The exploding stones. A variety of different ores, many of which didn't have much of a purpose now but could be put to great use later on. Crystals and other gems full of imperfections, none completely suitable for anything like the necklace he'd given Irina but still worth bringing back for closer study once an actual workshop was put together.
"Ugh, I forgot what it was like to go on an expedition such as this."
Onyx covered the basket he was taking stock of, shifting it into the corner with the other one they'd filled up, before turning around. After taking a look through many of the local mines, a number of which had been dried up, they found their way into this one, its winding tunnels and creaking shafts leading further down than previous ones. With the day at its end, they'd decided to make a camp within one of the deepest of its rocky cold chambers.
Three separate bedrolls placed around a small stone surrounded gathering of the exploding stones they'd been collecting. Their equipment placed around the modest chamber with one narrow entrance leading out to the rest of the mines with the very back of it reserved for all the materials they were hauling around.
Sellen sat on her bedroll, boots peeled off and in the middle of undoing the bandages wrapped around her feet. "I envy you, apprentice. How is it that you aren't bothered by all the running around you've done? While carrying another at that." She questioned, looking up to him. Due to Torrent's aversion to her, rather than joining Melina on the saddle, when they crossing bigger distances, Onyx had to carry Sellen himself, his speed something she'd been both surprised and intrigued by.
"Traveling is how I spend most of my time." He said, joining her around the stones and dropping to a cross legged sit on his roll. "That and my power doesn't allow for most things to really strain my body."
Holding a hefty sword up for a few seconds? Anyone could manage that with proper training. Holding one up for an hour? That's where most would struggle but with his mana powering his body, time was irrelevant when it came to something like that. Its passive healing properties ensured that which is why he required intensifying workouts to produce any significant results.
"I wish only that it did the same for me." Sellen said, the last of the bandages fully undone. As she began to massage her feet, he turned his attention to glowing exploding stones.
Just as she said they were proving to be a good source of heat. Despite the path leading out to cold tunnels, the chamber was steadily heating up. It wasn't quite as effective as an open fire but that was hardly a downside when they did away with so many of the traditional worries.
Smoke inhalation in enclosed spaces like this. Said smoke also signaling others to your position out in the open. Or having to bother with lighting or maintaining it.
It really was a convenient alternative if one didn't mind the fact that they were sitting beside something literally titled exploding stones. It certainly changed the ideas he had in mind when it came to upgrading the cabins. Edgar hadn't brought up any concerns about the temperature dropping but however seasons worked here, heating could go from optional to a necessity for the others.
"Has Melina taken upon herself to patrol even now?" Sellen questioned while looking around, only now picking up on the fact that she was gone. "She is quite the dedicated one."
Onyx hummed in agreement. She wasn't far off, in the middle of double checking the tunnels they had already been through. And more than likely racking her head about what he said.
"I'm rather curious. Has she shared with you how she came to be a Finger Maiden? The more of her I see, the more atypical she seems in comparison to others of the church. She holds herself less like a maiden and more like one of their spies."
"Spies?" Onyx questioned. He wasn't surprised that a church, especially in a world like this, might engage in something like that, but was more curious about what form it took.
"Many liked to hide themselves among the confessors of The Order. Make the mistake of confessing to anything deemed heretical and the only absolution you'd receive is the end of their blade." Sellen said with a shake of her head, a small measure of disgust in her voice. "Quite an effective way to keep any divergent schools of thought from emerging, I'll admit. Most are and have always been content to pretend such a side to The Order's rule doesn't exist."
"Ironic that one branded a witch wouldst find such measures distasteful." Marika said, forming over the roll reserved for Melina. Like she did with Kalé, she gazed down upon Sellen with a clear sense of superiority, not much else felt beyond that. "Why does thee believes this one sticks so close? Companionship? We art both aware which she covets. Her curiosity couldst pave the way to an attempt made on thine's life for thou's power."
That was one way to look at things. A cynical one that he wouldn't brand impossible.
Sellen was curious. Unabashedly so. It was part of why he took such a quick liking to her. That said, even if he hadn't gone out of his way to cultivate it, she shamelessly expressed a sense of loyalty to him.
What would the two lead to? The answer to that question was just as interesting as any possible effects his mana could be having on her.
"I'll might have to make a confession to see for myself then." Onyx said. "But no. Melina hasn't said anything about that."
"Mmm, you're quite trusting for one willing to threatened another over a look, but I suppose that's just part of your charm." Sellen shifted as she glanced towards the entrance to the chamber. "Seeing as we have a moment alone and I've been using quite a bit of sorcery, this seems a good time to test what we discussed."
What remained of the remnants of his energy within her had been worn thin by all her tests back on the island. Simple as the sorceries she used against the lack luster opposition they'd face in these mines, Sellen had no real control over how much of the energy she called on hence all the power behind them. The constant casting had diminished it significantly.
Onyx nodded to her and she abandoned her massage to stand. He scooted aside as she took up a spot on his bedroll, legs and knees folded beneath her. Reaching up, she undid several of her shirt's buttons.
The cloth fell aside further with each one, more of the smooth skin of her bust revealed. It was no surprise that clothes meant for others strained around her chest, her breasts more than capable of filling out anything they had on hand. As the cloth settled, just barely exposing the edge of the pinker area signaling the start of her areola, she stopped.
"Careful apprentice." He glanced up, met with her teasing smirk. "Those wandering eyes of yours might come with consequences."
"Right." He said with a snort. "Do you even need to bother with this? Clothes weren't a problem before."
"Perhaps not but those were hardly ideal circumstances. This process is painful enough as is. I might as well make myself comfortable this time, no?"
"Whatever you say." He was sure there was some truth there but with how slowly she went about undoing each button and only after coming this close to him? As much as she was looking to make herself comfortable, he'd be hard pressed to believe it wasn't meant to tempt him either.
Sellen toyed with one final button, beginning to do away with it, only to leave it be. She clearly enjoyed teasing whenever the chance presented itself.
That playfulness, however, was shelved, Sellen's hands falling away as she took a deep breath, chest swelling then falling as she exhaled.
"Ugh." A faint grunt left her, the faintest glow rising from her chest just above the center line of her breasts. As it fully formed, she powered through the pain that accompanied the act, her grunts muffled.
Onyx shifted onto a knee and grasped the light.
Cool and prodding. In a way Sellen's soul perfectly embodied her core traits, attempts already made to draw closer to his mana as it began to flow into her. His mana had little issue settling within her, no resistance put up to impede or stop the process.
Directly holding another's soul. What a strange situation.
He parted with a significant amount of mana before pulling his hand back. A sharp gasp left her as the white light sunk back into her body, Sellen's unsteady form falling forward and hitting his chest.
"You alright?" Onyx questioned, keeping her steady. He caught a faint whiff of blood from her as she took slow breaths. She must've bitten down on the inside of her mouth just to power through it. Seconds carried on into a full minute, but her breaths didn't even out to their usual tempo.
If anything, they deepened. Right alongside the unusual quickening of her heartbeat.
"Apprentice." The whisper left her as she moved forward. Curiosity peaked, Onyx didn't resist, his back hitting the bedroll as she pressed into him. Her hands rose, grasping his shoulders and Sellen tentatively pulled herself up his body until they were face to face, her heavy breaths warming his lips and eyes locked with his.
A blue glow, not dissimilar to the one he knew his to have at times when mana was being used, rested within them, the faint gold tinge overwhelmed completely.
"Don't move." She ordered, an uncharacteristic huskiness to her voice, before moving herself back down.
Was this a consequence of his mana entering her soul? Some attack? A temporary bout of aggression?
Not at all.
"Does thou truly intend on entertaining this foolishness?" Marika questioned, her annoyance reaching him.
"She was locked up in a torture chamber for who knows how long." Onyx said back with a mental equivalent to a shrug. "Its not like I'm against it."
"Degenerate." Marika insulted, Onyx already shifting his attention away from her.
Sellen's head was pressed into the crook of his neck, the woman having positioned herself to grind herself across his member. She had little issue bringing him to full mass. The prior teasing, her breaths in his ear, and that fact that she was pressing the entirety of her body into him, all got her what she wanted quickly.
"Mmmmm." With all the layers between them, all the grinding wasn't exactly doing much for him, but the story was flipped for her, Sellen faintly moaning with each motion. She suppressed those sounds by bringing her lips to his neck, the faintest suction applied to his skin.
It turned out the woman was just horny.
He'd gone from directly injecting his mana into Sellen's soul to the woman rubbing against him. Not exactly a situation he could ever say he'd been in before.
Honestly it was a little amusing. The teasing had been a way to playfully tempt him and yet all that had probably been what made her aroused enough to do something like this.
It turned out all those years didn't just leave her pent up but highly sensitive too. She hadn't been at it long before shakes too hold of her body, Sellen's grinding brought to a momentary halt. A momentary one. As soon as the height of her orgasm passed, she got right back to it, the sucking on his neck growing stronger.
One. Two. Three.
She managed to grind out quite a few more orgasms before her, at times desperate, movements came to a stop. Her breaths also evened out, heartbeat settling to a steady rhythm that he recognized.
She'd fallen asleep.
No surprise there. Their methods might be completely different, but he did know firsthand that extracting the soul from the body for any amount of time, even partially, was extremely straining on the physical form. The fact that she managed to bring herself to so many climaxes back to back without pause said plenty about her libido.
He didn't just go from giving his mana and being used as a glorified masturbation tool but she gone and grinded on him right until she passed out.
He never would've predicted something like this happening when they first met.
XOXO
(A/N: We all get a little freaky sometimes and that's okay.)