Amber's Enchantment

Chapter 7

Holes in the World

If the wizards of the guild could have seen the recent changes to the pattern of fires dancing across the surface of their world, they would have been dismayed. Something unheard of was happening. Not only unheard of, but believed to be impossible. Flickers of black were occasionally making themselves visible in the streams of mana. Everywhere they appeared there was a minute, and brief change in the pattern of mana flow.

The guild was already seeing the effects; minute changes to mana levels that had been predictable for centuries. Mana was flowing into these holes in the world. On the surface, and deep in the bowels of the earth, the native life of Destran sensed the losses; losses of the very energy force that they needed for survival. And like life in every dimension, this threat to their survival would provoke a response.

*****

Vesti looked up from his work. Some people were never able to get used to the pinging sensation in their minds from a magical communication request. Vesti was not one of those people, though he never ceased to wonder just why it was always a ping sound. He set his work down and turned to the side. "Yes, this is Vesti," he replied to the silent request.

The image of Garth formed in the air and Vesti smiled. "Good day to you, Garth. It is day there, isn't it?" he asked, remembering the time difference.

"Yes, mid morning in fact. I'm sorry to bother you, but we need to ask if you could make a portal trip to the house caverns."

Vesti frowned at the serious look on the slave trainer's face. "As a matter of fact, I have no pressing business right now." He refrained from mentioning the ongoing research into the strange, manaless trade goods Lustren had been acquiring and selling over the past years. Garth's next request tightened a knot in the wizard's stomach.

"And please bring the device that attacked Amber."

"Why would you need that thing?"

"There's been some developments since Amber returned. An examination of the device is crucial to understanding what's happening."

"An examination? Just what do you think you'll be able to find out that we at the guild haven't already discovered?"

"I'll explain that when you arrive. It's vital you bring the device."

"I'll be there shortly."

Vesti sighed as the communication orb vanished with a soft pop. He didn't have the original device any more; the guild had taken it for study. He

did

have another one, though. He wasn't even sure why he'd kept two from Lustren and even less sure why he kept one of them from his fellow guild members. What he did know was that Garth's choice of words was correct. The device had

attacked

Amber, he was sure of that now.

Rising to his feet, he called out, "Silen!"

The slave was in the room in a matter of moments. "Yes, Master. What can I do for you?"

"We're taking a trip, Silen. Pack a bag for a stay of several days. We'll be portaling out before the hour."

"Yes, Master. Right away."

While his slave packed the things she knew he took with him on trips, Vesti retrieved the device from his concealed alcove. Every time he touched the device, he felt like shuddering. Its black aura and the memories of what it tried to do to Amber preyed on his mind.

With the device carefully stored in the magical pocket of his shirt, he opened a portal to the Grantlo caves and stepped through with Silen. Garth was waiting for him in the portal chamber.

"Welcome, Vesti. I wish this could be under more pleasant circumstances."

"Is Amber all right? You made it sound like there was something seriously wrong with her."

"Oh, she's fine. Her training is coming along splendidly. Don't tell her that though, it might go to her head," he added with a smile. "If you'll follow me, the reason for your visit will be made clear."

The trio walked the corridors, passing the occasional slave as they did. Garth navigated the familiar route to Inclon's study area. He wasn't surprised when Vesti stopped short, his breath catching in his throat.

"Silene!" Vesti shouted softly. Turning to Garth, he demanded, "What in the names of the Gods is

she

doing here? Do you realize the guild will cut House Grantlo off from all magical services for associating with a rogue wizard?"

"They'll do no such thing," came the reply from further in the room. Thabian Y'Grantlo's voice was even, with no emotion showing; yet the command was clear in his words. "Not unless they want the truth about the guide to reagents to be made public."

Silene was far less controlled in her response. "Vesti, don't be an idiot. You, of all people, know that the guild's vendetta against we so called rogues is uncalled for and wrong."

"Silene, I will not discuss guild politics with outsiders."

Silene shook her head in dismay. "The problems facing the world go far beyond the petty, yes petty, politics of the Wizard's Guild. The very fabric of society is being threatened and we're all going to have to work together to save ourselves."

"Everyone, please come in and sit down." Inclon tried to ease the building tensions before they gutted the entire conference. "I don't know about the fabric of society, but we do have concerns about Amber, and all of our slaves, that the attack in your lab seemed to have precipitated. We called in Silene first because to have called in the guild would have been to ask them to consider the impossible."

While the tensions didn't ease, the sniping stopped and everyone took a seat around the table. A silent signal to Justilia had a pitcher of fruit juice and several glasses brought to the table; giving the attendees something other than glaring at each other to do.

"Vesti, let me explain some background so the nature of the problem is clearer. It seems Amber is quite a unique slave. The memory potion failed on her. She has full memories of her life before being taken captive. It turns out that the details of her recent past, coupled with a weakness in the memory potion led to the breakdown. Our investigation revealed the errors in the guide were deliberate," he held up his hand to forestall the objection on Vesti's lips. "Please, don't deny it; we know the truth. It's not important, really. What's important is that Amber continues to be different. Were you aware that, while she spent time with you, she could see auras?"

"That's imposs..." Vesti closed his mouth as memories rushed forward. He recalled how quickly Amber was able to organize his workroom; and how well, with like enchantments stores close to one another. Then he remembered something else. "But, she stopped being able to before she came home. Am I right?"

"Exactly. I see why Silene was so thrilled that we'd dealt with you. Yes, right after the attack by the device, she wasn't able to see them. At least, not until she returned to us, when she could see them again. One more thing, she

wasn't

able to see them until she traveled to you."

"Wait. Are you telling me that transfer through the portal initiated her ability to see aruas?"

Silene smiled as she answered. "Yes, but it's more than that. From what I've been able to observe these last few days of this slave, she's performing active magic. It's untrained, and frequently unfocused, but she is manipulating mana on her own."

"But, the collars, they..."

"...don't work the way their supposed to. Oh, it gets better. Remember this?" Silene pulled out her mana seed, it's white aura clear to Vesti's sight. Vesti nodded sheepishly. "I thought you would. Tell me, do you still have yours?"

"Yes, Silene. You've made your point."

"Perhaps," Thabian interrupted. "but will someone explain it to me?"

"Oh, Vesti's mana seed is his dirty little secret. A mana seed stores pure mana for use by a wizard. According to the so called laws of magic, they're impossible, as they would represent the ability to move mana from one thing to another. That Vesti has one is his tacit acknowledgement that he knows the laws of magic to be flawed.."

"Enough. I'm sure I wasn't invited simply to be humiliated."

"That's not even why I brought it up. My point is that Amber has a mana seed in her body; a naturally occurring seed. And it charges itself with no effort on her part."

Vesti stared at Silene for several seconds. "That would explain much, actually," he said with a wistful envy. At the confused looks being given him, he continued. "The guild has been studying the device in question. So far, they've determined that it somehow eliminates mana in the target. I think they're afraid to go the final step and conclude it removes mana. Anyway, we haven't been able to explain why Amber was left unchanged by her encounter with it. Her aura looked normal when I scanned her afterwards. Now I can see why. It's because she wasn't normal

before

the device attacked her. It drained her mana seed instead of the mana that makes her real."

"Let's have a look at this...thing," she finished with a shudder.

Vesti removed the weapon, as he'd come to think of it, from his magical pocket. Those around the table without the spark merely saw a metal tube bent at one end with a gem or crystal affixed to the shorter end. Vesti and Silene saw much more as they took in the disturbing auras surrounding the device. Even in it's unactivated state, the black aura of the weapon pulsed like some kind of unholy heartbeat.

"That's strange. The crystal at the end has a different aura."

"Yes, and it's almost more disturbing than the black of the rest. That green aura is the same that one sees in portals. In fact, I stopped the attack on Amber by using a portal blocking spell. It's as if the mana it was stealing was being sent somewhere by portal."

"But, it's not quite the same shade as portal mana. It's too dark."

"Oh, you haven't seen a transdimensional portal, have you? This is the very same color we would see if someone was opening a portal to another dimension. The fact we can see that aura now means that whatever

portal

is there is still open. It's too bad we can't tell what dimension, or where it leads to."

"Actually, we could, if we wanted to. At least I think we could. I've developed a spell that tracks a portal opening."

"Why would anyone want such a spell? Portals let you see through them already."

"Not until they're open. My spell can tell us where a portal comes from while it's still forming, giving me a chance to block it before anyone can come through."

"Paranoid much?"

"You try having an entire guild hunt you down and quench your spark. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. What I'm not sure of is what information I'll get about a transdimensional portal. If I recall my theory correctly, such portals actually only cover a few feet of distance."

"That's right," Thabian interjected. "What I want to know is why this miniature portal hasn't been redirected by the house defenses."

"Because this mini-portal, if you will, isn't an incoming portal. It's an outgoing one. The device is maintaining a portal to somewhere else. As far as we can tell, it sends the mana it takes through the portal. Even more worrisome is that, like all portals, it allows passage in both directions. In theory, something from the other side could come through to our world, provided it was extremely small."

Vesti nodded his head in agreement with Silene. "Exactly. I doubt anything solid could come through, but energy, easily. I doubt, however, that there's anyone on the other end actively monitoring these things."

"Why not?"

"Because, if they were, they'd have done something by now, with the amount of research the guild has been doing on it. No, I suspect these are some kind of opportunistic mana supply for some alien wizard, somewhere."

"None of which lessens the danger these things pose in our world. Even if we ignore the dangers of draining mana from living things, indiscriminate use would have resulted in a permanent loss of mana from our world. Too much, and magic as we know it would have been impossible, eventually."

Vesti fidgeted as he listened to Silene's statement. He knew, as did many guild wizards associated with the research, that there was already a mana drain on the world. Standing orders were to keep this knowledge secret so as to avoid panic. Changing the subject, he asked, "What did you mean, earlier, when you said that Amber was performing active magic? What exactly is she doing?"

"Not surprisingly, she's not doing any recognizable spells; she hasn't had the chance to learn any. But, I think she's affecting the people around her in some way. I was hoping you'd be able to help determine just how."

"You do realize that the guild is going to demand that she be killed if she's actually doing magic. If you think rogue wizards worry them; the thought of a slave wizard positively terrifies them. That's why the collars art

supposed

to quench any spark a slave may have."

Thabian answered in his command voice. "That's not going to happen. It's not Amber's or our fault that the collars designed by the guild have failed in some way. If anything is going to happen, the guild is going to reassure

us

that the other enchantments on the collars still function properly."

"It wouldn't matter anyway, I suspect," Silene added. "I think it will prove impossible to kill Amber so long as she wears a collar; and I don't think removing it will kill her either. It's clear the healing magic of the collar still works properly. With her mana seed, the spell that's supposed to kill a slave when the collar is removed will be countered by a burst of charged healing magic."

"Is any magic working properly?" mused Garth.

"No, wrong question," countered Inclon. "A better question is why magic that affects Amber is so different. The translator functions, the spark quenching, even the slave choice spell and the memory potion. I've checked the backgrounds of other slaves that were given the same batch of potion that Amber was given, and even those with similarly horrific pasts showed no signs of even subconscious memories surfacing in any way. No, there's something about Amber that makes her react to spells differently."

"So, let me observe her like I never did while she was with me. My specialty when I studied as a journeyman was magical analysis."

*****

Amber moaned as the probe entered her ass, forcing its way past her natural resistance. She relaxed her anal muscles, as she'd been trained to, letting the large phallic training aide make its way into her. She rested on a frame, lying on her stomach, with her breasts hanging to either side. Her arms and legs were bound in place while Bressala pushed the training aide into Amber.

"Okay, Amber. Anal control is not unlike cunt control, just more difficult. The first step is to relax. This first aide will simply let you know where you need to relax your anal muscles. This is very different from allowing a cock in. Let's start."

Bressala tapped the end of the training aide and stood back to watch Amber make her first try at this new skill. She noticed several people walk in but wasn't concerned. It wasn't uncommon for people to observe a slave's training. She resisted looking back at them, even though there seemed to be an unusually large number of people observing this time.

Amber had her eyes closed, trying to reach a state where she was concentrating and relaxing at the same time. Since her return from Vesti, she'd found some aspects of her training easier. As she struggled to relax muscles that were intended not to, the two wizards that had come in watched her aura. If shifted and altered in ways that were hard to follow. Silene, as she had over the past few weeks, couldn't follow the changes. Vesti, who had studied the changes in aura that magic produced, was able to follow the shifts and deduce the effect.

"See there," he whispered. "It's very subtle, but she's enchanting her anal muscles to respond to the probe properly. She's literally using magic to succeed in her training. I need to see her interacting directly with someone else, to see if she's also using magic on others."

"The guild won't like this," Silene replied. "I'm not sure

I

like it. She needs to be trained to use her ability properly. It's only a matter of time until she unknowingly casts a spell that hurts someone."

"She can't be trained!" Vesti quieted again when Garth shh'd him. "The guild would never allow her to be trained."

Garth ushered both back out of the training room. "Vesti, you're saying that Amber is enchanting herself to be a better slave?"

"Yes, she is. She's not aware that she's doing it, but she is. Tell me, can all your slaves reach that level of relaxed concentration that Amber is in?"

"Yes, it's probably the second most difficult thing they have to learn, after pleasure/pain symbiosis. The intimate level of control over their bodies that slaves need can only be achieved when they can reach that state."

"That relaxed concentration is the state of mind wizards need to be able to cast spells. You see, you can't apply effort to manipulate mana, you have to ease the mana into motion. Yet, the spells can get quite complex, requiring high levels of concentration. Thus, relaxed concentration."

"Can't we simply instruct her to stop using magic?"

"No. She's not consciously doing it. We actually have to teach her how to use her magic properly before we can show her how to not use it."

"Silene, we can't teach a

slave

to cast spells. The guild will have our sparks," Vesti argued. "I could be declared rogue just for being here."

"

We

can't, but

I

can. I'm already rogue, so what more can the guild do to me? You just need to keep quiet about this."

Vesti sighed as he took in the looks from the people around him. He saw stern faces looking at him, daring him to interfere. He smiled as the pressure they exerted enabled him to make the choice he wished he could make. "Okay, I'll keep quiet. If the guild finds out, though, I'll deny everything."

"The guild won't find out."

Back in the training room, Amber managed to relax her anal muscles and received the pleasant tingle from the training device. Bressala rubbed her hand along Amber's back, whispering, "Very good, Amber. You did very well. Now, I want you to clench your muscles, as if you were holding in, and relax again."

"Yes, Mistress."

Amber tried to do as she had been instructed. She found the sequential actions harder to perform. If the wizards had still been watching, they would have seen another clue as to what Amber did with her magic. As it was, the bound slave struggled to get the combination of muscle actions. Bressala whispered encouragement to her as she struggled. The probe in her ass pulsed an erratic mixture pleasure and pain signals. After 15 minutes of frustration on Amber's part, Bressala tapped the device off and told Amber, "Relax, dear. You're trying too hard again. I know you can hold things in, and you just showed me you can relax. The aide will guide you. When you clench, there'll be a burst pain, and when you relax there'll be a burst of pleasure. Pay attention to the aide."

"I'll try, Mistress."

Bressala tapped the aide again and Amber resumed her attempts. This time, she concentrated on the feelings she was getting from the device. It didn't take long for her to be able to alternate the contractions and relaxations in a slow sequence. As the pain and pleasure pulses shot through her, her pussy became wet and she began to moan with arousal.

"That's better, Amber. Keep it up," she added as she started to stroke Amber's pussy and clit.

Amber gasped, and faltered for a moment. She struggled to get back into the slow rhythm she had before. Her arousal steadily increased, her pussy clenching at nothing. Bressala continued to stroke Amber, whispering encouragement into her ears. Amber, after several minutes, was able to bring herself under control, ignoring the rising arousal to regain her anal rhythm. Soon Amber was panting at the verge of orgasm, waiting for permission to let loose.