then sighed in relief. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that she was even more adorable in her alarmed state.

I sat in that clearing with Deotra for a moment. The moon’s light shone down on us, ceasing only when the occasional errant cloud eclipsed its light. I asked Deotra what she planned to do.

Deotra sighed again. “Well, what’s done is done. I should have been more careful. Wild familiars are dangerous, and we both knew that. If anyone should be sorry, though, it’s me. Your staff is nothing but splinters, now.”

She was right. I was still holding what was left of Farnus’ old staff. It had broken straight in the middle, and now it was completely useless. Without it, I couldn’t use magic. At least, not without killing myself anyway. I wasn’t like Sheena, a spirit contractor, whose spirit blood had been granted her by countless generations of her ancestors. If I attempted it, I would be killed by the very energies I attempted to harness and control.

Deotra leaned closer to me. “You know, you saved my life, Kuro. I know it’s little comfort, but I’m very grateful to you.” I sighed. It was indeed a platitude. It was what every girl said. Every single girl who ended up being rescued by Alverd and I in the past five years had ended up saying that. But they had always said it to Alverd, never me.

It felt surprisingly good.

I turned to answer Deotra when all of a sudden she leaned in towards my face. In my shock, I didn’t even realize at first that Deotra was kissing me. I had never experienced the feeling before, so it was no wonder I didn’t realize what was going on until her lips found mine. Even then, my short-circuiting brain still didn’t figure it out until a few seconds later.

I don’t rightly know how long the kiss lasted, because my brain was refusing to work properly and my concept of sanity was going haywire. Finally, Deotra broke off the kiss, leaning back a little bit so she could look into my eyes. As I l looked into hers, I felt a chill go down my spine. There was still a hint of the shy, almost naive innocence I’d seen before, but now her expression was that of extreme want. But it wasn’t lust I saw.

It was just…need. She had the expression of a woman who hadn’t eaten food for weeks, only to finally be given a loaf of bread. It was what she needed, but it just wasn’t enough. She needed more, because it was essential to life. But for Deotra, it went beyond that. Her face seemed to say that she had been waiting a lot longer than just a few weeks.

I stammered. “Deotra? What’s going on?” She only answered by kissing me again. She was being very aggressive, and I needed to breathe. As…stimulating as her enthusiasm was, I really had to draw the line at that point. I pushed Deotra off of me. When I looked at her again, she was staring at me with that same hungry look in her eye, and when she smiled, her teeth flashed at me, gleaming white.

“I’ve waited so long…you have no idea, Kuro.” Deotra giggled, but this time it wasn’t so cute. This time it sounded downright creepy. “What’s wrong? I’m so happy you’re finally here…aren’t you happy to be here? Aren’t you happy to be here with me?” Deotra shrugged her shoulders, and despite the straps on her robe, it began to slip off. Her whole face looked like that of a drunkard’s after a few pints. “I thought you’d like this…I thought you liked me. Don’t you understand how I feel? How my heart has ached for the past decade and a half?!”

Despite what she said being true, I wasn’t about to just knock boots with some girl I had just met. I pushed her off of me and then crawled back slowly, never facing away from her. “Look, Deotra. I don’t know what’s come over you, but this isn’t really the place, alright? I mean, don’t get me wrong. You are insanely gorgeous, definitely top notch. But I barely know you! Where I come from, we don’t just kiss complete strangers.” Suddenly I stopped in my tracks, as something she said finally registered in my brain. “Wait…what do you mean, a decade and a half? What are you talking about?!”

Something changed in the girl standing before me. The lovestruck expression on her face faded immediately. Her eyes, once vibrant and sparkling, became narrowed with a kind of quiet hostility. Her teeth ground together audibly as her mouth went from smile to grimace. I felt something cold, like a blast of winter air, sweep up from behind Deotra and flow past me. Something, like garbled laughter, rode that air until it swirled back around and hovered before the girl, distorting the air above her like a heat mirage.

Then that air spoke. I didn’t have a better word to describe what I was hearing, because even though the sound was akin to a person speaking through a closed window submerged in mud, I could hear it clear as day. And I didn’t have to understand it to see the effect it was having on Deotra. The poor girl was frantic, her eyes watering and desperate, practically begging with the not-voice.

“I told you he wouldn’t respond to such aggression! Now look. He’s suspicious of me. I worked far too long and far too hard for this. No, you said that he would be completely receptive to this approach.” She started pacing back and forth, waving her arms in the air furiously. “I can’t let him leave. Don’t ask me that. Don’t. Please, don’t make me…” Her voice, once filled with what sounded like righteous anger, was now full of desperation and pleading.

“But I did as you asked! You failed to fulfill our bargain…” I could hear a sob forming in her voice. “I know you’ve never been wrong so far…but you’re asking me to do…to do the impossible. You cannot…I knew I never should have trusted you…” Tears appeared in her eyes, and she fell on her knees. “I…I…I know that you said that, but he’s right here…please…”

The presence, hanging like a dark cloud, slid around her, until it was between the girl and the entrance of the cave. I felt a wave of pressure as the not-voice clawed at my mind, rich and smooth but alien, and I knew something was wrong. It only took me a moment to figure out what was going on.

Deotra was carrying on a spirited argument with a demon. Very, very few people could get away with such behavior, even mages, in anybody’s book. She went on and on, and I felt another chill scurry up my back as her animated conversation took its course. I was still frozen in place, trying to figure out what I was going to do, when Deotra turned around and started walking away.

Deotra picked up her staff from where it had fallen after she had tripped during our battle with the familiar. She took a tentative step towards me, but when I reflexively took a step back, the agonized look of pain on her face intensified. Now entirely on the verge of crying, she let the staff fall to the ground. After dropping the staff, she started moving away from it, towards the cave from which the familiar had emerged.

“I’m sorry that this had to happen the way that it did, Kuro.” She was now standing by the cave mouth. “This wasn’t how I wanted our meeting to go. But if she says I lost my chance, then I have to abide by her terms. But know that for the short time I got to be with you, I was happy…happier than I’ve ever been. So don’t worry about me…”

Then she reached down, picked up the lantern, and with a wave of her hand, lit the candle. A bright blue flame sparked to life within the lantern. I felt my mouth fall open. Even such a small display of magic without a staff would have had some kind of consequence. But Deotra merely stood there, the same look of hopeful expectancy on her face. I took another step back, not knowing what to make of this development.

Deotra threw the lantern to me, and despite my state of unease, I caught it. The blue light within flickered, but stayed lit. “Please…you need to leave now.” I looked at her with disbelief. Something else was going on, something I couldn’t put my finger on, but my priority at the moment was to save Deotra from the demon. I held my right arm out to her. “Hey, look at me! I’m not letting that…thing take you away. Take my hand. It doesn’t have to end like this.”

Deotra shook her head sadly. “No, I’m afraid it does. I overstepped. I did what I wasn’t supposed to do, and now I have to accept my punishment for that. She’s very disappointed with me, and I won’t run away from what I’m due.” Something growled, something big, from the cave behind her. Suddenly, a dozen hands, human in shape, surged out from its depths, each of them feeling along the ground. Deotra stepped towards the hands, and I screamed. “NO! Stop! I can help you! Don’t give in! I can help you fight the demon!”

I bent down and picked up Deotra’s staff. The moment I grabbed it, I felt a power surge into me from it. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. High on adrenaline, I pointed it at the hands. “Deotra, stop! It’s never too late! Fight it!” Deotra turned back to me, her eyes still full of tears. “Take what I’ve given you and leave this place, Kuro.” The hands, on arms that stretched like rubber, leaped up and latched onto her, wrapping around her like snakes.

“NO! Let me help you! Don’t submit!” I tried to push forward, but it was like my feet were rooted in swamp mud. Deotra smiled wistfully as the hands grabbed at her. “Don’t weep for me, Kuro. Nobody will miss a whelp like me. Instead, promise me one thing.” She didn’t even fight against the hands. Instead, she took the small bracelet around her left wrist and threw it at my feet. I stopped struggling against the power now running rampant through my body, and strained my ears to hear her.

“Don’t come back for me.”

Then the hands took hold, and she was dragged into the dark.

I screamed in anguish. But then the fire in the lantern roared, and there was a flash of light so bright that I had to shield my eyes. And in the forefront of my mind, I heard it. The dark voice of the demon, a voice rich and full and seductive, so replete with self-satisfaction that it made me sick. It filled my mind like viscous tar, blanketing my consciousness with a horrible, syrupy evil.

“A fitting fate for a liar.”

And then all was black.

When I awoke, Sheena, Alverd and Alicia were above me, looking down. Alverd lifted me up, helping me to my feet. I shook my head, trying to clear out the cobwebs and fog. As I gathered my wits, I saw that I was at the entrance of the forest. The iron lantern, still lit with its unnatural blue light, lay to my left, and in my right hand, was Deotra’s staff. The smooth mahogany staff fit in my hand as if it belonged there, and the ruby on the top glittered ominously. As I stared at it, I thought of Deotra’s tormented face. I shuddered and let go of it, dropping it as if it were a burning coal.

Sheena spotted the staff and tried to pick it up for a closer look. However, when her hand alighted upon the staff, she recoiled away as if she had been shocked; in fact, she had. The staff had discharged a blast of electricity when Sheena had touched it. Sheena looked at the staff warily, the way someone would regard a cobra that was within striking distance.

“I have a very bad feeling about that staff.” Sheena remarked. She poked at the stick with her own staff, and the ruby gleamed malevolently again, almost as if it were sentient. “How did you get it? Surely you didn’t find it in the forest, did you?” She looked to me for confirmation of her theory.

“As a matter of fact, I did.” I looked Sheena in the eye. I was just about to tell her about Deotra when the image of her forcing her mouth against mine crossed my mind. I immediately rescinded the thought. “I, uh…found it. In a clearing. While I was alone. All alone. Yeah.” I scratched the back of my head to hide the fact that I was fidgeting, then asked Sheena a question to throw attention away from me. “Say, Sheena? How many other mages are running around in that forest?”

Sheena blinked. “Sir Kuro, you were the only one. The forest is too dangerous for lone mages to be traversing it at night. It has one entrance that is watched over by guardsmen day and night. That is why I had you come now. I figured that if you got into trouble, we could come help you. Why would you ask such a thing?” Sheena cocked her head to the side, a look of confusion stamped on her face, mirroring the one on mine.

In the confusion, I noticed that Deotra’s bracelet was wedged underneath me. The others hadn’t seen it because of that, and the fact that the staff was distracting them from it. I quickly pocketed the bracelet. It was made of red twine and had a charm on it, with some kind of rune or character carved into it that I didn’t understand. I figured I’d get a better look at it later.

I was sure there was a rational explanation for what I had just gone through. Of course, if there was one, it was eluding me. The only thing I could think of was Deotra’s bubbly laughter, and how I’d left an innocent girl to the nonexistent mercy of a demon. I felt sick to my stomach as that haunting sound echoed in my memory.

All the way back to the Ivory Palace, my mind was preoccupied with that laughter. It haunted me all the way there, and straight into my dreams.