Aaravos x Reader Pages 5&6- Tease
Last night you had trouble sleeping, between how much you had slept already and all that had transpired, tossing and turning. At least now you know what Zada is. You also know that there is a elf trapped in a mirror. How strange these past few days have been.
The next couple days passed quickly. You did not get any job requests, so instead you spent your time learning about Xadian creatures like Shadowpaws, and learning magic. You started out with some basic spells, most of which you had already mastered. Aaravos praised you for how quickly you learned new spells, and how well you cast them. You were glad the he could not see the faint blush on your cheeks in the moonlight.
The odd thing was, sometimes he would say things you could not hear. His lips moved, but you heard nothing. It was as if he was talking to someone else, or perhaps himself. He often seemed distracted, like he was in another place altogether. You did not blame him, who knows how long he was trapped in that mirror with no one to talk to? Another weird thing, he seemed annoyed when you mentioned Soren, so you did not talk about him. Wonder why? Maybe he knew an elf warrior that had wronged him somehow.
Sometimes, he would show you a book from in his library, and let you read out of it by putting it on a table in front of the mirror. These books were amazing, they turned their pages automatically when you were finished reading. Most of the books were filled with spells that were way too advanced for you. There was one book you had seen that really caught your eye. It was dark and tattered, not in brand-new condition like the others all seemed to be. You asked if you could look at it.
He put the book in a place you could read it, saying nothing. He seemed very interested in what you would do with this book.
The pages of this book were filled with unlabeled spells. It looked handwritten, with every page crammed. They were long spells, indicating that they were for only skilled mages. In the world of magic, casting a random spell could be very dangerous. If you cast a spell that took too much out of you, your hair could turn white, your skin could mess up, or you could even die. "What are these spells? Can I... cast one?" Aaravos did not reply, he simply watched you. He wouldn't give you anything you couldn't handle... right? Should you? There was infinite risk and infinite reward. You most certainly should not. But would you?
Curiosity took hold of you, and you tried out the first spell in the book. Nothing happened.
"Um?" you looked up expectantly at Aaravos, who's hood was drawn so you could not see his expression.
*Warning, slightly graphic blood/ violent content ahead*
Without warning, Zada started attacking you like they were possessed. You yelped in surprise. They never did anything like this before, and did not want to retaliate in fear of harming them. Their teeth sunk deep into your skin of your leg, and you said nothing, did not scream. You had made this happen, it was your fault, not theirs. The spell. And you would fix it.
You used a spell that made Zada immobile, and slowly took their fangs out of your skin. Blood gushed from the wound. You tried casting another spell to fix the wound, but you could not. "Aaravos! Help me!" you urged.
He stared down at you. "Well perhaps I like you more like this. Suffer the consequences of your actions, human. That's what you get for messing with dark magic. Of all the books in the library you had to choose that one."
You laughed. Of course you did. So that was what type of teacher he was. He'd let you make your mistakes and learn from them. The bleeding really isn't THAT bad. You gathered materials to bandage the wound, and resolved to go gather some ingredients to help you out tomorrow. "Sadist."
"Perhaps,"he said with a dark chuckle and a shrug, leaving you to fend for yourself. Now what the sunfire did he mean by that? Just another thing to ponder at night.
After Zada snapped out of the spell, you resumed studying. You learned that humans and elves were basically the same. Other than the horns, skin color, markings, four fingers, and their connection with magic. It was almost as if they had evolved from a common ancestor, or elves simply have genetic mutations that makes them more inclined to magic. "I wonder if there are any elf-human hybrids... I wonder if that is possible," you thought out loud. Aaravos lifted an eyebrow and gave you a smirk. "Would you like to find out?"
The implications made your cheeks burned. "Did I say that out loud? Oops," you replied, leaving the room, not wanting to show him just how deeply the comment had gotten to you. Was he actually flirting or had he meant nothing by it?
You baked some jelly tarts, and thought about Aaravos's recent behavior towards you. You could not tell if he was hitting on you, or if that was just his normal, lighthearted playfulness. When the tarts were done, you gave a few to your next door neighbors, and were annoyed when Zada slurped up half a dozen in a swipe of their tongue.
"Wow! That smells great. I wish I could have some."
You were confused. "I thought you could only hear me, not... smell things around me." That sounded weird. Your heart skipped a beat. You had been under the implication that he could only hear you when you were near the mirror, and that was it. Did he listen to every conversation, see every movement, even when the lights were out, even the private-
To this, he replied, "Oh no, I can sense anything the caterpillar can. Hearing, smelling, sight, even touch. I doubt taste, because it does not eat. It may feed on dark magic. Not sure." Upon hearing this, your stomach dropped and you froze with the tray in your hands. So he knew everything. From the second you woke up to when you went to bed, and beyond. He was stalking you! If you had known that...
You resumed walking like this information was not new to you, put the pan down, and tickled the bug in response. "Stop it! Please!" He laughed, as if you were tickling him directly. You couldn't imagine being in his physical presence, always separated by the screen. His skin against yours... "Don't make me bite you", he jokingly threatened darkly when you didn't let up, and you stopped. You knew he was talking about the insect, but the way he whispered in your ear... he was toying with you, never making things clear one way or another.
When you woke up, there was some weird, clearish white stuff on one of your eyes. You had a thought, but it couldn't possibly be that. "Gah! What the Lux is this? Aaravos! Are you serious? Get your butt over here. What did you do this time?"
You yelped in surprise when you saw him coming out of the kitchen, and bunched up your blankets around you while wiping the... whatever it was off your eyes. He was holding one of your day-old-tarts in his hand. He was much paler than usual, and more purple and starry. He seemed to be quite incorporeal. You opened your mouth in shock. "Wha...?" He laughed at your expression. "Before you ask, allow me to explain. No, I did not escape from the mirror. Because of what my familiar did to your eye, you can see me. No one else around here can. This is simply a magical projection of myself, kind of like a ghost. I can go through most objects." He waved his hand in and out of the wall. Disconcerting."I can also interact with objects using magic," he said, pointing to the tart, and putting it in his mouth. "Delicious."
Other than the world being slightly foggy, there did not seem to be any harm, so you let his meddling with your eye slide. You continued with your magical studies as normal, other than how he helped your stance by moving you slightly when you were casting spells. ("I can now accompany you throughout the day, isn't that special?") Once he 'accidentally' touched your leg right where it was hurt, and you did not give him the satisfaction of wincing. It was uncanny how the projection worked, he was here but not still here at the same time. He was (mostly) mentally present with you the majority of the time, but the way he walked through Zada and floated through the window was undeniably unusual, and you couldn't bring yourself to think he was actually there with you.
There was a knock at your door. Who could it be? The sun had almost set. You opened the door to greet whomever it was, but just then Aaravos started talking. You shut the door part way. "Shut up!" You told him with a hiss, and reopened the door.
It was your neighbor, and they had brought a pie. The frown on their face said everything. "I thought... you lived alone," they said, handing it to you. "Oh, just my, uh, dog barking, ya know," you laughed. "Thanks so much for the pie!"
"But I didn't hear anything!" he said. You frowned, unsure of how to get out of this one.
"Have a good day!" You shut the door uncouthly in his face with a smile and a wave.
"Now he thinks I'm crazy," you muttered, and stormed up to him, pointing a finger. "Aaravos! This is your fault!"
He snickered. "Oh, I love it when you are angry. You humans look so cute!"
You were not the best at comebacks, so you shot back "Yeah, well, you're pretty cute all the time!" That was stupid. You really shouldn't have admitted that. It wasn't like you to just say something like that, and he would have caught on. He just smirked.
"No you," he started to use the sing-songy voice he got when he was being particularly silly. The 'debate' went on for quite a long time. Honestly, you were both so ridiculous, it was draining! You eventually gave up and rolled your eyes, heading for bed. He stopped you, and you were surprised. Did he really care that much?
"Let's go for a walk. I sense something is off," Aaravos said, suddenly serious, gripping and tugging your arm slightly, trying to pull you outside
"But it's too dark," you protested with a whine, trying to ignore how you felt with his arm against yours.
"What do you mean? The stars and the moon are out," he noted, as if it were the most obvious thing ever. How different elf culture was.
"Yes, my leige," you relented, holding the door for him and bowing exaggeratedly to emphasize how ridiculous he was being. He simply walked through the door without a thank-you, eyeing your posture up and down. It was enough to send a shiver through you. Although it had been no more than a joke, you couldn't help but feel his power as he breezed by. In ancient times, did people truly treat him like this? you couldn't pretend the thought was away from the realm of possibility.
"Be careful with that tongue of yours, my Katolian ambassador. It may very well get you into trouble," he warned. Why was he like that? He had you wound in circles trying to decipher exactly what he was meaning. You never knew if he was cavorting or serious.
As you stepped outside, you realized that he was absolutely right, and the area was bathed in moonlight and just as well-lit as your house under candlelight or Aaravos's blue magic glow. It must be a full moon.
You went on the walk with him, hiding your usual trepidation at walking alone at night. Should you think of yourself as alone, or not? Would he help you out if you found yourself in a sticky situation? There was a forest right outside of your house, with paths in it. "Almost no one ever goes out here. Even I don't go through here. We won't meet anyone," you said.
"Well, there are rumors that the ghost of an elf haunts the forest and-" you stopped talking, and glanced sideways up at Aaravos.
"Like me, you mean?" You both laughed.
"Yes, I suppose. People are scared of what they don't understand."
"Of course. Are you scared of me, (Y/N)?" Suddenly, in that moment, he seemed like much more than an apparition in the starlight, darker and more tangible. His feet were firmly on the ground, no longer tumbling through the air on some breeze. The reality hit you that he towered over you more than you imagined, and the two of you were incredibly close, you could have accidentally touched, if that were a possibility and didn't require concentration on his part. You had to tilt your head up to look him in the eyes, the gold like stars themselves. How could you possibly answer that? In the moment, like you had at the door, you felt small next to him. He had been consciously choosing to keep his distance, and not seem like a threat to you.
You felt a tightness rise in your chest, a mix between exhilaration, excitement, and fear, the likes that only a man like him could make you feel. He slid his arm against yours as you looked away from him, trailing his fingers up your neck and forcing your gaze up to his. You didn't resist his touch. That feeling intensified, and although your instincts told you to run away; that you were prey and he was a predator, you couldn't help but feel like you were right where you belonged, caught in his trap for him. You were sure he could tell how you felt by looking in your eyes. "Don't know how to answer that? It's ok, you'll learn with time."
You were now inches away from him, and he bent down. If his avatar needed to breathe, you were sure you'd feel it against you. You parted your lips and craned your neck up into the kiss as his lips ghosted onto yours, the tightness in your chest spooling and unwinding at the same time in your anxieties.
You backed away, startled by his action after all this time of teasing. "Did you not like it?"
"No, no of course not. It was just... unexpected." You reach up to peck him back, undoubtedly utterly flushed, unable to stop thinking of him.
"No, that was unexpected."
You continue walking, a lot on your mind (all of it him). You are deep in thought when you accidentally brush hands with his, something that he clearly chose to do. His touch lacked the warmth of another body, but was still unmistakably him. Neither of you said a word, his arm repeatedly bumping yours, until he clearly held out his hand to take, and you silently put your hand in his. Oh, today you had a lot to think of before bed.
You were enjoying every second of it, when you had realized the silence. Not a single bird or animal made a sound, despite the sun having only set an hour ago.
Up ahead was a clearing in the middle of the forest where there was a stone table surrounded by cylindrical chairs. The whole thing stood on top of a large stone circle, about as big as your whole house. There was some odd pattern etched into the stone, but you did not know what because there were so many vines and sticks covering it. You paid it little attention, thinking it to be merely some stupid abstract human design. Perhaps this was a park before the rumors of this forest spread. Aaravos, on the other hand, seemed very interested in it.
"(Y/N). Back away." You started to protest.
"Now." You didn't know what brought this on, but he sounded serious, his usual playfulness gone, flexing his hand away from yours.
You backed away from the stone in confusion, letting him do whatever he had seemed so interested in coming out to do. Aaravos used some magic to wipe the sticks and vines off of the stone with a swipe of his hand. As he did, the pattern below glowed. When all the nature was cleared away, you gasped. It was the symbol of the Stars. Was this whole circle a magical artifact?
"I am not sure, but it reacts to my magic. It may be something the elves left here from before the wars with you humans. It may even be older than me." Well that didn't surprise you. It was probably hundreds of years old. You cast a simple illuminating spell using celestial magic, and it worked. The symbol glowed.
"So, it glows. Anything else?"
"Now we wait. It is almost midnight. That is when cosmic magic is the most powerful," he said with a gleeful interest in the ruin, standing at the edge. The fading of your light was gradual, every second the spell was not recast it became dimmer. You respectfully kept your distance.
You both waited patiently for midnight. The large clock in town struck 12, and bells went off. The runes glowed, and so did some smaller things on the edges of the circle. You realized that they were words, but in a different language. "Can you read that?"
"Yes. It says that... well, its hard to explain. No exact translation. But we must come back here tomorrow, at the same time."
"I think I just may have found a way out of the mirror. And I need your help."
Optional Page 7/ Mature content
