The Soul Refiner Bk. 01 Ch. 22-24

"Well, that is what our preparations are for. I have heard of others who have attempted similar methods to this, and I have attempted to improve on their work. With any luck, you will have an easier time than I. Just remember, no matter what you feel, you will need to focus your will, and hold your intention firmly in mind. This is a trial not just for your spirit body, but for your soul."

"Yes, master." Myta nodded again, smiling. I was repeating myself, but at least my confidence in her came through. I had every expectation she would succeed, assuming I had done my part correctly. In truth I was confident about the ritual as well. At worst, she would need to suffer through it as I had. If that happened, however, I wasn't sure she could look at me the same way afterwards.

We set about finishing the preparations. Tarun did not have a dedicated ritual space in his home, few non-sorcerers did, but he had allowed me the use of his chapel. There were many shrines to various local gods, but none of them carried much intent. His household was not terribly devout. Even so, I set up our space apart from the shrines. Part of my role in this was to protect my vas from outside influence while her spirit was vulnerable. Ket had asked to witness the ritual, and Myta and I had both agreed, though only after I tested her mana control. It turned out the leopard spirit could nearly match my own level of discipline, which I hadn't expected. In any case, she would pose no accidental risk to Myta, so we let her stay.

Myta drank down the concoction I had put together for the ritual. I had dipped into my stash of rare mana herbs, things that I had saved for my own future growth. But they would serve her far better right now, than they would serve me in some distant future. My own growth had stagnated decades ago. The tonic would soften her anima, while helping her to generate extra mana, and condense it more easily. I had also added some medicines to heighten her arousal, and increase her feelings of pleasure. These were old Mithali formulae, things I hadn't made in a very long time, and that I had never personally tested.

I flooded the room with my presence, clearing the space of other influences. I didn't try and suppress Ket, she was managing very well herself, as expected. The shrines took little effort, and the rest of my presence blanketed the walls. I couldn't create a wholly clear zone within our makeshift sanctuary, but this was the closest to ideal conditions that we could manage. Only a warded chamber would work better.

It wasn't long before the tonic took effect. Myta's breathing became faster, shallower. And her pink tongue darted out to lick her gray lips. We had donned only lose robes, and laid out a thick woven mat on the stone floor, the kind used for indoor sparring matches. Kneeling face to face, I was able to watch as her eyelids began to flutter, and her pupils dilate. Soon her eyes were black voids, surrounded by rings of dancing flame. Her lips parted, and she seemed to struggle to speak, but only produced an unsteady moan. She tried again.

"Master, I'm ready, please." Her hands came up, tugging at the collar of her robe. She pulled the edges away from her skin, which was beginning to gleam with a fine sheen of sweat. Standing, I walked around her, gently pushing her away as she tried to lean into me. I tossed my robe aside as I knelt behind her, pulling her robe open, and off her shoulders using the half-shed garment to trap her arms behind her back.

"You may begin." I murmured in her ear. I reached around to cup her breasts, then squeezed them firmly, and gave her nipples a harsh tweak. Normally that last wouldn't have drawn much reaction from her, but this time she sucked in a shuddering breath. Apparently the tonic had vastly increased the sensitivity of her little, hard nubs. While I teased her, my vas concentrated her mana around the crown of her head, both inside and out. She did so with relative ease, despite my distractions, which was good. If she had struggled already, I would have called a halt to this.

Sliding one hand around the curve of her hip, my fingers slipped between her thighs. Her hips thrust forward, attempting to press her pearl to my fingertips, her knees spreading against the floor. But her mana remained steady, and well controlled, despite her obvious desire. I prepared my lancet, the razor's edge parting Myta's presence, pressing to the tip of her central meridian. When I had performed this ritual myself, long ago, I hadn't had the lancet. I'd needed to break my meridians with only the pressure of my mana from within. Like a clay pot filled with water, freezing, then bursting. My rent channels had been incredibly difficult to remake.

I slid my hand over her sex, my fingers parting her lips as my palm teased her swollen pearl. Pressing her shoulders back into me, Myta arched her back, her hips bucking into my touch. And then I pressed my blade home, splitting her node cleanly open, as though slicing a ripe fruit. My vas made a noise I had never heard from her before. She mewled, like a desperate kitten, overwhelmed by the sensations. Her voice was one part pain, and one part pleasure, overlaid with a vast ocean of need. But she remained focused and strong, the edges of the cut I'd made on her anima splitting open from the pressure within. Her mana was well controlled, remaining within the node rather than bleeding away into the air. Even her presence remained stable, a thick mist hovering about her head.

Once she found her equilibrium, her crown node at least a third larger than it had been, Myta began to heal the wound, I pushed my two middle fingers into her core as she did so, causing her to cry out in satisfaction. The angle was awkward, physically. With my hand and wrist twisted this way I could only graze the sweet spot within her, rub the edge of my hand over her pearl. Yet my flame's desire had built so high that even this awkward pleasuring was like water in the desert. She came, her thighs quivering with the small climax, her hips finally fell back to her heels. My hand kept working at her, as I watched her begin healing her crown, the mana she'd focused so hard to gather was crystallizing. Growing outward to seal the wound. Mindful of my part, I began slicing down along her central meridian, slicing it open down two her third eye.

This was perhaps the most dangerous time, the moment of truth. Myta had to expand her meridian, while still healing her crown. The need to split focus between healing a node, and further opening the meridian undid many sorcerers at this stage. Such a failure could damage one's spirit irreparably, or even destroy it. I was confident that Myta would succeed, but she needed to be pushed to her limits. This process was also to test and harden her will. Pulling my fingers from her sodden depths, I spread her lower lips, then began rubbing her pearl ferociously.

With a hoarse squeal, Myta came again, far more violently. Her body thrashed, trying to escape my sudden assault, and I had to release her robe and seize her throat instead. Her mind went blank, her arms now flailing in the loose sleeves of the robe as her tortured nub became painfully sensitive under my continued stimulation. And through it all, her spirit endured. Expanding, repairing, strengthening itself. I finally relented when her voice gave out, her breathing only arriving as gasping hiccups. Pulling my hand from between her thighs, I pulled her robe off, even as I began to slit open her third eye. I eased her onto her side, lying on the mat. Pressing myself up against her back.

I was achingly hard with my own desire. And as I rubbed the tip of my cock against her entrance, Myta's breathing seemed to calm. There was a sense of rightness as I slipped into her quivering tunnel, and whether that feeling came from my heart or hers, I couldn't say. She was so wet inside that I knew I wouldn't be finding my own release anytime soon. That was fine though. I was content just to pin her shaking body against me, slide myself gently in and out of her tunnel as she healed her split meridian, and expanded her second node.

We had a long night before us.