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He Who Would be Master: 13

While the beasts changed, Kaard looked closely into them, unfurling his Power, his senses, on full. A corona of Power poured off of each beast-man. Each time a muscle swelled, more Power was released in a gush. The end of the pack-transformation saw each of them wreathed in it, pouring from each pore as a heavy fog. They rose up onto their back legs, and began to circle him. They took him in with every sense: memorizing his smell, observing his form and posture. They listened to him, his increased heartbeat, his suddenly fast breathing. There was no use in trying to hide fear. Kaard knew he reeked of it. But, despite his own terror of them, they seemed far more afraid of him. Kaard smiled and breathed in their fear. "Well what do you know...." Six Lu slithered from his sleeves, and began their slow circles. The ruddy wolf missed a step; giving himself up as the weak link. Kaard felt his lips pull back in a grin and two of the Lu lashed out at him. In the instant that Kaard focused on one, the other three leapt. The sound of their snarls startled him, forcing him to frantically shift focus from the red wolf. The Lu he attacked with each whizzed by its target. The others whorled around him, knocking the nearest one from the air. The other two crashed down at him, and the last moments before fur met unprepared flesh, time slowed down, as if the world had become made of so much molasses. He saw it all happening in super-slow-mo, and could absolutely nothing about it. Two sets of jaws opened wide, saliva flinging from horrific fangs. Eyes flashed in a heated and inhuman glow. Kaard threw up an arm in what he knew was going to be a futile, and pathetic gesture. The lu tried to follow suit, but it was far too late. The nearest wolf clamped jaws on his forearm. The second landed on his chest and grasped his throat, ready to tear it out with his teeth. The two rode him down to the floor. The world shook loose as Kaard's skull bounced off of the stone floor. The impact killed any stupid notions he might have had of thrashing, or fighting his way out. Instead, his only thought was to somehow keep either his bladder or bowels from emptying... It seemed unlikely he could save both. It also, for an instant, flooded his senses with sensation, flashing visions that felt like fractured memories. All he'd remember of these flashes was the taste of sweat, of hair on his tongue. A rapture stemming from, yet wholly usurping that of, physical orgasm. "Every new Mage feels that rush of Power, touches something so bright and... and just alive!" Norn's voice slithered through his brief delusions. She was crouched close to the ground, seemingly from nowhere, to whisper into Kaard's ear. "I know that rush, little love. And, golly, I wish you had time to enjoy it. You don't have the luxury, of thinking your invincible. Now. Request to be let go." There it is! NOW Kaard can turn fear into anger! "Oh, fuck this, lady!" He snarled and reached for his Big Voice. As he inhaled, the wolf holding his throat clamped hard and sealed his windpipe. He found himself clawing for air and thrashing to get free, literally fighting for breath. Since fighting wasn't working and surrender wasn't an option, he simply relaxed. The wolf let him breathe. "It ain't hard," Jay said coolly, still standing on the fringe of the stone stage. "Ask real nice, and we let you up." "No," was Kaard's immediate answer. "Why not?" "I'm not gonna be pushed around by you people anymore," Kaard's voice was coming out stronger, louder. "Besides, I know you're bluff - !!!" There was a hideously loud crunch, almost like someone biting into a ripe, crispy apple, but then ending with two simultaneous, sharp snapping sounds. Agony arched through the left side of Kaard's body. The skin over his arm felt taut, and his fingers cramped. The wolf had broken the bones of his left arm. The shriek that ravaged the night was one of intense primordial distress, of prey expending its final breath. Once his lungs were empty, Kaard didn't inhale again for about a full minute. When he did, it was haggard, wheezing gasp. Then out came shameless, mindless sobs. "That should be enough, Lady," Simon's wolf-voice rumbled. "He knows we can hurt him. That there are things that can hurt him." "Not nearly enough," Norn cooed joylessly. "Take the arm off." "No!" Othello breathed, blind with pain. His voice wouldn't work. His mouth was too wet and tasted hotly sour. Still, he couldn't bring himself to beg. Kaard refused to let him beg; refused to believe he'd be so maimed and made useless by the people who need him so much. His terror was licked up and consumed by his Magic. It pulsed in his chest, throbbing in a ways more at home further south in his anatomy. The sensation made his groan greasy with heat. The Power flared and reached out madly, gripping his lu so hard they couldn't hold their forms and burned in licks of white-hot flame. The Power abandoned them, seeking out something sturdier. Spirits throughout the woods howled in orgasmic agony before wriggling free of it's grasp. Finally, the grasping talons of Magic hooked firmly into something. Something warm and bright. And as soon as he touched it, that thing became enraged, and began hurtling in his direction. That whole, frightening process took less than a second. In that time, the wolves were swept up through the Power's wake at what was the equivalent of ground zero. The effect on them was a sort of paralytic ecstasy. They yowled and threw themselves away from Kaard. Simon physically braced himself against it, letting that intense craven desire wash over him, rolling off his back. Kaard felt the wave flow around him and Jay, who was wholly unaffected by it. Kaard rolled over, dizzy with several kinds of pain. Some horrible, others... less so... His hand grasped his hard-pulsing cock and he gave a groan of delight and pain. His eyes fixed on the beast-men who were gulping down their wolves. As their human forms asserted themselves, the power washed through them less and less until each man was simply breathing hard under the weight of their own heat. Big Red gave a gasp and doubled over touch his hole. The action brought the totality of Kaard's ravenous attention. Big Red froze and slowly looked up sweating in terror undercut by misplaced lust. His lip quivered under his mustache. "M-m-my Lord...!" "Kaard..." Simon stepped between Big Red and the enraged godling. "Mercy..." "For what has been done... You want mercy, Forsaken?" The whispered words, through barely parted lips, filled the sinuses of everyone present with pressure enough to make skulls pop. The wolves covered their ears, ducking against the pressure. The humans clutched their shuddered. Jay stood firmly and stared. "They are OF ME!" Simon snarled. "You may not have a single one!!" Kaard grinned. "I understand, hound," he purred. "Then you will suffer for them all..." That simple promise was stickier than honey. Cleaner than mint. It was sheer... "Sweetness..." Overhead, a shriek pieced their eardrums like arrows, the cry lifting their attentions sharply. The angry light he touched with his power barreled down on them like a screaming missile. It turned a sharp corner and landed with disturbingly quiet impact just behind Kaard. Golden wings spread out behind him as light lanced at their eyes and illuminated the scene like a harsh flood-light. "At last!" a lovely, smooth voice issued from the light's source. "At LAST does mine Master finally beckon me to his side!!!" The being looked all around itself in rising malice, lighting its gaze first over Kaard's wounded and torn arm, then around the assembled pack of wolves, mortals, and then, lastly on the Magi. "Oh... My Master..." it sobbed. "These inter-breds have marred you so!" The wolves snarled at the unflattering term applied them. Kaard heard this all, watched it, but was sharply disconnected from it all... he felt nothing. Not the pain, not the anger. It was all there, seething, but his power was absorbing it all away... ...And forcing it all into... into... "Eden..." he murmured. His voice wrapped around the name like cool leather and made the spirit shudder. "Eden." "I am yours," there was a touch to his unwounded shoulder was not of a hand but of a textured, scaly talon as long as his forearm. "Show them my anger." The light grew blinding and another shriek ripped the sky. Eden as a comet of luminescence surged hard and brutally towards the wolves. Simon rushed to intercept the light. He crossed his arms and and shielded his face. Eden washed over him and a trio of gashes split themselves open on his arms and one side of his scalp in Eden's wake. Eden sailed up over the trees, carried seemingly by his own momentum. The cuts were deep enough to reveal bone. And to send blood splashing in arcs behind him, splattering the ginger-wolf who never so much as blinked at the blood. "ALPHA!!!" The others howled. The began to charge forward. "HOLD!!!" Simon's wolf snarled. "Gamma. Delta." Two of the wolves flanked Simon, taking up defensive positions. "Take the Helion," Simon instructed. "I will go to our Lord." "FOR. SAKE. KEN!!!" Eden's fury preceded his light as the "Helion" came plummeting back for another vicious strike. "ALPHA!" Gamma and Delta barked affirmation. Each wolf inhaled deeply, making each set of pecs heave in mouthwatering ways. Their jaws parted and lupine howls issued forth. They were so laden with might that the air around them literally thickened with it, solidifying into a wall and charging it dangerously. It was like watching a bird smack into a window. Eden stopped with a shudder, mid-dive and flopped to the stony ground. Its light going dim to reveal the bird-like figure inside. Like Arcadia, Eden's form was changed. It was no longer some grotesque winged doll's head. Broad shoulders and barrel chest met a waist that women spend fortunes trying to obtain only to flair out again into hips able to host thick thighs and long digitigrade legs. Shortened calves abruptly bloomed into lengthened exaggerated talons, upon which only the broad balls of the feet were meant to support weight. Feathers bearing a metallic, golden sheen covered its back, wings and lower body, leaving its torso exposed. A crown of them splaying from its scalp and face like a cowl. Its gaunt face appeared smooth of skin, but was contorted in an expression of pain and fury. It pulled pack its lips to reveal panes of white; a beak playing a mockery of teeth. It gave another avian shriek, and turned blazing golden, hawk-like eyes to its offenders. The ball of light was still there, bobbing over its head like a halo. "Lord Kaard..." Simon said, taking a position between him and Eden. "You are powerful, to make a Helion take even a vaguely human form." Kaard eyed the Alpha-Wolf, but spoke to Eden. "Get up." "My wings..." Eden whispered. "They've weighed my wings, Master..." Still he rose to a full six feet in height, wing feathers flowing like the sleeves of a robe. "I cannot fly." The wolves charged, partially changing; nails into claws, teeth into fangs. They threw themselves at their grounded prey. Eden buffed one of them with his wing, swatting the wolf-man aside. He carried the momentum into a spin and slashed at the other with a wickedly curved spur on his heel. The wolves were sent sprawling in opposite directions, one bleeding from a deep gash from shoulder to hip. Eden gave no chance to recover and dashed at the bleeding wolf. Kaard didn't so much as see the action as he was simply aware of every blow exchanged from Eden's point of view. It was like trying to read and watch television at the same time. He was staring at Simon, facing the Alpha already armed with his homemade talismans. "You're challenging me again?" He murmured. When Simon squinted in confusion, Kaard repeated himself more clearly. "You're going to attack me again?" Simon's answer was to rush, baring fangs. Kaard yelped and threw up the talismans, too surprised to focus them into lu. Still they had enough power to deflect the on-coming assault, forcing Simon to stop dead. Kaard returned the rush and thrust a palm at Simon's chest. "AWAY!!" Simon grit his teeth and dug his heels as he was pushed back hard, his wolf obeying the demand. Simon stumbled a step, but then prowled forward again, at wary, slow pace. "If you want to keep that arm, then bring me down." Kaard gave a frustrated shout and sent power to the falling streamer. The lu took form and struck at Simon like a serpent. Simon tried to slash it with his claws, but only tangled them in the gauze. "Kneel, wolf!!" Simon's arm reacted to the order, by suddenly dropping straight down as if tied to an anchor. He managed to stay standing and even began shambling forward, dragging the knuckles of the subdued arm along the ground behind him. "It's weaker this time, Lord..." Simon smiled. "That should not be, now that you are whole once more..." He was right. But why? Was it because he was in human form? Maybe his power really only fully worked on spirits! Then again... Much of Kaard's power was conducted steadily into Eden... Eden was almost literally dancing on the fallen wolf's chest, trying to gut the man with his talons. It gripped his abdominal muscles in its toes and was already pulling up to rip his belly open when the other wolf Delta, hit him in the back of the head with enough force to to break a mortal's neck. Eden simply toppled over, stunned from his thrashing perch. Kaard felt the blow, igniting spots in front of his eyes. He felt himself tip over, but managed to adjust his stance and stay standing. "What the shit..." That proved it; he was more deeply connected to the spirit than his lu. As Kaard recovered, he felt a lighter pop in the same place on the back of his neck. He knew it was his charm breaking and knew that Simon was coming for him again. He couldn't see straight and so trusted in the universe as he pivoted to the left. It would have worked if Simon was going to hit him with a simple charge and not a clothesline. The man's arm was like a club over the side of his head. The world spun wildly off axis as the big man wrapped himself around Kaard's slighter frame. Kaard found himself on his ass, legs splayed out and useless, with his fingers clutching at Simon's meaty, hairy forearm, ineffectually trying to keep it from closing his windpipe. Simon had his legs firmly locked around Kaard's hips and the man's weight kept them both on the spot as he maintained the headlock. "You really won't give in, will you, Lord?" Simon said thickly through a mouthful of fangs. "You'd rather harm yourself and your familiar than surrender?" Kaard watched a recovered Gamma and Delta dive on to Eden. Just before the spirit vanished from sight, he saw an image of Angel falling under those ripping claws and gnashing teeth. "No!" Othello choked out. "No, let him go!" All activity stopped. All eyes turned towards him. "Let him go, Kaard?" Jay stepped forward. "I... I can't watch him get hurt..." Kaard gasped out. "He is a spirit, sturdy and resilient," Jay growled and gripped Kaard's torn arm, squeezing a cry from his throat. Eden thrashed under his would-be maulers, but they held him firmly pinned. "You, godling," Jay continued, releasing the arm, "are FLESH now! It tears and takes months or years to rebuild itself! Bone breaks and organs burst! YOU ARE MORTAL, OTHELLO!!" The Conquer-Beast, Kaard, felt his jaw drop. "God's die, Lord..." Simon's grip loosened, but didn't release. "And new ones rise." "You are not only as vulnerable as any other man, but you are JUST as accountable for your actions as he is; more so, in fact. You let pride damn you," Jay thrust his finger at the wolves who immediately tore Eden to shreds in a shower of golden viscera, and in a single, horrible moment before Eden vanished shrieking beneath the onslaught, Othello saw Angel there, doomed to the savage slaughtering. "And you damn any who would follow you!" "EDEN!!!!" Othello's muscles twitched and cramped, mirroring the wounds inflicted on the fallen Helion. Liquid sunlight splashed up in hideous waves to slap at the ground all around and explosions of golden feathers scattered through the are in auric flurries. "Your arrogance kept you from learning the dangers around you. Your lusts send you into fights you can't win. And one day soon, it will kill you." Jay stared down at him. The wolves continued dispersing what was left of Eden, but Kaard couldn't feel him anymore. "I'm ready to learn..." Kaard whisper. "Ju-just stop hurting m-my Angel...." With nothing to focus his Magic on, it dissipated, and the pain and fear that it sucked away from him overwhelmed him. The forest spun wildly and took on the colors of old photograph negatives. Even when the ground found his head, the world thrashed maddeningly in his vision until he let go and let oblivion take him. Blacking out so often was growing tiresome.

"Hard-headed beings, spirits" Norn said, her words shivered with mirth. "Always have to be subdued before anything useful can be done with them." Kaard cracked an eye and saw that he was lying on the altar, pinned under blankets as soft as down, but felt heavy in his weakened state, like lead. He tried to sit up, but that only wrung out his meager strength with shivering pain. He managed to turn his head, and saw as Jay tried to approach, but with a gentle touch, Norn held him back. A second later and Jay would have been standing just where Kaard puked from the pain of his arm, and the the phantom maiming that still tore at him. The wolves standing in a circle around the altar, eased away and watched him. It was Big Red that knelt first, and, making such a massive body as submissive in posture as he could, crawled forward and pushed his bearded face against Kaard's neck. Shaggy bristles were a comfort. "Forgive us, Lord..." The rest of the pack followed suit, prostrating themselves as they apologized for crushing their god... That simply ignited a severe disdain for them. "Get off me..." Kaard snarled. "You don't... EVER apologize for winning..." He started fighting free of them. "And... DON'T EVER pity a loser...!" He shivered, pissed that the blankets did little to warm him. Simon was the only one who hadn't joined in the dog-pile. He simply watched. Big Red looked mortified. One of the leaner men approached and took Big Red by his hair, seeming to calm him. When he spoke it was with a surprisingly booming voice. "You aren't just another spirit," he said, "you're their god. Messiah made flesh." Simon sunk to one knee. "Still glorious, even in defeat..." The others were already kneeling, eyes downcast. The humans bowed their heads, closing their eyes. The two Mages watched intently. "What are you doing...?" Kaard growled quietly, masking bewilderment with defiant rage. "Wh-what do you WANT from me?!" "This was a sort of ritual," Jay explained. "It's called a Scourge." "New Magi, as I said, tend to think themselves immortal; invincible," Norn added, "and that is a deadly flaw." "As part of any shaman's first training, he must be overwhelmed and spiritually and physically rent asunder," Jay went on, "flayed to illustrate the savagery of what they face, and of what they now ARE." "And must then put themselves back together," Norn said, smiling. "You surprised us; to think you had another Familiar out there..." Kaard wrapped his good arm around himself, and let out a barking sob as the phantom pains wracked him in waves. "So you used him instead?! My Eden...?" "It proved the point better than using your body, oddly enough..." Norn seemed to muse on that awhile. "That may be your greatest weakness, you know, your charitable nature mixed with the ravenous lusts you feel... You care more about your discombobulated spirit than you do your mangled arm." "Just like you cared more about protecting Angel than defending yourself from kamaitachi," Jay noted. That made Norn glance at him in surprise, which was quickly concealed behind her enigmatic smirk. "Fascinating..." "But what do THEY want from me?" Kaard started to tremble, but refused to show the kneeling pack anymore weakness. It was Simon who answered. "We want you to be our Totem..." The word made Kaard remember the Old Hunter in Pangaea. "... Our Patron Deity." Logic roared in Othello's head: Why would I WANT that!? Why would YOU want it from ME?! You MAIMED me!! But the conquer-beast perked its ears. "I.... Represent what to you, exactly...?" "Strength in place of power, Lord..." Simon seemed to have trouble putting words to the concepts. "A god isn't so simple to sum up with a title." With increasing distaste, he rattled off a few: "God of war, love, thunder, sun, hunt, etc. Those words are just symbols that very poorly encompass what those things meant to their worshipers." Kaard sneered. "'God of gay sex' seems do be doing a fine enough job for you... creatures..." The remark made every wolf bristle and grit their teeth. "You are so much more than that..." Simon looked wounded by the insinuation. "You are what the Good Book means by the meek inheriting the earth. You are strength wrought of the self and force forged from the trust and adoration of those with outer power. You are... The wielder, where we are tools. You are focus where we are force. Empty sex cannot do what sexual submission does. Fucking is not the same as Dominating. "You are the focus that the aggressive lack. In our worship of you, you make us better than we are. You are Master/Dom/Daddy. That is what your nature is!" "Use us!" Big Red barked out. "Use us!!" The other wolves cheered. The cacophony made Kaard's head pound. When the throbbing subsided, he and gave a groan and rasped out. "..... No." No one spoke. Kaard took a moment to further examine himself. His feet hurt and were bandaged firmly, feeling as if the soles had been skinned off. His head was bandaged as well, a lump forming over his left temple. His right shoulder was strained, and his left arm as bound up in a sling and braced with two wooden planks. "Do I look like a god to you...?" His voice was bitter, and dripped with rage. "I'm human. What ever I was before, I'm human now. And, dammit! I'm going to stay that way as long as I can!" Silence reigned until Norn's heels clacked sharply on the stone floor. "Alpha," She said sharply. "As you said, m'Lady," Simon sounded crestfallen. "He has chosen well..." "And not out of fear, either," Jay added. "Fear might have made him at least consider the offer." "Will you allow us to at least repair you?" Red asked, looking like a dog begging for scraps from under a table. Kaard watched the red-furred man, with ever rising disgust, checked primarily by physical agony. There was no thought to the response, only a desire given delirious voice: "One day, I will break you. Deeply, wolf." Red flushed and gulped. He scooched forward and gently touched Kaard's broken arm. Tensing in reflex caused another tide of pain to rise in Kaard. Red simply locked eyes with him, and from wolf to Kaard, resilience flowed. There was a sparkling pain that rolled first over the skin of the arm. It bled deeper and deeper into the flesh. As it did, the muscle grew relaxed then soft, and then felt sickeningly gooey as if liquefying. It met the broken bones and the godling let out a cry of pain as the two sensations clashed like opposing naval fleets. His bones melted and shifted, pushing the busted ends together before re knitting them. It hurt worse than the break itself and Kaard choked on his spit in mid-scream. Even after Red moved back, cradling a visibly swelling left arm, the boiling pain persisted. Kaard's fingers flexed and knuckles popped. If there had been anything at all left in his belly, he'd have been sick again. Instead, he felt other body functions shut down, and his bladder was the first of them to go. He cried and held his mended, aching arm to his chest. When he fell quiet, Red spoke with a voice tight with his own pain. "I look forward to being broken, Lord..." "Are we done here?" Norn's boredom sounded a tad forced. "We have work to do." "Lady," Simon answered in the affirmative. Jay scooped up a quivering Kaard into his meaty arms and Kaard felt ashamed for huddling into the man, and hid his tear-/snot-/puke-streaked face from his former cult. "You've done well, Kaard," Jay murmured. "You've taken to your training well, my boy..."

* * *

Kaard was taken, beaten but unbroken, to Norn's suite in Be Tempted. He vaguely remembered the wash of noise as he was half-carried through the pulsating crowd. The mass of bodies parted around him, but he could feel the stares of the people there pressing hard against him like garrotes of gauze. Disdain and pity were almost physically painful. Especially from the bubbling, giggling spirits there. In the suite proper, he was led through another lace-hidden door, into a bedroom, small, but gaudily appointed in white; linens on the bed, a canopy over it, the carpet, the walls, and even the paintings (showcasing masculine anatomy) was only depicted as a play of contours sheathed in white white cloth, with only suggestions of shadow as the subjects were pressed and contorted against it. "I hate white..." Kaard rasped. "I know," Jay answered softly, devoid of any emotion but intense attention. "It reminds you of the Institute." Kaard tensed. "You know about that?" "I do," He took a deep breath. "I worked there." Othello, not Kaard as such, let out a reviled snarl. "Do you know that Fortuna was rebuilt-" "'After the Cataclysm destroyed the entire area from Green Cove Springs to Bunell', yes," Kaard murmured. Every kid in Fortuna was well inundated with the facts of Fortuna's birth from very young ages. It was one of the greatest mysteries, and one of the most feared occurrences of the age. The Fortuna Cataclysm had killed more people in an instant than most natural disasters or wars could boast in a single night. 38 years ago, an expanse of the Floridian landscape was simply erased and no one could determine the cause, primarily due to the fact that there was nothing remotely like nuclear fallout, or any of the usual signs of large-scale volcanic activity. Theories abounded, everything from Holy Wrath, to extra-terrestrial attack. The fear the of these unanswered questions alone was enough to silence anyone who might have grabbed the suddenly cheap real estate for the next ten years. In fact, no one lived in the city now who didn't at least know someone with high government security clearances. Othello's own father was a well-decorated marine and communications expert, stationed here primarily to keep prying eyes off of the wrong information. The fact remained that "officially" no one knew the cause of the Fortuna Cataclysm. However, knowing what he did now, Kaard could hazard a guess. "It was you guys... Mages caused the Cataclysm?!" As he was lowered to the bed, he scooched as far away from Jay as he could. He gave him a wide-eyed stare. "Not me, personally, boy," Jay sighed, "Renegades. Mages who cut loose and unleashed everything they had. Reality couldn't handle the weight of it and it broke. What you call "Cataclysm", we call "Paradox". It annihilated half of Creation, and what remained collapsed in on itself, leaving our Fortuna Crater. Half of the core Magic of this place was just... gone. Leaving a vacuum that is futily trying to fill itself. We've built the city to get to the bottom of the happenings and to correct the damage as best we can. And to stop it from spreading." "Spreading?" Kaard scowled. "Fortuna Maw is widening, little by little," Jay continued, "The cliffs have weakened and collapsed a dozen times since we rebuilt and it isn't stopping. Stable rock is disintegrating on all sides, because the Paradox hasn't finished dissipating." Kaard thought on those implications a moment. "It's like what I've done to Angel..." Kaard muttered. "I wiped away something stabilizing and vital, and it's tearing him apart... making him implode.... Jay, you said the extent of this damage was half of the magic going out. Why do you need me? What can I do that you can't?" Jay looked down and screwed his eyes shut. "I'm....... I'm impotent, boy." Kaard almost laughed, but after a moment's thought, he understood: If magic is gone here, then that means mages can't tap into it either. Normal mages were just as powerless as anyone else! "You're a shaman... and you can't use Spirit-Magic here?" "Just so," Jay sighed. "Out in the world, I'm a master of Spirit. Here, I'm all but helpless. I have to rely primarily on the Hedge-Crafts - The same thing the wolves use - Just to be able to so much as see them..." "It sounds lonely..." It was out of Kaard's mouth before it was in his head. "Aye... My own familiars can't come here without losing themselves..." Kaard remembered Eden and Arcadia, the fire-demon and kamaitachi.... Mr. and Mrs. Callahan.... "The spirits here... They're all wrong, aren't they?" "Yeah," Jay said. "Only the little ones are safe from the Paradox. As soon as one grows up a little, it falls ill, and corrupts in both body and mind." "Is that... Will that happen to me, Jay?" Kaard shuddered. "Will I be like the Callahans?" "I doubt it," Jay smiled, "Human souls are largely unaffected... That's why spirit-possession is on the rise. They take shelter in whatever it is that keeps us safe. Say, you need some food?" At the mention of sustenance, Othello's stomach roared angrily at them. Jay laughed and then made for the door. "Fruit and honey, I think, and maybe a little sausage?" Kaard felt himself falling in love with the big man. After Jay left, Kaard lay back on the pillow and plunged into his thoughts. Magic. Spirits. Fortuna. He can base his questions on these three categories. From there, he constructed each very carefully in his head. Jay entered, having lost all clothing but for a collar, leather gloves and matching boots, and mesh trunk-briefs that hid certain things, but accentuated others. He carried a tray of food and rested it on short legs that straddled Kaard's lap. A bowl of muscles, steamed in a sauce of alliums under his nose, whilst fruit sweat so they gleamed like jewels. Othello's stomach groaned. "Shall I feed you, Sir?" Jay said in a soft voice. The switch between Officer Jay and slave-j was a startling one, but one that Kaard approved of entirely. "Yes, because we need to talk," He muttered. "I'm not giving you an excuse to weasel out, and I'm obviously not going anywhere. Full disclosure?" "As much as you can handle, Sir, yes." Jay smiled and stabbed a hunk of honeydew. When it came to his lips, Kaard accepted it and chewed over the first question. "You mentioned Hedge-Crafts before... What are they?" Jay's answer was immediate. "Mockeries of real Magic that are born from this world's diluted energies rather than the more potent ones from the High Realms. Hedge-Crafts are generally weaker or slower workings, but they do not incur Paradox or Disbelief that High Magic does. This has allowed beings and powers of Hedge-Craft to propagate in the real world. Werewolves, vampires, walking dead, elves, ESP, these things are all real, and all born of Hedge-Magic." "ESP is a thing?" Kaard snorted. "First rule of magic: 'Everything is a thing'," Jay smiled. "If it doesn't exist anymore, then it has at least one potent incarnation of itself somewhere out there. But all stories, nightmares, and legends are true in one way or another." "So...." Kaard muttered. "That means human creativity is a sick, sad joke." Jay frowned at that. "You're better than this, Kaard. I need you to believe that your world still has good in it. And I need you to believe you can put in even more." Kaard couldn't make himself look at the man, his feelings were too jumbled to process so he shut them away for the moment. He nodded once that was done. Jay returned it and went on. "Many things in magic came along AFTER the tales of them were planted into the collective human psyche. "Spirits in particular rely on just that to shape and define themselves," Jay finished. "Call him." "Who?" "Eden." The name twisted up his stomach, flashing visions of flying feathers and golden blood behind his eye-lids. "Fuck you..." James blinked than stifled a laugh. "Nah, I mean it!" His eyes sparkled. "You can't think that'd be enough to destroy him. Just give a shout." All Kaard wanted was to stick his fist down this big man's throat, but he bowed his head and whispered. "Eden..." Something brushed against his senses. Warm light, like sunlight on the back of his neck. It was a quiet version of the searing brightness given off during his fight with the wolves. "He's there," j. murmured, "isn't he, Sir?" "Not... here....?" Kaard scrunched his eyes shut. "No... he's....." Kaard opened himself up and opened his eyes. Everything was covered in a soft, golden dust, the air tainted with a filter of golden mist. Every so often, a feather congealed into being before popping like a bubble. "He's all over..." "Death is.. an impermanent thing to spirits," j said softly, "As sucky as a crippling migraine or being paraplegic. Or... no.... Comatose, but aware. But still, impermanent." "He can be restored?" He smeared his hands through the viscera, smearing metallic gold onto his fingertips. "He can be..." j murmured. "It's up to you to give him what he needs." "How?" "Demand him to rise," he said, "In just the same way you demanded Simon to burn." Kaard quirked his eyebrows and frowned deeply, before calling his lu. The things swam through space in front of him, with a sort of lazy anticipation. "Breathe deeply..." Jay said, setting aside his tray. "Feel that deep pool of power inside... and just stick a few fingers into it..." Kaard imagined it, reaching into that place in his chest from where his Big Voice issues from. Just barely touching it. Doing so, with so much concentrated effort, it was tempting to just plunge into it, like a tub of water just short of "boiling". Just to feel it scald. "I-I've got it..." Kaard shuddered. "Good," Jay's breath tickled over his ear. "You know what you want. Now send it to your messengers, Lord... Your will, be done." His eyes flew open. "Eden," His Big Voice echoed loudly. "Get. The FUCK. UP!!!" At that, the lu darted like three branches of lightning about the room, as if searching. They returned with a tiny winged orb. It was a miniaturized Eden, the way it was when Othello first met it. Tiny wings held open with two lu. The third kicked the gore into a shimmering, whirling nebula, with tiny-Eden as its core. The whole display diminished on itself like fireworks in reverse, slowly resolving itself into that harpy-form that Eden fought with. Beautiful, strong, and very much unconscious. The lu, having spent their power, burned away and dropped Eden unceremoniously into his arms. With the destruction of the talismans came a harsh sucking drain in his belly. Hunger and exhaustion became a void in him. His inner power reserves were far from depleted, but the difference was uncomfortably noticeable. But Eden was still weak. Every breath it took left it a bit less substantial, more ghostly. But he had Eden back. He gathered the brave spirit in his arms and let the elation in his chest out as loud, barking laughter. He combed fingers through those golden feathers. "Master-Mine..." Eden cooed groggily. His lips didn't move, but his tongue and throat fluttered like ventriloquist's. "My Eden..." He answered in his Big Voice. He plucked a bit of down from his brow, enjoying the wince as the tiny feather came free of its root. "I thought I healed him..." Kaard grumbled. "You did, my Lord," J. whispered, as if in the presence of a sleeping child. "But you did not replenish him." Kaard touched Eden's chest, where, in place of a heart, the little winged-core pulsed. There were no bones or blood, just that tiny ball of luminescence. Kaard remember Arcadia, that other spirit's request: "Whilst thou enter me?" "Yes," Kaard growled softly. "I 'whilst'." Pushing his hand into Eden's sternum. He tickled the chin of the spirit's tiny core. It wasn't the electric tingle that Arcadia gave off. It was more like putting one's hand into a ray of sunlight. Warm, almost hot. Eden shuddered and gave a soft, pained moan. Kaard withdrew his hand and stroked the sleeping spirit's cheek. "How do I do it?" He asked, "Replenish what?" "Its Akasha, Sir." J. whispered, voyeuristically absorbed in the scene. "Humans produce it, and spirits feed on it. But you are different. You are a font of it. Most people simply bleed it off into something unusable like vapor, you gush it clear and clean." Kaard's blood thrummed. He felt the hum of it in his veins. Eden responded to it, throbbing, writhing hungrily in time with it. Its eyes fluttered open. "My Master..." "It's in my blood... my sweat..." He murmured. "Your cum," J. added. "Essence." He hears Simon's moans: "Essence is here..." Kaard's hand milked his cock, producing a crystal clear droplet of pre. Eden's eyes locked on it. "Let him have it, Sir..." J. urged. Kaard smeared the pre on his fingers and offered the tips to his fallen familiar. Eden lunged up, locking lips around them and sucked thirstily. The pre was gone quickly and Eden whimpered. "More, sweetness?" Kaard smirked. "M-more..." Eden's whisper was husky. Familiar. Kaard lay the spirit out on the bed, and lay over it. "Lift your legs..." Eden complied without a word, steely talons grasping at air on either side of Kaard's vision. Kaard could feel its hole, nestled among silky down. With a hand on Eden's chest, he propped himself up, vaguely aware that he didn't ghost through this time. Without preamble, he pushed his cock into the Eden's hole. It didn't give right away, and Eden gave a low cry of pain as the head forced into it. Eyes bright, Eden blushed fiercely. "Give it to me...." Kaard blew out his breath through his nose, nostrils flaring as I pushed the rest of his dick in hard. An avian squawk was drawn free of the spirit. His hole hugged at Kaard, milking. "H-hurts... It hurts, my Master!" Kaard grinned and thrust again, slowly to draw out another squawk. Eden convulsed and gasped, talons gnashing on either side of Kaard's head. As precum leaked out, Eden's feathers started to shimmer, growing more opaque. Kaard's pace picked up steadily as Eden's body adapted to the penetration. Eden gave harsh gasps and rolled its head back on the pillow, hips reacting fluidly to its Master, giving the impression of muscle stretching and flowing under skin. Kaard thrust harder, faster. "You'll tear me open!" Eden gasped. "You'll destroy me!" His back arched, pushing that barrel chest up. Kaard clamped teeth down on them, searching with his mouth for a nipple. Eden screamed pleasurably. "Do it! Devour me! Make it h-hurt more!" "Slut..." Kaard snarled and fucked harder, digging deeper. Doing so gave Kaard a bright flash of insight to the spirit. Sex simply did not compute to a creature such as this. To Eden, this was a mauling. A fevered madness that felt so intensely and inexplicably good. This Flesh-Thing - being of corruption, of instinct-drowning sensation - was maiming it and it could do nothing to stop it. Part of Eden wanted it to hurry and come to its gory, hideous conclusion: its demise. But mostly, Eden never wanted it to end. Let me enter oblivion then, its emotions whispered to Kaard, at the peek of this unutterable pleasure! Heat and light filled Eden's being, enveloping Kaard, touching his power. Kaard's power flared in response, pouring from him like a blast of steam. Kaard thrust faster, panting as hard as Eden now. He wanted Eden. He could have Eden. He could consume and destroy Eden. Body and mind. He snarled and mashed his lips to the spirit's. Eden bit and licked at them, its oily saliva was tangy and tart, his breath smelled like flame. He drank it in, fueling himself on Eden's magic. No... Kaard murmured in his head, knowing Eden could sense the thoughts. I won't eat you. I will keep you. You will suffer this way. Forever! When he came, it was thunder and lightning that tore through them both. The orb above Eden's head exploded into blinding brilliance, washing through Kaard, filling the room. Kaard drowned in that light, falling limp as his orgasm passed. The dazzling light dimmed and Kaard found Eden in his arms, sighing contentedly. Silky limp feathers robed it and shimmered with the solidity he now knew as health. With Eden restored, Kaard felt a way that he'd only ever felt with Angel. He was strong again. He was balanced. His head cleared with one final deep breath. This felt good, but it was different than with Angel. Still intense, but different. He was in love with Angel. He understood that now, even if he couldn't say exactly when it had happened. He wasn't in love with this creature... And yet, it meant more to him than any human relationship could, he loved Eden as he loved himself. As if Eden was merely an extension of his own being. "I love you, too, my Master..." Eden looked sickened at the realization, wide-eyed and shivering under the afterglow. "Are you okay, sweetness...?" Kaard pulled away, dimming the connection with the golden spirit as his cock slipped free of it. Eden's eyes rolled as if it was seeing the room around it for the first time. When it answered, it was in slightly broken, but perfectly serviceable English.. "No, Master... I don't believe I am..." "A creepy feeling, isn't it," J. purred, tweaking on of his nipples. "Pure human emotion, unfiltered, unadulterated... Unfocused." "What's happened?" Both Kaard and Eden breathed, fascinated. They locked eyes and held each others' gazes. "Spirits burn Akasha, the same way we burn through water, or calories," J. said, rising. "The most potent source of this precious resource, is human attention; strong emotions, sentiment, even revulsion." He caressed Kaard's cheek, brushing fingertips over sweat-dampened whiskers. "Think of the Old Gods, their worshipers. Every burnt offering concentrates focus on the deity, its gifts, it's identity, its wrath. So focused, Akasha rains upon them, like water into soil. And so, they flourish, flowering in power and vitality. The most powerful Oldies the world over grew obese with it." "Incorrect," Eden chirped, eyes flashing, "We get Akasha from what we are. River-spirits get Akasha from rivers. Fire for fire-spirits. Dreams for dreams. So on..." He turned intense golden eyes to J. but moved to encircle Kaard in a gilded embrace. "Humans pollute that. Human 'intent' and 'attention'... increase the enjoyment." "Precisely!" J. crowed, making the others jump. "Human intent is like adding LSD and Vitamin B to the soup! It's good to them. Not really good FOR them, but good TO them. Human souls, once they become interested in something become LIKE that thing. When a soul aligns itself to an ideal, or a concept, or, YES a being, it puts out an Akasha of such rich enthusiasm, that the gods become drunk and rage-high! Now imagine those creatures gathering through deals, and threats and thousands of human worshipers, gathering endless Soul-Akasha, over the course of eons! THAT is where most religions come from!!" Exuberance thundered through Kaard, but the world was swimming. Holding Eden like this was still draining him. Not at the same rate of healing him, but it was a steady out-flow of magic. What do I do with him now?" "He's performed is service to you, Lord." J answered. "Dismiss him." "Where will he go...?" Kaard murmured, resting himself over Eden. "Back into Twilight, back into being a concept." J said. "Free to be summoned again." All Kaard wanted to do was lie with the spirit for a few more hours, but knew he'd get no rest from that. His lower lip stuck out a little, before he whispered: "You're dismissed... Sweetness." Eden gave a sigh, as if dropping a weight and vanished, dimming out of existence. "My Master..." Kaard sunk through until he was nestled in sheets that felt cool and rough in comparison. The drain stopped, but his power did not refill itself. "Sleep," J said softly. "It'll help. You are safe here. Sleep." Kaard tried to argue, but taking the breath to do so brought him Eden's scent, and it was soothing enough that exhaustion took him without a fight.