Chapter 12: Captured

***ARAN – Plane of Aros***

Aran surveyed the beautiful setting before him. The first time he had visited the Plane of Aros it had appeared as a verdant valley, with a waterfall and a warm pool in which he and Elaina had made love. Now, he was standing on a beach, gazing out at the water, enjoying the sun and flexing his toes in the warm sand as the gentle breeze caressed his skin.

He had never seen a beach before, and had always wanted to. His training with Amina had increased his control here dramatically, and now he could alter most things at will, including how the environment appeared.

“Now, this is more like it!”

He turned to face Elaina, beaming as he saw her gorgeous face for the first time in far too long. She looked him up and down appraisingly, her eyes slightly crinkled against the sunlight. She was naked, as was he; there being no need for clothing here, and her body appeared here as it did in reality. Tall and fit, and at the same time generously curved, her breasts, hips and thighs deliciously well endowed. Short golden hair framed her lightly freckled face, with it’s high cheekbones, full lips, a petite nose and eyes like the clearest emeralds.

“What a transformation!” She exclaimed, grinning broadly. “You’ve been busy, haven’t you?”

Aran laughed. “You have no idea! The things I must tell you, I swear I don’t think you’ll believe me!”

With a blink, Elaina vanished and reappeared right in front of him, not having physically crossed the intervening space. Wrapping her slim arms around his neck, she molded her body to his and kissed him deeply. “Try me,” she breathed, finally pulling her lips away.

“Alright, but you can’t say I didn’t warn you!” He pulled away gently, instantly missing the feel of her skin on his. “Since the last time I saw you, I finished my training with Master Smythe, and left Ironshire. I didn’t really know where I was headed, but my vala led me to a place in the mountains a few days out of town.”

Elaina listened intently. “And what did you find?”

“I found the ruins of a temple of Aros. My vala led me right to it.”

A sad look crossed Elaina’s face. “I saw one myself, years ago. Such a shame to see all that magnificence gone to decay.”

Aran nodded in agreement. “I met someone in the Temple. Her name was Amina.”

Elaina’s eyebrows shot up at the name. “Amina? But she was a High Priestess! How can she still be alive?”

“She’s been hiding,” Aran replied. “Living in secret, waiting for the time to reveal herself to the world again. She believes that time is coming, and that I have something to do with it.”

Amazement painted Elaina’s face as she sat, a plush, padded armchair appearing beneath her bottom at the last second. “No doubt you do. I always knew you were destined for great things, from the very first day I saw you.”

Aran remembered that day. He had turned up on Elaina’s doorstep, following the directions written on a mysterious letter that had appeared on his bed some months prior. She had opened the door, and he had fainted right there on the spot, completely overwhelmed by the power of her vala.

“There’s more, much more,” he continued. “Amina had an ancient Stone, which showed me the memories of my ancestor.”

Elaina just shook her head, grinning at him. “Knowing you, you’re probably a direct descendant of Palavus Ironrod!”

According to Amina, Palavus the Ironrod had lived for about twelve hundred years, and had Melded with over five hundred women, an amount no one else in history had come close to.

“How many women have you Melded, anyway?” Elaina asked curiously.

Aran did a quick count. Jeira, Liaren, Induin, Bella, Rayna, and Sorla; six women in total, each of them as wonderful as the others.

“Only six so far, I’ll have you know!” Aran said, acting playfully offended. “Which is nowhere near as many as the Ironrod!”

Elaina’s grin deepened. “I’ve read some texts on Palavus. It’s a shame I’ll never get to meet him. So tell me, who was your ancestor?”

“Darius Sunblade,” he said quietly, remembering the visions from the Stone.

Surprise flashed across her face, then became sadness as Elaina sat forward, compassion in her voice. “Oh, Aran. That cannot have been an easy thing to learn.”

“It wasn’t,” he replied ruefully, manifesting an armchair of his own so he could sit. As he did, the chair widened itself just enough for two people, and Elaina appeared next to him, her smooth leg up against his.

His former mentor placed a comforting hand on his thigh as he continued. “There’s more. Before the Order arrested him, Darius fathered two children with Morgeth. They were twins, a boy and a girl. Somehow, Morgeth was able to hide them away before the Paladins found her. The children survived, and are out in the world somewhere, doing Aros knows what. Half-Demon, half-Paladin.”

“Shit,” Elaina whispered, biting her lip and frowning in thought as she digested the news. “Well,” she said after a moment. “Perhaps this is not all bad. If they are half-Paladin, maybe they are not evil like their mother was.”

“I can’t be sure of that,” Aran replied, shaking his head. “I’ve seen the male, and he reeks of pride and arrogance. I haven’t seen much of the female, but she’s probably much the same.”

“How did you see them?” She asked cautiously.

“It seems that I’m somehow connected to them. Twice now, I’ve seen glimpses of them, and I’m sure if I can recognise their surroundings in one of these visions, then I can find them.”

“What were they doing when you saw them?”

“They were fucking each other in my first vision. There were others there too, an Elf, a Dwarf, a Giantess, an Orc, and even a Dark Elf, all of them rutting like mad. In the second vision they were travelling somewhere, but I didn’t recognise the location.”

Elaina cocked an eyebrow. “Brother and sister going for it? Can’t say that’s to my taste.”

Aran shrugged. “I don’t think Demons care; they’re Demons. Sex is what they seem made for.”

Elaina pursed her lips thoughtfully. “So you don’t know where they might be?”

He shook his head. “Not yet, and it bothers me. I don’t seem to have any control over the visions, either. They just happen.” He lost himself for a moment, dark thoughts of what his half-Demon kin could be doing running through his head, at least until Elaina straddled him and pressed her soft breasts into his face.

“Come back to me, Aran!” She shouted playfully, squealing as he latched his lips onto a pink nipple, which hardened immediately.

“I’m back!” He murmured into her breast, continuing his oral assault.

She moaned appreciatively, gripping his hair and pulling him in tighter. “You know, Aran,” Elaina said. “I think we need some perspective on all this. We should inform Smythe; he’ll want to know, and he may be able to help you.”

Elaina’s stiff nipple popped from Aran’s mouth as he turned his face up to hers and nodded in agreement. “He probably will be of help; I get the feeling he has seen much in his lifetime.”

Suddenly, Aran realised that while he knew Smythe was more than a hundred years old, he had no idea of Elaina’s age. Curiosity driving him, he asked her.

“Well,” she replied, slowly grinding her moist folds over his cock, which was trapped between them. “I will be fifty next year.”

Looking over her body, which belonged to a woman of twenty, it was difficult to believe. But then, Amina was almost five hundred, and had a body much like Elaina’s. His erection twitched as he imagined the two fair-haired, voluptuous vixens together, naked and writhing...

“I know! Elaina said suddenly, a mischievous light in her emerald eyes. “Let’s ask Smythe right now!”

The world warped around them, the beach disappearing as they shifted away into blackness. They found Smythe in short order, the big smith appearing before them in the void, as naked as they were. The only material item present was the chair Aran and Elaina were occupying, Elaina still mounted on Aran’s lap.

Smythe grinned from ear to ear when he saw them. “Elaina! Aran!”

Laughing, Elaina vanished from Aran’s lap and reappeared wrapped around Smythe, kissing him fiercely. His big hands cupped her bottom as he returned the kiss, the impressive appendage between his legs rising quickly.

Eventually, the kiss ended, and Elaina hopped down, slightly breathless.

Smythe regarded Aran, his bushy black eyebrows rising. “And Aran!” He whistled in amazement. “You’ve been doing some work, lad! What the devil have you been up to since you left Ironshire?”

Aran shifted over to Smythe, clasping the man’s hand with a grin. “That’s a big question, Master, and an even bigger answer. I have quite a story to tell.”

“Then tell it, lad!” Smythe said jovially, clapping him on the shoulder. “But first, let me arrange us a more comfortable setting.”

A moment later, they were all relaxing comfortably in a big tiled bath, the water heated to the perfect temperature. Smythe had manifested some sort of bath house, all white stone, with a roaring fire at one end, and even some soft music coming from no discernable source.

The bath had a seat built in beneath the water, and they sat together, chest deep in the water, Elaina between the men. A pipe appeared in Smythe’s mouth, blue-grey smoke streaming from the bowl as he puffed away.

Not long after Aran began telling his story, a hand wrapped around his still-rigid cock and started to stroke. He looked at Elaina and got a sly wink in return. Her other arm was also noticeably busy beneath the water, and a look at the grin on Smythe’s face told Aran exactly what Elaina was up to.

Between the hot water and the gentle stroking of Elaina’s skilled fingers, Aran found himself relaxing as he told them everything there was to tell.

“Amina is alive?” Smythe interjected at one point, snatching the pipe from his mouth in surprise.

“She most certainly is,” Aran responded, grunting slightly as Elaina continued to stimulate him under the water.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Smythe said in wonder. “I’ve read many things about her; her grace, her beauty. When I was born, the Darkening was all but done. Is she as they say?”

Aran nodded. “I haven’t heard the stories, but I’m guessing they’re all true; she’s really something. She taught me much in the short time I stayed with her.”

With a satisfied nod, Smythe reclined back against the tiles, allowing Aran to continue.

Elaina had only heard part of the story so far, and her eyebrows rose as he got to the part about finding Sara, the arohim urchin girl in Maralon, and Sorla, the friend of the Order whom he had just melded with that evening.

“You’re sure Sara is arohim?” Elaina asked, exchanging glances with Smythe. Regrettably, her stroking had come to a stop.

“I’m sure,” Aran replied. “She’s a little younger than I, by perhaps a year or two, and she wasn’t aware she had the vala until I told her, but it was unmistakable. It’s probably the only reason she’s survived this long, living on the streets and all.”

“He speaks the truth, Paladins. The girl is arohim.”

Aran’s, Smythe’s and Elaina’s heads came up as one to see a stunningly beautiful, deliciously curved woman standing at the edge of the bath, smiling down on them, wearing nothing but her flawless, fair skin. Somehow, Amina had found them.

Smythe’s jaw dropped, his pipe plopping into the water with a hiss before vanishing, while Elaina just stared.

Aran scrambled to his feet, having to pry a stunned Elaina’s fingers from around his cock before bowing – hopefully not too awkwardly – to Amina. “High Priestess, your presence honours us.”

Amina inclined her head toward them, smiling warmly. “Thank you, Aran, it warms my heart to see you again.” She stepped gracefully into the bath, taking a seat opposite the three Paladins.

Aran resumed his own seat next to Elaina, and made introductions. “Amina, this is Masters Smythe and Elaina. As you know, they trained me in the ways of the Order, before I came to you.”

“It’s an honour to finally meet you both,” Amina said, inclining her head again. “Aran spoke much of you during our time together.”

“The honour is ours, Priestess, surely.” Elaina said, no small touch of awe in her voice.

Smythe nodded agreement. “Elaina speaks true, Priestess,” he said respectfully. “We are indeed honoured. I must ask; how have you remained hidden these long years? Surely your vala is a beacon to any who can sense it.”

“It was necessary to keep my presence from the world until the time came to emerge again. The same is true for all of us, I imagine,” Amina replied, her voice as sweet as honey, but also heavily laden with wisdom. “I kept my vala concealed for many years, until I felt Aran. Once I sensed him, I knew he was special, and so I offered him a hint of my presence, enough for him to find me.”

The Priestess regarded them all for a moment before continuing. “As we speak, there is a resurgence of arohim occurring, which tells me that the time has come to begin restoring the Order of Aros, so we can rise to meet this new threat that the spawn of the Corruptor presents.

“I am the last of the Priestesses, but I know there are other Paladins out there, and many friends of the Order. We must find them and unify them, and gather together as many young arohim as possible, for without them, our Order has no future.”

Elaina and Smythe nodded obediently, with a prompt, “yes, Priestess,” from each of them.

Before the Darkening, Paladins had been the mighty protectors of the Order, but Priests and Priestesses were the authority, their wisdom and knowledge guiding the swords of the Paladins. This fact was not lost on Smythe and Elaina, who listened avidly to Amina’s words.

“If I may ask, Priestess,” Smythe intoned. “I know Aran is a special lad, but what is it that makes him so? Has he been chosen by Aros to lead us forward?”

Amina nodded, sapphire eyes on Aran as she answered Smythe. “I believe so. The blood in his veins demands greatness, redemption, and at the same time, provides us with a direct link to our enemies.”

Smythe had a confused look on his face, having not yet learned of Aran’s heritage.

Amina enlightened him. “Aran is the direct descendant of Darius the Sunblade. As you know, Sunblade somehow melded with Morgeth the Corruptor, but what you don’t know, is that he gave her two children. Morgeth managed to hide them away from the Order before we destroyed her, and they have now surfaced, and are walking the world again.”

Smythe looked at Aran, sadness, or perhaps sympathy, in his dark eyes. “That’s no easy truth to bear, lad,” the big smith said quietly.

The room fell silent for a moment, before Amina spoke again. “Where Darius Sunblade failed, I believe Aran will succeed. His heart is true, and he knows the price of his ancestor’s folly.” She smiled warmly at him, a light of hope in her clear eyes. “He will have us by his side, and I, for one, will gladly die to see our Order returned to it’s rightful place in the world.”

“Aye,” Smythe agreed with a nod, smiling at Aran. “If there’s anyone can be relied upon, it’s this lad.”

“He’s got my support, any day of the week!” Elaina said, clapping Aran on the shoulder.

Grateful for their confidence, Aran grinned back, trying to ignore the nerves fluttering in his belly. He truly didn’t know if he was all that they believed him to be, but at the same time, he refused to sit around wondering.

Suddenly Amina was straddling him, holding his face between her hands, her blue eyes capturing his. “There must be no room for doubt, Paladin,” she said seriously. “Our belief in you means nothing if you cannot believe in yourself. We need you. The Order needs you. I need you.” The last three words came almost as a whisper.

Her words made sense; he did indeed need to have faith in himself, if any progress was to be made. He nodded, already feeling better.

Amina flashed him a radiant smile before kissing him deeply, twining her slim arms around his neck and pressing herself into him firmly. He wrapped his arms around her back and squeezed her, returning the kiss with fervor.

With a smooth movement of Amina’s hips, he was inside her once again, his hands gripping her waist tightly as she rode him languidly in the steamy water.

Aran glanced over to see Elaina and Smythe had not remained idle; Smythe had lifted Elaina onto the edge of the bath and was eagerly dining on her smooth pussy while squeezing big handfuls of her ample tits.

Amina watched them, a small smile on her lips. “It does me good to see the three of you together,” she said breathily as she rode Aran. “It reminds me of the time before the Darkening, when we would freely make love with each other any time we desired.” Her hips gained speed, her passion mounting. Aran sensed her pleasure increasing as she remembered.

Aran brought a pink nipple to his mouth, sucking on it gently while squeezing it’s mate between his thumb and forefinger, bringing a long moan from the Priestess.

They continued like that for a time, until Amina smiled and climbed off him, wading over to Smythe, who had pulled Elaina back into the water and was vigorously fucking her from behind.

Elaina seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the treatment, squealing in delight as Smythe pummeled her pussy with one hand gripping her shoulder for leverage, the other palming a huge breast. He seemed masterful, in control, until Amina slid up behind him, pressing her body against his back. She whispered something inaudible in Smythe’s ear, making the man shiver as he continued thrusting. She then lowered a hand beneath the water, and whatever she did down there made Smythe bellow like a mad bull, his body jerking sporadically as he was quite obviously having a storm of a climax. Elaina wasn’t spared either, a similar effect occurring as Amina’s attention moved to the blonde Paladin.

Aran watched interestedly as Smythe and Elaina caught their breath, Smythe’s hips still pressed up against her bottom, his hands on her waist. Once recovered, Smythe turned to Amina, who had moved back a little, eyeing the big smith lustily. With a growl, he seized her, furiously kissing her lips, her neck, her breasts, anywhere he could reach. Amina’s giggles of delight quickly turned to moans of pleasure as she succumbed, allowing him to take her as he desired.

Elaina had also recovered, and was now sitting next to Aran, reclining against the back of the bath, arms resting on the coping, outstretched to either side. Offering him a sultry smile, she slowly opened her legs, leaving no question as to what she wanted. In a flash, Aran was between her thighs, pressing himself into her warm pussy until his balls were resting against her ass.

There was something special about being with Elaina, the woman who had taught him his first lessons as a Paladin, opening his eyes to a larger world. When he was with her, he felt something different than he did with others. Sure, he felt connected to each woman he was with, arohim or no, and they were all special in their own way, but Elaina held a large piece of his heart, and always would.

“When next we meet,” he began as he stared into those emerald eyes, their bodies moving as one in the water, “I want to meld with you, if you feel the same.” It was a pity he could not meld with her now, but the plane of Aros had its limits; melding seemed only to be possible on the physical plane, according to Amina.

In reply, Elaina sat forward, throwing her arms around him and kissing him fiercely, somehow without interrupting their sex. “I want that very much, Aran,” she whispered when the kiss finally broke.