“Not exactly,” she said. She ran her fingers over the groove in the Soulguard. “I’ll be right here.” Then she pressed her fingers against my chest, over my heart. “And I’ll be here, with you, always.”
I wrapped my arms around Ciara’s slim waist, pulled her close to me, and kissed her. She whimpered softly as my lips pressed against hers and I felt her arms drape around my neck. Our kiss was both gentle and passionate, innocent yet intense, and as we kissed, the forever-sunset ring of light around the world flared brightly.
When our mouths parted, she ran her tongue across her lips with her eyes closed, as if she was reliving the kiss.
She opened her eyes. “We don’t have much time,” she said. “Already, I can sense the Emperor pulling dark forces into the realm. He’s going to launch his attack soon.”
“I don’t want to leave you yet,” I said.
“Well that’s good, because you can’t leave me yet,” she said. “Not until you help me finish my work to create the Mana Gem. Champion, once you don my gem, you’ll see that it will react differently than the others.”
“How so?” I asked.
“Because I’ll be anchored to the heart of the gem, you won’t have to worry about its power consuming you,” she said. “You can wield it as often as you’d like. Unlike the other stones and gems, exhausting this gem of its power won’t destroy it. The power will restore over time, but you must be patient.”
“You’re saying that I can’t just go around wielding it at full power constantly,” I said.
She nodded. “Indeed,” she answered. “You’ll be better served by using the gem only when you need it most, and sparingly, at that. No other mortal would be able to do this, none but you, for you’ve already wielded the Storm Gem and the Spirit Stone. You’re already aware of how to harness power such as this. But there’s one effect that this gem will have on you. It’s unavoidable.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“In donning the gem, you’ll be sharing the essence of my soul,” she explained. “This will give you the immortal lifespan of a Mananymph. Illness nor old age will ever take your life. This way, you’ll be able to stand beside my sisters from now until forever, as long as you don’t fall in battle.”
Yeah, accepting the Mana Gem would, in effect, permanently grant me god-tier abilities. I’d be functionally immortal. Most importantly, it was the only chance I had at defeating the Emperor.
However, despite all these benefits, I couldn’t help but think that losing Ciara was too great a cost.
“We have to finish my work here,” Ciara said.
I sighed. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s just get it over with.”
“I can’t do it without you,” she said.
I held her close. “How do we finish your work?” I asked. “I can’t imagine how I’d be able to help you, but I’ll try.”
She tightened her arms around me and nuzzled her face against my neck. I held her for a moment before she looked up at me with those sparkling eyes.
“I can only bind myself to the Mana Gem after you bind yourself with me, Champion,” she said.
She gestured to the side. A bed of soft flowers bloomed from the earth.
Her lips brushed against mine. “Take me here, Earthman,” she said. “Give me what I’ve been desiring ever since the day you arrived in the realm of the Mananymphs.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
As we kissed, I slowly and gently began undoing the buttons of Ciara’s dress. As my fingers moved from button to button, gradually exposing her picture-perfect porcelain skin, I felt her body shiver in my grip.
When our lips parted, I looked down at her and saw a palpable wave of nervousness running through her body.
It all served to remind me that though Ciara was thousands of years old and extremely powerful, she was still just a virgin.
“I won’t hurt you,” I whispered.
She grinned a nervous, quivering grin. “I know,” she answered.
It blew me away to think about it. An immortal Mananymph, so skilled in the magic arts that she could tap into her own soul to create a Gaia Gem, and here she was, nervous about making love to me.
I promised myself that I’d make it worth her while.
Once the buttons of her dress were unclasped, I slowly tugged at the fabric. The dress fell down past her shoulders, exposing her smooth, pale skin. I ran my fingers across that precious flesh.
Tugging some more, I watched in awe as her perfect breasts spilled out. The fabric fell farther still. I licked my lips at the sight of her trim, soft abdomen. I ran my fingers across the goosebumps sprouting across her bare skin.
When the dress fell to her waist, I caught her by the hips and pulled her to me. I couldn’t help but kiss her, to enjoy the taste of her lips, her sweet tongue, and as the dress finally tumbled into the grass she tightened her arms around me as I lay her down.
I rested her small, picturesque body onto that organic blanket of flower petals. Her nipples grew stiff and erect even as she trembled in innocent nervousness as she anticipated our lovemaking.
For a moment, I was content to merely stare down at her naked body, at the fiery tuft of hair on her mound that matched her red curls.
I took my right forefinger and placed the tip between her breasts. Staring deeply into her eyes, I ran that fingertip down the middle of her body.
I trailed it over her sternum, then past her ribcage, before I paused to make circles around her pretty little belly button.
She licked her lips. Now, instead of trembling in nervousness, she was writhing in anticipation, as if her desire for me was threatening to boil over.
“Touch me there, Champion,” Ciara whispered, those soft words running over even softer lips.
I let my finger descend to her waistline, then farther down, through the tangle of hair the color of roses. As my fingertip brushed against her clit, Ciara’s mouth flew open into a wide O and her hands shot down to my wrist.
At first, I thought she might have been signaling me to stop, but instead, she merely pulled my hand tighter to her femininity.
She shuddered in delight, arching her back and gasped into the warm summer air as I circled my finger rhythmically around her nub.
Carefully, I switched the position of my fingers. Now I had my thumb around her clit, massaging it just as I had with my forefinger. But now, I had my forefinger traveling further south, feeling around until I felt her wet opening.
“Yes…” Ciara panted as her wet femininity accepted my finger.
Her virgin sex was tight, warm, and wet. I pushed my finger in slowly but firmly, before curling it to massage her G-spot.
“EARTHMAN!” Ciara cried out, and the flowers that comprised our bed suddenly went through a growth spurt, showering us in new flower petals.
She arched her back again, dug her bare heels into the soil, and thrust her hips outward as I brought her to orgasm.
Above us, a flock of butterflies flew past us and the trees across the field began to shimmer and dance.
Of course, as badly as I wanted to kick off my pants and push myself inside of her, there was plenty more that I wanted to do for her first.
As her body settled down from that first orgasm, I took each of her breasts into my mouth, and sucked each nipple until Ciara was moaning again.
I slid one hand under her, to support the small of her back, then held her by the hip with my other hand.
I looked down at her goosebumped, tiny body then couldn’t resist kissing it.
I put my lips upon her abdomen, sucking gently, then trailed my tongue down her midline.
She reached down with both hands and gripped my hair as I got closer and closer to her treasure.
“Taste me, Champion,” Ciara said.
She spread her legs once more for me and I ran my tongue across her cherry. She wasn’t expecting this sudden pleasure. I held her tight by the hips as her body convulsed, yet I didn’t stop circling my tongue around her n
ub.
“Yes…” she panted.
I dug my fingers gently into the soft flesh of her thighs as I slid my tongue down her to her wet lips.
The taste of her dew on my tongue was like heaven as I devoured her. I stared up at her as I ate her and enjoyed every twitch of pleasure in her face, the coiling of her lips, and the way her breasts heaved with every heavy breath.
With my nose grinding methodically against her cherry, I slid my tongue inside her and felt her walls constrict around it.
At once, she screamed again, then threw her legs around my head as if she meant to suffocate me. I held her tight as she came, as I felt her honey leaking and dripping from her virgin hole as I brought her to another powerful climax.
When I came up for air, I licked my lips clean and looked down at the beautiful Mananymph again. The fairy-like goddess was fighting to catch her breath, but by the look in her eyes, I knew that she was more than ready to keep going.
In her eyes, I saw the raw desire burning within them. As for how bad she wanted me to push myself inside of her, Ciara could communicate that without so much as whispering a single word.
The love I saw in her gaze was at once libidinal yet innocent, gentle yet aching for force. I saw a love unbridled, a love that couldn’t be contained. It was, I thought, an ancient sort of love, a type of love that only a being like a Mananymph could ever truly embrace.
She lay back into the bed of flower petals, gently stretching herself out, silently beckoning me to return to her tiny, perfect body.
I quickly peeled my clothes off and tossed them aside, overtaken by my own primal instincts to take her.
As I kicked my pants off, Ciara glanced down at my stiffening erection. Once more, a fleeting yet intense wave of nervousness filtered across her face. But, as if to counter her nervousness, I saw that the treasure between her thighs had grown visibly wetter as she glimpsed my girth.
I climbed on top of her, mounted her, and we stared into each other’s eyes. I kissed her and she let out a muffled moan as I gently pressed the tip of my mass against her virgin entry.
She reached with both hands and dug her fingernails into my back, bracing herself for my entry.
“Are you ready?” I whispered.
She nodded slowly, almost drowsily, but with an unmistakable desire wafting off her. “I’ve never been more ready for anything,” she whispered, then pressed her lips against mine again. “Take me now, Earthman.”
So I did it. I pushed inside of her.
She screamed the moment I did, an orgasmic cry of bliss that made the sunlight around the world flare up to a blinding degree.
Above us, the starry tapestry in the forever-dusk sky began to pulse and flash, and got brighter and brighter every time I thrust myself back into her depths.
She came, then came again. Each time, I felt her dew trickling down my shaft, and with each tiny droplet that spilled forth from her, I felt myself coming closer and closer to the brink of orgasm.
I tried to hold back for as long as I could, because I knew what was going to happen when we finished.
Ciara seemed to sense that.
She took her fingernails from my back and grabbed me by the face. “Don’t stop,” she pleaded. “And please, Champion, don’t hesitate. If you love me as much as I love you, Earthman, please don’t hesitate…”
With her sweet words ringing in my ears and her warm, wet walls tightening around my shaft, I couldn’t hold back any longer.
When I came, I screamed, and our bodies grew blindingly hot as the forever-sunset flared a fiery bright red around the world.
I threw my head back, certain that I wasn’t going to survive the process, and became acutely aware of an agonizing bolt of fire that seemed to be piercing my right hand.
Yet through it all, I held onto Ciara. I held onto her as the world began to unravel, I kept my hands on her bare skin as I felt myself being ripped apart, atom-by-atom.
Just when I thought I’d never be able to take even a second more of this, I felt her lips brush against mine.
“Thank you for this, Earthman,” Ciara whispered. “I’ll love you forever, always remember this…”
*****
I awoke in bed, naked, with my clothes and equipment lying in a cluttered mess around me.
The hearth was burning. As my vision cleared, I realized night had fallen. I could have been out of it for hours or days. I had no way of knowing.
I blinked and the world seemed to come back together again. As I sat up, I glanced at the Soulguard and saw the brilliant gem glowing beneath the knuckles.
The moment I looked at it, the plain, white-colored gem flared to life. A shimmering blast of rainbow color pierced the shadows in the room as I flexed my fingers, and I realized that the world I had just been inside was now encapsulated in the gem upon my fist.
I stared at it with a certain melancholy, because I knew that, somewhere inside the small gem, Ciara was staring back at me.
“I won’t let you down,” I whispered to her.
The gem pulsed a bright shade of red…the same color as Ciara’s hair.
I laughed, even as I felt a ball of sorrow rising in my throat. She wasn’t lying when she’d said she’d always be with me.
Slowly, I got out of bed. Only now did I hear the clamoring sounds down in the street. When I looked out the window, perched high in Duke Elfblood’s tower, I saw the mass of movement down in the streets.
Soldiers were running in every single direction, as if in preparation for a looming threat.
That was when I glanced north, over Silverton’s northern-facing wall, and saw something that turned my stomach.
Far in the distance, just barely peeking over the horizon, I saw a rim of ghastly light burning at the world’s edge, like the flames of hell itself were creeping over the horizon like some hateful, dreadful midnight sunrise.
It was the Emperor.
He was getting ready to attack.
Chapter Twenty-Five
MANA GEM
EFFECTS: CONSTANT EFFECT
STRENGTH +300
SPEED +300
ATHLETICS +300
SPELL ABSORPTION +300
MAGIC RESISTANCE +300
DESTRUCTION MAGIC +300
RESTORATION MAGIC +300
MYSTICISM MAGIC +300
ILLUSION MAGIC +300
GREEN MAGIC +300
ENCHANTMENT +300
HEALTH +300
FATIGUE +500
MANA +500
GAIA STRENGTH: 1000/1000
GAIA CHARGE: 1000/1000
I blinked and wiped my eyes when I looked at my new stat bonuses in the Second Sight menu.
Just by donning the Mana Gem, I’d become a god-tier player. The boosts to my existing skills were so all-encompassing just by the constant effect modifiers that I’d be able to handle nearly any enemy without so much as activating the gem. Even my baseline Gaia strength had increased tenfold, giving me a higher ability to wield the gem’s raw power before any harm would come to me.
I scrolled through my spells. The modifiers had boosted the potency of my skills so much that even the weakest healing spell in my skillset stopped just short of reviving the dead. If I dialed up the intensity of my weakest fireball spell, I’d be able to level entire buildings without hardly spending any mana at all…which didn’t matter in the least, as my mana was now nearly infinite, what with my bonus modifier on top of my mana regeneration abilities.
But there was more, so much more…
MANA BLAST
EFFECT: TK DAMAGE ON ENEMIES WITHIN 100 YARD RADIUS
GAIA CHARGE: -100
The mana blast alone could decimate incoming footsoldier-tier enemies while only spending a tenth of the gem’s charge. However, I remembered what Ciara had said about conserving the gem’s charge, as it would take time to recover. Plus, I had a feeling that my normal manner of recharging an enchanted item wouldn’t have the same effect on the Mana Gem.
&nb
sp; After all, this was no enchanted sword or enchanted amulet. No mortal mage, no matter how skilled, had the capacity to create anything close to the nature of the Mana Gem.
I scrolled down to the next spell.
REVIVE ALLY
EFFECT: REVIVES ALLY AND RESTORES ALL DAMAGE
GAIA CHARGE: -1000
My other revive ally spell was only available to me once per day, and at a great physical cost. With the Mana Gem’s version of it – which was more powerful, to boot – instead of draining my own lifeforce, I’d merely be spending the gem’s Gaia charge.
Then again, seeing as how it would completely tap out the Mana Gem, I knew that I’d have to use this ability carefully.
CIARA’S BLESSING
EFFECT: +500 DAMAGE TO DARKREALM CREATURES WITHIN 100 YARD RADIUS
GAIA CHARGE: -1000
Yet another area-wide spell and I assumed ‘darkrealm creatures’ referred to the various creatures the Emperor was currently marshaling to the north. The spell carried a hefty price tag. Now that I was getting a sense of how these enchantment effects drained the Mana Gem’s charge, I was interested to find out how quickly the Mana Gem would regain its power after tapping out.
Well, I was sure I’d get the chance to discover that fairly soon.
There were other enchantment effects, including long-range spells and fortify spells and myriad boosts for every school of magic, but before I could so much as scratch the surface of the rest of them, Pandora stormed into the bed chamber with Gorrok.
Gorrok grunted and covered his eyes. “Earthman, please get dressed!” he said.
Oh yeah, shit. I was still naked.
“Earthman, you’re back just in time!” Pandora said.
I was racing to get dressed. “How long was I out?”
“Three days,” she answered promptly. “Sephara told us to expect as much after she spoke with Ciara.” Pandora paused, looked at the Mana Gem on the Soulguard, which had now faded from its multicolored veneer, back to a plain white one. “So, it’s true, then.”
I saw hints of tears forming in Pandora’s eyes, so I assumed Sephara had told the rest of her sisters the particulars of Ciara’s plan.
I rushed over to Pandora, closed the Soulguard into a fist, and displayed the gem for her. “No matter what happens, Ciara will always be with us,” I said.
Monstergirl Quest Book Three Page 19
