WIEDERGEBURT Act VII: Chapter 14

I didn’t remember going to bed, but I woke up that morning in a bed surrounded by my wives. All four of them were snuggling some part of me. Kari had my arm. Fay was burrowed against my torso. Siv was sleeping on my chest. Meanwhile, Lin was spooning Kari, but her tail had become wound around my legs.

It felt… nice. I wished I could stay there all day, though I knew that would be impossible.

Light filtered through a window on my left. This building did not have any glass, which was an expensive amenity few villages of this size could afford. Maybe if there was a village closer to a big city like Vhan, the mayor’s house would have glass windows, but this little hut we were using had the bare necessities and nothing more.

“Eryk. Are you feeling better?” asked Siv, alerting me to the fact that she was awake.

I looked down to see Siv resting her chin against my chest, eyes like emeralds gazing at me in concern.

While Kari was the person who had comforted me last night, I was sure all my wives had been worried about me. They sometimes knew me better than I knew myself. That was why they had sent Kari. I loved all four of my wives with all my heart, but it remained a fact that Kari knew me better than anyone else, and so she knew how best to soothe my heartache and guilt.

And I did feel better.

“I’m fine.” I reached out, moved a strand of silvery green hair behind Siv’s ear, and cupped her face. Siv leaned into my touch. If she was a catfolk, I was sure she’d have been purring. “I feel much better. Thank you for worrying about me.”

“Mmm. You should thank me with a kiss.”

It was the first time I’d heard such a blatant demand from this woman, but I had no trouble obliging her, and so I leaned up and drew her into a kiss. Siv whimpered into my mouth as she kissed me harder. Her tongue probed my teeth. When I opened my mouth to give her greater access, she greedily pushed her way inside like an explorer journeying into some ruins.

“Eryk…” Siv moaned, and it was such a sexy sound that I grew hard in an instant. “I want to have sex. We haven’t been able to since we joined the caravan.”

She was right, of course. Since the moment this caravan left the Lamia’s home, none of us had enough time alone together to have sex. I felt the strain as surely as my little wife did.

I opened my mouth to tell her that we could have sex—

“You’ll have to wait awhile yet,” a voice interrupted me before I could even speak. The speaker was Kari, resting on her side, with her head propped on her hand and an amused smile on her face. “I’m feeling the loss just as much as you two, but we have too much work to do right now. Sex will have to wait.”

“You heard the woman,” I said with an amused smile at Siv.

Siv moaned in complaint but sat up and climbed off me. She was wearing nothing but a thin nighty, and I was forced to stifle a groan when I saw her cute breasts and hairless crotch through the sheer fabric. I looked at Kari, but all she did was shake her head.

“No,” she said.

“Ugh. This is torture,” I moaned.

Kari shrugged. “It’s torture for all of us.” She leaned down and pressed her lips to mine, but it was just a peck, not nearly enough to satisfy me now that my appetite had been awakened. “Now, hurry up and wake Fay. We have to get ready.”

“I’m already awake,” Fay said with a sigh as she sat up and stretched. “You know, it’s very odd sleeping on this side. I’m used to having your arm wrapped around me.”

I looked at my stump, wiggled it a little, then looked back up and gave Fay a wry smile. “Sorry for losing my arm.”

“Ass,” Fay muttered as she swatted me in the head. I would have complained but she leaned down to kiss me before when I opened my mouth. While not a peck, her kiss was still more than what Kari had given me.

“This princess doesn’t wanna get up,” Lin mumbled from my other side. “Let her sleep for a few more minutes. Better yet, wait until her temperature raises another five degrees.”

“If that’s what you want, but then you won’t get breakfast,” Kari said.

“This princess is getting up right now,” Lin said as she shot out of bed and began getting dressed.

We emerged from the small house after getting dressed. My old clothes had been ruined a long time ago, but I wore an outfit similar to the one Fay bought me a few months after I returned to the past. Fay’s outfit was vastly different. She wore black pants and a black sleeveless shirt. Crimson armor went over the shirt. It was just a chestplate, greaves, and gauntlets, but it gave her a very warrior-esque appearance. In contrast, Lin wore practically nothing, though she also had a chestplate. Both of them were covered in runes.

Siv and Kari were wearing streamlined armor gifted to them by Fray before we left Gudeverdenen. Siv’s had been modified to accommodate for her leathery pinions, but both outfits were still in the style of the Valkyries. They looked sleek and possessed a silvery sheen.

“About time you people got up. Do you know how long we’ve been waiting for you?” Alexis grumbled as we walked into the main clearing. A lot of people were already awake and cooking breakfast for everyone. Alexis was sitting on a log in front of a fire. Ashten was with her.

“I do not know, but I’m sure you’ll tell me,” I said as I sat down beside her. Fay and Siv joined me, but Kari and Lin went to get our food.

“Don’t be a smartass,” Alexis grunted.

“Where are the others?” asked Fay.

“King Menes and Queen Medusa are overseeing the people packing everything for the next leg of our journey,” Ashten said. “Quwain, Earland, and Raul are scouting ahead to make sure there won’t be any enemies in our path.”

I nodded. “I’ve been thinking about this for awhile, but I think we might want to leave the civilians here.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” asked Ashten.

Shrugging, I said, “I can never be sure of anything these days, but I think it will be more dangerous if we take them with us. Right now, we are traveling to Vahn, which is currently under enemy occupation. Let’s say we decide to retake Vahn. What are we gonna do with the civilians? Take them into the city with us when we fight? Leave them with a small guard? The Sekbeist could decide to launch an attack on them out of revenge while we’re taking the city.”

“Shit. I guess we didn’t think of that,” Alexis admitted. “It’s a good point. The civilians will be a liability.”

“So what should we do?” asked Ashten.

“We have about ten thousand Spiritualists plus one thousand Lightning Giants. We can leave five hundred Lightning Giants and two thousand Spiritualists here to protect the non-combatants,” I said, tugging on my bangs as I thought. “That should be more than enough to defend from any threat save a Sekbeist Lord… and I honestly don’t think a Lord is going to be here. We’ll take the rest of our forces with us and march on Vahn.”

Alexis and Ashten asked me a few more questions regarding logistics and determining who would go and who would stay. I told them I would leave that to their discretion. I didn’t know enough about our forces to make an informed decision, something they both agreed with.

While Ashten went to inform King Menes and Queen Medusa of our decision, Kari and Lin came with our food, and we ate while discussing the current situation. I would have loved to just talk about inconsequential matters, but our dire circumstances didn’t allow for that. And yet even though a lot had changed, some things remained the same.

“Look at you, Lin. Can’t you eat with a little more poise?” asked Fay.

“This princess has plenty of poise,” Lin rebutted.

“Not when eating, you don’t.”

I couldn’t help but somewhat agree with Fay’s statement, but that was because Lin was being a little messier than usual. She had soup dripping down her chin. Even though she licked it off with her longer than average tongue, I think that just made her seem even sloppier. Kari shook her head as she grabbed a napkin from somewhere, leaned over, and began wiping Lin’s mouth.

“You know, Darling isn’t gonna want to kiss a woman who’s got a dirty mouth,” Kari said.

“What are you talking about? Darling loves this princess’s dirty mouth.”

I nearly spat out the caffa I’d been drinking when Lin spoke, but instead I swallowed it down the wrong tube and began coughing. Siv, who had been silently sitting next to me as she ate, patted my back several times to help me.

“T-thanks, Siv. You’re a life saver,” I mumbled.

“Don’t mention it,” Siv said.

Several hours after we finished breakfast, our group was helping sort everything out. Lin and I helped manage the logistics. We needed to take enough supplies for our troops to last a few days, while also leaving enough for the people here to survive. Unfortunately, we already had a supply shortage, and the scorched land surrounding this village meant some people were going to starve no matter what we did.

“Can you not do something with your life concept?” asked Lin.

“I don’t think...” I started, then stopped, thought about her question, and realized something. “You know, I might be able to do something.”

Once I’d confessed that I could do something, I decided to see if I could test the idea I’d come up with just now. I went out toward the back of the village. This area had a few fenced off buildings that looked like they had once been farms. The black soil showed signs of having once been tilled, making it the perfect place to test my theory.

The first thing I did was place my hands on the dirt and begin cycling through the gravel. All the nutrients in this batch of earth had been sucked clean, but that was just on the surface, which I noticed after merging with the earth. Yes, the earth had been scorched, but there was soil rich in nutrients beneath the bad soil, and so I just brought all the good soil up to the top.

“It’s still not enough,” I muttered.

Switching tactics now, I spread seeds across the soil and manipulated the earth so all the seeds were spread evenly across the ground. I didn’t bother planting them individually. Then I manipulated the life element within each seed, nurturing them with my own Spiritual Power, which caused the ground around me to glow a vibrant white. My eyes narrowed as several tiny sprouts popped out of the ground.

These were potato sprouts.

Potatoes were an important crop for both its remarkable adaptability and also its nutritional value. It was an easily-grown plant that had the ability to provide more nutritious food faster and on less land than any other crop, which was why I had grabbed some potato seeds from our meager supplies to use in this experiment.

Manipulating their life force through my understanding over the Concept of Life, I commanded the potato crops to suck in the nutrients from the ground, then slowly used the earth element to draw new soil to the fore. On the surface, it only looked like there were a bunch of strange undulations, but it was a different story beneath the surface, where my power to manipulate the earth element shone.

Before long, there was an entire farm of healthy potato plants that would be ready to harvest in a few days time. When I showed this to Queen Medusa and King Menes, the pair looked at me like I had grown several heads. However, with this, the food problem here at the village would be resolved.

It was decided that Queen Medusa, King Menes, and Quwain would remain behind. Everyone reasoned that the two rulers were far better at ruling a group of people than we were, but Alexis, Ashten, and all the others had a personal investment in the retaking of Vahn. None of them wanted to be left out of this. Galdr would also be going with us, but his second-in-command Foll would remain behind.

Several hours after everything was decided, our army of eight thousand Spiritualists and five hundred Lightning Giants was getting ready to head out. I didn’t know how many Sekbeists had occupied Vahn. In my past life when Vahn had been taken, there’d been upwards of fifty-thousand, but I imagined there would be a lot more this time. I thought this was okay. They might have a lot more forces, but our group was a lot stronger in this life.

“Is everything ready?” I asked Alexis.

“Yeah. We’re all ready to get moving,” Alexis said, looking down and blinking.

“Okay then. Let’s—”

I paused when something tugged at my pant leg. Looking down, I found the little girl whom I had rescued the other day staring up at me. She was biting her lip between her teeth and looked nervous. I tried to put on a smile.

“Hey there. Is something wrong?”

Emilia shook her head. “No. I… just wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me?” I tilted my head. “For what?”

“For… trying to save my mom… and for letting me speak to her… one last time.”

I tried to swallow at her words, but it felt like something had stuck in my throat. I wanted to tell her that she shouldn’t thank me, that I hadn’t done anything to deserve her thanks, but I was also intelligent enough to know that wouldn’t make Emilia feel better. It might make her feel worse. And so I knelt before the girl and placed a hand on her head.

“You are welcome,” I said. “I wish I could have done more.”

Emilia shook her head as though to deny my last statement, but she didn’t say anything as she ran back the way she’d come, into what looked like a small family of four. There was a mother, a father, an older boy in his teens, and a young girl close in age to Emilia. I guess they had decided to take care of her. The mother noticed my gaze and sent me a warm smile.

It was time to leave.

Alexis blew on the horn that was our signal to start moving. Reigns were cracked to get Struts going. Loud rumbling echoed around us as the Lightning Giants fell into step beside the caravan. I walked over toward the front and leapt onto the wagon that housed Kari, Fay, Lin, Siv, Raul, Sana, and Lilac. My son and his two new girlfriends were sitting with Siv and Lin inside the wagon. Fay and Kari were sitting together and talking, though they stopped to smile at me when I sat down beside them.

“What is it?” I asked, tilting my head curiously.

Kari’s smile widened. “I told you that girl would be grateful to you.”

Shaking my head at what I realized was basically her way of saying “I told you so.”

“You did,” I agreed, nodding just once as Kari gave me a really smug stare. Like that, our journey to Vahn started.

***

A small caravan normally took about a month to reach Vahn from our current location, but it took us nearly twice as long because of how large our caravan was. Our situation was only exacerbated by the constant Sekbeist patrols we ran into. We were able to capture a few Sekbeists among these patrols and interrogated them. It seemed they were searching for survivors to enslave, though I didn’t know for what purpose.

There were more than just passing patrols on the ground. We had run into a number of flying patrols—Sekbeists riding Demon Beast mounts that were being controlled by collars. Siv, Lin, Kari, Fay, and I dispatched those ones since we had the ability to fly and freely manipulate all seven elements. We were fortunately able to kill every patrol we ran across without having a single Sekbeist escape.

Galdr spotted Vahn before we did. Once he was able to see the city, we made our forces stop near a forest, disembarked, and disassembled the wagons before traveling into the forest. We didn’t want the Sekbeist to learn of our presence yet. I was a little worried about the Lightning Giants being spotted, but there was nothing I could do about their size except move more deeply into the forest.

I was a little surprised the Sekbeists hadn’t burned down these forests, but perhaps they simply didn’t have time or didn’t see the point. I was grateful either way.

We created a large clearing deep in the forest by cutting away the trees and flattening the earth. Hundreds of tents were set up and cooking pits were created to feed our army. The Lightning Giants had their own place to eat since they needed bigger cookware, which I created by manipulating the excess earth into bowls, utensils, and pots, then hardened it all using the fire element. While the main army ate and prepared to sleep, myself, Kari, Siv, Fay, Lin, Alexis, Ashten, Raul, Earland, Aliya, and Galdr held a meeting.

“I think the first thing we should do is gather information on our enemy,” Ashten said from where he sat, a cup of caffa in his hands. “We don’t know nearly enough about the current forces occupying Vahn to make an assault on the city.”

“Do you really think we need to worry about how powerful they are?” asked Alexis, her tone wry. “Have you seen who we have with us? I’m not the kind of woman who would normally rely on others, but Eryk, Siv, Kari, and Lin have become so powerful they could probably take Vahn themselves.”

“Even if they can take Vahn themselves, I don’t believe having them do that is a good idea. Our comrades won’t feel like justice has been served unless they serve it themselves,” Ashten refuted.

I took a sip of my caffa as the two debated. The bitter liquid was not my favorite, but the caffeine did serve to make me more alert. It wasn’t really needed. However, there was something addicting about the feeling caffa gave you. Something to do with the addictive qualities of caffa beans. That was what I’d been told once anyway.

“Now hold on a second. Whoever said anything about letting Eryk and his wives do all the work?” Alexis spread her arms wide. “I want to kick those Sekbeists where it hurts as much as anyone else. I’m not saying we use them to retake Vahn. I’m saying that I don’t think it matters if we gather intelligence on our enemies. We’ve got several overwhelming powerhouses with us that it probably doesn’t matter how large the forces arrayed against us are.”

“TIF YOU KNOW THE ENEMY AND KNOW YOURSELF, YOU NEED NOT FEAR THE RESULT OF A HUNDRED BATTLES. IF YOU KNOW YOURSELF BUT NOT THE ENEMY, FOR EVERY VICTORY GAINED YOU WILL ALSO SUFFER A DEFEAT,” Galdr said before taking a large sip from a massive ceramic bowl that was about the size of a human bathtub. “THIS IS A BASIC PRECEPT OF WAR. HOWEVER, I DO AGREE WTH ALEXIS THAT WE CAN PROBABLY BE LAX ON OUR INTELLIGENT GATHERING RIGHT NOW. THERE WILL NOT BE ANY LORDS IN VAHN.”

“And how do you know that?” asked Ashten.

“Because the Lords are currently searching for the remaining tombs of the Great Overlords,” I answered. “They don’t have time to sit on their laurels in a captured city that has nothing useful for them.”

“That is a good point,” Ashten admitted, though he wasn’t ready to give up yet. “But I still believe we should gain more information.”

“And how do you propose we do that?” asked Kari. “If our enemies were humans, we could infiltrate the city and hide out among the masses, but our enemy looks nothing like a human. I could probably use the light element to warp the light around me to make me look like a Sekbeist. However, even that method has limitations. My technique will be disrupted the moment someone bumps into me. If that happens, then even if I escape, the Sekbeist will know we’re coming and be more alert.”

I set my cup of caffa on the ground and Siv finished her meal and leaned into me. She wasn’t paying any attention to the conversation, since all she cared about was what we would ultimately decide. Her wings curled inward as I placed my hand on her lower back. The slow thumping of her tail let me know she was pleased with the contact.

Lin suddenly raised her hand. “This princess… might be able to get an estimate of their forces.”

We all turned to Lin.

“You can?” asked Alexis.

Nodding, Lin said, “the Sekbeist have a very strong affinity for the Concept of Negation, or the Void. That is why even their slaves can infuse the void into their techniques. Since this princess can now use the Concept of Negation, she has been able to sense Sekbeists whenever they are near. That is also how this princess knows the Sekbeist did not infiltrate our caravan when we were in the Endless Desert.”

“How close do you need to be to sense them?” I asked.

Lin flicked out her tongue and crossed her arms. We all waited on bated breath for the girl to answer.

“This princess can probably get a relatively accurate assessment if she is at least a two kilometers away from Vahn,” she said at last.

“In that case, Lin and I will travel to Vahn later tonight when it’s dark outside. I can mask our presence using the darkness element. Then Lin can use the Concept of Negation to get a feel for how powerful our enemies are,” I said.

No one had any complaints, and so our next order of business was determine guard rotation, patrol routes, and gathering supplies. We were already short on food, so we would need to get groups that could hunt some more for us. I thought this might be the most difficult task since the Lightning Giants required ten times more sustenance than humans.

***

I stood with Lin just a few kilometers outside of Vahn. The stars shone overhead, twinkling in the night sky, and the twin moons cast a pale red and blue glow upon the world. After living on Gudeverdenen for four whole years, it felt weird to see two moons again.

Lin had her eyes closed and her hands outstretched as though grasping at something I couldn’t see. I could sense the vile energy wafting from her body, though, and I knew that if she were to open her eyes right now, they would have been bloody crimson.

The two of us were wrapped within a cloak of darkness right now, which should theoretically make us invisible to any enemies staring out at the killing field. Indeed, I could spot several Sekbeist standing on the crenelations of Vahn and looking in our direction, though not one of them sounded the alarm.

“It’s done,” Lin said with a tired sigh as she lowered her arms. “This princess has a rough estimation of our enemies’ numbers.”

“Then let’s return to base,” I said.

I took Lin’s hand in my own and slowly merged into the shadows, using Shadow Walking to travel across the killing field because it was faster and we were less likely to be spotted. Any Spiritual Technique that hid someone from view would be disrupted when we moved. Though once we reached the forest, Lin demanded we walk the rest of the way instead of travel via shadows or earth.

“This princess barely gets you to herself anymore.” Lin pouted when I asked why. “It isn’t fair.”

“Well… I can’t deny that.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Though no one has really gotten me to themselves lately. We’ve all been so busy.”

“This princess knows that, but that does not mean she likes it. She wants you to spend time with her.”

I chuckled and, feeling a small burst of boldness, pressed Lin against a tree just we were about to walk past. Lin released a surprised cry. I muffled her mouth before it could truly sound out, pushing my tongue into her surprised mouth.

“Mph… mmm… mmmmmph.”

Lin moaned into my mouth as she got over her surprise and buried her hands into my hair. She scratched my scalp with her nails and made a mess of my green locks, undoing the leather band and causing my hair to come undone. I didn’t mind. Placing my hands on her naked hip, I relished in the feel of her wide hips and soft skin.

Sadly, even though I would have loved to make love to her right now in this forest, I was unable to do anything more. Our situation was still dire, we had so much that needed to be done, and neither of us had a chance to really get clean. The most we’d done was use a sponge to wipe each other down. That wasn’t exactly what I’d call hygenic.

“Lin, I love you, and once we’ve recaptured Vahn, I plan to show you and the others how much I love you,” I breathed into her ear. “Can you wait until then? Just a little longer?”

Lin shuddered against me and whispered back, “This princess will wait… but don’t keep her waiting too long.”

“I won’t.”

I pressed one last kiss to her lips before taking her hand and walking again, tugging along the somewhat dazed Lin behind me.

***

It was the next morning, and as everyone else was getting food, I was standing at a makeshift table alongside the other leaders of our group. The table was something I had created using the earth and water elements. Carved into the table’s surface was a relatively accurate map of Vahn. Several rocks that I had carved into the likeness of Sekbeists were situated on the map, markers to show where the majority of the Sekbeist forces was.

“There are roughly one million Sekbeists,” Lin began. “This princess has placed these statues to denote where most of the Sekbeists are most concentrated. For simplicity’s sake, let’s say that each statue represents ten thousand Sekbsists. You’ll see that the highest concentration is located near the foot of this mountain.” Lin gestured toward the mountain Vahn had been built around. “It can be assumed they are there primarily to protect the Warp Gate. However, there is also a large concentration of Sekbeists here and here. This princess was also able to sense several other presences that were not Sekbeists in these locations.”

“Slaves?” asked Alexis.

Lin shrugged. “This princess assumes so.”

The areas that Lin pointed out had once been the Paladin Sect’s main headquarters and the Merchant Guild’s Vhan branch office respectively. Both were highly defensible locations and would be a great place to keep slaves. I still wanted to know what the slaves were being used for, but it was far more important to create a plan to free the slaves than discover the Sekbeists’ reasons for enslaving them in the first place—at least for the moment.

“This princess also believes the Warp Gate at the top of the mountain is constantly open,” Lin continued. “While she was getting a feel for their numbers, she felt those numbers periodically increasing. This leads her to believe more Sekbeists are arriving on Miðgarðr every day.”

“That’s not good,” Alexis muttered.

Ashten nodded. “It is now more imperative than ever that we reclaim Vahn.”

“I believe our two priorities right now should be rescuing the slaves and closing the Warp Gate,” Kari added her two valis. “I can close the Warp Gate. I’ve become very proficient at runes and believe I have enough knowledge to close the Warp Gate without worrying about it destabilizing. It will take some time, however, and I won’t be able to defend myself while I’m doing it. I would like Lin to come with me while I’m doing it.”

“I can come with you,” Siv suddenly said.

“Hey! Don’t steal this princess’s duty!” Lin suddenly shouted. “This princess is perfectly capable of protecting Big Sister!”

“Easy, you two,” Kari said before Lin and Siv could get into an argument. “Siv, it makes me very happy that you want to help me, but you have an even more important task.”

Siv puffed out her cheeks, but she did relent and asked, “what task is that?”

“I want you to warp a group of our most powerful Spiritualists directly into the city.” Kari’s devious smile made Alexis and Ashten shudder. “We’ll send an advance team directly into the city. They will split into two groups. Group One will be tasked with dealing as much damage to the enemy as possible. Group Two will be in charge of rescuing the civilians. Both groups will be headed by Ashten and Alexis. I’ll leave who leads which group to the two of you.”

Alexis frowned. “I’m not against being in charge of either group, but why are we the ones you want to do this?”

“Because Eryk’s power is more useful elsewhere and Fay’s reputation can be used better if she’s with Eryk,” Kari explained. “Eryk is our most powerful Spiritualists, which is why he is going to lead the assault on Vahn. Not only will his power allow our army to more easily break into the city, but it will have a rallying affect on our forces. Fay might not be as strong, but her reputation proceeds her. If she is standing at the front lines, it will improve the morale of our forces.”

“It’s a good plan,” Earland said after a moment.

“Thank you, brother,” Kari said.

“So what are the rest of us going to do?” asked Aliya.

As if she had been expecting this, Kari turned to Earland, Aliya, and Raul. “Once we break into Vahn, you, Earland, Raul, Eryk, and Fay will break off into five groups and capture keypoints of the city. Once you have secured a foothold, your job will be to slowly eradicate the Sekbeist inside of the city while making your way toward the mountain. Lin and I will also begin making our way down the mountain once I’ve closed the Warp Gate.”

“How long do you think that will take?” asked Fay.

Kari bit the inside of her lip, not answering at first because she likely didn’t have a clear answer. In the end, she shrugged, and said, “I don’t know. I’ve never closed a Warp Gate before, but I’ve seen how they work and have a strong enough understanding of runes now that I believe I can close it. Worse comes to worst, I’ll destabilize the Warp Gate by destroying the archway, though I hope things don’t reach that point.”

“AND WHAT OF ME AND MY LIGHTNING GIANTS?” asked Galdr. “WHAT PART SHALL WE PLAY IN THIS GRAND BATTLE?”

“I’m so glad you asked,” Kari said with a proud grin. “Would I be correct in assuming Lightning Giants can ride lightning?” Galdr raised an eyebrow but nodded. “Then here is what you are going to do…”

While Galdr raised both eyebrows at Kari’s suggestion, and even Alexis and Ashten looked like they’d been shocked by a Spiritual Lightning Technique, the rest of us knew Kari well enough to know how her mind worked. She was as devious as they came. Her plan was just another example of how cunning my wife could be.

No one had any objections to the plan itself, though we did have to work out a few of the kinks, and we needed to discuss a time to launch our assault. It wouldn’t be today. Our forces were still tired from moving so much. We would have to launch our attack soon, however, because we had limited supplies, especially food. An army marched on its stomach. If we ran out of food, we would be screwed.

Once our plan was decided on and all the kinks had been worked out, the group split off to do their own thing. Alexis went to check on our supplies, Ashten spoke with the troops, and Galdr went over to the Lightning Giants. I felt a bit bad for the Lightning Giants. They didn’t quite fit in because of their height. A lot of our Spiritualists were intimidated by them, but I hoped that also meant our enemies were intimidated by them as well.

I didn’t know where Raul, Earland, or Aliya wandered off to, though I assumed my son was with his girlfriends. Since we had some free time, I decided the five of us should spend it taking a bath.

Naturally, that meant I created a bath several kilometers out.

The bath was shaped like a basin and hardened the ground. Siv and I used water manipulation to fill the basin while Kari and Fay heated it with the fire element. Lin had used the earth element not only form the bath but also decorate it with a ring of rocks. With steam rising from the surface, it looked a little like a hot spring.

“Aaaaaahhhh. This is niiiiice,” Lin said with a drawn out hiss. She stretched her arms above her head, moaning in content.

“I agree,” Kari said as she leaned back and closed her eyes. “Creating a hot spring was a good idea. We need a moment to relax before the big battle.”

“You won’t here any complaints from me,” I added.

“Of course not.” Kari rolled her eyes and sent me a playful smile. “We know how much you enjoy seeing us naked.”

“Mmmhmm. Though not being able to have sex with you is putting a damper on that,” I admitted.

“We’ll have time for that after Vahn has been retaken,” Kari said.

Fay crossed her arms and furrowed her brow. “That does make me wonder who among us will get to sleep with Eryk first.”

Silence descended upon the bath as the four women all eyed each other like they were staring down their greatest nemesis. I suddenly felt a cold sweat form along my back. While there was some part of me that thought I should get involved and take the lead here, I knew better than to let myself get dragged into one of their arguments. That was why I scooted further away and decided to simply play the spectator.

“I believe we should decide this with a water fight,” Kari said.

Lin nodded as her tail splashed the water behind her. “The winner gets to spend the first night alone with Darling.”

“I won’t lose,” Siv added.

Fay sighed, but then smiled in mixture of determined resignation. “I should have never opened my big mouth, but a water fight does sound like an acceptable contest. I’m in.”

I wasn’t sure who started the fight, but a giant wave nearly sent me spilling over the side, and the only reason I avoided that fate was because I manipulated the water to pass around me. But my word. The contest had only just started and they were already using Spiritual Techniques right off the bat.

The epic battle that followed was so loud that Ashten and Alexis would ask us what we had been up to. They didn’t believe me when I informed them that we had just been taking a bath.