Into the Abyss

Suddenly, he could feel stone beneath his hands. His eyes were closed; he was on his hands and knees. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, he could touch and feel the world around him. At last, he was freed from the color world in which he had been. His head ached; his body, his true physical body, ached. It ached as if every muscle in his body had been pulled like taffy. He also felt weird tingling sensations all over; he just didn’t feel right. He was also tired, bone weary. Tom sat there on his hands and knees, with his eyes closed, and rested, too tired to do anything, too tired to even think about where he was or what had just happened.

He heard a gasp from behind him, and a small voice from behind say, “We conjured that?” He was too tired to even think at what the voice was saying.

“Silence,” Tom heard, physically, not in his mind, the old voice say. “Thomasedwardperkinje. I have summoned you here, and you are mine, you will obey my every command or you will suffer. Now I have no further use for you at the moment, so be gone until I summon thee.”

Thomas opened his eyes to look at the hated voice. Before, however, he could raise his eyes to the person speaking; he noticed a pair of huge red hands with claw like fingernails on the floor before him. They were attached to the biggest forearms he had ever seen. His eyes followed the arms up to biceps, and then at this point he had to move his head down to trace the arms to the appropriately sized red gleaming body to which they were attached. With an incredible exhaustion and annihilating shock he realized that the gleaming red body was his. The horrible demonic image he had seen in his mind was himself.

With that thought registering on his mind, he felt rather than saw Lenamare twist his hands in an arcane gesture, and then the room disappeared.

Chapter 2

The demon disappeared from the center of the pentagram. Lenamare breathed a small sigh. “Well, students. I think that’s enough work for one day. You may return to your studies now.”

Lenamare stood calm and poised as ever as pudgy Trisfelt ushered his charges from the tower workroom. He avoided the glare coming from Jehenna standing near a brazier. Finally, all ten students had left and Trisfelt shut the door behind him as he left. Lenamare slowly stepped to his left and sat down in the wooden armchair that rested there. Now that the students were gone, he allowed his exhaustion to show.

Jehenna proceeded to douse each of the braziers in the five sympathetic pentagrams. She too was tired, unlike Lenamare who had done most of the work.

“That-was a bit much,” said Lenamare.

“We were lucky, no more preparation than we had, and with a room full of students,” commented Jehenna. To an outside observer her statement probably sounded like a neutral observation; Lenamare, however, knew her too well and thus felt the full brunt of her censure.

“Yes, well I certainly wasn’t expecting to find an unbound demon today, let alone one of that power.”

“So much for demonstrating the summoning of bound demons.”

“Well, the students shouldn’t have anything to complain about today. Quite strange to find an unbound demon so carelessly wandering around.” Lenamare defended himself. He noted the twist in her mouth; she knew she had him on the defensive.

“As I recall, it’s only the fourth one captured this decade,” said Jehenna.

“Yes and probably the most powerful in at least 100 years. What I don’t understand, besides the fact that it initially let itself go around unguarded, is why, when we first spotted it, did it appear as nothing more than a first order demon.”

“I don’t know, by its lights it only appeared a minor demon, yet when cornered we needed fourth order bindings to hold the creature. I am thinking that perhaps we shouldn’t have gone after it.”

“Do you think I would have knowingly gone after a fourth order demon, with a group of students and with no more preparation than we had. No, I was just so surprised to find any unbound demon out there, and then when I thought it was first order... well, how could I refuse the students a chance to bind a demon. As you said it is only the fourth one this decade.”

“Well, they did get a lesson, we almost got toasted,” replied Jehenna a bit more emphatically, but still reservedly.

“I was sure that it was first order up until it began to flee, then with its speed, I figured maybe second. Especially when it so readily gave its name.”

“Then it turned and blasted you with an energy bolt, and then twice more.”

“I must admit that somewhat took me off guard.”

“‘Off guard’ my ass. It damn near laid you flat. Don’t lie to me; I was in the link next to you. I felt that blast.” Jehenna’s concern for his well-being was showing through. Lenamare knew it wasn’t the student’s safety she worried about, but rather his.

“OK, so it did put a strain on me; but, I did manage to maintain my pose and concentration, and not reveal my weakness to the demon.”