Quintessence

Demicelsus made the rounds one more time, making sure the curtains and windows were all shut so completely there was no chance of anyone being able to peep inside and noticing the house was inhabited. He moved an empty, cumbersome bookcase to barricade the door, then a moth-eaten armchair to support it in place. That would have to do. Not like anyone knew what he was up to anyway, right? But you can’t be too careful with this type of thing…
He entered the trapdoor leading into the basement and used his – in his humble opinion – clever string to pull the carpet over the door after it was shut. Once in the gloom he descended the staircase carefully, listening to the creaking stairs and going over in his mind every possible eventuality. He had pored over the books often enough, he should have this covered. He’d obtained all the materials for a dozen different alchemical experiments and magic rituals over the past few years but he’d always either chickened out or, rather, he’d changed his mind over how necessary his particular attempts were. I mean who even needed a clockwork bride or a Golem with functional female genitalia? What kind of a fool would summon a Demon in order to find love when a Succubus was all you needed, and why would you summon a Succubus when you could just go to a brothel, and why would you go to a brothel when you could use that money to buy a book about the preparation of beans that could grow beanstalks of an immense size and feed you for life?
Thinking back on it all Demicelsus may not have been the savviest young man to walk the streets of his town, but he was well on his way to becoming the most powerful. He’d finally figured out what it was that he needed to obtain Power with a capital P and that was all he’d ever really wanted. Wealth and women and things would come after, but first you needed power, unlimited power, absolute and unyielding power! And that was soon to be his.
Magic users often summoned Familiars of some kind. This was a mistake, for Familiars were beings of will and had their own desires and goals. They might serve you as long as it suits them, but then BAM, they betray you! It had been known to happen. Maybe not in any written records, sure, but Familiars were smart creatures, they wouldn’t leave any written records behind now would they?
And then there’s all manner of automated constructs magicians made. No will of their own, they obeyed and did what they were designed to do. But there’s the thing, they did that and nothing else! Any unexpected circumstance they hadn’t been instructed to deal with would be ignored, and if the magician wasn’t present to order the constructs around things would get out of hand and then you’d have broomsticks carrying water from the well until everybody drowned, and what a pretty little mess that would be! No, such constructs were not the way to go either. What then could a magician rely upon? The answer was obvious, quite elementary. The elementals, that’s what you could rely upon!
Over the course of the past four months Demicelsus had gone out of his way to obtain all knowledge he could about summoning rituals pertaining to the four elements and what were the particular natures of each when incarnate. He’d cross-referenced these facts with astronomical charts and horoscopes – Elemental spirits were female in nature and there was no woman who could resist their horoscopes, this is known – and found the perfect date for when to attempt his summoning. The problem posed was that he didn’t know which Elemental he actually wanted to contact. Earth seemed a trustworthy thing, always there beneath your feet, supporting you, possessing great strength. But what use was Earth without Air, the freedom of the great skies and the breath in your lungs? You could soar through Air, and that was a symbol of freedom and power sure enough. But did not Water exist both in the Air in the form of clouds as well as on Earth as the seas? Water flowed through rock and purged bubbles of Air from within its depths. What’s more Water even consumed Fire! But Fire burned up Air and Earth. This meant that Water was the strongest, while Fire came in second, and Air and Earth were equal? No, that can’t be it. If there is neither Earth nor Air there can be no Fire, for Fire needs to breath and have something to burn! Moreover if dirt is thrown over a fire it is put out, so Earth can beat Fire as well. Packing dirt into a river will change its course, what can Water do against that? These thoughts and more had consumed Demicelsus over the past months as he racked his brain to think up which Elemental spirit would be the best servant to summon to his side, and then it hit him. Why should he worry over which one would appear? Not a single person in this town possessed such a helper, so all things would be his for the taking with any spirit. He felt no particular affinity to any one spirit, so what he should do is perform a ritual that called up any and all of them, and the one that found him most fitting a master would be the one to appear!

And so Demicelsus lit the candles in his basement and arranged them around the hexagram. Inside the hexagram he had prepared a pentagram, and at the points of that star he places incense. Inside that pentagram was a small square with incantations written in chalk on each side, corresponding to each of the Cardinal Directions, North, East, South and West, each written in different colour to mark up the spot where each spirit would be called to. There, between the square and the pentagram, were concentric circles, the actual summoning rings. The basemen had turned out to be rather small for such a large-scale rite so Demicelsus had been forced to make rather small rings, he worried the spirits would find such accommodations uncomfortable. That is until he realized the space of the basement was three-dimensional, and by making slightly larger rings outside the small ones he signalled that the space into which the spirits would be called grew larger as it went “upwards”, leaving them with ample room. That however posed a problem, as the geometric growth of space might continue in perpetuity, so Demicelsus had been forced to prepare a series of seals and wards on the ceiling of his basement. This had taken a long time and been uncomfortable to do but by the time it was finished he patted himself on the back for having come up with such ideas. He was truly a genius of his times! What mage or alchemist could boast of such inspiration! Quite a few, possibly, after all he had no access to all the writings of his senior colleagues, or even the most of them, or even half, or even… well, he had trouble obtaining anything at all, really. Most books and scribbles he could obtain were untrustworthy and written by fools, or worse – clergymen. A man could learn nothing of use from the papers of clerics denouncing the evils of scientific progress, though their expertise on demonology and necromancy was much appreciated. If tonight’s experiment failed Demicelsus might take it upon himself to create undead minions. Keeping such things under wraps might pose some difficulty, but an undead horde could strike terror into the hearts of his enemies at least. Maybe he could use them to egg someone house…

The preparations were complete, he noticed. The hour was upon him. It was time to do it now, if he was to do it on this junction when all the celestial bodies were in the correct position. Yes, the time was now!
Demicelsus removed his robes, folded them and placed them aside. The basement was a little chilly despite all the candles, but these types of rites had to be performed in the nude. Ideally he would have had taken some tribal tattoos or such but as this was not possible he had made do by painting a series of arrows on his body to symbolize the flow of blood within. That would have to do. He cleared his throat. Alright then.
Holding up a sword – not a real one, it was made of wood as he couldn’t get his hands on a proper one, but what does it matter anyway – he faced the North and began his invocation. He entreated each spirit in turn, facing the appropriate direction, and then turned to the next. Having completed a single turn he began the process again, this time with greater confidence in his ability to perform the ritual correctly. He wasn’t even feeling the chill anymore. North-East-South-West he went again, calling forth. And then came the moment of truth. The third call would be the one that the spirits would answer, so the ritual may well end when he faced North… this made him a little nervous. Now or never!
The third summon was sent forth. There was no reply. Demicelsus felt disappointment but reminded himself there were three more spirits to choose from, and so he faced East. Nothing again! But there were two more…
No reply from the South, no reply from the West. Only silence. Demicelsus couldn’t understand it. He’d done everything correctly, hadn’t he? He’d called out thrice to each spirit in turn and done it correctly each time! Was it that they’d taken offence to being summoned all together? Maybe he SHOULD have just chosen one and tried to summon just that one…
He was about to throw away his sword but then he noticed something odd. Were those… leaves? Yes! Green, budding leaves, right there on his wooden sword! Tiny little branches were coming out of it, and roots…
“What the…”
“Before he could finish his profanity a stiff wind sent the leaves aflutter and the roots tied themselves around his hand so he couldn’t drop the sword. The length of the “blade” was set aflame, and in fear Demicelsus tried to shake his hand free before it burned him, but before it could there was a spurt of water from within the sword and the fires were put out. Then the sword was the way it had been in the beginning, just a plain wooden toy, with no sign of branches or leaves, no burn marks, no moisture. He dropped it as if it were a venomous snake. He took a step back and noticed he was feeling a little faint.
Then the earth shook and the floor of the basement was broken. Massive stone hands spurted forth like the claws of a mole, followed by the head of a woman, her skin and hair earthy brown, grass and moss growing in her hair. Before Demicelsus could realize he had summoned Gnome he felt a wind chilling him, saw the candles fluttering, and from out of thin air came another figure, a figure made of the thin air turned thick, an ethereal form of a woman. Sylph.
The candles spurted forth flames far too large for their size, soot and smoke covering up the glyphs he had carefully prepared on the ceiling. When the flames subsided, a single fire remained floating in the air, this being the form of Ignis. It came as far less of a surprise to him when Demicelsus noticed the droplets of water seeping off of the walls, flowing into a puddle on the floor – wiping away all his carefully prepared circles and stars – and finally from this puddle rose up Undine. All four spirits had answered his call! He couldn’t believe this! For a mage to summon a single Elemental was one thing, but all four… what man could do such a thing! Where did such massive, such, unprecedented, such magnificent power come from? Was he truly… could he be… no, but… he had always known he was special, but to hold such affinity as to be able to attract all four spirits, why, he… he must’ve been…
“Am I… the Chosen One?” he asked, and the four spirits stared at him.
“Are you asking me?” inquired Sylph.
“I… all of you!” Demicelsus replied.
“The chosen what?” Ignis asked.
“The Chosen One! The Child of Prophecy! The One Who Will Rule Over All Creation With Power Overwhelming, Lord and Master of All Life and Guardian of Desire, the…”
“No” Gnome said, shaking her head.
“Definitely not” Sylph agreed.
“No way in Hell” Ignis added.
“I don’t think anyone is, son” Undine concluded.
Demicelsus felt a little surprised by this lack of respect and adoration.
“But I am your master!” he shouted.
“Nuh-huh” said Gnome.
“What? I called you and you came! You must obey me!”
“And who’s gonna make us, mister?” Sylph asked.
Demicelsus picked up his wooden sword and held it aloft.
“With this sword I have called you, with this sword I have bound you! Obey!”
Ignis gestured with her hand and with a quick flash of heat there was nothing but ash left in his hand.
“We’re bound by nothing” Ignis said.
“But YOU on the other hand…” Undine said, flowing back into a puddle and before he could run away Demicelsus was up to his ankles in water. But it was just water…
Then the floor under him gave and he sank up to his shins in mud. He tried to pull himself free but then the ground went solid, trapping him.
“Curse you, fiends! I called you into this world! By my power alone you are here!” he yelled, trying to sound convincing. Apparently he failed as all four giggled at this display. The water from the floor flowed up his thighs and covered his loins. He felt pressure around his…
“H-hey!”
He tried to use his hands to wipe Undine away but once more the floor broke and thick wooden vines, like the roots of a massive old tree sprang forth and wrapped around his arms, pulling him back to the floor and trapping him there. There was something soft under his head, and looking up he saw Gnome. His head was resting in her lap. Before he could protest this treatment he felt the wind fly through his hair, running up and down his body, tickling him and chilling him.
“Nhgh!” he blurted out an inarticulate sound of protest and felt the warm breeze of Sylph in his ears, whispering into both at the same time.
“Behave” she said.
Before he could say anything in reply he felt a burning sensation and saw Ignis floating above him, holding candles in both her hands, the heat causing them to melt quickly and the hot wax falling on his torso.
By this point Undine had manifested a hand and was massaging his manhood with a face far too meek and gentle considering the circumstances.
“You’re not ‘The Chosen One’” she said. “But you are The One for us”. With that her tongue began to tease his tip.
“You called us out” Sylph said, her caresses touching him everywhere he was sensitive to such touches. “But it was your spirit that caught our interest”
“Mhm?” Demicelsus tried to say something but his breath was held back when Sylph leaned over to kiss him. She filled his mouth and lungs with air to breathe and he didn’t feel like his breath was being held but yet he wasn’t breathing. Mud rose up from the ground and covered his hands; hardening around them, but something moist remained. Was that… he tried to move his fingers, and regardless of which hand he used Gnome moaned slightly. Unbelievable, had she…
“That’s quite the bit of spirit you’ve got, too” Ignis said, spitting on a tuft of hair on his chest and simply burning it away.
“You don’t mind sharing, do you?”
Demicelsus tried to resist but no matter how he squirmed he was quite helpless. Considering what Undine was doing to him now he didn’t mind so much. Regardless of what had happened, he had successfully summoned all four Elemental spirits. Very few men could say they had even dared to attempt that, and fewer still could say they had succeeded because of their virility. He would try not to disappoint.