Ebon Genesis

Once more, he raised his arm to knock – and once again, he let it fall to his side. He walked the halls back to his room, and there cast a spell to see what Colette was doing. When the image appeared before him, he saw that she was lying in bed, rubbing her temples, with her eyes tightly closed. She was still dressed in her nightgown, and appeared to be feeling quite ill. A servant was at her side, and Colette sat up to take the medicinal tea from the woman, while Tharsas watched.

Tharsas let his magic lapse. Colette was not feeling well, and he would not disturb her. The hidden sheaves of paper scribed with his pilfered spells leapt forward in his mind, and he smiled. If he could not enjoy the pleasure of Colette's company, his magic would certainly suffice.

Looking through the papers, he selected what appeared to be the easiest of the three at first glance. Reading the description of the spell, he discovered it was a death spell, something that the Master would never teach him. It was a minor spell, created to kill vermin and insect pests, but was death magic nevertheless.

Tharsas studied the spell, silently mouthing the words and practicing the gestures described. He could feel a warmth building inside him, and knew he was finding the correct pronunciation and inflection. When he reached the last syllable and mouthed it, the heat within him seemed to contract into a tight ball in the pit of his stomach, turning icy cold. It was a far different sensation than he was used to, but unmistakable as the signal he had mastered the spell.

He knew exactly where to find the perfect test subjects. The compost piles for the kitchen leavings constantly drew uninvited guests to the castle, even in winter. The warm walls of the kitchen also provided a perfect haven for them.

Anxious to cast the spell and see its effects, Tharsas hurried to the servant's entrance of the kitchen. Peeking out the window, he saw a pair of rats feasting on the leavings of the last meal. Knowing that the cloudy glass pane would be no barrier to his magic – and that opening the door might cause the rodents to scatter – Tharsas cast the spell as he looked out the window.

He felt an intense chill flow all through his body, causing his muscles to stiffen and his teeth to clench. A sickly yellow cloud appeared over the refuse pile, and the rats immediately began to twitch and writhe. Within a few seconds, they were both stiff, with only the faintest muscle spasms rippling through their extremities.

Casting another spell, Tharsas wrapped a bubble of warmth around him, and stepped outside. The vermin were now quickly freezing in the frigid air – stiff as boards. Tharsas felt a great swell of satisfaction well up inside him, and he kicked one of the dead rats with a loud laugh. Turning toward the wall, he saw the hole through which the pests emerged from to feast. Casting the death spell again, he directed the cloud through the hole, once it formed.

Tharsas was rewarded with the sounds of squealing and scratching emerging from the hole – then silence.

Drawing back his leg, Tharsas aimed carefully, and kicked the second rat on the refuse pile far out into the courtyard – laughing as it bounced across the frozen ground. Turning back to the door, the thought occurred to him that there would now be dead rats in the walls of the kitchen. Casting a spell of clairvoyance, he saw at least six or seven dead rats, and a multitude of curled up bugs lying within the wall. Noting the location, he made a mental note to inform one of the staff to pull out a block in the wall, and remove the dead creatures before they began to stink.

Tharsas walked inside and closed the door, allowing his warmth spell to lapse. A broad smile of satisfaction decorated his face as he walked confidently through the halls. He stopped one of the servants, and relayed the information about the dead rats. The servant looked confused, but replied that he would see to it at once.

Tharsas was returning to his room, planning to study another of the purloined spells, when a meow caused him to turn. A dark smile crept over his face – his eyes narrowing – as he stared at Lavina's longhaired white cat.

Tharsas wondered whether the spell would be as effective on the feline as it had on the bugs and rats. His fingers formed the first few gestures of the spell, as he spoke the words, staring with burning hatred at the cat Lavina loved.

He stopped, the words falling from his lips. While killing the cat would make him feel good – so good – at the moment, the act would be pointless, and would only cause him more problems – once Lavina blamed him for the death.

Looking around to make sure nobody was watching, he quickly mouthed the words of a different spell, and pointed at the cat. The feline yowled and hissed when the spark of electricity leapt from Tharsas' finger and zapped it. It immediately turned to race away from him down the hall.

Drawing at least a little satisfaction from giving the cat a good shock, which wouldn't leave any marks to accuse him of; Tharsas continued to his room to study another of the forbidden spells. If this one proved to be as useful – and amusing – as the last, he would certainly be distracting the graybeard often, to glean more of the dark magic from that warded bookcase.

\/\/\/\/\/\/
~E~~G~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/\/\/\/\/\/\

Colette stood outside Tharsas' room, biting her lip, with her hand raised to knock on the door. She had already been standing thus for quite some time, hesitant to complete the action. There was a war raging inside her, and neither side was gaining ground.

She thought she heard something then, and leaned in close to the door to listen. Concentrating, she recognized the sound. It was Tharsas' voice, and he was speaking words in the language of magic. The faint sound of the repeated syllables through the door was different from those she had heard him utter before. The words caused a shudder to run through her body, raising goose bumps on her skin, and conjuring up an image in her mind of spiders crawling all over her.

Colette stepped away from the door, wrapping her arms around her and shivering. She could no longer hear the words a step away from the door, but they echoed in her memory still.

Colette thought, Tharsas is studying his magic, I shouldn't disturb him.

Now that she had an excuse not to confront the feelings at war in her heart, Colette left to return to her own room. Her head once again began to throb painfully, as she walked farther from Tharsas' room, and the cramps she had been ignoring forced their way through her mental restraints. Now nearly in tears from the pain, she hurried to her room to lie down.

\/\/\/\/\/\/
~E~~G~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/\/\/\/\/\/\

It took Tharsas six more long nights of study to learn the other two spells he had copied from his teacher's warded bookcase. Often he awoke deep in the night, face down on his desk, where he had fallen asleep from exhaustion.

The first spell he had nearly filed away without studying further. It raised the dead as mindless walking corpses. Even as he started slip the paper back into its hiding place, his hunger for new magic overcame his revulsion for the dark nature of the spell.

The frozen rat corpses behind the kitchen proved to be a perfect medium for testing the spell. The animated rodent obeyed his commands without fail, even remaining motionless and hidden as he slept, immediately moving to obey new orders the next day. After using the dead creature to chase Lavina's cat for a short while, he reversed the magic, allowing the corpse to fall inanimate to the frozen ground once more.

The second was the most difficult spell he had ever seen, by far. It was learning this magic that devoured most of his week of study. Tharsas' eyes rolled back in his head when he felt the icy bite of the spell's mastery deep within him.

This spell he would not cast for mere observation purposes. Only in the direst of circumstances would he use this black magic, though he was fully prepared to do so should it be needful. The spell sucked the life force from its target, and transferred it to the caster. This transference restored the strength of the recipient, both physical and magical, and could heal even grave wounds through the absorbed energy.

It could also kill – painfully – causing both physical pain, and tremendous mental trauma, as the victim felt their very life being sucked from them.

All the while, he had been spared torment by Lavina, or his Stepmother. Other Barons had arrived for a meeting of the Federation, joining the two already in residence. He knew his stepmother reinforced the notion that he was as yet unfit to rule, which infuriated him, but Tharsas welcomed the respite from his servitude to the two women, and the nocturnal visits of his half-sister.

Lost in his studies and free of his typical daily torment, he was content.

\/\/\/\/\/\/
~E~~G~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/\/\/\/\/\/\

Each day Colette found herself outside Tharsas' door, sometimes more than once. She had even opened the door to his room and peeked in once, when her cramps had awakened her deep in the night, finding Tharsas was slumped over his desk, sound asleep. Colette stood for long minutes just watching him sleep, and then crept back to her room – to toss and turn the whole night through.

Every day also found her forced to give in to the heat that always assaulted her during this time of the month, and this night was no different. The burning desire was beginning to cool – the accompanying cramps and headaches having faded the day before – but the need was still beyond Colette's ability to ignore.

Sliding open a drawer on her dressing table, Colette withdrew a gilded box, and placed it on top of the table. She crossed the room and lay down, retrieving a silver key from its hiding place. Resting on a lip of wood beneath her chest of drawers, it was the place she thought least likely for anyone to look. Brushing the dust from her nightgown, she rose back to her feet, and returned to her dressing table.

Placing the key in the lock of the golden box, she withdrew her diary. The diary was not what she sought, because she had already penned an entry this day. Colette slipped her fingernail between the corner of the box, and the felt cushion in its bottom, raising the padding up so she could pinch it between her fingers.

Hidden beneath the cushion was her most precious secret. A friend from town had spoken in hushed whispers of her secret friend, and had gifted Colette with this one on her eighteenth birthday. Colette pulled out the wooden phallus, which was perfectly smooth – save the flare at its tip – and coated in shellac, which made it even smoother to the touch.

Closing the box, Colette clutched the toy to her breast, and walked to her bed. Her door was already locked to insure the location of her key remained secret, and she had lain a towel down to prevent any stains from the end of her period. She lay down on the bed, with the wooden shaft lying in the cleft between her breasts.

Colette laid her toy on the bed, and reached for the neck of her nightclothes. As soon as her fingers unhooked the first button of her nightgown, the throbbing heat in her loins began to ease, changing to pleasant warmth, in anticipation of being given release with the wooden cock now lying by her hip.

The buttons came undone quickly, and she pulled the nightgown open to let it fall away from her body as soon as it was done. Her nipples were stiff, pointing toward the ceiling already in anticipation. Wetness had begun to gather between her legs even as she entered her room and locked the door several minutes earlier. Pulling one arm free, and then arching her back up off the bed, she pulled the clothing out from under her – pushing it up toward the headboard.

She cupped her heavy breasts in her hands, caressing them and letting her fingers brush against the hard tips – and then let one hand slide down to her mound. Colette's hips rocked upward, and she gasped as her finger touched her nether lips – and then again as she slipped it between them. She could feel her juices coating her fingertip, even with that slight penetration. She reached for her toy, and slid it into her mouth to wet the tip. In her mind's eye, it was no toy that entered the warm embrace of her mouth. It was a real cock, hard and throbbing, begging to be inside her.

She sucked the wooden cock in and out several strokes, almost able to hear the gasps of pleasure coming from the man she imagined was attached to it. Her body intruded upon her illusion, demanding satisfaction with a jolt of urgent energy that caused her hips to buck upward again. Pulling the toy from her mouth, Colette parted her legs, and pressed its flared tip against her opening. With a slow push, she buried it in her depths.

Moaning quietly, Colette left the toy buried, pushing against the butt end to move it slightly inside her. She then gripped the shaft and withdrew it from her, pushing it back inside as soon as the flared head of the toy brushed against her labia.

She stroked the wooden phallus at an ever-increasing pace inside her, her need driving her to seek release quickly. Her other hand moved downward to stroke her bud beneath its protective hood with a fingertip. She gasped quietly, her head rising, and then falling to the pillow – in a slow, steady rhythm – as her pleasure mounted. Her hips bucked up toward the toy as she thrust it inside her, the image of a handsome young man with dark hair taking her so real in her mind.

Her walls clenched tight as she drew near her precipice of pleasure, gripping the stroking toy in her hand like a trap. She perched on the edge of release for seconds that felt like hours, her teeth and eyes clenched tight – and then she toppled over the edge.

Colette's walls relaxed for an instant, and then clamped down even harder than before on the toy buried to the hilt inside her. Her head slammed against the pillow, and then bounced upward – her muscles tightening and pulling her upright, as her climax shot through her body. Colette's mouth opened in a silent scream, her jaw quivered, and a bright flush of rosy heat colored her face and chest.

The spike of pleasure ended, and Colette dropped heavily to the bed once more, with a gasp. She continued to suck in deep breaths that seemed to bring no air into her body, blasting them out in gasping exhales a moment later. Another spike of almost painful ecstasy shot up her spine, causing her back to arch, and her whole body to quiver, as she lay with her back and rounded bottom hovering above the bed.

The peak subsided slowly, and she sank to the bed with a soft moan. She could feel wetness dripping down the shaft of her toy – coating the hand that held it. Her bud throbbed beneath her finger, and her heart pounded as if she had just been running in a race.

In her mind's eye, the dark-haired man shuddered in ecstasy, with his eyes closed tight, and his manhood spurted its reward over her shuddering body.

It was exactly how it had looked when she had seen Tharsas masturbating in the bath a few months before.

\/\/\/\/\/\/
~E~~G~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/\/\/\/\/\/\

The Federation council ended, and Tharsas was once more subjected to his normal role of servitude upon returning home from school. Each day, he secreted away yet another magically copied page from the Master's forbidden bookcase, though he had found no time to study any of the ill gotten spells.

Peronelle and Lavina had time to order him around like a slave once more, though his half-sister had not yet come to him in the night. Tharsas was relieved to be spared at least that, though he grit his teeth in anger when he felt his body respond with arousal every time he considered Lavina's dominating advances.

Three weeks passed, and Tharsas withdrew into himself, as he always did when his stepmother had time to notice him. He did as he was ordered, and then returned to his room to drop off in exhausted slumber. Upon returning home at the beginning of the fourth week, he was surprised not to have either of the cruel women waiting for him with a list of chores to heap upon him for the day.

It occurred to him then that the winter festivals would begin this night – lasting throughout the entire week. His taskmasters would be busy preparing for the parties they would attend, and the party they would host for the wealthy of the Barony, and surrounding lands.

Tharsas went immediately to his room, a stash of new magic awaiting his eager eyes, but discovered almost immediately that he could not concentrate. He had been too long trapped in his lethargic, withdrawn state, and found it difficult to break free of the feeling.

Putting away the spell he had started to study, one that would hurl a spray of flesh dissolving acid, he sat heavily on the bed and tried to order his mind.

After a few minutes, he surrendered with a growl, and instead cast a spell to spy upon the family and servants – to see what transpired within the castle.

Lavina and his stepmother fussed over gowns in Lavina's room, the sight of Lavina's near nude body making him ache – and growl in anger at the same time. The servants brought out decorations to be cleaned for the coming party, or otherwise went about their duties. Colette sat before the mirror that rested on her dressing table, looking uncomfortable, and somewhat distraught.

Tharsas was about to banish the magic when he saw a servant walking toward Lavina's room. He watched for a moment and his heart leapt as the servant announced that the carriage was ready to take them to town, whenever they were ready.

The answer that they would be ready in two hours broke the bonds of lethargy that had imprisoned Tharsas. He immediately retrieved one of the copied spells from its hiding place, and sat down to study until his jailors left the castle. The spell closed the throat of the target, preventing them from drawing breath. It could be used to render an enemy unconscious – or kill if the magic was held in place long enough. For such a deadly spell, it was relatively simple. Tharsas felt the icy bite of having mastered the spell some time later.

He was tempted to test the spell on Lavina's cat. He hated the annoying beast, and it belonged to the sister he hated more. He knew this spell would leave obvious evidence of use even if he didn't kill the wretched feline, so he chose to wait and test the spell when he could find vermin, a bird, or some other animal to use as a test subject.

Looking out the window, he was unable to determine exactly how much time had passed since he sat down to study the spell. Falling into his magic, he spied on the castle, to determine if his stepmother and Lavina had left yet.

His spell's seeking magic found them boarding the carriage, and he smiled broadly. Now the castle was his for a few hours at least. Turning the magic to the kitchen, he found the staff there still busy cleaning the dishes. There would still be someone present to prepare him a meal for quite some time.

Thoughts of ending the gnawing hunger in his belly caused him to think of Colette, who appeared to be feeling out of sorts. He turned his magic toward her, thinking he would go and offer to bring her something to eat in her room. He was surprised to find her standing right outside his door, hand raised to knock, but not completing the action.

Tharsas banished his magic, and went to open the door. Colette started and let out a little yelp of surprise when the door opened.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, Colette," Tharsas said, reaching out to grasp her hand. He felt her shudder when his skin touched hers.