My impromptu undead horde worked perfectly, I could tell by how I no longer felt like I was moments away from capture. The fact I wasn’t writhing on the ground from unendurable pain inflicted directly to my soul was a good indicator of my plans success as well. All and all I was proud of myself, and more than a little surprised at the effectiveness of my idea.

Sadly there isn’t much cover to be found and the open plains were huge, so my little escape attempt hadn’t taken me all that far in the grand scheme of things. I had found a spot behind a small hill that kept me mostly out of sight, it wasn’t the best hideaway but it was all I had to work with. I figure it’ll suit my purposes just fine, and once I had gotten rid of my crest I could start on searching for a more permanent place to keep myself hidden.

Checking over my two pet candidates I found that the man was a little worse for ware, I cast a simple healing charm over him to keep the caster alive while I was indisposed. Thinking it over, I gave the woman the same charm just in case she was fairing worse than she was letting on. She sure looked a lot worse than she let on, so I figured it was probably the right call.

With my wards suitably cared for I sat on the grassy ground and started to meditate. Meditation and other forms of focused rest tended to increase the rate a caster recovered there mana, for me meditating helped me regain mana almost five times faster than I could in a normal state of mind. I was going to meditate until my mana pool was back up to a level I could feel comfortable with for a summoning.

In less than an hour my mana pool felt mostly full again and I stopped meditating. With a deep breath I stood and grabbed my staff from where it floated beside me. With great care I used the end of my staff to draw a large circle in the earth, and as I closed of the circle I began to draw another identical circle around the first. You could never have too many precautions when summoning, but it was often deadly when you had too few. Closing off the second circle I felt I had the bare minimum of precautions in order, everything else I could deal with on the fly if both circles managed to fail.

There were three golden rules to summoning that anyone sane should adhere to. The first and most commonly overlooked rule was to never summon something you couldn’t take down yourself, it was depressing how many summoners were recorded to have been killed by what they called forth. The second rule was to always summon within a containment mechanism, summoned beings can be tricky and hard to keep ahold of if preparations aren’t taken beforehand. And the third rule that seems to be constantly forgotten by summoners is that you can never be sure what you’ll call forth. Plenty of summoners end up getting random beings instead of what they were calling for, and while you can increase the probability of getting what you want with traces, items of significance, and targeted calls that probability will never be one hundred percent.

I had the bare minimum requirements for a safe summon, and the only thing I had to tip the odds of summoning what I wanted in my favor was the ability to cast a targeted calling. All said, it was not what I had hoped to have for a summoning. If I had any other option I wouldn’t even consider summoning under these circumstances, but desperation makes even the most foolish actions seem reasonable.

With a deep breath I poured mana into the circles.

“I call on the darkness, the primal and untamed, the children of worlds and beloved of mana, I call for the pure and untainted wanderer, the immortal and eternal custodian, the master of the ethereal and mystic, I call for…”

With all my willpower I focused my mana into the very word itself and willed it to carry across all of space to drag back my target. For that moment my mind was both clear and unwavering.

“Elemental!”

I felt my mind return to normal as I lost a good bit of mana, I watched as the air at the center of my innermost circle began to ripple and distort. With an unnerving lack of sound something entered the world that was not there before, there was no flash of light or fanfare simply a being now residing in a space that a moment before was empty.

I looked at the dark cloud contained within the innermost circle and felt a wave of relief crash over me. Summoning was never a sure fire thing, and targeted summoning was more an art of flattery and description than an actual spell. Yet here I had before me a dark elemental, the very thing I had hoped to summon.

It only took me one try even with these shitty conditions and half-assed preparations, Kel would be proud.

I watched as the dark cloud shifted and flexed within the confines of the circle, it was testing the circle’s strength and I was comforted to find the circle didn’t even waver once. I had summoned an elemental and was able to keep it contained with only a single protective circle, if I had someone to brag to about this I’d be milking this feat for all it was worth.

My grasp on my staff tightened as I took a step closer, I was standing right on the edge of the outside circle now. A part of me wondered once more at the sanity of what I was going to attempt, the rest of me told that part to shut the hell up and fall in line. My current motto was “freedom or death”, if this was the only path to my freedom then I would just have to buck up and take it.

I stepped into the outer circle.

***

I must have sat here with the confined elemental within arms reach for an hour before it spoke. The voice of the elemental was part snake’s hiss and part lover’s whisper, it also had a rather disconcerting echo effect.

“Why have you summoned me mortal?”

I just looked at the dark cloud of pitch black fog and shrugged.

“I had a proposal to make, and I figured it would work best with one of your kind…”

The cloud seemed to somehow grow darker as it laughed.

“Ahahahah... So you merely wish to bargin? You would like to make a deal, or perhaps create a contract? Yes, I have heard you mortals are fond of doing such things.”

I shook my head, my eyes never wavering from the elemental’s form.

“No. There will be no contract, and there certainly wont be a deal being struck.”

The cloud lashed out with an inky tendril of black, but the circle containing it didn’t waver and I refused to flinch.

“So you attempt to bind me mortal? You shall find I am not so easily kept! Yes, you may hold me now, but it will take only one mistake… one small mistake and I shall be free while you will be dead.”

It was a decent threat, but I’d heard better from worse. Strangely enough I actually found that promise of death to be sort of endearing, this thing hated being under someone else’s control about as much as I did. We were similar in a way, and that was a very good thing indeed for what I had planned.

“No, I didn’t summon you to bind you either. I had a different proposal in mind actually…”

I trailed off and waited to give the elemental time to process what I said. It would probably be confused, as I’m not even sure if what I was planning had ever even been attempted before. I’m sure someone somewhere had the idea and tested it, but there was no record of such a thing in anything I had ever come across.

“You… are a strange mortal…”

I just nodded at that.

“True.”

I wondered how much longer it would take for Rainer to discover I was missing, it was creeping up on sundown so probably not much longer. I was running out of time, but this couldn’t be rushed. If I was going to have any chance of this actually working like I intended then I’d need to take things slowly.

The elemental slowly condensed, and from the foggy cloud a figure took shape. It was a featureless humanoid silhouette sitting on the ground much as I was and facing me, the elemental tilted its newly formed body’s head.

“What is your proposal mortal?”

I took a breath and tried to steady my nerves, when I spoke my voice was as calm and cool as ice.

“I propose a union. Not a binding or a contract, but a complete merging of being. I would see us joined as one so that we both would be set free.”

I think I might have surprised the elemental as its form dissipated completely and it returned to its foggy cloud appearance. There was another feat to add to my list, surprising an immortal extra-dimensional being of pure magic.

“I… I do not understand. You wish to become an elemental?”

I shook my head.

“No, that would just create a whole new set of problems for me. What I’m proposing is that we both become one singular being, something neither elemental nor human. Something new, with none of the restrictions being an elemental entail.”

The black cloud rippled.

“You propose madness. You are insane…”

I just stared at the elemental and shrugged again.

“Maybe. Still I am offering you a once in a lifetime opportunity. The chance to become more than you are, to become something greater.”

The cloud rippled and shook. The elemental’s voice was a soft and unsure thing when it spoke again.

“I… I do not understand…”

I tried to put on my most kind and sincere smile, a smile that could lull even the most jaded and cynical into trusting me. I knew for a fact that I had a kind face, it had a sort of cute boyish innocence to it that didn’t mesh at all with my personality. I’ve been approached by strangers and acquaintances alike and told that I look like a naïve and innocent soul in need of protection. Usually I find my face to be an annoyance but on occasions like this one it is the greatest of blessings.

“It’s simple really. I am offering you all I am, I’m giving you my everything. All I need in return is for you to do the same for me…”

In a way it was unfair. Elementals were powerful and wise in many ways, they were practically eternal beings unknown to death as well, but they share the same failing that fae creatures tend to have. They could be far too trusting of the unknown. To such creatures the unknown is a marvelous thing, a promise of something new and exciting to add some measure of flavor to the blandness of eternity. Offering such a being a chance to embark first hand down an unknown path was like dangling honeydew dust in front of an addict, the temptation was irresistible.

The black cloud shifted a swayed for a few minutes in silence, all the while I held my smile and sincere expression. When finally the cloud settled down it took on a deep and bottomless black color that seemed to suck in all other color around it.

“Who are you mortal?”

I amped up the wattage of my smile by a notch and reached for the friendliest tone I could manage.

“My name is Lux, and I’d love nothing more than to be one with you!”