Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 14:12:05 +0100
From: Enchanting Enchanter <enchantingenchantor@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Enchanter's Storybook: Chapter Ten Special

This story is the first I've written on the Archive, so don't be too
critical. So far, it seems to be doing okay. This is a fantasy-fiction tale
that includes elements of swordplay, mythical creatures, and magic. The
creatures so far are witches, humans, and trolls, while I plan to widen
that range further down the line. Eventually, the story will include themes
of an erotic nature, but I am not too eager to start that yet. The story is
fiction, and is therefore not real. This includes the world, the
characters, the plots, everything. Excepting me, of course, because I am
quite the Enchanter.

Set in a medieval world, abundant with magic and fictitious creatures, this
story is about Marcus Mallow and his ascent through the dark outer world of
his hidden human village of Rocky Pass.

Finally, if you want to understand the story fully, you'll need to read the
story fully, as in every chapter from the start. You wouldn't start a book
by reading the tenth chapter, so don't start this series reading the tenth
chapter.

Now to start the tenth chapter special of the the esteemed fable, the
Storybook of the Enchanter.

IMPORTANT: But let me tell you that what makes this chapter the Chapter Ten
Special is that it isn't from the perspective of the two regular point of
view characters, Varia and Marcus. Instead of narrating through their eyes,
I will be narrating through the eyes of Darius for the very first time. But
don't get use to it, this is a one time thing.

The Enchanter's Storybook: Chapter Ten Special - Through the Eyes of Darius
Drake:

Watching Marcus drop to the floor like a sack of old potatoes, Darius
screamed and forced his eyes shut. Squirming as far back into the closet as
he could, he pressed his entire body against the wall, trying to merge
himself inside of the cement itself.

He only wanted the world to disappear, to flutter and fly, to break and
crack. He wanted it all to go, the pain was too much for him to bear. All
he sought was an end, a simple end. He just wanted darkness, unending
darkness, something to hide away the truth and to block the pain from him.

He felt hands grab his shoulders and drag him out of the closet. The hands
were hard and cold, with horribly long nails that dug painfully deep into
his flesh. He felt the warmth of his blood gush down his naked body, yet he
still tried to block out the world.

Screaming again, he felt himself thrown to the floor like trash, where he
clasped his eyes shut as tight as he could, blocking out everything around
him. He wouldn't open them, he wouldn't!

Why had he left that stupid campsite? Why, why why?! He asked himself. If
he didn't leave, those bastard trolls wouldn't have captured him, and they
wouldn't have brought him here. It was all his fault, all his fault.

He heard a gentle, soothing voice in his ear. A voice he had been
accompanied with during his incarceration. Her breath felt warm on his ear,
she embraced him and shook him gently. It was the sweet girl, Daisy
Dweller.

"Calm down, calm down," she said somberly, stroking his hair as if he were
a gentle lamb.

But suddenly, he realised something. Darius Drake was no coward, and
certainly no gentle lamb. Laying there, crying, having to be comforted by a
stranger. This wasn't him, he hated himself for it. He shrugged Daisy off
of him and rose to the floor, his eyes still tightly sealed. He sighed a
deep and destitute breath before opening them once again, seeing the same
bitterly empty room.

"Darius, get the fuck over yourself and help me!" Varia screamed at him,
holding the still body of Marcus Mallow in her arms. He was pale,
ever-so-pale. His eyes were closed, his skin was pallid and pasty. He
couldn't bare to watch.

"I can't," he pleaded, "I can't." He hurried from the body and fell back
onto the old feather mattress in the corner of the room. Laying on it were
his and Daisy's clothes, piled untidily together. Before he could think
straight, he knew he couldn't very well stay in the nude. He managed to
throw them on without turning to look... over there, and managed to shakily
gave Daisy's clothes to her.

Varia cradled Marcus like a baby, he noticed, once he had turned to face
her. She kept chanting words, foreign words, awful words with rolls on her
tongue. She sounded despicable. What was she doing to him? It couldn't be
something good; she was a witch. This was her fault! This was all her
fault! He told himself.

"Stay away from him, witch!" he exclaimed to her, his anger boiling
inside. It built up in his stomach, bursting to the brim. He had to let it
out.

"Shut the fuck up, bastard boy. I'm about the only chance he has of
surviving this... this mess. The mess that you've made!" She stood up from
his body and left it lying on the floor, cold and alone. That only boiled
his anger further, turned him into a raging mess.

Before he could even grab Kryt's dagger, Varia was on him. She had already
uncovered all of his tricks, no doubt, so there was no chance of evading
her. The witch turned in a fast motion towards him, with a sword lodged
stiff into her head. Slowly, she grasped the handle at the bridge of her
nose and pulled it from her face like it was but a splinter in her
finger. It left no hole or scar, no blood leaked, no trace remained of the
sword's brief occupation in her skull.

Taking a deep breath, the sword was held to his neck. He felt the kiss of
steel so close, like his throat could be sliced in a second. So vulnerable
was he, that he knew he would never be that vulnerable again, and not to
such a disgusting witch of a woman.

"Calm the fuck down," she warned him, releasing her grip on the sword and
stuffing it into his hands.

"What's this for?" he asked the witch, still quite shaky.

"It's for the trolls, you idiot. In case they come back. Now you, who the
fuck are you?" Varia asked heartlessly, pointing a finger at the human
girl, Daisy Dweller.

Darius remembered the day she went missing from Rocky Pass a year ago, but
he thought she was long since dead. Yet she wasn't, she had been kept in
this troll village after wandering too far from the Pass, held as a hostage
for a whole year by those vile creatures.

"I... I'm Daisy... Daisy Dweller," she quivered in reply, shaking
slightly. She outstretched a hand, expecting Varia to take it. But the
witch woman just looked at it in despise, and ignored her gesture of
greeting.

"You are human? Yes. I can smell it on you. How'd you end up with fighting
boy here?"

"I... well, I was captured. I ran away from home, and... they took me."

"You must be stupid. Are you stupid, Daisy Dweller?" Varia asked plainly,
rudely.

"I don't... I don't think so," she murmured, her voice innocent yet
worried. She knew Marcus slightly, but not so much, yet it seemed like she
might break down at any moment. What she had seen recently was enough to
drive anyone insane, Darius remarked. Trolls and death, then an immortal
witch with a sword in her head... Darius couldn't understand how she
remained so still and cool. He wpuld have ran for the hills by then.

"Then help me with the boy," Varia ordered. She pushed Daisy over to his
motionless body, where the two bent down simultaneously.

Varia told her to elevate his leg, while she examined the gaping hole in
Marcus's ankle.

Darius stood helpless in the corner, watching, tears streaming from his
eyes. He didn't know what to do, how he could help. So he stood, his
watchful eyes gazing over at the two girls crowding his fainted body. He
was so helpless, he hadn't felt this empty before. He felt like there was a
great, vast hole inside of his heart, throbbing, begging to be filled. With
all of his hope, he was still unsure if his friend would survive.

"He's losing lots of blood," Daisy observed, grimacing her sweet face. The
girl looked about as pale as the body, like she might vomit just from
looking at him.

"We have to stop the blood flow," Varia told her. The witch suddenly
grabbed a piece of Daisy's shirt and ripped it off, tying it around
Marcus's ankle tightly. "Hold your hands over the wound," she ordered
again.

In seconds, the cloth was teaming with blood, stained with redness, as were
Daisy's fingers. The floors were washed in his blood, with Varia bathing in
it, chanting her sickening words.

It took a while, what seemed a very long time, before anyone spoke
again. Varia lay in his blood, chanting; Daisy sat still, compressing
Marcus's wound with her hands; and Darius stood helpless on the
sidelines. Then Varia said it, those awful words...:

"It's useless," Varia concluded. "It's beyond our help. He'll be dead by
dawn tomorrow."

"No!" Darius shouted. "It can't be, he can't die! Do something! Use magic,
anything, just fix him!"

"It isn't that simple!" she screamed in reply. "He's been bitten by a
troll, you idiot! There's a hole in his ankle, in case you haven't
noticed. He's lost too much blood, and then there's the poison..."

"What poison?" he asked, quivering, quibbling, and crying. The tears
streamed down his face like endless waterfalls, cascading down, down, down.

"The troll poison. It's the worst of it all. The poison stops me from
healing him, and it's spread through his entire body. The only way to save
him is to remove or extract the venom."

"Then why don't you?"

"Because it has already spread too far," she whispered.

"Can't you battle the venom? Isn't there an antidote?" Daisy asked,
pressing her hands against the cloth, stopping the blood flow with all of
her feminine strength.

"It would take too long to prepare. It's a complex recipe. Yet I fear that
by the time we'd have made it, he would have perished. I can use magic to
stiffen the poison and preserve his life, but it would only be avoiding his
death for a day or so."

"Then do it!" Darius insisted.

"I cannot preserve him and create the antidote as well, Darius. The spell
must be cast here, constantly, for as long as possible. And I cannot be
doing two things at the same time. If he is to be saved, you would need to
create the antidote yourselves while I keep him on the brink of survival
with my magic."

Darius considered it a moment. So cliche, yet he couldn't just let Marcus
perish. Even if this was just a possibility, a maybe, it was still a
chance. It was the last glimmer of hope that he had left inside of him, and
he wasn't just going to let it get snuffed out. He had to try.

"We'll do it," Daisy answered suddenly, almost as if she had read Darius's
mind.

"You would help?" he asked.

"Well, he risked his life to save us, even if he only thought he was saving
you. But we at least have to return the favour," she said skeptically, her
eyes abloom with worry and wonder, with some kind of eager lust to help.

Darius admired Daisy for that. A stranger, yet she would lay down her own
life to help him. He wouldn't even know where to begin, if he were to repay
her.

"I don't know what to say," he replied.

"How about this, children," Varia suggested. "I stay here, preserve him
with my power, while you two loveys go and grab the ingredients. That sound
good enough, hm?"

"Fine," Darius decided. "What will we need?"

Varia raised herself from the floor with serenity, eyeing Darius with
judgement. She strode over to him, her black leather bodysuit glimmering
under the candlelight.

"You and the girl will leave the village and turn back the way you came. On
the journey here I noticed the right weeds and herbs, a few miles or so
north. I can only leave Marcus for maybe five minutes at the most during
the spell, so I will use that time to gather what I can at the village
market. A cauldron, stirring spoon, and whatever else we may need that you
cannot find," Varia instructed.

"Then what?" Daisy asked, slightly overrun with ecstasy. Darius couldn't
deny that he felt the same.

"I'll expect you back on the morrow, at the very crack of dawn. Now this is
important, I can only cast the spell till dawn. Any time beyond that, my
power would grow too weak to continue the spell and the poison will reach
his heart. When it does, he is done for. Trying to stop Death taking his
rightful victims never ends well, but we will try nonetheless."

"Seems easy enough," Darius remarked, watching the witch craft parchment
and quill and ink pot from thin air. There, she dabbed the quill with ink
and wrote down the ingredients. She must have thought him too stupid to
recognize them by name, so she wrote descriptions, and she even drew the
herbs alongside them.

She stuffed the parchment into Daisy's hands, eyeing Darius mistrustfully,
and turned to bend over the dying boy once again.

"I'll begin the spell now. It will take all of my attention," she told the
two.

Suddenly, she raised her hands over Marcus's withering body. There, a light
pink light shone from each of her fingers. It ran from her fingers and onto
his body, electrifying his veins like shooting stars in the midnight
sky. They shone out from under his skin, quite literally. Darius could see
the redness of the blood in his body, yet there were clots forming, and
small streams of brown running through. The venom.

Watching, the pink shooting from her fingers stilled the brown venom inside
and subdued the clots for the time being. She would have to remain that way
until dawn the next morning, Darius told himself. He felt quite sorry for
her, for the burdens she had to live with.

"Now go," she whispered, her voice somewhat strained, "and do not fail me."

Daisy seemed a little scared at Varia's last remark, but left the room
anyway. Darius didn't know the girl much, but she had been kind to him in
the brief time he knew her, so he couldn't very well judge her negatively
if she had been everything but negative to him.

Quivering a little, Darius hurried after the girl with haste, out of the
tavern, and away from the disgusting troll village.

On the way out, they were given no trouble. The sun was a few hours from
setting and the village was cool and slow, and they swept passed unnoticed.

The fields that lay north of the village were as empty as they were when
Darius was first dragged through them, as a hostage. Yet this time he felt
much safer. A light wind billowed through the fields, echoing whistles in
all directions. That was all Darius could hear, as he strode alongside
Daisy Dweller. She was a rather silent girl, he had noticed. If he was
wanting to spark conversation, he would have to spark it himself.

"So... do you plan on going back to the Pass?" he asked, and rather
awkwardly, he thought. "Afterwards, I mean."

"No," she said slowly. "I was captured when I was running away from
home. Only a year has gone by, but I still feel the same. That village is
poison, with their Elders and High Councils. They don't notice that mankind
is changing, yet they're just trying to stay the same. So I left."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"We're changing. Can't you feel it? Mankind almost became extinct fighting
magic, but it's the greatest force in the world. It's not 'survival of the
fittest' anymore, Darius, it's 'survival of the magical'. The Elders in
Rocky Pass don't even realize that magic has already penetrated humans. It
has made mankind a magical race, as evolution demanded."

Darius considered her for a moment. Marcus was living proof that magic
existed in the souls of man, but he wasn't too sure about her talk of
survival of the magical and evolution. It could only be a silly girl's
theory.

But maybe Darius was just hiding from the fact that he was not magical, so
maybe he wouldn't survive.

"What makes you so sure?"

"This," she said, taking his hand. A glimmering white glow emitted from her
hand, and she lifted the two off of the floor and high into the sky. Her
eyes turned all white, a pristine and glistening white. Her hair became
white, her skin, even her clothes. And, if only for a moment, Daisy Dweller
was not human.

Sparks flew through the air, and all-too-suddenly, the glimmer faded into
nothing and the two tumbled back to the ground.

"He's not the only one," Darius mumbled. Marcus was not the only human
with... power.

"Who? Marcus? No, he's not. Why did you think I ran away? The High Council
found out, and considered me of witchkind. They were going to fake my
murder and kill me themselves, so I ran before they could."

"Are all magical humans so powerful?"

"No... wait, what? We're like all other magicals. Some are weak, some are
strong. Why?" she asked, slightly discomforted.

"Well, Marcus accidentally gave that witch Varia immortality, just by
touching her and crying on her. What does that make him, Daisy?"

"I have no clue, Darius. No mortal can give to someone the gift of
immortality. It's not possible. Only the gods are said to have that kind of
power, but I'm actually quite the atheist, so I'm still unsure. He could be
a god trapped in a mortal form, or a descendant, child of, or a deity, but
I doubt it. He's probably just extremely powerful. Shh now, I think that
flower over there is on the list," Daisy told, her eyes never looking at
Darius. She mustn't enjoy eye-contact. Daisy was a weird girl, in Darius's
eyes.

But Marcus was more weird. If mankind were as magical as witches or trolls,
then how could Marcus (and Marcus alone) do things so far beyond the
boundaries of simple magic? His powers were deeper than sorcery, they
bordered on godly, demonic, inexplicable.

"I think it is," he thought aloud, looking over at the flower. It was black
and purple, with furry petals and jagged leaves. Daisy plucked it, and
handed it to the boy with ease.

Throughout their journey north, as the sun began to set, they had found
nearly all things on the list. Mandrake, blackberries, even a pumpkin
(which was strangely no larger than a tomato). But no matter how hard they
looked, they could not find a dandelion. It was strange, Darius
thought. Dandelions sprout where they aren't wanted, but are nowhere to be
found when needed. It seemed mischievous.

The sun had set and the sky was agloom with stars, shining highly above,
perched in the sky like nesting birds. It wasn't until halfway through the
night that they had managed to find the cursed dandelion, and even then
they weren't sure if they could make it back on time.

But they still tried, and even attempted to shorten the journey back by
running now and then. At first, they didn't know if they were going to make
it on time. The sky was growing lighter, so light that the black had washed
into a dark blue, and the dark blue became bleached to a light blue. The
sun hadn't fully risen yet, but it was about to any minute. Varia's magic
must hold on, it must...

And there stood the village, just over an old field. They ran, the
ingredients in hand, and trembled through the quiet morning village, once
again unnoticed. Slithering through the shadows like an ill-mannered old
snake, Darius made his way into the dusty tavern just as the sun began its
holy ascent into the sky, sending blasts of iridescent rays down on the
menial world below.

Down a hallway, turn a corner, up a creaking stairway and through another
"L" shaped corridor, the dynamic duo reached the room perhaps just at the
right time.

"Finally, you fools," Varia exclaimed, her eyes still closed and angst with
insipidity. Her hands were still elevated over Marcus's lame body, shooting
light pink lighning bolts that electrified his veins for all to see. The
brown venom had been well contained through the night, luckily enough, so
Varia had saved him. "The venom is weak, but spread quickly. I managed to
stop it, but I'm quite weak for the time being. Bring them in; I trust
there was no trouble finding them all?"

"The dandelion was a hard thing to find, but everything else just came our
way," Darius told her.

He gazed over the room and noticed change. Marcus now lay on the old, yet
soft feather mattress that had been moved from the corner to the center of
the room. It was red with blood. Varia was still crouched over him on her
knees, yet beside her stood a rusty black cauldron with a jagged tree
branch leaning inside of it. From the smell, she had added cinnamon into
the pot.

"You already started," Daisy observed.

"Yes. I found the remaining ingredients in the marketplace, including the
cauldron and stirring spoon. I stole them, of course, but the
troll-merchant was none the wiser. I used my only five or six minute break
to start brewing, yet I fear the venom unfroze exceedingly fast. It almost
reached his heart, but I returned before it could."

Darius approached the witch and lay the ingredients he carried down on the
floor, with Daisy following behind him.

"What now?" he asked simply.

"Now, you do as say, exactly as I say it. And if you cannot, then you are
of no help to me or to Marcus, and I'll have the girl take your place."

"It's Daisy," she whispered, though Varia didn't hear her over her large
ego clogging her ears, Darius thought.

"No, I can do it. Tell me."

"Stir the pot for a few moments, then add the mandrake. You'll need to snap
it like bread and add it piece by piece."

Darius lifted the dirty old, mud-ridden root and tore as he had been
commanded. Dropping the pieces in, he looked back to the witch. With bags
under her closed eyes and restlessness so visible on her skin, he could
tell the spell was taking its toll on her.

"Now?"

"Now stir again. Each time, stir. That is important. It forces movement and
friction, effervescence, collision. Then you'll need to add this," for a
moment, only a split half-second, Varia's hand snapped at Darius and left a
small tin in his hands.

"What is this?"

"Crushed bones, do not ask me why. Just drop them all in and stand back, it
creates quite the fizz," she instructed. Darius did so, and watched the
cauldron pop and bubble, until it reached the very brim and overflowed onto
the floor.

He stirred again.

"Now what?"

"Do not ask me again, I will just tell you. Now add the pumpkin. It is
small, I trust? Good. Just drop it in whole and continue stirring."

He did as he was bid, and dropped the pumpkin inside. It frizzed a moment,
then spat up at his face. He grimaced at Varia, who smiled with her eyes
still closed, all-knowing and smug.

"Now you will add the clovers. Did you find a four-leaved clover? That is
the most important," she told him. "Drop all of the other clovers in,
except the four-leaved clover. Then, once you have done that, take the
fourth leaf on the clover and dip it in alone."

"How do I know which one is the fourth?" he asked, dropping all of the
clovers inside, excepting the four-leaved, which lay in the palm of his
hand.

"It will be smaller, and differently shaped. Deformed, if you will," she
told.

He saw the leaf, plucked, and dipped it into the cauldron.

Through the remainder of boiling and cooking the potion, Varia had
instructed him, and he had done so, until all but two ingredients remained
- only one of which was in front of them. The dandelion.

"Just drop it in," she guided him, never opening her eyes or stopping the
constant spell.

He did so. "What next, is it complete?"

"Oh, nearly, you forget one last item. The sacrifice."

"What sacrifice?"

"The sacrifice of life. Not only to appease the gods, but to work the
magic. Only death can pay for life, it is the most basic rule of magic. But
do not fret, I did the deed while in the market. Look in the satchel to my
left."

He gazed at the brown and frayed leather satchel, yet it was stained with
red. He unhooked the golden fastenings, and felt his throat curl and twist
as he looked upon what lay inside the bowels of the satchel.

"It's a fucking heart! A human heart!"

"Well what were you expecting? A mouse, a rat? I needed something that
amounts to a human, but the closest around here was a troll. Let us hope it
works, aye. Drop it in.

Disgusted, Darius only touched the handles of the satchel, covering his
mouth from the sickening sense of what he was doing. Overturning it, he
held it over the cauldron and watched the foul thing flop into the brew.

Stirring, stirring stirring, and there they had a completed potion of
magical proportions.

Daisy intervened then, using an old silver chalice Varia had acquired to
pour some of the brown, muddy liquid into it. Traipsing the room, she
sipped it into the boy's mouth, hoping.

Varia finally stopped her spell, as the mud-like potion traveled through
Marcus's body. Darius hung over him, eagerly, while Varia attempted to
attend to his wound. Waiting, hoping, his eyes never left Marcus's still
face, hoping his eyes would flutter open any minute.

But his body shook, like a great heavy seizure. His body quaked like an
erupting volcano, and the mud began to froth from his mouth. It puked out
all over himself, all over the mattress and the floor. Blood spat from his
mouth in great puddles, and his body never desisted its shaking.

His eyes shot open, for only a moment, before the quakes stopped and his
body lay still. Dead.

"What's wrong? What is it?" Darius asked, insistent.

Varia touched his neck, his wrist, trying to feel a pulse. "It didn't
work," she sighed. "It wasn't enough."

"But we did everything!"

"I told you there was a possibility..." Varia became silent, covering her
face with her hands. "I told you..." She lifted from the ground and
scurried from the room. Daisy became a shadow, a mere nothing in the
darkness of the room.

But Darius wouldn't believe it. He couldn't. His world became black with
grief, a sudden restlessness poured over him and forced him into Purgatory.

He dreamed of nothing.

"Wake up, Darius; Wake up!" Daisy screamed, shaking him with unknowable
strength. His eyes fluttered, and a great smile lay on her face. "His heart
beats!"

Standing, Darius hushed over to the pale body. Yet, it was no longer
pale. It had a little tint of life remaining. He just looked to
be... sleeping.

"Is he... alive?"

He knelt over the boy and waited for his eyes to open. All day, he waited,
gazing, watching, never leaving. Just expecting.

And then they did, but no longer were they his regular and perfect light
blue, but they had changed colour. Tainted and viled, spat on and defiled,
his eyes were mortifying beyond belief.

His eyes were white, a glowing silvery white that sickened Darius to the
sight. They glowed like a thousand burning stars, and twisted his stomach
in knots.

"No..." Varia whispered, her own shocked eyes looking down at him from the
frame of the door, where she stood so silently.

"What has happened to him?" Darius begged.

"The same thing that happened to my eyes when I was killed," Varia
whispered, "The boy has made himself immortal."

*Closes the Enchanter's Storybook*

IMPORTANT: Because of the length of the Chapter Ten Special and the
specialty of the divine Tenth Chapter Special, I will NOT be posting a
chapter next week. But do not cry, for the Enchanter will miss you too, but
I shall be back the week following! I'll be seeing you in TWO WEEKS, my
ducklings.

That was The Enchanter's Storybook: Chapter Ten Special. Thank you for
reading, it means a lot to me. Donate to Nifty. *Places Storybook by the
fiery hearth, where a powerful plot-potion brews, a potion that will be
ready for consumption in two weeks time*

And remember: this very email address can be used to message me about our
ideas, plots, comments - anything you have to say on this story, just email
me. Even questions, if the need be.

Have a truly amazing day, my darling ducklings. Love, the Man on the Moon,
the Swan in the Stars, the Sun in your Sky,

The Enchanter.

Best wishes to you now, ducklings, for you must live two whole weeks
without my lovely tales to ail you. What an awful curse, I know, but the
Enchanter will return, enticing you with an all new chapter of the
adventures of Marcus Mallow, Darius Drake, Varia Viske, and my BRAND NEW
CHARACTER, Daisy Dweller. See you in two weeks, my ducklings!