Eli found her way to the grand room through the stone spiral staircase she once fought the mage's little army on it. It was strange that there was no sign of them. The whole house was drowned in the pitch dark. It seemed the mage was not a fan of light.
Eli shrugged at that. She had survived the overpopulated tavern and its blinding light and loud deafening noise. Eli could appreciate a bit of dim silence. She even blew out the candles as she left the kitchen after finishing the dishes.
She caught herself straightening her shirt before knocking and entering the room. She was back into her old clothes; A black leather vest with a loose white shirt under it and her tight pants with her belt resting around her waist, holding her blades.
She had tied her hair into a high ponytail. The tip of her hair was still wet.
Eli knocked twice. There was a short silence before she heard the mage's voice, "I didn't know you knocked."
She entered, rolling her eyes, and found the mage reading an ancient thick book, sitting on his throne. Eli glared at him, but he missed it. He was a deep focus on the book, or he pretended to be.
Eli used the opportunity and scanned the room. The last time she was there, she was dangled from the ceiling. Eli's eyes darted back up and found the hook the mage had utilized to chain her. She wondered what other uses that clip might have besides hanging people from it.
Long windows on the other side of the room gave Eli a comprehensive view of the yard, the road leading to the mansion, and the woods around it.
Eli pictured the mage standing behind the windows, with his long heavy black robe, staring at Eli, trying to sneak around the house and find the best route to penetrate it.
She spun around, avoiding the window and thinking how idiotic she might have looked when she was on a steak out.
On her left, facing the mage, there were wide shelves nailed to the wall, filled with books and manuscripts, empty glassy jars, small open-top bags with powder inside, and some weird, complicated metal objects Eli couldn't figure out their function. On her left was a dark blue velvet furniture set with royal golden strings. Eli hadn't noticed the set before, mainly because her back was on this side of the room while in chains.
"Done gawking?" The mage looked at her through his lashes, hunching over the book.
"No," Eli replied nicely, "Where is your freak army?" She was genuinely curious.
The mage sat straight. His eyebrows tangled together, looking puzzled. "They're no freak and definitely not an army."
He got up, heading to one shelf on his right, picking an empty jar with no lid. He handed the jar to Eli. "I'm surprised you didn't recognize them." He was visibly offended.
Eli took the empty jar and looked inside it, questioning. Then she realized. Her jaw dropped. The nostalgic realization hit her so hard that she could not react temporarily. Once again, Eli was thrown back to the memories she didn't know existed in her mind anymore.
The mage was still upset, "If you don't know, they're..."
"Pixies..." Eli whispered.
Inside the jar was Takana, with her sharp fangs and pointy ears and wings like a dragonfly. She was as small as a giant beetle, flying in the mid jar with a buzzing noise, wrapping her arms and legs around another male pixie with wings. They were both naked, trembling, and sweating.
They were fucking.
Eli could even hear her moaning with a squeaky sound.
"There was a wood near our village filled with pixies. Every spring, your ears would go deaf at their buzzing noise. They fucked all night, all day. I used to hunt them, separating them away..." Eli didn't understand she was talking until Takana noticed her and cursed her in a high-pitched voice. Eli could recognize the word 'cunt' and 'disrespectful' in them.
Eli laughed, "They used to scream at me every time I messed with their fucking just like this." She handed the jar back to the mage. "Little horny weirdoes."
The mage looked at her curiously. Eli's smile faded when she realized where she was and what had happened to her land. She cleared her throat, "As glad as I am that you have reserved the magical bugs from my homeland, I don't understand why you had to enlarge them. That's probably why I didn't recognize them. Since you usually find them as big as an insect."
She then immediately remembered the night she had broke into the mansion and saw them celebrating in an orgy. "Unless, of course, they warm your bed. They love fucking anyway; that's all they do when their wings grow and they become adults."
The mage was taken aback. "I do NOT fuck them," he was clearly insulted. "I would never..."
He growled and put the jar back in its place. He stood there a bit, watching Takana and the male pixie roll on the bottom of the pot, indifferent to others watching. "I brought Takan and Gheys with me back to Oxyn in a matchbox. They were babies. They grew up here and had laid eggs, creating other pixies."
Eli looked at other open jars. She discovered none of them were empty. Inside each one was a pixie or two, sleeping, standing, and living peacefully. None of them had wings like Takana and Gheys. They were All Takana's children. "Where are their wings? They look mature enough."
The mage sighed. "The weather here is not humid enough for them to grow properly. It took Takana and Gheys 3 years to become adults, whereas, in Towj, it's a matter of months. Apparently, for their children born here, it takes even longer. Some of them are five years old, wingless."
The mage shook his head, worried. He glanced at Eli, and when he realized Eli hadn't got her answer yet, he added, "When Takan's eggs hatched, I told them I would grant her a wish as a gift. And she said she wanted to be as grown as a human. To be able to use my tools and assist me in my lab. So I worked on that and assembled a potion. It didn't make them as tall as us, but it allowed them to live a better life, wander in the woods, garden, play music, and craft with all the devices they found at my house."
The mage looked at Eli, smiling like a proud father.
"So...if you didn't fuck them, and I'm the first human interaction you had in years, that means..." Eli couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that the mage had not had sex in years.
That fatherly beam on the mage's face vanished. He rolled his eyes, growled again, and turned his back to Eli, heading to his throne again.
Eli didn't care. "So, how long have you been in here?"
The mage sat gracefully on his throne and considered answering Eli before responding. "Eight years, seven months, and three days."
Eli whistled. Eight years ago, she was fourteen, surviving the Malkan's brutal training. Struggling in filth, pain, humiliation, rage, maturity, and starvation. That was two years after Oxyn invaded Towj. Eli wondered what happened to the young talented mage with a bright future to attempt to murder his respected mentor.
The mage gazed at her with his onyx eyes. "Are you done prying?"
"I thought you wanted me to know you."
"Then ask the right questions."
"Knowing that you didn't fuck anybody in eight years is just as important." Eli lifted a brow to emphasize her point. She locked her fingers behind her, sauntering towards him.
The corner of his mouth raised slightly. He was amused. "You can't use that against me."
"Are you not human?" Eli was halfway to his giant chair, ignoring his comment.
"That, unlike others, was actually a good question." He didn't seem to be intimidated by her at all. More so, he seemed to be enjoying playing games with her. He thought he had control, and Eli wanted to prove him wrong. She stood before him, a foot away from him, tilting her head.
"Are you not a man?"
His smirk deepened. "Are you curious?"
Eli was.
She pulled the hemp thread that tied the collar of her shirt together, and the knots were untied. Her chest's skin revealed, and Eli was satisfied when the mage's eyes drifted down to it almost immediately.
"Are you tempted?"
She knew he watched her differently back in the kitchen. And she was dying to see if it had the same impact on him the way it did on her.
The mage was no longer smiling. He stood up and towered to Eli, looking down at her. His eyes lingered on her chest.
"I know how Malkan had abused you, taught you the art of seduction, and sent you off to extort targets with your body. But none of those tricks will work on me simply because I'm not interested in you. Not in the way to want me to, at least."
Eli frowned. She felt disgraced. Her hands dropped aimlessly at her sides. The mage was not done. "But since you're so keen on using your other talents, I have plans for you."
"What?" Eli's voice was barely audible.
"The perfect job for you. To seduce other mages."