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Dragan
“Where to, Shadow Master?” the sprite asks with a wide grin once we’re safely ensconced in the darkness of the mist, in the plane of shadow.
“You’re still here?” I respond, pausing to set the angel down before me.
“I ain’t got nowhere’s else ta go,” he answers with a shrug. “Anona’s place was my home an’ clearly, I can’t go back theres no more. So, looks like I’m stuck with you. You need a servant or somethin’? I’m real good at servin’ drinks without spillin’.”
“No,” I answer but I can’t say my attention is on him at present. Instead, I want proof that I haven’t just made a crucial mistake. One that could cost me more than I’m willing to pay. I need to find out if this angel is truly intact.
Admittedly, I tried doing the same back at Anona’s, but my magic wasn’t at its strongest then. Here, I should have no issue in summoning the angel’s wings—that is, if she truly possesses them.
Once I place the girl down on the ground, she’s immediately enveloped by the roving mist. I reach down and roll her over, pulling the linens down to reveal her backside.
“What you doin’?” the sprite asks, eyeing me suspiciously.
“Ensuring that I haven’t been sold a bill of goods,” I answer without looking up at him.
“What the fuck’s that mean?”
“We’ll soon find out,” I respond as I hold my hands above the angel’s back and allow the shadows to rise up within me, invoking the power of my magic. Tendrils of dark energy erupt from my fingertips and surround the still girl.
Reveal your true form.
But my magic is buttressed against something that surrounds her. As I push against whatever this reinforcement is, my magic seems to dissipate, growing weaker. I summon more of my shadow forth, but it simply dispels once it reaches whatever invisible barrier envelops her. Though I can’t see the forcefield, I can feel it. My magic can feel it.
“I don’t understand,” I say aloud, anger consuming me.
“What’s there to understand?” the sprite responds as Thoradin appears beside him with another of my legion, Gurdis, beside him. I look up at them and shake my head.
“What perplexes you, liege?” Thoradin asks.
“She has a magical barrier,” I explain as I study the unconscious girl, trying to ascertain just how powerful she is.
“Her veins are swimming with Atacomite,” Gurdis says.
“Yes, but that’s not the reason she’s unresponsive,” I respond, shaking my head because my power should be strong enough to force the girl to respond. I then face the sprite, who leans over Gurdis’ shoulder to inspect the girl. “Unless there’s nothing for her to respond to,” I announce, my eyes narrowing on the sprite.
“What d’you mean?” the creature asks.
“If the angel has no wings, there’s no amount of my Shadow Magic that could make them appear,” I say.
It takes the sprite a moment or two to understand what I’m getting at. Once he does, his eyes go wide and he begins shaking his head, holding up his hands in obvious supplication.
“I dunno why yer magic ain’t workin’ but I’m tellin’ you what I saw. This angel got her wings. Maybe she be too high on Atacamite an’ it be gettin’ in the way o’ your little spell…”
“She’s not. Atacomite has nothing to do with it,” I interrupt. “And it’s not a little spell, as you put it. Shadow Magic is hardly little nor can it be categorized as spells.”
“Give it some time,” the sprite says, but he appears nervous. “I can prove to you that you’re thinkin’ be wrong.” He nods emphatically. “You’ll see. Besides, it ain’t like yer jist gonna leave her here, are ya?” He glances around and seems to become frightened by his surroundings.
The Shadow Realm is hardly safe, littered as it is by bloodthirsty creatures and the undead. Were I to leave the sprite and the girl here alone, they would undoubtedly be killed within a half hour, at most.
And even I’m not that horrible.
~
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INTRODUCING MY REVERSE HAREM SERIES!
THE HAPPILY NEVER AFTER SERIES
Fairy Tale Princesses Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before…
10 Champions destined to defeat an evil that threatens to wipe out the land of Fantasia...
Book 1: SNOW
Hair black as night, lips red as blood, skin white as snow. Beautiful. Ethereal. Enchanting.
Profitable.
Bought and sold for male entertainment, Neva Valkoinen, or Snow White, as patrons know her, dances for the wealthy and lecherous at the Wicked Lyre Tavern in the city of Ascor.
Void of her memories, Neva’s life before the age of twelve, is a mystery she has no time to solve, chained as she is to the cruel whims of her master.
Enter Herrick Vorst. The most handsome stranger Neva’s ever seen. Herrick purchases a night with Neva but doesn’t touch her. Instead, he asks her questions she can’t answer and reveals his belief that she’s a witchling capable of great magic.
When Neva is purchased by another stranger a few nights later, she learns this one wants her heart. To carve out.
Narrowly escaping certain death, Herrick comes to Neva’s rescue and brings her back to his cottage where she meets his brothers, Reve and Malvolo. Reve is currently stuck in the land of dreams, courtesy of a curse. And Malvolo is surly, letting it be known he wants nothing to do with Neva. Well, he might want something to
