I wasn't a great athlete. I didn't do many workouts, or even do situps everyday. I did however, run. Because when that fight or flight instinct kicks in and flight wins...I want to make sure that I'm able to make good use of it.

When I got to thinking about it, I wasn't that great of a thinker either. If I'd had time to stop and think things through I might not have jumped out of the tree and started off on my own. I had friends who used to do a role playing game and the running joke with them was "Never separate the party". That rule works in real life too. Don't separate the party, especially when the party is just two people. It's hard to have each others back when you're miles apart.

"Hell." I muttered. I'd thought I was saving Wish by leading the zombies away, but now I was realizing that I'd just made her a target for Six. I pushed off the ground and into the air. As soon as my feet left the ground I started shifting again. I hadn't shifted this much in a long time, and it was taking a bit out of me. But I had to if I was going to make it back to Wish in time. The larger form or the deer compacted and became that of a snow owl, and took flight.

I headed higher and turned to head back towards the camp. If she was leaving that location, the only place I could remember on the map was Sarheep Camp. That was most likely her current destination. Hopefully I'd be able to reach her before Six rested enough to attack again.

It took surprisingly less time to get back than it did to run away. I guess when you're making sure that hordes of the undead are following you, it slows you down a bit. I headed lower to see if I could find any tracks leading away from the tree and out of the camp. I found them, pacing over the shuffling prints of the zombies.

I followed them until I found her. Wish was laying on the ground. I was too late. Six had attacked. Again the compact form of the bird, stretched and (far too slowly for me) became my human form again, clothed in my normal attire. I never knew where my clothes went when I shifted but they always came back when I returned to this form.

I knelled down next to her and pulled Wish's head up into my lap. "Wish! Wish! Wake up!" I just needed to know that she was still alive and that I wasn't so late that she was dead. "Please be alive." I said under my breath. If Six had killed her, there was going to be hell to pay.

If she woke up soon she would need water. I gently laid her head back down and tried to remember what all I'd seen as I'd been flying. It was harder then you might think. When you're dead set on finding one person or thing you tend to block out things you think are "unimportant". At the time I didn't need water...now though.

I stopped and focused my thoughts. The map. The map. Where were we and where was the nearest body of water? Wait they should be very close to water by now. there was a river cutting through the continent and she hadn't crossed that yet. I couldn't shift again. I'd over-extended myself with that already. Instead I hurried away from Wish a good ways, in case I got this wrong, and focused my will down at my feet. I released the force and was propelled into the air. I kept my eyes closed as I regulated the force I used. I didn't open them again until I was sure that I wasn't going to fall.

Before me there was air. Below me however I could make out the river just a bit away from us. this was good. Very good. It wouldn't be hard to carry her to the water and make sure she was hydrated. On instinct I turned and looked back where I'd come. There was an army of ants coming more or less the way I had. Damnit. They'd followed me. I had to get Wish across the river now. I turned back and looked again. there was a large island like landmass in the middle of the river. If we could get there I could set a spell and maybe the running water would ground the magic keeping the zombies alive.

I lost focus. Have you ever been in the middle of something important, something that involved your complete attention or bad things could happen? If yes, have you ever lost that focus? Well, that's what happened. I lost focus and I fell. As I was falling to the ground I did everything I could to get it back, but when you're falling to the earth at the speed I was there was really only one thing you're able to focus on...the splash (if you've never been in that situation you'll have to take my word for it).

I was able to focus enough to soften the landing, and by soften I mean I wasn't killed. But only just. There were going to be some pretty bruises on my chest soon. If I was lucky I'd live long enough to bitch about them later. As it was there was enough adrenaline pumping through my veins to get me up and running back to Wish. And she was awake!

I rushed over to her, bent down and kissed her forehead. "You have no idea how happy I am that you're alive!" I gave her just a second and continued, "But we have to go." With that I picked her up and started running towards the river. It didn't take long for those bruised ribs to start aching, and the longer I carried her the more I was convinced they weren't just bruised.

"I might drop you soon, so I need to tell you that if I do...you need to keep running. Run til you're on the other side of the river. I thought I'd gotten rid of the zombies, but they're behind us." There are times in your life that you say things and once you've said them, you realize that by voicing the thought you made it come true. Almost like saying "I think we're winning!" in the middle of a fight. Well...Yeah. I dropped her. She went tumbling and so did I. I did my best to take most of the thumps for her, but I was sure I'd missed one or two.

When we stopped I looked to her. "Keep going. I'll be right there." Of course this would have sounded more heroic had I not still been laying in the sand...face down. I'd been forced to deal with pain my who life. I'd been trained to work through it, to use it to my advantage. And I had done that before. But this was pain on a scale even I wasn't used to, and I've been flung around by gods...literally. Slowly I pushed myself back up, I had to make sure Wish made it to the island.

I eventually got to my feet. Damnit. I was a shifter. I was a wizard. I was hurting like hell and I wasn't going to take it any more. Gritting through my teeth I muttered, "I am wizard...hear me roar." just as the zombies came over the dune.

The last thing Wish remembered was waking up from Six's ballroom dream and heading towards Sarheed Camp although at a rather slow pace. By the time Victor had found her, the sun was hanging brightly in the sky and the air of Heruin's desert was sweltering and unyielding. Eventually after about ten or so miles, the thick of the heat had gotten to her and she passed out again, thankfully not from Six this time. Neither herself nor Victor had proper food or drink in the last few days, being as how they were always on the run lately, so pressing onto Sarheed Camp soon after waking from Six's illusion was probably not the best idea.

Despite this exhaustion, Wish was coaxed awake by someone. It was a voice she was slightly familiar with, but a waking dizziness kept her from remembering it right away and from opening her eyes. Wish became aware that her head was resting in the person's lap who was calling to her, but as soon as this feeling of comfort was realized, it was drawn away and her head fell back into the sand.

As Victor went off to search for water, she managed to reach her hands towards her closed eyelids and gently brush the sand off of them before opening her olive colored eyes. The sun nearly blinded her as she looked skywards upon waking, a disapproving hiss immediately uttered from her lips. Fingers dug into the sand and as she moved her arms behind her, Wish slowly pushed herself to a sitting position and looked around for that recognizable voice that had once been trying to rouse her.

That voice had belonged to Victor and he was hurriedly making his way back to her, although he had the distinct appearance of a man who was wounded and in pain. She arched a questioning brow at him and even more so when he bent down to kiss her forehead. That was odd, she thought and momentarily wondered if Victor was starting to become delirious from lack of food and water like herself. Or perhaps he had just been generally concerned.

"Victor, I-" Wish started, but those words were cut off as he told her they had to leave and she was grabbed up into his arms. She sucked in a breath from being lifted off her feet and into his arms quickly, but looking over his shoulder for a moment, she could see what was urgent. There was a lovely horde of zombies heading towards them.

While she appreciated Victor's heroism, it was perhaps not the best idea in his situation. Being a healer and resting within his arms for even the shortest of moments, Wish noticed several things. There was a definite wincing and pained reaction which resulted from Victor picking up Wish and she was sure she hadn't gained that much weight. No, she could sense more or less bruises and a few broken bones that were causing pain to his torso area.

"Put me down! Put me down!" she suddenly demanded fully awake and aware of the situation now. Her words, whether Victor had heard them or not, were taken seriously. Victor warned her that they might fall and that's exactly what had happened. Both of them went tumbling to the ground, rolling a few feet to a stop as sand flew into the air above them for a moment. She had landed on Victor, her chest crossed over his back. Wish imagined he wanted to soften the blow for her and while it was in no way painful in comparison to her fall down the stairs at Foresight's, she could imagine Victor felt like Hell right now.

Still, the Sage was using every ounce of his remaining strength in attempt to push himself up and fight off an unholy stampede of brain hungry zombies. At this point, Wish was wondering if Victor was trying to look heroic or foolish; either could have worked at this stage but she grasped for the latter. And then he was telling her to just leave him and make it safely to the island. Gossamer-like wings fluttered behind her irritated as he got up to leave and ready himself in a defensive stance for the oncoming undead.

She stood, lips pursed tightly for a moment and then let out a determined breath. Wish went right up behind Victor and wrapped her arms about his waist. This time, before he could protest, she was yanking him away, though carefully as she could for she knew of his wounds. Their feet led them to the river, one that seemed a sanctuary that could put at least twenty feet of water between them and the zombies.

"You really need to leave the flying to those born with wings, Victor Sage," Wish said shaking her head.

It might have been a bit of a surprise; after all, she didn't appear to be well defined in the muscle department. Nevertheless, a fae's wings could be amazingly strong and with this thought in mind, her wings lifted and she was flying across the river with Victor. And they landed... much more gracefully this time.

Wish unwrapped her arms from about Victor's waist and pointed to the ground for him to sit or lay down, lest he hurt himself again. She moved to the edge of the river and waited as the parade of zombies finally reached the opposite side of the river where they had once been. The zombies all moaned disgruntled and frustrated at having lost their meal, staring with what might have been contempt at the river. Wish knew no matter how much they might have tried, there was no crossing for the zombies. Instinctively, zombies did not like water and the twin rivers, the Claudelle and Gael, ran all the way through Heruin, only creating a small island in the middle where Victor and Wish currently were. So for the moment, they were safe.

Kneeling down, Wish cupped water into her hands from the river and drank, enough to get her hydrated and feeling a bit more alive. Though her hunger did not ebb, this would do for now. After, she was finished, she carefully carried more water within her hands over to Victor. She pressed her fingertips to his lips and let him get his fill of water as well, doing this a few times back and forth. The zombies, still lingering on the other side, watched rather impatiently hoping either Victor or Wish would be stupid enough to cross again for some reason. This, however, wouldn't happen and the zombies didn't even want to get within five feet of the river bank.

"Aye, we're safe... for now anyway," Wish said sitting next to Victor. Her hands instinctively reached for Victor's shirt before he could stop her. "Let me see your wounds. You can be pretty reckless sometimes, you know?"

So this is how it's going to be.

After healing Victor, the two were able to continue their journey to Sarheed Camp where hopefully some food and rest might await them. However, though this was still a promising idea, she did not approve of Victor's other plans. The fool was going to practically sacrifice himself as bait. He was going to try and draw Six into his subconscious and trick the demon. This thought had her fretting, though on the outside, her face was a blank emotionless slate.

Apparently Victor was planning to build a barrier around him himself with runes, enchantments and barriers as well as protecting her while meeting Six in the realm of dreams (or in this case, nightmares). Why did this seem like such a bad idea to her? Maybe she was overreacting and things would turn out just fine and dandy. Mostly though, she felt angry at Victor and worried. How could a person be so confident in their level of concentration after everything that had happened during their journey?

When she had suggested the idea of them sleeping together, rather than separately as she could be close to Victor should the need arise, this idea was shot down quickly. Victor's only defense seemed to be that everything was going to be okay and that he wasn't going to fail. Wish had slapped Victor once when they had first met and she had to keep her fists clenched to stop herself from doing it a second time. His jovial and optimistic attitude seemed to irritate her further and further. This agitation was eventually replaced by a sinking feeling in her stomach and then strangely... loss, though she hadn't lost anything, yet.

You'll just play the part of the hero again and hope it succeeds...

Sarheed Camp eventually showed itself to Wish and Victor. The small desert city popped up along the horizon, a town made from dried mud huts. Few tents were strung along the city center, mostly belonging to merchants. When they got to the town, Wish looked around for the closest inn and tavern and pointed Victor's brown colored eyes to that direction.

"Let's go get something to eat," Wish said her voice rather quiet, "and then... sleep."

The two made their way to the Sarheed's Tavern. Upon entering, the tavern consisted of a tiny bar area with a few empty tables. Beyond the bar in a hallway were a few closed doors leading to rooms for sleeping. The place was small and clearly didn't see many visitors. People seemed to make homes here rather than choose it as a vacation spot.

Wish sat down at one of the tables with Victor and looking into her packs, she grimly realized that they were both running out of gold. Her funds from working the short amount of time at Foresight's were dwindling and she wondered how much longer they could last? Eventually, depending on how much longer her journey with the shifter lasted, they might have to switch to camping outside and finding food for themselves, which she didn't really have a problem with. For now though, they ordered a cheap stew that was on special and some badly watered down tea. Any other time, she might have thought this a terrible meal, but considering how famished both of them had been, it seemed a banquet.

After finishing their meals in silence, Wish went and booked them a room with two beds. For a moment, she contemplated suggesting to Victor they could save money with a room with one bed, but knew that was a losing battle. Victor locked the door to their room behind them and before he could say anything else to her, she was already pulling her boots off and climbing onto the pile of animal pelts that was to be her bed. A sheet (blankets were possibly too hot for Heruin's weather) was pulled over her wings and up to her chin.

It was apparent that she didn't want to watch Victor putting up all his runes and protection spells as he readied himself for meeting Six. Despite her reluctance to look at him, Wish would always be listening should he call out to her for help. Her face was buried into the worn feather pillow and olive colored eyes were closed off to the world around her. It took so much effort for her not to scream in anger into her pillow. Instead, she was able to manage muttering some words.

"Good luck, Victor," she said, "and good night."

He waited. There was a time and place for everything and he was waiting for his time with Wish. Of course he'd had to take care of the wizard first. He watched through the eyes of the zombies as Wish and Victor made their way across the river and headed towards Sarheed Camp. It was funny that the two of them would be going back into a populated area. After what he did the last time it was a bold move. Of course he wouldn't do that again, it'd be too predictable. And where's the fun in that?

No, it was time that he took a much more "hands on" approach. Pulling his vision back into himself, he stood from the bed, pushing a corpse out of his way. The demon looked in the mirror across the room. He stood at his full 6' 5". He was naked as the day he arrived in Aleris. Six had to admit, he was very impressive looking. For just a brief moment he considered putting clothes on but realized that it'd be a crime to deny this view to the world.

He'd been feeding since his last visit to Wish, he was stronger now than he was the last times he'd faced the duo. Oh, they were in for a surprise. The thought of it excited him. He was looking forward to the next few nights. It promised to be very fun. A smile broke across his face, "I love my life." And he left.

Traveling could take a while when you're walking through a desert on foot. However when you could fly it wasn't nearly as long or as tiring. As a matter of fact it was almost enjoyable. He'd spent enough time tormenting both the Fae and the Wizard that he could feel them in Sarheed shortly after he landed. They'd already found themselves an inn and settled in for the night. It didn't take much to convince the inn keeper to give him the room down the hall from theirs. If his guess about the mageling was correct he'd have spells up warning him if he got too close.

He settled down for the night. It was going to be a long one he could tell. As soon as he settled in he reached out, searching for the mage's spells, and wards. They were there, just as he knew they would be. He projected himself into the other room. As soon as he did Victor's eyes opened and stared right at him. "Hello Vic." he said putting an emphasis on the man's name. Looking around he could tell that while Wish lay in bed, surrounded by Sage's barrier, the man himself was just sitting in a chair, waiting.

As the wizard opened his mouth to speak, Six rushed him. Instead of tackling him to the ground, as one would expect, he went into Victor's body. More specifically into his mind. As soon as he was there he began his work, twisting his spells, making Victor see what he wanted the man to see. He didn't waste his time with a pleasant scene as he had with Wish. No, he wanted to get this killing out of the way so that he could proceed to the real treasure. The Fae was going to taste so good.

Currently he threw Victor into a sea...of blood. The man was barely treading water, his mouth occasionally dipping below the surface. He would emerge sputtering blood, but swallowing most of it as he inhaled for oxygen. "I'm sorry, can you not swim? I assumed after you were so eager to cross the river that you could." he chuckled. Six put his hand on Victor's head and pushed him back under, and held him there until Victor stopped moving. Then grabbing him by the hair he pulled him back up. As his mouth came above the water line he gasped and started breathing again.

After about an hour of doing this, killing, resurrecting, and killing again, Six finally grew tired of it. Upon bringing him back to life for the hundredth time Six, continued pulling him up. The demon tossed Victor over his head. Before the mage hit the bloody sea again he landed on a wooden cross that seemed to have appeared from nowhere. Which of course it had. Six made it appear because that was what he wanted to happen. This was his playground. This was where he was King and held Court.

Rope sprang up from the sea and wrapped around Vic's arms and legs, once they were secured the cross floated into the air, Victor's feet in the air. "So, Mister Sage. Any last words before I kill you and go after your girlfriend? And believe me, I'm going after her next. I can't wait to get into that head. Of course, once you're dead the barrier will be gone and so will all your spells. Then I'll be able to walk down the hall from my room and it won't be just her head I'll be entering." He wagged his eyebrows in a lewd way, "If you catch my drift." [ Show content ] after a pause he added, "I'm going to penetrate her with my penis in every hole she has, and most likely make a couple more to enter...just in case you didn't get my innuendo." [ Hide content ]

With that last bit of boasting done, Six stood back and waited to see if the wizard had any last words.

We made it to Sarheed Camp well before sunset, with enough time to get a hot meal and cold drink before bed. As we prepared for the night before us I couldn't help noticing that Wish was kind of cute. Of course my brain always went to the worse possible place in times of stress. Apparently my heads were battling it out for which one was going to be in control. I couldn't have that, not right now. I had to think with my brain not my...well.

If a wizard tries to spell without his whole concentration, it could lead to disastrous results. I'd heard of a beginner wizard who wasn't focused, trying a simple fire spell. The entire village was burnt to the ground and no one survived. With that sobering thought in my head I focused on the task at hand.

I spent the next three hours laying spells and charms down around the room. As I was finishing up the last rune on the wall behind the door, Wish came in. I however was the picture of concentration and focus. But she had a very nice pair of legs. Hey you can't blame me for noticing, I am after all a man. A man who could finally see an end to this adventure and could maybe start thinking of life afterwards.

Shaking my head I re-focused on the rune before me. "You know, you should probably get to bed now. That way I have enough time to get the protective barrier up before Six gets here." How was I sure that he'd be there that night? Well, I was pretty sure. Really pretty sure. Yeah, that made me feel better. I read somewhere that confidence was 90% of success. Of course I also read that you can't always believe what you read.

As Wish got on the bed, I gave her my best "we're going to make it through this ok" smile. I've always been a bad liar though. So I was pretty sure that she wasn't buying into what I was selling. But no one could say I didn't give it my best try. I closed my eyes and focused on the bed and the sigils I'd placed around it. Using them as a focus point, I cast the protection barrier around the bed and Wish. Then, I brought up the early warning spells I'd put up around the room.

It was quiet for the longest of times. I'd almost fallen asleep when all of my spells went off at once. One minute everything was quiet, the next alarms and bells where going off in my head. I'd made sure that it would only be internal, that last thing we needed was the local guard stumbling in in the middle of a demon battle. Hell, hopefully there wouldn't be a battle. If things went according to his plans Six would show up and he'd be able to talk him out of all of this.

I opened my eyes and looked directly at Six. "Morning Sunshine." Well, that is what I was going to say before Six rushed me and drew me into a spell. I could feel him worming his way into my brain, like leach digging in deeper to get closer to the blood. Blood. I should have known that it would use my thoughts against me at that time. Almost as soon as I thought about it, I was sinking in a sea of thick red liquid. It didn't take long to realize it was blood.

I've mentioned before that I run on a daily basis. It's good to be able to make "strategic retreats" when needed. So, yes I run. However, ever since I was a little boy, and saw a neighbor drown, I've had this fear of water. Blood is thicker than water. Which means it's harder to swim in. I was doing okay for a minute or two, keeping my face above the surface but then I'd slip a little farther down and the coppery tang of blood filled my mouth.

When you're drowning they say to stay calm and not thrash, however that's easier said than done. It's a lot more simple to say "stay calm" when things around you are going to shit, than it is to actually be calm when that aforementioned shit hit the fan. I kicked and pushed my way back to the surface and when I got there I gasped for air. It was probably the worse mistake I could have made. In my rush to get air, I swallowed a heaping helping of blood.

If you've ever cut yourself you know that your first instinct is to put the cut into your mouth. That small bitter taste of blood was nothing compared to swallowing a mouthful of it. Take a tablespoon of corn syrup and stick it in your mouth. Then, make it into a cup. It's hard to swallow and then all you want to do is spit it back out. But you can't. Especially when you're trying not to drown.

I can't really tell you how it feels to choke on blood, but it's not a pleasant experience. Luckily I was above the "water line" now and wouldn't have to worry about it again. Of course it would be too easy if that was all that happened. This was a massive hallucination brought on by one of the most sadistic demons I'd even seen.

Before I could get a good "clean" breath in I felt a hand on my head pushing me back under. It held me there, and as it did I couldn't hold my breath any longer. My lungs burned and screamed at me that they needed oxygen. Of course this wasn't a fact that I was unaware of. And when I couldn't hold it any longer, the last bit of air I had came rushing out. Before I could close my mouth again, blood came rushing in.

I died. Everything went black. There was nothing. No light at the end of the tunnel. No fiery pits of damnation. Just, black. I don't know how long I was dead, but suddenly everything came rushing back to me. Air, light, vision, motion, everything. I was alive again. And just when I came to grips with that, my mouth was full of blood again. I died repeatedly over what felt like a thousand years. I have no idea how much time actually passed.

And finally I was alive again, and completely out of the blood. Before my mind could fully process what was happening I was airborne and landing on something hard. My arms jerked out to either side of me, and ropes were suddenly binding me to whatever I was laying on. I was hung upside down, my weight pressing on my arms causing me excruciating pain.

Pain was something I could live with, it was something I'd trained myself to deal with. The blood (irony) rushing to my head was almost enough to make me pass out. However I was able to keep it together. The demon teased me and asked if there were any last words I wanted to say. Then he talked about Wish and what he'd do to her once I was dead. For years my temper had gotten me in trouble. Someone would say or do something that pissed me off and I would fly off the handle at them. Afterwards there was usually fire, explosions, and lots of property damage.

That same anger however, had also saved my butt more than once. This time for example, it brought my mind back to why I'd left myself open to Six again in the first place. As I looked at the demon I focused my thoughts. Closing my eyes, I found myself opening my sight, when I opened my eyes again I could see everything for what it really was. When a wizard uses their sight, all masks fall. Any spells that were concealing appearances or hiding things would be useless. Nothing hides from the sight.

As I brought my sight down upon Six I confirmed what I'd thought for weeks now. Six was a demon...partly. Six was only half demon. However he was pulling on power from the other half. He wasn't a half breed, half demon, half human. No, he was truly half of a demon. And he didn't even realize it himself. Coughing our more blood, I tried laughing, it came out more like a growl though.

"Yeah, I've got some last words." I was breathing deeply at this point, "How about a deal? I can give you what you want. I can give you more power. You don't even realize you're only half of your full self." I could tell I had his attention at this point. He wasn't gloating any more. "You leave Wish alone, forever, and I'll make you whole. I know the spell that'll do it." I could see the doubt in Six's eyes, "Come on, what have you got to lose? It's not like I'm asking you not to come after me. Just leave Wish alone."

Suddenly I was back in our room, just me and Wish. I fell forward out of my chair, and gasped for air. Once the thumping in my ears stopped I could hear another thumping coming from the hall. Someone was walking towards our room. I grabbed my staff and used it to help myself to my feet. I wasn't about to go toe to toe with him if I wasn't standing...at least to begin with. The door opened and Six, the real flesh and blood Six, stepped into our room.

"Hey good lookin'. Whatcha got cookin'?"

Wish knew she was dreaming because the sun was warm and comforting on her skin. It wasn't the punishing and harsh desert sun from Heruin; this was much more peaceful. For a moment, she wondered how she could lay back so leisurely on a bed of flowers soaking up the rays of sun with everything else that had been going on. But why shouldn't she have allowed herself to enjoy this one dream, this one fleeting instance that had been so far very nice? With her olive colored eyes, she stared up at the cerulean colored sky and let out a sigh.

Slowly she began to push herself up, the softness of grass and white petal flowers filling the space between her fingertips. Wish closed her eye and breathed in; even the air smelled pleasant as if all matter of flora was in bloom and in harmony scent wise. However, in that one breath, she suddenly found herself thinking back to Victor and wondering what he was dreaming about? Was he safe? Or did she need to wake up and rescue him from Six?

I still think you're a fool for doing this...

Her eyes opened and suddenly, the shifter was there sitting before her. Wish blinked at him in surprise and reached out to touch his shoulder. In this action, Victor parted his lips ever so slightly as if to say something. Instead, the sky suddenly seemed to open up, parting blue color and white clouds to reveal an unearthly darkness. From this void of a sky, blood started raining; softly at first and then harder until it was flooding the field of flowers and eventually her and Victor.

Wish found herself floating in the thick of it, trying to keep herself swimming in the sudden sea of blood. Wings were never fun to swim with though and with the density of the blood, she couldn't get out. She looked around frantically for Victor who had seemingly already disappeared beneath the depths of the crimson ocean. And when at last she could no longer keep herself afloat, she had woken up.

To hell with this! she thought breathing in heavily as she quickly sat up, pushing away from her bed of pelts. I'm going to have a damn nervous breakdown!

As soon as she got up, there was an audible humming sound that shortly after dissipated. The barrier Victor had been casting around her was gone. She looked around for the Sage and found him tumbling out of his chair he had been sleeping in. This was followed by him rushing to get off the ground and grab his staff in such a manner that it appeared someone or something was chasing him.

"Victor?" Wish questioned in an attempt to get an answer out of him. However, before she could get any sort of reply, there was the terrible sound of heavy footfall thundering in their direction. This noise got louder and louder until finally it stopped at their room's door that was eventually thrust open to reveal Six.

The demon entered without so much as an invitation (but when did Six ever ask for anything), and stared the two of them down closing the door behind him. At first, Wish noticed that Six looked a little more solid than usual, as if the actual demon was here instead of some subconscious perversion. Then, this realization was followed with panic. Wish practically jumped to the other side of her bed, reached for the closest thing - that being a wood chair - and threw it at Six. The chair, miserably, just broke into pieces over Six's chest as if he were some sort of wall.

It had occurred to her that maybe she should have used magic instead of a chair, but hey, she just woke up. Not to mention, she had no idea what was going on. And she was furthermore confused when Victor finally spoke up, addressing the demon.

"Hey good lookin'. Whatcha got cookin'?"

"What... are you doing?" Wish hissed at Victor. What was he doing indeed? Was he making some sort of deal with Six? Maybe the mage had gotten so tired of protecting Wish that he was just going to hand her over to Six. If that was the case, she was going to rip both Six and Victor a new one for waking her up. There was no way she was going to go peacefully, at least not without a fight. It was the way of the Fae.

How could this be possible? The better question was how could this be possible and he not know it? However, after Sage made his announcement it made sense. It explained a lot of things, he should have been more powerful, he could feel it. The shock of the realization hit him hard enough to let Victor go.

He opened his eyes and was back in his room. The demon was furious. This spineless mage found out a secret and now was tempting him with making him whole again. He stood and his footsteps could be heard booming through the inn. As he got to the door to Victor and Wish's room he straight armed it. The piece of wood flung open as if hit with powerful magic.

Victor stood before him and made some smart ass comment. If he didn't want to kill the mage so badly he would have found it impressive that he was on his feet. As it was he just wanted to knock the bastard back down off of them. Before he could do anything however a chair came flying at him from the other side of the room. He'd been so focused on the man that he'd forgotten the fae.

The chair shattered and fell to the floor. He pushed past the pieces and reached out grabbing Victor by the throat, and turned, pinning him against the all. "If you can do what you said, we have a deal. However, if you fail, or try anything that would damage me more and I'll kill both of you. Starting with her, just so you can watch. Do you understand?"

His captive grunted something which Six assumed was an affirmative. Dropping him like dead weight he turned to Wish and finally addressed her. His smile was back up and "charm" oozed out of him. "My dear, delicious Fae. Things have just changed." she had jumped to the other side of the bed. "Of course, if once we're done here you still want me, all you have to do is say so." with a look he sent the memory of him touching her back to her.

There was a look of disgust on her face, and he knew that she'd felt what he wanted her to. It was the little things in life that made it worth living. And the little things added up. He'd been pushing thoughts and images into Wish's head for months now. There might even be a part of her that actually wanted him to come over there and take her despite the fact that Victor was standing...well, leaning against the wall in the room with them.

The faint trace of Victors barrier could still be felt around her. He used the to his advantage. His own spell came up around the bed. Instead of protecting Wish however, this one was meant to keep her where she was. It sprung up around her, cutting everything. Magic, oxygen, everything.

The demon turns back to Victor, "You feel the spell I just put you. You know she only has a few minutes left of air in there. You better get moving on that spell now if you want her to live." after the look he was given from the mageling, he grinned again, "I promised not to hurt or kill her after you made me whole again. I didn't say anything about not hurting her before. Make with the magic little man or your girlfriend dies."

It was moments like this that he lived for. He was about to get exactly what he wanted, while taking everything Victor wanted. Once the piss ant did his part, he would just leave the barrier up, killing the Fae girl. After that well, he never made any promises about not hurting Sage did he?

"Tick tock Mister Sage. Tick tock."

I remember when I was younger, my father would tell me "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." At the time I didn't know what that meant, however over the years I've heard that quote repeated in my head many times. Tonight, though, things seemed to be going the way I'd planned them to...more or less.

My vision was blocked for a second as a chair flew past my head and smashed into Six. I was impressed. Not with the fact that Six didn't even seem to notice it, but that Wish was able to fling it hard enough for it to break as explosively as it had. Just another reminder to not underestimate the fairy woman.

Of course before I could reflect on that thought much longer, Six had me pinned to the wall by my throat and was slowly killing me. I had flash backs of the dream he'd just subjected me to where I drowned over and over. For a brief moment I thought I was going to be doomed to live out that dream, but then he started talking. I made a grunting noise which I'd meant to indicate that I accepted his terms.

Before he dropped me though he cast his own spell. Wish was trapped and running out of air fairly quickly. With as panicked as she had been before he could only imagine that she was using up more air now then had she been calm. That meant I needed to get my ass moving. Gasping for air myself, I calmed my mind and began to focus.

"Six, you'll need to step back a bit. I need room to do this." I was only half telling the truth. I would need room, but I just wasn't comfortable having a pissed off, naked demon looming that close to me while I was on the floor. Go figure.

Pulling in all the power I could, I brought my thoughts and powers to bear. First thing I'd need to do would be to construct the spell in my mind. If I didn't have it laid down exactly right before actually trying to cast it, things could go wrong. Crater in the middle of Heruin wrong. I drew the summoning runes around Six in my mind. The protective runes came next to absorb any after-shock. Binding sigils to insure that the other half of the demon would actually fuse with this half.

I wasn't sure where the other half of this already powerful demon was, but the thought crossed my mind that I was about to make him even more powerful. Then I was going to release him upon Aleris. This may not have been the best of ideas after all. Then again, it would at least mean that both Wish and I would stay alive to maybe battle him again another day. I just hoped that he didn't cause too much trouble in the mean time.

I overlaid the runes and sigils around the half demon before me. Then softly began chanting the summoning/binding spell I'd put together. Honestly the words were gibberish, but they had meaning to me and that was what mattered. I'd invested power to these words and thats why they worked. Magic worked differently for everyone. For me it was more of a matter of belief and conviction in that belief that gave them the power to do what they did. When I cast a fire spell I damn well believed the target was going to be engulfed in flames.

I put that belief to work in making a scary demon even scarier. At first it didn't seem to be working. I could hear disgruntled sounds coming from Six, but I didn't have time to explain. The other half seemed to be fighting me. Like it didn't want to leave where it was. However, I was stronger. I believed more. I wanted it more. There wasn't a chance in hell that I was going to let Wish die because I wasn't strong enough to do this. I chanted harder and louder until finally it began to move.

Once it started it was almost impossible to make it stop. Six's body flew into the wall behind him, like he'd been hit by a train. Luckily the protective runes had made sure that nothing was damaged around him, just the demon himself. The binding sigils lit up as the other half fought to be it's own being. It wanted to run free and do as it wished, not be trapped in another body. Then it touched Six and it was like it realized it was home. The binding spell didn't even have to have as much power as I'd given it.

As the two halves became one again a blinding light flashed from the demon's form, blinding me and causing me to cover my eyes. Slowly my vision returned to me. I didn't realize that I had fallen back onto the floor and was now looking up at where Six used to be. All I could make out before me was a large black-man-like shape. And before my eyes could fully readjust...it was gone.

Getting my thoughts back to the matter at hand I looked around for Wish. The spell had been broken around her and she was breathing again. I grinned a big and goofy grin. "Told you I could do it." Of course I still wasn't 100% sure what I'd just done.