protégé

[WP] You have drunkenly been discussing the Dark Lord with other tavern patrons, insulting him to no end. When someone storms up demanding you stop as he is one of the Dark Lords students. Strange thing is you don’t remember teaching this kid.

Her eyes were like rubies ablaze.

"Stop insulting the Dark Lord," she said from beneath a black hood, "or I'll make sure you'll never speak again."

Spunky. He liked it.

"Oh yeah?" the Dark Lord teased. "How are you gonna do that? I bet you've never even met the guy."

The girl brought her hood down, revealing hair as fiery as her eyes. "Maybe now you'll reconsider your actions."

He burst into laughter. What was she doing?

"Am I supposed to be impressed? No, wait. Intimidated? Now I'm positive you've never met the Dark Lord. He wouldn't take in somebody as young as you. Do you even have a wand, girl?"

Then, his curiosity was piqued, as the girl pulled out a coffee colored piece of wood.

"I'll give you one last chance," she warned. "I've been studying under him for months now. I can suture your mouth shut or burn your lips together. Take back what you've said against the Lord."

The Dark Lord, interested to see if she really could do those things, a girl so young, decided to test her.

"The Dark Lord," he began, "is a hack. A troll. He is nothing more than a con-artist. He can't even cast spells, that's why he has all his little followers do his work for him. He hides away in a cave, like a scared baby bear, afraid of society. In fact, I've heard the tale of a woman who once saw him. She found him so ugly she---"

The sound of a zipper traveled through the air. It lilted and drifted aimlessly until it landed upon his lips.

"I warned you," the fiery girl said with a sigh. "Don't leave the tavern, I'll remove the seal in an hour. During that time I want you to think about your actions."

Wow! Amazing! Incredible! Awesome!

How could she do that? So young! So powerful! The Dark Lord smiled as the girl put her hood back on and marched away. Of course, her magic wasn't strong enough to truly stop him from talking, but still, he could feel it on him, the raw and unrefined potential.

Either whoever was training this girl was very good, or, more likely, the girl herself was very special. Thousands of wizards pretended to be the Dark Lord to gather a following, but this was the first time one of those followers showed promise.

An hour passed and the girl returned. The Dark Lord watched as she approached, and then he let out a giant, toothy grin. The girl realized what she was seeing; her magic had been dispelled.

One last test.

Without a wand, without an incantation, without any mana, the Dark Lord cast that same Silence spell on the girl. The entire tavern watched as the spell drifted in the air unpredictably, like a falling leaf. Nobody knew when it would strike, when it would escape from its ennui and finally latch onto the girl. Only the caster had that knowledge.

Or, at least, that was supposed to be the case. As soon at the spell gained conviction and charged towards the girl she stepped aside, letting it just graze her cheek. It slammed into the ceiling and some dust shook down.

She passed. Wow! So young, and can already sense the magical intentions of a spell. He was not going to let this get away from him.

He stood up from his seat, and with all of the tavern's eyes on him he wiped away the fake face he had on.

Chaos erupted.

People knocked over chairs in a frenzy to the exit, women screamed their heads off, and the barkeep reached under the counter for his staff. Everyone was going crazy except the redhead girl standing in front of him, stars in her eyes like she had just met Santa.

But it was too loud. He could barely hear his own thoughts.

So, the Dark Lord held a finger to his mouth. Shhh. Suddenly all the screaming stopped and all the people froze in place. Chairs, sideways and in the air, were suspended there. On the tip of the barkeep's staff a fireball was starting to form; it just kept swirling in place, never fully actualizing. A waterfall of beer was flowing out of a tipped mug, never reaching the ground. Nothing in the tavern could move unless he wanted it to.

And then, the girl took a step forward.

He held out his hand.

"What's your name, girl?"

"Amber. Just Amber, never got a family name."

A perfect name for a girl so red.

"Well, Amber," he said, taking her hand in his, "you can stop going to that fake Dark Lord you've been training under. From now on you are my pupil. You're going to become something you've never dreamed of, I promise you."

Tears swelled in her eyes and she couldn't talk, just nodded. He had never seen such pure happiness before. Amber wrapped her arms around him and gave him his first hug.

And, for a brief moment in time, just half a second, the Dark Lord became one shade lighter.

*****

THE END.

I'm heading back to uni tomorrow 😪💀. School sucks and then you graduate, I guess.