TRC - Searching for the Sky Ch. 16

He spotted the elk just as he was about to return home. The large beasts were exceptionally rare around where he lived since few of them had migrated south of the mountain ridge. The dwarves' large hunting grounds provided a safe refuge for the large deer to flourish so he didn't need to worry about taking this one, assuming he could bring it down.

Judging by the antlers and gray in its muzzle, this particular beast had been around for some time. The reason became clear as the skittish creature perked its ears and pranced away well before Kal was in range for his magical arrow. The animal then stopped, turning to the side and offering him a perfect shot that he couldn't take from here. It was as if the creature was taunting him. Glaring at the bull elk off in the distance, Kal decided that he was going to claim his first elk today.

He lost track of time as he tracked the large deer. The infuriating animal always seemed to know where he was and stayed just out of range. Ria had turned herself invisible early in the hunt just in case the tiny bit of light she gave off was alerting the animal to their position. Knowing that remaining unseen for long periods of time was taxing on the sprite, Kal sent her back to her bag until needed.

The sun was disappearing behind the trees and the stench of the nearby swamp was getting strong when the elk finally stopped long enough for him to quietly sneak into range for his arrow. Summoning the sprite again, he hid behind a tree to mask the light from forming the glowing projectile. Aware that the mage was probably still hunting, the bag of holding's avatar turned invisible again as soon as she appeared. He couldn't see Ria, but he felt her place a hand on his thigh to let him know she was there.

Slowly and cautiously Kal leaned out, targeting the area just behind the bull's shoulder blade. Exhaling, he steadied himself.

The arrow streaked toward the animal.

And struck a tree two paces in front of the creature's head, sending it bolting into the forest. This time, it didn't stop.

Ria looked up in confusion at Kal's face to find that he wasn't even looking in the direction of the fleeing elk. Following his gaze, she saw a group of glowing blue-green orbs that appeared to have flickering runic symbols on them floating above a patch of ground in the swamp. They were more than orbs though. As the sprite watched, it was as though the light from the spheres were reflecting off the inside of a person made of glass, but without the actual glass. Gradually she could make out feminine features such as breasts, curvy hips, and a face with full lips.

Ria rolled her eyes. "Really, Kal? You let that animal go just to stare at a pair of glowy tits? Like you don't get enough of that already with me around," she said smiling as she cupped her own and presented them up for the mage before remembering he couldn't see her.

Kal's reaction stopped her from making herself visible again. Specifically, his lack of reaction. He didn't even acknowledge that she had spoken and slowly rose to his feet. Turning toward the orbs, he began slowly walking towards them. His shoulder bumped into a tree that partially blocked his path and he nearly face-planted into the bog a moment later as his foot caught a root on the very edge of the forest. He acted as if the obstacles didn't even exist.

The sprite groaned in annoyance more than alarm as she landed on his shoulder, deciding to stay invisible so she didn't alarm the woman... orb... thing... in front of them. She understood how Kal's compatibility enchantment worked and whenever these two got down to actually fucking, the magic would kick in and nullify whatever she was using to control him. She figured it was probably some kind of pheromone considering they were downwind of the creature. As the sun disappeared behind the trees, Ria relaxed and tried to enjoy the ride as much as she could while the mage mindlessly slogged through the muddy swamp.

---

Ardolan smiled as she watched the wizard chase after the glowing orbs. A slight increase in the elk's danger sense, a little hurt pride and extra stubbornness for the human, and a faint inkling that there would be prey in this area for the will-o'-the-wisp. Tiny nigh-undetectable nudges to each of them that were now all coming together just as she planned.

Waving her arm across the scrying pool, the scene changed to Mother's pet cleric as she knelt outside of her tent in the mountains, praying.

After the last fiasco, the Goddess had decreed that Ardolan not help the human woman but said nothing about keeping the young mage from harm. The cleric couldn't obsess over someone if they were dead.

---

Kal had been trudging along for some time after the orb-woman when Ria noticed that the mage was walking on more solid ground now. The sun had set some time ago but the copse they were venturing into was easy to see thanks to the creature's bright glow. Not that she really wanted to see their surroundings. The trunks and branches of the trees in this area were twisted and gnarled while a type of moss hung down from their boughs. The inhospitable air of the place made it feel like the strands that brushed over her as Kal walked beneath them were trying to drag her off the human's shoulder. More than once the little avatar was forced to float in place as the mage picked himself up from tripping on more roots. He also walked into a number of low-hanging branches, despite Ria desperately tugging at his arm in an attempt to turn him from his course.

The sprite perked up and turned invisible once again when she noticed the woman had stopped. Two smaller orbs traveled down the woman's arms to her hands as she came over and took Kal's in her own, directing him to sit with his back against a nearby tree.

Ria scowled as she looked at his face. He had gotten surprisingly banged up and was so out of it that he hadn't even healed himself. More disconcerting was that the woman with the glowing spheres in her body was now reaching for his belt and he had yet to snap out of her control. As she fished out his prick from his trousers his head tilted to one side, staring blankly at the ground next to him.

Okay, so this woman wanted to sex him up, no big deal. She isn't doing anything that might actually hurt him... yet.

That 'yet' bothered Ria and she was worried that the woman might attack or kill him once they had mated. Unfortunately, there wasn't much she could do besides be a nuisance to the much larger woman.

Ria rolled her eyes again as the woman stroked the Kal's prick to hardness, of course that part of him would still be working. Once he was ready she straddled his lap and sank down on the human's cock. At least the sprite thought she did by the look of bliss on the woman's face, it was hard to tell what was going on with her transparent body.

In a different situation, the little avatar would have been happily playing with herself as they got it on. She had done so many times before when watching Kal make love to one of his women. The man's strange behavior and the seeming failure of the compatibility spell had her far too worried for such thoughts.

The sprite watched the woman and Kal for a long time. She didn't seem to be in much of a hurry which bothered Ria even more. She felt there should be some degree of urgency to finish quickly in case some beast of the swamp came across them while in the act. The lazy manner in which she was riding him indicated to the sprite that either there was nothing dangerous in the area, which seemed unlikely, or that the woman didn't care if something came along and killed her lover. The latter seemed more likely to the avatar.

Kal made a low moaning noise in his throat though his expression didn't change. A couple of seconds later his hips jerked and he shot his seed up into the woman riding him, his spunk sailing through the woman's body to splash on the ground between his legs. Ria was extremely confused by this. To most monster girls, a man's seed was more precious than gems and gold. Her eyes widened as a tiny wisp of light flowed out of Kal's prick immediately after his seed. She knew what that was from Kal's descriptions and from watching Ikuno's last moments before disappearing. The wisp floated gently up until it contacted the largest orb in the middle of the woman's chest, which pulsed with light as it absorbed the tiny piece of the mage's lifeforce. After taking a moment to savor her meal, the woman started riding him again.

Ria panicked, "Kal!" she screamed, becoming visible and flitting down in front of his face. "Kal she's stealing your life! She's eating it! You have to snap out of this!" Buzzing over to one side of his head she grunted and strained as she pushed it back to an upright position. "If you don't wake up she is going to kill you!" she yelled, flying in front of his face. She slapped him on the side of the mouth in desperation, but even that received no response.

She was so preoccupied with Kal that she didn't see the woman behind her draw an arm across herself. Ria was still pleading with the mage when the woman backhanded her out into the trees about them.

The sprite screamed in pain as tiny arcs of energy crawled across her body. Fighting to remain conscious, she knew that if she returned to her bag there was no chance at all to get help.

Help. That was what she needed, there was no way she could take on this woman by herself.

As the sparks faded, she shot a final glare at the woman riding Kal. Turning back the way they had come, Ria flew as fast as she could in the direction of their camp. Hoping that Sera had discovered an untapped well of bravery in their absence, she didn't notice how brightly her body now glowed or the ghostly trails of energy that followed her.

The creature looked with confusion at the hand she used to swat the sprite away that was now missing its orb of light.