Champion, Chapter 50: Close to the Heavens

AidanThe RealmsSecondday, 2nd week of the 10th month, Age of the Chosen 1Early EveningThe Lord's Quarters, Caer Macht, Mistvale Highlands

Feminine moans echoed down the hallway as Aidan approached his chambers. Or, to be more precise, Sunnild's did; Aidan couldn't hear Brighid's voice at all. When he passed the centaur-shaped fire elemental guarding his doorway and entered the bedroom, he saw why.

Sunnild lay supine atop a pile of cushions with her dove-like wings spread wide beneath her. She was gloriously naked, sweat glistening off her tanned, toned body. Meanwhile, Brighid lay bent over parallel to the floor with her arms around the harpy's hips and her head buried between Sunnild's legs. Even as Aidan watched from the door, Sunnild arched upward, thrusting her perky breasts into the air as her thighs squeezed tight around Brighid's neck and her hands pulled the redhead even closer.

"Yesss!" Sunnild cried out. Aidan could see the muscles in her thighs and belly flexing and releasing as her orgasm coursed through her. Her breath came in short pants, increasing in pace and volume until she let out a wordless cry and bucked up against Brighid's mouth. Her hands left the centaur's vermillion hair to claw at the bed, supporting her as she twisted and writhed beneath Brighid's oral assault.

One final convulsion rippled through Sunnild, then she started pushing Brighid's head away from wide-spread thighs. "Too much!" she gasped. Her head flopped sideways as if she no longer had the strength to support herself. A moment later, her eyes focused on Aidan standing at the door. "Good timing. Get over here," she beckoned him with a limp wave of a hand, "and lose the pants. Shirt optional."

Aidan chuckled at the sight of the floppy harpy but did as she bid. "We need to work on your endurance, it seems," he teased Sunnild.

"She's been lickin' me fer an hour!" His lover retorted. "Let's see how you look after that! In fact, Brighid, sic 'im!"

Brighid, her cheeks still glistening with Sunnild's juices, turned toward Aidan and held her arms out to him. Aidan stepped into her embrace and met her parted lips with his. Brighid's hands roamed up and down his back as they kissed, then dipped down to grab his ass.

Brighid broke the kiss and said, "I know you have not had any relief in more than a week, Master. Let me show you how much I missed you." At his nod, she bent forward, laying a trail of wet kisses and dragging her breasts down his body as she went.

When she reached his groin, Brighid didn't go straight for the prize. Instead, she nuzzled his thigh, placing a series of soft kisses and licks against his sensitive skin. She continued kneading his butt with one hand, but the other slipped up to his tail. Her fingertips encircled the base for a moment before taking a firmer grip and gliding down toward the tip.

Aidan let out an involuntary groan as his Soulmate began to stroke his tail back and forth as if it were an elongated, prehensile cock, all while ignoring his manhood. "You're teasing me," he growled. "Is that the extent of your ardor?"

Green eyes looked up at him, luminous in the dim light of the bedroom. "Forgive me, my Lord," Brighid murmured. "I only sought to increase your pleasure."

"In other times, I wouldn't stop you, but I've had to settle for handjobs for the last week and a half on the road."

Brighid's eyes widened a fraction. She pulled back from his groin and asked, "Has Aoife not been taking care of you?"

Aidan shook his head. "No, not since the night I acquired her control bracelet. I haven't pushed her; I don't want her to think I only rescued her for sex."

Brighid frowned but nodded. "I will talk to her tomorrow. Do not worry; I will make sure she knows that she is under no obligation. Until then, however..." she trailed off and turned her head to kiss Aidan's shaft. Her tongue followed her lips, lapping against the vein running along the underside.

Aidan rested a hand on top of Brighid's head and let out a moan of pleasure. "Fuck, I missed this," he murmured. Back on Earth, he'd been celibate for nearly a year, but the journey back to Ceallach Macht was the longest he'd gone without sex since he'd arrived in the Realms. Brighid hummed in approval and shifted her position to take the tip of his cock between her ruby-red lips.

A pair of arms wrapped around Aidan's chest from behind. "Sorry I couldn't do this fer ya," Sunnild said in his ear and leaned into him. Aidan could feel her soft breasts flattening against his back. "But if ya really want to give me a baby, we still got another week ta go."

"It's okay," he said, then paused to moan when Brighid's mouth slid all the way down his shaft, taking him to the root. The hand he had on her head tightened reflexively in her hair, holding Brighid still as he relished in the sensation of being sheathed. "It's okay," he repeated. "I can handle a little abstinence for a good cause."

"Ya don't need to anymore. Brighid will take care of you."

"Mm-hmm!" Brighid hummed in agreement. The effect wasn't quite the same as Aoife's purring blowjobs, but Aidan had no complaints.

"That's right," Aidan growled. "You're mine, Brighid, and I'll use you any way, anywhere, any time I want." His declaration brought a deep moan from the centaur. She started to bob her head up and down, sucking down a quick breath every time his tip came free of her throat.

Aidan tangled his fingers in Brighid's hair, guiding her as he started to make small thrusts in time with her movements. Sunnild moved with him, her hips rolling against his rear and her hard nipples digging into his back. Aidan wormed his tail free from Brighid's slackened grip and curled it around Sunnild's thigh. The harpy moaned into his ear and shifted to give him better access as he probed between her legs.

"Do it," she hissed, and Aidan obeyed. He notched his tail-tip at her sodden entrance, then pushed inside her with slow, steady pressure. "Yesss! Gods, it's not even yer dick, but it feels so good! Please, Aidan, fuck me!"

Aidan drove his tail as deep inside Sunnild as it would go, twisting and squirming the whole way. Her hips picked up their pace as Aidan fucked her, which, in turn, sped up his thrusts into Brighid's mouth. The flame-haired paladin took it all in stride, moving in time with her lovers, licking and sucking at Aidan's manhood all the while. Before long, Aidan had to warn Brighid, "I'm almost there!"

Brighid popped off his dick and panted, "I want you to come on me, please, Master, may I make you come with my tits?"

There was only one response Aidan could give. He tugged Brighid's head up and buried his cock in her cleavage, thrusting into the soft, enveloping warmth of her chest. Brighid squeezed her breasts together around him and held herself steady while Aidan took his pleasure from her.

It only took Aidan a few hard thrusts to reach his peak. He called out Brighid's name as his back arched. He grabbed her by the shoulders and jerked, jabbing his hips forward as his sperm erupted out from the tip of his manhood with enough force to splash against Brighid's chin before dripping back down onto her mountainous slopes.

Behind him, Sunnild's voice rose to a crescendo. "Oh! Oh! Oh fuck!" she cried, her inner walls rippling around Aidan's tail. A few seconds after Aidan's last spurt dribbled into Brighid's cleavage, Sunnild's arms squeezed tight around Aidan, and she clamped down around him. "Coming! Oh, fuck me!"

Once Aidan's orgasm subsided, he looked down at Brighid kneeling in front of him. A faint sheen of sweat gleamed on her skin, and her neck, chin, and chest were coated in thick, sticky strands of his sperm. The sight, combined with his recent semi-abstinence, kept him rock-hard.

"Turn around and present yourself," he ordered Brighid. While he waited for her to comply, Aidan shifted his attention to Sunnild, carefully extracting his tail from her still-fluttering depths. "Get up on her back," he told his smaller lover. "I want to kiss you."

"Mm, okay. All over?" Sunnild's voice had a breathy, dreamy quality to it. Aidan smiled at her as she disentangled herself from him and wobbled over to climb on top of Brighid.

"Anywhere you want," Aidan promised her.

"Everywhere, then," Sunnild said, wiggling into position.

Aidan admired the sight of his lovers stacked on top of each other for a moment. Sunnild's sat on Brighid's croup, above her hind legs, and the curve of the centaur's thick rump forced Sunnild to spread her legs wide. Her body, naturally hairless, was on full display for Aidan as she leaned back on her hands, her modest breasts rising high and proud from her chest and her glistening lower lips already dampening Brighid's fur.

Below her, Brighid's tail flicked back and forth, drawing attention to her own drooling pussy. Her thick lubrication coated her rump and inner thighs, and, sensing her Soulmate's eyes on her, Brighid tilted her hips and moved her tail to the side. Aidan knelt down behind her, angling his cock so that it rubbed across Brighid's pussy and clit without penetrating her, and leaned over to kiss Sunnild.

The gray-feathered harpy met him eagerly, her lips parted and tongue seeking Aidan's within a heartbeat. She shifted her weight onto one hand, bringing the other up to tangle in the hair at the back of his head. Sunnild held Aidan's head to hers until he was forced to break free to catch his breath.

Sunnild panted along with him, her eyes half-lidded in pleasure and her cheeks flushed red with arousal. "I love you," she told him as Aidan kissed her cheek, her chin, her neck, then moaned as he cupped a breast in one hand.

"I love you too, my little songbird," he murmured against her skin, drawing a shiver from her athletic body. Her hand stroked Aidan's hair and shoulders while he took a moment to nibble at the base of Sunnild's slender neck. "You've wriggled your way into my heart in such a short time," he continued. "I can't imagine living without you anymore."

"You don't have to," Sunnild replied, squirming and tilting her head to offer more of her neck to his kisses and bites. "I'm yers now, through an' through. Yers an' Brighid's."

"Even if I'm a bit scary sometimes, and I don't always give you as much attention as you deserve?" Aidan rubbed his thumb across the harpy's stiff nipple, drawing a sharp intake of breath from her.

"Even then," she confirmed. "I know you'd listen to me if I said yer goin' too far, an' I know my path isn't one everyone can walk. An' you never neglected me," she added. "I played with the kitty as much as you did."

"I want to play with her too," Brighid said. Aidan rewarded her entry into the conversation by rubbing himself against her womanhood. "Her fur looks so soft and fluffy, not stiff like mine."

"It is," Aidan and Sunnild agreed at once. "And she purrs when you pet her, too," Aidan added.

"But that's not the best part," Sunnild continued. "Her tongue's got all these little spikes on it, so when she licks ya, it's all soft an' rough' an' wet an' raspy. Feels so good! And oh, Gods, she knows how ta use it."

Brighid shifted her weight a fraction, rolling her hips slightly to enhance the contact between them. "So you both fucked her?" she asked. "Together?"

"Mm-hm! Every time."

"Almost every time," Aidan corrected. "The morning after our first night in Termondoon, I woke up to you doing a damn fine job of seducing Aoife all by yourself." Sunnild blushed at the memory, prompting Aidan to tease her some more. "If I hadn't interrupted you, she would've given in within a couple minutes. She was already moving into your touch—neck bared to your lips, back arched to press her breast into your hand, and legs spread open in invitation."

Brighid let out a breathless moan, and Aidan felt her grow even hotter and wetter against his manhood. Sunnild picked up on it too, asking the centaur, "Ya like that, love? Are ya picturing it in yer mind, seein' Aoife squirming an' beggin' fer me ta touch her?"

Aidan let Sunnild take over the conversation, returning his attention to her prior request to kiss her everywhere. He nuzzled her neck, then made his way onto her chest. Sunnild wriggled and tugged his head down, arching up in a wordless plea. Aidan obliged her, using his hand to lift her right breast up to meet his mouth.

"Mmmm," Sunnild moaned in approval. Then, "I don't hear an answer, love."

"Yes!" Brighid panted. "I want to watch you seduce her! I want to see you make her cum with your fingers and then watch while she licks you over and over. I want to see Aidan take her from behind, see those luscious tits and ass wobble with every thrust."

Aidan wrapped his lips around Sunnild's nipple and sucked it into his mouth. Her fingers tightened in his hair, holding him tight to her chest as her breath grew shorter. "All ya wanna do is watch?" she asked Brighid.

"No! I want that all for me too. I want to kiss her and hold her breasts and lick her pussy. I want to eat Master's seed from inside her. I want to feel her tongue on me, front and back. I want it all!"

"Greedy girl," Sunnild moaned, oblivious to the hypocrisy inherent in that accusation after demanding Aidan kiss her everywhere.

"I need more!" Brighid exclaimed, punctuating her remark with a rolling thrust backward against Aidan. "Please, Master, Mistress, I've been good! Please, please, fuck me! I beg you, please fuck me and let me cum for you!"

Aidan lifted his head from Sunnild's breast, letting her nipple escape his mouth for the moment. He looked up at the harpy and asked, "Should I?"

"Do it, then get back ta work! Ya aren't half-done with kissin' me yet."

Aidan chuckled at the mixture of lust and frustration in her voice. He shifted his hips backward, then reached down with his free hand and guided his tip to Brighid's hot, steamy entrance. "Please!" she begged again, "It has been so long, and I need you to take me with your big human dick! I need you to mount me and rut in me and fill my belly with your seed, please, please, Master, please now!"

Aidan teased her a few seconds longer, then thrust into Brighid's molten depths in one long, smooth thrust. Even before he reached full penetration, he felt her inner muscles clamp down and ripple all around him as her orgasm seized hold of her. Sunnild, not wanting to be left out, pulled his mouth back to her nipple, and Aidan sucked it back between his lips.

Both of his women moaned at the attention he gave them. Brighid's husky mezzo-soprano voice called out every time Aidan's hips met her rump, while Sunnild's warm soprano rose and fell more smoothly as his mouth sought out and found sensitive spots on her breasts. "More! Harder!" Brighid exclaimed while Sunnild whimpered, "Right there, lick me there!"

If Brighid wanted more, more she would get. Aidan brought his tail up between her legs, teasing her hard, throbbing clit with the tip before coating it with her overflowing lubrication. "Yes, love!" she cried, already knowing his intent. Brighid raised her tail onto her back, draping it across one of Sunnild's thighs and exposing her rosebud to him. Once the flanged tip was thoroughly coated, Aidan pressed it to her ass.

"Relax and let me in," he ordered the submissive centaur.

"Trying!" she panted. Aidan probed her rear entrance, sinking his tail a few millimeters inside Brighid before another contraction passed through her and forced him out again. Growing a little exasperated, he pushed hard and slapped her rump with an open palm. Brighid bucked up at the sensation, almost dislodging Sunnild with the unexpected movement, but it served Aidan's purpose.

"Oh, by Braihan, yes!" Brighid cried out as Aidan double-penetrated her. "Yours!" she exulted, "Every part of me! All yours!"

Not one to be left out, Sunnild scooted backward along Brighid's spine and pulled Aidan's head toward the juncture of her thighs. "Ya got two girls ta please, don't forget," she scolded him.

The position was awkward, but Aidan bent forward over Brighid's rump, kissed Sunnild's flat belly in apology, and then nibbled a path onto her exposed pussy. Sunnild's outer lips betrayed her arousal, flushed dark red and flowered open to tease a glimpse of the bright pink passage within.

"Ooh, yes," Sunnild cooed as Aidan's tongue slid between her lips. He wriggled it partway into her, then withdrew and sought out her clit, still partially covered by its hood. Sunnild's hips rose off Brighid's back at the sensation, and her fingers dug into his scalp. "Oh, yes!" she repeated.

Tapping into his Concentration, Aidan started creating Magic Hands to use on the two women. First came a pair of hands to maul Brighid's bouncing boobs. Aidan hefted them, feeling her flesh bulge between phantasmal fingers, reveling in the sheer weight and size of his Soulmate's bust. He stroked, kneaded, groped, and pinched her breasts and nipples, all to Brighid's loud approval.

Next, Aidan formed a copy of his dick. This he rubbed between Sunnild's lower lips even as he lapped at her. The magic of the ability meant that only Sunnild could feel the unreal appendage, so Aidan could continue his oral assault without hindrance.

The harpy's hips flexed and pumped in time with Aidan's ministrations, and before long, she begged, "Please, put it in me! I haven't had you inside in weeks! Please, love, I want you in me!" Aidan obeyed, his ephemeral erection sliding home inside Sunnild despite her attempts to clamp down around it.

For his fourth and fifth Magic Hands, Aidan created a pair of tongues. However, instead of being smooth like his own, he did his best to create a texture that mimicked Aoife's catlike muscle. These he applied to Sunnild's and Brighid's pussies, dragging the tiny spikes across their lips. They flinched and cried out in tandem at the sensation, then both of them arched and rolled their hips to increase the contact area.

"Oh, Braihan, is that...?" Brighid panted. "Fuck! So good!"

Aidan had one final Magic Hand in mind, but he needed permission before he used it, and he felt that Sunnild might need to get a little more worked up before she agreed. He left the cat-tongue lapping at her stiff clit and started to lay kisses along her inner thighs. Sunnild draped one leg over his shoulder in response, her heel digging into his back.

Both women moved in time with Aidan's thrusts, real and illusory. Sunnild clung to Brighid's heaving back with her wings and arms, her hips raised several inches above the copper fur and undulating in a quick, lustful rhythm. Brighid, forced to be somewhat restrained in her motions due to Sunnild laying atop her, still managed to thrust back to meet Aidan.

He fucked them like that for a minute or two, relying on his earlier orgasm and the control granted to him by his sexual skills to keep from ending things early. Once he felt that Sunnild start to climb toward her own peak, he slowed down a little and bit the soft flesh of her thigh to get her attention.

"There's something I've never done with you," Aidan told Sunnild. "Do you want me to do to you what I'm doing to Brighid?"

There was only cloudy confusion in Sunnild's gray eyes, so Aidan slid a hand up her leg to grasp her ass. He kneaded her firm muscles for a brief moment, then pressed his thumb to her rear entrance. Sunnild's eyes widened in realization. "Do you want to be mine everywhere, Sunnild?"

"You're so big," she panted, hips still thrusting into the air.

"That's not a no," he teased, pushing a little harder with his thumb.

"Will it fit?"

"He fits so gooood," Brighid moaned. "Let him take you, fill you full, so full!"

"That's his tail!" Sunnild hissed back, "not his dick!" Despite her protestations, the harpy wiggled and pushed back against his thumb.

"I can make it smaller," Aidan soothed Sunnild, "and I'll stop if it hurts."

"No," Sunnild said, shaking her head. Aidan felt a stab of disappointment before she clarified, "I want all of it. Do it!"

Aidan conjured another copy of his manhood with a grin and replaced the thumb at her back door with it. Although his Magic Hands appendages didn't need lubrication, being mostly not real, there was plenty to use anyway. Sunnild's groin, lower belly, inner thighs, and ass were all coated with the fragrant fluids dripping from her pussy.

Maintaining the rhythm of his thrusts into Brighid, Aidan eased off on Sunnild. He stroked her thighs and pressed his lips to her skin as the very tip of the incorporeal cock forced its way into her ass.

"Hnng!" Sunnild grunted at the intrusion. Her thighs scissored together, clamping down hard around Aidan's ears. Aidan eased off the pressure at her rear and resumed a slow pace with the imitation cock in her pussy. After a few seconds of that, Sunnild's thighs started to flex in time with the thrusts, then she rose to meet the next thrust. When her hips pulled back, Aidan pushed the second dick in a little further.

"Oh, gods, I'm so full," Sunnild panted. "You're so big in my ass."

"Do you want me to make it smaller?"

"Don't you dare!" As if to emphasize her words, Sunnild dropped her hips, impaling herself another inch. "Ohhh fuck, how can that feel so good? Aidan, oh fuck, Aidan, I'm not gonna last long. Please, I want all of you in me when I cum."

"Me too," begged Brighid, "pound me, fill me, please, Master, please fill me!"

"Yeah?" Aidan growled at them, picking up the pace with both. "You want all of me inside you? You want to cum all over me, front and back?"

"Yes!" cried Sunnild, the back and forth sway of her hips growing frantic.

"Yes!" shouted Brighid, her rump rippling with the heavy impact of Aidan's hips against her flesh.

"Then do it! Cum for me, both of you!" Aidan commanded, ramming his tail and all three cocks—one real and two phantasmal—as deep as they would go in their respective orifices. At the same time, he redoubled his efforts with the feline tongues on Sunnild's and Brighid's clits. Knowing that both of them were on edge, Aidan loosened his grip on his own pleasure, and the sudden sensation of fucking two rippling, clutching pussies and a virgin ass soon had him groaning along with them.

"Oh!" Sunnild shrieked. "Fuck! Fuck my bum! Oh fuck I'm cumming from my bum!" She convulsed, half-sitting then throwing herself backward, legs scissoring open and closed, back arched high and hips humping the air. Inside her, muscles pulsed around the fake dicks that brought her to her peak, attempting to empty it of its nonexistent seed.

"Cumming, cumming, cumming," Brighid chanted over top of Sunnild. "Fuck us, fill us, breed usssss!" Her inner walls seized tight around his cock, grip so firm that he had to grab hold of her rump for extra leverage to keep pumping into her. His tail, unable to take advantage of that support, could do nothing but undulate in tight circles inside the centaur's ass.

"Yes," Aidan hissed, feeling white-hot pleasure surging through him. "Here it comes, take it, take it, take it!" He buried his cocks inside three hot, tight, rippling holes and let loose. Involuntary muscle spasms caused him to hunch against Brighid's rump with every spurt of his seed into her womb, his body doing its best to ensure fertilization despite the futility of the action.

It took Aidan a few moments to gather his wits after the intense climax. When he was able to focus again, he found Sunnild curled up on one corner of the bed, still shuddering as glassy gray eyes stared at where Aidan's hips met Brighid's rump. Brighid, sensing his return to sanity, rolled her hips back at him.

"Are you finished with me, my Lord, or can I convince you to ride me again? I can never get enough of you, never be too full of you."

Her words eliminated any chance that Aidan would soften inside her. "You want more?" he asked, just to hear her answer.

"Yes, please, Master. I have been so long without you; please, do not stop now."

Withdrawing the Magic Hands he had dedicated to Sunnild's pleasure, he focused everything he had on Brighid instead. "As you wish," he said and started moving again.

AidanThirdday, 2nd week of the 10th month, Age of the Chosen 1Late Morning

When Aidan knocked on Ailis's door the next morning, he was only a little surprised when he found her wearing a sheer silk blouse. The fabric was only a little paler than the Druid's skin, but her rosy areolae were visible through the thin cloth. Aidan arched an eyebrow at her risque display, but Ailis paid him no heed.

"Good morning," she greeted him. "We have much to do, so please, take a seat." She patted a cushion in front of her.

Aidan's other eyebrow joined its brother, both climbing toward his hairline. Normally, they sat at the table along with a pile of books and paperwork. Not so today; there were only two tomes beside Ailis, and she sat in a clear space away from the table.

"What's the occasion?" he asked as he took his seat.

"I spent much of the time while you were away researching the task you set me to, my King. I believe I have a solution for you."

"Task?" Aidan asked, blinking, then remembered. "Oh! Really? You found a way for Brighid and me...?"

"I cannot be certain that it will work," Ailis cautioned. "This is theoretical spellcraft, and there are few volumes in my possession with any reliable information on the topic. That being said, I am as confident as I can be."

"Okay," Aidan said, "you have my attention. What's the spell?"

"We are going to turn you into a centaur," Ailis said with a smile. "Temporarily, do not worry. Even with your prodigious learning speed, you would not reach the necessary skill level for a permanent version before my daughter's cycle ended."

"Not that I want to be a full-time centaur, but couldn't you cast it on me?"

Ailis shook her head. "No. Transformation spells that are imposed from outside are always flawed in some way. We need the change to be perfect, especially on the genetic level, if you are to safely stud for Brighid."

"This still sounds like a high-level spell."

"It is," Ailis agreed. "I could not find a way to reduce it below Journeyman tier." Aidan blinked; that made it level 50 or above. "Are you up to the challenge of learning it in time?" Ailis smirked at him.

"You're damn right I am," Aidan grinned. "So what's with the setup? Shouldn't I just be casting as many Beast Magic spells as I can to train?"

"That is one way, but there is more for you to do than that. Like I said, the transformation must be perfect at every level. That is up to the caster as much as it is the spell, so we must make you an expert at polymorphic magic. You are fortunate that your very first Beast Magic spell is slightly transformative in nature, but Minor Shift will not be enough to train with. So, I am going to start by teaching you two new spells.

"The first is called Aspect of the Beast, and it allows you to change individual parts of your body. It is a spell with broad applications, so it will be useful to you beyond training. The second is named Barkskin; it is a Wood Magic spell that hardens your skin by turning it into a bark-like material."

"Woah, woah, wait. What makes you think I can learn Wood Magic?"

Ailis gave him a flat do you think I'm stupid stare. "Aidan, I am aware that I am not privy to all of your secrets. I do not blame you for keeping them from me. But, please, do not insult my intelligence. You have access to six schools that I know of. A six-path mage is unheard of. Literally unheard of, I checked my histories. And, yet, when I begged you to take control of Caer Macht to protect the Starchasers, you had complete confidence that you would be able to do so."

Aidan winced. Yeah, he hadn't been playing his cards as close to his chest as he thought. Whoops. Ailis continued, "And beyond that, you didn't even flinch at the thought of gaining thirty or forty levels in Beast Magic in a few short weeks. I can only speculate, but you must have a Trait that ensures an unnaturally high affinity for all magic schools."

Swearing to himself, Aidan hurried through the chant for Sound Barrier. Once it was up, he stared into Ailis's ice-blue eyes. "Can I trust you, Ailis? Are you ready to throw yourself in with me to the fullest extent? If I tell you this and word gets out, it will be the end of me—and, probably, everyone within a ten-mile radius of me."

"I have already sworn to be your Vassal, Aidan. What other oaths would you have me make? Have I not proven myself to you?" Ailis looked hurt, and Aidan couldn't blame her. Just the evening before, he'd told her that he trusted her, but now he was implying that she still didn't deserve to know his big secret. He let out a sigh.

"Alright, alright. Sorry, it's just... this is big. You'll understand in a second. So, you know that I'm a Chosen, right?" He didn't wait for her to nod. "Well, it turns out that every Chosen has a special, unique Trait. I guess it's to help us do whatever it is that our Patrons want us to do. Mine is called Limitless, and... it gives me a permanent 100 affinity with every skill in the world."

Ailis stared at him for a moment, uncomprehending. Aidan watched as her pupils suddenly shrank to pinholes and her eyes widened until he could see the sclera all around her irises. "Every... skill?" she asked, voice distant. "Permanent?"

Aidan nodded.

"Wrong," Ailis muttered. Aidan blinked, but she continued, "All wrong, have to rewrite the whole curriculum." Her gaze sharpened, and she glared at him. "We wasted so much time because you could not bring yourself to trust someone who cannot betray you! I have been teaching you entirely the wrong way! With a Trait like that, you are wasting time training everything a little bit at a time. You could make Grandmaster in a year, maybe less, in any skill! Argh! I have been working on Lore for a century, and you will reach Grandmaster before me!"

Then she stopped, mid-rant, and grew stock-still. "Aidan?" she asked, voice faint.

"Yes?" He wasn't sure what had stopped her, and he didn't like the way she was looking at him. She looked hungry.

"Any skill, you said? Does that include the Arcana?"

"Arcana?" The word sounded familiar to Aidan, but he certainly didn't have a skill by that name.

"The Arcana are the high magics, those used by the Powers and the Gods to work their miracles. They are so rare in mortal hands that we do not even know the names of all the skills. I do know one, though: Language of Origin. It is said that Language of Origin allows a mage to speak words in the language of the Gods that have a physical effect on the world and people around them."

Ailis's gaze bored into his, and she asked, "Does that sound familiar to you?"