The Diabolic Tutor
Arnold
was a tutor. He was no ordinary tutor, for Arnold only tutored for the Truly
Diabolic. There was an extensive application process to even be considered
for the ranks of the Truly Diabolic. Once a person was inducted into the
ranks they started as a base novice. It took years of study and rigorous
application of wits, intellect and muscle to rise through the ranks. Very few
ever made it to Truly Diabolic Master.
This
is where Arnold came in. Today he was trying to teach a couple first year
novices the Spell of Giant Growth. The overeager idiots had decided to pool
their powers and were trying to encompass the entire forest in the spell.
Arnold
magically constructed an easy chair out of a passing small animal and sat down
to wait. Slowly, as if it were reluctant to do so, the forest started to grow.
It pulsed and stopped, then juddered , jumped and swelled. The spell pushed at
the forest, willing it bigger. Pushing... straining... until BANG it snapped
and the spell rebounded to the casters.
Arnold
leaned back and conjured up a mug of ale and a handful of snacks as he watched
his two erstwhile pupils swell to double their size then with a sickening pop
of connective tissue, start growing in earnest. He quaffed his ale to the sound
of their agonized screams. He nibbled on nuts as their magically growing bodies
swelled and bulged and snapped in unimaginably grotesque ways. He lazily raised
his hand and constructed a shield spell when their too-human bones and muscles
could no longer support their enormous weight and one by one they toppled to
the ground breaking branches, small trees and terrified animals on the way
down.
Very
few make it to Truly Diabolic Master. Arnold is one of the reasons why.
