[sub]in collaboration with [@Meiyuki][/sub]




[h1][center][i][u]"Unlikely Friends"[/u][/i][/center][/h1]




It was another gorgeous day at Castle Bloodrose. Rebecca had to wonder if there was some sort of spell laid into the masonry to keep the weather constantly beautiful. More likely than not, she surmised. She was lounging in one of the upper rooms, quietly reading an ancient text.




Clarissa's heels made a steady rhythym against the stone of the castle's corridors.  Medusa had just informed her than if and when the time came it would fall to her to slay Alphonse.  She supposed that made sense,  the man's shadow dancing made him an elusive target for anyone else,  while her shadow control gave her an indeniable edge against the witch.




She certainly wasn't happy about it though.  Alphonse was one of the few left in the castle that still drank to excess and wasn't... stuffy.  Clarissa was running low on friends,  most witches were too busy with their studies or projects to just relax and enjoy the scenery.




Finally she spied the woman - probably - that she'd been looking for.  Rebecca was a necromancer,  Clarissa was hoping she'd be able to imbue some of her sentinels with sapience, or at least something close.  Alphonse could step through her sentinels after all,  but a 'live' one?  Necromantic shades were barred to Alphonse,  not her.




"Rebecca?"  Clarissa did her best not to cringe at the other witch's decay as she approached.  "I'm Clarissa,  I was hoping you could help me with something."




"Oh, Clarissa. I've seen you around the castle a few times, but we never really spoke." Rebecca looked up from her tome. Rare was the time she was unnerved by someone else's appearance, rather than the other way around, but Clarissa's horns were just so... disturbing. "That depends. What is it that you need, my friend?"




"They tell me you're a necromancer of some skill."  Clarissa took a seat near the lich.  "I was hoping you'd help me imbue some of my shadow sentinels with sapience,  or empower them in some way."




"Sapience?" This was definitely a project that piqued her interest. Few enough witches meddled in such delicate areas of the arcane, but she had the necessary skill set, even if she'd never quite done something like this before. "Yes, I could bind shades to their forms, but I need to know one thing about them. Are you creations more permanent, or are they discarded and reconjured again when needed?"




"They [i]could[/i] be permanent I suppose."  Clarissa was starting to get strangely interested in what she thought would be a boring ritual performed by a decidedly unsettling witch.  "I've normally discarded them,  without sapience there's not really much reason not too right?"




"True enough, but that wouldn't work very well. Every time you resummoned them, they'd be the same dumb puppets again. We'd have to do the same thing over and over again." Rebecca shrugged nonchalantly. "Mind you, I still might have to do that. I'm only talented enough to summon three or four shades at once, so we'll have to do them in batches, if you want an army. You can create the first ones while I get my supplies set up." She began rummaging through her robes, taking out a vial of quicksilver, a black candle, several sprigs of flowering yew, and a hawthorn wand.




"Could you make them somewhat resistant to sunlight?"  Clarissa asked as she pooled up the shadows around the room,  shaping them into tall humanoid figures.  She sculpted four in total,  investing far more of her energy into them than she was normally willing to part with in such small numbers.  Soon enough four tangible silhouettes of black shadow stood in the room.  "That would certainly increase their... shelf life?"




"Hmm..." Rebecca seemed lost in thought for a minute. "No, there's nothing I can do to further armor them against the sun, but they will be smart enough to seek protection from it. Did you want the shades of anyone specific, or should I just bind the first ones I could find?"




"Well,  I guess I'd prefer soldiers or fighting people."  Clarissa scratch the back of her head a little sheepishly.  "I'll be the first to admit I'm out of my depth here,  but if it's possible I'd like them to have combat experience."




"A simple enough task, then." Rebecca lit her candle, then poured some of the quicksilver onto a yew branch before sticking it in the fire. Her wand glowed with a soft purple light as she used it to draw mystical designs in the smoke.




Her mind seemed to expand dramatically as her consciousness was transported to one of the many, many afterlives. For this particular job, she preferred to use spirits from Asphodel, the Greek Purgatory. Souls in a heaven or hell usually deserved their fates, but here the dead were condemned to the ultimate punishment: eternal boredom. And to think, there were places in Hades' realm considered even worse!




Rebecca could see the life history of every soul play out as a series of disjointed images. She picked out four whose lives had been marked by war, and said, "I bid thee, return." The ghosts were unmoved, so she spoke louder. I bid thee, return!" She'd gotten their attention, at least, but not their obedience. [i]"I bid thee, RETURN!"[/i] That did it.




Rebecca's mind snapped back to her physical body as the four shades appeared around her. From here, getting them to meld with Clarissa's shadows was a simple process of blending soul and darkness. "They will obey any commands you give them without question, but can act independently if left to their own devices."




"That... was awesome."  Clarissa had watched the scene play out with child-like wonder.  This was re al magic?  Why hadn't anyone told her it could be so cool!?  She turned to Rebecca with sparkling eyes.  "How'd you do that!?"




Rebecca blinked a couple of times in surprise. Most of the time, if people didn't run screaming from her at the top of their lungs at first sight, they did after a display of her powers. Yet Clarissa seemed to be impressed, even interested. Necromancy was, ironically enough, a dying art. Too few witches were interested in the discipline, and some feared it might even become a lost branch of magic entirely. If Clarissa was willing to learn, it could be a boon to not only them, but the entire sorority of witches around the globe."I could teach you how do it yourself, if you wish to learn."




"Really!?"  Clarissa's eyes widened at the witch's offer.  Certainly secrets so grand as those would be more highly guarded right?  Either way she wasn't about to pass up on the opportunity to learn to replicate the feat she'd just witnessed.  "Yes please!  I'd love to learn."




"Then meet me in my room tomorrow morning, 2 hours after sunrise. You will not need to bring anything but your mind and your discipline. What we will be doing is dangerous for one's psyche, and I wish no harm to come to you."




"Thank you!"  Clarissa tossed her arms around the other witch in a spontaneous display of gratitude.  Bouncing back to her feet she performed a small spin before heading for the door.  "I'll have to turn in earlier than usual then,  my shadows work best at night so I've been keeping a relatively nocturnal schedule.  Small price to pay for knowledge though I'd say.  I'll see you then!"  She practically skipped out the of the room.




Rebecca's eyes lit up like fireworks when Clarissa left. She'd gained a pupil, and perhaps a friend. The former was not near as valuable as the latter.