It had taken another whole day to cut down another tree — somehow, he was able to keep track of the time. His only means of telling time was to track the sun as it moved around the void world on the horizon. He’d discovered that his pocket watch stopped working accurately after he entered the void world.
Jerome had had to quickly chop the second downed tree into segments and Shape them to the likeness he wanted. Namely, large wooden pots and covers. Every other person was beyond fatigued at this point, except for the ladies; their job was not as taxing.
Sheela and Ms. Tara showed a unique side of themselves as they taught the other female Sprouts how to extract oil from gathered linseeds for finish. Thankfully, flax grew everywhere in the void world. And they had already gone to seed.
After they had chopped up the first tree, Ms. Tara had coaxed Sheela to pick the seeds with her. Jerome used the opportunity to tell them about the finish and they went about explaining to the other ladies how to extract the oils from the linseeds as he Shaped the timber from the first tree.
The wood had been a joy to Shape — much to the chagrin of the Fei princess. It brought to mind what he’d said to Csala about the dark roots he got from the dark forest. Those roots had resisted his attempts at Shaping them. This wood from the void world did the opposite. It was like the very molecular structure of the wood obeyed his every whim — wanted to obey his every whim.
He’d tried to Shape a few trees still rooted to the soil and succeeded quite well. The only issue he had was that he wasn’t able to detach a portion of the tree with his Shaping. But he could Shape them into any shape he wanted.
Ms. Tara and Sheela had chipped in, saying they had seen some very creative ways of Shaping trees before in a city called Evergreen, in the Western Region of Vorthe. That was before they arrived in Farryn to enter the portal to Terra Praeta. With their help, he was able to get creative. Like very creative.
All in all, he had improved greatly in Shaping wood.
Now he watched as each team filled their new pots with the Waters of Irithiya. The pots were quite large and heavy, the largest of them, big enough to contain two or three Sprouts conveniently. The wood from the trees used to make them was hardwood that none from their world could compare to. He had pots of his own too — smaller pots. Some as small as his head, but no less in capacity. He had runed them to hold more water than any other pot present. And there were quite a lot of them. He had stopped counting after runing the thirtieth, or something, that was his.
The water in the pool cleansed itself. It was forever sparkling clean so there was no need to bother about hygiene. Jerome dunked himself into the water, pots and all, and the water in the pool visibly shrank. Confused looks were shared among the Sprouts in the water but they quickly figured out that he was the culprit.
He stashed his pots away, ignoring their curious glances, and swam to the center of the pool where the waterfall from the hovering mountains met the pool. The pressure from the waterfall was great but he swam into it. It gave him something else to focus on since his mind had constantly been on Csala. He wondered what would have become of her.
He missed her.
It felt like he was missing a part of himself. Jerome hated the feeling but could do nothing to assuage it. He wondered when he became so vulnerable.
The waterfall seemed not to be doing its job. Jerome left, deciding to practice. He located Ms. Tara and brought her along to practice with him. Sheela joined them. He helped them finetune the way they cycled essence throughout their bodies, teaching them some breathing techniques to help with calming their minds. It helped Ms. Tara summon her flames faster and burn with as little essence as possible. Her flame didn’t change color like his had when he first created one. Though, it was a massive improvement to what she’d been wielding before.
Sheela shamelessly stripped naked in front of him before the surface of her skin rippled with muscles and she shifted into her Midnight Panther form. Jerome gawked. Sheela’s human form was beautiful, Jerome knew, but seeing her naked took the word ‘beautiful’ to another level. He swallowed and did his best to cover his erection. What was with his libido these days?
He couldn’t get his mind off the curve of her breasts and hips. She wasn’t as voluptuous as Csala — there was no way a human woman could be naturally — but she was athletic, with a grace that attracted him.
Her panther form was also beautiful. Black fur covered her entire body and slitted, golden eyes stared up at him with… hunger… lust. Ms. Tara wrapped her arms around the panther’s neck, breaking them out of the moment. She said something about Sheela having become faster at shifting, but Jerome’s concentration was on settling his boner. Jerome took the moment to admire the panther better. She was large — as large as a pony — but graceful, silent on her feet.
“Do you think you will be able to move to the shadow of the tree over there?” Ms. Tara said, pointing to a tree about three yards away. The Midnight Panther purred. Her eyes set with determination as she eyed the tree.
Suddenly, her shadow, which was behind her moved and slowly merged with her body. She became a clump of shadow before sinking into the ground. Jerome gawked. Again. Sheela appeared in the shade of the tree and collapsed, exhausted.
“Sheela!” Ms. Tara raced over to her friend in panic.
Jerome walked toward Sheela more sedately and in thought. He thought about what Sheela had just done, what he had felt as she did it. She had used shadows. And he had felt… watched. As if with eyes from beyond this world. He was reminded again of how the different forces affected the senses.
But ‘shadow’ wasn’t a direct force, only a by-product of Light and Darkness — or at least that was his understanding from all the knowledge he had imbibed. Perhaps there was more to it than meets the eye.
“That was incredible,” he said to the now-human Sheela, who was very naked and very enticing by the way.
Ms. Tara tried to cover her, but Sheela smacked away her hand, jutting her chest out as if wanting to put herself on display for Jerome’s eyes. Jerome couldn’t help but be attracted to them. He coughed and looked away. Sheela smiled lecherously at him. The lady was incorrigible.
She smiled up at him. “I call it Shadow Step. It’s like stepping through some other world… or a layer of a strange place, which is completely scary by the way. I say ‘layer’ because that’s how it feels.”
“Another layer of existence. You mean like interdimensional travel?” he asked but Sheela gave him a confused look. He’d never heard anything like that before. “How is it you can do that as Sprout?”
“Yes,” Ms. Tara said. “It seems like your skill belongs to those in higher Realms.”
“The skill comes from the Midnight Panther whose core I absorbed. But it’s exhausting to use shadows to move like that. The more I use it though, the more my grasp on it grows.”
“It reminds me of something I glimpsed once…” he fell into thought and the two waited for him to continue. He decided not to, since he didn’t have much knowledge of it at hand. Or more precisely, there were gaps in his knowledge. He would have to seek the memory stones in Sanctum for that. But he couldn’t access them here. That would be for later. “You should rest. Ms. Tara and I will continue training but join you later.”
He stood up and pulled Ms. Tara away.
“She likes you,” Ms. Tara said as they walked away from Sheela.
“Oh, does she now?” Sarcasm dripped from his voice.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
She jumped up slightly to smack him on the head. “How did you even get so tall,” she complained.
“The feeling is mutual,” Jerome said with a smile. “Hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. Just take good care of her. For a very long time, she led and I followed. Even though I am older, she had more experience dealing with the pack… and she shielded me from the worst of it. But here in Terra Praeta, she’s like a lost cub. Especially having been betrayed by her team.”
“Yeah, I never asked what happened to them.”
“Oh, we found them,” Ms. Tara said. “You must understand that Shifters have strange… customs. Many of which are not different from the way predators act.”
She looked up at him, unsure of how to commence.
“I understand,” Jerome said. And he did. There was no way they would have left the others alive. He knew he wouldn’t have. But eight? How did they take out eight Shifters?
“We didn’t get rid of all of them, just so you know. Some of the males were… captured.”
“What?” He had a feeling he knew by whom.
“By some weird shifter-type creatures. Females all of them. They were,” she blushed. Her eyes flicked downward to her voluptuous breasts drawing his eyes as well.
Jerome quickly looked away. “Beastkin.”
“Huh?”
“That’s what those creatures are called. Their remaining time in Terra Praeta would either be blissful or awful… or a combination of both.”
Ms. Tara opened her mouth to speak but he pulled her along.
“I want to teach you how to shoot fire from your hands like a projectile.”
He demonstrated, pointing a finger upward. A pulse of blue flame shot out of his finger. The force of the shot displaced the air around him, causing his long coat to billow around him. The tiny ball of blue flame traveled a long way upward before dying.
Ms. Tara ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ in wonder. “Your flame is blue! Jerome, blue flame is legendary!”
Had he never shown her his flame before? And why did she think it was legendary? “Let’s… focus, Ms. Tara.”
“Call me Tara. You’re now my tutor, and we’re both in the same Realm, so it is the proper thing to do.”
Jerome was beside himself. He didn’t know if he could bring himself to do that. Not that he couldn’t, he could. But then the dynamics between them would shift. His gaze shifted from her beautiful dark eyes to her equally stunning face. Her hair was long and glossy and framed her face beautifully. He forced his gaze to remain on her face. He didn’t want to look at those large melons sitting high on her chest, or the curves of her hips in her tight leather pants. She had filled out considerably well. A far cry from the skinny beauty she was in the slums of Farryn.
Ms. Tara was beautiful. And he realized he was attracted to her. He was appalled at the thought. But that was the very reason he couldn’t bring himself to call her by name. It would bring down the wall he was trying so hard to set up between them.
“I don’t think I should.”
“It’s proper, Jerome,” she chided with a smile, her voice playful and sweet. “I know I didn’t teach you much but Vorthe has her traditions. Besides, you are a Royal disciple now. Your station is far above mine.”
She hugged him and he hugged her back. “It’s not that. I… things will change between us if I do.”
She looked up at him, innocent curiosity in her eyes. Jerome sighed. “Let’s just train for now. Take off your gauntlets. It would be cheating to use them to practice for this.”
Ms. Tara chuckled and did as he said, throwing them into her storage ring.
“Okay. The trick is to use your psy— I mean, your mental energy to pull on the core of the flame like a bowstring before releasing it. There’s no need for a throwing motion or anything of the sort.”
Ms. Tara snorted. “It can’t be that simple.”
Jerome chuckled. “Oh, trust me. It’s not.”
Ms. Tara concentrated and an orange flame came to life on her palm.
“Now pull on it with your mental energy. You can test it by pushing and pulling.”
“The core, right? Because the flame is just… not easy to grab onto with my mental energy.”
Jerome nodded. He patiently waited for her to get used to interacting with the core of the flame. She tossed it up and down in wonder, giddiness playing all over her features. Jerome sighed, enjoying the sight. He felt so relaxed, at peace. When last had he been so relaxed?
“Okay, I’m ready,” Ms. Tara said, her seriousness returning.
Jerome stamped his foot on the ground and a chunk of soil rose from the ground like a post. It was at least ten feet away from them. He guided her to take aim at it.
But Ms. Tara’s gaze was fixed on his face, awe coloring her beautiful features.
“I can wield most natural elements,” he said by way of explanation.
“Jerome, that’s… wait, ‘natural’ elements?”
Jerome sighed. No casual displays of power from now on, he told himself. “Natural elements are what we call attributed elements. But we’re losing our focus here.”
He held her shoulders to position her better. “You need to spread your legs wider; one foot in front of the other.”
Ms. Tara didn’t do it correctly so he helped. Standing behind her, he pushed her thigh back a little more. That was probably a mistake. The scent of her arousal hit him like a blow to the head. Jerome felt himself harden to unbearable levels.
Ms. Tara blushed so much that she turned as red as a beetroot. “Let’s get this over with,” she murmured uncomfortably. She had lost the flame in her palm due to losing her concentration.
Jerome coughed, taking a step back. Using the nanites in his brain, he regulated his body temperature and blood circulation to keep from blushing. But he couldn’t get his boner to go away. Ms. Tara took more time to calm herself. When she finally calmed down, she lit the flame in her palm again. Jerome felt her psychic energy go to work. In this pose, she looked so damn sexy. He couldn’t help running his eyes over her lower back and tight ass. He gulped and looked away.
He felt when she let go of the flame. It shot forward with a pulse of energy, hitting the post, dead-center. The force from the shot didn’t shatter the post but it cracked it. Ms. Tara screamed in joy and jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly.
“Ten out of ten,” he said with a smile. “But I can’t believe you hit it on your first trial.”
Ms. Tara was grinning from ear to ear. “You didn’t get it on your first trial?!”
Jerome shook his head. “Must be your improved mental energy.”
She hugged him tighter. “Thank you for bringing me here, Jerome…” She sniffed. “I just wish… I wish they were here too.”
Jerome’s grip on her tightened a little more as emotion overcame him. He lost his boner in an instant. He also wished they were here. With him; improving their strength, laughing, and catching up. And he was going to make that wish possible.
“I’m going to find them, Ms. Tara. When we get back. I promise.”
After a while, he let go of her and said, “Let’s get back to practice.”
The post he made her was blackened and cracked. One more hit from her and it would be destroyed completely. Jerome stamped his feet again and three more posts rose from the ground in a straight line, near the first one.
“How are you doing that, Jerome? I can’t even sense you using essence.”
Jerome smiled. He had forgotten that he didn’t want to make casual displays of power anymore. “There are some things I can’t speak of right now, Ms. Tara—”
“Tara,” she interrupted.
This is going to take some getting used to. “Let’s continue.”
She gave him a look that said they weren’t done discussing this particular subject. But she continued training. After a few more hours, Jerome told her to stop and take a rest. She was making great strides and improved far quicker than he did. They cleaned up using their mental energy and strolled down to the tree Sheela was resting under.
Sheela stirred as they approached, eyes on the hovering mountain. “What do you think it would be like up there?” she asked.
“No one has ever been up there,” Jerome said. “For us as Sprouts, it’s practically impossible, I believe. But you can try if you want. You may just do what no one ever has done.” It was better to give her hope than discourage her.
“Really?” She sat up.
Jerome lay down and Ms. Tara took the spot next to him.
“Ooh, aren’t you both lovely to look at,” Sheela teased.
“Go on your adventure, Sheela,” Jerome quipped. Ms. Tara buried her face in his chest, causing Sheela to tease her more.
Sheela lay on his other side and whispered loudly in his ear. “Don’t exhaust her, Jerome,” she said. Jerome cursed, knowing what she meant. “And don’t wear yourself out. I’d like to handle your cock too when I get back.”
Ms. Tara stiffened in his arms. “Damnit, Sheela!”
The minx only laughed unrepentantly as she stalked off. Jerome coughed as he tried to get the images she had conjured out of his head. His boner was back and hard as a rock. What the fuck was going on with him?