A/N: So, this is the last regular chapter of Volume One, YAY!!!! Coming in at just over 25,000 words (God, no wonder I'm getting carpal tunnel:). This has been a lot of fun to right and I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. I'll post of the epilogue either tonight or early tomorrow morning and we'll be moving into Volume two shortly. Enjoy!

Chit

P.S. - Also, remember to Rate/Review/Comment/Favorite/Recommend !!!

Volume One - Chapter Eleven: Two And A Half Years

The next day my Mistress, or Elin as I was told to start calling her, stopped being so brutal with me. I only lost a limb once or twice a day, instead of the ten I had lost the day before. She seemed to spend more time explaining and focusing on techniques, rather than beating me to death. I don’t know what happened to her, but it sure seems to be an improvement. Every now and again I catch her blushing about something, and I noticed that she was wearing more, and more revealing clothing. It makes it somewhat hard to concentrate on sparring every now and again... I have no idea why, but I really enjoy the sight. She has this extremely interesting tattoo of a purple lightning bolt on her lower back. The day I first saw it, I heard the people in my subconsciousness laughing hysterically. It wasn’t until I asked the next night that I found out that it was something called a tramp stamp. For some reason, whenever they mentioned a tramp stamp, they all looked with pitying eyes at Jaws. I could never get them to tell me why though, it makes me feel left out!

Elin keeps popping up whenever I have my free time. Its starting to get annoying, it has put a serious crimp in my practical joke planning and execution. Which, of course, just makes everyone look at me suspiciously. It’s as if they think I’m just biding my time, before pulling off my biggest stunt yet. Sorry people, I just have this annoying sword teacher who won't leave me alone! Although, there are some good points. I’ll never forget walking into my bathroom one evening to find her taking a shower… It was a very nice view. I think she was slightly pissed off when I jumped in with her, asking her to help wash my hair. At least, that’s how I decided to interrupt the next day when she cut off all four of my limbs in an instant, then had Ali heal me on four separate occasions. I thought it was a little overboard myself; what was I supposed to do? I needed to get to my room and start meditating. But, there she was, in MY shower. Don’t jump in someone else’s shower unless you want them to join you…

Something seems to have changed inside of me. Every time I meditate, it feels as if I’m connected to the people living inside of me. I was able to glean from their thoughts that this was my subconscious, and that they were all various aspects of my personality. But, I know that there is more involved. After they realized that I was getting information from them they began to be extremely careful about what they thought about. For instance, I once ambushed the female personality and asked her some questions. In response, she tuned me out. Imagining the cutest, fluffiest cat she could think of. It appeared out of nowhere, and I stood in awe as she descended into cuteness overload. The worst part of it is that I experienced her extreme happiness with her. It took all of my strength to pull myself away from the cat without joining her. It was just too cute!

One other factor of the new bond is my increased training speed. Using it, I can understand exactly what it is that my personalities are trying to teach me instantly. Also, even though the bond is much weaker, I could use it to ask for advice while actually awake. It has at least quadrupled my training speed. Unfortunately, my instructors caught onto the change quickly. I learned techniques at an extremely quick speed, so my physical fitness was holding me back. After a couple of weeks, Great-Granny Kingsly changed my training schedule to, “better fit your needs.” Myself, I think she just wanted to torture me a bit more.

Anyways, I’m eating dragon meat twice a day now. The first time for training with Gunther and Elin, the second time for, “physical fitness.” Of course, Granny Kingsly’s definition of physical fitness is different than everyone else's. I have to sprint as fast I possibly can to the forest, kill a minimum of ten beasts, then sprint back. At first, this wasn’t bad at all, I actually kind of enjoyed the runs. But, apparently the word got out among the beasts, or I just killed them all off. They stopped appearing along the outskirts of the woods after barely a month. By now, I’m forced to sprint nearly a hundred miles into the forest just to find the beasts.

At least my running speed has increased greatly, it used to nearly take me two hours just to get to the woods, now it only takes half an hour on a good day. That’s the good news, the bad news is that these beasts are much stronger than the wolves, bears, and snakes in the outskirts of the woods. I find myself battling with gigantic octopuses, rats so fast that you can’t even see them, the same old wolves except now they come in packs of 50 or more instead of 3-12. I can’t tell you how many times I nearly died, but was saved by the dragon meat. I didn’t realize this at first, but as long as you have enough energy you can regrow limbs, regenerate blood, and close off wounds. If it wasn’t for the excess energy from the dragon’s meat I’d have died at least 10 times by now. Even after all of this, the scariest encounter I had was with a Manticore.

I ran into him half a year ago, or two years into what I began to call, “The great faerie beast extermination of 612 A.G.” (Meaning After Granny) I began keeping track of the date not by conventional methods, but rather by the amount of time that Great-Granny Kingsly had been here. I managed to ferret out of her, after much hard work, just how long she’s been here. Damn, that lady is ancient! Anyways, when I first saw him I was really tired, and only needed to kill one more beast before I could make the long, boring trek back to the mansion. I snuck up on him, readying my spear I lunged forward… only to realize that what I’d stabbed was just an illusion, or maybe an afterimage. I looked around frantically, knowing that I was about to die. This beast totally outclassed me, what the hell is Great-Granny Kingsly doing letting me come this deep into the forest? Behind me, I heard a deep, rumbling roar. Turning around, I nearly peed my pants as I saw the griffin sitting crosslegged on the ground, sipping hot tea! The fierce lion’s face on top of the eagle’s body looked at me and spoke, “So, you have finally made it this far hatchling.”

Of course, this freaked me the fuck out. How the hell is a bird with a lion’s head talking!?!?!? More importantly, I’d killed thousands of beasts by this point, but I’d never killed something that could talk with me. Just the thought that I’d actually tried to kill another intelligent being made my stomach roil. After spending so much time in the presence of the faeries, I had long since stopped thinking of humans as the only important species. “I’m so sorry! I thought you were just another mindless beast like the others. Please, forgive me.”

“Forgive you? Hahaha, there is nothing to forgive. Even if there was, I would forgive you. You’ve already helped me afterall.” I stood there, stumped. I just tried to skewer this guy with my spear and he said that I’d helped him. Is he mad?

He waved at me to have a seat before continuing on, “We manticore's are an ancient race, but similar to the faeries we need an incredibly mana-rich environment to survive. Not because we need to absorb the mana, but rather because we need to eat beasts who have refined it since birth, faerie beasts. Tell me, do you know where all the meat you got from killing beasts went?”

“Of course, it’s going into stasis so I can continue to eat faerie beasts after I leave this place! I don’t think I can survive without it.”

At that, he started laughing. Great guffaws that shook nearby trees, sounding more like a terrifying, defiant roar than mirth. Also, watching a manticore laugh is one of the more interesting things you can ever do. The wings on his back twitched in rhythm to the noise, while tears of mirth slowly rolled down his cheeks; catching on his whiskers and slowly dripping off of them. “That’s just great, the witch got you too! HAHAHAHAHA!”

O great, I think I have a good idea who “the witch” is… Shit, I have the feeling my food is gone, NOOOO!!!! I’d spent the last two years stockpiling the stuff, taking advantage of my training. NO way was I going back to eating regular meat. Regular meat is so bland, tasteless, boring… It’s like eating cardboard.

“Not long ago, my race ruled an area similar to this forest, one of the few remaining places of great mana density on this planet. But, land like this is incredibly important. The rich, famous, and powerful buy the land rights, building mansions. If that was all they did, then it wouldn’t be a problem; but what rich person would clean his own home? Soon, the mansions are packed full of maids and butlers, while big entertainment conglomerates build vacation resorts. Of course, those resorts need people to run them. Suddenly, tens of thousands of people move into these mana-rich areas. All of them subconsciously absorbing mana, depleting the area. Before we even realized what was happening, our forest no longer produced excess mana. The beasts were unable to sate our hunger, no matter how much we ate.”

He looked saddened, staring at the ground for a long time with a look of great loss. “We killed all the humans in our area of course, I think they said it was some sort of natural disaster. It was too late, the damage was done. We were going extinct. It has happened to every other magical beast clan on this world, but in our arrogance we thought that we were better than them. Then, that witch appeared about six months ago. At first, we tried to kill her because of our great anger at the humans, but she was too powerful for us. We thought that she’d come to kill us, for revenge. Instead, she brought more faerie beast meat than any of us had ever seen in one place before. She said that she would save us, allow us to live in this forest of her’s for a price. Helping you. So, you see, if it wasn’t for you my race would be extinct by now. That witch has watched all of the other magical beast clans of this world die off without a thought. Yet, now she saves us, for you.”

Listening to the story, I couldn’t help but feel ashamed. My race has apparently destroyed countless sentient species because of our ignorance, arrogance, and greed. If Great-Granny Kingsly didn’t already have her hands full trying to save the faeries, I would condemn her too. But, the faeries have been the ally and friend of human’s for longer than I can imagine. You have to be able to save your friends and family before you can afford to be charitable. I looked at the sad manticore, feeling his pain with him. Finally, I asked, “So, what help can you give me that it was worth her moving personally?”

At this, his face changed. The natural arrogance of his race coming back to his face. Proudly, he proclaimed, “My blood, freely given. It transforms the blood in your body, turning it into manticore's blood. Granting you a special ability, as well as strengthening your body. The further you advance in your cultivation, the more it will help you. Perhaps, you will be able to unlock the true potential of the blood, although I doubt it. Few manticores manage the feat. My race has only granted this gift to one other human, and that was hundreds of thousands of years ago.” At that, he used one of his talons to draw a line of blood across his face. Catching the blood in another tea cup, he handed it to me saying, “Consider yourself lucky, hatchling.” Then, he vanished into thin air.

I sat on the ground staring at the spot where the griffin used to be. “It can’t be any worse than that shit Great-Granny Kingsly calls tea.” I drank the cup of blood in one gulp, only to feel an incredible amount of energy flooding through my body. I automatically gathered the energy surging through my body, sending it to my brainstem like Great-Granny Kingsly did when I awakened. Screaming in agony, I could feel my blood being forcibly changed. I passed out quickly, unable to bear the pain.

When I finally regained consciousness, I was laying down in my bed. I’d been stripped of my clothes and cleaned up by someone. Great-Granny Kingsly was sitting back in a recliner next to my bed. She had a sly smile on her wrinkled, old face. I sighed, asking “Can’t you just stop using that damned illusion? You’re not fooling anyone here.”

“Of course not, it’s far too fun. Anyway, congratulations that was quite the gift you got.”

Suddenly, I had a horrible suspicion, “I don’t think a congratulations is really in order, you set the whole damned thing up. Tell me, did you manufacture the whole thing. Cause the death of tens of thousands of humans, as well as ruining their home just to get me this?”

She laughed! Laughed! I accuse her of planning the murder of an entire sentient race, as well as tens of thousands of humans, and she laughs! “The Manticore’s may not remember it, but their clan once saved my life. I’ve been looking out for them since I came back, doing what I could behind their backs. Manticore’s are incredibly prideful, they will not accept any charity. They would rather go extinct. So, I convinced them that I was asking for their help, paying them for their services by letting them move into my forest. I think they knew what I was doing, but they went along with it anyway. Also, I asked them meet you and help you if they could. I never dared to hope that they would give you blood. Now, get changed and go train. You’ve slept long enough.”

That day, Gunther and Elin trained me like normal, and as I was getting ready to go out to the forest when Ali flew up to me. As the tiny faerie smiled at me, she suddenly grew from two-inches tall to slightly taller than me, at just over 5 feet. That was when she announced my newest change in training, “David, you won’t be going into the forest any longer. It’s past time for you to start school lessons, the Mistress has asked me to get you caught up with where your peer’s should be over the next six months. It’ll be tough, after all we’re packing three years’ of material into six months, but I’m sure you can do it. At least, you better be able to if you don’t want your new school mates making fun of you constantly when you go back home!”

The next six months flew by. Between training my body and learning with Ali, I could barely find the time to breathe. At first, I was really worried about catching up. It’s been a long time since I last played around with someone my age, so I really wanted to fit in. However, I quickly came to the realization that I wasn’t like most children my age. What supposedly took my peer’s three years of schooling barely took me three months. For some reason, my personalities knew more about science and biology then even Ali, so I learned incredibly quickly. Soon, my personalities began to add more courses to my education, starting with programming. I began to dread the boring classes that I was going to have to sit through in the future. For a while, I thought about just not going to school. Great-Granny Kingsly nixed that idea in record time saying, “If you really don’t want to go to school I’m sure I could train you for another hundred years or so.” Yep, school sounds like so much fun, doesn’t it! Sigh, at least I’ll be able to focus on pranks in class. It’s not like I’m going to be learning anything. I’ve already thought up some fun ideas to use on my new teachers. :)

Anyways, here I am, it’s my 9th birthday today. It has been 3 years and one day since I left home to live this hellish existence, and I think I’m going to miss it. I’m leaving today, I can’t wait to see my parents and Lizzy again. Saying goodbye to everyone was rough though, my partners in crime, Suzi and Carl, came by my room as I was packing up my few belongings. They were crying, saying I needed to come visit when I had the chance. I promised that I would, but kind of figured that I’d be too busy for that. After they left, I finished packing. Honestly, I didn’t have much I planned on taking with me. Just a spear I’d made by carving the femur of one of those gigantic bears. Since I was only 4 and a half feet tall, the nearly six foot long spear was honestly too large for me. I was hoping I’d grow into it soon. Thinking back, I learned a lot while I was here, especially about working hard. Never again was I going to complain when Lizzy or Mom asked me to help fill the dishwasher.

With one final wave goodbye, I walked down the private runway that Great-Granny Kingsly had carved out of the mountainside. According to Ali, she had summoned a blade bigger than the mountain out of thin air and with one chop had carved it out. Apparently, all of my plans to mess with Great-Granny Kingsly had to be pushed back… I had just finished settling into my seat, hoping that I actually got to land with the plane this time around, when Elin hurried up the stairs to the plane carrying 5 humongous bags along with what looked like six swords over her shoulder. I was staring at her, wondering what the hell she was thinking, when she glared at me and said, “What are you looking at? Get your ass over here and help me!” She didn’t have to say it twice, I hurried over and helped her unload.

Settling back into my seat, I looked at Granny Kingsly and Elin before asking, “Why’s she coming?” Granny Kingsly grinned mischievously before saying, “You didn’t think I was going to let you get rusty after all that hard work we put into you? You’re going to be spending two hours a day in Elins hands from now on, be nice to her.” She smirked a bit then continued on in a stage whisper to me, “Don’t sneak into her shower again, she might not be so forgiving next time.” Elin started to blush furiously for some reason. “But it was my shower, it’s not my fault that she was in it!” Which only seemed to make Elin blush even more furiously. Great-Granny Kingsly was chuckling delightedly at the look on Elin’s face. She turned to me, clotting me on the back of my head. “You have much to learn about women, boy.” With that, I finally left hell behind. Except, I don’t think I should really call it hell anymore. Maybe I’ll just go with Granny’s summer mansion.