The Duel

It was going to be another boring day in the library so I decided to prepare decently – loaded my tray with fruit and took a bottle of my great-grandmothers energy elixir from the cellar hoping this will keep me from falling to sleep.
Looked at the pile of old dusty books on my desk and unscrewed the bottle… fighting demons is fun and all but studying them sure isn’t even remotely exciting. So I thought I’d start with a warm-up and dragged out the most worn one of them – the ancient grimoire all my ancestors had used and that listed all the known demons and warlocks and such. Had some nice pictures too. I leafed through it stopping here and there to refresh my memory until I suddenly came across a paragraph I had never seen before. The pages looked as old as the rest of the book but I could swear I had never read that part. Well…whatever, I thought, after all it is a magic library so anything can happen and grateful for some new information I began to read. It was about a once powerful mage who had made the deal with the devil to extend his skills and when the time came to pay his debt he wasn’t going to and he vanished. It’s not easy to escape the devil himself so that must give some idea of the powers this man had…
All of a sudden I felt someone watching me, or more like someone else was present in my room. I turned around and there he was – black coat with the blood red lining floating around him though there was no wind, holding his arms folded on his chest casually like having chitchat over the coffee table. His slender body was almost fully covered with something that looked like leather but had a crystal glow on it as if it was made of metal, his boots had a lot of straps and buckles and I was wondering why does one need something that massive just to walk (later on I got my explanation though); his nails were short and well cared for except his right index finger which bore a steel claw around it fitting so closely to his skin that when he moved the finger the metal followed precisely the same way as if it was part of his body. He looked at me and the corner of his mouth moved a bit like he was going to smile but reconsidered. His eyes were the darkest color I had seen and looking into them I thought I saw a tiny fire in both of them but I dropped that thought as impossible. He unfolded his arms and took a step towards me.
When he started to speak I was completely paralyzed for his voice was like a drug spreading in my veins carrying its poison to my heart. It was smooth and subtle and he spoke very quietly but I could almost feel it not so much hear… every word was like a chant, like a part from a spell gradually forming its net around you and suffocating all your senses. And all the time I had the feeling he was mocking me – trying to get me lose my guard, give him something to tie me up with. He said if I want to study real demons I should drop the books full of fairytales and children’s bedtime stories and come with him and he’d show me. I hesitated. But I was tempted.
He snapped his fingers and the room disappeared. We were standing in the middle of endless field of snow and wherever I looked there was just the white curtain of snowflakes dancing to their own rhythm. I was cold and my feet were turning numb. I wanted to ask him where we were going but before I could open my mouth he snapped his fingers again. Nothing seemed to change but I felt the ground moving under my feet and I thought I heard a distant sound I couldn’t yet identify. Then the next moment the sky was covered with huge wings and the air turned warmer as the dragon floated towards us. It was a white dragon, the kind I had only heard about but most people considered a legend more than reality. The mage waved me to follow him as the beast had landed and was folding his wings neatly to his sides. Now I understood why he had boots like that – with my thin footwear all the scales and pikes on the dragon’s skin hurt my feet and if by accident it should move one of his enormous claws he’d rip my shoe apart and probably my leg as well. We sat down and the mage wrapped his coat around me saying it’s going to be chilly up in the air. He couldn’t be more right. My lips were turning blue, my eyelashes started to stick to each other and my throat was hurting from the freezing air I breathed. But I was completely unaware of that as the sight opening before my eyes was astonishing…
He snapped his fingers. The dragon vanished and we were in a cave with frozen walls and sharp pieces of ice hanging from the ceiling ready to slash you up like the best filet knife in the royal kitchen. He whispered a spell and the cave seemed to open and looked more like an arena now. He waved his hand and a flame appeared from nowhere and in the blink of an eye had drawn a circle around us – I didn’t even want to think what might happen if I try to cross it. He gave me that mocking look again and waved his hand once more. The clothes I had worn disappeared and were replaced by a robe from the same kind of fabric he was wearing, it felt funny on my skin but it fitted flawlessly. He tossed a small wand to my feet and I picked it up feeling the smooth surface and sliding my finger over the engraved runes in some language I did not know. Then with the look of obvious superiority he pushed his coat off his shoulders and extended his hand with his palm facing upwards as if offering me something. “Madam,” he said looking at me with that same smile I’d seen once before, “work your magic.”
I was petrified, all the spells I had learned rushed through my mind – I didn’t know what he wanted from me but I knew I had to do something to wipe that smile off his face. I knew I was no competition for him so I had nothing to lose. I whispered a short prayer to boost my strength and extended the wand in his direction. Pretty much all the incantations I knew were completely useless…they didn’t even reach him most cases. He just stood there and smiled. I felt the rage growing in me so I started to cast with all my skill, throwing daggers of ice towards him, sending off blasts of wind and shooting lightnings. Nothing. I was shaking all over, I felt drained and my focus started to drift away. I had to sit down, my feet were like made of wax. He stepped towards me and I heard the heels of his boots clanking against the ice floor of the cave. He made a circle around me but I was way too exhausted to even raise my head when he was passing behind my back. He stopped in front of me and bent down so his face was only few inches from mine. I began to move backwards as I couldn’t take his look, his eyes were burning into mine so eventually I was lying on my back and he stood beside me with his coat wrapped around him again. “Next time you have to do better than that,” was all he said. Then he turned and walked away and with each step he took the circle of flame died down so when he reached the rim of it there was nothing left. He was out of the cave when he stopped and bent forward to tighten his boots and his coat slipped down from his left shoulder. Right below the tip of the bone there was a tiny black rose tattooed to his skin.
He followed my glance, smiled again and snapped his fingers. I started to fall though technically I could not fall as I was lying on the ground, but the cave around me began to spin and I closed my eyes.