Nigkala Tales Pt. 20: Stormy Weather

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Go, I will follow, and hopefully he will not see me. Learn if he is a friend or foe, and what he is doing."

So I went forward. When I sensed he started following me, I looked back quickly, and did not see him. Realizing what he meant earlier, I decided to act as if alone.

When the mage was close enough to talk to, I called out, "Hello, mage, are you friend or foe?"

"None of your business."

"Oh, but it is. I live close by, and I have watched this place from the beginning."

"Go away."

As he was being unfriendly, I chose to open my mind to leaking thoughts, but otherwise guarded. "Tell me your name, at least."

"Go away, or I will call the police."

As I had hoped, asking for his name brought it into his thoughts. "Drake, is it? You will not call them, as you don't want the attention. What are your intentions here?"

"How dare you try to read my mind!" Suddenly, he attacked with a bolt of fire. I sensed his intent before the spell was half spoken, and I moved to the side quickly. His fire missed.

"I have not read your mind, but rather your mind shouted your name."

"You can't move fast enough for this attack!" he said another, and I sensed it was electric based. I just willed it into my offhand, and then discharged it into the air.

"Impossible."

"Keep attacking, and I will get annoyed."

He started to say another spell, but seeing my confidence, decided not to attack. "What manner of mage are you?"

"I am a powerful one."

"What is your interest?"

"I would see this place become great, and a benefit to all. What of you? Why are you here?"

"I am here to study it."

Somehow, I knew that was a lie. "Please don't lie to me. Why are you here?"

"I told you, I am here to study it."

This time, the lie was even more obvious. So I whammied him. "Why are you here?" I saw him shaking off my whammie, so I hit him again, harder. This time, he could not shake it off.

"I want the power of that storm."

"Why do you want it?"

"So I can defeat my enemies."

"That shall not be." I then whammied him again, strongly, and put him to sleep.

I looked about for Jiao-long, and sensed him to my left. Looking directly at him, I said, "I have no true desire to harm him, even though he attacked me without provocation. What do you suggest?"

"I had not realized you had such strong mental attacks. I'll have to add training for that also. As for him, let's see who he is."

"Shall I read his mind to get that?"

"You can do that?"

"Yes. Listening to the surface got me a name. I can go deeper if need be, but it feels dirty, both ethically, and also diving into bad minds seems like it might taint me. Yet, how else to question him? He will lie."

"He may try, but I can place compulsions on him to speak the truth, and fully answer our questions."

"Will you take the lead?"

"Yes. You have little experience, and I suspect even less desire. But watch and learn, because you may need to do this in the future."

"I stand and watch."

With that, Jiao-long began his enchantments, and when he was ready, he coached me into speaking his questions. I encased Drake's feet in stone and sat him on a sandstone bench before Jiao-long woke the mage up. We conducted a long session of questioning, with me speaking Jiao-long's words. I also whammied him to focus on my eyes, but to also think they had red cat-eye irises. Jiao-long also took notes for later. I heard myself say 'time to sleep', so I knew Jiao-long wanted me to whammie him again, so I did.

Once he was sleeping, we spoke. "Derek only has one talisman, and a small library. But his aims are big. He is evil, yet has not done enough for a capital offense. A lesson is in order."

I asked, "What would you suggest?"

"He came to get power, so he shall lose it."

"How so?"

"We take his talisman and library. In their place, we leave a warning."

"I know just the warning to leave. What do we do with him in the meantime?"

"We'll take him to his lair in his own car."

"Do you know how to drive here in the States?"

"I can manage, I think."

"Then let me drive. You can watch him, and I can keep the cops out of our hair."

"Very well."

"Okay, put him in the car, and I'll get the glider." I had to summon a roof rack to hold it, and then got in and started the car. Jiao-long collected his stuff, and they got in. He did another ritual to make Derrick tell me how to get to his lair.

Derrick entered 'Dream Home' to his phone's GPS, and said to follow it. I shrugged, and we went on our way. Three hours, and two stops later, we arrived. Jiao-long took control and had him lead us to his library. There were only ten books, so I put them into a metal mesh backpack I made. He gave us his talisman, and told us a little about it. Jiao-long signaled me, so I whammied him, and placed him in a chair facing the open space before his empty library. I then summoned various colored sand and made an image of a pair of eyes with red cat-eye irises above the words, 'Stay away from the storm.'

Jiao-long raised his eyes at the image, but nodded at the message. Outside, I asked, "Can you hide us for five minutes? I would like to add to the message."

"Oh? Okay." He did a quick ritual, and then nodded. I summoned some sand, and then caused the wind to make it into a miniature sandstorm only a foot and a half tall. I then ran it against and around his car, to sandblast off the paint up to that point. When I finished, I dismissed most of the sand. Then I undid my glider, and dismissed the metal rack I summoned.

"Let's walk somewhere we can get a run, and we can fly home. Although, in this suburb, it might be better if you can make us unnoticed for a few minutes while I get us high in the air."

"I have no idea if there is any open area about."

"Let me check... I see one that way about two dozen blocks away. It must be some kind of park, but it is on the small side."

"Lead on. I can carry the glider since you have a backpack."

I handed it to him, and began jogging. A few minutes later, it turned out to be a dog park. "There doesn't seem to be many people about. Give me the glider, and I'll set it up."

"Wait a bit, and I'll hide us." So I did. When he nodded, I assembled it, and we hooked in.

"Ready. Just give the word."

He said a quick spell, then said, "Go." We ran, and moments later we were in the air. We got back to my place about three hours later.

A week later, we moved our practice to the Farallon Islands. Only one had any people, and we got them to ignore us. This also meant that we could be freer to use magic, as the nearest unknown people would be twenty miles away, or in a boat. Since the islands are a navigation hazard, boats stay away. We would stay three days midweek, with lectures interspersed with practice. Each week, the boat that brought us, also had a few nice food items for the locals, so they wouldn't mind our presence. Back at my place, I studied all the books I had, to learn everything I could. I continued my lessons with Aja.

Adding to the confusion, were the three unpublished books. All were student journals, with varying levels of details and explanations. Trying to determine the ritual from the actions was not easy, as I was still learning many rituals, and the descriptions were so broken up. I didn't know why yet, but my mind seemed to be faster than before, same as my reactions and movements were faster. Jiao-long even commented about how fast I comprehended things, not just my memory skills that I use as an actress.

Jiao-long and I were in the middle of a sparring session when I felt a disturbance from Death Valley. It had been several months, and was now the hottest part of the summer.

"Hold on. Something is happening in Death Valley. You want to join me?"

"No. You know enough now to handle the situation. I will, however, monitor."

"In that case, I'll teleport in."

"He may sense it."

"Maybe. I have some ideas about that. I need to prepare."

I went into my underground library, and changed my outfit. I was now armored in a sand-colored suit. It was less for protection, and more for disguise. Next, I put in the contact lenses with the red cat eye I had bought. Lastly, I equipped myself with the predator talisman. I first teleported to the island we practiced on, where I caused the air to lift me, and I summoned my battle augmentations. Focusing on the talisman, I told it I was confronting another predator, and I wanted its skills added to my own, in case I had to fight. Finally, I teleported to Death Valley, four miles up. Scanning below me, I located the mage. Alerting the talisman, it gave me the raptor's eyes, revealing it was a woman with an odd-looking hand who was in the middle of some sort of ritual. Not far away, was a limo, with someone inside. I sensed no magic in the limo.

Teleporting just outside her ritual, I said, "Hello, mage, are you friend or foe?"

She stood when I arrived, and directly attacked. My speed allowed me to dodge the black bolt, but she quickly followed up with another attack from the strange hand. I countered with a summoned shield, and the green goo was apparently some form of acid. I dropped the shield, readying for another attack. "Stop, or I shall hurt you."

"Die. I will not share this power." This time, another gob of green goo was sent at me, so I summoned a glass shield. The goo slid off.

"I said stop." I then whammied her, and it seemed to bounce.

"Ha! You can't control my mind. Take this bitch." This time, the area got freezing cold, so I countered by raising the heat with the power of Death Valley. I didn't stop when it got hot, but I went even farther. Later I learned it was hot enough to boil water, as her bottled water in the cooler she brought boiled and exploded. Yet, it didn't slow her down.

She cast yet another spell, and I recognized it as a spell to keep me from teleporting. The heat didn't seem to bother her, so I let it go. I let loose a lightning bolt, and it bounced off her.

"Your spells cannot touch me. You can't win." I had to dodge again.

Since my own magic was having a hard time affecting her, I decided to go the physical route. I summoned the sand and wind to cloak us in thick clouds to keep her from seeing. I then summoned a heavy staff, and circled behind her and swung. She evaded the first blow, and blocked the next two blows, but I was swinging too quickly from too many locations, that I was beating her down. When I saw an opportunity, I redirected a body shot up and made contact with her head. It disoriented her long enough for me to get another clear shot at her head, and I knocked her out.

When she went down, I waited a bit to be sure she stayed down. I went and whammied her hard to sleep, but it didn't seem to affect her. So I opened up my senses to see if she had any magic on her. She had four talismans! I took them off her, and enclosed them in stone then metal before I continued my search. That's when I noticed her left hand. It was not human, nor any creature of this world, that I had even heard of. Looking closer with my other senses, I suddenly realized this was from some form of evil creature. I tried another whammie, but her mental shield was still up. I carried her further away, still in the sand cloud, and began a ritual designed to dismiss evil spirits.

When I finished it, the hand was still there, but I sensed its power was diminished. I tried another whammie, and this time it got through. Interrogating her was difficult, because her will was nearly as strong as mine, at least when the interference was there. That is how I learned the hand was from some demon she had summoned for power. It also gave her a strong protection from magic, at least anything I could deliver. I learned a lot about her, and her lairs. She had three. I wanted to de-power her as I had the others, but that meant I had to get rid of the hand somehow.

My best guess was that since the dismissal ritual did not make it go away, it wouldn't work if I tried again. So I thought of another way to get rid of it. I could just chop it off, but that would be a lot of trauma for the body. So instead, I would try to get the body to shed it. I gave her another whammie to ensure she slept. Then I brought up my healing ability. I examined the body to see if it held any other secrets. I was surprised to see demon blood. So I imagined the arm as ending without the hand. I imagined it healthy, but amputated. I also imagined all the demon blood pushed out the arm away from the body. When I was satisfied, I pushed my healing. Within a minute, the hand dropped off, and some blood continued to exit. It was heavily laden with demon blood, so I allowed it to continue. When no more demon blood came out, the blood slowed, and the wound sealed up with a thin cover of fresh skin over it.

I dragged her again, further away, before summoning lava beneath the demon flesh. While it was protected from magic, it was not protected from the earth's heat. It finally caught fire and burned up within a few minutes. I then did another dismissal against evil spirits, and then looked. There was no lingering evil anymore. I dismissed the lava, and covered it with sand. I then picked her up and dismissed the sandstorm. Heading towards the limo, I called for the driver to open the door. He was fearful, so I whammied him. We loaded her in, and I got in after and told him to head for the first lair.

I emptied the lairs of her special books, and yet another talisman. Then I ordered the limo to take her home. I left behind a sand painting, as I had before in each of her lairs. As we drove, I plumbed her mind for other secrets, especially books, which is why I took some books that were not magic from her. I knew she had nothing at home. When we arrived, I sent the driver to take her in. When they went in, I summoned a small sandstorm and sent it around the car, leaving bare metal on the lower half. Then I dismissed the storm, and teleported back to Death Valley to clean up the site. Finally, I ported again, to the island, before teleporting home.

I called for Jiao-long, only to find he was already coming out to meet me on the back lawn. "She was a tough nut to crack. She was also loaded with magic. Come down with me and see what she had." He followed me down to the underground storage area. I placed my duffle bag full of books on the table, and then I pulled out all five talismans. Jiao-long's eyes got larger and larger the more I brought things out.

"Please, pull the books out of the bag, while I change." I proceeded to remove my armor, contact lenses, and I released my augmentations. After putting away my stuff, I went over to the table to look at everything. When Jiao-long emptied the bag, I took it aside and dismissed it.

"Did you learn who this mage was?"

"She seemed to think of herself as Kate, no other name."

"Odd. What did you learn about her?"

"She had three lairs, and all these things. She seemed very old, yet her body was only middle-aged. Oh, she had made some sort of deal with a demon to replace her left hand."

"What! You fought Kate Demon Hand?"

"I suppose you could call her that."

"You don't remember reading about her in the journals?"

I thought a bit, and said, "No one by that name was mentioned in anything I have read."

"Are you sure? Wasn't there a warning about going against a powerful mage?"

I thought about it some more. "I recall reading some things that could be describing her, especially her apparent immunity to magic and combat power."

"Speaking of that, how did you kill her?"

"I did not kill her."

"What! She is still alive? You better be worried. She'll track you down. The Demon Hand will kill you if she can."

"Perhaps, but after I knocked her out, I removed the demon hand, and burnt it."

"You cut it off? I know your blades are sharp, but I would have thought the demon's power would have made it even more difficult than my scales. Even so, it will regrow, from the demon blood in her system."

"I didn't cut it off. I felt that would be too traumatic, so I used Inanna's healing to have the body shed the hand and seal off the stump. Before I did that, I used it to scan for other non-human stuff and found the blood. I also used its power to push out the demon blood. When I left her, there was only human flesh. When I did an evil spirit dismissal, her mental defenses lowered enough that I could affect her. After burning that hand, I did another. I detected no sign of evil after that."

Jiao-long's eyes got big. "You ended the demon contract. She doesn't have much time before the demon comes for her soul. I don't think she is long for this world, so you may not have to worry for long. I'll also send out the word. Many will appreciate the news."

We spent several hours examining my haul, learning the traps and either removing or bypassing them. Over the next week, Jiao-long looked over the books and added them to my homework. The day after that, I got a call from my agent, and they wanted me for another sequel to my elf character. This time, we would be filming in the Amazon. I accepted, and Jiao-long said he would take a break to spread the word, and learn about what she had been doing. We agreed to meet here once shooting was over.

I decided to take Aja with me, so she could tell me all about the Amazon while I was there. I also took the predator, in case I was attacked. I made sure to let the predator know that I did not expect to be attacked, but I would appreciate its watching over me.

The role called for me to be sent to a jungle to prepare for a mating ritual. The director wanted me to be wearing a very revealing outfit made from the forest. After two days without any success from the costumers, I asked Aja for assistance. Using an image I saw in the director's head, I scouted the forest for materials, and processed it by Aja's instructions into material suitable for an outfit. I did my best to not make any cuts, and to use natural methods to glue the parts together into a loincloth that was very colorful. It even had an authentic snakeskin belt, from a snake that was killed by one of the crew when he encountered it. I used some of Inanna's healing power to make the skin thicker and stronger. As it was relatively simple to make, it was ready the next morning.

The director loved it, and wanted other elves to wear similar outfits. I fessed up, and was sent out to gather more materials. Two hours later, I was showing the costumers how to prepare the material. I did, however, use tree bark for the other belts, as we didn't have any more snakes. The local ecological advisor nixed any hunting, even if we ate the snake meat. Once I showed the costumers how to make the outfit, I left them to it. I stayed in the nature outfit, as it was actually rather comfortable. I did use some augmentation to harden my skin, so I could walk barefoot, and didn't have to worry about scratches. Since the loincloth was only six inches across at the front, anyone to the side could see my vagina. It did go down nearly three feet, front and back, and I wore it low on my hips. I took a break in the afternoon to enchant it with a preservation spell while no one was looking.

Due to the rigors of filming in the jungle, it took a long time. Since I wore the native outfit all the time, I got more offers than usual. I usually had a quickie at lunch and a more extended romp after dinner. Most nights, I invited someone to sleep with me. My morning routine started with makeup, which included a wig with long hair, elf ears, contact lenses, and some coloring to change my tanned skin to elfish colors. The cast was made up as elves, humans, orcs, and a few others. My character was usually aroused, and when any male came close, she would go to have sex with the male. She could barely explain her need even as she undressed her prey. When she finished, she usually ran up a tree and into the canopy.