In the morning I woke and enjoyed the pleasure of being in such close contact.
I asked Lara “did you expect to gain bonus attributes now that we have completed our bond.”
Her response was “yes but not to the extent that we have. Bondservants receive 5% of the master's attributes. While the master gains 10% of the servants. Ester and I have a bond that has given both of us 10% gains. So I expected something similar between us.”
“So 50% is something rather unusual”
“I have seen couples that married young for the gains to their attributes but that has only resulted in a 15% gain. Those who enter polygamous relationships normally find that the fall-off can have rather underwhelming results. Something odd is happening here”
Elizabeth entered the room as we lay there in comfort. “Since the battle royal is coming up this morning, It is important to plan. There are strict rules that must be followed, Sept leadership cannot provide any advice about what you will face. You must face what comes completely within your skills and knowledge. But we can give you objectives so listen clearly. Your objective is to survive, We don’t care about anything else.
So get up and get moving!”
After a quick wash and comfort break
“We don’t have long before we must leave. So grab some food and listen to what I believe you need to do to survive the battle royal.” Elizabeth started a lecture on what was about to happen.
“So to start with, each battle group will be distributed around the arena. The opponents will be caged in the centre of the arena. They will be masked behind a shield, so we will have no clue what we are going to face until the shield drops. It is almost certain that there will be one type of mob, but there will be a range of variations, from ground attackers, ambush predators, some flying variations, and worst of all a number of the evolved and a leader. The mobs will continue to appear in batches until some limit is reached. This may be the number of defenders who have been eaten, a time limit, or the total number of mobs that have appeared. In theory, these limits are determined before the conflict is started. But we cannot trust that.
You are not allowed to move from the starting location until the shield drops. Since you received second place we will be able to select where we are located after the Green group. I think that the best location will be opposite the Green group.
Since your aim must be to survive. This means that winning is far less important. The number of kills that a team is the only way of gaining points the normal solution is to kill as fast as possible. But since we want no casualties. You need to start planning.”
About that time we reached the dining hall. The rest of the Red squads quickly gathered.
“Everyone our only goal today is to survive.”
As I spoke an image of how we could get started appeared in my mind. It was unclear how we could proceed from there but it would prevent an ambush.
With as much confidence as possible, I started to outline the plan. As we arrive before the start signal we will move to the left as fast as we can. 15 to 20 meters should be enough.
We will try to misdirect the mobs. As soon as the shield drops all the casters that have blurring or illusion skills need to make it appear that we have not moved and have turtled up.
To this end, we will form 7 squads that have a role in our defence. Because I don’t know everyone yet It is important that everyone helps to work out where they add the greatest value. The leader will be the first person that I name. Their role is to coordinate with me. If someone has greater skills. I expect that the squads will organize around that person.
Squad 1 Lara, Me, and the best defensive fighter that we have.
Squad 2 Fanny, focuses on healing and boosting the skills and attributes of the force.
Squad 3 Robert, Area of attack skills. Winnow the numbers if we get a surge. We will need some way to bring down any flying mobs when they attack.
Squad 4 Dakota, Mobile attacker controlling breakthroughs and sneak attacks. You are also going to have to provide our range kills. Focus on flying evolved, they need to be as close to instant kills as you can manage.
Squad 5 Ester, Targeting, we need to be able to focus on the right mobs. You will be positioned behind Squad 1 and need to kill any wounded that Squad 1 manages to pass Squad 1. Since we have no idea how long the battle may last you will likely have to provide relief to Squad 1 at times.
Squad 6 Shamhila Defense, requiring shield walls, anything to slow and or break up attacks. Our passive defence is hopefully going to be how we kill the largest numbers.
Squad 7 Adam, Misdirection, illusion, and confusion. You need to coordinate with Shamhila
Everyone needs to work out what group they belong in, talk, plan how your group will deliver the objectives. Be flexible. Remember plans don’t survive contact with the enemy. Please make sure you have plenty of food, I think it is going to be a hard day.
Ester can you join Lara and me, we will need to plan how to manage our responsibilities.”
Some of the units formed quickly. Himal, a Nobel, came forward to me and said that he was a level 23 totem master, and would lock down many foes, by distracting them with totems, and using his dual swords to terminate their lives.
A monster of a fighter called Ken from the blessed land joined Ester, he wielded the most enormous two-handed battle sword that I could have imagined. There was a discussion between the two Nobles about who would join the mobile attack force and who would join the second defence line. In the end, a level 28 lighting mage joined the line because she had a second class of Spacer. Which sounds odd but allowed her to distort the space between points
Class Level - Insightful leader + 1
Attribute improved - Agility +3
Attribute improved - Control +3
Attribute improved - Power +3
At that, I glowed and a pair of new feats appeared in the list of available Feats.
Class Grant
Misdirect
Awareness
Prophecy Grant
Visionary
Mental Clarity
It did not take any time to select Misdirect. I was not sure what it did but it could only help this plan. The next one that jumped to mind was Mental Clarity.
“Now that the groups are organized are there any questions or comments before each of the leaders works out who is part of which group”
Adam warned us “We need to be alert to friendly fire. We are not just needing to kill the mobs but it is more than likely that there will be stray skills that could accidentally or on purpose target our group”
Class Level - Insightful leader +1
Attribute improved - Dexterity +3
Attribute improved - Memory +3
Attribute improved - Luck+3
As Adam spoke there was a new Notification
I glowed and new feats appeared in the list of available Feats.
Class Grant
Powerful Body
Sudden Strike
Prophecy Grant
Controlled Aggression
Boosted Anger
Title Grant
Stealth
Confusion
Why this class was growing so fast was confusing but it was not unwelcome.
This time it was less obvious which feats made the best sense to gain. Somehow I knew that the “Powerful Body” Feat had been blocked by the “Mental Clarity”.
With the time pressure, I had to not think too much about the latest notifications, as impactful as they might be. Since I had many useful feats that I could take, Rather than take any of the newly offered Feats I jumped back to feats I had previously considered so took “Unit Cohesion”, “Unit Targeting”, And Lastly “Strengthen team”. Then I moved back to concentrating on the briefing.
At that, we split into smaller groups as people milled around trying to find the right fit for their skills. I left it up to the various people because they knew what they could do, I didn’t.
It did not take long before everyone was sitting in small groups talking, planning, and eating.
I felt my class pulsing but It did not level, but it did feel close.
It was not long before Elizabeth stood by the entrance, and called out
“We leave now. While Lara and Fonial are functional now we are still going to use the carriages. We want to surprise the gambling syndicates. With your leaders seen to be confused they have been betting that you will suffer significant losses. Since they also control the arena it is important that they don’t change how they have planned the spectacular to protect their finances.
I have decided to break a number of the syndicates. Over the years they have manipulated the arena. My outer family has suffered from their manipulations. It is my turn now. I am certain that you will achieve your goals. I was rescued by Desdemona when I was little more than a child on the slaver’s block, and she was a young noble being taught the evil of chattel slavery.
We have waited for this day for more than three hundred years. Let's go and punish the gamblers that bet on people's lives.”
We all boarded the waiting enclosed carriages. Lara, Ester, and I joined her in the lead carriage.
“I have placed my life savings on the outcome that you lose none of your force. I have been required to spread the bets in such a way that it was not obvious that I was the single source. Desdemona has greater goals and could accept a few losses, but I need you to be perfect.
My family used to run that arena, and the rules were such that no combat could end in death, other than for the beasts. But the powers decided that it was not exciting enough to stimulate the crowds, so they forced the introduction of the bestial races and the deathmatches.
My family resisted and for that impertinence, most of my family was sacrificed by our clan. The young were sold as slaves. The elderly were used as beast bait. While the cream of the family was forced to participate. They had been slowly whittled down until one hundred and thirty-three years ago my last uncle failed to win against a massive mismatch.
Over the years Hanna and Desdemona had turned a blind eye to me rescuing the few remnants that went up on the slaver block. They are safe now. But if they were found it is very unlikely that they would survive long.
Chattel slavery is just evil. Tears dripped down her face”
With that, we arrived at the arena. Lara and I glanced at each other and took time to exit given her time to recover. Ester moved between us. Robert escorted me from one side and Adam escorted Lara. We entered the tunnel and moved down the red passage. An image of the announcer asked
“Where do you choose to position your force?”
Ester responded “Opposite Green.”
The wall to the right opened and we moved down a passage into the arena. In the centre was a ritual circle engraved in a large block of stone paving. Green was already positioned. Yellow appeared out of the wall to our left, and Blue to the right.
The Announcer started a long speech to whip up the crowd. She went on and on. The crowd became more and more frenzied. Yet at the same time, I could feel the pressure of powerful minds pressing on all of the participants. The shields of the arena were strained in places by this attention.
It did not take long before a comforting blanket of safety stretched across the Red Squad's. Many minds were part of the shield but three stood out, Desdemona and a pair that reminded me of Lara, but orders of magnitude stronger.
The Blue Squads shimmered for a short period before I assumed that their sponsors were able to protect them.
And with that, the countdown started
“5”
“4”
“3”
“2”
“1”
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“Start”
The battle opened with a massive ant lion appearing in the centre of the ritual circle. It breathed out and a fog flowed around it. From the fog facing the spot where we had been standing a massive ant slowly moved forward. I could see two more each facing the force to the left and the right. Then it spat a colossal wad of acid, poison all mixed with fragments of bone, straight at where we had been standing. Lara was able to deflect it away from us by a small margin, But since we had clear of the area, it collided with the outer shield. The shield whined under the strain. Flares of colour raced up the wall. The forces to either side of us were able to shield themselves somewhat. I could tell what had happened to the force that was to our left but not to the eight as our shields blocked a lot of the vision. But the force in my direct vision had several figures that had collapsed and one that looked like it had melted into a puddle.
The Green force who was directly behind seemed to have been able to handle the spit as the outer wards in that area barely lit up. Even as this occurred, swarms of ants appeared from the fog. Some dug into the ground, others just faded away, and dozens just started to charge at the group nearest to them. A cloud of flying ants circled the centre. It looked like we had got things right, as the bulk of the mobs attacked the other forces. But the bulk of the flying ants headed towards us.
We started slow, just controlling the numbers and conserving our energy. Lara, Himal, and I found it easy enough to defeat the mobs that came our way. The fog wall that our misdirection team had raised worked beautifully. The mobs stumbled in the shifting sand traps and were rapidly burnt to a crisp. Those that reached the defence shield ran into the spikes before they even realised that there were spikes. The various feats that were in effect meant that the point of each spike was so fine and narrow that they extended as much as a meter past what appeared to be the spike. The monofilament threads woven into the sky were shredding the flyers. Some landed intact but were rapidly chopped into pieces by the mobile attack force.
None of the invisible mobs even reached our forces, Their only advantage was a surprise, and being cut into pieces or impaling oneself tended to result in a very dead ant. The burrowing ants were the only mobs that it was taking an effort to kill. Shielded by the sand in the arena, they were able to bypass the shields, But Ester was able to mark each one even those attacking the main force before they erupted from the ground. This meant that our forces could move in time, and either the mobile team cut them up or one of the front-line tanks did the same. Of course, not everything went perfectly and our healers were getting a workout. But at this point were regenerating power at roughly the same rate as it was being used.
After 10 or 15 minutes the Yellow force who had been surrounded for some time used a fear spell of considerable power. This resulted in a flood of ants fleeing directly at the main force. I called for an area-effect attack to winnow the attackers. A wind spiraled around the ants driving the flyers into the ground. The wind picked up the fine sand that was on the floor of the arena and blew it into their lungs. I expected this to disable many of the mobs, but since they were ants I did not hold much hope that it would kill many. I was shocked to see them dropping quickly, Even the tougher armored ants were dying. I stepped back to focus my attention on what was happening, and the giant with the two-handed sword took my place with glee.
What was happening in the sand storm was that Robert was superheating the sand, to the point they were breathing in molten glass. No wonder they were dying. Not one of the mobs even reached our perimeter. Of course, this used Roberts's feat to power the enchantment. So as long as we did not have more mass attacks for the next 10 minutes, we were ahead of the game.
More and more ants swarmed out of the fog at the centre. After about an hour the fog started to clear. Both the blue and yellow forces had by this time lost several people. I was not sure about the yellows as the sightlines were still being blocked by my force, but it looked like Blue had lost 1 initially and 3 or 4 summoned and 1 local over that time.
During that hour we had one more attack by a mob of ants and again Robert triggered the sand storm. They had been very successful at picking off the evolved flyers. There might have been one on the other side of the central fog, but none were now visible to me.
The mobile response unit had even lept out of the shielded area to collapse many tunnels by killing the tunnelers and forcing the armoured ants that were attempting to use the tunnels to surface at a distance from our shields.
I felt a powerful wave of danger targeting Lara. I stepped forward and attempted to block a black bolt of nothing that ripped across the arena coming from a noble that was part of the Blue group. It punched through my shield and then through my shoulder. Leaving a hole the size of a fist through both. I lost all use of my left arm as the shoulder joint had disappeared, and given the size, I expected part of my lung had gone as well. I had however slowed the bolt. So Ester had time to appear and knocked Lara to the side and she then deflected the bolt with a shield. The force of the strike knocked her back and she lost her footing and slid several meters on her backside before coming to an undignified stop. I was able to continue blocking the attack of the ants in front of me but the clearing squad stepped up and took up the slack until Lara was able to recover from the shunt she had received. At this point, I cycled back to the healers because I was not functioning all that well with such a hole in my chest from front to back.
But it was at that point that Blue Force was suddenly encompassed by a shield as it looked as if they were about to be overwhelmed. The shield disappeared and the force was gone. To this point the plan had been working rather well, minutes later a shield appeared over the location where the Yellow force had been fighting. Of course, this means that all the mobs that had been surrounding those forces are now charging our location.
The flying mobs arrived first. By this time I returned to the front line and Lara and Himel had each had a break as well. While Robert’s unit was doing its best, they were unable to cope, and the shields were taking heavy impacts. Suddenly the massive ant that had been facing us and one that had been facing the Blue Force spat wads at our formation. Since the central mob was still deceived by the misdirection skills that we had in effect its wad struck the outer shield and did no damage, but the wad that came from the ant that had been facing blue raced at us. I screamed for shielding. Himel spun out three totems in quick succession, and Lara's shield rippled out.
Then the healing team acted. A counter-poison bolt and an alkaline bolt intercepted the incoming wad. These bolts did not reduce the bone fragments, but the poison was mostly neutralized, and the acid component was scaled back by 75% I guessed. All the fighters on the frontline took damage. The saving grace was that it also cleared the ants that we were fighting at the time and most of them were coming from that direction.
Then the healing team acted. A counter-poison bolt and an alkaline bolt intercepted the incoming wad. These bolts did not reduce the bone fragments, but the poison was mostly neutralized, and the acid component was scaled back by 75% I guessed. All the fighters on the frontline took damage. The saving grace was that it also cleared the ants that we were fighting at the time and most of them were coming from that direction.
Himel called out “I am without totems for at least 1 candle mark.”
King the warrior with the two-handed sword replaced Himel. While he was damaged it appeared that he had more than a bit of berserker as part of his skill set. His damage output spiked and he was able to hold the front line by himself. Lara and I focused on the incoming flyers. My mace was enchanted and flung with all my power at the last evolved flyer that was now speeding to our position. Lara was able to cut down over 50% of the others with some knife skill that converted her three thrown blades into a storm of shards that cut straight through the ants and continued to span across the arena to strike the out shield opposite, causing a cascade of light not much different than what happened with the wad strikes. The shields were able to reduce the numbers that reached inside our formation. But now there was general combat occurring around the healers, who were now encompassed with Robert’s Firewall.
The reaction force was very active in dealing with the mobs that arrived from the direction of the Yellow Force.
Lara and I looked at each other. Our bond allowed us to communicate. We recognized that all our misdirections were down but we were certain that our force would be able to survive the current remaining ants, except for those massive ants. They had to be dealt with before they were able to reach our lines.
I charged the one on the right and Lara took the one on the left. I enchanted both our weapons. We burnt our movement skills to arrive unexpectedly. I then used my “strike” in combination with “hateful strike” to shatter the exoskeleton of the ant. While it did not die, it lost the ability to move. Lara’s Bleeding Feat triggered both for, her cut that removed all the limbs from one side, of the ant she attacked and my strike on the ant I attacked. My ant was dead but did not know it yet. So I joined Lara just as Ester arrived to drive a spear that was twice her height down through the ant’s head, damaging its brain and pinning it to the ground. She had fallen out of the sky, so gravity had helped drive the spear. Where it had come from I had no idea. Or how she had first appeared at the highest point under the arena shield.
We were now able to see the green team, They had suffered some losses and many injuries but the two giants and all the nobles were intact. They had killed the massive ant that they had faced initially some time previously so had only faced one wad attack. It looked like this was the cause of most of the fatalities that they had suffered. The massive ant that had been facing yellow was lying separated into bits. Each joint had been shattered resulting in the head, thorax, abdomen all its appendages lying there separately. It looked like a disassembled toy. Kios was now whaling at the evolved leader ant. He was fully supported by the other giant and the nobles. The other summonses were either badly wounded or just exhausted.
The three of us knew what was required. We acted. I powered up Lara’s best attack, Ester triggered her boost feat. Lara slammed “Slice” into the rear of the leader. The abdomen was split from the tail almost all the way forward to the thorax. It reared up exposing it under its belly to the green team whose casters landed a series of devastating skills that killed the ant in seconds.
We made our way back to our forces. All semblance of organized attacks had disappeared with the death of the last, our force was able to clear towards us, which was just as well, as I am not sure that we had enough energy to reach them. Even that short distance felt more like kilometres.
We had succeeded; not one of the troops in my care had died.
While a number were carrying heavy wounds, spirits were high. The arena shields dropped and we were met with a wall of sound. The Green Force was basking in the glory, ignoring the deaths that had happened to their team members. As far as Red was concerned all that mattered was that we had survived. We shambled to the exit of the arena where we were met by our instructors and a large body of healers. I was grabbed by two old men who started to work on my shoulder. Fanny’s “healing” had allowed me to fight for a time, but that last strike I had landed had resulted in the wound opening and the joint collapsing into bone fragments.
I was not losing large amounts of blood, but over the hours of combat, every little nick and wound added up. I looked intact but I was just held together by spit and paper. I had no reserves left.
We were all loaded into carriages and whisked back to the barracks.
As normal I had a flood of notifications. Of course, being bonded to Lara meant I saw her changes as well. The numbers had reduced since the massive hit when Lara and I combined our deltas, but it was a complex encounter that had resulted in some unusual impacts on the river systems of both of us.
Class Level - Insightful leader +2
Attribute improved - Agility +3
Attribute improved - Dexterity +3
Attribute improved - Toughness +3
Attribute improved - Logic +3
Attribute improved - Intellect +3
Attribute improved - Control +3
Attribute improved - Power +3
Attribute improved - Luck +3
Attribute improved - Depth +3
Class Grant
Unnatural promotions
Prophecy Grant
Clear Target
See weaknesses
Class Grant
Better Learnings
Cheaper Healing
Prophecy Grant
Quick Hate
Boosted Healing
Boost skills,
New skill from Lara moves to a shared river and gains.
Class Level - Sword Master + 1
Attribute improved - Strength +2
Attribute improved - Agility +2
Attribute improved - Logic +2
Attribute improved - Awareness +2
Attribute improved - Power +2
Attribute improved - Focus +2
New Feat Self Awareness
Attribute improved Body +3
Attribute improved Mind +1
Attribute improved Spirit +5
Class Evolution - Sword Master to Sword Dancer (Unusual)
New skill in common
Moves to shared
Skill upgrades
Two more levels to my class and since these happened during the extended combat there had been no time to be able to process the feats. Therefore I had received random allocations. “See Weaknesses”, “Unnatural promotions”, “Strong Damage” and “Clear Target”
Lara whispered to Ester and me “My primary class evolved, that should not happen until I reached level 50. It has also resulted in a flood of new Feats since the level of the class has been elevated.
Holly extracted Elizabeth, Lara, and myself from the crush of people.
“Before you get too excited. There is a series of celebrations that the team will be attending tomorrow night. As a member of Phoenix’s first family Lara, you must attend the event in the inner keep. Adam will be attending as well, but that sends some messaging that we wish to avoid. This means that Foniel will be attending as your consort.
Lara you will need to work with Foniel so that he is ready to attend.
That means the simple things like clothes and the like but the bigger problem is all the social rules that the high nobles follow.
Ester blurted "To prevent him from offending within just one day seems impossible. Yet there is a way!
You may be frustrated that this is the only option but the original plan had you and Adam attending without having to declare that you were part of Red Force. That is now not possible, so there are consequences.”
Lara responded with dismay in her voice. “We have only just managed to separate our emotions, and you expect us to share memories.”
“Yes Child that is the only solution”
“OK but first we need to get him healed, I could see right through his body when that bastard from Scorpion attempted to kill me. That last attack on the massive Ant had opened up the wound in his shoulder. Fanny patched him to the point that he was able to rejoin the fight, but it did not last.
Ester did you manage to mark the scorpion, my attempt I expected to be found. It has been cleared.”
Ester had quite a smirk on her face as she appeared beside Lara. While Holly was not surprised Elizabeth's eyes widened fractionally “Yes Mark is still present. I used all my skills and two feats to hide the mark. The longer it lasts the easier it becomes to find.”
At that point, Fanny’s instructor grasped my weakened shoulder, and even with the healing I had received, and the levels of pain resistance it felt like he had hit my shoulder with a red-hot sledgehammer. I tried but I was unable to stop my knees from buckling. Yet he had only applied the light pressure possible. A feather landing would have been more weight.
“Come on, we need to do something about that before you are permanently damaged.” I was led downstairs, past the training rooms, past the apartments to a section that I had not previously even sensed.
I was stripped, and helped into a pool of water, except as I entered a ring of light circled each foot, moving higher as more of my body entered. It did not even feel wet. I could feel mild tingles as minor wounds, scratches, and scraps interacted with the pool. Before long I was sitting immersed up to my ears. It felt warm and comforting flecks of dead skin, blood clots washed away and disappeared into sparks. The healer placed his hand on the top of my head and pushed me under. The last thing that I heard was to keep breathing.
I slipped into a doze. I was generally aware of people moving around me, and the liquid light scrubbing away the wounds that I had accumulated since I had been summoned. I lost the calluses that had formed on my hands and feet. I was rebuilt anew.
Manus whispered that this level of care is mostly due to the recent nature of your summoning. In normal situations, you would have required weeks of care to recover from such an injury. This is a one-time thing. There will come a time when such a blow will be minor. But always remember no matter how powerful you become, wounds have consequences.
A little while later I relax for only the second time since my arrival. Holly entered and sat beside me, her feet moving through the liquid light causing ripples to wash across the surface. I was surprised to notice that I was still lying submerged.
“Do you trust Lara and Ester?“
“With my life and all that I am”
“The best solution that we had come up with was sharing selected memories of Lara’s. But they have come up with a better idea. They both have donated memories. In most cases, they are of the same event, just from different points of view.
The advantage of this is that you will be less at risk of losing what makes you, you. But there is a disadvantage. It will change the bond between you and Lara, Currently, it is a life bond, for the life of either partner. This will shift it to be unbreakable. If She dies, you die. Also, Ester will most likely become part of that bond. This is a risk that young people like you should never have to face. While it is not unusual for Greater Elders to take on this level of bond. But you don’t know Lara, and she does not know you. And as for Ester, she is a true wild card. I suspect Lara’s parents knew and encouraged that bond, but their bond is a rare and unusual thing.
They are risking hundreds of years of happy and satisfying life, in the hope that they can rescue our society. You are a large part of that.
What is your answer, will you take the risk of sharing what may be a very short life with two people who love each other very much?”
“How can I answer anything else but yes? I have seen Lara's heart of hearts and she is wonderful. If she will risk this then I can do no less.”
“Very well they have already copied the memories you need. Since it will only harm the future if you do not need to know the importance of what you undertake I will hide the memories of this conversation. You will know that you made this decision for good and valid reasons. Thank you”
She slipped her legs from the pool and poured a carafe of rainbows into the pool. Moments later I was reliving countless hours of protocol lessons. Mixed with the lessons were the times when things went well, the disasters, the underwhelming.
Most commonly Lara’s temper had resulted in embarrassments. Her emotions lived on her sleeve. She was played for a fool. As time passed she gained control. Yet childhood enemies remained and could trigger words and actions that resulted in her losing face.
The memories were focused on the protocol. This led to politics. At the same time, Lara’s and Ester’s childhood leaked through. Being smaller but smarter, resulted in bullying. Then being stronger, and being bullied for social lapses. Being bullied for having a servant who was treated as a friend, not as a servant or slave. Just being bullied because they could not safely respond.
Achieving the highest standards for their skills progression, but never being acknowledged because that is just achieving what is expected. See others who are less talented being lauded and celebrated.
The flow of memories faded. I was left floating within my spirit world. I could see my spiritual island that had a solid bridge. The bridge had strong walls and defensive structures. It reached across to the island that was Lara. Since the last time that I had experienced this vision, the walls around her island had strengthened. Rather than loose drywall, they had become taller and now looked like fitted stone.
Looking about I was able to see the connections to the other members of the team. Bright cables of light linked me to Fanny and Robert. Strong ropes connected me to the newer members of the team. Except for Ester who I had sensed through the connection I had with Lara. Now I could see her island. It was drifting towards me. There was a tall shining wall of marble surrounding her space, with an ornate bridge connecting her to Lara. The chain of light that had passed through Lara was being pulled and snapped out. Suddenly there was a direct connection. Two strong chains connected the top of her walls to a tower that grew at the edge of my space. The chains were connected by planks. Her walls were higher than the tower that had grown at the edge of my space. Crossing over the new connection looked full of risk and jeopardy.
Our connections had grown.
Suddenly the light that I had been safely breathing turned into water and I exploded from the pool spluttering and coughing. Damn it. I had nearly drowned.
Elizabeth was standing by the door laughing.
“Come on boy”
She tossed me a robe. And walked down to my apartment.
The girls were already in bed. I was left alone at the door, so dropped my robe and proceeded to climb into the bed beside Ester, as there was no space on the other side of the bed. Ester stretched and wiggled herself over my body. I received a light kiss on the lips during the transit, without her completely waking. Lara also moved and snuggled herself into the lines of my body. Within moments I joined them in restful slumber.