Chapter 40

Camilla sat on the soft bed, her naked butt pressing down into the quilt below, wrinkling it and likely staining the clean fabric. At her insistence, I approached, sitting down just beside her. Her legs shifted slightly open, the left one pressing up against my bare skin as I sank down into the mattress. It was a struggle to not just stare down at the big cock in her lap.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, as her arms slid around my back.

Gently she pulled me closer so that our shoulders touched, and each of us leaned against the other. My eyes became caught onto her long black hair as I peeked subtly over. It flowed down around her pointed ears, curving downward much like the shadows that so often covered her body.

“Umm, good,” I mumbled.

“I… wasn’t too rough, was I?” Her tone was like a soft tranquil stream compared to the commanding force that always seemed to pervade her — a relaxing breath of air after the intensity from before.

“Perhaps a little rough,” I admitted. “Though, I think I did enjoy it.” That was somewhat of an understatement; I definitely enjoyed it. In fact, if I were being truly honest, I wanted more. Having my face fucked by someone wasn’t something I’d ever considered doing before or imagined myself being into. Yet here I was, my jaw feeling just a tad sore, the strangely spicey taste of her cum still lingering in my mouth, and a small smile on my face. It would be a lie to say I didn’t love it. But I was a little too embarrassed to admit it out loud.

“We should do some exploration to find out what things you do and don’t enjoy. And perhaps take some time to discuss it between us. It’s important to know what our boundaries are.”

“I — umm, yeah,” I muttered. This was unfamiliar territory for me. I wasn’t used to talking about sex, in much the same as I wasn’t used to taking part in it. But it made sense that people would talk about it when you were actually doing it with each other, regardless of how odd and unfamiliar the idea felt to me.

“That can come later, though. You’re still horny aren’t you?” Her shoulder gave me a small nudge, and I glanced over to her face to find that she was staring pointedly at my lap.

I blushed and looked down at the still-hard cock between my legs. As I shyly nodded, she continued, “Now might be a decent enough time to teach you about your core, then. As well as walking you through how to find it.”

I eyed her, slightly confused. Against my will, my gaze flickered down to her breasts before fully meeting her eyes. For some reason, I still felt a bit shy about our nudity, despite everything we’d just done.

Her hand shifted to rub my back. “I've told you a little about what it means to be Marked already, and I believe you've read a bit about it at this point, as well. But I believe I should give a fairly thorough explanation, just so that you have a clear picture.” She smiled over at me, and my stomach flipped at the unfamiliar look of excitement. “So to begin, there is only one known way to become Marked, that being coming into contact with what we call lezun. It's a secretive, black, and oily substance, the very substance that you came into possession of that fateful day in my room. We —and by 'we,' I mean myself and the few other Marked that I have known— believe that it is created from lesei, or at the very least is related to it. How it is made and where it comes from is a heavily guarded state secret, but the similarity between the two is too obvious to ignore. Even their names are similar, though that may be intentional — a way to throw off anyone trying to recreate it.”

I nodded. The similarity in appearance and name had occurred to me, or perhaps it had been mentioned somewhere in what I'd read? Either way, the comparison was obvious and made the town's lesei mine that much more valuable in my mind. Lesei was known to be magical, hence why it was so valuable as a fuel source. It outperformed coal by leaps and bounds and was how the massive trains and heavy motos were able to function in the first place. Not to mention that it was why towns like this one existed so far out into the wastes and close to the Deadlands. We were lucky to not be closer to the Empire's border, where even the smallest towns had sentinels guarding atop large outposts and thick walls. So I'd heard, at least.

But even knowing how similar the two substances were, it was difficult to really accept that one came from the other. I'd been around lesei all my life, and while it was said to be magical, it had never really felt particularly so to me. In a town like this, it was everywhere, an ever-present part of life. For those who worked in the mines, even more so. They would come home covered in the stuff day after day — to the point where many would eventually become chronically sick from it and unable to work, eventually sending out their sons in their stead. It was difficult and dangerous work, but it was the backbone of our town, keeping us all alive and thriving. How could something that felt so normal to me be what an absurdly magical and dangerous substance like lezun came from?

“Only a few people know how it is made then?”

“Just one person,” Camilla clarified. “Or at least, so it is said. An unknown man that many refer to as The Alchemist, believed to be the oldest Marked in existence. I have my doubts since he would have to be over a hundred years old by this point, and most of the Marked do not make it to their thirties,” she said ruefully. “I've heard rumors that there are other Marked far to the north in the Tharpori Kingdom, but I couldn't say. Most of my life has been very sheltered.”

“Tharpori Kingdom?” I asked. “I thought there was nothing north of the Empire except savages and bandits?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Surely you're joking? The kingdom to the north is the only civilization that the Empire has yet to conquer.” Squinting she asked, “Admittedly, they're very far away from here, but you should have at least heard of them. Did your father or whoever taught you these things not tell you about them?”

I blushed and looked down in embarrassment. “The priest here, Callan, taught us most of our lessons on history and things growing up. He always said there was nothing important up there. Just bandits and the like.” Did my father know about the kingdom, I wondered? I couldn't remember him mentioning them. Or perhaps he had and I'd just assumed they were a people of the past. He'd always been a fair bit more interested in nearly-forgotten and lost histories, periods before the Empire's formation, rather than modern people and places.

Camilla rolled her eyes. “The Temple would just say they were nothing but savages and leave it at that. They've always been stuck up the Empire's ass. And I believe the people up there might worship differently, which I doubt the Temple views very kindly.” Eyeing me she said, “We may have to do something about your education at some point. Whenever we get out of this mess. But back onto the subject at hand, I don't truly know how many people know about the process to make lezun. In either case, the liquid is exceedingly rare and heavily controlled.”

“What is it exactly? I mean, how does it give you a Mark and a core?” I interrupted her, my curiosity getting the better of me.

“That's one question no one can really agree on the answer to. Some believe that it pulls power from elsewhere, like some kind of dark and magical realm. I imagine you had an experience much like my own after you touched the lezun, being pulled out of your body and somewhere else and having to claw your way back out.” She paused, as though remembering her own experience with it.

I shuddered. It wasn't something I was likely to forget.

It occurred to me that it was something I could ask her about, now that I was no longer keeping such things a secret. “What was that?”

Her hand slid between my arm and down to my leg, giving me a gentle pat. “I'm not sure for certain, but it's something we all experience. As I hinted at already, some have suggested it is some kind of other-realm, a dark and dangerous place. I'd at least prefer to believe a much less popular theory, that it's a glimpse at something awakening inside of us. I think that all humans have the capacity to become sorcerers already within them. We just need the right push to begin the process. Rather than creating something completely new, I can't help but wonder if we all have a dormant core already there hiding within, waiting for some kind of catalyst to awaken it. It's a more optimistic view, I'll admit, but also a lot less outlandish than it all coming from some theoretical 'other realm' that we know nothing at all about. And I think much of the fears and dark rumors built up around the Marked are just propaganda and fear-mongering.”

I could see the appeal of her thoughts. It painted the Marked in a much more positive light than the other theory, as though rather than a curse it was simply a natural part of us. I wasn't truly sure what to think, but I couldn't help but find myself leaning more towards the first idea. The experience just felt too strange and foreign to seem like something that could come from me.

Camilla continued her lessons, interrupting my thoughts. “Once you're Mark forms and your core begins to pull in mana, you enter what many call the first stage of cultivation. To begin with, your core isn't truly formed. It's more like a small seed, only just beginning to spread out its roots and gather mana.” Her hand came up to my chest. “Some compare the core to the heart, like a sort of ethereal organ that supports the flow of mana throughout the body and eventually beyond it. But to start with, it must develop and fully form into place, and for that, it needs a lot of mana.”

That made sense and matched what I'd read. The big question was —

“How do I get more mana, then? I remember reading that the body naturally gathers it but that there were other better methods too.”

“The question of how to obtain more mana is one every sorcerer ponders and searches for an answer to. To begin with, there are easy answers and more difficult ones, but none that are truly complete. The first method of gathering mana is quite simple. As you said, the body has its own natural methods of enticing a person to give it what it needs. For some, that is as simple as relaxing beneath the rays of the sun. But for me, and if I haven't completely misread things, for you as well, it is sexual pleasure that we are pulled to when our bodies become low in mana. It brings about a state of mind that aligns the mind, body, and soul, allowing mana to be pulled in from the environment around us and toward our core. I imagine your lust has been a bit ferocious as of late?”

Her fingers slid up my leg, stopping inches away from my hardened cock. Flushed as I was, and staring down at the hand so close to touching me, I could only nod in response.

Camilla smiled. “It's your core's way of getting what it needs.” She gave my leg another gentle rub, and I shuddered.

“F-for a while, I didn't have any issues at all. But lately, it's been...” I hesitated, and the words came out in a whisper. “It's been getting a lot worse,” I admitted.

The sorceress hummed. As her fingers shifted forward, slowly wrapping around my cock, I felt like I was going to faint.

“I have a theory about that, actually. Or rather, a suspicion. How much of that vial did you take in?” Her words were casual, but they still felt different with her hand wrapped around my member below.

“I didn't drink it or anything. It just spilled on me,” the words came, blurting out.

She brushed aside my concern with a wave of her other hand. “It doesn't work like most liquids. Just coming into contact with it will cause your body to absorb it. Did the entirety of the vial spill onto you?”

The questioning stare she turned to give me made me freeze up. “Umm, not all of it. Some of it hit the floor too.”

She hummed. “We can assume that a significant portion of it still made its way inside you, regardless. Lezun works not simply as a catalyst for your core but is also a very potent source of mana. When I first received my Mark, it was by taking in only a tiny drop of the substance. Our mentors did not want to waste it on us when many of us would not make it through the year. You on the other hand came into contact with a large vial full of it, meaning that all that concentrated mana inside of it flooded inside of you.” The fingers around me gave a small squeeze, and I jumped slightly from my seat on the bed.

“O-oh,” I stuttered. “So that's why it's only recently been affecting me. All that mana is gone then?”

“Yes.” she scowled. “And largely wasted, I expect. Your core is new and without you being able to properly channel mana into it intentionally, most of the mana within you has gradually left your body and faded back into the environment. Truly, it's too bad that I didn't have some variety of mana-sight or any other way to see just how oversaturated with the stuff you were. I could have perhaps begun your training much earlier.” Her frown slid up into a small smile as she glanced away, staring off into the air. It was a strange thought, considering how she had just earlier been trying to convince me to suppress my growth. “That would have been something to see. With any luck, you might have even made it out of the core-formation stage by now.” She sighed and shook her head.

“Sorry,” I muttered out.

It occurred to me just how badly I'd messed up. Not just by taking her lezun from her, considering just how valuable it seemed to be, but then also by not taking advantage of the clear boon that I'd stolen. I'd put myself in this dangerous position, practically setting the both of us up to be caught and condemned by the Praevus. It was only by luck, really, that I hadn't outed myself to him during our first meeting. I had been so concerned with stopping the curse and helping Lena, that I hadn't really bothered to properly consider telling Camilla about it all. Of course, I hadn't trusted her then like I did now. When I met her, she was still just an evil sorceress in my mind and I'd been keen to rid myself of this curse. As much as I might have now wished I'd been open with her from the start, it was with the benefit of hindsight. I just couldn't help but lament what terrible luck it was to find out that the thing I now wanted, a way to quickly become stronger, had been in my clutches from the beginning only to have slipped away over time.

“It matters little at this point. I just hate to know that so much of it was wasted,” Camilla said, apparently having similar thoughts. “We must each make do with the hand we are dealt, however.” Turning back to face me, her intense eyes held my own. “Even with all of that said, I imagine judging from your features, that your core is already most of the way to being fully formed, something that would be normally impossible over this short of a period of time without developing a truly excellent connection with your core and ability to pull mana into it. Or, I suppose, being bathed in truly excessive amounts of mana.”

“So then it wasn't all completely wasted?”

“Not entirely. Though with the amount of mana you likely had inside you, someone with a bit of cultivation experience could have been well out of the core-development stage and close to completing the body-development stage, the next one. Perhaps even breaking beyond it, though it's all a bit more complicated than simply having the mana needed.”

I bit my lip and opened my mouth to mutter out another 'sorry' once again before Camilla pressed a finger to my lips.

“No apologies needed. It was an accident, and I do not begrudge you for hiding it from me. I would have hidden it as well, and likely still would be keeping it a secret were it me in your situation.” She gave me a soft smile. “I'm just glad you came to trust me enough to eventually tell me so that I can try to keep you safe.” Her expression wavered, and I realized how self-doubting she was in her ability to do so.

Camilla's finger left my lips, and I gave her a hesitant smile back. “We'll be alright. I believe in us. Together, the four of us will come out of this alive and stronger than ever.”

“I wish I had your confidence, Pearl. Truly.” Fingers moved up to rub against my hair and small ears.

I huffed. “I believe we were talking about, umm.”

“Ah, right. Your growing lust.” My cheeks reddened, and she continued, “Yes, I imagine the mana from that lezun you absorbed is long gone by this point. And worse, it has served to set up your body's expectations for the amount of mana it should be receiving.”

“Oh. Is that, umm, bad?”

“In theory, it could be a great boon to you. Were you to spend the entirety of your days cultivating and properly drawing mana into yourself, you could potentially rush through growing your core and then developing your body, afterward. As you are now, however, not knowing how to properly channel the mana towards your core, it will complicate things for you.”

My eyes widened, worry rushing through me as I wondered just what consequence it might have for me.

Meanwhile, Camilla continued, “Yes, I imagine trying to suppress and hold back your development would have been a somewhat fruitless endeavor. Though, it might have been fun to try.” Her smile twisted up into a somewhat wicked grin.

“W-what is it going to do to me?”

She leaned her face forward, bringing it inches away. Her eyes stared deeply into mine with a small spark of amusement shining within. The smirk didn't leave her face.

“That should be obvious, shouldn't it? With a core that expects a highly-saturated environment of mana and that is essentially sending these expectations to your mind and body...”

My mouth became a bit dry. “I w-will —” The words struggled to leave my lips.

“...become fiercely, perhaps even intolerably, horny. Something I believe you've already begun to feel the effects of.” Her hand slid up the inside of my leg once more, leaving behind a trail of tingles as she brushed against sensitive skin.

“Oh.” Things couldn't ever just be simple and easy for me...