A Valuable Spell

Gardes had a rich, pleasant voice, and his manner was gentle and friendly, like someone raised in a noble family.

But whenever Jess looked at him, he felt there was something sinister about the man.

Jess certainly didn't believe he could see other people's magical power. He was an ordinary person. If even he could tell something wasn't right with Gardes, surely the mages and priests could tell too.

How had this man managed to live in Stormwind without being discovered? And where did that ominous feeling around him come from?

Jess followed him into the practice room, where Gakin was already waiting.

"Gardes, show him."

Gardes nodded. "You can come out now, Ziji."

Who was he talking to?

Just as Jess wondered, a flash of arcane light appeared beside Gardes's feet. A tiny figure suddenly took shape in it.

"At your command, master..."

An imp!

A real demon!

Jess stared at the imp crouching on the floor. It had a pair of long horns pointing forward and two swollen eyes glowing an eerie yellow. It was about the size of a medium dog, and the fur covering its body moved like gray flames whenever it shifted.

Gakin said proudly, "Summoning magic used to be extremely difficult for practitioners of dark magic on Azeroth. But the opening of the Dark Portal changed everything. The portal brought us closer to the Void, and it brought us closer to the creatures we summon."

"And made it easier for me to serve my master!" the imp called Ziji added excitedly.

Seeing a demon with his own eyes, Jess realized he'd seriously misunderstood this warlock group. Apparently some of its members really did know what they were doing.

"Quiet, Ziji," Gardes said, then turned toward Jess.

"Imps like this can be very helpful. They can hide themselves and become invisible. But remember that staying invisible takes a great deal of concentration, and an imp's weakness is... concentration. Once invisible, it can't do much besides follow you. The moment its attention wanders, it'll appear again and expose itself. So if you don't want to get yourself—or us—into trouble, don't send it off to do anything illegal. You know what I mean. Some people in Stormwind understand demons even better than we do, and they won't let demons run wild in the city."

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Jess considered that. "You're going to teach me how to summon an imp?"

"This is the extremely valuable spell I promised you, Jess," Gakin said. "You're not getting scared, are you? Surena and Erlan refused to learn it. They don't want to deal with demons. And Ursula... she doesn't seem to have the talent for summoning them."

Gardes said, "According to the recluses in Ironforge, anyone who still can't summon even an imp in this age of the Dark Portal doesn't deserve to call themselves a warlock. But those Ironforge fellows are arrogant, and we don't have to listen to them. Ursula is a useful companion. Even without the ability to summon imps, she has plenty to offer us. So don't feel pressured. Even if you can't learn this right away, you can help the group in other ways."

Jess couldn't pretend he had no concerns about summoning a demon. But this really was an extremely valuable spell. Gakin hadn't lied.

"I'm here to learn new things."

"Excellent." Gakin stepped up to an open patch of floor beside the wall in front of them. "Let me demonstrate."

"Renea, Taeni, Anvi, Solemi, Orgasobims."

As Gakin chanted, clusters of shadowy light began appearing around him. They were faint—even in the dim room, they were barely visible. But as he continued, the shapes grew clearer and their edges sharper, until they looked like runes forming on the floor.

Before long, a crack appeared among the runes. It was black, darker even than the unlit shadows in the room. Then a little monster jumped out.

"Who brought me here? Where is this place?"

This imp looked different from Gardes's. Gardes's imp was gray all over, while this one was dark yellow.

"They don't seem to be the same kind of demon," Jess said.

"Possibly," Gardes explained. "There are many kinds of imps. They don't even necessarily know each other. But we don't understand much about that yet."

"Your turn," Gakin said. "Want me to repeat it?"

"No need." Jess had plenty of confidence in his short-term memory.

He copied Gakin's gestures and chanted, "Renea, Taeni, Anvi Solemi, Orgasobims."

"Perfect," Gardes said quietly. "You're a natural spellcaster, Jess Seso. There's no doubt about it."

As Jess spoke, runes formed from shadow appeared. Another imp jumped out of the crack.

Jess suddenly grew dizzy. It felt as though something had pulled a piece right out of him, leaving him hollow and weak.

He barely managed to stay on his feet. Looking at the little demon he'd summoned, he saw that it was dark blue all over. It chattered nonstop, but Jess couldn't understand a word.

"I can't understand what it's saying. Is that normal?"

Gakin said, "The weak little thing doesn't know our language. You have no need to communicate with it. Now I'll teach you how to kill this demon. Remember, this spell only works on a demon you've summoned yourself. It can't kill other demons."

Jess nodded. It was probably some evil magic that killed the other party through their contract. He could more or less guess how it worked.

Gakin chanted, "Bimsen Noxi, Kuteini, Elama Xijin."

As soon as he finished, the yellow-brown imp he'd summoned began screaming in pain, as if someone were strangling it. It cried strange phrases in Common that sounded like "Why? Why?" Then it vanished in a burst of shadow flame. The whole room lit up for an instant before going dark again.

Gardes frowned. He clearly didn't like what he'd just seen.

Jess's imp panicked too. When Jess began chanting the same spell, it shrieked wildly. But it didn't run away or try to attack anyone in the room.

When Jess finished, the blue imp also vanished in a burst of flame. A scorched smell spread through the room, something like sulfur.

"Don't be like Blackclaw," Gakin said, giving Gardes a look of disgust. "He wants to make friends with an imp. It's ridiculous."

Gardes smiled. "Don't try to control what other people think, Gakin. Mutual respect is the basis of working together."