[Original Novel] Mistress of Magic: Morgan's Apprentice - Chapter 10 [NSFW]

techslut (70)in #story • 8 years ago

A story of magic, love and loyalty.

Previously: Lilith thanks Mason and is faced with a hard test.

Previous Chapters:

Chapter 10 – Revelations in Anguish

I could sense Neal's discomfort from the moment he neared the two of us. He didn't really want this. All that moved him was his sense of duty, but he was hesitant, silently convincing himself to obey.

"Lilith, you may not understand what I am asking you to do now, but it's important you do as I say," Morgan ordered. I tried not to frown and glanced at Neal. He stood there naked, his eyes in the floor and his face red beneath the freckles.

I took a deep breath. I knew that what I learned at the college was but a tip of all there was to magic acceptance. Especially to a mistress, the highest order of the strongest mages. There were rumors. Whispers of orgies, and lust, an almost unlimited power and magic. Of mistresses who had powers like the goddesses of old and could draw power from the world, not just the pleasure and devotion of men. But what did hurting Neal have anything to do with that?

No doubt, this test was important. The intensity on Morgan's face said everything. I took another deep, cleansing breath, and practiced in my head focusing techniques I learned at the college.

"I need you to hurt him," Morgan said. "Nothing that can injure, just… pain. You can slap him, pinch him, use a whip or even magic to hurt him. But I need to sense his pain."

I opened my mouth to speak but Morgan stopped me. "I know. You can sense his unwillingness. This is intentional. Trust me and just slap him. He's been slapped before."

My hand rose, but my very being was screaming at me to stop. I didn't want this. He didn't want this. But an order was an order and if Morgan asked… I closed my eyes, took another deep breath and when I opened them I stared directly into Neal's eyes.

"I am sorry," I whispered and slapped him. It wasn't a very strong slap, really. Just enough to sting a little. I knew those quite well from the Lady Mothers at the college. But what happened next, I could not expect.

As my hand slapped across Neal's cheek, there was a burst of red light. It blinded me and physically threw me and Neal back. There was also a kind of boom that deafened me, and as I stumbled back, the last thing I heard was Morgan cursing. And then the comfort of a warm darkness enveloped me into a comforting, blissful rest.

When I woke up, I was no longer in Morgan's playroom. I was on the bed in my room in her apartment in the palace. I smelled herbs and opened my eyes slowly. Leaning above me was a Mistress with deep brown eyes and wrinkles just as deep all across her pale face.

"Morgan, she's awake," the Mistress said. "Told you she was fine." I turned to see Morgan hurry to my side. I tried to lift my head but the splitting pain made me wince and put it right back on the pillow where it rested.

"Yes, you bumped your head a little and gave us all a big scare," Morgan said softly with clear relief in her voice. "How do you feel, Lilith?" She sounded almost maternal.

"I… I think I am fine," I muttered and rubbed my eyes. My head was pounding and I was dizzy. And everything looked slightly reddish.

"Of course you're fine. If Mistress Lyda says you are, you are. She's the best healer still walking this earth," Morgan said, more to herself than to me. Against my aching mind, her relief felt like a fresh spring shower on my face.

"Barely walking this earth," Lyda added, shifting as though to adjust the aging bones of her body.

"What happened? How long was I out? Is Neal okay?" I interrupted their friendly chat with a flood of questions.

Morgan paused as she and the elderly Mistress exchanged serious looks. Lyda pursed her lips, shook her head and gathered her herbs and tools to leave.

"Good luck," she uttered in the strangest tone, as the door of the room closed behind her.

"Oh sweet Lilith," Morgan sighed. "Where do I ever begin?" she asked no one in particular and sat down heavily on the bed beside me. "Neal is fine. He's already slept it off. You were out for two whole days," she said rather dryly.

I shivered. Two days? How could I have been out for two bloody days? What sustained me? What in the world is going on here? A nagging feeling, one I knew too well, woke in me, itching at the edges of my psyche. Something was off. Something was different. I was missing some crucial detail that was there all along.

"What happened to me?" I begged Morgan for an answer with my eyes. My heart and head were pounding. I was terrified. But at the same time, part of me felt different. It stirred and awakened and now filled me with a strength I couldn't begin to describe. I could not name it, and it scared me. This was nothing like anything I had learned at the college. What was I missing?

A silence hung in the air for much too long. I could almost smell the tension in the air, like a storm brewing.

"You've excelled in your nature and science studies," Morgan said. "So you should know that evolution changes everything around us. It is a form of sentient magic and power." She paused.

I stared at her wide-eyed, not sure how any of this had anything to do with whatever it was that happened to me upstairs, or what I was feeling.

"Magic evolves with us," she said. "There aren't just weaker or stronger Lady Mages. It's more complicated than that. It's a secret the sisters hold very close. Only a handful of mistresses know the truth in full. Even I am not one of them."

I listened intently as my mind raced. Am I mutant of some sort? Am I damaged? What does this mean about me? What happens now?

"Once every few generations, there is a deviation. There's a mutation in the magical nature of a lady," Morgan explained. Yup, I was right. A mutant. My self-loathing lifted its ugly head.

Morgan noticed my face change and gently pet my cheek in response. I wondered if this maternal behavior was something she connected to a lot. Did she have children? I was surprised I hadn't thought to ask her that. Mistresses are mothers to some of the strongest Lady Mages who ever lived. So it made sense any strong mistress would be encouraged to breed.

"All those Lady Goddesses of old you studied about in history? They were like you. Gifted," she continued.

"Gifted? How?!" I pleaded. "I don't understand. I don't feel gifted, Lady Morgan. And now you’re comparing me to Goddesses?"

"The Lady Casandra the Mighty. You remember her, right?" the mistress asked.

"Of course! She led an army of just a hundred men to fight those who resisted the unification of the land. She was the slayer of thousands of warriors." I knew her legend well. Lady Casandra was a mistress of legendary power whose expertise was battle magic. She was a fearsome force that was incremental to the establishment of the Kingdom as it is. According to the scrolls of the ancient scribes of the sisterhood, she lived out her life as the first high queen, bore seven children then turned into a dragon and flew away. Obviously, only the zealots and idiots believed the part about the dragon. She probably just grew old and died, like most of us. And since it wasn't some glorious death in combat, the sisterhood made up a tale to uplift her to Godhood.

"She was like you," Morgan stated. "Her power was like yours and it has been twelve generations since another like you walked the earth."

I couldn't answer. Or breathe.

"Well, not exactly like you," she corrected herself. "Casandra was a Death Mistress. She drew her power from the death of men. Not only their pleasure and devotion. So every foe she would slay would just fill her with more power to slay the next."

"And what am I?"

"You are a Red Mistress, it seems. You can draw power from the pain of men. Like Lady Dinara the Just," Morgan mentioned another Lady Goddess.

"She was burned alive by the children and wives of the men she tortured to death!" I exclaimed. Supposedly, she turned into a dragon and flew away when this happened, but again – only zealots and idiots would believe that.

"She was insane," Morgan spoke out one of the most debated and controversial theories in the kingdom's religions.

"Will I go insane?" I wondered aloud.

"Only if you let your ability control you, instead of you controlling it," she said. I had no idea what that meant.

"What other types of… deviations are there?" I inquired. I had so many other questions, but I could tell from Morgan's eyes she hasn't rested in too long, probably because she watched over me in my bed for two days straight. But some things I had to know.

"I told you the Sisterhood keeps its secrets secret. I only know of one kind of Mistress that is not known through common legend is the Dual Mistress. There hasn't been one in over twenty generations and with good reason," Morgan smirked. "A Dual Mistress can draw power from the pleasure and devotion of women. Some rumors claim that Lilith, the Lady Goddess you were named after, was such a Mistress. It's that ability that allowed her to unite the covens of the land and bring trust among sisters."

"And what will happen to me now?" I asked carefully.

"I honestly do not know, Lilith," Morgan admitted. "You and I will be called before the High Council of Ladies and they will decide what to do with you. I plan to request you as my apprentice. I truly hope they will agree."

I opened my mouth to ask another question but stopped. Morgan was tired. I could tell. She needed to rest and feed. And I needed some time to process all this. If the council accepted Morgan's petition, this would be my home now. I would be a mistress of the order. I would learn from Morgan until I knew enough to do serve the needs of the sisterhood myself. My head was dizzy from thirst, the bump I had from the fall and all this information just spun me out of balance.

Morgan could sense it. She rose from my bed, kissed me on the forehead and headed for the door. "I'll have Gerad bring you some fruit juice and bread. He'll be right outside your door should you need anything."

I would have nodded if I didn't think it would split my head with pain or make me fall off the bed.

"Rest well, little one," she said, already halfway out the door. "The council won't wait long before summoning us."

Little One. She never stopped calling me that.

-=-=-=-=-

Note: Work has been crazy and is showing no signs of regaining sanity. This means I will be able to produce (at best) a chapter a week. Mea culpa. I'll try and make the waiting worth it.

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#writing #fantasy #fiction #nsfw

8 years ago in #story by techslut (70)

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