The memory of her striking eyes--dark and veiled, full of promise and venomous beauty--still rolled around in my mind as I followed her down the spiral stone staircase. The stones were cold underfoot, and the damp air seemed to cling to my skin. Behind the frigid musk of mould, the strange fragrance of her perfume lingered in my nose.
With each step, the situation became more tangible. I could feel a rising sickness deep within--or was it excitement? My eyes stayed locked on her swaying body. Her night-black robes floated around her voluptuous frame like flowing shadows, offering maddeningly brief hints of the shape beneath. A feverish heat coiled in my belly, which I fought to ignore.
Surely the promise I saw in her eyes and words was imagined; she just wants me to organise her tomes.
"You're not having second thoughts, are you, Archivist?" she purred, her voice low yet clear, without turning to look at me. "Come, there is much to do--and even more to learn."
My legs leapt back into action without prompting. In a distant fugue, I dreamt of what might await.
I jolted back to awareness when I realised she had reached the bottom of the stairs and was standing before me. An unreadable smirk flickered at the corner of her mouth.
Behind her loomed a wooden door framed by an ornate stone arch, inscribed with runes I had never seen before, not even in the oldest reliquaries of the archives. Try as I might, I could barely hold her thrilling gaze, though the tantalising hints of curves beneath her robes were just as enticing. She maintained eye contact as she pushed open the door to a dark room, where the dank, dusty smell was replaced by strange sweet-smelling spices and heady perfumes.
I passed through the glowing sigils, which seemed to draw me in. The chamber was small, its air warm and enticing, with the same exotic, sharp spice cutting through what might otherwise have been sickly sweet. Incense and wax candles dotted the room, revealing only hints of what lay within: a small cabinet filled with unlabelled books, a time-worn desk with alchemical flasks, paper, a quill, and a long kris dagger reflecting the dancing light over its many curves. Deep crimson curtains draped lazily from every wall. At the centre of the room stood a low table covered with crimson silk.
"Do you feel it, Archivist? The air here is alive. It knows you, sees you, tastes you..."
I turned to find her knowing eyes piercing me, filled with quiet excitement.
Her voice entwined my thoughts like a spell woven not with words but with dark intent, binding me in place and striking to the heart of me with each syllable. She forged my will as she saw fit.
I tried to question her, to ask my purpose here, yet the words faltered in my open mouth.
She raised an elegant finger to my mouth--tipped with sharp black nails--and covered my lips.
"You are here..." she turned and moved purposefully to the desk, collecting short black candles. "...to prove yourself worthy of what I might grant you--or..." She paused, and my breath caught in my throat. "...to be consumed by it."
Her words filled the room, resonating like a drum in the air and penetrating my chest. I ought to have questioned her further--should have run without a word--but my body refused. Something in her words, or perhaps the concoction filling my lungs, compelled me to stay.
She turned back to me with a measured grace, each step echoing in the small chamber. Her hand still lingered on the short black candles she had gathered; the pale curve of her face was illuminated by shifting candlelight, revealing a faint hint of satisfaction.
"Questions, Archivist?" she said, in a tone that suggested she already knew what they were. "I see it in your eyes--confusion, fear, a spark of forbidden curiosity. Speak."
My throat felt strangely tight. Yet I managed a wavering,
"What... what exactly is it you want from me?"
She ran a finger down one of the unlit candles, collecting a bead of wax and rubbing it between her fingertips as though testing its texture.
"I told you: you're here to prove yourself. But let me be clear--" She glided closer, leaning in until her breath skimmed my cheek. "This is not a simple test of loyalty or endurance. It's a convergence of power, of flesh, and will."
I struggled to form coherent thoughts.
"Convergence," I repeated, feeling the pull of that word. "You mean... something more than just--"
"Much more," she interrupted, her lips curving upward in a secretive smile. "The circle requires more than mere blood or compliance. It demands the union of my craft and your unique knowledge--knowledge gleaned from all those years in the archives." She tapped the side of my head gently, nails clicking in a soft warning. "You think those dusty tomes were collected at random? You carry unwritten secrets in that mind of yours, pieces of lore whose power you never dreamed."
Her voice was hypnotic, each syllable brushing aside my alarm. Half a dozen questions clamoured in my head, but I managed only one.
"And why me? There must be... others."
She let the bead of wax drop, her voice softening to a purr.
"Others lack the spirit--or the hunger. You've spent a lifetime chasing words and wonders you can barely comprehend. That longing in you... it's exactly what I need. You yearn to see beyond the veil, and this ritual thrives on yearning. Your submission will fuel it; your mind will shape it."
A warmth flared deep in my chest that had nothing to do with lust alone. The promise of knowledge--of glimpsing magic beyond the dusty scrolls--stirred me as much as her touch. She must have seen it in my face, because her smile sharpened.
"You see?" she whispered. "That spark in your eyes--that is why you're here. The moment your curiosity overwhelmed your caution, you were already mine." She turned abruptly, moving to a small wooden stand loaded with vials. "If you stay, Archivist"--her voice dropped lower, almost contemplative--"you'll risk your very soul. But if you run, you'll spend the rest of your life knowing you denied the chance to witness secrets beyond mortal comprehension."
I should have turned and fled. Instead, I took a trembling step closer. My heart hammered in my ears, some part of me silently screaming that there was no turning back. She tilted her head, regarding me with a look somewhere between amusement and triumph.
