Starry sky and crescent moon above, the warden and I embraced one another in the center of the dirt road. We were locked in a deep kiss, not a soul in sight in the stillness of the surrounding night. Not leaving my arms, she lowered herself from her tiptoes, causing her lips to part from mine. As she spoke, her hot breath tickled against my skin. “I must admit, though, part of me delighted in seeing you defend my honor against with such vehemence.” I chuckled. Her admission caused a flutter of excitement in my core. “Even though it was stupid?” “Yes, even if it was stupid,” she said before a flash of seriousness entered her voice. “But you will make every attempt to not let it happen again, yes?” “Yeah, I promise.” She gave me a deliciously soft kiss on my neck in response before impish teasing snuck into her tone. “Good… though, should things go well with Lysandra and myself, feel free to antagonize her… Though, that is assuming you manage to grow more familiar with her.” “Oh?
During our approach to the Forest of Embers, my questions had piled higher with every step. Questions such as ‘Why was the dirt around here dark red and a little warm?’ or ‘Why’s the tall grass suddenly coppery gold instead of washed out green?’ But, whenever I asked the warden, she’d told me she’d tell me all she knew once we got into the forest. I hadn’t been satisfied with her seemingly arbitrary decision to ask me to hold my questions. However, I decided against pushing for more because I felt like she was fucking with me and wanted to get a reaction. So, I’d kept my mouth shut as we made our way to the forest's edge and came to a stop. We stood at the threshold where the road became a trail leading deeper into the forest of trees with bark the color of vibrant redwoods. Looking down the trail leading inside, I noticed warm light illuminating the inside of the forest from a source I couldn’t identify. How’s it lit up like that? The tree branches and leaves are too dense for t
“Hm…” Her mouth quirked to the side, dark eyes turning forward to look at nothing in particular as we continued down the trail, the strange glow of the surrounding plants and trees bathing the forest in warm light. “If I remember correctly, long ago, Passion, the goddess of flame, and Freedom, the goddess of wind, became enamored with Fortitude, the god of earth. The relatively chaotic goddesses found his stability and discipline fascinating and competed with one another to catch his eye. “ They tried everything from carnal offerings to gifts and flattery, but, despite their best efforts, Fortitude never wavered in his absolute devotion to his duty of tending to the lands of Thaessa. This lack of interest caused Freedom to quickly become bored, causing her to turn her attention to more interesting things. Passion, however, took great offense to his indifference to her seduction and beauty.” “I’m guessing things went downhill pretty quick after that?” I asked, remembering myths fro
The warden and I stopped in the center of the dirt trail, the sound of rustling and snorting coming from somewhere nearby to our left.“Sounds like a monster…” She smiled at me and nodded in the direction of the noise.After learning how the Forest of Embers was sacred to Passion and her followers, a new worry wormed its way into my brain at the prospect of killing anything while we were here. “You’re sure it’s okay to kill stuff here? Like, Passion won’t care, right?”She shook her head. “No, in fact, as long as one doesn’t overhunt the local creatures, fighting monsters is actually encouraged here. As the heated emotions that come with battle are seen as an offering to Passion.”“Makes sense…” My heart quickened after hearing her answer as my uncertainty transformed into a cocktail of anticipation, nerves, and excitement. It was finally time to fight a monster.She playfully slapped my ass. “Lead the way,” she said in a giddy whisper.The warden used her magic as a shadow primal to
With only six feet between us, I fired off a soundless shot at the charging torchboar and hit it between its furious flame-colored eyes. It collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, hitting the fiery grass and tumbling forward until the raging momentum it had built in life was spent. I trained my gun on the other torchboar as it came at me like a bull. Because it was still a few dozen feet from me, I took an extra moment to line up a headshot. Thunder shook through my arms as I squeezed off a round. It grazed the monster’s head, leaving behind a hideous trench of a wound, but not killing it.“Fuck!” My snarl mingled with the torchboar’s howling squeals as I fired my final bullet at the charging creature less than ten feet away. Red dirt puffed up into the air as my final shot went wide and buried itself into the carpet of vibrant, orange grass. “Scriii!” The stampeding torchboar leapt over its fallen mate, pointing its razor-tipped tusks at me as it sailed through the air to
Even if the gash just above my shin wasn’t life-threatening, it still hurt like a bitch. So, when the warden knelt next to me in the fiery grass of the glade and started talking about healing myself, I had to stuff down the urge to remain calm and collected… And not beg for the sweet healing relief of a briotonic.“Yeah, I remember you said I didn’t have enough spirit to heal myself at all,” I said.She nodded. “Yes, but now I believe you have enough to heal a minor injury like this one.” Grass rustled beneath her knees as she scooted over to be next to my legs. She reached towards the tear and tore the rip in my pant leg wider to further expose the wound, wincing with sympathy when she saw the nasty cut more clearly. “As you may have guessed, all you need to do to mend one of your wounds is make a conscious effort of will. Try doing this to heal your wound, but ensure you have the spirit to do so first.” I stared at the nasty mess of blood and torn skin and considered what it would
I hopped to my feet and accepted the breacher from the warden, eager to learn how to use the dagger as more than just a weapon. “What do I do? Do I just poke it and will for the breacher to do its thing?” “Essentially, yes. All you need to do is pierce the exterior of the remains and will a whisper of your spirit into the blade. Once you do this, the body of the slain will disperse and a portion of the spirit it had in life will crystalize.” “Why only a ‘portion’?” I asked, recalling not getting a satisfying answer the last time we talked about this. Disinterest shaded her expression. “Do you truly wish to know? It honestly isn’t very important…” “Think you can’t summarize it quickly? I said teasingly, grinning at her. Interest flickered to life in her eyes at my challenge and she quirked her mouth to the side in consideration. “Hmm… Well, assuming they had one, when something dies their soul and spirit fuse into one before passing to the next life, leaving only the body. “So, w
Crouching next to me in the fiery grass of the grove, the warden considered my question about whether or not she’d ever gotten over the ‘ghoulish’ feeling of absorbing crystalized spirit made from the dead bodies of creatures. “Mostly… In the case of monsters, I view the act of taking in their spirit similar to eating food. Their crystalized spirit is not their soul, it is just their body in a different form… It also helps that most of them are mindless beasts who’d just as soon gore you than cuddle with you,” she said with a light giggle. “What about in the case of non-monsters?” I asked. Her specific wording and the implication of taking in crystalized spirit being like eating made the question impossible to ignore. Her voice darkened with unease. “Consuming the crystalized spirit of a person is considered taboo of the greatest severity in most places.” “Right…” I said, deciding not to point out how she didn’t really answer the question and instead focused on punching throug