“Can I help you with something?” Calvin asked, looking up at the sword…flyer guy.

The fool seeks to beg for the princess back, Little does he know-oh shit!

Calvin’s monologue was interrupted by dozens of pieces of cutlery flashing out of the sky and clamping down around his own and tearing it out of his hands and Nadia’s mouth.

“Grant!” Nadia said, a strange tone of frustration in her voice. Like someone who’d been interrupted at the best part. “What are you doing here?”

“I think that’s obvious, princess, while I may find you disgusting personally, it is my duty to make sure you’re unharmed. That and I don’t wanna get executed for losing you.”

Nadia blew a raspberry as a dozen steak knives swooped down, aimed at Calvin’s vital’s, forcing him to fully unseat himself from the girl rather than get punctured in the heart, lungs, liver, spine, eyeball, and femoral artery.

Calvin’s imagined dive and roll to the side was brought to a screeching halt by his stomach wound, and he wound up face down in the soft soil, groaning in pain.

“It’s good to meet you again, young man. Imagine my surprise when you show up the same day you were injured. Cunning or sheer teenage stupidity? I suppose the next few seconds will answer that question.

“Okay, Cannon.”

“what?”

Calvin rolled over with the miniature cannon pointed perpendicular to Grant.

Shaping.

3/11 Bent.

Calvin created a hundred and forty-four pound copy of the entire vial except for the cap at the end, just to the right of the man frowning at him.

With the cap removed, a thin tube of vacuum in the primer chamber was rapidly filled by air, making contact with the oxygen sensitive primer, which ignited the devil dust, which exploded, sending a four-pound steel ball hurtling at the side of Grant’s face as the hundred and forty pound casing jerked backward slightly.

At normal size it would be a child’s toy; a firecracker. Now it was a deadly weapon.

The enemy’s head jerked to the side and somehow Grant was able to interpose his butter knives between himself and the oncoming missile, reducing a large portion of his blades to twisted wrecks that wobbled a moment before dropping out of the air. Grant was thoroughly staggered by the sudden attack, reeling to the side as if he’d experienced a bit of the force himself.

Waiting for them to recover is the gentlemanly thing to do. Karen’s voice echoed in his mind. It’s stupid. Never do it.

Calvin dropped the cannon and slipped the Lightning component out of his belt in one move feeling the raised lightning bolt on the side of the vial without taking his eyes off.

Shaping.

2/11 bent remaining.

A cylinder of tightly compressed ivory-colored dust appeared above Grant before exploding in every direction, creating a magnificent pillar of vision obscuring white. It was made out of dust carefully harvested from dead sandshrews, fuzzy little critters that lived in the Nebian desert. Their skin gave off a dust that somehow spawned lightning, which they then stored and used to dissuade predators.

It’s static electricity. Doi.

A second later, a bolt of lightning arced through the cloud of dust, nearly blinding calvin, forcing him to squint his eyes.

Grant however, was mostly fine, having jumped out of the cloud at the earliest opportunity. Only his right foot had taken any damage from the web of lightning crashing through the cloud.

Lightning continued to fly down to the ground, burning up the dust as it travelled through, rapidly reducing in power while Grant limped off to the side.

Let’s keep in mind that the lightning takes a half second to fire the first bolt, allowing someone fast to get out of the way.

Noted.

Grant gave him a look from the corner of his eye, and dozens of knifes came lancing down toward him.

Calvin reached for-

“Freeze.” Nadia’s voice locked him in place.

Your Stability is not strong enough to shrug off the effects. Your Will has begun digesting the foreign Bent, ETA 8 seconds.

Damnedable woman, when I build my empire I’ll dress you in the most humiliating of garb and parade you around for all to see! I’ll use you as furniture!

She’d probably be into it.

Treat her with respect, then? Calvin thought as the cascade of knives shot toward his vitals.

A shapely brown leg peeking through a torn yellow dress appeared in front of Cal’s face as Kala leapt in front of him. It was hard to make out what she did through her tattered dress, but he caught a glimpse of her palm waving through open air, creating a wobbly area of displaced air. When the knives impacted against it, their trajectory was altered to follow the path of her hand, swirling off to the side, and burying themselves in the earth to either side of them.

“Hmm, who are you?” the huge man grunted as his knives pulled themselves out of the ground and shook the dirt off. He sized up Kala, his face betraying no emotion.

He drew a single magnificent sword and took a step forward.

“Calvin, what are we-“

“Cover your eyes.” Calvin gritted out as the paralysis wore off.

First priority: Raising my stability so this never happens again.

Calvin drew Flash.

Shaping.

1/11 Bent Remaining.

Calvin aimed right in front of Grant’s eyes. If this didn’t burn his eyes out of his sockets, who knew what would.

Dupdomancy has reached Level 13!

Level 11: 169 pounds, 65 minutes.

An explosion unlike anything Calvin had ever heard shot through his chest cavity, more felt than heard as a white light drowned out any other source of illumination in the dim forest, blinding everyone present.

A moment later, the world was black, and Calvin couldn’t hear anything except for a high pitched whine in his ears.

Would have been nice to know it makes noise, too, Calvin thought as blood tickled his earlobes.

He was blind and deaf, and he was the farthest away from the explosion.

You know who isn’t blind and deaf? My wasps.

Calvinian Summoning.

Heart of the swarm.

0/11 bent remaining.

Calvin faded into the swarm, his damaged senses replaced by those of a hundred dog-sized wasps. It was a gamble, but Calvin wanted them to be big enough to move Kala if she was in trouble.

He spotted Grant stumbling toward Nadia, who was groaning in pain, while Kala was backing away, trying to blink the spots out of her eyes, her arms raised defensively.

Grant stumbled forward, and caught himself on the iron spike holding Nadia to the ground. Calvin sent a wasp in toward the large man’s back.

Without any noticeable reaction, a steak knife cut through the air with a hum and bisected the wasp, tweaking Calvin’s senses with a moment of pain before the wasp dissolved into green mist.

His defense is a pain.

Calvin didn’t want to waste all his wasps trying to sting the man. Even though a twelve pound wasp’s sting was more than enough to kill a man, Calvin didn’t want to spend his limit of ninety wasps trying to get through.

Once he’d had over a million, ninety felt like just a handful.

Calvin was primed to intervene when Grant blindly pulled the iron spikes out of the ground, dragging cries of pain out of the leather-clad princess. He shoved dozens of knives beneath him and his charge and wordlessly flew into the air, carried aloft by the blades.

He’s running away.

Probably a good decision, all things considered. He doesn’t know your tank is empty.

He’s not using quite so many knives anymore. I’m going to end this here. To the abyss with forewarned enemies coming back to haunt me, Calvin thought, sending a good twenty wasps to surround the man, aiming to mob him from every angle at the same time.

A silver letter opener with a fancy monogram etched into the blade flashed out of the man’s vest pocket, bisecting every single wasp in the blink of an eye as they buzzed toward him. As if that had spent the last of the blade’s energy, it dropped to the ground among the green goo.

Grant looked like he didn’t even notice, eyes closed, ears bleeding as he rose above the canopy and headed in the general direction of the camp, too far away to pursue in a matter of seconds.

I think it’s time for us to make ourselves scarce too. Those wretches will definitely send backup.

Agreed.

Calvin dismissed the spell and reappeared beside Kala, whose ears were conspicuously not bleeding. She was still blinking, her eyes tearing up, but she seemed to be able to see him, looking directly at him.

Her lips were moving, but Calvin couldn’t hear a word of it. his vision had mostly returned, the light had been baffled somewhat by her dress, but his ears were severely damaged.

“I need to borrow Bent!” Calvin shouted, holding his hand over his stomach, lightheaded from blood loss. He didn’t have time to faint, though. He had to get them out of there.

She said something.

Calvin repeated himself.

She said something else.

Oh, to the abyss with it, he thought, reaching out and pulling Kala in close.

Her eyes went wide as his lips pressed against hers.

I’ve been wanting to do this for years.

She stiffened for a moment as she felt him pushing against her defenses, pressing against the core of her being.

A moment later she relaxed her body and let him inside, her jaw slackening as he – metaphorically – plunged her depths, his senses warm inside her as he teased out her internal Bent reserve and guided it to the surface.

The kiss may not have been the best choice, though. Kala responded more enthusiastically than he’d expected from the demure princess.

Kala shuddered against him as her jaw went slack, tongue prying open his lips and dancing against his own. Her hips began to twitch unconsciously.

1/11 Bent remaining.

2/11 Bent remaining.

3/11 Bent remaining.

4/11 Bent remaining.

5/11 Bent remaining.

6/11 Bent remaining.

All right, that’s all I need, Calvin thought, pushing away, pulling himself out of her as he pulled his head back and took a breath.

Inches in front of him Kala gave a gasp as she breathed in, her eyes foggy. A hand wrapped around the back of his head, and Cal was drawn back into the kiss, his senses drawn back to the warm core that hosted her Bent.

7/11 Bent remaining.

Umm. I’m done, Kala, that’s all I need…Cal thought as he tried and failed to pull out. The defenses that kept him out before were holding him inside, now.

Can she do that?

Apparently.

Kala’s other hand pressed against the small of his back with insistent pressure, pushing him against her like she was desperate for every inch of contact she could possibly manage.

8/11 Bent remaining.

Her soft breasts conformed to his body and she shuddered as her thigh left the confines of her dress, smooth skin sliding against his pants. Her hips began to slowly grind back and forth, spreading warmth against his front as his body responded in turn.

9/11 bent remaining.

I think she’s humping your leg, dude.

Ah, to the Abyss with it. We’re having fun, Cal thought as he threw himself back into the kiss, enjoying the way her tongue danced across his own.

10/11 Bent remaining.

11/11 Bent remaining.

User is at maximum capacity, Lady Killer has no effect.

User is at maximum capacity, Lady Killer has no effect.

User is at maximum capacity, Lady Killer has no effect.

12/11 Bent remaining.

Warning, overexposure to Bent has raised body toxicity by 9%!

In an instant, Calvin went from lightheaded from blood loss, to lightheaded, dizzy, a little nauseous, and experiencing a burning sensation in his veins.

That’s where I draw the line, Calvin thought, reaching a shaky hand up to Kala’s forehead and attempting to push her away. His trembling palm landed on her warm forehead and tried to push her off, but he couldn’t muster any strength, and she shrugged it off, possibly thinking it was a caress.

13/11 Bent remaining.

Warning, overexposure to Bent has raised body toxicity by 18%!

Calvin couldn’t feel his feet, his head was swimming, vision tunneling. He felt like he was going to pass out any second. Going higher was something he couldn’t afford to do.

Sorry about this, Calvin thought, allowing his trembling hand to slip down Kala’s forehead before he poked her in the eye.

Kala gasped and reflexively let go of him, flinching away from the finger in her eye. Unfortunately, she was the only thing holding him up at that point, and he fell backwards into the soft earth of the jungle, staring up at the canopy.

He saw her lean over him and say something, her brows furrowed in concern. Cal pointed to the blood dripping out of his ears.

“Too much Bent. Not good for me,” he said, hoping she could hear him as his heartbeat sent Bent through his overtaxed veins, causing his whole body to ache. At this point it was just gravy.

Calvin painfully turned his head to inspect the web-wrapped Gadverans. The sacks they were in would last another fifty minutes unless he dismissed it. Perfect packaging to be carried by his wasps.

His gaze flicked over to where Baroke had squirmed around to look at the two of them, his one exposed eye having long since lost it’s bloodlust.

His friend’s meaty forearm was highlighted against the thick webbing where his fist barely jutted out of the white constriction. His thumb was up, and there was a hint of humor glittering in his eye.

Calvin gave him the finger.

Web

12/11 Bent Remaining.

Instantly the burning in Calvin’s veins began to recede.

Calvin put another layer on top of each of the Gadverans, getting them ready for easy transport.

Calvinian Summoning.

Heart of the Swarm

6/11 Bent remaining.

Calvin poured six Bent into creating ten five hundred pound wasps, who could easily lift the silk-wrapped passengers, along with one eleven-hundred pound riding wasp to carry Kala.

Calvin slid into the large wasps and began picking up his charges, immediately clearer of mind in their unwounded bodies.

Time to go.

He bent down in front of Kala with the largest wasp, and she hopped on its back, her legs soft against its sensitive fuzz. The sensation was directly transmitted to Calvin’s mind as he set them to work, and he struggled not to let her notice what he was paying the most attention to. If she noticed his mind kept wandering to the wasp between her legs, she didn’t say anything, slumping against the wasp in exhaustion.

Calvin’s giant wasps worked together to knock down trees until there was a clear space to launch, then they took to the sky.

***

With a quiet rush of air, Calvin appeared in his room in the palace, staggered over to his bed and wrapped his covers over himself. All concern about the Princess’s apparent kidnapping and its outcome were dismissed in favor of bundling himself up like a caterpillar and passing out.

I’ll deal with it tomorrow.