Warning: After Image

Lilly waited on top of the desk. The gem stared calmly at ceiling. She wanted to let Jorseph know that she wasn’t angry anymore. That she felt curious and even a little excited. But manifesting a form outside the book proved far more difficult when she wasn’t angry. The hint of stem grew from the gem, only to wither away before she could make it bud and bloom.

The desk drawer slid open. Jorseph pulled out several games, a binder, and some ragged notebooks. Chewed pencils, deconstructed pen parts, broken erasers, and half chewed doodles buried his sixth-grade history book. He threw them across his room so he could recover the text. A doodle of a centipede like monster slipped out before it thudded his desk next to Lilly. He opened it the third chapter titled: The Great Human Dragon War. An index finger scanned the text.

“The humans declared war and tried to kill all the dragons. But the dragons went into hiding for three hundred years. Then they came back and declared war on human kingdoms. It was five hundred years long. There were dragon kingdoms and human kingdoms, except the human kingdoms were merciless because they had lots of humans and didn’t care how many died. We dragons were pushed back into the tip of the old continent. But- but Drake HumanSlayer led the dragons in the last hundred years. He’s the hero who stopped the human kingdoms until every last human was gone and dragons could live safely again. And that’s about all of it.”

“The victors really do write the history books.”

“What?”

“Nothing. You said it had pictures of humans. Can I see them?”

“It only has one actually.”

The spellbook vibrated. An inky lily silhouette struggled to bloom. Finally, the eye pushed out of the bud and peered out.

Jorseph picked up the battered history book and held it open. The human pictured on the left page was a centipede creature with a haggard human-like face. It had jagged teeth and wispy black hair. A multitude of arms erupted from a confluence of segments. Toward the middle, the arms thinned. Towards the back, they became pointy orange insectoid legs. The pictured creature held six large swords, all impossibly oversized for its skinny arms.

“That’s what you thought I was?”

“Well, you said you were human. But I wasn’t sure, because none of what I saw matched. And I look like, something like a small mammal, but I keep sensing that this is a human form. Does that make sense?”

“Because it is a human form. You’re far more human right now than whatever the heck that is!”

Jorseph leaned back as he frowned, “Oh really, then what did you look like when you were a human? You cast spells, so can you make a picture, an image, a figurine of who you were?”

The book stood straight, “I can manage it if you cast it! Let me see... Found it! Okay, I pulled it onto page two after the flesh mending spell. We’ll work on organizing them when we master more.”

Jorseph rubbed his forehead, “I feel a little tired.”

“I think your mana drained into me even to just help find the spell. I really want you to cast it. But no, no, this is way too draining. We can’t risk it.”

His head tilted, eyebrows raised, “Even if it’s just for a minute?”

“You won’t last longer than ten seconds at maximum. I’d suggest searching for a weaker spell, but you’re a bit drained right now. I am too.”

“Using you makes me tired?”

“In a sense, but we get stronger too. Have you heard of spiritual energy, or mana, or lifeforce, or anything like that? Using me taps all of the above.”

“How do you know this?”

“I’ve had some time to read. Not by seeing. It’s more like feeling the text in my body. Books are complex. They’ve always been important to me. And, I’ve had a lot of time.”

Jorseph nodded, “How about I cast the spell for ten seconds. I just want to see what you really looked like. Is that okay?”

“Open me to the second spell. Repeat it five times. As you get stronger, you’ll be able to use less words. But for now, you are very weak. Even Grabby was way stronger than you.”

“I’m not weaker than that fat little eyeball,” Jorseph huffed, “Open up. I’ll show you what I’ve got.”

The page had a few moving charts and graphs. The spell was titled: Lesser Hologram. There was long line of words that didn’t make any sense to him. But he could sound them out. The knowledge flowed into him.

Reading them tired his mind. Twice he made a mistake and had to start the entire incantation over. He sensed an aura of worry from Lilly as her soft cover braced on his fingers.

“I’m fine, I got this.”

He started over. This time he concentrated harder and read with a slow, determined voice. After the fifth incantation, the book fell from his hands. The crystal glowed. Something erupted from it that wasn’t the usual inky nebulous form or some terrifying tendril.

It was a girl, only a bit shorter than his humanoid form. She had rounded ears. Long black hair glistened in the light flowed around them. Her face was flat compared to a dragon. She was, as she had said, mostly like what he was now, but with a gentler shape to her body that he found oddly alluring. Navy blue stockings clung to unimaginably soft and slender legs. The gold buttons of her blazer caught his eye. She was like a pale lily. The name fit her so well, he wondered if humans weren’t actually a type of flower.

“You’re really cute.”

Soft brown eyes sharpened with her smile. Cheeks flushed slightly. Her image flickered. The smile faded as she waved. The vision vanished leaving an after shape as if a camera had gone off and disturbed his eyes. The vague outline of her slender shape remained a few seconds. Then it disintegrated away like burnt out fireworks.

But the original vision burned into his memory.

The book rested on the floor silently. The ceiling light spun when he looked up, as did the carpet when he looked down. He knelt before the tome. A gentle hand caressed the cover.

He couldn’t feel her energy. His energy was depleted. It felt like they were bound, spellbook and master.

Lilly belonged to him.

Tears welled in his eyes. Why should she belong to anyone? It wasn’t fair. Jorseph quieted his mind and felt the energy between them. He knew Lily was listening, even if she couldn’t speak.

“I’m sorry about our terrible start. Let me make up for it. I’m Jorseph. It’s nice to meet you. Let’s be friends, okay?”

Jorseph picked up the motionless tome and held it against his chest. They both needed a break. Maybe they could practice making her form last longer in the morning. He wanted to see her again.

A sip of mineral water from a nearly empty bottle refreshed his dry mouth. He flopped across his bed to sit on the mountain shaped mound. As he sunk into sleep, Lilly rested in his arms.