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To Dream of Darkness

A story by DoggyStyle57

Chapter 9, Written December 2011

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Chapter 9 - The price to be paid

Dark Wind returned to her cave, in wolf form and howling with an almost maniacal glee.

"Whoooo! What a feeling or power! Asha! It was unbelievable! I had them all in my mind at once! The whole village! And I watched as each of my enemies writhed in tormented agonies so strange and extreme that I could never have devised a more fitting way for them to die! It is done! I got all of them. Mother, Father, you have been avenged! A few survived, but they are hopelessly insane now."

Asha watched her Mistress as she babbled on and on about the strange and perverse fears that the villagers had died from, and how exquisitely they screamed. When Dark Wind finally seemed done talking, the fire elemental said quietly, "Yes, Mistress. Those enemies are dead. But do you really think the Church will forgive and forget? They will send a new priest, as soon as word gets to them of what happened here. And his first orders will be to determine what drove the old priest insane, and what calamity killed the villagers. And the Church will expect him to do something about it. What will the villagers who survived tell him, I wonder? That a green-eyed she-demon slaughtered their husbands, wives, and maybe even a few children? Will the children of the people you slaughtered not want vengeance now, for the death of their parents?"

"They wouldn't dare! Not after that display of raw terror and power! And if they do, why, I'll just kill the next wave of fools as well!" Dark Wind said, with her eyes wide and looking more than a little bit unhinged mentally.

"Mistress? You were out all night. Have you slept at all?" Asha asked.

"How could I sleep? No, not a wink all night. I do confess I am getting a little tired now, however. But I'm still too wound up and excited to sleep. Talk to me, Asha. I have some questions. Now that you must serve me, it's safe to ask about your nature and abilities, isn't it?" Dark Wind said, as she lay down with her head on her paws, tail wagging slowly.

"What would you know, Mistress? You are correct. I am bound to you now, and cannot harm you or trick you for anything that you command of me." the black fire elemental asked. She sat cross-legged on the dirt floor of the cave, in front of her Mistress.

"Why do you look like a human-shaped vixen? My family could appear like that, but neither feral folk nor Kitsune are commonly seen here," Dark wind asked.

"It struck me as a form that might please you, Mistress," Asha replied. "I got a few glimpses of your fox-like mother in your surface thoughts. I thought a form capable of the speech of men and able to handle their books would be useful. This form also does not particularly require clothing, which you have little of here. And considering you are fighting men, I didn't want to appear like a Human girl. If my appearance displeases you, I can change to almost anything female."

"That form will do well enough, when we are alone together. I do find it more pleasant than your flaming form, graceful though that is, or a Human one. In your true form, I felt you might singe my fur. Can you understand the talk of all animals, as I can?" Dark Wind asked. "You seem to have no difficulty understanding me when I am in my wolf form like this."

"No, Mistress," Asha replied. "If an animal encountered me, we would not be able to speak to each other. I will always understand what you say, because I am bonded to you in service as your familiar. No matter what form you take, I can hear your words or your surface thoughts, as if spoken in my own language, and you will always hear my words or thoughts in a form that you can comprehend and in the language suitable to your need. For example, when you asked me how the words for that spell were pronounced, you heard it in the language of the local men, did you not? Yet now, in your wolf form, it likely sounds to you as if I was talking like a wolf. I can speak and understand many of the languages of men, however. Men are far more likely than animals to call on one such as me, and request a service."

"I see. Can anyone else see you? How would you look to them?" Dark Wind asked.

"If I choose to let them see me at all, yes, they can see me, and I would look to them just as I look to you. I can change form as you can, to any form you can take. But as I said, the gift of language doesn't come with that, so if I became a cat, I might make cat-like sounds, but no cat would understand my sounds as words in their language. To them, I would be babbling nonsense, as they no doubt hear it when a Human tries making cat sounds at them," Asha said. "Whatever form I take, I can choose to be visible to all, or only to be visible to you."

"Can others detect your true nature, when you appear to be something that you're not?" Dark wind asked.

"That depends. Someone with magical training, or a priest with religious training, might possibly feel something was odd about me. If they looked at me closely, they will see fire in my eyes. To a normal man or animal, my eyes look normal. But my reflection - in a mirror, or still water, or polished metal - will show them my true form," the elemental replied.

Dark Wind yawned, and asked, "Can you use all the spells in these books and scrolls?"

"Actually, Mistress, I can use very few of them at all. And while bound to you, I can cast no spells at all from any spell book or scroll that you possess, unless you order me to. I can understand almost all of them, and can explain to you in great detail how to cast any spell or use any magical artifact. But I can only personally do magic that is based in fire," Asha admitted. "That is why I can't heal you, but I could cauterize your wound. From my own abilities, I could burn down a whole forest at your command, or light a lamp at a distance. I could just as easily extinguish a raging inferno in an instant, or cause all the candles and lanterns in a large area to go out. I can travel from place to place through flames, and can see other places where a flame burns. And I can take reasonable-sized things or people with me when I travel by flame. Anything my size or smaller, I can take with me. I could take you and what is attached to you in the way of clothes or jewelry, but not much more than that. Don't expect me to fetch you a horse to ride, Mistress, unless you want me to go to where it is and then ride it back to where you are."

"That's good to know. You... said that the place you are from is the same place the church's priest's call hell. Does that mean you are evil?" Dark Wind asked.

"Is the flame on your brazier evil? Is the sword of an assassin evil?" Asha replied. "No, Mistress. I am amoral. The concepts of good or evil that the priests speak of mean little to me. If an evil person commands me to do an evil thing, I will do evil, just as the sword of an assassin will commit murder. If a good person commands me, I will do good, just as the mace of a Paladin smites the enemies of righteousness. If I am not commanded to do anything, I do what seems most likely to benefit me. That's why I said Hell isn't quite what the priests say it is. To them, it is a lawless, unruly place indeed. The denizens of my realm don't live by their rules. Yet we do have our own sense of order, and our own hierarchy that must be obeyed. If we make an agreement, we must obey that agreement, exactly as it is made. A poorly made agreement may give us some latitude to obey in a way that the one who summoned us hadn't planned on. Until we are bound to serve, we could try to trick an unwary mage. You want to slaughter your enemies. Very well. I will serve you to that end, using any means you find acceptable. It matters not to me if those methods are seen as evil. If you were pure of heart and wanted me to help save the world, I would do that just as readily. It really makes little difference to me, as long as I gain something from the exchange."

"Yet you encouraged me to use dangerous spells, and you said you approved of my stealing from a priest?" Dark Wind asked. "Isn't that evil?"

"Are you evil? I also told you, I am in part a reflection of your soul, Mistress," Asha replied with a wicked grin. "We are much alike, you and I. Amoral. In it for our own ends, and to hell with the consequences or what happens to anyone else, right? Do you really care what happens to that wolf pack? Or is it just in your own best interests to not have them harmed, since they have protected and supported you? Did you even stop to consider what your actions might do to them?"

"I... guess you are right, Asha. I didn't think of them. All that mattered was my revenge. I need sleep now. Stay and watch over me. Good night," Dark Wind said, as she closed her eyes.

"Rest well, Mistress. If you can," Asha replied.

===

Dark Wind did not rest well. As soon as she tried to sleep, she saw herself back in the village, watching the torments that she had inflicted on the villagers. None of it harmed her, but the scenes now appalled and sickened her so much that she almost immediately awoke, growling as if she was being attacked.

She rolled over and tried again, and again she failed. No matter what she did, restful sleep would not come to her. She did not regret that her enemies had perished at her command. But how they died, and the torment in their faces and their screams, now haunted her.

"No use. I can't sleep," she told Asha, as she groaned and got on her feet.

"So I noticed. You did take that potion to dull your emotions, didn't you? I wasn't watching very closely as you prepared it. You seemed to have a good idea what you were doing, and I was busy making sure there were no hidden hazards in the spell itself," Asha said.

"Yes. I made it just as the other book said. Just made one very minor substitution, for a missing herb," Dark Wind replied. "I drank it just before I cast the spell, and it numbed my emotions, for a time."

"Oh, no! Mistress? Potions of that type are not like some peasant's ointment for a stiff knee. There are many reasons why a particular herb or mineral needs to be in a potion, and it isn't always obvious why. You should have told me. What did you change? Exactly what did you substitute?" Asha asked.

Dark Wind showed her the formula for the potion, and pointed out which herb she had been unable to use. Then she showed the elemental the herbals that told her the substitute would work just as well, and showed her which herb she had replaced the missing one with.

"Perhaps for anything that author was willing to make, that might have been safe. But not in a greater spell such as the one you cast. Let's compare that potion formula to what is in the other book," Asha said.

They checked the more dangerous spell book, and it clearly stated that no substitutions could be made in the protective potion. The formulas were the same, but changing that one herb could greatly weaken the effectiveness of the potion in protecting the caster.

"I was afraid of that," Asha said. "You cast the spell with only partial protection from the nightmares. They are in your mind, now, and won't fade, as they should have with the correct potion. In spite of all that you have done, Mistress, you are not entirely an evil person. You still have enough of a conscience that what you have done is repellant to you. The mage that wrote that spell might have not cared, or may have been fully immune to fear and nightmare, but you do still have some shreds of compassion in your soul. And that is preventing you from sleeping."

"Is there any counter spell we can cast?" Dark Wind asked.

"We can look, but I think we'll need to get some help from my realm," Asha said. "Nightmare is a corner of hell, after all. There are creatures in my realm that specialize in the things you call nightmares, and in the effects of fear. You may need to make an agreement with something much more powerful than I am."

Dark Wind sighed, and said, "So it didn't cost me my soul to get you to serve me, or to cast the spell that eliminated my enemies, but it may well cost me my soul to be able to sleep again?"

"Oh, probably not your soul, no. But a high price, yes. We will look for a solution here, Mistress. But if we do not find one... well, I can give you a name of an entity you can summon from the nightmare realm, to try to get his aid," Asha said.

===

After three sleepless days and nights, Dark Wind was almost insane. In desperation, she cast the summoning spell, and conjured a greater demon whose name Asha provided.

"Well? What do you want, little wolf girl? Why did you dare to summon me?" it asked. Its appearance was terrifying, a writhing miasma of tormented faces and bodies, swirling in choking fumes, with the voice seeming to come from the faces of the bodies trapped in the fog.

Dark Wind replied, "I have cast the spell of the Dark Wind of Nightmare, and it has tainted my mind and made me unable to sleep or rest. My elemental familiar said you could grant me protection from fear and nightmare, and ease the burden on my mind, so I might rest normally, and that I might master the nightmare realm and make its power fully my own."

"I can do that, yes. But the price is one you may be unwilling to pay. I see you have indeed caused much death and suffering in your realm, toying with the nightmares and dreams of others. That pleases me, for the fear and suffering you caused makes me stronger. I feed on the fear caused by nightmares of mortals. If you make more mortals die of fright, I gain even more from that," the demon said. "If I grant your request, what do you plan to do?"

"My enemies are dead, but there will be more enemies, who will attack me because they fear me, or because they are angered by my past actions. I swear that I will never allow myself to be powerless to defend myself. I want to study the magic of nightmare, even the most forbidden texts, so I can use those spells to defeat anyone who would dare to attack me, and to frighten others so they will not dare to oppose me in the first place," Dark Wind said, hoping this would please this dark and terrifying creature.

The demon nodded, and said, "Very well. My price, to give you immunity from fear and nightmare, is nothing less than your capacity to comprehend and experience the emotion you call love. You would still know pleasures of the flesh, and in time you may learn to mimic the emotional responses of a normal person so others will believe you normal. But love and true affection will be empty words to you, as fear and nightmare will be powerless against you. You will be aware of emotion, but it will not touch you, and no attachment you form will be any stronger than what you might feel for a pet animal, or a cherished book. Can you accept that price, wolf girl?"

Dark Wind stared at the demon, and contemplated her answer.