Spellscribed: Resurgence (22 page)

"Fine." Selene said, waving a hand flippantly. "You heard him. Leave. Go wait outside or something."

"Yes, mistress!" her assembled slaves chanted in unison, filing out of the room through side doors.

"I wanted to have you all to myself, anyway." Selene purred, a predatory hunger in her eyes. "I let her try it her way, try to get your attention and have you come to her. I even gave her suggestions to make it more effective, and yet somehow you avoided it. How dense of you."

"I didn't see what was in front of me, Selene." Endrance said. "I didn't acknowledge you."

"You did for a while, but then it changed the minute you had something more interesting to keep your attention." Selene fumed. She stood from her makeshift throne, her eyes glowing in her rage. "Tell me, was that elf bitch better than me? Was that it? She a better lay?"

Endrance closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. He could feel the demon's mental influence hammering at him, but his protections were steadily negating her attempts at controlling him.

"So you discarded me." Selene continued her rage. "But now… oh, now I have you here. And I am going to take you and make you mine!"

Endrance opened his eyes, seeing that she had moved several steps closer to him. "I never owned you, Selene." he said, his eyes misting with tears. "I wasn't intimate with anyone but you. I know you would be able to tell that, demonside, so why don't we say what's really going on here."

Endrance strengthened his resolve. "You ended up here because you wanted love, Selene." he whispered. He knew that both of them had fine enough hearing that he'd be heard clearly. "When my bond was severed, part of you despaired. You thought I was dead. Your human side retreated, not wanting to believe I was gone, and you took over in the meantime, keeping her strong and alive."

The Demon-Selene's eyes narrowed, but her advance slowed.

"But you need to feed." Endrance continued. "And you, like all demons, are an exemplar of petty feelings, shallow emotions. You decided that by hating me, you could justify doing… this. You had to feed, and your love was no longer there to sustain you. Your other half wouldn't object if it made sense. I have wronged you, ignored your needs. But you never once asked me for my attention, my affection. I have quite a bit on my plate, and you knew that. So did you want her to go to someone else this whole time?"

"No!" Selene screamed at him. "I want you!"

Endrance nodded. "I believe you, I do. But I believe that you are too tied up in what you've constructed to realize that it's all just in your mind. I am here. I wanted you to be happy." his shoulders slumped. "I failed you, just like I failed everyone else."

"You're resisting me." Selene realized. "You aren't letting me in."

"In?" Endrance asked. "You mean letting you use your control on me?" he shook his head. "You never needed it to make me love you. Please, bring the dormant side of you back. We can walk away right now."

A growl ripped through Selene's throat. "She's not coming back!" Selene shrieked, her fingertips elongating into claws. "There's no more merging, no more training, no more Selene the human!"

The mage tightened his grip on the walking staff, drawing power from the Crystalphage. "I don't want to fight you." he said.

"You don't have a choice!" Selene screamed, diving towards him and slashing with her claws.

Endrance ducked and thrust out with the staff, using his amplified strength and speed to knock her away. He felt that he would be able to use his full strength against her, since she would be able to survive it. Only his dangerous spells would be able to permanently harm her. Selene was lobbed through the air with a crack, crashing into the wall and dropping onto the throne, shattering it.

Endrance winced. "I don't want to fight you." he repeated. "Please stop."

Selene only shrieked as she flung herself to her feet, sending fragments of wood and torn cushions into the air. Endrance realized then that the demonside was in complete control. Selene had turned herself away from the world, letting her other half run unchecked. Endrance scanned the environs; there had to be a way to disable the girl long enough to wake up her human half.

Endrance didn't have much material to work with, except for an excess amount of Crystalphage shards. He saw Selene coming, fast enough that he would have had no chance to defend were he not amplified by his scribed spells. Endrance shifted his body, avoiding the blow with as little effort as was needed, trying to figure out his conundrum.

"It's a lot harder to use magic to fight without killing than I thought." Endrance mused, leaning back from the waist as he took a half-step backwards, avoiding a slice of the girl's talons that would have cut his throat.

"Shut! Up!" The demon Selene shouted, grunting with effort as she assaulted with a flurry of swipes and stabs with her talons.

Endrance pushed off with one foot, propelling himself backwards nearly five yards until his shoulders hit the wall. The stone was hard, but his wards were able to disperse the blow from doing more than shake him up.

"Whoops!" he muttered, rolling to the side as Selene followed him with a screeching downward claw. Her taloned fingers sliced four grooves into the stone like it was paper, and her follow up swing left similar carvings horizontally as she pursued him.

The wizard had finally figured out a solution. He drew a small percent of his overall power and shoved off the wall, giving the staff in his hands a twirl over his head as he slung the spell. As he channeled the spell in midair, he quickly thought what he wanted it to do.

"Praestigius!" He intoned, bringing the staff down as he landed. Thankfully, he had timed the activation of the spell properly. The moment his staff struck the ground, he exploded into nine identical copies of himself. The nine Endrances scattered around the room, two of which advanced towards Selene. The demonside Selene blinked her eyes from copy to copy, unable to discern if they were all real, or fakes. All of them smelled the same, breathed the same, and their scribed spells all glowed and pulsed in the same pattern.

Endrance had not used this spell very often, and he was pretty certain that she wouldn't know how it worked. One of him, the one that approached the broken throne, smirked and taunted her.

"What?" he said. "You're fighting a wizard, Selene. One you knew was more than your match."

"Give up, Selene." another Endrance said, leaning against the doorframe to the room. "It would make it easier for all of us."

"Now there's a lot more than just one." another Endrance laughed.

Another Endrance, standing in the center of the room, pulled out an orange glowing Crystalphage with his off hand as he spoke. "We can do it the hard way, but you won't like it." he boasted.

One of the Endrances approaching her raised his staff and lunged forward. Selene flung herself to the side, flinching as the weapon impacted the stone hard enough to make the wood of the staff splinter and fling chips of stone at her. She rolled across the ground and was on her feet in an instant, snarling. The other Endrance changed the hand which held his staff, and pointed with the fore and middle finger of his right hand.

Selene's eyes widened in recognition as bluish white light crackled across his fingers, darting to the side. The blast of lightning created a boom that rippled the clothing of every mage in the room, and nearly blinded Selene as she stumbled. The wall behind her blackened where his spell soaked into the stone.

Meanwhile, the other Endrances were all engaged in various pursuits. One snapped his fingers, reassembling her chair and sitting in it, watching. Another opened the door to the outside and asked if anyone had snacks. A third drew on the floor with a shard of Crystalphage. Two started arguing over which Endrance would be the one to beat her, and two more began a running commentary on her battle with the two aggressive mages.

Selene was overwhelmed by confusion, unable to tell if they were all real, or if only one was, or if none of them were.  She swiped at them half-heartedly, trying to get some space to breathe, and time to regain her mental equilibrium. Now the one asking for snacks was holding a bottle of wine and a chunk of cheese. She shook her head, baffled. If she had been able to sense his emotions like she could all the others, maybe she could have made out which one was the real Endrance.

Endrance had plenty of time now to enact his plan. He constructed the spell in the spell matrix next to his heart, assembling the words of power and shaping the spell-form. While he did so, he kept a minimal effort towards maintaining the spell that was keeping Selene tied up.

Of all the copies of Endrance he had created, only one remained where he had originally landed. It was the one who was drawing on the stone with Crystalphage. Endrance was hurriedly marking a circle on the floor, one large enough to hold his Draugnoa. As he touched the Crystalphage to the stone, the grinding of magically charged crystal left glowing orange lines as he drew. The circle was almost ready.

Selene fought his duplicates, illusory copies that could mimic all but physical sensation. It was easy to mentally add damage to the walls and floor, since he had visualized much of the damage his copies would do in advance when he cast the spell. Additionally, by having his duplicates use highly lethal spells, Selene couldn't risk getting struck trying to figure out which one was real.

Of course, it wasn't going to last. He had only planned out so much for his illusions to do in the short time he had been thinking about the spell, and time was quickly running out.

Selene got in a lucky shot, stabbing the gut of one of his copies with her talons. Endrance turned away from her and banished the copy as it winked at Selene, causing it to disappear in an explosion of light and noise that dazzled her. The demonside Selene stumbled back, unable to see or hear temporarily. In the momentary lapse, Endrance was able to finish up the basics of the circle, with the exception of one marking that would seal it. He couldn't close the circle until she was inside, otherwise it would be useless.

"Praestigius." he murmured, whipping together another illusion while she was unable to see. The circle on the floor seemed to slip several feet back, to be surrounding Endrance instead of directly before him.

The demonic Draugnoa recovered faster than expected, angrily diving through another illusory Endrance's spell and slashing him across the chest. That one also exploded into light and noise, but she was ready the second time. Endrance sighed.

"I see that lasted about as long as expected." He said, dismissing the other illusions. "I guess you have some reason after all."

"Stop playing games, Endrance!" Selene screamed. As her rage peaked, a pair of black bat-like wings erupted from her back, flaring menacingly.

Endrance stood, holding a hand out, beckoning to her. "Then, let's finish this."

Selene snarled and stalked forward. As she did, Endrance dropped the piece of Crystalphage, tracking where it rolled to. Selene slowed, looking at the floor around him and seeing the faintly glowing orange lines.

"A protective circle?" Selene spat. "You're more afraid than you appear, lover."

Endrance shrugged, wiggling the fingers on his left hand as he did so. "That may be, Selene." he said, remorse evident in his voice. "I am afraid. I fear that you have lost sight of your identity. I fear that you are broken beyond repair because of my actions. And, I fear you will go too far to be redeemed."

Kaelob had been a master of the Far Hand spell, one that let him manipulate objects at a distance. Endrance had wondered how the man had managed to cast the spell and control it without much more than pointing a finger, but now he was able to handle such a feat effortlessly. As Selene walked into the circle, thinking she was advancing to the edge of it, the Crystalphage shard rose from the ground and floated over to the edge of the true circle.

"Stop talking nonsense, lover." Selene confidently replied, taking another step closer to the perceived circle's edge. His defensive actions had renewed her confidence. "You know I have only wanted you. Those other men… they meant nothing to me." She pursed her lips, running a taloned finger along the curve of her hips. "How was a sweet young thing like me going to eat when you were gone? Let me in, and I'll show you what I've been saving, just for you."

Endrance sighed, her lustful expression only making his depression deepen. "No matter what happens here, Selene." he whispered, looking morosely into her eyes. "Know that I forgive you."

Endrance flicked a finger, sending the shard into motion. Selene heard the sound of scraping behind her, and something clicked in her mind. The square pupiled red eyes widened in realization as the last mark was completed. Endrance's illusion boiled away from the spell circle as it locked into place, the light shining brightly enough to project the mirrored circle on the ceiling above them.

Selene crashed off of an invisible wall between them, rebounding against the far side of the circle and landing on her feet in the center. She shuddered, knowing that she was trapped. The young woman sank to her knees, the wings, tail, and talons shrinking back into her body as she shivered.

"I've cut you off from your slaves." Endrance said, the waver of remorse hammered out of his voice, though tears still clung to the corners of his eyes. "You no longer have their lust to feed upon."