Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

"Hmpf, if you think that that that is enough to provoke me into accepting your challenge, then let me tell you…" Lucan said to Dunnowhosthis.

'Lucan, you should accept his challenge. It's best to deal with him in the open compared to waiting till he makes a move next time and then react.' Silent told him telepathically.

"That is exactly what I am going to do. I accept your challenge."

"Good, good, good." Dunnowhosthis said. "Let's play a game."

The man tapped his staff on the ground and a table made of earth rose from the middle of the street with a pair of chairs to match.

"I have decided the first game. Like I said before, whoever loses will pick our next game. The first to win twice is the victor. As for the stakes of the game, if I win, I want to beat you up and you are not allowed to resist or retaliate. And if you win…" Dunno paused and waited for Lucan to declare what he wanted.

"Hmm, I want… I want a favor that you cannot refuse."

"No deal, the best I can offer is to consider the favor you ask seriously."

"Deal." Lucan said, stretching out his hand.

"Deal." They shook hands as the pact magic took effect.

Dunno sat down and then motioned for Lucan to sit across from him. He did, only after passing his grimoire to Silent.

"Here I have ten potions I made in the past week." He said while setting a wooden potion holder on the table. "You can see they are labeled 1 through 10. I will pick two numbers, and you will choose one for me to drink, then you will consume the other. You will have five minutes to make a decision. If you are unable to choose, I will decide. One of these will kill instantly and three will kill slowly. There are also three potions that can save a life, and the last three are a bit of fun. However, each good potion will turn deadly if consumed after drinking a particular fun potion. Each fun potion has a different killer out of the three good potions. Do you understand?"

"Who is to say that you aren't resistant to all the bad?"

"I promise I am resistant to none of these. This game shall be your win if I am lying about anything I have said so far. You are allowed to smell and examine the potions, no tasting or casting spells though. After we drink, I will truthfully tell you if they were good, bad, or fun. Oh, and I should mention that none of the potion effects will last longer than twenty minutes. Do we have a deal?" Dunnowhosthis said, while stretching out his hand.

Lucan shook it and activated his pact magic again. The rules of the game were set, and Lucan didn't automatically win. Dunno told the truth.

The mage seated across from Lucan pulled out a sand timer and turned it over while saying "2 and 6."

Lucan found the two potions in question. #2 was green like murky lake water with small flat objects floating in the vial. He picked it up and gave it a swirl. The objects looked like scales, with a sniff he smelt fish. Lucan could see a strong and thick water mana in the potion.

The warlock turned to potion #6. Inside was a thick black gooey substance that had sparkling flecks. It was so thick that there was no noticeable change when he swirled the vial. The thick substance stayed where it was like honey stuck in a jar. The smell was foul, it reeked of a rotting carcass. Lucan tried not to choke on the smell. Looking at the mana, it was mostly a black evil strain of magic, but the sparkles were extremely pure and beautiful when he looked at the mana composing them.

"He, he, that one is pungent." Dunno said before motioning to the timer. "You have used half the time. Which one will I drink?"

Lucan really wasn't sure. For all he knew, they might both be bad.

"Alright I have made a decision."

"Okay champ, shall I drink #2 or #6?"

"You take #6, I will drink this." Lucan said while picking up #2.

"Bottoms up." Dunno said as he poured the black sludge into his mouth without hesitation. Lucan uncapped his and drank.

Lucan watched as the magic started to activate inside both of them.

"You picked me a good potion and you got a fun one."

"What?! How can that sludge be good?"

"A unicorn can purify evil by piercing it with its horn. When it does so, it unleashes pure and innocent mana into its target. Now that special discharge dies out when it is done purifying evil. The only way to bottle it, is with slow decaying evil. But once out of the vial, it starts to work fast."

Dunnowhosthis was overcome with a white glow. His skin looked cleaner and smoother, he appeared to age backwards, and even become better looking.

"Then what did I drink?"

"You should see the effects right about… now."

Lucan's vision suddenly started to change. It was as if his eyes had moved to the side of his head.

"Pfft, Ha, ha, ha. It worked so well." Dunno said while holding up a mirror.

Lucan's head had been replaced with the head of a fish. On the side of his neck were a set of gills and surrounding his head was a bubble of salt water, allowing him to breath.

Silent was trying not to laugh at how he looked but did not manage to hide it well.

Lucan tried to call her out for laughing at him, but when he opened his mouth…

*Blop*

A bubble came out and rose to the surface of the water before popping. This made her laugh even harder.

"Let's go. Round 2. Choose between potion #9 and #10."

Having his head submerged in water, Lucan was no longer able to smell. He looked at #9.

The potion was silver with grey swirling inside. When he gently shook the bottle, traces of gold appeared. Looking with the eye of Mentas revealed an earthen mana inside.

Lucan turned his attention to #10. This was another with water mana, but this mana was different, it was cold and icy. When he shook the vial, he could feel the fridge cold in the white liquid that showed no change.

Lucan's fish face frowned as much as he could.

"He, he, aren't I despicable?"

Lucan was afraid of freezing the water ball he needed to breath. He guessed that was the reason why Dunno choose #10. Which would make #9 also a bad one. Lucan didn't think he had a choice. He knew from the beginning that this game would be tilted towards Dunno's favor, but it looked like this may be his last round.

He motioned for the mage to drink #10.

"Oh really, here I thought you would take the risk."

Lucan took the metallic colored potion and drank while the mage did the same.

"I was hopping you would throw caution to the wind and freeze yourself after over thinking. Oh well, but we both have bad but not instant death."

Lucan felt his body becoming more rigid. His skin was starting to solidify at his feet, slowly moving up his body, turning him to metal. He was on his way to becoming a statue.

Lucan realized he wouldn't live for long if he didn't get a good potion. He looked over towards the mage. He was shivering for a moment and his lips had turned blue. A few seconds later, his unicorn aura pulsed and dissipated, taking away the frozen mana seeping into his body with it. Dunnowhosthis was perfectly fine.

'Damn it. Is there any way I can win?'

"So fun, so fun, this is the best. Let's move to round three. I choose potion #1 and #5."

#1 was a light blue color that contained a very clean water mana. #5 was a dirty brown that bubbled and felt extremely hot to the touch. When swirled small stones clicked off the clear glass. It contained a very dirty fire mana.

Lucan hoped that potion #1 was filled with something good. He was crossing his fingers for some sort of cleansing water magic.

Metal now covered the lower half of his body, he couldn't move his legs at all.

He motioned for Dunno to take the other one while he grabbed potion #1 and quickly drank it.

"Congratulations, you chose a good potion and sent me the bad one. Unfortunately, the potion I just drank will take at least five minutes to burn up my insides. I don't think you will last that long."

A giant ball of water appeared around Lucan, scrubbing him clean. It wiped away the metal from the skin, freeing up his legs and stopping the petrification effects of the previous potion. Unfortunately, the cleansing potion removed all the salt from the water that Lucan was breathing. Almost instantly, he flopped out of his chair and started to bounce around like a fish on a dock, gasping for air.

His health started to fall, and his vision went black.

[You have died.]