The Mind Element Ch. 11

Author's note. All characters are over 18, as established in earlier Chapters or in "Master of Elements" to which this is a sequel.

The Mind Element - Chapter 11

"Now, I will teach knowledge for the liberation of those people who have conquered their passion. The element earth is first, water second, fire third, air fourth, ether fifth and mind (manastattva) is said to be the sixth [tattvaṃ manaḥ ṣaṣṭham]. The seventh is the highest reality: he who knows it, is liberated." Amanaska Yoga treatise

The discovery of what the Theia Stone had done to Fay came about in an unexpected way. Everyone was still in London, knowing they must soon return to their various normal lives and mundane duties and yet reluctant to part. This proved important when a panicked Marco contacted Chris about his girlfriend. Fay had been feeling ill for a few days, which had never happened before, and now she was bleeding.

Normally, his call would have been to a doctor or maybe even for an ambulance, but Fay was no normal girl. She had not been born into this world; instead her body had been made by Jennifer Kitaka using the power of Elemental Earth. Chris concluded that Jenny and Athena - who best understood the strange linkage between this world and that of the Aether from which Fay's consciousness came - were the most likely to be able to help. So the two women hurried to the flat Fay and Marco shared.

The physical side of what ailed Fay proved easily resolved and needed no expertise either medical or elemental; as women, Athena and Jenny knew only too well what the problem was. Fay was having a period and the bleeding was of menstrual blood. After calming both Fay and Marco down, assuring them the girl was in no danger and dispatching Marco to buy some tampons, the two Mistresses of Elements turned their thoughts to the implications of this.

"When I made you a body to inhabit, Fay, I skipped the internal reproductive system," Jenny explained. "It wasn't needed for the purpose at hand and I only expected you to be here for a few weeks at most, so I though why bother with the complexity of it? That's why you haven't had any periods before. Clearly something has changed. I'll use my powers to examine you."

A few moments later Jenny spoke again. "There's no doubt about it, Fay. You're human; fully human, as if you really had a mother and father out there somewhere."

"The stone must have done this when you touched it to amplify your thoughts and send us the message during the battle," concluded Athena.

"You and Marco will need to be more careful in future when making love," Jenny added. "You could get pregnant now."

Athena was deep in thought. She was certain there was far more significance to this than the others understood. She would have loved to know why the stone had done this to Fay. She was sure it was intentional although how a rock could have plans she had no idea.

"Fay, this is profound," she said at last. "When we travel to the Aether World it is in thought alone and although the bodies we create there seem real enough, in truth they are not, being the product of will and mind. When you first came here, it was the similar with you - your consciousness was from the Aether World but your Earthly body synthetic, created by Jenny for you to inhabit. This is no longer true - now you have both a native body to the Aether World and a human one here. In effect you inhabit both worlds at once. Such a thing has never happened before and I don't know what it means."

Fay was back to looking frightened. Seeing this Jenny said, in the upbeat but soothing tone she had perfected in her nursing days, "It just means Fay's very special."

Athena smiled, "She was always that."

*****

Sarah Ness had said nothing to anyone, especially not her husband, as she was still working it out. As powers went it had limitations, because you needed to spend time with someone to understand what it meant because everyone was different. However, if you did know someone well, it was incredibly useful.

Sarah had discovered over the past week that she could see what she called an 'aura' around people, taking the form of a coloured glow, and that this aura changed with their mood. Properly interpreted, this gave her extraordinary insights into character and motivation and that in turn could be used to manipulate them. And Sarah was finding a growing pleasure in manipulating people. The downside was that there was no standard pattern - everyone was different and it took a while to work out the meaning of a person's aura and its patterns.

The two people she was currently looking at she knew well and reading them was becoming child's play. Randall Ness and Haley Wood had just come into the room together from wherever it was they had been for the last hour. Sarah noted that her husband's aura was glowing golden - the sign of the self-satisfied smugness that was Randall's default emotion. He was, as so often, pleased with himself.

Haley had a violet aura which flushed a deeper purple colour at the sight of Sarah, who knew what that signified. With Haley purple meant embarrassment and it had just increased. Guessing the reason was easy; Randall and Haley had just been having sex. Sarah permitted this - it was best to give her husband, who had always had mistresses, some outlet for his desires - but he was supposed to tell her about it. Naturally enough he didn't, because that made it more fun. Randall was characteristically shameless about that, but Haley, on seeing Sarah, clearly felt guilty.

Then a hint of scarlet crept into the violet, slowly reddening it. This was the colour of desire and Haley was looking at Sarah herself. The latter was interested, but not especially surprised. She and Haley has both been part of Randall's harem when he still mind-controlled them and that experience seemed to have done something to the sexuality of all the girls involved. Sarah had always regarded herself as straight, but these days she found the 21-year-old Haley far from repulsive.

More importantly, it occurred to Sarah that Haley would make an excellent spy on what Randall was doing when she was not around. All she needed to do was get her onside and make Haley loyal to her. Sarah made up her mind to act on this thought at once.

She got up and said, "Haley, could I have a word with you in private please."

"Yes of course, madam," the former intern replied. She was, after all, officially Sarah's personal assistant.

The younger woman was displaying an interesting array of colours to Sarah's eyes. The violet was back - Haley was presumably worried she had been found out for the recent sex-session with her employer and was going to be told off - the scarlet was still there and now there was a dash of white, lightening it. White was the colour of submissiveness in Haley. She had a personality that was easily dominated by others. Sarah intended to take advantage.

Sarah led her to the room she had claimed as her personal office while they were here. She went behind a large and imposing desk and sat herself in an equally grand swivel chair. She didn't invite Haley to sit, but left her standing on the other side of the desk.

"My husband fucked you this morning." Sarah said it with brutal directness and it wasn't a question. "And without my permission being asked," she added.

Haley face blushed crimson and her aura blazed purple with embarrassment, "Yes madam..."

"Call me Mistress when we're alone."

"Yes... umm... Mistress. It is just that Mr Ness' is so persuasive. He... he charmed me... told me it would be alright and I should just go along with what he wanted..." Haley was flustered.

Sarah knew that her husband's power to convince others to do as he wished was real enough and granted by the Theia Stone. She was grateful they didn't work on her, presumably because it had also affected her at the same time. However, it suited Sarah to ignore this in Haley's case.

"Stop there. I permit you and my husband to have sex, but you are supposed to tell me first. You have broken the rules and so you must be punished. Strip naked at once and bend over the desk. I'm going to spank you."

Sarah observed the changes in the girl's aura with interest. The embarrassment was fading and being replaced by the white of submission and the scarlet of desire, blending together to give her a pink glow. Pleasingly, Haley didn't protest or argue but simply obeyed, albeit with a pretence of reluctance. With her normal human sight, Sarah watched as the Haley removed her shoes, slowly unbuttoned and shrugged off her blouse, unzipped her skirt, letting it fall to the ground before stepping out of it, and finally unclipped and discarded her bra and slipped her panties down her legs, to stand naked for a moment before bending over the desk.

The seeming reluctance Haley had shown in these actions was being contradicted by her aura, which showed that as she submitted to Sarah's orders and stripped, her lust had increased. The reality was that Haley was being aroused by every moment of her humiliation.

Sarah got up and walked round the desk to where the 21-year-old awaited her. "Spread your legs wider," she ordered abruptly. Haley did so instantly and the older woman felt between them with her fingers. Haley's pussy lips were damp with arousal, pussy juices leaking gently from her cunt to lubricate Sarah's probing fingers. Her Mistress laughed, amused that the aura did not lie; Haley was indeed aroused.

Sarah stepped back and began to spank Haley's ass with the flat of her hand. She kept going, swapping sides and hands to cover both cheeks and smacking as hard as she could, until finally her own palms protested the contact enough for her to stop. As for Haley's backside, it was bright red. The girl's reaction was interesting. She gave little gasps and moans of pain from time to time, and tears even ran down her cheeks, yet she never once protested or asked Sarah to stop. A quick feel of Haley's pussy confirmed she was wetter than ever. There was even a damp patch on the desk where her pussy had rested.

She wasn't the only one. Sarah was only too aware how aroused spanking the girl had made her as well. "Stand up. Thank me for punishing you and apologise."

Haley stood and lifted up her tear-stained face to Sarah. "Thank you Mistress for my just punishment and I apologise unreservedly for my wickedness. I won't do it again."

"Good girl. You are forgiven. However, I want to know what my husband did to you today."

Haley dipped her head, not looking at Sarah as she said: "He made me undress, then go on my knees and give him a blowjob. Then he made me lie on your bed and he fucked me until we both came."

"Then I must have the same," said Sarah decisively. "Pick your clothes up, but don't put them on, and follow me."

Sarah led the girl out of the office and headed for the stairs up to the main bedroom. As Haley realising that she was going to have to walk through the house not just naked but with her fiery-red well-spanked buttocks on display for anyone to see, she seemed to start to say something, but then thought better of it and meekly followed. Sarah was wishing she had a collar and lead she could put on the girl to complete her humiliation. She made a mental note to buy one.

As Sarah led Haley across the entrance hall to the stairs she contemplated the pleasures to come. She would sit on the bed and Haley would kneel between her legs and go down on her. Sarah knew she would cum hard - she was practically half way there already and nobody had even touched her yet. Then she would fetch the strap-on Randall had given her in the harem days and fuck the girl hard on the marital bed, just as her husband had done. Afterward Haley would get her orders to let Randall fuck her as often as he wanted, but for her to report everything Randall did to her new Mistress.

Sarah wondered where this dominant, even sadistic, streak had come from. Was it an effect of the Stone, or had the things that had happened to her released something that had always been there, just lying dormant? She wasn't sure, but she knew she liked it. And she also knew that Randall Ness would never push her around again. They were equals now and she intended to make sure he understood it. But she also thought there was much they might do together.

*****

Chris, accompanied by Brigit, had gone to see Randall and Sarah Ness before they returned to the US. It was not something he relished, but it was unavoidable as they had many things to discuss. For one thing, they needed to agree a line on what had happened to Colonel Baker and Sergeant Kelly. The pair had entered the UK on temporary visas and when they failed to leave questions would arise.

The bodies would never be found - Jenny had seen to that. The Mistress of Earth had dissolved them into their constituent atoms, which were now scattered in the gardens of Ness' Berkshire mansion. She had also repaired the extensive damage to the house, doing weeks of work for builders in minutes. But the fact remained that authorities would swiftly work out that Baker and Kelly had not been seen since the day of a meeting between Ness and Chris, and it seemed inevitable to the latter they would be questioned by the police.

Ness, however, was unconcerned. "Baker and his men were international mercenaries, as the police will quickly realise. They slipped in and out of countries under assumed identities all the time. I'll just say Baker and Kelly left suddenly one day and I've no idea where they are. I've already paid-off his surviving associates handsomely, and they will back up that story. With no leads to follow and no bodies, thanks to Ms Kitaka, the authorities will just assume they are off on some nefarious mission somewhere."

"Maybe," said Chris, half-convinced. "I still feel bad about the fact we had to kill Colonel Baker."

"Really?" said Randall Ness. "Ms Nordlander didn't seem greatly concerned. No more than Ms Chen did about the men she drowned in the Philippines; seems I'm not the only one who associates with cold-hearted killers."

"All those were in self-defence, Ness; there's a difference."

"Still, if it worries you so much, I can tell you that I researched Colonel Baker's background before I employed him. Baker wasn't his real name and he was a Major in the US Special Forces not a Colonel. When he was in Afghanistan, two Taliban fighters he was tracking took refuge in a building where a wedding party was taking place. Baker called in an air strike. The terrorists were killed, but so were seventeen innocent civilians, included the bride and several children. The Army managed to hush it up, but Baker was court martialled and kicked out of the army."

"That's horrible," said Brigit.

"That's not the end of it," Randall added. "Baker's living as a mercenary included assassination, kidnapping, murder - all just for the money, as he prided himself on his professionalism. He really wasn't a very nice man, and you probably did the world a favour in killing him."

"Remember you hired him to kidnap innocent women and hold them captive," Chris noted in a warning tone. "I haven't forgotten or forgiven, Ness."

"You know perfectly well I was forced into it by that Creature thing of yours. It had nothing to do with me." Ness sounded defensive for the first time.

"I know the exact opposite," Chris said grimly. "It was influencing you, but most of what happened was your doing."

"Well, it all worked out for the best in the end," Randall suggested. "And now I too am linked to your magical stone, so we are allies. That rock is far too powerful not to be investigated. Think what it might do for the world. I have great resources - let's become friends and explore its wonders together. What do you say to a partnership, Christopher?"

"I'm never letting you anywhere near it again. But because you have gained powers, you - and Mrs Ness - are now my responsibility. I need to understand what has happened to you and I'll be watching you both. But that doesn't make us allies and certainly not friends. Behave yourself and I might stretch as far as tolerance. Step out of line and I'll destroy you if I have to."

"Now who's making threats," Randall said sulkily, but it was obvious he was intimidated and didn't much like the feeling.

Sarah Ness had been watching all this and wishing her husband wasn't so egotistical and understood the risks he was running. It was clear that Randall's powers of persuasion had no effect at all on Chris or Brigit, as she expected. But her own ability, perhaps because it was a passive rather than active one, at least allowed her to see the auras of the Master of Elements and Mistress of Fire, and what she saw frightened her.

Chris was essentially unreadable, the colours of his aura multi-hued and confusing, ashough Sarah was pretty sure he was currently containing his anger with Randall. But Brigit was very simple - red, orange, yellow, white; the colours of fire. At the moment, she was showing a smouldering dull red, like a camp fire barely alight and under control. But Sarah could tell that in just moments, with the right trigger, that could turn to a molten brazing white heat, with a power that would consume everyone and everything here in seconds.

Brigit was frankly terrifying in her power, and Sarah knew the other Mistresses of Elements were the same; forces of chaos and destruction contained only by the basic goodness of the women who embodied that power and the moderating influence of their Master. They were not people to annoy for the sake of it. She would do what she could to convince Randall of this later, but his ego was likely to get in the way.

For the moment, Sarah was just glad that the strange girl with purple hair had not come as well. With her ability to read minds she might had discovered Sarah's power and she wanted to keep that to herself until she had explored it and whether there was anything else she could do. The sooner she and Randall returned to the States and put thousands of miles between them and Christopher Ward, the better she would like it.

*****

Chris returned dissatisfied from his visit to Randall Ness; nothing had been resolved and all he could do was keep an eye on what he and his wife got up to. And it would be a long range eye as Ness and his entourage were returning to California imminently.

There were also sadder departures in the offing. Athena and Marco were returning to the university in southern Italy and Fay was going with them. Jenny was also resuming her interrupted studies in New York and Matsu returning to her job in Taiwan. Freya was staying a few days longer, but then she and Carter would be travelling to Sweden. They would all be able to meet up in the Aether World - a date had already been arranged - but that wasn't quite the same as being physically together in the their home world.

Before they all parted Matsu had a thought she put to the others. "My upbringing, in the Chinese tradition, included the wisdom of several faiths, and I recall that there was a Buddhist text about the elements. It came to mind when Athena said Fay was the sixth element, so I looked it up. This is what it says:

'Now, I will teach knowledge for the liberation of those people who have conquered their passion. The element earth is first, water second, fire third, air fourth, aether fifth and mind is said to be the sixth. The seventh is the highest reality: he who knows it, is liberated.'

So I was wondering, what - or who - is the seventh element?"

"God, obviously," said Jenny with certainty.

"I don't think so," said Matsu, "Buddhists don't really follow gods, at least not in the way you mean."

"Maybe it's the Theia Stone?" suggested Brigit, in a speculative tone.

"It's certainly powerful, but it doesn't fit with anything else," replied Matsu.