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[Amber Brightwing]

This time the spirits stayed together and Aribeal nodded in approval. Amber was happy it had indeed worked, but there was a slight sting of disappointment that she hadn’t managed to keep the level down to Initiate. If she ever got to Journeyman she would look into rebuilding it from scratch and see if she could muster enough control to keep the spirits in check with a polished up version.

“Good. Now put the pencil back on the table and dispel it so we can continue with the rest of your lessons.”

With that the mer dispelled the Circle of magic and awaited his student. Amber ordered the spirits to form a ball around the pencil and let it roll towards the table. Once it reached the edge it stopped and formed a round foot on the floor. The ball then was pushed upwards, diminishing in size until it was no more then a ring around the pencil connected to a long, small stave that rested on a disk on the floor. She placed the pencil on the table and dispelled her Spirit Puppet.

“You said you were interested in the Summon Undead spell, so that will be the next one you shall cast. Normally I use this spell to teach a student the Circle of Magic. Things rarely go wrong with this spell as the undead generally offer little resistance to a necromancer’s commands, but with beginning students they occasionally do. I don’t expect anything to go wrong, but it’s a good occasion for you to try out a Circle of Magic that prevents anything from entering it.”

Amber picked up the pencil again and started drawing a circle around her, going counter-clockwise this time. After activating it with Ara she started the process of mana creation for the second time. First she would use Conjuration to create a decaying body to serve as it’s physical shell in this plane. It would be clad, with the bones and skull coming through the rotting flesh at several points. A few sparse hairs on his head and only one eye that hung loose in it’s socket would complete the image she had always had about an undead. Then she would use Divination to call forth a spirit from the realm of the death and link it to it.

[Amber Brightwing]

The mer would have curled his nose if he had one. He was standing not too far off the decaying flesh on the undead and it was spreading a rather unpleasant smell.

“You can choose how your undead looks you know, so you could choose to make one that doesn’t smell that bad.”

He eyed the fae and Amber considered his words. She had never really considered that ‘dead’ didn’t necessarily mean ‘decayed’. Someone that had only just died still looked very much like he did when he was still alive. And they didn’t smell yet either. It was something to keep in mind for the next time.

“Now, I want you to let your servant walk around the table to test him out a bit, but then I want him gone again. Don’t use dispel though, but use the Dismiss Undead spell instead.”

After sending a mental command to her new servant she looked back at the mer, keeping an eye on the undead from the corner of her eye.

“I have a question. Why would I use the Dismiss Undead spell when dismissing is just as easy and less Vis consuming?”

The mer nodded. It was not such an uncommon question.

“It’s indeed better to use the dispel technique in this particular case, but there are advantages to using a spell instead. When a spell is cast by another mage, dispelling safely becomes harder and more time consuming because you don’t have the same knowledge on it as you do when you have made it yourself. In such a case one might opt to use a spell instead.”

The Faerie nodded at the answer. Her undead had now made a full tour around the table, neatly executing her order. Again she started the mana creation process. This time she would be doing the opposite of the previous spell, this time using Divination to tear down the link between the soul and Telath, sending it back from where it came.

[Amber Brightwing]

The soul was released from his prison on the Material plane and the body fell apart, disappearing into thin air again.

“Good. Unless you have any questions to ask, I’ll see back you tomorrow then.”

“No questions.”

With that the mer nodded and retreated himself back in the water, while Amber headed home.

***

The next day had a small surprise for her as she was told that she was expected in a different room today. After following Spirotyn’s directions trough the complex, Amber an open door. When she entered she was greeted by master Aribeal who was already waiting for her. The room was a bit lower then the mer’s quarters, but it was a bit larger, something that sprang forth even more due to the emptiness. There was nothing other then the cold black stones of the walls, floor and ceiling to be seen.

“Today we’ll be looking into some spells that affect a larger area, which is why we came to this room. I want you to start with casting Stench of Decay.”

Amber nodded and started with entering Clara right away. After she had made the mana needed, she would start with Conjuring a cloud with the stench rotting flesh, followed by an and Alteration to let it span the whole area in front of her.

[Amber Brightwing]

The spell went off and nothing happened. Amber thought she saw some vague mist like substance hanging in the air before her, but it was hard to tell with the sparse lighting if it was real or just her imagination. The spell had worked well though, a little too well even as the Fae soon found out. After a short time of staring into the emptiness of the room she thought she smelled something and it wasn’t long before she had trouble combining breathing and not throwing out her previous meal.

“As you might have noticed, this can be a very unpleasant spell. And you are only just on the edges of the cloud.”

The Mer flashed a set of sharp teeth as he took pleasure from her suffering. After a moment he dispelled the Stench of Decay though as he wanted to continue with her training.

“As you might have noticed, your Alteration was a little off. Now I want you to try again, but this time cast Acid Cloud.”

Amber first had to enter Clara again before she could start making the needed mana, as the stench had made her drop out of it. Once she got to the shaping things were very similar to the Stench of Decay spell. This time she would Conjure a cloud of acid instead of stench. The Alteration was exactly the same, except that this time she made the area in which the spell took effect a bit smaller, so that if things went wrong as with the previous spell she would literally have a bit more room for small errors. When she finally cast, the spell would be placed in the far end of the room, with a distance between the edges of the cloud and herself.

[Amber Brightwing]

“Good.”

Something that resembled green mist had formed in front of them and this time the cloud stayed at a safe distance. Aribeal was leaning on a thick wooden stick which he seemed to have produced from somewhere while she was busy casting and there was a not very comforting smirk on his face.

“Cast Spirit Armor.”

If she would have had a few moments more to consider, she might have guessed it herself that that was the spell she would have to cast next. The Mer had tested her Spirit Shield spell in a very similar way last time. For the last time this day Amber started making mana. Once she would be very careful again with the shaping, making sure she made no mistakes. When that was done she would use Conjuration to summon spiritual energy and then Alter it to form a shield around herself.

Once that was done, all that was left to do was bring the spell into the Material Plane, brace herself for what was to come and hope the spell would hold out.

[Amber Brightwing]

As the stick hit her she could see the bits flying of the Spirit Armour. It held out fairly well though and it lost only a small bit of it’s strength. The hit was far more damaging then that though. It had carried over some momentum as well and caused Amber to sail into the green mist a bit further. As soon as she came in contact with it, the acid cloud started eating away her the Spirit Armour at an alarming rate and she couldn’t be back out again quick enough.

“As you noticed, aside from being stronger, this spell also offers you protection from arcanic attacks as well. Now, if you don’t have any question any more I’m going to return to my chambers and I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

There was nothing more she wanted to know, so with some last words of goodbye, the Fae headed back home.

***

The next day she was expected at Aribeal’s room again. When she entered, she noticed that Rejik was still hanging from the wall. He didn’t look that well though, his clothes mostly torn and several wounds, burns and bruises showing through. He hung so still that at first view she had thought him death, but the small raise and fall off his chest showed that there was still some life in him.

“Today we should be able to finish your training. Rejik volunteered to help you out again today, so why don’t you show him the Fright spell?”

After entering Clara and creating mana she started shaping again. With Divination she would release feelings of fear and terror that were hidden inside and implant some new ones into the targets mind as well.

[Amber Brightwing]

The previously still body suddenly started to shift around a bit and moans could be heard as the spy was plagued by unpleasant thoughts. His bounds and the lack of much physical strength prevented him from doing much more then squirm a bit.

“Good. Now that we have him moving again it’s time to see if we can stop his movements as well. Cast Darkness”

Darkness seemed to be a lot like the Blindness spell, except it took things further and blocked more then just the targets eyesight. Once she had created sufficient mana again she would start the shaping with an Evocation to insert Death Essence into the targets body. Next would be a Divination to take the inserted necromantic energy and shape it to her purposes. A wall of shadow and clouds would be formed between the targets mind and his body preventing the communication between the two. As the spell was cast, the little wiggling Rejik was still capable of came to a halt as well.

“Well, that’s all there is for imparted spells. There’s only one more thing I have to teach you before you are off on your own again to go and practice everything. You’ll be casting a last spell, and this time it will be a journeyman mysticism one.”

For a second there was a questioning look on her face as to how she would be able to cast above her level and out of her sphere, but when she thought on what was left to learn it all became clear enough. Her thoughts were confirmed when the Mer produced a blue gem from his robes that was clearly glowing with Psionic energies.

“A few days ago I told you that torture worked just as well as mysticism and was much more fun. That’s only true to a certain level of course. Torture can make one tell all he can remember, but mysticism can go further and reveal those things that the conscious mind overlooked, but are still there. So to squeeze the last bits of information out of our friend, master Earthor has imbued this gem with a spell customized just for this occasion.”

Aribeal dispelled the two apprentice spells on the spy and then placed the gem on the table, signalling his Apprentice she could start. Amber started mixing a small amount of Vis and Ara as she had done many times before to create mana, but this time she used it to activate the dormant spell hidden in the gem and to direct it towards the target. She had no idea exactly what it was the spell it, and the only way she knew she had indeed succeeded was because of the approving nod of her master.

“That’s all. Now leave us be.”

After some last words of goodbye, Amber left the complex.

[Kalinda]

~Apprentice Necromancy Approved!~