Chapter 10

Note: Thanks to Alex for beta reading this!

The next day, after a hearty breakfast of omelets (how my mother whipped up omelets, I had no idea), I entered the throne room to practice my magic. After fighting Jindag, I had a fair idea of what sort of spells I could cast. He had used Life and Water magics to great effect, healing himself with the former and attacking me with the latter.

It added to my arsenal of Dark and Lightning spells.

Brimming in my soul were the ability to cast spells, like a mage, I supposed. I said a formula and the magic happened. It wasn’t like a cleric who prayed to one of the twenty-four gods. There was a Lord and Lady for each of the twelve flavors of magic and a cleric seemed to be able to serve one. Me, I just called upon their domain for some reason.

With Dark, I could blind my enemies, wrap myself up in night, or even throw a dagger of black at the enemy. With Lightning, I could stun with my touch, guard myself with a static aura that zapped incoming attacks, and throw a spear of lightning.

“Okay, Lord Leo, let’s start with Life,” said Souleen as I stood in the middle of the throne room.

My companions were watching save for Mom who was washing the dishes. Garnet wore her apron, she had helped with cooking breakfast, and just looked so adorable in it. Maya lounged on my throne, her watery legs thrown over one of the armrests. Lana sat gracefully on her own thrown, legs daintily crossed, looking like the movie starlet she was. Halia flowed throw sword forms to the side, her black hair streaming behind her in the tight braid.

“Soothing Touch will let you heal minor wounds,” said Souleen. “It’s an external spell, but you can cast it on yourself. Technically, you can cast any external spell on yourself, since you can project your magic back into your own body as a part of the external world, but this is actually a beneficial one.”

I nodded. Magic came as External (prayed to the Lord), Internal (prayed to the Lady), or a Ritual (prayed to both). External spells projected my power. They were my attacks. Internal spells I could only cast onto myself. They were buffs or defenses. Rituals created greater effects that could last permanently but also took time to wrought. I didn’t know any from Lightning or Dark.

“You do have to touch to heal,” Souleen said.

“So I gathered from the name,” I said.

“Sometimes, you have to be obvious with Leo,” Maya said playfully.

“What, is this a party line?” I demanded.

“Yep!” Garnet said.

A chorus of monster girls answered, too.

“The only other Life Spell you know is an internal spell,” Souleen continued. “Revitalize. This energizes you.”

“Ah, that ass-muncher used it,” I thought, remembering how Jindag had given himself a boost to his energy. “So what can I do with Water?”

“You have two external spells with it. Water Breath lets you breathe a gush of water. Try it out.”

I heard the words whispering in my heart. I already knew them, I just had to remember them. I repeated them. “Waters gush and flow, let the force of Lord Enki sweep!”

The moment I finished the words, I drew on my reserve of mana held in the Void Crystal, and a gush of water vomited from my mouth. I could feel it forming in me and then spewing out at a hard volume. I moved my head, the flow following where I looked. Water splashed over the map, a flowing tide that spread over the floor. It ended after two seconds.

“It has force. Can knock down enemies,” Souleen said.

“And the other spell, the drowning one?” I remembered that terror of suddenly being in a ball of water and stuck in it, unable to breathe or escape.

“Watery Grasp,” Souleen said. “Deadly and dangerous. It will persist long enough to drown someone.”

“Yeah,” I muttered, taking in a deep breath. Words drifted through my heart. “Water’s crushing weight surround, feel the grasp of Lord Enki squeeze!”

The water surged out and seized Maya. She gasped as she was lifted into the center of the ball. She was almost lost in the roiling sphere. Her own body, made of water, blending in. I smiled as I could just see her naked form swimming around in here.

“Mmm, this is nice,” Maya said. The undine sounded at peace in there. “I could just enjoy this all day long, Leo.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I thought. “Pity I can barely see you in there.”

“Missing these?” she asked and pressed up to the front where her round breasts came into clear view. She jiggled them.

“Better,” I thought.

“Is he making you show off your tits,” came my mother’s amused voice.

“Oh, he doesn’t have to make me do that,” Maya thought.

“Kweh, heh, heh,” Garnet chortled nearby, still wearing her apron. My little sister’s red wings spread wide. “Big bro, your perversity is so inspiring. It makes me so wet. See!” She lifted the front of her apron to show off her gleaming slit. That tight delight was a mouth-watering sight. A bead of her juices ran down her pale flesh to the tops of her thigh-high boots.

“Oh, yes, he is such a perv,” Lana Fulmine said. “He once pretended to be Baron Doom and made me put on Jane Dangerous’s booty shorts so he could ravish me and make me into his slut.” A smile crossed the movie star’s lips. We had done that when we first arrived. Jane Dangerous, the treasure hunting adventurer, was the character that had made Lana Fulmine into a household name. Baron Doom was her arch-nemesis.

A fun day of roleplay after our first trip to Astovin.

“Okay, okay, only one spell left to learn,” Souleen said. “Breathe Water. Not a surprising spell, I know, but one that you’ll want to have if you ever come up against another builder with the Water Glyph or the wrong type of monster girl.”

I focused on my soul, letting the words for that spell rising within me. It came easily now. I just had to focus on the essence of water, how it flowed down the easiest path while slowly tearing apart that which constrained it.

“Soothing water sustains, let the love of Lady Ninli engulf,” I chanted and felt the magic falling over myself. An internal spell. I could only give myself water breathing.

Pity.

But I had to test it out. So I sauntered up to Maya in the sphere of water, my magic sustaining the Water Grasp spell. I could feel it in the back of my mind. I stared at it, flashes of Jindag nearly drowning me in one almost overwhelmed me with fear.

I had my magic. I didn’t have to be afraid.

Maya was in there. I never had to be afraid when my best friend was around.

It was strange diving into a ball of floating water. I jumped forward like I was diving into a pool, but before I could even start to arch over to plunge in head first, I slammed into the sphere. It was like a belly flop except I barely had any momentum so it didn’t hurt. I was in the water, weightless and almost disoriented.

Maya grabbed me. Her blue face was clear to see with her this close, her watery hair fanning out in the liquid. She beamed at me and then pulled me into the center. We drifted around, the world outside distorted, bent around us by the curve of the ball.

I breathed in the water. It flowed through my mouth and down my throat. Instead of coughing, I could feel it dissolving in my lungs. It was a strange sensation. I laughed, my voice coming out oddly distorted while bubbles rose around me.

Bubbles ... I breathed in water and the spell turned the liquid into air inside of me. Then I exhaled it out. Did the spell do something like electrolysis, separating the oxygen molecules from the two hydrogens? Or was it just magically transmuting the liquid into breathable air.

No idea, but it felt so normal as I breathed in again.

Maya swam around me, her hands brushing my body. She moved with such grace through the water. This was her element. Literally. My undine girlfriend was at home here. Her hands caressed over my back and ass. She brushed my cock.

Then her mouth was on it.

I gasped and bucked. My spasming sent me slowly tumbling. The distorted world outside the sphere of water rotated as my naughty undine nursed on my cock. Her warm, wet mouth sucked with hunger.

“Damn,” I sent her telepathically. “Maya, you are such a cock-sucker.”

“I know,” she sent back happily, her mouth busy nursing on my dick. “I always knew I’d be one for you. If you’d just stop drooling over every other woman. The baristas, the MILFs, the teachers, the cheerleaders.”

“Porn stars.” Nina Naughty flashed through my mind.

“Yes!” She sucked hard, my dick throbbing in her wonderful mouth.

Then her legs swung before me. She grabbed my head with them and pressed me into her hairless pussy. Her hot folds pressed into my mouth, feeling liquid and solid at the same time. I licked through her folds and tasted her sweeter water.