Chapter 2-47

My vas needed no instruction to know when to push back against me. The domain belonged to all of us, and so they could sense what was happening within it as clearly as I. Not to mention that I had discussed my plans with them beforehand. In some ways, this was similar to the process we had used to awaken the company, and what we had done when expanding Myta’s spirit. I gathered every scrap of mana that I could around my heart node, around where my heart node should be, and I began to push it outward.

I thought that this would be more difficult while I was circulating my mana at the same time. Instead it was easier. My mana leapt to answer my call, and increasing the outward pressure was not a matter of holding it static and firm, but harnessing its flow. Where normally this kind of effort was like lifting a heavy weight, now it was more akin to running downhill. The effort was less in the doing, and more about maintaining control.

When Myta and Sati pressed against me, it was a soft resistance at first. The feeling of hammering my fist into a pile of sand, which brought its own memories. With perfect coordination they gathered up their presence around me, and tried to contain my mana, to smother my will. But my mana was too dense, the **** too great, and I drove them back farther than I had predicted.

It wasn’t just my vas who were deeply connected. I could feel their minds and emotions more clearly than ever before. Myta was **** to oppose me, while Sati was afraid to anger me. Neither were giving their all to pressuring me, and I needed them to.

I knew what would motivate them. Sati might have been infected by hubris, but it was only able to affect her because she was already proud. She was the daughter of a god, who had survived his treacherous court and debilitating ‘lessons’. Was this all she was capable of? I knew that it wasn’t. My taunting thought was enough for her to redouble her efforts.

As for Myta, I’d actually had this conversation with her before. She’d never been shy about contradicting or defying me when she was certain that I was wrong. Well now she was allowing her lack of resolve to weaken me. If she couldn’t oppose me with all her will, her failure to do so would weaken me, likely permanently. I felt her absolute rejection of the idea as a nearly physical ****. My flame refused to fail me.

Sati’s pride and Myta’s defiance crystallized into a unified intent, and they drew up a swelling wave of mana to crash against me like a tsunami. I wondered for just a moment if I had pushed them too far, and I was about to regret my own hubris. But then I reminded myself of my goal. I needed to be able to weather any storm, climb any peak, to protect and heal my new family. My strength was their strength, as their strength was mine, and together we would become unassailable.

My vas crashed into me like the blow of a hammer, and I met them **** for ****. The ‘sand’ compacted, mana condensing and hardening into a thin sliver of anima. It was a fraction of what I needed, eggshell-thin, but I felt its formation resonate through my entire being. Like putting a bandage over an open wound, I felt that sliver of anima ease the intense discomfort of exposure, though the slight relief only made me more aware of how much farther we needed to go.

Again we clashed, in perfect parallel, hammering a new layer of anima at the edge of the last. Expanding the eggshell one sliver at a time. We rapidly found a rhythm together, forging the shape of my new heart node, and the meridians meant to join it to my spirit. The anima wasn’t the same as my old anima. Not only was it vastly denser, but the outside of it carried a patina of my vas’ aspects layered over my own. In an earlier time that would have terrified me. It would have been a sign of spiritual corruption, but now it just felt correct.

We forged the outline of my new heart, and welded it into place with my existing anima as best we could. It’s settling into place brought me a sense of relief I couldn’t even begin to describe. A relief so deep that it threatened to steal my awareness, or cause me to collapse in tears. But our work was far from complete. The outline of my new heart node was done, and that thin shell of anima was vastly stronger than what it was replacing, even before my spirit was damaged. However, I still had plenty of mana to spare.

Over the next several hours we continued to work, layering the anima thicker to reinforce my spirit. The thicker and denser my anima was, the more mana I would produce. The more mana I produced, the faster the rest of my spirit could be reforged. If we were through enough, then the main limitation on my progress would be my ability to endure the process.

When my mana was exhausted, and my mind ached from the strain we finally stopped the work. Myta and Sati were in better shape, as they had been using presence, rather than internal mana. Even so we were all worn and tired. Sati was in the best shape of us all, and her presence dominated our domain, curling around all of us as a warm mist that caressed our skin.

I twirled my fingers in the air, stirring the fog, and feeling it spool around my fingers like soft yarn Curiously I played with it, testing how much it would resist my motions. The more I toyed, the more solid it seemed to get, and I pulled against it as I was so fond of soing with Myta’s hair.

Sati made a noise deep in her throat and stretched, arching her back languorously. Curious, I tugged again, and this time she made a noise that was almost a protest. It was higher pitched, somewhere between a grunt, a whine, and a moan.

“Interesting.” I could feel the intention in the mana, it was clear and bright, and pulsing with lust. But for all of that, it was unfocused, clinging to the apsara like lightning building in a cloud, waiting for an easy path to guide its strike. Knowing how runes worked made the situation obvious. King Ramana’s daughters were viewed as highly desirable, sexual women, of such unsurpassed beauty that they could drive men to madness with desire. This widespread belief was carried into the Radiant Sea. Whenever Sati drew on her mana, it carried some of that belief as intention, and risked making it reality.

“Your aura of lust won’t touch us in our domain, little flower. Not unless we want it to.” I grinned. “But we planned for it, talked about it. And you were so stressed over the matter that it feels like a shame not to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Sati had a conflicted expression on her face, half-excited and half-afraid, but Myta cleared her throat pointedly.

“Perhaps we could explore that another time, master? When we are less exhausted, and more in control.”

“You’re right, of course.” I shook my head at my own foolishness. “Making decisions while impaired is never a good idea, and rarely leads to good outcomes.”

I let my gaze linger on the apsara, who again looked torn. This time she hung between relief and disappointment.

“Don’t worry,” I said to her. “This isn’t a ‘never’ it’s a ‘not right now’. I won’t let go of an opportunity like this so easily.”

Ducking her head and blushing, the former princess rolled away from me, but then shifted backward until her back was pressed against my arm. I lifted my arm up and out from between us, and she accepted it as a pillow as I slid it beneath her head. Myta rolled towards me, laying on my other shoulder, and leaving me pinned on my back between my two vas.

My flame looked at me with a questioning gaze, worried that she had overstepped, but I just smiled at her warmly. I let our domain slip away, pushing the imposed aura of lust with it. She had stopped me making a rash decision, and I wondered if that might be the first time I’d avoided such recklessness when the Radiant Sea was involved. Even if it wasn’t, I was grateful. I’d been doing far too much rushing into things lately, and I hadn’t lied to Sati. There was no reason we couldn’t experiment later, and I had every intention of doing so if she was willing.

Myta made a pleased noise, trying to press herself closer to me, and throwing her leg over my thighs. Her minor anxiety faded into deep contentment, and I wrapped my arm up around her back to squeeze her close. Our bond had been restored, and as I’d suspected it was stronger than ever. I knew her thoughts and feelings as though they were my own, and that filled both of us with a deep, warm contentment. It was as though I’d had a missing limb restored to me.

Idly she traced patterns on my chest with her fingertips, both of us reveling in the casual contact. I kissed the top of her head, and she pressed up into it, a small smile on her lips. I was far from healed, and we had barely begun our work in Metic, but in that moment life felt perfect.