Chapter 3

Mistrew stood within his circles, protected against the demons of the netherworld. His voice rose and fell as the blood dripped slowly from the slave beside him. A glow had begun to surround the room and permeated the tower itself as Mistrew gathered his power about him. A single circle in the rooms center, drawn to contain even the strongest of demon lords, began to glow with a white light and within it writhed a fog that reflected the green light of the room. Mistrew finished the incantations, built over the last three sleepless weeks from books as old as Mistrew himself. Calling out over the planes he summoned forth creatures with the power to destroy his enemy and the army that besieged his castle. His exultation grew within him even as he thrust his power into the spell before him. Only he could have built the spell before him and he would show the six that none could stand against him. Terimak’s actions may have been what had driven him to this extreme, but he had done it. He had survived the forces building and even now he could feel the spell responding, reaching out to find the answer to his spell. He had known of no named demons strong enough to fulfill the requirements so he had left the spell without a name. A dangerous omission but he knew that no demon, no matter how powerful, could break the protections laid about him and the circle in the room’s center.

The spell cast about for an answer to the summons. Across the elemental and sub-elemental planes it quickly crossed, no being of those planes would suffice, for they served both sides equally. Across the demonic planes, the planes of chaos it moved. Terimak’s army contained many of the demon lords and none of them could claim ascendance over the others, and so the summons was not satisfied here either. Across the dimensions until the magics energies touched briefly upon a ancient barrier. For a moment the spell was held back, but then the energies of the barrier and those of the spell matched, for just a moment and it burst across the ancient barrier and found beings such as the world had never seen. Beings who matched the spells requirements, and who had no protections against the summons.

The mist in the room’s center began to glow brighter and Mistrew pushed the last of his power into the spell, a grunt of pain escaped him as it left him and his knees collapsed under him. He looked up in exultation though as the mists slowly parted and he saw the three beings standing before him. Surprise flickered across his features and then with a start of sudden horror a mistake became clear. He had left out the name requirement on the spell but had never added any requirement that the summoned creatures even be demons. He had only a brief moment to realize his mistake before one of the three tall Fae warriors looked at him with disgust and pulled its sword smoothly. Mistrew’s head bounced once before his expression could change. The warrior spit out the word, “Sorcerer,” as the body collapsed.