A surprise visit from the Hero.

After the dreams ceased, I began to gradually feel more myself. The full nights of sleep helped.

I had gained a much deeper appreciation for the dangers of summoning. I could have died from mana depletion. The tomes on the subject described it as an excruciating ****, proven by accident during a completely unrelated experiment in thought-sharing. The survivor never fully recovered from the trauma of it.

All living things needed at least a drop of mana to live. That was common knowledge. Mages cultivated massive quantities of the **** to work their spells, of course, but it was always the first lesson at any academy that to spend that last drop was a most unpleasant ****. Fortunately, there was no mechanism in the known universe to remove mana from anything by ****; it could only be surrendered willingly into those arcane reactions we call spells. And most spells allowed that mana to be carefully measured even during the cast. Summoning spells were different. It's why there were typically performed in groups. Once the spell was set into motion, it would draw mana until it was finished, or the source exhausted.

I guessed that was why there weren't a lot of summoners around.

It was precisely because of that scarcity—and my own still-limited strength—that my master had been called away, alone, when the Hero visited our library a month after he'd arrived. Anfony had been called to deal with a rampaging demon of some kind. He hadn't wanted to bother me with the details. Demons were among the simplest beings to summon, and by extension to banish. He had a bunch of soldiers with him. I wasn't worried about him.

"O-oh! Hello, Mr. Hero! Welcome to the Royal Library Arcana. Can I... help you with something?" He didn't seem to really hear me as he investigated a complex diagram hanging on the wall, so I stood to approach him. The Hero had made an impression on the entire kingdom in a very short amount of time, rooting out corruption in the most shocking places throughout the kingdom.

His strength and cunning were otherworldly, as would be expected from, well, someone brought from another world. Nothing seemed to present much of a challenge to him. No foe was unbeatable to him. Or at least that's how it seemed from the rumors. Of course, the rumors also said he was a little... odd, socially. Also to be expected. "Mr. Hero? May I be of service?"

"The magic here," he began. His voice caught me off guard. It was somehow both softer and harsher than I'd have thought. Not what I'd have expected from his appearance. "It's different." He turned his eyes to me and I suppressed a gasp.

Violet eyes. The color of raw power. A full head taller than me, and I was taller than average in the kingdom. I had to admit he was an intimidating man. "Different, Hero? I don't understand."

He picked up a tome and let its pages fall open against his upturned palm. "This is all wrong. The shapes, the patterns. It's different." He tossed it back to the table where he'd found it and turned those eyes back on me. "Not like my home."

So that was it. "Oh, are you a mage, Mr. Hero?" That was the first I'd heard of it. But mages were so rare, why would he keep that a secret? Unless mages were common in his world and he was nothing special. That was a fascinating academic thought.

He made a single huffing sound I interpreted as laughter and took a step towards me. "Maybe here. Home? Nah. I prefer to decide things the old fashioned way."

I became suddenly self-conscious of how closely together we stood. Perhaps his world had very different ideas of social propriety. I had to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact. "I see. Is there a reason you're here, Mr. Hero? As you can see, Master Anfony is not here at the moment."

"Oh, I know. He'll be dealing with that ifrit well into the evening, I suspect. If he makes it back at all." He lifted a large lock of my hair to his face and sniffed. "So it was you I've been smelling all this time."

I was quickly becoming very uncomfortable. Retreating a step, I pulled my hair back from him. An ifrit was not a very common demon to just find running around. Anfony may actually struggle against one without my help. "Did you say ifrit? What do you know?" I tried to play off the whole hair-sniffing thing, but that had been more than just a matter of personal space. "What do you mean, smelling?"

He raised a hand to cup my chin and I froze, morbidly curious what this was all about. Those eyes were so beautiful.

"I mean your scent has been following me ever since I arrived. Day and night, I can't stop smelling you. Sometimes it's so thick I swear I can almost taste you."

And then he actually did taste me. The feel of his tongue on my cheek was such a shock that I couldn't even react. I felt I could barely breathe. My arms felt heavy and my feet wouldn't move. What had he done to me?

"I knew it would be you. It had to be." He said, tracing a finger down my throat, brushing softly across the bare skin at the top of my chest. Something stirred within me, swirling my mana against my will.

I felt a trickle of it leave me and flow into him and the blood drained from my face. No, that was impossible!

But all thoughts fled when he leaned down to whisper into my ear. "I see you, Colette."

It was the voice. From my dreams.

My eyes shot wide in terror but my body still wouldn't move. I couldn't even scream. No! No, no, no, no... please, no...

"You will serve me."

I shut my eyes, pressing tears out to run down my face. As precious mana flowed out of me, I felt something else fill me instead. Something powerful. But the feel of it was wrong; it twisted my stomach. It was the Hero! He was the evil. I had summoned him. This was my fault.

But even as I cursed myself, I felt the last drop of my mana leave my body. I deserved this fate. I may well have doomed my entire kingdom bringing this man here. If I couldn't correct my mistake, then at least I would pay the price. It was only fair.

I held my breath waiting for the end, but the end didn't come.