Chapter 3
"Mistress? Your prize has been located."
Amnia looked up at her butler. He was certainly impressive. Built like a god, with features so perfectly realized, they had to be crafted according to design. He looked human, at least from the waist up, but had the legs if a goat, similar too a satyr. No satyr had a tail like Hemaphet though. Long, slender, and pointed, it seemed to have a mind all its own. His horns sprouted from his forehead, and his entire body, from head to cloven hoof, was a collection of deep reds.
Hemaphet was, as usual, dressed impeccably, fully living up to his role as the head of Amnia's assorted minions. Each had their own place and task, and obeyed Amnia's commands to the letter. Many were physically as perfect as Hemaphet, but most were more monstrous. None were in between, demons epitomizing the extremes of beauty and horror, among other things. Still, as the one who summoned and bound them, Amnia controlled them.
"Where?" Amnia asked, indulging in a bowl of grapes.
"A no-name town, Mistress," Hemaphet replied. "An individual there recently discovered he has the odd ability to siphon power from others."
"Tell me, how long have we searched for this individual?"
"Eight years, seven months, and twelve days Mistress."
Amnia nodded and stood up. "Are you certain we have finally found him?"
"Yes Mistress." Hemaphet, anticipating his mistress's needs as any perfect butler should, held the door open as Amnia walked through it. Her home was large, but empty. There were few things that marked it as a home, though it was kept impeccable by her various minions. Everything that could bring comfort, yet nothing that had any kind of sentiment or history attached.
Soon, Amnia found herself in the only room that held any real importance to her. Bookshelves, many filled with rare times from the greatest minds on several worlds, a good number of them originals, lined the walls, but it was a special display that held Amnia's attention now. Several volumes, each written solely by her hand, chronicled all she could remember about her life.
Amnia selected a book at random, opening it to the middle, and began to read about one summer day when she was a child. The words were descriptive, the entire day recorded to the smallest detail. Yet Amnia couldn't remember any of it, the memory lost entirely.
She flipped to another page, but couldn't recall any of the events it described either. Again and again, the pages turned, but the most she could ever recall was a small fragment, never an event. Some of the memories she could recall held no meaning for her. All emotions involved stripped away, leaving it bland to the point that it could have been the best or worst moment in her life, but she couldn't tell.
Sighing, she picked out yet another book, opened to a fresh page, and began writing with the quill Hemaphet supplied. An entire page soon bore her precise, practiced writing, all describing the sensation of eating a grape. From the texture of its skin to the tart sweetness of its flesh, even the way the seeds crunched in her teeth, she captured it all in clinical detail before finally setting the quill down and walking out.
Once she was gone, a demon emerged from hiding. It carefully took the book, ensured the ink was dry, then replaced it back on the shelf. It was a simple job, but it offered plenty of time to enjoy one warm summer day.
Amnia strolled into her garden, stopping under a giant tree. The garden was bright, artfully designed and expertly maintained with rare and exotic plants. The tree, however, was dark and twisted. Thorn-covered vines grew up its trunk, each as thick around as her own arm with leaves the dark red of dried blood. As she walked past, the vines moved and the tree creaked ominously, but Amnia ignored it. The tree was bound to her will, and couldn't harm her after all.
"You have a description of this individual?" Amnia asked, her voice piercing the unnatural quiet of the garden.
"A young man," Hemaphet replied. "Short, black hair, five feet, eleven inches tall, and with eyes that appear to be a silvery crystal blue Mistress. He is usually seen with a fieldmouse around him. He resides in a nameless town about a week's travel from the city Cirafell. He also appears to be the only human in this town."
"That is rather detailed for a simple rumor," Amnia said, staring intently at her butler.
"You tasked the demons with discovering all they could about this individual," Hemaphet said. "Not with capturing him. Thus, they have been busy scouring this world for news of him. They lack the ability to confront this individual on their own regardless."
"Then I will need better minions," Amnia said, drawing her power in. A phantom wind began to emerge around her as the space in front of Amnia began to twist and warp. An arcane circle of golden light formed in the air around a growing crack in the air as tortured screams began to fill the garden.
Clawed hands pushed their way through the growing rift, pulling it wider as they fought to emerge. A trio of demons, each monstrous and powerful, began to pull themselves free, their bestial roars shaking the very air around them as the rift opened enough for them to step into Amnia's world.
The rift snapped shut as they all turned to face her, the screams vanishing with it. Amnia inspected the creatures silently as they glared at her, the golden circle confining them to its edges. They were very similar in appearance, with unnaturally large mouths filled with sharp fangs. They also had a hunched posture, and reptilian features. On their backs held a pair of giant, leathery wings, while their tails sported spikes that ran up their spines and onto their heads.
"What do you wish of usss?" one of them hissed, his voice similar to gravel.
'You are to ensure the capture of a specific individual, alive, so that he can be brought here to me," Amnia said, listing the traits Hemaphet had given her. "I will send a demon to guide you to his current location. Beyond this, you are otherwise required to follow Hemaphet's commands and to do nothing that will cause me harm."
"Very well," the demon said. "We. will fetch this human." He smiled unnervingly wide. "Your memories are deliciousss."
With that, that, the circle vanished and the three demons leapt into the sky, quickly vanishing into the sky. "Will you return to your indulgences Mistress?" Hemaphet asked, bowing.
Amnia nodded, following Hemaphet back to her study, the bowl she'd been eating from still waiting for her. She paused next to it, confused. "What are these?" she asked, picking a grape up.
"A grape, Mistress."
"Ah, do I like them?"
"No," Hemaphet replied. "I do not believe you do."
"A shame," Amnia said, setting the grape back. "They look pretty. Ah well, have them disposed of then."
"As you wish," Hemaphet said, bowing and leaving his mistress to her pleasures, taking the bowl with him.
