Chương 22: The Keeper

Ch 22: The Keeper

"Thank you so much, Felix, you've been so helpful. I doubt I could have made it with two of those myself. Aren't they heavy?" Cici made yet another blatant inspection as Felix set down the last bag in his new tutor's room. She was in great shape, and probably could have carried them just fine.

"Happy to help." He couldn't help but notice she was blocking the door.

"Do you…need some rest? Or did you want to get started? I can show you around if you haven't…"

"Oh I rarely need rest." The fire wizard grinned.

"And you're right. Why waste time? If you'll just give me a moment to change. I've been in these clothes all day." She came towards him and the bags, already lifting her top. Felix just managed to slip to the side before she'd tossed off what could generously be called a vest, and bent over to search her bags. He watched her tits drop before he forced his eyes to obey. They were just as round and perky and incredible as they looked in outline, and he felt like his temperature was rising.

He moved closer to the door with his back turned, trying to keep himself together. Never in his whole life had he experienced a woman behave so… blatantly sexual towards him, except whores in the common ports. She was clearly some kind of beautiful bait. Or an assassin, warned his more paranoid side. Was a rival lord trying to lure him away? Sending Cici the same way Felix had assumed Isa was being sent?

"That's better. You can turn around now." She said with a laugh in her voice.

"I'm Thayan, so you don't need to be silly. We're not like these bottled up mainlanders." Felix turned to find his new tutor in another, simple skirt, with a tight strip of cloth around her chest. If anything, it was even less fabric than before. He lost a few battles against his will as he inspected, not sure what else to do with himself. Questions, Felix. She's your teacher. Ask her questions.

"Thayan?" He cleared his throat.

"What does that mean?"

"Oh I forget just how new you are." Cici smiled and sat on her bed, crossing her toned legs with perfect posture and precision.

"We aren't really just one island, but a collection. And we have many clans and houses. Mana has a powerful effect on us. It changes personality, physical form… well, everything. If you multiply it by thousands of people it tends to create… unique cultures. My people are very different to the water houses." Felix nodded, deciding that made sense. He could feel it in himself already—the hunger, the desire. His 'fire' soul was trying to change who he was in little ways.

He tried to imagine what groups from his own world might have mana types at the heart of their civilization, but it seemed more diverse. These people seemed obsessed with mana type and grouping themselves according to it.

"So fire…it makes you…"

"It makes us," Cici corrected with a smile. Felix nodded in acceptance.

"It makes us…hungrier? That one I've been dealing with. More…outgoing?" His beautiful tutor nodded like it was a good thing.

"Fire is passion. It's life and death and drama. It destroys but also rejuvenates. It burns bright and fast, then clings to the embers."

"You really like being a fire mage," Felix said with a smile. Cici laughed with perfect white teeth. He tried not to stare at her mouth.

"Oh I love how you say 'mage'. So very exotic. But I'm not much of a fire 'mage'. I'm mostly a fire pool. They've taught you the difference, yes?" Felix nodded, but he was confused.

"First a water pool, now a fire pool. Why aren't they sending some kind of powerful fire wizard to train me?" Cici quirked her head and raised a carefully plucked brow.

"I'll try not to be offended. They always send pools to train acolytes, Felix. We're more common, less in demand. You won't learn from a proper wizard until you've mastered most of the basics. We can also help with smaller mana pools. But I don't think you have a size problem, do you outlander?" There was that God cursed blush again. Felix did his level best not to rise to the quip or the smile that followed.

"I meant no offence." He almost added something about being happy to have such beautiful teachers. But he tugged at his own mental leash and glared at the swirling fire in his fortress.

"Well." Cici uncrossed her legs and stood, and Felix just about broke. The skirt had hiked up and she didn't seem to care.

"I'm supposed to start with all kinds of boring things. But the mighty lord of your house has been insistent. He wants to see what you might be capable of. So we might as well try a spell. Give me your hand." She reached out, and Felix glanced around the room.

"Uh, here? Now? Last time they stuck me in a temple full of warded water."

"The first channel is always chaotic. You'll have more control now. I assume you've been noticing it already?" The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He nodded, thinking of lightning candles and warming up food and drinks and bath water just by wanting it.

"I'm going to show you how to draw mana from a pool. Then you're going to melt something for me." Cici held up what looked like a rock.

"Think you can manage that?" Felix half shrugged, half nodded, already feeling a bit out of control and off balance. The fire inside him was waking up, roaring as the tall spiral swayed back and forth like it was trying to get a look at the nearby 'pool'. Like it knew. He took her hand, and she blinked as her practiced smile faltered.

"Oh my. You're so warm," she said, regaining her composure instantly.

"Why don't you hold the stone? This is mana infused basalt, it's often used as a kind of warning system. The main problem with fire magic is overheating. Even we can be burned with enough of our own fire mana. Unfortunately, the more you draw the better it feels. Many wizards have lost track of just how much heat they're producing and…suffered tragedies." Felix nodded, taking the stone. It was rough and light, maybe hollow, but felt good in his hand.

"Picture your mana," Cici said, "describe it for me." He blinked, feeling suddenly shy, or maybe cautious. Did it matter who he told? For all he knew these things were a secret. But then no one had warned him or asked him about it before. Cici squeezed his hand and met his eyes.

"The connection between a pool and a wizard is largely based on trust, and compatibility. I can't affect you unless you allow it. And you can't affect me unless I do."

"I've felt it before," Felix said, thinking of Isa in his test and understanding.

"I mean, I felt a pool and tried to touch it. But somehow I just…couldn't." Cici nodded.

"You can try, of course. But if it's resisted you'll end up spending more than you'll ever gain." This made sense. Though 'unable' and 'not being worth it' sounded to him like two different things. He was suddenly curious what would happen if a wizard tried to 'use up' a pool's mana, even if they didn't agree. But something told him not to ask. He took a breath and tried to figure out how to describe his 'soul'.

"I think of it as…it's a cyclone of fire."

"Good. Very good." Cici was watching him carefully, something strange in her eyes.

"Now where is it? How large is it? How does it behave?" Felix was torn again about trusting her. But he saw no reason not to. She'd been brought in formally by the high wizard. And he had a good sense for people, at least whether or not they meant him harm. He didn't think Cici did. So he closed his eyes and pictured himself only in his fortress. He stared as the fire seemed to watch him, as if it found the exchange amusing, as if it was murmuring 'go on, tell her about me'.

"It's in a cave." Felix licked his lips.

"The cave is in a fortress I found, or…made. I surrounded it by many walls of stone with metal gates I designed to hold it in. I added them again and again over the years. It's fifty feet high now, maybe more, melting into the stone. It's burned holes. Channels, maybe you call them. And there's a river of magma burning through the walls." He took a breath and opened his eyes. Cici was staring. She looked back and forth between his eyes, as if looking for some kind of deception.

"Is something wrong?"

"No." Her smile was strained, faltering.

"No, that's fine. I'll describe mine now, and to use it you'll have to picture yourself there. Are you ready?" Felix nodded and closed his eyes. He found Cici's voice soothing, even if her tone had grown a bit more cautious.

"My mana is a bonfire by the sea. It's red flame, dug into a pit, burning wood and kindling with dark smoke." He pictured it easily. It was calm and peaceful and appealing. Suddenly he felt like he was actually there, staring at the flames.

"I can see it." He looked out at the waves and the beach with amazement.

"Good. Now try to draw the flame to use, just as you would with any other. And then try to heat the stone in your hand." Felix imagined it, knowing fire magic was about desire and will and didn't need math or much thinking at all. As he did, he felt his inferno stretch. With a roar the cyclone seethed and glowed with blue and orange fire, but not bursting as it had when he first channeled in the temple. Cici was right. It felt amazing. He felt for the stone in his hand, but it was gone.

He thought he'd dropped it but felt the dust or ash of the thing slip through his fingers. He felt the world around him—the very combustible world. It was naked and helpless and almost begging for his mana. Begging to be burned. He felt like it wanted it. He realized Cici was on her knees. Her hand was trembling in his, her face an expression of pain. He let go in a panic, crying out in his fortress as he willed the flame to calm and move back to its cave. It hissed and withdrew like an angry animal.

He walked back and slammed the first gate, sucking the oxygen from the channels as the flames seeped back down with an almost audible whine.

"What… are you?" Cici was panting and staring up at him with wide eyes. Her expression was foreign and unreadable, but it looked like fear, maybe awe. He was starting to realize he may have just fucked up. He needed to be careful, to be guarded—not to reveal too much to these people until he realized what the hell they wanted and expected. But he didn't know what to do and what to avoid. And it was too late for that now. At least with Cici. Would she think he was some kind of island version of a lifestealer?

Would she run back to her lord and say they'd found some new weapon, and work to imprison him, or somehow force him to obey?

"I've never…. never seen anything like that," his tutor was saying.

"I saw it." She shivered.

"I saw the…cyclone. I felt it. I felt you." Felix grit his teeth, no idea what to say.

"I guess I held my mana too long. That's what Isavey, that is, Lady Amadi told me. I need to use it up, maybe. Get it down to normal size, something controllable. I was thinking maybe alone in the sea." Cici scoffed and stood, still staring at his eyes.

"It was beautiful. You are beautiful. And you can't get rid of it. It doesn't work that way. Our souls always re-charge. Do you understand? You can't just lock it away, either. I have to tell my family, the lords of my isle. They'll want to…"

"No." Felix gripped the girl's arm. She cried out and dropped to her knees again. When he let go he saw the red skin where his hand had been.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean…"

"It's alright." She held up her arm in display. The redness was already visibly fading.

"A fire pool's body is made to bleed heat. To hold what it can, then shed the rest. I'm not hurt. I just wasn't…" she shook her head.

"I won't say anything, if that's what you want. I'll…" she met his eyes again, that same alien expression.

"I'll do whatever you wish. I promise." Felix wasn't sure how to react. He was still off balance, wanting desperately to understand what the hell situation he was even in. He needed to talk to Silas. He was the only one he could trust. And Isa? By all the gods he wanted to believe he could. But she was a princess and she had obligations. And what did he do about Cici now? He obviously couldn't trust her, but he couldn't stop her from talking, either.

He knelt down and focused on the heat in his hands, staring until it died down. He touched the woman's arm and met her eyes.

"I'm still a stranger here. And I don't know what's happening or why. I don't want anyone to get hurt. And I don't want to get stuck in a situation I don't agree with. You understand? Maybe you can help explain things." She nodded, almost too quickly.

"I understand." She smiled, rubbing the hand on her arm.

"I'll answer any questions. I can help you. Please trust me." She slowly reached up and touched his face. He let her, and she inhaled as her fingers touched his skin. She was still staring in a way that made him a little uncomfortable.

"I want to help you, Felix. I believe…no. I know. You are a keeper of the Eternal Flame."