Sex Wizards - Mastery Ch. 01

The grandmaster is seated behind his desk pinching the bridge of his nose with long suffering look on his face. He's started keeping his dark beard trimmed short over his strong jaw, though just like the hair on his head, parts of it are streaked with white and gray. I'll admit it's a good look for him. Even annoyed, he makes a handsome picture.

"I can come back," I offer.

Arlon opens his eyes and gives me a close-lipped grin. "No, it's fine. Allisande is just a wizard who does not like to be told no," he says with a sigh. "What brings you here?"

I feel my face getting hot before I even start. "I'm... having some trouble with casting," I say as I approach his desk. I pull out mine and Galiva's spells. "I tried casting a mastery level abjuration spell with Galiva yesterday. It went well, but this is all we got out of it."

Arlon takes the focuses and rolls them between his fingers. "There's barely a hint of your energy in here," he says. At my look, he raises an eyebrow, a shadow of a grin crossing his face. "When you've cast as many spells as I have, you start to feel the difference."

I sit down in the chair across from him with a sigh. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong," I say. "I did everything by the book, yet every spell I cast ends up like this."

"It's not uncommon for the most willing conduits to have trouble casting," Arlon says. "Rest assured, you are not the first person to have this problem. I'd wager that most who study at the Crux come in with a natural predisposition for either casting or conduiting, though in some of us, that predisposition is stronger."

He sets the focuses on his desk, a small grin crossing his face. "I remember Garrett was in a similar situation to yours when he first started casting whereas I had the opposite problem. It took me some time to be humble enough to be an effective conduit."

"Garrett had trouble casting?" That revelation surprises me just as much as the revelation about Arlon doesn't. The half-orc doesn't seem like one who'd have an issue with casting.

"It was quite a block he had to overcome," Arlon says. "I wish he was in Straetham for you to talk to, but he's in the Eastern Reach helping with the aftermath of an earthquake. He's not scheduled to be back for another couple of weeks."

I sigh and drum my fingers on his desk. It feels a little better to know that I'm not the only one who's had trouble. "Do you know how he got past it?" I ask.

Arlon chuckles, and it's one of the few times I've seen him smile when he's not planning something particularly sadistic. "The same way I got past my own," he says. "When we were adepts, the grandmaster of the Crux was a wizard by the name of Faunette, and she saw our unique situations as a learning opportunity."

He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest, a fond look on his face. "She collared us both for a week. Seeing Garrett's perfect submission helped me understand how to embrace my own, whereas I think he was so focused on Faunette that he learned something of how to discover his own dominance."

I still have a hard time picturing Arlon conduiting. The thought of it makes an errant shiver rush over my skin. "What does collaring mean?" I ask, though I've been around the Crux long enough to have an idea.

Arlon looks at me thoughtfully. "It's the opposite of marking you as a target," he says. "When a wizard is collared, it means that they're unavailable for casting save for whoever collared them. It can be used for any school, but it's very effective with enchantment and some of the more subtle abjuration spells. A collared wizard is at the beck and call of whoever has collared them, for both casting and non-casting requirements. It's a high protocol submission for a set period of time."

I remember reading about protocol in some of my abjuration books. From what I understand, it means that the caster sets stricter rules and requirements on a conduit to elevate the efficacy of a spell before, during and even after casting. It also entails punishments for breaking those rules. It's no one-afternoon thing, and I can't deny that I like the idea of it.

Arlon seems to read my mind. "Would you like to try?" he asks. "It's been some time since I've collared anyone, and with no one currently petitioning for mastery, now is a good time for me to do so."

I bite the inside of my cheek as I mull it over, a knot of anticipation forming in my gut. If it could help me get through this casting block, maybe it'd be worth it. "How do stops work while collared?"

Arlon looks pleased by the question. "If you issue a stop, then the protocol is dropped for us to talk and renegotiate," he says. "Depending on what you decide, we can lift protocol again under new parameters, or we can drop it all together. The conduit always has the final say."

I lean back in my chair as I consider it. The idea of being under Arlon's control for a whole week sounds as daunting as it sounds interesting. What goes into a day for the grandmaster of the Crux?

"I'm interested," I say at last. "Let's talk."

I see a bit of excitement hidden in Arlon's normally stoic face. He looks me over, sizing me up. "Does a full week sound like too much?"

"A week sounds fine," I say. I'll have to let Marguerite and Allis know that I won't be able to make our usual divination casting this week, but they'll understand. We've been trying to gather information about Diran with no luck, and I think all three of us are a little burnt out on it. The break might do us good.

Good," Arlon says. "Are there any schools you don't want me casting?"

Negotiations used to feel so awkward. Laying out what I wanted and what I was okay with was hard at first, but in the past six months at the Crux, I've had to get used to it. "Corpimancy is a soft limit," I say. I've only ever done it with Galiva, and as much as I trust Arlon, I'm not sure if I want him putting needles through me quite yet.

"What about mastery level spells?" Arlon asks. "I'll admit, I usually don't collar anyone who's been here less than a year, but you've demonstrated a willingness for all schools, so I'm making an exception."

I rub the back of my neck as I think about that. Mastery level abjuration, illusion and transmutation don't scare me. Conjuration shouldn't be an issue because mastery level spells usually just involve a longer period of chastity. Even high level evocation can be fine as long as -

"No canes." Olbric and I discovered they were not my brand of pain pretty quick, and he'd spent the rest of the night apologizing while kissing every welt on me. "And mastery level enchantment scares me a little bit, but it's not a limit."

Arlon leans forward, steepling his fingers in front of him. "Why is that?"

My grin comes out crooked. "The overwhelm spell y'all did when you made me a target is the only time I've ever dropped after a casting."

"Ah."

I shrug. "I just... haven't quite figured out what's too much with enchantment, I think."

"Understood," Arlon says, though there's a grin already tugging at his lips. "Would you be alright with me easing you into some higher level enchantment?"

The idea of it sends a thrill of excitement up my spine. "I'm fine with that."

Arlon smiles. I can see the ideas already running through his head. It makes my nerves thrum, because honestly, there's not much I haven't enjoyed conduiting for, and Arlon is a wizard who knows how to cast. "Do you want me to tell you my ideas, or no?"

My stomach does a strange little somersault. "Surprise me."

Arlon chuckles, and the sound of it makes the hair on my neck stand on end. "Then starting tomorrow morning at eight, you belong to me, Dominai," he says, voice pitched low. "Don't be late."