“You’re sure?”
Lynnria dipped her head to one side. “What choice do I have?”
I stared at her incredulously for a moment before pointing to the ground. “You… you could stay here.”
That was what a sane person would have done. But I never seemed to meet any of those.
“But my grandfather…”
My head wobbled somewhere around a yeah-but. “I’m sure he would be more upset you decided to risk your life just to see him one last time. I mean, he’s lived his life already, right? There’s no need to risk yours.”
Obviously, I had never met the man, but that was the kind of thing I would expect an old warrior to say from watching movies. Any time some reckless young buck would do something heroic yet stupid, the older generation would have to sit them down and give them the ‘what were you thinking’ speech. They never listened, of course.
But then the movie would be over, so…
“That doesn’t sound anything like my grandfather,” she replied, crossing her arms.
I threw my hands up in disgust. Mostly because my ploy to leave her behind was working about as well as a water balloon against a brick wall. “Fine. Whenever you’re ready.”
“Now, I guess,” she said, holding out her arm. “It just sucks I can’t pick a Class. You’re sure your Mia can’t affect this at all?”
“Suck it, you trout-faced fuck-whale!”
My face barely twitched. Somehow. “She says no.”
Lynnria made a sound of disappointment. “Okay, and you’re sure you don’t know what—“
“No, no! Stop!” I said hastily before grabbing her arm. “No more questions, please. And besides, the answer is the same as before. Neither of us have any idea what sort of secondary effects this might have. Now, just… just hold on a second.”
I took a calming breath to compose myself. I could not believe I was about to do this…
—about five minutes earlier—
“Alright, here’s… here’s the situation, Donum,” Mia panted. She was a little out of breath still from my having to re-ascend the cliff. “In order for me to awaken this girl, I will need influence over her. Or more specifically, you will.”
“And that would be because…”
“I am only a Faen, sweet mortal. I have lost the divine ability to intrude uninvited, and as I belong to you, it is you who must procure that invitation,” she explained. “Or put another way, I am casting a spell on your behalf, and thus, the normal restrictions on your abilities apply.”
“Ah.”
That made sense—though I did not like this whole ‘belonging to me’ business. Mia might have been a permanent resident of my own head, but that did not give me ownership of her. Probably. I was not altogether certain how the usual logic should be applied to a situation like this.
“So, Lynnria has to accept my influence first.”
The purple-haired laoi took half a step back before firming her jaw. I cast a sympathetic glance at her then turned away. Mia was not quite finished.
“Well…” She seemed hesitant on this. “This isn’t going to be a normal sort of spell. You’re going to need… quite a lot of influence.”
My face went stony. “Mia…”
“Now, hold on,” she said hastily. “I know you’ve been trying to avoid that, but I have a solution which… I think you would find acceptable.”
I quirked an eyebrow. That seemed unlikely, but I might as well hear her out. “I’m listening.”
“Obviously casting at her all day would be a tremendous waste of time and energy—“
“Not what I’m concerned about.”
“—and the best way, namely sex—“
“Out of the question.”
“—is… out of the question. As I thought.” She sighed regretfully. “You and your sensibilities. In that case, you’re going to have to bite her.”
My eyes unfocused for a moment in surprise. “Excuse me?”
Mia made a grunting sound as though she was fighting to hold herself back. “Semen! Semen pile! Oh, drat. Where was I?” She sighed, but before I could answer she remembered. “Ah, yes. You need a quick way of building up a lot of influence within her blood, and since you are so unwilling to do this properly, biting her should be a decent enough workaround.”
“But why would—” I paused. I had just remembered something.
Back when Arx was not Arx, she and Jax had a bit of a territorial scuffle which had resulted in some of Arx’s blood being spilled. And Jax had claimed she could smell me in it. No one had an explanation for it at the time, but going from what Mia was saying, my influence would have to be some sort of… detectable substance.
That was the only way I could make sense of it, anyway. Though how influence was supposed to be dissolved into my saliva was beyond me. Then again, I was a wizard with a couple of semi-immortal girlfriends, so… maybe I was thinking about it a little too hard.
“Couldn’t I just kiss her, though?” I asked stubbornly. I mean… yeah, I was trying to avoid that too, but it was way better than biting the girl.
There was a bit of a squeak from behind me, but before I could look, Mia continued, “That would… hnn—choke on a dick biscuit—work eventually, but… well, how many hours do you want to put into this?”
“Preferably zero.”
“Mhmm. You’ll have to bite her then.”
I sighed. “And I’m assuming I’ll have to draw blood.”
There was another squeak, though this one was decidedly more strangled.
“Correct. And if you heal her after, that will help solidify your hold.”
I nodded absently. I would have done that anyway, but the way she said it, you would think I was deliberately trying to corrupt this girl.
Turning back to Lynnria, I was in the middle of mumbled out a half-formed thought, “…some kind of werewolf?” However, when I focused on her, I found Lynnria trembling like a leaf and blushing bright enough to read by.
“I don’t know what sort of mating rituals your kind get up to, sir,” she informed me, “but we of the laoi do not make a habit of drawing any sort of blood nor wearing wolves!”
—present—
“Just make it quick,” Lynnria said impatiently. “I’m no stranger to injury, Donum.”
I nodded. I knew that. Intellectually, at least. As a game-ball player and with the extensive martial training she claimed to have, she would have to be quite used to it. It is just a shame that intellectualisms do not help much when it comes to squeamishness.
However, there comes a point where you simply have to set aside your misgivings and step forward. So I did.
And having no desire to relive that particular experience, I will leave my end of things at that.
As for Lynnria, she managed to restrain herself to a short gasp of pain. At least at first. While I was furiously working to get the taste out of my mouth, she began to subtly twitch and jerk, and slowly, little barely-restrained squeals of anguish started escaping her throat.
Concerned, I glanced up to find her hunched over the bite with her face contorted into an expression of absolute agony. “Lynnria? What—?”
“She’s fighting it, Donum,” Mia cut in urgently. “She must accept it, or this will never work.”
I gave a curt nod before reaching forward to take her by the shoulders. “Lynnria, if you want this, you’re going to have to let go. You can’t fight it.”
“But… how?” she wailed. “I—I can feel it crawling up my arm. It… it burns!”
“I don’t know!” I yelled, a little panicky. “It’s not like I’ve ever—“
“Kiss her,” Mia commanded, cutting me off.
“What?! But you said—“
“Do it!” she shouted. “The time for fuck-nuggets—for thinking is over. Kiss her now!”
And so I did.
It was a stiff sort of thing. Lynnria was hardly the least attractive girl I had ever crossed lips with—Jax had not always been the smoking bomb-shell she was now—but neither of us really knew one another. And for reasons I should not need to reiterate, I was distinctly uncomfortable with the whole thing.
So I ended it rather quickly.
However, when our eyes finally met once more, I found her demeanor entirely changed. She had gone utterly still and was staring at me wide-eyed, her pupils fully dilated and her lips gaped ever so slightly while she worked to control her breathing.
“Are you… alright now?” I asked cautiously.
She nodded slowly, once.
“No more pain?”
Her head drifted from side to side, though her eyes never left mine.
“Good. Your influence is taking hold quickly,” Mia assured me.
“Mia, what—”
“I don’t know,” she said, forestalling me. “Your Class… it’s… well, I’m working off of theory at this point. But this… should work. Now repeat after me.”
“Okay.” I was still pretty weirded out, but at least Lynnria was no longer crying in pain.
“Fatespear Lynnria…”
“Fatespear Lynnria…”
Lynnria blinked finally. “H-how did you know my…?”
“I didn’t,“ I began, intuiting the rest of her question. “Mia told—“
“…do you accept betrothal into the Donum Clan?”
I grunted at the interruption, but Mia was right: we were sort of in the middle of something.
“Do you accept betro—wait, what?”
“Say it, nipple wagon!”
“Do you accept betrothal into the Donum Clan?” I said hurriedly. Ugh… The lilim are going to kill me for this. Or her. Probably her.
Lynnria frowned. “But… that isn’t how it works. You should be joining my Clan, not… not…” Her lips pulled back into a grimace.
“She’s fighting it again,” Mia informed me unnecessarily.
I sighed before very gently cupping Lynnria by the chin. “Look, I realize this is… unorthodox. To say the least. If you want to stop—“
Before I could get another word out, Lynnria surged forward and practically crushed my lips to her own. She was inexperienced and forceful. But her lips were no less soft. Her delicate mewls of delight no less pleasant. And through it, her kiss began to speak to me.
Not in words. But in understanding.
Her excuses and her pleas were just that. Excuses. Subterfuge. She might very well have wanted to see her grandfather again. She might have even been concerned for his welfare. But more than anything, she was searching for any sort of justification to follow me.
She wanted me. She had decided on it from the very moment she had lain eyes on me and had been casting about for something… anything to achieve that goal. But she did not know how. She had even pretended to be aloof and coy for fear of scaring me off, ruining her chances.
It was an adolescent and almost bizarrely… male attitude. To me anyway.
Stranger still, I had no idea how I could know any of that. It was almost instinctual. As if I could read her unconscious mind through the medium of her lips. Or perhaps, there was a trace of lilim in me as well.
Eventually, she let me go, and from her heaving chest, it was only by sheerest necessity. “By the Three, you’re gorgeous!”
I cleared my throat, embarrassed to say the least. “I… take it you accept, then?”
She nodded absently even as her hands began exploring my body. “Yes, anything. Just let me keep kissing you.”
“Uh…”
“Good enough,” Mia said, chuckling knowingly. “I did warn you about these laoi women, didn’t I? Now, ask her to accept me as the Bearer of her Power.”
I swallowed. That had been the eventual goal of this whole endeavor, but I had a feeling it was hardly necessary. From the way she was groping me, I was pretty sure Lynnria would agree to let me jab a hot poker up her ass as long as I did not stop her.
At least until she saw the poker.
So with that in mind—and despite every cell in my body screaming at me not to—I delivered a sharp slap across her face.
There was a moment of stunned silence. Though, it took me a few more to realize I was far more shocked at myself than she was. I had been conditioned from a very early age never to strike a woman, but something about this whole situation was telling me that not only had she been expecting this, she was actually surprised I had let her get as far as she had.
“I—I’m sorry, Donum!” she stammered. “Please… please forgive me. I… you’re just so beautiful, I couldn’t help it, and… and then you asked me to betroth to your Clan. I—I—!”
“Okay, stop,” I said forcefully.
And she did. She actually looked terrified.
“Clearly you’ve not been entirely truthful with me—“
“What?! No, I—“
I bopped her gently on the nose. “You’ll find that lies will not carry you far in my Clan,” I informed her. “As long as you were actually serious about joining it?”
“You mean… you’re not rejecting me?” she asked hopefully. But then she straightened. “Or that is… well, it’s all very unusual, you know. That isn’t…” She cleared her throat, then for a moment, she allowed her eyes to rove my body again. “Yes, I… I suppose I could make that concession.”
I quirked an eyebrow. This was not at all how I had expected this encounter to go. I was not certain what I had been expecting, but it was not this. I mean, I was quite used to a little feminine aggression. My lilim served that up in spades, but this felt different. It was like my world had just been flipped upside down.
And I was not yet sure whether I liked it.
“How kind of you,” I intoned. “Now, for the rest, Mia has informed me that you must accept her as the Bearer of your Power.”
“And then I’ll get a Class?”
I started to nod, but of course Mia immediately shouted, “Suck my dick!”
I smirked. “You don’t have a dick.”
“What?” Lynnria looked scandalized. “Why would I need a dick?! Donum, exactly what kind of ritual is this?”
“How would you know?” Mia replied, totally ignoring the outside conversation. “This is one gown you’ve never seen up, o’ beautiful mage.”
I snorted before turning slightly away from Lynnria and lowering my voice. “Okay, fine. I hope you don’t have a dick.”
“Really?” She drew the word out like it was some sort of juicy gossip. “Oh, do please tell me what it is you hope is there.”
“Donum,” Lynnria cut in, apparently having put two and two together. “Are you quite certain this Mia of yours is a… what did you call it? An iteration of the Lady? She seems to divert your attention in very strange ways.”
“As if she knows how we—Whore! Cunt waffle! Bitch!—how the Lady speaks.”
I cleared my throat awkwardly. “Pretty sure. Like… ninety percent? Maybe eighty.”
“Hey!”
“Anyway, do you accept?” I pushed on.
“As long as I don’t wind up with a penis…?”
I gave a somewhat hesitant nod. I could not claim that sort of thing was completely off the table—what with Jax and all—but going from the trends I had seen with my abilities, it did not seem likely. Rather the opposite.
“Good. I wouldn’t want to become some mannish weakling,” she mumbled with relief before glancing back at me. “No offense.”
I just stared at her. I had no idea how to respond to that.
“Oh,” Lynnria said after a moment, apparently misinterpreting my reaction. “Yes, of course. I accept.”
“Finally!” Mia grumbled. “Now if you’ll just heal her, I’ll get on with it.”
“Oh, right.”
The conversation had gotten so chaotic, I had sort of forgotten about that part, but Lynnria’s wrist was still bleeding from the circular teeth marks I had pressed there. Now that the pain had subsided, she seemed to have forgotten about it as well, because the blood was dripping unheeded down her pant leg.
“Geez, Lynnria,” I said, grabbing up her wrist. “At least hold the wound away from yourself. You’re making a mess.”
She favored me with a smirk. “You’re cute when you worry at me.”
“Cute?” I snorted. “I don’t think I’ve ever been called cute before.”
“Best get used to it then,” she returned brazenly, “because I’m quite enjoying seeing my newly betrothed in an embarrassed huff.”
My mouth twitched. This whole thing was moving a little fast for my taste, but before I could say anything, the sound of a faint gasp came from behind one of the palms. As one, we turned to see one of the younger children running off into the distance.
“Nosy brats,” Lynnria grumbled before sighing with resignation. “Well, I suppose there was no use keeping it a secret. This sort of thing has a tendency to come out. No matter.” She turned to me reassuringly. “I will make certain your reputation remains intact.”
“My repu—?“ I shook my head. “Whatever. Let me heal this, and we’ll be on our way.”
“You’re a healer, too!?” she enthused. “Three preserve. You should have said so in the first place. Never mind your looks and the immortality business, that alone would account for your mates.” She sighed happily. “Good. I was beginning to feel decidedly unfeminine at the idea of having to share you.”
I stared at her for a moment before allowing a confused but accepting grunt to escape my lungs. That last sentence had thrown me at first, but it had also clued me in to what had been bothering me about this whole encounter. Laoi women were the dominant sex of their kind. And now that she had gotten over her initial awkwardness, Lynnria was treating me like some kind of… conquest.
Funny that I never got that impression from Jax. She had always been gruff, and as a former Bandit, I knew she had gotten up to some decidedly unsavory activities. However, even when she had transitioned, she had never treated me as anything other than a man… or my impression of how a man should be. But maybe that was just an artifact of the laoi race’s natural predispositions.
In any case, now that I understood what was going on, I felt comfortable enough to let it ride. Besides, it might be fun to be actively pursued.
At least until we rescued the lilim…
…and speaking of fireworks, I still had a spell to cast.
*****
My stomach gurgled.
I glanced down at it in annoyance. We both knew I was running low on Life Energy. Again. There was no need for the theatrics.
But that was why I was now impatiently circumnavigating the island’s beach in search of the door. I needed to find the way out of here and back to my lilim before I shriveled up like a prune.
Unfortunately, that process was proving more difficult than I had anticipated. Sure enough, the current must have taken me quite a bit further around the side of the island than I had thought, because my search had thus far remained fruitless.
I was just afraid I had missed it altogether. Seeing an island on the horizon was one thing, but finding a simple doorway hovering in the air from the same distance was about as easy as falling up a flight of stairs. Which was to say I was using magic to cheat.
But even with my highlight spell, I had yet to spot the blasted thing.
“Will you stop swearing?!” Lynnria yelled from behind me.
I smirked. After healing the girl—for which she was extremely thankful I might add—Mia had somehow been able to hop over into the young laoi’s mind and begun the process of her awakening. And though that had yet to come to full fruition, it was apparently enough to get Lynnria out of the kiddie-zone. Ever since then, the two of them had been discussing… or perhaps arguing would be the better word… about the eventual outcome.
Obviously, I was only getting the one side of it, but from what I gathered, Lynnria was getting extremely frustrated. We had already explained that she would not be able to pick a Class, but she must have assumed Mia would be able influence things in some way. She clearly wanted to at least end up with a martial Class and was becoming increasingly irate at the possibility of even that not going her way.
And that she had yet to figure out Mia’s tic was not helping matters.
“My grandfather has told me many times that… But I’ve been training!” Lynnria made a disgusted sound. “Are you insane? I’m already betrothed. After all that, I am not—Mia that is absolutely filthy! How would I even—?” There was a lapse of silence. “Well, okay. You are right about that. Heh.”
A bit of a chill ran up my spine. I had a strange feeling that the topic of their conversation had drifted to more personal matters. But I was not about to ask. I was too busy enjoying being alone in my own head for once.
It was peaceful.
“Alright, fine! I’ll stop distracting you. Bloody useless…” Lynnria grumbled inaudibly for a few moments while she scurried to catch up. “What exactly is this spell for, Donum? Not that I’m complaining. That heal of yours is… intense. But I can’t work out what the point of creating a glowing edge about things is supposed to accomplish.”
I made a sound deep in my throat. Peace was ever a short-lived dove. “It works a lot better at night.”
“Does it?” she replied absently. “Mmm… I suppose it would now that you mention it.”
I paused my scan of the horizon to glance back at her just in time to catch her eyes jumping up to mine guiltily. I quirked an eyebrow. “Something catch your interest?”
Her cheeks darkened slightly but, rather than answer, she glanced out to the ocean. “What is that?”
I followed her pointed finger. For a moment, I thought she was referring to a distant flock of birds passing by, but then I noticed that one of them was holding oddly still. “Uh huh. That would be the door, alright. Good eye.”
“I told you I’d been training,” she replied smugly. “I have achieved Lesser Competent with most of the basics, including Visual Acuity.”
I nodded, somewhat impressed. That was somewhere in the 40’s skill-wise. I had several that high and higher, but most of them—like Driving and Computer Use—were entirely useless on this world. And any related to physical activity were not worth mentioning… though I was getting pretty decent at Walking.
“I don’t suppose all this training of yours has led you to achieve ridiculous leaps out of the water?” I asked, though I already had a pretty good idea of the answer. I was mostly just talking while I thought. I could only cast levitate on the one person at a time, after all, and there were a lot of variables to consider for getting us both out and up there. “Say half a dozen cubits or so?”
She looked at me askance. “Without a skill specifically for it, you’d have to be well into Grandmastery to pull off something like that. As it is… well, I’m a decent swimmer, but that looks like a terribly long way. Especially with this surf.”
On cue, a smallish wave wrapped around my ankles. “Yes, it was.”
“You swam all the way from there?!” Lynnria shot me a considering look. “You shouldn’t need so much Toughness as that as a spell caster.”
I snorted. “You and I must have very different ideas about what a spell caster needs. I can assure you we very much do. Myself especially. A lot of my spells require Life Energy to function.”
That and I had a goddess waiting on the wings for me to beef myself up so I would not experience a sudden onset of death by snu-snu. But I was not about to tell that to Lynnria. There is only so much complication I could deal with on any given day.
“Life Energy? But that’s crazy! None of my—“ She stopped. “Well, none of the mages I know ever needed something so severe. They all used sacrificial media to fuel their spells. Incense and candles and… things like that.”
Hmm… There was something there, but for the time being, I saw no need to pry. I certainly had my own secrets, after all. She had a right to her own.
“Sounds cumbersome,” I murmured.
Though in truth, it also sounded extremely familiar. D&D technically used something quite similar in the form of spell-casting components. However, I had never once been party to a game that ever bothered to enforce that mechanic. Most of the people I knew could barely keep the grappling rules straight, never mind worrying about their encumbrance, how many arrows they had left, or remembering to keep a store of bat guano, miscellaneous gemstones, and all the other crap spells required.
“Most of them use servants,” she replied off-hand. “Still… you must run in very strange circles. I thought sacrificial media to be more common.”
“Well, if I’m honest, I’ve only met one other person who could cast spells, and hers were fueled by… well, laughter.” Arx had used a great deal more than that, but again… there was no need to complicate things.
Lynnria blinked. “I must admit, I’ve never heard of a mage like that. I’d never even considered it.” Then she chuckled. “That actually might be a bit fwah—“
Mid-sentence, her eyes crossed, and she fainted dead away. I did not even think to catch her. I was too surprised.
“Huh… how about that,” Mia said abruptly.
“I take it that wasn’t supposed to happen,” I said. Then a moment later, I decided I should probably pull the girl’s face out of the sand. “Also, welcome back.”
“You know yours is the only head for me, good mage.” She chuckled. “Where else would I hang my curtains?”
I paused in brushing loose debris from Lynnria’s face. Curtains? But then I shrugged it off. It was not worth the swearing.
“And no, it shouldn’t have,” she continued. “Or… hmm. To be honest, we—the Lady has long held the habit of awakening the kinds in their sleep.”
“How else would you do it?”
“Exactly, anus barnacle!” she replied without missing a beat. “Anyway, it has been such a long time, I have totally forgotten why that is.”
“I think we may have found one,” I said dryly. “Although, I wasn’t asleep when I got my Class.”
“Really?” Mia mused thoughtfully. “Donum, would you mind terribly if I were to ask you to describe that experience sometime? As an alien, I mean. I think it might be helpful in figuring out what some of the things in here are supposed to do.”
I went silent for a moment. The last time this topic had been broached, Bline had pulled some sort of glowing thing out of my head, and I had passed out. I still had no idea what that had been about. And I had a feeling that Mia would be a bit… reticent in discussing it.
“I suppose I could,” I agreed slowly. “And I might mention that it would be very helpful to me were you to describe it from your end of things as well.”
“I cannot see how,” she replied. Then somewhat aloofly, she continued, “But I would be inclined to accommodate you, were… we able.”
Interesting answer.
So neither she nor Bline could talk about it. But was that because they were being prevented? Was there some rule in place that forbade it? Or was it simply because they could not remember for some reason. And if so, why not? Were even their heads being screwed with? Or were they simply not there in the first place…?
Maybe they weren’t the one’s who awakened me.
“Mia, could other goddesses besides Bline awaken a mortal?”
“Choke on a scrote!”
I nodded. I did not actually need an answer.
Mia might well have been a part of the goddess responsible for that sort of thing, but she was not in fact a goddess. Not anymore. And here she was doing just that. So clearly divinity was not a requirement.
But what was the requirement?
About then, Mia made a disgusted sound. “Ugh! Idiot. Of course. I can’t believe I forgot… Donum, would you be a dear and draw that symbol on Lynnria’s chest?”
I cast about for a moment in trying to think of what she might have been referring to. “Wait… you’re not talking about the one that—“
“Yes, yes,” she interrupted quickly. “The one that explodes if given no context.”
I blinked a few times. That emphasis had been quite deliberate.
And as I knelt there, staring at Lynnria’s unconscious form, I slowly began to have a suspicion. That perhaps this situation had not been as unintentional as Mia had led me to believe. After all, what were the odds that she—a former goddess—could have forgotten a key component of what I had no doubt was an extremely complex spell, and that component just happened to be a symbol that I knew… by sheerest accident?
“Mia…” I began, more than a little suspicious.
“Yes,” she whispered excitedly. “Very good, boy. Now show me that this has not been a wasted effort.”
I frowned. “This won’t hurt her?”
“Don’t be mong rat! Don’t be foolish,” she admonished me. “I have not forgotten why we are here. You still need the girl. I would not toy with her life.”
I nodded, mollified. Slowly, I reached forward to scribe the symbol with my finger, but before my finger could make contact, Mia called out, “Wait.”
I froze.
“What is your intent?”
“To… give her a Class,” I replied, a little lost.
“What Class?”
“I thought you said—“
“Yes, yes… and that was true. This probably won’t affect anything. But if it could, what Class would you give her?”
“Some kind of… martial Class, I guess,” I answered. “That’s what she wanted.”
“Are you certain?”
“Well… no. Not totally. I’m no mind reader. But that’s what she said.”
“What she said and what she wants are not necessarily the same thing,” Mia replied enigmatically. “What she wants is power. But power of a different sort.”
“That is… not very helpful, Mia.”
She chuckled. “Naturally. After all, you also lack context. But consider the matter from a different angle. What Class would you want her to have?”
“Mia…”
“Only hypothetically,” she said quickly. “But you are the head of your Clan. You have certain obligations. It would be shortsighted to only think of this girl’s wants. A good leader would compromise. How could you use this girl? And satisfy her needs? After all, by your own admission, you are an alien. Surely you could think of something she has never heard of. Something creative. Something interesting. Something… different.”
“Well…” I began, thinking aloud. “Since we’re talking hypothetically.”
“Of course.”
“Then I would want to give her something that would not put all her training to waste. I know that would piss me off, were I her. But…”
“Go on.”
“Arx is a Siren… which is kind of like a bard I guess, and Jax is a shadow warrior. Then there’s me, the support mage. So the thing I’d say our party is most lacking is some kind of offensive spell caster. Or at the very least, a person who can affect groups.”
“A quandary. The very thing you need is that which she is apparently most against. What to do?”
I sighed. I was pretty sure Mia could tell me exactly what I should do, but for her own reasons, she was testing me. Or perhaps teaching me. It was hard to say.
But the answer was not as easy for me to guess at as one might think. Even as an ‘alien.’ I mean… I could think of a lot of things that would suit our needs and would no doubt absolutely thrill Lynnria. Like… some kind of Rambo-type Class? Dual-wielding machine guns and shooting explosive arrows?
However, I knew—because it was one of the first questions I had asked on arriving—guns were not a thing on this world. And I was pretty sure that the ability to summon grenades or, Watcher forbid, nukes would be similarly out of the question. Besides, that sort of thing would only be confusing for the girl. I needed to restrain myself to something this world would find acceptable.
Okay then, so some kind of… sword-mage? I frowned. As tropes went it was more than overdone. But it was popular for a reason. There was a certain romance to wielding a blade while casting fireballs all over the place. And if I could not do it, I could at least live out my fantasy vicariously through Lynnria.
Then again, I had never heard of anyone with that kind of combo since coming here. And I could well imagine why. Spells were freaking hard! I could scarcely imagine trying to do that while swinging a sword around.
Hmm… how would that work anyway? Some kind of… non-verbal thing?
Slowly, an idea began to percolate in my brain. It was probably a silly idea, but it if worked…
“Okay, I think I’m ready,” I announced.
“Good. Hold to that thought and begin. I still doubt this will do anything, but… well never mind. Go on,” she prompted.
I took a breath and held it for a few moments while I tried to assemble a mental image of what this Class would do. Then I reached forward to place the tip of my middle finger just at the top of her sternum.
The instant I made contact with her flesh, I felt a faint spark. It was like I could feel the nuts and bolts of the spell Mia had woven within her, and… somehow my finger and the symbol I was poised to inscribe was the crank meant to set the whole of it working. I had no idea whether that metaphor was in any way apt, but the resistance I felt there was palpable.
My finger simply would not move. The symbol itself was pushing me away, refusing to… exist.
Why? What is so different now than before? The last time, I did it without even thinking, just doodling a bit in the sand.
“You expect magic to be so easy as that?” Mia prodded. There was an expectant tremor in her voice. “You expect it to conform to your Will with just a wave of your hand?”
My Will?
I had heard that word many times. Mia’s Will. Bline’s Will. Even the Will of the Lady of the Dungeon. But never my own. Every magic item. Every spell I had ever cast had been at their behest. It was through them that magic functioned.
When I tried. When I tried to Speak. The Words were individual and monolithic. Huge, monstrous things that would not be moved. It took the Will of a god to even budge them.
I was no god. Just a mortal. My Will was weak.
But I was not trying to Speak now. This was simply one piece of a larger machine. Just one part. But it was the lever. I could do this.
I took another breath and, gritting my teeth, I pulled with everything I had. Out of nowhere, a gust of wind from over the waves plastered my clothes to my body. The chill of it ran up and down my spine, but I ignored it, too intent on my task.
Then my finger moved. Just a fraction of a millimeter. But it moved.
And when it did, a flare of light spilled from beneath my finger.
Mia gasped with excitement. However, when it became clear that no matter how much I pulled or jerked, my finger was not about to budge one iota further, she quickly began to speak. “No… no, no… not with your body! You must hnn… You have to nnn—“
I nodded, understanding anyway. Whatever the reason, she could not instruct me. Only push and prod. Hint. But that was enough.
Not with my body.
This was magic. An expression of Will. Of the mind. I might need to move my finger to scribe the symbol into existence, but that was entirely secondary. I could push all I wanted, but it would avail me nothing.
With an effort, I relaxed. And as I did, the wind seemed to subside as well, as though the very world was exhaling along with me. Within my mind, I summoned that brief flare of light and imagined the burning strokes of that symbol coming into being.
There were five. Five strokes. Five serpentine lines, twisted yet interconnected. One for each goddess. One for each of my fingers. Whether by coincidence or design I did not know, but I felt in my gut that it was a mistake to draw them individually. They needed to be as one.
Five lines… in one stroke. Like a wave of the hand. Wait a minute…
Mia’s clue sent my head spinning as the bizarre geometry of the problem suddenly began to unfold within my mind. If my gut was not entirely out to lunch, this was less a written symbol and more a two-dimensional representation of a hand gesture. Recreating even a reasonable facsimile of it required me to consider pivots and holds, twists and turns, and awkward hand positions. Again and again, I had to discard my progress as one finger would be left in an impossible angle or another would have to pass through the rest. However, eventually I arrived at a solution.
I took another breath, much more confident than before. The air was still this time. As though waiting.
Holding to my solution, I twisted my hand as far as it would go, stretching to find the beginning points of each of the lines. Each time my finger found its place, I felt a new spark. For each spark, I felt my heartbeat grow stronger until it was thudding in my ears.
Then my thumb found the central point.
Mia gasped again. “Yes! Oh, please! Please!”
I ignored her, the entirety of my attention focused on this one task. Like some sort of Jedi, I spread out with my feelings. With them, my hand unwound.
Or it tried to. My fingers were stuck in place.
I focused harder, but nothing happened. It felt like I had just super-glued my hand to Lynnria’s chest. No matter how much I focused, nor what mental gymnastics I attempted, they simply would not move.
What am I doing wrong?
“Come on, Donum!” Mia cheered in a fervent whisper. “You can do this! Work it out…”
Work it out… work it out…
What was Will besides the mind? What was I missing?
Slowly, a vague memory began to resurface. I could not see what it had to do with the present moment at first, but the mind often works in unusual ways. It will associate some moments with others as though assembling a grand tapestry that only it can understand. Sometimes stray sounds will associate with colors. Random scents will become numbers. There are times when I often think the world only exists in metaphor. Or perhaps, only my own understanding of it.
This memory was of a notice I had received from the Lady of Power. …will make your Words more persuasive.
Charisma.
I nodded faintly. The mind could do nothing on its own. It required tools to express itself. I had always known that, but with magic on the table, I had assumed I could simply use the force of my Will to make it work. That was a mistake.
Charisma was the voice… of my Will.
But that left the question… what was I trying to convince? Or who?
Work it out. Work it out… with Lynnria?
I shifted my gaze to her unconscious face. Maybe not. But I could not think of anyone else I could direct my Will toward. Lynnria was to be the recipient of this magic, after all. I had injected my influence into her. But influence—or the mundane kind—needs to be stirred. No matter how inclined a person might be, they must first be convinced of a course of action.
And it might be that whatever power I was trying to harness could glean my intent from listening.
But what to say? I could try to be forceful. Command the magic to work.
I shook my head, dismissing the idea immediately. I had unintentionally given that up during my Boundary trial. In exchange, the Lady had said I was more persuasive, yet I had never seen much difference. But then… I had never tried something like this before.
And with that thought, the final pieces began to click into place. Charisma. My Class. Magic. The Words. The symbol. Persuasion.
I inhaled, drawing the wind into my lungs. I felt as one with it.
“Lynnria.” The word had no force behind it. It was as air. A call into the void. “I am trying to help you. Let it be. Accept your Class.”
My fingers moved.
With them, so came the light. Though there was no heat, it seemed to burn its way through the very fabric of existence, carving itself into Lynnria’s flesh. It was as the sun, blinding me to the gesture my hand was making. Still, I knew the path my fingers took. They scribed the symbol seemingly of their own accord.
Poised. Prepared. And now executed.
Then it was over. With scarcely a flicker, the light winked out. Neither scars nor burns marked the girl’s chest. It was as though I had done nothing at all.
Abruptly, Mia screamed, and the sharp twang of a microphone distorting sounded in my ear. Then there was a thud.
My concentration now completely shattered, and more than a little concerned, I started to ask what the matter was, but then the microphone calmed down enough to pick up the sounds of her shouting with jubilation somewhere in the distance.
“He did it! He did it! I knew it! Ha ha ha! What a fool we—“
The mic clicked off.
My head jerked back, and I was left blinking in confusion. But before I could think about whatever that had been about, an exasperated sigh sounded from my arms.
“Donum, are you going to kiss me awake or not?”
I glanced down to find Lynnria looking at me with an expression torn somewhere between disappointment, impatience, and expectation. And despite the face she was making, the shade of pink coloring her cheeks was absolutely adorable.
Seleroan Do you find yourself with a little extra cash and a sudden need to read advanced chapters? Well, then look no further! My Patreon might be just the ticket ;)
“You’re sure?”
Lynnria dipped her head to one side. “What choice do I have?”
I stared at her incredulously for a moment before pointing to the ground. “You… you could stay here.”
That was what a sane person would have done. But I never seemed to meet any of those.
“But my grandfather…”
My head wobbled somewhere around a yeah-but. “I’m sure he would be more upset you decided to risk your life just to see him one last time. I mean, he’s lived his life already, right? There’s no need to risk yours.”
Obviously, I had never met the man, but that was the kind of thing I would expect an old warrior to say from watching movies. Any time some reckless young buck would do something heroic yet stupid, the older generation would have to sit them down and give them the ‘what were you thinking’ speech. They never listened, of course.
But then the movie would be over, so…
“That doesn’t sound anything like my grandfather,” she replied, crossing her arms.
I threw my hands up in disgust. Mostly because my ploy to leave her behind was working about as well as a water balloon against a brick wall. “Fine. Whenever you’re ready.”
“Now, I guess,” she said, holding out her arm. “It just sucks I can’t pick a Class. You’re sure your Mia can’t affect this at all?”
“Suck it, you trout-faced fuck-whale!”
My face barely twitched. Somehow. “She says no.”
Lynnria made a sound of disappointment. “Okay, and you’re sure you don’t know what—“
“No, no! Stop!” I said hastily before grabbing her arm. “No more questions, please. And besides, the answer is the same as before. Neither of us have any idea what sort of secondary effects this might have. Now, just… just hold on a second.”
I took a calming breath to compose myself. I could not believe I was about to do this…
—about five minutes earlier—
“Alright, here’s… here’s the situation, Donum,” Mia panted. She was a little out of breath still from my having to re-ascend the cliff. “In order for me to awaken this girl, I will need influence over her. Or more specifically, you will.”
“And that would be because…”
“I am only a Faen, sweet mortal. I have lost the divine ability to intrude uninvited, and as I belong to you, it is you who must procure that invitation,” she explained. “Or put another way, I am casting a spell on your behalf, and thus, the normal restrictions on your abilities apply.”
“Ah.”
That made sense—though I did not like this whole ‘belonging to me’ business. Mia might have been a permanent resident of my own head, but that did not give me ownership of her. Probably. I was not altogether certain how the usual logic should be applied to a situation like this.
“So, Lynnria has to accept my influence first.”
The purple-haired laoi took half a step back before firming her jaw. I cast a sympathetic glance at her then turned away. Mia was not quite finished.
“Well…” She seemed hesitant on this. “This isn’t going to be a normal sort of spell. You’re going to need… quite a lot of influence.”
My face went stony. “Mia…”
“Now, hold on,” she said hastily. “I know you’ve been trying to avoid that, but I have a solution which… I think you would find acceptable.”
I quirked an eyebrow. That seemed unlikely, but I might as well hear her out. “I’m listening.”
“Obviously casting at her all day would be a tremendous waste of time and energy—“
“Not what I’m concerned about.”
“—and the best way, namely sex—“
“Out of the question.”
“—is… out of the question. As I thought.” She sighed regretfully. “You and your sensibilities. In that case, you’re going to have to bite her.”
My eyes unfocused for a moment in surprise. “Excuse me?”
Mia made a grunting sound as though she was fighting to hold herself back. “Semen! Semen pile! Oh, drat. Where was I?” She sighed, but before I could answer she remembered. “Ah, yes. You need a quick way of building up a lot of influence within her blood, and since you are so unwilling to do this properly, biting her should be a decent enough workaround.”
“But why would—” I paused. I had just remembered something.
Back when Arx was not Arx, she and Jax had a bit of a territorial scuffle which had resulted in some of Arx’s blood being spilled. And Jax had claimed she could smell me in it. No one had an explanation for it at the time, but going from what Mia was saying, my influence would have to be some sort of… detectable substance.
That was the only way I could make sense of it, anyway. Though how influence was supposed to be dissolved into my saliva was beyond me. Then again, I was a wizard with a couple of semi-immortal girlfriends, so… maybe I was thinking about it a little too hard.
“Couldn’t I just kiss her, though?” I asked stubbornly. I mean… yeah, I was trying to avoid that too, but it was way better than biting the girl.
There was a bit of a squeak from behind me, but before I could look, Mia continued, “That would… hnn—choke on a dick biscuit—work eventually, but… well, how many hours do you want to put into this?”
“Preferably zero.”
“Mhmm. You’ll have to bite her then.”
I sighed. “And I’m assuming I’ll have to draw blood.”
There was another squeak, though this one was decidedly more strangled.
“Correct. And if you heal her after, that will help solidify your hold.”
I nodded absently. I would have done that anyway, but the way she said it, you would think I was deliberately trying to corrupt this girl.
Turning back to Lynnria, I was in the middle of mumbled out a half-formed thought, “…some kind of werewolf?” However, when I focused on her, I found Lynnria trembling like a leaf and blushing bright enough to read by.
“I don’t know what sort of mating rituals your kind get up to, sir,” she informed me, “but we of the laoi do not make a habit of drawing any sort of blood nor wearing wolves!”
—present—
“Just make it quick,” Lynnria said impatiently. “I’m no stranger to injury, Donum.”
I nodded. I knew that. Intellectually, at least. As a game-ball player and with the extensive martial training she claimed to have, she would have to be quite used to it. It is just a shame that intellectualisms do not help much when it comes to squeamishness.
However, there comes a point where you simply have to set aside your misgivings and step forward. So I did.
And having no desire to relive that particular experience, I will leave my end of things at that.
As for Lynnria, she managed to restrain herself to a short gasp of pain. At least at first. While I was furiously working to get the taste out of my mouth, she began to subtly twitch and jerk, and slowly, little barely-restrained squeals of anguish started escaping her throat.
Concerned, I glanced up to find her hunched over the bite with her face contorted into an expression of absolute agony. “Lynnria? What—?”
“She’s fighting it, Donum,” Mia cut in urgently. “She must accept it, or this will never work.”
I gave a curt nod before reaching forward to take her by the shoulders. “Lynnria, if you want this, you’re going to have to let go. You can’t fight it.”
“But… how?” she wailed. “I—I can feel it crawling up my arm. It… it burns!”
“I don’t know!” I yelled, a little panicky. “It’s not like I’ve ever—“
“Kiss her,” Mia commanded, cutting me off.
“What?! But you said—“
“Do it!” she shouted. “The time for fuck-nuggets—for thinking is over. Kiss her now!”
And so I did.
It was a stiff sort of thing. Lynnria was hardly the least attractive girl I had ever crossed lips with—Jax had not always been the smoking bomb-shell she was now—but neither of us really knew one another. And for reasons I should not need to reiterate, I was distinctly uncomfortable with the whole thing.
So I ended it rather quickly.
However, when our eyes finally met once more, I found her demeanor entirely changed. She had gone utterly still and was staring at me wide-eyed, her pupils fully dilated and her lips gaped ever so slightly while she worked to control her breathing.
“Are you… alright now?” I asked cautiously.
She nodded slowly, once.
“No more pain?”
Her head drifted from side to side, though her eyes never left mine.
“Good. Your influence is taking hold quickly,” Mia assured me.
“Mia, what—”
“I don’t know,” she said, forestalling me. “Your Class… it’s… well, I’m working off of theory at this point. But this… should work. Now repeat after me.”
“Okay.” I was still pretty weirded out, but at least Lynnria was no longer crying in pain.
“Fatespear Lynnria…”
“Fatespear Lynnria…”
Lynnria blinked finally. “H-how did you know my…?”
“I didn’t,“ I began, intuiting the rest of her question. “Mia told—“
“…do you accept betrothal into the Donum Clan?”
I grunted at the interruption, but Mia was right: we were sort of in the middle of something.
“Do you accept betro—wait, what?”
“Say it, nipple wagon!”
“Do you accept betrothal into the Donum Clan?” I said hurriedly. Ugh… The lilim are going to kill me for this. Or her. Probably her.
Lynnria frowned. “But… that isn’t how it works. You should be joining my Clan, not… not…” Her lips pulled back into a grimace.
“She’s fighting it again,” Mia informed me unnecessarily.
I sighed before very gently cupping Lynnria by the chin. “Look, I realize this is… unorthodox. To say the least. If you want to stop—“
Before I could get another word out, Lynnria surged forward and practically crushed my lips to her own. She was inexperienced and forceful. But her lips were no less soft. Her delicate mewls of delight no less pleasant. And through it, her kiss began to speak to me.
Not in words. But in understanding.
Her excuses and her pleas were just that. Excuses. Subterfuge. She might very well have wanted to see her grandfather again. She might have even been concerned for his welfare. But more than anything, she was searching for any sort of justification to follow me.
She wanted me. She had decided on it from the very moment she had lain eyes on me and had been casting about for something… anything to achieve that goal. But she did not know how. She had even pretended to be aloof and coy for fear of scaring me off, ruining her chances.
It was an adolescent and almost bizarrely… male attitude. To me anyway.
Stranger still, I had no idea how I could know any of that. It was almost instinctual. As if I could read her unconscious mind through the medium of her lips. Or perhaps, there was a trace of lilim in me as well.
Eventually, she let me go, and from her heaving chest, it was only by sheerest necessity. “By the Three, you’re gorgeous!”
I cleared my throat, embarrassed to say the least. “I… take it you accept, then?”
She nodded absently even as her hands began exploring my body. “Yes, anything. Just let me keep kissing you.”
“Uh…”
“Good enough,” Mia said, chuckling knowingly. “I did warn you about these laoi women, didn’t I? Now, ask her to accept me as the Bearer of her Power.”
I swallowed. That had been the eventual goal of this whole endeavor, but I had a feeling it was hardly necessary. From the way she was groping me, I was pretty sure Lynnria would agree to let me jab a hot poker up her ass as long as I did not stop her.
At least until she saw the poker.
So with that in mind—and despite every cell in my body screaming at me not to—I delivered a sharp slap across her face.
There was a moment of stunned silence. Though, it took me a few more to realize I was far more shocked at myself than she was. I had been conditioned from a very early age never to strike a woman, but something about this whole situation was telling me that not only had she been expecting this, she was actually surprised I had let her get as far as she had.
“I—I’m sorry, Donum!” she stammered. “Please… please forgive me. I… you’re just so beautiful, I couldn’t help it, and… and then you asked me to betroth to your Clan. I—I—!”
“Okay, stop,” I said forcefully.
And she did. She actually looked terrified.
“Clearly you’ve not been entirely truthful with me—“
“What?! No, I—“
I bopped her gently on the nose. “You’ll find that lies will not carry you far in my Clan,” I informed her. “As long as you were actually serious about joining it?”
“You mean… you’re not rejecting me?” she asked hopefully. But then she straightened. “Or that is… well, it’s all very unusual, you know. That isn’t…” She cleared her throat, then for a moment, she allowed her eyes to rove my body again. “Yes, I… I suppose I could make that concession.”
I quirked an eyebrow. This was not at all how I had expected this encounter to go. I was not certain what I had been expecting, but it was not this. I mean, I was quite used to a little feminine aggression. My lilim served that up in spades, but this felt different. It was like my world had just been flipped upside down.
And I was not yet sure whether I liked it.
“How kind of you,” I intoned. “Now, for the rest, Mia has informed me that you must accept her as the Bearer of your Power.”
“And then I’ll get a Class?”
I started to nod, but of course Mia immediately shouted, “Suck my dick!”
I smirked. “You don’t have a dick.”
“What?” Lynnria looked scandalized. “Why would I need a dick?! Donum, exactly what kind of ritual is this?”
“How would you know?” Mia replied, totally ignoring the outside conversation. “This is one gown you’ve never seen up, o’ beautiful mage.”
I snorted before turning slightly away from Lynnria and lowering my voice. “Okay, fine. I hope you don’t have a dick.”
“Really?” She drew the word out like it was some sort of juicy gossip. “Oh, do please tell me what it is you hope is there.”
“Donum,” Lynnria cut in, apparently having put two and two together. “Are you quite certain this Mia of yours is a… what did you call it? An iteration of the Lady? She seems to divert your attention in very strange ways.”
“As if she knows how we—Whore! Cunt waffle! Bitch!—how the Lady speaks.”
I cleared my throat awkwardly. “Pretty sure. Like… ninety percent? Maybe eighty.”
“Hey!”
“Anyway, do you accept?” I pushed on.
“As long as I don’t wind up with a penis…?”
I gave a somewhat hesitant nod. I could not claim that sort of thing was completely off the table—what with Jax and all—but going from the trends I had seen with my abilities, it did not seem likely. Rather the opposite.
“Good. I wouldn’t want to become some mannish weakling,” she mumbled with relief before glancing back at me. “No offense.”
I just stared at her. I had no idea how to respond to that.
“Oh,” Lynnria said after a moment, apparently misinterpreting my reaction. “Yes, of course. I accept.”
“Finally!” Mia grumbled. “Now if you’ll just heal her, I’ll get on with it.”
“Oh, right.”
The conversation had gotten so chaotic, I had sort of forgotten about that part, but Lynnria’s wrist was still bleeding from the circular teeth marks I had pressed there. Now that the pain had subsided, she seemed to have forgotten about it as well, because the blood was dripping unheeded down her pant leg.
“Geez, Lynnria,” I said, grabbing up her wrist. “At least hold the wound away from yourself. You’re making a mess.”
She favored me with a smirk. “You’re cute when you worry at me.”
“Cute?” I snorted. “I don’t think I’ve ever been called cute before.”
“Best get used to it then,” she returned brazenly, “because I’m quite enjoying seeing my newly betrothed in an embarrassed huff.”
My mouth twitched. This whole thing was moving a little fast for my taste, but before I could say anything, the sound of a faint gasp came from behind one of the palms. As one, we turned to see one of the younger children running off into the distance.
“Nosy brats,” Lynnria grumbled before sighing with resignation. “Well, I suppose there was no use keeping it a secret. This sort of thing has a tendency to come out. No matter.” She turned to me reassuringly. “I will make certain your reputation remains intact.”
“My repu—?“ I shook my head. “Whatever. Let me heal this, and we’ll be on our way.”
“You’re a healer, too!?” she enthused. “Three preserve. You should have said so in the first place. Never mind your looks and the immortality business, that alone would account for your mates.” She sighed happily. “Good. I was beginning to feel decidedly unfeminine at the idea of having to share you.”
I stared at her for a moment before allowing a confused but accepting grunt to escape my lungs. That last sentence had thrown me at first, but it had also clued me in to what had been bothering me about this whole encounter. Laoi women were the dominant sex of their kind. And now that she had gotten over her initial awkwardness, Lynnria was treating me like some kind of… conquest.
Funny that I never got that impression from Jax. She had always been gruff, and as a former Bandit, I knew she had gotten up to some decidedly unsavory activities. However, even when she had transitioned, she had never treated me as anything other than a man… or my impression of how a man should be. But maybe that was just an artifact of the laoi race’s natural predispositions.
In any case, now that I understood what was going on, I felt comfortable enough to let it ride. Besides, it might be fun to be actively pursued.
At least until we rescued the lilim…
…and speaking of fireworks, I still had a spell to cast.
*****
My stomach gurgled.
I glanced down at it in annoyance. We both knew I was running low on Life Energy. Again. There was no need for the theatrics.
But that was why I was now impatiently circumnavigating the island’s beach in search of the door. I needed to find the way out of here and back to my lilim before I shriveled up like a prune.
Unfortunately, that process was proving more difficult than I had anticipated. Sure enough, the current must have taken me quite a bit further around the side of the island than I had thought, because my search had thus far remained fruitless.
I was just afraid I had missed it altogether. Seeing an island on the horizon was one thing, but finding a simple doorway hovering in the air from the same distance was about as easy as falling up a flight of stairs. Which was to say I was using magic to cheat.
But even with my highlight spell, I had yet to spot the blasted thing.
“Will you stop swearing?!” Lynnria yelled from behind me.
I smirked. After healing the girl—for which she was extremely thankful I might add—Mia had somehow been able to hop over into the young laoi’s mind and begun the process of her awakening. And though that had yet to come to full fruition, it was apparently enough to get Lynnria out of the kiddie-zone. Ever since then, the two of them had been discussing… or perhaps arguing would be the better word… about the eventual outcome.
Obviously, I was only getting the one side of it, but from what I gathered, Lynnria was getting extremely frustrated. We had already explained that she would not be able to pick a Class, but she must have assumed Mia would be able influence things in some way. She clearly wanted to at least end up with a martial Class and was becoming increasingly irate at the possibility of even that not going her way.
And that she had yet to figure out Mia’s tic was not helping matters.
“My grandfather has told me many times that… But I’ve been training!” Lynnria made a disgusted sound. “Are you insane? I’m already betrothed. After all that, I am not—Mia that is absolutely filthy! How would I even—?” There was a lapse of silence. “Well, okay. You are right about that. Heh.”
A bit of a chill ran up my spine. I had a strange feeling that the topic of their conversation had drifted to more personal matters. But I was not about to ask. I was too busy enjoying being alone in my own head for once.
It was peaceful.
“Alright, fine! I’ll stop distracting you. Bloody useless…” Lynnria grumbled inaudibly for a few moments while she scurried to catch up. “What exactly is this spell for, Donum? Not that I’m complaining. That heal of yours is… intense. But I can’t work out what the point of creating a glowing edge about things is supposed to accomplish.”
I made a sound deep in my throat. Peace was ever a short-lived dove. “It works a lot better at night.”
“Does it?” she replied absently. “Mmm… I suppose it would now that you mention it.”
I paused my scan of the horizon to glance back at her just in time to catch her eyes jumping up to mine guiltily. I quirked an eyebrow. “Something catch your interest?”
Her cheeks darkened slightly but, rather than answer, she glanced out to the ocean. “What is that?”
I followed her pointed finger. For a moment, I thought she was referring to a distant flock of birds passing by, but then I noticed that one of them was holding oddly still. “Uh huh. That would be the door, alright. Good eye.”
“I told you I’d been training,” she replied smugly. “I have achieved Lesser Competent with most of the basics, including Visual Acuity.”
I nodded, somewhat impressed. That was somewhere in the 40’s skill-wise. I had several that high and higher, but most of them—like Driving and Computer Use—were entirely useless on this world. And any related to physical activity were not worth mentioning… though I was getting pretty decent at Walking.
“I don’t suppose all this training of yours has led you to achieve ridiculous leaps out of the water?” I asked, though I already had a pretty good idea of the answer. I was mostly just talking while I thought. I could only cast levitate on the one person at a time, after all, and there were a lot of variables to consider for getting us both out and up there. “Say half a dozen cubits or so?”
She looked at me askance. “Without a skill specifically for it, you’d have to be well into Grandmastery to pull off something like that. As it is… well, I’m a decent swimmer, but that looks like a terribly long way. Especially with this surf.”
On cue, a smallish wave wrapped around my ankles. “Yes, it was.”
“You swam all the way from there?!” Lynnria shot me a considering look. “You shouldn’t need so much Toughness as that as a spell caster.”
I snorted. “You and I must have very different ideas about what a spell caster needs. I can assure you we very much do. Myself especially. A lot of my spells require Life Energy to function.”
That and I had a goddess waiting on the wings for me to beef myself up so I would not experience a sudden onset of death by snu-snu. But I was not about to tell that to Lynnria. There is only so much complication I could deal with on any given day.
“Life Energy? But that’s crazy! None of my—“ She stopped. “Well, none of the mages I know ever needed something so severe. They all used sacrificial media to fuel their spells. Incense and candles and… things like that.”
Hmm… There was something there, but for the time being, I saw no need to pry. I certainly had my own secrets, after all. She had a right to her own.
“Sounds cumbersome,” I murmured.
Though in truth, it also sounded extremely familiar. D&D technically used something quite similar in the form of spell-casting components. However, I had never once been party to a game that ever bothered to enforce that mechanic. Most of the people I knew could barely keep the grappling rules straight, never mind worrying about their encumbrance, how many arrows they had left, or remembering to keep a store of bat guano, miscellaneous gemstones, and all the other crap spells required.
“Most of them use servants,” she replied off-hand. “Still… you must run in very strange circles. I thought sacrificial media to be more common.”
“Well, if I’m honest, I’ve only met one other person who could cast spells, and hers were fueled by… well, laughter.” Arx had used a great deal more than that, but again… there was no need to complicate things.
Lynnria blinked. “I must admit, I’ve never heard of a mage like that. I’d never even considered it.” Then she chuckled. “That actually might be a bit fwah—“
Mid-sentence, her eyes crossed, and she fainted dead away. I did not even think to catch her. I was too surprised.
“Huh… how about that,” Mia said abruptly.
“I take it that wasn’t supposed to happen,” I said. Then a moment later, I decided I should probably pull the girl’s face out of the sand. “Also, welcome back.”
“You know yours is the only head for me, good mage.” She chuckled. “Where else would I hang my curtains?”
I paused in brushing loose debris from Lynnria’s face. Curtains? But then I shrugged it off. It was not worth the swearing.
“And no, it shouldn’t have,” she continued. “Or… hmm. To be honest, we—the Lady has long held the habit of awakening the kinds in their sleep.”
“How else would you do it?”
“Exactly, anus barnacle!” she replied without missing a beat. “Anyway, it has been such a long time, I have totally forgotten why that is.”
“I think we may have found one,” I said dryly. “Although, I wasn’t asleep when I got my Class.”
“Really?” Mia mused thoughtfully. “Donum, would you mind terribly if I were to ask you to describe that experience sometime? As an alien, I mean. I think it might be helpful in figuring out what some of the things in here are supposed to do.”
I went silent for a moment. The last time this topic had been broached, Bline had pulled some sort of glowing thing out of my head, and I had passed out. I still had no idea what that had been about. And I had a feeling that Mia would be a bit… reticent in discussing it.
“I suppose I could,” I agreed slowly. “And I might mention that it would be very helpful to me were you to describe it from your end of things as well.”
“I cannot see how,” she replied. Then somewhat aloofly, she continued, “But I would be inclined to accommodate you, were… we able.”
Interesting answer.
So neither she nor Bline could talk about it. But was that because they were being prevented? Was there some rule in place that forbade it? Or was it simply because they could not remember for some reason. And if so, why not? Were even their heads being screwed with? Or were they simply not there in the first place…?
Maybe they weren’t the one’s who awakened me.
“Mia, could other goddesses besides Bline awaken a mortal?”
“Choke on a scrote!”
I nodded. I did not actually need an answer.
Mia might well have been a part of the goddess responsible for that sort of thing, but she was not in fact a goddess. Not anymore. And here she was doing just that. So clearly divinity was not a requirement.
But what was the requirement?
About then, Mia made a disgusted sound. “Ugh! Idiot. Of course. I can’t believe I forgot… Donum, would you be a dear and draw that symbol on Lynnria’s chest?”
I cast about for a moment in trying to think of what she might have been referring to. “Wait… you’re not talking about the one that—“
“Yes, yes,” she interrupted quickly. “The one that explodes if given no context.”
I blinked a few times. That emphasis had been quite deliberate.
And as I knelt there, staring at Lynnria’s unconscious form, I slowly began to have a suspicion. That perhaps this situation had not been as unintentional as Mia had led me to believe. After all, what were the odds that she—a former goddess—could have forgotten a key component of what I had no doubt was an extremely complex spell, and that component just happened to be a symbol that I knew… by sheerest accident?
“Mia…” I began, more than a little suspicious.
“Yes,” she whispered excitedly. “Very good, boy. Now show me that this has not been a wasted effort.”
I frowned. “This won’t hurt her?”
“Don’t be mong rat! Don’t be foolish,” she admonished me. “I have not forgotten why we are here. You still need the girl. I would not toy with her life.”
I nodded, mollified. Slowly, I reached forward to scribe the symbol with my finger, but before my finger could make contact, Mia called out, “Wait.”
I froze.
“What is your intent?”
“To… give her a Class,” I replied, a little lost.
“What Class?”
“I thought you said—“
“Yes, yes… and that was true. This probably won’t affect anything. But if it could, what Class would you give her?”
“Some kind of… martial Class, I guess,” I answered. “That’s what she wanted.”
“Are you certain?”
“Well… no. Not totally. I’m no mind reader. But that’s what she said.”
“What she said and what she wants are not necessarily the same thing,” Mia replied enigmatically. “What she wants is power. But power of a different sort.”
“That is… not very helpful, Mia.”
She chuckled. “Naturally. After all, you also lack context. But consider the matter from a different angle. What Class would you want her to have?”
“Mia…”
“Only hypothetically,” she said quickly. “But you are the head of your Clan. You have certain obligations. It would be shortsighted to only think of this girl’s wants. A good leader would compromise. How could you use this girl? And satisfy her needs? After all, by your own admission, you are an alien. Surely you could think of something she has never heard of. Something creative. Something interesting. Something… different.”
“Well…” I began, thinking aloud. “Since we’re talking hypothetically.”
“Of course.”
“Then I would want to give her something that would not put all her training to waste. I know that would piss me off, were I her. But…”
“Go on.”
“Arx is a Siren… which is kind of like a bard I guess, and Jax is a shadow warrior. Then there’s me, the support mage. So the thing I’d say our party is most lacking is some kind of offensive spell caster. Or at the very least, a person who can affect groups.”
“A quandary. The very thing you need is that which she is apparently most against. What to do?”
I sighed. I was pretty sure Mia could tell me exactly what I should do, but for her own reasons, she was testing me. Or perhaps teaching me. It was hard to say.
But the answer was not as easy for me to guess at as one might think. Even as an ‘alien.’ I mean… I could think of a lot of things that would suit our needs and would no doubt absolutely thrill Lynnria. Like… some kind of Rambo-type Class? Dual-wielding machine guns and shooting explosive arrows?
However, I knew—because it was one of the first questions I had asked on arriving—guns were not a thing on this world. And I was pretty sure that the ability to summon grenades or, Watcher forbid, nukes would be similarly out of the question. Besides, that sort of thing would only be confusing for the girl. I needed to restrain myself to something this world would find acceptable.
Okay then, so some kind of… sword-mage? I frowned. As tropes went it was more than overdone. But it was popular for a reason. There was a certain romance to wielding a blade while casting fireballs all over the place. And if I could not do it, I could at least live out my fantasy vicariously through Lynnria.
Then again, I had never heard of anyone with that kind of combo since coming here. And I could well imagine why. Spells were freaking hard! I could scarcely imagine trying to do that while swinging a sword around.
Hmm… how would that work anyway? Some kind of… non-verbal thing?
Slowly, an idea began to percolate in my brain. It was probably a silly idea, but it if worked…
“Okay, I think I’m ready,” I announced.
“Good. Hold to that thought and begin. I still doubt this will do anything, but… well never mind. Go on,” she prompted.
I took a breath and held it for a few moments while I tried to assemble a mental image of what this Class would do. Then I reached forward to place the tip of my middle finger just at the top of her sternum.
The instant I made contact with her flesh, I felt a faint spark. It was like I could feel the nuts and bolts of the spell Mia had woven within her, and… somehow my finger and the symbol I was poised to inscribe was the crank meant to set the whole of it working. I had no idea whether that metaphor was in any way apt, but the resistance I felt there was palpable.
My finger simply would not move. The symbol itself was pushing me away, refusing to… exist.
Why? What is so different now than before? The last time, I did it without even thinking, just doodling a bit in the sand.
“You expect magic to be so easy as that?” Mia prodded. There was an expectant tremor in her voice. “You expect it to conform to your Will with just a wave of your hand?”
My Will?
I had heard that word many times. Mia’s Will. Bline’s Will. Even the Will of the Lady of the Dungeon. But never my own. Every magic item. Every spell I had ever cast had been at their behest. It was through them that magic functioned.
When I tried. When I tried to Speak. The Words were individual and monolithic. Huge, monstrous things that would not be moved. It took the Will of a god to even budge them.
I was no god. Just a mortal. My Will was weak.
But I was not trying to Speak now. This was simply one piece of a larger machine. Just one part. But it was the lever. I could do this.
I took another breath and, gritting my teeth, I pulled with everything I had. Out of nowhere, a gust of wind from over the waves plastered my clothes to my body. The chill of it ran up and down my spine, but I ignored it, too intent on my task.
Then my finger moved. Just a fraction of a millimeter. But it moved.
And when it did, a flare of light spilled from beneath my finger.
Mia gasped with excitement. However, when it became clear that no matter how much I pulled or jerked, my finger was not about to budge one iota further, she quickly began to speak. “No… no, no… not with your body! You must hnn… You have to nnn—“
I nodded, understanding anyway. Whatever the reason, she could not instruct me. Only push and prod. Hint. But that was enough.
Not with my body.
This was magic. An expression of Will. Of the mind. I might need to move my finger to scribe the symbol into existence, but that was entirely secondary. I could push all I wanted, but it would avail me nothing.
With an effort, I relaxed. And as I did, the wind seemed to subside as well, as though the very world was exhaling along with me. Within my mind, I summoned that brief flare of light and imagined the burning strokes of that symbol coming into being.
There were five. Five strokes. Five serpentine lines, twisted yet interconnected. One for each goddess. One for each of my fingers. Whether by coincidence or design I did not know, but I felt in my gut that it was a mistake to draw them individually. They needed to be as one.
Five lines… in one stroke. Like a wave of the hand. Wait a minute…
Mia’s clue sent my head spinning as the bizarre geometry of the problem suddenly began to unfold within my mind. If my gut was not entirely out to lunch, this was less a written symbol and more a two-dimensional representation of a hand gesture. Recreating even a reasonable facsimile of it required me to consider pivots and holds, twists and turns, and awkward hand positions. Again and again, I had to discard my progress as one finger would be left in an impossible angle or another would have to pass through the rest. However, eventually I arrived at a solution.
I took another breath, much more confident than before. The air was still this time. As though waiting.
Holding to my solution, I twisted my hand as far as it would go, stretching to find the beginning points of each of the lines. Each time my finger found its place, I felt a new spark. For each spark, I felt my heartbeat grow stronger until it was thudding in my ears.
Then my thumb found the central point.
Mia gasped again. “Yes! Oh, please! Please!”
I ignored her, the entirety of my attention focused on this one task. Like some sort of Jedi, I spread out with my feelings. With them, my hand unwound.
Or it tried to. My fingers were stuck in place.
I focused harder, but nothing happened. It felt like I had just super-glued my hand to Lynnria’s chest. No matter how much I focused, nor what mental gymnastics I attempted, they simply would not move.
What am I doing wrong?
“Come on, Donum!” Mia cheered in a fervent whisper. “You can do this! Work it out…”
Work it out… work it out…
What was Will besides the mind? What was I missing?
Slowly, a vague memory began to resurface. I could not see what it had to do with the present moment at first, but the mind often works in unusual ways. It will associate some moments with others as though assembling a grand tapestry that only it can understand. Sometimes stray sounds will associate with colors. Random scents will become numbers. There are times when I often think the world only exists in metaphor. Or perhaps, only my own understanding of it.
This memory was of a notice I had received from the Lady of Power. …will make your Words more persuasive.
Charisma.
I nodded faintly. The mind could do nothing on its own. It required tools to express itself. I had always known that, but with magic on the table, I had assumed I could simply use the force of my Will to make it work. That was a mistake.
Charisma was the voice… of my Will.
But that left the question… what was I trying to convince? Or who?
Work it out. Work it out… with Lynnria?
I shifted my gaze to her unconscious face. Maybe not. But I could not think of anyone else I could direct my Will toward. Lynnria was to be the recipient of this magic, after all. I had injected my influence into her. But influence—or the mundane kind—needs to be stirred. No matter how inclined a person might be, they must first be convinced of a course of action.
And it might be that whatever power I was trying to harness could glean my intent from listening.
But what to say? I could try to be forceful. Command the magic to work.
I shook my head, dismissing the idea immediately. I had unintentionally given that up during my Boundary trial. In exchange, the Lady had said I was more persuasive, yet I had never seen much difference. But then… I had never tried something like this before.
And with that thought, the final pieces began to click into place. Charisma. My Class. Magic. The Words. The symbol. Persuasion.
I inhaled, drawing the wind into my lungs. I felt as one with it.
“Lynnria.” The word had no force behind it. It was as air. A call into the void. “I am trying to help you. Let it be. Accept your Class.”
My fingers moved.
With them, so came the light. Though there was no heat, it seemed to burn its way through the very fabric of existence, carving itself into Lynnria’s flesh. It was as the sun, blinding me to the gesture my hand was making. Still, I knew the path my fingers took. They scribed the symbol seemingly of their own accord.
Poised. Prepared. And now executed.
Then it was over. With scarcely a flicker, the light winked out. Neither scars nor burns marked the girl’s chest. It was as though I had done nothing at all.
Abruptly, Mia screamed, and the sharp twang of a microphone distorting sounded in my ear. Then there was a thud.
My concentration now completely shattered, and more than a little concerned, I started to ask what the matter was, but then the microphone calmed down enough to pick up the sounds of her shouting with jubilation somewhere in the distance.
“He did it! He did it! I knew it! Ha ha ha! What a fool we—“
The mic clicked off.
My head jerked back, and I was left blinking in confusion. But before I could think about whatever that had been about, an exasperated sigh sounded from my arms.
“Donum, are you going to kiss me awake or not?”
I glanced down to find Lynnria looking at me with an expression torn somewhere between disappointment, impatience, and expectation. And despite the face she was making, the shade of pink coloring her cheeks was absolutely adorable.
Seleroan Do you find yourself with a little extra cash and a sudden need to read advanced chapters? Well, then look no further! My Patreon might be just the ticket ;)
