Aether Beasts

After our little tryst, Zirani and I headed back to the treehouse, though Zirani did not let me off, and had me forming the advanced sets the entire way back, which while tiring, made sense. I needed to get stronger and though I complained at times, I would always get it done in the end. My ambitions were great and as such my desire to train and ability to push on needed to also be great, if not greater.

It was hard though, forming the patterns, harder than it had been, and the reason was the new information in my head. I kept getting distracted, and sometimes random bits and pieces of information would just pop up in my head, unbidden. Zirani had reassured me that I was just a side effect and would ear, thank the heavens. I did not random information popping in my head at crucial points in time. In a fight, such a thing could lead to severe injury or death and I had no intentions of dying anything soon, or ever if I gained enough strength. I clung to that fool's hope, letting it drive me ever forward, though never letting it blind me.

I wanted power, but I didn't want to lose myself in the process, not like the twin horn had. they had wanted power, influence, and more, and had been willing to go to extreme lengths and commit deplorable acts such as slavery and whatever the hell they were doing in this tower. Even days later the sight of that thing still lingered and whenever my mind wandered to thoughts of the twin horn, it would pop up, reminding me just why they needed to be put down.

Misty and Sandra were training when we made it back to the treehouse, thought Misty seemed to be having an easier time of it than Sandra.

"I can't get it to form." Sandra stamped her foot then her eyes caught Zirnai and me staring. She sighed and bolted over to Zirani, a pleading look in her eyes. "You need to help me? I can't get this pattern to form."

I walked over to misty while Sandra explained her problem to Zirani. The blonde was sat in a meditative position, aether within her grasp as she tried to form a pattern. An affinity pattern from the looks of it as it didn't have the same complexity as the advanced patterns. The base and affinity patterns were single whole origin patterns, unlike the advanced patterns which were made up of pieces of more than one origin pattern.

"Traning coming along?"

She shrugged. "For the most part. It's harder than the base sets, but I haven't run into any walls yet."

"Unlike Sandra, it seems," I replied. "Though I haven't had the best of times, at least for the most part."

The ending had been very enjoyable.

"Oh?" Misty must have caught the look in my eyes because she raised an eyebrow. "Dare I ask? Were you even training?"

"Yes," I said with a cough. "I just got stressed and Zirani helped me."

Misty chuckled. "I bet she did. What sort of train was it?"

I explained everything that had happened minus the blowjob at the end. A thoughtful look appeared on Misty's face.

"Do you think you could do that with me, send information over?"

"I don't see why not," I answered. "Although I think it's best to wait until our bond is stronger. We can't even speak telepathically yet."

"Cant we?" Misty's eyes narrowed and I was about to ask what she doing when her voice rang in my mind.

"Aiden, can you hear me?"

It was faint, but it was definitely there.

"I can," I replied mentally.

She smiled, and a burst of excitement and curiosity passed through our bond. Clearly, she was thinking of what she could do with this.

"It's a shame Sandra doesn't have one," I remarked, thinking of how we could communicate telepathically in battle and just how useful it would be, not to mention everything else that came with it.

"Is it not possible to make a bond with her?" Misty asked curiously, her eyes wandering over to Sandra who sat opposite Zirani, and listening eagerly while the nature beasts spoke.

"I." I paused. "I don't actually know. Zirani probably does though, I'll have to ask later."

If it was possible then I saw no reason why we shouldn't do it. The perks would be well worth it. Sandra and I were already close so she wouldn't refuse, and if Zirnai could send information over to me, could I then send that information to those two? It was something I definitely needed to ask Zirani about, but in the meantime, it was back to training.

I sat with Misty while I continued to from the advanced patterns, succeeding more than I had an hour ago as the side effects of the information transfer wore off.

Zirani remained by Sandra's side, helping her form the patterns from her advanced and affinity sets. I caught her eye and gave her a smile which she returned with a wink and playful grin. Zirani chuckled beside her and I got the distinct feeling that she blabbed about our little session earlier, not that I really cared. It wasn't as if Sandra hadn't done the same to me, just yesterday.

"Focus, Aiden," Misty scolded.

"Huh." I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "I am."

"Really?" She pointed to my crouch and my rising erection. "It doesn't look like it."

I blushed and pushed away all of the erotic images in my mind. It really was hard at times, being around three beautiful women, who you were in a relationship with, though it was well worth it.

I managed to remain mostly focused for the next few hours until we finished for the day, mostly thanks to Misty who kept my mind on the training, and we headed up the treehouse, tired and exhausted.

"Zirani can I make a bond with Sandra?" I asked mentally as I headed to the kitchen. Ever since the first time I'd made the chicken, all three had been pestering to continue it every day, and I saw no reason not to. It didn't take long and was not only far better than ratios but also very good for morale.

"Like the type you have with Misty and me?"

I mentally nodded.

There was a long moment of silence as she thought on it. "It's possible, but it's not done in the same way. Unlike Misty or I, she doesn't have a natural medium like the core that contains me and my essence or the aether and blood Misty drank in the process of her bonding. We'd have to make one."

"So it's possible then?" I questioned.

"Yes, it is. We'd have to form a large array and I'd have to teach the both of you a bonding technique and method, but we could do it. Is."

She paused. "Is this for her? Does she feel left out?'

"Oh no, I just think it would be useful for fights and eternal use," I replied. "I mean there's no downsides or drawbacks, it would just be perks, wouldn't it."

"Correct, but I recommended we don't do it until we've finished our training. We'll add a day, the day before we leave this floor, to get the two of you bonded."

After a hearty meal of fried chicken, I went through the usual bath of pain, which was easier this time, something I was very thankful for, but instead of heading to bed immediately, I called Sandra to my room and not just to sleep with her, though that's what she probably thought.

She started to undress with a smirk, but I stopped her. "We can get to that soon, but first I want to talk to you."

She frowned. "About what?"

I went through a quick recap of what id talked about with Misty and Zinrai, and how I wanted to form a bond with her.

"Sure." She shrugged. "I can already see a ton of benefits it would have, and I won't lie… I was going to ask soon anyways. I just felt a bit left out."

She sighed. "I know I shouldn't, but I… I just did."

I walked over and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her in close. I placed a gentle kiss on her lips. "You are just as important to me as Misty and ZIrani are, which I know sounds hard to believe since we haven't known each other that long, but we've been through so much together. I feel like we already have a bond."

She leaned into me. "I feel the same. I never thought I'd end up like this, but I'm glad. So when are we going to do it, tomorrow?"

"The day before we leave the floor," I explained as my hands moved down to her firm backside. "Now, how about you continue what you were doing a few minutes ago."

Sandra was twice as eager that night, and she rode me in a blissful oblivion before she snuggled up next to me with a smile and sigh, both of us falling asleep soon after.