Bregg and Aeld had been the ones looking for me, as it turned out. Aeld had seen the light of my ritual and sensed the energy of it, but when he saw the dinosaur I dragged along—and sensed the new beast spirit attached to me—understanding filled his eyes. Of course, so did a trace of accusation.
“You called on the hunt spirit to bring a predator, didn’t you, Freyd?” he asked in a tired voice.
“I was annoyed,” I replied. “Sometimes, a good fight helps with that.”
“It does,” Bregg agreed, gesturing to the creature I carried. “However, that was foolish, Hettlug. Jagadlas usually travel in packs of six to ten, and so do many of the predators out there. You could have brought more than you could handle.”
“Or you could have brought them down on the whole camp,” Aeld added disapprovingly. “A letharvis always has to consider the possible long-term consequences of his actions, Freyd. He can’t let momentary aggravation guide his actions.”
I bit back a comment about Fifa being a letharvis as well, as I knew he’d simply remind me that her emotions weren’t fully under her control at the moment. I also wasn’t about to tell him that I hadn’t been motivated by temper but by a desire to meld a different type of spirit, for obvious reasons, so I simply accepted his criticism and followed him back to our camp.
I expected Fifa to either apologize to me or try to convince me to work with her again once she’d calmed down, but to my surprise—and a certain relief—she simply avoided me the entire next day. She ate alone, and when I offered to call and claim a spirit that night for Aeld, he demurred.
“There’s no point, Freyd,” he said with a sigh. “My senses aren’t as developed as Fifa’s, I’m afraid, and I’ve been trying to understand how you claim spirits for weeks without success. If I haven’t yet, I’m not going to. We need the rashi; they have far more experience dealing with spirits and far better senses.”
My training with Bregg didn’t stop, and neither did the channeling exercises Aeld gave me, although he did have me practicing the more advanced spells he and Fifa had taught me, which were enough of a challenge that I didn’t have to use Kadonsel to train anymore. Bregg’s training no longer gave me much of a stat or skill boost anymore, but they occupied my time and were honestly a little bit of a welcome break from the spell training, especially since I convinced the hunter to let me intersperse hand-to-hand training with my spear drills. That let me boost that skill, but it also allowed me to follow Sara’s advice and think more about how I fought and why I fought that way.
At night, I practiced channeling one of Sara’s new spells, the one she’d created with the jagadla spirit.
Spell Created: Spiritual Empowerment
Power Required: Variable
You channel the essence of a predator’s spirit into your body, improving your Prowess and Celerity stats. You can channel 1 or more units of power into this spell each second; each point gives you a 1% boost to both stats.
The spell wasn’t super powerful, but Draining Aura and Spirit Drain both made it much stronger. In a spirit-dense environment, using Spirit Drain at least once a second, I could boost Prowess and Celerity by 15% without using a single unit of my stored spiritual power, a boost of eight points to the first and six to the second. For short bursts, I could pump those stats even higher, making myself stronger and faster than Bregg if I had to be. Of course, both Aeld and Fifa would have sensed it if I actually used it, so I wasn’t going around with it running all the time to add a point or two to my stats. What mattered is that it was an option, and I’d rather have it and not use it than find myself wishing I had it.
We reached another valskab two days after I’d melded the dino spirit, and while they sort of welcomed us, they set us up in one of their aboveground domes rather than letting us into the valskab. At first, I thought it was my presence causing the issues, but I caught the older letharvis Aeld silently communed with shooting concerned glances at Fifa, and I realized it was probably both of us. He didn’t want me as an outsider around his people, but he didn’t want to worry about Fifa, either.
The next day, a low, white smudge appeared on the southern horizon. It looked almost like a huge cloud of steam or white smoke pouring into the sky, and I assumed it was another of the ubiquitous hot-spring lakes that seemed to dot the Haelendi. The day after, though, a dirty white bump rose from the plain below that plume, growing larger and darker as we rode south until it reared high above the plain, stretching up like a conical monolith looming over the grasslands.
“Is that a volcano?” I asked Sara silently.
“It looks to be, John,” she replied. “At first, I thought it might just be a mountain range that happens to have significant geologic activity, but it’s too symmetrical for that.”
“Aldhyor,” Aeld spoke up, breaking into my thoughts. I glanced over at him, and he gestured toward the distant peak. “That’s what you’re looking at.”
“I didn’t know it was a volcano,” I said, realizing that no one had ever actually told me what Aldhyor was.
“It’s not,” Bregg said shortly.
I looked at the hunter skeptically. “It sure looks like one,” I replied a bit sarcastically.
“What he means is that the fire mountain is only part of Aldhyor,” Aeld said, giving the bigger man a disapproving look. “Aldhyor extends all around us and beneath us, Freyd. Its fires warm the ground so that it thaws during Flikkur’s Crossing. It heats the lakes so their depths remain unfrozen in the depths of the Dark Season, and it fuels the geysers that bring fresh nutrients from the earth into the soil. Its warmth even affects the High Reaches, creating the rivers that irrigate the land. Realistically, the Haelendi only exists because of Aldhyor.”
“If it’s everywhere, why are we headed toward the volcano, then?” I asked.
“The peak is the home of the rashi. It’s also called Aldhyor, by the way.” He flashed Bregg another disapproving gaze. “And it’s what most people mean when they speak of it, so your initial assumption wasn’t entirely incorrect. It’s also the center of the Haelendi, its heart, and the place where most of our people live.”
“They live on the volcano?” I asked dubiously. “It looks active. How is that safe?”
“The spirit of the fire mountain is a restless one, it’s true, but the rashi keeps it under control—for the most part.” The shaman chuckled. “You’re right, though, that it’s not the safest place to live. Even if it were, no valskab would claim it since that would cause jealousy and unhappiness with the rest of the valskabs. Our people surround Aldhyor, but only the rashi dare to reside upon its slopes—and, of course, any petitioners who seek them.”
“How far away is it?”
“Still many days. The fire mountain’s as tall as the peaks of the High Reaches.”
“Don’t be in too much of a hurry to arrive,” Bregg added. “Aldhyor’s dangers don’t just come from the fire mountain. The rashi doesn’t suffer fools or insolence. Offend the wrong person there, and you could find yourself joining the fires below it.”
I glanced at Aeld, expecting him to argue, but the shaman sighed in agreement. “He’s correct to some extent, Freyd. The rashi are the eldest and most powerful letharvisa in the Haelendi, with control of spirits I wouldn’t even attempt bargaining with, and they do demand courtesy and deference. However, they’re also very wise, and they don’t anger easily. Treat them with the respect that is their due, and you should be fine.”
“Which means you’ll probably end up in the fires after a day or so,” Bregg snorted.
I wanted to argue, but he kind of had a point. I did tend to piss off people in authority. I’d have to get Sara to work on a spell for fire resistance, just in case. It was pretty likely that I’d need it, the way the two were talking.
We reached the next valskab two days later, and once more, we were relegated to one of the aboveground domes rather than being invited into the deeper valskab. I could tell that Fifa was pissed about it, and while Aeld tried to speak to her, I took the moment to walk outside into the darkness. The spirit lights overhead lit up the night, and on a whim, I activated Genius Loci, wondering what it would say about them. Information rushed into my brain as the high spirit within me pinged everything within thirty feet or so. I sensed a pair of Menskie warriors hiding nearby, a couple dozen valskab-bound spirits swirling around me, and a bunch of tiny animals like insects or mice—including one mouse-like thing that registered as a snaerbig, finally explaining what the hell one of those was. The spirit also touched the shimmering lights overhead and returned a message that I read in amazement.
Spirit Lights
Spirit Type: Mortal
Class: Unknown
Power: Unknown
“Wait, what?” I asked, staring at the glowing lights. “Sara—mortal spirits? Are you sure?”
“Yes, John,” she replied, appearing in front of me and looking up into the sky as well. “I’ve seen enough mortal spirits to be able to read one accurately, and those are mortal spirits up there.”
“You mean—they’re people?”
“I can only tell you that they’re the same type of spirits that people have. I don’t know if they’re the spirits of Menskallin, Oikithikiim, or if they’re their own species, maybe one that evolved beyond the need for a body. It’s impossible to say without communicating with them, and I don’t know if that’s possible.”
“How didn’t you recognize them before, then?”
“I can’t really sense them well for some reason. It’s as if they aren’t completely there, or if some part of them is missing. The high spirit you melded can, though, and I’m reading them through it.”
I stared at the lights for several minutes, just watching them and considering what I’d just learned. Were the spirit lights the souls of dead Menskies? Were they Oikie spirits, trapped there as part of the endless war between the two races? That thought made me shiver, but I couldn’t assume it wasn’t the case. Of course, they might also be a third intelligent species. If they were, did they spend their days observing the creatures beneath them? Did they even know what was happening around them? From what Aeld said about spirits, they might not even perceive the regular world.
I tore my gaze away from the spirit lights at last and looked around. This particular valskab had been built near a series of steaming, volcanic pools, each of which shimmered in the glow of the mortal spirits twisting and dancing above me. The closest pool was only a few dozen feet away, so I walked over to it and crouched down, dipping a hand into the water, finding it hot but not burning.
“Sara, any chance this is a water supply for the valskab?”
“It’s not likely, John. This water is moderately alkaline and has lots of silica that likely makes it unsuitable for drinking—at least, not without a significant degree of filtration.”
I hesitated for only a moment before stripping off my leather and slipping into the lake. The bottom was muddy but firm, like standing in wet clay, and I quickly walked deeper until everything but my head was submerged. The hot water soaked my fur and swirled around my tired, sore muscles, and I lay back in it, floating and staring up at the shimmering lights.
I missed hot tubs. It was a silly thing, a foolish luxury, but I missed them. I had one in my condo back on Earth, and I used it after every kill, soaking in the hot water and letting the swirling jets wash my most recent sins away. It was a ritual, but it was also downtime, a chance for me to shut my brain off and not think for a bit. I missed that, as well; I’d been going pretty constantly since I entered Sojnheim, and I hadn’t had a lot of time to simply sit and relax.
As I lay in the water, I began to reminisce about all the small things I missed from my time on Earth. I hadn’t let myself do that. I’d worked hard not to even think much about the planet of my birth, mostly because there was no point, and the last thing I needed was a bout of homesickness. As I lay there, though, my brain seemed to simply drift there on its own.
Guns topped the list, obviously; a whole lot of what I’d had to do in these worlds would have been a hell of a lot easier if I had an automatic rifle and plenty of ammo. I didn’t think a pistol would have done much against the ancient beast I faced in Kuan Yang, but it would have done wonders against some of the cultivators I had to fight, and handguns weren’t exactly the epitome of firearms. I wondered idly what that beast would have done if I’d hit it with an RPG or three. That would have been even more useful against Ilinca in Soluminos, and while guns didn’t work well against the handlers and pets of Puraschim, I was pretty sure that didn’t count an HK416 unloading 800 steel-cored green tips per second on them. I’d have bet that even an Epic beast like Old Sena would have felt that.
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Of course, there were a lot of other things I missed. Entertainment was one; I missed video games, TV, and movies. I had no real way to pass quiet time anymore except for training, and honestly, that got old eventually. There had to be entertainment on this world, something like the card games in Puraschim, but if there were, the Menskies weren’t sharing it with me.
I also missed fast food, or just restaurants in general. Sure, I couldn’t generally go to those on Earth, but I could order off the menu and have it delivered to me, and I missed that variety of foods. The Menskies basically ate meat, a few different vegetables, some small, tart fruits, and bread. That was it; you ate that, or you didn’t eat. I never really realized just how plentiful food was on Earth until I found all these places where it wasn’t.
Mostly, though, I missed the damn internet. It would have been so simple to Google the history of the Menskallin, maybe to watch some YouTube videos on how to call and bind spirits. I could have seen a map of this whole damn world and maybe even gotten a satellite view of it to get a better idea of what the Oikies were doing. That certainly would have made things a lot easier.
“You know, John, that might be possible,” Sara mused silently, appearing beside me in the water without making a ripple.
“What, the internet?” I asked in silent disbelief.
“No, obviously,” she laughed. “If I’m reading your memories of it correctly, you’ll need to be on a world with either a lot higher TR or a much higher MR. Technically, though, with a powerful enough wind spirit and the right ability, you could get an aerial view of the entire Haelendi or Almella. You could see this whole world from above, the way you’re imagining.”
“Any chance we can develop something like that?” I asked hopefully.
“The hard part would be getting a powerful enough wind spirit. The really strong ones I’ve seen are up high, away from the ground and all its obstacles, and bringing one of those down here could have some strange effects on the weather. It should be possible, though.”
“Maybe another time,” I sighed. “Tonight, I’d like to take a night off from all this.”
“I don’t blame you. Like you said, you’ve been going fairly constantly this whole time. I think you’ve earned a bit of a rest.”
“Me too.” I paused as something she’d said earlier tickled my thoughts. “Wait, were you implying that with a higher magic rating, there be a magical internet?”
“Certainly, if the world’s magical field was strong enough, and the people on it skilled enough. Just about anything that can be done technologically can be replicated magically, John.”
I chuckled. “Someone on my world once said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
“I’d modify that a bit, myself, to say that the effects of sufficiently advanced magic and technology are indistinguishable. You could tell the difference yourself with your See Magic ability, you know.”
“True, but since abilities like that didn’t exist on Earth, you can’t blame the guy for not considering it.” I laid back in the water and sighed, staring up at the star Flikkur glowing above me. “You know, Sara, that star’s linked to all this somehow. The lights we saw in the Northern Ocean were reacting to it, at least. Any idea what makes it so important?”
“Well, it’s obviously important to the Menskallin. After all, instead of a solar or lunar calendar, they use a stellar one, which is something of a rarity.”
“Meaning they track their year by the star’s movements?”
“Exactly. According to my predictions, Flikkur should rotate across the sky almost exactly once per solar year, so it makes a good indicator of the seasons. I’m not sure where the Menskallin calendar starts, exactly, but it seems that the Bright Season coincides with a period called Flikkur’s Crawl, followed by the Battle, then Flikkur’s Rise, both of which would be what you’d call autumn. The Dark Season is Flikkur’s Descent, followed by the Crossing and Flikkur’s Sprint, which constitute a sort of spring season. I’ve predicted that a year lasts 380 days, so each of those seasons is probably around 65 days long.”
“So, it’s just a convenient way to track the seasons?”
“The Wanderer is a very important star, outsider,” Kadonsel spoke up. “Not only does its passage last precisely a year, its presence at various places in the sky affects the spirits, making some stronger and others weaker.”
“What do you mean? How does it do that?”
“No one really knows, although most believe that the Wanderer is a spirit itself and a chief servant of the Great Spirits. Whatever the reason, though, during the warm days when the sun is highest in the sky, the Wanderer is at its farthest south, and spirits of water and positive emotions are more powerful. As the days shorten, the Wanderer moves toward the sunrise, and spirits of fire and destruction become stronger. When the sun never rises high in the sky, the Wanderer is directly north, and spirits of ice and darkness are strongest, and as the days lengthen, the Wanderer heads toward the sunset. Then, spirits of earth and growth are at their peak.”
“How do you know that it’s the star and not the sun?” I asked skeptically.
“Because our histories say that in our homeland, far to the south, the Wanderer wasn’t visible much of the year, and the spirits there weren’t affected the way they are here. Other stars move in patterns that don’t match our year; only the Wanderer does. It must be the source of the spiritual fluctuations. No one knows why, but it’s true.”
“Hold on. Sara, where are we in that calendar?”
“The first half of Flikkur’s Rise, John. Mid-autumn to you, and the time where the days are shortening to Kadonsel.”
“Which is the time when destructive spirits are at their strongest,” I said slowly. “Kadonsel, when does that strength peak? When are destructive spirits the strongest of all?”
“J-just before the great cold sets in,” she stammered. “Two to three weeks before is the Reaping, the time when all great destructive projects happen.”
“I’ll bet that’s our timeline, Sara,” I thought grimly. “Whatever’s happening is probably going to be fairly destructive, and that means it’ll be strongest then.”
“You might be right, John. If that’s the case, then you’ve got a couple weeks, three at the most.”
“Great,” I sighed. “You know, Sara, just once, it would be great not to have a planetary destruction timer ticking away at us for one of these things.”
“You do seem to run into a lot of those,” she laughed, then sobered quickly. “You know, John, this means that if what you’re looking for is down in Almella, Kadonsel’s nation…”
“Then, I’m screwed,” I agreed. “We’ll just have to hope…” I paused as an odd prickling sensation crawled up the back of my neck and spread out across my shoulders, a sensation I knew meant I was being watched. I glanced around hurriedly and froze as I spotted a figure walking through the darkness toward me.
“Freyd,” Fifa said, her voice oddly neutral as she approached my hot tub pond, standing on the shore across from me.
“Fifa,” I replied just as evenly despite suddenly feeling very self-conscious about the fact that my clothing lay on the shore behind me.
“I see you decided you needed a bath, as well,” the woman said, squatting down and placing a hand in the water. “A wise decision. You were beginning to smell a bit…” She stopped and bit her lip, then rose to her feet. “Sadly, so am I.” Her hands went to the waist of her robe, and my eyes widened as I realized what she was about to do just before she began lifting it up.
“Hold on, Fifa,” I said quickly, backing away toward the far side of the pond. “There are other pools. I think you should pick one of those.”
“That would be stupid since I’m standing right next to this one.” She began untying her robe, and I swallowed hard as her nearness began to make my body react. I quickly turned and waded to the edge. Granted, I was naked, but I wasn’t about to go swimming with the angry woman who apparently had a Jones for me. I’d have much rather walked nude around the rest of the valskab, to be honest.
“Where are you going?” she demanded as I splashed my way out of the pool toward my clothing.
“I’m giving you the pool, obviously. I’ve been in for a while, and I’m clean enough.” I kept my back toward her as I strode onto the shore and grabbed my clothing. My fur was wet, and I really didn’t want to layer dirty leather armor over the top of it, but I wasn’t actually going to go streaking around the valskab.
“Wait,” she said, her voice slightly strained as she spoke. “I—I wanted to speak with you.”
I slid the leather shirt on over my fur, wincing at the feel of the dampness pressed against my skin, and didn’t look back at her. The discomfort actually helped me to ignore my body screaming at me to turn around and get my ass back in that pool, but the urge was still powerful, far stronger than it had been before. I wanted to walk away, but with the way her temper had been lately, I wasn’t sure that simply ignoring her was a good idea. Instead, I took several steps away from the water, giving myself some distance, and spoke over my shoulder without looking her way.
“What did you want to talk about?”
“I’d be a lot more comfortable talking to you rather than your back,” she replied sharply.
“Then you should have kept your clothes on,” I said flatly. “What did you want to talk about?”
“I…” I heard her take a deep breath, as if steeling herself for what she was going to say. “I want to apologize,” she said at last.
“For what, exactly?”
“For the way I’ve treated you. I…” She paused again, and when she spoke, her voice was sharper. “Would you please look at me?”
“Sure. Once you’re dressed,” I chuckled. “Until then, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Fine.” I heard the rustle of fabric, and she muttered softly beneath her breath for several seconds. “There. I’m dressed.”
I slowly turned around and almost sighed with relief to see that she had, in fact, actually put her clothes back on. The whole situation was weird enough without me seeing what Menskie tits looked like. Still, apparently looking at her amplified my body’s response, and I furiously concentrated on the clammy feeling of my armor pressed against my fur and counting the stars just past her left shoulder.
“Better? Good.” A flash of irritation crossed her face, but I ignored it. This whole situation was pissing me off.
“As I was saying, I owe you an apology for the way I’ve treated you,” she continued. “I—I haven’t exactly been myself.” She looked at me expectantly, but I chose to stay silent and simply listen. She waited for a moment, then plowed on.
“I know that Aeld told you that I’m in the midst of kyroska. I’m sure he told you that it’s affecting my emotions and judgment. I’m not—I’m not actually angry with you, Freyd. I’m frustrated at feeling out of control, and I’ve been lashing out. I’m sorry if I’ve been taking my aggravation out on you.”
“Apology accepted,” I said simply. “Enjoy your bath.”
“Wait, that’s it?” she demanded as I turned to leave, and I couldn’t help but sigh in aggravation. I’d gotten so close to getting out of the situation! “Apology accepted, and it’s over?”
“I’m not sure what you want me to say, Fifa—or how much any of this really matters.”
“What do you mean?” she asked suspiciously.
“I mean, do you really think that your behavior is going to change? Do you think that apologizing is going to make it easier to control yourself, or make you feel less angry and frustrated? All you did was tell me that you know you’re acting out, that it’s not really your fault, and that you feel bad for it—all of which I already knew.”
“You knew?” Her body tensed, and I could tell she was getting angry again. “What do you think you know about me, Freyd?”
“I know that this isn’t how you normally act,” I replied, keeping my voice as calm as possible. “After Aeld explained what was happening, I realized that it wasn’t entirely your choice, and the fact that you keep yourself separate from us means you’re aware of it. And who wouldn’t be upset that they were acting in a way they didn’t want to because of things they couldn’t control?” I shrugged. “I’m not saying I understand because I don’t, not in the slightest. I’m just saying that it wasn’t hard to work out what you just told me, is all.”
She frowned and opened her mouth as if to retort, then stopped and took another deep breath. “Fine. However, that’s not the real reason I wanted to speak to you.” She took a hesitant step closer to me. “I want you to keep showing me how you claim spirits, Freyd.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Fifa,” I answered slowly, knowing that I’d probably piss her off. “At least, not until things are—different.”
Her nostrils flared, but I saw her quickly regain control of her temper and forcibly relax herself. “I agree, Freyd. I think that as things are, we’re both too distracted and uncomfortable for me to learn anything, or for you to claim spirits safely.”
“Then—what’s the point of talking about it?” I asked slowly. “Unless it’s ending, of course.” Not that it seemed like it was. She took another step closer, and my body began screaming at me about how close she was getting. The leather covered my physical reaction, but I still eased back a step. No, things definitely weren’t calming down.
“The point, Freyd,” she said, taking another step and grabbing her robe again as she stared at me, “is that there’s another way to ease this discomfort without having to wait.” She pulled the robe up over her head, and her voice turned husky as she spoke. “One that’s much faster—and a lot more interesting.”
I swallowed hard as I saw the sight of her nude body for the first time—the first time I’d ever seen a female Menskie nude, in fact. The light gold fur covering her face and arms spread across her shoulders and down her sides, covering her thighs as well. It thinned just below her throat, revealing an oval of pale skin that stretched from the top of her breastbone down to below her navel. Pale nipples framed her small, rounded breasts—of which she had four. The fur continued between her legs, hiding whatever lay there, fortunately enough.
She took another step toward me, and I had to fight not to rush at her and grab her. My mind reminded me that I wasn’t actually attracted to this woman; in fact, I felt vaguely repelled by her appearance. Fur covered most of her body, and while she had the hourglass shape and breasts of a human female, nothing else about her reminded me even remotely of my idea of a woman. Unfortunately, my body screamed a hell of a lot louder. The urge was way fucking stronger than any desire I’d ever felt in my human body—or any other body, for that matter. It felt more like burning thirst or starvation than simple need. Resisting it grew increasingly painful, as if I were dying of thirst beneath a desert sun, and she was a glass of ice water just out of my reach.
And yeah, I know exactly what that feels like.
I forced myself to take a half-step away, but even as I did, I felt a low growl rise up in the base of my throat, one that I hadn’t meant to utter. She moved closer, and her presence seemed to cloak me in a haze, wrapping around my brain and making my thoughts fuzzy. She moved into arm’s reach, then turned her back to me and dropped to her hands and knees on the ground, looking back at me over her shoulder, displaying clearly what the fur in front had hidden.
The growl rose higher in my throat, shaking my entire body, and I took an involuntary step toward her despite my attempts to turn and walk away. My body’s physical reaction was almost painful, and I struggled to see anything but the woman splayed out before me, offering herself to me. I took another unconscious step, and I felt my knees bending as I prepared to take what had been offered.
A sudden cramp and wave of nausea rippled through my stomach as a flare of light twisted in the sky overhead. The pain shocked me out of my fevered lust, and I staggered back from the woman. She pushed herself to her feet, looking in confusion at the writhing spirit lights in the sky overhead, then took a step back toward me, seemingly unconsciously. Unfortunately, that brought her back into arm’s reach. My lust rose again, and my arm swept out, grabbing her and pulling her against me. She gasped and pressed backward, leaning her body forward at the same time. The leather between us suddenly felt like far too thin of a barrier, and I fought to gain control of my body even as my arm pulled her even more tightly against me and my hips pressed forward.
When the wave of boiling water exploded from the nearby pool and crashed into me, knocking the woman free of my grip, I felt nothing but a surge of gratitude and a sense of relief.