《Spatial Mage : Arrival》


 Ch 1 : Going out with a bang

    <hr>

    Planet Selara, year 1556 on Earth

    Tarkin Dair was walking in his favourite place, the private garden of the king of Ranock.

    Tarkin was not allowed to be here, nor was anyone else but the royal family. However they hardly used it, and no amount of guards could keep a spatial mage out.

    He walked over to the pond and watched the ducks swim around for a moment. I should get them some bread. He thought.

    If anyone had been watching him illegaly walking around in the royal gardens they would have seen him dissapear, reappearing a minute later with a small loaf of bread in his hands.

    He sat at the marble bench along the pond''s edge and tore small chunks of bread from the loaf, tossing them to the ducks.

    Suddenly he stiffened and his eyes rolled up in his head, loaf of bread falling from his hands into the perfectly trimmed grass.

    Tarkin was having another vision.

    A woman is weaving together fronds, sitting in front of a mound of earth with a hole in it, humming an odd tune Tarkin has never heard.

    If Tarkin could have gasped he would have, she is the most beautiful and exotic woman he has ever seen.

    She has jet black hair and slightly slanted eyes, like the missing people of the western island.

    The scene is peaceful but that just makes Tarkin more tense, he knows his visions only end in disaster.

    He wonders what it will be this time, another great flood, fire and ash raining from the sky, or a disaster less natural, like the other three visions he has had, humans slaughtering millions of other humans.

    He gets his answer a moment later.

    The ground begins to shake, the woman drops her fronds and runs into the earthen hovel, and the earth shakes harder.

    The mound collapses burying her in the earth, and the view soars up into the sky. The earth is being torn up everywere, great cracks and rends appearing in the ground.

    Just like all of his other visions he could feel the number of lives being lost, hundreds of thousands.

    He started to weep for the people he doesn''t know and finally it ended, returning him to his bench in the garden.

    Tarkin clenched his fists, two visions in two weeks, he was going to make the elders see sense. He was going to demand they let him attempt to shift to these other worlds to try and save these people.

    Tarken stood from the bench and dissapeared, reappearing in his room in the temple. He rushed out the door and down the hall, out through the courtyard and into the hall of elders.

    The double doors slammed open banging against the wall causing all six elders, three female and three male, to look up at Tarkin''s rude and abrupt entrance.

    Luckily they had no one seeking their council at the moment, but even if they did Tarkin would''ve demanded their attention immediately.

    "I had another vision, this time I''m going whether you approve or not. I hope you can see sense and send people to the other places my visions have shown us." Tarkin said angrily.

    The elders didn''t look at each other, they didn''t need to. Elder Maron''s passive magic was telepathy which the elders used to commune with each other, as well as share Tarkin''s visions.

    Tarkin waited for them to come to a decision with his hands clenched into fists at his sides, righteous anger burning in his chest.

    "I have shown the others the vision I just saw in your mind child." Elder Maron finally said.

    "We have decided, we will send one man to each world you have seen in a vison."

    "But I beg you not to go yourself, there is no way of knowing if you can shift all the way there, or if you would be able to come back. We cannot risk your gift on such a mission."

    Tarkin pictured the exotic woman he had seen in his last vision, imagined himself rescuing her and how grateful she may be, and Tarkin vanished.

    <hr>

    Planet Earth, Ming Dynasty, year 1556

    Tarkin appeared in front of the earthen cave he had seen in his vision. It had been midday when he had left his world, but here in this strange land it was night.

    Only one moon was in the sky, a tiny sliver of a thing. Tarkin thought it didn''t compare at all to Oros and Zara the twin moons of Selara, but it was many times as bright.

    Even the stars were brighter here, and far more numerous, they lit up the sky in no discernible patterns, nothing like the purposefully placed stars from his home that wrote their stories across the sky.

    The woman was missing, probably sleeping in her cave-home he guessed, although that was lucky for Tarkin.

    He probably couldn''t speak the same language as her after all, and he wanted to make a good first impression.

    I''ll go find some locals and learn the language, but first I should probably report back to the elders so they know I''m safe. Tarkin thought, and tried to shift back to his room.

    He pictured his room, spatial mages had to shift into their own rooms in the temple in order to avoid teleporting inside of each other, but nothing happened.

    He held up his right hand, fear tearing through his mind, and to his absolute horror his spatial mark was gone.

    He held up his left hand, expecting his great disaster mark to be gone as well, but it was still there. A moment later he wished it had been taken away by this strange world too.

    Tarkin had only seen a total of five great disaster visions in his twenty years of life. Now stranded in a strange world without his spatial mark, he had his third vision in just the past two weeks.

    <hr>

    Planet Earth year 2020

    Christopher Dair sat on the BART with his heart pounding in his chest, hand clenched tightly on the grip of his uncles revolver.

    No coming back from this. I''m going out with a bang. He mused grimly.

    As the BART screeched to a halt and the doors opened he stood on shaky legs.

    He exited the car and walked up the stairs, passing through the turnstiles and walking up yet another set of stairs to the bustling sidewalk of downtown San Francisco.

    The sweltering summer heat of early July on top of his black hoodie sweatshirt made him even more painfully aware than usual of the burns coving most of his body.

    He passed a homeless man with a sign asking for help and paused, turning around and going back. Guess I can''t take it with me. He thought morosely.

    He pulled out his wallet and pinched all the bills between his two least burnt fingers on his right hand, holding them out to the man with the sign sitting on a ratty blanket.

    The homeless man stared at him for a few seconds, likely wondering what had happened to his face to leave him with a flat scar covered mess where his nose should be, no eyebrows and a hideous grimace lacking any lips.

    But realizing he was being given more money than he normally makes in a full week of begging, he hastily snatched it from Chris''s hand and stammered out his thanks.

    Chris continued on his way, not responding to the man''s gratitude. His mind was already back on what he had planned.

    He was going to kill a man named Ryan Tash, the man that had ruined his life.

    <hr>

    Chris took his time walking the few blocks to the address he had memorized, taking in the sights and sounds of San Fran for what might be the last time.

    He sat on a green bench with an advertisement for a real estate lady displayed across the back painted over with some illegible graffiti and a bright red spray painted phallus pointed towards her mouth.

    He had planned on walking right up to the door, knocking and then pulling the trigger, but the location of the bench across the street and two doors down from Ryan''s house was convenient to observe for a bit without looking suspicious.

    Not that he didn''t look suspicious, with his plain black hoodie pulled low over his face even in the extreme summer heat of July.

    He waited until no cars were on the street, no people walking on the sidewalk, and then stood steeling his nerves for what he had already decided to do.

    He crossed the street and walked down the nice stepping stone path through the well maintained yard to the front door.

    Gripping his gun in his sweatshirt pocket with his right hand, he raised his left and knocked loudly three times.

    He waited a minute, glancing around the neighborhood to see if anyone was watching him before he knocked again.

    Finally he heard someone moving in the house and removed his uncle''s revolver from his pocket, holding it out in his trembling hand pointed right at the door.

    The door opened and Chris looked into the eyes of a startled woman in a silken robe with tousled hair.

    Shit he must have a girlfriend over, should I run away? No this is my only chance, the cops will know exactly who showed up here when she reports the burnt freak with the gun.

    He rapidly thought through his options but he didn''t really have any, he had been planning this day for years and wouldn''t give up so easily.

    "If you scream I will shoot you, back up I''m coming in." Chris said quietly, not wanting to alert Ryan to his presence.

    She backed up while holding up her hands and he walked inside, closing the door silently behind himself.

    "I''m not here for you but if you don''t cooperate I''ve got enough bullets for you too." he threatened. "Is Ryan Tash home?"

    The woman didn''t say a thing, pointing to a door at the back of the lavish living room Chris had just barged into.

    Chris pointed his gun at the nice black leather couch across from the massive TV on the wall. "Sit down and be quiet." he whispered.

    The woman backed up and when her legs hit the couch she sat, arms still raised in the air but remarkably calm for someone with a gun pointed in her face just moments before.

    Chris crept slowly across the wide open space of the living room to the door at the back, frequently glancing at the woman on the couch to make sure she hadn''t moved.

    Taking one last deep breath he shoved open the door and looked upon the face of the man he hated more than anyone else, a fat balding man sitting up in bed naked luckily with a sheet covering his lower half.

    He looked like he was well over fifty, but Chris knew he was just fourty-four, he had found out everything he could about the man that ruined his life.

    "Who the fuck are you, where''s Natasha?" Ryan yelled when he saw Chris walk in the door holding out a gun.

    Chris had spent a lot of time thinking of what he wanted to say when he finally got his vengeance, and a few of the lines he had memorized raced through his head.

    But he couldn''t say anything, he was overwhelmed with a profound hatred and anger. Without wasting any more time he pulled the trigger over and over, screaming his anger out to the world.

    The gunshots were deafening in the small room but he still heard the front door slam shut, Natasha running away.

    After the sixth shot the gun was empty but Chris kept pulling the trigger, his screams of rage turning into choked sobs.

    Blood started to run from the holes in Ryans chest and Chis''s anger swiflty changed to fear, he had to get out of here.

    He unlatched the cylinder of his revolver and shook the shells onto the ground, no need to take them with him anymore. Natasha would surely be able to identify him.

    He dug into his jeans pocket to pull out the extra bullets he brought, but his scarred left hand had no feeling in it and he fumbled them dropping some on the ground.

    He got down on his knees and picked them up one at a time, reloading his pistol. Once he loaded six more rounds he snapped it shut and held it up to his head.

    But he couldn''t do it. Not here, I can''t end it here in this asshole''s house. He told himself, but he felt his resolve slipping.

    He pocketed his gun and raced out of the house, back down the street to the BART station.

    <hr>

    Chris sat on the BART, the loudspeaker proclaiming the next stop and some common sense rules of how to behave while on the public transportation.

    He was faced with a choice, one he thought he had already made long ago.It shouldn''t be this hard to end it. He thought, gripping his gun tightly in his pocket.

    If you don''t end it you will go to jail. You think you''re in pain now Chris? Just wait til you''re getting raped in your burnt ass. He told himself grimly.

    He looked up, catching the woman across from him staring at his face. She looked away quickly but he knew. People always stared.

    He didn''t really blame them of course, he would probably stare at a burnt freak too if he was anyone else.

    The doors closed and the car started to move, but it seemed to be vibrating, not just shaking like it normally did. A high pitched humming sound began to drown out the loudspeaker.

    Chris looked around at the other passengers rapidly, but none of them seemed to be concerned. It was only his third or fourth time ever riding the BART so he decided it must be normal.

    Suddenly a sound like metal scraping against metal tore through the air and all the passengers were violently thrown from their seats.

    Chris was thrown to the right and smacked his head againt the pole in the middle of the car.

    Groggily Chris used the pole to pull himself to his feet, his gun had fallen from his pocket and he snatched it up, looking around to see if the other passengers had noticed.

    But he quickly realized he had bigger problems, the BART car was cleanly sheared at the end and he could see tall trees through the hole.

    He looked behind him to the other side of the car and saw the same thing there, except there was also blood.

    Roughly half of a man was lying in the isle cleanly cut from shoulder to crotch, his guts spilt out on the floor.

    That was horrifying to Chris, but not nearly so much as the people in black hooded robes walking calmly towards the cut open car, long dark daggers almost big enough to be shortswords held in their hands.

    He turned back around but now there were two robed men climbing up into the car from the right, also holding huge black knives.

    The other BART passengers, (an elderly white couple to the right of Chris and a trio of twenty something year old black males to the left) were still picking themselves up off the floor from the abrupt stop.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    The cute lady that had been staring at Chris was still in her seat but slammed against the armrest, blood running down her brow.

    "Come quietly and show us your hands!" A feminine voice shouted from the third hooded figure on the right, who hadn''t yet climbed into the car.

    The passengers all raised their hands above their heads the way you do when someone orders you to while carrying a weapon.

    "The backs of your hands." The female cultist shouted, and roiling flames spread across her hands.

    What the fuck? Did she just cast some sort of fire magic?Chris thought in disbelief.

    The two cultists on the right reached the eldery couple who had turned their hands around to show them the backs, and the cultists examined their hands for a second.

    "Master tier healer mark here, should we keep her?" One asked, turning towards the female cultist.

    "No, we can''t sell her anyways or word might get out." The female cultist replied.

    The male cultist examining the old lady''s hands grunted in reply and slashed forward with his knife, opening her throat right before his partner did the same to her husband.

    Chris had seen enough, he looked behind him to see which way had less opposition but there were now six cultists in the car behind him, already slashing at the trio of young black men.

    Chris walked towards the two hooded men in front of him, hands still in the pockets of his sweatshirt to hide his gun.

    He got ten feet away from the pair of cultists to make sure he wouldn''t miss and pulled out his pistol, quickly firing twice into each of their chests.

    At least Uncle Shithead taught me how to shoot. He thought grimly.

    The cultists both slumped to the ground and he ran forward, training his gun on the lady with the flaming hands, who began shrieking incomprehensibly.

    A wall of fire rose over her whole body and blocked her from his sight. He pointed at the center of the flames and pulled the trigger two more times, emptying the chambers.

    He stood still for a second hoping the fire would go out so he could run out of the car and away. The wall of fire died down a few tense seconds later to reveal the woman still standing, fire swirling around her hands.

    He had no bullets left and in desperation threw the gun at her.

    A ball of fire raced away from her hand and intercepted the improvised projectile, melting it into a puddle that splattered onto the floor of the car.

    He stared horrified as she hopped up into the cut open entrance, walking towards him with fury in her eyes.

    She walked right around the pile of molten metal on the ground and all Chris could do was shake, staring at the fire in her hands and thinking about the day he had been burned.

    He heard the BART door slide open behind him and felt a breeze blow in. Fuck why didn''t I think to try the damn door. He thought sadly right before the woman reached him.

    And then her flaming right fist smashed into his face and he blacked out.

    <hr>

    Sophia Reed got out of her last college class for the day and rushed to the BART station, eager to get home to her fiance.

    She boarded the BART and played around on her phone for a few stops trying not to draw anyone''s attention, she hated it when strangers tried to talk to her.

    The doors opened and a few people got off but only one person boarded, wearing a black hoodie sweatshirt in July, and sat directly across the aisle from her.

    Sophia tried not to look at people to avoid conversations but she had to see who was crazy enough to wear a hoodie in this heat.

    She quickly glanced up and back down at her phone and had to do a double take, his whole face was a mass of scar tissue.

    The burned man looked up, catching her staring. She looked away quickly as her cheeks began to burn in guilty embarassment.

    Shit I''d be wearing a hoodie too if I looked like that. She thought, and immediately felt even more guilty.

    The doors closed and the car started to move causing the man who had his head down until now to suddenly look around rapidly between all the people on the BART.

    Well maybe he is crazy after all. She thought.

    And then a sound of screeching metal tore into her ears and she was slammed to the right against the armrest.

    A woman''s voice yelled for everone to show their hands and Sophia complied, dazedly looking towards the voice.

    What she saw defied logic, the car was cut open showing massive trees that couldn''t possibly be growing in San Fran.

    Two black robed figures had climbed up into the car and were walking forward, wicked black knives in hand.

    "The backs of your hands." the woman shouted and fire swirled up around her hands, not seeming to bother her or burn her clothes.

    Sophia watched in horror as one of the robed men roughly grabbed the sweet looking old lady''s hand before asking the fire covered lady a nonsensical question.

    The fire lady gave a negative answer and the robed man slashed his blade across the old lady''s throat, the man next to him doing the same to her husband.

    The scarred man in the hoodie started walking towards the robed men with his hands still in his pockets.

    What is this idiot doing? She thought, watching in horror as he walked towards his own death.

    Suddenly he pulled his right hand out of his pocket, covered in burn scars as well she noted, and fired a handgun twice at each man.

    Sophia turned to look the other way for an escape but six more robed men were advancing towards her over the bodies of three black men.

    She turned to the doors that were right next to her seat and hastily pried them open before jumping down to the ground.

    Two more gunshots rang out behind her and the fire lady screamed, but it didn''t sound like a scream of pain.

    Sophia pumped her legs as fast as she could and didn''t slow down when she reached the trees, racing around their massive trunks.

    She didn''t look back.

    <hr>

    Kira Stell was not having a good day, in fact she was not having a good month.

    Her master had her performing some ridiculously draining summoning ritual on skull after skull after skull.

    She had gone through hundreds of rituals but it had worked not once, and the lack of results was getting to her.

    According to her master these skulls were from the spatial mages entombed within their temple for the last 500 years.

    If anyone other than her master had told her that, she would''ve laughed in their face. No one had successfully looted the temple that she was aware of.

    The journey to get there went through some of the most deadly places in the world, which would be why the reclusive spatial mages teleported out there to build their temple in the first place.

    Her master had explained the purpose of the ritual before leaving to gather another batch of skulls. Supposedly it would summon a descendant of whoevers remains were used.

    What she didn''t understand was how that would be useful, there were no spatial mages left. Even if the ritual managed to bring forth one of their descendants it would just be some non-marked nobody with no magic.

    But she trusted her master in all things, he had saved her after all. And even gave my dear brother a place by his side as well, what a generous master. She thought.

    So she dutifully continued exhausting her magic energy performing ritual after ritual, but they were running out of female slaves to sacrifice far faster than skulls.

    "Three more and then we can take a break." She promised the group, and they all returned to their places.

    Three groups of three cultists stood at the tips of the triangular symbol that had been etched out and then filled in with blood.

    The sacrifice was tied up in the center of the huge slab of black quartz the ritual took place on, an old cracked skull resting on her chest.

    Kira led them in the chant they had recited over nine hundred times, louder and louder until on the ninth repetition Kira shot out a fireball, lighting up the sacrifice and the skull.

    The sacrifice screamed, like they always do, the body smouldered, like it always does, and the skull... crumbled?

    That was new.

    The air seemed to vibrate and shimmer and a humming sound came from all around, then suddenly a hulking metallic rectangle appeared in the middle of the ritual site.

    Kira looked at her brother and most trusted guard at her sides before flicking her hand out to the opening she could see at the end of the long metal rectangle, signaling them to go forward.

    Kira cautiously followed her brother and her guard to the opening. She looked inside and saw multiple people.

    I thought this was just supposed to summon one descendant of a spatial mage. She thought.

    "Come quietly and show us your hands!" She shouted as her two companions climbed up into the weird metal box.

    None of the people in the box looked threatening but they all held their hands up with the palms pointed directly at her, which normally signified a threat from a mage.

    "The backs of your hands." She shouted, bringing fire into her hands in case the unkown people tried anything.

    But the two people closest to her side of the box complied immediately, flipping their hands around and allowing her brother and her guard to examine them.

    "Master tier healer mark here, should we keep her?", her brother asked, looking back at her.

    "No, we can''t sell her anyways or word might get out." She replied.

    Her brother and her guard each slit one of their throats. Must not be spatial mages then. She thought.

    A man in a strange black hooded jacket walked forward, his hands in the pockets at the front of his weird clothing.

    Suddenly he removed his right hand from the pocket and a series of loud bangs emerged from the end of some odd metal rod.

    Her brother and guard both dropped to the ground, and Kira shrieked in rage and loss before hastily throwing up a wall of flames to protect herself.

    Two more loud bangs sounded out but nothing came through her wall of fire. She waited a few seconds and then recalled the flames.

    The man threw his metal object out towards her and she instantly launched her prepared fireball, intercepting whatever it was in midair and melting it into a puddle.

    She jumped up into the box and raced towards him while he just stood there shaking in his boots, right up until her flaming first connected with his face.

    Kira looked across the box and saw the other six members of her group stepping over three fresh corpses, strange humans with dark skin.

    Must be from across The Endless Deep. She thought.

    Kira knelt down and examined the right hand of the man who''s face she had just caved in.

    Her breath caught in her throat, he had the mark of a spatial mage. She didn''t know enough about it to tell what tier it was but she was certain.

    She hastily pulled the collar out of her robe pocket and snapped it around his neck before looking up at the closest man to her.

    "Jonas run to the house as fast as you can, bring Mara before this boy dies." She said in an excited rush, momentarily forgetting her brother had just died.

    "You mean he''s actually a spatial mage?" Jonas asked skeptically, walking forward to check his hand for himself.

    "Don''t question me filth." Kira snapped, "Go now quickly, if he dies Master will kill us all."

    <hr>

    Water splashed across Chris''s face and he was jolted back into consciousness.

    He was in a cell on a straw mattress, and could feel a tight collar around his neck.

    The guard that had just thrown a bucket of water in his face was walking off with the empty bucket in his hand, not sparing him another glance.

    The woman with the flaming fists however was glaring down at him, though her hands were thankfully not on fire anymore.

    He could practically see and feel an aura of anger radiating off of her.

    "One of the men you just murdered was my brother." She said icilly. Chris gulped.

    "I was going to have you healed and then torture you, and then heal you and then torture you, for a few weeks untill I got bored, and then kill you. But since you''re the spatial mage, I''ll have a lot longer to torture you until you produce enough offspring for my master."

    Spatial mage? Produce offspring? What is this woman smoking? Chris thought in shock.

    "Who the fuck are you and where am I?" He demanded, as he reached up to pull the uncomfortable collar off of his neck.

    The second his fingers touched it a jolt ran through his entire body and he fell back onto his mattress convulsing.

    It hurt worse than the time he had brushed up against a live wire in his parents garage.

    The fire lady giggled, and it was somehow more terrifying than her threats.

    "Guess you aren''t familiar with Gnomish suppression collars." She said.

    "As you have probably figured out by now, you can''t use your teleportation powers, and any attempt to remove it will be met with pain."

    "I''m going to go bury my brother, but I will see you tonight. Bring all of your skin so that I can burn it off."

    She giggled again as she walked away.

    The convulsions finally faded away leaving Chris lying on his straw mattress in pain, muscles clenched tightly.

    After a few minutes of waiting until he felt like he could use his muscles again he shakily rose from his mattress, walking on unsteady legs to the door of his cell.

    He examining the lock but it was a flat square of metal on the inside, so he reached through the bars to feel for the keyhole.

    He saw a hand feeling through the bars for the keyhole, a hand with a strange silver tatoo like marking on it, his hand, his unburnt hand.

    For a second all Chris could do was stare, then he felt at his face, he could feel it again. He had feeling back in his whole hand, and his face was smooth.

    He felt at his lips, touched his nose, and felt the warm tears running freely from his eyes.

    Chris pulled off his blood stained sweatshirt and his nirvana t-shirt and looked and felt all over his scrawny chest and arms, he was completely healed.

    The moment Chris saw the fire swirl around that crazy lady''s hands he had accepted he was somewere that magic was real. But he hadn''t had time to hope magic healing was real too.

    He wept with joy that it was, until he remembered the woman''s threats and all joy left his body.

    She has fire magic, and healing magic, and she can burn me over and over and over until she gets bored. He thought in horror.

    He replayed the crash that ruined his life over and over in his head, the horrible memory reminding him why he was so terrified of fire.

    His dad had been driving their tiny car, his mom in the passenger seat and Chris sitting behind her reading a book.

    He didn''t remember the impact itself, just the sound of it and then the pain. The pain and the screams.

    He had swam back into conciousness to a sound he would never forget as long as he lived, the sound of his mother screaming as she burned to death.

    The crash had ruined both of his arms and he was helpless to even unbuckle himself, let alone help his mom. And then the flames reached him, and he began to scream as well.

    The last thing he remembered before blissfully slipping back into unconciousness was the face of the man who pulled him from the wreckage, and the stench of alchohol on his breath.

    Cal lay back down on his straw mattress in his cold cell and cried.

    He wasn''t sure if they were tears of joy at being free of pain for the first time in four years, or sadness at the memories he was once again reliving.

    <hr>

    Sophia ran through the trees expecting to get horribly lost, but to her surprise she quickly came upon a massive white stone road the width of a four lane highway.

    She looked left and then right, but the road was the same unending straight line either way she looked. She turned right and kept running.

    She ran until she couldn''t force herself to run anymore and then hurried to the edge of the road, vomiting on one of the many enormous trees.

    She sat heavily on the warm sun baked stone of the giant road for a minute catching her breath, and swished some water around in her mouth from her backpack.

    She had never been more thankful for the tiny runner''s backpack with the built in camel pack water bladder her mom had gotten for her last christmas.

    Thanks mom. She thought, and then almost started crying when the thought of never seeing her mom again popped into her head.

    Sophia put her shaking hands on her knees to steady them and gasped, there were strange silver tatoo like markings on the backs of both her hands.

    Must be what the crazies were checking on everyone.She thought, and then returned to running down the road.

    When she was too exhausted to go on she moved off the road and sat at the base of a tree that was too large to possibly exist, straining her ears to pick up sounds of pursuit.

    All she heard was her own gasping breath and the last daytime calls of unfamiliar birds as the sun sank below the road back the way she came.

    Which would make that West and the way I''m heading East, assuming that directions are the same wherever the fuck I am. She thought.

    As the light of the sun fully dissapeared two massive moons rose from the North and South as she decided to call the directions, choosing to retain some normalcy in this unfamiliar place.

    The moon to the North was a shimmering vivid ocean blue giving off a dim light, while the Southern moon was red and burned like fire, except it was also strangely dim.

    She couldn''t see any stars which she accepted as just another oddity of this alien world, but then they started appearing, one by one.

    The stars popped out of the sky faster and faster, beginning to form obvious portraits of beasts and flowers, mountains and mandalas.

    Finally it seemed the stars were done showing up, and Sophia could do nothing but sit and stare at the sky, trying to see all the images she could.

    That was when she heard a howl and remembered she was all alone in a strange world, at night, in the woods.

    She decided she didn''t need sleep and leapt to her feet, resuming a fast walk down the road.

    <hr>

    Chris awoke when the prison door slammed open, banging against the bars of his cell and making a terrible racket.

    He opened his eyes expecting to see the crazy fire lady, and wasn''t dissapointed.

    Well actually I''m very dissapointed, since she''s probably about to torture me for killing her brother. He thought.

    "Get up. Follow me and keep your mouth shut." She demanded.

    Chris got up and shuffled after her, surprised to find his hands remained unbound. If I can get my hands on a weapon... He thought.

    Chris followed her through the hallway of empty cells and noted there were six including the one he had just left.

    She led him to a door at one end of the hall and he looked behind himself before following, spying another door at the far end of the dungeon.

    He went through the door after her and found himself at the bottom of a stone staircase, surrounded by grey stone just like the walls of his prison.

    The door slammed shut behind him and he spun around quickly, alarmed.

    The guard that had rudely awoken him with a bucket of water an unknown amount of time ago stood against the wall by the doorway grinning at him.

    Chris and the fire lady emerged at the top of the stairs and walked down a short hallway before heading through one more door.

    The door led out into the left side of a massive entrance room to a castle or manor or some grand house with a soaring ceiling.

    Grand enough to have its own dungeon. He mused.

    To the right of the door they came through a set of massive dark wood double doors banded with iron stood open letting in cool night air, and Chris spied a massive white marble fountain down the front steps.

    The two massive men guarding the exit with matching sets of blood red chainmail, black metal greaves and armguards, and vicious looking black halberds trimmed in a sharp looking line of red disspelled any notion he had of making a break for it.

    Straight across from the door to the dungeon was another door, a mirror to the one he had just stepped through.

    To the left were two white marble half circle curving staircases leading up one extra tall floor to a landing with a railing looking out over the cavernous entrance hall.

    Seperating the twin staircases on the ground floor was another set of massive dark wood double doors directly across from the entrance, these ones closed and guarded by another pair of vicious looking guards.

    The crazy fire lady led Chris up the closest red carpeted staircase to the landing at the top, a deep balcony that stretched the same length as the entryroom behind him.

    Four doors were set in the wall across from the top of the stairs. To the right and the left were more massive dark wood double doorways, these unguarded for once.

    She led Chris to the door directly across from the stairway they had come up, and into a long hallway with numbered doors on either side.

    These were all labeled with a B and a number, starting with B-1 on the left, and B-2 on the right, continuing on down the hallway until they got to the door at the end, this one marked B-11.

    Chris entered the room expecting anything, but he was still caught off guard.

    A woman wearing a black and white maid outfit with bright green hair and even brighter green eyes stood stiffly to the right side of a massive four post bed.

    To the left of the bed sat a wooden table covered with old dried bloodstains, a row of sadistic looking tools arrayed in a line.

    Suddenly the dark red sheets on the enormous bed made a lot more sense.

    Chris''s knees trembled and he turned to run back out the door, but after taking one step his collar sent another painful jolt through his body and he bit his tongue, falling flat on his face as his muscles locked up.

    "Ahh did I forget to mention that function of your collar dear?" The crazy fire lady said.

    "If I give an order, such as follow me, and you try to go against it, that will happen. Isn''t it wonderful? Now come lay down on the bed, we have a long night ahead of us."

    Chris did not like how happy she sounded.

    Not wanting another shock he lifted himself from the ground using the doorframe and stiffly walked over to the bed, his muscles still spasming painfully.

    The green haired woman looked at him with sadness and sympathy, and Chris noticed she was also wearing a leather collar.

    He crawled onto the massive bed and laid down on his back. At least I get to be tortured on the most comfortable bed in the world. He mused.

    Chris watched in wide eyed terror as the crazy fire lady looked through her tools, picking a few up and setting them back down before she spun around.

    "Have you ever lost a finger or a toe?" she cheerfully asked.

    "No" Chris replied, swallowing back the words he wanted to say.

    "Wonderful!" She exclaimed, picking up a nasty looking pair of shears.

    "This will be a first for you then!" She turned to the bed and lifted up his right hand.

    Chris closed his eyes, heart pounding in his chest. He felt the cold metal lightly touch both sides of his pinky and held his breath.

    Then suddenly he felt a sharp pain and heard a snip that sounded just like the innocent hedge clippers he used to use in his mom''s garden.

    Chris let out a pathetic sounding whimper.

    He opened his eyes and gazed in shock at the bloody stump where his pinky used to be, leaking out a terrifying amount of blood and pulsing with horrible pain.

    "Oh my name''s Kira Stell by the way, what''s yours?" She asked, still sounding extremely happy.

    Chris didn''t want his name coming out of this monster''s mouth, so he decided to give her his gaming name.

    Hopefully the collar doesn''t take that as going against her order. He thought absentmindedly.

    "Calibra Dair." He numbly mumbled out, tears streaming down his face.

    Then he lost another finger, and he began to scream.

    <hr>

 Ch 2 : Torture and study

    <hr>

    Planet Earth, Ming Dynasty year 1556

    As soon as the vision began Tarkin knew something was wrong, it started in the same city as his vision from two weeks ago.

    A bustling city with crowds of people pushing past each other, vendors yelling out their wares.

    Last time he saw this city his vision had followed the first man that was burned to death by the men wearing the strange suits.

    This time was different, it was someone he knew, one of the spatial mages he had grown up with in the temple.

    The man Tarkin knew as Yonas appears in the middle of the street, some people look at his sudden appearance fearfully but keep on their way.

    Yonas stops a couple people and asks them questions, then makes his way to a stately looking building, one of the few stone buildings in the town.

    He steps inside and speaks with a man at a desk, telling him of the coming doom and begging him to evacuate the town.

    The man does not believe him, and orders him to leave.

    Yonas walks back out onto the street and vanishes, appearing in his room in the temple of spatial mages and hurrying off to speak with the elders.

    Tarkin didn''t understand, why was he being shown a vision of his own people trying to stop a disaster?

    He was relieved the elders had actually sent someone to the other places he had seen, although it didn''t look like they would be able to stop the burning of the town.

    The vision skipped forward in time.

    Yonas shifts back to the town and rushes from person to person, frantically telling anyone who will listen to him that they are all about to die if they don''t leave.

    Screams start up at the edges of the town and Yonas turns to look, men were walking forward spraying fire from long metal hoses attached to metal cylinders on their backs.

    People scream and push past each other, hiding in alleys and houses, but the houses and people alike all burn.

    Yonas sees a young girl under ten get knocked over and trampled by people frantically rushing to escape the advancing line of flame shooting men.

    Yonas runs over to her and grabs her ankle before shifting back to the temple of spatial mages.

    He picks her up and carries her to the elders, asking what he should do with the one person he managed to save.

    The elders tell him to place her in the orphanage of Ranock, where she will have the best chance at a decent life.

    Yonas shifts onto a rooftop in Ranock and looks around, shifting into unoccupied spaces as he makes his way to the orphanage.

    He drops the girl off with one of the caretakers and promises to come back and check on her, then shifts back to his room in the temple.

    The vision seemed to run at super speed for a couple of days of Yonas'' life before returning to normal.

    Yonas walks to the temples hired healer mage looking sick as a dog. He goes in to see the healer and the healer tells him she does not know what is wrong with him and to get some rest.

    He returns to his room and lies down in his bed to sleep. Blood begins to run from his eyes, ears, and nose, he starts convulsing and choking up blood, then he lies still.

    Just like all the rest of Tarkin''s visions, as soon as the first person died his view soared above and away to the place where the greatest concentration of death occured.

    Tarkin knew where his view was flying to before he arrived, high above the orphanage of Ranock.

    He felt the lives snuffing out, felt the disease being spread by terrified spatial mages shifting away from the temple to escape.

    Saw traders and travelers inflicted with the disease in Ranock using the gateway to travel to Crossroads, and from there through the other three gateways to yet more cities and towns.

    The death was on a scale he had never felt before in his visions, the most he could remember was around three million casualties.

    This time it was over one billion.

    Now Tarkin knew why the men were burning the whole city in his vision, they had been trying to purge a horrible plague.

    And Tarkin had invited it right back into his own world. His world he couldn''t return to.

    He couldn''t save his friends and family from his own mistake, couldn''t warn them.

    Tarkin wept.

    <hr>

    Planet Selara, year 2020 on Earth

    Chris mercifully passed out when he felt the fourth finger on his right hand be snipped off, and then immediately woke back up, pulling in a gasping breath.

    Energy seemed to race through his whole body originating in his left leg. It felt like the adrenaline he had been injected with in the ambulance ride to the hospital after his accident.

    He glanced down through blurry, tear filled eyes and saw the green haired woman holding his ankle, her hand glowing green.

    Tears ran from her eyes and she mouthed "I''m sorry" to Chris. Then Kira snipped off his thumb, and he resumed screaming.

    Kira climbed into the bed behind his head and crawled around him to his other side, sitting back on her knees and grabbing his other hand before lightly stroking it against his own cheek.

    Then she wrapped her shears around his left pinky and snipped it off quickly with a barely audible crunch.

    She snipped all the fingers off of his left hand in the same order she had with his right, and after the agonizingly slow process she let his fingerless palm slap down onto the sheets.

    Then she crawled down the mattress beside him and began to remove his shoes. "Please stop, please. Please stop, please." A voice sobbed out constantly, and Cal realized it was his own.

    Kira paid his sobbing voice no mind of course, if anything it seemed to just excite her more.

    She finally pulled off his socks and then Cal felt the cold press of the steel blades against his small toe preceeded by the familiar sharp bite of losing another digit.

    If Chris could have passed out again he would have, but the surge of energy from the green haired woman''s hand on his leg never abated.

    When he finally had no more extremities to lose but his cock, still cognizant enough to be thankful she didn''t go there, Kira stopped and got back to her feet at the foot of the bed.

    Cal watched in shock and horror as she calmly wiped the blood from the shears with a blood stained rag that she grabbed off of the same table and then lay them both back down.

    She turned back towards him and her right hand lit up with flames. Chris closed his eyes and trembled, unwilling to watch the fire come for him.

    He felt Kira''s flaming hand land on his chest and immediately started screaming as the real pain began.

    Chris found something else out about the crimson red sheets, they were completely fireproof.

    Kira burned every inch of his body agonizingly slowly over the course of what felt to Chris like hours. It was actually only a little over ten minutes.

    This time the pain was so great he passed out a few times even with the energy rushing through him from the woman''s hand on his ankle.

    But he never got to rest for long, the green haired woman was always there managing to wake him back up within seconds of losing conciousness.

    Several times he could feel a different more soothing energy run into him from her hand and race to the more severe wounds, closing them up and prolonging his death.

    When every inch of his body was screaming in pain and burned beyond recognition Kira finally stopped.

    It took Chris a few moments to notice the direct pain of her touch was absent over the all consuming pain his entire body was still in.

    "Mara, make sure he doesn''t die, but dont heal him fully for an hour. If I find out you healed him early your sister will experience everything our guest has." Kira promised as she left the room.

    The electric energy racing through him finally stopped.

    At least Kira didn''t order her to keep me awake. He thought as he slipped into unconciousness.

    <hr>

    Sophia walked through the night with her heart pounding in her chest, her sight rapidly snapping onto different points in the darkness whenever a noise came from off in the woods.

    By the time the sun started to rise and the night sounds died down she was too exhausted to go on.

    She stumbled off the road and lay down against the trunk of a tree, falling asleep instantly.

    When she awoke the sun was directly overhead, and she had an ache in her bladder that she couldn''t ignore.

    She relieved herself next to the tree and then looked around in her backpack, lamenting her lack of food.

    Not wanting to spend another night in the woods and fueled by hunger she resumed her journey at a fast walk.

    She walked quickly down the uneringly straight and flat road for the entire day, the massive trees towering over everything on both sides.

    When the sun was just about to sink below the horizon behind her again she finally came across a change of scenery.

    The trees abrubtly stopped on both sides of the road, turning into small green rolling hills for as far as she could see.

    What she still didn''t see however, was any sort of town or buildings.

    She continued walking as the sun once again went down and resigned herself to another terrifying night in the wilderness of this strange planet.

    After walking for several hours through the night Sophia finally spotted lights off in the distance, she picked up her pace, her tired and sore legs protesting every step.

    The road she had been following for the better part of two days and two nights led through a soaring archway rising hundreds of feet high, made out of the same white stone the road was.

    The road continued straight on into a town made up entirely of buildings built out of and on the same material as the road.

    Each building seemed to be spaced apart from each other the same distance, making broad alleyways run off in every direction.

    The buildings shared no similarities besides the spacing and materials. They came in all styles and heights, some towering a dozen floors high and others only one or two.

    Sophia followed the road into town in a daze until it eventually came to a massive square courtyard the size of two football fields.

    Four more towering archways stood connected in a square formation in the very center of the courtyard.

    These arches were the only things she had seen in the town so far not made of white stone, they seemed to be made from shiny black obsidian.

    The road she had been following continued on straight through the obsidian archways and to the East out of the town, through an archway identical to the one she had entered the town through.

    Standing in the very center of the massive quartyard after walking through one of the obsidian archways Sophia looked north and then south.

    Sure enough the same four lane highway sized road ran out of the town in all four directions, its pure white surface seeming to glow in the light of the twin moons.

    Sophia walked aimlessly through the town, few people were out at night and no one seemed to pay her any attention.

    She had no money, no food, and didn''t even know which of the buildings might be an inn or a hotel.

    Sophia decided to explore and find food tomorrow, she was exhausted.

    She spotted a bench made of the same stone as the road and lay down on it with her pack as a makeshift pillow, falling asleep quickly despite its hard and uncomfortable surface.

    The next morning Sophia woke to a noisy cart pulled by two horses creaking along down the road.

    People were walking around all over the city, most heading in the direction of the middle square.

    Sophia followed them, taking in their many different styles of clothing.

    Some wore turbans and sheets like they lived in a desert, others had stately dresses and well tailored suits that reminded her of fancy old time British clothes.

    There were people wearing scratchy looking patched together grey and brown clothing, people wearing robes of all colors and styles, and not a small number of people wearing various types of armour.

    But the thing almost every single person was wearing was a pair of gloves, or at least one on their right hand.

    Sophia quickly opened her pack and took out the pair of gloves she always kept with her, putting them on and covering up the silver marks on her hands.

    She followed the throngs of people down the road from the Northeastern section she had fallen asleep in back to the massive courtyard she had seen the night before.

    It had transformed overnight, rows upon rows of both wooden stalls and blankets piled with wares crowded the entire square.

    The sound of the square was insane, vendors loudly shouting out their wares and thousands of people all talking at once.

    Her stomach grumbled painfully, reminding her she hadn''t eaten in two days. She stopped staring at the massive open air market and searched through her pack.

    She looked over some of the items in her backpack wondering what her cheap common items from Earth might be worth in this strange world.

    If only I hadn''t dropped my cellphone in the crash or whatever that was. She thought sadly, picturing how the people of this medieval world would react to the device.

    She pulled out a ballpoint pen and an old receipt from fast food before shouldering her pack and heading off into the chaos of the market.

    It took her almost thirty minutes to find what she was looking for, a wooden stall cluttered with quills and small jars of ink.

    Sophia walked up to the stall with a sweet looking old lady behind it and got straight to business. "I have something you may be interested in purchasing." She said.

    She placed the receipt down on the counter and uncapped her pen, showing it to the woman before scribbling random lines and swirls on the paper.

    "This is called a pen, it can write without needing to be dipped in ink." She explained, not bothering to mention that it would run out of ink someday.

    The old lady had smiled pleasantly at Sophia as she walked up, but upon seeing the lines appear on the paper like magic her eyes gleamed with greed.

    Sophia was starving, but still had her head firmly planted on her shoulders and knew this pen was likely more valuable here than a couple of meals.

    The woman pulled a metal box out from beneath the counter and unlocked it with a small key hung around her neck.

    She seemed to count the coins she had in her box for a moment before looking back up to Sophia and making an offer.

    "I can give you twenty silvers for it." She said with an air of finality.

    Sophia glanced at the label on a bottle of ink on display, twenty silver for a tiny bottle the size of a golfball.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    "I bought it for a hundred silvers a week ago." She lied, "I won''t take less than sixty."

    The old lady glared at her and held out her hand, "Let me examine it." Sophia handed it over.

    The lady wrote a few words on the receipt with it before pulling the cap off the back of the pen where Sophia had placed it and looking it over.

    "What is this part for?" She asked.

    "That is the cap, when not in use it needs to cover the tip to prevent it from drying out." Sophia explained.

    The old lady thought for a minute, staring at the pen in her hand.

    "I''ll give you fifty silvers." She finally decided, "I can''t go any higher than that or my husband would have a fit."

    "Deal." Sophia said and the woman started counting silver coins around the size of dollar coins out onto the counter.

    "Can you point me in the direction of an inn?" Sophia asked while placing the coins in a pocket on her backpack.

    The old lady gave her directions to the Northeastern section of the town and Sophia thanked her and left.

    She quickly mader her way back to a delicious smelling food stall she had reluctantly passed by on her search for the writing implements stall.

    <hr>

    Chris woke up to retreating footsteps and the door to his room closing. He was lying on the massive bed, sheets soaked through with his own blood.

    A tray of food with a glass of water had been placed on the rack of torture implements.

    He looked down at his hands and clenched his fists tentatively, all his fingers and toes had been regrown, the severed ones still strewn about his sheets.

    He spotted his father''s ring on one of his severed fingers and had to choke back bile while he quickly slipped it off, surprised Kira hadn''t taken it.

    He looked around the room for a spot he could hide his ring and spotted an expensive looking red velvet armchair with deep folds.

    After hiding his ring in the folds of his rooms only armchair, he walked to the table of torture implements planning to hide a few of the more wicked looking blades to use against his captors.

    Before he could grab one his door opened again and Kira walked in.

    "I forgot to give you a list of orders through your collar," she began. "Do not leave this building, do not hurt yourself, do not hurt anyone else, unless they ask you to of course, some of the women may like that."

    She giggled. "And finally, if anyone not wearing a collar tells you to do something, do it unless it contradicts orders I have given you."

    With that said Kira left the room as quickly as she had come in, shutting it loudly behind her.

    Chris gave up on the torture implements, the risk of Kira''s wrath to stash a weapon he couldn''t even use on anyone didn''t seem worth it.

    He glanced over the plate of food. It didn''t look too bad, some slightly brown broccoli and a large chicken breast.

    There were no eating utensils but Chris didn''t mind, he was ravenous. He quickly devoured the chicken and the greens, gulping down the glass of water.

    I wonder if they would give me seconds, she didn''t say not to leave my room. He thought as he glanced at the door.

    He crossed the room to the door and hesitantly opened it, peeking out into the hallway. It was empty.

    Chris was about to step out of his room when he realized he was completely naked, Kira having burnt off all his clothing last night.

    He glanced around his room and went to the massive armoire on the left wall, opening it to find ten identical salmon-pink silken shirts and an equal number of the same gaudy colored silken pants.

    A pair of brighter pink fluffy slippers topped one of the piles of pants. Chris sighed and pulled on the surprisingly comfortable clothing.

    Now clothed he returned to his door and left, walking cautiously to the end of the hall and opening the door a crack to peek out at the balcony.

    A woman in a maid outfit carrying a silver tray of food was just reaching the balcony from the staircase down to the entryhall.

    She didn''t look at all threatening to Cal and had a collar like his own, so he stepped out onto the balcony causing her to look at him questioningly before hurrying on her way past him to the right.

    "Hey wait, can I get some more food please?" Chris begged.

    The woman stopped for a second and turned towards Chris, shooting a glance back over her shoulder at the large set of dark wooden double doors she had been approaching.

    "I can''t give you anythin, but you can ask in the kitchens." She said and turned to leave again.

    "Where are the kitchens?" Chris asked.

    "The single door to the left of the entryway, across from the dungeon." She replied without turning around, opening one of the double doors a crack and slipping inside.

    Chris walked down the stairway eyeing the guards the whole time, they looked back at him warily but made no move to stop or question him.

    He crossed the entryhall to the wooden door mirroring the one he had exited the dungeon from the day before.

    He shot one more fearful glance at the stoic guards before opening it and finding himself in a massive bustling kitchen.

    Plates of prepared food the same as the meal he had been given were waiting on a countertop for servants to carry them off to their destinations while the cooks prepared more.

    No one asked Chris a thing as he grabbed a plate from the counter and left, headed quickly back up to his room.

    After eating his second plate of breakfast he sat around in his room for hours before growing bored enough to risk exploring more.

    First he opened some of the rooms in his hall labeled B-1 through B-10, they were all identical rooms much smaller than his own with only a simple bed and small dresser.

    After checking four of them, two on each side, and seeing the same thing in each room he moved on from his hallway and checked the one single door to the right.

    It was another identical hall, these doors labeled A-1 through A-11, he didn''t bother checking the rooms and went back to the balcony.

    He checked the remaining two single doors to the right of his own and as he suspected they were both the same, their doors labeled C and D.

    Next he opened the double doors the maid had slipped through earlier and found himself in a much wider and more fancy hall than his own, the doors along the sides spaced much further apart and unlabeled.

    He reached out to open the first door he came to but just before he touched the handle the maid he had ran into earlier came out of a door down the hall.

    "I wouldn''t do that if I was you, the masters don''t take kindly to uninvited guests in their rooms." She warned him.

    Chris drew his hand back from the door and appraised her, she was adjusting her skirt and her hair was a tangled mess.

    He could guess what she had been up to since delivering the meal she had been carrying and wondered if it was consensual or not.

    "Thanks for the warning. I''m Chr... Calibra, what''s your name?" He asked, sticking out his hand.

    She looked at his hand and frowned, "Sera, what do you expect me to do with that?" She asked, folding her hands across her chest.

    "Ah where I''m from people shake hands to greet each other." He awkwardly raised his hand and scratched at his head, which he just realised was starting to grow his dark brown hair again.

    "I have more deliveries to be makin, no time for standin around unless I wanna be punished again." She said while walking past him back to the balcony.

    Chris watched her go before walking to the end of the hallway where he saw another set of large double doors.

    But taking Sera''s warning seriously and thinking it might be a residence he decided not to snoop inside and left back the way he came.

    When he returned to the balcony he slipped his head inside the other set of double doors across from the one he just came out of, and saw an identical hallway to the one on the right side.

    So servant quarters in the four middle hallways, masters on the sides. He assumed.

    The only place he hadn''t explored was the double doors between the staircases in the entry room, and he didn''t want to try walking past the mean looking men guarding it so he returned to his room for the day.

    Chris sat in the only chair in his room, a comfortable red velvet covered armchair in the folds of which he had stashed his ring.

    A short while later an uncollared woman in a black and red low cut gown entered his room without knocking, carrying a bucket.

    She barely spared him a glance before walking to his bed and holding her hand over it.

    His blood and urine from the times he lost control of his bladder while being tortured rose out of the sheets, swirling around her hand before she directed it into the bucket.

    The severed fingers all rose into the air next, splashing down into the bucket of bodily fluids as she turned and walked away.

    Chris stared in astonishment at the casual display of magic.

    Hours passed after the woman left and Chris was growing bored, but at least he wasn''t being tortured.

    The second he had that thought the sounds of steps approached his room and his least favourite person barged in.

    "Ready for round two?" Kira asked with a beaming maniacal smile.

    <hr>

    Sophia sat in a library in the city she now knew to be called Crossroads, a fitting name for a place that is literally a massive crossroads. She thought.

    She had been staying in a nice quiet inn for one silver a night, breakfast and dinner included, for the last two weeks.

    She spent almost the entire time at the library reading books about the world she found herself in.

    She read of wars and history, of a great plague that led to the extinction of ''spatial mages'' who apparently used to charge and maintain portals that could transport people and goods across great distances.

    She had discovered that''s what the giant obsidian arches here in Crossroads were, defunct portals that used to lead to other great cities far away.

    She read about the marks on peoples right hands, it was known as an active magic mark and was passed down from a father to his child roughly half the time.

    Unless the father was unmarked, in which case the mother''s mark (if she had one either) would have the same chance of being passed on.

    She learned the mark on one''s left hand was called a passive magic mark, and everyone was born with one at random.

    She learned of various customs relating to the marks, such as the reason why most people kept them covered with gloves.

    If criminals didn''t know what powers you might posess they were less likely to target you, as well as some marks such as her own healer mark being prime targets for slavery.

    She had also found information on different racial magics along with the simple astounding fact that there were other races, noting that only humans had magic marks, whereas most races had their own type of magic.

    She poured over the symbols for hundreds of different acive magic marks in a volume dedicated to such things and learned that half of her right hand mark was the symbol for healer.

    But she had been unable to find a single bit of information on the second mark on her right hand, or even any mentions at all of anyone having two active magic marks.

    Sophia cracked open the most recent book she had tracked down on the shelves.

    It was a much thicker twin to the book full of active marks, this one showcasing thousands of different passive marks.

    She skimmed through the pages and came across a sketch of her own passive mark midway through the book.

    Mark of senses: This mark signifies the bearer as someone with heightened sense of smell, sight, hearing, and touch. While heightened senses are useful, bearers of this mark are extremely susceptible to bright lights, loud noises, awful smells, pain, and pleasure.

    That explained why she had been feeling like everything was so much louder all the time, thinking back to her terrified run through the noisy nights on the road.

    Sophia continued pouring over books for the remainder of the day, but still could find nothing about the second mark on her right hand.

    Trying a different approach she asked the librarian she had gotten to know over the last week where she might be able to find a magic healer.

    Direction in mind she headed out from the library to the healer''s hall in the Southwestern section of the city.

    She found the building where she had been told she would find it, large red wooden cross hanging from the white stone above the doorway.

    A bell above the door chimed when she walked into the small waiting area walled off from the rest of the building.

    Benches lined three of the walls and a small counter with a gray haired man sitting behind it blocked the doorway at the back of the room.

    Sophia walked up to counter and smiled at the man. "Is there a healer here that I might have a quick word with?" she asked.

    "Name and injury." The man replied gruffly.

    "I''m not injured, I have a healer''s mark and would like to ask an experienced healer a few questions about it. I could give you a silver for your time."

    She slipped a silver coin out of her pocket and placed it on the counter.

    The man grunted and swung open a gate attached to his desk, pointing her the way of the door at the back.

    Sophia thanked him and entered the door, coming into a room the same size as the waiting room.

    A kindly looking middle aged woman was sitting at a desk cluttered with glass tubes and vials, grinding something in a pestle and mortar.

    The woman looked up at Sophia''s entrance and gave her a bright smile. "Injury?" she asked.

    "Uh I''m not injured, I just wanted to ask if you may know more about my active magic mark." Sophia slipped off her right glove and showed the back of her hand to the woman.

    The woman''s face paled and she gasped, scooting back in her chair away from Sophia.

    "What is it?" Sophia asked. "I know this part is a healer mark but I can''t find any information on this symbol here." She indicated the symbol to the right of the healer mark.

    "How do you not know, where are you from child?" The woman asked. She seemed to have calmed down a bit but still looked nervous.

    "Um far away from here, I doubt you have heard of it. There is no magic where I come from and when I arrived here my marks appeared, so can you tell me what it is please? I can pay you if you want." Sophia blurted out.

    The woman shook her head, "No need for that dear, my name is Mauve, what''s yours?"

    "Sophia, pleased to meet you." Sophia almost stuck out her hand to shake before remembering the few times she had tried that in the last week, people here didn''t shake hands but it was a tough habit to break.

    "Pleased to meet you as well Sophia." Mauve said, her bright smile already returned to her face.

    "That mark on your hand means combat or battle, something like that, in conjunction with a healer mark it means combat healer."

    "Children of healers are very rarely born with that mark."

    "The law states that babies born with that mark must be killed at birth, children with such a mark are far too dangerous."

    "They have to be isolated from any injuries and prevented from even touching anyone lest they accidentally kill someone."

    "I have heard many tales about adult combat healers, some say they can kill with just a touch, others say they heal people and then replace the injuries they healed onto the next person they touch."

    "I''m afraid I don''t know the full truth for certain dear, but I would not show anyone else that mark if I was you."

    "Also maybe try to avoid skin contact." She added as an aferthought.

    <hr>

    Chris was swimming through a world of pain, every night soon after he had been brought dinner Kira would show up and find new ways to torment him.

    He thought it had been seven maybe eight days but he was losing track, it was hard to think about much other than the pain.

    He began to dread dinner, fear spiking as he ate while knowing what was coming after.

    Chris finished his meal and lay back on the bed, if he was anywhere else when Kira came to his room their session would last longer.

    His door opened, his heart pounding in his chest, already breathing heavily with dread.

    Kira did not walk in. This time it was a giant of a man in a sharp red and black suit, a sword belted at his hip.

    "Calibra is it?" The man began, "My name is Lord Taro Ranock, cousin of King Ranock, and you are a prisoner in my estate."

    "You are worth a vast amount of money, so luckily for you I will be limiting Kira''s visits to once a week from now on."

    "Normally I wouldn''t approve of her wasting our healer''s time, but you did kill her brother after all, so I won''t begrudge her her vengeance." He said with a smirk.

    "And how do you expect me to make you ''vast amounts of money''?" Chris asked doubtfully.

    "My lord or Lord Ranock!" Taro snapped.

    Chris rushed to fix his mistake. "My lord." He said and dipped his head.

    "Don''t worry it should be enjoyable for you, you simply need to produce me a whole bundle of little spatial mages."

    "You will begin tomorrow with whatever women we already have available, and I will be heading to Crossroads to procure some more." Lord Ranock said.

    Without waiting for Chris to respond Lord Ranock left the room and closed the door softly behind himself.

    Chris was left with his thoughts. They''re going to breed me like livestock! Procure some more? He''s going to force fellow slaves to carry my children, I need to get out of here!

    With his reprieve from his nightly torture Chris decided it was time to explore the one place in the house he hadn''t been yet.

    He waited a few minutes to make sure Lord Ranock was far away from his room before making his way out the door, down the hall, and down the stairway to the entry room, cool night air blowing in through the open doors.

    Chris looked between the faces of the four guards in the room, they were used to his presence by now and just looked bored.

    He approached the pair of guards by the double doors below the balcony. "What''s through these doors?" He asked.

    "Why not jus go see fer yerself." One of the guards replied in a country drawl.

    Chris kept his eyes on the guards expecting them to do something as he approached the doors, but they made no move to stop him.

    He stepped through the doors into a massive room, piles of furs and cushions haphazardly placed all around with scantily clad women lounging in them.

    A red carpet ran from the doors across the long room and up a wide set of steps, ending at a massive chair made of black and red metal melted together.

    Lord Ranock was sitting on the throne with his pants around his ankles while Kira knelt in front of him sucking his cock.

    Lord Ranock noticed his entrance and just smiled at him, as Chris turned and left the room as fast as possible.

    Well that''s it, Ive explored this whole place and there''s no one who can help me, no way out. He thought hopelessly.

    Then Chris remembered there was another door in the dungeon he had woken up in.

    He went through the door to the dungeon and down the staircase, spotting the guard that had poured water on him still guarding the door at the bottom.

    "Kira sent me to the dungeon to sit on the cold stone for an hour." He lied to the guard.

    "Sucks." The guard replied, moving out of his way.

    Chris went through the door back into the first room he had seen in Lord Ranock''s estate, it was exactly how he remembered it, a hallway of six empty cells and a door at the end.

    He crossed the hall to the door on the other side expecting it be locked, as he thought a creepy door in a creepy dungeon ought to be.

    But to his surprise it swung open easily revealing a narrow winding staircase heading down into darkness.

    Chris turned back to the dungeon room and removed one of the torches from its holder on the wall before continuing on into the passage.

    The stairway looped around and around, the air growing cold and filled with the stench of uncleaned human waste.

    When Chris finally reached the bottom he found himself in a cavernous room that seemed to be a naturally formed cave, unlike the gray stone of the dungeon.

    He was worried his collar would interpret this as him leaving the manor but no shock was forthcoming, so he continued on.

    Cells much like the ones in the upper dungeon were placed in rows, each with at least one prisoner.

    They were emaciated and pale, some sporting open wounds and festering sores, but what Chris found the most shocking was that none of the prisoners were human.

    He spotted a pair of humanoid figures that couldn''t have been taller than three feet but were clearly middle aged, with pointed ears and long sharp noses.

    Kira had called his collar ''Gnomish'', and he assumed these must be gnomes.

    The prisoners all shied away from the light, but none of them spoke to him.

    One cage had a large musclebound green skinned man with tusks protruding from his bottom lip, another held three beautifull women with pointed ears, bright green eyes, and long blonde hair.

    He stopped at the fourth cage he came across. The woman laying on the straw mat looked exactly like Mara, the woman Kira brought along to heal him, except her hair and eyes were both saphire blue to Mara''s emerald green.

    Chris vaguely remembered Kira mentioning that Mara had a sister and assumed this must be her.

    He kept walking, sure that none of these people could help him even if he somehow managed to free them.

    His torchlight illuminated another cage, one with a beautiful raven haired woman with a child sleeping in her lap. He approached to get a better look thinking it might be a human.

    As his torchlight illuminated the woman''s face she bared her fangs at him in a feral snarl and her bright red eyes glared at him.

    Fangs! She has fangs! That''s just great there''s fucking vampires in this world. Chris thought in horror as he retreated to the other side of the aisle, bumping into the last cage.

    The last cage had two men and a woman with feathers sprouting from their elongated arms, patches of feathers were missing all over and they looked mangy and sickly.

    Chris continued on past the cages into a cavernous room and bent down to examine a large symbol carved into the floor.

    It looked like it had been carved out and then filled with blood, the blood drying in the carved lines.

    He followed the symbol forward and his torchlight illuminated a ten by ten box of glass at the center of the symbol with a woman in it.

    Chris was certain she was a demon, she was eight feet tall and the pair of two foot long horns sprouting from the top of her curly black hair touched the glass ceiling of the glass prison.

    Her skin was an angry red like the worst sunburn, her eyes orbs of pure black much too large for her undeniably feminine face.

    Her legs were those of a goat, cloven hooves covered in black bristly fur rising to backwards bending joints.

    A long thin black tail tipped in a shape like a spade from a deck of cards seemed to be frozen in the air behind and to the side of her.

    And she was completely nude. She had large firm breasts with upwards pointing dark purple nipples.

    Her vagina was covered in a thick bush of unkempt hair the same dark black as the hair on her head. Her toned stomach had a very defined and intimidating eight pack.

    Chris couldn''t be sure if her solid black eyes were watching him approach, but it certainly felt like it.

    He got within 5 feet of the cube and she spoke in a surprisingly sweet and gentle tone. "You there, slave. Free me from this prison and you shall be rewarded."

    Chris didn''t know much about demons, but if she was locked away in this glass cube instead of a normal cell, deep below the ground in this horrible dungeon, he assumed it was for a good reason.

    He knew what awaited him back upstairs, but being forced to have sex with a bunch of women didn''t seem as bad to Chris as releasing a demon upon the world.

    Chris turned around without responding to the terifying demon and headed back upstairs, accepting his fate.

 Ch 3 : Demons taste like cinnamon

    <hr>

    Planet Earth, Ming Dynasty year 1556

    Tarkin crept through the bushes towards the light of a fire flickering in the distance.

    When he got close enough to hear the locals'' conversation he crouched down and fingered his ring, a silver band with a flat oval of the same material at the top etched with an infinity symbol.

    After a minute of holding his finger flat against the engraving he began to understand a few words. Once he could make out each and every word they were saying he snuck back the way he came.

    Tarkin made his way back to the cave he had seen in his vision, running scenarios of how he would try to warn the woman over and over in his mind.

    She''s going to think I''m crazy. He thought.

    Tarkin was nervous, she had been alone in his vision but why would a young woman in her twenties be living by herself so far from anyone else?

    It was possible more people had been inside the cave, but he had only felt one life snuff out at the start of his vision when her home caved in.

    By the time the sun started to rise Tarkin had prepared for hundreds of different ways she might react to him waiting outside her house.

    He was fraught with nerves by the time she finally emerged, and none of his scenarios came close to reality.

    The second she saw him sitting awkardly on a log near her firepit she leapt forward, pulling a crude stone knife from the belt at her waist.

    "Demon!" She yelled.

    Tarkin was startled and fell backwards off his perch, legs up in the air as he tried to right himself.

    Before he could untangle his legs from the log he felt the knife bite into the skin of his kneck.

    "What are you here for demon?!" She demanded.

    "Wait please! I''m not a demon!" Tarkin shouted, the sting of the blade causing him to hold as still as possible.

    "My name is Tarkin, I saw you die in a vision and came here to warn you."

    She didn''t respond, and after a few tense moments of waiting for a reaction Tarkin decided to continue.

    "In my vision the ground began to shake, you ran into your home and it collapsed. The earth shook for hours, great cracks and tears spread everywere. It will come to pass in less than thirty days."

    The woman sank back on her knees and withdrew the knife.

    Tarkin tentatively felt at the shallow cut on his throat, eyes glued to her face trying to interpret her expression.

    She reached out her hand without the knife, poking at his body in various places.

    "You don''t feel like a spirit." She said.

    "I''m not a spirit, I''m a man." Tarkin replied slowly.

    "I''ve never seen a man that looks like you, and men do not bring visions of disaster, spirits do." She said with certainty.

    Right at that moment Tarkin''s stomach grumbled audibly and the woman''s eyes shot down to his middle, her grip on the knife tightening.

    "I suppose you are a man, spirits don''t need food. Where did you come from Tar kin? How did you get here?"

    The way she sounded out his name made Tarkin grin, he thought it was incredibly cute.

    "I came from another world, my family has the ability to shift, as long as we have seen the destination before." He answered.

    "Shift?" She asked.

    "Move great distances in the blink of an eye." He clarified.

    "When I had the vision of you and this place I was able to use my ability to travel here, but now I cannot go back. My ability does not work here for some reason."

    As Tarkin finished his explanation he was reminded of the great plague that would ravage his home world in two weeks with him stranded here unable to prevent it, and his grin disappeared.

    The woman saw his sad expression, tears glinting in the corners of his eyes, and somewhat correctly assumed it was because he couldn''t return to his family.

    "I am sorry. I know what it is like to be unable to return to your family and home." She said.

    She didn''t elaborate and Tarkin didn''t want to press, instead deciding to ask her for her name, but before he could she offered it unprompted.

    "My name is Suzu. I''ll be right back." She said, and stood up abruptly walking back into her cave.

    He resumed his seat on the log and sounded out her name under his breath, it was an odd name but he thought it suited her.

    A moment later she emerged from her cave with food, and Tarkin''s grin returned.

    <hr>

    Planet Selara, year 2020 on Earth

    Lord Taro Ranock was in a great mood.

    He had spent the last two weeks traveling through the untamed wilderness of the south western quarter on two trips to the spatial mage''s temple.

    His grandmaster telekinesis mark had gotten a great workout floating him across the toxic bog and various other dangers of the journey, but now he was sick of traveling.

    When he returned and found Kira had managed to procure him a spatial mage and a male one at that, he had been elated but resigned himself to another journey to Crossroads to procure some breeding stock.

    He wanted nothing more than to remain home and indulge in his wealth and women, and Kira had come through for him yet again.

    She had asked all his female employees, not the collared ones they had no choice, if they would be willing to carry and raise spatial mage children for him.

    To his delight almost every woman still capable of conceiving in his household had agreed, and supplemented with the slaves he had a total of fifteen prospective mothers.

    His plan was coming together and other than the woman who had escaped from the ritual, nothing had gone wrong so far.

    The spatial mage was a male, no one knew he had him, and his cousin would never see him coming.

    It would be over a decade before his plan came to fruition, but he was patient and optimistic.

    As soon as the spatial mages were old enough, every rich kingdom, city, and trading outpost would pay him ridiculous sums to charge their portals.

    And once he accumulated enough wealth he would hire every mercenary he could find, even the orcs, and he would finally sit upon the throne he deserved instead of this paltry imitation.

    He gazed at Kira lovingly, curled up on a cushion near his seat.

    Her long curled red hair suited her mastery of her fire mark, and her perfect hourglass figure was barely covered by a thin silk sheet.

    If she wasn''t so gods damned crazy I would marry her in an instant. He mused.

    But she was in love with death, enamored by pain. The things she asked him to do to her in the height of passion sometimes made his stomach turn.

    Taro reminisced on the day he had first seen her. He had been travelling back to Ranock from Crossroads and the no name village he always passed on the journey had been a raging inferno.

    He took his guards in to investigate and seen something he''d never forget.

    A beautiful girl, barely a woman, stood in the center of the inferno completely naked laughing as the town burned.

    She was spreading blood on her body from a man trying to crawl away from her, his guts trailing behind him.

    What had posessed Taro to organize her release from prison he couldn''t say.

    Maybe it was just her unreal beauty or the destructive might she had displayed, her fire hot enough to melt even the stone buildings of the town.

    Kira readjusted in her sleep and her ass slipped out from under the sheet, one of her legs hanging off the cushion and exposing her glistening slit.

    Taro was dislodged from his memory as his cock began to stiffen and he stood from his seat to take her once again.

    He knew one thing for certain, despite the profoundly cruel things he witnessed Kira do since he freed her, he had absolutely no regrets.

    <hr>

    Sophia struggled with the lead attached to her pack mule knowing it was pointless.

    The stupid beast had once again decided he was done walking for the day, and she would have no choice but to stop for the night.

    She had been walking along the same unchanging road directly north for the past two weeks, and not for the first time she was having doubts.

    I should''ve just stayed in Crossroads, found work at an inn or maybe even the library. She thought regretfully.

    She had remained in Crossroads for a month living off the money she made from selling her school supplies, her sticky notes, pens, a calculator, whiteout, she even discovered paper was expensive here.

    But she knew she would run out of money eventually, the only way to make your fortune in this world was to have a powerful or useful mages mark and she wasn''t willing to risk other peoples lives to learn how her''s worked.

    After her conversation with Mauve she had been invited to stop by if she had any more questions, and had quickly found a good friend and confidant in the kind healer.

    She had even befriended the man working at the healer''s counter, who she learned was Mauves father, Reginald.

    Despite his gruff demeanor he was actually quite nice and had a lot of interesting war stories.

    One day while she was complaining to Mauve about her lack of job prospects, Mauve had told her a rumour of a combat healer working for the royal family in Ranock who may be able to train her.

    Sophia had spent the next few days selling the remainder of the objects from Earth, even selling her trusty camel pack backpack.

    She hadn''t wanted to sell the backpack but had shown it to a pack seller just to see what he would offer her, and couldn''t turn down the exorbitant sum.

    She didn''t have enough for even the cheapest horse she could find, and had settled for a ridiculously stubborn pack mule a trader was all too happy to sell to her at a huge discount.

    After a tear filled departure from her only two friends in the entire world, Sophia had squared her shoulders and set off on the month long walk to Ranock with high hopes.

    Her spirit had been crushed by the end of the first week.

    She had developed and burst several blisters on each foot, the mule was twice as stubborn as the trader had told her it was, she constantly had to dodge bandits, and her heightened senses kept her up at night on the rough ground listening to the loud (to her) animal noises of the night.

    I should have spent more time walking than playing video games. She thought as she moved off the road to make camp with hours of sunlight left, cursing her stupid mule.

    <hr>

    Zatira was confused, that human slave had approached her prison and didn''t even hear her out.

    She was sure he was the one she felt being tortured every night for eight days in a row, the sweet aura of his pain had been feeding her, it was truly succulent.

    And yet when she had tried to offer him his freedom he had simply turned around and left.

    His pain came less often now and he was radiating sexual pleasure daily, which she drank up as well.

    Maybe that was why he hadn''t bothered to listen to her, he must have been aware women were about to start throwing themselves at him.

    Yet still once a week he was being tortured, and one of his partners even liked to hurt him during copulation.

    Zatira really hoped he would come back, he was the only slave that had ever come down to see her.

    She was sick of this cell and eager to get revenge on her captors, if only he would free her so she could rip them all to shreds.

    She spent the long weeks planning out how she would talk him into freeing her if he ever returned.

    <hr>

    Chris lay in his massive four post bed wearing his pink pajamas and sorting through his emotions.

    He was excited, he had resigned himself to remaining a virgin for the rest of his life after being turned into Deadpool without the superpowers.

    He was nervous, knowing he would fuck up somehow.

    And he was disgusted, these women were not willing and if he was being honest with himself neither was he.

    He didn''t want his first time to be with someone he didn''t even know, for the purpose of siring a child that would grow up a slave.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    His door opened and he surreptitiously wiped the sweat from his palms onto the sheets.

    Kira walked in and his heart almost stopped.

    Please god don''t let this crazy bitch be one of the women I''m supposed to impregnate. Chris prayed.

    Kira stepped to the side holding the door open, and a stream of women walked in behind her lining up in front of his bed.

    Two of the women split off from the rest and walked to the right of his bed, Mara and her saphire haired sister who''s name he didn''t know.

    Chris idly noted they were both the same height, just under 5 feet if he had to guess.

    "Over the next however long it takes, you will be impregnating each of these fifteen women." Kira began, sweeping her hand out to indicate the line of bodies.

    "Judging by your looks when you got here, I assume you are a virgin, correct?"She asked with a wicked grin.

    Chris nodded, cheeks burning red.

    "In that case I will allow you to choose who goes first your first time should be enjoyable after all." Kira was talking fast for some reason.

    Chris looked up furiously blushing, and glanced over each woman.

    He was surprised to note that only four of them were wearing collars, and the eleven free women were wearing the black and red gowns of the house masters.

    As he suspected Sera was there in her maid outfit, looking resigned.

    "Why are the masters here?" Chris asked tentatively. "And why are they here?" He pointed to Mara and her sister.

    "Who would turn down the chance of having a child with spatial magic?" A middle aged master asked in response to his question.

    "I would." Kira snapped.

    "Mara and Zara are here because they are dryads who will make sure you can perform. Master purchased them before we summoned you here, isn''t he amazing? He truly thought of everything! Who will it be? I don''t have all day." Kira was talking at hyper speed.

    She had been acting crazier than usual ever since Lord Ranock arrived.

    Chris looked over the women, he knew he would likely offend whichever masters he didn''t pick first and there was no way he was going to pick a slave, he felt horrible they were going to be forced to be with him.

    He pointed to a woman who looked a few years older than him, the youngest non-slave present, he didn''t want to have his first time be with someone twice his age as most of the women here were.

    She was short and petite, the shortest woman in the line. Her hair was black and braided down her back and she had kind eyes that he saw no cruelty in, unlike some of the others.

    She gave him a bright smile, apparently pleased he had seen something he liked in her.

    "Don''t have too much fun with him Lilly." Kira said, gesturing to the door.

    The other women filed out and Kira followed, letting the door bang shut behind her.

    Chris awkwardly looked to Mara and Zara to avoid meeting Lilly''s hazel eyes but they were both looking down at the floor.

    Lilly walked up and sat at the foot of his bed, laying a hand on his ankle to bring his gaze to her.

    "I''m Lilly, what''s your name?" She asked in a kind voice.

    "Uh Calibra." He said, and it sounded stupid to him.

    Why did I decide to go by my idiotic gamer name damnit? He thought.

    "Can I call you Cal?" She asked.

    That sounded much better to Chris.

    "Of course." He mumbled in response.

    "Cal, there''s no need to be nervous, this can be fun for both of us." She said sweetly.

    Chris was already rock hard, his erection strained against his silken pajamas and he squirmed around to relieve some of the pressure.

    Lilly noticed his predicament and climbed into the bed to his left, grabbing his pants at the waist.

    Chris stopped moving, trusting her to guide him through it.

    She slid his pants down to his ankles and tugged them off, tossing them off the bed behind her.

    Chris''s face was burning, no females had ever seen him naked before and now his erection was a foot away from a girl''s face.

    Lilly leaned towards him and kissed the tip of his cock causing it to twitch, rising up a little higher and leaking precum.

    "Take off your shirt." She directed him and Chris hurried to comply, for some reason having trouble getting it off and feeling even more self conscious.

    Lilly grabbed each of his legs and forced them apart, crawling on her knees into the opening she made.

    "Lay back." She told him, and Chris laid down, resting his head on a pillow.

    He stared into her eyes as she grabbed his cock with her right hand and brought her head down to his crotch.

    Lilly took the tip of his cock into her mouth still holding eye contact, and slowly moved her head forwards.

    Her tongue played along the bottom of his shaft as his cock slipped further in, and when the tip hit the back of her throat Chris let out an involuntary gasp.

    She drew back with a couple inches still outside her mouth, pulling all the way back to the tip before pushing back down even farther than before.

    Chris''s cock forced it''s way into her throat and she held it there for a few seconds before pulling back, her eyes starting to water.

    Lilly pulled all the way back, his cock slipping out of her lips with a pop, and she swallowed a mouthfull of saliva.

    Then she took it back into her mouth and started to bob faster and faster, her tongue playing over every inch of his cock as it slid in and out.

    Chris had no time to warn her he was close and as her tongue slithered across the tip he came, shooting a large amount of seed into her mouth.

    Lilly didn''t even flinch, maintaining a firm seal on his cock with her lips until it stopped spasming and shooting out ropes of cum.

    She swallowed while still holding his cock in her mouth and the sensation was overwhelming for him, almost painfull.

    When she finally pulled away from him Chris was breathing in great gasping breaths.

    "So, how was it?" Lilly asked mischievously.

    Chris couldn''t reply.

    Lilly slid off the end of the bed and pulled her gown up over her head.

    Chris couldn''t take his eyes off of her, which is why he was even more surprised when he felt a hand touch his arm.

    He had forgotten Mara and Zara''s presence, completely focused on what Lilly had been doing.

    He felt a jolt run from Mara''s hand and race through his body straight to his cock which sprang back up, hard as it had ever been.

    Mara backed off to resume staring at the ground with her sister and Chris''s gaze snapped back to Lilly, Mara completely forgotten again as he took in Lilly''s petite naked form.

    Her breasts were tiny and the nipples were the same alabaster white as the rest of her skin, making them all but invisible.

    She had a flat, tight stomach, nothing much in the way of curves.

    Chris''s gaze fell upon her vagina and his mind went blank, it was cute and pink with no hair visible at all and already glistening with moisture, her tiny nub of a clit peeking out.

    Lilly stood in front of the bed for a minute just letting him admire her before raising her knee onto the bed and crawling towards him.

    Chris lay back without being asked and Lilly crawled onto him, pressing her chest against his and giving him a deep kiss.

    Chris had never kissed a girl before and his mind was screaming at him that he was fucking it up somehow.

    He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her back.

    Her tongue entered his mouth and he had a moment of distress thinking about how she just had a mouth full of his cum before he decided he didn''t care.

    They were both out of breath when Lilly finally broke off the kiss, Chris reluctantly letting his arms fall back to his sides.

    Lilly sat up on his stomach and scooted back until Chris''s cock nestled between her asscheeks.

    She lifted herself up on her knees and grabbed his cock by the base, scooting a bit more back and guiding the tip to her glistening entrance.

    Without any ceremony or warning Lilly sat back onto him, his cock sliding into her all the way to the base causing Chris''s breath to leave his lungs in a gasp.

    She stayed that way for a moment letting him get his breath back before she began to slowly raise her ass up, his cock slipping all the way out to the tip before she slammed back down.

    She began raising up and slamming back down faster and faster until she found the pace that she liked, and Chris just tried to hold back his impending orgasm.

    He Failed.

    "I-I''m sorry." He stammered out, looking away from her in shame.

    Lilly cupped his chin and turned his face towards her, forcing him to meet her eyes.

    "Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for." She said, leaning forward and kissing him again.

    <hr>

    Chris was exhausted.

    Every day for almost two months he had been used by five of the fifteen women, Mara and Zara taking turns ''recharging'' him between rounds.

    And on the one day a week he didn''t have to fulfill his obligations as Lord Ranock''s prized breeder Kira was there to remind him he shouldn''t have killed her brother.

    Chris found himself missing Lilly, each time one of the women got pregnant Mara or Zara seemed to know right away and they stopped visiting him.

    While he was sad Lilly got pregnant so early on he was glad Freya did too, she liked to cut him while she rode him getting off on his screams.

    When Freya was using him Mara or Zara had to be touching him the entire time to prevent him from going soft.

    Now he was down to the last five women, all masters in their fourties. And though he would never dare to say it to them, he thought they were just too old to get pregnant.

    Chris didn''t know what age women stopped being able to conceive at, by the time he had recovered from his burns enough to go back to school he had missed four years and the entirety of sex ed.

    He stumbled out of his room and down the hall heading to the kitchen, his pitcher of drinking water was empty and he was parched from the five rounds of unwanted love making.

    Well three unwanted rounds, Cyndie and Nora are both sweet, and attractive for their age. He mused.

    Chris stopped in his tracks just before reaching the end of the hallway, he could hear Kira''s voice and wasn''t going to risk going out until she left.

    Unable to help his curiousity he pressed his ear up against the door trying to listen in.

    "...is enough, if they were going to get pregnant they would have by now, five more won''t change a thing." Kira was saying.

    Then Lord Ranock responded, "Very well, you can dispose of him tomorrow, I''ve got plans for you tonight."

    Kira gasped and giggled, "Master, what kind of woman do you take me for? At least get me back to our room first."

    Footsteps echoed on the staircase as they descended, and Chris''s mind raced in a panic.

    They''re going to kill me tomorrow! I need to escape! Chris thought back to the demon he had found in the dungeon and his stomach twisted into a knot, he was out of options and time.

    <hr>

    Sophia sighed in relief as she came across a cobblestone road heading off West from the massive white stone road she had been on for the last thirty-two days.

    The entire trip was supposed to take thirty days but her stupid stubborn piece of shit mule had slowed the journey down considerably.

    She took a deep breath and let it out. Though she had at least four days left until she got to Ranock due to her mule, she still felt a great sense of relief settle onto her shoulders.

    The trip so far had been harrowing. Mauve had warned her the road was fraught with bandits, and urged her to join the bi-monthly caravan with its designated guards.

    But to join the caravan you had to pay a fee, and it was more then she could afford.

    On top of that a caravan had left the day Mauve told her about the combat mage in Ranock, so she would have had to wait almost a full two weeks and spend even more of her dwindling wealth.

    Sophia''s heightened senses had saved her multiple times on her journey.

    The first time she thought she heard voices she ignored it thinking she was just hallucinating from the exhaustion and heat.

    But then she saw the sun glint off a blade in the woods up ahead to the right and stared hard until she picked out the hidden forms of several armed men.

    She spent hours travelling miles west of the road in a wide arc to avoid them, and from then on had been even more careful to listen to her senses.

    Now she read a signpost that said what she already knew from the map she had procured in Crossroads, The King''s Road would take three days by foot to reach Ranock.

    After turning west onto The King''s Road Sophia walked for most of a day without encountering any more bandits.

    Right before she was planning on stopping for the night she heard men walking towards her from Ranock and hid off the road out of sight.

    She watched from the bushes as two lines of eight soldiers each marched down the road with a man in a fancy helm at the front between the lines.

    The two soldiers in the back held large standards on wooden poles topped with a carved wooden raptor of some kind.

    The flags had a symbol of an acorn with a dozen tendrils breaking through the bottom like roots and a miniature oak tree bursting from the cap, its canopy stretching to the edges and top of the flag.

    She recognized it as the standard of Ranock but was content to let them pass just to be safe.

    When they were even with her on the road the man at the front called a halt and his gaze snapped to her hiding spot causing Sophia''s breath to catch in her throat.

    "You there girl, come out here right now." He commanded in a tone that brooked no argument, pointing at the ground by his feet.

    Sophia hesitantly led her mule back to the road and the man waited until she had stepped back onto the cobblestones before speaking again.

    "Why are you hiding in the bushes on The King''s Road?" He asked.

    "I am traveling alone. I have had to hide from several groups of bandits and didn''t know you were soldiers until I could see you." She responded defensively.

    "Bandits on this road?" He asked doubtfully.

    "No sir, you are the first people I''ve encountered since I turned on here from the white road." She said.

    "Ah, of course the Great Road is crawling with low lifes, but here on the King''s Road you don''t have to worry over such things."

    "It is patrolled constantly and we haven''t had reports of bandits in decades." He said with pride.

    "How did you know I was there? I was well hidden." Sophia asked curiously.

    He took the armored gauntlet off his left hand and showed her the silver marking on his hand, beaming out a wide smile.

    "My passive mark allows me to feel the presence and location of anyone who is scrutinizing me." He answered.

    "We must be on our way, I advise you not to hide from any further patrols." He told her before signaling his men to advance.

    The morning after the soldiers left Sophia carried on her journey completely uneventfully.

    Four days after she turned west, Sophia crested a hill so large that it had her panting even with how fit she had gotten on the month long trip.

    Spread out below her was a deep valley filled with farms on both sides of the road.

    Rows upon rows of wheat, corn, and all kinds of other crops covering the fields in a vibrant tapestry of different colors.

    In the distance past the farms she could see the massive stone walls of Ranock towering hundreds of feet up into the sky.

    Sophia let out a cheer that startled her stupid mule.

    Thirty-six days after leaving Crossroads she had finally made it to Ranock.

    <hr>

    Chris walked down the dark and cramped spiral stone staircase below the dungeon torch in hand, his only other posession his father''s silver ring with an infinity symbol etched into a flat oval.

    The only sound he could hear was his heart pounding in his chest and his short shallow breaths.

    He arrived at the bottom and this time hardly spared a glance at the prisoners in the six cells as he walked past them to the demon''s prison.

    As the light from his torch illuminated the demon''s face her mouth twisted up into a hideous grimace that seemed to promise pain and Chris dropped his torch, shaking in his boots.

    <hr>

    Zatira felt him coming, felt his fear, she could taste it.

    She didn''t want him to be afraid, this human slave, she had to convince him she was friendly.

    As the young man walked up to her with his trembling hand holding high a torch, she gave him her most genuine and disarming smile.

    The man dropped his torch, his whole body visibly shaking with terror.

    What did I do wrong? I thought humans liked it when you smile. She thought worriedly.

    <hr>

    Chris recovered his torch and waited for the demon to speak, not trusting himself to be able to talk through his fear.

    Luckily the demon''s face returned to a neutral expression, the memory of that terrible smile would be seared into his mind for the rest of his life.

    "Please human, do not be afraid." She said in a surprisingly friendly voice. "You are a slave are you not? If you release me I will set you free."

    Chris''s blood ran cold and his mouth twisted in an expression of terror.

    She will set me free? I''ve seen enough movies to know that means she will kill me in some horifically gruesome way. He thought in horror.

    <hr>

    Zatira used the opening lines she had practiced in her head over the last two months, sure that he would react positively to her kind tone and honest words.

    The human got even more scared, his face twisting into an expression of utter terror.

    Zatira sighed, Humans are so complicated. She thought.

    <hr>

    The demon sighed and Chris knew her patience was running out.

    Chris steeled his resolve knowing this was his only option, he would be killed tomorrow if this demon couldn''t help him escape.

    "If I free you how do I know you won''t just instantly rip my throat out?" Chris asked.

    "I give you my word that if you set me free I will not harm you."

    "In fact while I take my revenge on the people upstairs I will even locate the key to that collar and bring it back down here for you." The demon replied sweetly.

    Her word didn''t mean much to Chris but it was better than nothing.

    He was about to ask how to free her when he thought of Lilly and all the innocent slaves.

    "Wait, there''s a woman upstairs named Lilly..." Chris began but the demon cut him off.

    "The first woman to pleasure you two months ago?" She asked.

    Chris''s eyes widened, "How do you..."

    "Nevermind that, I know what her aura feels like. I promise not to harm her either." She cut him off again.

    "Also promise not to harm any of the other prisoners. Oh and to bring the keys to these jail cells for me too." He demanded.

    Chris felt like he was pushing his luck but couldn''t bring himself to abandon the sickly looking elves and gnomes, plus he had seen Mara and Zara in their cell on his way in.

    The demon let out a deep sigh.

    "I, Zatira Soulbane, promise that if you release me from this prison I will not harm you or the pregnant woman named Lilly, or any of the prisoners, and will bring you the key to your collar as well as the keys to the cells in this room." She intoned.

    Chris stared at her for a minute wondering how she knew Lilly was pregnant, already regretting what he was about to do.

    "Tell me how to let you out." He finally said.

    "There are three crystals embedded in the corners of the triangle symbol on the floor, I''d point them out to you but I can only move my face while in here."

    "All you have to do is smash them, I''ll take care of the rest." She said excitedly.

    Chris swept his torch around the symbol on the floor, finding the first crystal almost under his own feet, the tip of the triangle ending right behind him.

    He crouched down and looked at the crystal, it was a golfball sized black rock set in the floor within the corner lines of the triangle.

    He looked around the cave for something he could smash the crystal with and found a fist-sized rock that narrowed into a sharp point.

    He returned to the symbol and crouched down, raising the rock over the crystal.

    No going back from this. He thought, and brought the rock down.

    The crystal splintered into shards and Chris looked up at Zatira fearfully expecting her to smash out of her prison and kill him.

    She sighed exasperatedly, "Three crystals, remember." She said.

    Chris followed the line of the triangle ignoring all the other archaic runes carved in the ground and smashed the next two crystals.

    The moment he smashed the last crystal Zatira''s entire body erupted in purple fire causing her glass prison to melt around her.

    The flames covering her body went out as she dashed at Chris who was rising from his crouch.

    Well this is the end. After all the movies you''ve seen and games you played you still trusted a fucking demon. Chris thought morosely as he watched his death flying through the air at him.

    Zatira grabbed Chris around the chest and lifted him off the ground in a big hug, twirling him around in a spin and planting a chaste kiss on his lips.

    Then she set him down and laughed joyously again.

    "I''ll be right back with your girlfriend and some keys, just wait down here where it''s safe!" She shouted at him over her shoulder as she ran to the staircase, her tail flicking about wildly.

    Chris couldn''t reply, he was absolutely floored. He sat down on the ground and touched his lips.

    Apparently demons taste like cinnamon. He thought.

    <hr>

 Ch 4 : The price of Calibras freedom

    Planet Earth, Ming Dynasty year 1556

    Tarkin was running out of time, he had been living in Suzu''s cave for the last two weeks trying to convince her to leave with him.

    Suzu had been happy for the company, apparently she had been cast out from her village and didn''t get any visitors.

    They shared stories of their families while out gathering food together and Suzu had grown to trust him, letting him move from the makeshift bed he had set up outside the cave into her home after just a few days.

    But she still wasn''t convinced about the coming disaster.

    Tarkin woke early and made his way out of the cave, careful not to wake Suzu where she slept against the far wall from him.

    He sat on the log where he had been the first time she saw him and prepared himself for one final plea for her to leave.

    A short time later Suzu emerged from the cave and smiled brightly at him, her smile turning into a frown when she saw his serious expression.

    "Tar kin what is wrong?" She asked, and sat to the left of him on the log.

    Tarkin grabbed her left hand with both of his and looked into her eyes.

    "I''m leaving today." He began.

    "I don''t know exactly how far from here this disaster will spread but it will take weeks of travel to get far enough away to be safe. Please come with me Suzu, please. If you stay here you will die."

    He squeezed her hand tighter, a few tears sliding down his cheeks.

    Suzu just stared at him for a few minutes and his heart broke, she wasn''t going to come with him.

    He rose from his seat, releasing her hand.

    "Goodbye Suzu, thank you for sharing your home with me, the last two weeks have been wonderful." He said before he turned his back and began to walk away.

    "Wait!" Suzu cried. "I will go, come help me pack my things."

    <hr>

    Planet Selara, year 2020 on Earth

    After sitting on the stone floor for a few minutes replaying Zatira''s jailbreak in his mind Chris decided to speak with the prisoners while he awaited her return.

    He walked to the middle of the rows of cages, passing by the cells with the bird people and the vampires until he was in front of Mara and Zara''s cell.

    When they saw him approaching Mara rose to her feet and grabbed the bars.

    "Was that a demon that just ran through here?" She asked.

    "Yeah I just freed her, she''s going to kill the masters and bring me the keys to the collars and the cells." Chris replied proudly.

    "Your sister and you will be out of there in no time."

    Mara looked skeptical but didn''t respond and Zara just remained sitting on the mattress glaring at him.

    "Which of the other prisoners can I free without getting killed?" Chris asked.

    "All of them but the gnomes, I''d say." Mara replied.

    "You mean the vampire and the orc won''t murder me but the sweet looking tiny gnomes will?" Chris asked in disbelief.

    "Well the vampire might take a few drinks but she has no reason to kill you, the gnomes however have probably gone a long time without tasting human flesh and will be eager to indulge."

    "As for the harpies and elves, they are peaceful races, they will likely be grateful you freed them." She responded.

    "Won''t I turn into a vampire if she bites me?" Chris asked, thinking of the legends of vampires from Earth.

    Mara snorted, "Only if you plan on having your heart stop in the next twenty four hours."

    "What do you mean?" Chris asked, confused.

    "Vampires feed on people all the time, there''s people who make a living as vamp food and some even do it for free voluntarily."

    "You only ''ascend'' if you die with their venom still in your system. Lord Ranock feeds these ones every day in case he gets himself killed, that''s why he keeps them around." She explained.

    So vampires were walking talking one time use resurrection potions, Chris would keep that in mind.

    "Ok so what about the orc? He looks terrifying." Chris said.

    "Why don''t you go talk to him and judge for yourself, not like I know what kinda person he is." Mara said, annoyed.

    "He speaks english?" Chris asked doubtfully.

    "English?" Mara repeated in confusion.

    "Uh the language we''re speaking." He clarified.

    "Common." She stated. "No I doubt he speaks common, the elves, vampires, and harpies probably do, but for the orc just use your ring of tongues."

    "Uh, ring of tongues?" He asked, brow wrinkled in confusion.

    Mara pointed at his father''s ring on his right hand index finger.

    "Hold one of your fingers on the symbol on the ring and get him to start talking. The ring will do the rest."

    Chris looked at his ring and as he examined it he could detect a faint feeling of strange energy he had never noticed on it before.

    He walked to the cage directly across from Mara''s, the one with a seven foot tall musclebound green skinned man in it, and realized he didn''t know how to get him to start talking.

    He turned back to look at Mara to ask what to do, but before he could she shouted a guttural sentence at the orc.

    The orc stared angrily at Chris for a moment before rapidly talking in his strange guttural language.

    Whatever he was saying along with the gestures he was making seemed quite offensive, and Chris turned back to see Mara covering her mouth with her hand trying not to laugh.

    Chris realized he could understand a few of the words and looked back at the orc in astonishment.

    After a couple minutes of the orc''s colorful tirade, just as he was saying something about Chris'' mom and the dog she had met, Chris decided he had heard enough.

    "ENOUGH!" He shouted, and was almost as surprised as the orc at the harsh strange sounding orcish word that had just come from his mouth.

    "Apologies, I did not think that you spoke orcish. The dryad asked me to vent my anger by ranting at you for her amusement." The orc said looking sheepish.

    Mara failed to hold in her laughter any longer, letting out a loud snort before erupting in giggles while Chris glared at her.

    "In a short while I will have the keys to these cells." Chris said angrily, turning his attention back to the orc.

    "I need to know you won''t attack me if I let you out."

    The orc looked into his eyes and responded. "If you release me from this prison I, Ghull of The Blood Tooth tribe, will owe you a life debt."

    "I will fight by your side while we escape and if you ever have need of an ally you can come find me in the Northeastern quarter."

    Chris had a few questions but settled on one, wanting to speak with each of the prisoners before Zatira returned.

    "Northeastern quarter?" He asked.

    Ghull looked puzzled. "Yes, the Northeastern fourth of this continent. Home of the orc tribes."

    Chris nodded, "Alright I''ll be back when I have the keys, sit tight." He said before moving on to the other cages.

    He walked to the set of cages closest to the staircase and examined the innocuous looking gnomes before moving over to the cage holding the trio of elves.

    He kneeled down before the cage containing three beautiful but dirty and injured elves so as not to startle them.

    They stared back at him blankly from their seat on the mattresses and Chris spoke to them soothingly.

    "Hello my name is Calibra, you can call me Cal."

    Sometime over the last two months of interacting with the fifteen women Chris had stopped thinking of himself as Chris, he was Cal now.

    "Soon a woman will come down here with the keys to your cell and I will let you out. My friend Mara over there is a dryad and before you go she will heal you."

    He pointed in the direction of Mara''s cage even though it was impossible to see it in the darkness, the only source of light being the torch he was holding.

    None of the elves spoke but one of them nodded to him so he slowly rose to his feet and went back past the middle set of cages belonging to Mara and the orc to the final two cages at the end of the line.

    He introduced himself to the harpies and told them the same thing he had told the elves, but unlike the elves they spoke to him.

    "What is your full name?" The female harpy asked.

    "Calibra Dair." Cal responded.

    "The flock will know the name of Calibra Dair." She said, and all three harpies bowed to him.

    Cal saved the vampires for last, Mara told him they wouldn''t kill him but the red eyes and sharp teeth were frightening all the same.

    Just like the last time he looked into the cage the adult vampire snarled at him, but this time the little girl was awake and the woman pulled her behind herself defensively.

    "Hi I''m Calibra, you can ca..." Cal began his same spiel again but she interrupted him.

    "I heard your promises to the elves and the harpies human." She seemed to spit out the last word like it was distasteful.

    An odd way to view your food. Cal thought wryly.

    "Yes well, promise not to bite me if I let you out?" He asked, caught off guard.

    "It has been three days since my daughter has been fed, Lord Ranock likes to make me eat while she goes hungry to torment me."

    "If that demon you set free kills all the humans above she will starve before we can find more. I will do what I must to protect my daughter even to the man who frees me." She responded icily.

    Cal gulped, "Um maybe I could just feed your daughter?" He asked.

    "Just this once and then you can both leave to find food elsewere when I set you free."

    She considered him for a moment before replying.

    "Very well human, if you feed my daughter this once I will leave without harming you. Stick your arm through the bars and don''t try anything."

    Cal walked up to the cage with his heart pounding in his chest. She''s just a little girl, it won''t hurt too bad. He told himself.

    He stuck his arm through the bars and the woman grabbed it by the wrist, her grip like iron.

    "Mia honey it''s okay, come out and drink." She said soothingly to the little girl hiding behind her back.

    Mia walked out from behind her mother and cautiously approached Cal''s arm, grabbing at him with her tiny little hands while Cal braced himself for pain.

    She sank her teeth into his forearm and Cal flinched, but it just felt like getting pricked with a needle.

    The feeling of his blood flowing through his arm and out into her mouth was strange though and it made him feel queasy.

    She only drank for a couple of seconds before unlatching and sitting down on her mothers lap.

    "Thank you for the food." She smiled up at Cal with blood dribbling out the corners of her mouth.

    Cal thought she was incredibly cute, and a little terrifying.

    "Yes, thank you Cal. My name is Vera." The vampire''s mother said and released his arm.

    "You''re welcome, I will be back to release you soon." He said.

    Cal pulled his arm back through the bars and left to speak with Mara until Zatira returned.

    <hr>

    Zatira was having a ball, she couldn''t remember the last time she had so much fun.

    She made her way out of the dungeon and was immediately stabbed through the back by a human guard she didn''t notice waiting outside the dungeon door.

    It hurt a bit but after tearing off his head she removed the sword and the wound quickly closed back up.

    Her regeneration was fast with all the suffering and sexual energy she had soaked up in her prison over the decades.

    Being more careful from then on out she cautiously entered the entryhall she vaguely remembered being dragged through in chains all those years ago.

    It was exactly how she remembered it, except for the four guards that rushed at her with nasty looking black metal halberds and blood red chainmail.

    Zatira caught the first halberd descending on her by the blade with her right hand, the metal liquefying and running off her palm as she called purple flames to her skin.

    She simultaneously held her left hand out with her palm pointed at the two guards rushing at her from the base of the twin staircase, launching an orb of purple flame that grew to the size of a beachball before impacting the floor right before the rushing guards.

    It burst as it hit the ground, splashing liquid fire across the guard''s legs and lower stomachs that ate through their chainmail and black steel greaves before melting the skin off their bones.

    Their screams sounded to her like the laughter of children and she exulted in the agony that was rippling off of them, feeding her even more energy.

    She kicked off the ground throwing herself to the right, into the guard who''s weapon she had melted.

    Her hand formed into a fist just before impacting his stomach, tearing through his rib cage and exploding out his back.

    The final guard stared at her in horror, stopping his charge and standing still. Zatira smelled the sharp scent of urine running down his leg.

    She threw the man who was stuck on her arm at the horror stricken guard, knocking him to the floor.

    Then she calmly walked up to him and raised her right hoof, bringing it down on his skull and ending his terrified screams as it burst like a melon.

    Her foot cratered the floor beneath his now missing head as gore sprayed out in a circle from the site of impact.

    The large double doors between the staircases opened and the man she was looking forward to killing the most stepped out.

    Zatira laughed in delight.

    <hr>

    Taro Ranock awoke to the sounds of screams and hastily extracted himself from Kira''s arms.

    They both quickly pulled on the clothes they had discarded on the floor around the bed earlier and ran over to the wall.

    Taro held his ring up to the symbol on the wall that opened the hidden door behind his throne, Kira right behind him.

    He unsheathed his sword and rushed down the red carpet to the double doors leading out of the throne room.

    Taro opened the door and took in the scene of slaughter, the stench of burnt flesh made him gag and the sound of demonic laughter caused his skin to break out in goosebumps.

    "Kira hide!" He yelled, turning and shoving her back through the double doors before closing them behind him.

    Taro held his sword in front of him gripped in both hands, glaring at the demon standing before him and waiting for her to attack.

    The demon''s hands burst into roiling purple flames and she held them together in front of her aimed at Taro as a ball of flames grew bigger on her palms.

    The fireball launched away from her hands and screamed through the air headed straight for his chest.

    Taro drew on his telekinetic energy and pushed with all his might, causing the ball of purple flames to veer to the right and splash across the staircase melting the steps.

    He leapt forward at the same time while using his telekineses to aid his jump, crossing twenty feet in a second as he flew at the demon.

    <hr>

    Zatira launched a massive ball of flames at the son of the man that had imprisoned her, looking forward to seeing his skin slough off his bones.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    The mark on his hand flashed with silver light and her fireball veered off to the side, splashing harmlessly against the stairway as he launched himself forward at her.

    As the man flew at her through the air with his longsword gripped in two hands and raised above his head Zatira frowned and simply stepped to the side, letting him fly right past her.

    <hr>

    Taro had her, he pictured his blade coming down and cleaving right through the demon''s grinning face, her blood splattering to the sides.

    As he flew at the demon her smile flickered down into a frown and she moved faster than he could comprehend, stepping to the side and letting him sail past.

    He landed in a crouch and turned to block her attack but before he could bring up his sword she headbutted him, her black curved horns smashing into his chest with tremendous force.

    His sword fell from his grasp and he flew backwards out the open doors, sailing over the steps and landing in a heap at the bottom.

    He could tell all of his ribs were broken and at least one was piercing a lung, he could barely breathe.

    He lay on the ground looking up at the demon in disbelief as her right hand reignited with purple flames and she grinned at him.

    Taro saw the doors to his throne room open past the towering form of the demon, and Kira stepped into the entryhall wreathed in flames.

    Mustering all the strength remaining in his broken body he grabbed his sword with his telekinesis, ripping it through the air point first to stab through the demons heart from behind as her purple fireball flew through the air and splashed across his body.

    Taro had a moment of intense pain as the flames ate through his skin and with his last seconds of life he saw the demon pull his sword the rest of the way through her chest by the blade, the hilt tearing out of her chest with a sickening schlorp.

    Taro died.

    <hr>

    Kira tumbled back through the doors as her master pushed her backwards, yelling at her to hide.

    "Stupid master." She grumbled as she stood up off the floor and rubbed at her sore backside.

    She coated herself in flames and went to go help him.

    Kira opened the doors just in time to see the man she loved lying outside at the bottom of the stairs.

    A ball of purple flames and Taro''s sword flew through the air in concert, the flames splashing across his chest as his sword stabbed through the demons back up to the hilt.

    Kira was paralyzed with horror and could only watch as the demon ripped the sword out of her chest and walked calmly down the stairs, stopping on the bottom step and raising the blade in the air above Taro''s smouldering corpse.

    Kira snapped out of it and ran across the room, but by the time she reached the doors the demon had already decapitated her love.

    She screamed in agony as her last hope died, he wouldn''t be coming back as a vampire without his head.

    With no regard for her own life she leapt from the top of the stairs at the demon, she was going to latch on and burn it until it was nothing but a pile of ashes.

    <hr>

    Zatira got her wish after all, instead of ripping off his head she headbutted him out the open doors and took the time to craft another ball of fire, she wanted to see him burn.

    She regretted it a moment later as his sword flew through the air behind her, three feet of metal impaling her chest.

    She grimaced and grabbed the blade, she couldn''t reach the hilt at her back so she just ripped it the rest of the way through, she''d just regenerate anyways.

    She knew this man had been feeding the vampires down in her dungeon, so she moved forward to decapitate him.

    As his head seperated from his body an ear piercing shriek came from behind her and a flaming woman jumped on her back, latching her arms around her neck and her legs around her waist.

    Zatira was startled, she didn''t expect some crazy lady to throw herself at her with no weapon.

    The flames didn''t bother her at all of course, she was a demon afterall.

    Zatira dropped the sword and reached up to the arms around her neck, digging her claws into them and ripping them off she dumped the woman on her back on the steps.

    She turned around and raised her hoof and the sobbing woman made no move to escape as Zatira brought her leg down on her stomach, ripping her body completely in half.

    Zatira returned to the house, she had a lot of people to round up and kill as well as one woman to bring back to her new friend Cal.

    <hr>

    Cal was growing impatient, it had been over an hour since he freed Zatira and Mara wasn''t willing to humour his constant barrage of questions any longer.

    Maybe dryads are antisocial, Zara hadn''t said a single word to him though he had asked her several direct questions as well.

    Just as he was about to head upstairs to check things out he heard the clomping of hooves coming down the stairway.

    Zatira walked into the torchlight absolutely drenched in blood with pieces of flesh stuck on her horns and in her hair, and she was humming a cheery tune with a big smile on her face.

    In her arms she held an unconcious Lilly in a princess carry, a wrought iron key ring and a small black stone triangle resting on Lilly''s lap.

    "Your lady love and the keys, as promised." Zatira said while laying Lilly on the ground in front of him.

    "She should wake up in a few minutes, she didn''t want to come so I had to put her to sleep." Zatira shrugged off a blood covered leather backpack.

    "I also took the liberty of packing you some provisions, I''ll give you a moment to free the prisoners but then I''m gonna burn this place down."

    "I''ll be upstairs, don''t take too long now." Zatira turned and walked back the way she came while Cal checked on Lilly.

    She seemed to be sleeping peacefully so Cal left her alone while he examined the small triangular black stone.

    It was an exact match to the leather triangle at the front of his collar he had seen in his rooms mirror.

    He touched the stone to the triangle on his collar and the seamless leather seperated right down the middle of the triangle, falling off his neck and onto the ground.

    He rubbed at his neck, after over two months of wearing a collar constantly day and night it felt strange to finally have it off.

    He picked up the key ring and started trying the keys on Mara''s cell, finding the right one on the third try.

    The door swung open and the dryad sisters stepped out. Cal was about to take off their collars with the black stone but decided to ask one last question while they still might answer him.

    "How come you were able to heal me and um... do those other magic things while wearing the collar? Kira said they block magic."

    "The collars are designed to block human''s magic, not the magic of other races, the command function still works on us though." She responded.

    Cal held the stone to their collars and they fell off, both of the dryads rubbing at their necks.

    Cal went to Ghull''s cell next and after the door opened the orc followed him while he opened the rest, the dryads remaining by Lilly''s side.

    He released the harpies and the vampires next, then went over to the elves.

    As soon as the harpies were free Mara and Zara set to work healing them, their sores closing up and their wing-arms sprouting out fresh sky blue feathers.

    The harpies left as soon as they were healed and Mara and Zara moved over to heal the elves.

    The elves each spoke one word to express their gratitude, saying thanks and then rushing up the stairs.

    Cal turned back to see to Lilly when Ghull spoke.

    "What about the gnomes?" He asked.

    "I was planning on leaving them here." Chris responded.

    "Leaving them to die of starvation in this place would be barbaric and wrong, I will protect you if they try anything, please let them out."Ghull said.

    Cal looked from Ghull''s face to the gnomes, he didn''t doubt the orc could take them easily.

    He used the last key on the ring and opened their cell, hastily retreating behind Ghull as the door swung open.

    The pair of gnomes ran out of the cell and raced to the exit, and Cal went back to Lilly''s side.

    The vampire Vera was holding her daughter Mia in her arms and waiting by Mara and Zaras side.

    Cal gently shook Lilly and spoke to her. "Lilly wake up, we have to go."

    Lilly sleepily opened her eyes. "Cal? Where are we? What''s going on?" She demanded.

    "I''ll explain later, we have to go now." He told her and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet.

    Ghull led the way to the staircase and the rest of them followed.

    Cal could smell burnt hair and flesh before they reached the top of the spiral staircase.

    By the time he made his way through the upper dungeon and arrived at the bottom of the staircase that led up to the entry hall he was breathing through his mouth and trying not to puke.

    When he entered the entry hall he lost his struggle with with not vomiting, emptying his stomach to the sight of mutilated corpses spread across the room.

    Their group hurried out of the building and Cal stared at Kira''s two part corpse on the steps, her sightless eyes seemed to follow him as he passed by.

    Zatira was waiting for them in the fountain, scrubbing at her bare breasts in the now pink tinted water.

    The elves and harpies were already gone and Cal saw the gnomes working together to drag the headless corpse of a guard off into the woods to the left.

    He gave a shudder as he looked around for the slaves. "Where are the slaves?" Cal asked.

    "They''re dead." Zatira replied, her smile turning down into a frown. "I hope you didn''t want me to spare them too, you only asked me to save the prisoners."

    His blood ran cold and he replayed his deal with Zatira in his mind, she was right he had only said prisoners.

    Cal sank to his knees.

    Sera and the other three slaves carrying his children along with all the men that worked in the kitchen, they were all dead, all because of him.

    "I''m sorry, had I known you wanted them to live I would have let them go." Zatira said, and Cal believed her.

    Zatira held her palms out towards the estate behind him and a huge ball of purple flames grew on them, rocketing off at the house and setting it ablaze.

    Lilly set her hand on his shoulder. "It''s not your fault Cal." She said, but he knew it was.

    Zatira stepped out of the fountain. "Well it was nice to meet you Cal. If you ever make it to the Twilight Realm don''t be a stranger!"

    She bent forward and pressed one of her claws into the stone of the courtyard, turning in a circle and gouging out a deep line.

    She waved at them and shouted. "Bye everyone!" Then purple flames rose from the circle in a curtain obscuring her form for a few seconds, and when they died down she was gone.

    Ghull picked up a sword Cal recognized as Lord Ranock''s, which told Cal who the skeleton with almost no flesh and a severed head was, and walked over to him.

    "Cal I am sorry to leave you like this, but I must hurry to my home, every day I am missing is another day my wife is in pain."

    Cal numbly nodded his head, lost in the pain of losing so many people he had cared for.

    Ghull ran past the fountain and up the driveway out of sight.

    "We are leaving too." Mara said, and her and Zara ran off into the woods in the same direction the gnomes had gone.

    Lilly knelt next to him and wrapped her arms around him but the heat from the inferno behind him quickly grew unbearable and he rose to his feet.

    They walked past the fountain and up the driveway without looking back.

    The driveway led right up to a massive white road, and as they stepped onto it Lilly turned right.

    Cal shot a questioning look to Vera, who was still walking behind him carrying Mia.

    "I assume we are all headed to Crossroads, it will be safer to travel together." She said.

    Cal looked to Lilly who had turned around when Vera spoke. "She''s right." Lilly said.

    As the sun started to rise directly in front of them Cal took in a deep breath of fresh air, glad to finally be outside for the first time in over two months despite the sense of loss he was feeling.

    They walked on the road for the whole day, Cal taking in the massive trees and strange wildlife with wide eyes.

    Mia''s shyness dissapeared now that they were outside, and she talked almost nonstop.

    Lilly by contrast was completely silent and Cal began to worry, did she hate him for getting everyone she knew killed and her home burnt to the ground?

    On their first break after a few hours of walking Cal asked Lilly to step a ways away from the vampires to talk.

    They sat against the base of one of the large trees and Cal nervously twiddled his thumbs, trying to figure out how to begin.

    "Lilly," He started. "I overheard Lord Ranock and Kira saying they were going to kill me today. I had no choice but to make a deal with the demon, I''m sorry. I understand if you hate me."

    Lilly grabbed his hand and waited for him to look into her eyes. "I don''t hate you Cal. Anyone would have made the same choice, You even got her to spare me."

    "I''m the one that should be appologizing, I was working for the man that enslaved you and you still rescued me." She leaned forward and Cal got the hint, leaning in and pressing his lips against hers.

    They resumed their journey hand in hand, Cal''s mood picking up a bit as they walked and exchanged small talk.

    When the sun started to drop from the sky they moved off the road to camp for the night.

    Lilly lay down in front of Cal and he wrapped his arms around her, listening to her breathing grow still.

    He stayed awake for an hour or two just listening to her breathe and holding her, thinking of what would come next.

    He could settle down with Lilly and raise their child, maybe in this Crossroads Vera had mentioned.

    Cal fell asleep happy for the first time since his life was ruined in a car crash.

    <hr>

    Cal and Lilly finally walked into Crossroads and said their goodbyes to Vera and Mia.

    Mia was sad to see them go and kept waving and shouting "Bye!" until they were out of view, Cal thought it was adorable.

    Exhausted from their journey they set off to find an inn.

    Lilly told him she had been here many times before and led them unerringly between dozens of buildings before stopping in front of a white stone building that looked the same as all the others.

    She pushed open the door and Cal followed her in, taking in the few tables with even fewer customers.

    Only three people were in the lobby besides them, and one of them was the bartender.

    Lilly walked right up to the bartender. "One room, two hot meals, and a hot bath." She said, and the man pulled a key from below the counter, sliding it over to her.

    "Room 8." He said. "Bath water will be up shortly, and dinner is in an hour."

    She headed to the stairs at the back of the room and Cal followed her. "You didn''t pay him." He observed.

    "They know Taro''s household here." She said.

    Cal felt something was off, Lilly seemed cold again like she had at the start of their trip.

    He pushed the thought aside as they reached their room and Lilly unlocked the door before stepping inside.

    Lilly turned to face him as he entered, "Stay in this room, I''m going to go buy us some clothing and supplies." She said as Cal shrugged off the backpack Zatira had provided him.

    It was mostly stuffed with food and two waterskins, but there was also a heavy sack of gold coins.

    He didn''t know how much they were worth but they were gold, so he assumed a decent sum.

    Lilly opened the pack and removed the sack of coins quickly before exiting the room and shutting the door without waiting for him to argue.

    Not that he would have, Cal was dead tired. He went to the queen sized bed in the room and flopped down on his stomach, quickly falling asleep.

    He woke up to the sound of running water and flipped over to see a woman in a maid outfit holding her hand out over the large metal tub in the corner of the room, steaming water spewing out of her palm.

    She saw Cal get up from the bed and apologized for waking him.

    Cal raptly watched the water pour from her hand, he had only seen a few people use magic so far and was still amazed each time.

    When the tub was filled three quarters of the way up the woman left the room, leaving behind a towel, a huge sponge, and a bar of soap.

    When Lilly got back twenty minutes later he was sitting on the edge of the bed wrapped in a towel.

    She shrugged a new pack off her back and pulled out some brown robes, tossing them to Cal.

    He stood up and let the towel drop, no longer embarassed to be seen naked after the last couple months.

    He got dressed while Lilly stripped down, sighing as she stepped into the bath.

    "Want me to wash your back?" Cal asked her.

    "No." She snapped.

    Cal was taken aback, "What''s wrong Lilly?" He asked her as he approached the bath.

    She sighed, "Nothing Cal I''m just tired."

    A knock sounded at the door and Cal left her side, cracking it open and peeking out to preserve Lilly''s modesty.

    It was the maid holding two plates of food so Cal slipped out of the door and took them from her hands.

    Cal waited for Lilly to finish bathing and getting dressed so they could eat together, and then they sat down on the bed to eat.

    They ate in silence, a tension in the air that Cal didn''t like.

    When they finished eating Lilly took the dishes and set them outside the door, locking it when she was done.

    He tried again, "Lilly whatever is wrong you can tell me."

    Lilly looked at him and seemed to be struggling to decide what to say. Finally she spoke, "Let''s get some sleep, we have a long day tomorrow."

    She went to the side of the bed and slipped under the covers before covering the lamp on the bedside table so the flame went out.

    Cal sighed and joined her under the blankets, "Good night Lilly." He said, and struggled not to tell her that he loved her, unsure how she would react.

    She didn''t tell him good night back and he fell asleep with a pain in his heart.

    Cal woke in the middle of the night when he felt something he never though he would feel again, a leather collar clasped around his neck.

    He reached his hands up towards his neck in the darkness and Lilly''s voice rang out before he could touch it and shock himself.

    "Stop." She ordered.

    His hands stopped moving, the warning tingle of electricity racing through his body telling him what would happen if he disobeyed.

    "Lilly what?..." Cal asked, confused.

    "Do not harm yourself, do not harm me, do not try to escape, do not tell anyone you are a spatial mage or that you are my prisoner, stay within twenty feet of me at all times." She shot out commands rapid fire while Cal''s mind raced.

    "Lilly." He started to talk again but she cut him off.

    "I''m sorry Cal but I have no home now, no money, and no job. I will bring you to Ranock and sell you to the king."

    "Lilly I love you!" He blurted out. "We can have a family, please don''t do this."He pleaded.

    "Stop talking and go to sleep Cal." She said, and his next words died in his throat, the tingle of electricity forcing him to stop.

    Cal lay in the darkness crying, he had just been dreaming of his life with Lilly and imagining what their child would look like, and the whole time she had been planning to betray him.

    <hr>

    Vera crouched in a bush a few miles north of Crossroads, waiting for a smaller group of humans to come by.

    She didn''t know when it had happened, she hadn''t been to Crossroads in over a decade since she was pregnant with Mia, but now vampires were no longer allowed in the city.

    The had been chased out of town the day they arrived two days ago, and she was getting hungry.

    A few groups had passed by on the road north, but they were too big for her to swoop in and grab one.

    Finally a pair of cloaked figures appeared on the road approaching her position.

    She waited patiently while they drew closer, preparing herself to jump out of the bushes and kill the man, then pull the woman off the road and tie her up to be a traveling meal.

    Just as she was about to jump out she stopped, the man turned his head in her direction and she saw his face under the hood.

    It was Cal, and he looked terrible.

    His eyes were red and swollen with tears leaking out and streaming down his face and she saw why.

    He was once again wearing one of those leather collars he had on the first time she saw him.

    Whoever this woman was must have captured him for some reason, she knew.

    She debated leaving him to his fate but his expression tugged at her heart, he had saved her and her daughter after all.

    Plus he had been kind and patient with Mia on the journey to Crossroads, even feeding her again when she complained about being hungry.

    Maybe if she saved him he would be grateful enough to feed her daughter again, and maybe even her before he returned to his Lilly.

    Vera let them pass and crept back through the bushes, finding Mia where she had left her and telling her she would have to remain quiet for longer.

    She scooped up her daughter and followed alongside the road after Cal, deciding she would wait until they made camp and kill the woman in her sleep.

    <hr>

    Cal stumbled after Lilly still crying occasionally.

    He had only gotten one day to recover from the journey to Crossroads while Lilly went to gather supplies, ordering him to remain in the room.

    They had set out the next day at sunrise and other than giving him orders she hadn''t said a thing.

    He also hadn''t said a word, as she was still using the collar to prevent him from speaking.

    Lilly called a stop when the sun had completely dissapeared, nothing but a dim glow on the horizon.

    She ordered Cal to set down his pack and eat some food so he pulled out some dried meat and a loaf of hard bread, nibbling at it numbly.

    He didn''t have the will to eat at all but the collar could not be ignored.

    After eating his food he curled up in a ball and tried to get some sleep.

    Someone shook Cal awake and he opened his eyes, it took him a second to realize he could still see the silhouette of Lilly''s sleeping form in front of him.

    He crawled to the side while looking behind him and trying to make out who had woken him but it was too dark to make out their features.

    "It''s Vera, Cal." Vera said.

    Cal tried to warn her to be quiet, she would wake up Lilly, but he still couldn''t speak.

    "I took care of your captor." Vera said. "Don''t worry."

    Fear clutched at Cal''s chest and he rushed to Lilly''s side, her throat was torn open and her eyes stared sightlessly ahead.

    Cal pulled her head into his lap and stroked her hair, loud sobs wracking his whole body.

    She was going to sell him back into slavery but Cal couldn''t help how he felt, he had loved her and she was carrying his child.

    His sorrow suddenly turned into anger, anger at Vera, anger at Lilly, anger at himself, anger at this entire evil world.

    He gently laid Lilly back down to the ground and searched through her pack, pulling out the black stone triangle and unlocking his collar.

    "Why did you kill her!" Cal screamed at Vera as his collar fell to the ground. "WHY!?"

    He couldn''t see Vera''s face but she flinched back. "I saw you on the road, you had a collar on again, is that not your captor?" She asked gently, trying not to provoke him.

    "Lilly, oh Lilly." Cal moaned, his anger returning to soul crushing sorrow once again.

    "Lilly? Lilly collared you?" Vera questioned.

    "I''m so sorry Cal, if I had known it was her I would never have done this, I swear."

    Cal shouldered Lilly''s pack and moved over to his own picking it up as well, he couldn''t stay here by Lilly''s body.

    "It''s ok Vera." Cal said, even though it was not ok. "You couldn''t have known, you were just trying to help me. Thank you."

    "I am glad you feel that way Cal, because I have a favor to ask of you. We could not get any food in Crossroads, vampires are not allowed there anymore." She said.

    "Ok, I''ll feed Mia." Cal said, knowing what she was going to ask.

    "I need to eat too, Cal." She said. "If you do not mind."

    "Sure Vera. Bring me to your camp, I cant stay here any longer." Cal said, walking towards her.

    Vera nodded and led Cal away from Lilly''s body.

    Mia was ecstatic when she spotted Cal and rushed to tell him all about the kitty she had pet in Crossroads, the tree she had climbed at her camp last night, and the lizard she had seen earlier.

    Her excited babble loosened the clamp pressing down on Cal''s heart, but after feeding both of the vampires he still couldn''t stop the tears from escaping as he lay down to go back to sleep.

    He lay there and thought of all the lives his freedom had cost.

    He thought of the dozens of male slaves that worked in the kitchens and gardens of the estate, some of them he had spoken to a few times during his imprisonment.

    He thought of some of the nicer masters that he had known intimately.

    He thought of Sera and the three other female slaves who he had gotten pregnant.

    He thought of all ten of his unborn children who would never take a breath.

    And finally he saw Lilly''s sightless eyes staring at him over her torn throat.

    That was the price of Cal''s freedom, and as he lay there sobbing he questioned if it was worth it.

 Ch 5 : The price of Sophias freedom

    Planet Earth, Ming Dynasty year 1560

    Tarkin sat in Suzu''s bed holding his screaming newborn daughter gently in his arms.

    The first thing he did was closely examine the backs of both her hands, as he expected her right hand was flawless, all five fingers and no silver marking.

    He felt a pang of dissapointment that he swiftly quashed.

    He hadn''t really expected her to have spatial magic but couldn''t stop himself from harboring a slight hope.

    When he switched to her left hand he let out a gasp, there was a very faint silver symbol, his daughter had a passive magic.

    He had no clue what it could be of course, there were thousands of passive marks and he was no scholar.

    But just the fact that his daughter would have an advantage in this harsh world made him swell with happiness.

    Suzu leaned up wearily and put her arms around him from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder.

    She spoke softly. "She''s beautiful Tar kin. What should we name her?"

    Tarkin didn''t have to think about it for a second, he already knew. "Rina." He said with tears of joy in his eyes.

    "After your sister?" Suzu asked him. "It''s a beautiful name. Tell me more about her."

    He handed his crying daughter off to Suzu and recounted tales of the person he missed the most.

    He told her of some of the mischief they had gotten up to in the streets of Ranock, snatching treats from stalls even though they had the money to pay for them just to enjoy the chase they always had the advantage in, shifting short distances away whenever they were almost caught.

    He shared with her his happiest memories of Rina, and also the sad ones.

    As he spoke the grief he had been holding onto for the past four years faded into the background.

    He would never be free from the guilt and pain of causing the deaths of so many loved ones, but the joy he felt in the presence of his newborn daughter was undeniable.

    <hr>

    Planet Selara, year 2020 on earth

    Cal wasn''t sure what made him continue on the journey he had started with Lilly.

    He could have turned back to Crossroads or gone anywhere else, but when he woke up in Vera''s camp the next morning he had set off north again immediately.

    Vera and Mia followed him with Vera claiming she couldn''t let their source of food go off on his own.

    Cal heard tales of the abilities of a spatial mage from some of the other slaves during his captivity, and now that he was uncollared he had been trying to figure them out.

    He could feel an energy in his right hand if he focused on his symbol, and it would start glowing silver.

    He looked at a spot further up the road and willed himself to be there, but like all his previous attempts nothing happened.

    He let out a frustrated sigh and walked off the road to take a break, sitting down on a shaded rock and pulling off his pack to get some water.

    Vera sat next to him and they watched Mia as she collected rocks to stack, balancing them on each other as high as she could.

    "Still no luck with your magic?" Vera asked.

    "No, I don''t know what I''m doing wrong." Cal replied, frustrated. "I can feel the energy in my hand and my mark glows, but nothing happens."

    Vera contemplated for a moment. "The energy is only in your hand? Wouldn''t it make sense if you wanted to move your whole body that the energy should affect all of you?" She asked.

    Cal called the energy back to his hand and focused on it, trying to draw it down his arm to the rest of his body.

    He felt the tingle of energy race down his body and grew excited, his mark was brighter than ever before.

    Cal looked at a spot on the road in front of him and willed himself to be there, staring intently at the ground.

    Suddenly there was no rock beneath him, and he fell onto his ass.

    He let out a whoop of joy and mentally filed away not to teleport while sitting again.

    A breeze blew across the road and Cal realised he shouldn''t be feeling it on his junk, looking down to find himself completely nude.

    Vera laughed and walked over holding out his robe. "Maybe next time spread the energy to your clothes too, yeah?" She teased.

    Cal snatched his robe from her hands and hastily pulled it over his head, cheeks blushing furiously.

    His shame did not diminish his joy and the second he was clothed he tried again, mentally pulling the energy onto his robe this time and focusing on the rock his pack was sitting on.

    He appeared fully clothed standing on the rock next to his pack and grinned broadly.

    "I can teleport!" He shouted in joy.

    Mia laughed and ran up to him. "Teleport me, teleport me!" She screamed.

    "Don''t even think about it!" Vera yelled while Cal was reaching out to lift Mia into his arms.

    Cal pulled his arms back and put on an exagerated fake pout. "Sorry kiddo mommy says no." He told Mia sadly.

    "Do not make me the bad guy here Cal, would you risk her safety doing something you have only performed sucessfully once?" Vera snapped.

    Cal knew she was right, but Vera was fun to mess with. "Fine let me test it on you first." He said, expecting her to react angrily.

    To his astonishment Vera held out her hand and replied. "Alright but if you teleport me without my clothes I will make you regret it."

    Cal''s fake pout turned into a wide grin and he grabbed Vera by the hand, willing his energy to encompass them both entirely.

    He took longer than what he felt was necessary to ensure he had all her clothing covered before looking at the road further away than he had tried previously and willing himself to be there.

    Cal and Vera appeared on the road in the spot he had been picturing and Cal felt like he had just run a marathon while carrying a fridge, he would have fallen over if not for Vera holding him up.

    Vera helped him back over to the rock and he sat down heavily, but the exhaustion was lessening by the second and just a couple minutes later he felt as good as new.

    "Guess I can''t just teleport continuously." He said. "Or maybe carrying a passenger makes it harder."

    "My turn, my turn!" Mia shrieked, climbing up onto the rock and latching onto Cal''s back while he sat.

    Cal stood up and Mia wrapped her legs around his stomach, her arms around his neck squeezing a little too hard.

    He ran around with her on his back causing her to erupt in giggles, and he even saw one of Vera''s rare smiles.

    "Well Vera, what do you think, am I ready to teleport Mia?" Cal asked.

    "Please mom!" Mia pleaded.

    "Fine, just be careful." Vera said. "If you..." She began but stopped speaking and sighed when they both vanished, reappearing on the road.

    <hr>

    Sophia didn''t seek out the combat healer when she arrived at Ranock, she headed straight to the library.

    The guards at the city gate had let her in without asking any questions, and she got directions to the library from the first person she asked.

    She arrived at the massive white stone building the size of San Fran''s city hall, tied her mule''s reigns to a nearby fence post, and sprinted up the stairs.

    When she opened one side of the massive glass and metal double doors and stepped inside, her mouth fell open in astonishment.

    The building was a massive hollow oval, the ceiling soaring six floors up.

    Each floor was a walkway running around the walls with bookshelves floor to ceiling and the occasional fancy mahogany table and chairs.

    The ground floor had bookshelves covering the entire middle, reaching almost to the railing of the first floor.

    As the door shut behind Sophia a mousy looking middle aged woman wearing a modest grey dress with matching eyes and frizzy unkempt brown hair pulled into a loose braid behind her looked up.

    "Out! Get out!" She shouted, and Sophia was stunned.

    "W-what?" She stammered. "I was told this is a public library."

    "It is a public library, but I can smell you from here, you''re tracking in mud, and your clothes are filthy and torn!" She said, not at all in the quiet voice one should use in a library.

    "You are welcome to come back when you don''t look like an orcish bride." She said sternly, and Sophia left the building shamefully.

    As she walked down the steps she sniffed at her armpit and recoiled, she truly did smell atrocious.

    She untied her mule and led it off to find an inn.

    Sophia asked around for a decent inn and found herself outside of a nice looking building with flowers planted under the windows, she tied up her mule and went in to secure a room.

    The common room was packed but everyone gave her a wide berth, her cheeks reddening in shame when she thought about how bad she smelled.

    She went to the counter and paid for a room and someone to stable and feed her mule before asking about a bath and a market she could purchase some clothes at.

    The man informed her the inn didn''t have baths but gave her directions to a bathhouse and a market.

    After storing her pack and the bags from her mule in her room Sophia headed off to get clean.

    She purchased two pairs of stiff brown pants from a vendor who insisted they were for men, and two different cloth shirts that looked comfortable.

    Next she picked up a new pair of nice leather fingerless gloves, her cheap fluffy ones from Earth were riddled with holes after her journey.

    She made her way to the bathhouse with her new purchases held out far in front of her, trying to avoid getting them filthy.

    Sophia paid the woman sitting at a counter outside the bathhouse and headed inside not sure what to expect.

    The large stone building was a rectangle with four massive pools of steaming water.

    There were stone benches and shelves placed along the walls, and pathways ran in a cross from wall to wall seperating the pools.

    There were no private rooms.

    Sophia set her clothes on a bench next to the pool with the least people in it and stuffed her new clothes into a cubby before starting to strip.

    She got out of her clothes quickly and snatched a bar of soap from the shelf, hurrying to submerge her body in the water and out of sight.

    Sophia tried to keep her eyes off the other patrons while she hastily scrubbed at herself, but she had been alone for months and there were so many naked women around her.

    She couldn''t stop her eyes from wandering, checking out a few of the women sharing the pool with her.

    Her cheeks were flushed and she knew it wasn''t just from the steaming heat of the water.

    Her eyes were glued to a set of perfect breasts when she realised she had stopped scrubbing, looking away quickly and resuming cleaning herself more vigorously than before.

    Sophia finished her bath and was about to get out but couldn''t resist one more glance at the well endowed woman she had been ogling.

    She turned to look and to her horror the woman was wading across the pool straight over to her.

    "Hello, I''m Kyla, you were looking at me." She said teasingly.

    Sophia grew even redder, trying to cover her breasts with her hands.

    "Um hi, I''m Sophia. I have to go." She said, and scrambled to get out of the bath.

    Kyla laughed. "Ok Sophia, nice to meet you." She said as Sophia ran to her bench.

    Sophia toweled herself off quickly and pulled on her clothes before rushing out of the bathhouse in embarassment.

    As shea walked back to her inn she guiltily though about her fiance from Earth, wondering how long she would wait for her.

    Sophia''s heart ached, she missed her so badly, but she was lonely and knew she could never go home.

    She promised herself she would try to move on.

    <hr>

    Cal woke up to Vera''s hand coving his mouth, she leaned forward until her lips were right next to his ear.

    "Be quiet and get up, we have company." She said softly.

    Mia was standing next to her, rubbing sleepily at her eyes but staying quiet.

    Cal got up and quickly rolled up his bedroll, strapping it to the outside of his pack as quietly as possible.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    "Which way do we go?" He asked in a whisper.

    Vera turned in a circle, sniffing at the air. "We are surrounded. Can you teleport all three of us?" She asked quietly.

    Cal had been practicing his teleportation for the last two weeks of their journey, Mia being a helpful and willing test subject.

    "I don''t think so." He replied, thinking back to the last time he had tried to spread his aura over all three of them.

    "Take Mia and go." She said. "Come back for me when she is safe."

    Cal nodded and stooped to wrap Mia in his arms. As he bent down he felt the air rush past his head, an arrow passing a centimeter over him.

    He scooped Mia up and frantically tried to picture a location in his mind, a second later he was in the clearing they had stopped at to take a break the day before.

    He set Mia down quickly and pictured where he had just been, popping into existence right next to Vera and grabbing her arm.

    They dissapeared right as anither arrow flew through the space Vera had just been standing in, reappearing next to Mia who ran over to hug her mom.

    Cal spotted an arrow sticking out of Vera''s shoulder and became consumed with a white-hot rage, dropping his pack to the ground and searching through it frantically.

    "It''s ok Cal." Vera said. "Calm down, vampires heal quickly."

    He ignored her, finding what he was looking for in his pack. He pulled out the long steel hunting knife Lilly had purchased for their trip, dissapearing again before Vera could stop him.

    He was done being pushed around by the evil people of this world, he had had enough.

    He appeared in their campsite, spotting a man rummaging through the pack Vera had been carrying since rescuing him from Lilly.

    Cal didn''t give him time to react, the second he saw the man he teleported right behind him, driving his knife into the mans spine as he tried to stand.

    Cal kept his spatial energy wrapped around the knife, and as soon as he saw the next man he teleported again not bothering to pull the blade back out.

    This man was carrying a bow and had pulled back and released an arrow the second Cal stabbed his companion.

    Cal appeared at his side, plunging his blade into the man''s neck before looking frantically around for more targets.

    He spotted two more men running away from him on the other side of the camp and grinned, looking ahead of one of them before turning around and holding his blade straight out at stomach height and vanishing once again.

    The man ran directly into his blade, his mouth opening in shock as his hands shot to the fresh wound in his stomach.

    Cal pulled his arm back letting the man fall to the ground and looked for the last bandit, he could hear him crashing away through the dark forest but couldn''t spot him so he let him go.

    Cal was too exhausted to teleport after him anyways, he would have to wait a few minutes before he could even make it back to Vera and Mia.

    He knelt next to the man he had just gutted who was now moaning in pain on the ground.

    He was a young man around Cal''s own age and Cal realised he would be eighteen by now back on Earth.

    "Please..." The man began, but Cal didn''t give him a chance to make him second guess himself, he knew he would end up letting him live if he hesitated.

    He dragged his sharp knife across the man''s throat cutting off his protests before patting the man''s body down, finding a few copper coins and a crude dull dagger.

    He pocketed the coins and left the blade before walking back to the other two men he had killed.

    The one he had stabbed in the spine was still breathing as well but he couldn''t even speak, blood burbling at his lips.

    Cal finished him off and repacked the bag he had been sorting though.

    This man had a shortsword on a leather sword belt at his waist and Cal pulled it off, fastening it on himself and adjusting it until it felt right.

    He moved to the last body and searched it, he had nothing but a quiver of arrows and a bow.

    Cal left those there, if Vera wanted them she could take them tomorrow when he teleported them back.

    He vanished for a final time, appearing next to a furious looking Vera.

    "What do you think you are doing!" She demanded angrily. "Why did you leave me here with an arrow in my back? You think Mia is going to pull it out?"

    Cal scratched the back of his head, "Uh sorry, I was just really angry. I''m done getting pushed around." He said.

    Vera noticed the sword strapped to his waist and the blood soaking his hands. "Did you get them all?" She asked.

    "One got away." He said. "But I got three."

    She glared at him. "You idiot, if he tells people a spatial mage killed his friends and people believe him we will have an army after us."

    "They already saw me teleport all three of us away, and one man is less likely to be believed than four." He said, his anger rising to match hers. "Do you want me to remove that arrow or not."

    Vera continued glaring at him for a moment, her arms crossed over her chest. "Yes." She said. "And I will need to feed to heal the wound."

    She sat on the log that had been the reason they stopped there the day before and Cal moved behind her.

    Mia was already sitting on the log and she grabbed her mother''s hand in her own.

    "Are you ready?" Cal asked, gripping the arrow.

    Vera gritted her teeth. "Do it."

    Cal yanked the arrow out and Vera didn''t even flinch.

    He moved to her side and held his arm in front of her face to let her feed, she bit into his arm and took a few long pulls before pushing it away.

    "Cal please think next time before you go off on your own trying to be a hero." Vera said softly. "What would Mia and I do if you got yourself killed? We are weeks away from any towns."

    "And Mia would miss you, and I would miss you too." She said even quieter.

    "I''m sorry Vera." Cal said. "You''re right, I wasn''t thinking. It won''t happen again."

    Vera smiled slightly as Cal admitted his fault, and Cal realised he shouldn''t be able to see her expression.

    "Why is it so light out here?" He said, looking around.

    "What are you talking about?" Vera asked.

    "I mean I can see your face, I can see everything. It''s practically daylight. Is it just me?"

    Vera frowned, "What''s your passive magic?" She asked.

    "Passive magic...?" Cal said.

    <hr>

    Sophia spent three days in the library. The librarian, Gladys, thankfully made no further mention of Sophia''s earlier appearance.

    Gladys had an extremely helpful passive magic mark that allowed her to perfectly recall information she had read, and fetched Sophia dozens of books about combat healers without questioning why she was interested in them.

    Sophia hadn''t found much concrete information, there was a lot of speculation and conflicting reports of their abilities.

    She did learn a lot more about the world she was in however. She learned it was called Selara, and she was on the continent of Durren. The city of Ranock was the largest human city on Durren.

    She had learned all she could at the library and knew it was time to go find the man Mauve had told her about.

    She had been leaving the library each day when it closed at sundown, so Gladys was surprised when she left in the middle of the day.

    Sophia returned to her inn to eat some lunch instead of grabbing some street food like she had the last few days.

    She went up to the bar and asked for a meal and a mug of watered down ale, the ale here was ridiculously strong she had discovered, and picked out a table to wait.

    She was lost in thought about her upcoming confrontation with the combat healer when a plate of food and a mug were set down on her table and she looked up to thank the serving girl.

    It was Kyla, Sophia recognized her short pixie cut blonde hair and bright blue eyes, a big grin on her face.

    She was wearing a revealing dark blue dress with a plunging neckline that seemed designed to show off her breasts.

    "Hello Sophia, my eyes are up here." She said teasingly.

    "Sorry." Sophia said, her cheeks heating once again as she averted her eyes.

    "I''m glad I ran into you again, are you staying here?" Kyla asked.

    "Yes, I''ve been here for a few days." Sophia replied, carefully keeping her gaze above Kyla''s neck.

    "How long are you going to be staying here?" Kyla asked.

    "I don''t know, probably for a long time though." Sophia replied.

    "Well I better get back to work, care to get some drinks with me here later tonight?" Kyla asked.

    Sophia thought about her fiance. "No I don''t think that would be a good idea." She said.

    "Come on, you owe me for peeping on me in the bath." Kyla said teasingly.

    Sophia smiled and reminded herself of her promise to try to move on. Allie wouldn''t want me to be alone, she probably already has someone new herself. She told herself.

    "Ok, just one or two, I''m not a big drinker." She said.

    "Excellent, it''s a date!" Kyla said as she stalked off back to the kitchen.

    When Sophia finished her meal she brought her mug and plate to the bar and asked the bartender for some information.

    "Do you know anything about a combat healer working for the royal family?" She asked.

    "I may remember hearin somethin bout the man." The bartender said, holding his palm out to her.

    Sophia sighed and placed two coppers in his hand.

    He glanced down at his palm and scowled. "Two coppers, really?" He said and Sophia sighed again, adding three more.

    "Thas more like it." He said while pocketing the coins.

    "His name''s Blackburn if''n I recall correctly, he''s one o'' the princess''s bodyguards. Don know much else bout him ''cept that he can kill ya jus by layin a finger on yer skin."

    "Where can I find him?" Sophia asked.

    "Don know why ye''d be wantin'' te talk with a man like that. But if yer set on it yer best bet be the keep."

    "And where is the keep?" Sophia asked, annoyed he hadn''t volunteered the information.

    "Take a right out the door and keep goin, ye''l know it when ye see it, can''t miss it." He said.

    Sophia thanked him and left.

    She spotted the walls of the keep in the distance after a short walk, it was a massive square stone building surrounded by high walls patrolled by guards.

    Four watchtowers rose at the corners of the walls and the entire thing was encircled by a wide moat.

    The drawbridge was big enough to drive three carts across it side by side, and it was currently lowered and crawling with people streaming in and out.

    She crossed the bridge and had to wait in a short line behind a number of people all dressed in much fancier clothing than her.

    The guard interrogating people in her line before letting them in gave her a questioning look when it was her turn.

    "Name and nature of your buisness." He demanded.

    "Sophia Reed, I''m here to talk to a man named Blackburn." She replied honestly.

    "Blackburn isn''t here. He''s wherever the princess is." The guard said.

    "Do you know where they might be?" Sophia asked.

    "She''s off getting pissed at one of her favourite bars. Try The Ditzy Dryad or The Wobbly Stool." The guard grinned.

    Sophia was holding up the line and didn''t want to waste any more of the guard''s time so she thanked him and left to ask someone else directions to the places he had mentioned.

    She arrived at The Ditzy Dryad in just a few minutes of walking and she could hear the loud drunken revelry from the street.

    When she was still a short ways from the door it slammed open and an incredibly drunk man flew out, landing on his ass.

    She walked around him and entered the pub, the noise was deafening and instantly gave her a pounding headache thanks to her heightened senses.

    A three piece band was playing a fast paced tune with flutes and some sort of stringed instrument, and the floor in front of the stage was crowded with people spinning each other around in circles.

    She pushed her way through the crowd and sat at an empty stool at the bar, waiting for a bartender to come talk to her while she rubbed at her temples.

    One of the bartenders finally made his way over to her and she shouted to be heard. "Is the princess here tonight?"

    "No need to shout lass. No she''s not in tonight." The man''s voice sounded directly into her head.

    "Ok thank you. Could you point me in the direction of The Wobbly Stool please?" She asked at a normal volume, unable to hear her own voice over the sounds of the room.

    The man heard her regardless and spoke directly into her mind again giving her detailed directions, and she made her way out the door in a hurry, eager to escape the noise.

    Sophia found herself in front of The Wobbly Stool and read the sign twice certain that she was in the wrong place, it was nothing like The Ditzy Dryad.

    She expected an establishment with such a name to be a rundown wreck of a building like the last bar, but that couldn''t be further from the truth.

    The Broken Stool was a pleasant stone building with a well dressed doorman who opened the door for her as she approached.

    There were only a handful of people in the spacious room, and a beautiful woman in an expensive looking flowing white dress was expertly playing a massive golden harp in the corner.

    Sophia spotted a young blonde woman that matched the princess''s description sitting at a tiny square table across from a broad shouldered rough looking woman with a buzz cut and an eyepatch over her left eye.

    An intimidating looking man wearing all black leather and a hood covering his head was standing a few feet behind the princess alertly looking around the room.

    As Sophia made her way over to the table the princess took a shot and slammed the glass down.

    "Eight." She slurred.

    The grizzled woman downed her shot and grimaced, before picking up the half full bottle in the center of the table and pouring them each another shot.

    The man had spotted her the second she headed in their direction, eyeing her approach.

    "Are you Blackburn?" Sophia asked him, stopping a few feet away.

    "Who''s asking." The man replied, his arms crossed over his chest.

    Sophia took the glove off her right hand and held it out to show him her mark.

    "My name is Sophia Reed, I heard you are a combat healer and was hoping you could teach me how to use my magic." She said.

    The man looked at her hand and then up into her eyes.

    "Nine." The princess said, her glass slamming onto the table again while Blackburn held Sophia''s gaze.

    "Put your glove back on." He finally said. "We can talk after I carry the princess home. Shouldn''t be too much longer now, have a seat."

    Sophia moved to sit at one of the two open chairs next to the princess but Blackburn stopped her.

    "Not here, I can''t let you near the princess with that mark of yours."

    Sophia walked over to the bar and ordered an ale, watching the drinking contest continue.

    "Elvelvenen." The princess said, and Sophia snorted.

    The Grizzled woman didn''t hesitate and knocked back her shot, pouring two more.

    "I''ll beat you some day Hellen." The princess slurred while trying unsuccessfully to stand up.

    "No you won''t." Hellen replied not even sounding drunk, and finished off both of the shots she had just poured since it was obvious the princess was done.

    Blackburn picked the unsteady princess up in his arms and looked to Sophia, jerking his head towards the door. Hellen and Sophia both stood up and followed him out.

    Blackburn looked at her as she walked up to his side. "Not too close." He said, and Sophia fell back a ways.

    She nervously tried to make small talk with Hellen. "So Hellen is it? Are you one of the princess''s bodyguards too?" She asked.

    Helen grunted and spit to the side. "Yes." She said. "It''s a fun job."

    "Seems like it." Sophia said. "Do you mind if I ask what your active magic is?"

    "Don''t have any." Hellen responded. "But my passive magic is strength, I could rip you in half."

    Sophia''s face paled and Hellen rushed to add "Not that I''d do something like that, don''t worry."

    Blackburn laughed, the princess snoring and drooling in his arms.

    They walked in silence, except for the princess''s snoring, the rest of the way back to the keep.

    Sophia followed them across the drawbridge and past the guard who she had spoken with earlier, who nodded at her, and into the courtyard of the keep.

    "Wait here." Blackburn said to her, and continued up the steps into the keep with the princess and Hellen.

    Sophia sat on a stone bench and waited, watching the various well dressed passersby.

    A short time later Blackburn emerged from the keep by himself leaving Hellen and the princess inside, and sat next to her on the bench.

    "I can''t teach you." He began, and Sophia''s hopes fell. "Unless you are prepared to swear into the king''s service."

    "What does that entail?" Sophia asked. "How long are we talking?"

    "Life long." He replied. "The pay is excellent though, I assure you. You would likely be assigned as a guard for one of the more important members of the court, maybe even the princess eventually but not being a native of Ranock I doubt it."

    "Exactly how ''excellent'' is the pay?" She asked.

    "You would start at one gold per day." He replied. "Royal guards are each provided with a room in the keep and three meals a day, the rooms are nice and the food is the same the nobles eat."

    Sophia was dissaointed, as a healer Mauve charged five silvers a customer, she could make more just healing people.

    Blackburn guessed what she was thinking. "You could still sell your healing services, royal guards only work in twelve hour shifts."

    Sophia felt he was upselling her for some reason, there had to be a catch.

    "The worst part of the job is not being able to take a day off." He told her.

    And there it is. She thought.

    "You would work seven days a week, every week. I''m making ten gold a day now, in case you''re wondering."He said.

    Sophia thought about it for a minute, she didn''t know if she would be able to learn how to heal on her own and being able to use the offensive part of her magic might save her life someday.

    "When can we start?" She asked.

    <hr>

    King Lucious Ranock sat on his throne as a pretty young brunette wearing men''s clothing knelt in front of him and pledged her fealty.

    Not long ago he would have visited her in the night and taken her like he had been doing to all his prettiest servants and guards ever since he had disposed of his wife, but he had made promises he intended to keep.

    That didn''t stop him from fantasizing though, and as the woman delivered the long oath of fealty on her knees before him he ran the scene through his mind.

    She would protest and she would cry, he would like that. But the oath would not be ignored, the magic in his crown would force her to bend to his will.

    He was busy picturing her face turning red as he choked her while pounding her roughly beneath him when she finally finished the oath and it came his turn to respond.

    He snapped out of his daydream and spoke the lines he had spoken many times before, accepting her pledge and making one of his own.

    He wouldn''t be held to it of course, but theatre had it''s place in politics.

    <hr>

    Sophia sat in The Ditzy Dryad and sighed, she hated this job.

    At least she had another date with Kyla to look forward to tonight. She thought back to their date she had been late to after meeting with Blackburn.

    Kyla was very forward, she tried very hard to get Sophia to invite her up to her room on their first date but had settled for making out in the common room of the inn when Sophia wouldn''t give in.

    It had only taken her one more date to get her to cave and now they were seeing each other almost every night.

    The day after her first date with Kyla Blackburn had taken her to a man that had a passive magic of detecting falsehoods and questioned her for hours.

    When he was finally satisfied that she wasn''t a spy or an assassin he had brought her to the king, a normal looking man in his fourties with sandy blonde hair in a crew cut and a well maintained Van Dyke beard.

    His only notable feature was his piercing blue eyes and Sophia could see his resemblance to the princess.

    Blackburn had her practice an oath of fealty before her audience with the king and she had delivered it flawlessly.

    After that he had ''trained'' her and she had felt cheated, she was sure that she could have figured out her powers on her own.

    It was incredibly intuitive, he told her how to differentiate the energies she felt when she focused on her mark.

    One of them felt pure and full of life, that one she could use to heal people just by pushing the energy out of her mark and into someone.

    The other felt chilly and made goosebumps pop out on her arm when she drew on it. She hadn''t yet had a reason to test it out but Blackburn assured her it would instantly stop someone''s heart.

    To both her and Blackburn''s surprise the king had come to find them and switched Blackburn over into his service, assigning Sophia to his old post.

    And so there she sat watching a drunk princess try to fight with a terrified looking woman who had somehow offended her and was now trying to get away before her guards intervened.

    Sophia was sure Hellen would handle this one with her strength, Sophia wasn''t here to restrain Princess Alexandra, she was here to guard her with deadly magic.

    After the way she had first met the princess Sophia assumed she was a party girl who went and got drunk every night.

    But Sophia learned the princess didn''t drink often, she just went hard whenever she did. In fact this was the first time she had seen the princess get drunk again since being assigned to her.

    Princess Alexandra spent most of her days training her terrifying magic, the bloodline magic of the Ranock''s, warping shadows to slice apart targets and projectiles.

    Sophia had seen her rip apart an entire stone wall in a fit of rage when her twelve year old brother Prince Derrin pulled a prank on her.

    I sold my freedom for a steady paycheck. Sophia mused wryly, but she was ok with it.

    Her new life wasn''t very bad all things considered.

    <hr>

 Ch 6 : Reunion

    Planet Selara, year 2020 on earth

    Cal didn''t know what was going on.

    Ever since the night their campsite had been attacked by the bandits he had been able to see in the dark.

    He also found he could somehow see the signs of animals'' passing, bent twigs and tracks seemed to instantly draw his gaze whenever he stepped off the road to take a break or camp for the night.

    Mia also informed him that he was super warm and he had noticed he didn''t need to sleep in his bedroll, the chill night air no longer bothered him.

    Vera had been delighted to strip the corpse of the bandit archer and was happy to hunt game for Cal to eat while they traveled.

    They had passed by bandits two more times but Vera''s vampiric sense of smell had allowed the group to give them a wide berth, avoiding any more confrontations.

    The trio came across a signpost pointing down a cobblestone road that split off to the West three days past and just now crested a massive hill, taking in the impressive sight of Ranock''s walls in the distance.

    An hour later they entered the city together, asking one of the guards at the gate for an inn recommendation.

    Cal found himself at a pleasant looking building with flowers planted beneath the windows, he stepped inside and held the door open for Vera and Mia.

    Cal got them a room and they unloaded their supplies before going back to the lobby to inquire after a bath.

    They were directed to a set of unimpressive looking rectangular stone buildings and split up, the baths seperated by genders.

    Cal took his time in the steaming bath water but still found himself waiting on a bench outside for almost thirty minutes before Vera and Mia finally emerged.

    "Did you get lost or something?" Cal teased, a bit upset by the wait.

    "This one." Vera tickled Mia''s armpits causing her to erupt into giggles, "Made me chase her through the water before I could clean her."

    All of Cal''s frustration at the wait dissapeared, he couldn''t be mad at Mia.

    "I''m going to head to the library to see if I can find out what my passive mark is." Cal said. "I doubt Mia wants to be cooped up in there, so I''ll see you back at the room?"

    "Sounds like a plan, can I have a few coins to buy us some clothing?" Vera asked.

    Cal gave her a few gold coins and they parted ways.

    Cal made his way to the library after asking for directions and was stunned when he went inside, it was enormous.

    A disheveled looking woman in a grey dress looked up at him as he walked in. "Need help finding anything dear?" She asked.

    "I''m looking for a book on passive magic marks to find out which one I have." Cal replied.

    "You don''t know what your own passive magic mark is?" She asked. "I''ve read all the books on passive marks we have here, let me have a look and I''ll tell you what one you have."

    Cal walked over to her perch at a desk cluttered with books and took off his left glove.

    "That''s the assimilation mark." She said. "Completely useless unless you go around killing people."

    Cal scratched the back of his head. "And if I do go around killing people, what exactly happens?" He asked.

    She looked doubtfully at his nonexistant muscles and hairless face. "Well you''d get the passive magic of whoever you managed to kill." She said.

    "Anything else I can help you with?" She asked.

    "Um do you have any books detailing the abilities of a spatial mage?" He asked.

    "Are you looking for an outside perspective or one written by them?" She asked.

    Cal thought for a moment. "One of each." He decided.

    "Wait here a minute." She said, and walked off to get him his books.

    She returned a minute later holding two thin books and handed them to him. "Anything else?" She asked.

    "Am I allowed to take these books out of the library?" Cal replied.

    "Well in theory you are allowed to, but there''s a deposit of ten gold per book." She said.

    Cal opened his coin purse and counted out twenty gold, noting the surprised look on her face as he handed over the wealth.

    He thanked her and left, glad to finally have an answer to his strange new abilities he had been puzzling over for the last two weeks.

    <hr>

    Sophia headed to the inn where Kyla worked to pick her up for their date, they were going to a fancy restaurant to celebrate Sophia''s pay raise she received a month after starting her job.

    She got there a bit early and sat at the bar watching all the customers while she waited for Kyla to get off work, her job as a royal guard had caused her to become very observant.

    She noticed a man staring at her from a table with his wife and child and didn''t think anything of it, but when she saw he was still staring at her after her third sweep of the room she grew suspicious.

    Sophia pretended not to notice his stare and walked out the door, quickly standing to the side to see if he would follow her.

    The man stepped out of the inn and she grabbed his arm.

    "I can kill you in a split second, don''t make any sudden moves. Why are you following me?" She asked in her best stern royal guard voice.

    To her astonishment the man was suddenly standing across the street and turning back to face her, her hand no longer squeezing his arm.

    "San Fran''s public transportation really goes the distance huh?" The man asked.

    "W-what?" Sophia stammered in astonishment.

    "Nevermind I mistook you for someone else." The man said.

    "Your''e from Earth?" Sophia asked, she hadn''t seen this man on the BART when she arrived here.

    "Oh so it is you." He said excitedly. "I was sitting across from you when this whole thing started, you rudely stared at my scars." He teased.

    He was the scarred kid in the hoodie Sophia realized, he must have been healed somehow.

    "How did your scars get healed?" She questioned.

    He raised his eyebrow, "Surely you''ve realized magic is real here by now." He said mockingly.

    "Yes I know that." She snapped. "I''m a healer and I know two other healers, none of us can heal scars."

    "I was healed by a dryad, my name is Cal, by the way." He explained. "Anyways, how''d you wind up all the way here in Ranock?"

    "Sophia, and I could ask you the same thing." She replied.

    "I asked you first." Cal retorted. "Shall we head back inside? My friends are probably wondering what I''m doing, we can talk at our table."

    Sophia headed inside with Cal and he led her to his table. She curiously took in the red eyes and pale skin of the people she had thought were his wife and daughter.

    "This is Sophia, she''s from the other world I told you about. This is Vera and her daughter Mia, they''re vampires." He said like it wasn''t a big deal.

    "Uh vampires?" She asked, nervously scooting her chair back from the table a bit.

    "Yeah like suck your blood, only die to a wooden stake through the heart vampires." Cal said, grinning.

    "I do not see why the material of the weapon would matter, and there are many other ways to kill a vampire. Nice to meet you Sophia." Vera said.

    "Hi! I''m Mia! You are really pretty!" Mia said excitedly.

    The cute little girl made Sophia''s fear vanish. "Thank you Mia, you are very pretty as well." She said with a smile.

    "Who are your friends Sophia?" Kyla asked as she walked up to the table.

    Everyone at the table looked to Kyla when she spoke, and Cal answered. "I''m Cal and this is Vera and Mia, they''re vampires." He said, pointing them out in turn.

    "I''m Kyla, Sophia''s girlfriend. Nice to meet you but we need to go." Kyla said. "Ready to go?" She asked Sophia.

    Sophia looked back at Cal, "Sorry I need to go we have a reservation, are you staying here? I have a lot of questions for you." She said in a rush.

    "Yes, we have a room here, not sure how long we''ll be staying for though." Cal said.

    "Can you meet me here tomorrow at the same time?" Sophia asked, standing up to leave.

    "Sure, have fun on your date." Cal replied.

    <hr>

    Cal was eating in the lobby of the inn they were staying in when a familiar looking brunette walked in the door.

    She looked exactly like the woman who had been sitting across from him on the BART, but it had been a long three months and he couldn''t be sure.

    She sat at the bar and looked around the lobby a few times before getting up and leaving.

    He followed her, he had to know if it was her, how could she have wound up all the way here in Ranock?

    Cal exited the door and the woman grabbed his arm, telling him she could kill him in an instant.

    Cal didn''t believe her but he knew there were some crazy magics in this world so he chose to risk using his power in public and teleported across the street.

    "San Fran''s public transportation really goes the distance huh?" He asked to test if she was the woman from the BART.

    "W-what?" She asked in confusion.

    Cal frowned, Of course it isn''t the same woman, the cultists probably chased her down and killed her like all the others. He thought.

    "Nevermind I mistook you for someone else." He said.

    "You''re from Earth?" The woman asked, and Cal broke out in an excited grin.

    <hr>

    After Sophia was dragged away by her incredibly well endowed girlfriend Kyla, Cal headed up to his room while Vera took Mia out on a walk.

    He took the rare moment of silence without Mia''s babble to read both of the books he had obtained from the library.

    They were both short and succinct, written like personal journals as opposed to an actual book.

    The one written by a spatial mage described in detail what spatial energy felt like, and had a lot of warnings about teleporting into people.

    Cal was horrified when he discovered that was a possibility, but it said that the spatial mage with the strongest energy should be unharmed upon such a happening.

    Since Cal was the only spatial mage he assumed he would be the one to survive any such encounter, but he certainly wasn''t going to try it on purpose.

    The second book was written by a man shortly after what he called the great plague, and he seemed to believe it had been caused by the spatial mages.

    The book talked about the spatial mage''s ability to build and charge portals, bemoaning the fact that in under ten years none of the portals would be functional without spatial mages to charge them.

    The man wrote about how he had observed the portals being charged, but the part that grabbed Cal''s attention was the man''s complaint of the spatial mages being paid ''an absurd price for such a short expenditure of their time''.

    The man didn''t specify the exact price they had been paid to charge a portal, but Cal was seeing dollar signs.

    He rushed back to the library with his books, hoping to find out how much they had charged and where he could go to get himself paid.

    He barged loudly through the library doors startling a few of the people quietly reading at the tables and ran up to the librarian who had helped him earlier, setting the books down on her desk.

    "Can you find me a book that might have a more detailed accounting of what a spatial mage was paid to charge a portal and who paid them?" He asked excitedly.

    The librarian was not amused with Cal''s enthusiam and seemed to take her time retrieving his book deposit from beneath her desk before replying.

    "I''ll see what I can find." She said, picking up the books Cal had returned and walking slowly off through the library to Cal''s great irritation.

    Cal was tapping his foot in impatience by the time she finally returned, he was sure she was paying him back for his loud entrance.

    She handed him a tiny leatherbound book the same thickness as the previous two but half their height, it looked like a personal journal or a ledger.

    "This is a ledger of transactions between the royal family of Ranock and the spatial mage''s temple." She told him, and Cal quickly pulled out ten of the gold coins she had just returned to him, placing them back into her hands and thanking her.

    He opened the ledger while standing right there and read the first few lines, they appeared to be names of nobles and the locations they had been teleported to and from, with the price paid and to who followed by the date.

    Lord Stonuk - Ranock to Mount Freysia - 10 gold paid to spatial mage Dellin Ross 8/17/8705.

    Cal skimmed through the book looking only at the numbers, they ranged from 1-100 gold and on a couple of the more expensive ones he saw that multiple people had been teleported at once.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Finally he saw a number much higher than all the others and his mouth dropped open.

    Portal to Crossroads recharged - 10,000 gold paid to spatial mage Elder Cameron 3/22/8707.

    After this entry there was a signature, King Emric Ranock.

    Looks like I need an audience with the king. Cal thought with a smile, and ran off to find Vera and tell her the good news.

    <hr>

    Sophia finished her shift guarding the princess and the second her replacement arrived she ran to Kyla''s inn, her mind burning with questions for Cal.

    She owed Kyla a do over date now, she had been distant and distracted their entire meal. She took a moment outside the inn to catch her breath before pushing inside.

    Sophia looked around the common room but didn''t see Cal, she did see Kyla though, so she hugged her and apologized again for last night.

    She sat at the table Cal had been at last night and watched Kyla work, waiting for Cal to arrive.

    She finally spotted him coming down the stairs in the inn, Vera and Mia trailing behind him.

    With her enhanced senses she noticed a small trail of red running from the corner of Vera''s lips before she wiped it away with her hand.

    Cal waved to her and headed to her table, taking the seat across from her. Vera sat to his right and Mia sat across from her mom next to Sophia.

    "Was that blood?" Sophia blurted out when Vera sat down.

    "Yes, it was my day to feed from Cal." Vera responded.

    "Feed from Cal?" Sophia asked in horror. Cal grinned at her.

    "Vampires don''t eat much, and the whole turning you with a bite thing is mostly false." He said.

    "Mostly false?" She asked. "Nevermind I don''t want to know, how did you get to Ranock, how did you teleport across the street, how did you escape those cultists, were they after you, is this your fault?"

    Sophia rapidly shot out the questions that had been burning in her mind since she met Cal yesterday.

    "Slow down." Cal said. "You still owe me an answer to my question first."

    Sophia stared at him in irritation. "Your question?" She asked.

    "How did you wind up all the way here in Ranock a month''s journey from where we arrived, and how did you escape from Taro''s men." Cal responded.

    <hr>

    Cal listened as Sophia told him of his flight from the robed men, she didn''t think they had even bothered to chase her.

    She told him of her time in Crossroads and learning what two of her marks meant in the library there, finding out the other half from a healer named Mauve.

    Sophia explained how Mauve had told her a rumour of a combat healer in Ranock who might be able to teach her to use her magic without the risk of killing someone with a touch and Cal finally interupted.

    "So you really could''ve killed me just like that?" He asked incredulously.

    "I haven''t actually had to do it to anyone yet, but I''m sure I could." She responded, and resumed her story.

    When Sophia told him of her meeting with Blackburn and her pledge to the king, Cal grew excited.

    "You know the king!?" He asked. "Can you get me a meeting with him?"

    "I don''t know the king, I''ve only laid eyes on him once." She said.

    "But you''re a royal guard, surely you can put in a word somewhere and get me an audience." Cal responded excitedly.

    "I suppose I could try, but why do you want to meet the king?" Sophia asked suspiciously.

    "Well, that''s part of my tale." Cal said, and began to tell her most of what had happened to him over the last few months.

    <hr>

    Sophia listened in horror as Cal told her about the day he awoke in captivity to find out he had killed the fire mage''s brother, and then that same fire mage cutting off all his fingers and toes.

    He told her Kira had tortured him for the entire week and Sophia reached for his hand across the table.

    "I''m so sorry Cal." She said, feeling terrible she had just asked him if this was his fault.

    Her mood only grew darker as he told her how he had been forced to sleep with a bunch of women, but she was also confused.

    "Why were they trying to get pregnant with your children?" She asked, puzzled.

    "Because I''m a spatial mage, apparently they don''t exist here anymore." Cal responded.

    Suddenly it all made sense to her, why the robed people had checked the old couple''s hands before killing them, how Cal had teleported away from her.

    "You can take us both home!" Sophia suddenly realized, hope blooming in her chest at the thought of returning to her fiance and her family.

    Cal scratched the back of his head. "Should I continue?" He asked, not aknowledging her statement.

    Sophia stared at him and he started talking again, not waiting for her to respond.

    He told her how he had overheard Kira and Taro planning to kill him and made a deal with a demon that had been imprisoned in the basement.

    Cal had been speaking calmy without much emotion up until this point but when he told her about how the demon had taken what he said literally and only spared the prisoners in the dungeon, killing all the other slaves in the estate, his voice cracked and he teared up.

    He told her he had walked away from the burning mansion with just Vera and Mia, and Sophia noticed Vera look up at him questioningly.

    Cal told her they had gone to Crossroads, finding out vampires weren''t welcome there and continuing on to Ranock, learning how to use his magic along the way.

    "And that leads to why I want an audience with the king, I want him to pay me to charge the portal to Crossroads." Cal finished.

    "But we can go home, Cal." She said. "We can go back to our families."

    Cal wouldn''t meet her eyes. "I don''t have a family Sophia, I don''t have a home, not on Earth." He said with tears still in his eyes.

    "The day we were on that BART I had just shot the man that killed my family in a drunk driving accident when I was twelve."

    "If I go back the best outcome would be me sitting in jail for the rest of my life, if they don''t dissect me in a lab to find out how my burns all healed that is." He said.

    "You can bring me home and then come back here Cal." Sophia pleaded as she began to tear up thinking about her old life. "I had a fiance, I miss my family, please!"

    Cal finally met her eyes. "There is no magic on Earth Sophia, I won''t risk going there and not being able to come back, I''m sorry."

    Kyla was walking over to their table having just finished her shift and became angry when she noticed the tears in Sophia''s eyes.

    "What did you do to her? Why is she crying?" Kyla demanded, rushing to Sophia''s side.

    Cal and Sophia didn''t aknowledge her, still staring into each other''s eyes. "I''m sorry Sophia." Cal said softly, and Sophia thought of all that he had been through.

    She looked at Kyla and thought of her life here. "It''s ok Cal, I understand." She said, wiping at her eyes with her gloved hands as she once again let her old life go.

    <hr>

    King Lucious sat on his throne as the attractive young brunette walked into the room with Blackburn once again.

    This time they had something much more interesting to say to him than an oath of fealty.

    "Your Highness." The woman said, bowing to him. "I have a spatial mage friend who wishes to meet with you to discuss charging the portal to Crossroads."

    Lucious''s eyes narrowed. "Spatial mages are extinct." He said.

    "Your Highness, I have met this young man and examined his mark myself as well as seen a demonstration of his power." Blackburn told him.

    "Well? Where is he then." Lucious asked in irritation.

    "He is waiting outside the room, should I fetch him?" Blackburn asked.

    Lucious nodded and Blackburn left the room, coming back a moment later leading in a young man.

    He was scrawny and boyish with no facial hair and an unkempt tangle of medium length brown hair on his head, but he had a harsh determined look in his green eyes.

    The young man bowed to Lucious and then looked to him expectantly waiting for him to speak.

    "What is your name boy." Lucious asked.

    "Calibra, but people call me Cal." Cal responded.

    "Teleport over there." Lucious pointed at a spot in his throne room.

    In a blink Cal appeared at the spot Lucious had indicated.

    Lucious''s mind raced, the portal to Crossroads would bring massive amounts of trade and finally refill the treasury his traitorous wife had nearly depleted before he caught on and ended her.

    "You will be payed one hundred gold upon charging the portal." Lucious said.

    Cal snorted and Lucious had to supress his anger, he almost ripped him apart with his own shadow at his show of disrespect.

    But this boy was too valuable to let his rage get the best of him. "You disagree with the price?" He asked through clenched teeth.

    "May I approach and show you this ledger?" Cal asked, holding up a small leather book Lucious hadn''t noticed him carrying.

    "Give it to him." Lucious said, nodding to Blackburn.

    Cal opened the book to a piece of string placed midway through it and held it out to Blackburn. Blackburn approached Lucious''s throne and handed over the open book.

    Lucious read over the page and quickly realized what the book was, a record of teleportation services.

    He came across the section Cal had wanted him to see and grinded his teeth together in frustration when he saw the signature of his ancestor.

    "You expect me to pay you ten thousand gold?" He asked icily, handing the book back to Blackburn and glaring at Cal.

    "No, I expect you to pay me twenty thousand." Cal responded confidently.

    "The spatial mages were being paid ten thousand when there were plenty of them, currently I''m the only one. Supply and demand and all that. You understand."

    Cal''s shadow writhed around him as Lucious tried to restrain his anger.

    "Come back tomorrow morning and we can discuss the price, I need to speak with my advisors first and check the treasury." Lucious spat out while trying to reign in his magic.

    He knew there was only a few thousand gold in the whole keep and he needed to come up with a solution before this boy decided to teleport off and offer his services to the elves.

    Or even worse, the dragons. He thought.

    Cal and Sophia bowed to him and then left him alone with Blackburn, and Lucious began to plot.

    <hr>

    "Are you insane?" Sophia shouted at Cal when they had left the keep. "You can''t speak to a king like that!"

    Cal grinned at her. "I''m gonna be rich!" He laughed. "Don''t worry I''ll give you a cut for your introduction."

    Sophia glared at him. "You better." She said. "I need to get back to work, meet me at the inn tomorrow night to tell me how it goes?"

    Cal agreed and they parted ways.

    Sophia made her way to the training yard where Hellen and the princess were and resumed guarding, which consisted of standing around doing a whole lot of nothing.

    She had been standing around watching Princess Alexandra train for about half an hour when King Lucious showed up with Blackburn flanking him.

    "Take the rest of the day off, tomorrow too." He said to Sophia. "You as well Hellen."

    As Sophia and Hellen walked off happily to enjoy their unexpected break, Sophia''s keen senses picked up Lucious''s voice speaking to his daughter.

    "We need to talk." He said.

    <hr>

    Cal spent the rest of the day shopping with Vera and Mia, he was sick of wearing robes.

    He found a tailor''s shop with fancy looking suits displayed in the window and commissioned a few suits, also purchasing a set that already fit him decently well.

    It was a deep blue collared shirt with matching pants, he bought a pair of nice black boots and gloves and a long thin purple cloak to finish the outfit.

    Vera and Mia got a bunch of new clothes as well, buying warmer cloaks than him. The chill autumn weather still hardly affected him.

    It would be October on Earth now, Cal''s favourite month. He was happy to see the seasons worked the same here, admiring the many brightly colored leaves on the trees.

    The next morning Cal woke up excited.

    It''s not every day you get to discuss how rich you''re about to be with a king. He thought with a grin as he quickly got dressed.

    He was a little too loud in his hurry to get dressed and Vera woke up in her bed she shared with Mia.

    "Good luck today Cal. You better not turn him down if he only offers you ten thousand." She said sleepily, turning away from the sunlight and trying to go back to sleep.

    Cal wasn''t really expecting to get twenty thousand gold out of the king, he would probably settle for even five.

    He ran the whole way to the keep, finding Blackburn waiting for him on the drawbridge. "Good morning." He said cheerily.

    Blackburn glared at him and didn''t reply, turning around and leading Cal into the keep. Must not be a morning person. Cal thought.

    Blackburn led him in a different direction than they had gone the day before and Cal found himself entering a large room with a long rectangular table surrounded by dozens of chairs.

    He saw a huge map covering one of the walls and wanted to study it, but Blackburn pulled out a chair and looked at him.

    Cal sat in the offered chair and surveyed the faces around the table. There were only four people in the room.

    Cal, Blackburn, King Ranock, and a beautiful blonde a few years older than himself that he thought must be the princess, he could see the resemblance.

    Blackburn remained standing uncomfortably close behind him and he fidgeted in his seat.

    "The Kingdom of Ranock is broke, Cal." King Ranock said abruptly. "But I have another offer for you."

    Cal was confused, this city was magnificent and the keep was decorated with rich looking rugs, furniture, and tapestries.

    "Broke?" He asked dumbly.

    "My late wife ran the treasury dry, I''m afraid." King Ranock replied.

    "There is a castle a days ride to the North of here, it is almost worthless to me because of its design."

    "It was built on a mountain with no road or stairs, and currently is occupied and maintained by my cousin who is living there in seclusion as punishment for a past mistake."

    "I would like to offer it to you as partial payment." The king said.

    Cal frowned, "Apologies but why would I want a castle on a mountain that is difficult to get to?" He asked doubtfully.

    "Because there is a portal at the base of the mountain leading into the courtyard of the castle, and you''re a spatial mage." He answered.

    Cal became excited and opened his mouth to accept but the king continued speaking.

    "You will also receive two thousand gold and my daughter''s hand in marriage." He concluded.

    So that''s why she''s here. Cal thought. "Your offer is generous, and I am humbled you would offer me your daughter''s hand, but I would be happy with just the castle and the money." Cal said.

    The princess was beautiful but he didn''t want to be stuck in some loveless political marriage.

    King Ranock''s face turned bright red, a vein throbbing on his forehead as he struggled to contain his rage.

    Cal would have found it funny if it weren''t for all the shadows in the room writhing around like snakes.

    "The marriage is non-negotiable, if you are going to hold land in my Kingdom you will be tied to the royal family." King Ranock snapped.

    Cal looked at the princess, she was batting her eyelashes at him and didn''t look like she was against it but he still didn''t want to marry her.

    "How about just the gold then, two thousand is less than I was hoping for but It will have to do." He decided.

    Cal expected the king to accept and thank him profusely for offering to charge the portal so cheap, and so was caught completely off guard when the king rebuked him once again.

    "No." King Ranock said. "You will marry my daughter or be banned from my kingdom."

    Cal became angry and prepared to tell the king to go fuck himself, but before he could speak the princess spoke for the first time.

    "Am I not appealing to you Cal?" She asked in a hurt voice.

    "No. I mean yes, you are, of course you are you''re beautiful." He hastily assured her, his cheeks burning.

    The princess beamed at him, "You think I''m beautiful? Then why don''t you wish to wed me? Are you already with someone else?" She asked.

    Cal scratched the back of his head, "No that''s not it, I don''t even know your name, I don''t want to marry someone I don''t love." He replied.

    "Then court me for a week before you decide." The princess said confidently.

    They both looked to the king and he sighed. "Very well. You will have one week."

    <hr>

    Sophia spent her second day off at Kyla''s inn, getting to know Vera and Mia better.

    Vera was just telling her that yes, vampires can have children, and of course they don''t burn in the sunlight, and no, they certainly aren''t afraid of garlic or water blessed by some priest, when Cal arrived.

    To Sophia''s confusion Princess Alexandra and Blackburn came in right behind him.

    Cal grabbed Alexandra''s hand and walked her over to the table, introducing everyone. "This is Princess Alexandra Ranock."

    "Alexandra this is Vera and her daughter Mia, they''re vampires, Sophia you already know I believe." Cal said.

    Vera sighed, "You do not always have to introduce us as vampires Cal, anyone but you would know that at a glance. A pleasure to meet you Princess." Vera said.

    "You''re a princess!?" Mia practically screamed, "Where is your crown? Do you have a horsie? How many maids do you have?"

    Alexandra smiled and graciously answered all of Mia''s questions, Sophia''s eyes were glued onto their clasped hands.

    "I guess this means it went well?" She asked.

    "I wouldn''t say it went well." Cal replied. "I have a week to get to know Alexandra before deciding if I want to marry her and be given a castle or be banished from Ranock forever."

    "That doesn''t seem like a very hard choice." Sophia said.

    Cal just gave her a big shit eating grin.

    <hr>

    Cal returned to his room at the inn with a big smile on his face.

    "So, how was your date Cal, is she as nice as she seemed?" Vera asked him.

    "She''s wonderfull." Cal said as he flopped down on his back on his bed, noticing Mia wasn''t in the room.

    "Where''s Mia?" He asked.

    "Sophia took her to see the princess''s horses." Vera replied. "She asked me how I was doing with the princess and you dating. I think she assumed we were together."

    Vera and Cal looked at each other and laughed, Cal loved Vera, but he had never thought about her romantically.

    At some point on their journey he had come to think of her like the older sister he had always wanted, Mia his adorable niece, and Vera had told him she felt the same way.

    "I was bored while you were gone and read through that whole ledger you had." Vera said, suddenly changing topics. "I found something you might be interested in."

    Cal got up from his bed and walked over to sit next to Vera on her bed. "What is it?" He asked.

    Vera held the book out to him, "Read the entries on this page." She told him.

    Cal read through the page and his eyes widened in astonishment., several of the entries named the spatial mage being paid for teleportation as Tarkin Dair.

    "Your ancestor maybe?" Vera said. "Dair is an unusual name."

    <hr>

    Planet Earth, Tibet year 1576

    Rina Dair woke up on her sixteenth birthday more excited than she had ever been.

    Her father had promised to tell her why they looked so much different from everyone else they knew and why she could do the things she could do.

    She woke her sleeping parents up, she couldn''t wait any longer.

    "Father today is the day. Get up. You promised." She said.

    "Rina let us sleep, I''ll tell you later today." Her father mumbled, pulling the blanket over his head.

    "Tar kin she has waited long enough. Get up you lazy bones." Suzu admonished him, rising from the bed and giving Rina a hug.

    "Happy birthday my beautiful girl, I love you." She said while smothering Rina.

    "I love you too mother." Rina said, wriggling out of her arms while her father got up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

    "Well?" Rina asked impatiently.

    "After I have some tea." Her father said, stretching.

    "Father!" She shouted.

    He grinned at her, "Happy birthday honey." He said, giving her a quick hug.

    He walked to the fireplace, ignoring Rina''s continued pestering and trying to rekindle the smouldering coals. "This will go faster if you fetch some water Rina." He said.

    Rina sighed in exasperation, "Fine." She grumbled, taking the metal teapot and heading out to fill it with water for her father''s tea.

    Once the water had boiled and the tea had steeped Rina''s mother poured them each a cup. Her father waited until he took a sip of his tea before finally speaking.

    "I came here from another world to warn your mother about a disaster that was going to befall her." Her father began, and she leaned forward on her knees in rapt attention.

    "In the world I came from everyone has a silver marking on their left hand like you do, it is called a passive magic mark, around half of the people there also have one on the right hand, that is called an active magic mark."

    "My active mark was the ability to shift myself through reality across great distances and my passive mark showed me your mother and this world in a vision, allowing me to come here with my active magic to rescue her." He explained.

    "But father you do not have a mark on your right hand. I would have seen it." Rina said, confused.

    "It vanished when I came here, leaving me stranded away from my family and home." Her father told her.

    "I have a present for you Rina." He changed the subject, holding out his closed fist.

    Rina stuck out her hand underneath her father''s fist, wondering what it could be. He opened his fist and the silver ring she had always seen him wear fell into her palm.

    "You are giving me your ring?" She asked, puzzled.

    "That ring is the last thing I have from my world. It allows you to learn any language just by hearing someone speak it." He told her.

    Rina was astonished, such a thing could not possibly exist. "How?" She asked.

    "Just wear it on one hand, and hold a finger from your other hand on the symbol while you listen." He said, and then started talking in the strange language her parents sometimes spoke to each other that no one else seemed to know.

    Rina slipped the ring on her finger and pressed on the symbol, and after half a minute she could understand a few of the words.

    A couple minutes later she could understand everything he was saying, he was telling her how much he loved her and how proud he was of her for concealing her abilities her whole life.

    Tears glistened in Rina''s eyes and she hugged her father.

    <hr>

 Ch 7 : Royal wedding

    Planet Selara, year 2020 on Earth

    Cal woke up on the seventh day of the week he had been given to court Alex, as she had told him to call her, and got ready for their final date. They were going to spend the whole day together.

    He had already made up his mind to marry her, Alex was kind and funny and she was a riot to get drunk with, and of course he would be banished if he didn''t.

    Vera adjusted his collar and sent him on his way, telling him to have fun.

    Cal arrived at the royal garden where Alex had instructed him to meet her for breakfast and the guards let him in without any questions.

    Alex was sitting in a yellow sundress on a large quilted blanket with a wooden basket set to the side and Sophia and Hellen were standing a short distance behind her.

    "Good morning Alex." Cal said as he walked over.

    "Morning Cal." She said, smiling brightly at him.

    He sat next to her on the blanket and she opened the box, pulling out a platter of cheeses and crackers.

    "Leave us." Alex said to Sophia and Hellen.

    Hellen just grunted and walked off out of sight, but Sophia hesitated, "I''m not supposed to let you out of my sight." She said.

    "I trust Cal to protect me and I wish for some privacy, please Sophia?" Alex begged.

    Sophia sighed, "Fine, just yell and scream if you''re getting murdered or whatever." She said, and walked off.

    "Now that we are alone, have you decided yet Cal? Are we to be married?" Alex asked when Sophia was out of earshot.

    "Hmm." Cal said, rubbing at his non-existant stubble. "Remind me how kissing you feels again?" He said with a grin.

    She smiled at him and leaned in, their lips locking in a chaste kiss, Alex never opened her mouth for their kisses and Cal wished he could taste her tongue.

    "So? Is that a yes?" She asked. "Or do I have to do something else to convince you?" She reached for his crotch and lightly ran her hand across his bulge.

    "Alex, we can''t. Your father would kill me." Cal said, but made no move to push her hand away, leaning back on his hands instead.

    She unbuttoned his pants and kneeled down beside him. "Let me show you a little sample of what you will be getting." She said.

    She tugged his pants down a little until his stiff member sprung out and then leaned forward,drawing it into her mouth as her long blonde hair fell in her face.

    Cal leaned up to take his weight off of his hands, his legs straight out in front of him. He held her hair back from her face, running his fingers through it as she began to bob up and down on him.

    He couldn''t help but think of Lilly, the only other woman who had ever sucked his cock, and a pang of sorrow clutched at his heart.

    Alex wasn''t nearly as good at it as Lilly, she didn''t use her tongue at all. It still felt amazing, and Cal found himself gripping her hair in clenched fists after just a minute.

    He cracked a grin at the loud slurping sounds she was making, she was barely managing to take his shaft halfway into her mouth.

    She took it too far and pulled back coughing. "Are you alright?" Cal asked, concerned.

    "I''m fine." She said, recovering. "You''re alot bigger than..." She trailed off, realizing what she was saying.

    Cal laughed it off, "Don''t worry about it Alex, I don''t care that you''ve been with someone else." He said.

    Alex smiled at him and went back down, ready to try again.

    <hr>

    Sophia sat in the royal garden of Ranock at a white marble bench next to a pond full of ducks, watching them swim aimlessly through the water.

    With her enhanced senses she could hear Alex and Cal''s conversationand she snorted at Cal''s cheesy line about kissing.

    A few sentences later and Sophia stood up, she needed to get further away before they started... Too late, the tips of her ears burned as she walked quickly away, hearing loud slurping sounds from behind her.

    <hr>

    Cal tapped on Alex''s head, "I''m about to cum." He warned her.

    She didn''t slow down, too focussed on what she was doing and trying her best.

    He felt the telltale signs of his impending orgasm and gripped her hair as he came, his cum splashing across the back of her throat.

    She choked and pulled back, seed spilling from her mouth as she coughed.

    Cal pulled his pants back up and looked in the picnic box for a cloth napkin. He retrieved one and wiped at his pants while Alex appologized to him.

    "It''s ok Alex, that was great thank you." Cal used the napkin to wipe at the few spots on her dress, offering it to her when he was done.

    She took it from him and used a corner to daintily dab at her mouth. So, have you decided yet?" She asked.

    He couldn''t keep teasing her and chose to tell her the truth. "I decided after our first date Alex, of course I''ll marry you."

    She squealed in delight and tackled him, knocking him onto his back and burying her face in his neck while hugging him.

    "Haha I don''t know why someone as beautiful as you is so eager to marry someone like me Alex, but it''s certainly going to my head." He said.

    <hr>

    Cal was sitting with Vera and Mia in the common room of the inn the next morning when a man wearing the livery of Ranock entered and approached their table.

    "Are you Cal?" He asked.

    "Yep that''s me." Cal replied.

    "I''m to bring you to the royal tailor to get fitted for the royal wedding. If you have any family that will be attending you should bring them as well." The man said.

    Cal looked at Vera and Mia. "Well come on then sis, lets go get you and my little niece fitted for a royal wedding." He grinned.

    Vera smiled at him and Mia giggled, and they all stood to follow the man to the tailor.

    "Do you know when the wedding is going to be?" Cal asked the man as they walked.

    "In two days, sir." He replied.

    "Two days seems like a short amount of time to plan a royal wedding." Cal said.

    The man looked back at him puzzled, "I have been helping to plan this wedding for the past week sir." He said.

    "That''s funny, I just agreed to marry the princess yesterday." Cal grumbled, annoyed that the king had correctly assumed he would say yes.

    <hr>

    Cal and Alex stood face to face at the top of the steps to the keep with their palms held out and pressed together, her hands looking tiny against his.

    King Ranock read from a book of poetry while they gazed into each other''s eyes, unlike weddings from Earth Cal had been instructed to write or find a poem about love to be read at the beginning of the ceremony.

    Cal had spent the day before the wedding pouring through books of poetry in the library, finding one that suited Alex.

    Alex had likewise procured one from a book, neither of them being poetically inclined, yet still as the king read the poem Alex had chosen for him his heart soared with happiness.

    When King Ranock finished reading their poems he instructed them to make the promise and Alex went first, as the woman traditionally did in a Ranockian wedding.

    "I will love you faithfully and without deceit."

    "I will share with you all of my worries and fears."

    "I will endeavor always to make you happy and put your needs as my husband above my own." Alex said, staring into his eyes.

    "I will love you faithfully and without deceit."

    "Whenever you have a worry or a fear I will listen."

    "I will endeavor always to make you happy and consider your needs as my wife." Cal said, hating how mysoginistic this traditional ceremony sounded.

    "I, King Lucious Ranock of House Ranock witness your promise, two become one." King Ranock proclaimed, drawing the ceremony to a close.

    The massive crowd of people packed into the relatively small courtyard of the keep clapped loudly as Cal and Alex kissed, palms still pressed together.

    "Princess Alexandra Dair and Prince Calibra Dair will be accepting gifts of prosperity in the dining hall of the keep." King Ranock said, turning and walking into the open doors.

    Cal looked to the front row of the crowd to make sure Vera and Mia were following before grabbing Alex''s hand and leading her into the keep after the king.

    King Ranock led them to the right of the throne room to a vast dining room the size of the courtyard.

    They ascended a three step staircase to a table on a raised floor at the back of the room and took their seats as they had rehearsed, Alex sat to the king''s left and Cal to the left of her.

    Prince Derrin, Vera, and Mia were close behind them and Derrin took his place to the right of the king.

    Vera sat next to Cal and Mia next to her. Sophia, Hellen, Blackburn, and two male guards Cal didn''t know stood behind their table.

    By the time they were seated a line of nobles was stretching from the table back out the door of the dining hall.

    They approached one by one and spoke one word, "Prosperity."

    The men lay items in front of Cal, the women in front of Alex, and after placing down an item they would seek out a seat at one of the dozens of tables.

    Most of the men placed down small sacks of gold coins, the women various pieces of jewellry, but a few had more interesting gifts.

    One man with a crew cut like the king''s but brown hair held out a dagger with a huge sapphire in the pommel.

    He drew it from the sapphire studded black leather sheath for a moment showing Cal the blue tinted blade etched with intricate designs.

    Then he resheathed it and pulled a scroll from his pocket, tying it to the dagger with a ribbon before setting it down on the table.

    Cal was curious about the contents of the scroll but knew unrolling and reading it while other guests gave him gifts would be incredibly rude so he put it out of his mind.

    As the guests kept setting down gifts Hellen and Sophia, who were standing behind Cal and Alex respectively, took the gifts from the table and placed them into leather satchels on the floor behind them.

    When the final guest had made her way to a seat the silence was broken by King Ranock loudly clapping his hands together twice.

    Servants carrying platters of food streamed in from the wide double doors on the left of the room that led to the kitchens.

    The murmur of loud conversations started up all at once around the room as the guests were finally allowed to speak.

    The first servants to enter the room set their platters of food down on King Ranock''s table along with pitchers of wine and juice while other servants placed a plate, silverware, and a cup in front of each of them except the vampires before heading back to the kitchens.

    Cal eagerly dug in to the rich fare, piling his plate high with food and pouring himself a large glass of wine.

    When Cal and Alex had gotten enough to eat it was time for them to leave, the rest of the guests were to stay and celebrate in the dining hall while the bride and groom consummated their union.

    The celebration would conclude when the newlywed couple returned from the celebration of their own, and the people who had explained the traditions of Ranockian marriage to him had told him to stay gone for around two hours.

    That was just another part of the traditional ceremony that Cal found distasteful, all the guests knew they were off fucking and would see their state when they returned.

    Just like the promise part of the ceremony it didn''t sit right with Cal, but there was nothing he could do but go along with it.

    Cal and Alex left hand in hand to the hoots and hollers of all the guests but Cal didn''t blush, holding his head high defiantly as he left.

    <hr>

    Cal saw Alex''s bedroom in the keep for the first time and was impressed, the stone floor was completely covered by thick fluffy rugs and beautiful paintings of fields of flowers covered the walls.

    A massive four poster bed that could easily fit eight people lying side by side and a couple lying across the bottom was placed against the wall across from the double doors.

    Alex led him in by the hand and turned to look at him. "Well this is our room, what do you think?" She asked.

    "It''s the size of the whole inn I''ve been staying at." He replied.

    "Yeah it''s a little much." She said, moving over to sit on the bed.

    Cal walked over and sat down next to her, putting his hands in his lap. "So..." Alex said.

    I always think I''m done being shy and then freeze up like this. Cal thought.

    He had been with so many women in the past three months and learned to take control with the ones who wanted him to but he had those women many times before he took charge, and this was his first time with Alex.

    She''s your wife and she wants you. Don''t dissapoint her on her wedding night. He told himself determinedly.

    He sank off the bed to his knees and turned towards Alex before lifting up her feet one at a time, slipping her heels off and setting them on the floor as he stared into her eyes.

    "You are so beautiful." He said truthfully.

    She bit her bottom lip, her cheeks flushed.

    Cal stood and removed his own shoes before stripping off his royal blue dress shirt, then he pressed himself between her knees while she sat on the bed and gave her a deep kiss, holding her with his right hand behind her head and his left over her shoulder rubbing the bare skin of her upper back.

    She wrapped her arms around his neck while they kissed and this time Cal forced his tongue between her lips. After a moment of hesitation she started moving her tongue against his.

    When he pulled away Alex was breathing heavily and he stepped back, unbuttoning his pants and tugging them down before stepping out of them fully nude.

    "You''re quite beautiful youself." She said while staring at his cock.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    Cal laughed and Alex stood up on shaky legs, tugging her cream white strapless dress down over her breasts and to her ankles before kicking it away to the side.

    He ran his eyes along her nude body for the first time while she looked over his in turn, his erection pointing at her stomach.

    She was tiny, standing about eight inches shorter than Cal''s own height of around five foot six.

    He admired her grapefruit sized breasts with swollen pink nipples, her delicate collarbone that made him want to kiss all over her neck, and her stomach toned by days spent training which led down to her wide hips and patch of short blonde pubic hair.

    "Get on the bed." He commanded.

    Alex obediantly climbed onto the bed and seductively crawled slowly across the overly long matress to the pile of pillows at the headboard, giving Cal an excellent view of her heart shaped ass, puckered asshole, and wet pink slit.

    She reached the pillows and flipped onto her back, her shoulders and head held up by a mass of pillows.

    Cal climbed into the bed and followed her example, crawling towards her on all fours.

    "Tell me what you want me to do." He told her, kneeling between her ankles.

    "Lick me." She said in a soft voice.

    "Sorry I couldn''t hear you, what was that." He teased.

    "I want you to lick me." She said louder, meeting his eyes.

    Cal grabbed her by the hips and slid her towards him, pulling her shoulders off the pillows and onto the matress and causing her to giggle nervously.

    He kept his hands on her hips and buried his face in her fuzzy mound.

    Alex played with his hair while he licked her, he hadn''t cut it once since he had arrived in this world and it was a little over two inches long.

    "I like your hair Cal, I hate how most men keep it cut so short." She said.

    Cal responded by attacking her clit and she let out a gasp, pushing his head away.

    "Ok that''s enough of that." She said and Cal tried to kiss her.

    "Eww stop." She said.

    "What, are you scared of a little bit of your own juices?" He teased her.

    "Shut up and fuck me Cal." She said.

    Cal shut up, and he fucked her.

    <hr>

    Sophia hated her job.

    She had explained to Blackburn exactly why she didn''t want to guard the young couple on their wedding night, but he had just told her to suck it up.

    She stood to one side of the door plugging her fingers with her ears and gritting her teeth, but it didn''t block out the sounds of passionate lovemaking that came from the room behind her.

    "They''re at it again, what is that the fourth time?" Hellen asked her, cleaning under her fingernails with a knife.

    Sophia pretended not to hear her, she was never going to be able to look Cal in the eyes again.

    <hr>

    Cal and Alex returned to the feast hall two hours after they left to the cheers of drunken nobles.

    They returned to their table to retrieve the gifts of prosperity as tradition dictated.

    Normally the newlyweds would carry the gifts away themselves, but at a royal wedding like this there was simply too much for two people to carry.

    Sophia and Hellen helped them out, all four of them carrying a heavy leather satchel stuffed with gifts back to where they had just come from, depositing the bags in Alex''s room.

    Sophia and Hellen''s replacements arrived as they got back to the room, no longer needed as extra guards for the celebration.

    Hellen wished them goodnight like usual but Sophia rushed off the second their replacements arrived, not saying anything.

    "What''s with her?" Cal asked Alex.

    "Her passive magic." Alex said, blushing.

    "Oh fuck. I forgot about that." Cal said, "We should do something to appologize to her."

    <hr>

    Cal woke late in the afternoon after their long night of lovemaking, finding Alex already gone. He decided to look through the bags of prosperity gifts he had received.

    He opened the small bags of coins one by one, counting them out and placing them back into the leather satchel.

    Next he grabbed the ornamental dagger with the attached scroll, curiousity rekindling when he spied it at the bottom of one of the satchels.

    He untied the scroll and set it aside while he examined the dagger, when he focused on it he could sense some sort of energy radiating off of it like he could with his father''s ring ever since he arrived in this world.

    The energy from the dagger felt almost cold somehow though and it let out a low hum, unlike his ring.

    He examined the blade and got lost in the swirling patterns etched all along it, every time he focused on a section it seemed to have changed completely from the last time he looked at it but he never directly saw it change.

    He put it back in it''s sheath and set it aside, eager to read a note from a man who would give such a gift.

    He unrolled the scroll and read the one line it contained. The second he read the last word the scroll crumbled to dust causing him to inhale in surprise and then erupt into coughs.

    Spatial mage, come to the estate of House Corin, I will make it worth your while.

    Cal was puzzled, no one should know he was a spatial mage yet, King Ranock had told him to continue keeping his mark secret until after the wedding and the charging of the portal.

    Let''s see, who knows about me. There''s Vera and Mia, Alex, Sophia, Blackburn, and King Ranock of course. Cal couldn''t think of who would have told anyone and why, but now he was even more curious.

    He headed off to find House Corin, tucking his new dagger under his belt.

    When he left Alex''s room he was surprised to find a guard standing outside the door, and even more surprised when the guard began to follow him without a word as he started to walk away.

    "Can I help you?" Cal asked.

    "Prince Dair, my name is Nirin, King Ranock assigned me to guard you." The guard said with a bow. "Please, carry on your way. I will follow."

    Cal sighed and continued making his way out of the keep.

    "Do you know the way to the estate of House Corin?" He asked his new guard when they had crossed the drawbridge.

    "Of course, follow me." Nirin said, taking the front and leading Cal deeper into the city than he had ever been before.

    "I didn''t realize Ranock was this big." Cal said to make smalltalk with his new guard after they had been walking for almost twenty minutes. "Before today I haven''t been past the keep."

    Nirin turned around looking surprised. "As in, you''ve only stayed in the area between the East gate and the keep?" He asked incredulously.

    "Yeah I''ve only been in Ranock for just under two weeks." Cal replied. "I love the library, it''s massive."

    Nirin laughed, "The eastern library isn''t even the biggest library in Ranock. Make your way out to Ranock Island in Lake Ranock sometime, the library there makes it look like a hovel."

    "Ranock Island in Lake Ranock in the kingdom of Ranock? A certain family sure seems full of themselves huh?" Cal asked.

    Nirin snorted. "Anyway, Eastern Ranock is a very small part of Ranock, clean and proper to make an impression on visitors."

    "Not sayin the rest of Ranock is a dump or anything, just not as fancy as King Ranock keeps his own little slice."

    "Here we are Prince Dair, the estate of House Corin." Nirin said, pointing at a stately manor surrounded by a tall wrought iron fence.

    Cal walked to the gate where two guards were standing, eyeing their approach. "What''s your business with House Corin?" One of the guards asked.

    "Um, I don''t really know to be honest. My name is Prince Calibra Dair and I received a note asking me to come here." Cal winced as he used his name and title.

    "Prince Dair, Lord Corin is expecting you, please head on in." The guard said, pushing open the gate.

    Cal and Nirin stepped through and walked down the stone path and across the well maintained lawn. They arrived at the door and it opened, a well dressed butler standing inside.

    "Please come in, may I take your cloak sir?" The butler asked him.

    "No thanks." Cal responded.

    "Lord Corin is in his sitting room, right this way sir." The butler said, walking off into the manor.

    Cal and Nirin followed after him down a long hall full of portaits, arriving at an open door and introducing them to the man who had given Cal the dagger.

    "Lord Corin, Prince Dair and his guard are here to see you." The butler said, stepping aside to let them into the room where Lord Corin was sitting in an armchair before a lit fireplace.

    The butler closed the door behind them and left.

    "Ah, good of you to come so soon, I was expecting you to take a few days with your new bride before you made it out to my humble estate." Lord Corin said.

    Cal crossed his arms, "Your overly theatrical note along with knowledge you shouldn''t have about my abilities got me curious. What do you want from me?"

    "Straight to buissiness then, care for a drink first?" Lord Corin asked.

    "No thank you, let''s make this quick, you are right about me wanting to go spend time with my wife after all." Cal replied.

    "This conversation will reveal your abilities." Lord Corin said, pointedly looking at Cal''s guard.

    "Doesn''t matter, they will be public by tomorrow when I charge the portal anyways." Cal said.

    "Charging portals. That is precisely what I want to discuss with you." He began.

    "My family has a small portal that leads to a vault hidden somewhere deep beneath the earth, spatial mages were commissioned to build it by my ancestors almost a thousand years ago and used it to store the family''s wealth."

    "The portal only holds enough energy to remain open for ten minutes, requiring a spatial mage was a great security design hundreds of years ago, their temple was above reproach." He said.

    "So you want me to keep your portal charged while you go in and clear it out?" Cal asked, imagining a cave with piles of gold like the hoard of a dragon. "How much will you be paying me?"

    "House Corin has fallen on hard times I''m afraid, that dagger I gifted you for your wedding was the most expensive thing we had left." Lord Corin said with a frown.

    "My offer to you is this, I will allow you to pick out one item from the vault as well as ten percent of whatever currency is inside."

    "We have no records of what all is in there but the Corin family has been a prominent household in Ranock for thousands of years, I''m sure it will be a veritable treasure trove."

    "Deal, where''s this portal." Cal said eagerly.

    <hr>

    Cal stood in front of a ten foot wide and tall obsidian archway in the basement of the manor of House Corin, rubbing his hands together in greed.

    "Ok, how do I charge it?" He asked Lord Corin.

    "How should I know, you''re the spatial mage." Lord Corin replied dejectedly.

    "I''m just messing with you." Cal laughed, "You should''ve seen the look on your face."

    He walked up to the infinity symbol on the right hand arch, right where the book about spatial mages had said it would be, and laid his palm on it.

    He drew his spatial energy from his mark and pushed it out into the infinity symbol causing it to glow with a silver light to match the glow that would''ve come from the back of his hand were he not wearing gloves.

    Cal pushed the energy into the symbol until it stopped taking it, unable to force any more in, and then stepped back.

    Lord Corin and him stared at the archway expectantly. "Maybe it''s broken?" Cal said.

    Suddenly a sheet of swirling quicksilver spread between the archway, letting off a faint humming sound as it spun in a counterclockwise whirlpool.

    Cal hesitantly reached out a finger and stuck it slowly into the liquid, it felt like ice water. He pulled his finger back and looked it over, it was dry and whole, tingling slightly.

    "Stand guard out here Nirin." He said.

    He looked back at Lord Corin and then stepped through the portal, eager to explore an ancient vault.

    Cal found himself in an absolute and total darkness and panicked, thinking the portal had killed him somehow, before he remembered it led to a cave and felt stupid.

    A moment later Lord Corin stepped through carrying a torch that illuminated a small dome shaped natural cavern with no exit tunnels.

    There were chests lined up along the wall but Cal ignored them, heading straight to a large stone shelf that was buzzing with energy.

    He picked up a necklace made of gold plates like something from ancient Egypt that was giving off a faint sound like tinkling bells before putting it down to pick up the next item that caught his attention, a humming shortsword.

    He looked over the rest of the items but none of them felt quite as powerful as the shortsword, and with no way to tell what they did he chose the sword.

    He walked over to Lord Corin who was opening the chests along the far wall one after another and looking over their contents.

    There were six iron banded wooden chests in total, each about half the size of a fridge.

    Cal looked inside of them and his eyes lit up, two were filled with gold coins, three with silver, and one with copper.

    "I now wish I hadn''t promised you ten percent." Lord Corin said while opening the sixth chest. "Is that the object you picked?" He nodded to the sheathed short sword Cal was holding.

    Cal didn''t respond, the second Lord Corin opened the last chest a low sound like a foghorn filled the room.

    He walked over to the chest and set the sword down on the ground before reaching in and lifting out a small black metal box about the size of a book.

    He opened the box and saw nine identical rings, thin silver bands affixed with flat heart shaped rubies the size of peas, there was a tenth indentation in the black fabric of the box where one ring was missing.

    "I pick this." He said.

    Lord Corin looked in the box Cal was holding and shrugged. "Those don''t look too expensive but it''s your choice."

    "They might not look like much but they''re the loudest thing in here." Cal said.

    "Loudest?" Lord Corin asked, raising an eyebrow.

    "Yeah, like the sword, or all the items on that shelf over there." He pointed at the shelf.

    "Ah I did not realize your passive mark was magic sense." Lord Corin said, turning back to look through the other items in the chest.

    Cal was hardly listening, he took off his glove and slipped one of the rings onto his left index finger, it shrunk down to perfectly fit his finger as he put it on.

    "Make sure you take those rings to an identifier before you try to use them, I''d hate for a prince to get cursed by a gift from House Corin." Lord Corin said while digging through the chest.

    Cal quickly tried to slip off the ring, feeling like an idiot. The ring wouldn''t come off.

    "Uh cursed?" He asked.

    "Yeah it''s pretty common with magic jewelry, elves don''t like humans getting their hands on their enchanted stuff." Lord Corin responded distractedly as he read some papers from the chest.

    "Hypothetically, how would someone go about removing a cursed ring?" Cal asked, slipping his glove back on before Lord Corin turned around.

    "They wouldn''t, unless they somehow managed to befriend the elves, which would be highly improbable with how reclusive and xenophobic they are." He said, eyeing Cal suspiciously.

    "And uh what might a cursed ring do, exactly?" Cal asked, scratching the back of his head.

    Lord Corin narrowed his eyes at Cal, "Might be it kills you instantly, if you''re lucky that is. Some curses cause you to go completely insane, others make your skin slowly rot and fall off your bones."

    "Really no telling until it happens, the most an identifier could tell you is if an item is cursed or not. Now let''s go get your guard and some of my household to help drag all this stuff out of here."

    <hr>

    Cal and Nirin left House Corin after recharging the portal three times to get in and three to get out while they removed everything from the cave and left it in Lord Corin''s basement.

    Lord Corin had assured him he would have Cal''s share of the coin sent to the keep after he had it counted.

    Cal stashed the box of eight rings in his and Alex''s room and went to track down his new wife.

    He found her where he thought he would, in one of the royal training yards on the grounds behind the keep.

    Cal stood next to Sophia and Hellen with Nirin off behind him and watched Alex train for a minute, she was running around an obstacle course and blasting spikes of shadow through wooden targets.

    Alex spotted him when she completed a lap by hopping from boulder to boulder near the end, impaling three targets as she leapt.

    She walked up to him breathing heavily and sweating. "I''d give you a hug but I''m all sweaty." She said with a sweet smile.

    Cal grabbed her around the middle and hugged her, giving her a quick kiss. "I don''t mind." He said. "I missed you this morning, you should''ve woken me up."

    "Just because we''re married now doesn''t mean I have to drag you out of bed to train with me every morning when the sun rises. Unless you want me to, that is." She smiled at him.

    "Sunrise? Uh nevermind, thanks for letting me sleep." He said, releasing her from the hug.

    "I''m going to go check on Vera and Mia, want to come with me or are you going to spend more time training?" Cal asked her.

    "I''ll tag along, Mia is so adorable. I hope our first child is a girl." Alex said, grabbing a towel that Hellen offered her and wiping at her forehead.

    "Our first child? Who says we''re having more than one." Cal teased her.

    "We can talk about it after we work on our first." She said.

    They walked off hand in hand to Vera''s inn, Hellen, Sophia, and Nirin trailing along silently.

    <hr>

    Cal fed Mia, it was her day, and then they all sat around the inn talking for a bit. He noticed Sophia didn''t join in like she usually did and felt bad.

    They talked for a bit but Alex wanted to go take a bath after her workout, and Cal wanted to join her, so they said their goodbyes and headed to the keep.

    When they got to the room Alex sent Sophia off on some nonsensical errands, to Sophia''s obvious relief.

    Then they spent the entire day in their room, sending Hellen to fetch them all their meals.

    <hr>

    King Lucious Ranock walked through the torchlit halls of his keep with a spring in his step, the person he had made promises to had temporarily released him from them due to current circumstances and he was going to visit all of his old favourites.

    But first he had a new hot young brunette to try out, he had waited paitently all day for her to get off work and retire to her room in the keep.

    He stood outside Sophia''s door trembling in anticipation before reaching out and knocking softly.

    She came to the door in a long eggshell white nightdress and Lucious already began to stiffen.

    "King Ranock? What can I do for you?" She asked him, confused.

    "May I come in?" Lucious replied.

    Sophia stepped out of the way as he swept past her into the room.

    He moved to her bed and sat, taking her in. She had her arms crossed under her breasts, her flowing nightdress framing them perfectly.

    "Lock the door and come here." Lucious said, watching her face twist in surprise as her body moved without her telling it to.

    "What..." Sophia said as she locked the door and walked over to stand in front of him.

    "Feel free to scream and cry if you want, it will make this more fun for me." He said, unbuttoning his pants.

    Sophia turned and ran to the door, reaching for the lock.

    "Stop. Come back here and stand in front of me until I tell you otherwise." He commanded.

    Tears were already flowing from her eyes as she realized what was going to happen.

    He pulled out his rock hard cock and reached out to roughly squeeze one of her breasts through her gown.

    "Take off your dress and then suck my cock to the best of your ability, do not hurt me." He commanded her while giving his shaft a few strokes.

    She sobbed as her body refused to respond to her will, pulling her nightdress over her head and dropping it to the floor before kneeling down in front of him.

    She started sucking his cock and Lucious ran his hands through her long curly brown hair.

    "Look into my eyes." He told her, and she complied.

    He leaned back on his hands and sighed, he had been waiting a long time for this.

    "Play with yourself while you suck me." He said, planning ahead for what came next.

    Sophia fingered herself and sucked his cock until he finished, holding her head forcefully down on his cock as he came in the back of her mouth.

    "Good girl." He said, pulling his cock from her mouth and stroking her hair lovingly. "Now lean over the bed on your stomach and show me that ass."

    Lucious stood up and watched as she complied, flopping onto her stomach with her ass hanging off the edge of the bed.

    He lined his cock up with her wet slit and forced his way inside, her sobs growing louder as he penetrated her.

    Lucious smiled, it was time for his favourite part.

    He pressed his thumbs into the back of neck, wrapping his fingers around her throat while he pounded into her from behind.

    Her sobs turned into choked gasps as she struggled to draw in breaths and the sounds made him pound even faster, he couldn''t remember the last time he was so aroused.

    He came much faster than he would have liked but he didn''t mind, he could visit her again whenever he liked.

    He pulled up his pants and headed to the door, unlocking it before turning around to give a few more commands.

    "I''m switching you and Blackburn around, you will be guarding me from now on."

    "Report for duty at the same time you normally would and don''t tell anyone what happened here tonight or what you think about your king."

    Lucious left the sobbing woman lying brokenly on her bed and whistled while he walked down the hall, he had more stops to make.

    <hr>

    Sophia lay in her bed sobbing in terror and sadness after King Ranock left.

    She crawled the rest of the way onto her bed and curled up into a ball, feeling completely powerless and broken.

    Her first instinct was to run to Kyla for comfort, but what could she do? Sophia wouldn''t even be able to tell her what was wrong.

    The sickening feeling of not being in control of her own body replayed over and over in her mind, she had never felt so afraid and powerless.

    She thought of how she would have to show up at the throne room the next morning and pretend like nothing had happened while she guarded the man who raped her.

    She finally stood up shakily and pulled on her nightdress, heading to the bathing room to try to make herself feel clean again.

    She sat in the bathwater the servant mage conjured for her until it grew cold, going over her options.

    The king had ordered her to report for work at the same time she normally would, so she had no chance of simply running away.

    Sophia sobbed quietly and thought about killing herself.

    <hr>

    Cal sat atop a horse and took in the impressive sight of his new home in the light of the setting sun.

    The mountain rose up thousands of feet in front of him on the edge of the biggest lake he had ever seen, he couldn''t even see the distant shore.

    Cal had thought it was the ocean when he first spotted it, until Nirin informed him it was Lake Ranock.

    He had woken up early in the morning and ridden off with Alex, Vera, Mia, Nirin, Hellen, and Blackburn Northwest to his new castle after charging the portal to Crossroads for the king.

    Charging the portal had been significantly harder than the one at House Corin, he had to stop and rest several times before it stopped accepting energy and finally flickered to life.

    Hel rode to the base of the mountain where an obsidian archway around thirty feet tall and ten feet wide was set into the sheer stone cliff face, the rock scooped out about a foot deep in the middle of the uncharged portal.

    He dismounted and found the infinity rune carved into the righthand arch, flooding it with energy before remounting and waiting.

    The portal came to life and he rode forward, firmly guiding the horse as it shied away from the swirling vortex of quicksilver.

    He rode out a ways into the courtyard of his new home, giving his companions room to follow him through the portal.

    Cal stared in openmouthed astonishment at the massive off-white stone castle before him, it was even bigger than the keep.

    <hr>

 Ch 8 : Royal funeral pt 1

    <hr>

    Sophia went through the motions of her days numbly, the king had raped her a total of eight times over the past month.

    He visited her room every night for the first three days, but Sophia had stopped crying and protesting and he lost interest quickly.

    Today marked the seventh day since the last time he had come for her and Sophia was starting to gain hope that he would leave her alone.

    Kyla had broken up with her after a week of Sophia refusing all physical contact and failing to communicate, but Sophia didn''t blame her for breaking it off, she probably would have done the same.

    Kyla probably assumed she was cheating on her or had just lost interest, Sophia hadn''t even been able to tell her anything, making weak excuses every time she asked what was wrong.

    She wanted so badly to tell Kyla the truth, but whenever she tried to say anything close to what was happening her voice would just stop working due to whatever insidious power the king held over her.

    Sophia''s replacement arrived to relieve her and she began to walk out of the throne room with dread.

    This was the time of day she had switched from loving to absolutely hating, she would go back to her room and wait in apprehension hoping the king wouldn''t show up.

    King Ranock''s voice called out as she was headed to the door, and a fist of disgust and dread clenched around her heart as she heard the sound of his voice.

    "Sophia. Blackburn and Alexandra are getting back tomorrow, you will resume your old post guarding my daughter." King Ranock said, and Sophia felt a little bit better. Not much, but a little bit.

    <hr>

    Cal rode back to Ranock side by side with his newly pregnant wife, their three guards and two vampires trailing behind them.

    King Ranock had instructed them to return in a month if they had sucessfully conceived.

    Probably going to have some weird mysoginistic traditional ceremony or something. Cal thought cynically, he wasn''t very impressed with the way women were treated in Ranock.

    They rode into the western gate of Ranock as the sun set and headed to the keep, leaving the horses with a stablehand before Vera and Mia headed off to rent a room at the inn.

    The guard on the drawbridge told Cal and Alex they were to join King Ranock in his private dining room so they headed straight there and found the king sitting at a table already eating and a plump middle aged woman sitting next to him.

    "Ah wonderful, you''ve arrived. How was your trip dear?" King Ranock asked.

    "Uneventful, father." Alex responded.

    "Mabel, if you will." King Ranock said to the rotund woman who hastily stood and walked over to stand in front of alex, putting her hand on her stomach over her dress.

    "Back up please my Prince, the energy from your marks will interfere." Mabel said to Cal, and he backed up a few steps confused.

    "It will be a boy, regeneration, spatial mage." Mabel said, and Cal got irritated.

    "Hey! I wanted to be surprised by the gender what the hell do you think you''re doing!" He yelled.

    Mabel looked up in surprise, "I-I appologize my Prince, I simply did as I was bid." She said, dropping to her knees.

    Cal immediately felt bad. "It''s ok, I''m sorry, I shouldn''t have yelled at you. Please stand up." He said while sctratching the back of his head.

    King Ranock raised an eyebrow. "Well that was dramatic." He said. "Please come join me, eat and celebrate, a male spatial mage is certainly a blessing."

    Mabel left the room while Cal and Alex took seats at the table and quickly piled food onto their plates, they were famished after the long ride from their home.

    They ate in silence, Cal irritated at the king for revealing the gender of his child.

    After the meal Cal and Alex bid the king goodnight and headed up to their room exhausted, they went to bed without making love and Cal fell asleep quickly.

    Cal jolted awake to a sharp pain in his chest, it felt like he had been stabbed.

    He looked down at his chest in pain, he had been stabbed.

    He couldn''t believe what he was seeing, Alex was holding the handle of his ornamental sapphire studded dagger he always carried, the blade completely buried in his chest just below his heart.

    He opened his mouth to speak and coughed up blood.

    He panicked and looked across the room while drawing his spatial energy around his body and teleporting, failing to envelope his night clothes in his haste.

    He appeared lying naked on a rug across the room in the same position he had been in bed, his feet now up against the closed door.

    Blood poured out of the gash in his chest and quickly stained the white fluffy rug beneath him.

    "You missed his heart sweetie." Lord Ranock''s voice said from behind him.

    Cal struggled to figure out what was going on as his conciousness dimmed from bloodloss.

    Black spots swam at the edges of his vision and then suddenly the ring with the heart shaped ruby exploded, ripping his finger off.

    Cal''s perspective abruptly changed and he almost fell over.

    He was no longer lying down, no longer in pain, he was standing up near the foot of the bed and looking down at his own body still gasping and bleeding on the floor.

    King Ranock walked into Cal''s new line of sight, withdrawing a dagger of his own and calmly approaching Cal''s bleeding body.

    "Daddy, wait." Cal''s voice came weakly from the body lying by the door.

    King Ranock plunged his dagger into Cal''s chest an inch above the existing wound and the body stilled.

    Cal''s mind was racing, What in the fuck is happening. He thought.

    He looked down at himself and his mind went blank. He was holding his dagger, blood languidly collecting at the tip before dripping onto the rug.

    "Haha he called me daddy!" King Ranock proclaimed.

    Cal stared in disbelief at his own dainty pale hands with perfectly maintained nails that he knew so well.

    He was in Alex''s body.

    She sat heavily behind herself on the bed, the knife slipping from her hand and tumbling onto the rug.

    King Ranock walked towards her, "Now we can be together always my love." He said in a seductive voice.

    He got close enough in the dim light of the bedside lamp to see his daughter''s face, Cal already being able to see perfectly with his darkvision.

    "Whats wrong sweetie? I''m not mad at you for missing his heart I promise, it will take a bit more cleaning to fix this mess but it''s ok." King Ranock said.

    He sat next to Cal/Alex on the bed, putting his right arm around her shoulders.

    "Now that you''re a widow no one will have any expectations for you to remarry. We can raise that child like our own and I will keep my promises, I will lay with no one but you ever again." He promised her while taking her right hand in his left.

    Cal was struggling not to shudder or throw off the king''s arm and give herself away while she tried to think of what Alex would say.

    She was saved from needing to respond when her old body started twitching on the ground, the wounds on its chest rapidly closing up.

    "Shit I forgot he keeps those blighted vampires as pets." King Ranock said, standing and walking across the room.

    Cal watched in horror from her seat on the bed as the king sawed through the neck of her old body, tearing the head free and tossing it to the side.

    King Ranock wiped his hands and blade on the rug before tucking the dagger in a sheath at his waist and heading back to his daughter.

    "Well his corpse isn''t on the bed like you planned, but I can move it if you really want me to take you next to it." He said, caressing Cal''s cheek.

    Cal choked back her bile and surpressed another shudder, her mind still catching up to the events of the past few minutes.

    She thought over the whole last month she had spent with Alex. Alex hadn''t once shown a single sign she wasn''t completely devoted to her and she couldn''t comprehend how she had deceived her so thoroughly.

    Cal realized she hadn''t responded to King Ranock''s question and he was looking at her with worry.

    "I-I don''t feel like it right now, that was a lot more gruesome than I thought it was going to be, I''m sorry." She hastily responded.

    "It''s ok sweetie, we have the rest of our lives now." King Ranock said, brushing strands of hair out of her face. "Let''s go get cleaned up, Blackburn will handle this mess."

    He stood and pulled her up by the hand.

    Cal retrieved the dagger she had dropped to the floor, wiping it on the sheets and putting it in the sheath that was belted at her waist.

    While she retrieved the blade King Ranock grabbed the body by it''s arms and dragged it away from the door.

    Cal followed King Ranock past her own headless corpse, trying not to look into the sightless eyes of the head lying beside it.

    As she was about to leave she remembered her father''s ring and grit her teeth, turning back and bending down to slip it off the finger of the corpse.

    King Ranock watched without comment, he didn''t care if his daughter looted the corpse of her husband.

    Cal followed the king down the hall on autopilot, her thoughts racing at a thousand miles an hour.

    The king led her to his own private chambers and through to the attached bathing room, apparently he had planned ahead as the bath was already full of steaming water.

    He knelt by the massive tub and grabbed the bar of soap, washing his blood soaked hands in the steaming bathwater.

    Cal gripped his dagger, she couldn''t stomach getting in the bath with the king, she would have to make her move right now.

    "Get yourself clean and then wait in the bed, I''m going to go get us some wine to calm your nerves." King Ranock said while he washed his hands, his back turned to Cal.

    Cal pulled her blade from it''s sheath and lunged forward, plunging it down through the back of his throat up to the hilt.

    King Ranock slumped forward over the tub, his arms over the sides preventing his body from sliding to the floor.

    He didn''t make a single sound as he instantly died.

    The king''s blood was spilling into the bathwater that Cal planned to use so she ripped free her blade and pushed the corpse to the side, leaving a bloody smear on the white tub as it slid to the floor.

    She stepped around the growing pool of blood in a daze, going around the side of the tub to swirl the dagger in the water and wipe it on the towel before sheathing it at his waist.

    She unbuckled the dagger belt letting it fall to the ground while kicking off her slippers and then pulled the yellow sundress off over her head, noting with disgust that it was the same one Alex had worn on their date in the royal garden.

    Cal climbed into the tub awkwardly, unused to her new shorter legs, and sank down against the wall of the tub looking down at the body she knew so well. The body that wasn''t hers.

    She numbly scrubbed at her new body with the bar of soap King Ranock had dropped in the tub when he died.

    A knock sounded on the king''s bedroom door and Cal''s gaze snapped up, her heart pounding while she waited and hoped whoever it was would go away.

    The knock came again, more insistent, and Blackburn''s muffled voice came from the hall. "My King, you sent for me?" He knocked again.

    Cal looked at the king''s body and quickly formulated a plan.

    She reached out of the tub and drew the king''s dagger from the sheath at his waist before pressing both sides of the blade into the pool of blood surrounding his body.

    Then she placed the dagger in the king''s palm and closed his fingers around it.

    "One second Blackburn, I''m naked." She shouted, startling herself with the feminine voice that came from her mouth.

    She climbed out of the tub and dried herself quickly with the towel before slipping back on her discarded sundress and slippers, thankful they didn''t have any bloodstains on them.

    Then she forced tears to her eyes, it wasn''t hard, the only reason she wasn''t already crying was probably the shock she was in.

    She walked from the bathroom back into the bedroom and over to the door to the hall, unlocking it and pulling it open.

    "Blackburn, Cal killed daddy and teleported away." She sobbed.

    Blackburn rushed past her to the door to the bathroom, looking at the king''s body in the pool of blood.

    He turned back to her, "What happened Alex?" He asked softly as Cal cried and sobbed.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    "I was in the bath with Cal sitting on the edge of the tub, Daddy came in with his dagger and stabbed Cal in the chest."

    "Then Cal teleported behind Daddy and stabbed him in the throat before teleporting again so I ran back to our room and foud him turning into a vampire, he killed daddy, I couldn''t let him get away with it." She sobbed.

    Blackburn stared at her and Cal tried to guess what he was thinking, she had no clue how much he knew about what was actually going on.

    Does he know they were planning to kill me? Does he know the king was fucking his daughter? Is he buying this crazy story? Thoughts and doubts raced through her mind.

    "Cal''s body is in your room?" Blackburn finally asked.

    "Yes, I came back here to wash off the blood, I think I''m in shock." She sobbed.

    "Ok, go to your brother''s room for now, his guards will keep you both safe. I will get the advisors and handle this." Blackburn said, and rushed out of the room.

    Cal stood there for a moment shocked that Blackburn bought her story, and then walked off to Prince Derrin''s room.

    <hr>

    Sophia woke to the sharp high note of the magic alarm that woke her each morning just before the sun rose and went through the motions of dressing herself and getting prepared to guard Princess Alexandra.

    When she was presentable she left her room in the keep and walked through the halls to Alex''s room.

    As sometimes was the case when Alex got up early the night guards weren''t there, so Sophia sighed and went to search for the princess so she could start her shift.

    She was passing by Prince Derrin''s room when the guards stopped her.

    "Alexandra is in with Derrin." Cody said.

    "Uh, ok, should I just wait here with you two then?" Sophia asked, puzzled.

    It was no secret Alex didn''t care for her younger brother and Sophia had never known her to enter his room.

    "Fine by me." Cody replied.

    Hellen came down the hall a few minutes later, running late as always.

    "She''s in here for some reason." Sophia said when Hellen reached her.

    Hellen grunted in reply and leaned up against the wall, closing her eyes and crossing her arms while she waited.

    Sophia stood rigidly like a good little guard for almost two hours before growing restless.

    "What is she doing in there?" She asked Cody.

    "Sleeping, I believe." Cody replied.

    "Why is she sleeping in her brother''s room?" Sophia wondered.

    "I don''t know, when we got here to replace the other guards they told us she showed up late last night and said she''d be staying here." Cody answered.

    Sophia was still confused, Alex never slept in, not even on her wedding night.

    She waited another two hours before she got impatient and knocked on the door to Cody''s objections, Prince Derrin was grumpy when he was tired.

    She had to knock loudly a couple of times before the door finally opened a crack and Alex peeked out rubbing at her eyes.

    "Sophia, what are you doing here?" Alex asked sleepily.

    "Guarding you?" Sophia questioned.

    "Oh yeah of course, that''s your job after all." Alex responded, yawning loudly and slipping out of the door.

    Alex started walking quickly down the hall towards the entrance of the keep.

    "Don''t you want to change into your training clothes?" Sophia asked, eyeing the yellow sundress and pink slippers Alex was wearing.

    "Not training, I''ll explain at the inn." Alex replied without stopping.

    Sophia and Hellen rushed to follow her.

    <hr>

    Cal woke up in the huge bed next to the sleeping young prince and was confused for a moment before she remembered the night before.

    She rolled off the bed groggily as someone pounded at the door again, crossing the room as fast as she could to make it stop.

    She was confused when she opened the door and saw Sophia. "Sophia, what are you doing here?" Cal asked.

    "Guarding you?" Sophia asked her confusedly.

    Oh, right, duh. Cal thought.

    "Oh yeah of course, that''s your job after all." Cal said, yawning loudly and slipping out the door.

    She needed to get to Vera and Mia and tell them what had happened. She started walking quickly to the inn knowing Sophia would follow her.

    "Don''t you want to change into your training clothes?" Sophia asked her from behind.

    "Not training, I''ll explain at the inn." Cal said without stopping.

    Cal decided she could probably trust Sophia, even though she wasn''t feeling very trusting at the moment.

    She made it all the way to the inn before realizing Hellen was following her as well.

    "Uh Hellen, why don''t you take the day off." Cal said, standing in the doorway of the inn.

    Hellen grunted and walked off back towards the keep.

    "What are you doing Alex? Hellen will get in trouble if your father finds out." Sophia asked.

    Cal snorted, or tried to, it didn''t feel or sound quite right in this body. "He''s not going to be finding out, trust me."

    Vera and Mia weren''t in the lobby so Cal headed to the counter.

    "Which room are the vampies staying in?" She asked the bartender.

    "Room four, your highness." He responded.

    Cal headed up the stairs without another word and knocked softly on Vera''s door so she wouldn''t wake up Mia.

    Vera opened the door a minute later in a black silk nightgown. "Alex, Sophia, good morning. Where is Cal?" She asked, looking past Alex and only seeing Sophia.

    "Can we come in?" Cal asked, ignoring her question.

    Vera stepped to the side, holding the door open wider to let them in.

    Once the door was closed and locked Cal held out her right hand, showing them the silver infinity sign that she was had been relieved to find was still there.

    "Do you have a pair of gloves I can borrow. sis?" She asked, and launched into the tale of what had happened last night.

    Cal had been expecting them to react with disbelief, anger that Alex had tricked them all, or disgust that the king had been in a relationship with his daughter for who knows how long.

    But when she told them about killing the king Sophia gasped, then it looked like she was trying really hard to say something before a haunted look came over her face and she sat down in the only chair in the room.

    Vera had listened to her whole tale with a stoic look on her face. "So you are carrying your own child in your wife''s body?" She asked when Cal finished.

    Cal''s hands shot to her stomach and her mouth twisted in horror.

    "Shit." She said. "How do I get rid of it?"

    Vera glowered at her. "Why would you want to get rid of your child?" She snapped at her.

    "Alex betrayed me. I don''t want to have her baby." Cal replied incredulously.

    "Alex betrayed you yes, but that child is innocent. You will carry it." Vera said commandingly.

    "Vera... I can''t... I''m not a woman, I can''t have a baby. I want it out." Cal said in exasperation.

    "Cal!" Vera yelled, waking up Mia. "You will carry that child!" She stomped her foot on the ground.

    Cal sighed, "We can talk about it later Vera. What do you want to tell Mia, about, you know?" She asked, indicating her body with her hand.

    "The truth of course." Vera said as Mia sleepily got out of bed.

    "Hi Alex! Hi Sophia! Mia shouted excitedly, her sleepiness forgotten when she saw who was in her room.

    "Mia, remember that ring with the heart we liked to tease Cal about sweetie?" Vera asked.

    Mia giggled, "It is for girls!" She screamed.

    Cal grinned despite herself. I''ts for girls indeed. She thought wryly.

    "Yes that ring Mia, Alex killed Cal and that ring caused them to switch bodies. This is Cal in Alex''s body, Alex is dead now." Vera said.

    You''ve got to be kidding me, no way an eleven year old girl will just understand and accept that explanation. Cal thought.

    "I understand." Mia said, and ran to give Cal a hug. "Sorry Alex killed you Cal." She said with her face pressed into Cal''s new breasts.

    <hr>

    Sophia listened to her story in astonishment, she couldn''t imagine what Cal was feeling, being betrayed by a woman she loved and trusted like that.

    When she got to the part about her killing the king a fierce surge of happiness and hope bloomed in Sophia''s chest.

    She gasped and opened her mouth to thank Cal for killing that disgusting man and tell them what he had done, but to her horror the magic was still preventing her from talking about the king.

    She had to go sit down while she thought about what that meant for her, she would never be able to tell anyone what had happened, and she would still be stuck as a royal guard for the rest of her life.

    Cal finished her tale and Vera brought up something Sophia thought was obvious, but Cal seemed completely floored, her mouth opening in horror while her hands shot to her stomach.

    Sophia was stunned that Mia accepted her mother''s words just like that, but Mia had been through a lot and was an incredibly resilient and smart little girl.

    "So now what?" Sophia asked, grinning at the uncomfortable look on Cal''s face from Mia''s head being shoved into her boobs.

    "I think I will pretend to be Alex until Derrin is corronated and Lucious is buried, and then just go live in my castle, I''m done with this shitty world." Cal said bitterly.

    "Maybe it''s not the world though, maybe it''s me. Both of the women I fell in love with turned out to be evil."

    "Both?" Sophia asked.

    Cal scratched the back of her head the way Sophia knew Cal always did.

    "Nothing, it''s not important. Make sure you all call me Alex until this all blows over." Cal said while pulling on a pair of black cloth gloves Vera handed to her.

    "I''ve got to go Vera, I''ll see you tomorrow." Cal said and gave Vera a hug before rushing back to the keep with Sophia in tow.

    When they reached the keep Blackburn was waiting for them in the courtyard, standing from a stone bench at their approach and pulling down his black hood for the first time Sophia had ever seen.

    Cal and Sophia stopped walking and Blackburn took a knee before Cal.

    "Princess Alexandra I know I have no right to ask you for any favours after failing to protect your father, but if our friendship ever meant anything to you I implore you to release me from my pledge of fealty to House Ranock."

    "If I don''t flee soon I will be held responsible for the death of the king, and they will execute me for treason." He pleaded.

    "Why do you need to be freed from your pledge to flee?" Sophia asked, confused.

    Blackburn looked up at her. "The pledge allowed King Ranock to give me certain orders that prevent me from leaving."

    So that''s what his power was. It was the oath of fealty. Sophia realized, and hope rekindled in her chest, Cal could free her too!

    "Uh I release you from your oath." Cal said.

    "Princess please do not joke with me about this. Tell me plainly if you plan to release me or not so that I may prepare for the outcome, You owe me that much." Blackburn said angrily.

    "I''m sorry I didn''t mean to make a joke, please tell me how to release you." She said.

    "With the crown, Princess." He said slowly, looking at her in confusion.

    "Oh of course, where is it?" She asked.

    "Follow me." He said.

    Blackburn stood and walked briskly away into the keep with Sophia and Cal following.

    He led them to the throne room where two older men were loudly bickering, growing silent as soon as they entered.

    "Princess Alexandra, I''m so sorry for your loss, if there is anything I can... Hey! What are you doing!" One of the two old man said as Blackburn walked down the carpet to the throne, picking the crown up off the cushion.

    He held it out to Cal, ignoring the protestations of the old man who was ranting about the crown remaining on the throne for the traditional three days of change.

    "What do I do?" Cal asked.

    Blackburn seemed to be searching her eyes. "You aren''t Alex." He stated after a moment.

    Sophia prepared to act, if she could touch Blackburn before he could touch Alex she could...

    "Nevermind, I don''t care anymore. Just put the crown on your head and say, ''I, Princess Alexandra Ranock, release Sasha Blackburn from any oath to the crown''." Blackburn said.

    Cal put the crown on her head and repeated the words, grinning at finding out Blackburn''s name was Sasha.

    As soon as she finished the sentence Blackburn reached out and pinched her on the arm.

    Sophia rushed forward, despair gripping her heart as her only chance of being released from the late king''s compulsion was touched by a combat healer.

    "Owww what was that for!" Cal asked, rubbing at the red spot on her arm as Sophia stopped in her tracks.

    "I had to make sure the oath was gone, goodbye, whoever you are." Blackburn turned and left the room, nodding at Sophia as he left.

    "Alex, release me from my oath." Sophia said as soon as he was gone.

    "What, you don''t want to be my guard anymore?" Cal grinned at her.

    "Alex, please, I need you to release me." She begged.

    "Jeez you don''t have to beg Sophia, what''s your last name?" Cal asked.

    "Reed." She replied quickly.

    "Ok but you better not pinch me Sophia. I, Princess Alexandra Ranock, release Sophia Reed from any oath to the crown." Cal said.

    "The king was a shithead." Sophia tested if it worked, then she turned and ran out of the keep.

    She ran all the way back to the inn she had just come from, bursting in the door and looking around the common room for Kyla.

    She spotted her coming out of the kitchen and ran over to her.

    "Kyla I need to talk to you in private." She panted, out of breath.

    "Now you want to talk, now that I''m in the middle of work and have already broken up with you." Kyla snapped, angry tears coming to her eyes and her arms crossing over her chest.

    "Please Kyla, I can explain everything. I love you."Sophia pleaded.

    She had never told Kyla that before, and the words made her furious.

    "You better not be expecting me to say that back, you can''t just come in here after not touching or talking to me for weeks and tell me that you love me expecting me to just fall back into your arms like some stupid emotional damsel!" She yelled.

    "Just come hear me out, please Kyla. If you tell me to go after I explain you will never have to see me again." Sophia promised.

    "Fine. I''m taking my break, gimme a room key." Kyla said, looking over to the barkeeper who was openly gawking at the scene they were causing.

    "Room two." He said and set a key on the counter.

    Kyla angrily snatched it up before stomping over to the stairs with Sophia following after her.

    They entered the room and Sophia shut the door behind herself, turning to find an angry Kyla tapping her foot impatiently.

    "Well?" She asked.

    "I was under a magic oath that wouldn''t let me say anything about the man who was raping me." Sophia said.

    Kyla''s foot stopped tapping and she uncrossed her arms. "Sophia I..." She said in a soft voice.

    "He gave me orders and I had to do whatever he said, he he..." Sophia''s voice cracked and Kyla rushed over to hug her as she burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably.

    Kyla held her for a moment before leading her over to the bed and sitting down beside her.

    Sophia pressed her face against Kyla''s chest and let out all the tears she had been holding in over the last month, soaking Kyla''s shirt as she stroked Sophia''s hair soothingly.

    <hr>

    Cal was surprised when instead of thanking her Sophia just called the late king a shithead and ran out of throneroom.

    She headed upstairs to Alex''s room. My room. She corrected herself.

    She entered the room not sure what to expect, but all signs of the horrors of the night before were gone.

    The only thing out of place were the two huge bare spots on the floor where the bloody rugs had been removed, one at the foot of the bed and one by the door.

    She went to the nightstand in which she had stashed the box of magical rings from House Corin and took one out, considering it.

    After a minute spent staring at the ring and contemplating, she placed it on her left index finger, just like she had the last one.

    Just like last time it shrunk down to fit her finger and she was unable to remove it, she was about to place the box back in the nightstand but had a better idea.

    A moment later she appeared in a pitch black room and bent down, placing the box of rings on the stone ground of the cave-vault she had gotten them from.

    She teleported back into her room at the keep and looked through Alex''s dresser for something to wear.

    She stripped off her dress and pulled on a pair of lace panties, wishing Alex had some less sexy underwear, she didn''t want to feel sexy.

    Some of the clothing was so complex and odd she had no clue how to even wear it, and there were no simple pairs of pants.

    She gave up on finding pants and settled for a long green pleated skirt that stopped just above her ankles and a matching green longsleeve blouse.

    She was still in her room sitting in front of the large dresser mirror trying to figure out how to make her long blonde hair stay out of her face an hour later when someone knocked at her door.

    "Who is it?" She asked, sighing in exasperation and giving up on her hair.

    "It''s your favourite uncle!" A boisterous voice boomed through the door. "I hope you''re decent, because I''m coming in to give my favourite niece a hug!"

    The door slammed open and a grinning giant of a man walked in.

    He strode over to were Cal was standing up from the bench and picked her up in a massive bearhug, twirling her around twice before setting her back down on her feet.

    He leaned down to her eye level and squeezed her shoulders. "I''m so sorry about your father and your husband, Alexandra. I can only imagine how you are feeling."

    Cal was at a loss, getting picked up by someone three times your size and crushed while spun around is a humbling experience.

    "Um hi Uncle. Thank you for coming." She said, glad that he had identified himself at least.

    "Oh Alex it must be bad, you didn''t even correct my usage of your full name." He said sadly.

    "If you want to talk I am here for you, I will be here from now on to help your brother rule until he is old enough."

    "Now why don''t we go fetch that brother of yours and have ourselves a family dinner." He said more cheerfully.

    The massive man turned and walked out the door, looking back at her expectantly.

    Cal sighed and followed him.

    <hr>

    Queen Lumina Dawnwing listened intently to her scout who was giving her a firsthand report of seeing people appear in the Ranock portal arches of Crossroads with carts of goods to trade.

    She had gotten many such reports over the last month and had sent this scout out to confirm.

    It''s real then, King Ranock has a spatial mage that charged the portal from Ranock to Crossroads. But why hasn''t he charged the portal for the return journey? She wondered.

    The scout finished his report and she dismissed him, sitting on her throne and thinking through her options for a few minutes.

    She absently tucked her straight long blonde hair behind her pointed ears as she came to a decision, she would go herself and try for the diplomatic approach.

    But she would also bring her full contingent of Dawnwings, Lumina certainly wouldn''t be the only one after the services of King Ranock''s spatial mage.

    <hr>

    Empress Sirenia Sandscale rode at the head of the column of two hundred and fifty of her strongest soldiers.

    She scratched her Rankir absently under its ear hole and the giant lizard flicked out its tongue while pressing her head into the scratches.

    Halfway there. She thought, as she saw the buildings of Crossroads rising ahead to the North with her sand colored reptilian eyes.

    <hr>

    Lord Karo Ranock stood in the ashes of his older-by-one-hour twin brother''s estate, fists clenched by his sides.

    He had returned from his mission to aquire skulls from the spatial mage''s crypt across The Endless Deep expecting his brother to tell him how he had already succeeded at getting a spatial mage with the bones from the temple, that Karo had wasted his time, like Karo had told him would happen.

    His men wisely remained on and around the caravan of covered wagons, not approaching him until his anger subsided.

    Ashes rose in the air around him as he screamed out his rage to the world.

    "Whoever did this, wherever you are, I will find you, and I will make you suffer!" He swore an oath to the wind.

    Karo finally calmed down after several more shouted expletives and began to search the grounds around the ruins of the estate.

    He made his way to the ritual site and saw something strange, a long metal rectangular box was sitting in the middle of the summoning triangle.

    He walked up to the box and peeked inside, there were human bones strewn across the floor and two gnomes were sleeping huddled next to each other on one of the strange benches that lined the wall.

    Lord Karo signaled to his men who had followed him at a distance and they entered the metal box, grabbing the gnomes in their sleep and binding their hands and legs.

    Karo pulled out his wicked looking long black metal dagger and got to work.

    <hr>

    Zatira, wearing a pink apron with purple hearts on it, was pulling a sheet of chocolate chip cookies out of her stone oven with her bare hands when she felt an oath to cause her harm brush across her mind, causing her to fumble the pan and spill all of the cookies onto the ground.

    Her skin broke out in purple fire as she got angry at herself for being so easily startled, which caused her apron to intantly turn into ash.

    She sniffled, looking at her hard work lying ruined on the ground and regretting the loss of her favourite apron she had made herself.

    Then she burst into tears.

    <hr>

 Ch 9 : Royal funeral pt 2

    <hr>

    Vera watched her daughter jumping up and down on the rickety bed of the inn, If Cal didn''t get here to feed her soon she would just have to take her outside and risk missing him.

    She stood up from the single chair in the room where she had been reading a book from the library and set it down, preparing to take Mia for some exercise.

    She glanced one last time at the spot Cal told them to keep clear for teleportation purposes, at that exact moment Cal suddenly appeared in the room.

    "Vera! Were you just standing there waiting for me? I''m touched, but it''s truly not necessary." Cal grinned.

    Vera didn''t laugh or smile, she was worried about Cal.

    After she had rescued him from Lilly he had been understandably devastated and she had heard him sobbing quietly every night for the first couple weeks of their journey to Ranock, often noticing him crying as they walked too.

    But this time Vera had not seen Cal shed even a single tear.

    Mia jumped off the bed and ran into Cal''s arms, causing her to stumble back a few steps and almost fall over.

    "Wow I can hardly lift you now! You must have gained a bunch of weight, what''s your mom been feeding you?" She said with a laugh as she tried to pick Mia up.

    Mia erupted into giggles. "I did not get bigger, you got smaller silly!" She said through her laughter.

    "Cal," Vera began, but Cal cut her off.

    "Call me Alex for now Vera, just until Derrin is crowned and we get out of Ranock."

    Vera tried again, "Alex, we need to talk about what happened with your wife."

    Cal''s grin dissapeared for a second before coming back. "What, were the two of you having an affair or something?" She joked.

    Vera sighed, "Alex be serious, I am worried about you. This is not healthy. You should be sad, angry. You need to cry and scream, not pretend like nothing happened and brush it off with jokes."

    "We all grieve in our own way, if I want to joke about it that''s my decision." Cal snapped, her grin dissapearing.

    "Alex, after Lilly you grieved, and you moved past it. You need to let yourself feel what you are feeling." Vera replied softly.

    Cal set Mia down and sighed. "Look I appreciate your concern, I really do, but I don''t want to talk about it."

    "Now come get some cream of Alex soup so that I can head to the library." She held out her right arm.

    "Mia is getting restless waiting in the inn until you find the time to come here every day, can you bring us back to the castle and just visit us there please?" Vera asked before latching onto Cal''s arm.

    "Sure, that''s a good idea." Cal responded.

    "Oh speaking of the castle, I''ve been thinking about what we should name it, how about Castley mcCastleface, Oh! Or Castlevania, since it''s the residence of some vampires." Cal said.

    "If you choose either of those names Mia and I will find another place to live." Vera said seriously.

    <hr>

    Cal teleported the vampires to her castle and then returned to their room at the inn, locking the door behind her and turning the key in to the bartender before heading off to the library.

    She wished she could just use her powers to appear there, but the risk was not worth it.

    As Cal walked a young teen boy ran up to her, and with blushing cheeks at interacting with the princess, said he had been sent by Lord Eamon Ranock to request her presence in the throne room.

    It took Cal a second to realize that was probably the name of Alex''s uncle who she had been staying away from the keep the last two days to avoid.

    Cal thanked the boy and pulled a coin from the pouch at her waist opposite her dagger, pressing it into his outstreched hands.

    She turned to leave but the boy interrupted her.

    "P-Princess, you a-accidentally gave me a gold coin." He said, holding it out to her in the tips of his fingers like it would burn him.

    "Not accidentally, all I have is gold coins at the moment." She said, turning to leave again.

    "I cannot accept this, it is far too much your highness." The boy stammered out, his eyes flickering to her breasts causing him to blush even more furiously.

    "I want you to have it, you don''t want to offend your princess by refusing a gift, do you?" Cal asked playfully.

    "N-n-no, your highness, thank you." He said before turning and running off.

    Cal grinned as she thought about the boy telling his children someday about the time the princess had given him a gold coin for delivering a message.

    Being the princess wasn''t so bad, Alex had been a well liked princess and all the citizens Cal interacted with seemed to adore her.

    I wonder what they would think of her if they knew the truth.Cal thought as she walked off to the keep.

    She arrived at the throne room to find eight people present, Sophia, Hellen, and two other guards she recognized were standing at different points in the room.

    Cal was confused, she thought Sophia had quit after being released from her oaths.

    The other four people were Prince Derrin sitting on the throne where the crown had been for the past three days, their uncle Eamon standing beside him, and the two old men who had been arguing when Cal had released Blackburn and Sophia from their oaths.

    Cal assumed they were the advisors she had heard about.

    "You requested my presence?" Cal asked her uncle.

    "Alex! I love what you''ve done with your hair!" He boomed.

    Cal had complained about her hair at the family dinner two nights ago and her uncle had told her she could just stop refusing to have a maid at any point.

    Upon finding out that was an option she had immediately requested a maid to the astonishment of her brother and uncle.

    Cal couldn''t understand why Alex had ever refused a maid, she was a godsend. She helped her get dressed and did up her hair in whatever style she wanted each morning.

    Today her maid had picked out a modest long blue dress and tied her hair back with a matching blue ribbon.

    Cal was getting used to wearing dresses, they were actually more comfortable than the rigid pants and scratchy shirts she had worn as a man in this world.

    "Why am I here?" Cal asked her uncle, glad he hadn''t crushed her in one of his bear hugs upon seeing her this time.

    "For the corronation of course! We couldn''t start without the whole royal family being present, now come stand to your brother''s left and Gerald will fetch the guests from the feast hall."He said.

    Cal moved over to the throne and stood to the left of the nervous looking Prince Darrin and one of the advisors left the room, coming back a minute later with a stream of chattering nobles following him.

    Once everyone was in and standing to either side of the aisle of red carpet the advisor named Gerald, who was an angry looking older military man, yelled for silence and the room quickly grew quiet.

    The older advisor who had yelled at Blackburn when he picked up the crown a few days ago, launched into a boring speech about past kings and the nobility of the Ranock line that made Cal''s eyes glaze over.

    Finally the advisor turned from the crowd of nobles and had Derrin make several promises about accepting responsibility for his citizens and upholding traditions.

    Then he set the crown on Derrin''s head and pronounced him King Derrin Ranock.

    The newly crowned King Derrin made one final rehearsed promise, "I, King Derrin Ranock, accept and tranfer unto myself all oaths made to the crown."

    The ceremony finally complete all of the nobles clapped and cheered before streaming out of the throne room.

    Cal started to follow them out but her uncle Eamon stopped her.

    "Alex, it''s time to intern your father." He said.

    She turned around in atonishment. "It''s been three days, hasn''t he already been buried?"

    She hadn''t given the bodies much thought, not wanting to think about her old body rotting in the ground.

    Eamon looked at her confused. "Kings cannot be interred until their heir is crowned, you know this Alexandra."

    "Come Derrin, it is time to lay your father to rest." He took Derrin''s hand and led them both out of the throne room.

    Sophia, Hellen, and Derrin''s two guards followed them.

    "What about m.. the body of my husband?" She asked, almost saying my body.

    "I''m not sure, Blackburn took care of it I believe." Eamon replied.

    He led them to a staircase she hadn''t been to before and told their guards to wait at the top.

    They descended down into a long torchlit hall with statues of former kings lining the walls in shallow brick backed alcoves.

    They reached a section with a large pile of bricks stacked in the middle preventing passage further down the hall.

    The alcove on the left did not contain a statue or a brick backed wall like all the rest, it led into a small room with a stone table in the center, King Lucious Ranock''s stinking corpse lying on it.

    Of course, they can''t just have a nice funeral service and bury the body in the ground, Ranockian traditions are so fucked up. She thought, breathing through her mouth and holding back her vomit.

    Eamon picked up a brick from the pile that was placed in the hall just past the room and held it out to Derrin.

    "You place the first brick Derrin." He said.

    Derrin apparently knew what was expected of him better than Cal because he scooped some sort of mortar out of a bucket with a small metal tool and spread it across the brick before pressing it firmly into a groove in the entrance to their father''s tomb.

    "Alex." Eamon said, and Cal grabbed a brick.

    After Eamon finished walling in the king''s corpse, he had to do the whole top section as Derrin and her were far too short, they returned upstairs and took in deep breaths of fresh air.

    "Ok I''m returning to my castle, thank you for coming to help Uncle Eamon." She said, in a hurry to leave the city now that her responsibilities were taken care of.

    As she turned to walk off Derrin spoke to her for the first time since she had switched into Alex''s body.

    "Wait! Alex, I know you hate me, but please don''t leave. I don''t know how to be a king, I need you here!" He pleaded.

    "That''s what Uncle Eamon is here for Derrin, and I don''t hate you I''ll come visit I promise, I''m only a days ride away." She said, feeling bad for the young king who had just lost his father.

    Derrin walked over to her and gave her a tentative hug, sniffling.

    "You''re going back to that castle on the mountain? There''s nothing there for you Alex, Derrin is right you belong here at the keep, you are still the princess." Eamon said.

    "No that castle is my home, I have been here too long as it is." She responded, and was finally not stopped from walking away.

    She made her way to her room with Sophia and Hellen in tow. "Hellen, how about you take the day off again." She said.

    Hellen grunted and left, leaving Cal and Sophia standing in the hall.

    "I thought you quit." Cal said, entering the room and holding the door open to let her in.

    "I didn''t quit I just got released from my oath and took a couple days off, besides you still owe me my cut of the money from charging the portal." Sophia said as she stepped into the room.

    "Fair enough, how does five hundred gold sound? I only got two thousand after all." Cal replied.

    She walked over to the chest of gold Lord Corin had delivered from her second portal charging job, her original two thousand gold was already at her castle.

    "That sounds good." Sophia said, watching as she took out five heavy sacks of coins.

    "You may be out of a job now though, unless you want to come live at my castle and guard me." She said, and turned to look at Sophia.

    "You and Kyla can come live with us if you want, I''m sure Vera and Mia will get lonely there with only me for company."

    "Plus neither of you would have to work anymore I don''t really need a guard out there, but the kingdom would still pay you thinking you''re working for me." She blurted out, nervously scratching the back of her head.

    Sophia searched her eyes for a minute before replying.

    "That''s a generous offer Cal but I''ll need some time to discuss it with Kyla, meet us at the inn around dinnertime in five days."

    She hefted the sacks of coins and left to store them in the Bank of Ranock like normal people did with their wealth.

    Cal tossed everthing she wanted to take with her to the castle into the chest with the remaining sacks of gold and then sat on it, carefully encompassing it and herself with spatial energy before teleporting to the courtyard of her castle.

    She sighed at the loss of her maid, but she didn''t want anyone living at the castle who wasn''t aware of her true identity.

    She would have to explain things to Kyla if Sophia and her decided to move in and Sophia hadn''t already told her everything.

    She heard shrieking and turned to see Mia running from her mom, playing tag.

    Cal smiled and decided to go get one last thing from Ranock, she appeared back at her room in the keep and ran into town, getting directions to a pet store on the way.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    She walked into the large square building full of cages and looked with wide eyes at the dozens of strange creatures that didn''t exist on Earth.

    "Princess! What can I do for you your highness?" The surprised shopkeeper asked her.

    "Uh do you have any dogs?" She asked as she watched a dog sized bright red lizard flick out its forked tongue.

    "Of course, follow me Princess." The man said, hurrying to the back of the shop.

    He led her into another room with more cages and she was relieved to see these ones were full of familiar cats and dogs.

    She looked through some of the cages while the shopkeeper patiently waited.

    "This one." She pointed to a black and white husky puppy in a cage with four others, she had always wanted a husky on earth.

    The man opened the cage and pulled out the puppy she indicated, holding it out for her to take.

    The puppy squirmed around in her arms, getting its head turned around so it could start licking her face causing her to laugh in delight.

    She paid the man and left the building with the puppy wriggling around in her arms and then darted into the alley next to the building before teleporting back to her castle.

    Mia was now chasing her mom around the courtyard but when she saw Cal she changed direction.

    "You have a puppy!" She screamed, running up and petting the squirming dog in Cal''s arms.

    "Nope. You have a puppy Mia." Cal responded, setting the dog down on the ground.

    It was a good thing she did too, because she needed her hands to cover her ears as Mia started shrieking in delight.

    Vera walked over and gave Cal a hug while Mia hugged her new puppy on the ground in front of them.

    "Thank you Cal, she has wanted a dog forever. Are you here for a while or just dropping in for a minute?" Vera asked.

    "I''m here for good, King Derrin was corronated this morning and then we interred the old king''s corpse right after." She responded.

    "I''m gonna move this chest into my room and unpack the clothes I brought real quick then we can talk."

    She sat back down on the chest lying in the courtyard and pictured the room she had shared with Alex in their castle home for their month of marital bliss and appeared at the foot of the massive bed.

    She took a couple minutes to push and shove the chest into position at the foot of the bed, grunting and straining.

    Then she opened the chest and took out the clothes she brought from Alex''s dresser at the keep to store in the huge wardrobe.

    She opened the wardrobe to hang up the dresses she held in her arms but they fell from her hands as she saw Alex''s cream white strapless wedding dress hanging in front of her.

    She unclipped it and walked numbly to the bed, sitting down and staring at the dress draped in her arms.

    That''s were Vera found her almost thirty minutes later.

    <hr>

    Vera was happy Cal was finally away from the keep, maybe now she could start to heal.

    She watched in joy for a while as her daughter ran around with her new puppy, Vera was happy she was finally able to have one.

    She headed to the kitchens to get Cal something to eat since she probably had not had time to eat yet today.

    Cal had gone to feed Vera first thing in the morning and then apparently gone to a corronation and a funeral in the short time between then and now.

    She fixed up a plate of human food and headed to Cal''s room, opening the door to find her sitting on the massive bed with Alex''s wedding dress draped across her arms and a faraway look in her eyes.

    "Oh Cal." She said, and Cal looked up, tears finally starting to flow freely from her eyes.

    Vera set the plate of food down on a dresser and walked over to sit next to her, putting her arm over her shoulders and letting her cry.

    "It hurts so much Vera. It feels like I''m being stabbed in the chest all over again whenever I think about them." Cal sobbed.

    Vera knew what she meant by them, feeling a pang of guilt for her part in Lilly''s death.

    "Why is this world so horrible? Why is everyone so fucking evil?" Cal choked out through her sobs.

    "I know Cal, I know how you feel. But do not give up on this world or the people in it, there is a lot of good in this world." Vera said, rubbing her back.

    "You don''t know how I feel Vera! I loved her and I didn''t even know who she was. Everything was just a lie." Cal snapped at her.

    "Mia''s father..." Vera began, but thought better of it, Cal didn''t need to hear another story of betrayal right now.

    "I brought some food if you are hungry, is there anything else I can do for you?" She deflected instead.

    Cal looked up at her and rubbed at her puffy red eyes. "Tell me about Mia''s father, I''ve never heard you mention him before." She said.

    Vera sighed, "Vernon is a very important and old vampire, he was around when the spatial mages still walked Selara."

    "Wait, how old are you Vera?" Cal interrupted.

    "Three hundred and nine. I think." She replied, and Cal''s mouth fell open in shock.

    "Anyways, Vernon is a sanguimancer, a powerful one. Sanguimancers only pass their power down to males, and when Mia was born he planned to sell her and try again."

    Cal looked horrified, "What! How could he sell his own daughter?" She asked angrily.

    "It is not uncommon for vampires to produce and sell offspring." Vera replied.

    "I would not stand for it and as soon as I saw Mia''s gender I fled, but Vernon''s pride was too great to let his wife steal from him and get away."

    "He caught up with us around Mia''s ninth birthday, about three years ago. He captured and sold us to Lord Taro, and that is where we met you."

    "I''m sorry Vera, that''s horrible." Cal said while giving her a hug.

    "Thank you Cal, but we are not here to talk about my husband, tell me whatever you need to get off your chest. I am here to listen." She said, and Cal finally began to vent to her.

    <hr>

    Empress Sirenia Sandscale walked into Ranock alone, passing by the guards who wisely chose not to question a dragon.

    She had left her warparty of two hundred and fourty warriors and ten of her brood in a fallow field outside the walls of the city.

    Sirenia walked straight to the keep, she had been here once many kings ago.

    According to her information King Lucious Ranock was the current man on the throne, and she was dreading dealing with him from his reputation.

    She approached the raised drawbridge of the keep and was commanded to halt by someone she couldn''t even see.

    "Halt! What buisness do the dragons of The Sands have here at the keep of Ranock?" A voice boomed out from the wall.

    "That is no way to address an Empress, worm. Get Lucious out here right now to tell me why he hasn''t shared his spatial mage, unless you wish to start another war." She snapped.

    Silence came from the walls for a minute and Sirenia began to grow impatient.

    The drawbridge finally started to lower, they knew it wouldn''t stop a dragon from entering if she pleased.

    As it touched down at her feet a massive man started to cross over towards her, stopping halfway.

    "Empress, I am Lord Eamon Ranock, proxy king for young King Derrin. I''m afraid you missed King Lucious by a week." He said.

    That didn''t make much difference to her, the human kingdom changed kings like the seasons, but now she would be dealing with someone she knew nothing about which irritated her further.

    "Spatial mage, where is it. It will charge the portal to and from Crossroads to The Sands, or we will have war." She demanded.

    "Surely you noticed only the portal from Ranock to Crossroads and not the way back is active? That is because the spatial mage is dead."

    "We would share him if he was not. I assure you." He said smoothly.

    Sirenia bared her pointed teeth, "You lie." She said menacingly.

    "Feel free to ask around the city, nicely that is. The spatial mage''s identity was known by all after his public charging of the portal."

    "His name was Calibra Dair, husband to Princess Alexandra. He got into a confrontation with the late king, leading to both of their deaths." Eamon said.

    "Married the princess you say? Is she pregnant?" She asked.

    Eamon''s face paled, "I don''t know, I don''t believe so. I will find out, and if she is, and it''s a spatial mage, I will make sure it is well cared for until it is old enough to visit The Sands and charge your portals."

    She considered the man who now looked rather nervous. "Bring her to me, I wish to speak with her myself."

    "No, you will not go near her." He said quickly.

    Sirenia snarled, smoke wafting out of her nostrils. "How easily humans seem to forget the wars they have lost, and will lose again."

    "If I am not speaking to Princess Alexandra in the next hour I will burn every farm outside these walls on my way back to The Sands to retrieve an army." She threatened.

    "She''s not here. She''s at her castle on Cloudcrest Mountain, next to Lake Ranock, about a days ride Northwest." Eamon blurted out, terrified.

    "Thank you, I''m familiar. I believe I killed the entire royal family there once, of course I must have missed one or two, because they sprung back up like roaches." She said.

    Sirenia turned around and began to transform, the distance to Cloudcrest would be stretching the time she could maintain her draconic form for, but she liked to push herself.

    <hr>

    Cal teleported into the alley next to Kyla''s inn wearing a black hooded cloak and a strip of fabric covering her face to conceal her identity.

    She looked around to make sure no one had seen her sudden appearance before heading inside the inn.

    She spotted Sophia and Kyla sitting at their usual table and grinned, they had packed bags at their feet.

    She made her way over to their table, Sophia already watching her as she crossed the room.

    "Cal?" Sophia asked as she approached.

    "Hi Sophia, hi Kyla, I take it you are accepting my offer?" Cal said happily.

    "On one condition, you have to teleport us whenever we want to go shopping." Kyla said.

    "Or just get out of the castle." Sophia added.

    "Deal." She grinned under her mask.

    She helped them carry their luggage out of the inn into the alley and then teleported with two of their bags depositing them in the courtyard of her castle before returning for them.

    Kyla and Sophia each lifted a bag in one hand and Cal grabbed their free hands, wrapping her spatial energy around all three of them and the luggage with a bit of effort, and then they were all standing in the courtyard of their new home.

    "Pick whatever room or rooms you want, there''s literally hundreds to choose from but only a few are furnished right now."

    "If you find an unfurnished one you like I can bring furniture from Ranock." Cal said while removing her cloak and face wrap.

    Mia came flying out the doors of the keep with her puppy at her heels and raced over to Sophia.

    "Sophia!" She shrieked, "Cal got me a puppy!"

    Sophia smiled at her and gave her a hug, "What''s its name? Is it a boy or a girl?" She asked.

    Mia looked at Cal questioningly.

    "Don''t look at me, it''s your dog." Cal said with a grin.

    Mia lifted her puppy by its front paws and looked at its belly while it squirmed.

    "It is a girl, I think we should name her Lilly!" She said, and Cal''s grin dissapeared.

    She swallowed past the lump in her throat. "Maybe you should think of another name Mia."

    "I think it''s a beautiful name Mia, don''t you agree Kyla?" Sophia asked.

    "Yeah Cal what the heck is wrong with you, you just told her she could name it!" Kyla snapped.

    "It is ok, I just wanted us to remember her, I can choose something else Cal." Mia said.

    Sophia and Kyla looked at Cal in confusion.

    "No, it''s ok. Thank you Mia, that''s a wonderful idea." She said with tears in the corners of her eyes.

    Sophia and Kyla exchanged a glance before picking their bags back up and heading into the castle together, passing by Vera on her way out and exchanging quick greetings due to their heavy luggage.

    "Is everything ok Cal?" Vera asked as she saw the tears in her eyes.

    She wiped at her eyes before replying, "Yeah, Mia named her puppy Lilly, and I just..."

    A loud roar tore through the air causing the puppy to hide behind Mia''s legs.

    All the eyes in the courtyard snapped to the direction of the sound and Cal saw a large flying shape heading straight towards them from Ranock.

    Sophia and Kyla ran back into the courtyard and joined them in silently watching the approaching shape.

    "What the fuck is that?" Cal finally asked, breaking the silence.

    "A dragon I think." Kyla said like it was just a bird.

    "A dragon?!?" Cal asked in disbelief.

    "Yeah people are saying a whole group of them has been spotted on the King''s Road, they''ve visited Ranock before, not a big deal."

    "Not sure why it''s flying around though, they tend to avoid using their dragon form and mostly just live as humans." Kyla responded.

    "It looks like it''s coming here." Sophia said nervously, as the shape grew bigger and bigger.

    "Probably just going for a day at the lake or something." Kyla said, completely unconcerned.

    Cal didn''t share her lack of worry, Sophia was right it looked like it was headed directly for them.

    The dragon let out another terrifying roar.

    "I think we should go inside." Cal said, and everyone agreed.

    She watched from the doorless stone entrance to her castle as a massive golden brown dragon the size of two city busses side by side descended on her courtyard.

    Right before she thought it would impact with the ground the dragon dissapeared and a woman with sand colored hair fell the last few feet from the air, landing on her feet in the courtyard in a crouch.

    She could do nothing but gawk in amazement as the woman fipped her hair over her shoulder and walked towards her.

    The dragon lady was wearing a full suit of heavy looking armour made of scales the same shape and color as the ones on the dragon, except these were made from metal.

    She walked right up to Cal who was staring at her with an open mouth. "Are you Princess Alexandra?" She asked.

    She shook off her amazement. "Um yeah, that''s me, are you a dragon?" She asked dumbly.

    The dragon woman snorted, "I''d say that''s pretty obvious, are you pregnant?" She responded.

    Cal was floored, she wasn''t sure what she had been expecting a dragon to ask her about, but that wasn''t it. "W-what?" She stammered.

    "Your dearly departed husband was a spatial mage, are you pregnant?" The dragon lady growled out in a sensual and dangerous voice.

    "Uh y-yes." Cal said, gulping at the cruelty of her inflection. "But I''m getting rid of it."

    "No, no you are not." The dragon lady said coldly, "You will be returning to The Sands with me until that baby is safely delivered."

    "I don''t know who you think you are, but I won''t be going anywere with you." Cal said, pulling out her dagger.

    "I''ve got this Cal." Sophia said, stepping in front of her.

    The dragon lady snarled, lunging forward as her fingers elongating and grew sharp claws.

    Sophia was taken by surprise at the partial transformation of the woman to deadly beast and quickly raised her arms to block her face and chest.

    The dragon''s claws raked across her arms ripping through flesh and muscle and Sophia''s mark glowed with a malignant black light as she flew backwards past Cal from the force of the blow.

    The dragon lady closed her eyes while shuddering and standing still for a moment.

    Cal glanced back at Sophia to make sure she was ok but her wounds were closing up as she watched so she turned back to face the dragon lady and drove her dagger up towards the woman''s unarmored throat.

    The dragon lady opened her eyes as Cal''s dagger raced towards her face and scales erupted all over her neck.

    Her dagger bounced off and the woman grabbed her wrist in a grip like iron.

    "A combat healer hmm? Haven''t seen one of them in ages." She said. "Unfortunately for you dragons have more than one heart."

    "Now are you ready to come with me or do I truly need to kill all of your guards first?"

    "Or guard and innocent friends, seeing as only one of them seems eager to protect you." She said while holding Cal''s angry glare.

    Cal''s mind raced, she could just teleport out of the dragon''s vicelike grip but then her friends would all be in danger and the dragon lady would know she was a spatial mage.

    "I''ll go, just leave them alone." She said, planning to just teleport back to the castle and evacuate her friends once the dragon took her far enough away.

    Then she saw the second flying woman she had seen that day drop from the sky and land in the courtyard.

    <hr>

    Lumina touched down in the courtyard of the fort of Ranock, her pinkish-orange translucent magic wings dissipating into mist as she landed.

    Two guards rushed towards her from the doors of the keep with no visible weapons in hand but surely armed with powerful magics.

    "Good evening, I am Queen Lumina Dawnwing of the elves. Is King Lucious busy at the moment? I would like to speak with him." She said as the guards eyed her warily from a few feet away.

    The guards looked at each other and the one on the right flicked his head to the keep, causing the other guard to run off inside.

    The remaining guard stared into her eyes threateningly while they waited, Lumina wasn''t fazed.

    Finally the other guard came running back out followed shortly after by an enormous man.

    "Queen Lumina, thank the gods you are here!" The massive man said like he had been expecting her, and then he dropped to his knees.

    "I assume you are here for the spatial mage, he''s dead, but he was married to Princess Alexandra."

    "The Sandscale Empress just left to find her at the castle on Cloudcrest, you might be in time to stop her if you hurry!"

    "If Alex is pregnant and the elves stop the dragons from taking her I swear to you her child will charge your portals. Please, save my niece." He blurted out in a rush.

    She didn''t even speak a word to the man, resummoning her wings while turning around and leaping into the air.

    She sped through the sky to the Northwest and whistled sharply, causing dozens of elves who had been standing on rooftops to dart off after her.

    She had been expecting an adult spatial mage already familiar with his or her powers, which would make it nearly impossible to force them to charge portals.

    But if the only one available was an unborn child and the dragons got it... Lumina didn''t want to think about that.

    A short while later she spotted the mountain in the distance and pushed herself faster.

    Finally she shot up over the side of the castle''s walls at the top of the tall mountain and dropped quickly into the courtyard.

    <hr>

    Cal''s mouth dropped open as dozens of flying men and women with shimmering orange and pink wings landed noiselessly in the courtyard of her castle.

    Her captor noticed her gaze and turned to look, cursing in a strange language and releasing Cal''s wrist.

    The dragon lady started speaking to the newcomers in a strange language and Cal pressed one of her fingers onto her ring.

    The beautiful flying woman and the dragon lady argued back and forth for a minute as Cal watched, and she began picking up pieces of their conversation.

    "It''s your call Sirenia, you can leave right now and negotiate terms with me when the child is born, or you can die." The beautiful blonde lady said, causing the dragon woman to blow smoke out of her nostrils.

    "Fine! But if that child comes to harm in the care of the elves we will have war!" The dragon woman shouted before walking down the stairs of the castle back into the courtyard.

    Suddenly a massive sand colored dragon stood where a woman had a moment before.

    The dragon beat its massive wings causing Cal to shield her eyes from the resulting gale, and when she looked up again it was flying off back towards Ranock.

    She eyed the woman who had just come to her rescue, she looked just like the trio of elves Cal had freed from Taro''s dungeon.

    She had long straight blonde hair and bright green eyes and was as tall as the dragon woman, at least six feet.

    "Thank you for the assistance, but I''m not going with you either." Cal said.

    "As you said to the dragon, you can leave now and negotiate terms with me when the child is born, or you can die." She threatened.

    The elf raised her eyebrow, "You couldn''t even stop one dragon and you threaten the entire Dawnwing family?"

    "That dragon wasn''t so easy to cut, but I can rip you apart with the Ranock''s shadow magic." Cal bluffed.

    "Princess you could probably kill a few of the less experienced members of my family, but I promise your pleasant life with the elves with be significantly less pleasant if you try."

    "You are not safe here, as you have demonstrated by nearly getting taken by the dragons, but you and your child will be safe with the elves." She assured her.

    Cal sighed, Guess it''s back to the let them take me and teleport out later plan. She thought.

    "Ok, let''s go then." She said, walking down the steps into the courtyard.

    "Alex wait we can take them." Sophia said from the doorway.

    Cal looked back at the fearful faces of Sophia and Kyla, Vera having already pulled Mia further into the castle to hide.

    "Don''t worry Sophia, I''ll be back before you can even miss me." She said with an exagerated wink.

    She walked up to the elf lady, "So how are we getting to my new home? You gonna give me a lift?" She asked with a grin.

    Four translucent wings sprouted from the elff''s back and she leaned forward, scooping Cal''s petite form up in her arms.

    "Wait, put me down, I was joking!" Cal screamed as the elf launched into the air.

    <hr>

    Lord Karo hadn''t learned much from the gnomes.

    They didn''t speak any common but luckily one of his men had once been a gnomish slave and spoke a bit of the language.

    They had only been able to tell him that a male slave had freed the demon imprisoned beneath the keep and all the prisoners in the cells and left.

    The useless gnomes couldn''t even tell him which direction the slave had gone in, although Karo assumed he had headed to Crossroads, there would be little reason for a human to travel West of Taro''s estate after all.

    Karo had arrived in Crossroads two days ago sure that the trail was cold and he would never avenge his brother, when he came across something that made him sure he knew the slave''s identity.

    Traders with wagons were appearing in the Crossroads portal from Ranock.

    He stayed in Crossroads for another day to question some of the traders coming from Ranock and learned the name of the spatial mage and that he was apparently married to Karo''s own niece, Princess Alexandra.

    Then he set off for Ranock and his revenge immediately.

    <hr>

 Ch 10 : Allies

    <hr>

    Cal''s eyes were shut tight for almost the entire flight after the elf lady had snatched her up in a princess carry and launched off over the edge of the mountain.

    She had opened them several times to see the nauseating sight of the ground far below them, rivers and fields passing by in a blur causing her to quickly slam them shut again.

    They had flown back to Ranock and then through the portal to Crossroads before heading straight East, The Great Road the one unchanging part of the landscape below them.

    The elf had threatened to drop her a few times if she didn''t loosen her deathgrip around her neck, and Cal''s arms were sore from clinging so tightly.

    Suddenly they began to plummet from the sky and Cal squeezed her eyes and arms shut even tighter, choking the poor elf who carried her once again.

    The stomach churning descent stopped suddenly and it felt like they were no longer moving.

    She hesitantly pried open her eyes and the elf lady grinned at her, finally setting her back on her own wobbly legs.

    "Who knew a princess would be so scared of heights." The elf teased.

    "Not so much the heights as the possibility of being dropped by the person who just kidnapped me, who still hasn''t even cared to tell me her name, even though she knows mine." Cal lied, she was very much afraid of heights.

    "Appologies, I assumed a princess of Ranock would recognize the Queen of the elves. I am Lumina Dawnwing." The elf told her with a slight bow.

    "Alright Lumina, why are we stopping in the middle of this random field, are we setting up camp already?" Cal asked, not at all surprised to hear this beautiful elf was a queen.

    "The Dawnwings have used up almost all of their stored flight energy traveling to Ranock today, as well as the faster than normal flight from Ranock to your castle to save you Princess."

    "We will camp here tonight, and will be camping several more times on the way to your new home." Lumina replied.

    "Stored energy? From what?" Cal asked, remembering the glowing pink and orange wings Lumina had that were no longer present.

    "The dawn of course." She replied as the other elves began touching down all around them, their beautiful wings turning into clouds of rapidly dissipating orange and pink mist.

    Cal watched as the elves pulled green softball sized pyramids out of their packs and twisted the top like a section of a rubik''s cube, setting them on the ground quickly and rushing away from them.

    Her mouth fell open as the pyramids rapidly unfolded and expanded upwards, turning into large cone shaped tents like teepees.

    "This is your tent Princess, it will be watched all night so please don''t try anything, I would hate to have to tie you up but I will if you make it necessary." Lumina said, ushering Cal into one of the dozens of tents that were springing up.

    "Dinner will be brought to you when it is ready." She said as the tent flap closed.

    The cut in the side that served as the entrance seemed to stick together like magnets but came apart with a little force, forming back together as Cal entered the tent.

    A hammock made out of the same green canvas material as the tent was stretched from one side to the other, seemlessly coming out of both walls and dipping slightly in the middle.

    Cal sat on the hammock which was surprisingly comfortable, and began to think.

    She could teleport right back to her castle after dinner, and the elves probably wouldn''t find out until tomorrow, but they would surely look for her again.

    She could tell Lumina that she was a spatial mage and charge their portals, if that''s all she wants from a spatial mage.

    But then Lumina would know she wasn''t Princess Alexandra, and might tell Eamon or someone else important in Ranock.

    She decided to wait until after dinner and then teleport home to see what her friends thought, she could always just come right back to her tent.

    Over an hour later an elven man asked if he could come in to give her food and she accepted, receiving a plate of hard bread and pungeant cheese that actually tasted pretty good.

    She ate the meal quickly and then pulled apart the entrance of her tent, handing the plate off to a man waiting outside.

    "I''m going to sleep, please don''t disturb me until the morning." She lied before letting the door of her tent reseal itself.

    She wrapped her spatial energy over herself and pictured her room in the castle, vanishing and reappearing in her room, right at the foot of her bed. What she saw made her gasp.

    Sophia was leaning back on a pile of pillows with her eyes closed and rubbing her nipples while Kyla was on her knees between her legs, rubbing her own pussy with one hand and fingering Sophia with the other while eating her out.

    Sophia heard Cal''s gasp and yelped, grabbing at the sheet and pulling it over them.

    "Cal what the fuck! Get out!" She yelled, her face red with what she had just been doing, as well as anger and embarassment.

    Cal turned around quickly, face flushed in embarassment. "This is my room Sophia, you''re in my bed."

    "I told you I''d be back before you could miss me, if I didn''t know any better I''d say you planned to have me catch you." She said, retreating quickly to the door.

    "You said to pick any room we wanted, you didn''t tell us this was your room! It''s the only one with a bed big enough for two people!" Kyla screamed at her, throwing a pillow at Cal as she raced to the door.

    "And you didn''t think the Princess who owns this castle would be staying in the biggest, most well furnished room?"

    "Didn''t you see my clothes and stuff in the dresser or the wardrobe or the massive chest at the foot of the bed?" Cal asked in exasperation as she left the room.

    "We hadn''t gotten around to unpacking yet." Sophia said as Cal closed the door and leaned against it with her heart pounding in her chest.

    Vera appeared in the hallway in her black nightgown, likely alerted by all the shouting.

    "Cal, thank the gods you are back. Do we need to run? I have an idea of where we could go that no one could follow us or know who you are." She asked.

    "Actually I haven''t decided yet, I came back to ask all of you for advice. They have me in a tent in their camp so they don''t know I''m gone yet, we could run or..." Cal began.

    "What do you all know about the relationship between the elven kingdom and the Kingdom of Ranock?"

    "Are they close allies? Would they be likely to tell the King I''m not the princess?" She asked in a rush.

    "The elves hardly ever talk to humans. I doubt it would be an issue." Kyla''s angry voice said through the door, and Cal''s hopes soared.

    "But obviously if you charge the elves'' portal in Crossroads there will be a giant silver shimmering sign that screams ''I''m a spatial mage!''." She finished sarcastically, apparently still mad Cal had teleported into her own bedroom in her own castle.

    "I don''t know why you''re joking about this Kyla, that dragon lady might come back thinking she can use you against me."

    "Although the joke would be on her when she realizes holding you hostage wouldn''t get me to do anything." Cal quipped.

    "What if you just tell the elves the truth, and get them to agree to lie to the humans that they found a different spatial mage?" Vera asked reasonably.

    "Then they would not need to hold you hostage until your child is born."

    "That might work... and I could have them take me to the dragon''s portals in a disguise to get them off my back too." Cal said, rubbing at her chin that would now never grow any stubble.

    "But if they do tell Eamon that I''m not the princess we will have to flee from the entire kingdom of Ranock."

    "We don''t really have anything to lose Cal." Sophia''s still embarassed voice chimed in through the door.

    "If you don''t at least try we will have to flee the Kingdom anyway because the elves and dragons won''t stop looking for you. If the elves won''t play ball the same thing happens, we run."

    "Alright then, off to tell the queen of the elves that I''m a spatial mage who switched bodies with his traitorous wife." Cal said, and teleported back into her tent.

    She pulled apart the entrance to her tent and stuck her head out the door, being spotted instantly by a guard. "I need to speak with Lumina." She said loudly.

    "What is it Alexandra?" Lumina said, pushing out of her own tent across from Cal''s.

    "In here please." Cal said, holding apart the flaps of her tent that seemed to want to press back into each other.

    Lumina pushed past her into Cal''s tent and let the door seal itself.

    "Elves have excellent hearing Princess, nothing we say in here will be private." She warned her.

    Cal grabbed the elven queen''s wrist and they both vanished, reappearing in the courtyard of Cal''s castle.

    "What did you do?!" Lumina yelled, a long blade of orange and pink energy coalescing in her hand and pointing menacingly at Cal''s throat.

    Cal held up her hands and gulped. "Um I wanted to talk in private, I''ll bring you right back I promise."

    She tugged off her right hand glove and showed her mark to Lumina. "I''m the spatial mage, let me explain."

    She explained how Cal had been basically forced to marry Princess Alexandra or leave Ranock and then been betrayed once Alex was pregnant.

    She finished by explaining how they had switched bodies as Cal''s body died, showing Lumina the ruby heart ring she wore on her left hand.

    When Lumina saw the ring her left eyebrow rose. "You are incredibly lucky that you put that ring on that exact finger."

    "My mother made those for some human lord to whom she owed a favour. If you put one on any other finger you would have died quite horribly."

    Cal gulped, looking down at the innocent looking ring on her finger.

    "If you are a spatial mage why did you allow me to take you?" Lumina asked.

    "I was just going to wait until tonight and then teleport back here to evacuate the people that live here with me." Cal answered honestly.

    "But if we can come to an understanding that won''t be necessary, and we can continue to live here in peace."

    "So what, you will charge my portals if I don''t tell the Ranock''s that you killed their king and are impersonating their daughter?" Lumina asked.

    "Yes, I need you to lie and say that the elves found another spatial mage."

    "Also I need you to arrange for me to go to the dragons in disguise and charge their portals to prevent them from coming after me again." Cal responded.

    "I can make that happen, but the dragons believing that I have a different spatial mage will not make you safe here in Ranock."

    "The humans don''t pose any real threat to them and Sirenia will come to retrieve you again."

    "An unborn spatial mage is not a prize she would let go just because her portals were already charged once." Lumina said sadly.

    "However, you can still come live with the elves, we will keep you safe and you will be able to go where you please, you are a spatial mage after all." She suggested.

    "Can the people who live with me here come too? I can''t just leave them behind, Sirenia has seen them and could find out who they are to try and use them against me." Cal asked hopefully.

    "I''m sorry but the elves aren''t very trusting or friendly towards humans, especially males. Maybe if your whole household was female I could..." Lumina began.

    Cal cut her off, "They are all female! And only two of them are humans, the other two are vampires." She said excitedly.

    "Oh and there''s also a dog." She added.

    "I will need to run it by the council, but I promise I will fight to secure them all a place with the elves if you will return with me."

    "Even if they don''t agree to let your household live with you I promise Ranock will not be made aware of your identity, so you will only have the dragons hunting you down." Lumina said.

    "Deal." Cal said.

    "Good, then please take us back to camp. My family is probably scrambling over themselves to find where we went." Sirenia said with a laugh, holding out her hand.

    Cal grabbed her offered hand and pictured a spot in the field she had seen when she looked around after landing, well away from camp.

    She didn''t feel like teleporting into a tent packed with elves looking for signs of their disappearance.

    They walked back into camp and were soon surrounded by worried elves.

    Lumina explained the situation while Cal went back into her tent to ''sleep'', teleporting back to her castle to report to her friends.

    This time she decided it would be a good idea to teleport into the courtyard, just to be safe.

    Although if they are still doing stuff in my bed this time it would be entirely their fault. She thought.

    She headed inside and made her way up the stairs and down a long hallway to Vera''s door, knocking softly in case Mia was sleeping.

    "Come in!" Vera shouted, and Cal stepped inside.

    Vera was sitting on the bed reading Mia a book while she sat in her lap and Lilly was curled up on one of their pillows, exhausted from keeping up with Mia all day.

    "Cal, how did it go?" Vera asked, closing the book and setting it aside.

    "Well that depends on how you and Mia feel about going to live with the elves, let''s go find Sophia and Kyla to discuss it." She replied.

    Mia slid out of Vera''s lap and the three of them headed off to find Sophia and Kyla.

    They found them in the first place they checked, even though Cal had assumed they wouldn''t be there.

    She knocked on the door to her own room and Sophia called out for them to come in, at least this time they were clothed.

    "Sophia, Kyla, still in my room even after our little mishap?" Cal grinned.

    "You aren''t using it and the bed is comfy, we aren''t doing anything weird you asshole." Kyla snapped.

    "You can have it back when you get us a big enough bed in a different room." Sophia chimed in.

    "Hey don''t let me stop you from doing ''weird'' things in my bed Kyla, I certainly won''t complain." Cal said.Stolen story; please report.

    Kyla grabbed a pillow to throw but Sophia held it down.

    "Enough you two, this is serious. Are we going to be forced to flee or did they go for it Cal?" Sophia asked.

    "Well Queen Lumina did go for it, but she also raised a good point."

    "Even if the dragons believe the elves found a different spatial mage, and that spatial mage charges their portals, they will still try to get their hands on my child."

    "We won''t be safe here unless they know I got rid of it." Cal said.

    "Cal!" Vera said sternly.

    "And I can''t get rid of it apparently." Cal winced.

    "Lumina offered to let us all live with the elves if some council approves, if that doesn''t work out we can go somewere else."

    "I''m truly sorry I got you all wrapped up in this." She said, hanging her head.

    "It is not your fault Cal, you could not have known dragons and elves would seek you out." Vera reassured her.

    "Why don''t we just go back to Ranock, Sophia? I know Cal and Vera are your friends but we don''t need to be mixed up in all of this." Kyla pleaded.

    Sophia sighed, "That dragon identified me as a combat healer and a royal guard, I won''t be safe in Ranock anymore."

    "I have to go with Cal, but you don''t have to come with me, Ranock will most likely still be safe for you." She said sadly.

    "You don''t want me to come with you?" Kyla asked in a hurt voice.

    "Of course I want you to come with me Kyla, I love you."

    "But you have family here, you have a life here, I can''t ask you to give that all up to go live in a forest with a bunch of elves." Sophia assured her while rubbing her back.

    "What makes you think elves live in a forest?" Kyla asked, puzzled.

    Cal and Sophia looked at each other and grinned.

    "Legends from our world." Sophia replied.

    "Well whatever, of course I''m coming with you Sophia. Besides it sounds like an adventure." Kyla grumbled out.

    "Sophia raises a good point Vera, you should take Mia and get far away from me, the dragons and elves don''t know about you yet." Cal said.

    "Cal?" Vera said.

    "Yes Vera?" She asked.

    "Stop being an idiot please." Vera replied.

    Cal grinned, "I love you too Vera."

    "Ok, so we are all decided then? You have a few days to change your minds, Lumina said we would have to camp several times before reaching our destination." She said.

    Everone voiced their agreement.

    "Alright, I''ll come back each night to feed you or Mia when the elves set up camp." She told Vera.

    "Enjoy my bed girls." She said with a lacivious grin while waggling her eyebrows and disappeared as a pillow sailed through the place she had just stood.

    <hr>

    Sophia sighed as Cal made one last suggestive quip before dissapearing.

    Sometimes it was hard for her to remember that Cal was actually still just a kid, only turning eighteen after being pulled into this strange world.

    Times like this however it was all too apparent.

    "She is so infuriating!" Kyla shrieked.

    Sophia smiled, "We should have known it was her room Ky, but yes, before you get mad at me, I agree she is infuriating."

    "Goodnight Sophia, goodnight Kyla." Vera said.

    "Goodnight." They both reflexively blurted out as Vera closed their door and walked off down the hall.

    "I did know it was her room, I thought it was pretty obvious." Kyla said.

    "What the fuck Ky! Why didn''t you say anything when I asked if you wanted to..." Sophia asked incredulously.

    "I was hoping she would be mature about it and maybe offer to join in, not make jokes and run out of the room." Kyla said like it was obvious.

    "Kyla! Are you serious? She used to be a guy, and we''re friends and..." Sophia began.

    "Soph, she''s a princess, and she is also the most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on, besides you of course."

    "Besides, you said you would be open to including a third person sometime." Kyla grinned at her.

    "Just, not her ok? Don''t try something like this again without telling me, please?" Sophia asked.

    "Ok ok, I promise next time I try to include one of your friends in our bedroom fun I will ask you first." Kyla said, grinning mischievously.

    Sophia smiled at her antics for a moment before switching gears.

    "Kyla, are you sure you want to go with me? We just got back together, and I know your mom is..." She began but Kyla cut her off again.

    "Don''t start with that shit Sophia. I said I want to go, so I''m going." Kyla said, crossing her arms and huffing angrily.

    "Did I ever tell you how cute you are when you''re angry?" Sophia asked with a grin, wrapping her arms around Kyla from the side.

    Kyla uncrossed her arms and hugged her back, breaking out in giggles.

    "I can''t stay mad at you Sophia." She said before kissing her deeply.

    The kiss deepened and then they seperated, looking into each others eyes.

    Kyla reached down and tugged off her nightdress, throwing it over the side of the bed and Sophia moved to do the same but Kyla stopped her.

    "Let me get that for you." She said, grabbing Sophia''s gown and pulling it slowly up her body, revealing her skin inch by inch.

    It rose above her breasts and Kyla finally pulled it the rest of the way over her head in one swift motion, throwing it to join her own discarded dress.

    They stared at each other for a moment before Kyla pushed her backwards, making her almost fall off the side of the bed from their position right in the middle.

    Her shoulders and head went off the edge of the mattress and she tried to lift her upper body back up into a sitting position, but Kyla didn''t let her.

    "Now where were we?" Kyla said mischievously. "Oh I remember!"

    She pushed on Sophia''s knees and dove into her with her tongue, causing her to gasp and squirm.

    "Kyla, let me up." She begged, sliding a bit further off the mattress.

    "Can''t talk now, I''m busy." Kyla mumbled out into her pussy.

    Sophia slid further off the bed.

    Kyla crawled forward after the sliding Sophia, never letting up on her relentless tongue assault as her shoulders slid all the way to the floor.

    Kyla held on to her knees while eating her out, not letting her get back up or slide all the way out of bed.

    Sophia gave up on trying to move and started rubbing her nipples in slow circles, letting out loud low moans.

    It wasn''t long until her compromised position and Kyla''s relentless assault on her clit caused her to reach a shuddering orgasm, squeezing Kyla''s head between her legs as she squirted out a stream of liquid.

    "Sophia! Look what you did to poor Cal''s bed, I hope you are going to clean that up." Kyla teased.

    Sophia covered her face with her hands in embarassment, she hated it when she squirted.

    "Can you let me up now Kyla, please." She pleaded breathlessly.

    Kyla let go of her knees and she slid onto her back, lying on the floor for a minute exhausted.

    "You better be ready Ky, cause I need to punish you for making me squirt." She said with a grin while shakily climbing back to her feet.

    "Do your worst witch!" Kyla giggled.

    <hr>

    Vera listened to the moans coming from down the hall and pressed her blanket into her ears.

    Good thing Mia is asleep, but I really need to think of a discrete way to tell Sophia and Kyla about vampire hearing. She thought morosely.

    <hr>

    Sirenia Sandscale turned off The King''s Road and headed South back to The Sands with her two hundred and fifty mounted soldiers behind her.

    She was thinking of all the most painful ways in which she could kill that elven bitch and her whole insect-winged family.

    You caught me alone this time elf, but next time we meet I will kill you. She promised herself.

    <hr>

    Sophia sat with Kyla on a bench on the Western castle wall, bundled up in winter clothes and watching the sunset.

    Cal had been traveling with the elves for four days so far, teleporting in each night to update them and feed one of the vampires.

    She heard footsteps down in the courtyard behind her and looked down, expecting to see Vera, but to her surprise it was Eamon Ranock.

    "You''re one of Alexandra''s guards, where is she? Is she alright?" He asked frantically.

    "Um she''s fine, the elves took her with them, did you climb up the whole mountain just to come check on Alex?" She said, confused at how and why Eamon had come here.

    "Of course I did, she''s my niece, I''ve been panicking over the possibilty of the dragons having her this whole time, fucking elves couldn''t even bother to take a moment to let me know they got here in time." Eamon grumbled.

    Sophia and Kyla exchanged a glance. "Um is there anything else we can do for you Lord Eamon?" Sophia asked.

    "If you could just show me the location of the kitchen, and an empty room I could stay in for tonight I would appreciate it." Eamon replied, he did look exhausted to her.

    "Kyla do you think you can show Lord Eamon around for me? I need to speak with Vera about her dinner." Sophia asked with a pointed look at her.

    "Of course. I will be right down my Lord." Kyla said to Eamon, and Sophia raced down the stairs into the courtyard passing right by Eamon and rushing to the castle''s entrance.

    Kyla got the hint and took her time walking down to Eamon to slowly show him inside.

    Shit if Cal teleports in now the jig is up. Sophia thought as she raced to Vera''s room.

    Cal had so far designated a teleportation spot to keep clear in Vera''s room, the courtyard, and a room right next door to the room Sophia and Kyla had appropriated from her.

    She reached Vera''s door and knocked twice loudly before opening the door, Vera looked up from her book as she barged in.

    "Lord Eamon is here, we need to be ready for Cal to teleport in and make her leave quickly, he can''t see her." She said in a rush.

    "Mia, stay in this room and if Cal teleports in tell her to leave because Eamon is here, I will take the room next to yours Sophia, you head back out to the courtyard." Vera ordered quickly.

    Sophia rushed back the way she had come and passed by Eamon and Kyla just now getting inside.

    "Why is she in such a rush?" She heard Eamon asking Kyla as she raced by.

    "Oh there''s not much room up here to exercise, so she runs all over the castle." Kyla lied.

    Sophia raced across the courtyard and stopped near the dry non functioning fountain in which Cal''s designated teleport spot was.

    As she stood there gasping and clutching at the stitch in her side she decided she really should start exercising more like Kyla told Eamon she was.

    <hr>

    Cal had gotten used to being carried through the air at breakneck speeds over the last four days, and kept her eyes open almost all of the time now.

    She just enjoyed the feeling of Lumina''s breasts pressed up against her own, and the beautiful scenery down below of course.

    Lumina started to descend and Cal stopped her.

    "Wait can we stay up just a bit longer please? I''m watching the sunset over your shoulder." She shouted over the wind.

    The wind didn''t actually flow against them, which explained how Lumina''s hair was always so straight and perfect even after flying all the time.

    An invisible shield of still air seemed to surround them as they flew, though it didn''t do much to dull the sound.

    Lumina smiled down at her. "Sure, we can watch it together." She stopped her descent and slowed her forward momentum, turning around to face West and hovering in midair.

    "It''s really beautiful from up here." Cal said, watching the bright orange glow start to encompass the few fluffy white clouds on the horizon.

    "Yes, it has been too long since I simply stopped to watch the sunset, thank you for suggesting it." Lumina replied.

    As the sun finally dissapeared below the horizon and the glow left the clouds Lumina started to descend again, turning back to where all the other elves had already landed.

    They touched down and she set Cal gently on her feet. "We are stopping late tonight, go meet with your friends now, I am sure they are worried." Lumina suggested.

    "Thanks Lumina, you''re pretty nice for a kidnapper." Cal grinned. Lumina snorted right before Cal dissapeared.

    She reappeared in the courtyard fountain this time, it was pretty late and she didn''t want to bother anyone.

    "Sophia, did you run all the way here just to greet me?" Cal asked the gasping and hunched over Sophia.

    Sophia glowered at her, "Cal you need to go back to the elves right now, Eamon is here looking for you. We told him the elves took you."

    Cal''s eyes widened and she didn''t take the time to respond, picturing the spot she had picked out near the elve''s current camp and vanishing.

    She walked back into the camp and Lumina noticed her. "Cal, back so soon? Were they already in bed?" She asked.

    "No my uh, Alex''s uncle, Lord Eamon is there looking for me." Cal explained.

    "Oh, I guess I should have told him we were in time to save you from Sirenia, he sounded pretty desperate when he begged me to save you." Lumina said.

    "Jeez Lumina, a man begs you to save someone he cares about and you just leave him wondering for days? That''s pretty cold." Cal said with a grin.

    "I do not know what ''jeez'' means, but you are correct, it wasn''t very thoughtful. I will appologize if I ever see him again." Lumina actually looked a little embarrassed.

    "Well I guess I''ll turn in early tonight since I can''t go visit with my friends. Could you show me to my tent?" Cal asked.

    Lumina pointed at one of the tents that looked exactly like all the others, a large green cone.

    "Maybe you would like to chat for a bit first Cal? Surely you have some questions about our destination." Lumina offered as Cal entered the tent.

    "I would appreciate that." Cal said, holding the flap of her tent open for Lumina to enter.

    They both sat on the hammock which sunk in the middle, pressing them together side by side.

    Lumina was at least eight inches taller than Cal, and put her arm around her shoulders to keep it from pressing painfully into her side.

    It might have been awkard if Cal hadn''t already spent the last four days carried in Lumina''s deceptively strong arms and pressed up against her chest.

    Once they were comfortable Cal began to ask her questions.

    "What''s the name of the place we are headed? And why has no one mentioned it yet? I''ve only heard you mention we would be stopping briefly in a place called Edgewood." She asked.

    "The elven capitol is known as Vale, and no one talks about it because it is a secret of the elves." Lumina answered.

    "The portal at Crossroads leads to Edgewood, which used to be a trading hub for the elves that we pretend is our only city."

    "There is another portal in Edgewood unkown to the humans and dragons, it leads across the mountains to a hidden valley further East, the true lands of the elves."

    "Only Dawnwings have been able to cross those mountains for almost five hundred years." She explained.

    "If it''s a secret of the elves why are you telling me?" Cal asked.

    "Because you are going to be charging that secret portal as well as a few within Vale itself, and I would rather ask you to keep our secret than risk you unintentionally spilling it because you never knew it was a secret to begin with." Lumina explained.

    "You will keep it a secret, won''t you Cal?" She asked sweetly, pressing into Cal''s side a little more.

    "Of course I will." Cal replied, her face flushing a little at the contact.

    "So uh next question, why are elves so against having humans stay with them, and why keep Vale a secret, especially if you can only get there by flying?" She asked.

    "The other races have a history of enslaving and abusing elves for their long lasting youthful beauty." Lumina began, and Cal remembered the trio of elven women she freed from Taro''s dungeon.

    "Despite that, the elves are actually close allies of the humans. Humans cannot fly, but of course our enemies the dragons can. So it made sense to just keep Vale a secret."

    "And then when the spatial mages arrived in Selara and set up the portals we just kept on keeping it a secret. Even though humans finally had a way to come to our aid in Vale."

    "Good thing we did too, since the spatial mages killed themselves off in the Great Plague." She finished.

    "Spatial mages arrived in Selara, they weren''t always here? Where''d they come from? Were humans always here and there just weren''t any spatial mages?" Cal asked.

    "Well there have always been non-magic humans in Selara, but the ones with magic marks weren''t always here, we believe they arrived in this world shortly after the elves." She began, and Cal immediately cut in again.

    "Wait there''s humans on Selara who don''t have any magic marks, even passive? And what do you mean by arrived here? Where did elves and magic humans come from then?" Cal asked.

    Lumina sighed. "I only intended to answer a few questions about my home, not explain the whole history of the world." She said.

    "But luckily for you history was always my favourite subject to research and discuss." She took a deep breath.

    "It is believed that of the humanoid races inhabiting Selara there were originally only dwarves, vampires, gnomes, and non-magical humans."

    "Over ten thousand years ago a bunch of portals dumped a bunch of races not of this world out in different places all over this continent."

    "What order the races arrived in is a hotly debated topic, but it''s agreed they all arrived roughly around the same time."

    "Elves arrived in the East, dragons in the South, fae to the West, and humans with magic to the North."

    "Dryads and naiads arrived in the Southwest, harpies in the Southeast, orcs and goblins in the Northeast, and beastmen in the Northwest."

    "Originally the magic marked humans were all born with both a passive and an active magic mark, but they bred with the non-magic humans of this world and now roughly half are born without an active magic mark at all."

    "As for spatial mages, they only showed up roughly four thousand years ago."

    "No one knows where they came from either, but unlike the other races and magic humans that arrived here by unkown means, scholars believe they know how the spatial mages came to be here."

    "There is a rare passive mark called the great disaster mark, which shows the bearer visions of disasters in which a great many lives are lost."

    "There was an eruption of a massive volcano near a large settlement of gnomes in the Southwest quarter, and by the time the ashes had settled spatial mages had arrived."

    "They built their temple atop the volcano that had allowed them a glimpse into this world, surrounded by toxic environments."

    "They kept themselves isolated and never exceeded one hundred spatial mages alive at a time."

    "It''s assumed they did so to prevent spatial magic being used in harmful ways, which may explain why they left whatever world they came from in the first place."

    "Any questions so far?" Lumina asked.

    "Just one, you mentioned that spatial mages killed themselves with the Great Plague, I read a book by a man who said the same thing, can you explain?" Cal asked.

    "That ties in with the way we believe they arrived in this world in the first place."

    "Right before the Great Plague happened there was a young spatial mage who had a great disaster passive mark."

    "It is believed he shifted to a world he saw devastated by a plague in a vision, and brought it back here." Lumina explained.

    "I see, that makes sense I guess, could you tell me a little bit about each of the races? Do they all have a racial magic like the dryads I met?" Cal asked.

    "I''ll give you a very short decription of each, we should be getting some sleep soon Cal." Lumina said.

    "Elves are one of the four higher races, which before you ask basically just means they do not die of old age. Vampires, dragons, and the fae are the other three."

    "Elves'' racial magic is the ability to absorb and mold natural energies, such as my family''s ability to form magical wings with the energy of the dawn."

    "Elves use this magic to enchant items, though we are not the only race who can make magical artifacts."

    "Dragons'' racial magic is quite obvious, they can transform into massive flying beasts for short times, as well as partially transform for longer. They can also breathe fire."

    "When they group together their magic actually sucks the moisture from the air and earth. They reside in a desert surrounded by an otherwise humid rainforest that they corrupted over time."

    "The fae''s magic is a bit more abstract and varied than other races. It''s normally referred to as dream magic, though that is a bit misleading."

    "They can craft perfectly realistic illusions, put people to sleep, and even charm weaker willed people into doing things they normally would not."

    "They also have abilities we simply don''t know about."

    "But you don''t need to worry about them, they all died when the island they inhabited sunk into The Endless Deep a few thousand years ago."

    "Many people believe dwarves don''t have any magic, but they do have some magical assistance with detecting ores and gems, possibly even with mining itself."

    "When the Great Plague hit they abandoned all of their aboveground cities and holed up in the Northern mountains where they remain to this day, far below the earth."

    "Dryads and naiads are also called nature spirits. They can control the power of plants and water respectively, as well as having healing and fertility abilities."

    "The dryads live in small groups called groves, and naiads tend to live alone, patrolling large sections of whatever source of water they can find. They spread all over the continent."

    "Harpies are winged humans that have control over the wind. They are hunted for sport by the dragons and tend to move around the Southeastern quarter a lot."

    "Some races capture them and harvest their feathers to use in various potions and rituals. Other races just trade for them, they contain a large amount of magical energy."

    "I don''t think orcs or goblins have any racial magic, but the orc shamans brought knowledge of an inherent system of magic anyone can use known as rituals with them to Selara."

    "I believe you told me you were brought here through such means."

    "The goblins are almost constantly at war with each other and very unintelligent. The orcs however are a mostly peaceful race that studies the inherent magic of the world."

    "Beastmen are humans that can shift forms into animals, they live in tribes based on which animal they change into."

    "The magic marked humans fought many wars with them and drove them even further Northwest into harsh prairies and mountains."

    "Gnomes are similar to elves in that they can imbue magical energy into items, and are also incredibly intelligent, many believe magically so."

    "They reside in the Southeast, you should avoid them at all costs."

    "They are not capable of doing their own manual labor and so enslave humans to do it for them, eating them when they can no longer work."

    "And finally vampires, their system of magic is based on their bloodlines."

    "The amount of different magics they have is too much to get into tonight, but they all draw magic energy from blood."

    "The other part of their racial magic is to cause humans, dwarves, and elves to ''ascend'', as they call it, into vampires if they die with vampire venom in their blood."

    "Like the nature spirits, they exist all over."

    "That''s all we have time for tonight Cal, we have a long day of flying ahead of us and I need my rest."

    "Not all of us just get to rest in someone''s arms all day." Lumina grinned.

    "Wait! What about demons?" Cal asked, thinking about Zatira.

    "Demons do not live on Selara, but whenever they come here they cause widespread devastation and death."

    "They reside in the Twilight Realm, a twisted mirror of our own world walked by horrors the likes of which you couldn''t imagine in your worst nightmares."

    "You should pray to whatever gods or goddesses you believe in that you will never meet a demon." Lumina said gravely.

    "Anyways, good night Cal, see you tomorrow." Lumina said, getting up off the hammock.

    "Goodnight Lumina. Thanks for the history lesson." Cal grinned.

    Lumina gave her another smile and left her tent.

    Cal laid down on her hammock and thought about all that she had just learned.

    She still had a lot more questions.

    <hr>

 Ch 11 : Lifting the Vale

    <hr>

    Karo Ranock was propelling himself through the air a few feet above The Great Road when he spotted a large host of riders approaching from the North, where he was headed.

    He moved off the road and hid behind some large boulders to let them pass.

    As they got closer he realized they weren''t riding horses as he had expected, they were riding Rankir, the giant lizards of The Sands.

    Of course, the dragons must have heard the humans have a spatial mage and gone to steal it away. He thought.

    Karo took a deep breath and then did the dumbest thing he had ever done, he stepped out onto the road right in front of a horde of dragons.

    As the riders approached and drew to a halt before him Karo realized he recognized the lead dragon, which scared him even more.

    "Do you wish for death, human?" The Empress of The Sands asked.

    Karo gulped and dropped to his knees. "Empress, I apologize for delaying your journey but I must know, do you possess the spatial mage?"

    She regarded him for a moment before responding, "What need have you of the spatial mage?"

    "He murdered my brother and burned down his estate, freeing all of our prisoners and slaughtering the entire household." He said angrily before remembering who he was addressing and going pale.

    Sirenia Sandscale smiled a terrifying smile at him, baring her pointed teeth.

    "I like your fire, human, but I''m afraid you wont be able to take revenge on the spatial mage himself as he is already dead."

    Karo felt empty, What do I do now? I have nowhere to go and no purpose. He thought sadly.

    "I have a proposition for you though human." Sirenia said, dragging him out of his thoughts of self-pity.

    "The spatial mage you were seeking left behind a widow carrying his child, I was going to bring her back to The Sands until the child was born but the elves snatched her away from me."

    "I doubt you will be able to retrieve her from the elves, but if you somehow manage it I will pay you handsomely."

    "And of course I could make her life very miserable if that would satisfy your hatred of the spatial mage, what better way to take revenge on him beyond the grave than to hurt the woman he loved?" She said with a wicked grin.

    Karo thought about it for a moment, infiltrating Edgewood would not be easy due to the elves'' wariness of outsiders, especially males.

    "Is there anything you can do to help me on this task?" He asked.

    Sirenia snapped some orders in a language he didn''t understand causing one of the men behind her to ride his Rankir forward and dismount, offering the reins to Karo.

    "I believe you already know the woman who you will be seeking Lord Ranock, she''s your niece after all." Sirenia said.

    Karo was surprised she knew him, though he was a Ranock he wasn''t a very important one being from a branch of the family without shadow magic.

    "And now that you are aware I know who you are let me give you a final warning."

    "If you bring harm to the unborn spatial mage or try to just run off with that mount, I will find everyone you care about and kill them slowly." She threatened.

    The dragon empress shouted a command in the language of the dragons and urged her mount forward, riding right past Karo.

    He stood there in terror as the four lines of mounted dragons split down the middle and rode past him on either side.

    When the last of the dragons finally passed him by he mounted his new rankir with some difficulty, having never ridden one before.

    Then he set off after the host of dragons at a much slower pace, he didn''t want to catch back up to them after all.

    <hr>

    Cal woke up to Lumina kissing her on the forehead.

    She looked around and realized they were hovering in the air and it was nighttime, she must have fallen asleep during the flight.

    "Why are we still flying?" She asked, sleepily rubbing at her eyes.

    "Because of that." Lumina answered.

    Cal looked around to see what she was talking about and finally saw something other than The Great Road off to the East.

    "Is that Edgewood?" She asked in astonishment.

    Despite Kyla''s reaction to Sophia suggesting all elves lived in forests Cal had still been expecting them to, but that was far from the truth.

    There were sparse forests around the city, but Edgewood itself was built almost entirely of stone.

    It rested at the base of the most massive range of mountains she had ever seen, rising into the sky like a row of jagged teeth from horizon to horizon with a slight curve.

    "Yep, we should be arriving in about half an hour." Lumina answered.

    "You are so cute when you''re sleeping I didn''t want to wake you. But I thought you might want to see the city from the sky." She said.

    "I asked you not to call me cute." Cal said in irritation.

    For some reason over the last week of flying her around Lumina had begun doting on her like she was a little girl, brushing and tying ribbons into her hair and remarking on her looks.

    It was irritating being constantly reminded she was a girl now, but at the same time it felt nice to have someone dote on her like her mom used to.

    Just a matter of time until she betrays you. She thought bitterly.

    "Well then maybe you should switch into a body that''s not so small and cute." Lumina said.

    "That''s a great idea, why didn''t I think of that. I''ll just go get someone less cute to murder me." Cal sarcastically replied.

    "So what''s going to happen when we arrive? Will we sleep here or charge the portal and head through to Vale tonight?" She asked.

    "It''s late and I have business in Edgewood anyways, we will rest tonight and charge it tomorrow." Lumina replied as she started moving again.

    "What are those mountains called?" Cal yelled as they sped through the air.

    "The mountains aren''t individually named but the entire range is known as The Eastern Crown, it''s a massive circle of mountains that juts out into The Endless Deep." Lumina replied loudly to be heard over the wind.

    Cal stared at the city as they flew, she was eager to see an elven city.

    Lumina picked up her speed as they grew closer, likely eager to arrive as well.

    Edgewood appeared to be even more well fortified than Ranock, the walls were higher and there were far more watchtowers.

    The city was built at the base of a cliff that rose thousands of feet straight up the side of the mountains, which the walls connected to.

    With her nightvision Cal could see sentries standing every hundred feet or so along the massive wall and wicked looking balistae pointed up at the sky, likely defense against dragons.

    As they neared the city the gates opened, which seemed unnecessary to her as all the elves returning were flying.

    Lumina began to decend sharply causing Cal to wrap her arms around her neck tightly and shut her eyes once again as her stomach lurched.

    They touched down on the ground and she released her grip and opened her eyes.

    Lumina had landed outside the gates and began to walk forward, still carrying her.

    "You can put me down now." Cal told her.

    Lumina ignored her.

    "Welcome Queen Dawnwing, we have several rooms prepared for you and your family in the keep." A tall male elf said with a bow as they entered the open gates.

    "Thank you Drygen, your hospitality is always my favourite part of visiting Edgewood." Lumina said.

    "This is our new spatial mage, isn''t she adorable?" She asked.

    Cal groaned, "Ok that''s enough put me down right now Lumina."

    "Very well." Lumina said, placing her on her feet.

    Cal''s legs were numb from dangling over Lumina''s arm the whole day during their flight and she stumbled, grabbing Lumina to keep from falling down.

    "Just let me carry you Cal, it''s a long walk to the keep." Lumina said.

    Cal looked up the long packed dirt road that led through the city uphill to the keep far in the distance.

    She sighed, "Fine, you can carry me a little bit further."

    Before she had even finished speaking Lumina was scooping her back up into her arms.

    Drygen had a big shit eating grin on his face and Cal was trying to decide if it was for Lumina''s antics or the fact that she had brought a spatial mage.

    The straggling members of the Dawnwings began landing behind them as Lumina walked into the city with Drygen at her side.

    After Lumina told Drygen to keep Cal''s identity as a spatial mage secret they began discussing boring things about running the city and Cal quit paying any attention to them.

    Instead she spent the walk taking in the sights of Edgewood at night, this late at night the streets of Ranock would be mostly empty with only a few bars remaining open for the night crowd.

    But here in Edgewood there were elves with grey skin going about business like it was daytime.

    "Are those dark elves?" She blurted out, interupting whatever Drygen had been saying.

    "Night elves." Lumina told her.

    "Elves are born with different skin color and abilities based on what time of day they are born, obviously night elves are born at night and day elves during the day." She explained.

    "How come none of your family members we''ve been travelling with are night elves then?" Cal asked.

    "Some elven households have abilities that only work for either day elves or night elves, like the way my family manipulates dawn energy."

    "When a member of my family is going to give birth we bring a dryad to make certain it happens during the day." Lumina explained.

    "Does that offend the night elves? That the royal family purposefully avoids having any night elf children?" Cal asked.

    Lumina and Drygen laughed. "You''re right Your Highness, she is adorable." Drygen said.

    Cal scowled and wished she were walking so she could punch him.

    "No Cal, night elves and day elves are considered the same people. There are no tensions like you humans seem to have with different colored members of your race."

    "There are several families of both night and day elves that only have children that match their abilities but the vast majority do not influence it either way." Lumina said.

    Cal yawned, the excitement of exploring a new city was dimming and her tiredness returning.

    "We''re almost there Cal." Lumina told her.

    "Why aren''t we just flying there?" Cal complained.

    "Flying isn''t possible in Edgewood, we have several defenses set up to prevent airborne attacks by the dragons." She explained.

    Cal closed her eyes while they walked and Lumina resumed her conversation with Drygen quieter than before.

    The next thing she knew Lumina was laying her down on a soft bed, causing her to wake briefly.

    "Goodnight Cal." Lumina said softly as she pulled the blankets up to her chin.

    "Goodnight Lumina." Cal mumbled right before she fell back asleep.

    The next morning Cal woke to the smell of bacon and was delighted to find out elves did in fact eat meat, she had been worried when all they had on the journey was fruits, cheeses, and bread.

    A tray of food and glass of juice had been set on the nightstand beside the bed while she was sleeping but whoever placed it there was already gone.

    She dug into the food in delight, it reminded her of breakfast diner food from Earth.

    There were a few links of a super sweet sausage, scrambled eggs with bits of various vegetables in them, biscuits covered in a heavy gravy, and of course the thing that had woken her, thick strips of delicious bacon.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    She finished eating and gulped down the glass of orange juice before carrying the dishes out of her room to find where to put them.

    When she stepped out of the door one of the female elves she recognized from the flight was waiting for her.

    "Princess, Queen Dawnwing asked me to wait until you woke and bring you to her." The elf said in a surprisingly masculine voice.

    Cal looked her over closer trying to determine if she was in fact male or female but couldn''t be sure, she definitely looked entirely female.

    "I recognize you from the flight here which means you''re part of Lumina''s family, but I never caught your name." Cal said, trying to determine the elf''s gender by learning her name.

    "My name is Floren." The elf said in a masculine voice.

    Cal decided to just ask, as she still wasn''t sure. "Are you a male or female if you don''t mind me asking Floren?"

    "Male, Princess. We should not keep the queen waiting." Floren replied irritatedly.

    "Where should I put these?" Cal asked sheepishly, lifting up the plate and glass she was carrying.

    "Just bring them with you, the queen is waiting in the kitchens." He replied.

    "Alright, lead on then." She said.

    Floren turned and walked down the hallway they were in at a brisk pace and Cal strained to keep up with her short legs.

    "In here." He said, opening a door and standing to the side for her.

    "Thank you Floren, I apologize if I offended you with my question." Cal said as she stepped past him into the room.

    Floren sighed, "You did not offend me Princess, I am just upset at being away from my family for so long. Forgive me if I have been rude to you." He said with a slight bow before closing the door.

    "Good morning Cal, now that you are awake you can come assist me with the dishes." Lumina said.

    Cal turned around from the closed door and saw Queen Lumina wearing an apron and doing dishes in a tub of water.

    "Good morning, don''t you have servants for that?" Cal asked puzzled.

    Lumina laughed, "Elves do not have servants dear, we cook and clean for ourselves."

    "Then who cooked that delicious breakfast for me?" Cal asked.

    "I did, I''m glad you liked it." Lumina replied.

    Cal walked over to the tub Lumina was scrubbing plates in and slipped hers into the water before grabbing a rag and joining in.

    "Once we finish with the dishes we will go bathe and get some fresh clothes before charging the portal." Lumina informed her while they cleaned.

    "Do you have a disguise ready for me?" Cal asked.

    "The portal is a secret remember, it''s in a hidden place where no one will be able to see that you''re the one charging it." Lumina replied.

    While they washed the dishes Lumina hummed a nice tune that felt soothing and calm to Cal, and she was almost sad when they finished their work.

    "Alright." Lumina said while drying her hands, "Drygen''s daughter is around the same size as you and she said she would be happy to loan you a dress."

    "I can just teleport home and get some of my own clothes." Cal said.

    "You should dress in elven clothing while you are here, it will calm the people''s fears some." Lumina responded.

    Cal didn''t believe her, it sounded like a flimsy reason. Elven clothes didn''t look much different from her own, but she couldn''t think of a reason Lumina would be trying to make her borrow a dress from Drygen''s daughter.

    "If you say so." She responded.

    "I do say so, now let''s go bathe dear." Lumina said with a smile.

    Cal sighed and followed her. They went back down the hallway she had just come from, passing by the room she had slept in and arriving at a room with a large in-ground square of water.

    "Ok, you go first and I''ll wait outside." She said, turning around and stepping back out the door.

    "I''m not going to bathe and then stand around by the door waiting for you to bathe after me. We are both grown women and we can bathe together, besides it''s nice to have someone to wash your back." Lumina said.

    Cal reluctantly returned to the room and undressed, pulling off her green sundress and stepping out of her slippers before slipping off her lacy panties.

    Then she walked down the three stone steps that led into the pool of water and sighed in appreciation at the temperature, it felt like a hot tub.

    Lumina''s clothing took a little longer to remove as she was wearing a dress with several belts and buckles along with a pair of thin green pants.

    Cal sat on the underwater ledge along the edge of the pool and began lathering herself with the bar of soap that was in a basket beside the bath.

    She began to make smalltalk to feel less awkward. "So I spoke with Floren while he brought me to meet with you."

    "He looks a lot like a female, is that common for elven males or is he a special case?" She asked.

    "Elven males range in feminity from men like Drygen who are very masculine to men like Floren who are very feminine, the more feminine an elf the more powerful their magic." Lumina answered.

    Cal looked over Lumina''s figure and decided she must be a very powerful elf indeed.

    "We believe elves were created by the mixing of fae and humans in the world we come from, fae are always female and like elves are more powerful the more feminine they are."

    "However, many don''t believe the stories from the old world as the fae that were in this world were unable to breed with humans." She explained while she washed herself.

    "If fae are always female how do they reproduce?" Cal asked curiously.

    "It''s said that when they wanted a child they would simply become pregnant, but I cannot say for certain, there haven''t been fae in this world for a long time." She answered.

    Cal uncorked a bottle of thick white liquid and sniffed at it, it smelled like lavender. "Is this shampoo?" She asked.

    "I don''t know what shampoo is but that is used to clean your hair." Lumina answered.

    Cal lathered her hair with some of the elven shampoo and washed her hair in the water.

    When she came back up Lumina was right beside her on the bench. "Will you wash my back please Cal." She asked, turning her back to her.

    Cal grabbed the bar of soap and washed her back, turning away when she was done and presenting her back to Lumina in turn.

    Lumina washed her back and they both rinsed off a final time before getting out of the pool and drying themselves with the towels.

    "Thanks for not making any weird comments about my body while we bathed Lumina." Cal said as she pulled her dress back on, deciding to forgo the underwear until she got a clean pair.

    "I know you don''t like being a girl Cal, but unless you plan on getting yourself killed soon you really should embrace who you are now." Lumina replied as she got dressed.

    "I never heard you calling all the female elves we were travelling with cute or adorable, and just because I''m a female doesn''t mean I need to get used to that." Cal huffed.

    "None of them are nearly as cute or adorable as you are." Lumina said with a grin.

    "Now you''re going to try on some dresses with Drygen''s daughter Celia, you better be nice to her Cal."

    Cal sighed, "What''s that supposed to mean, when have I not been nice."

    Lumina left the bathroom and held the door open for her to follow before leading her further into the keep and up several flights of stairs.

    She knocked on a door and a young teen girl who stood eye to eye with Cal answered the door.

    "Celia this is Cal, the one I told you about. I''m going to track down some clothes of my own, have fun you two." She said before turning and walking back down the hall.

    "Um hi Cal, nice to meet you." Celia said shyly, half hiding behind her door.

    "Nice to meet you too, should I come in?" Cal replied.

    "Oh! of course, sorry. I don''t get visitors very often." Celia said as she tripped over her own feet trying to get out of the way of the door to let her in.

    She ran to a large wardrobe and motioned Cal to come over. She seemed incredibly shy and hardly met Cal''s gaze.

    Cal crossed the room and Celia started pulling dresses off the bar they were hung from and holding them up to Cal before replacing them or setting them on the back of a fancy wooden chair.

    "Um what are you doing Celia?" Cal asked.

    "W-what? Auntie said you would try on dresses with me. I thought you... nevermind you don''t have to, you can just pick one." She said sadly.

    "No no, of course I''ll try on dresses with you." Cal said hastily, scratching at the back of her head.

    She mentally sighed at the mound of dresses that was already piled on the chair.

    Celia smiled and continued pulling dresses out of the wardrobe and holding them up in front of her.

    When she was finally finished removing all the dresses she wanted from the wardrobe she led Cal over to a smaller dresser with drawers full of underwear and something she didn''t realize this world had, bras.

    "Pick out some undergarments, you can keep them." Celia said while beaming a smile at her.

    Finally some non-sexy underwear. Cal thought as she picked out a pair of normal black fabric underwear that looked more like a pair of tight briefs instead of the lacy thongs Alex owned.

    The bras were much too small for her but she decided to ask Lumina to be fitted for some of her own later now that she knew they existed here.

    Having breasts was probably her least favourite part about her new body, they ached and strained her back when she walked around too much, maybe a bra would help.

    "Where''s your bathroom?" She asked Celia, who was watching her look through the undergarments.

    "It''s downstairs, do you need to go?" Celia responded.

    "Uh no, nevermind." Cal said, and slipped the panties on under her sundress. "Ok which dress should we try first?"

    "You don''t want a bra?" Celia asked. "Aren''t those huge uh uncomfortable like that?"

    "Yes they are, but I don''t think your bras will fit me." Cal replied.

    Celia rifled through her dresser drawers and pulled out a few stretchy circles of cloth.

    "Here, try these." She said as she held them out to Cal.

    Cal chose the black one to match her underwear and pulled it over her head and arms, but it squeezed her breasts uncomfortably against her chest.

    Celia giggled, "It goes under your breasts silly."

    Cal blushed and pulled it down off of her breasts, it fit comfortably around her middle and raised her breasts up a bit, providing a great feeling of relief.

    Celia took her hand and led her over to a floor to ceiling mirror next to the chair that couldn''t even be seen anymore under all the dresses.

    Then Cal started trying them on, Celia helping her get into and back out of some of the more complicated ones.

    She would get into a new dress and look at herself from different angles in the mirror while discussing how she looked with Celia, and soon realized she was actually having fun.

    Celia began trying on some of the dresses as well and by the time they made it through the huge pile Celia had picked out hours had gone by.

    Cal chose a small ocean blue dress that matched her eyes with a plunging neckline, a belt around the waist, and slits on the sides that showed off her legs as she walked.

    Celia had tried to get her to choose something warmer as winter had arrived, but Cal explained that her passive magic made her hardly feel the cold.

    She helped Celia hang all the dresses back up and then Celia grabbed her hand and sat her down in the chair that had finally been cleared of the mound of clothing.

    The chair was in front of a desk covered in various hair ties and ribbons with a large mirror at the back. Celia picked up a fancy looking hairbrush and began to brush out Cal''s hair.

    "Will you come visit me again sometime?" Celia asked with a slight tremble in her hand as she brushed Cal''s hair, her gaze carefully avoiding her face in the mirror.

    "Of course, I have a couple friends who would love to come too if you don''t mind vampires." Cal responded wondering why Celia seemed so nervous, they had been getting along great.

    "I would like that." Celia finally met her gaze in the mirror and smiled.

    "Do you like dogs?" Cal asked as Celia tied back most of her hair with a blue ribbon, letting the rest fall to the sides of her face.

    "I don''t know, I''ve never seen one." She replied.

    "Great I''ll bring our puppy too, you will love her." Cal grinned.

    She stood up from the chair and gave Celia a hug. "I should get going but I''ll be back soon to visit, I promise. I had a lot of fun, thanks for the clothes." She said.

    "Next time we will do makeup too." Celia said with a smile. "You are really pretty, Lumina''s right you do look just like her."

    "Just like who?" Cal asked curiously.

    "Uh nothing, no one, goodbye Cal see you next time." Celia hurriedly blurted out, ushering her out of the room.

    "Goodbye Celia." Cal said confusedly to the door that just shut in her face.

    She turned to the hallway and saw Floren once again waiting for her.

    "Hello Floren, here to escort me again?" She asked with a smile.

    "Indeed princess, that dress looks good on you." Floren replied as she turned to walk down the hall.

    For once Cal didn''t feel any irritation at the compliment, she was pretty happy after the relaxing hours of trying on dresses with Celia as well as the relief of having support for her oversized breasts.

    They made their way out of the keep into the courtyard that Cal was seeing for the first time, having been asleep when she arrived.

    Lumina and Drygen were waiting for them.

    "Cal! You look so..." Lumina began but stopped herself.

    "Go ahead Lumina you can call me cute just this once, I can tell you''re trying hard not to." Cal said with a sigh.

    "I was going to say beautiful actually." Lumina smiled at her.

    "Thank you, you look pretty good yourself." Cal said, admiring her longsleeve green winter dress belted around her middle.

    "Thank you Cal, now let''s get started we have a portal to charge. My family is rather eager to return home, we are not usually gone for so long." Lumina said as she began to walk towards the keep''s gate.

    "Drygen, Celia said she doesn''t get many visitors, why is that?" Cal asked the question she had decided not to ask the timid girl.

    "She is a half elf, the other elves are always awkward or rude around her so she prefers to stay secluded in her room." Drygen sighed. "Thank you for spending time with her."

    "It was my pleasure, she is a sweet girl." Cal said. "If you don''t mind me asking how did you fall for a human woman?"

    "I didn''t. Her mother was raped by humans and we decided to keep the child, but shortly after Celia was born she took her own life." Drygen responded bitterly.

    "I''m so sorry, that''s horrible." Cal said, feeling even worse for the lonely half elf girl. "Do you mind if I come visit her sometime? She asked me to come back."

    "I would appreciate that very much princess, it would mean a lot to her." Drygen said, wiping at his dry eyes.

    They walked in silence the rest of the way to their destination, each stewing in their own thoughts.

    Lumina led them straight to the mountain rising straight up at the far end of Edgewood and used a heavy metal knocker to pound on a thick steel door set in the side of the cliff.

    A slat slid open in the door at eye height (for the tall Lumina, it was well over Cal''s head) and a set of eyes appraised them for a split second before the latch slammed shut and the sounds of many locks tumbling came from the door.

    A moment later the door opened and a female elf in a full suit of dark leather armour stepped out of the way and bowed, letting the trio pass into a tunnel.

    The door shut behind them and a handful of thick looking bolts were slid back into place as they walked down a long tunnel lit by glass balls of light that reminded Cal of lightbulbs from Earth, but circular and placed on sconces with no wiring running to them.

    They passed by many thick steel doors set into the sides of the tunnel that Cal was curious what was behind, but Lumina wouldn''t tell her when she asked.

    Finally after walking for what felt like ten minutes they came to a massive door at the end of the hall and Lumina produced a huge skeleton key from seemingly nowhere, inserting it into a hole in the door and turning it before it just dissapeared again.

    She pushed the door open and they entered a tall circular room with nothing in it except the massive obsidian archway that must have been at least thirty feet tall and ten feet wide.

    Cal moved over to the right arch and placed her hand on the infinity symbol, beginning to fill it with energy.

    She had to stop and wait until the exhaustion faded three times before it finally stopped accepting any more energy and after a few moments it lit up with swirling silver light.

    Drygen whistled. "I never thought I''d live to see that again." He said.

    "Again? I thought spatial mages died out five hundred years ago." Cal said.

    "I''ve been the ruler of Edgewood for almost two thousand years now." Drygen remarked.

    "I should have guessed." Cal grumbled, no one was ever the age they seemed in this world.

    "What about your family Lumina? Aren''t they going to come with us to Vale?" She asked.

    "Floren is off gathering them, I didn''t want to wait until they were all rounded up." Lumina responded.

    "Shall we?" She held out her hand for Cal to take.

    Cal grabbed her hand and they stepped forward into the secret elven city no human had set foot in for over five hundred years.

    <hr>

    Sophia would never admit it to anybody, especially not Cal, but she actually enjoyed feeding the vampires over the last four days Cal had been staying away for.

    The strange feeling of the blood being pulled through her arm into the vampire''s mouths was actually kind of nice, and the blood loss gave her a slight head rush.

    She finished feeding Mia and left her and Lilly to play in the courtyard while she went to find Kyla and get her to join in on some exercise like they had planned.

    She was feeling sluggish from sitting around doing nothing all day for so long.

    She found Kyla in the kitchen putting together some sandwiches for their lunch and gave her a hug.

    "Thanks for making me one too, you''re so sweet." She said.

    "These are both for me." Kyla said with a grin.

    "Yeah right, I''ve never seen you eat close to that much." Sophia smirked at her.

    "Maybe I''m making one for Vera." She joked, and they both laughed.

    "Speaking of Vera, I asked her if she might be interested in fooling around with other women sometime..." Kyla began.

    "Kyla!" Sophia shouted.

    "She said no, she isn''t into girls." Kyla finished.

    "You promised you would ask me before trying to include any of my friends in our sex life!" Sophia said angrily.

    "I was just finding out if she''d be interested first, she isn''t so you don''t have anything to worry about." Kyla said.

    "Well congratulations, you get to feed her whenever Cal isn''t around from now on. Since you just made it incredibly awkward for me." Sophia said in exasperation.

    "Oh cmon Soph I didn''t even mention any names, just asked if she was interested in girls in a super discreet way, I promise." Kyla grinned.

    "Whatever, are you still up for joining me in getting exercise?" Sophia asked as she grabbed the sandwich Kyla had just completed and took a bite.

    "Sure, what are we gonna do run up and down the stairs?" Kyla asked sarcastically.

    "Yep that''s the plan." Sophia grinned at her.

    Kyla groaned.

    <hr>

    Zatira sat in the foyer of her sister''s house sipping some of the best chamomile tea she had ever tasted, and told her as much.

    "This tea is delicious sis, some of the best I''ve ever had, thank you!" She said with a smile.

    Her sister glared at her, "I saw your release from the humans months ago, it hurts that you took this long to come visit me." She said, folding her arms over her bare red chest.

    "I''m sorry Zaphora, I had a lot of work to do cleaning up my place after my absence." Zatira responded with a wince, she really should have visited sooner.

    "So what do you want now? Who do you want me to show you? I know that''s the only reason you ever come here anymore, the last four of your visits have been just to use my talents." Zaphora snapped, and some angry tears formed in her eyes.

    "Oh Zaphora, I''m so sorry. I promise I will make an effort to come for more social visits in the future, I have been so selfish." Zatira said sincerely.

    She set her cup of tea down on a coaster and rose to give her little sister a hug.

    "I missed you so much Zatira, all our other siblings have been so mean to me while you were gone." Zaphora sniffled into her neck as she held her.

    Zatira decided she could come back in a week to check on Cal and the man that had sworn an oath to take revenge on him, her sister deserved her company with no strings attached.

    <hr>