Page 4 of The Misfit Mage and His Darling Demon

A woman entered the stage. Her magenta skin stood out against the soft, bubblegum pink magical vapors trailing ahead of her. A silver crown sat atop her head, and her ears were elongated like a rabbit’s, covered in feathers as vibrant as a peacock’s.

She crouched, taking long, flowing steps with a dancer’s grace. The lightest movement of her arms caused a ripple in the smoke like she moved through water. I studied each sway of herbody, eyes wide and unblinking, yet she flickered in and out like a glitch on a screen. A rainbow of colors streamed off her hands, carrying the band’s music and vocals higher and further and louder. The array of colors took on musical notes. A violet breve, a green minim, a flurry of indigo semibreve, then a single yellow quaver dancing from behind.

“What’s going on?” I asked, a note twinkling close enough to touch.

“Fae Divinity.”

My heart raced. I squeezed Bez’s hand, he had it open like he’d prepared for my shock and waited. That explained it. Fae almost never revealed themselves. When they did, they beguiled everyone who laid eyes upon them in this world.

“How did you know about Fae Divinity? This is unreal. Impossible. No one knows what venue they’ll choose. Not even the highest-ranked members of the Collective are privy to such secrets. And it’s only—”

“Once a century, the Fae will pick a place to join in a performance, revealing themselves to mortals while putting on a show unlike any other.” Bez rubbed his thumb against my tense palm. “I do, occasionally, listen when you ramble.”

“But how—”

Musical notes popped across the theater, exploding with chaotic melodies which held the most harmonious sounds. Echoing screams, enchanting whispers, effervescent lullabies. And like that, the audience was enthralled. The true performance would now begin.

“You’re not the only one capable of researching things for work, Wally.” He winked, washing away the glamour of green and allowing his lovely crimson eyes to fully radiate. It wasn’t as if anyone in the audience would notice now. Their awareness had shifted toward the magics of Fae, locked and lost in this event.

Bez had found a once-in-a-lifetime experience almost nobody ever witnessed and surprised me with it. Me. Walter talks-too-much Alden, misfit mage and a disgraced legacy

2

Beelzebub

Wally’s entire face beamed, captivated by the beginning of the Fae interlude meant to entrance patrons as they witnessed their performance alongside the mortals in Regular Rhapsody. Wally leaned close, resting his head against my shoulder, eyes still watching the stage in awe. I breathed in the scent of the fruity shampoo he used on his curly, blond hair. It mixed with the delight oozing from his pores.

“Fae Divinity is the rarest of rare events,” he said, hazel eyes refusing to blink because he had to view it all, know it all, experience it all. “They perform for the audience of unaware spectators, reveal mysteries of their realms—but supposedly different things to each person in attendance, sort of like a private show within the show that’s already wrapped inside another show—and this causes those who experience it a subliminal memory of inspiration.”

Wally yammered on about the Fae as if I had no knowledge on the topic, despite being the one who orchestrated our datenight. With a bit of help from Mora, naturally. It was thanks to her extensive connections that Wally and I found such lucrative freelance work. When she approached me on the importance of celebrating anniversaries, sheclaimedthis was the event of the century, one Wally would adore well into the next century. Yet I didn’t see her clamoring to snag a pair for herself and Kell when procuring me these terrible seats.

I stared at the private balcony seating above as Wally continued his incessant rambling about theories behind the gyrating movements of the pink Fae he called dancing. It seemed the mortals had a better skill with it than these fairies.

I sighed.

Nothing about this event seemed all that fascinating. Truthfully, the so-called concord of the added Fae frequencies took away from the true instrumental harmony of Regular Rhapsody. Quite a disappointment. Clearly, when Mora praised the unique appeal, she must’ve meant for mortal spectators. At least Wally enjoyed himself.

“You see, they sow these seeds into audience members, then send them off to accomplish all sorts of amazing things,” Wally continued, an excited tremble in his voice. “Big and small. It’s like a ricochet of inspiring events because, again supposedly, those seeds of inspiration can spread to others who didn’t see it, leaving them yearning to find their passions, and in turn passing that desire onto those they meet.”

“So, it’s like a disease?” I smirked.

“No. It’s good.” Wally’s lips tightened into an unwanted grimace before a smile fully set in again—he couldn’t be bothered during such a spectacle of the lone pink Fae dancing and singing and beguiling all. “Some people go on to become performers, too, others healers, artisans, philanthropists, protectors, or simply kinder people. It fuels their desires, which in turn, the Fae supposedly absorb and strengthen their magicoff the sparks of fulfillment they’ve conjured. No one knows for sure—though, I did a thesis and have quite a few theories—but the enthrallment hits every single person in the audience and—”

“I am aware.”

“Of course. Sorry.” Wally’s eyes almost flitted in my direction, yet he remained attached to the incoming Fae frolicking onto the stage, accompanying the first. They moved with the gentle finesse of ballerinas while another floated close to the rafters reciting sonnets of dead poets and mixing languages both known and unheard in this world.

I did find the appearance of the Fae strutting about the stage intriguing, each resembling a mortal form more dominantly than anything else, not what I’d anticipated. Many Mythic had mortal-esque features, bipedal in nature, some more animalistic and quadrupeds. Yet I’d always heard the Fae had a range of aesthetics almost as diverse as Diabolics, so perhaps they augmented their features to blend for whatever reason.

“It’s a shame I’ll forget this,” Wally whispered. “I mean, I could take notes—but I suppose someone else would’ve thought of that, too. After all, it was the Fae who introduced glamouring to mages during the accords several millennia ago. They’re quite secretive. More secretive than the Collective…”

Damn, he was going to explain the entire history of the Fae instead of simply enjoying the performance. I huffed, releasing my own resentment to make room for his joy. For Wally, discussing every aspect was part of the fun he’d have when recalling this memory. And he would recall it.

“You won’t forget a thing,” I said.

He snickered. “I wish.”

“Walter, the Fae have power which compels all things of this world from the mortals to the Mythics, to the arcane magics and mysteries of nature.”

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