We glided through the air, the massive feather trembling as it supported our weight. I glanced over my shoulder: the dark shape drew closer, leather wings pumping. It hissed, and it’s red eyes glowed. Did the damn thing even blink?
“Can’t you kill it?” My voice was shrill as I seized handfuls of his shirt between my fingers.
“No promises.” He veered to the left, and then to the right. He whirled up, spinning as though we were inside a twister. He plummeted, and I screamed; I pressed my face into his back, eyes running from the wind. We levelled out, though I was sure it would be a few minutes before my stomach caught up. My stomach flipped as I peered behind me: the creature flew closer. I could make out the fur along it’s stomach, the gleam of it’s claws, and the red which spattered it’s wings.
“Tell me it took art lessons.” I sounded faint, and I cleared my throat. “Do something!”
He raised a fist. His arm vibrated: fire swathed his clenched hand. The ball of flame grew twice as large as his head. With a grunt, he flung it back. The creature dodged, and rippled closer. It’s roar was almost a scream; I covered my ears, wincing.
“I have one more idea. Pull up your hood.”
Swallowing, I obeyed. My face was numb. My ears ached, and sounds were muted. He lowered the feather into a cloud. The sky was white. Then it was gray, and I shivered. My shirt dampened. As the creature growled, I buried my face in his shirt.
We dove into a wall of water. Sheets of it pelted us. I cried out. There was a rumble of thunder. A distant cloud flashed.
“What are you doing?”
“You’ll see!”
“I’ll be dead!” I yelped as I was splashed again. “You’re crazy!”
We drove through three rain clouds, the creature following. There was a poof, and we emerged into the blue. He snapped his fingers, and there was a deafening boom behind us. Thunder clapped, and I coughed. I could smell smoke, and something like cooked chicken.
The creature shrieked. I had moments to see it suspended in air before it fell. It whirled to the ground; with a grunt, my companion angled the feather after it. It’s neck lolled. The tips of the wings were frayed, the fur fried. We followed it’s descent to a tree covered mountain. It smacked the canopies of the evergreens, before sliding to the ground with a thud.
We landed soundlessly beside it. We darted up to the creature. The young man crouched beside it, grinning.
“That was fun.”
I exhaled. “I beg to differ.”
“They shouldn’t be this far north.”
“I have three questions.” I crossed my arms. He met my gaze. “The first one is simple: what the hell? Second, what was that thing?”
“I can answer your second question. That is a Vampire Bat.”
“I know what a vampire bat is. That is not a vampire bat. That’s some kind of screwed up dragon.”
“No, this used to be a normal bat.” He prodded it with his foot. “But Vampire venom got into it’s system, and it transformed.”
“But I thought vampires were supposed to be pretty.”
He chuckled, all freckles and brown curls. His dark leather robes contrasted with his boyish face. “You’re from Earth, aren’t you?”
“How do you-”
“You Earth people always think vampires are supposed to be beautiful.” He shook his head. “It’s a fairly recent phenomenon, too. I noticed it started around the 80’s. But it wasn’t until the 2000’s that people started asking me if Vampires glittered or not. That was odd.”
“Our literature on the topic is...complicated.”
He approached me, face grim. I stiffened as he examined me. “No injuries? Good. The Vampire is not an elegant or refined creature. It’s not attractive, or even vaguely human. When humans are bitten, we become Gargoyles.”
“I know about those. Sort of. Big and gray, with bat wings and ugly faces?”
“And poison. A gargoyle can turn you to stone by spitting on you, and turn your blood to acid if it shoots you with venom. And if it bites you, your skin will glaze over as though you’re turning into a statue. By that point, you’ll have four days to kill yourself before the change is complete.”
“With a stake?” Why did I sound hopeful?
“No, with fire. That stake thing is a myth.” He gazed at the creature. “If only it was that simple.”
“My first question. Maybe I didn’t ask it right. I was really trying to ask-”
“How you got here? Through the Portal. You happened to be walking by when I conjured it, and you got sucked in.”
“Yeah. Right.” I glared at him. “I had a job interview, you know. It was very important.”
“Not now. You’ll be stuck here a while.”
“Hold on.” I grabbed his sleeve as he whirled away. “Can’t you just whisk me back?”
“Nope. I used my last Portal stone.”
“Wonderful.” I sat down. I pulled my knees to my chest. “I’m not even into fantasy. I can’t believe this.”
“Personally, I think that’s an advantage.” He chuckled. “The ones who are into fantasy think they’re experts. They try to guess everything, but all their information is wrong. Like your stuff with Vampires being pretty, or killed by stakes.”
“I got the Gargoyles right!”
“Mostly.” He held out a hand. After a moment, I took it. He pulled me up with ease. He drew his hand away, but I’d noted the callouses. His clothes were worn. The boots, though fine leather, were faded and scuffed.
“Are you...an outcast?”
He met my gaze. “No more than you.”
I laughed. “I guess that’s true.”
“I’m a Dark Wizard. We don’t entertain much. I was chosen as a baby. All my family are mages, but I had a birthmark. That meant I was destined to be wicked. You see, I can access spells they can’t. Blood magic. Necromancy. You know about that?”
“You can raise the dead?”
He grinned at the squeak in my voice. “Yeah, and worse. I can control your mind. I can make my enemies slit their own throats. People call me when they need me, but I’m a nomad. Nobody wants to be too close to somebody as...dangerous as I am.”
“But you can control your abilities.”
“There is power in you too.” He nodded. “Yes, there is! I can feel it. It shouldn’t have been so easy for you to come through the Portal. But you were drawn to it. Not intentionally, but you...gravitated to the vortex. I couldn’t stop you.”
“So now I have to...what? Learn magic and hunt monsters with you?”
“That’s the gist of it.”
“Shit.” I took a deep breath. “And here I was hoping for a quiet life as a librarian. That’s what my interview was for.”
“You haven’t asked your third question.”
I blushed. “Oh! Well, I don’t know if it’s rude here or not. But...what’s your name? I mean, what do I call you?”
“That’s not rude. Just unexpected. Most people hear I’m a Dark Wizard, and they run away.” He poked the creature with the tip of his shoe. There was a wet sound, and a noxious odour surrounded us. The creature sizzled; pieces of it broke into a burning, yellow goop. Bones oozed through. “It’s Lewis.”
“Lewis? That’s...ordinary.”
“Maybe to you. In this world, it’s the name of the High Demon. My mother had a sense of humour, you see.”
“I still like it. It makes me think of...Narnia.”
He snorted. “It’s always Narnia with you people. Though I’ve heard the term ‘isekai’ thrown around too. Mostly from people thirty and under.”
“What happened to them? All those other people?”
“They died of course.” Lewis buttoned his robes. They were both modern and archaic. If a medieval biker had become a mage, he would have resembled Lewis. “No one survives in this world without magic. I will teach you, because I am bored. But if you fail, I will leave you. And then a monster will find you, and you’ll be eaten. That’s how it is.”
Lewis leapt over the creature. He vanished into the forest. With a yelp, I ran after him. The trees closed in. It grew darker, as though it were twilight, and Lewis whistled as we crept through the gloom.
“Alright.” We emerged into a meadow. He motioned around him. “We’ll start with a simple spell.”
“Lighting candles?”
He blinked at me. “Demon summoning.”
“That doesn’t sound simple.”
“It is if you’re what I think you are.” A bag slid from his shoulder. He drew out a glowing orange crystal with a black tip. “A Fire Pen. For drawing pentagrams? Please tell me you know what that is.”
I took the Fire Pen, hand shaking. When he nodded, I drew a pentagram in the grass. The moment the last lines connected, the pentagram burst into flame. I drew back, holding my breath. The flames remained steady.
“Now tell it to Settle.”
“Settle?”
The flames turned blue.
“Perfect. My hunch was correct. Now summon the Demon of your choice.”
“But I don’t want to talk to a Demon! He’ll be pissed off!”
“You have a birthmark on your face.”
“So?”
“You’re obviously a mage. You couldn’t have drawn the pentagram if you weren’t.”
“I still say Demon summoning is a bad idea.”
“And you made the circle Settle.” Lewis grimaced. “I’m the only one who can do that.”
“You’re not saying I’m-”
Lewis nodded. “Yes.”
“No!”
“Summon a Demon. That’s an order. Your training begins now.”
I glowered at him. I stepped up to the circle, and thrust my hands out. I raised my voice: “I command the High Demon Lewis to come forward!”
There was a bang, and we were knocked back. Lewis cried out. I glanced at him, smirking. He shook his head. A wall of red flame rose up, forming a cylinder which cut and roared through the clouds.
Lewis shook his head. “Now that was a bad idea.”
“I guess I am a Dark Wizard.”
“Or a suicidal one.” He sighed. Five minutes of shrieking fire later, we came face to face with the High Demon.
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