The Whispering Vault

The forms of two people materialized in the center of a rather sizable, yet empty room, only one visible door leading into it. The room was roughly rectangular in shape, ceilings about twenty feet tall. Floor, walls, and ceiling were all made out of a black marble of some type, although it was badly cracked and damaged. One of the people was Grandma, her disguise as a Sakandi beggar discarded, although a black smoke obscured her face. The other person was Laisha, a girl unfortunate enough to have gained the attention of Grandma. The appearance of the two of them caused a blast of air to travel through the chamber, resulting in the unnatural violet flames that were the sole source of light in this place to flicker.

Letting out a tired sigh, Grandma turned towards her captive, plain wooden walking staff now gone and replaced with her normal more ornate one. Aside from her face being obscured by an impenetrable haze of black smoke, Grandma appeared as she usually did.

“I must apologize for giving you such a shock like this, girl, but it was the only way really… As I’m sure you’re bright enough to figure out on your own, you’ve been captured. However, I feel obliged to let you know right up front that I’m not interested in ransoms or the like, so you can put that thought aside from the get go. No, I’ve brought you here for a different reason…”

Grandma paced around the girl as she spoke, watching to see how long it took for the shock of the situation to wear off and being prepared to magically restrain the girl if needed. She doubted the girl could cast magic that would allow her to escape this place, but she didn’t know enough of Sakandi magic to know this for certain.

Grandma couldn’t help but let out a mirthless chuckle at the girl's mention of her father. The absurdity of the girl thinking her father could help her in this position, well, it greatly amused Grandma. Normally, she was more open to toying with her prey, but her interest in what the girl knew made Grandma a bit more impatient than she normally was.

“Yes, yes, I’m sure your father will come rushing in here to save you, his precious little girl. I am normally more open to small talk, but unfortunately for you, today I’m in a bit of a rush. Perhaps we’ll have a long chat on another day. Also, a word of warning, I suggest you don’t resist, something might end up broken if you do.”

Halting suddenly, Grandma spun on her heal, her eyes boring into Laisha’s panicked yet angry gaze. Without any warning, Grandma advanced upon the girl at a brisk walk, a black miasma appearing around the bottom of her robe. From this mass of miasma grew five tendrils that shot out towards Laisha. Four of the tendrils wrapped around the girl’s arms and legs while the final one wrapped around her neck. These tendrils while not fully solid, would cause Laisha find herself almost completely immobilized. She would feel as if she was on the cusp of waking from a dream, yet couldn’t, a captive in her own body.

Two cold hands would grasp each of Laisha’s shoulders, although unlike at the bazaar, this grasp was quite soft, gentle almost. Although Laisha wouldn’t be able to see as the black smoke obscured her vision of Grandma’s face, Grandma was staring into the girl’s eyes with a deep intensity. Preparations for the spell in place, Laisha would feel a pressure on her mind as something foreign attempted to enter it. Although Grandma could forcefully enter someone's mind with less preparation than this, she needed the girl mentally intact after she had searched her mind. This was the reason she had gone to the trouble of weakening the girl initially. Hopefully, the girl would give into the pressure, but if she pushed back too hard against Grandma…

The girl put up more of a fight than Grandma had expected. It seemed she had been given some kind of training of the mind, but Grandma could tell she lacked experience in the practical application of it. Unfortunately for Laisha, she stood little chance against Grandma in the long run. Grandma had broken her way into countless minds, many of which were far more resistant to her probing than Laisha’s. It was a simple matter of waiting for Laisha to grow tired.

The girl was just a human, after all, the barriers to her mind slowly growing weaker and weaker as each second passed. Grandma kept the mental pressure up, a slow burn against Laisha’s mental defenses until they simply melted away into nothingness. The tendrils attached to the girl also assisted in this process, for they did more than weaken her physically. They weakened her mind as well, even her very soul would begin to feel the draining effects of them.

It took about five minutes for the last of Laisha’s resistance to fall apart before Grandma. The girl's mind was now effectively putty for Grandma to shape how she wished. Although there would be no permanent damage if Grandma decided to release her from this state, whether or not that would happen was rather up in the air at the moment. For now, Grandma was searching through the girl's mind for what she knew of the majic that the citizens of Sakand possessed… What she would discover she was unsure of, but she felt true excitement at the prospect of learning something new.

As the girl finally gave in to her, Grandma immediately searched her mind for the knowledge the girl possessed. For a human, the amount of information being processed by Grandma would have been far too great a strain to comprehend, but fortunately, her mind wasn’t so frail as all that. What she discovered pleased Grandma, but it didn’t surpass her expectations.

The girl seemed to know the basics, which was good enough for now, but Grandma would need a much more knowledgeable target if she wanted to learn the true secrets of Sakand’s majic. The girl did know how to summon Djinn, something Grandma intended to do right away.

Raising her cane, Grandma spoke something in a rather odd language. Although she clearly wasn’t whispering, it was as if the words were muffled and dampened by something. The ground below groaned as she spoke, small bits of stone and dust falling from the ceiling as she intoned the spell. After a short time of speaking the strange language, Grandma paused, directing her gaze to the floor around where Laisha lay motionless, dark tendrils still wrapped around her.

With a flick of her hand, a strong blast of wind passed through the chamber, blowing away grains of sand like marble. This revealed an intricate summoning circle of some kind that had been inlaid into the floor of the chamber, presumably by the spell Grandma had just cast. Although the Sakandi probably had their own circles to restrain the summons they made, Grandma felt confident that the ones she used herself would work just fine for this purpose. Although the Djinn might have some unique properties, Grandma found the basic rules of summoning to be generally uniform, regardless of what she was attempting to summon.

Sending mana into the summoning circle to activate it, Grandma turned her focus onto Laisha once more. A command would be sent to Laisha, echoing through her mind and waking the girl from her temporary slumber. The girl would find herself in a trance like state when she woke, unable to think or do much of anything of her own volition. The tendrils although still attached, loosened and released the paralyzation effect from the girl, allowing her to move.

“Summon your Djinn, the Djinn that you trust the most.” The words were spoken in a very soft manner and possessed a calming quality about them. Surely if Laisha listened to the voice everything would turn out fine.

Although still obscured by the black mist, Grandma’s eyes glittered in anticipation as the girl summoned her Djinn. The creature summoned was an interesting specimen, rather small in stature, although Grandma could feel it had a fair amount of majic coming from it. It was a curious little thing.

Going off the expression of the creature gave her, it wasn’t particularly pleased to be here. That was a rather understandable reaction. It wasn’t exactly difficult to discern Laisha was in a great deal of trouble and even the Djinn’s own well being might be at risk. It might notice the summoning circle on the ground below was substantially different than any it might have previously seen in Sakand.

“How curious, so you are one of the Djinn I’ve heard mention of. You’re a bit smaller than I would have expected, but I suppose you can probably change that if you need to. You do seem to possess a fair amount of mana as well, that could be useful… Tell me, Djinn, have you ever met a mage who wasn’t from Sakand?”

Even though the Djinn couldn’t see her exact expression, it would most definitely get the feeling it was being appraised in value. The voice addressing it was one of someone who had just found a new gemstone for their collection and was considering where to place it.

The Djinn seemed rather childish in its actions, although considering who had owned it, Grandma really didn’t know what she was expecting. Ignoring the Djinn for the moment, Grandma turned her attention on Laisha, snapping her fingers as she addressed the girl.

“Tell me word for word the contract you have with this Djinn here, girl.”

Her mental control over the girl was as strong as ever and it was unlikely she could do anything other than comply to the command. Although she didn’t appear to be paying much attention to the Djinn, Grandma was still observing it carefully, already holding a great deal of mana to use if there was some problem with her summoning circle. She severely doubted there was, but as this was the first Djinn she had summoned, Grandma decided to be overly cautious about the whole process.

Grandma started pacing back and forth when Laisha said that she didn’t have a contract with the Djinn. Grandma could use this as an opportunity to be a bit forward with the Djinn, but was curious to see what the results of ordering the girl to make a contract would be.

“You are to make a contract with this Djinn, using the methods taught to you by your tutor. The only unusual thing you must add to the contract is that the Djinn will count me as well as yourself a master when it comes to obeying commands.

Having given the girl her task, Grandma summoned an oaken wooden chair behind her, slowly lowering herself into it. Rocking back and forth, Grandma waited to see if Laisha would be able to successfully carry out this task.

Grandma’s eyes narrowed as the creature burst from the containment. It seemed there were specific measures from the Sakand summoning circles Grandma would need to incorporate into her own. She also realized she probably should have spoken to the Djinn in Ancient Sakandi, but it was a bit late for that now… No matter, she would simply have a taste of the Djinn.

She made no effort to move as the Djinn blasted her with the white-hot heat, the blast hitting her head on. As the smoke cleared, an unrecognizable body, now completely charred lay there motionless. The dark tendrils and mist had vanished, leaving Laisha free of her binding, but certainly unconscious still. The Djinn might think itself successful for a split second before a rather unpleasant presence would begin to coalesce behind it.

A haze of thick black colored smoke formed something that was vaguely human in shape, currently floating in the air and looking down upon the Djinn and Laisha. The Djinn would feel a sudden violent pull upon it as a rift in the air behind it opened up, attempting to drag it into it. The pull of the rift seemed to have no effect on anything else in the room beside the Djinn, the small pieces of rock scattered about staying put on the ground.

It seemed the Djinn was out of tricks, for it was unable to escape the vortex she had summoned. Grandma suspected this Djinn was fairly weak in comparison to other Djinn, but its fire attack had still been somewhat impressive. She absentmindedly wondered what the truly powerful Djinn were capable of. That’s when the rush of majic hit her. She felt the majic flowing through her, it felt positively blissful, something new and exciting!

Deciding to test if it was usable, Grandma spoke some words in Ancient Sakandi that should cause a small gust of wind, something she had gained from the girl's mind. Regardless of the outcome of this test, Grandma decided she should probably get back down to business with the girl. Although it was regrettable, Grandma didn’t think Laisha was of much use to her.

A shadowy hand of smoke forming, it reached out towards Laisha, as if beckoning for something. There was a brief moment of silence before Laisha convulsed violently. As the tremors faded, Laisha was left lying motionless and now lifeless on the rough marble floor below her. Her soul now joining the countless others inside of Grandma. Although rather crude, Grandma decided it would be a waste not to take the girls blood for experimentation…

An onyx jar materialized in the air, floating a few feet in front of Laisha’s corpse. Unceremoniously, Laisha’s body was roughly lifted from the ground, hovering in the air before the jar. An almost imperceptible slicing sound would briefly fill the silence, streams of blood pouring from Laisha’s wrist right after the occurrence. Instead of trickling down her arms and onto the floor, the blood formed many almost thread-like lines that snaked their way into the jar.

Such an archaic form of magic this was.