Voidhawk : Redemption
By Jason Halstead
©2011
Chapter 1
Billowing black smoke erupted in mid-air. It swirled and grew, filling the space above the inscribed diagram on the floor but daring to go no further. A sinister chuckle issued forth from the swirling darkness, sending chills through the bones of the young man that stood nearby.
“Reveal yourself!” He snapped, summoning up a steely conviction to his voice that he did not look as though he felt.
The smoke receded rapidly, absorbing back into the figure that took shape in the midst of the magical diagram. Massive leathery black wings encased it, revealing that it was not human. Slowly they unfolded, drawing apart in front and revealing the creature contained within.
The man gasped in spite of himself. He had seen pictures and he even knew what he was summoning. In spite of that, the sheer spectacle he beheld threatened to strip him not only of his voice, but also his sanity. “Volera,” he whispered, speaking the being’s name. He repeated himself, more loudly, to establish control over the summoned entity.
“Master,” Volera responded, a wicked smile upon her perfect face. She was a female, anatomically indistinguishable so far as he could tell from any human woman. The glaring differences were the black wings that sprouted from her back, the serpentine black tail that trailed behind her, and the small black horns upon her forehead. Also, unlike any human woman he had ever known, she possessed eyes that were as deep and dark as the blackest of nights. “What is your wish?”
His wish? Sinjin shook his head, breaking his concentration from the flawless spectacle of the being before him. He had a wish, why else would he have summoned her? He could not help but bask in the dark reddish tan of her displayed skin and the perfect proportions that were beyond the ability of nature to reproduce.
“Do you know what I am, human?” Volera asked after his mouth hung open for several long minutes. Sinjin nodded, but said nothing to back up his mute claim. “I am a Fury, mortal,” she continued when he did not. “I have not the time nor interest in idle chatter! Prove you have a task worth binding me or earn my wrath!”
“I’m your Master!” Sinjin gasped out, cowed by her venom. “You must do as I bid!”
She smiled wickedly again. Her tail coiled suggestively around her thigh, the tip twitching anxiously against the bronzed flesh. “So I must,” she agreed. “Yet if it is a demeaning task fit for a lesser demon, you will one day come to regret your actions.”
“I want power!” He burst out, his rehearsed words forgotten in the heat of the moment.
“We all crave power, mortal,” she sighed, her voice sounding tired and disappointed. “If you think yourself great enough to take mine then come to me and let us dance.”
He shook his head rapidly. “No, not that,” he said quickly, then found himself distracted by the form fitting black cuirass she wore that displayed more than it protected.
“You would lay with me then? Even more rare is the mortal that can hope to survive that. Do you want to die, human?”
“I’m your Master!” He gasped.
“And so you should know the fate that awaits any who come within my arms,” she said with a smirk. “But so many of your kind do not. That pleases me, it is by far the most pleasurable way for me to feed on your soul.”
