8 Chapter 008

The next day, Alaina woke up alone. She stretched before she realized how sore she was, which caused her to remember the day before with a mixture of embarrassment and resentment.

"I can't believe he tricked me like that!" She muttered to herself, pulling her knees up to her chest. She allowed herself a few more moments of feeling taken advantage of, before sighing and rolling out of the large bed.

Looking around for clothes, and finding a new set of white robes with a burnt ember lining, she pulled the robe on with a chuckle.

After relieving herself, she drew a bath, preparing to relax for at least an hour before facing the mage that took her freedom, her virginity, and … somehow, her fears away. It was then that she saw something odd on her inner thigh.

"What is…" She comically pulled her leg up to view the brand that had somehow appeared on her creamy inner thigh, then sighed and let it drop back down. "Because, of course he'd mark his property."

Sighing, she leaned back, trying to relax once more. After a few minutes, she realized she wasn't going to be able to, and loudly pushed out of the tub, throwing her hands in a moment of childish impotence.

She was in the middle of this splashing and thrashing when Trimagus strolled into the room. He stopped short, cocking his head to the side and crossing his arms to lean on the door frame. "Huh. Bathing sure has changed in five hundred years." He mused, a grin spreading across his features.

"Ahem… Yes Master, I was just getting out." She said, prettily, with a smile and proceeded to do just that.

"Keep it up with those antics, and you won't even make it out of the study for at least a week." He licked his lips slowly, and then gave a wolfish grin. "Pent up hunger." Brows waggled suggestively before he nods in her direction, suddenly turning serious. "When you're dressed, meet me in the study. We need to go over some things, and we leave today."

Spinning around, he wanders out of the room, but not before he throws a glance over his shoulder and licks his lips again, half-groaning at how she looked with gems of water shimmering all over her firm little body.

She couldn't stop the hint of blush that crept to her features, as she buried her face into the towel, then quickly dried off to join him. The idea of leaving made her movements a bit more hurried, excitement lending speed to her actions.

"You said we're leaving today?" She asked, in way of greeting, joining him in a chair nearby his desk.

"Yeah, there's a few things we need to track down, and while my resonance isn't as strong as say, the Wind Lord…" Turning to her, he added. "Fuck that guy, by the way. I knew him when he was just a puissant with a hint of resonance. Who the fuck does he think he is, calling himself a lord?!" Rolling his eyes, he waved a hand before getting back on track. "But, I'm strong enough to protect us, if anything short of a God attacks us."

After a moment of thinking, he knocked on the wooden portion of the large desk. "Just in case."

"I need to find the rest of my resonance. And, any journals that I might have forgotten about…" He began, eyeing her thoughtfully. "I suppose I should tell you everything." He mused and stood with a half—groan.

She nodded in excitement, turning to follow his movements towards the closed sarcophagus in the middle of the room. She'd been curious about it once she realized what it was. Unable to stop herself, she rose to join him, watching while he pulled the cover back and stared inside.

"It's empty." She dead panned, looking from the body shaped cavity to the man.

"No shit it's empty." Snorting, he shook his head and closed the lid once more, motioning back to where they'd been sitting. "That's kind of the reason I'm here, instead of where ever I was for five hundred years."

They sat back down, and he continued.

"With my resonance, personal strength, and throwing a few ingredients together, I can make a duplication of my body. And, when I die, it awakens." He shrugged, rubbing the back of his head slightly. "Normally, when I'm about to die, I'll come back here. Throw all my resonance into a jar and store it for when I wake back up." He motions to himself and grins. "Normally, I have the ingredients and resonance to create a new duplicate immediately upon waking up, which is why I look so young and handsome for being almost five hundred years old."

Frowning, he corrected himself. "I mean almost a thousand years old."

She looked skeptical, but couldn't deny that he had just suddenly appeared again, after five hundred years if Gunther could be believed. "So, just what level is your resonance?" She asked, unable to stop herself.

"Right now I'm just shy of King Rank, which is short of Demi-God, then there's God. If you can gather enough resonance to be a God, you are literally a god. As in, no longer mortal and now play with the other deity."

She didn't say anything for a few minutes, staring at her hands just trying to figure out what one would say to that. She couldn't help but wonder what she was.

"You're a princess."

She cocked her head and looked at him, chuckling in surprise. "What?"

"You're a princess,just shy of a Queen. You've got a solid resonance with Earth. As a matter of fact, if you can find your own access to an Earth realm, you'd probably be able to challenge for ownership of it." Ruffling her hair, he added. "But, that's not what you're going to be doing. You're going to be adding on to my realm, making it grow with fertile lands, allowing us to spread out all over this realm."

"What's so great about a realm, anyway?" She asked, trying to sound unimpressed but failing to when she remembered the views she'd seen recently.

"Well, besides the security and safety of having a segregated place from the world, there's also this kind of …" Thinking of the proper verbiage, he continued. "… Symbiotic relationship is formed."

She arched a brow, but didn't interrupt.

"The longer you stay here, in the realm, or the more emotionally invested you get in the realm, the more energy you provide to me. Well, the owner of the realm. So… me." He smiled, motioning at himself. "And, since I'm getting all this energy and power, in the form of resonance, all the elements I don't use, I give back to the people."

As he spoke, he motioned towards her. "You might have noticed the mark on your thigh." She smirked, and nodded sarcastically. "That's to show your ranking in the hierarchy. You're just below your ancestor, in the current pecking order." He rose and stretched. "And, since I don't really need it, you get the benefits of the Earth resonance."

She gasped, looking at her thigh then back to him. "Really? Isn't that a lot of resonance?" She was hesitant to ask, but felt obligated to do so.

"Yeah, but I'd rather my sweet little property specialize in it, than my trying to dabble. Flame might get jealous if I try to add another element above a certain level."

She nodded as if she understood. "I don't feel that much different." She offered, softly, trying not to sound greedy.

"Oh. Well, no you wouldn't. Most of the people you brought are wind related resonance, so I'm just pooling it and feeding it to the realm, to allow it to dole it back when needed."

Snapping his fingers, he stands to excitedly step over to his desk, and pluck what appears to be a large canine tooth from the desktop.

The tooth was carved with a green haze surrounding it. "Here. This is for you." He tossed the jewelry to the girl.

She took it, and peered at it for a long moment, then back up to him. "What's this?" She asked, holding it up closer to the light.

"It allows you access to the realm, and allows you to adjust any of the islands that you created or is under your power."

"Oh." Is the offered, as she loops it over her head, and showed it to him. He grinned, enjoying the way it nestled itself in the valley of her breast.

"Now, you've learned my secrets. First thing we need to do is to get the ingredient s to make my duplicate." He jerked a thumb to the sarcophagus. "Once that's done, I'll give you a few pointers on doing it yourself."

She cocked her head, considered it a moment then wrinkled her nose. "We'll see." Is all she could offer.

"Right, anyway. Gunther should have finished packing and gathering everything we need, and since he knows we're both leaving, he's going to be sure to supply a few guards to the tower while we're gone." He assuaged any doubts she had.

Nodding in determination, she stood, taking his hand when it was offered. And, when he tugged her against his tight, firm chest, gasping at the sudden kiss. And, then another one when his tongue invaded her mouth.

"Mmm. Sweet." He whispered, as he pulled back from the kiss to grin down at her. "C'mon. Let's get out of here. A list of ingredients, a bit of wild resonance, and my remains are waiting to be found."

She offered a weak sound of agreement, and let him lead her towards the painting and the world beyond.