by Porter, Jack
She gave me a sheepish glance from under long, pale eyelashes. “I planned to, but it was never the right time. You had to find Layla’s crystal. Then my shrine burned down.”
Her eyes filled with sorrow before becoming carefully neutral again. “After that, we needed to rescue Hannah, and when Piper fell pregnant, I knew her care came first. I would have put it off further, but when would it end? Sooner or later, you’re going to have to learn how to fight in this realm. Because Zavier already knows.”
I considered her words. “Okay. So, how do we start?”
As if on cue, another flash of light hit the current, but it was different. A vibration, like a thrum of a guitar string, passed through my astral body.
“What in the fuck was that?” I asked.
Yua grinned broadly. Her eyes lit up as she grabbed my hand and turned us around. “Just what we’re looking for. The lights we’ve been passing are stars. And the vibration you felt was a Vulox. A creature of dark power that inhabits this realm. A pest that ought to prove the perfect opponent for your training.”
With a tug of my astral body, she exclaimed, “Come along, White Guardian. It’s time for you to get to work.”
Then she floated us back to the thrumming starlight and yanked us out of the current.
Seven
“You call those pests?” I yelled, waving a hand at the clump of bioluminescent energy suckers drifting nearby.
Yua had brought us out of the current in the middle of space, quite close to a large, blue-white star. I should have been overwhelmed, but somehow, with Yua by my side, traveling through the interstellar gulf in astral form had become just a normal part of life.
“They’re more like an army of apocalyptic terror,” I added. “They haven’t seemed to notice us so far, but be honest, are they going to turn on me the moment I rush them?”
Yua shook her head. “They are inimical to the universe as a whole, feeding on the energy of sunshine and life itself. But they’re relatively harmless to us in our astral forms.” She gave me a smile. “Think of them as a plague of rats. Not something you want in your part of the world, but not necessarily dangerous.”
The Vulox looked like luminous mutant jellyfish about the size of a small car. I looked at them with a fair degree of legitimate concern.
“Unless they attack in clumps, of course. Then they can become a problem,” Yua added. “But in general, yes, they are no more than a pest. I figured it was best to start you off small.”
“Small. Right.”
Squaring my shoulders, I turned to face them. If I’d been in my physical form, at this distance, the heat from the sun alone would have melted away every fiber of my being. As it was, I felt a warm glow from the luminous sphere of plasma. Although, I wasn’t sure if that was because my astral body could feel such sensations, or if I simply imagined the warmth.
Shaking my head, I decided it didn’t matter. These Vulox were starting to take notice.
I sighed and pulled out my astral sword.
“Uh-uh,” Yua said. “No swords.”
“No swo—” I let out a breath. I put my sword away and pressed my fingers together against my lips as if in prayer. “Yua, honey, quit changing the rules of the game. How am I supposed to defeat the Vulox if I can’t use my sword?”
“The rules were always the same. You just didn’t know them before now. That’s why I’m here with you. And anyway, do you think your sword is real, here?”
It was a good question.
“Tonight,” the monk continued, “You’re going to learn to channel the crystal’s energy directly, but without touching it first. This is something that you should have done from the very beginning. Frankly, you’ve been using the crystal all wrong until now.”
She held up a hand when I tried to protest. “I get it. The crystals didn’t exactly come with an instruction manual. Well, they did, but that scroll was burned along with the rest of my shrine.”
“Again, knowing this could have come in handy before now,” I said. She arched her brow and I sighed, admitting defeat.
“Okay. No sword,” I said. “You’re the only one of us who has any clue about the crystal’s past and purpose, so I’m trusting you here. So, channeling crystal energy without touching it. I’m all ears.”
Yua launched into a lesson.
“The thing about the spirit realm is any power you have in the physical world becomes significantly easier to manifest once it leaves the confines of your body. Take, for example, the fact that you could push back against Zavier’s power even before I sent Layla and Hannah to you. If you’d been in your physical body, you wouldn’t have won that fight so easily.”
“I tried drawing power from the crystal like that again afterwards,” I said, as her words clicked a piece of the puzzle into place. “At best, I managed half as much power for a shorter amount of time.”
“That will change. Eventually, when we find every girl with a crystal, you’ll hold the full strength of a god. But even without it, if you keep practicing with the crystal both in the spirit realm and physical world, you’ll be able to do things you didn’t know were possible.”
“Like manipulating the elements?” I asked, thinking of the time Zavier sent a water wall hurtling into me.
“Yes. Like that. A few more nights of training and you’ll be able to begin controlling the physical world around you.”
Well, hot damn. That was enough to get me going. I wanted to be able to go toe to toe with Zavier in the physical world when he showed his face again.
“Let’s get started,” I suggested, side eyeing the Vulox when I saw one at the end of the group turn to study us. “How am I supposed to tap into my crystal?”
“Use the same technique you walked with. Look inward until you find the crystal’s connection with you. Clear your mind to a single focused goal and bend the energy until it flows through your arms. I’ll give a demonstration.”
Yua held up her staff. She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them again, they were glowing. She let out her breath and gave the staff one solid shake, sending the rings clattering together. This made an ethereal noise and sent a blast of blue-white light hurtling into space until it fizzled out a couple yards away.
The Vulox startled, rippling to the left as if they were one single entity. But if that was because of the sound or the residual energy Yua’s staff created, I didn’t know.
“Huh, maybe you’re on to something” I said, impressed. “This is like target practice. Using crystal magic as an energy weapon.”
“That’s the spirit,” Yua said brightly. “And you’re doing the universe a favor at the same time. So, you give it a shot.”
Suddenly feeling like I was in the sixth grade again and my teacher had called on me to answer a question, I took a few steps toward the Vulox and closed my eyes.
Meditation wasn’t normally my thing, but I gave it my best go. I slowed my breathing to a quiet, even pace and searched for the connection with my crystal. Several minutes passed before I whispered, “It’s not working.”
“Dex,” Yua said, her presence feeling closer than I remembered her being. “This isn’t going to be as easy as drawing magic from the crystal by touching it. Keep going. Be patient with yourself.”
That was easier said than done. I had more of a mind to yank out my sword and go flying into action. I liked it better that way.
I tried again.
The thump of my heart seemed a little stronger than usual in my ears. I followed the sound to my chest where I knew my crystal hung, though I couldn’t feel its usual weight. I tried to remember the feel of its smooth surface under my fingers and the rush when I spindled that energy into myself.
As if the crystal could sense me trying to reach it, a faint hum of energy pooled just below my rib cage.
Was this it? The connection I was looking for?
My focus narrowed to a pinpoint as I concentrated on the feeling of that hum in my chest. Tentatively, I
stretched my awareness closer to the connection and gave it a little tap.
The hum became a violent gush of energy that sent electric fire coursing through my veins. The static power was enough to stand the little hairs on the back of my neck upright and rigid, like a cat fluffs up its fur when threatened.
The thought made me laugh, and I lost my connection immediately.
“Oh, darn,” Yua pouted in a way that I found utterly adorable. “You were doing so well, too. I could feel your power charging up. A little longer and I think you would have been able to fling it into the Vulox.”
“Sorry, I just saw myself as a cat for a moment and cracked up.”
The random comment had Yua sending me a puzzled look, but thankfully she didn’t comment, just nodded her head as if she knew what I was talking about.
That made me want to laugh harder, but I knew that wouldn’t go over well with the lady monk. She took this training very seriously. So, clearing my throat, I shook out my arms and said, “Okay, third time’s the charm.”
This time, when I closed my eyes and searched for my connection with the crystal, it was much easier to find. And in an instinctive adjustment on my part, instead of tapping on it, I stretched out a finger of awareness to hover just above the hum of energy.
My caution was rewarded with a much more controllable thread of energy. I still felt the fire of the connection flare up, but it didn’t explode through my veins like before. Instead, it spread out slowly along my arms and down into my palms and fingers.
I’d done what Yua had told me to, but a fresh problem presented itself. How was I supposed to aim my power at the Vulox if I couldn’t actually see them?
Sweat broke out on my forehead with the effort to hold the buildup of power in my hands.
If I didn’t use the energy soon, the pressure building up would erupt from me without my control.
Gritting my teeth, I cracked open my eyes.
The magic stayed where it was. Good. Now, how to unleash it. Did I shoot them with finger guns? Or fling the energy like a pitcher in a baseball game?
I was out of time. My astral arms were screaming with the pain of holding my magic. So, I went with option three, flinging both of my hands in the general direction of the sun-sucking aliens and praying I hit something.
The effect of my magic on these creatures was astonishing. White-blue fire surged from my fingertips. The power hurtled through space in seconds to strike the cluster, vaporizing them instantly.
All of them.
I would have thought it was anticlimactic if it hadn’t been so badass that I’d shot literal fire from my fingertips.
I turned to Yua, who was grinning from ear to ear.
“Amazing, Dexter. You’re a natural.” She wrapped her arm around mine and I sucked in a breath when her breasts pushed against my bicep. “Now, let’s go see if we can find some more.”
Eight
The rest of the night in the spirit realm went without a single hitch. Each time I used my crystal to send waves of energy into the Vulox, finding my power became easier and the blast became stronger.
We traveled far and wide, with Yua stopping me once, pointing to an offshoot section of pathway.
“We will visit this area another time. When your skills have improved to the point you are ready to face more than just Volux.”
We talked about my progress as we rode the pathways back to our bodies. Once there, Yua taught me that touching my physical body with my astral form would reconnect us instantly. It was an odd sensation, like the empty void of my body sucking my presence in like liquid through a straw.
What was even weirder was the feel of solid earth beneath me after being untethered by gravity for so long. Also, my left cheek was burning, as if I had dunked it in ice water.
Before I even sat up, I tried to draw the same power I’d had in the spirit realm. The hum of energy at my center was a pale shadow of what it had been. Still, I was able to touch the crystal’s power and feel a responding escalation of energy through my chest.
But unlike in the spirit realm, the best I could do was create a little spark at the tips of my fingers.
I figured that was as good as it was going to get for now. What had Yua said? Have patience and all that jazz?
I guess I had little choice. She was an excellent teacher, and I could trust she knew what she was talking about.
Finally, I sat up. I felt great physically, but my mind was drained. Like I’d just pulled an all-nighter.
“Damn,” I said. I stood to get my blood pumping and try to shake off the cobwebs. “My mind hasn’t been this fuzzy since studying all week for my Federal Aviation Administration exam,” I grumbled. “Did you bring any of those coffee beans from your garden?” I asked Yua, my voice gruff.
“Mm-hmm. In the far left pack,” the lady monk replied from her seated position. How had she managed not to fall over that entire time?
She looked as refreshed as if she’d spent the night in a five-star hotel. Yua stretched her arms high overhead and leaned into the left and right with a pleased sigh. From my standing position directly in front of her, I caught a glimpse of ample cleavage as her kimono loosened itself with the movement. My breath hitched, and I spun around lest she get an eyeful of the sudden bulge in my pants.
Megan was already up and making breakfast by the campfire a few feet away. She’d apparently collected a handful of wild mountain hen eggs while Yua and I were still in the spirit realm. And damn me if she wasn’t completely nude. Bare pointed breasts hung deliciously in front of me. They had pale pink tips that triangled slightly out.
My eyes dipped down. Her well-proportioned hips, with a silky patch of crimson curls nestled between, complimented a tight athletic stomach and long shapely legs.
Megan’s mid-back length of dark red hair dripped droplets of water down her body, letting me know she’d found a river nearby to devote to her habitual morning swim.
Megan glanced up and smiled.
“Well, good morning, handsome,” she said, stepping away from what she was doing and toward me. She eyeballed my bulge for a moment, before reaching out to stroke me through my pants, her intent very clear.
Mindful of Yua (who had taken an intense interest in the rocky sediment of the mountain we were to cross today), I stepped in close to Megan and bent to growl in her ear. “Later, when we’re alone,” I promised. My voice was husky and filled with anticipation.
She pressed closer until our bodies were flush with one another and rose on her tiptoes to plant a heated kiss on my lips.
“Don’t keep me waiting too long.”
I could tell her passion matched my own. I wanted nothing more than to give Yua a thinly veiled excuse about something lost in the river’s direction and amend my ‘later’ to ‘right the fuck now’.
However, I couldn’t just run off and shirk all my responsibilities. We had things to do. Crystals to find. And while I’d stolen a few moments with Megan on this journey already, it was usually at night, when it wouldn’t take time away from our quest. So I leaned back and winked at her.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
She leaned back as well, smiling up at me. That smile didn’t last, though, before it faded and became almost a frown.
“So … want to fill me in on where in the H E double hockey sticks you guys went last night? I couldn’t wake either of you to save my life, and trust me, I tried.” She grimaced, eyes dipping to the side of my face. “Sorry about the slap by the way, Dex.”
Ah, I thought. That was why my cheek hurt.
“No biggie, I don’t even feel it now.” I said, which was mostly true. “And I guess in a way I kind of deserve it for not telling you what we were doing. You must have been worried sick. But considering how much effort we’ve been putting in recently, I wanted you to get as much sleep as possible.”
Also, I’d been preoccupied with trying not to ravish the lady monk right up until the point she knocked me out. But I wasn’t about
to admit that out loud, especially with Yua in earshot.
Megan nodded and, sensing all was clear, Yua meandered back over and sat down beside me to eat a quick breakfast. Yua and I filled Megan in on last night’s spirit realm journey through bites. Megan’s hands paused in pouring all of us a small cup of brewed coffee when I mentioned just how far we had gone while she’d been sleeping.
Jealousy scrawled itself plain as day on the redhead’s face. She glanced between Yua and me like a younger child left out the older kids’ cool club.
“No fair. Next time you better let me come too,” she said, her hazel eyes flashing in the early morning sun.
Yua chuckled. “Once you have a crystal, I’ll be able to train you just like Dexter. Eventually, all the goddesses will need instruction in how to walk the spirit realm pathways.”
“When do I learn to enter the spirit realm by myself?” I asked. “In case I want to practice, or just go exploring when you’re not available.”
Yua swallowed her last bit of fruit, before taking a sip of nettle tea she’d taken from the surrounding pines. Being a vegetarian, she’d denied the offer of hen eggs.
That worried me a bit. Hannah had suggested there was very little vegetation along the mountain passes. Which meant eventually, the lady monk’s provisions would run out or spoil to the point of inedible. Then Yua’s choices would be to break her diet, or starve.
Something told me she would put herself to the very edge before considering the first option.
“Once you master your ability to use your crystal without touching it in the physical world, I’ll teach you. If I told you now, you’d just try anyway and get yourself lost. Or worse,” Yua replied.
I found myself grinning at her words. She was one hundred percent right.
“Fair enough,” I replied. “But you could have a little more faith in me.”
Yua’s gaze became almost angry. Before I could ask what I’d done wrong, she arched an eyebrow and stood to brush bread crumbs off her kimono. “My faith is unshakeable, thank you. It’s your habit of wandering into danger that I don’t trust.”