Old World Magic

Erin Solaris, the prostitute I'd hired to live in my suite for a week looked up at me from the floor of the shower we were both in. Her red hair was plastered to her from the spray of the shower, and the last traces of my cum were running down her freckled face. She sat there gasping, her body still twitching and shaking from the most powerful orgasm she'd ever had, and from between her legs, a veritable river of my cum flowed out towards the shower drain. With a gasping breath, she asked, "Mike, what the hell was that?"

I looked down at her, myself still gasping from the massive orgasm. My cock, still leaking small drops of pearly white jizz, began to finally deflate. She might have been asking me what the hell was up with the massive amount of cum I'd just produced, filling her cunt, and then glazing her face, far more than a normal person could have produced. But I knew that wasn't what she was asking. She was referring to the strange event that had happened right as I came. As I came, fucking her from behind in the shower, all of the water that had been falling from the shower head simply stopped. It had floated in mid air for several seconds just hanging there.

In reality I figured that the two events were connected. I'd been unconscious recently, hospitalized in fact. But while my body slept, my mind had traveled to a different place. While in this other world I'd met an air sylph, learned at the roots of an ancient treant, and impregnated his daughter, a river nymph by the name of Brooksbend. She, Brooksbend, had claimed to give me a 'gift' in exchange for my seed. While I didn't know for certain, I suspected the increased cum production and the strange event with the water were somehow connected with Brookesbend's 'gift.'

But there was no way to explain that to a young, twenty something, prostitute who'd just experienced the most powerful orgasm of her life. Admittedly I had used my magical powers to implant a mental suggestion in her mind to make the orgasm so powerful. But I had no idea how to explain the floating water to her. So I shrugged my shoulders and answered her, "I don't know Erin...I don't know."

She was still twitching and shuddering from her orgasm but she seemed concerned, "But, like, you totally saw that right? The way the water did that right? I wasn't, like, imagining it?" She was starting to look concerned.

I sighed, this could go badly fast. I didn't want to do this but I had too. I went to the mental room inside my head and took a deep breath. Then I opened the door that kept out all of the outside minds. Immediately I sensed Erin's mind and stepped through the door. I was inside her mind and I felt her unease and uncertainty. I took those emotions and plucked them away the way one would pick an apple from a tree. Then I spoke words into my 'hands' and then brought my hands to the spot where her unease had been. 'what you saw was just your imagination, brought on by the powerful orgasm'. I released those words onto that spot, and they settled there, replacing her unease. Then I spoke to my 'hands' again and said 'You are happy and content, and blissfully satisfied from that orgasm.' Then I released those words into the spot where her uncertainty had been. The words settled there and replaced her uncertainty.

I withdrew to my mental 'room' and closed the door again. Then I let my consciousness drift back to the real world. Erin was still sitting on the shower floor, blissfully smiling and still shaking occasionally. One hand caressed one of her breasts and the other very lightly stroked her pussy. I smiled and asked her, "So, how was that?"

"Mike," she said in a dreamy half asleep voice, "That was unlike anything I've ever had. I've never cum like that before. I don't know if I can move my legs."

I chuckled and stepped out of the shower, "Take your time, I'm going to go get dressed, I need to call Ms. Whitefeld. I stepped out of the shower and dried off as she sat in the shower, the water pounding down about her, dreamily coming down from her orgasmic high.

I smiled and still drying off went into the main part of the suite. I was mildly surprised then to find someone sitting at the table in the main part of the suite waiting for me. "Hello Mike," Emily Whitefeld, the owner of the casino said as she looked at me. Then quirking an eyebrow she said, "I can wait for you to get dressed, though I'll admit I don't mind the show."

I startled and quickly moved the towel to wrap about my waist, "Ms Whitefeld!" I cried seeing the businesswoman sitting at the felt lined octagonal poker table that had been brought to my suite. "I wasn't expecting you so soon, but I was going to call you."

She smiled and nodded, "Oh I'm certain, though from the sound of it, you had some more pressing matters to take care of first." She nodded to the bathroom. "But Mike, why don't you call me Emily, I think I'd feel more comfortable with it?"

I nodded, "Ok Emily, let me get dressed and then..."

She cut me off, "No, that's ok, I don't mind. You've got nothing I haven't seen before anyways. Plus it's been a long while since I got to appreciate a slab of beefcake." She shot me a wink that somehow made me feel young, inexperienced. I almost felt a little color rising to my cheeks as her eyes gazed over my sculpted, athletic, hairless form. She added, "Whoever did the work on you was quite the artiste, and obviously a fan of grecian statuary."

I blushed then. Not too long ago I'd been a middle aged man with wrinkles, a beer gut, and sagging... well... everything. But now here was a pretty woman complimenting me and comparing me to a greek statue. I'd worked hard since my transformation to keep this body in shape, working out everyday and eating well. I had to admit that the compliment she was paying me was a better treat than any pizza or beer, of which I'd had none in months. "I think..." I said hesitatingly, "It might be better if I dressed?"

She chuckled and held out a deck of cards in one hand. "I'll make you a deal then Mike," she said, "Cut the deck and draw a card. If I can't guess it, you can get dressed. If not and I guess wrong, then, it's towel time for you buddy!"

I nodded, forgetting for just long enough exactly what she was. I forgot that she was a 'luck mage' and literally made her own luck. As I reached for the pack of cards I felt the tingle of magic around the two of us and realized what was happening. She called out "Queen of Hearts," with a broad grin on her face. With my 'sixth sense' that I'd been developing since becoming a mage, I could feel the magical energy flowing from her into the deck of cards as I cut it. I drew the card knowing what it would be before either of us looked at it.

I tossed the queen of hearts down on the table and sighed. She smiled and said, "Forgot didn't you? Have a seat towel boy, I've got some questions for you, starting with what the hell happened to you in the last day or two. A few days ago your magical energy was decent... maybe a king high pair at the most, but today you're a full house with trip aces."

I looked at her for a moment and then realized that she was talking about her own sixth sense. While mine generally tended to manifest in a way that I thought of as smell most commonly, her sense must be tied to gambling terms. I stood in front of her and said, "I'll answer that question if you show me that card cutting trick again"

Emily quirked an eyebrow and held out the deck, "Cut it and draw." I felt the magic flowing through her and could 'sense' what was happening better now that I knew to look for it. As I reached for the deck she said with a smirk, "Queen of diamonds"

I flipped the card onto the table and saw the second red queen staring up at me. But I didn't care that she'd been right, I think I knew what she'd done. I don't' know how, I'd never learned any magic without my teacher, Adam Saks at least giving me an example first. But I had to push my luck. "One more time?" I asked.

She sighed, "This is really tedious Mike."

"Come on," I cajoled, "just once more."

She smirked, "If I do, you lose the towel too."

I nodded and then heard a voice behind me, "Lose the towel?" I turned to see Erin standing in the bathroom doorway looking mildly annoyed. A brief touch of my mind to hers sensed that she was annoyed. She felt like Emily was intruding, that after the orgasm she'd just had in the shower, she wanted to spend more time with me, but here was some woman she didn't know, trying to get me naked.

I turned and said, "Emily, meet Erin. Erin, this is your employer, Ms. Emily Whitefeld."

Emily straightened then, it was one thing to be annoyed, but to find out that the woman in the room was the one paying the rather expensive cost to keep her here for the entire week was another. "I'm sorry Ms. Whitefeld, I didn't know who you were," the redhead said a little too quickly as she tucked a large towel about her breasts and came to the table. She held out a hand to shake and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you and if there's anything I can do..."

Emily interrupted, "That's sweet dear, but why don't you run along to the other bedroom now and let the adults talk?" She gestured at the door that separated the suite's two halves. Erin hesitated a moment, and looked as if she was about to protest, but her better common sense took hold. She nodded and then clad in only the towel left the hotel suite for the other room. It would be a bit much to say she slammed the connecting door, but it wasn't closed too gently either. Emily turned back towards me and grinned in what could only be described as lecherous, "Are you willing to bet the towel Mike?"

"I would really like to see that spell one last time," I admitted, and dropped the towel to the floor, exposing myself to her. She chuckled and held out the deck of cards.

"Queen of spades," she said as I reached for it, and again, I felt the magic thrum through the air, felt the power flowing into the cards. The mana of her spell rearranging the order of the cards, changing the chance that I'd draw that specific card from a very slim chance to a certainty. I tried to follow the flow of magic as well as I could, but wasn't surprised as I flopped over the queen of spades.

"Enough jerking around Mike, you've got nothing left to lose." She eyed my naked form, my cock flaccid, but still somewhat impressive in size and girth, and licked her lips. "Well, I suppose..."

I laughed and moved to the bed sitting on the edge, "No, I think three times is enough. So, what did you mean when you said I had a full house?"

"Every mage, shapeshifter, fairy, vampire, whatever that I've ever met has had a different aura to them..." She began to say.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" I said sitting forwards with shock registering on my face, "Vampires? Fairies?"

Emily gave me a look that simply said that I was being naive if I thought she was making this up. After all that I'd experienced, I supposed she was right. I pulled a slightly apologetic face and she continued. "Anyways," she said rolling her eyes, "Each supernatural has a certain aura to them. Some people can see the auras, I just sort of 'feel' them. I get a sense of a person's power as if I were gambling against them. For me, mages always feel like poker hands, probably because poker is my favorite game, and I'm a mage? I don't know, anyways, the stronger the mage, the better the 'hand' they have when I sense them out."

I nodded and added in, "I smell mages. It smells like the air during a thunderstorm when a mage is in the room."

Emily nodded and continued, "Well, when I first met you, I thought you had a decent 'hand' as it were. I thought, 'oh, here's a guy that's got a decent hand.' Two pair is either a well trained mage of little power or a fresh mage of some significance. To say you could have gained enough power to go from a two pair to such a high full house is surprising is a bit of an understatement. But it's not just that you gained that much raw magical training or power, it's also that you did so in such a short time. I mean, to maybe upgrade a single card in a five card hand in a day, I could see that... but to gain that much power? I don't understand how that's possible Mike."

I sighed, this wasn't going to be easy to explain. "It's probably all the time I spent in the endless forest," I said. But her look of total incomprehension told me that she didn't know what I was talking about. I tried a different tact, "You know, a different plane? Another world? Not here?"

Emily collected the three queens from the felt table and began shuffling the cards nervously as she leaned forwards in her chair. Any playful teasing about my nudity was now forgotten as she said slowly and softly, "Mike, maybe you should start at the beginning."

- - -

By the time I'd caught Emily up on the story she'd stopped shuffling the cards and simply sat, elbows on her knees, staring with her mouth open. She closed it audibly and set the deck of cards on the felt table, no longer needed, she finally asked, "Do you think all of that really happened though Mike? I mean, going to another world? It sounds like something that could happen, but...." She shook her head, "And you said you were there for weeks, but you were only out cold in the hospital for what... less than a half a day?"

I nodded, "I know it sounds kind of crazy, but I remember it all. I remember what Elder Creaklimb told me, what he taught me. I can remember the kinds of things he taught me about the history of magic, and how magic works and such."

Emily's gaze was intense then. I was again struck by her eyes as I was the way I'd been when I'd first met her. The intensity in her gaze was one borne of intelligence, experience, and dare I say, a fair share of doubt. The soulful eyes gazed at me from a face that was far too young to bear such experienced orbs. I'd been sitting here talking to her for almost an hour, wearing not a single stitch of clothing, but it was only now, under that gaze, that I felt truly naked for the first time. Her voice was soft when she spoke, but inside it was a hunger, a deep desire, "Like what?"

I smiled and stood up. My cock, flaccid, still hung several inches thickly against my thigh and I knew it drew her eye as I walked to her. I picked up the deck of cards and said, "Cut the deck and draw a card."

She shook her head, "Nice try Mike, but you're an eros mage, you can't cast my spells. My magic is luck magic, you can't cast the same way I can."

I held out the deck and grinned, "So you've got nothing to lose then."

She smiled and began to reach for the deck when suddenly I stopped her and pulled the deck back. "Ah ah ah," I said, "There's no point to the game if you don't risk something. I had to tell you my story, avoid getting dressed, and then spend the last hour naked for you. I think I deserve some sort of reward if I manage to guess correctly. Don't you?"

Emily rolled her eyes, "Fine, you're not going to be able to cast my spell, so what sort of wager would you like?"

I grinned, "I think you should strip down and join me. Seems like a fair trade off."

She sighed, "Fine Mike, you've only got a one in fifty two chance of guessing anyways. If you guess correctly, I'll strip down and we can play some cards in the buff." She held up a finger and said, "but if you don't, I go get some of my employees that I can trust and we start practicing your cards tonight." She smiled again and added, "I'll let you get dressed while i gather them up."

I nodded and held the deck back out to her. As she reached for it I said, "Ace of spades."

She drew the card and then smiled and said, "Nice try Mike, I told you, you're an eros mage, you can't cast the same spells as me." Then she tossed her card to the table. Six of club landed face up and she stood up and made her way to the door. She called over her shoulder, "Be back in a bit then we get to work."

I stood there next to the table and let the mana flow through my body. I flipped the top card and looked down at the ace of spades. I smiled and said, "Ace of hearts, Ace of Diamonds, Ace of clubs, King of hearts...." and on and on, letting the cards fall in the proper order as magic ordered the deck perfectly as I called them out.

I wasn't supposed to be able to do this? Maybe it would be best if I didn't let her know just yet.

- - -

The next few days flew by in a flurry of activity, poker, and rampant sex with Erin. I would play cards with dealers and casino workers till sun up. Sometimes Emily came and sat in on the games for a little while, but usually she didn't. Then when the sun would finally shine too brightly to ignore, I'd call an end to the night, draw the blinds, and summon Erin to my bed. From there it was usually at least an hour or two before I finally got to sleep, depending on how much of my magic I'd used that night. A 'breakfast' sometime well after noon, and then I'd hit the casino floor for the afternoon crowds.

Afternoons in the Casino Royale were full of the 'blue hairs.' The older crowd that bet small, but enjoyed themselves immensely, at least for the most part. I considered this a good part of my self training. It was where i could practice trying to focus on reading the minds of my fellow card players while still playing my hand of poker.

I was growing in power, I could tell that. My first hint was right after I'd woken up in the hospital when I'd been flooded with information when I tried to 'read' the nurse. Ever since I woke in the hospital, information was coming much more easily and freely whenever I connected with another person's mind. But it was too much, too fast, and I had to concentrate too hard. I couldn't play a hand of poker very well if I was trying to sift through a flood of information from a person that included everything from their favorite flavor of ice cream, to the way it felt the first time they drove a car, to the regret they had for not going to their cousin's wedding last month. Somewhere in all of those thoughts, images, feelings, and emotions was the mental thought of what cards they had in their hand and what they were thinking about doing with those cards. The sheer amount of attention I had to use to get the needed information was too high to focus on my own cards.

I suppose that it would have been fine for me to just fold out my hands and play conservatively while I mentally dug for info, but that wouldn't fly in the big tournament. In addition I could only really play well or dig for information, not both. I needed a new way to 'access' the information that I was reading from people's minds.

I tried calling my mentor, Adam Saks, for advice, but he refused my calls. Ruby told me that he was apparently quite pissed off. He was trying not to show it, but he was very angry that I'd decided to up and disappear for a week. But I wasn't beholden to him. He was my mentor, my teacher, the man who'd ushered me into this crazy world of magic and mystery, but he wasn't my father, he wasn't my boss, he wouldn't tell me what to do or how to live my life.

I had as a matter of fact, been debating leaving his company. Ruby's Hideaway in Vegas was nice, and there was a constant flow of mana due to all the sex that the prostitutes had. But I didn't feel like I was learning. Especially after my time with Elder Creaklimb, I felt like there was more for me to do and learn out in the world then holed up in Adam's brothel. Besides, I'd promised Ruby that I'd find a way to free her from her servitude to Adam, and I didn't really think that was something I could accomplish while living on his property.

So I was stuck trying to learn a new method for myself. Mind you, when I say this, I mean that I was trying to invent something that I wasn't even sure existed. Adam had taught me several ways of skimming through thoughts to find what I needed, but now I needed a way to instantly gather information without the time that it normally took. It was like a painter trying to come up with a new color that he had never seen before, or a writer trying to invent a new style of poetry that hadn't existed. I felt there must be a way, but I didn't know how other than to try and fail.