Zenda and I spent the rest of the day exploring her new favorite activity, and we made loads of observations about what turned her on or off. I reset a few dozen times to fully enjoy every aspect of her, and by the time we finished, she was little more than a drooling zombie passed out on our bed with a river of my baby batter gushing out from her stuffed pussy.
The next morning, I was suddenly awoken by the sounds of the other women laughing and talking downstairs, and I realized I hadn’t seen them most of the day before, so I slid out from beneath Zenda’s head, pulled on my pants, and trotted down the steps to see where they’d been.
Caelia was moving about the kitchen preparing some sort of food for our breakfasts, and Elissa slid into a fluid dance as she darted around the dark-skinned goddess in an effort to assist her.
Mahini sat at the head of the table, while Eva placed dishware in front of each of the chairs. The table was quickly becoming cramped, and I wondered briefly how much longer it would take for my castle to get completed.
The God of Time would need a lot of space for our growing family.
“Good morning, Bash!” Elissa called out in a singsong voice as soon as I entered the room. “How was your night alone with Zenda?”
The petite red-haired beauty rested a hand on the slightly rounded bump in her abdomen, and my heart warmed at the thought of the baby developing within her womb. I hoped Elissa’s child had her fiery red hair.
“Oh, you know it was amazing,” Eva teased. “This is Bash we’re talking about.”
The blonde noblewoman flashed me a mischievous wink, and she pulled out a chair before she gestured for me to sit.
“I remember my first time fondly,” Mahini said as a nostalgic smile drifted across her face. “Zenda is lucky to have you to introduce her to her own womanhood.”
I remembered Mahini’s first time fondly as well, and my neck flushed hotly as images flashed before my mind’s eye. The desert goddess had given herself to me with an eagerness to please, and she hadn’t stopped driving me wild ever since.
“We are all lucky to have you, Bash,” Caelia added.
Caelia’s first experience in my bed hadn’t been that long ago, but she’d quickly learned the ropes. The timidity she’d shown when we’d first met faded more and more with each orgasm, and now she was a raging sex fiend.
“You gave us privacy on purpose,” I surmised, and I shook my head in awe at their thoughtfulness. “You’re all wrong. I’m the lucky one in this situation, but yes. Zenda and I had a wonderful time yesterday.”
The girls all exchanged a knowing look before they burst into laughter, but then they returned to their tasks. Their melodic giggles were music to my ears, and there was only one sound I liked better: their moans of pleasure.
“Did you get your texts translated?” Caelia asked in a hopeful tone.
“No,” I sighed. “I spent yesterday preventing a murder from happening in the first place.”
“That’s incredible,” Caelia breathed.
“Bastianville is lucky to have you,” Eva said.
“Who almost died?” Elissa asked with a curious tilt of her head.
“Korina, the florist,” I explained. “It was all a big misunderstanding, and I got it straightened out easily enough.”
“Oh, she’s so pretty, how awful.” Elissa frowned.
“There must be something we can do to prevent such things from happening,” Caelia mused.
“I’m organizing a force to monitor the behavior of the townsfolk,” I said. “Small crimes like thievery and vandalism are below my pay grade now.”
“Take today to work with Zenda some more, then,” Mahini suggested. “Bellona has been fitting us with maternity clothes, and she wants us to come back for some more measurements.”
“You’re not even showing yet,” I teased.
“One must always be prepared,” Mahini countered as she picked up an apple from the counter, tossed it in the air, and then caught it on the blade of her dagger faster than I could blink.
“Always.”
“Plus,” Elissa giggled. “Who wouldn’t want new clothes?”
“I insisted we have a balance between items to work and lounge in,” Eva said in a pleased tone. “Even though Lissy was running wild with the idea of tulle skirts.”
“They’re just so fluffy!” Elissa pouted.
“Sounds like you have a fun day planned,” I said. “I’m glad I won’t be missed.”
Then I heard the sound of feet on the stairs, and I turned to greet Zenda with a broad smile. Her algae-green hair was tousled as much as the inch-long tendrils could be, and she blinked her sapphire eyes sleepily.
“Good morning, everyone,” the Zaborian beauty said. “I’m sorry for sleeping in so late.”
“Not at all!” Eva winked. “I’m surprised they managed to drag me out of bed so soon.”
“Me, too,” Mahini snorted, which earned her a good-natured elbow from the duke’s daughter.
“We were just discussing the plans for the day,” I said.
“Oh?” Zenda sat next to Mahini. “What is everyone up to?”
“Would you want to spend the day with me again?” I held my breath even though I was confident in her answer, especially after making her moan my name over and over again the night before.
“Of course!” Zenda laughed, and her sapphire eyes twinkled. “I was hoping you would say that!”
“Good.” I grinned. “I’d like to get to the bottom of this dragon smithing stuff.”
“We will.” Zenda’s smile lit up the entire room, but then the other women all exchanged a knowing glance, and the Zaborian beauty picked up on the unspoken message. “What?”
“We all know the giddy delight of the morning after a night with Bash,” Eva said bluntly. “You’re positively glowing, my dear.”
“Is it that obvious?” Zenda’s cheeks turned a violet hue.
“It’s adorable,” Elissa reassured her. “And we all understand what it’s like.”
“He’s a god, after all,” Mahini pointed out. “It’s bound to leave a lasting effect.”
“You know I’m still here, right?” I teased, but the women all gasped and pretended to be shocked to see me sitting at the table.
We joked and teased each other while we ate the delicious pancakes and eggs they’d prepared, and then Mahini, Elissa, Eva, and Caelia gathered their things and headed toward Bellona’s shop.
The seamstress was practically my family’s personal tailor at this point, but I knew she enjoyed keeping herself available to the rest of the town as well.
I’d just made her a rich woman.
Everyone in Bastianville had been prospering because of my influence, and the average income continued to climb higher and higher. Unemployment rose and fell randomly depending on the cycles of immigration and the establishment of new businesses, but that was normal.
I was excited to see what the future held for all my holdings and alliances, but with me in control of the strings, it was sure to go exactly the way I wanted.
If not, I’d just reset and do it over again until it did.
I volunteered to clean up after breakfast, so I was elbows deep in soapy water when Zenda appeared behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. She laid her head against my back and inhaled deeply, and I stood there frozen because I didn’t want the moment to ever end.
“I brought all our research materials into the living room,” she informed me. “We can get started whenever you’re ready.”
“Just let me finish these,” I said, and I craned my neck as far as I could to press a kiss against her inch-long green hair.
“I’ll help,” Zenda offered, and she immediately rolled up her sleeves and stepped up to my side.
Working together made the chore pass swiftly, and then we were situated on the couch with our books. I made a new save point, and then dug into my studies. This time, the sexual tension between us had been broken, so Zenda curled up in the crook of my arm and rested her head on my shoulder, and we spread the book across both of our laps and turned the pages while still holding hands.
Hours passed as we struggled with the translations, but thanks to the multiple run throughs I’d spent memorizing Zenda’s quiz questions, I was able to teach her a few things. The fire burned gently in the grate, and the snow falling outside the window only served to make the space feel more cozy.
My town was safe, happy, and flourishing. My women were blossoming as my children continued to grow in their wombs, and I had a fascinating mind to pick apart over the course of the winter.
Life was good for the God of Time.
“There!” I said as I pointed to a twisted symbol we’d deciphered to mean fire. “See, it says fire in this spot, too.”
“Except the curl is thicker, and it extends past the line mark.”
Zenda shook her head. “It’s similar to fire, yes, but I do not think it is so simple.”
We’d been arguing over the finer details of the cryptic language used by the ancient dragon priests, and it was looking less and less like gibberish the longer we discussed it. Zenda’s mind was quick to notice differences, patterns, and puzzles, so every minute spent studying with her was a total delight.
“Maybe that means it’s a type of fire,” I said, and I slid my hand over the bumpy, textured parchment. “Dragon fire?”
Zenda’s eyes lit up, and I could see the internal gears clicking.
The historian snatched the book from my hands with a little bit too much enthusiasm, and she held it close to her nose like she could sniff out the answers.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Seeing if there is a height difference between the layers of ink.” Zenda pulled the book down to her lap, but then she began rubbing her fingers over it like she was reading braille. “It looks like it was built up slightly on these marks, as though to indicate the height of the word.”
“Height of the word, huh?” I frowned. “What exactly does that mean?”
“Level of intensity, maybe?” Zenda shook her head. “I can only speculate. I’m sorry, Bash.”
“Dragon fire would make sense, though,” I pointed out.
“Logically speaking, it’s a book about how to make dragon armor.
The ingredients listed scales and bones, too, remember?”
“I just want to make sure I give you the most accurate information possible.” Zenda rubbed her eyes with her fingers. “My head is starting to ache, though.”
“Let’s just read it with the translation as dragon fire and see how it sounds, okay?” I grinned. “Then we’ll call it a day.”
“It’s only noon!” Zenda laughed. “We’ve spent the morning reading, yes, but there is still plenty of daylight remaining.”
“Okay, okay, here we go.” I cleared my throat, and I started reading at the beginning of the page. “Epic Quality Dragon Scale Heavy Armor. Gather one part bone, two parts scale, and one part dragon fire beneath the hammer before the light of the moon. Thus shall flesh be reforged anew.”
“It does sound like it fits.” Zenda tapped a finger against her chin. “Good job, Bash.”
My chest swelled with pride, but then I realized what the translation meant for my quest to forge a suit of dragon scale armor.
“How are we supposed to get dragon fire?” I asked.
“That I could not say,” Zenda sighed. “They’re extinct, are they not?”
“They weren’t before I killed the only one people had seen in a long time,” I said. “Smiguel could have been the last, except for the egg I have.”
“You have a dragon egg?” The historian’s eyes widened.
I grinned and recounted the epic tale of how I slayed Smiguel and obtained the egg.
“But I wouldn’t have the materials to make the armor if I hadn’t killed him,” I finished. “Plus, he would still be terrorizing every citizen of Sorreyal. I had to do something.”
“I understand.” Zenda placed a hand on my shoulder. “We all trust you with our lives, Bash. It’s a heavy burden to bear alone.”
“Let’s go see Jaxtom,” I suggested, and I flashed her a grateful smile. “Maybe he’ll know of a shortcut to get around the dragon fire.”
“Excellent idea,” Zenda agreed, and she began to put the books into her satchel. The blue-skinned beauty always seemed to have one or two books with her in case some light reading was needed, so it was a natural thing for her to slide the texts into her bag.
We threw on our cloaks and headed out into the snowy streets of Bastianville, but Jaxtom’s shop was on the far edge of town near the best source of water available. Plus, it kept the smells and sounds of his trade from bothering the other residents. Zenda stayed close to my side as we made the long trek, and I made a mental note to make sure she knew her way around town.
I heard the ringing of Jax’s hammer long before the shop came into view, and I grinned as I entered the familiar sights and smells of the smithy. Zenda stiffened slightly, but I squeezed her hand reassuringly, and she flashed me a quick smile.
“Bash!” Jaxtom stopped what he was doing as soon as we entered his workshop, and he dropped the red-hot chunk of metal into a bucket of water. Steam bloomed around him, and the water hissed as it quickly cooled down the steel. “Didn’t expect to see ya.”
“We have some new insights into dragon armor,” I said. “The books we borrowed from the library say something about needing
dragon fire.”
“Dragon fire?” Jax frowned. “You don’t happen to have some with ya, do ye?”
Zenda giggled, and I shot her a wink.
“Nope.” I hopped up to sit on the workbench. “I sure don’t. Do you think it could be a metaphor, though?”
“A meta-what?” Jax growled.
“A metaphor is something that represents a broader concept,”
Zenda said in her scholarly voice, but then she caught herself, and a self-conscious blush darkened her cheeks. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to interject.”
“You’re fine,” Jax chuckled. “Thanks for teachin’ me somethin’.”
“My pleasure.” The Zaborian dipped her head, and a smile played with the corners of her lips.
“I don’t know much about meta-whatevers,” Jax said. “But I know smithing. The harder the material, the hotter the fire needs to be.”
“That’s a good point,” I said. “Maybe it just means the forge has to be as hot as dragon’s fire or something. I’m not sure exactly how hot dragon’s fire is, though…”
“I can make a hot forge,” Jax grunted. “Give me a bit, and you’ll be sweatin’ in your britches.”
“You say you defeated one dragon,” Zenda said. “Is it possible there were more?”
“There haven’t been any other dragons spotted for hundreds of years,” I said. “They were considered mythical when Smiguel showed up, but he left behind an egg. I don’t know if it’s a dud or just dormant, but it hasn’t moved in months.”
“Maybe it’s just cold,” Zenda suggested. “Like how baby birds need to be cuddled beneath their mothers’ feathers until they reach a certain internal temperature.”
“It’s hot that you know so much about how chickens hatch,” I said with a flirty wink, and Zenda blushed again, which only encouraged me to keep teasing her.
Jax shook his head in amusement, but then he turned and started adding more charcoal and coal to the forge. Once his fuel was added to the simmering blue-purple blaze, the blacksmith began to pump the foot pedal that controlled the bellows. The increase in heat was immediately noticeable, but it only continued to build in intensity. The burly craftsman frowned with concentration as he
pumped, shoveled, and gazed into the forge as though he could read the temperature with his eyes.
Knowing Jax, he probably could.
I watched the movements with fascination, but after a while I began to sweat. I tugged at the collar of my shirt and pushed back the edges of my cloak, but then I quickly decided to remove the heavy garment altogether. Zenda mimicked me, and she rolled up the sleeves of her thick robes as we turned back to continue enjoying the show.
It was like a dance between man and element. The blacksmith and the fire were dependent on each other, but constantly at odds.
Once I noticed his movements slowing and the pauses between them lengthening, I crossed the room to the storage closet I’d commandeered for some of the dragon remains I’d harvested. It wouldn’t take much to see if our experiment was a success, so I opened the burlap sack full of razor-edged dragon scales. I picked one up carefully, but it was as heavy as a cast-iron skillet. The entire scale was no more than a half-inch thick, and it was a large flat oval shape that shined an iridescent crimson hue.
I returned to the forge, and right on cue Jaxtom turned toward the closet to fetch the scale himself, but I was there with one in hand and a grin on my face.
“It’s always easier to smith with you around,” the blacksmith chuckled.
Jax took the scale out of my hands, but he showed no indication that the weight of the thin disc affected him in any way.
Then he grabbed large iron pinchers and gripped the scale between the teeth before he shoved it deep into the hottest part of the glowing embers. Hissing and crackling sounds popped from the flames, and Jax jumped back while Zenda and I leaned forward curiously.
I held my breath as I stared straight at the dragon scale, but I couldn’t see any changes occurring. Sweat dripped down the back of my neck and back, and the heat was beginning to leech the moisture from my lips. I could feel them drying, and I moistened them with my tongue.
Jax frowned and pumped the bellows some more, but still the dragon scale didn’t change.
“What are we looking for?” I asked. “Is it supposed to glow?”
“Most metal does.” Jax nodded. “But it’s not metal, is it?”
“Do you really think it’s as simple as getting the fire hotter?” I gestured to the forge. “Would the secrets of dragon armor smithing have been lost if just anyone could do it?”
“Had to try,” Jax grunted.
“I know,” I sighed. “But what else can we try? Maybe I could summon a dragon.”
“I have no doubt you could, but that should be our last resort,”
Zenda said as she cast me a sideways glance. “Let’s try to keep the risks to a minimum.”
“Good point,” I laughed. “I’m just excited to finally have my armor made.”
“We need something as hot as dragon fire, huh?” Jax scratched his jaw. “What about a bunch of that hot rock from those old stories? Didn’t that stuff melt through boulders?”
I racked my brain trying to figure out what he was talking about, but then an image flashed before my mind’s eye, and I laughed.
“Volcanoes?” I asked. “Like the mountains that spew lava and are full of magma?”
“I s’pose.” Jax nodded. “Reminds me of a story an old man from the Northern Reaches told at the summit of nobility event.”
After I’d eliminated two of my enemies by pitting them against each other, the king of Sorreyal had hosted a huge gathering of all the kingdom’s nobles in order to choose their replacements. An exhibition of magic from around the world had given me an endless repertoire of spells, but all my companions had broadened their horizons in the process.
“Magma would be the hottest thing available in this world,”
Zenda mused, and she pulled the book out of her satchel to pore over it yet again. “Yes… Yes, that could work!”
“So, all we have to do is find a volcano, grab some magma, and then make my armor.” I placed my hands on my hips. “Thanks for all the help, I’ll take it from here.”
Then I reset to my save point with a wave of my will.
Chime.
Zenda and I were curled up on the couch again, and the book laid spread across our laps. We’d only just sat down and gotten comfortable, so it was the perfect time to already know everything we were about to study.
“We need magma,” I stated as I turned directly toward our most debated translation. “This word is dragon fire, but with no dragons currently available to us, the next hottest source lies inside a volcano.”
“H-H-How did you know that?” Zenda gasped, and she studied the book closely for a long moment before blinking blankly at me.
“We haven’t even translated half of these words yet. How could you possibly know the exact information we seek as soon as you touch the book?”
“Oh, it’s way more complicated than that,” I laughed. “There’s a volcano in the Northern Reaches. Jax heard about it during a conversation with someone from there. Do you want to go on a quest with me, Zenda?”
“Really?” The Zaborian beauty’s sapphire eyes shot wide open in surprise, and she tossed her arms around my neck. “Absolutely!”
“Good.” I grinned as I wrapped her up in a tight hug. “We have a lot to do before we’ll be able to leave.”
“I’ll help in any way I can,” Zenda said, and she wore an ear-to-ear grin when she pulled away. “Who else is going with us?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” I scratched my jaw. “I’ll ask Jaxtom if he’s up for it. We’re going to be trying to make dragon armor, so he’ll be useful to have around.”
“Won’t his new wife miss him?” Zenda winked.
“I’m sure she’ll have her hands full with the inn and the Elder Council,” I said. “It won’t take us long, and I can always bring us back to check in on everyone if something happens.”
“How do you feel about using the fast travel amulet?” Zenda asked.
“I want to play around with it more,” I said, and then my smile brightened. “We should perform a few experiments before we leave on our quest.”
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Zenda was always excited when the word experiment came up.
“This is going to be fun,” I said, and I squeezed her into my arms again. “I’m excited to show you the world, Zenda.”
“I can’t wait to see it by your side,” the historian breathed, but then a sudden thought sparked in her eyes. “What about the dragon egg?”
“We’ll take it with us, too,” I said. “It’s possible the magma will activate some sort of hatching process, but I haven’t seen any information pointing one way or the other so far.”
“We’ll just have to keep studying,” Zenda said with a decisive nod, and I could tell the idea appealed to her.
We spent the rest of the afternoon having sex since we didn’t need to study anymore, and then we went to Jax’s shop to recruit the blacksmith’s skills for our quest. Once he agreed to come with us, we went in search of the other women to explain our plans. The ladies were just leaving Bellona’s shop when we passed into the street in front of it, and their arms were laden down with packages.
“Good evening, ladies,” I shouted from about a block away.
“Bash!” Elissa waved her arm over her head. “Come help me carry these things!”
I laughed as I crossed the distance to my women, and I had my arms full of their spoils a moment later. I could barely see the path around the pile, but I didn’t mind helping my ladies with their goods. Soon, they wouldn’t be able to lift very much at all, and I’d have to make sure they were well taken care of. My thoughts trailed
over our future family as we returned to our house, and I envisioned many babies with a mixture of our features.
There was still a lot to be done before the babies were born, and I made a mental note to check on the progress of the castle before leaving to go on my quest. The thought reminded me that I needed to tell my women about our discovery and the decision to leave on another mission, but with hormones raging, I wasn’t sure how the news would be received.
“Let’s have a nice dinner together tonight,” I suggested. “Just the six of us.”
“That sounds lovely,” Eva said. “We can all work together to create a delicious meal.”
“I have a feeling Bash wants to tell us something,” Mahini said as she narrowed her icy-blue eyes at me. “What did you learn during your study session today?”
As usual, the desert goddess was quick to get to the heart of the matter, but I wanted to avoid being on the receiving end of her dagger-like glare. I exchanged a glance with Zenda, but she merely smiled sweetly.
She would be no help at all.
“I’d like to discuss it over dinner,” I said carefully. “That way we have no other distractions.”
Mahini nodded curtly, and her pace quickened, which caused me and the other women to hurry after her.
The desert goddess was unstoppable when she had a mission to complete.
We reached the house a few moments later, and I deposited all their new items in a pile on the couch before I went to help start dinner. We worked together to stuff some game birds with seasoned bread crumbs and cheese, peeled and mashed potatoes, and paired them with some steamed carrots straight from a local farm.
Once the table was set and our dishes served, the six of us sat down to enjoy a quiet meal.
I could feel the questions burning in their eyes as the ladies quietly ate their food, and they all flicked glances my way every few seconds. Their curiosity was palpable, and only Zenda was an ocean of calm. The beautiful Zaborian nibbled on her food with a daintily held fork, and she kept her attention focused on her plate except for the occasional playful smile.
Finally, Mahini set her silverware down and steepled her fingers.
“What’s going on, Bash?” she asked as she tucked her obsidian locks behind her ears. “What did you want to tell us?”
I paused for dramatic effect, but the intense look in Mahini’s eyes made me laugh, and soon we were all erupting into fits of giggles. When our laughter subsided, I had to wipe a few merry tears from the corners of my eyes, but then I took a deep breath.
“We’ve uncovered the final piece needed to forge dragon armor,” I said. “We are going on a quest in search of a volcano.”
“Those aren’t real,” Caelia argued. “How can you find something which exists only in myths?”
“Dragons and griffons were thought to just be myths, too,” Eva pointed out. “There have been a lot of unexplainable things happening in Sorreyal since Bash was summoned to our world.”
“Do you think they’re related?” Zenda asked as she narrowed her eyebrows in thought. “The mythical creatures and other legends coming back around the same time the God of Time was awakened?
It can’t be a coincidence.”
“I’ve thought much the same,” I confessed. “The griffons and the dragon didn’t seem to have any of the answers, either.”
“Then there’s the issue of the God of the Purge,” Mahini said.
“Was he really a god?”
“He could actually control people’s minds,” I confirmed, and then I said the thing we were all thinking but no one wanted to be the one to say. “There could be other gods out there still.”
“Surely they would have made themselves known by now,”
Elissa said. “It’s not like gods are exactly inconspicuous.”
“I can be when I want to be,” I reminded her.
“But every god will want a following,” Zenda said. “And people like to talk. We’d hear rumors long before it truly gains enough steam to threaten us. I’m sure it would be an easy thing for Bash to handle, anyway.”
The blue-skinned historian made a good point, but there was always the danger of rewriting over save points before I knew everything. I hadn’t been able to reset to a point in time prior to the God of the Purge’s death, and so I’d been unable to continue questioning him after his cryptic last words.
“You are from Earth?”
I gritted my teeth as the words played on repeat in my head, but then I caught the watching eyes of my ladies, so I shook myself to clear the thoughts.
“I won’t let any other gods threaten Bastianville,” I promised.
“Or anywhere else for that matter. I have followers across the sea now, so I’ll have to keep them under my wing of protection as well.”
“Someday, we shall return to visit the temple built in your honor on my island,” Zenda said.
“Back to the quest,” Mahini interjected as she tapped on the table to get everyone’s attention. “Who is going with you?”
I inhaled sharply as I flicked my gaze from woman to woman, but they all waited with anxious anticipation for me to name my choices in companions.
Then I suddenly had a thought, and a grin split my face in two.
“Maybe I don’t have to settle for less than everyone,” I explained.
“But what about the babies,” Elissa said as she placed a hand over her belly.
“I have fast travel amulets,” I pointed out. “If the amulets can return me home and then back to the last place I left, I can always
jump back to town to grab one of you.”
“We still don’t know the full scope of the amulets’ powers and limitations,” Zenda argued. “Before we can guarantee safe passage to pregnant women, we should experiment thoroughly.”
“Yes, before you go anywhere else, you need to have that spell mastered,” Elissa insisted.
“Yeah, I don’t want to be ripped into a million pieces halfway across the world,” Eva added with a shudder.
“We don’t know that would happen,” I said.
“We don’t know it wouldn’t,” Caelia countered. “Zenda is right.
Think about the babies.”
“You’re right,” I sighed. “We’ll spend a few days playing with my new toys, and then we will start packing for the quest.”
“What’s the destination?” Mahini asked.
“The Northern Reaches,” I explained. “Jaxtom heard a story from a man who lives there describing a volcano. It’s worth checking out, and in the worst-case scenario, I can fast travel us all back home in the blink of an eye.”
“What are the Northern Reaches like?” Zenda asked. “What is the climate?”
“As the name implies,” Eva said. “It’s far to the north where the steep mountain ranges form the boundary between our realms.”
“Is this northern kingdom allied with Sorreyal?” The Zaborian pulled out a small journal and a stick of charcoal, and she stuck her tongue out the corner of her mouth as she started taking notes.
“Isn’t she cute?” Elissa whispered to Mahini.
Zenda looked up and caught the way everyone was staring at her, and the purple hue darkened her cheeks.
“My apologies,” she murmured. “I get excited when there is new knowledge to learn. I have so many opportunities to do so now that I have left home, but it gets a little overwhelming sometimes, so I started taking notes to organize my thoughts better.”
“That makes sense to me,” Caelia said, and she reached out a comforting hand to pat Zenda’s arm. “We really enjoy having you with us.”
“You do?” Zenda’s smile was shy at first, but as each woman nodded in confirmation, it grew wider and wider. “I am having the time of my life, so I am glad.”
We made some more plans in preparation for the mission, and Elissa volunteered to manage the running of the household and act
as my representative on the Elder Council. It would mean she’d stay busy, but despite being a few months pregnant, the bouncy redhead always seemed to have energy to spare. Caelia wanted to spend some time in her store organizing her new merchandise, and Evangeline was overseeing the castle’s construction.
Mahini said nothing while the other girls discussed what they’d be doing in my absence, and I could feel her ice-blue eyes staring into my very soul when I looked her way.
“I’m going with you,” she said when she could sit quietly no longer.
“Of course,” I said without hesitation, and her eyebrows rose in surprise. “What? You expected me to argue?”
“Well,” Mahini said as she bit her lower lip. “Yes. With my current condition…”
“You’re pregnant,” I laughed. “Not sick. You’re healthy, fit, strong, and you’re not even showing yet. If anyone could go on dangerous missions while making a baby, it’s you.”
Emotion welled up into Mahini’s ice-blue gaze, and her lower lip trembled ever so slightly, but for the stoic warrior woman, it was an excessive display.
My heart swelled with love and empathy for the emotional, and likely hormonal, goddess.
“Alright, so Zenda and Mahini are going with me at first,” I said as I rubbed my hands together with excitement. “Jaxtom is coming, too. Four of us should be enough to handle whatever the unknown road will throw our way.”
“One of you is enough to handle anything,” Eva teased. “You rarely need anyone’s help.”
“It’s still nice to have it, though.” I shrugged.
After all the details of our upcoming trip were hashed out, my family and I went about various tasks in preparation. Zenda, Mahini, and I went outside the city walls to experiment with the fast travel amulets while Eva inspected the progress of the castle and Caelia went to her store. Elissa was having tea with her father and Theodora, the town apothecary and a member of the Elder Council, and I knew she’d take to politics like a fish to water.
I made a new save point as we passed through the open gates connecting Bastianville to the outside world. The street outside of town had a steady stream of traffic flowing into the growing town, so we had to veer off the beaten path to find a clearing away from
prying eyes. Mahini sliced off low-hanging branches to give us even more space to work with, and Zenda quickly gathered the fallen sticks to make a fire to help keep us warm. The historian huddled over the flames as she jotted down notes in her tiny, perfect script, but Mahini pulled on her drill sergeant hat. The desert goddess stood with her hands on her hips, and there was a keen, sharp look in her eyes as she studied my every movement.
But first things first.
“I’m going to try something,” I said, and while Mahini held one amulet, I carried the other as I walked to the edge of the clearing and out of sight. Once I was far enough away, I closed my eyes, performed the necessary hand movements, and visualized me returning to Mahini’s side.
Then I blinked, and a moment later, I was standing next to my warrior wife.
“Okay, so we know going one-way works,” I muttered before I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I’d returned to my last spot outside the clearing.
It was fucking awesome.
“Hell, yeah, it worked!” I laughed as I jogged back over to my women. “This means I can blip home and then back out to the Northern Reaches again, so no one has to stay without me for long.”
“Incredible,” Zenda breathed as she took more notes. “Can you repeat your results?”
“There’s only one way to find out.” I grinned, and then I spent the next few minutes experimenting with the amulet’s powers.
“There,” Mahini said as she pointed to my toes. “You slid your foot a small degree to the left right before you performed the spell that time. That may affect your accuracy.”
Zenda nodded in silent agreement without looking up from her notes.
“Alright,” I chuckled, and I performed the spell again.
And again.
And again.
It was somewhat similar to resetting to a save point, but it used my magic in a way I wasn’t familiar with yet, so a headache began to press into my temples after a few hours of practice. I reset back to my save point to regain my lost energy levels, and so I continued on and on until Mahini could find no flaws in my form.
“How long will you have before you’ll need to return to your original location?” Zenda asked. “Is there a time limit to the amulet’s ability to return you?”
“That’s a good question.” I frowned.
Any sort of time limit was definitely something I would need to know about before I left town, so we began to test the amulet’s recall ability over longer and longer periods of time. Once an entire day passed, and I was still able to return to my original location, I was satisfied with the results.
I reset back to my save point yet again, but each time I was able to impress the women with my predictions even more.
Then I began to practice with passengers, but Zenda insisted on going first just in case it could be harmful to Mahini’s unborn baby.
I held the blue-skinned goddess’ hand in mine while I performed the spell with the other fist. Then the blue aura surrounded us both, and when I blinked, we stood in front of Mahini on the far side of the clearing.
“I’m going to call them blips,” I said.
“What?” Mahini laughed.
“Fast traveling,” I said. “It feels like we blip across time and space, so that’s what I’m going to call it.”
“Very well.” A smile tugged on the corners of the desert goddess’ lips. “Can I try it now?”
I nodded and took her hand, and then her and Zenda exchanged the amulet. The historian trotted across the empty space to the other end, and she signaled when she was ready for us to perform the spell. I performed the motions, the blue aura blanketed us, and when I blinked I stood less than a foot away from Zenda’s beautiful face.
I thought of the countless video games that used the fast travel mechanism, and my new ability beat all of them. I had limitless power, and the world was quite literally my playground.
I loved my life.
We repeated our experiments over and over again until I felt confident I’d perfected the art of magically traveling through space with multiple people at a time, and then we returned home for one last night with the entire family together.
Mahini and Zenda explained to the other girls all about our experiments, and they shared stories from their busy days. It was
remarkable how well they all got along, but I suppose that’s what happened when you found amazing women.
Plus, this was a magical fantasy world where I was a god, so maybe it was just me.
I slept in a tangled pile of sexiness that night since no one wanted to sleep alone, and even Zenda was sleeping peacefully all curled up between my wives and lovers. I almost didn’t want to fall asleep just so I could always enjoy the feeling of all their bodies pressed up against me simultaneously, but I finally fell into a restless slumber.
When I woke up the next morning, I got dressed and packed my bags for the upcoming journey. Then I went over my weapons, armor, and other magical items I’d decided to take with me. My panabas, daggers and obsidian bow were obvious choices, as was my fire-resistant armor, but I also picked up the ring of invisibility I’d acquired on one of my previous quests. I’d yet to actually utilize them completely, and there was no telling when they would come in handy, so I tossed them in with the rest of my belongings.
We all had a hearty breakfast of steaks, grilled onions, and fried eggs before Zenda, Mahini, and I grabbed our packs and headed toward the front door. Elissa threw herself into my arms and
peppered my face with kisses, but Caelia merely pressed one warm kiss against my cheek. Eva’s tongue danced with mine, and she reminded me of what would be waiting for me at home.
“We’ll handle everything,” Elissa promised.
“See you soon!” Caelia blew me a kiss.
“And have fun!” Evangeline laughed, and then they herded us out the door.
We met up with Jaxtom at the stables, and he already had our mounts ready to go. The snow crunched beneath the horses’ hooves as we pointed the steeds’ muzzles toward the gates, and excitement stirred in my chest.
“‘Bout time we blow some dirt.” The blacksmith jerked his chin toward the road leading out of town, and I grinned.
The God of Time was off on another adventure.