With another day finished, Raya sat as she always did at her desk. Mulling over the days papers, she sat idly twirling a lock of her hair and humming a familiar tune while she graded the reams of tests she always gave out. Her students who had filled the tiered seats of the classroom had departed an hour ago and even the background din of people milling about the halls outside had dissipated to a residual echo.
She was pulled form her thoughts by a soft knocking upon the ancient oak door; thunderclaps in contrast to the near total silence of the still room. With a casual gesture from a bandaged hand the door opened as she turned to regard the intruder to her peace and quiet.
The human that stood framed in the door looked to be in his early twenties wearing clothes that were clearly of noble stature. Short, trimmed, black hair and a small goatee framed a face that probably made him attractive among other humans, but his face wore a nervous smile that seemed out of place, as though he had never been nervous in his life before this moment.
“Profes…” he started before she cut him off, “Shut the door, you are letting the cold air in.” He wasn’t; this was Dalaran, where even the seasons were controlled by magic. Seizing every opportunity to keep people off-guard was an old survival reflex that reared its head periodically. It was mean she knew, but it told her he was nervous enough to not be thinking critically as he quickly shut the door stammering a volley of apologies, then stood there looking embarrassed.
As he stood wordlessly for a moment that seemed to stretch on, Raya strummed her fingers on her desk impatiently. “You were saying?” Panic briefly crossed his face as he tried to recall what he had actually come here for.
“Ahh, err, yes. Right. Sorry… My name is Bren Orden, I am a student here, though not in your classes…” “I am Aware” she interrupted, inwardly chiding herself for old habits.
He took a few cautious steps towards her “Yes, of-course… I, I came to ask, to see if you would be willing to mentor me…” Raya let out an exasperated sigh and was about to refuse when he continued “In the Fel…” This time it was her turn to be caught off guard, “The Fel?!” “I wouldn’t need lodging, and money is no object!” he said hurriedly “And I already know some fel magic!”
She had been about to flatly refuse when his second declaration made her narrow her eyes suspiciously. “Someone I know told me you were a powerful warlock and that you had taught him about the fel”, he continued.
“Someone told you, I tutor in the fel. And that you, should speak to me .” Her tone held an edge suggesting he should choose his next words carefully, but if he noticed, he didn’t seem to heed the warning as he continued. “Well… actually, when he found out about my dabbling he referenced your classes for why it was stupid and dangerous.”
Raya visibly relaxed, although with his lack of attention to detail, she doubted he picked up on it. “Let me see if I have this right. Someone tells you that I teach that the fel is dangerous, and you decide that must mean I am secretly a powerful warlock looking for a pupil. Am I correct?”
“Not uh, exactly… The methods he said you used to hammer home your point, made me suspect that you might be more than just someone who survived their dabbling.” he said hopefully. She looked him over critically trying to decide on a course of action “You say you have some skill already?” His nervousness melted away and he exclaimed “That’s right!” as though he had passed some secret initiation ritual.
Raya rose from her chair and moved around her desk, “Show me.” she said stepping toward the large empty area of the classroom. “Umm now? He said concerned. “Yes” She paused, raising an eyebrow questioningly, “Did your ideal vision of how this encounter would go really have me not test you, or at-least request a demonstration?” she said with a hint of amusement.
“I guess I assumed you would be impressed with my bravado?” he tried with a nervous chuckle. “So… how do you want me to demonstrate what I can do?” “I will summon a demon and you deal with it”, she stated bluntly. “And if I defeat it, you will take me as a student?” The nervous smile returning to his face. She responded only by indicating a spot on the other side of the room for him to stand.
As he took his place, Raya raised her arm above her head, her hand formed like a rigid talon towards the sky above. Near the ceiling a small hole in space appeared. With a twist of her wrist, the hole was wrenched wide open. “I would hope that being a student here, you know what this is.” she said flatly as a green and black meteor streaked out of the portal and crashed into the floor before her as she stared into his eyes unflinchingly.
From the crater a golem standing twelve feet tall, made of black obsidian and green fire ponderously clawed its way out to stand between the two. “Tha…that’s an inf… inf…” “An Infernal” she finished for him “A construct, resistant to magic and all but the most potent weapons. The person who taught me likened controlling one to stopping a boulder rolling down a mountain with your mind alone.”
“But, but, I was expecting an imp or something…” he stammered all coyness and shy bravado disappearing from him instantly. She was glad to see he was smart enough to be afraid
“Are you expecting me to try to control it?” She was so caught off-guard by the absurdity of the notion that she actually laughed. “Now that would be impressive” she said with a chuckle before the familiar mask of sternness returned. “But no, I expect you to try and prevent it from killing you.”
His eyes widened in horror, but to his credit he didn’t waste time trying to argue or beg as the towering golem immediately charged him. Both his hands pulled back into fists that glowed with a dark purple light before letting loose a pair of shadowbolts. She watched on casually, hand on her hip as the bolts flew true and hit the construct in the chest… then bounced off ineffectually.
She found herself slightly impressed that he had not stood waiting to see his spells land. Instead of being pummeled to paste like so many aspiring warlocks she had seen, he was already leaping aside as the Infernal’s fist plunged into the floor where he had been standing. Shadow proving ineffective, he tried taking advantage of its arm being stuck in the floor by loosing a spear of ice. But was caught by surprise when the Infernal simply batted the spear away with its free arm while plowing its fist through the floor like it wasn’t there to send him flying backwards into the wall.
The infernal wasted no time chasing him across the room, unflinching in its resolve to carry out her orders. Battered, bruised, and unable to get to his feet in time, he screamed in impotent rage while trying in a last ditch effort to stop its downward strike with telekinesis.
She watched knowing that the minor cantrip had as much effect as a slight breeze on slowing the deadly blow. Despite his bumbling initial request, she found her opinion of him growing from his display of quick wits, adaptability, and determination.
She snapped her fingers and the Infernal froze, its fist less than a foot from his face. “This is one of two lessons I teach on the fel” she said sternly. The very beings you will entreat for knowledge and power are all powerful beings in their own right. Many more powerful than the Infernal you “fought”. Many are ancient beyond even the comprehension of my people, but all of them from the lowly Imp, to the most powerful masters of the legion left the concept of normal mortal intelligence in the dust ages ago.”
She stared at his cowering form prone against the wall, while slowly unwinding the bandage from her right hand “Every. Single. One. Even those demons that are not a part of the legion have their own desires, ambitions, and plans, and your survival when dealing with them depends on you being more prepared than them.”
“You almost killed me!” he whined interrupting her as his terror subsided. All the positive ground he made in her opinion of him disappeared instantly. “EVERYTHING WITH THE FEL IS DO OR DIE.” she yelled without thinking, her hands balling into fists, as they shook with rage. Disappointed in herself for losing her composure, she dismissed the magic holding the infernal together. As he dodged the boulders of obsidian crashing down around him, she walked towards him letting the bandage from her hand fall to the ground.
When all was still, he uncovered his face to see her standing over him, silhouetted from behind by the fading light from the windows, her eyes glowing a vibrant emerald green. Before he could say anything she reached down with her left hand and hauled him up by his tunic and held him off the ground against the wall.
“Second lesson” she almost growled. “Mistakes with the fel are death, the stupid die, the really stupid take others with them, and the lucky ones die quickly.” She held her right hand up, balled tightly into a fist, in front of his face. He could only stare at it, her skin blackened and cracked as though it had burned in a fire, and undulating within the cracks a green glow the same color as her eyes. “The powerful ones merely forestall their deaths” she spat before dropping him and turning to pick the bandage up from the floor.
He sat on the floor afraid to move, thinking about what had just transpired while she carefully wound the bandage around her trembling hand once more. When he could stand the silence no longer he stood “Why go through all this trouble if you didn’t plan to mentor me?” She turned her head to glare at him. “Your path is your own to forge, nothing I could do save killing you would prevent you from pursuing this path. I just choose to make sure you don’t walk it blindly. Now, please leave, I have work to finish.”
Needing no more prompting he all but ran for the door, but stopped in the doorway, a question burning in his mind. “Professor?” he asked quietly, trying to ignore the intensity of her glare. “Which one were you?” She watched him wilt as her gaze intensified, “All of them” she said with a heavy sigh.
(edit, looks like my account finally caught up with the fact that im not subbed so this is prob my last for a bit!)