Eternal Beasts

The Gaes Curse

"I can feel you out there, Jared," the voice said. "Please. Come in. I've waited so very long to finally meet you. And now that the Ritual of Completion has been performed, I can sense so much more than just your potential floating through the ether. I can sense you!"

Swallowing his hesitation, Jared stepped forward. Was this the woman that Caspian had called the Daughter of the Storm Shattered Seas? The ocean on the way in was certainly storm-tossed enough to earn the moniker. Of course, there was only one way to find out. He pushed the curtains aside and stepped into the darkness.

A flare of golden light lit the room's center as he came to an uncertain halt in the darkness. And by it, he could see there was a woman standing there. Nysim, but possessing the height of the mageborn, he just as quickly ran out of words to describe her beauty as he had with Nikeera. Lush, auburn hair tumbled in loose curls down over her shoulders, her oval face crafted by a master artisan for beauty, high cheekbones, full lips, flashing green eyes, and, despite the fact that she wore overalls and a pocketed vest filled with tools and vials over a loose white shirt, she was lithe and fulsome.

Then that flawless face was frowning in disappointment.

"But what is this?" she said in a sweet and smokey contralto filled with power and intelligence. "I can only see a ghostly outline!"

Jared tried to speak, only to find himself completely mute. Despite that, the woman fixed her emerald orbs onto him as if she had sensed him trying to speak.

"And mute as well??" She stepped firmly forward, carrying with her the scents of jasmine and night-blooming exotics.

A gesture and he felt a ripple of energy wash over him.

"No!" she exclaimed sharply then looked skyward. "Burn me! The ancient magic of an Eternal Beast!" She dropped her eyes to once again regard him, her beauty stunning enough to snatch his breath away.

"You're flying. Probably here, if Caspian cast his gaes properly." She sighed and shook her head. "And before you ask, my sweet Jared, I asked him to cast it."

Jared strained to ask why, to no avail.

"Because I need you, Jared," the woman said as if she could hear him, reaching out with a hand as if to touch his face. Only to close it with a grimace of frustration.

"My mother, the most powerful thaumaturge of our time, saw your potential as it was tossed to and fro in the ether, unbound and directionless. Though I was a little girl, barely five, she told me of her vision. In response I told her I wanted to be the mageborn woman sealed to you and bring the griffon flights back with the child you and I would have, giving you purpose and an anchor to this reality."

She turned away from him with a gesture.

"Yes, I know. But I was precocious for my age, already able to cast magic better than young men and women three times my age. And my mother could see via her gift, that my desire wasn't just idle fancy, but our potentials synchronizing. I truly was destined to be yours, and you, mine."

She sighed, her head dropping.

"Of course my father, a powerful, but close-minded man, wouldn't hear of it. No daughter of his would be soiled by the wanton lusts of some filthy griffon rider, Ritual or not! But my mother knew. And she put my name before the Dawn Council. When they accepted me and bound me to the Ritual with powerful magic, my father lost his mind. Exiling my mother was his first act of retribution. Sentencing me to this tower was his second, after he surrounded his fortress with a powerful magical shield. One that you, as Lord of Griffons, couldn't pass through."

The woman turned back towards Jared and he could see the tears trailing down her face.

"But even my father cannot deny the magic of the Ritual of Completion, cast by a full quorum of the most powerful mageborn to have ever existed. I knew that I would be able to reach you as soon as the Ritual had been performed. So, after fifteen years of dreaming about you and a burning city of stone, my heart crying out to gather you to me so our souls and bodies could become one, when I felt the Ritual finish, I began weaving my summoning spell."

She roughly wiped away the tears.

"Only to find griffon magic blocking me," she said with a choked breath. Then she was in front of him, her hand reaching out.

"At least I can finally touch your potential, my Jared. Feel your spirit, sense your ..."

Jared fought the urge to vomit as, with flickers of light and sensation, he found himself being dragged through the worst parts of his memories. The necromancer's torture, his madness, liquid gold into his eye socket ...

Gasping, the woman snatched her hand back, eyes wide in horror.

"What ... what have they done to you, my sweet man?" she hoarsely whispered.

- Jared?? Are you alright? - Sam's voice exploded into his mind and, with a blink of his eyes, Jared was back in the saddle. Then he was desperately tilting Sam over on her side to noisily vomit out into space, his head spinning and pounding like somebody tried to split it open with a hammer.

- Jared! My love, what happened? - Sam frantically asked as she stayed on her wingtip until her rider finished retching.

Groaning, Jared sagged back into the saddle to wipe his mouth with the back of his gloved hand.

- I don't know, Sams, - he confessed with a grimace of discomfort and pain. At least the headache seemed to be easing somewhat, now that he had puked.

- Some sort of bizarre vision. Maybe because of that spell Caspian cast on me. A gaes, he called it. -

- A mageborn compulsion spell, - the griffon said, anger starting to push through her concern. - They wanted you to do something before you did anything else. -

- Yeah. Find a mageborn woman called the Daughter of the Storm Shattered Seas. - He paused as his stomach churned unhappily for a moment. - I think I just saw her in that vision. She said she was trying to summon me to her with the Ritual completed, but your magic was getting in her way. -

- That's because you're my rider! - Sam fiercely replied. - You are mine. She can't have you! -

- I know, Sams. And I agree. But ... - He pulled in a quick breath and scrunched up his face tight before letting it go to try and push the pain even further back. - We don't get a say, just a part to play. -

- You know, I really, really hate this fate the Maker has given us, - she growled. - You and I need to be nesting somewhere, my love. Not flying into the sunset to find some mageborn woman who thinks she owns you. -

- I'm sure it's nothing as bad as that, - Jared said before carefully leaning forward. - Uuhh, my head is still killing me. Put us on the ground, sweetheart. Maybe thicker air will help with the pain. -

- Heading down, my love. Hang on! - Sam replied and they began to spiral down towards the distant ground.

Only for Jared to snap back erect, his face a mask of agony.

"Yearrrrrgh!" he groaned as a new kind of pain erupted through his body. Looking down, he saw the shape Caspian had pushed into him, in the center of his chest and pulsing with vivid life through the fabric of his clothing.

"Stop, stop, stop!" he screamed. "Climb, Sam! Climb!"

Feeling the surge of pain over the bond, Sam squawked out loud in dismay. Then she was pumping her powerful wings to stop their descent and head back into the sky. But not before Jared was coughing blood into the palm of his glove.

- Jared! - she screamed across the bond, her wings frantically churning to take them back up.

- West, - he managed to direct, feeling blood coming out of his nostrils and ears as the pain continued to ravage him. - Go west. - Then he was passing out, the pain finally pushing him into unconsciousness.

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