Old World Magic

Authors notes :

I suggested that those who wished to keep the story light hearted at the beginning of chapter 11. So I will give a brief recap of what you missed if you skipped that chapter as I suggested.

Chapter 11 recap:

Mike Naughton fledgling mage, testing his powers, delved into the darkest recesses of the prostitute Erin Solaris' mind. In her mind he found the memories of an abusive alcoholic father that had shaped her life. Mike hired Erin on for a full week to be his personal escort while he stayed at the Casino Royale. Then Mike went to find her father. Confronting the man, Mike read his mind and found the depths of his sickness. Mustering every last bit of his power he commanded Mr. Solaris to make things right and then commit suicide. However the human instinct for self preservation is a very difficult force to overcome. The pure amount of magical energy that Mike poured into the spell created a level of backlash that he'd never experienced before.

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Old World Magic Ch. 12

by Rhev

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When I was young I used to take family vacations to the lake with my parents. I remember the feeling of jumping into the cool lake water on a hot summer day. The heat and grime and sweat of the day would wash off my skin as I dove deeper and deeper into the murky depths. I could almost feel the heat bleeding away from my skin as the refreshing waters surrounded and engulfed my entire being. That's what I thought of as I began to regain consciousness. That feeling from my childhood, diving into the purifying cooling waters. But it was reversed.

First there was nothing, cold and dark. But then I rose up and the warmth bled into my body, the sense of self returned from the nothingness that was. I even felt grime, ache, and a sense of my skin return as I came upwards. I knew that in a moment I'd draw breath again, almost as if I'd been holding it as I was deep under water.

But then it all changed. I opened my eyes and I was floating. Not in water this time but a void, a vast endless sea of clouds and air. I looked down and saw my body. But it wasn't the body I'd worn for the last few weeks. It was my old body, the one I'd had when I met Adam Saks, my mentor. It was the body of a man, out of shape and pushing forty years old. My belly bulged and I had coarse dark body hair. Everything was slightly out of focus as my eyes were the old imperfect orbs they had been less than a year ago.

I floated in the colorless void and reached down. I felt my manhood, above average sized, but smaller than I'd grown used too with my new body, and slightly less impressive due to the fat my body carried. "What is going on?" I asked myself out loud, trying to figure out how I'd gotten here.

Then I heard a sound behind me. To say it sounded like a giggle would be a disservice. It was as close to a giggle as the sound of a bird's cry was to human speech. It sounded like glass breaking, it sounded like hail falling onto a tin roof, it sounded magical and musical. But somehow I understood that this sound was a giggle.

I turned, I know not how, and saw her.

She floated in the air, the void, the same as I did. It seemed completely alien to look upon her form, yet her lack of clothing told me that she was unmistakably female... whatever she was. She was completely hairless from the top of her shining skull to her toes, and her skin was a light purple color, the color of the sky right after the sun has set. For the most part she looked human, if you could imagine a purple, hairless woman being stretched out. I was tall myself, at over six feet, but she was almost half again my height and I guessed if she'd been standing next to me, would have pushed nine feet. However she looked like she weighed no more than a hundred and fifty pounds. Her limbs and neck were long and willowy, and delicate didn't even begin to describe how fragile she looked. Yet her from was curving and feminine as well. Her hips were rounded and I could see, even though she faced me, that she had the hint of a curved buttock as well. Her breasts were slight, B cups at best, but had deep purple nipples that were erect and protruding.

The sight of her nipples, erect and engorged had a reaction in me, and I couldn't help but look lower. There between the woman's hips lay a puffy, hairless mons. The rounded mound between her thighs was split perfectly by the slit of her sex, and I caught a glimpse of darker purple labia protruding from between. That is when I noticed her tail. From behind her a tail extended downwards longer than her legs, but thin and sinuous, waving in a breeze I could not feel.

I swallowed and look upwards. Her neck was far longer than it should be, easily twice the height of her head, and looking far too narrow and delicate to support her. Her head was human shaped, but not human featured. Her mouth looked mostly human, having a cute bow shape to it with deep purple lips and just a hint of white between showing that she had teeth. But above that was a flat space where a nose should be, instead two thin vertical slits below two wide black orbs for eyes. Her eyes were completely featureless black pits, and sat high in her brow-less face. The top of her head was capped with two thin waving antennae, similar in appearance though not size to her tail. If she had ears, they were flat to her skull and I saw nothing on the side of her head.

She giggled again and that magical sound filled my brain. She brought a hand to her lips and I saw that it was missing a digit, having only four fingers. But that was wrong too, she had two thumbs, one on each side of her palm, with two fingers between. Strangely enough that was enough to snap me out of my reverie. "What... what are you?" I asked, surprised at the sound of my old voice, and not the one I'd grown used too over the last few weeks.

The alien creature floating in front of me giggled again, both of her strange four fingered hands covering her mouth this time as it smirked and chortled. But then twirling in the air gracefully about me, she spoke, "What am I human Michael Gray? I am a sylphid." She giggled again and the sound traveled through me as I turned my head to and fro, trying to keep her in view. She floated and turned around my body, as if examining me from all angles.

"How are you doing that?" I asked, watching as she simply drifted through the void with no effort. I was very disoriented. In every direction as far as I could see there was but a blue cloudy sky. I felt like I should be falling, but felt no movement at all. Nor could I see the ground in any direction. Part of me felt like I should be sick. For some reason it seemed like the right thing to do. But I didn't, and instead kept the strange sylphid in view as she whirled about me.

She smiled and said, "My name is..." then what followed was a noise like wind whistling past my ears, "...but you can simply call me Duskwind if that's easier for you." Her tail swayed close and brushed against my body, caressing one of my thighs and touching my stiffening erection before she floated away again. "As for how you move," She shrugged her shoulders impossibly high, though still nowhere near her head on that long sinuous neck, "You simply do. Will it to be so and it shall be."

It was magic of course, like casting a spell, i simply had to will something and then it would be so. I saw Duskwind floating before me, and so I willed myself towards her. Like a pair of magnets being drawn together she and I slammed together. Her willowy delicate frame crashing into mine as she grunted and my face smashed into her small soft breasts. Flailing I grabbed her about the waist as I felt myself 'falling' through the sky in the direction I'd sent myself. She laughed and I felt the warm skin of her body against mine as her strange hands stroked through my hair.

Hair, I'd forgotten about my hair. I'd gotten so used to being completely hairless save eyebrows since Renia shaped my body this way.

"Pardon me," I mumbled as I slowly pushed myself from her body. The light purple skin felt warm and dry, and I found that despite her alien appearance, I was quite aroused by her form.

Duskwind floated back away from me a few feet, and crossed her long twig like arms underneath her pert breasts. With no brow ridge or eyebrows it was hard to say that she was scowling at me, but I couldn't help but sense her disapproval. "That is your biggest problem human Michael Gray," she said, the light rumble of thunder coloring her words, "You lack control. You've got ability, but no sense of subtlety. You feel desire but no temperance You wished to move forwards and so your willpower shoved you like an ogre."

Duskwind flew graceful circles around me again and again as she chastised me, and I tried to listen to her words and not simply oogle her alien, yet erotic, form. "It's why you are here now human Michael Gray, in my realm. Your body and your mind was assailed by forces that you created, and you leapt away from the pain without looking. You cast your mind as far away from the pain of the backlash as you could, heedless of where you'd end up."

I was confused, and asked, "Where am I? Where did I end up? What is this place?"

Duskwind stopped her slow floating and moved close to me. Her large black orbs peered into my eyes as if she was searching for the truth. "You don't know do you? Pffath, humans, you forget all of your past as you create metal monsters that belch dirt into the sky. You, human Michael Gray, are in the domain of the sky, the plane of air, the realm of the above. I am a sylphid, as I said. I am the living embodiment of an aspect of the element of earth. A light breeze that warms a cold night right after the sun sets. I, along with many of my kind and others, live in this place."

"Embodiment of wind?" I asked, confused.

She unfolded her arms and rapped one alien fist against my forehead, "Yes human Michael Gray, this is not difficult. We have been a long time since we have traveled to your world, but we will always be connected to it. Certainly I'd know if you didn't understand what I was saying to you." She shifted and began drifting slightly from side to side, "As to why you're here, I don't know why you cast your consciousness upwards to our home. I suppose it was random chance? I would say that you're very lucky you didn't cast yourself into one of the hellish domains, the plane of slime, or simply off into the ethereal void." She continued and I realized that the only thing I knew was that I knew next to nothing about what she was talking about. "Or," she said nodding and smiling now, "Even that you came here and I was the first to find you. Had one of the Enbekar come across you first, he would have likely tried to devour you out of territorial anger."

Luck, I wasn't so sure it was luck. After meeting the owner of Casino Royale, Emily Whitefeld, I was beginning to think that my 'luck' was tied largely to my magical potential. Was it possible that my subconscious mind had sent me here, to someplace safe, to someone helpful? I didn't doubt it. As I pondered that thought, I had a sudden realization. The magic I'd used to move forwards had come instantly and easily. I closed my eyes and simply allowed myself to feel. I knew what my body felt like when it was low on mana, and likewise when I was full of magical energy after a fulfilling sexual encounter. But now, now I felt different. It would be wrong to say that I felt 'full' of mana, because it was so much more than that. I felt like every pore, every bit of my being was infused with magical potential. I wasn't just 'full' of mana... I was mana.

My eyes snapped open, "What is this place? Why am I so suffuse with mana?"

Duskwind chuckled again, covering her slight mouth with those strange hands, and then gestured around her, twirling in the air slowly. "The domain of air is far from your world. The mana that trickles down to you flows past us first, and so much closer to the source, it is easier to sup from." Her answers made no sense to me and I stated so. She glared at me again and said, "I know not how else to answer, but come to me, I shall take you to one who can give you the truth you seek."

We floated together and her long willowy limbs wrapped around me. Her lips found mine and my eyes closed as we kissed. It was strange she was so much taller than me, and the fact that she had no nose was obvious as our lips locked wetly to each other. Her body felt soft yet frail against mine and I could feel her nipples pressing into me as my neck craned backwards to kiss her. Her tongue split my lips and searched my mouth. The warm wet tongue tasted slightly off, not like a person's tongue would taste, but more electric. It ran inside my mouth and down to the back of my throat. Her long tongue was thin and actually pressed into the back of my throat. I almost began to panic at first, I wasn't used to having anything in my mouth like this. The imagery was not lost on me of how often in the past I had throat fucked my wife in my old life. She used to love the feeling of my thick cock blocking her airway and penetrating her throat. It was a habit I'd carried into my new life as Mike Naughton, and one that not every woman enjoyed. But I realized that despite her tongue penetrating deep back into my throat far deeper than anyone should be able too, I could still breathe. It was almost as if through her body fresh clean air was fed into me.

I relaxed and let my hands slide down her slim body to her hips. My eyes still closed they gripped her shapely buttocks. I slid them around till I found the junction where her fleshy tail met her back. Then suddenly she gasped, pulling her tongue from my throat with a long wet withdrawal. I gasped for air, even though I didn't need it and opened my eyes.

Gone was the formless void, and instead we floated in the air a hundred feet or so above a vast forest. In all directions I saw a great deciduous forest. Above us a perfectly blue sky, interspersed with fluffy white clouds. Duskwind took my hand and pulled away, and I only let go of her with a little sadness as my hand slipped from her rump. She pulled me along and I realized that we zipped over the endless forest at a breakneck speed. Flying through the air, I couldn't get a feel for the ground below, other than the knowledge that we were moving very fast. We spend along towards a great tree, a cone shaped growth that towered over the already huge forest.

We drew up before it and for some reason I knew that this was no simple tree. Duskwind let go of my hand and we floated there for a few moments. I opened my mouth to speak but Duskwind held one long slender finger over her lips in the recognized gesture for silence. So we floated silently. I lost track of time, as there was no sun, but we simply floated silently looking at the tree. It might have been minutes, it might have been hours, I know not. But finally we heard a great sound, almost a sigh, but it was as if the branches of the great tree settled.

Duskwind spoke then to the tree, "Greetings Elder Creaklimb, thank you for allowing my presence among your majesty. I am humbled by your greatness and thank you for recognizing me."

Then there was a great sound, it was the sound of trees blowing in the breeze, the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, the sound of limbs and branches bending and swaying, yet I understood it perfectly. Slowly the great tree spoke, "Greetings upon you Sylphid Duskwind, thank you for bringing me the early night's breeze to warm my old bones. I am inspired by your freedom and energy."

I sensed that I had just witnessed some sort of formal exchange but knew not what to say, so I instead stayed silent. It seemed like the best thing to do. The tree spoke again, "Tell me Sylphid Duskwind, this man you bring smells of a mortal. I've not seen a mortal in several rings. Why do you bring him to me?"

Duskwind smiled and moved towards me. She floated behind me and I could feel her breasts pressing against my back. Her fleshy tail wrapped around my waist almost protectively as she held my shoulders, "Elder, this is human Michael Gray, he knows not how he got here, nor where he is. I am not the type to answer such questions and thought that you much more fit to answer his questions."

There was another silence and then the tree spoke again, "You may leave him with me then Sylphid Duskwind, I shall see him safely home."

I felt Duskwind's arms slip away from me and her body pulled back. I turned to protest, not wanting to lose the sexy, yet alien form. I was alone in this strange land and didn't want the only person I knew to leave me. But as I turned, floating in air, I saw that she was already disappearing. Her body seemed to simply dissipate the way fog did in the morning sun. I stretched out a hand to grab her, but she was gone and my hand passed through her a moment before she was gone completely.

The sound of the wind blowing the the branches of the great tree behind me sounded like a soft bemused chuckle, and I knew that the giant tree was amused. His voice spoke and I knew he was telling me the truth, "Worry not human Michael Gray, I shall see you safely back to your home, back to your world of dirty air and metal birds."

I turned again and looked at the massive tree, then down at my body. The old body that I'd worn weeks ago, the body of the man who was not yet a mage, who'd not ever dreamed of such a place. I knew that this was a moment for me of realization, of acceptance. A small part of my mind had held onto this. Held onto he who was Michael Gray. When I came here I took this form, but it wasn't who I was anymore. I looked at the tree and spoke to it, "Elder, I am not Michael Gray."

Again the amused chuckle, "No, you are not, speak then and tell me what your true name is. Do this and I shall share with you the wisdom of the ancients, the wisdom of the old world."

I opened my mouth without thinking and spoke forth a sound. It was not English, it was not even speech, it was the communication of my soul to the great ancient. It was my true name.

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I spent time with Elder Creaklimb after that. He called me Michael after that, though it was as much of an affection as when I called him Creaklimb, as we both knew that neither truly was our name. But for our time together it was good enough. He told me of the nature of reality, and how easily changeable it was to those with the power like myself. He told me of the many worlds beyond what I'd known. There was the plane of sky, where I'd met Duskwind, the plane of earth below us, and the junction of the two where we were, the great forest. He told me of the old world, the world where thought was reality and all was as it should be. He congratulated me on knowing of the teachings of one of his students, a man whom my kind now called Plato. We spoke on the malleability of my world, and how it strove to become, and that craftsmen like myself were able to change it, but had become a rarer and rarer breed throughout all of time.

Creaklimb explained to me how the world abhors us. Reality was shape-able, but it was hubris to think that one could do so, with the powers of the gods, and expect no resistance. Since our bodies were of the world of forms, the further we pushed our reality from what we knew, the more our bodies and minds suffered the consequences. I had locked my own power in a battle of wills against another man, and while I'd won, the cost had been dire to me. Solaris had no urge to kill himself, in fact, he was a coward and would have never done such a thing. So my command to do so was as abhorrent to his reality as if I'd summoned a pink dinosaur in front of him, actually, more abhorrent. The damage the feedback had caused my body had been so intense that I'd somehow thrown my consciousness out of my body as a self defense. He informed me that such a thing was infinitely dangerous for my kind, and that I should consider myself to have the luck of the fox in order to have landed safely in the endless sky.