“I need actual armor, Achilles,” Jerome said, fighting off the puppets as they came at him. They were now aiming for the exposed parts of his body: his head, feet, and hands.

“Of course, Xerae. I made you that as something comfy for when you sleep. It was never meant to be armor.”

Jerome chuckled, thinking about the armor-like defenses of the robe. “Thank you for putting my safety and comfort into consideration. But I need armor. And boots.”

Achilles chuckled. “When you’re done, Xerae.”

Jerome cursed. He had been defending since the melee started. The puppets were like smarter versions of the Children. No matter how much he sped up, they forced him to slow down. They were in control of the battle and their control was getting tighter as they squeezed him into a corner.

The battle went on for another thirty minutes or so, with Jerome trying hard and failing to get out of the corner. He needed to find a weak link. The samurai came at him together with the armored warrior wielding the great sword forcing him to focus on them, but the puppet wielding the whip from a distance on his left side didn’t give him a chance to move towards her.

Jerome’s back touched the wall and he had to call back his blades to defend him. Spinning his spear around to deflect a series of attacks from his assailants, he gathered his essence ready to shoot a laser attack once his blades made it to him.

The army of spiders quickly formed a wall, stopping his blades from reaching him. That annoyed him, but also excited him — he had found the weak link. He took a deep breath sucking in essence from the air like a black hole would devour matter in space, and in one swift motion, he parried the great sword and stretched his hand.

Time seemed to slow down for him as he saw the warrior move to his other side — the puppets were going to make him work for it. A small ball of blue flame appeared in front of his outstretched hand, bathing the whole room in blue as the essence in the air spiked and sizzled.

A lance of blue laser blasted the wall of spiders apart, pushing everything in the way aside. Jerome took off out of the enclosure. A giant sword came at him from one side and a paw and a whip from another. The samurai didn’t recover as quickly as these, it seemed.

He shot forward still and flipped, spinning midair to squeeze himself horizontally through the tiny little opening. At the same time, he commanded his long blades to spin out in all directions as he hadn’t set his eyes on the assassin since the battle began. It had just vanished into thin air. If it was going to attack him, this was its best chance to do so.

The giant snake opened its mouth and clamped down on Jerome's shoulder. It followed Jerome’s counter-clockwise direction as it spun itself around him midair, constricting his movement as they both fell. The runes on the walls glowed red for a second and an alarm blared off.

“You lose, Xerae.”

“Yeah,” Jerome let out a long breath. “I forgot about the snake. Can you let me go now?” The snake uncoiled itself from him and its body fell apart. Jerome looked all around him and found the rest of the puppets falling apart. The arrays around the training grounds lit up and whisked the nanites away.

“That was beautiful, Xerae. Intense.”

“You should have seen the battle with the Children of Dashani,” Jerome said with a smile. Since he now knew who the Mother was, there was no point calling her Mother. It was an insult to Mother Nature.

He looked at the spear in his hand and spun it around appreciatively. From his training with the puppets, he had been able to sense some of the things it was capable of doing. He didn’t activate them since he wasn’t fighting real opponents.

“I gotta ask, Achilles.” Jerome said, “Why does the spear feel so much like Suzie?”

“I watched you absorb a hook during your captivity, Xerae,” Achilles said. “I’d take it Suzie can absorb other metals?”

“Yes, she can.”

“Then you must have absorbed a mine of Mythril when you were in the night of Terra Praeta. Mythril is one of the toughest metals in Terra Praeta.”

Jerome’s mind flashed to the ore he absorbed when he was in the night of Terra Praeta with team Itakar. “That was Mythril?” Jerome said thoughtfully, “Interesting, coz I didn’t feel Suzie change.”

“Interesting,” Achilles said, reading the memory.

“Hedon must be closer now, right?” he asked.

“Yes, Xerae.”

“What’s the spear called?”

“Your veritable self would have to do the naming, Xerae.”

Jerome snorted. “I called my last weapon Suzie. Still want me to name the weapon?”

Achilles chuckled at that. “I’d wait to see just what the spear can do, Xerae. It has a very complex core for your world’s level of knowledge.”

“Why am I not surprised,” Jerome said, caressing the spear like a lover. He noticed the skin on his hands was starting to peel off. Though, he was still a long way from becoming whole. “And how about that armor?” he asked.

The portal array lit up beneath his feet and Achilles transported him to the 3d printing chamber.

“I worked on this while you were creating the void space.”

A suit of armor glided towards him in the air and stopped next to him. Jerome eyed the boiled leather appreciatively. There were many other robes hovering in the air with the armor, even trench coats and suits for various weather and occasions. Jerome chuckled at that. Whatever would he need an English suit for? This wasn’t earth and people would just look at him like an alien…or crazy.

“Oh. It’s a coating,” Jerome said as he touched the armor still hovering in the air.

“Yes, Xerae. The metal underneath is made from Mythril, which would work seamlessly with Suzie. Your spear is made from the same metal. As were the puppets.”

“The puppet felt heavy to my senses, but they weren’t that heavy when I blocked attacks or pushed back,” Jerome said thoughtfully.

“Oh, they are heavy, Xerae. Mythril is very heavy metal. You’re just more powerful than you used to be. Just so you know, you have to bond with the spear and the armor.”

“I thought I already bonded with the spear, though,” he picked the cuirass out of the air and weighed it in his hand. The rest of the armor followed the cuirass, though, making him smile. He could sense that the armor was quite heavy, yet it was light in his hands.

“You communed with it so it could accept you,” Achilles said. “Now you have to accept it.”

With a small poking of his skin—which took more effort than before—he touched his finger to his new armor. The armor imploded into gas and rushed into Jerome’s body. The same thing happened with the spear.

“Amazing!” Achilles exclaimed. “You know, Xerae. As your guardian, I’d be honored if you grant me one wish.”

Jerome snorted. “Why do I sense trouble coming all of a sudden?” He absorbed the other garments into his void space save the ones he chose to wear. There were also boots, socks, and underwear hovering in the air. The latter made Jerome blush as he put on one, and a pair of socks. He hadn’t worn decent underwear since he was reborn.

Jerome went through the motions of changing his robes as he listened to Achilles’ rant. He also took out every valuable item inside his spatial ring, cataloged them, and transferred them into his void space.

“At least you don’t have to use the loo all the time. Imagine not being a sacred artist but a mere mortal.”

Jerome scrunched his brows. He was grateful for that. “Nobody says loo here, Achilles.” The idea of running water in an outhouse to the Royals was preposterous. He had asked.

Activating the portal array, he portaled himself to Csala, disappearing from the training ground and appearing beside Csala.

“Have you made up your mind?” he said, causing the succubus to jump in fright. “I’m guessing you’ve never had someone sneak up on you before.”

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Csala rose up from her mat and cleared her throat, her face burning from embarrassment. He had hit the nail on the head with those words. No one had truly ever been able to sneak up on her, and twice the bastard had done it.

“What do you want in return?” she asked.

Jerome was a little surprised at that. He had expected her to refuse him, he quickly schooled his features though.

“You’ll teach me everything you know about wielding psychic energy…everything,” he emphasized.

“Huh. The voice of the mountain said it’ll teach you,” Csala said, a little surprised.

“Of course, he would,” Jerome smiled at her. “Which means I wouldn’t be needing you anymore, would I? Why should I take you with me then?”

“I’m not falling for that, Jerome,” Csala said. “I’m a lot older than I look so don’t think you can fool me.”

“Well then, good luck,” Jerome said, ready to fly out of the mountain.

“Wait!”

Jerome couldn’t help the smile that blossomed on his face, making him look like an undead villain straight out of a horror movie.

“I’ll teach you,” Csala said, her voice tight from anger. She was ready to punch his face in, seeing the smile on it. She pulled out robes from her spatial ring and after she was decent she looked him in the eyes with her face red from anger, “Lead the way, and you better deliver on your promise,” she said through gritted teeth.

Jerome inspected her dress shaking his head. She had prepared well. She had on a red silk robe and red boots lined with fur, topping it with a winter coat—which was also red—and had a hood big enough to cover her face, also lined with fur at the edge. The winter coat was lined with enough fur to keep three people warm. The outfit was decent but would draw the attention of others like bees to honey.

Putting his arm around her waist, Jerome shot into the air. The moment his feet left the mountain he disappeared.

~~~

They appeared a few feet above the forest, thousands of miles away from the mountain, and continued flying. They flew West at a leisurely pace and Jerome made small talk with Csala to calm her anger. They talked about the races that existed on Terra Praeta.

Jerome knew some of this information, but it was better to placate her than let her remain angry and devise ways to sabotage any future plans. Csala didn’t talk about the succubi or their closely guarded secret—their union with the opposite sex and the Life Bond that comes with it. No memory stone could reveal that to him as not even the fae knew about it – at least to Achille’s knowledge. But Achilles was no ordinary AI and he had found out millennia after the Fae went extinct.

Jerome didn’t reveal to her that he knew though. And he promised not to reveal it to any other soul. This was one of the reasons why he hadn’t taken her since he found out the truth about their race. And according to Achilles, there was no way around it. No one would love to be chained to someone else, losing all thoughts of self-preservation and self-interest.

He shook his head absently as she talked about the naiads—a race of water nymphs who lure men and steal their vitality with a kiss. They were almost as beautiful as the succubi. Almost. Jerome rolled his eyes at that. The naiads had pale skins since they lived in rivers and lakes, with little to no sunlight. They weren’t as strong—both mentally and physically—as the succubi. Their singsong voices, a captivating melody that has ensorcelled many outworlders, was their only true weapon. When they kiss you, you lose a little bit of vitality, but the kiss is so good, you want to continue it.

They flew for days without stopping, passing over mountains and valleys as they did. They came across other teams but flew by not bothering to stop. Jerome didn’t recognize many of the teams. But one such team he recognized from their rough-looking appearance. They traveled with about a dozen wolves with them and as he focused his senses on the wolves they looked up at him alert and with eyes filled with intelligence, and wariness. Somehow he knew that those weren’t normal wolves.

He looked away but didn’t increase their speed so as not to look like he was fleeing.

“They are huge!” Csala remarked as she gawked at them still. “Do you know them?”

Her question brought him back to the now. That and, he quickly became aware of the suppleness of her body and his member responded. Csala gave him a wary look and he looked away clearing his throat.

“Not exactly. But I know what they are,” he responded.

Csala relaxed at that. “I’ve never seen ones as big as that. They are like the unbound,” Csala said, and Jerome looked at her, puzzled.

“The unbound?”

“Hmm. Long ago there was a race that didn’t bow to the fae as others did. I don’t know what they were called then, but the Fae increased their burden a thousandfold after they enslaved them. They were stubborn and prideful.

“They fought against the Fae for many years before they were completely defeated. Their race was reduced to a handful with that. It is said that they could take the form of predators. Or perhaps they were predators that could take the form of bipedal beings. It was not known.

“But what we do know was that they were huge and muscular. Very hairy too. They moved in packs like moon howlers…”

“Wolves,” Achilles supplied.

I know. Jerome replied, rolling his eyes.

“...Then again, perhaps moon howlers are their descendants. After the fall of the fae they became unbound from their oath. Hence the name unbound,” Csala concluded.

“That’s quite the story,” Jerome said. “We call these guys Shapeshifters—shifters for short. They absorb the cores of magic beasts; mostly felines and lupines. And it makes them stronger.

“Perhaps the different genetic limiters cancel out each other as the two genes mix, making them grow bigger than usual…” Jerome trailed off in thought.

Csala looked at him like she was seeing him for the first time as she clearly didn’t understand what he was saying.

“We’re coming up on Hedon and his team,” Achilles said. Jerome decreased his altitude and slowed down. He looked in a particular direction and flew off.

“What is it?” Csala asked. She didn’t like the look he had in his eyes now. He looked like he was out for blood.

“Old grudges,” was all Jerome responded with.

“Don’t get yourself killed,” Csala said. She was putting her hopes in him now. She couldn’t have him dying before he fulfilled his promise.

Jerome landed at the top of a tree seventy-five feet off the ground. He scanned to check for predators and other sacred artists from their world. There were quite a few predators, distributed inside the vast forest based on their territories. Many of which were felines dozing off in the trees. He took a deep breath and sat down on the branch to meditate.

The team of Sprouts Jerome was waiting for was still a few hundred steps away from his position. But he could hear their voices loud and clear as they talked about having just a cycle and twenty-five days left before everyone was transported out of Terra Praeta.

Hmm. Can’t believe I spent so long inside Sanctum, he thought. They had probably met up with the Royal Sprouts. Forester and his group would be the only team to be able to tell time from the moment they entered Terra Praeta since they were never delayed by the Children. Or they had other ways to do so. Jerome shook his head. That wasn’t possible, at least not now.

He watched as Hedon, and his men got closer. Counting their numbers, he found that there were a lot more people than he had thought. Some of the Sprouts in his group were very tall, way taller than average human youths. Jerome observed them and found their likeness very familiar.

House Baelor, house of the running bull. He snorted. Though they were still quite far away, Jerome could ‘see’ the crests on their armor. There were twenty people from house Baelor together with House Alvric. Every one of the Baelors was at least taller than the tallest Sprout in House Alvric.

Berj Baelors was busy flirting with a girl from the Alvric side. The shy girl looked like she was totally smitten and was blushing continuously. Jerome opened his eyes.

“Is that…” he muttered absently. He recognized the blushing Sprout as Arkesha after observing her. “Who knew the Amazon warrior had a soft spot.”

“What?” Csala asked. She was quite frustrated. She could tell Jerome was using his perception—that he stole from her—to investigate the Sprouts heading South. Something she couldn’t do anymore, making her feel blind.

“Nothing,” he said. “Stay here and don’t make a sound.”

Csala shrugged. “Don’t die,” she said.

Jerome vanished on the spot, startling her.

~~~

“Brother Berj, perhaps we should focus on our journey for now,” Hedon said respectfully to the leader of team Baelor. Berj’s distraction could cost them at any moment. And Arkesha…Hedon snorted lightly. He had never seen this side of her before. Though cute, now wasn’t the time for such activities.

“Ahem. Yes, we should,” Berj Baelor said, a small smile lifting the edges of his lips.

They continued their journey southward towards the mountain hoping to reach it before the twenty-five-day deadline was up. Hedon was kind of worried though. He hadn’t seen any sign of a treasure that should call out to him as his father had described since he left Terra Praeta’s night.

“We should hunker down,” Murray said beside Hedon. “The scouts would be here soon for their shift change.” He looked around to consider the best place to make camp.

“This is as good a place, isn’t it?” Hedon replied also looking around. Though the area was dotted with large trees that could prevent them from seeing an enemy get close, the trees would also provide cover for them during an attack.

“We rest here for a while,” Murray announced and the Alvrics sighed, some leaning on trees to support their weight. They had been walking for a very long time. Hopefully, they would be able to rest well enough so they could fly.

The dense foliage of the forest created a canopy above their heads giving them a small respite from the heat of the sun and the sounds of the forest were also a welcome distraction.

Berj Baelor chuckled at something one of his teammates said which drew the Alvrics’ attention.

“What do you find funny, Brother Berj?” Hedon asked as he sat on the large root of a tree.

“Nothing much,” he chuckled again. “Just that you Alvrics tire quickly,” he said with a knowing smile. That got Arkesha to leave his side with a scoff. “Err…Arkesha I—”

“Good day, Young Lord,” Arkesha turned to him and said with a curtsy before leaving, not meeting his eyes.

Berj sighed and palmed his face.

“So much for being a smooth talker,” Murray whispered. His voice carried on the wind to all the Alvrics in the group and they all chortled loudly.

A glare from the Baelors shut them all up though. The Baelors were known to be some of the strongest warriors in Vorthe and although they became gentle as they grew older, their younglings were fierce and quick to anger. If a fight broke out, the Alvrics would definitely be at a disadvantage. Silence engulfed them afterwards, which caused Murray to look around warily. The sounds of the forest should have replaced the stifling silence that was left as the Baelors shut the Alvrics up.

“Fuck, it’s an ambush!” Murray stood up with a start, as well as everyone.

All of a sudden, metal strings shot out of the ground and wrapped around members of team Baelor, pinning them to the ground.