Part 2: Legally sneezing
When Adev regained consciousness he found himself in an unfamiliar chair seated in a bustling guard port. A guardian of Nyx was snoring next to him, her head flopped onto his shoulder with their hands bound by a spell chord.
How romantic, you’re almost holding hands. The creature's voice echoed through his mind jolting him completely awake. It threw off the sleeping guardian who jumped to her feet, yanking him along before she’d even regained her sense of reality.
“Ow. That hurt.” He grunted, glaring at the guardian who finally decided to take notice of him. She was taller than him and had blue hair braided down the side in a thick rope. The badge carved with the emblem of Nyx sat resplendent over her breast, her black tunic pressed with care didn’t look disheveled in the least.
“Sir, you have been brought in for questioning after the summoning alarms were set off in the middle of the day. Please stay calm as I lead you to the questioning area.” She promptly supplied, pretending like she hadn’t just been sleeping on her job. He nodded suppressing the shiver that ran down his spine.
Demon summonings had been banned at the end of the epoch of Andromeda after the bloody wars. Mages in the current epoch rarely had the equipment or the power to single-handedly summon one and the few that had been known to have actually summoned any had been executed for treason. The government which consisted of the elites from each magical race on the surface of their orb, personally overlooked these executions. The fact that he’d accidentally summoned a demon wouldn’t be overlooked even if his family, the Voltaires were one of the top order elites in the wizarding community.
The questioning area had a back wall which was decorated with the emblem of the Nyx, a half moon speckled with craters and a star cutting through the lower edge. The rest of the room was brightly lit with amber lamps and bustling with creatures as the guardians sat at their desks, patiently listening to people voice their complaints.
“Sit down, mister Adev Voltaire.” The guardian escorting him ordered, rewinding the cord that bound them and lacing it into a circlet around her head. He was being apprehended by the local head of the guard port who was known to be the most vicious of the guardians but she didn’t seem to match the part. Dark circles lined her eyes and frown lines creased into her forehead, no sense of authority or power seemed to emanate from her as she sunk opposite to him.
“You set off the summoning alarms in the middle of the day and we got eighty-three complaints for disruption of peace. Care to explain what exactly you were doing mister Voltaire?”
Eighty-three? That’s such an odd number. I think I quite like it. The creature’s voice mused and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked around to check if anyone else had heard it too but no one looked alarmed.
“I was cleaning my attic.” he said carefully, shoving his hands under his thighs to stop them from trembling.
“In the middle of the day, you say?” The guardian noted, arching a brow. The desk nameplate read Bidya in bold letters with a bunch of designations which made no sense to Adev, peppered below it. He vaguely wondered what kind of incantations she specialized in.
“Yeah. I couldn’t sleep. It’s a side-effect of the potions I have to take.” He explained, trying not to give away too much. Guardian questioning rooms had bindings in place that allowed nothing but the truth. Lying could give you a horrid rash or so he’d heard and he wasn’t going to test that out right now.
“So, can you tell me what happened from the top?” She ordered, leaning into the desk ready to listen and he narrated the events of the day trying to ignore the unnecessary commentary the creature kept up in his mind.
By the end of his narrative, the head guardian regarded him with shock and a few of her co-workers who’d gathered around the desk were blatantly gaping.
“You sneezed?” she asked and the same question was echoed by the creature in Adev’s mind, the disbelief evident in both their voices.
“I sneezed.” he confirmed, “I have dust allergies. One minute I’m just cleaning my attic and the next thing I know, a creature just crawls out of my floor.”
I prefer being called by my name you know. The creature protested and he could clearly imagine her pouting in his mind. He decided that he was finally going crazy. The events of the day had somehow scarred his fragile brain.
“Did you maybe utter a spell just before you sneezed? Maybe imagined it from a book?” One of the other guardians who’d been eavesdropping asked looking unconvinced.
“Of course not. I don’t even know any summoning spells.” Adev protested, willing them to believe him. He wanted no part in the prophecy of his past.
“Maybe, you imagined a demon right before sneezing. Maybe you remembered an illustration from somewhere?” The guardian persisted.
“Who in their right minds imagines horrifying things in the middle of a dark attic filled with cobwebs?” Adev reasoned, staring at the head guardian with pleading eyes.
“I just can’t believe that you sneezed a demon into existence.” She admitted but didn’t accuse him of dishonesty.
I can’t believe it either. I personally prefer being moaned into existence with all the candles and the circles. It’s so much more appropriate. The creature, Naraka admitted and its voice held a bite of grudging respect. He wondered with mild shock as to why he was the only one who could hear it, maybe the potions had created make-believe voices in his head.
“We searched the house and couldn’t find any evidence for a summoning or the demon in question. So, I think I’ll have to let you go. But if you were to encounter the demon again, you have to alert the Guardians of the Nyx or the Protectors of Solaris immediately. Any discrepancy on your part and you’ll face punishment.”
The guardian in charge had explained before jotting down the details of the incident and waving him away. They’d stared at him leave and he’d almost caved in and admitted to hearing the demon’s voice in his head. But he hadn’t because that would’ve led to them questioning his sanity and it wasn’t something he wanted to dwell on at the moment.
When he was finally let go, dusk had set in and the temperature had dropped. Early-risers were already up and about, the streets hummed with activity ushering in a new night. The walk home had been normal with the creature’s voice silent at last and Adev was relieved clinging onto the belief that the demon had deserted him until he opened the door to his house.
“So, we can finally get down to business.” Naraka, the demon stood in his foyer, rubbing its hands in anticipation.
He screamed and turned to leave, realizing too late that he’d closed the door. He banged into it with a metallic clang and was thrown off, landing on his behind.
“Oh boy. That’s going to leave a mark. You weren’t that pretty to begin with.” The demon admitted, crouching next to his fallen form. Its smile filled with pity was the last thing Adev remembered before losing consciousness again.
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