Playing with Lifeblood

The pentagram carved into the side of Amber’s neck began to glow as she spoke the first words of the summoning. The inky black of her still-fresh tattoo gained a reddish hue, infused with heat and energy, but she only paid enough attention to the change to verify that the magic she was speaking into existence was indeed traveling through her. She had needed a portable anchor point, and so far had been pleased with the result of becoming one herself. It meant that she could cast even the most complicated spells and rituals outside of her laboratory at home.

It meant she could amass a huge, and very dangerous, amount of power in an instant.

Amber had looked for some route to becoming uniquely powered like this many times before. The idea of fading into obscurity after her death weighed heavily on her, and she had long ago decided that ambiguous morals were the best way to prevent a meaningless existence. The commitment of being truly “good” or “bad” came with too many rules. She was simply herself, a third party on no-one’s side, whose name was known to snake through both communities in whispers and waves. She was Amber, the golden-haired wizard’s niece who had slain Tyrrendor the dragon and stolen his hoard for herself.

She was also Amber, the twenty-five year old woman who consorted with demons and had a tendency of letting them into the human world. This was one of those instances. She had to make her name big enough to survive through posterity.

Pain blossomed in Amber’s body and she dug her heels into the soft ground of the forest she currently stood within. She was determined to hold steady in the face of Muriel’s power as she met the demon face-to-face for the first time. She had heard many legends about the Queen of Demonkind; the most prevalent one being her ability to assess a human’s potential at a mere glance. With a specialty like that, Amber had good faith that the being would also have some unique ideas for how to unlock and utilize the full scope of someone’s power. She had daydreamed of unleashing the monumental fire that she knew burned deep in her bones - she had enough self-consciousness to understand that it lay within her, to see it moving behind her eyelids when she slept, but thus far she had been unable to pull all of it to the surface at once. If she wanted to be remembered, if she wanted to have the power to change the world in her image, she needed to unlock every door inside of herself.

“...Portae apertae sunt, daemonem admitte!” Her voice had risen as she spoke the incantation, until she was practically shouting that last line over the growing whip of wind that circled around her. Power was exhaled in one’s voice during a spell’s verbal component, and expelling words with that level of force was an easy trick to wrap extra layers of power around them. If the demon was not particularly excited to be visiting her today, this would infuse extra strength into the shackles Amber sent along with her request. Hopefully it would be enough so that they would not melt as they bound and transported her prey.

Beads of sweat were rhythmically falling from Amber as she stood her ground. They dripped from her hair and down her face, and gathered beneath her arms to create huge stains down her sides. Hot wind rattled around her, smoothly matching and replacing the sound level of her voice as the incantation was completed. She snuck in a small grin. Everything was working perfectly. Now, she just had to hold steady while the interdimensional travel occurred. One of her feet had started to go numb, so she took manual control of her blood flow for a moment to direct extra support to it. Doing so was harder than usual with her concentration already divided, but not impossible. She had practiced this kind of manual regulation many times before and knew each of the vein paths to upkeep while siphoning here and there to help with a given problem. She wished she could manipulate others’ bodies with that magic, but she had tried many times to no avail.

Maybe that would be a power she would gain when she fully embraced her magical potential. It was a glorious thought.

The queen’s arrival began with the crack of metal against the floor. The shackles had returned, thrust back into being in a manner unlike anything she had ever seen. It was as if they had been thrown back across the dimensions at her. They held nothing inside of them. Something had gone wrong. She took a deep breath, exhaling when she noticed a hint of laughter that could be heard mixing with the turbulent wind. The queen must think her request foolhardy, but Amber could not have cared less. Laughter meant recognition. It meant the being was broadcasting herself this way. It likely meant she was coming even without the shackles to drag her forth.

There was a subtle shift in the air. The wind had originally been wrapped around Amber, with her body existing as the eye of the storm. Now, there was a new eye just in front of the witch. She was buffeted by the elemental force she had created, and had to direct a fair amount of concentration to remaining upright. If she didn’t and Muriel was indeed on her way, it could result in her becoming caught between dimensions. Such would usually spell death to a demon, and then her knowledge would be lost forever. Amber couldn’t allow such a thing when she was so close to achieving her next step up in her power. However, with concentration divided, Amber did not get to see all the minute details of the materialization. She just looked back at the windstorm a moment later, and the queen had appeared.

She was larger than many of the other demons Amber had consorted with. While her form was vaguely human shaped, none of her extremities ever seemed to end. They branched out in tendrils, wrapping around and around until one inexplicably lost sight of where each started and went. Her face was pale as moonlight, with bright blue eyes that seemed to see directly into Amber’s soul. The most beautiful part of her, and by far the most dangerous, was her mouth. She had rows upon rows of brilliant white teeth, sharpened to points so fine that they looked like they would crumble under the pressure of tearing meat. Amber understood immediately that they would not.

“Hello mortal.” The demon said, and the sound carried to Amber’s ears as if the being had whispered directly into them. “Aren’t you a fun surprise. It has been a long time since I have been to this world, and the last thing I would have expected was to be brought here by a single creature. Last time, it took the power of a whole cult of followers to transport me.” She smiled, exposing even more of those teeth. One of her eyes lolled to the side, giving the being a look that implied dangerously reduced mental functionality. She looked crazy.

“Queen Muriel. Welcome.” Amber kept a reverent tone in her words, understanding that belief and worship were likely reasons why a cult’s sacrifice would have worked to summon the being. She even dipped her head slightly, acknowledging their respective stations of demon queen and mortal. Every demon was slightly different in its needs from its summoners. Clues that were given away unknowingly would be a huge help as Amber looked to ingratiate herself with the creature. “Thank you for responding to my invitation.”

“You threw a string around my foot and tried to drag me here.” The demon purred. Amber did not see her move, but the being spoke from behind her and she realized the queen had moved from her line of sight. “But you have the potential for so much more.”

Those words were everything that Amber had ached to hear. She let excitement build and bubble inside of her. “You compliment me, your majesty. My only wish is to learn how to utilize the full power that I can feel burning inside me. I know my means were crude, but you may be the only one who could ever help me to unlock this hidden potential.”

“You are correct. I am the only one who is able to do such a thing. For it to be your only want, and for me to be here beside you to allow it, are the only ingredients necessary. Oh this is a wonderful day.”

Amber was unsure of why a pit was growing in her stomach. This chance was everything. She had guessed correctly; she was going to unlock her true potential here and now. “You must require something of me. I have made enough deals with devils to understand the rules.”

“I must be allowed to watch. I must be allowed to foster your ascent into the throngs of your magic. I must be allowed to force you to go through the open door once you find it within you.”

They were odd terms. “You don’t wish for me to do anything for you with my newfound power? I will be able to corrupt minds and bodies, level cities and mountains. Do you wish to have a kingdom for yourself within this world?”

“You shall already be giving me my greatest desire, and you will be helping me more than you may ever know. While I love the idea of a new kingdom, that can come later. I plan to exist for a good time longer.” The demon still had the smile from earlier plastered across her face. It did not move when she spoke or moved. It simply existed now as an integral feature of her face. “Are you ready?”

Amber usually would have allowed herself an hour or so to converse with the demon after summoning, to ensure her magic reserves would be fully replenished. However, if a demon asks a witch to be ready, especially for a favor as great and as one-sided as this one, it would have been suicidal to ask for a moment of grace. She had to be ready. She had to be strong enough in this moment. So Amber, her voice still level and reverent, said “I am.”

“The words you shall need to speak are ‘Aperi fores intra me et vera mea vis congregari sinam. Nunc vim vitae meae dirigam.’ Concentrate on what you can feel of the power inside you. You must siphon together what you can feel first, and then if there are hidden pieces of power I will help you to collect the remainder.” Muriel’s eyes had begun to glow, their icy blue color becoming radiant. The area around the pair began to glow with cool white light. Their surroundings, the trees and forest floor, melded into this light until it was like the pair stood within the clouds of heaven itself. Amber clasped her hands in front of her, running the words over in her head so she would be sure not to mis-speak a single syllable.

Amber looked at Muriel, determination and ecstasy in her eyes. Steadily, she spoke the necessary words. “Aperi fores intra me et vera mea vis congregari sinam. Nunc vim vitae meae dirigam.” Her blood began to boil. She siphoned her magic out and away, knowing that it was the cause of the pain as it was forced to be less compatible with her inner workings. She would force the power out and into her control. It all made sense. She gathered it all, wisp by wisp, in her hands. It manifested in an orb of gold, growing each second as she added to it. All of the tendrils of magic that she had felt in her, that she had manipulated so many times when she took manual control of her body, worked their way to the surface. Her foot began to go numb again and she tried to replicate her actions from earlier, sending a single tendril back, but she gasped in pain as she did. Where it traveled through her burned and scorched her insides. It was everything she could do not to scream obscenities.

“Oh no none of that yet, pet.” Muriel said to her, seeing the twisted pain plainly written on Amber’s face and knowing exactly what she had attempted. “This is a time for all the magic to gather. You will not be able to manipulate it again within your body until after the spell is complete.”

Amber nodded, and allowed numbness to settle over first her foot, and then her whole leg. She wondered briefly if the spell would be cut off if she fell to the ground, and hoped not. She had to continue. The orb in front of her hands was still growing. “Say the words again.” Muriel whispered to her. “They will strengthen the spell.”

The blood flow to Amber’s brain had become entirely unregulated. Her body worked much better as an anchor when she could take care of it in the moment. Now, thoughts and reason completely escaped her. She allowed herself to trust the queen. “Aperi fores intra me et vera mea vis congregari sinam. Nunc vim vitae meae dirigam!” The words were nowhere near as crisp and perfect as the previous iteration, but she spoke them with passion and as much accuracy as her failing mouth would allow. It was enough. The fire inside of her intensified until it felt like her organs were going to shrivel into themselves. She laughed through the pain. “My power! It is all here!” Her eyes gleamed, matching the orb’s glow in their intensity, even as her body shook and struggled onwards against the onslaught of pain.

“No, not all of it dear.” Muriel put her hand upon Amber’s shoulder. This time, the demon queen herself whispered those same words over the burning-out human. Amber tried to shrug away, but couldn’t move. “Oh no none of that. I told you I would help if there were remnants of magic that remained inside of you. There most certainly still are.” Slowly, Amber adjusted her head to meet the queen’s gaze. Those icy eyes had turned a deep and foreboding black. Maybe their surroundings had too. Amber wanted to know, but found that once she looked at Muriel she could see nothing else. She only saw those gleaming teeth as more and more magic came out of her body to gather into the orb. If she could have looked down at her hands to see it, she would have been terrified to understand why it now had a blood red hue instead of the original gold.

Her life was feeding into it. Her soul was the integral magic that existed within her. She had asked a demon to help her remove and control her soul.

Clarity slammed into her. She would die if all of her soul was absorbed, and she had promised the demon that if there was any magic left within her Muriel had every right to pull it out. She dropped to her knees.

“Yes, stupid darling human. Continue on. Allow me to feast on your magic and soul today. The power inside of you will sustain me here in this dimension for years to come. I will build a kingdom just as you offered, but I shall owe my success to no one.” She looked at Amber pityingly. “You never would have been able to say that anyway.”

Darkness crept into the corners of Amber’s vision. Her head lolled forwards, almost colliding with the enormous orb she held. In a panic, she forced a single tendril of magic to stay within her. She ignored the fiery pain - she felt so much pain now in general that it really did not make a huge difference - and sent it to hide down within her big toe. It was the first place she had thought of, besides her heart and head that the demon was sure to double-check. Then her eyes closed to the sight of Muriel lifting her magic from her hands, and taking a huge squelching bite into the orb.

Later

It was light when Amber awoke. She was still in the forest. Movement was impossible, but she lay there and was content to exist for that brief moment. After coming so close to death, it felt right to relish what she had been able to salvage. Then, she tugged at the pebble of magic that she had balled up and put into her toe. She could cultivate more back at her lab, but this would have to be enough to get her home. She spread it out through her body, and forced herself to stand. She would make that petulant demon queen pay. They would know her name.