The Etherealites

5: Lillian - Incantor

I prowl through the night, my feet making no sound as I move through the streets. Eastborne is a big city, and as soon as I reach the city square, I summon a powerful blast of wind. It carries me up into the air, where I land atop a roof. I summon next a pair of spectral owls, which are silent as the grave as I run toward the edge of the roof, where I then see the guards lining the courtyard below me.

I nod toward the guard closest to me, and the first spectral owl flies down and lands in a tree in the courtyard. I blink, and in my mind, I can see the guards. There are eight of them gathered around, spears at the ready. I know they are all norcerers — which means they are magicless.

Then, I summon fire to my hands, readying to kill them, but then another idea comes to me.  So, I dispel the fire, and summon icicles instead. As an Incantor, I summon things, including the elements. And I am quite crafty with the ideas for summoning.

The difference between Incantors and Magneti is simple.... The Magneti are purely elementals, and their elemental power is more pure and powerful. They control the elements, whereas we Incantors simply manipulate and summon them from elsewhere.

I land silently behind the guards along the north wall, and spike them in the throat with icicles, and allow said icicles to melt. The guards drop, and I lean into the shadows, watching as a third and fourth guard come over to me. I then wait, watching as the guards all come to look at the bodies. I wait, then lash out, summoning hundreds of shards of ice, and they strike, killing all six remaining guards in the blink of an eye.

Turning away from them, I slip into the house of my future victim. He is another fat man hoarding a bunch of Etherealites, ones who need to be freed of his grimy hands. The last one did not have guards I needed to kill, but this one is a bit more paranoid.

As I pass two more guards, I slit their throats with ease. As the norcerers fall, I smirk, blood trickling down the stairs as I walk down to the basement, where this pig of man keeps his Etherealites in cages. Cages!

Just as I reach the bottom of the stairs, I hear a woman crying softly. A man snarls at her, "Shut the fuck up, girl!"

Summoning another circle of floating, frigid icicles, I walk into the basement. There are six guards, and they turn around just as I unleash a torrent of icicles that freeze their blood as they rip into them.

A girl inside the cage closest to me gasps, her emerald eyes wide with tears streaming down her face. The girl stares at me, her horrified face morphing into that of a bear. She snarls at me, but I raise my hands in surrender.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I assure them. "I am here to set you free."

The bear girl tilts her head, her eyes still green widening. As she morphs back to her human shape, I realize she is a Glamor. "You're.... saving us?"

I nod. Lowering my voice to a whisper, I begin to pick locks as I say, "Stay quiet and close to me. I'm gonna need you to show me where your boss sleeps."

"You mean the monster who kidnapped us?" asks the girl as I open her cage and move on to the next. "He is upstairs, in the suite."

I open the rest of the cages, with the girl helping me all the while. As soon as the girls are all freed, I turn to the first one and she looks at me, holding a small girl against her.

"What's your name?" I ask her.

"Lysandria," she says.

"Okay, can you get the girls to safety? And tell me where the suite is?"

She points up the stairs. "The room that occupies the whole top floor. It's his study and his bedroom, too."

"Thank you," I say. "Can you get them to safety?"

Lysandria nods solemnly.  "I will." She turns to another girl. "Can you help me?"

"Y - yes," says the girl, stuttering.

I look at Lysandria.  "Good luck."

"You too. And uh, lady?"

I turn back to her, having started to climb the stairs.  I see the worry on her face. The fear.  "Yes?"

"Good hunting."