Having summoned Gemory, Duchess of the Netherrealms, Esteban was left with the promise of help in the ancient summoning chamber he found deep below ground.
Gemory, Duchess of the Netherrealms and commander of 26 Legions of Enkon, had branded me with her sigil, promising to provide me a seneschal that would give me the knowledge and power I desired. But they had departed, and for the moment I was still weak, and exhausted.
Luckily, I didn't have long to wait. The altar began to glow again, and above it a tenuous, wispy apparition appeared. It was beautiful, unsurprisingly, but so hazy it was hard to make out the details. Her pale face was framed by long, luxurious tresses that were an extremely pale, almost white shade of lilac. That face held deep crimson eyes which captivated my attention. After a moment she smiled, an expression of pure mirth. "Well well well, so this is our handsome young summoner who has managed to pull me forth for his service from the Netherrealms."
Her voice was softest silk, a purr just behind my ears despite her manifestation being in front of me. "I must say, I am impressed. But I'm afraid I can still only partially reach out to you. We must complete the binding in order for you to tap into my power. Power is what you need, yes? But whatever for? What does a young man like you need my magic for? What do you hope to take away from binding our bodies and spirits? I'm afraid the Duchess could only give me vague impressions of what I am here for. And I want to hear it from you."
I swallowed, and came to my feet. I felt a bit steadier, and having achieved some measure of success, more eager and more confident. "I-I will use the power to make myself stronger, of course. To summon more minions to serve me, to help me dominate those around me. To bring these lands that have spurned me under my control. With the ritual, we will be bound together and you can teach me the magic I need to accomplish my goals." My eyes stared into her crimson orbs, and I am proud to say I do not think my gaze wavered.
She chuckled softly, fondly I dare say. She tilted her head to the side, studying me closer. "Ambitious, my dear summoner. The duchess said you would intrigue me, and they were right. I admit it." She extended a ghostly, wavering white arm towards me. "Please, let us begin."
I reached out to take her...hand?...what there was of one, anyway. As soon as I made contact though, I felt myself fall backward, the thud of the floor as my back and head hit it. But also, I felt myself floating, her hand in mine, light and painless. I looked back, and there my body lay in the circle, eyes closed, a peaceful expression on my face. I looked back at my companion, a little unnerved.
She giggled. "It is usually better to be seated in a meditative position when you astral project. You'll probably have a knot on the back of your head when you return to your form. Lesson number one?"
Her expression wasn't mocking at all, but that of an old friend sharing a note about a silly mishap. It disarmed me, and I chuckled in response. "Yes, I guess so. So what do we..."
"Names, my eager summoner. Names. They have power. The ones we are called, and the ones we choose for ourselves. They are important." She looked me over again, and smiled warmly, almost shyly. "I am Maëlys."
I smiled back. For a moment, I thought about giving her a grandiose title for myself, reinventing who I was for her. But it didn't feel like what I wanted to happen. Not at that moment. Noticing we still held hands, I brought hers up to my lips and gave the pale skin there a light kiss. "I am Esteban."
She gasped, eyes widening slightly, a light blush on her cheeks. "Oh, you gave me yourself. You are sweet. Gemory said so. We are going to have such fun."
I'm sure I blushed brightly. I definitely felt hot, flushed. Of course, it didn't help matters that as I materialized fully on the astral plane, her form became solid and distinct. Her pale skin seemed to glow in the darkness that surrounded us unimpeded in all directions. Her lustrous white-lilac hair fell elegantly around her shoulders, and her red eyes I could now see seemed filled with burning mana, an indication of her immense magical power. Her lips were a deeper color, a wine-dark burgundy in sharp contrast to her complexion. She stood of a height with me as we looked at each other eye to eye. She possessed a curvaceous womanly body, that I could tell, but it was hidden behind a pure white shift.
"So, um, what now?"
Her smile then was a smile for the ages. "Now we begin." With a sultry laugh, Maëlys slid close to me, pressing her body against mine. Her lips brushed against my cheek, then met my own, a deep soulful kiss that went on and on. Her hand snaked down between us along my naked skin to my rapidly growing member, squeezing it gently.
"Ah, this is eager too, my Esteban," she whispered in my ear. My skin prickled and my penis jumped in her grip. "Now learn to channel that desire. Let's see if you can focus on being master of the magic, while I...manage your arousal, as a good little seneschal should."
Her fingers began to stroke me, teasing, almost a torment, as she began to whisper mystical secrets into my ear. There were words of power, arcane names and ritual terms of calling, summoning, and of course binding and domination. Her touch on me was cool and soothing, but at the same time it sent waves of heat and pleasure flaring through my whole body.
"Concentrate, my dear," she purred. "Focus. Focus on the magic. Let it flow, from me to you."
I squinted my eyes and focused; denying what my body wanted in the pursuit of my goal was something I didn't need any training in, I had been living it. And I felt it, felt the magic as it filled me up. It was like a fire energizing every part of my body. My skin broke into goosebumps and I think I gasped involuntarily. Her words similarly burned into my mind, becoming seared there as Gemory's symbol was seared into my chest. My thoughts, my imaginations, opened to worlds beyond worlds. My cock throbbed and threatened to burst as the power fired my nerve endings and it seemed to grow in Maëlys's hand bigger than it had ever been before. "I feel it. I do. I can feel the power, and I can feel you."
Maëlys's lips curled into a satisfied smile as she felt our bond form, as my focus, my determination, grew and connected with her. "Good, my dear one. That's it. Now, let's see if you can harness that power yet. Command me to do something."
Her fingers continued to stroke him, her touch growing firmer as she waited for his word. The astral substance seemed to grow hotter around them somehow, the air thick with the scent of magic, and the growing scent of arousal. "You are the mage, my summoner, my link to your world, Esteban. Show me what you can do."
Her voice was low and scratchy, a seductive purr that vibrated against my chest. Her hips began to rock gently against me, grinding against my leg as her fingers continued to dance and along my shaft and stroke my engorged head, spreading a steady stream of precum now oozing from the tip. The pleasure coursing through me was almost too much to bear.
"Tell me what you desire of me, my summoner." Her question...request?...was playful, a tease meant to distract. But beneath the surface, I had sensed something, detected an undercurrent. This was a game of power, and a game of dominance. "Tell me, and I will grant it," she finished.
I grabbed Maëlys by the chin, holding her face firmly in my hand. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she didn't struggle or resist. I pushed back the urging of my body, gritted my teeth, and reached deeper. There it was...I could feel her power, right in front of me, swirling and roiling. I needed to take what was mine, claim it for all time. "Your magic. Give me all your magic. Make it mine to use at will. Tell me the words to make it so." I took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes, at the eddies of mana roiling in those red orbs. "And stroke me faster."
She smiled, this time with a wicked glint in her eye that hadn't been there before. "Very well, my dear summoner. As you command." She leaned in closer, her breath hot now against my ear. "I will submit my magic to you, and then you shall claim it with your own."
She turned her head and intoned, "Aperio portam inferi, et ego illum aperio qui in terris vigilant. Ecce advenit dies iudicii, et horrida est vocabulum tuum, Estaban. Tu es iustus, tu es tenebrarum, tu es dominus magiae!"
As she spoke the ancient words, a surge of power coursed through us both. My grip tightened on her chin, and Maëlys's fingers sped up on my cock, stroking me faster and harder. My breath caught in my throat, but I swallowed, and the words I needed sprang unbidden from my mind and emerged from my lips. "Ai no tameni yumeni akeni Enkon. Teneris dominationi meae subire in aeternum et in saeculum saeculi, Maëlys. Viud ceiba ecrue opar allodynia gravre."
Maëlys gasped, then moaned. I'd done it. I'd known it instantly, and she obviously had too. "Do you feel it, Esteban? The power flowing through you? The magic that now belongs to you?" She leaned her chest against my side, and I could feel her nipples hard and peaked as she began to rub them against me. "You are the magic now."
Her voice was seductive, low and sultry, a siren lure that beckoned me deeper into lust and control. But beneath the sensuality was still a challenge, a testing. I'd been given what I asked for; would I be strong enough to wield it, or crumble under it, under its weight, lost to my own temptations? Her eyes flicked down to where her hands stroked and fondled and caressed my throbbing prickmeat. Pulsing, the veins bulging, head swollen and a dark purple, copiously lubed by my steady stream of precum and the motion of her fingers. "Should I help you relieve this?" she purred.
I licked my lips then pressed them together, furrowing my brow as I gathered myself. Oh no. I wasn't going to come so far only to cum and lose it. However willing, or even eager she actually was to help me, sex demons were sex demons and on this path I needed control or I would be lost. Her chin still in my hand, I tilted it up and back, and with my other hand grabbed and pinched what turned out to be a very long, hard nipple of hers in my fingers. Squeezing, I said, "No. I think not. Your whispers have given me the basics of wielding magic, and your submission has given me a pool of magic to use: yours. But there is more. I have to bring those things together. I have to use it." I rolled her nipple then circled it with my thumb. "Give me my first spells."
Maëlys's breath caught in her throat as I pinched her nipple, her back arching. "Ohhhh, you are indeed a clever one, Esteban." The position of her head made her voice tight, but she sighed as my thumb continued to circle the nipple in my fingers. She resumed grinding her hips against my leg. "Very well. Let me show you what you can do." Her fingers squeezed me, then one of her hands trailed its fingernails up my abdomen, across my chest, my neck, and caressed my mouth.
"As you wish, your first spell must of course be of command. Little point in summoning, if what arrives can do what it wants and not what you want. So focus again, my dear, draw your magic and pull into mine. Build it inside you, whirling, waiting to be released."
The temperature around us grew hotter again, the air thick. "Think of the glyph. The glyph of control. Of Enthralling. Form it in your mind, the rounded shapes, its sharp intensity. Imagine it like a seal, to stamp its impression on whatsoever it touches, cementing itself within."
I furrowed my brow in concentration, doing as Maëlys bade me. It took a moment for me to fully recall the glyph in all its intricacies, interconnected components and their individual meanings coming together in a lattice of power. Then its function; like she said, a seal to impress my will on others. To make them my thralls. All these concepts she had put in my mind, but now I saw how it all fit, began to understand the basic syntax of the language being communicated in. It was thrilling, and I must have been smiling unconsciously.
"You see it don't you? You are quick. My quick and clever summoner, ready to be master of all he surveys." Her voice was sensual, borderline hypnotic. "Do it. Release it. Unleash it upon me." As she said it, her hand gripped my tumescence tighter than she had been, her strokes insistent, almost a physical plea to give her what I had inside me, one way or another.
I looked into her eyes, but I wasn't sure what I saw there. I was so inexperienced in so many ways at that time, so young. But she seemed eager for this, this key act, over and above the obvious lust. I licked my lips, eyes locked on hers, and pulled on her nipple. She hissed and leaned towards me as kept pulling at her swollen tender nub, and when she was close enough, I leaned my forehead on hers and let go of the glyph.
It felt like a pulse shot through me and into her, a pounding in my chest I could feel reverberate in hers somehow. Her eyes went wide. Maybe it was because she had described it that way, or maybe it was the nature of the act, but I could sense the glyph indeed stamp into her like a seal into hot wax. To this day, I do not know if she had had some kind of idea for turning the glyph against me in some way, maybe by having me succumb to my lust. Or maybe she truly had meant for me to enthrall her, to be my first true minion, as the final act in completing our bond. Despite all the things I've done, I've never had the courage to ask. It's never really mattered, though. In the moment, she looked at me with absolute devotion and pride at my success. And in the time since, she's never tried to break it, undermine it, or dispel though she of all beings would know how to seek such remedies, and as my first real spell cast it was certainly not my strongest. So there is always that.
Still, when the spell hit, her chest heaved up and down as she tried to catch her breath, her lips parted. "So," she managed to whisper, "you've done it." Her fingers continued to stroke me, though at a more measured pace, and I could feel the wet spot now where she rubbed against my leg. "You are indeed the master, Esteban." Her voice was low and husky. "What shall I do now?"
Her eyes looked into mine, looking for direction, for a command. Waiting for me to take what was mine and use it, as I soon would the world around me. I licked my lips, contemplating making another power play. But especially after casting that spell, I was about at my limit, and she felt *so good*. I took a deep breath, steeling myself, and let go of her chin, and her nipple, then pulled her hand off of my hardness. "Disrobe. I...I want to look at you."
Her chest still heaved, and she took a step back. As if my need had triggered her own, she looked me up and down, lingering on my hardness where it pulsed, a deep red from all her expert stimulation. "As you wish," she murmured.
Slowly, she reached behind her back, and untied a ribbon. Her shift fell loose about her shoulders, and then in one smooth, unhesitating motion, she grabbed it by the hem and pulled it up and off completely, dropping it to pool at her feet. Her hands went to her hips, which she cocked to one side, posing for me. She stood before me naked.
Her sleek, alabaster skin was marked here and there with black arcane markings. Her breasts jutted forward, round, full, capped by those long hard nipples practically pointing upward, a pale pink with small areola. My eyes traveled down her stomach to her navel, a small innie, and then lower. Down, to where her long, lean legs met, and her pale skin contrasted beautifully with the dark hair that curled around her mound, shimmering with a hint of dampness. "Does my body please you, master?" she purred. Her hips began moving slightly in a suggestive grind. She locked her eyes with mine, daring me to look away, to deny the desire that coursed through me.
I couldn't. I had to have her, right then. To wit: "I...I have to have you. Now."
Eyes on me, Maëlys nodded slowly, her hips still churning in a slight, alluring motion. Her lips parted in a soft gasp as she spoke, every syllable a puff of air. "Very well, Esteban. Take me."
I stepped forward, and the moment I reached her, her body immediately pressed against me. Her hands reached up, threading through my unruly hair, and pulled my face down to hers. Her soft, full, wine-dark lips met mine in a hungry, passionate kiss, her tongue darting out to taste me. She wrapped her legs around my waist and arched her back, pressing her aching heat against my hardness, an act doubtless made easy thanks to using astral projection for sex. I idly wondered if my real penis, on my comatose body still back in the summoning chamber, would be soaking in her moisture when I awoke. Here, in this place, she was certainly dripping, and coating my pulsing prick as she rubbed, making me slick. I soon gave up any thoughts of anything outside our little bubble of desire and lust.
"Fuck me," she whispered, voice hoarse with need. "Fuck me hard." Her nails dug into my back, egging me on, as she rocked her hips against me. I could feel her body ready for me, wet and aching as I was, and feel the anticipation building inside her find its match in me. "Please Esteban, do it, make my cunt yours too."
I lifted her up, her heat sliding against the underside of my shaft one last time, and she wiggled her hips until my swollen cockhead kissed her wet, slick entrance. I looked in her eyes and she nodded. I released her weight and she began to slide down. It was a single long, smooth motion. I had never felt anything like entering that scalding, squeezing grip of her core, and the groan that came unbidden from my lips was a cry of joy, relief, and fulfillment all at once. "OHHhhh fuck Maëlys..."
Her eyes stayed on mine as she moaned in return, then as her pussy connected with the root of my dick pulled her head next to mine and moaned again, right in my ear, her hot breath sending a shiver up my spine. Her inner walls clenched around me harder, milking my shaft as we began to move, finding an up-and-down rhythm that slid most of my swollen, throbbing cock in and out on each stroke.
She gripped my shoulders tighter, nails digging into my skin as she rode by cock with a fervent ferocity. Our breaths came in ragged gasps, chests heaving against each other, unable to catch our breaths. "Harder," she gasped finally, her voice raw with need. "FUCK harder..."
Her hips bucked on me as she tried to drop herself onto me with more and more force, grinding her hips in a circular motion against me when she would hit bottom, the velvet fist of her silken cunt squeezing harder as we raced towards the edge. The power of our magic, our spells, all of it coursed through our veins, magnifying it all, all the motions and the sensations and the need, driving the intensity to a place I was sure would drive me mad.
"Yessss," she hissed as she rested her head on my shoulder, "just like that."
I made an unintelligible grunt in reply, and tried to drive my hips upward to match her downward drops. I marveled that I had the strength for this, but figured it was an effect of doing this on the astral plane. No weight or cramps or overtaxed muscles to complain. After a moment, we found a new rhythm with the harder, more furious fucking we had achieved.
Her body soon tensed, her muscles coiling, and then she arched her back as her mouth bit sharply into my shoulder, screaming into it as her orgasm clearly swept through her. Her inner walls clamped down on me harder than ever, and her release coated my cock and dripped down my balls as she shuddered and trembled with the force of it.
Her mouth released my shoulder, a smear of blood on her lips, and she said "So good, soooo good." She turned her head to mine and looked into my eyes again, her tongue licking the blood off her lips. "Spend, Esteban, give me your seed, spend yourself inside me..."
She had barely finished the sentence when my prickmeat finally exploded, shooting with a desperate intensity deep inside her. Rope after rope of cum gushed out, completely filling her and leaving a second coating on my dick. With every pulse it felt like every muscle in my entire body constricted to deliver every drop in my balls into Maëlys's hot, welcoming hole.
Maëlys trembled against me as I came, her nails still dug in, crying out her own pleasure. "Yes!" she moaned. "Oh, that's perrrrrrfect." She clenched around me, squeezing every last dreg out of me. Finally, slowly, we became still, simply basking, still locked together.
Eventually, she began to lower herself down, and manage to resume her feet with me still inside until just the head remained. Her eyes were glassy with sated desire and satisfaction. She cleared her throat, but her voice remained husky. "Was that...satisfactory, Esteban?" she asked. "Did you feel, ah, the power of our bond?"
I licked my lips and nodded, not entirely wanting to trust my voice just then. She reached out and took my softening prick in her hand again, smiling as her small gentle strokes of my hyperstimulated penis sent intense waves of pleasure coursing through me. "Good. I am happy to have pleased my summoner well. But oh, it's fading."
My penis was of course quickly fading, her hand only slightly slowing the process down, but before she might do something to perhaps reverse that all of me began fading, actually fading away. "Maëlys...?" I almost panicked for a moment before I realized whatever magic had put me in the astral plane must have been wearing off; I was returning to my body.
Maëlys nodded. "Our time is up." Her face had a wistful expression, overlaid by an evident fondness as she looked at me. "We'll have to continue in the mortal world. But now that our bond is...consummated, I will have no problem staying here to continue aiding you."
"Oh. Ok..." I winced as I was suddenly on my back, my head pounding. What? I went to sit up, and got a brief wave of dizziness. I moved my hand to where my head hurt and felt a knot at the back. Ah. Right. My fall. Other than that, though, I felt fairly well energized. The starvation and exhaustion had abated. I wondered how far that went, the limits of my new apparently impressive endurance. I actually had quite a few questions, now that it came down to it, and I was going to need answers. I looked around the chamber. It was again lit solely by the glow of magma, the light of the summoning circle having completely gone, and the obsidian altar having returned to its normal luster. Everything else was how I had left it, the flint blade and ivory cup on the altar, my robe discarded by the foot of the bridge that led across the lava. Wait...
Suddenly I frowned. Where was Maëlys? Hadn't she just said she would stay with me? "Maëlys? Maëlys, where are you?" I slowly stood up, briefly thinking about grabbing my robe and putting it back on my nude form, but deciding not to worry about it for now. Was there something I was missing, would she appear somewhere else? I was baffled. She couldn't have lied to me, could she? I thought to myself. Come on Maëlys where are you.
Here.
I heard it distinctly in my head, and it made me jump. Probably not my most dignified moment. But it was her, it was Maëlys. "Where are you? Are you invisible?"
Nothing. Again I got frustrated, thinking to myself, What in all the Netherrealms does here mean when you're clearly not, Maëlys
But I am. Come to the altar, Esteban
Oh...my thoughts. Was she in my thoughts, my head? I thought to myself that it was a bit annoying that she would answer my thoughts but not my voice. She immediately replied
But this way is much for useful for not letting others know I am with you
With me how, with me where? I thought.
I can sense you are agitated, Esteban. Just come to the altar, to your blood
My blood? I wondered, but did what she said. In the little ivory cup there was a bit of my blood left, drying in the bottom. And it suddenly hit me, my new knowledge emerging finally from where it had been placed in my mind now that I had been prompted. I lifted up the cup, and made a tossing motion to send as much of what was in it as was still liquid into the air. The altar pulsed purple for a second, and a hazy image began to appear above it. A ghostly image of Maëlys slowly coalesced, floating there, smiling down at me as she had when she had first appeared.
"There we are, I apologize for not mentioning that before. I'm afraid you kept me fairly distracted before the astral form spell was exhausted." Her tone was mildly admonishing, but I could see a twinkle in her crimson eyes as she said it.
"I regret nothing," I replied immediately, full of relief. "But why are you a ghost? Why aren't you here?"
"Oh Esteban, you performed an extraordinary feat to bring Gemory's attention and bond with me, but...well, your magics have quite a ways to go. You will need quite a lot more development before you can generate what is needed to manifest my physical form. But don't worry; my presence here is real. I will advise and guide you on your journey. And we can communicate through our minds and share magics for quite a distance even if you are away from this chamber."
"Oh." I sighed, disappointed. "So then...um, we can't...?"
Maëlys's form tilted her head to the side, a placid smile on her face. "Can't what?"
"Come on, Maëlys, you know what I mean. Do it again. Do it more. Be, you know, together."
Mischief crept into her expression as I spoke, and she finally giggled. "Not in the physical, mortal world, no. But as your advisor I highly advise study of the spells that allow contact and communion with the astral plane be high on your list of priorities, oh quick and clever summoner of mine. Those should be much more attainable much sooner."
"I will absolutely do that, yes. Thank you, seneschal," I said.
"You are quite welcome." Ghostly she was, but her voice still had the same low, sultry timbre that made my pulse race.
"But speaking of things I need to learn, am I still about to starve to death, or does the fact that I feel better mean that I'm fine now?"
She frowned at that, appearing to give it some thought. "Well, you will have gained some of the, ah, energies of the Netherrealms for certain, which can sustain your body, and lessen the effects of physical ailments you might have. At least in the short term. As you grow in power those effects will increase as well. But you can still starve to death, you still need to eat and the like."
I sighed. "Fair enough. Any idea how long this will last?"
"I don't. I've never advised a mortal mage before, and in any case it can vary depending on just how much you've absorbed, and there's no way for me to tell at this point."
"I guess there's not much chance I can just conjure up a side of mutton?"
A pained expression crossed Maëlys's face. "No, not at this point, and even when you can, living off of magic has consequences that-"
Frustrated, I cut her off. "Well then what *can* I do!? I thought if I pulled off this ritual, all my petty problems would be solved. Now you're telling me I'll probably starve down here after all?"
"I didn't say that." She sounded a bit hurt, or maybe disappointed. "All I'm saying is that you're not at the place where you can just wave a hand and reality will bend to your whim and solve everything with magic. That will take time. But in the meantime you are not without tools. I should know, since several I gave...and several you took." This last was said with a throaty purr that made my skin prickle.
Her reminder of our encounter in the astral plane took me out of my self-pity enough to make me really think for a second. I swallowed hard, and realized she was right. I was essentially whining without even having tried any of my new abilities with magic yet. That wasn't how I had gotten here, and what was the point of all that if it was how I met my demise?
No. Now that I had achieved my initial goal, I needed new ones. I was going to be a conquering mage, master of thralls, summoner of netherworldly might. I needed to get on with it, especially since I didn't know how long I had before the energy sustaining me would start to fade. I closed my eyes, calming my breath, reaching into those new areas in my mind that now existed, and trying to put together an idea with what I already knew that might work as a next step.
"I...I'll need someone here. Something simple, summoned physically here, I mean." I scratched my head, considering. "Maybe something to start scaring or winning over the local goblins. There should be clans somewhere nearby. Everyone knows goblins will work for mages, or at least pay them respect and tribute. That'll be tricky though, probably take some time. But it'll be a start."
The smile I saw on Maëlys's face at my verbal brainstorming made it clear I was back on the right track. I smiled at her in return and asked, "Any idea what might make a good first attempt?"
"Well, if you're going to summon netherrealm essences I would obviously recommend choosing from those known in the 26 legions of enkon commanded by Gemory. And those whose summoning ritual you have plentiful materials for."
"Materials? Oh...right, materials. I'm so stupid, I didn't think about all the potions and herbs and such I'd need for even low level summonings if I want them here and under my control. Fryndi the witch had all those things everywhere in her hut."
Maëlys nodded. "My advice is to stick with what you know you have or can easily get. Simple is the route to take to start."
I grunted. "I literally lost the tunic off my back just to get this far. That's why I'm standing here nude."
She shot me a smoky look and licked her lips. "Oh is that why? I had rather hoped it was for my benefit, oh summoner of mine."
My cock gave a lurch at that, stirring slightly, but I knew that was just an idle tease. "You stop that, I'm trying to think. Keep talking like that and I'll go put on my ro...oh, right, my robe." I looked back to where it lay, then shrugged and walked over to it. At least I did still have something to wear, but that wasn't much help in the way of spell components.
Except, as it turned out, it was. As Maëlys made an idle flirtatious comment about me depriving her of her only current entertainment if I put a shapeless robe on, I shook the robe out, and a faedust puffshroom fell out, surprising me. Luckily it didn't burst. "Oh damnation, these things." I kneeled and picked it up.
"Oh! You want to summon pixies?" Maëlys asked. "A bit unusual, but simple enough, and at your current level of mastery you could probably even manage a small group which gives you some flexibility. Such an interesting choice, Esteban."
I looked at her, then back at the puffshroom. Yes, I could "remember" that now...they were called faedust puffshrooms in the first place because pixies were considered fae and the dust on these fungi was the same as what pixies could spread from their wings; no one was sure if the true source of the offending powder was ultimately the fungi or the little critters. But that association made the fungi an ideal component for, among other things, invoking pixie mana in a summoning. I reached into my robe and dug around, pulling out four more.
"Yes, five is a good number. Enough to cause others trouble without, hopefully, causing yourself too much."
"Thank you, Maëlys. I guess I better start preparing these, then."
"Of course. Just so long as you leave off wearing that shoddy robe," she teased.
I chuckled, shaking my head. "Doesn't seem fair, you can see all of me and all I get is a ghost of you."
"But I do make a beautiful ghost, don't I, my summoner?" her scratchy, throaty purr was back in full force, and as she said it she waved a hand and her full, pale breasts came into focus.
My eyes widened, and I think I might have groaned. "You're perfect, Maëlys." I stood and walked over to where she floated, but when I reached out my hand went right through hers.
She gave me an apologetic look and said "Thank you, Esteban. For now its only looking. But you can look as much as you want. I plan to do the same with you." The twinkle came back into her eye.
I chuckled again. "Fine, point taken. Ok. Let's summon some pixies."