^^ Sorcerous Spellcraft ^^

— Gina —

With two working lungs to rant with, Johnathan was much, much, much more long-winded, and it was even more of a struggle than usual to keep up with his rapid-fire train of thought, but he deserved answers, so I did my best, and the Shadow Devil in the mirror answered when he asked her things, though she seemed a bit mystified still by the situation.

"-but Magic isn't even a real- well, current observational evidence would say otherwise, so- but devils would denote the existence of divinity, wouldn't they?"

"Not exactly... there are beings who oppose Devils, but they are simply a different Race who are represented by Fire and Light instead of Shadow and Ash, and their domains are the Stars and all that is touched by their light; thus they are misunderstood to be allies of humanity, and the source of many religions. They have been known to give Warlock Gifts in the same way as us Devils, by way of Deals, and their magic has been known as Cleric or Divine Magic in the more recent ages, though both have been Codified into Runic Enochian in this Realm for ease of use."

"So you're aliens who are bound by laws of your own creation?"

"That is a fair comparison, and the answer is both yes and no. We exist throughout the cosmos, yes, but those of us who exist on and interact with Earth were created here. We are also heavily influenced by the sentient life wherever we may preside, initially as a way to fit in or to be understood, and also as a way to gain servants and Deals; the more Souls we gather, the higher our ranks, our powers, our authority, and our influence."

"But hell doesn't exist, then, if you're not actually Godly?"

"Correct, and also incorrect; there is a land of fire and brimstone and ice and many layers and circles wherein we hold and create certain creatures in order to use them as followers and to have other followers kill them for us, but it is not decided upon by some arbitrary nonsense such as 'good and evil'."

"So... Venus. Hot, cold, buncha craters, atmosphere with too much nitrogen so you die if you breathe it too long..." I hummed, and frowned when both of them looked at me incredulously. "What?!? I know science stuff sometimes!"

"That is remarkably astute, but also incorrect. The Dungeons, as I'm sure you knew I was referring to, are connected to a slip-space of sorts, a Pocket Dimension, which is anchored in place at the points that you call 'Gates'. As for their difficulty levels, that was put into place to manage the populations of the more powerful creatures, and to create a very clear hierarchy, which helps keep everything organized, and has the added benefit of allowing supplicants a more strategic understanding of the place they go for various reasons; some go to kill off all our believers, some go to give mana to their Contractors, some go to gather Loot, which are magically enhanced materials or items that can only be created by the very most potently Powerful of Enochian Sorcerers, and are therefore very rare and valuable."

I smirked at her response, shaking my head slowly. "Not as rare as you'd think... But wait, why would you let people kill the creatures in the dungeons? Aren't those your followers?"

"Yes... and no. It's something like a game to us, you see, one where we always win; if the Warlock we gave power to dies within a dungeon, we lose their soul to the one who owns that dungeon. But, if they kill the 'monsters' within, we get to take those souls from the Devils who own that particular Anchor Point, and place them within our Dungeons. Essentially, there's a limited amount of Souls, and no matter who dies in the dungeons, that energy still trades hands, creating for us a bustling 'game economy' of sorts."

I understood her point, so my disgruntled grumble of irritation only served to make her laugh, but John was still curious, of course. "So... 'Hell' is a video game you all created for your own amusement that functions like the stock trade, and in it you have all the souls you've ever contracted fight other people in a maze forever, in a variety of entertaining forms and fashions?"

"Essentially, yes. Very astute, Lord Johnathan."

I stood and dusted myself off while he stared into space aimlessly, looking a little baffled by the revelation. "Hmph... well, regardless, let's end this discussion here; this entire Tower you've had constructed... it's in a slip space, but it has a physical manifestation, right?"

The pale woman's gaze found mine, as cold as hers and twice as sharp, and she nodded slowly. "It is, yes."

"And therefore both its interior and its physical manifestation can be altered by your will or the will of your Owner?"

"... yes?"

"Good. I'm going to offer you a Deal, then, to get you out of that mirror; in return for my setting you free from your argental prison, you will serve My Line, of whom Johnathan is the Heir, until it's inevitable destruction. You will follow my Laws, and you will be given access to however much Prey you wish to have, within the Level Nine Dungeon I own, here on this property. This Tower within my Tower will merge with the one I've built, and this Compound will become your Territory, within which your power will be greatly enhanced by your connection to the Tower itself, which at that point will be a True Wizard's Tower. You will endeavor to make Johnathan the master of said Wizard's Tower, without the use of a warlock Contract, and to empower him and protect him from his enemies until he is capable of doing so himself, at which point you will likely be protecting his children, as well. Do those terms seem favorable to you?"

She smiled wickedly, a Cheshire grin spreading from ear to ear. "Of course, Madame Warlock: those Terms seem favorable indeed..."

"Perfect. In the meantime, you should focus on destroying and devouring all your other subordinates; they are rather useless to you as they are, I believe, and I need you powerful enough to eat the beating heart out of the chest of the Devil called 'He Who Sleeps Within The Void' someday."

Her Cheshire grin collapsed slowly into a thoughtful expression, and then she nodded, glancing at Johnathan when he spoke up. "Uhm! All except 'Ressaf', please? He was my Father's first Familiar, so I want to Summon him, if he's still... alive?"

The woman in the mirror blinked a few times, looking around, before plucking one of the shadows at her feet off the ground, wherein it formed itself into a small imp made of either ink or oil. "You may summon it, of course, Young Master Johnathan; I have kept it as a pet, ever since it was granted sentience by way of Master Johnathan's Magic. Once your mother has summoned me, it will be much easier to summon the others."

I nodded and began drawing the circle required, cutting my palm for the blood required and setting the target for the mana required as the Tower itself; this was an experiment on my part, on whether or not I could actually use the Tower's Magic Reservoir instead of my Contract to enchant the floor of this room with a Summoning Circle. If it worked, then in the future all I'd need was a to connect to the Tower in order to Enchant objects, and my Contract with the Void would be easily broken, without my losing a single thing.

The Tower took the burden easily, and to my surprise blood and ash slopped down the walls in a particularly creepy and gross way to complete the necessary amount to build the body of the woman in the mirror, proving the enchantment had been successful; the souls in my gut disappeared, and I sensed the blood and ashes had came from some of the fish in the tower, to my irritation. "Damn... I'll have to replace those fish... regardless: Contract Devil, You Are Summoned by These Souls, This Blood, and This Ash to Serve With Pride; The Tower of Glass now Commands Your Obsequious Capitulation. Come Forth Unto This Plane, Be Bound to its Laws and Enslaved for its Pleasure, and Receive Blood and Souls in Exchange for Fair Contracts and Honorable Service." The contract settled on the tower itself, instead of me, and the woman in the mirror disappeared, reappearing in the new body with ease. Technically I hadn't summoned her, simply directed the Tower to do so, but as I was the owner of the Tower, that made me the Owner of Her, tangentially. It also meant she wasn't beholden to the Void Devil I was contracted to, so she could eat him one day if I asked it of her.

'Great Lady of The Glade, Mistress of The Tower of Glass, I regret to inform you that I, Dragul, Lord of Blood and Ash, have sensed a Contract Devil within your territory... one I must regrettably inform you is worlds more powerful than I. I suggest escape, please?'

'I'm aware, Dragul. If you please her with your offerings, she may even decide not to eat you.'

"Ah, the smell of Blood and Ash, such a lovely thing to wake up to..." The Greater Shadow Devil's voice was much smoother, now that there was no need to vibrate a mirror to make her voice heard, and she laughed, snapping her fingers casually. Instantly, the tower shivered just once, and the mirror melted into a puddle of metal before rebuilding itself as a 3D model of the tower and the compound around it, in the center of the room. The place where the Gate was caught her attention, and she hummed softly, tilting her head at it. "Well that is quite interesting... I've never seen a Gate that was turned into an Ouroboros... it will be difficult to connect it to the tower without unbalancing it..."

"Yes, it will, but I've got the perfect plan, don't worry. John, watch this, okay?" I pulled out the dragon bone quill from the journal, beckoning Johnathan over so he could watch, then summoned my own quill as a test: instantly, the quill glowed and caught flame with a ghostly blue light which didn't burn my hands, and I began to draw the same runes as I'd placed around the Gate onto the Tower itself, then the silver cable that connected the two buildings ever since it had become an electrical generator. The tower shook softly again as soon as I finished, and I grinned as I could see now the location of every living creature within the entire compound, as little glowing figures in the tower's model. Then, just because I wasn't stupid, I drew the Runes required to more permanently Bind the Greater Shadow Devil to the Tower Model, (much like her being bound to the Mirror,) effectively and permanently Binding her to the Wizard's Tower as its 'House Spirit', so to speak. That way she couldn't do anything naughty.

The Shadow Devil in question turned and glared at me, but said nothing other than clicking her tongue softly in irritation while I opened Johnathan Sr.'s Grimoire and skimmed through it quickly to find the name I was looking for: Ressaf, Fool of Ink: a Lesser Ink Devil. "Now Johnathan, let's get you through a simple summoning, yeah? Ressaf, that's the one you wanted, right?"

He nodded slowly, still staring at the silver tower model for a few moments before focusing. "Right! So... how does this work?"

"Well, it's actually pretty simple. The circle is a basic circle, and you add stuff in as you need it: instead of some other creature, you'll use the coordinates for the Tower to Bind the Demon or Devil you're summoning, and the Tower and Dungeon will Pay for the Summoning. Lady Erfan, while we're busy, there's a Contract Devil beneath my Dungeon Gate, and you may Eat him at your leisure: he's useless to me now. All the Blood, Ashes, and Mana from the Dungeon go into the ritual room below it, -which, according to this Model, is actually directly above us now,- and you may have all of it that Johnathan and I do not require."

"And the Succubi and Incubi I sense?"

"Those are mine, leave them be for now."

"Of course, Lady Chamberlain; Good Evening, Lord Aricsson."

My voice froze the room, causing her eyes to snap to mine reflexively before dropping servilely. "His name is Johnathan Chamberlain, Erfan. Don't make that mistake again."

"Never again, Lady Chamberlain; Good Evening, Lord Chamberlain." She curtsied genially, smiling at Johnathan and patting his head carefully before walking to the stairs and turning into a shadow that slipped into the room above like an assassin on a new moon.

"Hmph... now, we've got the coordinates and we've got the name of the creature you'd like to summon, as well as their Soul, so this Summoning requires only Blood, in order to build a Body for the creature. The Dungeon will provide that, so all you need is the Mana to kickstart the Ritual, provided by your Book of Names and the Dragonbone Wand." I handed Johnathan the grimoire and the quill carefully, then stepped out of the way as he read through the script, written in Enochian.

"Am I... supposed to be able to read this?"

"Hmm? You can't? Well... damn, that does put a halt to that, huh? We will summon Ressaf in a few weeks, then, after you've mastered Enochian. Instead, let's work on Magic: you know some Runes, so we'll see about Casting Magic, and I'll teach you Enochian, alright? How's it feel for me to be your teacher for once instead of Doctor Goodwin, huh?"

Johnathan smiled and hugged my shoulder affectionately. "Yes, mama, it's great to spend more time with you: it won't interfere with my lessons with Dr. Goodwin, will it?"

"No, dear, I know how much you love those lessons, I'd never! Now! First, we'll work on how to channel magic! It's a curious feeling, one you'll need to get familiar with-"

—

Over the course of a few long days, unlike the weeks I'd expected, Johnathan had proven his genius once more by mastering Enochian, gaining a total fluency and taking to the concept of manifesting Runes like a fish to water. I learned from the Succubi -and Erfan, begrudgingly,- that casting magic was a simple concept with difficult parts; namely, you needed only two things to craft and cast magic: Manifestation or Carving of Runes, and Mana. Johnathan had the innate Mana of several of my Succubi Enchantresses combined, almost as much as Dragul had had, and with the ease of which he learned Enochian, manifesting the runes was an easy concept, as all he had to do was imagine it and it would happen.

By the seventh day he was throwing fireballs into the shooting range-type structure I'd had Erfan build underneath the northern end of the compound, and was now studying with the Succubi on how to better control and master his magic, to prevent wasteful practices. Meanwhile, I was still trying my best to actually Manifest Runes. As always, falling behind my son's blazing trail; still, where others may have been burning up with jealousy and envy, i was watching his back get further and further away with every breath, and I had only maternal pride to give. My boy would be the biggest and baddest sorcerer this world had ever seen, and when the Sorcerous Clans came for him, whether or not I was there, he would be able to protect himself. Any mother's dream, after all, was for their children to be safe and happy and cared-for, and at this point this was the best way to make that come about, so I encouraged him endlessly towards any goal which would make him safer, more powerful, and happier.

On the twelfth day, I managed to manifest a rune comfortably, alongside its rather complicated accompanying Circle, but it was worth it as a snowball appeared over my palm and launched itself at Johnathan's chest, surprising him from his position across the field. "Loser does chores for a week!!!" I shouted my challenge at him and the succubi around him, followed by a flurry of snowballs that had them all diving for cover.

"If I win, you take me to Dragon-Con!!!" He surprised me by simply raising a barrier made of ice, followed by a shotgun blast of smaller snowballs lobbed at me as if from a mortar cannon behind the wall, forcing me to dive behind a table to get cover.

"Deal!!!" I laughed happily as I threw my snowy reply at him, clipping his shoulder as he leaned around his wall to get a look at me, then flinched at the presence of Lady Erfan, right next to me, holding what appeared to be an entire boulder's worth of snow.

"My apologies, mistress, but Lord Johnathan really wants to go to this 'Dragon-Con' event, even enough to Cheat... I told him I could summon him a Real Dragon, but he wasn't interested, oddly enough... regardless, I must request your surrender. Your reply?"

"Sorry about this! Sort of!" I cast a wind rune behind her, diving out of the way as she ended up under her own pile of snow as it crashed down on top of her. Then I turned and yelled at the boy cowering behind the pillar of ice he'd summoned. "Johnathan!!! Cheating?!? Really?!? You could've just asked if it was that important!!!"

A small head popped up over the ice wall. "Can we... go to dragon-con? Ple-" his head rocked back as my snowball pegged him between the eyes, sending him sprawling into the snow we'd created.

I sauntered over to his dazed form, kneeling and pulling him into my lap to dust the snow off him, then smiled evilly. "Yes, dear, we can, but now you owe me a week of chores, and I know just what to give you!"

He looked at my evil grin, frowning slowly. "... and what's that?"

"Shoveling Snow, of course!"