Amber's Enchantment Ch. 08

When Amber felt Thebes' orgasm fade, she slipped him out of herself with a moan and licked the combined juices from his cock, lavishing the cleaning with as much dedication as the actual sex. Once finished, she knelt up with her hands on her thighs, in spite of the trembling desire burning in her sex. The fluids still covering her cunt glistened in the light from the globes mounted on the walls. Amber knew that the test wasn't finished yet.

"Amber, go wash yourself and return," Bresalla commanded, leaving unspoken the reminder that she was still to keep from her own orgasm.

"Yes, Mistress," she replied in a trembling voice.

Rising gracefully, she walked through the corridors toward the bathing pools. They were located on the far side of the cavern system and each step brought twinges of pleasure and desire in her pussy. She could smell the sex on her and feel Thebes' cum dripping down her legs. Slaves she passed would stroke her sides or slip their fingers into the escaping fluids, driving her even more mad with lust than she was (all a part of her test).

The bathing pools were empty. If she chose, she could bring herself off and no one would see her or stop her. They would know, because she would tell them, but only she, herself, would stop herself from failing the test. Amber's arousal was so high that the gentle sloshing of the warm, soapy water as the pool filled was only adding to her torment. She gripped the edge of the pool to give her hands something else to do and spread her legs against the desire to squeeze her pussy over the edge. She found herself wishing for cold water to douse the fire in her belly.

Washing her body was an exercise in self torture. Every stroke of her hands to wipe away the sweat and sexual fluids was a temptation to linger and caress. The worst was the need to clean her cunt thoroughly. Fingers that probed to clean away every last trace of semen stimulated her desire and arousal as well. Several times she cried out in agony as she pulled her hands away long enough to descend what little she could.

She managed to finish her task and return to the testing room to kneel at Bresalla's feet. There was nodding from the trainers who had gathered to watch the test. In spite of the bath, her pussy was damp and her arousal's aroma filled the room.

Standing behind Amber, Bresalla stroked her own hands along Amber's face and shoulders. She felt the slave shudder under the renewed sensations. "You've done very well so far, Amber. You understand the denial continues, don't you?"

"Yes, Mistress. I hope my frustration is pleasing to my Masters."

"Go to your chores. No one will intentionally try to make you fail, but all the slaves will give you pleasure if you ask for it." Bresalla reinforced that it would be Amber's efforts, and those of no one else, that would see her pass this test.

Amber rose and left, heading to the kitchen area where she had cleaning duties to attend to. This time, everyone she passed treated her normally, neither commenting on her needy state nor teasing her as she walked. As she lost herself in her chores, her arousal faded to a background ache; not overpowering but ready to surge forth at a moment's notice. She didn't know how long it would be before she would be allowed to cum again. From what she'd been able to glean from other slaves and trainees, the post test time was highly variable and may depend on the individual slave. The point was that the testee couldn't set a goal of holding out for only so long; they had to be prepared to hold out for any length of time.

Several hours later, Amber was with Silene, being trained in the art of magic. It seemed to Amber that magical training was far harder than slave training. In reality it wasn't; it was the fact she was a nearly fully trained slave that made the magic hard to learn.

"I don't want you to become frustrated Amber. The type of control needed for controlling active magic and the type of control you're used to using as a slave are polar opposites. As a slave, you learn to relax and let your unconscious abilities exert the control that they've been trained to use. From what I've been told, the most successful slaves are the ones that can use their training without thinking about it. A wizard can't let a spell run by itself, or unconsciously. To do so would be to risk letting it do things he or she never intended. Active, conscious control at all times is the secret to using magic."

"Why is that, Mistress. Why can't you, once you know how a spell is supposed to work, let it work that way every time?"

"Because the flow of mana around you is never the same twice. Remember, it's the movement of the mana that produces the magical effect. This movement is in relation to all the mana around you when you cast your spell. Usually the differences are small enough that there is no need to adjust for circumstances, but there have been tragedies in training when an apprentice forgets this and is caught by a difference that drastically changes how his spell worked."

"I'm not sure I understand."

Silene thought for a moment, before snapping her fingers. "Maybe I can show you. Are you seeing auras right now?" At Amber's affirmative response, she continued. "Light the candle, Amber."

Like many apprentices, one of Amber's first spells was a minor fire creation spell. Fire was one of the easiest elements to manipulate, though not so easy to control. The debate over whether to introduce such spells to barely trained apprentices was still waged in guild houses across Destran. Amber's natural intelligence made her a fast learner;. The candle was lit seconds after Silene asked her to.

Silene cast a spell of her own, smiling when Amber scrunched her eyes against the change in mana flows. She knew that Amber was seeing something very similar to what was done to light the candle, but there was no visible effect. Silene snuffed the candle with dampened fingers and instructed, "Okay, Amber, light the candle again."

Focused on the candle, Amber didn't see the protective ward that Silene had put around herself. Amber went through the motions and there was a sudden woosh as flame filled the entire room in an explosion. Amber was knocked back against the wall and her skin singed red in minor burns. Everything flammable in the room ignited, only to be put out by Silene's quenching spell a moment later.

As Amber's burns faded, she asked, "Mistress, what happened?"

"In technical terms, that was a resonance overpower reaction. In more simple language, you tried to light a match in an area that was vastly hotter than normal and the fire took on a life of its own. I'm afraid I took advantage of your collar's healing ability. Since I knew you couldn't be seriously hurt, I arranged for you to have a somewhat serious training accident. To avoid this, you would have to have recognized the nature of the spell I cast and modified your spell to a much lower power level."

"I see what you mean, Mistress. I did see a difference in the mana, but I didn't know what it meant. I know the colors indicate something, and that like colors are similar types of magic."

"That's the first thing we need to correct. The color of the mana doesn't tell you what kind of magic is involved, at least not all the time. All living things have an aura, even when there is no magic affecting them. The color of an aura tells you the dynamic properties of the object, or creature. It's confused with the nature of the magic affecting things because non-living objects only have dynamic properties when under the effects of magic. But creatures are inherently dynamic things, so they have auras that are meaningful."

"Mistress, you seem to be able to tell when magic is affecting someone. Does this mean that there is something in auras that magic creates that is different from the natural auras on people?"

"Very good, Amber. Yes, the auras from an active spell look different from those on ordinary people. The difference is in the resonance. Visually, there is a difference in the flicker." Amber nodded to indicate she had noticed that auras had a flicker to them. "Now, make sure you can see my aura and watch carefully as I cast a spell on myself. Look for the difference in the flicker."

Amber watched intently as the aura of the magic settled itself over Silene's body. She thought she'd seen something different, but wasn't sure "Mistress, could you drop the spell and recast it?" Bresalla would have smiled if she'd been there. Amber had a long history of asking to see a technique again during her training. Silene did as Amber asked several times as Amber stared with an intensity Silene was well familiar with.

"It's regular, Mistress. The flicker of the spell is regular."

"Very good, Amber. Living things are...unpredictable...I guess is the right word. If you were to feel the beat of your heart, it would be almost, but not quite, regular. There would be pauses and such that makes it irregular. The same thing happens to your aura. It responds to your biological and emotional states (not the most stable things) and flickers in what can only be described as random patterns."

"So that deep red aura I see in people that are in pain; if it had the regular flicker of magic, what would it mean?"

Silene frowned. "If you see magic of that color, be very careful. Spells that are colored that way tend to be destructive spells. They can kill."

"Mistress, I thought magic couldn't kill."

"That's a misunderstanding of something that may not even be true. The laws of magic," she started with a sarcastic tone, "actually say that magic can'tdirectlysnuff out life. I can't cast a spell that willjustkill you. I can cast a spell that will damage you in any number of lethal ways. Your own collar can kill you by putting you to sleep. Spells that inhibit your breathing, or that expose you to intense flames will definitely kill you. That deep red aura indicated a spell that is purposely inflicting some kind of harmful stress on the subject. Ore refining spells show that color. Used on a living creature, you can imagine what would happen."

"So in addition to being able to notice the flicker difference, Mistress, you need to know what the colors really mean."

"Yes, though, as you've no doubt noticed, there is a relationship between the auras resulting from physical/emotional states of people are related to the auras from spells. So, I want you to tell me all the aura colors you know the meaning of and we'll look at what the spell version means."

Amber began to relate what she'd observed over time and the meanings she'd associated with them. As Silene listened, the rogue wizard realized that Amber had created in her mind a hybrid of living and magical aura meanings, due in part to the fact that she spent the first months seeing auras only able to see those associated with spells. Most apprentices are quickly taught to see auras in living creatures so they can be taught the relationships. As she and Amber went over things, Silene realized that Amber was actually finding it easier to make the connections between living and magical auras than most apprentices (including Silene's own experiences). Silene couldn't help but wonder just how many of the practices that were set in stone in the guild were less than the best.

"Madam, we managed to destroy the last attacking creature with no loss of life, though one of my men will be with the healers for several weeks healing his nearly severed arm."

"That's the first piece of good news you've had, Captain," Melen Lustran replied. It had been three weeks since her guards had started to be equipped with enchanted weapons. Combined with the use of herd animals as bait, the cavern had managed to suffer only five dead in that time.

"We do have a problem, madam. The drovers have warned that we're perilously close to depleting the herds to the point where they won't sustain us for the duration of the burning times. The problem is that while we've been able to herd the attacks to an extent, we haven't managed to find a way to accurately predict where they will erupt at any one time. Stationing guards at all the locations leaves too few guards to deal with the creature when it does show up. In spite of the enchanted weapons, we still need enough numbers to allow hit and run attacks to avoid casualties as much as possible."

"If it's not one thing," Melen muttered under her breath. "Has the wizard had any suggestions as to what we could use in place of living creatures as bait?"

"Other than those mana seed things he told us about two weeks ago, no. If only it didn't take so long to enchant each one, and that they're destroyed when the creature eats them."

"It's too bad that journeyman of his can't enchant the seeds to be as hard as the new weapons," the ruler said in exasperation.

The Captain of her guard looked up suddenly, a thought crossing his mind. "Actually, madam, I hadn't thought to ask. If he could, we could recover the seeds after each attack."

"Well, Gods man, find out immediately."

"Right away, Ma'am."

The captain left for Vesti's quarters, where he knew he would find the journeyman hard at work enchanting another weapon. Around him, as he walked, were the inhabitants of the cavern, huddled in the center areas, hoping to avoid the monsters that had been attacking. It was a testament to the trust they had in their leader that he saw no obvious signs of panic. Concern was there, but the people had managed to stifle the initial panics that resulted from the seeming randomness of the attacks.

His knock at the door was answered by the journeyman. "Captain, I'm afraid the next sword won't be ready for another day," he started, thinking to anticipate the Captain's question.

"Actually, I had a question," he replied, letting himself in through the now open door. "Can you enchant those mana seed things Vesti makes with the same hardness enchantment as the weapons?"

"I don't see why not. The enchantment isn't specifically tied to metal objects. It works by making the bonds between the small particles of material stronger. It would work on crystal just as well as steel." The young wizard cocked his head for a moment. "Actually, the enchantment process would be faster with crystals; they are already trying to create string bonds, at least in some directions. I just need to encourage greater bonding."

"Good! Start on those right away. If we can use non-living lures that are recoverable, we can start saving our food supply for the rest of the burning times."

"She's the boss," the wizard answered, referring to Melen.

The creature wasn't visible to the people around it. It had observed the conversation between the Captain and Melen. It had been sent to find out why trade with the lady has stopped. It wasn't sure why, but was enraptured by the idea that these creatures could move mana into objects. The creatures had investigated the Wizard's Guild before deciding on a course of action they had taken; the laws of magic they encountered there had ruled out such a possibility.

It followed the Captain and listened into the conversation between him and the journeyman, confirming that the mana seeds were for real. An intention formed (plans only existed for those beings capable of thinking of the future as the future) in its mind. Elsewhere, in a place with no true locality (or even capable of having locality), the intention became that of all the beings. If not for one person, things on Destran were about to get worse, much worse.

Silene wondered just when she had taken up residence at the slave halls. She'd been there for the last two months, training Amber on the conscious use of her magic. It was frustrating work, and Silene was beginning to wonder if Amber would ever manage to take full conscious control of her ability. The problem was her slave training. It seemed that being a successful slave meant being able to do what you were trained in unconsciously. Silene's magical training was running counter to Amber's existent slave training. That Amber had apparently been enchanting herself all along to be better at that very skill made it all the more difficult. Perhaps this was the reason slaves were forbidden to be wizards.

At the moment, however, she was busy with another task. Anyone looking at her normally would have thought she was lost in thought, staring at a rather unremarkable crystal. Using mana sight, however would reveal an entirely different view. Mana from around her was streaming into the crystal. She could see it pulse as the crystal filled to capacity. In the back of her mind, she regretted the need to use the simpler structure of simple quartz, but there was a trade off between the rarity of the gems used and the amount of mana they could hold. Expensive and rare gems, such as diamonds and rubies had intricate crystalline structures that could hold vast amounts of mana (her personal mana seed was amethyst). Flawless quartz would hold far less, but it had been found to hold enough to attract the creatures.

Silene gasped when, with no warning, the mana stream changed direction and spiraled around her before moving into the crystal. The rogue wizard looked around and saw the black hole behind her. Contrary to what she expected, the mana wasn't being sucked into the hole, but merely orbiting it once before entering the crystal. At first she though that maybe outside the fires the holes were not as powerful and could be blocked by active magic, but she quickly noticed the change in mana color that was taking place.

What she couldn't see was the shadow being in the room with her, manipulating the black hole. It's near total lack of personal mana made it invisible to her sight unless it chose to manifest itself (as it had for Melen Lustran in the past). What Silene could see was disturbing enough. Normally, mana stored in a seed was pure white, indicating it's lack of magic or life. The mana she was seeing now was that same shade of green that Vesti indicated was seen on interdimensional portals. Concerned about what the change in mana portended, she stopped the transfer.

The unseen creature shimmered slightly. Anyone abler to see it would have thought that it was giving vent to a strong emotion. It started to reach an insubstantial appendage toward Silene but stopped itself. It knew that it will be visible with that much mana in it and it wasn't ready to be so. It began to cast a subtle spell on the quartz crystal itself. Silene didn't notice the spell being cast because of one of the perversities of the universe. The creature's native dimension was so mana poor that they had learned to make magic with the least amounts of mana to move.

It was at that moment that Amber and Tyrene, a new slave, entered the room. Amber was arriving for another magic lesson and Tyrene was bringing Silene some food (the wizard frequently missed meals from being too deep into her work). Amber saw two things Ttrene didn't, and one that even Silene didn't.

"Mistress! Look out!" she cried, throwing herself between Silene and the shadow being.

Tyrene, unable to see the shadow, walked right through it and cried out in panic as she felt the life being drained from her. As contact with the creature drained mana from Tyrene's body, the shadow being became visible. Silene's eyes widened in alarm as Tyrne slumped to the ground, devoid of visible mana. More disturbing was that both Amber and Silene could see the mana being drained from the slave's collar.

Three beings acted nearly simultaneously. The shadow pulled one of the strange weapons from itself and activated it towards Amber. Silene started casting a movement spell to push Tyrene away from the shadow, and Amber threw up her hands and screamed, "No! Go away!"