Chapter 29

“What the hell do you mean, ‘Survive?’ What did you do to me?!”

“Your body will fill with magic, if you can’t get rid of it quickly enough then it will kill you,” said Kithana.

Still staring at the sprite, Kal remembered Ikuno getting drunk on magic after she gave herself to him and how she said humans went ‘POP!’ if they did the same. That aligned with Kelthor’s stories of the apprentices who couldn’t resist the urge to fill themselves with magic beyond what their bodies could handle.

The glowing tendrils began appearing beneath where he was holding his arm. Glancing over at the girls, he saw looks of horror on their faces as the blue glow made its way inexorably toward his elbow.

Kal jerked his head toward the forest, “You three need to get away from me.”

“What? No!” said Sera, shaking her head. “I’m not leaving.”

Growling in annoyance, he looked over their head, “Senshu, take them a safe distance away and keep them away from me.”

The six-armed lamia nodded as she grew in size, her hair turning silver again. Using the two top sets of arms she wrapped them around Sera on one side and Velt on the other then used the bottom set to pick up Graff. Turning around, she made her way back to the path they just came from with her unhappy passengers.

Kithana stared after the retreating lamia before looking over at Molo who was watching from a distance. “Did she just do what he told her without question?”

Equally surprised by the Senshu’s actions, the frog-girl just shrugged in response.

“Let me go!” screamed Sera as she and Velt tried to escape the sword maiden. Graff just drew in her arms and legs while trying to not look utterly terrified.

Senshu shook her head. “I’m only taking you out of harm’s way. But I suggest you don’t watch. If he fails, you don’t want to see what happens,” she said in her larger form’s deeper voice.

The gorgon stopped struggling, caught off guard by the sadness in the big woman’s tone. “You think he’s already dead,” she said accusingly.

The sword maiden nodded. “Father managed to survive one drop and it took hours for him to succeed. I don’t know if it is even possible for a human to survive three,” she said, putting them down.

“You want him to live,” stated Velt from her other side as Graff came over and hugged the vixen for comfort. The doe didn’t mind the large snake-woman as long as there was some distance between them. Being picked up and carried by the silver lamia left her shivering in fear.

“Yes. Though many of my sisters may feel differently.”

“Why?” asked Sera while looking toward Kal with a worried expression.

Senshu turned to watch the mage as well. “It has been said that you can tell a lot about a person by fighting them. I think how they act after defeating you is more telling of a person’s character. I have only been defeated a handful of times in a thousand years and your man was the first to be worried about me afterward.” The sword maiden chuckled, “And over something so silly too. Those cuts were little more than scratches.” She glanced down at the gorgon, “I would very much like to see him live.”

“What is he doing?” asked Velt.

“I am unsure, but he needs to start doing something soon or Kit’s magic will end him.”

“I think he is recharging his crystals,” said Sera, seeing where his hand was resting on the pouch.

“‘Crystals’... ? He has more than one?” asked Senshu.

Sera nodded, “He has four in that pouch,” she held up a finger, “about that big.”

“Four crystals ... did he say what quality they were?”

“Near-flawless I think.”

The sword maiden’s eyes widened. “Molo! Get away from there!” she yelled to the frog girl. “He has four high-quality crystals and he’s charging them all!”

The Molo’s eyes widened and she turned to run when Kal called out, “I’m not going to take anyone with me if I fail!” More quietly he said, “but these have given me precious time to think.”

Kithana seethed as she watched the mage pull the pouch with the mana crystals from his belt and throw it toward his companions. The man should be dead already. Instead, he was watching calmly as her magic slowly spread across his body.

Inside Kal’s head, his mind was anything but calm as it searched furiously for options to expend as much magic power as possible. This might be a lot easier if...

“Ria!”

“Yes?” said the avatar, flying towards him.

“I know I said I didn’t want to do this, but I need some of the energy you got from the will o’ wisp.”

“It’s about time,” she said. Waving her hand, a stream of tiny lights floated out of her bag and came toward them. The sprite grew a little in size as each one touched her body.

In a voice that was surprisingly soft and calm considering the fear welling up within him, he told the avatar, “If I’m wrong about this then tell the girls I love them and keep an eye on Perra and Talin for me.”

“Then don’t be wrong,” she said before floating forward and kissing him.

Seconds later she pulled back in surprise, “You were nearly back to full, that wasn’t much at all.”

“Good to hear, now go back to Sera.” His internal stores were filling fast despite doing his best to resist Kithana’s magic. “Please don’t be wrong,” he whispered as he allowed the magic to fill him.

The floodgates holding back the fae’s power crumbled.

Kal’s eyes glowed bright blue for the first time in months.

Dropping to one knee, he punched the ground and let out a pulse of magic that hit the onlookers like a blow to the chest. Energy popped and crackled as Prentas’s tower appeared to one side of the black sphere, the blast of energy disrupting the invisibility spell hiding it. Smirking at his confirmed suspicions and ignoring the surprise of those watching, he stood and spun around, looking at the earth beneath him. Finding his target, he drew the rune for the Strength spell in the air. Grabbing the glowing sigil, he turned it back toward himself before activating it. Except he didn’t just activate it, he dumped the sprite’s power into the rune. Pushed far beyond what it could handle, the spell shattered in a spray of sparks leaving a glowing afterimage in its wake. The healing rune on his back lit up as he repaired the fingers damaged from holding the small explosion.

“What?!” screeched Kithana but Kal paid her no mind as the fae’s magic quickly replaced what he used.

Reaching out with geomancy, he wrapped a large boulder deep below him in the magic tendrils and heaved it up to the surface in a spray of dirt, rocks, and a couple of trees that were unfortunate enough to be growing above it. Moving it to the side, he let the stone drop with a loud thump that he felt as much as heard. He was surprised at how big it turned out to be. The rock was half the size of his house but the overcharged strength spell made it feel much smaller.

Darting over to the boulder, he drew the telekinesis spell in the air then immediately began adding a second set of runes around the first, turning it into the more powerful version Ikuno showed him the night he had the vision about the flight rune. The spell itself was nearly worthless because of how stupidly inefficient it was. But along with his other extremely inefficient spell, featherfall, it might just be what saved him today.

Grabbing the spell floating in the air, he pointed it at the stone and activated it. It was one of the few drawn spells that a mage could feed more power into, and Kal was going to take advantage of that.

Placing his other hand on the stone, he activated the featherfall rune on his vambrace and pushed the magic into the large rock. The Greater Telekinesis spell became blinding as he poured magic into it. The mage was honestly surprised when the huge stone began rising into the air, but more importantly, the two spells were leaking magic badly, which was exactly what he wanted.

Shattering the strength spell and activating Greater Telekinesis put a dent in his natural reserves. But even with the massive amounts of mana he was using, he could feel the fae’s power continuing to fill him. Across his vambraces, the runes began to light up, strength, speed, stamina, haste, fire resistance, they all came to life along with his shield as Kal pushed them to their upper limit before needing to worry about burning the ink. He could sacrifice a rune by dumping power into it but after that, the leather beneath would be ruined and he would lose access to that spell. More importantly, he would lose access to that outlet for the Fae’s magic.

He couldn’t tell how many minutes had passed when he noticed the glow beneath his skin begin crawling up his other wrist. Kal stared at the blue streaks. With as slowly as he was absorbing Kithana’s magic, he had hoped to simply outlast the effects of the sprite’s fluids. But once it reached the tips of his fingers the only place left to go would be his head. Using his ability to control the flows of magic, he had been directing Kithana’s power away from his neck since he didn’t know what might happen if it got into his mind.

Looking at his vambraces, he realized there was one spell that he could afford to burn as it was the only one of his runes not made to be sustained in any way. Gathering all the excess power he could, Kal shoved it into the acclimation rune. With a flash and a loud crack, the corner of the leather arm guard with the small rune popped in a shower of leather fibers. Kal winced and immediately began healing where destroying the spell damaged his arm. The healing was complete sooner than he wanted, but that didn’t stop him from smiling as he looked at his hand. It was now clear of the blue glow.

Taking a chance, he pushed the haste and fire resistance runes a little harder then increased the size of the shield slightly until he found an equilibrium with the influx of fae magic. His smile got a bit wider as a purple arrow formed by his arm and slammed into the boulder he was holding. It was soon followed by another and another as quickly as he could cast them. Alone, each one didn’t use much magic, but with everything else, it was enough to start getting ahead of the power flowing into him.

Senshu glided up beside Kithana. “How?”

“I don’t know. Ikuno must have done something to him,” the sprite looked up at the silver lamia. “The power he is using right now would be enough to kill even you. A normal human would be spread all over the clearing or burnt to cinders already. I have no idea what that oni managed to do but I’d bet my left tit she is the reason behind this.” Kithana sniffed the air, “He isn’t even struggling.”

“That means...”

The sprite scowled up at the sword maiden, “Yes, it does. I’m putting an end to it, there’s no sense in dragging this out.” Her shoulders slumping in defeat, the sprite made her way toward the mage.

Senshu waited until the fae was halfway to the human before allowing a large grin to spread across her face.

“I don’t know if I would be doing that, Senny,” said Molo as she stepped up next to the sword maiden. “Kit is going to be pissed if she finds out you gave him hints.”

“She had the drops ready before we arrived, I’m guessing she already knows.”

Kal frowned as Kithana flitted into his field of vision. “I’m passing your test,” he stated, his voice strong with determination.

The sprite looked over at the Greater Telekinesis rune, “What an awful spell, but perfect for something like this. I find it curious that you and Prentas both used a variant of the same spell to shed your excess magic.” She looked over at the place where the large rock burst out of the ground, “Though I think he killed more trees.” Turning back to him she said, “I know you are passing my test, so I’m ending it here.” She held out her arms “Grab ahold of me and push the power back into my body. You’ve won.”

“If I don’t, how long will this last?”

Her wings flickering in the sunlight, she flew down and sniffed the hand he cut for the trial. “Not much longer.”

“Then I’ll wait,” he said, his eyes going back to the huge stone he was holding.

Kithana’s brow furrowed, “Why?”

“If I stop now there will always be the thought that maybe I would have failed if the challenge ran its course instead of letting you stop it early. That doubt will haunt me in the eyes of you and the other girls still here. I won’t let that happen.”

The sprite regarded him thoughtfully, “I can respect that, I’ll be back when my magic starts to wane.”

As Kithana returned to Senshu and sat down on the six-armed woman’s shoulder, the lamia asked, “I thought you were putting a stop to it?”

“He refused,” she answered, waving the mage’s companions over since there didn’t appear to be any danger of the human exploding anymore. “He thinks ending it early would hurt his legitimacy in our eyes.”

“He may have a point there,” said Molo. “I just mentioned to Senshu that some of our sisters are going to be very unhappy.”

“Hmph ... I’m unhappy,” said Kithana.

“We know,” the sword maiden replied, “but maybe this is a sign it’s time to move forward. Time to take our place in the world instead of hiding from it.” She looked up at the tower beside them, it had been years since something had disrupted the invisibility spell cast upon it. “I know Father wanted to protect this place but what good is a legacy if stays buried?”

“It’s a legacy that stays alive, even if unseen,” grumped the sprite.

Senshu’s expression hardened, “That’s a lie, Kit, and you know it. How many centuries has it been since we lost Rayla?”

The sprite frowned at the memory of the normally happy sheep girl running up to the top of the tower and launching herself off the parapet to land head-first on the large black sphere next to them. Even harder for the remaining monster girls was the note she left telling them that she had enough of this world and to not attempt to save her. Because of their nature, Kithana could repair damage to Prentas’s creations that would quickly kill a mortal. But once the mind was destroyed there was no coming back.

Rayla was the first, but hadn’t been the last.

“What are you saying?”

“That after a millennium of guarding Father’s tower we need a new reason to keep going.”

“Senny is right, Kit,” said Molo, refusing to meet their eyes. “I’ve thought about ending it a few times myself.” She looked up, “I’m going to trust Senshu about his character, these three seem to like him,” she said waving toward the gorgon, fox, and rabbit standing quietly nearby. “This could be good for us.”

“Love,” corrected Sera.

“You love him?” asked the sprite.

“And he loves me,” said the gorgon.

Kithana snorted in derision.

“I don’t think I would doubt that,” said Graff.

“If you think she’s lying then you should watch those two fuck,” said Ria.

“Ria,” Sera growled in warning.

“I’m just sayin’.”

“What of you two?” Molo asked Graff and Velt. “Does he love you too?”

Velt shook her head, “It’s not like that with us. Although I think he enjoys our company, in the bedroom and out.”

Ria flew up and hovered in front of the three immortals. “Before you start making judgments about Kal, I think you should learn a little more about him and how he got here. Kal and Ikuno found me deep in a cave...”

An immortal’s version of “not much longer” was very different from his. By the time the glow retreated to the hand where it started the sun was just resting on the treetops. Kal was dripping with sweat and ready for a nice long nap when it faded from the back of his hand. A second later the boulder hit the ground with a blast of air as the spell holding it vanished and his runes went dark. Turning around, the mage leaned against the rock where impacts from his arrows had cleaned its surface. Looking up at the now-visible tower then over the clearing, he noted that a few more of the original monster girls had arrived while he was preoccupied.

After a moment standing there, he slid to the ground with tears in his eyes.

Sera ran over and knelt next to him, “Are you okay, Kal?”

He waved off her concern, “I’m fine, it’s just that I can hear Perra and the others again.” At the gorgon’s surprised look he corrected himself, “Well ... not really hear ... but I can feel them again. I hadn’t realized how much I missed that.” Kal took a couple of deep breaths. “I’m just gonna ... rest for a minute,” he said before slumping to one side, unconscious.

“Kal? Kal!”

“Settle down,” said Kithana. “Human bodies aren’t made to withstand that much magic for that long. He will probably need a good rest after this. Bring him inside and take him upstairs to one of the guest bedrooms.”

After a moment’s hesitation Sera reached down and picked Kal up in her arms. Two steps toward the tower entrance she nearly dropped him.

“Sorry! Sorry!” she said, getting him situated as the others stared. With a sheepish smile, she explained, “The last time I carried him he wasn’t this floppy.”

Kal lay in the bed, awake but hesitant to open his eyes. He expected once the trial was over that Senshu and the others would want to have some time with him, but he wished they had at least waited until he woke up. Admittedly, there were worse ways to wake up than with his prick in a woman’s mouth. He started opening his eyes expecting to see Sera since this was her favorite way of waking him and also because she was just holding him in her mouth and not sucking.

As his eyes adjusted to the room’s light, he thought momentarily that he was correct but quickly realized the woman in the room with him was most definitely not the gorgon despite their hair looking vaguely similar. Her skin was tinted green and the hair coming from the top of her head was made of finger- to wrist-thick vines. One of which disappeared under the bedcovers. Completely nude, she sat in a chair at the foot of the bed with her legs crossed, casually reading a book.

“Um ... hello?”

The woman looked up then flipped a ribbon attached to the book’s spine over to mark her place. “Kal, correct? It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Oona.”

“Where are Sera and the others?”

“Downstairs somewhere, I’ll call them in a moment. How are you feeling?” she asked, moving the chair closer and picking up a small journal on the nightstand near his bed.

“Surprisingly good, I expected more of a backlash from Kithana’s test. Umm ... is that you?” he said pointing toward his groin.

Oona smiled, “Yes, I’m the reason you didn’t wake up in a puddle. You’ve been asleep for five days”

His eyes widened, “I’m so sorry! Wait, five days?!”

“Yes, Kithana and I believe that channeling that much magic damaged your body in a way that healing spells couldn’t fix. She was confident you just needed time to recover. I believe your bag of holding said you had an alarune as a lover?”

“Maybe I need to talk with her again about how much she tells people,” he grumbled. Shaking his head in bewilderment he whispered, “Five days ... it only feels like a few hours at most.”

“Don’t be too hard on her, the tales of her time with you have been quite stimulating for the mood around here and done a lot to soothe some of those upset about your victory. Regardless, I was wondering about your lover because we plant-types see that,” she nodded toward his crotch, “as just another source of water. I know from speaking with some of our daughters that they often offer something similar to their lovers if they are feeling particularly amorous and don’t want to let him go.”

“Actually, yes. Aradelle did do something like that the nights I stayed with her in her bulb. You’re sure it’s okay?”

“I’m positive. Now, before I get the others I want to ask you some questions about your experience outside,” she said, opening the journal and grabbing a bottle of ink and quill from a lower shelf. “You are only the second human to survive Kithana’s trial, though Father’s was an accident, not a trial. Any information you can give me about what you saw, heard, felt, or thought will be extremely useful.”

Kal shook his head, “Girls first. After five days Sera will never forgive me if I sit up here and answer questions before seeing her, then I’ll give you answers.”

“I’ll need to remember we are dealing with mortal timescales again. As you wish,” said Oona before standing and going over to the door.

“Do you all talk like that?”

“Like what?”

“So prim and proper. You sound more like a scholar than what people would expect from a monster girl.”

“Father prized intelligence. The first of us were so bent on sex they could barely talk, much less read. After that generation, we each needed to pick something to study when we weren’t taking a turn in the forest. A millennia later, it’s fair to say that we are all extremely well-read.” The vine sheathing his prick gave him a small squeeze before releasing him and shrinking to the size of the other strands on her head. “I’ll go get your companions.”

When they arrived, Sera and Graff curled up with him in bed as he answered Oona’s questions. Since both of his sides were occupied, Velt settled for a quick kiss and promise for some intimate time later before heading back out into the tower. Once she was done grilling the mage, Oona left them alone so he could get dressed for the big official announcement downstairs. After five days asleep he was only slightly weaker than usual but the faint glow from his strength rune had him back to moving normally.

Sera solemnly handed him Ria’s bag, “She lasted two and a half days before she had to go back. She wanted to be there when you woke up. We can get things out of her but found out you are the only one who can summon her.”

Kal took the bag and tied it onto his belt. He was pretty sure Ikuno could call the sprite but the scope of the oni’s ability to use Ria was much broader than Sera’s.

Ria immediately grew to her human size and threw her arms around Kal after he called her. Once she had settled down they made their way out to the tower’s long spiral staircase.

“It’s surprising how much the layout matches Kelthor’s tower but I suppose there are only a few ways to set up a circular structure like this,” mused Kal as he followed Sera and Graff down the steps.

The large bottom floor was set up as a receiving area for guests with lavish decorations, comfortable furniture, and a couple of bookshelves. Besides Velt, Senshu, Molo, Oona, and Kithana, nine other monster girls were situated in an arc with Kithana in the middle. As they reached the bottom stair, Graff went to stand next to the vixen while Sera took up a spot left for her next to Senshu.

“This looks a lot more official than I was expecting,” said Kal.

“I can’t do this,” snapped a harpy with jet black feathers before storming out of the room.

“Veir, come back!” Molo yelled after the woman.

“Let her be,” said Senshu, “we knew this would be harder on some of us than others.”

The mage was starting to get nervous, “What would be harder? What’s going on?”

Kithana held up a hand for silence before speaking.

“After Prentas cast the spell that created your companion’s ancestors, we came up with the three challenges to make sure that whoever entered the tower was worthy of the honor. Of those who made it past Senshu and Molo, none managed to live through my test. Which was exactly how I wanted it.

“You passed a test that would have killed Prentas.” There were gasps and looks of incredulity from some of the newer women around the room. “Do not think that makes you better than him!” the sprite snapped while glaring at Kal. “Prentas was a genius, while you, most definitely, are not.” Kithana sighed, “But you survived all three trials,” she flew down and picked up a ring off one of the nearby tables before holding it out to him. “Which means you are now the master of the tower.”

A shorter woman with gray fur covering her body, mouse-like large rounded ears, and naked tail sobbed and turned around, unable to watch. Oona stepped over to console her.

“But ... I didn’t come here to take over the tower,” Kal stammered, taking a step back. “I just wanted to finish my flight rune. I have a farm, and a family, and plans ... and I have to meet Ikuno. I can’t stay here to look after this place.”

Molo looked up at Senshu. “Did he just turn down Father’s tower for a farm?”

“From Ria’s stories, there’s more to it than that. But yes, I think he did,” the lamia answered.

“No! Wait! I’m not turning it down,” he said hurriedly. “You may be giving it to me, but I won’t be able to be here to keep an eye on it. You may not see me for years at a time.”

“How is that any different from what you told Perra and Kuto and all your other monster girl lovers?” Ria chimed in.

Kal was at a loss for words, “Not much I suppose.” He got the impression the avatar chose her words carefully from the way some of the women were looking among each other in surprise. One of those was the mouse who had turned around and was looking to the three mortal women for verification.

Kal stepped up to Kithana. “Just so everyone understands that not much is going to change around here.” He picked up the ring and gave all the original monster girls a stern look, saying, “I may be master of the tower, but that doesn’t mean that I’m the master of you.”

The women stared at him for a moment before Senshu threw her head back and guffawed. Many of the others tried to stifle their titters and giggles.

“I appreciate what you are trying to do, as do the others,” said the sword maiden while glancing at those around her. “But if a king conquers a new castle then he gets the wall around it and whatever catapults or ballistae were left behind. We were made to be the defenders of Father’s property, owning it includes owning us.”

“I don’t like this ... I had to take control of some dog girls for a rescue and I hated being their master, even though it was only for a few hours.”

“I’ve heard enough,” came a voice from the door.

“Veir? I thought you left,” said Oona.

“I did, but I knew this was happening with or without me,” snapped the harpy, striding over to Kal. Using the three fingers situated at the joints of her wing, she snatched the ring out of his hand with one and grabbed his wrist with the other. Without any fanfare, she jammed the ring onto one of his fingers. By the feel of it, the ring nearly took the top layer of skin along with.

Spinning around. she made her way to the door followed by the stunned gaze of everyone in the room. Lifting a wing she said, “Be sure to come back once a year at least so we don’t have to wait for ages between getting some dick.” Stepping outside, she slammed the door behind her.

A moment later the crystals embedded in the ceiling came to life, brightening the room as the lock on the door clicked.

“Well!” said Ria, loud enough to make a few of them jump. “Now that that is all taken care of, which of you ladies is going to be the first to bounce on Kal’s dick?”

The mage covered his face and groaned.

“No, Kal, you have to walk before you can run. You aren’t Prentas,” snapped Kithana. The beginnings of the mage’s flight rune were laid out on the library’s large central table and surrounded by open tomes and grimoires.

Prentas’s library looked much like Kelthor’s except for being bigger and not having the handy search globe in the middle. Were it not for the fact that Kelthor commissioned his tower himself and Prentas’s was built over a thousand years ago Kal would have sworn the same people designed it.

“I know damn well I’m not Prentas. You remind me of that fact at least three times a day,” replied the mage through gritted teeth.

“If you do not learn these spells, runes, and glyphs then you will be flitting over some mountaintop when your magic runs out and all your work will be for nothing when you end up a smear on the ground. Now quit arguing with me and study the damn spells!” said the sprite, pointing at the book in front of him.

“How do you know so much about this rune anyway? You can already fly, what reason would you have to even look at something like this?

“Because I gave it to you, you ignorant twit! Specifically, I gave it to Ikuno. It was embedded into the compatibility enchantment she put on your cock. She must have seen quite some potential in you to cast that spell.”

“Actually, no,” he mumbled.

“What was that?”

“It was only the second time I went to see her and offered my services as her ‘servant.’ At the time, I think she just wanted a man more suited to her size. I understand she had been making do with the occasional bandit and I can’t see her wasting the spell in a man condemned to die.”

“So ... you didn’t even know magic yet?”

“It was the day I asked her to teach me. It wasn’t until a while later that I had the vision of the flight rune.” The mage scowled at the parchment laid out in front of him, “I knew it wasn’t mine ... dammit.”

“How did you know?” asked Kithana.

Kal tapped a spot in the rune, “I’ve never seen these glyphs before.”