Faust remembered when he first discovered this village. He had been following a rumor of a powerful magician in the area. A powerful storm had caused him to find shelter quickly and the sheltering spell he cast drew him there.

 

While he was drying off in the pub, with an exceptional ale, he felt the merest hint of magic in the town. It hadn’t taken him too long after that to discern the tavern keeper was using magic to make a better ale. Once he started really looking at the village, he found almost everyone was using magic on some level. He had never found a town that used it the way they were.

 

The first night he rested and contemplated. Was the magician he was seeking powerful enough his mere presence was enough to imbue the people with magic? If so, he needed to find this man and take his power as his own.

 

Faust spent the next day formulating his plan. Surely these seemingly simple people knew who he would be seeking and could point him to the wizard’s tower easily enough. However the first several people he asked did not know what he was talking about. They claimed not to know anything about any wizards or sorcerers in the area. If that was the way they wanted to play, he would just have to ask differently.

 

“I don’t know whom you seek,” the mayor said.

 

“You use magic. Someone must have shown you how to do that. Who was it?” Faust asked.

 

The mayor was bound in golden chords with one pulling tightly around his throat. His plump face was turning red from the pressure. He struggled to free himself.

 

Faust pulled a quill and a bottle of red ink from his robes. He carefully inscribed runes onto the mayor’s forehead and hands. They glowed a brilliant red as the mayor cried out in pain.

 

“I’ll ask you again, where is the wizard? Where is he?”

 

“I don’t know what you are talking about. We have no one like that in the area,” the mayor said.

 

“I’m sure I can find someone else who will be more forthcoming. In the meantime, I think I will take what paltry power you have and add it to my own.”

 

Faust drew a circle around the mayor and a heptagram within the circle. If he was a powerful user, he would have needed his true name. As weak as he was, Faust could pull the magic from him by the sheer force of his own powers.

 

The mayor screamed as his soul and energy were ripped from his body. His body collapsed in the center of the circle, breaking it with his death. Faust looked at the body with disinterest.

 

He would find someone in this village who could point him to someone of true power. If the old man had enough resolve to resist him, then maybe he should go after a few of the children. Children were always easier to manipulate and get answers from. They just rarely knew the answers to begin with.

 

~ * ~

 

Enheduanna lifted her head as if listening for something. She reached out with her senses. She felt something was wrong. The crisp morning air slowly wafting her breath away tickled her senses with a faint wrongness. She didn’t like the mere hint of that trouble.

 

~ * ~

 

Faust found a pair of children who were tending a small flock of sheep. They should do nicely. He noted that, although this hamlet was very isolated, their livestock seemed to be extraordinarily big and healthy. There was something at play here.

 

“Please don’t hurt us. We don’t know who you are looking for,” the boy said.

 

“If Enheduanna were here, she might be able to tell you. She’s the wisest lady in the village,” the girl said.

 

At last, a clue that might actually help. The girl, at least, had given him something. He should grant her some mercy for that. If he wanted to send that kind of message, he would let her go running back home. That wasn’t the message he wanted to send. With a flick of his wand, the entwining bands of magic that held and burned the children pulled tight to their bodies and reduced them to ash.

 

The mayor had said something about someone named Enheduanna last night. He hadn’t thought too much of it then. Now that he had heard it a second time, he felt he had to find this woman. Surely she could help him find the wizard in the area.

 

~ * ~

 

Enheduanna felt the last mental call of the children. She had wondered where they were, as they were late for their lesson. She taught all the village children, as she had for several generations.

 

Not for the first time, she thought maybe she had stayed here too long among these good people. They had reminded her of the earlier time in her life, before the beginning of things. Their simple life filled only with what work needed to be done. They had time for living and laughter, singing and music. They had a magic about them they didn’t know. It had been easy for her to foster it and blend it into their lives to give them more time for enjoyment. Their crops grew easier and fuller. Their livestock gave more meat, milk, and eggs year upon year. The village prospered and grew, but their little valley, away from the outside world, lay largely undiscovered. It was because of the wards she had placed which encouraged people to go around the valley. They didn’t keep everyone out, just strongly encouraged them not to look toward the valley.

 

She had heard of the stranger who had wandered into the village a few days before. That her wards didn’t keep him out was troubling. That he didn’t leave immediately was more so. Anyone who could walk through those protections was a strong magic user. She had designed them to alert her if someone passed them, but not to alert them.

 

Enheduanna needed to find this newcomer and get him out before he caused trouble. If he was strong enough to enter the village, there was every chance he would discover the magic they used and try to claim it as their own. For over a hundred and fifty years, she had been teaching the children of the village how to work magic, but she had done it in a way that hid it from them. She disguised it as ritual and tradition, allowing that to focus their magic to make crops grow better and livestock to give more.

 

Enheduanna learned what Faust had done to the mayor and a few others in looking for the wizard in the region. When she discovered what he had done with the children, she was beyond livid. It was time for this fool to be well and truly dealt with.

 

Enheduanna put on her sheerest dress to visit the pub. She enchanted it so the locals would think she was wearing her normal work clothes. But the visitor would see her as she was. It was safer than trying to use the magic on him. The locals didn’t even feel the magic she used on them.

 

~ * ~

 

“You are such a travelled man. I bet you have been to Erbil,” Enheduanna said.

 

“Yes I have. How did you even hear of such a distant town?”

 

“Oh, tell me what it’s like? I think I heard a tinker mention it as the furthest city he had heard of.”

 

“It’s a fabulous city that would overfill the valley this village overlooks,” Faust said.

 

The woman flirting with him at first seemed like a local girl who wanted to find someone to take her away from the village. But the more she spoke with him, the more he felt there might be more to this woman. But he couldn’t put his finger on it.

 

“Can you show me how to do magic? You seem to be a powerful sorcerer,” Enheduanna said.

 

She cradled his arm and stroked a finger up his back.

 

“Not everyone can work magic. Let’s see if you have the ability before I try to show you anything,” Faust said.

 

“Do you have a magic wand? Oh, it seems like you do.”

 

Her hand wandered below his belt a little too far. He was glad the table he was at hid where she was seeking. Faust liked Enheduanna. She was more than pleasant to look at and seemed interested in listening to tales of his travels and beastly conquests. Still, he felt there was more beneath all that. His mind wandered to what might be beneath her dress.

 

“I just need a little prick of your blood to test for magic,” Faust said.

 

“Is that all you want to prick? I can give you more, if you like. You’re such a powerful magician.”

 

Faust took the three drops of blood and let them fall onto the seashell covered in ancient runes. They joined in one drop and twirled around before rising to for a person and then became a drop of blood suspended above the shell. His suspicions were confirmed. This young lady was full of magic promise.

 

“Well, it looks like you have the ability for magic within you. That’s a promising start. Now we just need to discover just how much you can grow into your power.”

 

“Oh wonderful,” Enheduanna said.

 

She reached over and gave him a big kiss. Faust gave in and kissed her back. She was going to be an enjoyable student until she could give him all of her power. Helping her strengthen her connection to magic would only feed that much more power into him when he took it from her.

 

~ * ~

 

“Come, my darling. I have something amazing to show you,” Faust said.

 

“Whatever is it, my dear alchemist? You always have such wonders to show me,” Enheduanna said.

 

“I have discovered something wonderful. I think it’s time for your ultimate lesson.”

 

“Anything for you, my dear Faust. You have taught me so much. I’m so glad you taught me all these spells. I’ve never felt so connected to magic.”

 

He took her by the hand and helped her onto her cart and settled himself next to her. Eve, her ancient jenny mule, brayed as their weight was added to her load. Faust took the reins and slapped them on her rump to get her moving.

 

Down the path, he took her, deep into the forest. The local villagers avoided this forest, fearing its dark paths. Too many hunters and foresters had never returned from venturing in. Still, with only a pair of small lamps on either side of the cart, the alchemist travelled down the way.

 

They came to a small clearing with a fairy circle in the center. He helped her down and led her by the hand to the center of the circle. He marveled at this woman before him. She played such the neophyte for him. He wondered how many men she had fooled with her act. The act he had almost fallen for before discovering her true name, Lilith, the first woman.

 

Faust took the rope he had brought with him and quickly bound her hands. He pulled a quill and red ink from his robes. Holding her down roughly, not like he had the night before when he had stolen another few drops of blood to confirm his suspicions. He tore her dress open and quickly drew a name on her bare chest.

 

~ * ~

 

Enheduanna lay on the ground in shock. Did this mere man really think that by drawing a few so-called ancient glyphs on her, he could steal her power and cast her aside so easily? She was not some young enchantress who didn’t fully know her own power.

 

Why wouldn’t he think she was though? She had played the innocent, doe eyed neophyte for him. Over uncounted eons, she had learned how to manipulate men. The mighty alchemist and sorcerer did at least have his theory right. If he had written her true name on her with those letters, he would have been able to tap her power.

 

“I have your true name written in its original form. Your power is mine,” Faust said.

 

She was not foolish enough to give any mortal her true name. Her people had died out centuries beyond centuries ago. Thanks, in no small part, to men like this fool, searching for power rather than the knowledge and wisdom to use it. They had devastated the world and created her eternal quest. Only she was left to know her true name. No magic of man could discover it.

 

Faust had his charms, to be sure. He actually had a quick mind that sought knowledge. But that knowledge was only used to pursue more power. He already had more power than any human she had found in the last century and a half. Now, if he had only put that knowledge and power to use for his fellow humans, she might not have to do to him what she was about to do.

 

“Lilith, you may leave. I have your power. I have no further use for you. Your purpose is done, since you won’t produce heirs for me. I have stripped you of your powers and added them to mine,” Faust said with a sneer.

 

Enheduanna stood up and brushed herself off. The look in her eye should have told him something was wrong with his assumptions. But his ego didn’t let him see the signs.

 

“Faust, if you actually knew my name, you might be correct. Lilith was a friend of mine from her youth. I don’t take offence with you calling me by her name. But she would take offence at the thought of a man, especially a man like you, having dominion over her. I will make you rethink the concept of stealing my powers, powers you have no comprehension of. Power is a wonderful thing, but the proper use of it makes it even stronger.”

 

She said the words in a too calm voice as her hands wove tendrils of power and magic in the air. A small cage of white energy coalesced in her hand, which she then threw at the alchemist. It grew as it neared him, then enfolded around him.

 

Faust drew up his own magic and seemed to pull a pinch of the cage off and place it in his hand. He called up a purple flame that flew up and engulfed the cage, seeming to absorb the power of it before returning to his hand. He then took the combined energies and crafted a magical fire that he sent back to the Enheduanna.

 

“It is no use trying to deny who you are. I traced your path back to the mother of all lies. You cannot deceive me as you have others. I know you are Lilith, co-created with Adam. I tested your blood last night. It revealed your true form and name. With your powers, I am now the most powerful magician in the world. No king will stand before me. And certainly not a mere woman.”

 

Enheduanna held up a finger. The ball of fire winked out. There was no explosion, no singed hair or piece of cloth burnt. The flame and power simply vanished. That he could corrupt and warp her magic spoke tomes about his power. Since he enjoyed transforming things so well, she had a special treat for him.

 

“Oh, your hubris, little man. My blood only reveals what I want it to. I knew the one you think of as Lilith. I cared for her when she was young. She learned all the secret names of things from me. I helped her craft her story. I taught her how to fly and I saw what she became when Adam cast her out. If you believed that myth, you are a greater fool than you seem.

 

It was I who burnt her body when she crossed over, so that no one could use it to gain her power. I have used her name from time to time as it pleased me. You have no power over me.

 

You could have done so much to help people, but you wanted power for its own sake to feed your self-worth. I have seen what this kind of power does to people and to their civilization. I won’t see what happened to my people happen to yours.”

 

Enheduanna’s probing eyes bored at Faust. He made the mistake of meeting her dark orbs. She reached out and pulled at his soul, calling up his darkest fears and making them real and physical before him. An enormous snake wound around his legs and innumerable hairy venomous spiders crawled across his arms. However, it was the large man shouting how worthless he was and beating on him that actually explained who Faust had become to Enheduanna. This visage flickered between looking like him and looking like an older image of him.

 

“Boy, you’ll never be anything. You’re an embarrassment to the family name,” the visage said.

 

“I’m sorry Papa, I’ll try harder.”

 

“Why bother? You’re useless. You can’t do anything right. You couldn’t empty a bucket with the instructions written on the underside.”

 

“I’ll go back tomorrow. I’ll make it right,” Faust said in a young boy’s voice.

 

“I’d tell you to just do as you’re told, but you can’t even do that. Never question what I tell you to do,” the elder Faust said. “Stop asking me anything. Do as you’re told. Your mother will pay for giving me a child like you. I won’t even call you a son.”

 

As the memory screamed these things at Faust, he whipped him with a switch. His demons were worse than any she had seen since the creation of Hell. His fears, doubts, and failings attacked him, beating and biting him until he fell into a catatonic state. They then vanished back into the hidden recesses of his mind, gnawing at his essence, until he could stand up to them. He was powerless now. Well, not powerless, just too mind addled to use his powers until he overcame his darker self.

 

She almost felt sorry for him. Then she remembered the pain and torture he had sent to the village. It hadn’t been a perfect place, but she was doing what she could to make the world better, quietly. She had given up being too open about what she was doing. It called men like this schlemiel to her to try to steal her power or the power she had shown others was within them already.

 

This fool had stumbled upon her village by accident and sniffed out the magical power they were using. Her quest caused her to stay in that village for too long, almost four generations. Long enough to pull their natural magic to the fore. So long as they continued to follow the ways she taught them, the village would thrive after she left. 

 

She emphasized the nurturing side, but there was no denying the destructive side, as they are interwoven with each other. Although men like Faust didn’t understand the balance needed. It’s part of what drives them mad, being out of balance. Thankfully, once he focused on her, he left the rest of the villagers alone.

 

It was possible he could defeat these dark shadows of his soul. She had, eventually. But it had taken her several human lifetimes to find the way through her darkness to defeat them by loving the very faults they had shown her. She knew she wasn’t perfect. No one is. It wasn’t by fighting her dark shadows that she overcame them. It was by accepting them and not giving them the power to hurt her or cause her to hurt others.

 

She had done her share of dark things before she had found her balance. The people she had harmed were now and forever a part of her. She was doing what she could to make sure she made the world a better place by stopping men like this and by helping to transform the dark magic they created into beneficial energies. Her vow not to kill was sometimes hard. It would have been very easy to kill Faust. But this way he had a road to finding what true power was and what it meant to wield it.

 

She looked at the faerie ring Faust had used for his ceremony. It was well placed. The mule and cart of hers he had used to carry her to this site waited just beyond, tied to a tree. He was crying now, curled up like a little child. She walked over to him and carved a cuneiform word into his forehead.

 

“Abnu,” she said.

 

His skin turned into blue marble. The stone filled in around him slightly so he appeared as a roughhewn statue of a man. Picking him up as easily as if he was a baby, she placed him in the hay cart and covered him, ensuring he was tucked in with just his head sticking out. She turned to the circle that he had crafted to steal her power. With a flick of her hand, the magical symbols vanished in a puff of smoke. Then, taking the lead rope, she led the mule pulling the cart off down the path that appeared before them.

 

“Come on Eve, let’s go find a fae village to leave Faust at. If this poor fool is to have the slightest chance of finding himself again, it’s with them. He won’t be the first wizard I’ve left with them. At least Merlin learned from his time with them. He had made a lovely tree. I wonder if it will take this one as many centuries as it did him to find his way out of the prison of his mind. I wish there was a kinder way, but I haven’t found one as effective.”

 

“Bray, Bray,” was all Eve said. 

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