Dark Magic Ch. 01

Quick to the action, but for reasons I hope become apparent. I will try to post timely, short installments to make reading easier.

Enjoy. And please please comment, I absolutely love comments.

*****

Scripts from the Great Library in Nycene:

From the introduction of "Basic Rune Etching":

Seals printed in special ink can be used to manipulate energy in the environment. This manipulation is known as 'magic' and these seals are known as 'runes'.

Runes can be either printed on paper or etched into other, sturdier materials such as clay or stone. The more solid the material the rune is etched onto, the more powerful its effect. Simple runes may be quickly written on paper, used, and discarded while more complex runes require more effort and skill to create and utilize with their effects being more permanent and reusable.

One form of rune etching is used only by dark mages and is expressly forbidden for state-licensed mages. This method places the ink of the rune directly into the skin of the mage in the form of a tattoo, allowing the mage to always have a steady supply of ready to use magic at his disposal. This method also carries with it the potential for unlimited power. Because the runes draw energy directly from the body of the mage, their limitations only extend to the complexity and design of the rune itself.

Any mage caught utilizing tattooed runes will be branded as a dark mage and subject to spot-execution by order of the King of Nycene...

The darkness settled in around me in the saturnine woods. Crickets sang loudly while in the nearby pond, frogs competed for dominance of the nocturnal din. Somewhere in the thick underbrush a twig snapped, too lightly to be anything bigger than a rabbit while closer to me, a log in my carefully stoked fire popped, sending sparks high into the warm summer night air.

I was just finishing my dinner of roasted rabbit, picking off the last of the meat with satisfaction. It had been a long day's walk and my muscles were just beginning to unwind after hard use.

I was at peace, alone near the fire in the small, but cozy clearing I had decided to use for a camp that night.

I was also being watched.

I could not physically see my watcher, but a small patch of tattooed skin on my right forearm was burning lightly, alerting me to the presence of an intelligent being nearby. It was a crude ward, without the ability to discriminate between friend and foe, and it usually burned with its magic warmth constantly whenever I was around civilization. But for the week I had been out here in the thick, green forests of the northeast, it had been quiet. Except for now. Now it burned.

Pretending I was unaware of my intruder so as not to scare him into attacking or running away, I began to prepare to turn in for the night. Dressed only in a light tunic and breeches, I unrolled my blanket out near the fire. It was summer time and even that far north, the night would be hot and humid for the most part.

Next I removed my boots, placing them a safe distance from the fire so that they dried, but not so close that the leather got hot and cracked, ruining them. They were my only pair, and I still had a long trip ahead of me. Losing them would almost certainly leave me stranded and quite possibly dead.

Lying down, I closed my eyes with a heavy sigh, listening to the wind in the leaves, the crickets, the frogs, and the fire, trying to pick up any sounds that did not belong to the woods, but rather to my secretive interloper.

There were none for five long minutes, though my ward continued to burn. Then a rustle, too close to the ground to be the wind in the treetops. Fifty feet to my left, on the other side of the fire.

Another rustle in the undergrowth, and a loud snap of a twig. Suddenly another ward activated. It felt like tiny pinpricks near the base of my right wrist.

This one was more sophisticated. It only activated when someone was within thirty feet of my body, and only when that person was carrying a weapon.

Concentrating, I tried to control my breathing so it came heavy and slow, feigning sleep. I would have to confront whoever was in the forest, but first I needed him to get closer.

Ten minutes passed, and then fifteen before my watcher moved closer again. He was being cautious despite his possession of a weapon and his obvious advantage over me. Whoever he was.

After another ten minutes, he moved once more, this time slowly and cautiously forward, through the underbrush as quiet as he could until he was twenty, then ten feet away and then finally he stepped into the light of my fire.

Without hesitation I murmured a single word. My forearm burned fiercely for a split second. There was a flash, a high-pitched yelp and then a heavy thud followed by the sound of something being dragged across grass and dirt.

I opened my eyes and stood, facing my now incapacitated stalker, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dimming firelight after being closed for so long.

He was up against a large tree, his arms held straight up from his body, hands tied securely together by a length of rough vine that had been fortuitously growing from the tree, lending me a tool for which to bind my attacker with. In the dim blurriness of my adjusting vision I could tell that he was small and thin, with long blond hair and sharp, angular facial features.

It was only when my eyes had adjusted enough to make out his wide, feminine hips that I realized that he was a her. This shocked me a great deal. It was one thing to encounter another person out here in the middle of the wilderness, and quite another to find out that that person was a woman.

"Please let me go," she said, her voice light and melodic although laced with obvious fear, "Please, mage, I meant you no harm."

"Then why were you watching me?" I asked, now able to make out her more clearly. She was startlingly beautiful. Possessing a feminine yet strong body, with a strong jaw and hard, green eyes that danced in the firelight. She wore dark green matching tunic and breeches, both tied tightly to her thin, supple body, outlining her small breasts and shapely legs.

"I was curious," the woman admitted, lowering her head in mild embarrassment, causing her golden hair to fall in front of her face, revealing two small, pointed ears.

"You're an elf," I stated the obvious, "Interesting. And what, might I ask, was so curious about me?"

She shrugged, looking up at me with those mesmerizing eyes, "The fact that you were out here."

I paused, considering her answer. It was reasonable, I supposed. Not many people ventured out this far into the forest. It was considered the far frontier, only the Ancients had ever populated it. Which was exactly the reason I was out there, but the elf did not need to know that. The less people that did, the better.

"Do you live out here?" I asked, stepping closer toward her, trying to guess her age by her face, but having no luck at it.

She nodded, "I do. By myself. I'm a wanderer."

"Ahhh," I smiled, "A nymph. Very interesting. I guess this is the part where I ask you what you will give me if I let you go. I hear nymph elves grant wishes to those who capture them and then let them go."

"Those are nothing but children's stories," she said indignantly, "I do not have that power."

I chuckled at her reaction, "Of course not. Then how about a name? Mine's Brian."

"Celeste," she responded.

"Well, Celeste, let me ask you a question," I crossed my arms in front of my chest and took what I assumed was an authoritative stance, "Why would you think it wise to spy on me so loudly while carrying a concealed weapon? How do you know that now that I've captured you I won't rape you and then kill you, leaving your used carcass for the wolves?" I smiled my most predatory smile.

Of course I would never dream of raping the nymph. I preferred my women very ready and willing. But kill her? When it came to that, I never did discriminate.

"I...I...," Celeste struggled for words, "Don't...don't know...oh please don't!"

This time I laughed out loud. I wasn't labeled a dark mage for nothing. Fear and other unpleasant emotions amused me, and I took great pleasure in eliciting them in other beings. They also fueled my magic, as I was able to use empathic links to syphon off the energy they created.

"Relax," I said, "I won't rape you at least. But unless you can give me a good reason to keep you alive, I might still kill you," I paused, donning a straight face so Celeste knew I was serious this time, "How do I know you're not a threat to me?"

"I swear," the nymph said, staring straight into my eyes, demonstrating that strength I suspected she possessed, "I was only curious. There aren't many travelers in these parts and it's been at least ten years since I last saw anyone. You know wandering elves," she turned her gaze downward, suddenly shy, "They're naturally inquisitive. Among other things..."

That last part was a clever plea, thrown in for good measure, and I admired Celeste's cunning. If she couldn't appeal to my humanity, then she would try to appeal to my manhood.

I smiled, this time less predatorily, and murmured two words. The first casting undid the vine that bound her to the tree. The second elicited a sharp cry of pain from Celeste, who quickly lowered one side of her breeches and removed the small dagger tied to her hip that had suddenly grown white hot.

"No surprises," I noted as she threw the dagger to the ground and rubbed at the red welt that had risen on the creamy white flesh of her thigh.

She pulled up the material again and gave me a hard look, but then moved away from the abandoned weapon.

The ward on my wrist stopped tingling. She had no more weapons. So it truly had been curiosity rather than harmful intent that drove Celeste to watch me like that.

"Are you going to repay me now that I let you go?" I asked, knowing the answer.

"Yes," Celeste nodded in affirmation.

Finding a large oak, I sat down on the ground, resting my back up against the wide trunk and beckoned at Celeste. "Come here, nymph," I said, "And show me why they call your kind such."

She nodded and walked over, her hips swinging side to side as she did, pausing in front of my stretched out legs, waiting for me to tell her what to do. This was my show and we both knew it.

"Stand in front of me," I said, "Straddle my thighs and don't move until I tell you to. Understand?"

Celeste nodded and did as she was told, so that her pelvis was directly in front of my face, her feet planted firmly on either side of me. Through her thin breeches I could feel radiant heat on my face and smell something sweet and spicy. She was aroused, her sex already weeping in anticipation.

Most elves lived in large groups together where a rigorous class structure dictated every aspect of their lives. What they did for work, who they interacted with, and who they married were all pre-determined by their individual castes. It was the best way, they claimed, to maintain order in a society whose individuals lived for centuries rather than decades.

The majority of elves accepted the system and lived with it peacefully. But there were those rare individuals who step outside their caste and refused to live by the rules. These individuals are called 'nymphs' and are often easily identifiable by the time they reach maturity.

Strong in mind and body, these nymphs have adventurous spirits and leave their society as soon as they are able to explore the world and live as 'wanderers'.

In addition to their strong wills, nymphs are almost universally promiscuous and sexually adventurous. As long as there is physical attraction, a nymph will mate with anyone who is equally willing. They lack the societal limitations placed on both human and elven sex lives.

That is why when Celeste offered herself to me, I knew it to be genuinely proffered and why she was so willing to obey me without any fuss now. She was attracted to me, and that was enough for her. And it was certainly enough for me.

I reached up and pulled her breeches down her legs, stopping just above the knee so only her thighs and bald sex were bared to my view. She shivered when I blew cool air on her overheated mound, which was red and pouting with arousal.

"I've never seen an elvish cunt before," I admitted, reaching up and inserting the tip of my index finger between her lips. White hot heat enveloped the digit as I moved it further inside her before withdrawing it.

With mild shock, I marveled at the coating of cum that covered my finger. It was thick and viscous, like oil. Much more so than any human woman I had been with and when I tasted it, it was tangy and sweet and slightly musky. I found myself wanting more of it immediately.

Celeste did not move a muscle as I inserted both my index and middle fingers into her cunt, moving them in and out slowly, coating them with the thick cum that begun to run in small trails down my palm.

"You said it's been ten years since you've seen another person," I commented, rubbing the front of Celeste's inner wall with my fingers, searching for her g-spot, and finding the hard bundle of nerves in no time at all, "Is that the last time you had sex?"

"Yes," she moaned as I stimulated her, trying to bring her to quick orgasm. I wanted to see what she would look like as she came that thick juice of hers around my hand and had little patience.

"I can tell," pressing harder and moving faster, speaking close to her clit so that the vibrations from my voice further stimulated her, "You're so tight." And she was, there was almost no room for just my two fingers inside her.

Celeste came suddenly and without much warning, still without moving even her hips, her cry of pleasure loud in the late night of the forest. As her inner walls convulsed violently around the never ceasing movement of my fingers, thick waves of her oily cum cascaded from her cunt, spilling voluminously over my hand and wetting the end my long sleeve.

"Very pretty," I grinned and removed my hand from between her legs, licking some of her delicious cum off my fingers while wiping most of it in the grass. Then I pulled my tunic, which was getting uncomfortably hot, off over my head. I pulled down Celeste's breeches so they went past her knees, leaving her legs free to bend before quickly undoing the laces of my own bottom garment, freeing my cock, which stood hard at eight inches long and thick from base to tip.

"Lower yourself down onto my cock," I said, "Slowly, I want to feel every scorching inch of your cunt."

Of course, she complied, bending at the knees and lowering herself down, using my shoulders as support as she did so.

When Celeste was a fraction of an inch from the tip of my cock she paused, looked me straight in the eyes, and then dropped the next few millimeters. When the tip of my head met her lips, there was a slight resistance and then they parted, her scorching heat surrounding me at once, cum dribbling slowly down my shaft as she continued to lower herself onto me, forcing my cock into what little room her cunt had to offer.

Fingers dug sharply into my shoulders as Celeste progressed inch by inch until I was fully seated within the tight confines of her inner channel, her knees planted on either side of me, her face level with mine, green eyes clouded with pleasure, waiting for my next command.

I envied her a little then. She was able to just surrender to the pleasure of sex without any limitations. It wasn't submissiveness, but rather trust. Celeste knew that I would bring us both to pleasure and she was along for whatever I had in mind, knowing she would enjoy it.

"Don't move," I whispered, and flexed my member within her.

Celeste's eyes widened with shocked pleasure and her fingers clenched into small fists, her cunt rippling lazily over my cock.

Gripping her hips, I lifted the small, surprisingly light nymph off of my member until only my head remained within her. My shaft glittered in the firelight, drenched with her thick cum, until it disappeared again as I lowered Celeste back down onto me.

"Mmmm," she moaned softly, laying flat palms against my sweating chest as I continued to slowly raise and lower her body over my shaft, trying to angle her so that I rubbed along her g-spot with each stroke.

I could feel my pleasure rising quickly. The last woman I had been with had been the serving girl at the frontier inn I had stayed on before entering the uncharted woods one week prior, and she had been nothing like Celeste, who was possibly the tightest and warmest channel I had ever had the pleasure of entering.

It wouldn't be long until I reached orgasm, and by the way Celeste was rubbing her hands across my skin and moaning loudly against my neck, she was not far behind herself.

I picked up my pace, moving her more rapidly, plunging deep inside her with each piston until I felt the all too familiar pressure of my release. Pausing on the downstroke I held on to Celeste as I shot my seed into her. Something about the sensation must have triggered Celeste's own release because she came around me soon after, her walls spasming violently. Fresh cream leaked out of her over-stuffed cunt, mixing with my cum and running down the sides of my shaft.

"You can remove yourself now," I said breathlessly, and Celeste stood up.

My cock escaped her channel with an almost inaudible 'pop'. Cum leaked from her cunt and down her legs as she stood back, a satiated smirk playing over her soft, red lips. We had been quick, but it had also been a while for each of us, meaning that slow was out of realm of possibility. At that moment I didn't know just how much satisfaction I would eventually get out of Celeste, but for now I was pleased.

I stood as well, pulling my breeches up over my slowly softening member. "That was nice," I commented, "Perhaps you'd like to know what I've been doing out her all by myself now that we got our immediate needs out of the way."

Celeste sat crossed legged on the ground near my fire, which was burning just as bright and hot as when I had started it, fueled as much by magic as much as by wood. "I suppose," she shrugged, trying but failing to sound uninterested.

"Hm," I said, pulling on my tunic and taking a seat next to her on my blanket, "Well. I suppose you could say I was looking for something."

Celeste looked at me, the firelight dancing mystically over her sharp facial features, "There's not much out here but plants and animals."

"That's what everyone keeps telling me," I admitted, "But long ago this place was inhabited by Ancients. And I have reason to believe they left something behind."

"Like what?"

"Treasure," I grinned, her eyes lit up with understanding, and a little fear.

"You're a treasure hunter?"

I nodded, "And a good one at that."

"Well if you'd like, I could take you to one of their abandoned cities."

"Are you serious?" I asked, disbelieving, "You know where one is? I've been following a blind tip from a grizzled old tracker. But if you know...really?"

Celeste nodded and half smiled, "It goes by the name of Hester Roc and it was built around a river just north of here."

I still couldn't believe it. What luck! For a week I had been traveling east, where the tracker swore he had come across an ancient city in his youth. Had Celeste not come along, I would have walked forever until reaching the great sea, with nothing to show for it.

"You'll take me?" I asked, "Truly?"

"Of course," Celeste said softly, "I will enjoy the company."

Suddenly curious to the reason the wood elf was out here all alone, wanderer or not, I simply nodded and lay down, beckoning her over.