Chapter 16 Awakened Inferno

This chapter is inspired Lucifer Season 2 Episode 12: Love Handles. It is bonkers.

Reviews/ Q&A

Tian Yi: Haven't got the talk yet. Even in my 20s.

Then your sex Ed. In your school either work really well or really badly. I hope it is the former.

Some guy the anon: oh, deary me this is not going well for anybody is it?

Since when it ever is?

: Interesting.

Thanks.

Eldrazi317: Is the Machete perhaps Sly Marbo from WH40k?

Nope. It's Danny Trejo. Look him up on IMDB. You must have seen some of his work. Anyway, he did an ad for MTGA, so that's the joke.

The night had never been kind to Thalia. Innistrad is a dangerous place to live in. Even in the mighty city like Thrraben, there are dangers everywhere. As a personal guard of the Lunarch, she is required to remain vigilant at all times. They may take turns guarding at night, but it doesn't mean she could sleep soundly when it is her turn to rest.

Unlike her, her roommate, Carla, one of the other two women of her rank is already as sleep. Her experience and rigorous training made her value any rest as much as she could. After all, the living must always sleep with one eye open on Innistrad.

The wind blows strongly this night as the thunderstorm looms close to the city. The air is cold and damp. It reeks of darkness and heresy. This night is like any other night in Thraben, but at the same time is different. It's cold but she feels hot. It's quiet but her heart beats loud.

Thalia cannot sleep. She just lay down and tries to close her eyes. Her roommate also doesn't help her with her snoring.

"Thalia." A familiar voice rang. It is soft and endearing. It is also firm and commanding. "It's had been a long time, milady."

Thalia opens her eyes and finds the voice's owner in front of her. He grows into a fine young man with a body anyone would die for. She is tempted to die for that had she not know what he really is. His amethyst eyes shine brightly in the darkness, illuminating his dark curly hair. His face is still as clean as the first day they met.

"Jon!" His name is let out her loosen lips. "How?"

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." His index finger presses at her lips. The touch is gentle, but his stretch is intoxicating. It smells as if she is wrestling a mastiff. A clean and recently bath mastiff showered with the best soap one could find in an attempt to hide it nature.

"I missed you." His words make her heart skip a beat.

Thalia doesn't have much capability left to think after he said the exact word she wants to hear. Nor did her mind had anything in it after he pressed his lips unto hers. She soon finds herself unable to mount any resistance to his invading tongue that explores her mouth and throat.

With his aggressiveness, it is hard for Thalia to remind herself that Jon is two years her junior.

It is heavenly. It is heresy. It is perfect.

Their faces interlock for such a long time she couldn't count. Their first kiss was not this ecstatic. Not after he saved her from vampires. Not before they part their ways. No. They were young back then. Barely grown out of being a child.

Now she is fifteen. And he is, thirteen?

They are not that much older from their first kiss as she thought. A fact that is sure killed the mood. And behold, her eyes widen at the realization.

That was then his hand starts to move along her back.

"Jon, no!" She smacks his shoulder and pushes herself away. Her breath is heavy as do her heart. "What are you doing! Carla is sleeping and there are four others nearby."

"We need to be discrete then. Admit it. The thought of getting caught is riveting isn't it?" He reaches for her arms and pulls her close. "I won't make a single sound if you won't. But no promise."

His fingers move at a rapid pace and hit all the correct spots on her back. She could feel her cloth is getting undone as his other hand had a free reign over her neck.

So, she decides to screw it and throws her arms over his shoulder. She stares intensely into his eyes and presses her lips against his. It is time for her to go offensive.

They wrestle against each other for a mere moment before the clothes start falling off. His archmage robes are somehow ridiculously easy to dismantle.

She parts her mount from his only to catch her breaths. Her gaze becomes even more intense as he observes his brilliance in full. His ripped muscle calls out for her touch. His chest, arms, and legs are pulsating with power. To keep up that kind of dynamic tension … it must be hard work.

Then her gaze comes to a peculiar item on his neck. A collar? How does that get here?

"It seems you found my love collar, milady. I'm yours to command." Jon grinds. His words are music to her ears.

"Anything?" She asked.

"Anything. Whatever you desire and much more." He answered.

"Oh, Jon!" She cried out his name before jumps him. One thing leads to another and everything seems to fall into its rightful place as if the stars aligned for it to happen. Her tension is ever rising, higher and higher. "Oh, Jon. Yes, just like that. Make me squeal your big fur…!"

"Thalia!" Her name is called. But the voice is not Jon's.

What the ….

"Thalia!" Another voice rings from the place that should be Jon. "Oi! Thalia. Wake up and calm yourself, girl."

Once again, Thalia opens her eyes. The storm is brewing. The air is damp. The only difference is that Carla is looming right above her head.

SO, IT'S A FUCKING DREAM!

"Must be one hell of a dream, huh?" said Carla. "You are so loud, I thought there was an attack."

Carla is a middle-age woman that got recruited to be Lunarch's personal guard a decade ago. She had seen a lot of promising recruits come and go. But this incident is probably the first thing she sees in a long while, as her reaction seems to indicate.

"What happened?" Asked embarrassed Thalia.

"Well. You're asleep. Then you start thrashing around so much I can no longer sleep and had to check on you. At first, I think you had a nightmare. Then you start to moan."

Thalia's cheek reddened. Her handshakes heavily. Oh no!

"And with that, I know what is going on. So, I silently watch and enjoy the show. For a while it quite fun to watch but you start to twitch really hard and get really loud." Carla continues. Her face tries the hardest to hold her laughter. Even then, a few chuckles are escaping from the wide grin.

Thalia's entire face is red as a ripe tomato, her pale complexion shows her vessels pumping a massive amount of blood to her head.

"And what is this anyway?" Carla mimics a yanking motion as she grinds her hips against the blank air. "What sort of a weird fetish resides in that young mind of yours? Tell me, I won't judge."

"Wha…." Thalia's mount went wide open. Her words are cut short due to a hiccup caused by a sheer nervousness. Her eyes grow even wider than she ever had before.

Shit.

"And who is this luck boy named Jon and should all the single boys in town be jealous?" Carla asked. "Must be one hell of a guy. A forbidden love perhaps? Well, if it doesn't work out do send him my way."

And that comment snaps her back to her sense.

"NOPE. NopE. NOpe. nOPe. Nope." Thalia replied and buried her head in her pillow. She ignores everything else till morning.

Meanwhile, on Thraben outskirts, two werewolves are hiding on a run-down mill. The night is calm. The air is cold. Even though the necromancer they are hunting is unlikely to remains inside the city, it is not a bad idea to scout beforehand. It would be even better to make the church hunt down their target, so they can swoop in at the right moment and take their price without much work.

Or that what Arlinn had planned before. Now? She had to scrap that plan. Something is wrong with Jon.

His eyes rolled back inside his head. His limbs fall flat and his body collapses on the floor. She tries to call him over and over, but he doesn't even respond. The magic is running wild as far as she can sense. Jon is consuming green mana at an alarming rate, so much so that she couldn't tap into it.

Worst still, she couldn't leave him here and ask Ugin, Sarkhan, or Narset to check him out. Not only he cannot defend himself at this state, but three of them are also currently busy as far as she knows.

"Oh, Jon. What happened to you."

While his mother is worried sick about him, Jon is having an out of body experience. He sees the things people wouldn't believe. It might not be attack ships on fire of the shoulder of Orion nor a C-beam glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate, but it is as spectacular. He sees through thousands upon thousands of pairs of eyes. Wolves, bats, birds, rats, cats, sheep and much more. The sheer information he received is enough to overload his brains and render him motionless.

His thought is blank as he put himself inside a mental prison of his own making. His body became a focus for the black mana of Innistrad and his mind merged with everything that it can dominate within its wide range. Uncontrolled, he cannot pull himself back in his own body.

'Oh. Oh. Ho. What do we have here? It seems you surprise me yet again, boy.' Snickered the elder dragon. 'Such a powerful ability. So wild and untamed. Hmmm. Fine then. I will help you just this once.'

Vaevictis Asmadi extends the minuscule power he currently possesses to merge himself with Jon's target. One by one he severe a connection between the boy and the dominated. When the connection is severed, he pulls the sliver part of the boy back to his own body.

'This will take quite a while.' The dragon groaned as another connection is severed. 'At least it is better than doing nothing and watches you humiliate yourself.'

One by one, Vaevictis collect Jon's scattered mind and return it to his body. In total, it takes the elder dragon two hours of continuous work to pull Jon back together. As more piece of him is back, Jon's thought becomes clearer and clearer, but that doesn't mean he will be the same.

During the helping process, the elder dragon embeds a sliver of himself into Jon's. Vaevitis might be patient but he doesn't just let an opportunity slips by. He knows that the more Jon taps into his draconic essence, the more influence he holds over the boy. Yet, he deems the process too risky and too slow.

If he can subtly embed himself inside the boy's soul, then he is more likely to take over his body when the time is right.

The body with the ability to dominate thousands of people from a long distance. Just the thought makes Vaevictis Asmadi smiles. Had he possessed such gift during the Elder Dragon War, Dominaria would be his and only his.

'Huh? What happened?' Asked the recently awakened Jon. 'Ouch. My head hurt.'

'You idiot. Had I not been with you, you would lose yourself in the minds of thousands of others.' Said the annoyed dragon. If he had a corporeal body and if this place is not in their shared mindscape, he would claw the boy's face already.

'What sort of foolishness clouded your mind to such this extent? Using a mind related magic with neither prior experience nor training with such power, are you looking for a fate worse than death?'

There are no words to express how angry Vaevictis is with the boy. If his host falls in a perpetual coma, it will leave him two choices. One is to take over the weak and pathetic body and risks getting detected and killed. The other is to hope for some miracle, which would risk his exposure if a really strong helper like Ugin or Sorin came.

The increase in his influence over the host body doesn't worth that kind of risk. When you play this game you either win or you get wipe from all the planes of existence.

'What!' Jon internally screamed. 'I didn't intend …'

'Yes, you didn't. But it doesn't matter, does it? You have access to too much power beyond your control. As you grow stronger, next time it happens I might not be able to help you.' Mocked the dragon. 'Then again. I have a way to help you with that.'

Jon soon found himself in a small dark pit inside of his own mind. There was nothing in it except for one locked door. There is nothing special about this door. Or is it?

'What is this place?' Asked Jon.

'Take a wild guess, boy…. You know what? Don't. This place is inside your mind. The door you see is connecting your consciousness to mine.' Vaevictis sounds annoyed. 'Open it! If you don't, I might not be fast enough to help you the next time it happens.'

Jon didn't know what make him accepted Vaevictis Asmadi's deal. He knows that letting that elder dragon more control than he already has is a bad idea. Still, he doesn't know what came over him that makes him opened that damn door. It was as if, at that moment, his mind was not his own.

Well. Too late to regret that now. He will need to deal with it later, with Ugin's help perhaps.

"Jon!" He heard his mother calling as soon as he opens his eyes. He then feels a hard constriction around his arms as his mother hugs him with all the strength she had. "Thank Avacyn you are safe."

"Mother. I'm sorry." Jon hugs back. He buries his face in her embrace. "I must have worried you greatly."

"It's alright, Jon. It's alright." Replied Arlinn. "Shhhhh. Get some rest, Jon. We will continue our plan when you are ready."

So, rest he did. For a while anyway.

The night progresses gradually and soon the new dawn is arriving. Jon takes these little moments to put his mind at rest. Even when his conscious is whole again the consequence from its shattering is beyond his comprehension.

Whether it is everlasting damage or transformational tampering is remained to be seen.

Jon wakes up and finds Arlinn stands ever vigilant over his rest. She looks tired.

"Mother." Jon looks up at her. "You should get some rest too."

"We still need to scout, Jon." Arlinn replies. She relaxes her shoulder and sits down beside him. "We waste enough time as it is."

"A short nap then?" He holds her hands. "I need some time to control my newfound power."

'It is a good opportunity to test your new ability, Boy. Try taking over the mind of a nearby bird for a start. If something goes wrong, I will help you.' Vaevictis's voice sounds inside his head. 'It will be hard, but it will be a powerful skill if you can master it. Convince the shewolf. Do it at once.'

The dragon seems convincing. Still, he finds it strange that it would actively help him. Vaevictis must have planned something, and it wouldn't be good for him in the long run. It just that right now he could not do anything about it.

"New power?" It caught his mother's attention. "What sort?"

"I can see through the eyes of beasts. Thousands of them. It should help with reconnaissance if I achieve some mastery over it."

"But you don't have access to blue mana." She raises her brows. Then her eyes widen as she realizes. "You use black mana to do mind magic. Like Sorin."

Jon nods.

"Then it must be more than just looking through the eyes of beasts. I heard that Sorin can control the mind of people, even other planeswalkers, to do his absolute bidding. Maybe the binding curse he placed on you is the same." Arlinn smiles. "Maybe you might find a way out of eternal servitude that you foolishly placed yourself in."

Seeing that his mother relaxes, Jon smiles back. "You should take a quick nap, mother. I will be careful."

"Practice taking over the mind of a small animal first. If you fall like last night again, I don't think my heart could take it." His mother smiles. "Be careful."

"Don't be ridiculous, mother. From what I heard of your favorite pastime; you had taken much worse than that." Jon smirks. Internally he wants to do a split take. His family is weird. At least it is better than the one he had in Winterfell.

"Cheeky brat." Arlinn snort. If he was younger, she would spank the shit out of him. Too bad she taught him how to fight back, and she taught him too well. If she wants to hit him it would leave him in a coma, or he would get off unscathed. Neither is what she wants. "I won't take long. Only resting my eyes, a little bit."

"Yes, mother. Have a good one." Jon nods.

Seeing that his mother resting on the wall, Jon closes his eyes and concentrates. He tries to sense his surroundings and finds any critters he could take over. His senses span outward. Ten meters. Twenty meters. Fifty meters. One hundred meters. Five hundred meters. The radius of his detection increases as he channels more and more mana into it.

'Stop!' he heard Vaevictis's voice. 'You idiot. Who teaches you to use your gift like this?'

'What are you talking about? It is working.' Jon is annoyed. How dared he? Elder dragon or no, one should not mock his result when it clearly is working. 'I can detect everything within five hundred meters around me. A thousand if I really push it. Can you say the same?'

'Yes, you fool!' replied the dragon. 'I don't have a problem with your method, even though it requires a lot of refinement. What I have a problem with is how you waste most of your mana on that spell.'

'Waste?' Jon curiously asked.

'Yes, you idiot. Take a look at how much mana did you use. It is astronomical. If you content with that pathetic result, you better not trying at all. Let me show you how it should be done.' Before Jon could react to the dragon's claim, he felt Vaevictis's presence flooding his mind, dominating it. 'Do not resist. It won't take long. You should be grateful.'

Jon soon finds himself lost in his consciousness once again. The door was swung wildly opened and he saw a gigantic brutish dragon with a large crest over its head looming over him. This is what Vaevictis Asmadi looks like.

'Look closely and listen well. When you channel multiple colors of mana, you must balance its proportion well. Lean too heavily on one side would weaken your spell. For example, you flood black mana on your last spell and wastes most of it.' Jon looks at the dragon's claws as three streams of colored light continuously gather around it. Black, Red, and Green. Three colors of mana that they both could call for.

'This is what happened.' The dragon channels more and more black mana into its claws. The mindscape around him changes and soon Jon finds that he senses everything within a kilometer range. 'If the method is refined, it will become this.' The dragon raises its claws. Jon doesn't know why but the position it takes seems stronger.

*Boom*

To his shock, the range of detection expands rapidly. Soon, Jon finds that he could detect everything within ten kilometers radius. His perception is just short of Thraben's wall itself.

'Don't be so excited. As I said, this method is wasteful.' Jon frowns when he heard that. 'Your innate aspect of a wolf grants you superior perception. It is tied with green mana. Using black mana to enhance it will only improve it marginally. Don't you know how your power works?'

Jon's eyes enlarge at the explanation.

'You know what? Don't even bother answering it. I will show you what will happen if you use green mana instead of black. A hundred times less even.' Vaevictis roars and changes the ratio between mana colors. The green light is dominant while black and red supplement it.

*Boom*

The mindscape expands once again as more and more information floods in. Jon finds himself in a trance as he detects everything within the city. Animals, plants, buildings, people. Everything cannot escape his detection, but not for long. Soon he finds himself back inside his mindscape once again with the dragon looming over him.

It all happens so fast. He cannot process any of it. Had he given enough time; he could locate anyone inside that city. But the time is too short, so what he got is a mere feeling.

'Now do you understand?' Asked the dragon.

'Yes.' Jon answered. 'Thank you.'

'Don't be. You have much to do. Taking over a simple mind of a beast is no small matter, let alone another sentient being. Even so, your mind is not yet strong enough to process that much information. It will leave you defenseless. But with training, everything is possible.' Said Vaevictis. 'We are an elder dragon, boy. Absolute power is our right. It is up to you to be one.'

With a suspicious encouragement from the elder dragon that lives inside his own consciousness, Jon continues to practice his newfound gift. True to Vaevictis's word, taking over a mind of an animal is no small feat. Sure, he could see through their eyes easily enough, but his command over its body is met with plenty of resistance. A mouse in the nearby barn was his first victim. He sees through its eyes, hears through its ears and smells through its nose. If he wanted to turn its head to look around, it did so. That was easy. But when he commanded it to move, it sat still.

Only then Jon realized that he needs to move its limb individually and found that it was harder than its looks. How could he have known how a mouse moves. Is it left, right, left, right, or left, left, right, right?

But his frustration didn't last long for the paraplegic mouse soon became a prey to a barn owl. With its death, his mind got snapped back into his body.

"Shit!" Jon's eyes open wide as he snapped out of his trance. He didn't know how scary the descending owl is to a mouse before. Now he knows.

Seeing that his mother is still napping, he tries again. This time with a different purpose. He wants to find someone.

'Fine then. I will just look through animal's eyes. Let see …' Jon closes his eyes and concentrates once again. Taking the lesson with the elder dragon to account. He channels the green mana is time to expand his range of perception. '… no. no. not here. Not here either.'

It took him quite a while to look for his target. '… There! Wait that's not her. Damn it.' Or not.

'There! Oh. She looks just like the last time we part.' It took him a long time to find his target. 'The Lunarch's personal guard, huh? This will complicate things.'

Custom Card of the Chapter

Card Name: Dragon's Tutelage

Mana Cost: 2R

Types: Enchantment

Card Text:

Whenever you draw a card, target opponent reveals top two card of their library and put them on the bottom of their library in any order. If they're both nonland cards that share colors, deal 2 damage to that player and repeat this process.

5R, discard a card, then draw a card.

Flavor Text: Foolish boy! Let me show you how it's done.

Rarity: Uncommon