CHAPTER 1
Эта история началась на русском языке. Эксклюзивные главы, профессиональные аудиоверсии и ранний доступ к новым книгам доступны только на Author.Today: https://author.today/u/ssokolova879/works
I lounged in my chair, watching the wall of fire burn. Then I shifted my gaze to my inner circle.
Their auras were black. Jagged. Torn. Around them—nothing but rage, jealousy, envy, and pure malice. In short, perfection. Not a single glimmer of kindness or any of that other nonsense. Which meant everything was normal.
And then I felt it. A summons. Not just any summons—a summons specifically for me.
Well, well, well. Now this is interesting.
Who in the world was audacious enough—or stupid enough—to dare summon me? I felt the pull, dragging me sideways. Not that I couldn’t resist, but curiosity got the better of me. Who in their right mind would even attempt such madness?
I took a single step—and found myself standing inside a summoning circle. The runes glowed gold.
I waved my hand, materialized a chair, and sat down with the majestic air of a lord of worlds. Crossed one leg over the other. Finally looked at the one who had dared to disturb me.
“Who are you?”
Before me stood a man, his hands raised in a summoning pose.
“You have come at my call,” he declared with excessive pomp. “I am the Great Master Abyss...”
“Yes, yes. What’s the purpose of the summons?”
The man smirked. Clearly not expecting such a direct start. He straightened his shoulders:
“I summoned you. You will be my blade.”
“A blade? That’s good. So, who needs killing?”
“As the Great Master, I have many enemies. Therefore, they need to be dealt with.”
I see. Megalomania stemming from the realization of one’s own extraordinariness. I have a whole world full of those. I continued sitting, studying the man. Look at him puff himself up. Either a complete fool, or he’s forgotten who I am.
I specifically didn’t like him. His majestic pose. His head arrogantly thrown back. Should I turn him into a goat? Roast him? I even imagined it: juicy meat on a grill, delicious aromatic juice dripping from it. I looked at the man from a purely gastronomic perspective. Though he might be a bit dry. In principle, yes. We could try.
I stood up from the chair. Took a step into the man’s shadow. Pulled him into the circle. Calmly extracted his soul and entered the body myself. The man’s soul began beating against the circle’s barriers.
Well, sit there for now. I’ll go take a look.
I walked out of the cave. In the distance, a huge city was visible. It had been a long time since I’d been among humans. Time to take a walk, see what’s what. A horse stood near the cave. I mounted it. Since I didn’t know where to go, I simply relaxed, counting on the horse to take me where I needed to be.
We rode into the city. People bowed, eyeing me with a certain wariness. I rode in silence, looking around. The city was alive with noise. Buzzing with conversations. Something baking, aromas flowing. In short, the city lived.
The horse brought me to an impressive building. I climbed the stairs. The most interesting corridor led to an office located right in the center. I walked in, sat at the desk, crossed my legs, and surveyed the room.
And then the door burst open.
A girl flew in. Her aura blazed bright red with yellow highlights. Oh, what a beauty! I hadn’t seen anything like this in a long time, I marveled.
“You, Master! How could you?! Is it even possible for children to live in such conditions?! They were attacked!” she shouted, directing her demands at the host whose body I now occupied.
And I was examining her. Oh, what eyes! Green. And such an interesting color—I’d seen stones with that hue before. Emeralds. Her hair shimmered in the sun in large curls, cascading down her shoulders. And the color—like old, fine copper. How beautiful she was. And she smelled sweet. I inhaled the air.
“So, respected lady, could you tell me about the problem in more detail?” I interrupted her stream of indignation.
She stumbled over the word:
“You... Master... You approved the summer practice for our children? But there was a breach there! Do you understand that you’re putting children in danger?!”
“Let’s you and I go to that educational institution and take a look firsthand.”
She shot me an angry look, turned, and headed for the door. Well, I followed her. First, I was admiring the curls of hair that swayed with each step. Then my gaze slid lower: a wasp waist... and my gaze caught on what was below the waist. And in general, I kind of got stuck there. Inside, excitement began to rise. I started to understand that, in fact, I wanted this woman. Not even a woman—a little witch.
Apparently, my gaze was literally burning her backside, because she turned around angrily. Looked me in the eyes with wild fury. I put on a completely innocent look, like “nothing like that.” She snorted angrily and continued walking.
Leaving the corridor, she opened a portal. We found ourselves... well, how to describe it? Many different buildings. Columns. Towers. And a bunch of kids of different ages: from the very small ones running around, to quite grown-up young men and women. Auras blazed with multicolored fire. How many mages, little witches! The auras just shone, shimmering from blue and purple to bright burgundy. There were healers and fighters and air mages and... in short, many. They lay on the grass, sat, stood alone and in groups.
We walked forward in silence. I walked behind. The children greeted the witch with a nod and a smile, and shot me angry looks.
So this vessel wasn’t popular here. Apparently, he really was a goat.
So, we walked. I inhaled the air, which smelled of flowers with a slight hint of bitterness, not of hot stone and ash. I examined the children on the green lawns. The benches were occupied, everyone was running, happy. Clear voices rang out, conversations flowed, birds sang, butterflies fluttered.
In short, I liked this world more and more. I thought: I can delay my departure a bit, the host from the circle isn’t going anywhere anyway.
The witch with the blazing aura led me into an office. I sat in the most important seat. She took out a map, spread it before me, and pointed her finger at a spot:
“This is where you want to send the children!”
I looked at the map and understood: in the time I hadn’t been here, the world had changed drastically. And I didn’t recognize anything here anymore.
I had to examine the map very carefully: what, where, and how. There was a foothill. Who used to live there? Cave trolls, maybe? Well, in short, some minor filth, for one of my teeth. But something else clearly worried the witch.
So I raised my gaze to her, arched an eyebrow, and asked:
“What? And here there was a breach, and creatures came out? What kind of creatures?”
She looked at me with bewilderment, trying to focus her gaze. Apparently, she was trying to read something in me. I quickly covered my true aura and looked at her with a smile. Having read nothing, she returned to the map, frowned, trying to scan me again. It didn’t work.
Well, well, girl, go on, go on.
And I sat there slyly, examining the witch.
“Fine,” she waved her head. “Creatures from the Lower World came out.”
Creatures from the Lower World? That’s nothing much.
“Fine, let’s go take a look on site,” I said, rising from the chair.
