章 14: Chapter 14

Knock! Knock! Knock!

The thickset oak doors, lavishly decorated by the finest craftsmen with deceitful scenes of Foltest rising to the throne using his great valor and bravery, echoed the sound of a knuckle rapping against them.

All manner of servants and envoys frequented Triss' door. A day did not pass without news of a fresh plague or famine falling at her feet.

Casting a glance at her reflection, the sorceress hummed a soft approving sound.

Triss drew her robes closer around her body and approached the sole entrance and exit to her tower and sanctuary.

Chaos flowed around her flawless and dainty hands, snaking out to form tendrils that joined to metaphysical nodes in the broad and weighty doors.

Without her magic, these doors could not be opened by any mortal man.

Seconds passed while Triss infused the required nodes with her magic. Finally with a harrowing creak the doors opened and the first few rays of light burst in from the halls outside.

Then, Triss' heart froze.

Her beautiful features shifted from placid to horror.

On the continent almost every sorcerer aligned with the light would choose to construct their own personal tower, corrupt magic practitioners scarcely dared to do so for fear of falling under siege by the Brotherhood or Aretuza.

The cost of constructing a mage tower was astronomical, enough to exhaust the vaults of an entire city. However the benefits were simply too great to be ignored.

With the right preparation and the right components, a single sorcerer could exert force dozens of times their true strength. This was the benefit of a mage tower that no sorcerer could resist.

Protected within her tower by thick layers of enchantments and wards Triss could hurl flaming spears at her enemy until the air itself was scorched to a crisp

To ensure her safety in Foltest's court Triss had erected several defensive mechanisms. The most striking of her precautions was the huge set of doors fueled by powdered diamond.

Her secondary and far less costly preparation was a detection ward. This ward served to alert her to all living things that approached the tower and its surrounding hallways.

In her laxness Triss had not thought twice about the humanoid signature stood outside her chamber that this ward conveyed to her.

Only now, as the door swung open, did the cruel truth dawn upon her.

There was not just one life signature waiting for her on the other side.

There were thousands.

"Wakandi abaryth inan-" Before Triss could complete the spell that spilled almost by instinct from her lips, the uninvited guest raised a cloaked hand.

"I will not hurt you." Spoke the figure, shrouded from head to toe with thick canvas robes.

Beads of sweat trickled down Triss' brow.

Instinct told her that if she tried to close the door, the figure would take action.

Sorcerers wielded tremendous power. They could concoct potions that granted them centuries of youth and make thunderbolts strike down on the earth with their incantations.

However their bodies were only mortal.

Sorceresses could escape the constraints of time but their blood still ran red under steel's cold kiss.

"You have invited a guest to the court of your king. A witcher.

I wish for you to introduce me to him." The figure said.

While she considered her response Triss took advantage of the apparent peacetime to analyze the stranger who sought her help.

The stranger's voice was shrill and grating and behind every word they spoke, despite the efforts to infuse emotion, there was a deep chasm like emptiness.

Triss' brow furrowed deeper. There was something horribly off about the voice that remained just out of her grasp.

The sorceress spoke in a slow and measured tone, accumulating chaos to power any of a dozen spells that would eviscerate the stranger from existence. "You claim that you bear me no ill will, yet nothing about your identity is true."

A few wisps of magic drifted from Triss's hands into a ruby earring. The ornate gem glinted imperceptibly and without any incantations, a spell was activated.

Sharpness descended on Triss' senses, allowing her sight and smell no weaker than a witcher's. Her frail body could not bear the toll of this spell for longer than a few seconds, but she hoped it would be enough time to glean some detail about the stranger that she could exploit.

The spell was active for less than a second before Triss' red lips formed a taken-back o shape.

Suddenly, everything made sense.

"You're not human."

Triss had made the assumption that the countless life signatures were covering that of the true mastermind. Amongst dark sorcerers, subduing sinister beasts to assist in battle was hugely common. Such abhorrent creatures were often the product of twisted experimentation.

Triss had heard stories from her seniors of nightmarish monsters breaking free from their master's control and devouring their oppressors.

Only now that she heard the infinitely layered rustling sound of insects brushing together and smelled the heady scent of soil and leaves did she understand that the figure in front of her was not really there at all.

"You are right, this body is not my own."

The fake humanity in the figure's voice dissipated entirely and the truth was revealed at last.

Thousands of tiny pairs of wings flapped in unison, producing a shrill buzzing sound that made Triss' skin crawl. The masked figure rose slowly into the air, the cloth that previously shrouded it rippling and distorting as the countless flying ants that comprised the disguise shifted joyfully.

Then the cloth fell away completely.

Triss watched on in horror. The pitch black exoskeletons of the flittering insects numbered in the thousands and like a living ball of darkness they pulsated as a heart would in the air.

Her skin began to crawl even more repulsively as the buzzing grew louder. The insects seemed to have received a command from afar as they hastily assembled and scattered until a distinct shape began to take place.

Triss felt her throat close up. Aretuza had molded her into an educated and skillful sorceress but nothing could have prepared her for this.

"I apologize Triss Merigold, do not be afraid. My current form may be frightening but these ants are nothing more than a mutant species with a darker carapace, ordinary fire can kill them." The ants that formed the face's lips moved to mirror each syllable.

Every breath that she took stung in Triss's chest. Intense and overwhelming horror made her connection to chaos unstable and volatile.

At the tips of her slender fingertips, orange tongues of flame began to flicker.

This was dangerous.

Fire magic was a seductive force that called out to the innate desire for power within the human psyche. It was merciless, it thirsted to burn the vitality that sorcerer's possessed, if a mage's control over chaos was weak then it could consume them entirely.

"Breathe deeply Triss Merigold. Fire is not the answer."

The shrill voice broke Triss from her swirling thoughts. Feeling the cloying heat in her palms the newly-graduated sorcerer looked down and saw the tongues of flame lapping at the edges of her robe.

"Fuck!" Triss cursed in horror, immediately severing her connection to the vast crimson realm that beckoned her.

Traces of rationality returned to her. This allowed her to evaluate the situation with the typical apathetic attitude of a sorcerer.

"I will introduce you...." Triss announced.

The huge black face remained silent. The kaleidoscopic vision of the thousands of ants allowed it to perceive the minute movements in Triss' throat and see that her sentence was unfinished.

"...but you must swear that you will not harm him."

Neither fazed nor surprised by this request, the face nodded with affirmation.

"I swear on my name, I will not harm him." The voice formed from thousands of appendages vibrating together resounded once more.

"I shall know when he arrives. When the two of you are alone, you will introduce me. I know that you will not break our deal. Goodbye Triss Merigold."

Thousands of insects fell from the air like dark stars. Their bodies hitting the cold floor echoed as if it were raindrops.

After laying still for a few moments the ants seemed to suddenly recover their consciousness. Immediately they took to the skies and in a river of blackness they escaped through an open window beyond the enchanted doors.

Triss was left frozen where she stood, her beautiful face twitching rapidly as she processed all that had just taken place.

"Fuck."