***Tirnanog, Northern Mountain Range***

***Magnus***

We somehow managed to pull up the broken pieces of the shelter's blockade stone and wedge them into the entrance. The sealing wasn't as reliable as before, but it would provide us with ample warning if something tried to get into the shelter.

Then Ivona finally told me her story.

Much like Astra, the two sisters had been taken to a research facility and experimented on. They never learned what exactly had been done to them, but it involved a lot of injections and blood samples, accompanied by excessive tests of their physical and mental abilities.

Once the scientists were done, my sisters were sent to Tirnanog.

But where Astra had been adopted by the Aerie, my sisters were taken in by the Thich.

Ivona and Evanne were transported to the Thich’s fortress city far in the south-east. The way Ivona described it, it was a fabulous and relatively safe place to live in.

As long as you hadn’t been conscripted to the Defence Forces, or DF, as the Thich called it. It was a paramilitary group that was in charge of the Thich’s fighting and policing affairs. Their training camp provided basic education and income to any Thich who wasn’t able to make a living.

This policy provided the clan with a guaranteed supply of recruits.

For the last seven years, Ivona and Evanne received what accounted for education in this organisation. They lived their lives while being prepared for their future roles as the wives of some higher up in the Thich’s clan structure.

As the older sister, Ivona took care of Evanne. Though, just by listening to her stories, I could tell Evanne was just as headstrong as Ivona herself.

The Thich had intentionally renamed my sisters Ivonne and Eva, which I found to be especially malicious.

The new names weren't very imaginative, but I guessed it was an attempt to have the kids break with their old lives without being too obvious. In a way, it was meant for the recruits to be a rebirth as new members of the clan. Ivona told us they even had a grand ceremony for the occasion.

Sadly, it was apparent from the way Ivona told the story that she was still a child and hadn't realized the intention behind giving her a new name.

Brainwashing and tilting someone's loyalties was a process that took years and a thousand little steps. First the names, then education. Field exercises to gradually bloody the new recruits were next. A monster to begin with and if that went well, why not some evildoer next? A human who deserved it. And once that was done, they could gradually move up to more morally grey areas.

We also learned this ceremony would be the first time the children were fed the strange meat that would turn their skin violet. As Ivona described it, the occasion was performed in almost religious reverence.

Sadly, Ivona couldn’t tell me a single thing about what was responsible for her evolution.

She and her sister had received this special kind of mystery meat from then on, delivered each day on a plate with other foods that the Thich found to be appropriate. Their only choice was to go with whatever evolutionary path the Thich had selected for them – or to starve.

The evolutions which came with the mystery meat were extreme sturdiness and strength, accompanied by what Ivona could only describe as a special connection with her sister. At times, it was like she knew what Evanne was thinking.

It was good to know the basic attributes of this evolution, but it didn’t warrant the Thich’s behaviour in my mind. Strength and physical resistance could be achieved in a myriad of ways according to Astra. The mental connection that Ivona described sounded interesting, but she made it clear that the two sisters were never capable of truly utilizing the ability.

There was still a piece to the puzzle which we were missing.

I couldn't believe the Thich were performing these experiments without Earth's guidance. Unless the two groups acted independently?

The idea was ridiculous, so I chose to ignore it for now. It was much simpler to assume Earth had two-way communication with the Thich. They selected the candidates and sent them off to Tirnanog where the Thich took care of the second part of the experiment.

I assumed the experiments aimed to achieve something grander than just producing female partners for the Thich's leadership.

Abducting children would be too excessive and resource-intensive compared to taking any adult female exile and feeding her whatever mutations they were interested in. Handing the girls off to the leadership's supporters likely only happened after the mutation was deemed a failure.

Once I learned of the reasons for this arrangement between Earth and the Thich, I might be able to deduce more.

Thankfully, it seemed like Ivona hadn’t been marred as much by her life with the Thich as I feared. The militaristic indoctrination was still there and I would have to work with her to make her see it. But the Thich also wanted to end up with a fiercely loyal individual that could function within their society. This limited what they could do to the children since they also needed to build trust.

Ivona was a year older than Evanne and had been sent off on the traditional recruitment run – a measure that was supposed to prove one's loyalty according to Ivona.

As I saw it, it turned the abducted into the abductor and forced them to identify with what the Thich had done to the children. Another step on a gradual path to corruption until Ivona would finally have had to accept that she was just as twisted as her captors.

Whoever organized the system behind this tradition had received basic training in mental manipulation. I hadn't paid a lot of attention to the organisation's courses when it came to captives, but I paid a lot of interest when it came to the manipulation of large groups.

One positive aspect was that if Ivona was right, then the Thich wouldn’t touch Evanne for at least another year.

Whether they would still do another recruitment run after one of their teams had completely wiped was questionable. I hoped so because it would give me the perfect chance to retrieve Evanne.

“We have to go through this again once we reach home,” Astra concluded once we had listened for over two hours to Ivona’s story. “I bet there are a lot of things that Ivonne, I mean, Ivona knows, that could help us. Small details which she doesn’t think of as important. It would help immensely to know the Thich’s economic capabilities.”

“We still don’t know what their strange experiment is about,” I complained. “Why do they need so many of the children? Why does Earth’s government go through extra trouble to prepare the kids before sending them here? I have so many more questions and no answers. Somehow I hoped Ivona knew more. Now I see there would be no point in telling the guinea pig why it is being experimented upon.”

I put on an apologetic expression and addressed my sister, “Sorry, Ivona.”

Astra shrugged and turned to face Ivona. “Ivona, do you want to go by that name from now on? Or would you like to remain Ivonne?”

My sister’s face showed indecision. “I’ve been called Ivonne for so long. I can barely remember my life as Ivona, but I would like to go back to that time.”

“Then I will refuse to call you by anything else,” I added quickly, hoping she would be able to go back to the old times of being my little sister. Those were easier and definitely happier times.

Ivona nodded in agreement and we settled down to sleep.

This night, the whole group stayed in the shelter's entrance tunnel. Nobody wanted to sleep in the refuse that the Abominations had left behind. The shelter's living space had been much too cluttered with bones and dirt to clean it up in what little time we had.

The next morning we departed in haste, thankfully unmolested by the creatures.

“Could you explain why you believe they might be failed humans?” I asked Astra once we had left the shelter well behind.

Thalia was still keeping the group close together, but it seemed safe to talk.

“The clan war from some decades back caused people to do things that seem insane today,” she explained. “I heard horror stories from my adoptive parents. The war started benign enough, with the clans fighting over resources and control. But by the end, it was either us or them. People did anything for a small advantage or power. Aerie's population was reduced by two thirds and the other clans didn't fare any better.”

Astra nodded to herself once she thought she had given enough historic context. “Many decided to risk their lives for a shred of power. It was always a gamble. Take in another mutation and risk something going wrong. Or die on the battlefield because your enemy was more powerful than you. Many, many people took it too far and turned into things that are no longer human.”

I was once more reminded of the man who had eaten the omnieye's flesh and lost his marbles.

She looked at me. “Remember the map? The large lake in the Old Camp's west? That was once the property of a lost clan. They did something to themselves that took away their humanity and turned them into horrible creatures. Much worse than what we encountered. Nobody dares to go there nowadays. Thankfully, it seems like their mutation has them highly dependent on water. The Lost never leave the lake's shores, though they expand southwards along the river's shores. To the north, the Hochberg are holding them back. Otherwise, they would have already expanded all the way to Mount Aerie by following the river.”

“So you assume our Abominations are of a similar origin?” I asked.

Astra shrugged. “My parents can tell such tales by the dozens. Not all cases are as bad as the Lost. Most failed mutations end in death. Even more of them aren't viable for reproduction and end up as a one-time problem. There is no question that the Abominations who we encountered are capable of reproduction. Thankfully, it doesn't seem like they are powerful enough to dominate their surroundings.”

Her expression turned concerned nonetheless. “We still have to tell the clan about it. It's quite obvious that these things were responsible for all the people who vanished over the years. So far, they were smart enough to hide their presence. What they did to the shelter indicates they are becoming bolder. This might no longer be a safe route.”

We left it at that and concentrated on walking and idle chit chat for the rest of the day.

There was a large weather shift over the next three days as temperatures dropped further.

The cooler air caused the clouds that were building up above the north-eastern coast to increase in size until they finally managed to spill over the top of the coastal mountain range. Thankfully, we managed to leave it behind us before it happened. Once the snowfalls came in full force, the mountains would be impossible to traverse.

By that time, we were already in our end-spurt towards Mount Aerie. All the while being chased by a dome of clouds that promised heavy snow.

Mount Aerie was indeed an impressive sight.

Decorated with a tiara of clouds, the huge mountain could indeed be compared to the Himalayas.

Seeing the goal of our journey so close, we went faster than ever and finally reached its flank where we got to rest at the first real outpost that the Aerie entertained outside their mountain city.

“It doesn't look like much,” Astra explained while she pointed towards the miniature fortress which rested in the mountain's flank. “But it is one of the underground entrances. We will get a good night's sleep there and then it's all the way safe travel through the tunnels to the main city. A day with the mining cart at most!”

When I asked, I was shocked to learn how extensive the Aerie's mining operations were.

Clan Aerie had started as a mining colony.

Thanks to the fact that iron was always a resource humanity prized, they had never stopped their mining operations. So the Aerie could look back at a history of over two hundred years of drilling their way into the mountain. Not only for metals but also living space and underground farming.

The fifteen strata which ruled society were the fifteen factions that held the reins over the fifteen mining levels. Those networked through the whole mountain.

Nobody knew exactly how many tunnels the Aerie had dug and abandoned over the years.

According to Astra, it was probably safe to guess that the mountain hid a tunnel network of several hundred kilometres, artificial and natural.

Once we got close, we were intercepted by a flying group of three women and two men. Their evolutions were almost identical to Thalia's.

They escorted us in the rest of the way without asking many questions, although their expressions showed they recognized something went wrong. They called Thalia by her name, so I figured we had gotten past border control with the VIP ticket.

At the gates, we didn't meet anyone in charge and were led deeper into the outpost where we settled into a separate quarter that offered Astra and me the first real privacy we had since we left the Old Camp.

The set of two rooms was organized like a little hotel room. With one room offering a generous bed and a bathroom.

I praised God for the fact that the Aerie had one thing left over from more civilized times. And that was running water, supposedly from a water reservoir higher up the mountain.

While I allowed the bathtub to fill, Astra settled down at the small desk next to the bed.

“I have to write a few quick words and send my parents a warning of what's going on,” she said.

“What are you going to tell them?” I asked, wondering what kind of reaction the Thich's attack on our travel group would cause. “Was there someone important among our dead?”

Astra shook her head. “Yes and no. I think Michaela was the niece of the leaders of the fourth strata. I have no idea how they will react. I have to give my parents a quick rundown of what happened, who died, and that there are some further surprises.”

“Hm.” I hummed. “Should I read the letter for you?”

“Ah, that's not necessary.” She waved a hand. “But do make sure the bath is hot and steamy once I get there.”

That wasn't something I had to be told twice!

Ten minutes later, I was showered and my body figuratively dissolving in the large bathtub.

“Oh, civilisation, you have me back!” I moaned and relaxed the tight reign I had over my filaments. At a metre in length now, they were starting to get useful for small tasks like grabbing stuff.

I made a little game out of consciously moving just a single one without pushing the water out of the tub.

Astra managed to gain my full attention when she entered the bathroom a few minutes later in her birthday suit.

She smiled wickedly at me and switched off the lights before she closed the door.

Then she moved sensuously over to me, dancing and twirling her body with each step. All I could see were the bioluminescent lines that covered her skin. It was probably more due to the lightly forced abstinence, but the sight alone had me ready in no time.

I reached for her thigh when she came close enough, but she dodged my hand.

“Damn it!” I cursed when she moved away before I could touch her. “You can't do this to me! Not right now.”

Astra laughed and kept showing off her figure while swinging those hips of hers.

I growled and got a hold of one of her filaments that had drifted too close. Then I used it to reel her in.

She finally relented and got into the bathtub on top of me. Then she moulded her body against mine while capturing my erection between her thighs.

We shared a long kiss before she pulled away. “I want to try something.”

“What?” I asked.

She came in close and whispered into my ear. “Something I have seen the treemonae do when they mate.”

Slowly, she moved her body against mine and drew her filaments in. Then we kissed and I felt her entangling her filaments with mine until I didn't know where mine began and hers ended.

We moaned into each other's mouths while she kept playing with my erection. All the while the filaments were sending tingles down my spine until I just couldn't stand the game anymore.

I forcefully parted her thighs and slipped in between her legs. Hugging her against me, I turned us around and searched her entrance until I found it. Then we lost ourselves while we moaned into each other's necks.

Having sex in a bathtub was awkward, but Astra still managed to wring me dry when she closed her legs around my hips and shuddered with her whole body.

We came to rest in a most awkward position with me on my knees and hugging her body against mine. She had her legs hooked into my thighs and our filaments were all over the place.

It was her to admit first that we had gotten ourselves into a small predicament. “Magnus, I think we are slightly knotted.”

“Like dogs?” I joked with my head resting against her chest. I was tempted to bite into one of those nipples, so I did.

“What? No, ew! That's gross! Way to ruin the mood. Ow, stop it!” She pulled on my earlobe and I let go with a pop.

“Our filaments are knotted,” she clarified. “You have to loosen yours a little.”

I sighed, not caring at the moment. “I have a suggestion. You give me ten minutes so I can go again. And afterwards, we see what we can do.”

Astra had little against a second round, but it only worsened the problem in the end.

Our little Tête-à-tête resulted in two hours of undoing our entanglement and a thoroughly spilled bathtub. Whoever would be cleaning up the bath wouldn't be happy tomorrow.

At least it turned out to be a good filament control exercise.

And Astra finally found out why mating treemonae took hours for the act. It wasn't because it felt that good... it simply took them that long to untangle themselves afterwards.