Disclaimer: I do not own Warhammer or FoZ. Also, I probable don't know as much as I should about FoZ lore so if I bugger it up at any point feel free to give me an earful. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

A Pact with Ancient Gods

Chapter 4: A Night of Truths

Back in Louise's room the two occupants remained motionlessly staring at each other for several minutes. After deciding the silence served no purpose the Changeling spoke again.

"It is quite clear you have a few questions for me caller." Upon receiving a nod of confirmation, he continued. "Then I request you ask now while we have the time, I am not fond of tense atmospheres." Louise gathered her wits and prepared her barrage of questions.

"First of can you not just refer to me as 'caller', I have a name you know. Its Louise." Without waiting for a response, she began her questions properly.

"First question is are you really a full-on shapeshifter or is it all just an illusion, that would shatter upon contact with something or someone?" She blinked. Even though her eyes had only closed for a split second. But now sat cross legged in front of her was a thin lizard that would be slightly taller than her if it stood up. It had light blue scales with multi-coloured feathers coming out of a golden collar. In its hand was a tall golden staff.

"I am unsure." Hissed the lizard. Another blink and now rushing towards her was an elf woman. The elf had fair skin with a large head of black hair that cascaded down her shoulders and ending just above her hips. The elf wore extremely revealing clothing that thankfully did enough to cover her modesty. The elf quickly wrapped Louise in her arms and landed on the bed, she gently ran a smooth palm down Louises cheek and saying in a seductive voice. "Shall we find out."

Faster than even the daemon expected, Louises face became such a burning shade of red, that it may not look out of place on a bloodthirster. Louise shot out of the Changelings arms and with a yelp, fell off of the side of the bed.

A red faced Valliere rose with fury in her eyes, only to be greeted by her familiar in his original form laughing his obscured head off.

"What was that all for!?" She yelled after recovering fully from her fall.

"Well Louise, you asked me a question and I've held the belief for many centuries that actions speak louder than words, so I acted. Also I an known as a trickster, always causing mischief. With that cleared up, next question." Happy to leave this subject where it was Louise moved on.

"Will your lord and the other lords leave me alone now that I have a familiar?" Asked Louise.

"I highly doubt it, you get their attention, and they came to talk to you in person on your first try instead of sending a herald. This, if I may add is significant, the number of times that has happened, I can hardly count to double digits. They saw something within you, and now that I'm next to you I see what made them willing hand over some of their greatest assets." Answered the daemon honestly. This caught Louises attention, something about her had attracted these beings in such a way that they acted out of the norm. But what did those beings see in her? She had just found her next question.

"What is it that you and the ancient spirits see within me?" She had to know what made her stand out, perhaps this is the answer to what is wrong with her magic. For a full minute the Changeling just floated there, thinking. Was it the right time to tell her what he sees within her soul. Eventually he relented.

"We see within your soul a vortex that leads to an unending pit not even light can escape, an emptiness with a hunger that can't be quenched. You could take in the essence of an unkillable being and they would be trapped for all eternity never to wake again. We saw your problems with spell craft, you simply overload all your spells with all this power within you causing an explosion." All this information was becoming too much for Louise to handle, she was ready to sleep this shock off, but two questions still lingered.

"If the spells I know can't handle the magic in me, will I ever be able to cast real magic?" As she spoke, her voice began to sound desperate. The answer she received gave her hope.

"No spell you can learn from this place currently can handle the amount of energy that goes into your spells. But I know a few that could handle the raw magic. I could teach you but I will tell you this first. All knowledge has a price, are you willing to pay this price?" Louise was about to respond but then thought about it properly. This was her chance for proper magic, the Changeling knows this and will use that fact to make quite the price. But her magic outweighed the price.

"I will do my best to earn the right to your knowledge. But before that, my last question is what else will the spirits do, because they still wish for my allegiance I presume?" Louise needed to know this so she wouldn't be caught off guard be any surprises.

"Yes, they still do, you should expect them to try and win your favour with gifts. But I warn you, do not let the gifts of the four lead to arrogance. For your path is similar to the first, and in his arrogance, he made demands of the four and they stuck him down for his insolence. Do not follow his path." At that moment the Changeling was deadly serious.

"Who was this bei-" Louise was interrupted by a tapping at her window. The curtain was drawn back and on the other side of the glass was a black raven, under its feet was a rolled-up scroll. Opening the window, the raven hoped of the scroll and flew away. Taking the scroll, Louise opened it and found writing in a language she couldn't understand.

"May I?" At that Louise handed over the scroll. "It seems that you will need this spell in the close future any will receive only this spell free of charge by order of my lord, don't worry though the scroll assures even your great reserves of magic wouldn't overload this spell."

This was it, her first spell she would be able to cast, and for free. She guessed she had toTzeentch thank for this.

"What is the spell called?"

"Final Transmutation."