Healing Persephone and Hades takes my full mana pool twice and it hasn’t fully healed them; I think that this is proof my new Flesh-Shaping Skill is more mana-hungry than Lay-on-hands used to be. But I don’t begrudge them the effort – I can feel myself improving as I practise.

Since the wounds on Persephone were so extensive, I’ve been focussing my attention on covering as much ground as possible at a time. That means taking mana from my Core in larger quantities and channelling it in greater quantities too. By the time I empty out my mana pool for a second time, I feel significantly more fluid with the process.

Not to mention more familiar with how the kiinas’ bodies work. In the middle of the battle it was hard to observe too much about them; now with my mind able to explore inside each of them, I’m able to get much more of a picture.

Starting from their heads, they have a relatively long muzzle, about the length of my forearm. It’s something between a pterodactyl’s and a crocodile’s, with the bit near its head narrower than that of a crocodile but not as narrow as a pterodactyl. When closed, the teeth interlock, but are angled a little inwards. Their heads are relatively small with bifocal eyes. Like most of the creatures I’ve come across, their eyes are slit with dark bronze irises – no indication of any whites.

Their skin is scaly in the way of a fish rather than a crocodile – smooth, with each scale dappling from darker green at the root to lighter green at the tips. The exception is a stripe of black which runs from their crest down their spine to the tips of their tails. A way of communicating with those behind, perhaps?

Their wings are similarly coloured, their feathers a bit brighter green than their scales, but only by a shade or two. Like Sirocco, their ‘wrist’ joint has a talon protruding from it which I experienced the dead kiina trying to use on me. Unfortunately, as that battle proved, their wings are not flexible enough to be able to use the talons on themselves – or on anything clinging to them. However, I’d imagine they’re pretty useful for grabbing onto prey to stop it escaping. And, as I also experienced, the wings themselves are good as weapons in their own right.

While their chests are relatively narrow with most of the muscle being around their shoulders, their hips and thighs are thick and muscled. Their torsos are shorter in comparison to mine, and their hips are actually at mid-stomach height on me. Clearly, running is a particular strength, as we saw.

Though their natural pose seems to be leaning forward – their necks, backs, and tails forming an inclined chair shape – they’re capable of standing taller, their backs almost vertical. The latter seems to be the best pose for them to use their wings as weapons – at least, that’s what I experienced.

Their legs descend into a four-clawed foot – three claws forward, one shorter claw behind. Their tails are thick at the base of the spine, but continue to be fairly thick along its length. As a result, they’re relatively short, probably only about a metre long or so. Due to the thickness, that appears to be enough to counterbalance the rest of the kiina.

When running, they lean forwards a bit and tuck their wings in close to their bodies – unless they’re using their wings to add a bit of extra forward momentum, of course. In that respect, they’re much like Bastet. As it turns out, their special ability from their evolution is the ability to use their wings to send a wind blade. Persephone helpfully demonstrated for me on our way back from the hunting area. It wiped out more than half of her mana pool in a single attack, but perhaps she will become more efficient in using it as she progresses to the next tier.

I have a few ideas I’d like to try in combining that attack with our team, but I’ll need to think about them for a bit. If we could somehow combine Bastet’s fire-breath with the kiinas’ wind-blades….

Persephone and Hades aren’t completely healed, but their own natural healing should probably deal with the rest of the small injuries. I’ll check them over tomorrow morning just to make sure.

While waiting for my mana to refill for a second time, I pull out some meat and munch on it. The salt I’ve been adding when cooking the food has been helping with the taste, but I’m still looking forward to experimenting a bit with the plants I’ve brought back.

“So, you were driven out of your normal area, right?” I ask, lying back. The nauseous headache of bottoming out my mana is fading as my mana ticks up again, but I’m feeling mentally fatigued after the elongated period of concentration. To increase the speed of my mana regeneration, I spent my time between the healing sessions in Meditation. On the upside, I got another level in that Skill; the downside was that I had less time to recover mentally.

We had to move away from our territory, yes, Persephone answers. From my short experience with them, she definitely seems to be more the leader of the pair. Hades is a quiet, attentive presence. I know that Dominating a creature automatically forces the inclination to protect and obey me, but I have a feeling that Hades’ instincts of protection towards his mate are stronger even than those.

Let’s just say that I wouldn’t want to test which of us he would side with if it came to a conflict between us – I suspect that I’d lose. Though I know I could control his movements, disable him from trying to attack me, I also know that that would build up resentment given how intelligent the kiina have turned out to be.

“Why?” I follow up on Persephone’s answer.

The trees around us started trying to eat us. So, as I thought: the vine-stranglers drove them up the mountain. At least, that’s the most likely explanation. I wonder how many other animals have been displaced by the sudden explosion of carnivorous trees. And how many more are going to attack us: being from deeper into the valley, they’re more likely to be evolved as Persephone and Hades are. Good sources of Cores, I say to myself thoughtfully.

Pulling up my status screen, I check how my mana pool is getting on.

Name: Markus Wolfe

Race: Human

Class: Tamer

Level: 12

Energy to next level: 94%

Energy absorption rate: 29u/hr

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Energy towards debt: 85%

Intelligence

36

Mana: 73/360

Wisdom

34

Mana regeneration rate: 850u/hr

Willpower

42+8 (+20%)

Health regeneration rate: 40u/hr (-20%)

Constitution

20

Health: 200/200

Strength

20

Stamina: 120/120

Dexterity

19

Stamina regeneration rate: 170u/hr

Class skills

Dominate – Novice 4

*Companion Bond

Tame – Beginner 9

Fade – Initiate 1

Inspect Fauna – Beginner 4

Inspect Flora – Beginner 7

Inspect Environment – Beginner 7

Non-Class skills

Flesh-Shaping – Initiate 6

Stealth – Novice 1

Animal Empathy – Novice 8

Meditation – Initiate 6

Energy Manipulation – Journeyman 7

Sensation Management – Beginner 5

Spearmanship – Beginner 2

It’s not increased much, but enough perhaps for a little experiment I want to try. I’m pleased to look at my increased Skills too – between the various events which have happened, almost all of my Skills have improved. My Dominate jumped up two levels from the Battle of Wills with the kiinas, and my Inspection Skills all increased several levels thanks to my use of them in the forest today.

Of course Flesh-Shaping has gone up a couple of levels, as has Meditation, and Animal Empathy also jumped up a couple of levels. I’m not sure exactly why the last has increased, but perhaps it’s to do with starting to learn a bit of kiina body language – it’s quite different from what I’m used to. Without the Bond, I’d really be struggling to understand how they were feeling.

Energy Manipulation even went up by three levels. I’m not really surprised at that, given the sheer amount of injured flesh and my noticeable increase in ability to control greater quantities of mana at a time. Spearmanship also increased by a single level – in the early ranks levels seem to come quite quickly.

The only Skills which didn’t increase were Stealth, Fade, Tame, and Sensation Management. Not bad for a single trip out into the forest; just another reason why I shouldn’t just stay at home and send my Bound out to hunt for me, even if technically I could.

With any luck, my next experiment will increase my levels a bit too. Heading towards the log that’s lying off to the side of the cave, I crouch down next to it. Next, I try to send magic to it the way I would to River or one of my other Bound. After my practice this morning with healing, and further practice this afternoon when my Bound got cut or bitten by our prey, not to mention the extensive healing I’ve just done on the kiina, being able to feed mana out of my body is becoming second nature.

In fact, I’ve actually noticed something interesting: since I tend to feed the mana through my fingertips, I'm actually finding that there’s the beginnings of a path being traced through the ‘blackness’ that surrounds my Energy channels. It’s only the beginning, but I’m pretty sure that a new filament is being extended from the area of my Energy channels where I usually pull the mana out so that I can then feed it through my skin. I’m quite excited to see how that develops, though I can’t help thinking of possible consequences of me being able to create my own mana channels.

On the positive side, it might mean more flexibility for me, being able to build channels where I need them. On the other hand, what if my mana channels need to be symmetrical and balanced in a way that they currently are, but won’t be if I start building channels willy-nilly?

Anyway, it seems to be happening whether I like it or not. I resolve to ask Kalanthia if she’s got any ideas – which she’s willing to share, of course. She’s been rather cagey about the next steps every time I’ve asked her so far.

With my increased amount of experience doing this, it doesn’t take too much experimentation to realise that I’m not going to be able to shape the log. Not with magic, anyway.

I’m able to push magic into the log, but once it’s past the barrier of my skin, I find that I’m unable to control it. It’s not like when I was able to follow it into and around River’s body, or Bastet’s, or any of my other Bound. My mind stops at my skin and my mana just…vanishes. So apparently wood doesn’t count as ‘flesh’.

It’s not entirely surprising; why should it? Yes, it’s the flesh of a tree, but trees are so different from animals that I might as well be trying to use Flesh-Shaping on stone. Or soil, since soil is made of a mixture of decayed animal – and plant – matter in addition to stone fragments. I guess it’s back to Plan A – using primitive stone implements to carve out the basin. Fun.

While trying to use Flesh-Shaping on the log wasn’t the only experiment I had planned, the darkness which has settled around us is a sign that it’s time to start preparing for bed. Once more, I need to find a place for my newest Bound to sleep. This time, I don’t think we’re going to be able to make space for them in my little alcove: while there’s still space to move around as it is, adding another two creatures who are taller than me and come equipped with winglike limbs is likely to see it overflowing.

I stand up and approach the two kiinas. They eye me a little warily, more suspicious than any of my Bound so far. Then again, I suppose that this is the first time I’ve Dominated a creature after having killed their mate in front of them…. Maybe they have good reason to be wary.

“We normally sleep inside in an alcove,” I start, “but I don’t think there’s going to be enough space for all of us. Are you two OK sleeping out here for now? If you’d rather sleep down in the trees, that would be fine too.” They eye each other and I get the feeling that they’re communicating in some way that I’m not quite capable of understanding. I probably could if I invaded one of their minds, but that would probably break their burgeoning trust – which is fragile enough as it is.

We shall find shelter under the trees, Persephone said finally. I nod.

“Alright. I hope to change our living situation in the future, but for now I guess that’ll have to do. Are you hungry?”

No, is the short but prompt reply.

“Then I’ll see you in the morning. Please return here when the sun rises. And don’t hesitate to call for help if you get attacked by anything.” At this Hades shifts, his feathers mantling a little bit. I get the sense of surprise, irritation, and affront. I’m confused for a moment, but then as I look at how he’s standing protectively in front of Persephone, I think I understand. “It’s not that I think you need our help, but we’re a team now,” I continue, pretending not to have noticed. The sense of affront reduces, though the surprise remains. “Anyway, I’ll say goodnight.”

Persephone and Hades don’t seem to be ones for polite conversation – unsurprisingly – and immediately turn to make their way down the slope. Sirocco wings her way over my head, sending me a quick thought. I send one back to her in gratitude: she indicated to me that she’s going to keep an eye on them. Although I suspect that Persephone will put the safety of her unborn children first, that doesn’t mean that she will definitely call for me soon enough for me to actually help. It eases my heart to know that Sirocco will be there.

“Alright,” I say to my other Bound. “Bed.”