Phee kept her promise and we did it twice more, but slower each time. I hadn’t been with a ton of women in my lifetime, but I knew enough to know that this was perhaps the best sex I’d ever had. We changed roles and I became the aggressor, pinning the sexy giantess down as I penetrated her from above. I lost track of time as we explored each other’s bodies. Phee was like a sexual amusement park for me, a plaything I could literally climb upon and lose myself for hours.

We did just that and by the time we’d both called it quits, the sun was low in the afternoon sky.

“Shit,” Phee said glancing out the cave entrance. “Devena is probably going to be pissed.”

“Yeah, we should probably get going,” I said, looking for my boxers. “She was pretty adamant about us not being late.”

“No, it’s not that,” Phee said, casually pulling her top back over her head. “She’s probably going to be mad at me for first bonding with you.”

“Why would she be mad? It’s my choice, and frankly, she was kind of a dick to me, so why would she expect me to pick her?”

“Because she’s a dragon, that’s why,” Phee said with a roll of her eyes. “It’s in her nature to horde the best of everything.”

My curiosity got the better of me and I explored my stats to see just what this bonding and first bonding did.

Name: Cole Jacobs

Race: Human

Class: Guildmaster

Insight Level: 3

Strength 5

Agility 7

Dexterity 4

Constitution 3

Will 5 (+2)

Intellect 4 (+2)

Charisma 6 (+2)

Mana pool: 9

Next: 250

Class Traits

Discernment

Bloodoath

Bond

Bondmates: Phee(FirstBond)

Max: 1/1

Okay that didn’t tell me much. But I was now curious as to how I could increase my maximum number of Bonmates. I examined Phee next.

Name: Phee

Race: Half-Ogre

Class: Barbarian

Insight Level: 1

Strength: 12 (+5)

Agility: 7

Dexterity: 6

Constitution: 10 (+5)

Will: 8

Intellect: 5

Charisma: 13

Class Traits

Tracking

Wilderness Survival

Animal Tamer

Racial Traits

- Great Strength/Constitution

- Non Magic Bonus (Plus to Physical traits)

Bonded: Cole Jacobs

Bond Bonus: +50% Conversion Rate

FirstBond Bonus +50% Conversion Rate

0/100 Mana to next Level

Oh shit… I can level her up now…?

I’m nearly tempted to break my three remaining crystals to try it out, but I’m not sure how hard crystals are to come by. Probably best I save them for when I truly knew what I was doing.

Phee nuzzled me from behind as I tried to button my shirt, which was nearly impossible now thanks to most of the buttons being missing.

“Sorry about your clothing,” she said, running her hands down my chest. “I couldn’t contain myself.”

I enjoyed the vanilla scent of her skin as she rubbed against me. “No worries. These clothes probably look out of place here anyway.”

“They certainly do,” the half-ogress said with a playful grin as she spun me about. “We’ll find you something in New Haven, although I have no objection to your present state of dress. You’re very pleasing to look at, Cole Jacobs.”

I grinned at the compliment. This woman really had a way of making you feel great about yourself. “Same for you, but we’d better stop with the flirting or we might wind up going for another round.”

She paused with a kinky look in her eye. “I’m willing if you are.”

The look sent a painful jolt of arousal through my already sore loins. I laughed. “Damn. You really are a beast.”

Phee made a playful snarl, and ripped my shirt off again.

* * *

The walk back to New Haven was longer than it looked from above. After cleaning up for a third time, Phee finally let me get dressed in what was left of my clothes and after securing her double-headed battle axe, we descended down the rocky crevice from the cave entrance and into the depths of the jungle below.

I could barely walk and was impressed by how energized Phee seemed. It was almost like the more we made love, the more pumped she got. For me it was the opposite and I struggled to keep up with her long strides as we trudged through the dense underbrush. Meep clung to Phee’s large shoulder as she hacked through the jungle terrain with her axe. The weapon was as long as she was tall and to watch her wield it with such ease was a thing of wonder.

We found a trail and after following it for about an hour or so, the sun began to get low and the light under the jungle canopy grew dimmer and dimmer. We stopped for a break next to a small brook and Phee tiptoed to collect some kind of fruit growing on a nearby tree.

She handed one to me, which resembled a mango in shape and size, but had a bluish hue to it.

“Ogre fruit,” Phee said with a chuckle.

I smiled politely, not knowing it that was its true name or not, but it would make sense if it was. I watched as she bit into like and apple and followed suit. To my surprise, it tasted nothing like a mango, but more like a very sweet pear, hard and white on the inside.

“Very nice,” I said, enjoying the refreshing fruit. “I guess you grew up eating these all the time, huh?”

“During hunts, yes.” She sat down next to me on a fallen tree log I had found and her weight causing it to creak and sag. “They grow wild throughout the jungle, so no one bothers to cultivate them. Not that it’s easy farming in these lands. When I was a child we’d pick and sell these in town for a few gold. Along with other fruits. We’d sell the meat from the hunts too for grain and building supplies for the village.”

I nodded trying to imagine what her childhood must have been like based on subsistence living in such a dangerous place. “Must have been scary out here for you.”

She chuckled. “Once you’ve killed your first raptor, many things don’t frighten you anymore.”

Raptor…? Thoughts of Jurassic park flashed through my mind and I unconsciously glanced over my shoulder.

“Don’t worry,” the big blue vixen said laughing. “My job is to protect you now. If a pack of raptors were to descend upon us, they’d have to contend with my axe first.”

She made a show and hefting the axe in her hand.

I grinned at that, even though it did make me feel a bit useless at the moment. “Maybe I could find a real sword in New Haven. I don’t want to be your damsel in distress forever.”

“I wouldn’t mind.” She winked. “But I understand and you do handle yourself well in a fight. I’m sure you could find something useful in the markets, or even order something from the Smiths Guild if nothing suits your fancy.”

“Cool,” I said. “Seems like New Haven is the center of everything around here.”

“Yes, a blessing and a curse,” Phee said in a lackluster tone. “According to our elders, anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our matriarch, Ul’gret, is old enough to remember a time before they built the great walls and established New Haven. Said it was a simpler life then. Now we are at the beck and call of the higher orders just to survive.”

Phee had explained where Ogres fell on the whole order of society thing scale, but not exactly what it was like being subjected to the short end of the stick. “I remember you mentioning you couldn’t go back empty handed to your tribe before. Is that why you’re doing all of this, Phee?”

Her eyes widened with surprise. “I said that to you?”

“Well…not to me exactly,” I clarified. “I heard you say it when you guys were…scrying? On me?”

“Oh.” She looked away and seemed to blush a bit. “Did you hear everything we said?”

“Pretty much.”

Her head sunk and she looked even more embarrassed. “Goddess…You must think I’m a filthy harlot then.”

“Huh?”

“Those things I said…about wanting to bond with you. And now I’ve gone and done just that.” She sighed and shook her head. “Devena was right. I am just a filthy half-breed in heat.”

“Hey, hey…” I said taking her hand. “Don’t dis yourself like that. It’s rare yes, but in my opinion, it’s an awesome thing for a woman to be so sexually assertive about what she wants. I wish more women were like you.”

“Really?”

I nodded emphatically. “Phee, you’re a knockout and don’t you forget it.”

She smiled a bit sheepishly. “Thank you…”

“No problem”

“But two questions…what does ‘dis’ and ‘knockout’ mean?”

I laughed and explained and after we finished our fruit, got back on the trail. She told me more about her childhood and growing up in the jungle as we walked and it actually seemed kind of fun. Fishing in the rivers, hunting giant game. But also defending the village from the larger predators that roamed the jungle.

“When I was seventeen, a flame monitor ventured out from the inner forest,” she said. “It burned our entire village and half the jungle with it before the Commission rallied the magic guilds to put it down.” She then said sullenly, “I lost a lot of friends and family that day.”

I wanted to say something comforting, but all I could think of was a stupid, ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ And that didn’t seem fitting for the tragedy she’d just described. “Wow…that’s really terrible.”

I cringed at myself for saying something that sounded even worst, but Phee didn’t seem to mind and just continued talking.

“We had to rebuild from that day,” Phee said. “It’s been pretty hard. Most of my tribe had to move into the city. About half have gone back to the jungle now trying to rebuild what we had lost. But it’s not easy. The money from winning this competition would allow us to build a much stronger home. This all happened about twenty years ago now.”

I nodded calculating her age. She looked damn good for knocking on 40. But perhaps that was nothing in terms of lifespan for her. She did say her elder remembered before the walls were built and that was 200 years ago. Damn, was she really going to live that long?

“So winning this means a lot to you then,” I said.

Phee wobbled her head. “Sort of. Rebuilding our tribal home is more like a duty. It’s something I have to do. For me personally, I’m hoping it might be a way for me to actually leave this place.”

Her statement took me by surprise. “What? You actually want to leave your home?”

“Like Devena said, everyone comes here to exploit the Vult. It doesn’t hold that kind of allure for me. But if I’m able to build a career within the guild, hopefully it can take me places.”

“Take you places? Like where?”

“To Aziz maybe, where Yunni is from. Or even to the great northern ranges to see Devena’s clan. The life of a jungle ogre has limited options, but once my people are resettled and taken care of, I want to explore mine someday.”

I looked at Phee in a new light. “I like your ambition. And your loyalty to your tribe too. Not many people would stay to help their homeland when their true goal is to leave it.”

She shrugged. “Being a half-ogre comes with privilege as well as responsi—”

Her words cut short and she suddenly ducked down into the underbrush.

Instinctively I ducked with her.

“What is it?” I whispered.

“Something big, stay here.”

She handed Meep to me and without another word, dashed forward staying close to the ground, hefting her axe within her arms. She ran into the jungle, the thick bushes swaying momentarily behind her as she as disappeared. I stood frozen for what must have been a minute, unsure of what to do.

“What is it, Meep?”

I looked to the cat-lemur in my arms, but the he seemed more intent on licking his nuts then paying attention to what was going on. Maybe that’s a good sign, I though. If he wasn’t on alert then there probably wasn’t anything to worry about.

Just then he stopped licking and his head popped up. He shot a stare towards the direction Phee had run. Then the blue giantess came bursting through the trees a second later, running in a sprint.

“Cole, run!”

The trees behind her exploded, sending leaves flying as a pig the size of an elephant came barreling behind her. My heart jumped. The giant beast was covered in thick black hair and its tusks jutting from its lower jaw were as long as my arm. Meep jumped out of my hands and fled up a tree and I finally regained the wherewithal to do the same. I turned and ran, as the ground trembled beneath my feet.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Phee get tossed to the side like a play thing as the giant boar slammed into her with its massive snout.

“Phee!” I cried, but the barbarian woman rolled with the hit and was back on her feet in an instant. She spun with her massive battle axe and caught the beast on its hind quarter, but it was moving too fast to seem to care. I panicked as the thing kept coming straight for me. I tried to find a tree to climb but nothing looked big enough to support my weight. I headed for a cluster of what looked like bamboo and prayed I could shimmy up one of the thick stalks fast enough.

No, that wouldn’t work.

That thing was too close. I spied a fallen piece of the bamboo and an idea struck. Spinning about I faced the giant boar that was just literally a few feet behind me. Fear and adrenaline filled my veins, but I was committed now.

I grabbed the length of bamboo and shoved one end into the dirt just as the giant pig flew at me. Angling the other end upwards, I aimed it just under its neck and then leapt to the side as the board impaled itself on the three inch thick piece of bamboo. I performed a roll and I heard a loud snap behind me as the bamboo splintered and the beast reared up collapsed to the side.

The bamboo hadn’t pierced its thick hide, but its momentum had caused it to literally flip up and over the obstruction. The boar thrashed on the ground for a moment, trying to right itself. It’s then I noticed that it was bleeding profusely from several wounds already piercing its side.

With a loud warcry, Phee came running towards the fallen beast and springing off its hind quarters, flew through the air with her axe raised high above her head. She buried the massive weapon into the beast’s neck with a loud thwack and the board shuddered. She kept her footing somehow as the boar bucked and freed her axe with an arc of blood trailing through the air. She cried out again, swinging downwards with a killing blow, but the beast managed to gets to its feet and tossed Phee to the ground.

It rounded on her and in an act of desperation or perhaps revenge, charged the Half-Ogress with a squeal. Phee locked her elbows as she held the axe broadways across her body, avoiding the brunt of the boar’s tusks as it slammed into her. It pushed her across the muddy earth, her feet slipping on vines. It finally pinned her against a rocker outcropping and her back slammed hard against the granite.

She let out a fierce grunt as the beast continued to drive into her, her muscles bulging as she fought to keep the giant beast at bay.

“Cole,” she cried looking to me, desperation in her eyes. “Use your mana!”

Use my mana? “How?”

“The amulet!”

I had no idea what she meant, but that boar was going to kill her if I didn’t act fast. I ran to where she was, crushing the three remaining mana crystals in my palm.

You gained 48 mana!

You gained 51 mana!

You gained 53 mana!

I focused on the amulet about my neck and willed something to happen

Come on! Do something!

Options appeared.

Elemental School - Metal

Meld

Form

Quicken

I dove under Phee’s arms, which were now bucking wildly with the thrashes from the boar. Not knowing what the hell I was doing, I gripped the metal shaft of her axe and my arm was nearly pulled out of its socket by how violently it was jumping up and down.

“What are you doing?” she yelled looking down at me, now nestled between her bouncing breasts.

“I don’t know!” I said honestly, but in my mind’s eyes, I imagined a sharp lance of steel extending from the shaft of the axe and straight into the boar’s skull. I willed it with all my might, visualizing something out of the terminator movies.

“Form!” I shouted.

Something rushed through me and the metal of the axe shaft instantly heated in my palm as it glowed.

Form metal: Great Success!

You expended 100 mana!

In a flash it changed shape and the axe, blade and all, suddenly became a ‘T’ shaped object with the long end skewering the boar through its large snout and one of its eyes. The thing let out an ‘urk’ like squeal and shuddered for a few seconds, before going absolutely still and then falling noisily to the side.

I stared mesmerized at what I had done.

It was only then that I realized how fast my heart was beating and my knees went weak with adrenaline and residual fear. I collapsed back into Phee’s heaving bosom and heard the rapid beat of her heart and heavy breathing as well.

“By the gods…” she whispered. “What on Grandia did you do to my axe?”

“Yeah…” I said looking down at the now totally disfigured piece of metal sticking out of the boar’s skull. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to ruin your axe. I just did the first thing that popped into my head.”

“Forget my axe!” she said. “Did you see what you just did?” She spun me about and held me by my shoulder. “You truly are a mage, Cole! Wait till I tell Devena and Yunni about this!”

“So you’re not upset about your weapon? I kind of ruined it.”

“You could make a hundred more with what you can do!” She then kissed me unexpectedly on the lips and then let out a triumphant laugh. “I’m so glad you’re here with us! We truly do have a chance now, Cole.”

I laughed with her, still a bit in shock at what I’d just done. A white vapor coalesced around the boar’s body and a crystal formed on top of its snout.

“Go on,” Phee urged. “You’ve earned it. This was your kill.”

I picked up the crystal and shattered it in my palm.

You gained 35 mana!

What? That’s all?

But then, that Terror Bird was a lot bigger and more fierce than this boar. Still, I spent 100 mana to kill something that only gave me back 35. “I guess I won’t be using that trick to farm mana. It’s effective but not very efficient.”

“A trick indeed…”

My back stiffened at the deep gravelly voice that boomed from behind me. Phee’s eyes went wide as she stared at whatever it was and I risked a slow look over my shoulder to see the huge shadow of a figure standing in the semi-darkness of the jungle just a couple dozen feet away.

My heartbeat quickened as the figure stepped forward, revealing the scarred face of the tallest being I’ve even seen. His skin was purplish, and as he looked at me, his mouth curled into a scowl.

“And now, you’re going to pay for stealing my kill.”