Chell paused suddenly, the hair on the back of her neck standing up. She listened carefully without turning around. GLaDOS noticed this and stopped as well.
Chell glanced back at her, her gaze angled upward. "Guess I should have pointed out that it is still the full moon," she commented.
GLaDOS felt a puff of hot breath on her shoulder. Just before she could turn around to face it, a flask of black shot by, ramming right into it and sending them both tumbling.
The creature landed hard on its side a few feet back while Chell landed on her feet further back, wings splayed. It was humanoid, though larger than a human, with thick grey fur covering its thin, boney body beneath ripped clothing. Its head was canine with a large, blunt snout with lips curled back in a snarl, revealing yellowed fangs, and it had a long, bushy tail. Its hands were human-like but clawed and furry while its legs and feet were that of a large dog.
Chell turned, grinning madly. She glanced down at the creature that was scrambling to its feet between them, then up at GLaDOS. "Careful," she warned calmly, "Werewolves always travel in packs." What appeared to be black fire gathered in her hand. "Duck!" She swiped her arm in a horizontal arc and four spears of darkness lashed out, each cleanly hitting a werewolf that was approaching from behind in the chest, impaling it and disappearing. The injured creatures loped away on all fours, roaring with anger and pain. However, more were emerging from the shadowed alleys.
"We must be making quite a ruckus for so many to be showing up," the angel of darkness said, still acting completely calm as she moved closer to the former AI, "And they look hungry. Perhaps we're in an under populated area? Maybe they'll frenzy."
"Wouldn't that be a bad thing?" GLaDOS asked.
"Logically," Chell replied, "However, the thing about werewolves is that they're all brawns and no brains."
A ring of the wolfish monsters was closing in, but GLaDOS had quickly learned that there was nothing to worry about. As Chell continued to kill them with her dark magic, she seemed so relaxed, so at ease, that one would never guess she was surrounded by deadly beasts that wanted to rip her apart. Fighting seemed so natural and easy for her that the former AI merely had to sit back and watch as she tore through the werewolves. She should, however, have been more careful, as one crept out of a back alley behind her. She didn't notice until she felt a burning pain across her back. Chell turned immediately, as if sensing the danger.
There were only a few werewolves left. Even so, Chell put her remaining energy into a single attack; she sent a large ball of shadowy fire at the wolf that had attacked GLaDOS, killing it quickly and knocking its body backwards. She half-ran half-flew to her companion's side and turned to finish off the remaining creatures. However, she found that she had spent too much energy in her fun to do too much damage.
"It looks like you and your friend need help, little fledgling," came a cheerful voice, "What perfect timing!"
Lightning struck out of nowhere, frying the remaining wolves to ash. In a puff of grey smoke, and a man appeared. He had wild brown hair and usually dark eyes. He wore an expensive-looking leather trench coat over a white buttoned-up collared shirt and black slacks and carried a cane made of a dark, polished wood and tipped with a cloudy silver ball. Chell kept her wing hovering protectively over her comrade and glared warningly at him.
"There's no need to look at me like that, little fledgling," the man said in a playfully scolding tone, "Being an angel of darkness, I doubt you know much in the way of healing magic. I, however, can close that wound in a jiffy! It's just a matter of how much you care about your friend there… who is about to bleed to death. Werewolf cuts don't clot like normal, you know. And from what I can see, you need her alive."
With an angry sigh, she pulled aside and watched carefully as he crouched down and hovered his hand over GLaDOS's wound. White light glowed from the underside of his hand and shimmered over the gash, which began to stitch close until it was nothing but a pink line smeared with blood.
GLaDOS began to regain consciousness. The pain was ebbing away to nothing, and she noticed a sticky, warm, and wet feeling on her back. She pushed herself up and noticed she had been lying in a small pool of blood, and could feel the stickiness on her cheek and in her hair as well. Feeling slightly nauseous, she sat up and turned, noticing the man kneeling beside her with a pleased smile. She heard a ruffling of feathers and turned to the other side to face Chell, who looked surprisingly concerned.
"Who's he?" she asked groggily as the angel helped her to her feet.
"Ah, yes, I've just realized we haven't had a formal introduction!" the man exclaimed, jumping to his feet, "Yes, my name is Elli. Elli Sayles!" He took a formal, though insincere, bow and continued, "And you are? Oh! There's no need! I know who you are!"
"Oh really? How?" Chell asked, growing increasingly annoyed.
The man shook his head disappointedly. "Why, the first thing any magical being must learn, be they an angel or a rookie magician, is how to protect their head!" He tapped his forehead. "Why, I can mine your grey matter as if it was sitting on a clean dissection table!"
GLaDOS and Chell shared an uneasy glance.
"Err… that came out wrong," he admitted, "Well… What I meant was your minds are wide open books. One of the first things I will teach you is how to close that book."
"Hold on, what do mean 'teach us'?" Chell demanded.
"Like I said, I know who you are," he repeated, twirling his cane, "You are both in need of a mentor of magic, and I, believe me, am the only one you will find who will be willing to teach you. I am, after all, Elli Sayles, the best-known distributer of magical goods and services in this part of town!"
"I have no doubt you get good business here," GLaDOS stated sarcastically.
"Well… This entire section of the city has been condemned for the last fifty years," he admitted, "And it was, I'd say, partially my fault… You see, I may have caused a fire to spread throughout this place. Of course, it wasn't an ordinary fire; as you can see, there are no scorch marks, and it couldn't be put out by normal means. Also, the smoke had a tendency to turn people into frogs. It was quite amusing to watch, actually. Anyway, nowadays it's mostly used by wizards as a magical dumping site and by others as a place for exiles who cannot, or at least, will not leave the city, like those starving werewolves here." He tapped one of the piles of ash with his cane. "But in terms of business," he continued, "While few actually live here, many come here for one reason or another. Anyway, since it is the perfect place to dump failed magic, it is also the perfect place for a young witch and a young angel to train. No regard for other residents, no need to worry about destroying anything…"
"You still need to explain what you mean by 'train' and 'teach'," GLaDOS said darkly.
"How else do you expect to learn how to control magic, GLaDOS, without a proper mentor?" Elli asked. She narrowed her eyes. "Oh, don't look so surprised. I did say that I know you from reading your mind. And don't worry, how to prevent that will be one of the first things I teach."
Chell pulled GLaDOS aside until they were hopefully out of his earshot. "I don't trust him," she said simply.
"Neither do I," GLaDOS replied, "It does seem a little too good to be true, doesn't it? Here we are, out here to learn magic, and we quickly run into some guy who reads our minds, knows exactly who – and what – we are and is okay with that and wants to train us for free."
"Free?" Came a yell. With two consecutive pops and puffs of smoke, Elli disappeared and reappeared in front of them. "Who said anything about free? I am Elli Sayles, the best-known distributer of magical goods and services on this side of town! I'm a salesperson! I'm greedy, for Pete's sake! No one said anything about this being free!"
"Okaaay, that makes a bit more sense that you want something out of this," Chell said tentatively, "Alright, what's your price? Not that I'm agreeing to this, of course."
"I'm glad you asked!" Elli replied cheerfully, "All I want is for you to retrieve something for me. I'll tell you the details later. But first, I must teach you basic magic, since I cannot expect you to succeed without any magical ability at all. Think of these first few lessons as a free trial run."
"So, you expect us to agree to something without fully knowing what we're getting into," GLaDOS said bluntly.
"Why yes!" Elli replied happily, "But trust me, you need me. From what I could see," he glanced at Chell, "The wizard you want to kill is very powerful. How can you expect to face him with only novice experience with magic, or teach yourselves the skills necessary to beat him?"
The angel's gaze hardened. "Alright," she said through gritted teeth, "How about this: You give us this 'trial run' and then tell us what you want. If we don't want to get it for you, we leave."
"Deal!" Elli declared, twirling around and waltzing down the street. Chell and GLaDOS cautiously followed.
After a few steps, they noticed that with each step Ellie was floating a little higher into the air, like he was walking up an invisible, gently sloping ramp. Without warning, he turned to face them.
"I've been thinking," he began. He looked down and, as if he just noticed he was floating about a foot off the ground, fell back down, "That maybe it would be faster if we travelled by air."
"Don't think you can separate us by suggesting I fly ahead," Chell said warningly.
"Actually, I was thinking we all go together!" Elli replied, shooting up about ten feet into the air, "After all, levitation is fairly basic and good for a first lesson. Magic is like a wild beast you have to tame; you must know exactly what you want and stay focused. It is usually best to think about an analogy to what you want. For example, imagine a feeling of weightlessness and picture yourself being lifted into the air, like a balloon."
GLaDOS, however, did not like the idea of being a balloon. Rather than thinking of the 'weightless' connotation associated with balloons, she was instead picturing them expanding to the point of popping. If one needed to remain focused on what they wanted for magic to work properly, she did not want to accidently make herself explode. Chell seemed to notice her discomfort.
"Look, in order for this to work, you need to think about what you know," she said to her quietly, "maybe we need a different analogy. You aren't as rooted to the ground as normal humans; you spent your entire life suspended from the ceiling. Try thinking about that instead."
That was much better than thinking about balloons, although it did make her feel yet another pang of homesickness for her facility. She focused on that familiar feeling of being suspended above the ground and forced the homesickness. Suddenly, she felt her feet get yanked out from under her, and braced herself for impact with the ground. That impact never came. She opened her eyes, and saw an upside-down Chell face-palming.
"Maybe that wasn't such a good analogy," the angel muttered.
Of course, GLaDOS quickly realized it wasn't Chell who was upside-down. She was levitating with the top of her head a few inches above the ground and her feet up in the air, although she didn't feel the blood rush to her head and her hair fell upward around her shoulders like it did normally.
"You're doing splendidly!" she heard Elli yell, "Most early students start by flapping their arms and jumping around. Why, I once had a student who failed the levitation spell repeatedly and then one day shot herself off like a rocket! Never saw her again."
With a kick, GLaDOS managed to flip right-side up again. She was contemplating how to make herself move when Chell took her by the arm.
"I think all we need is for you to be easier to carry," she said. She took off, dragging the former AI along with her.
A/N: Trivia: I had asked my friends to help come up with Elli (no, it's not pronounced 'El-lee' but 'Eel-lie') Sayles (pronounced like 'sales'). I wanted it to sound sleazy, but all they could think about were salespeople, hence his last name. However, it wasn't until actually writing this that he actually became a sales person.