The Chronicles of Edwin, Ch. 13 "Temptation"

Edwin sat up and rubbed his eyes.  It felt like he had been asleep for a very long time.  His nerves were on fire like he was just waking up from being numb.  But when he glanced around he suddenly realized that something was off.  He could not place it exactly, but there was something wrong with the world.  It felt... upside down.  Like the world one sees when peering between ones legs.  The trees grew down, reaching into the sky far below.  It felt like there was some mysterious force holding him to the ceiling.  Edwin was afraid to jump lest that force let go and he should fall down into the sky.

"What is this place?" he whispered in awe.

"This is your mind." a voice replied.

"Wha... who are you?" Edwin said, his heart begining to race.

"I am whomever you want me to be, Edwin." said a feminine voice.  This confused Edwin.  The voice had not been female before, but neigher had it been male.  There were certainly not two voices.  It was like, a new attribute had been appended to the voice.  It was taking shape.

"Where are you?" Edwin said as he glanced around nervously, trying to pinpoint the origin of the voice.

"I'm right here" she said softly.  Edwin turned around and took a step back in surprise, it was Keely.  Only... it was not.  She was either Keely with different features or Keely's body without being her.  That is to say, physical manifestation of Keely and the idea of Keely resided in the same presence, but never at the same time.  "Why are you looking at me like that?"  She asked.

"I'm... why are you here?  ...and where is Squiggers?"  Edwin said, as he took another step back.  As he did so, he tripped on a root or something.

"Oh my!  Are you okay Edwin?" she said with a horrified look on her face.

"Eh... I'm fine." he said blushing.

"Well, okay... who is Squiggers" Keely said with a cute tilt of the head.

"Squiggers... she's my familiar.  We were... training..."  Edwin paused.

"Training?  For what?" she said eagerly.

"I... don't know."  Edwin was dumbfounded.  He had no idea what he was training for.  He felt it was incredibly important that he know this, but he could not remember.  Edwin screwed up his face trying to think, what was he doing?

"Edwin... are you alright?"

"I... I'm not really sure, to be honest."  Edwin looked down at his forearm, there was no tattoo.

"I'm worried about you Edwin, you seem ill."

"Maybe, I don't feel ill though..."  Why was there no tattoo?

Keely walked closer and said innocently, "I could, make you feel better..."

Edwin's heart skipped, "h-how do you mean?"

Keely batted her eyes and said, "oh... I think you know."

"Wha... who are you?  Are you an appirition here to torment me?  Is this some kind of nightmare?"  Edwin's heart was now about to beat out of his chest.

Keely slipped off a strap on her dress, "oh, this is certainly a dream.  But it is hardly a nightmare.  You've probably figured this out by now, but, I was born from you.  Deep inside you know you want me, and here in this place, you can."

Edwin felt like he was going to pass out.  Keely was right there, all he had to do was take her and live out this wild fantasy.  The choice stood before him like a flood gate.  He could open it and be swallowed forever by whatever lies inside, or he could run.  Edwin tried to think, he tried to reason with himself.  But his head was spinning in circles.

"What are you waiting for?  Just do whatever your heart desires, there's nothing to think about here.  Come and live out your wildest fantasies with me here in the forest!"  Keely said as she climbed on top of Edwin.

Suddenly something occurred to him.  She said to do "whatever your heart desires", and she claimed to be born from his own desires, but Edwin had never once actually wanted Keely like this.  Sure this thought had come up before, but then he had vigously beat it down ashamed something so perverse could come from his mind.  Why was this any different?  Edwin made up his mind.  He tossed Keely off of him and ran.  He ran with all his might.  He ran like he had never run before.  Tree limbs tore at him, roots threatened to topple him, but he just kept going.  He ran until he could no longer see straight and he fell in a heap.  With his lungs on fire, his muscles burning, and head throbbing, he lay there in the dirt panting and in pain.  The upside down world was spinning around him, and everything was burning.

Burning?!

Edwin sat up, and looked around.  Everything was burning.  Ashes filled the sky below and were pulled to the ground by that same mysterious force holding Edwin to the ground.  The ashes covered everything.  Through the swirling black specks Keely came walking, or floating.  Edwin could not tell.  He was too weak to move, all he could to was cry out, "go away you demon!"

Suddenly, even before Edwin had shouted, a bright flash emanated from where Keely's presence was and two words were spoken by a deep booming voice that seemed to originate inside Edwin's head, "YOU PASS."  The instant after the echoes died, Edwin felt his world shift to black again as the upside down world burned away.

The next thing he knew he could hear a familiar voice screaming his name.  This time the voice felt real.  Who could it be he wondered.  Then his memory flooded back to him like the water rushing past his head.  Edwin's eyes flashed open as he yelled a string of barely perceptible words at the top of his lungs.  Flames exploded forth in every direction, the water around Edwin was vaporized in an instant.  Heat coursed through his body as he stood up, it felt like there was an inferno inside of him and it was all he could do not to let it all out at once.

Then, as soon as it all happened, it stopped.  And there, where he stood, was a massive blackened crater.  Edwin then realized that he was holding a sobbing Ariel in his arms.  How long had she been like that he wondered.  Edwin stroked her head and hugged her tight as he took a seat by the now reforming creek.  He whispered, "I'm back."

At this a new wave of tears hit Ariel.  "I thought I lost you Edwin... you were taking so long to complete the test... and then our contract was severed... and then your heart stopped... and... and..."

Edwin gave Squiggers a squease, "It's alright now, I'm back."  Edwin let her calm down a moment before continuing, "When you say test, do you mean the thing with Keely?  You set that up?"

"Keely?" Ariel said surprised.

"...yeah, I was in some weird world, I can't even describe it.  It was like this one, but not.  And there was Keely, or, I think it was her.  And she uh... well she pretty much offered to have sex with me... but I ran, then everything was burning and a voice said 'you pass'.  Then I woke up and everything exploded."

Ariel looked puzzled.  "Edwin... that was not the task I had you doing...  do you not remember anything before that?"

"...um... no.  All I can remember is you screaming and then Keely, then you again."  Edwin sighed in frustration.

"That's strange..." Ariel said lost in thought.

As they had been talking Edwin had been looking at the little crater and the singed tree limbs nearby. "...did I do this?"

"Yes, and you nearly burned me alive too, I was not expecting that from you...  in fact, it should not have been possible.  Your contract with me had not been reconnected at that point.  Edwin... I think..." she hesitated.

"You think what?" Edwin was painfully perplexed.

"Well, here, lets try to use a basic fire spell."  Edwin slid his fingers down his forearm and let Ariel's spirit merge with his.  He let her craft the spell and form the words for him, but nothing happened.  Edwin could feel the power welling up somewhere, but there was some sort of gate locked tight that was holding it back.

"What was that?" he asked.

"...Edwin.  I can't be sure, but I think it is possible you were just chosen."

"Chosen?  What, like another contract?" Edwin said with a smile.

"Um... yes.  It is entirely possible that you may have just formed a partial contract with an elder dragon."

Edwin's brain exploded.  He dropped Squiggers and lay there drooling.  He had always dreamed of meeting an elder dragon.  Most said that they died out long ago, but Edwin was not convinced.  So, the idea of haivng a contract with one was a little bit too much for his brian to handle.

"Wait, didn't the dragons die out ages ago?" he said, once the neurons were firing normally in his brain again.

"Psh, even you don't believe that story, Edwin.  But if you want the facts, they have hidden themselves away and usually take the role of guardians of some sort.  Being able to take whatever form they wish is certainly helpful.  They usually don't make contracts though.  My guess is that a newborn, probably not even one hundred years old yet, has chosen to test you."

Edwin's brain exploded again.  Once he was sober again and had wiped up all the drool, he asked, "So, where is he?  How do I complete this contract thing?  And why can't I use fire magic?"

Ariel rolled her eyes, "well, I have no idea where he is.  Probably long gone by now.  The way you complete the contract is, well, you wait for him to test you until he is satisfied, then he will make his presence known.  The reason  you cannot use fire maigc is you never completed my training.  The dragon, for whatever reason, took control during your trance and tested you.  The fireball you saw when you regained conciousness was the dragon's magic flowing through you..."

"So...  what you are saying is, you have no idea when I'll get to ride a dragon and shoot fireballs."

"Yep." she said with a wink.

"You're so useless, you know that?" Edwin said, sticking his tounge out at Ariel.

At this they began a series of insults that culminated in another tickle fight.  After they had both laughed till it hurt to even grin, they headed back home.  It was dark now, but the moon was full and bright illuminating the path home.  When they got back, they found out that the back door had been locked.  They must have forgot Edwin was not in his room and locked up for the night.  So, he and Ariel had to fuble around the yard to find the spare key to the front door.  Evenutally they found it and crept inside.  Edwin did his best to move to his bed in silence, only knocking over a couple chiars and stubbing his toe once.  Finally he was in bed and drifting off into a peaceful sleep, dreaming of the adventures that were to come.