Chapter 3: The Elf and the Eye
Exhausted and aching, the mage closed his eyes, thinking to sleep to regain his strength. Then let them try to overpower him. He felt himself drifting off…
…Magius…
"So you liked Onyx?" A feminine voice, with the same musical sound as the trickling of a cool stream, flowed to his ear, drowning the warmth he longed for. Warily, Magius' eyelids fluttered open. A dark elf stood before him, as beautiful and terrible as the sea. Her wavy silver hair cascaded down to her waist, her deep blue eyes slightly slanted. The darkness of her robes contrasted sharply with her porcelain skin. "Everything about him is black," she continued, her accent bleeding through. "from his skin to his heart," she smiled sweetly down at him. "I used to be Silvanesti. I used to have a real name. Now I am just called 'The Conjurer', or just 'Conjurer' if you prefer,"
Magius stared from the floor, drinking in her beauty as strength, seeing her as an angel of mercy. Conjurer's sapphire eyes narrowed dangerously. "I'm quite good at my job, traitor. Watch," Dropping to her knees, she knelt close to Magius' face and touched the middle of his forehead with a finger. Instantly, the Red Robe's eyelids slid shut and the dark elf touched each one. Almost like a dream, Magius began to see. Colors swirled in his mind's eye like a painting left in the rain. Green, brown, black, and a sickly yellow centered, forming a picture. The colors all solidified into an ugly reptilian face, sharp claws, twisted fangs. The monster walked on two legs, balancing itself with a long, sinewy tail. Dressed in a uniform of the forces Dracos controlled, the dragonmen plundered, murdered, and raped their way through a fallen town. "You helped create them, remember?" Conjurer's voice whispered inside his head. "You could have saved these people," Magius' form shuddered and he involuntary put a hand over his eyes to attempt to block out the images, but his mind's eye would not close. The draconians and their victims melted into an unusually elongated dragon, with half emerald and half sapphire scales spiraling around it's body. The dragon's snout snapped and howled at the foe at his feet, a knight in gleaming silver.
"Huma…" Magius dry, cracked lips whispered, smiling faintly at the sight of Huma shining immortal like a god. The dragon lashed at Huma, hitting him forcefully, knocking him to the ground.
"Yes, Huma…there he is taking your hits," Conjurer smirked as the mage's smile dissipated immediately in horror. "But he's always done that, hasn't he?" The colors blurred together once more, but this image was different from the rest. It was a memory, and ghosts of voices attacked his ears. A boy, no older than eight, lay in the middle of a circle of hooting, children, his nose bleeding freely. Choruses of "freak!" echoed all around him, each accusation accompanied by a rock hurled at the boy. He had taken a bully and thrown him into the river with magic after much torment and agony. Left without strength to either cast a warding spell or just run away, the boy collapsed and the mob formed. All of a sudden, another boy stepped into the middle of the circle. All went quiet. The young boy's looked up through his brilliantly blonde hair, currently matted with blood with a kindle of hope sparkling in his anguished eyes. Without a word, Huma reached down and pulled Magius to his feet, putting his arm around him to steady his faltering steps. The crowd screamed it's rage at the insolence of this new boy. Rocks were thrown harder and more frequently, directed now more at this savior. A hurled stone struck Huma on the forehead, leaving an red gash. Sharp stones pierced his flesh, cutting him until blood flowed in ribbons away from his body. The boy continued to attempt to hobble out of the circle, half dragging, half carrying the other boy with him. When denied the ability to cross out of the circle's no man zone, he turned to face the crowd. His eyes blazed bluer than Solamnic skies in fury.
"Is this how low you can go?" he spoke softly, but the words of the eight-year-old silenced the crowd of older children. "Can you go no lower? Look at him," he gestured at the almost comatose boy at his side. "He's not going to bother anyone. Would you have his death on your conscience? No? Then, let me pass," Shouldering his burden, the boy walked out of the circle. The two boys had just reached the outside of the mob, when a wet boy came sprinting after him. He was huge for his twelve years old, almost five and a half feet. He whirled Huma around and punched him straight in the face, knocking him to the ground.
"Be careful who you defend, little boy," The bully then pulled a knife and sliced into Huma's stomach. The older Magius cried out in shock. He remembered the bully merely punching Huma in the face. He watched in horror as the older boy knifed his savior. Guilt welled up as heavy as the tears in his eyes as he watched his best friend become a corpse.
"Shall I show you more?" the elf whispered in his ear. The picture shifted and an adult Huma burst into flame, burning to ashes from white-hot dragonfire. Confused, Magius began to believe the images. The colors spiraled into Huma at a trial, being beheaded by his father's sword because of his friendship with a renegade mage. Huma's skin rotting away because of the plague. A dragon feasting on his best friend. Magius writhed in pain on the floor of the cell, moaning. He tossed his head, willing the images to vanish, but they kept coming. He heard low, sultry laughter in her ear. He saw himself at the Test, failing. He saw him betraying his Huma, sending him to his doom. He saw his dream once more, dying slowly and terribly at the claws of a dragon. Dying…dying…dying…The head of the dragon sudden split into two, three, four…five heads, each as different and similar as each race of dragon. The Dark Queen loomed over him, grinning maliciously, screaming. Magius screamed in terror, screamed and screamed…
He found himself on the floor of the cell once more, heavily injured, the heavy chains clasped around him. The beautiful elf was still kneeling at his side. She leaned over and stroked his face gently, letting her silver hair fall to touch his feverish flesh. Then, she bent and kissed him roughly. "Shall I show you the true reason for my name?" she breathed into his ear, amused at the wonder on his face. Still an inch from his face, she began to laugh, a sound as sweet as rain on trees. But then, the delicate elven features of her face melted into her skull, creating a cadaverous mask. The robes grew tattered, revealing the rotting flesh and decaying bones. Her hair darkened and tangled, growing longer in instants. Her eyes flashed and their sapphire turned an ugly crimson, the pupils narrowing to slits. Her laughter cascaded into a maniacal cackle. Magius gasped and tried to push the monstrosity away from him. "What, you don't want another kiss?" she screeched in a high-pitched shriek. Standing up, she kicked Magius in the face. "How much have you seen is truth? How much is false? You will wonder in your sleepless hours alone. For never shall you sleep. Ever. This is my gift to you, traitor. Oh, and one more thing…" The chains around the Red Robe tightened, sending him to the wall and forbidding movement. He struggled, but she just came closer and closer. Her lips were black and there were maggots crawling in and out of the ragged holes in her flesh. She pressed those lips to his, stroking his face in the same way she had done earlier, pushing her putrid body up against his. Parting from the kiss, Conjurer leered at the revolted look on the mage's face. Releasing the chain to allow Magius to crash to the floor again, she looked down at Magius with a sneer. "Farewell, traitor!" She started laughing madly again and vaporized into a wisp of black smoke.
Shaken, Magius curled himself into a ball, shivering. He closed his eyes, feeling the tears trickle and hoped for a dreamless sleep. But Conjurer's words rang true in his ears. He would never sleep again.