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Demons and Animals
John continued to watch as the demon Gorfiend studied each human and then turned them into a monster slave. John wanted to stop him, he needed to end the injustice and fulfill his mission for the council and for the people of the world. He just had no idea how he was going to do it. He had been given a spell by the council, one that would trap Gorfiend once again, but John knew he wasn’t strong enough to use the spell on the demon by himself. He realized he needed Blike’s help to weaken the monster, but as of yet, Blike hadn’t shown up, and he was beginning to wonder what had happened to the mage. His mind drifted back to the underground area of the tower, of the voice he had heard. He could almost hear it out loud as he thought about it.
“Blike La Blarm is here, Master Gorfiend,” John heard the voice and looked over the side of his outcropping. He could see a woman walking behind a large reptilian beast. The beast half put down half dropped a black robed figure from his shoulder against the wall below John. He knew it was Blike.
“Ah, the mage has arrived,” Gorfiend spoke as he walked away from the mage toward the opposite wall. As he walked, the rock of the wall began to tremble and move, changing and shifting, pushing out and forming into a large stone throne. As Gorfiend walked, his shape began to alter, he began to get taller, and his frame began to get wider. Two lumps began to grow out of his back, and then pushed out of his robes, two large, leathery wings, reddish black, almost glowing. Gorfiend’s skin took on the same dark hue as he walked, shedding his now small robes. He sat in his throne, looking much more the demon now then he did before. “Now then, what do I do with you?” the creature tapped one of its large nails on his chin.
“Master, may I claim his staff?” asked the woman.
“Why, my dear Kathryn, do you want it?” asked the demon, a smirk on his face.
“I have seen the power the mage wields through it, and I want that power to be mine, if my master has no troubles with that,” the woman was now standing on the ground, hand clasped in front of her, head bowed.
“Why, my dear, I see no problem with that at all,” Gorfiend watched as the girl walked over to where Blike lay against the wall, barely conscious. Blike looked at the girl and then at Gorfiend. Blike’s eyes met with the demon, and he was met with a wink from Gorfiend. Blike looked back at Kathryn as she reached down to put a hand around the staff. Blike could only watch as the girl put both hands on the staff and started to pick it up. A scream escaped her lips as she released the staff, which now stood where she had let go of it. Blike watched as the Kathryn looked at her hands, which now resembled small black paws. She looked at Gorfiend, who began to laugh.
“Master, I…don’t understand, you said I could have the staff,” She asked.
“My dear, there are some things beyond explanation,” the demon spoke through his laughter, “that staff has chosen its master, and it doesn’t want a new one. But looking at you now, you won’t be much help to me as an apprentice if you can’t cast spells. What to do, what to do?” Gorfiend looked at her, mischief in his eyes, “I do, however, think you would make an excellent pet.”
Kathryn began to scream as her body began to twist and change. She fell to the ground, black fur rupturing from every part of her body. Her screaming turned to the sound of a scared animal as her face began to shift and grow out into a muzzle. A single white stripe started at the top of her head and began to travel down her back, her clothing seeming evaporating as fur covered her body. A tail grew out of her fur and puffed up into the air. Her form finally shrank to that of a skunk. Blike could still see terror in her eyes; he could feel her human mind screaming for help. Gorfiend began to laugh as one of the nearby creatures grabbed her and put her into a cage and carried her off to unknown parts of the tower.
Blike spotted something fall into his lap. He looked at his robes and noticed a puddle of red liquid. Blike could see red drops falling into his lap. He slowly reached out and caught one of the drops. He whispered the words of magic; Gorfiend put one eye on the mage and smelled the air. “Young mage, don’t even bother, no spell you could think of could change her back, she is stuck forever, but I am sure she will adjust.”
Gorfiend began laughing again, and Blike pulled his attention back to what was slowly filling his hands, a healing potion. He waited until he had seemingly enough and then drank what was in his hands. The drops stopped coming down shortly after and Blike turned his attention back to Gorfiend, strength slowly returning to his body.
“Now then, young mage, I have a position for an apprentice open, would you like to apply?” Gorfiend stared into the mage, searching his soul, looking for some source of anger or pain he could exploit, and Blike could feel it.
“No,” Blike spoke sternly, eyes unblinking.
“Well then, you just sit and think about it, I have other work to do while you make up your mind for sure,” Gorfiend signaled to one of his servants, who stepped out of the room for a few moments and then came back in with a small child, a boy of about ten years old. The boy was pushed to the middle of the room, where he stood unmoving, looking incredibly scared. “I think this one will make a really nice pet, don’t you Blike. You know what’s the best part about turning such a week species of creature into my servants is, don’t you? It’s that moment when you watch their eyes, and their screams of intense pain subside. You can watch the humanity leave them, and they seem to wonder why they were screaming. It’s too bad you aren’t standing over here next to me, you could watch it to. Of course, if you had any strength left in you at all, you could try and stop me,” The demon raised a hand and pointed a finger at the boy. Blike pushed himself to his feet and started to run as a beam of magic flew toward the boy. Blike stopped in front of the boy, arms crossed, magic surrounding him. The beam hit a bubble of magic, energy reflecting everywhere.
“Ah, you still have energy left in you, and a lot at that. Interesting, you must recover quickly. No matter, instead of a pet little boy, I shall have a pet magic-user,” Gorfiend put more energy into his spell, pushing hard against Blike’s shield. Blike pushed back as hard as he could. He could see small parts of the beam penetrating his shield and reflecting of in different directions. Blike could feel his body being pushed back by the force of the magic; the light was getting brighter and brighter around him. Blike felt his spell beginning to crack, the demon’s spell starting to penetrate. Blike watched in shock as his hands began to change, darkening as fur began to sprout on them. Blike could hear Gorfiend beginning to laugh. Blike could feel his body starting to shift. Blike’s spell shattered and sent him flying back against a wall. Gorfiend laughed at the mage, “You are indeed a strong magic-user, but I am that which comes from beyond. You are merely a mortal,” Gorfiend pointed again at the mage, but he suddenly turned at looked toward the ceiling, just as a large bolder smashed into him from above. Gorfiend fell back into his throne, another rock hitting him from above.
John quickly cast another spell, sending another chunk of the ceiling down on the beast. Blike had forced the creature to use its magic to fight him, now John knew he had to finish it. He cast another spell, this time pulling a stalactite from the ceiling and sending it hurtling down at the demon. As it moved it got sharper and sharper. Gorfiend screamed as the rock impaled him. As he lay there he looked up at John and laughed, “You cannot kill me, I am immortal, when I regain just an ounce of my strength you will be crushed like the insect you are.”
John began another spell, and as he spoke, white ribbons of light began to circle the chamber, flying around and different heights, slowly closing in toward Gorfiend. Gorfiend looked at John as the ribbons began to form a solid jar shape around him, “this won’t stop me, some time, some mortal will release me again, and I will return to destroy you humans, it is inevitable.”
The light closed in around the creature and then flew up to John. John watched as what looked like a very small steel urn appeared in his hands. He put it in his pocket and jumped of the cliff, slowly floating to the ground. He then ran over to where Blike lay on the ground. He found the boy, who looked up at him, then down at Blike, “can you help him, please?”
John looked down at the crumpled robes, within which lay and unconscious raccoon.
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