CHAPTER 1

Melody

Melody stared down at William's unconscious face as he lay unmoving, still as the dead.

In the past three days, he had noticeably lost weight, as his big muscular form had grown somewhat slim and tapered. His gleaming dark skin looked stretched and tight on his muscular body.

But all the damage done by the High Mistress had been magically healed. How, she couldn't even begin to fathom.

Who was this man with so many secrets and so much power?

How had he gained all this power so fast?

She was still suspicious of him, he had so many secrets and if they were going to make it out of here, she would need to know each and everyone of them.

Besides who was he to throw their lives in some kind of monster fight club.

She still had no idea what was going on in his head, why he chose to let himself be used as a human punching bag by that winged bitch.

Since they'd been here, the guards at the door brought enough food and water for them, but had refused to let them leave the room. They didn't even give them a change of clothes and the other women were still wearing the robes worn by those witches in the purification chamber.

Melody rubbed her arms, trying to stave off the cold. There were no sheets on the bed, no fireplace to keep the place warm and surprisingly the only source of heat seemed to be William's massive body, which Minnie had already claimed.

While Melody was tempted to join them, she didn't want to give William the wrong idea, and also because she still didn't trust him.

They'd been in this room for what she assumed was a couple of days, waiting for William to wake up. She had no idea what passed for time in this new place. Only her military training allowed her to make estimates based on their feeding pattern and the changing of their guards. While she was grateful for the reprieve from all the madness she’d been forced to deal with since she was abducted from Earth, she was itching for something to do. Not used to doing nothing, as evidenced by her inability to take any of her stacked up vacation time, the idea that she had to wait for another to determine her fate rubbed her wrong in the worst way.

But William was the only one amongst them with any kind of power and more importantly answers. Once he woke up, she would be able to assess the situation and take control from there.

Without warning, her mind flashed back to her time in the purification chamber and later with the high bitch.

Her hands shook and she held them together to stop them. Memories of her time in Afghanistan, trying not to lose it under a barrage of enemy fire interposed with the helplessness of being under the thrall of the winged demon.

She had never felt so powerless in her life. Not since she was a little girl hiding under the bed, afraid one of her mother's many boyfriends was going to find a way into her room.

Not even training at Quantico, in a gender biased environment that tried to make her feel this small and weak.

She needed to gain control of the situation.

She was pretty sure that she wasn't the only one feeling this way.

Her gaze turned to the space beside William that was occupied by Minnie. She'd curled her small lithe body around him and was snoring softly, her mouth open, drooling on his shirt.

Her eyes moved to the body next to the door. Suu was slumped with her back to the wall, her small lithe body tensed in constant anticipation of violence. Melody wasn't sure she'd seen Suu sleep once in the past three days. Maybe she slept when she felt no one was looking. That one did not trust anybody and she gave off the feeling that she could turn against them at any time.

As if noticing her gaze, Suu turned her gaze at Melody, a look of challenge in her eyes. Melody, angered by the stress of the situation, refused to back down. She refused to be intimidated by this small wisp of a girl, no matter how deadly she may seem.

After a few moments, she turned her gaze away, clearly tired of this silly game. This girl had a few screws loose, no way she was getting stuck in a staring contest with a looney case.

Better to let her think she won. There were more important things to think about

She needed to get stronger.

Although she had reservations about using some kind of unknown power from God knows where, if she was going to get the rest of them out of there she needed to be at least as powerful as William.

"How long was I out?"

Startled out of her reverie, she turned her gaze towards the bed to look at a now conscious William.

He stared down at a snoring Minnie and smiled.

Gently, he adjusted her so that he could get up from the bed, but a still sleeping Minnie simply adjusted herself and wrapped herself more tightly around his side. Sighing, William let her be and looked back at Melody.

He then turned his gaze to a tense and glaring Suu sitting by the door and smiled with a well rested and content look on his face.

She didn't know anything about this guy, only that he was huge, either a genius or a madman and had too many secrets.

After a bit of finagling, he was finally able to extricate himself from the climbing root that was Minnie. He left the bed, moving carefully. Melody thought he was trying not to startle Suu who tightened her grip on her blade and set her body in a defensive stance.

To be honest, Melody was a bit afraid of being in this small room with someone as physically powerful as William, but the look on Suu’s face was that of a cornered wild animal.

Standing to his full height of almost 7ft, William did something totally unexpected.

He raised both his hands in surrender and grinned at her.

Melody had seen him checking Suu out at the purification chamber and also after his fight with the High Mistress, but clearly his feelings were not reciprocated because her gaze hardened further in response to his flirty grin and she slowly raised herself from the ground, blade still held defensively in front of her.

Where she found a weapon, Melody couldn't even begin to guess. Probably from one of the dead guards that littered the passageway from William's rescue attempt.

She tried not to remember the carnage she saw as they made their way to his room. Sexy grin and smoking hot body aside, there was a monster underneath that near perfect package.

For Melody, this was a chance to gain some insight into the minds of her companions, especially William who was a big question mark as far as she was concerned, something that troubled her immensely.

Who is he? Where did he come, and how does he know so much about whatever power the locals wield? She needed more information.

Suu looked ready to lunge, while William remained unconcerned with the weapon pointed at him.

This only enraged Suu who looked like she was about to explode. But William's grin only grew.

He then turned his back to her and began to straighten his side of the bed, at least the side that Minnie allowed him to fix.

How someone so small could take so much space boggled Melody's mind. What a bed hog.

After fixing his side of the bed, he pointed to Suu, and then at the space he'd just recently vacated and I said one word, "sleep."

Through all this, Melody watched both of them, especially William, a contemplative look on her face.

Suu ignored his offer and kept her blade trained on him. Why was she acting like this? If she really wanted to take him out, she could have done it at any time in the last three days.

She had to admit, she was also frustrated and confused by the situation and everything that had happened since she'd first arrived in this strange new world.

Plus the lack of sufficient sleep was really getting to her. During their time in the purification chamber, their captors fed them strange herbs and concoctions that made mer stomach twist in agony and forced her to throw up vile black substances. At first she had thought it was an attempt to poison them, but after a few days of releasing the black substance from every orifice and even from her pores, she recovered. After a few more days trapped in the tower, she noticed a small increase in her body’s physical strength. Her body felt lighter and stronger, and her mind felt clearer. While she could stay without sleep for a bit longer than she usually would have before coming to this place, extended lack of sleep was making her cranky.

Suddenly, the grin left William's face and a cold empty look replaced it.

Faster than she could react, he appeared next to Suu, plucked her from the ground and removed the blade in her hand.

Melody gasped in horror at the power and speed he'd casually displayed, he moved so inhumanly fast that she had been unable to track his movement, much less take any action.

She knew he was strong, he made that clear during his less than effective rescue attempt, but she'd never seen anyone, save for High Mistress move that fast in her life. Was this how he was able to resist the High Mistress? Just how powerful was he?

And how was she supposed to lead a group when one of her expected subordinates had far more advantages than any of them.

Suu struggled in his grip, she tried several attacks and counters to try and free herself but all her punches and attacks even in supposedly vulnerable areas didn't even leave a bruise.

It just reminded her that she needed to get stronger, just watching someone as competent and skillful as Suu struggle against whatever power was in this world just brought to the front of her mind how unfair this place could be.

He lifted her up her feet, which intensified her struggle, which still had no real effect on him and then dumped her on the bed.

She was about to get back on her feet, but the look on his face must have stopped her because she froze.

"Sleep," he said again with more emphasis, his tone leaving no room for argument.

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"I'll keep watch, nothing will happen to any of you, and you'll be no good to any of us if you pass out at an unfortunate moment."

She looked like she still wanted to argue when he added," plus Melody is awake, she'll make sure that I do nothing untoward to any of you. Just sleep and then when you wake up, we'll figure out the way forward."

He and Suu stared at each other for a several moments past uncomfortable before she slowly rested her head back on the thick mattress, her gaze still trained on him.

William snorted and turned his gaze to Melody.

"Good morning, at least I hope it's mornin. Were you able to get some sleep?"

She noticed that he did not ask how long he was out of it, like he already knew. The more she knew about this strange man, the more questions she had.

He had risked his life twice to save them, so maybe he couldn't be that bad. His power just made her uncomfortable, maybe if she found a way to level the playing field. She needed to know how he got so strong.

She cleared her throat, "Hi, I know we didn't start off on the best foot, but it would be nice if we can get along with each other," she said all this with a faux smile on her face to ease the tension in her chest.

But his dark surprisingly soft eyes remained locked on her face as he showed no reaction to her words.

After a few moments he nodded his head and said, "look, I know what you're thinking, what you're worried about. You don't need to worry, I'm not going to hurt any of you. In fact I'm going to find a way to make you all stronger."

Find a way! Does that mean he doesn't know how he himself got so powerful?

But again, like he was a mind reader, he answered my question before I asked.

"I don't think you can gain power the same way I did, but I have a few ideas on how with sufficient time, I can make you all at least a bit stronger than the evil assholes keeping us in here. But we'll all need to be together before we can begin, maybe share a bit of information on what we've seen or heard since we got here."

Looking at a snoring Minnie and a still glaring Suu on the bed "When the others wake up, we will begin."

*****************

It took a few hours for Suu to awaken; she'd finally managed to fall asleep. Clearly she was far more exhausted than Melody had assumed.

Minnie woke up an hour later, a confused look of surprise on her face at seeing William awake and on his feet, but Minnie thought that a little bit of it was tied to the fact that he was no longer acting as her improvised pillow. It seemed that the girl was more than a little smitten with the dark, mysterious stranger. Melody didn’t really know how to feel about this as she had grown fond of the gentle hearted and kind girl.

Suu still glared coldly at William like he was still the gum on her shoe. Not even getting a bit of rest changed her opinion on that subject matter, but this time, her glare was not accompanied by a blade in her hand.

William only smiled at both ladies, which put a soft blush on Minnie's face,even as it put Suu even more on her guard.

There was a loud knock on the door, most likely done using a cudgel or some similar blunt instrument based on the sound, and a small tray of food was pushed in through a slot in the door. Minnie had noticed the food slot during her brief assessment of their current abode/ prison. At any given time, there were two guards at the door, and probably more waiting in the wings to thwart any escape attempts

William picked up the food and shared it even amongst the women, handing it all to them, but Melody shook her head to refuse him. While she was somewhat touched by his misguided attempt at chivalry, he was the one that had passed out for three days after a massive battle with a demon. While the others had been fed by the guards since their brief time in the room, he’d lost a bit of mass during his strange recovery. Just by looking at him, she could see that he needed to recover his strength.

Then there was also the tactical thinking side of her that wanted to keep their strongest weapon in good working order.

Minnie simply nodded in support of Melody and Suu maintained her patented glare, not saying anything. After a moment of consideration, he finally acquiesced and nodded in thanks to Melody. William attacked the small fare like a starving lion, using the knife he’d taken from Suu to cut the meat. He pointed glare only intensified as she watched him eat.

After cleaning out all the food, he turned to Suu with a smile on his face and handed her blade hilt first.

She quickly reached out to grab the blade, but he held on to it refusing to let go. With a dark look in her eyes, Suu jerked the blade sideways, hoping to draw blood, but to her surprise and everyone else, the blade remained firmly gripped in Willam,s massive hands without drawing any blood.

Still pinning Suu with his gaze, William said, "As much as I find you captivating, and more than a little intimidating, I must put the safety of everyone in our group before any one person. If you do anything to put yourself or the others in danger, I will call you to order. Staying awake when you should be resting due to your unfound paranoia is dangerous and sleep may take you out of commision when we need you the most.”

He tugged sharply at the blade, pulling Suu so close that their lips were almost touching. Suu kept her glare pinned to his gaze, stubbornly refusing to look away. “If I have to spank you every time you do something to endanger the group, well,” He smiled lecherously at the beautiful and surprising curvy woman glaring at him, “It would be my pleasure.”

Melody didn’t know what to say in response to the scene playing out before her. She didn’t need her training at Quantico to tell her that antagonizing someone as unstable as Suu wasn’t a bright idea, but the big guy clearly felt he was up to the task.

Suu was now breathing heavily, her pale face flush with anger. Melody could only imagine what murderous thoughts were travelling through her mind.

Then he turned to her and Minnie,"You guys are the only links to Earth I've got, I'm not going to harm any of you, and I'm even going to do my best to make you stronger."

While Suu was projecting death with her stare at William, there was now a hint of interest and hunger in her eyes.

"So stop beating around the bush and tell us what you know," Suu said in a rude voice that surprised everyone. The small taciturn woman rarely spoke, but when she did, it was crisp and to the point.

And while she too was also interested in William's secrets, at least she had the decency to be discreet. This girl truly had no tact.

Melody wanted to cover her face in exasperation, but simply looked at Suu like she had been dropped on her head repeatedly as a baby.

Minnie turned to Suu with anger in her voice, "Suu be nice, William has been nothing but kind to us."

But Suu simply folded her arms, clearly unrepentant, "So, talk."

William simply sighed, a small smile lighting his chiseled features, “I get that you’re scared, worried about what I’ll do with all my newly gottenpower, and you're entitled to your mistrust. But in time, I'll prove to all of you that I'm not your enemy."

Then he took a deep breath and began, "The energy of this world is called quintessence. It bears resemblance to a similar element of the same name which was considered the fifth element of the universe in ancient times. Some scientists from my Earth also had a theory that quintessence was some form of dak energy that could alter itself over time.” He paused for a bit, looking at their faces to make sure they were paying attention.

While he had yet to reach the heart of the matter, they all focused on his words with rapt attention. Seeing that he had their attention, he continued, “ Based on what I've observed, and the data that I’ve gathered, I cannot say with any certainty what this energy is, if it can even be called energy. It has no fixed form, taking shape based on one’s intent and what I would call for lack of a better term “will””.

"The locals use quintessence or essence for short, to empower the bodies and project what I call "effects' ' in order to manipulate themselves and their environment. They make use of cultivation, a method of body and mind enhancement that shares some similarity to eastern meditation techniques of qi cultivation."

Melody noticed Suu’s gaze sharpen at the mention of qi cultivation. Clearly, the deadly young woman had some idea of what this cultivation was about.

William stared intently at the three of them, as if he was looking through them. "Your bodies have been cleansed at the purification chamber, but without proper cultivation, you will begin to accumulate corruption again and if this continues, you will be unable to cultivate.

Minnie raised up her hand like she was in a middle school classroom, a cute and innocent look on her pixie-like face.

William turned to her and smiled, "you do not need to raise your hand, just holla at me, and you'll get my attention, Ok."

Minnie blushed pretty pink in an unconscious and innocently sexy way that did funny things to Melody’s heart rate and nodded, "Ok". The girl was absolutely enchanting. Unfortunately it seemed she only had eyes for the large chunk of dark and hunky goodness in the room.

"Good, so what was your question?"

Minnie started, " I have so many, first, do you know why essence responds to the mental commands of cultivators? Second, what did you mean by "we would begin to accumulate corruption again," and third, `` how do these effects come about, and what medium is necessary to create them?"

Melody was surprised, Minnie gave the impression that she was an airheaded ballet princess, it seems there was a brilliant mind beneath all that barbie princess cuteness.

William nodded patiently and after a few moments replied, "from what I've been able to gather, essence is akin to magic or at least some kind of energy that the locals have yet to properly observe and understand through the lens of science. It has, or can take the form of various elemental types like earth, air, fire and water which are considered primary essence types, forge and fell essence which are considered secondary essence types and light and dark essence which are considered fundamental essence types. As to how it responds to mental commands, I couldn’t possibly begin to fathom, although I have a few theories"

"As for your second question, based on what I’ve been told, and what I’ve been able to infer from my own observations, we cannot cultivate on Earth because there is no essence over there, or because of something the locals call “corruption”. It has to be removed before cultivation can begin. Your bodies have already been cleansed, but if you don't cultivate soon, you'll begin to accumulate more of it. Right now, your bodies should feel a bit stronger than they used to be just by being free of corruption but sooner or later, that strength will begin to diminish unless you cultivate more essence."

Melody nodded in understanding, so that's why she felt so refreshed and powerful since their cleansing with those robed bitches. She needed to know more about cultivation and how to grow this power.

William continued, oblivious to her musings,"to answer your third question, I think effects are expressions of essence projected by the cultivator either as a technique or spell. While I don't have a clue what a spell is, I have some experience with techniques."

Setting his palm in a blade-like configuration, Melody felt the air pulse with energy as a slight buzzing sound spread faintly across the room.

Then with a slight movement of his hand, he dug his straightened fingers into the earth like it was sand and then proceeded to cut a chunk out of the ground. He held the chunk of stone in his hands and handed it to Minnie who had a stunned look on her face.

Suu watched William like some kind of dangerous animal had just entered the room. So that's why he wasn't worried when Suu pointed a weapon at him.

He didn't need one.

He had already stopped the "effect" and was patiently waiting for them to absorb the idea that they weren't in Kansas anymore.

“As for what medium is necessary to achieve an effect, I think the bare minimum is a mind and some imagination, but I know so little, there may be more efficient ways for handling this energy”

After a bit he continued,"I'm going to do my bit to make you all powerful. But first we need to visit a sensitive acquaintance of mine, she has the ability to determine your affinity, this means the type of essence you can cultivate to grow your power. I'm an earth cultivator, we just need to know where your strengths lay."

Melody thought this was a good idea, they needed to go to this sensitive and after begin gaining power of their own. She didn't want to rely on William or anyone else ever again.

So after a bit of rest for digestion, they all set out to find this sensitive. William gave them a brief rerun of his encounter with the sensitive. From the way William spoke of her, she sounded like a hottie, you can always tell when a guy thinks a lady is hot from the way he talks about her.

The half-orc guards at the entrance to the ominous looking place where they came to find the sensitive tried to bar their path. That is, until they saw William with the group, and without wasting time, quickly let them through. Clearly they'd heard of his tussle with the High Mistress. Anyone that could do that was clearly beyond their paygrade.

This scene only made her more apprehensive around him and did nothing to ease her concerns about how he would use his newfound power with regards to his fellow humans.

The guy was really scary, he moved with too much confidence, like he knew something no one else did. It felt like he could move about the entire place with his eyes closed.

After a bit, Minnie got tired and they were forced to rest.

How far was the place we're heading to, and how big was this entire place?

"This place is massive, please try and stay close to me so that you don't get lost"

Suu still kept her eyes on William, who was casually resting on the wall waiting for them to recover their stamina and if she didn't know better, she'd think Suu was checking him out. In her own surly, aggressive-aggressive, and murdery way

Sure he was a ginormous, finely sculptured piece of dark chocolatey goodness and if she wasn't gay she might have found him very attractive.

Suddenly, before anybody could react, and without warning, William plunged his left hand into the wall.

Blood splattered everywhere as a body materialized where William's hand was. The demon looked abomination with William's hand in its chest, gurgling blood and twitching once before going limp.

William casually withdrew his hand from the creature's chest, ignoring the mess that covered his entire hand and much of his left arm. Without William supporting the monster, it slumped down to the ground, dead.

Looking at a spot near the opposite wall, William began speaking as if there was someone at that end of the room, although none of the others could see who this mystery person might be. "Tell Tinuviel that all her little spies will end up like this one if she keeps trying to spy on me. Now run along, unless you want to join your friend here and while you're at it stay away from my people."

While Melody was still shocked by his casual display of violence, her mind still registered the fact that he called them his people.

Clearly her plan to lead the group was mostly in the toilet, William was infuriatingly confident and was very decisive about their entire situation.

She may not be able to lead their small group, but maybe she'll settle for keeping him in line.

William turned to them, his hand still covered in blood. He looked at it and pulsed it with that strange vibrating energy, making all the blood fall off his skin.

Melody gulped at the casual display of power. Right now, whatever his secrets may be, she was really glad he was on their side.