It took me almost an hour to cross the mines and get near the source of magic I had felt up earlier. I believe it was due to the fact that I had taken quite a few wrong turns and once I came onto a nest of rats that incorporated like 10 or 12 of those beasts... I ran the other way without even looking back.
But, surprisingly enough, I was finally here and as I stared at the wooden door in front of me, I could feel the magician was somewhere behind it. I did not know the mines had doors though. I shrugged my shoulders and took a quick glance at myself to make sure I looked presentable enough. Then, I pushed the knob and walked into a room-like cavern. The walls were lined with bookshelves that held old tomes and parchments. Papers were strewn around all over the floor and I squinted my eyes to get a better look at them. Most of the drawings looked a bit like summoning circles. Once upon a time, I had wanted to try my hand at summoning but it seemed the Academy had no professor and so I had to be content with my fire magic.
I surveyed the room further. There was a small bed in one corner and a wooden table with weird contraptions and books scattered all around. It almost seemed like someone was living here. I furrowed my brows, wondering who would actually choose to live so deep in the mines, secluded from the rest of the world. Feeling slightly confused I checked the power source I was following to make sure I came to the right place and it seemed that I did. I shook my head and crossed the room, having noticed some kind of stairs at the other end of it. The stairs were sculpted into the stone that covered the floor of the mines and I descended down carefully. The stairs rounded around in a spiral and when I finally reached the end of it, I found myself in a wide and spacious hall. It was devoid of any furniture, but there was a huge summoning circle on the floor or at least that's what I thought it was.
I walked towards it, glancing around curiously, but it seemed to be empty. Boy, was I ever wrong.
"Run, lass, run!" I jumped up startled at the voice and whirled around to face whomever it was but there was no one in front of me.
"I said RUN, you silly human!" I looked more carefully and finally, my eyes noticed a figure hunched up on a cliff about two or so meters up in the wall. I couldn't quite get a good look at him or her, but for a moment I thought it was a dwarf. He looked small, but sturdy and I once again checked in with the magical source to find out it was pointing to this particular man.
"Are you... magician Bour?" I asked doubtfully and the dwarf shouted back at me.
"What part of RUN don't you understand, you silly woman!" He bellowed at me and I flinched away from his loud voice. "He'll tear you to pieces!"
"Who?" I asked, feeling slightly confused, and that was when I heard a growling sound right behind me.
The dwarf up on the cliff groaned and I turned around very very slowly, wondering what beast I managed to come onto now. If a mental dragon wasn't enough already...
But as I finally turned around and my eyes fell on the beast in front of me, I merely cocked my brow. That... was the beast? Well, I had to admit I had never seen anything like it before but it did not seem that dangerous. It was a rather strange creature, actually. Black in color with red beady eyes, it stood on its all fours, crouching to the ground. I could see a tail swishing from side to side almost angrily as it whipped across the air in whooshing sounds. Its legs and entire body were muscular and well-toned, its head bowed down on a long neck in a defensive position. Its back had some kind of thorns standing up and they were positioned all along its spine and downwards to its tail. The monster was bearing its fangs at me, gnarling and growling and I stared at its long canine teeth astonished.
"Grrrrhh," it let out a low warning gurgle and I cocked my head in wonder.
"Awww," I squatted down to the ground slowly to be in its eye level. "What a cute little creature!"
"Gharrrrrr," it growled, hissing and bearing its teeth at me.
"Oh, is the little puppy scared? I won't hurt you," I reached out my hand slowly to him with my palm up and its red eyes dotted to my hand almost curiously.
"Wh-what are you doing?" The dwarf screamed at me. "It's gonna eat you!"
"Of course, he won't!" I disregarded the warning with a scoff. "You're a good little boy, aren't you? Aren't you?"
The creature let out a low grumble as its head reached to my hand and it sniffed my palm carefully. I waited patiently as it took its time to take in my scent. I was good with dogs. They seemed to genuinely like me.
"Come here, boy, come here!" I cooed and the dog groaned, but it no longer had the warning sounds of danger in it. I reached out my hand towards its head and scratched its jaw and neck. It growled again, this time in pleasure, and I chuckled.
"That's my boy, good little boy. You like this, right?" I scratched it some more and then reached up to pat its head. Its skin felt silky and soft and the beast groaned in pleasure once again. I reached to scratch behind its ears and in another moment it gave in to my hands, whining softly, its tail wagging back and forth in a friendly manner.
"I don't believe this!" Meanwhile, the dwarf hollered as the creature in front of me rolled on its back, asking me to scratch its belly, which I did with pleasure. "You don't pet the Hell Hound!"
"Awww, look how cute it is!" I exclaimed, rubbing its stomach affectionately. "What's it called?"
"Called?" I heard stomping behind me and looked back to see the dwarf coming to me. "He's called the Terrifying Creature from the Pits of Hell!"
I rolled my eyes and glanced back at the dog-like creature on the ground. It was wagging its tail almost too happily and panting slightly, its tongue out.
"Looks like a puppy to me," I commented. "Oh, I know! Let's call you Totto!"
"WHAT?!" The dwarf exclaimed in horror while I petted the creature.
"You like the name, Totto? You like it?" The demon dog jumped up slightly, panting and let out a satisfied growl. "Oh, yes, you do! You cute little puppy, you were so sad you had no name, right?"
I rubbed its head affectionately and the newly named beast wagged its tail back and forth like a dog. I turned back to the dwarf standing in front of me and cocked my head sideways. Now that he was down, I could finally see it was actually she. I had never met a female dwarf before. They were not known for venturing outside the boundaries of their kingdom. I could most probably see why. With her gruff appearance, sturdy posture and those glaring eyes hidden under bushy eyebrows, the dwarf did not seem very friendly.
"Um, are you magician Bour?" I asked doubtfully again and the dwarf shook her head and stomped her foot down.
"I can't believe you tamed that beast with a little petting! Hell hounds are NOT to be petted!" She walked around me pointing at Totto with her stubby finger. "He is the abomination of EVIL! He should be wrecking havoc everywhere and spitting fire and, and destroying and-"
Totto got low on his fours and hissed, bearing its fangs at the dwarf.
"Stop that!" I frowned. "You're scaring him!"
"I'm scaring him? ME?!" The dwarf was hyperventilating now. "He should be the one doing the scaring, not me!"
"Ok, ok, just stop being so hysterical!" I patted her shoulder in an attempt to calm the infernal woman down. "And you, Totto, stop hissing. You're not making this any easier. Go play around while I handle this."
To the dwarf's surprise, Totto did stop hissing and started chasing his own tail.
"Hell hounds are NOT supposed to listen to human girls!"
I rolled my eyes, "Don't you think you're pushing the poor thing too much? You know, you're weighing him down with some real heavy expectations."
The dwarf looked at me confused and suddenly shook her head, "And who the hell are you?"
"Oh, how rude of me," I smiled sheepishly. "I'm Aleta. I've just graduated from the Magical Academy of Trarton. I am looking for magician Bour, though I have a feeling you're not him."
"No, I'm not him," the dwarf gave me a curious look, seeming a bit calmer than just a minute ago. "You know, I've never seen anyone handle a demon like this before. Hmmm, maybe... mmmm."
I cocked my brow wonderingly, but didn't get a chance to ask her anything as Totto rubbed his body against my leg and I bent down to pet his head. It whined affectionately and panted with its tongue out.
"I'm Jill, by the way," the dwarf said and I raised my head to nod politely.
"Nice to meet you," I said, wondering what kind of dwarf parents name their child Jill? I mean... Jill? That was the least dwarf-like name I had ever heard.
Nevertheless, I wasn't sure if I wanted to get on her bad side, so I kept my thoughts to myself. After all, the demon had to have come from somewhere and I had a nagging suspicion Jill was somehow involved.
"So, you're a summoner?" I asked, keeping up the conversation. "I didn't know there were any dwarf summoners."
"There aren't," Jill grumbled. "We're all miners or warriors. I kind of... well, ran off... to do my thing, you know."
"Why?"
"Dwarfs aren't supposed to be summoners," she replied with an angry huff. "But I wanted to and so... here I am. Well, maybe I was wrong. I'm a failure as a warrior, I'm a failure as a miner and now I've failed in my summoning too!"
"No, you didn't," I shook my head and pointed at Totto. "You did call him, right?"
"Yeah," Jill gave the beast a glare and huffed. "And it almost tore me to pieces."
"Meh, it was just scared, that's all. Imagine being transported to a strange place all of a sudden. I'd be scared too," I noted and the dwarf sighed heavily, her shoulders slumping.
"I know you're trying to make me feel better and stuff, and well," she made a pause, "well, thanks'."
I smiled at her and Jill motioned me to follow her back up to the first room, which must have been the study.
"You know, I've been studying summoning for almost 13 years and now that I have finally managed to conjure a real demon, it chooses you as a master!" Jill spoke as we were going up. "This is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me."
"Yeaaah, me too," I kept the conversation going, though I wondered if meeting a real breathing dragon would top a puppy demon.
"Anyways, that thing is yours now," the dwarf summoner noted and sat down on a nearby chair, taking some book from the table and skipping through its pages. "I'll have to do more research on it though."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!" I exclaimed. "I don't want a demon pet! I can't have pets!"
"Well, you have one now," Jill pointed at the beast beside me and it rubbed its head against my leg once again, seeking my affections.
"But I don't know how to keep pets," I frowned. "And they cost money, which I don't have to spare."
"This one is different," the dwarf noted. "It doesn't need to feed. I think."
"You think?"
"Not regular food, anyways," she replied. "Look, I really wanna find out more about this creature, but for some reason it is attached to you, so I want you to take it along with you and come over for a few training sessions."
"Training sessions?"
"Stop repeating what I say, human!" The dwarf gave me a frown. "I need more information about it and when I have it, I might actually get rid of it."
"You don't have to get rid of Totto," I shook my head. "You can be the one to take care of it."
The dwarf looked down at Totto and the latter gave her a low growl, "Yeah, I don't think it will work."
I sighed and ruffled my hair. I don't need a puppy tagging after me! I looked at the demon dog, which had curled into a ball and seemed to be snoozing off under the huge table. Great, stuck with a hell hound Totto. No way I'm doing this. Unless... Mmm.
"So, um..." I paused, trying to think how to phrase my question. "Is there some kind of a reward for this?"
"Reward?"
"Yeah, like, you know, money?"
"Whoa, you want money?" The dwarf put down the book she was pretending to be looking through and gaped at me.
"Duh," I made a grimace and shrugged my shoulders lightly. "You aren't expecting me to do this for free, are you?"
"Well..." Jill furrowed her brows. "I kind of did?"
"Aw, my little friend, um, no offense or anything," I added hastily and the dwarf shrugged.
"None taken."
"So, as I was saying, my... dwarfy friend," I walked to her and slung my arm around her shoulders in a carefree manner. "The world is really cruel these days. Especially, to young girls like me. And you. I worked so hard to graduate from the Academy and what do I get? Petty jobs, errands for older magicians... I still need to pay for my rent, my food, my personal expenses... and to send some money to my grandma. Oh, whenever I think of her... She's living all alone and she is so sick she needs to buy medicinal herbs and those cost money, you know?"
I sniffed pretentiously and turned around, "And now, when I have so many debts to pay off, what will happen to me and my grandma if I don't meet their demands? Will I have to... to... sell my body?.."
"Uhmmm..." The dwarf let out a weird gurgle and I skipped a glance at her. "I could summon some helpers for your grandma! They could bring her some herbs and stuff..."
I cocked my brow and flailed my arms in desperation, "Are you deaf?! I need MONEY!"
She flinched back at my words and knitted her brows in thought. Then, her eyes glowered at me, "There is no grandma, is there?"
I gave the dwarf a dull look and ran my hand through my short hair. "Look, you want me to take little Totto with me, then pay up."
For a moment Jill seemed to be thinking but then she grumbled, "Fine, how much do you want?"
"10 gold pieces per day!"
The dwarf frowned, "5!"
"9!"
"6!" Jill replied hastily and I grinned.
"7!"
"8!"
"DEAL!" I clapped my hands and the dwarf furrowed her bushy brows, cursing at the realization of her own loss.
"Fine, I'll need to get my savings first, though."
I nodded my head happily. "Sure thing, when should I be back?"
"Next week, I'll have it by Wednesday," she replied with a huff. "You know, you're really weird."
I shrugged and turned around, "Say, you don't happen to know magician Bour, do you?"
"No, why?"
"Well, I need to give him a message," I said thoughtfully. "I was following a magical source, hoping he would be here, but it led me to you instead."
"You can follow magical sources?" The dwarf cocked her brow and I nodded.
"Yeah, why?"
"Nothing, just..." Jill seemed to think for a while and then she grinned. "You know, maybe I can help you out!"
"Really, how?"
"I'll summon some familiars of mine and they'll find the magician for you!"
I gaped at the dwarf for a moment, overtaken by surprise and joy, "Really?! You could do that?"
"Sure!" She smiled. "I'll deduct your three day's pay, though."
I sneered at her, "Scrooge."
"Look who's talking."
"Fine, fine!" I waved my hands. "I really need to find him and fast!"
"Alright, gimme a moment!" The dwarf grinned happily, almost too happily, and hopped down to the floor, heading towards a drawn summoning circle in the corner of the room.
I watched her chant something for a while, but after five minutes of it I grew bored. I mean, how long will this take?.. Like an hour? Two? I let out a sigh and that was when I felt a strange prodding feeling in my chest. How queer. I raised my hand to it and hovered my palm above my heart as it accelerated and started beating in its rib cage like crazy. I tried taking a deep breath, but my lungs clenched and I gasped for air desperately. The stings in my heart grew sharper and I felt the pain spread to my entire body in waves. I lost track of time and space and even myself as my body hunched down, my arms hugging my stomach and shoulders.
I gasped and the view in front of me blurred... I could faintly hear someone's voice calling me and a heart-wrenching howl that soon disappeared behind a veil of a dark haze. I could feel myself drowning in something damp and cold, my heart bursting and beating in loud thuds. That was the only sound I could hear as I tried prying my eyes open. But I could not. And yet, I felt as if I was hovering somewhere, weightless and absolutely free...