Chapter 6 ~ Spirit of Darkness

Ireae couldn’t help but stare in astonishment at the being before her, dappled by the yellow candlelight. He’d told her not to turn around until he said it was alright but she couldn’t contain her curiosity. She recalled from the book, Evheerhos Kalohdhas, that spirits of higher tiers took on a physical form resembling that of the one that summoned them. His appearance, unlike that of the air spirit she’d first summoned, led credence to the author’s words.

Compared to the vaguely human shaped creature she had seen mere moments ago, what stood in front of her now was much changed. He was tall, six feet or more, with broad shoulders. Though the scavenged clothing wasn’t the best fit, it somehow suited him. But what really caught her eye was the smooth black flesh of his head and face. It was as dark and glossy as a crow’s, a coloring she’d never seen nor heard of in any man. Not even native Isambalans had skin that dark. Though he had no hair, the spirit’s features were now more human. Aside from the conspicuous color of his skin, the faint glowing eyes, and the pointed teeth poking out from behind his lips, he could almost pass for human.

Ireae shook her head. There was no way she could deny it now. Given the evidence already encountered, from his intangible form upon appearing in the midst of the circle, his deadly power to form darkness into weapons, to the speed in which he was adopting a human appearance; there was only one conclusion.

I really did it, she thought. I summoned one of the Elemental Lords.

 Yet those thoughts darkened as she considered exactly what element she’d called. There were ten elements and each one had a corresponding Great Spirit, alternatively called a Lord or Monarch in academic texts. She shuddered under the weight of her suspicions.

“Is there something wrong,” the Spirit asked, its sharp teeth flashing as its mouthed formed and perfectly pronounced the words. “Do I look…strange?”

“No…no,” she stammered. “I was just thinking about how human you look.”

“Oh,” he responded, looking down at himself. “I guess I do appear mostly human. Aside from my claws, black skin, and…” He trailed off, suddenly licking his teeth with a surprisingly pink tongue. “And these,” he continued. “Do I scare you?”

Ireae thought about his question for a moment. It was true his appearance was frightening and she had briefly felt concerned after looking upon those menacing teeth. But his gentle, almost shy, manner put her at ease. He’d shown her no aggression and, in fact, had been angry on her behalf. He’d protected her from the knights sent to capture her.

She knew she was safe with him. It was almost instinctual.

“No,” she said at last. “Even if you look a bit frightening, you don’t scare me. You’re my summon, after all, one of the Great Spirits.” She quickly turned, holding her breath against the smell coming from the corpses of the knights, and began gathering her things. She tried not to think about how they’d died.

He was silent as she toiled. Ireae could feel his eyes on her. “I see,” he said after a moment. “But…you keep calling me a Great Spirit. I’m not so sure I am what you’re saying I am.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Don’t get me wrong,” the spirit continued, pointing at the Grand Circle. “You definitely summoned me. No clue how but, well before I showed up here I was…somewhere else. It was… impossibly dark there.”

Ireae paused, her grip on the princess’ journal that contained the Grand Summoning Circle tightening. Every spirit was elemental in nature. Fire, earth, air, and water were the four foundational elements and the primary building blocks of the physical world. Her books said as much. There were also spirits of wood, lighting, ice and metal. Despite the mostly translated notes in that journal having designated the Great Spirit of Storms being the target of Akasha’s circle, he was no spirit of lighting. Given that there were only two other elements beyond the first eight she was certain what kind he was.

Come on Ireae, she admonished herself internally. Even a fool could tell. How can you still deny it?

She furrowed her brow. “Did I wake you from your slumber?” Her voice trembled as she recalled the last type of spirit, the one it was punishable by death to summon.

“Huh?” The expression on his mostly human face changed to one of bewilderment. “No, not really. I was very much awake when I heard your voice calling me through that bright light. Uncomfortably awake in fact.”

Her eyes widened at his words. “Y…you were?” Bright light? But the Temple…

“Yea,” he responded, looking down at the bodies with a concerned expression. “You see I died,” he said quietly. “In another world…a world very different from this one. It happened so fast that it took me a little while to realize the pain and all the sensations that go along with having a body had disappeared when it all turned black. I was alone somewhere in an endless darkness, aware, and cold for what felt like a long, long time.” He returned his gaze to hers. “Then I saw a pillar of white light and heard your voice calling from the other side.”

Ireae slipped the book she was holding into her pack and leaned against the wall. The flickering candlelight and the rancid stench was making bile sting the bottom of her throat. Everything began to spin as she noticed her limbs and body growing hot. As if her weakness from exhausting so much of her Essence wasn’t troubling enough, it was getting harder to breathe. Ireae closed her eyes for just a moment and when they opened again, the Great Spirit filled her vision. Strangely his nearness didn’t startle or upset her. In fact, she felt a bit better having only him in her sight.

“You don’t look well. We should get going.”

She grimaced a little and shook her head. “I’m fine. I’m just a bit tired and…” Her voice trailed off as she looked to the circle, dormant now that it had served its purpose. “I’ve become an abyssian mage,” she whispered.

“What’s that?”

She blinked at the figure before her, sucking in a breath that made her gorge rise. “Summoners are people that use magic and circles to conjure spirits from the elemental realms into this world to serve them. There are ten types of spirits; Fire, earth, air, water, wood, metal, lightning, ice, light…and…and…” Ireae hesitated, finding it difficult to utter the words.

“And darkness,” he finished for her, seemingly noticing her trouble.

She nodded. “Yes,” she continued, gathering her courage. “And an abyssian mage is a summoner that summons spirits from the elemental realm of darkness. Priests call it Erabyss and tell us that only the souls of the damned dwell there, in constant suffering. My mother’s…” Ireae paused, not yet ready to broach that subject with another. “Scholars instead claim spirits of darkness exist in eternal slumber. Whatever the truth, abyssian mages call forth these spirits and enslave them as ghosts or stick them into the bodies of the dead, fashioning animated corpses. The worst and most powerful summon high tier spirits the Temple name demons.”

“Oh,” he muttered nonchalantly. “So you have necromancers here.”

Ireae didn’t recognize the word he’d just said. Based on context… “Nehk…hero…man...sir? What does that mean?”

“Uh…necromancer? Umm…I guess the difference in languages…some words just don’t translate well. Huh. Well,” he rubbed his hand over his head, hesitating and eying his palm and then touching his bald head again. “Damn,” he mumbled. “No hair. Um, anyway, a necromancer is someone who practices necromancy. And necromancy is pretty much everything you just said an abyssian mage does, except for the summoning demons part. It’s…ah…you know? Death magic.”

“Oh.”

“Yea. So uh, I guess it makes total sense that you’re a…uh, abyssian mage, if you uh summoned me to your world. I was dead, and now I’m…well I’m not sure.” He placed two of his fingers against his throat. “Huh. No pulse. Guess that makes me an undead. Soooo….spirit of darkness it is.”

Ireae nodded slightly. He was correct, but there was much more to it.

“So this world has knights, spirits, magic, necromancers, undead, and now me.” As he spoke, he raised a finger for each thing he rattled off.  Then his head turned to the corpses of the knights so recently slain. “Hmm. I wonder…” The spirit extended a hand.

Ireae observed as the shine of his eyes grew bright for a moment before a cloud of black smoke tinged with purple lightning emerged from his open palm. It drifted over the bodies, obscuring them from view. Moments later, the dark fog retracted into his hand, vanishing. To her wonder, the weapons and armor the men had worn were gone.

“It worked!” the Spirit exclaimed. “Haha! It really worked! So then…if I just…” his voice trailed off as he reached out in front of himself. The air near his open palm rippled, darkening and changing into a small cloud of mist. It was similar to how he had looked when he first appeared within the Grand Circle except tiny gouts of flame and arcs of lightning, both purple in hue, danced among the fog. His hand entered the small cloud, disappearing inside it. A moment later he drew forth one of the long blades that had previously vanished into smoke. It was still sheathed in its scabbard and attached to a matching sword belt. As he held it up, he turned and smiled widely at Ireae, his teeth uncomfortably visible and sharp.

“Oh yea,” he drawled, obviously pleased. “This is useful.”

She looked on in silent amazement as he belted it on. What else is he capable of?

“That should do it.” He turned back to her, his expression filled with concern. “Do you have everything you need?”

Ireae nodded, clutching the straps of her pack a bit tighter. Her gaze dropped to the corpses of the Count’s knights, and then once again to the dormant Grand Summoning Circle. She couldn’t leave it behind. Not only was it proof of what she had done, but she didn’t want to chance Nikodemos finding it. The circle was something she knew a twisted man like him would delight in discovering, and he was capable enough to decipher it. That was unacceptable.

“Is something wrong? You keep staring at the circle.”

“I can’t leave it here,” she sighed. “It’s evidence.”

He followed her gaze. “Evidence of what?”

“Of my crime,” she said softly. “That I used magic to violate the natural laws of life and death. I summoned the Elemental Lord of Darkness.”