The Awakening by Gary Alan Wassner Page B

forward, following behind him as he moved upon the air toward the opposite side of the chamber. Colton pointed to the wall and a small doorway opened allowing them to depart the room. The other women he would leave where they were, knowing that they would remain in the same positions that he left them in until he returned, in mortal fear of possibly displeasing him. He laughed to himself at the thought of that, considering briefly just how long he might allow them to remain there before relieving them of their duty.
    Pride welled up in the young maiden he had singled out; pride and a feeling of limitless power. He would let her taste the power momentarily, tease her with it and then take it away from her, causing her to desire it like nothing else. After all, he was the master, the great manipulator, the Lord of Darkness. Who better knew how to exploit a human for his own purposes?
    “My beauty? Are you happy now? Are you not filled with joy?” he asked, the words dripping from his tongue.
    “It is like nothing I have ever felt before, master,” she said, barely able to speak. She was so filled with ecstasy, she could imagine nothing greater.
    “I will allow you to covet this moment so that you will remember what you will receive when you return with the young man,” he soothed her. “You must go quickly. There is much to do before he arrives at her doorstep.”
    “Where is it I am going, my Lord?” she asked.
    “Close your eyes my beauty, and I will show you.”
    Adrianna closed her eyes tightly and Colton entered her mind. As if he had taken her by the hand and physically led her to the spots he wished her to see, he manipulated her inner vision as if it were his own. She saw the small cottage in the forests of Lormarion beneath Seramour. She heard the old man speak to his daughter as if she were present in the tiny chamber. Adrianna watched as the young maid scoffed behind her father’s back, knowing that she would not heed his admonitions. She felt the lust rise in the girl’s loins at the thought of her lover. She felt more than she expected she could through Colton, and the feelings caused her to close her eyes and sigh in sympathy.
    Suddenly she was no longer in the small house but rather in the forest itself, gazing at the ceiling of tree branches obscuring the sky. Her vision passed through the protection of the branches and entered the winding streets of Seramour. It seemed as if she was running down the passageways and alleys, following something, catching up with the back of a young elf’s cape. She felt the anger in the youthful elf before her and saw the crazed look in his eye. In an instant she was in front of the boy. He was yelling at an old woman who stood before him, his ire growing with each word. She watched as he took the woman’s life from her with an infuriated sweep of his arm. She felt his frenzy, his vulnerability, as he hurried to conceal his bloody deed.
    “You have seen enough, my dear,” Colton said, as the vision abruptly ended.
    Adrianna staggered momentarily as she adjusted to her original perspective.
    “He is the one. You must possess his lover and persuade him to return to me here in Sedahar. He must come willingly. He has information that I desire, and I will be able to use him because he is so susceptible, so unprotected. The others in the accursed city are all, each and every one, loyal to their King and to the First. This one is different. His hatred drew my awareness to him like a Tsenso fly to cloudberry nectar. I felt his anger as it built and I watched him as he was possessed by it. In all of Seramour, he alone drew my attention, as if he had invited me into his home. He glimpsed the void and he did not shrink from the vision. He has given his soul to me already and he does not even know it. He will be very useful. I will find out what I need to from him. The secrets of Seramour will be mine. He will know why they seal themselves so tightly from the world beneath