Part VII

Part 7

The great magician and his dear friend Yuna, the rebel fairy, are both intensely absorbed by the open volume of the Dark Elves creatures and the Inner Meanders. This book, the Codex, reveal the dark content, mystical knowledge gathered by authors, either anonymous or missing. Most of them have lost their souls. Trapped in a network of unspeakable evil, in the prohibited Codex.

This grimoire is highly coveted by the community of those who promote magic. Many followers of the divine faith have become assassins, in the attempt to snap up the work of demons. Other witches or priestesses of the lower planes have survived by plotting and deception to stand before this manuscript. Some have managed to write down in the pages of this book, their sealed secrets. By doing so, they lose their souls, vampirized by the essence of nothingness: demonic Annals.

Over time, the work of these evil servants have built a magic aura of its own. Energy fields from multiple sources riddles with portholes to other worlds. Worlds with separate realities and basic laws, of secret powers held by nameless creatures.

The eyes of the magician are frantically shifting from left to right and top to bottom, adjusting to the different depths of vision. Runes and symbols unfold and rise outside the magic that binds it. The untrained eye wanders over and beyond the surface of this damned book, whose contents are endless and insane.

Fortunately, Yuna watches over the threshold of the gate of lost souls. Standing on the shoulder of her friend, the magician, she whispers in an ancient language powerful spells from her magic legacy. Her graceful arms rest on the ear of her companion. Her tiny eyes do not miss the spectacle of runes dancing in a diabolical bacchanal.

The Hall of Wonders is a serene contrast to this moment of frenzy that runs over these fantastic studies. Slowly… a unique fusion emerges as an alteration of the infrastructure itself touches the matter composing Yuna, Ditratos, and the Manuscript of prohibited knowledge. The runes and symbols float in a complex ellipse. A dizzying whirl of illuminated magic signs pierce the flesh of our magic carriers.

The Cursed Grimoire is wide open. Two hands rest on the edge of pages, with fingers long and nimble. The eyes of the master open wide as he watches this spectacle before him. Beautiful but also terrible, the transfiguration takes shape. The white of his eyes become dark and his vision very sensitive to even the dimmest of the candles light. It is this moment that man and the fairy had a foreboding of. The Archane’s transfiguration begins.

These familiar hands of flesh color, furrow with veins and capillaries of a black as ink pulp. The skin turns gray and then black. Ebony nails crown fingers suddenly affected by Elfic black magic. Ditratos has becomes a Black Elf of Inner Meanders.

Pressure in eight different points can be felt at the same time on his shoulder. "Black Mage" hears a familiar whisper at his ear, “by all Arachnes of the Sacred Web of Depths, we are both very cute, ready to explore the impossible?”

Ditratos turns his head and raises a thin Elfic eyebrow in sight of his companion. “You're fascinating, dear Yuna! How do you manage to be so attractive in your new ... Uh ... Appearance?” said the new transformed mage.

Indeed, what remains of Yuna, perhaps her eyes that are mischievous without malice, her air of fairy defined by a narrow waist, but what’s next is monstrous! Her magical attributes are built on a spider body streaked with black stripes on a red garnet hooked abdomen. At its end, a spur shines of watery, sticky material that somewhat resembles the texture of a freshly woven spider web. Eight hairy legs cling to the shoulder of her friend. The two front legs are articulated around large mandibles continuously moving back and forth. This move, almost hypnotic, reveals a dark hole crowned with small sharp teeth. This is the mouth of the Arachne certainly eager for fresh meat. The beating of wings of a gargoyle brings attention to the pose of outraged Yuna, both fists to her hips, staring at Ditratos’ black eyes of the Ranger, “your smile is too visible without your mustache. Raise at once your inked eyes to mine! It is not polite to undress the ladies. It's embarrassing you know!”

The authoritative tone of Yuna as Arachne, softens, “the dark elf suits you too. Your skin is shiny, hairless and black as mine. But do not forget! You're now sending yourself to an Arachne, chosen by the Goddess of the Dark Elves.” Yuna also displays a smile on her black smokelike face, now “I know that I have the authority to treat you as a male-servant!”

The two friends confront their smiles in a duel for a few moments, then burst out laughing. “It's fascinating to look at us, in bodies that represent what is most dangerous to civilization living on the face of Gaia: An Arachne and her male-servant, just as feared, a Black Elf” the mage remarked. While combing her hair with her front legs, to the reflection of her friend, Yuna asks in a haughty voice, “Do you think I'm presentable for a stroll in to the public square of the village?”

Ditratos replies in a dramatic fashion, “Certainly, Venerable Arachne! The site will be emptied of all souls into their bodies. The local Lord will commit suicide at once to the vision he would have of himself, paralyzed by your venom and vampirized of his soul. It is very promising for his posthumous reputation of being eaten while still warm, gradually, by an immortal Arachne.”

Here!” Yuna said, “You make me hungry! I am ‘fang’ with hunger!” At the sound of two jaws rubbing on each other, a sidelong glance is shown on Ditratos’ face. He grinds his teeth inhaling. “Uh! Do not look at me like that, Lady Arachne, I am not on the menu” said the mage, while hoping that she understands. Yuna shakes her head gracefully, while flailing her dark wings, “No, but a witch hunt is ahead of the other side of the mirror and it gives me a hollow.”

Once the Grimoire is secured in its radius then alien laughter, jokes and bawdy songs resonate for hours with festive watered drinks. An Arachnoid kind of menu that is cooked by Black Magic on the eve of the great hunting of the Black Widow Arachnéida through the dark tunnels of Inner Meanders.

Then silence falls back in. The mage has returned to his seat in the "Hall of Wonders." The great hall and its mysteries sleep again under the magic sphere of light that is suspended in space-time. Our two friends slip into an Elvish sleep, a state of sleep that will bring them full control of their new body.