Demon Mage
By Nicole Draylock
Copyright 2012 Nicole Draylock
Smashwords Edition
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This work contains content of an extremely graphic nature. This is a work of fiction intended for adults 18 and over only.
Syrene was determined to prove that her appointment to the Stygian Order was earned on her merits as a young mage of extraordinary talent and not the result of her father’s position as an Elder Magi of the Phoenix. Certainly, to those imbeciles who worked half their lives to attain the grade that she had earned at the tender young age of 19, it might appear that someone had pulled strings to get her the appointment, but Syrene knew they were mistaken.
Some of her instructors had even protested, pointing out that she was indeed a gifted summoner but that she was too young to be given free rein to work with Demons, the primary function of the Stygian Order. Summoning the beasts from the depths of the dark plain where they lived their tortured existence and wringing answers to the secrets of magic was the life’s work of Stygian Magi since the founding of the order.
Syrene would show those old crackpots that she could work with these horrors as ably as they, and with her gifts she would demonstrate that her talents could rival even the Elders. She had set her circle, and drawn the binding symbols more precisely than her instructor’s old eyes and quaking hands could hope to achieve. Though she might call forth the vilest beast of the abyss, Syrene was ready to contain and control the beast.
It was unheard of for a newly appointed mage to work alone, unaided in their summoning by a senior mage, but Syrene was better than them all, and she wasn’t going to let anyone else take credit for the discoveries she made. She had studied the five books of summoning names kept by her order carefully, and the demon she intended to call had not been summoned in well over a thousand years. The books had been clear that he was not to be brought forth as he was a prince of the abyss, lord of the incubi of hell, and the knowledge he revealed was ever tainted by the incredible perversion of his nature. When Syrene had broken his mind with her power, and learned wrung every shred of mystical knowledge from him, she would be a goddess among the magi and none would dare claim she had not earned her position rightfully.
Carefully, she worked to infuse each of the five binding points with her power, causing each to flare to life, lit as though from within in shades of the colors representing the powers of each element of the binding. All she needed now was to invoke the name of the demon to summon him from the depths and he would be bound and at her mercy. Summoning Demons was a craft that required absolute precision. Anyone could summon the beast if they knew its proper name; the dangerous part was controlling such a powerful being. The flames were lit in the four quarters, and the final flame would be lit with the invocation of the name of beast.
With everything ready, her excitement built to a favor pitch. She was ready. She would be the first Stygian to call forth this Demon in a thousand years! Those old dried up men and their foolishness would be revealed for the cowards that they were when she pulled from this ancient Demon the secrets that he had guarded for millennia. No Demon could break a binding she had empowered, and tonight she would prove it.