“Damn it!” Jerome cursed as Hedon disappeared from his view. If only he hadn’t used so much fire essence to hinder that colossus, Hedon would be dead by now.

He looked around to take in the sudden change in environment. There was a forest of trees down below, and the ambient essence was as concentrated as it was when he first entered Terra Praeta. Perhaps even more concentrated.

Jerome turned around in the air as he flapped his wings and what he saw made his jaw drop. Miles away from him was a huge mountain. The mountain was gigantic, covering the entire land and sky in his view. Jerome had never seen anything like it before. He felt like he could just reach out with his hand and touch it.

Looking up, he couldn’t see the peak of the mountain. It looked like a wall that rose up into the sky past the clouds and into space, covering half the world that came into his view!

“How could a mountain be so huge?!” he muttered out loud. So many things that should seemingly be impossible had been happening right before his eyes since he entered Terra Praeta.

Jerome decided to take a closer look at the mountain. He might be fortunate enough to find hidden caverns and treasures inside the mountain. With that, a passion for adventure was kindled in him and he flew toward the gigantic mountain, burning off the stench of the Children on him with a burst of flame.

When he arrived at the mountain it was already quite late. There were many openings carved into the mountain walls, which should be caves or tunnels leading deep into the mountain. He wanted to find out what lived in those caves. He had counted five openings before reaching here. He flew up high into the air, higher than he had ever flown before. He landed not too far from the first cave on a rough outcropping on the mountain wall. The breathable air up here was thin and cold, but the wind essence was abundant, blowing against his skin aggressively.

Jerome extended his perception mildly to scan the interior. The cave was empty, but it was deeper than he had thought.

A tunnel then, he thought. He could only extend his perception two hundred feet in a specific direction or at least a hundred and eighty feet all around him. That was a great accomplishment for a young Sprout and this was all thanks to the Tower of Solon.

Anyone who heard this would be able to deduce that Jerome had had a fortunate encounter that made this possible because two-year-old Sprouts could averagely extend their mental energy, twenty feet around themselves or twenty-five feet in a specific direction and Jerome was just a year old as a Sprout at best.

He carefully stepped into the cave and looked around. The cave was dark and humid with rough, dark brown walls. He could hear water dripping down somewhere ahead of him. He decided to move deeper into the cave. Jerome walked for at least three hundred steps before coming to an intersection. The atmosphere had also gotten warmer.

The intersection in front of him looked like it was carved rather than natural. One path led upwards, another led downwards into the earth, two led left and right, and the final one went straight ahead of him. All the tunnels were wide enough for four grown adults to move side-by-side, making it easy to move around even when flying. He would just not spread his wings too widely when he flew.

All the tunnels in the mountain must be connected to each other, and they must have been created by an extremely intelligent magical beast, he thought. Is that even possible, considering the size of the mountain? Maybe it belongs to a family of magical beasts.

He turned around to leave, he didn’t have the confidence to defend himself against a Spirit Realm level or a Sage Realm level magical beast. As soon as he turned around, he knew it was too late to leave. He may as well never leave.

The light coming from the entrance behind him was gone, which probably meant the entrance was gone. Jerome quickly dove into the tunnel leading upwards. A very coquettish giggle reached his ears at that moment. Jerome was stunned. He suddenly had the urge to turn around and seek the one giggling at him. The young and agile member between his thighs suddenly hardened.

“Are you kidding me?!” he screamed. There was no way that was natural. He couldn’t just get aroused from hearing a voice!

He flapped his wings harder and shot upwards, ignoring the tunnel walls as his wings scraped at them creating sparks of light. The tunnel started to curve sideways as he flew upwards. Jerome extended his perception in front of him. He found that there was a network of tunnels up ahead, extending to Light only knew where. It was best to just keep going forward. Hopefully, this tunnel led outside.

“Oh, your psychic energy is more powerful than that of the average Sprout’s,” a very alluring voice reached his ears. This voice did things to him that even Ash, whom he liked, could not do.

“Stay away from me!” he screamed.

This woman, whoever she was, was a disaster waiting to happen. This was the type of woman that wars were fought over! Jerome flapped his wings frantically. The way out of the mountain was quite a distance. The mountain itself was a very huge one. Too huge!

When Jerome finally saw an opening ahead, he put on a burst of speed, pushing his core and thrusting fire essence beneath his boots. Just as he was about to fly out of the opening, a large boulder was used to close it up. However, the creature — whatever it was — had underestimated him. He burst out through the closed opening, shattering the boulder and scattering rock fragments and dust everywhere.

Jerome emerged from the dust, eyes blazing with fury. The creature was standing at the edge of the mountain. It looked human, except for its eyes. Its irises were multiple shades of red, swirling around as if they caught the light inside a glass casing. It had very fair skin and long fiery red hair — unnaturally red hair. But it…she was so beautiful and looked to be no more than a teenager.

Jerome was instantly captivated.

The creature stood still looking up at him curiously. Half her ample bosom was put on display. Ample was an understatement — her rack was huge! She had on a red skimpy dress that left little to the imagination. Slender shoulders curved down past her ginormous bust, her narrow ribcage continued down to her slim waist, flaring out to wide hips and thick thighs, probably the most sexy legs he’d ever seen. She had no boots on, but her dainty feet were as clean and pristine as the rest of her body — and very sexy.

Jerome’s blood was boiling, racing south of his body as he flapped his wings hovering in the sky. He was covered from head to toe in metal armor, looking like a warrior from an epic tale. The creature kept looking at him in curiosity. He suspected it was because she did not know how he was able to keep his wings beating without expending any essence.

“What are you?” Jerome finally asked.

She smiled brightly and purred. “I… I’m the best night you’ll ever have.” Her voice was slow and very feminine, yet clear and sweet, like chiming bells in a relaxing atmosphere. “The woman you’ll never forget even after you leave Terra Praeta.”

Any man who heard it would drop his guard faster than a sleeping cat.

Jerome’s head was woozy from her words as they elicited a hormonal response from him. This woman oozed sensuality like no one he had ever seen before. Even the Princess of Vorthe wasn’t as sensual as her.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The urge to pounce on her and ravage her right there was getting stronger and stronger in him. He knew he had to leave but for some reason, he couldn’t get himself to respond the way he needed to.

“Come now,” she said, “I can smell your arousal. I’ll give you a memorable time. You can leave afterward; I won’t stop you.”

Jerome bit his tongue hard and the pain helped to clear his head a little. He turned mid-air to flee but the creature wasn’t going to let him go, however. She screamed and a pain assaulted his mind before he passed out.

Jerome fell from the sky like a sack of potatoes.

~~~

Selene

Looking around, all she could see was the whiteness of snow. The air was cold and filled with ice essence as she breathed it in. Her core flared to life and started rotating as it gulped in the essence.

“Incredible, hahaha!” Ajax laughed from beside her. “I guess this was what mother meant when she said Terra Praeta moves its inhabitants, or was it the planet that moved?”

“Perhaps both,” Trudhorn said.

“Let’s touch down and find what we can,” Selene flew down to the ground.

“Do ye think he’d be okay?” Nia asked a moment later.

“He should be. Jerome is a lot stronger than we know,” Ajax said.

“Hmmm,” someone else from the group said. “I see something.”

Every other member of the team turned to see what their teammate saw. It was quite far away but they could see a mountainous region ahead of them.

“We should check it out,” Bram said, already brimming with enthusiasm.

Trudhorn chuckled, “Well, we did come to Terra Praeta for the treasures, didn’t we?”

“Hopefully, this time we’d find real treasures,” Ajax said.

“We gained a lot from the Tower of Solon…I know I did,” Selene said.

“Yea, but I’m talking about real treasures,” Ajax responded as he rubbed his hands together smiling brightly.

Selene scoffed.

“Take care lest you find exactly what you’re looking for,” Trudhorn said. His teammates didn’t miss the meaning behind his words.

“Aye, perhaps ye’ll find a toad that can shoot ice from its butt,” Bram said, and a snowball came at him which he easily dodged but the moment he stepped out of the way, he was hit by a gigantic snowball causing him to curse out loud but the snowball buried him under, muffling his voice.

The team of Sprouts laughed some but they were surprised at Ajax’s prowess at wielding ice.

“You could never do half of that in the frozen earth before we got here,” Selene said with a big grin on her face. Her brother had grown quite powerful and it was cause to celebrate him.

Ajax smiled widely as well and laughed, “It’s nothing much,” he said and Selene punched him playfully on the arm.

“We’ll see,” she said.

He truly had gained much from the Tower of Solon. Bram picked himself up and threatened to return the favor as they all moved toward the mountain range in the distance ready for the adventure that awaited them.

~~~

Jerome could feel himself being dragged on a cold hard floor. He tried to clear the fog in his mind but pain assaulted his senses. His brain felt like it was melting and his head pounded continuously without letting up. He groaned as he tried to sit up.

“Oh you’re awake now,” an alluring voice spoke up and he could barely remember encountering a teenage girl.

“It’s not a good thing to run away from a woman who shows interest in you. Weren’t you taught this?” the girl giggled coquettishly.

Jerome opened his eyes with great effort and was thankful it was dark all around. He could tell that he was back in the tunnels he just escaped not long ago. His left leg was being pulled by the being from before and his armor grated against the rough surface of the ground. He could feel that he was still in his metal armor, which brought him some comfort. He vaguely remembered her screaming and then…nothing.

“What did you do to me?” he asked, his voice weak and strained. He didn’t remember doing anything to strain his voice. The fog in his mind cleared little by little and soon he could think better without much pain or blanking out.

This creature must have assaulted my senses with that scream, he thought to himself. He felt his body lifted into the air and he was swung in a half circle before crashing into a chamber full of people. Before he could regain his balance, the creature blew a kiss at him and he passed out again.

~~~

Waking up to a heavy sense of grogginess, Jerome felt his mind sluggishly try to wake up. He took in his surroundings, observing the men and beasts around him, all of them radiating an intense sexual arousal that grated on his nerves. His irritation mounted as he scanned the room, taking in the rock walls that enclosed him. The space was small, barely large enough for ten people, yet it was filled to the brim with twice that number of captives.

He pushed his way through the throng of people, shouldering sweaty, grimy bodies aside as he approached the wall to his left. With a deep breath, he reached out with his essence, attempting to manipulate the earth’s essence and create an opening. But to his frustration, nothing happened, and the stone remained unyielding.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” he hissed.

None of the people in the cell turned his way. They were all caught up in their own world.

“Nothing’s going to work,” someone said in a weak voice. The voice came from the back of the chamber. Jerome looked in the direction of the voice.

“Who said that?” he asked out loud.

“Give up, boy. You can’t escape her clutches.”

Making his way to the back of the cell, he saw a sickly-looking man, just like every other person in here with him. He had no armor on, just underwear. Jerome only noticed now that most of the people around him were half-naked.

“What is she and how is her mental energy so strong?” he asked impatiently.

“What she is, is a succubus,” the man said weakly, causing Jerome to suck in a breath of air.

“She comes from an ancient race of beings, part of which we call The Forgotten. The succubi feed off of men’s sexual energy. They siphon your vitality to nourish themselves. You lose all rationality as a result. You see only her, want to please only her…”

“How is it you still think and talk rationally then?” Jerome asked.

“I have a personal treasure on me that helps clear my thoughts and bring back my rationale. But during the deed, I’m a vegetable, just as they are. But I don’t have much time left. The essence in here is too thin and I’ve lost a lot of vitality to her. I’ll be dead soon.”

“There must be a way out of this place…a way to counter her mental energy,” Jerome said frustrated.

“There’s no way. I’ve tried everything,” the man said weakly, breathing fast and hard. The little bit of effort he used to communicate with Jerome seemed to have taken a lot out of him.

“She called it psychic energy…” Jerome muttered out loud.

“Just a different way of saying the same thing, I guess,” the man replied, his voice faint. Jerome knew this. He just wanted to find out what the man knew. Hearing it from an ancient being instead of humans was just…weird. He was now very curious about this succubus.

After a whole day of trying to punch the wall to smithereens and failing, he sat down on the cold floor to rest. Since he had nothing to do, he had best absorb what little essence he could from the air or the earth.

He quickly started muttering his mantra under his breath while cycling.

“Mother Earth provides life…

“She provides vitality and protection…

“To wield the power of the earth is to be a protector…

“To become a shield…

“To stand in the way of the oppressor and shield the weak…”