by Simon Archer
She was there. Gods, she was finally there, and she dragged her tongue slowly up the length of me as I held my breath in anticipation. The trail of heat she left behind hardened me even more, and by the time she took me, wholly, into her mouth, I felt like I was damn ready to explode. I forced myself to slow down, to appreciate the moment, but the heat of her tongue and her mouth made it difficult to focus. I heard a couple more pops, and the light momentarily dimmed, but somehow re-brightened despite the broken lightbulbs. I didn’t care, nothing else mattered except for this beautiful goddess before me. Her hair cascaded over my legs as she moved, her tongue dancing patterns against my skin as she worked. I sank my head into the comforter and tried to steady my uneven breaths. Despite how intense this felt, I still wanted more, and this time, when I reached down to cup her cheek, she allowed me this one concession, pulling up and letting me spring free from her mouth as I guided her up to my face. As she came closer, I let my eyes trail over her naked body. Her skin absolutely glowed, and I couldn’t be sure the light wasn’t coming from within her. The sunbaked heat emanating off of her body warmed me all over, and when she reached my face, she sank back slightly, allowing my length to rest against the already-damp skin between her legs. She wanted me as much as I wanted her, and she wanted me right now.
This was too good to rush through, so gritting through the pain in my shoulder, I wrapped an arm around her waist and flipped us over so that I was on top of her. Anger flitted across her face at the shift in control, but it quickly dissipated as I kissed my way down her neck and across her chest. I squinted against the glow emanating from her body, and the warmth of her skin was as intoxicating as it was sweet. I craved more of her, and as I lowered myself to her breasts and let my tongue dance across her nipples, the sweetness of her skin became almost addicting. I could kiss her and taste her forever, and I was positive that she would let me. I took her nipple into my mouth, rolling it against my tongue as she groaned with pleasure below me. Her body writhed beneath me, and the light swelled a bit more as a couple of pops accompanied her moans. I wondered briefly at the amount of broken glass now on the floor from the busted lightbulbs, but I couldn’t bring myself to care as I continued kissing my way down her stomach. I wanted desperately to get a real taste of her. When I got past her hips, my hands trailed over her inner thighs as I brought my face down low. I inhaled her sweet scent as my tongue traversed her folds, and she tasted better than I could have ever imagined. She squirmed beneath me as I luxuriated in my new addiction, tracing patterns into the most delicate areas of her skin with my tongue. I noticed the lights going brighter still, and I was beginning to make the connection between the glow and her pleasure. As I began to wonder what her climax might look like, another pop sent more glass to the ground. I had no idea how many bulbs were left. There couldn’t be many. The room wasn’t big enough. I had no idea how it was even possible for the room to still be so bright, but if it meant I could continue to feed my growing thirst for the goddess before me, I didn’t care if the room was on fire.
Phae’s small squeals and moans began to grow louder and more intense as I continued to please her, and despite the taste of her on my lips, I still wanted more of her. I broke off and crawled up the length of her body. I felt my length drag against her thighs until it reached her warmth, but she quickly took advantage of this change in position, pushing me off of her and onto the comforter beside her. She climbed on top of me, hovering just far enough above me to tease me. She held her position and watched as I squirmed below her in frustration and anticipation, waiting until I absolutely couldn’t take it anymore. She slowly lowered herself down, and the warmth emanating from her shot through me with a fierceness I hadn’t expected. The light swelled even more, and I realized for the first time that it was coming from her. As I looked up at Phae, I realized that her skin wasn’t simply glowing. The light was coming from within her, and the blinding force of it made it difficult to focus. I kept my hands on her, touching her waist, her hips, her breasts… her skin was soft, warm, and flawlessly smooth, and despite the shining light, I willed myself to keep my eyes open to appreciate her perfect curves and her immaculate skin.
As Phae gyrated above me, the heat sent sparks of pleasure through my gut, and the sensation built and built with every rock of her hips. I tried to sit up to get closer to her, but she pushed me back down, wordlessly reminding me that she was in charge. I held out as long as I could, but eventually I lost the fight, and I hit my peak with an unbidden groan. The smirk on Phae’s face at bringing me to my climax was quickly replaced with one of sudden realization. Her brows shot up and her full lips parted as she joined me, tossing her head back as she moaned so loudly I was confident that everyone in the building had heard her. Her insides convulsed around me, and her body trembled in the aftermath, but her hips moved unrelentingly, offering me no relief from my own climax. Phae eased up as she came over the crest, which allowed me to ease down with her. With a trembling, uneven breath, I slipped my arms around her waist and pulled her down to me, and she finally conceded, laying down with her bare skin against my chest. We lay there together, a tangled postcoital mess, as the lights dimmed around us. One thing was for sure. I’d never experienced anything quite like that.
18
“You’re late,” the cyclops chided at me the next morning.
“Seriously?” I gestured back out towards the entrance of the cave. “The sun’s still rising. You said at sunrise.”
“I expected you at first light,” Arges said as he whirled around to face me. He leaned back against the workbench, both hands braced against the edge, spread wide.
“Then you should have said first light,” I argued with a cheeky smile. “Because it takes, like, a solid eight minutes for the sun to rise, so I had an eight-minute window as far as I was concerned.”
The cyclops’s face fell at my explanation, and I knew I had him. But I kept my face full of innocence so as not to rub it in his face.
“Are you always this indignant and disrespectful?” he wondered, cocking his head to the side, but keeping his eyeball trained on me the whole time.
“Not always,” I promised. I walked further into the forge and set my bag down by a smaller workbench. I pointed to it and asked, “Is this my spot?”
“For now, yes,” the cyclops agreed. He ventured over to me. “But we will not need any of these today.” He promptly took my bag of tools and dumped it on the floor, off the bench.
“But I thought--” I started, but my instructor cut me off.
“That is the first thing I need you to do,” Arges interrupted with a single finger raised in the air. “I need you to stop thinking and forget everything you’ve learned before this moment.”
“Uh,” I stuttered, not quite understanding. But the cyclops didn’t care. He merely barreled on.
“We will begin here,” Arges stated as he waved his hand over the bench.
Just then, four rectangular pieces of different steel floated out of the rack and onto the top of the workbench. They laid out in two rows of two and settled down with little fanfare or noise.
“We’re going to learn how to tell the difference between each of these types of steel,” Arges explained.
It was my turn to cut him off. I pointed to each one in turn as I stated their names. “Carbon, alloy, stainless, and tool steel.”
There was a pause as I looked up at Arges for approval. Instead, I was met with a grimace.
“And which,” my instructor said through gritted teeth, “is the best of those to make plate armor?”
I opened my mouth to retort but closed it again. I thought back to the suit of armor that Hailey and I saw the museum at the beginning of the summer and how I hadn’t been able to figure it out. I instantly regretted not breaking the museum rules and touching it so I could correctly answer Arges’s question.
The cyclops seemed satisfied with my lack of an answer because he sucked his teeth and slapped the table twice. “You are her
e to learn Cameron, please do not forget that.”
“But this is basic stuff,” I said, gesturing to the steel on the table. “I know the difference between these metals and which to use when.”
“But not for everything,” Arges pointed out. “It will be a while before you pick up a hammer, at least before you do so in my forge. So we start with the basics.”
I swallowed my groan and did my best to bite my tongue through the rest of the lesson. Arges wasn’t kidding when he said we were going back to the basics. For the first week of our training, he had me sort through every piece of metal he owned. Luckily, I was able to pick up and put back all of the pieces, so it was easy for me to use my powers to tell them apart. Arges soon discovered that trick of mine and forced me to say the types of metals aloud, and he put them away. It took longer, but before long, I would visually identify everything from fools gold to nickel to brass.
Finally, on the first day of the second week, Agres informed me that we were actually going to make something.
“We’ll be working on a muscle cuirass which is--” Arges began, but I couldn’t help myself. My past Seer knowledge jumped right in and didn’t give me a chance to stop it.
“Also known as an anatomical cuirass and is made to resemble a physique desirable for warriors. Well, male warriors,” I said, rolling my eyes at the misogynistic armor. “It was mainly worn by leaders like generals or kings whereas they gave their soldiers lesser, poorly made, and less attractive armor.”
Arges’s single eye squinted at me as though I had a math problem written on my forehead. I swallowed audibly and took a step backward.
“Sorry,” I apologized sheepishly. “Sometimes, that just happens. I can’t help it.”
“You are a Seer,” Arges deciphered. “That is where all that knowledge comes from.”
“Yes and no,” I said, physically weighing the options in my hands. “I really am a huge nerd when it comes to blacksmithing, and I did read up on a lot of Greek myths as a kid, but I do have an unnatural ability to pull up random Greek facts seemingly out of nowhere.”
“I see,” Agres said with a knowing nod. “That is quite the asset you have.”
“It was a real problem before I knew I was a demigod,” I said, a joke in my voice. “Before that, I was just made fun of.”
“Knowledge is an underrated trait,” Arges said wisely. “People think that superiority comes from being bigger or physically stronger, but a strong mind can often beat out a strong body.”
“I see,” I said this time with my own knowing nod. “Then let's make a muscle cuirass.”
My sparring sessions with the sun god’s daughter happened every other day in the afternoon. I never liked my one-on-one sessions at the Academy, and these were way worse. Because I had to unlearn everything Hailey had taught me in order to focus on the defensive positions and strikes that Phae taught me.
When I showed up with my cuirass, after I finished it, she outright laughed in my face.
“Your chestplate is crooked,” she told me with a dramatic point. She could barely get the words out through her fit of laughter.
I looked down at my armor and frowned. “I know, but I had to freehand this one, and at first, I made it too small.”
“Then lopsided it is, I guess,” Phae said as she bent into a crouch. “I hope it doesn’t throw off your balance.” Then she spun on her heel and put her back to me. “I want you to charge me.”
“What?” I gasped. “Not with your back turned to me like that. That’s not how sparring works.”
“We’re not sparring anymore,” Phae informed me. She looked over her shoulder. “We’re learning how to defend yourself in real-life situations.”
“Oh-kay,” I said, drawing out the word. “You know, I did do something like this in college, and I really don’t want to get thrown over your shoulder.”
“I won’t throw you over my shoulder if you attack me correctly,” Phae pointed out. She turned back to face away from me and shouted, “Attack me.”
After a minute of me not moving, Phae called out, “Come on, Cameron. This is the one time I am going to ask you to do something you’re good at. Attack me!”
Internally, I groaned, as a secret knowing crept over me. I knew that no matter how I went about this, I was going to end up in pain and soaking my body in the claw-foot bathtub before dinner. Nevertheless, I looked over the goddess’s stance and figured the best thing to do was to pin her arms, so she couldn’t use them against me.
I ran up behind Phae and wrapped my arms around her middle, trapping her arms in my lock. Suddenly, the goddess lifted her foot and slammed it down on my own. The pain distracted me from my positioning, and I unknowingly released my opponent. She took advantage of her freedom and slammed her elbow into my nose.
There was a steady throbbing in my nose, and my hands immediately flew to protect myself. Consequently, I didn't have my hands to brace myself when I landed straight on my butt.
“I think you broke my nose,” I said through a nasal voice as I held onto my broken appendage.
“I went easy on you so I wouldn't break your nose,” Phae informed me as she reached out a hand to help me up.
I took it and got to my feet.
“My chestplate didn't even help me at all,” I complained.
“You need to think about every part of you that is exposed,” Phae said, going into her teacher's voice.
“What am I supposed to do,” I asked only half sarcastically. “Wear bubble wrap everywhere?”
“As hilarious as that would be,” Phae laughed, “that's not the point of armor. Yes, it protects your most vulnerable parts, but it's still up to you to protect yourself.”
“I could do that better if I had a weapon in my hand,” I retorted back.
“No one's saying you can't have one,” Phae countered.
“That's exactly what you've been saying to me for weeks now!” I protested, throwing my arms in the air.
“Cameron,” the goddess said softly. “You are here to learn the balance between defense and offense. It's not one pitted against the other. They are one and the same, two sides of the same coin. They're there to help you be the best warrior you could be.”
I thought about what she was telling me and wondered if I had been looking at this whole situation wrong the entire time. I knew that I was supposed to be learning about defensive weapons and armor and techniques, but I always thought that I had to erase everything I had learned before that moment. Hearing Phae speak, I was thinking about how I might be able to meld the two together.
With a new resolve, I looked at the goddess and said, “Let me try again.”
“Are you really sure you want to try again? You sure you don't need some in ambrosia to help heal your nose before we get started again?”
I knew she was mocking me, but I had to push past her taunts. I straightened my back and wiggled my nose, mainly to make sure it didn’t hurt too much.
“I’m sure,” I replied. “I want to go again.”
“Alright,” Phae relented with a doubtful chuckle.
She reset herself and turned her back to me. I took a minute and watched her stance, her body language like Hailey had taught me to do. I thought about her body as a weapon, and while I couldn’t use my metal senses to predict her moves, I thought about what she was defending, what she was protecting.
A couple of fights ago, I had gotten in a lucky kick to her back. It put us on pause for a little while that day, but the next time we fought, she seemed right as rain. However, as I looked at the goddess just then, I could see that she had her hip shifted forward, pushing her weight in that direction as well, like a rabbit ready to pounce. She was trying not to put too much pressure on her back.
No wonder she didn’t want to flip me over her shoulder, I thought to myself.
Suddenly, I knew what I had to do.
I ran up to Phae’s back and jumped onto her. I wrapped my arms around her neck, like a child jumping up o
n their father for a piggyback ride. The full weight of me surprised the goddess, causing her to collapse with me on top of her. While I wasn’t quite ready for the sudden fall, I made sure to stay centered so I could pin her to the ground.
When Phae wiggled her limbs around, I darted forward to get a hold of her wrists and use my knees to nail her calves down. Right then, I knew I had her.
“Yes!” I cried triumphantly. “I did it!”
“Cameron, let me go,” Phae said urgently.
“In just a minute,” I protested. “Let me enjoy this moment of victory.”
“No, really Cameron, you need to let me go,” Phae repeated in the same sharp tone.
I noticed the switch in her voice and stopped my gloating. Right then, there was a weird buzzing noise and a vibrating from somewhere near my chest. I bolted upright and rolled off the goddess.
“What the hell?” I asked from the ground as Phae got to her feet, looking disheveled from the fall, but her face was completely serious, pulled back at the edges as she pulled out a cell phone from inside her own armor.
“There’s something wrong,” Phae said, and then she took off running before she elaborated any more.
“What’s wrong?” I called after her, but the goddess refused to reply. She was already sprinting across the grounds away from me.
I scrambled to my feet and followed after her. Even though she didn’t specifically ask me to come with her, I couldn’t let the notion that something was wrong just pass me by. Whatever it was, maybe I could help.
I followed Phae as we dashed across Arges’s land. I pushed myself to keep up with the goddess, who growled at me when she spotted me next to her.