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Serondes embraced me as we kissed, causing tingly sparks of electricity to run all the way down my body to the tips of my toes, which curled in pleasure. My body practically singing with the sensations. I gave a little happy one-legged back kick.

Kissing was totally awesome. I had no shame in admitting that I had no solid experience with it, but, just, wow.

Also - he liked me! At least, that’s how I was interpreting his enthusiastic kisses.

He rolled me over so he was on top of me, my back pressed against the grass with his cute eyes framed by the night sky.

Long kisses on my lips, short pecks on my - and having gotten the idea his - neck, and deep, exploratory smooches. They all made me feel great, had me arching my back, had me reaching up like a baby bird demanding MORE whenever a kiss broke.

Serondes held me tightly, as my one free hand eagerly explored, slipping under his robe to feel his perfect chest and smooth abs. I wasn’t much of a chest or abs woman, but his were nice. Nice to feel, nice to touch, nice to grasp as I brought him in for another kiss.

The other hand was keeping the egg protected and warm, and I had a brief moment of insanity where I considered putting it to the side to better embrace Serondes.

Serondes wasn’t just a still kissing machine either. One hand had threaded its way into my hair, using it to bring me in for a kiss when he wanted, while the other was wrapped around my waist. I could feel his fingers, the heat of them burning into me while we continued melding our mouths together, separating for a moment only to find a new, better way of kissing.

[*ding!* [Passionate Learning] has leveled up! 377->378]

I half-jumped at the notification, clicking my teeth awkwardly against Serondes’s, the first non-graceful moment in our passionate embrace.

Also - I was going to murder the System for its terrible pun. I was learning all sorts of new things, and I was passionate about it, there was no doubt.

I don’t know how long we stayed together, a mess of thrashing limbs and sucking noises. I was all too aware of his leg between mine, and how excited he was to be kissing me. I occasionally took my hand out from his robe, wrapping it around his waist, pulling him in tighter.

I gasped as he kissed my neck, softly nibbling and sucking on my tender flesh. When he was done with me, I struck back, performing my best vampire impression on the side of his neck.

I was hickey-proof. He wasn’t. Just a heck of a lot harder to show I’d been here.

It was pretty fun, until I realized I’d just remove it with [Cosmic Presence] passively healing him.

Ah well. The only thing I could try was sucking harder and longer to make it last.

Then again, elves were such bullshit that bruises probably faded in a day or two anyways, before my skills or their vitality kicked in.

Serondes rolled us over, so I was on top, and he was on bottom. We shared a kiss, as his hand moved from my waist to my chest.

“Whoa there!” I broke the kiss, sitting back on his stomach, using my one free hand to grab his wandering hand.

He didn’t say anything, just quirking an eyebrow at me in a question. I glanced up at the sky, and realized the time. We must’ve spent hours making out and petting each other.

“Let’s take it nice and slow, ok? We’ve got the time.” I said, clambering up from my oh-so-hot fleshy perch that was all mine.

Serondes got back to his feet, and with his oh-so-musical voice, leaned over so he was speaking in my ear.

“As you wish.” He whispered, and oh boy did that do good things to me. Sending a massive thrill through my body was just the start.

Annnnnnnnnnnnd he killed it all by copping a feel anyways through the Mistweave. Was not a fan of being touched after I’d made it clear I didn’t want it right now, but I wasn’t going to make a huge deal out of it. Not while I was still riding the high of kissing the totally cool Serondes. Serondes, the badass mage. Serondes, the kind and helpful. Serondes, the smart and suave. Serondes, the architect. Serondes, the cute. Serondes, the supernaturally perfect. Serondes, with the Lava eyes, and the short tousled hair that was just so. Serondes, with the adorable little goat horns.

Serondes, the I-gotta-know-more-about-you.

Serondes, the I’m-not-trying-to-eat-you, and the I’m-not-telling-you-to-quit-your-job-and-become-my-housewife. I wasn’t sure which dates had been worse. I banished those memories from my mind.

We traded one more kiss, then I grabbed his hand as we walked back to Castle Serondes, the massive walls having been raised by him. We made it back to our sleeping section, where he picked me up for one last kiss.

I wrapped my legs around him, and made it more like thirty “last kisses”, before tapping him to put me down. He stole one last kiss, which I didn’t mind, and put me down.

“Good night Elaine. Sleep well.” Serondes mimed blowing me a kiss, which I mimed catching.

“Night Serondes! You too! I’ll be thinking of you!” My heart was still going a million miles an hour.

He liked me!

I entered my tiny little room, as Serondes kept hanging out.

“Wanna invite me in?” He outrageously flirted, and I giggled at his forward approach. I knew if I said yes, he’d be coming in a lot more than the room, and I just wasn’t ready for that.

“Good night!” I leaned out to give him one more kiss, then skipped back into the room. I settled into my bedroll - another elvish loan, they were all far too nice - and stared at the ceiling.

He likes me! We kissed! A TON! Oh what else are we going to do? What’s next? How do we…

My thoughts kept running through my head, until a nastier one came to mind.

Serondes was, by all measures, a lot stronger than I was. He was a stronger mage, physically stronger, bigger than me, and heavier than me. When he was on top, if he didn’t want me to leave or escape? There was no way I’d be able to. I was entirely at his mercy, and I didn’t like the idea or the feeling at all.

I grimaced to myself.

I didn’t think I could do terribly much about it. On Pallos, there was always going to be a personal power imbalance between couples. Heck, on Earth there was as well, but on Pallos it was magnified. Either I was the one with overwhelming power versus my date - like with Jaclyn - or my elvish boyfriend could flip me around like a pillow. How did the elves put it before? Ah, Yes... Fragile...

Was there much I could do besides take sensible precautions, then put myself out there and hope for the best? Even when it made me feel uncomfortable.

The dawn arrived as I was musing over the question, working it over. I figured I should just get up at that point, and work on no sleep for the day. I had [Sunrise] and a boatload of vitality, I could get through one all-nighter. Especially with the powerful infusion of energy Serondes had given me!

It didn’t stop me from sleepily dragging myself out though, seeing Serondes and the rest of the elves already at breakfast, feasting on leftover hydra.

He was looking annoyingly fresh - darn all the elves and their obnoxious perfection.

“Good morning Elaine~” Serondes shot me his dazzling eyes, which caused my heart to go all a-flutter again.

I opened my mouth to say something back, but Awarthril interrupted.

“Elaine!” Awarthril hustled over to me, shoving a plate of food into my hand. She hooked her arm in mine, and like a force of nature, walked me out of the castle.

Serondes had widened the narrow crack needed to get in, which was the only way Awarthril managed to get me outside, out of reach of the other elves.

“Um, hi, good morning Awarthril.” I was unsure why I’d been rudely hustled out. Awarthril turned to me, picking some grass out of my hair. I went red.

“Ok, Elaine, you’re totally safe here. Just checking, everything ok with you?” Awarthril fretted over me, smoothing out my Mistweave and brushing imaginary grass pieces off.

“Yes? Why?” I was still puzzled.

“Serondes didn’t do anything untoward? Didn’t take any liberties with you? I’ll totally kill him if he did, you just tell me.”

And I was ready to die of embarrassment.

“Buh, uh, how did you know?” I stammered out.

Awarthril tapped her nose.

“The nose knows. Enhanced sense of smell, remember?”

“Well, he had his way with me in a way I really enjoyed.” I gave an impish grin back, as Awarthril threw her head back and laughed.

“HA! Alright, just remember. We girls need to stick together. If something happens - if Serondes does anything bad - you tell me immediately, ok?” Awarthril was holding onto me, staring directly at me. Her words were light, and her tone wasn’t.

“Yeah, of course!” I readily agreed, but I was feeling a mite defensive. It was Serondes. He wouldn’t do anything bad, right? I’d already kinda wrestled with the question last night, and had decided to go for it. I couldn’t spend my life hiding under a rock, scared of any attachments I might make.

I knew that was the hormones talking, but cripes, they were loud.

We walked back to where everyone else was still eating breakfast. I hadn’t gotten a chance yet, not with one hand holding the egg, and the other still holding onto my rapidly cooling breakfast.

“Any chance I could get some sort of sling or something?” I bounced the egg in my hand a few times in front of everyone, making it clear what I was talking about.

“I think I can arrange a carrying method.” Serondes was clearly flirting, putting some double meanings in his words.

He took the egg from my hand, and I saw Lava erupting as I chowed down, creating a nice warm bed for the egg while he worked.

Serondes generated a single fine strand of sand, a loop made out of single grains of fine sand against each other. He spent a careful moment checking over the line, before flashing Lava through it, turning it into glass. He started to sing, and I wished the moment would never end, an eternity of listening to his musical voice.

It was like windchimes.

He made a second loop, interweaving its creation with the first one.

Strand by delicate strand was made, Serondes neatly weaving what looked to be a fancy sash out of layered strands of flexible, magically reinforced glass. A sash-cross-basket, with a neat pocket, perfectly sized for an egg.

“Arms up!” Serondes said, and I happily complied. He lowered it onto me, and if his hands did some extra brushing, lingered a bit?

Well, that just came with the dating territory.

I made some little adjustments, finding to my delight that I could beam my Radiance through the glass, into the egg. Sure, I lit up like a Christmas tree doing so, the glass refracting and sending light everywhere, but hey. It worked, and kept my hands free.

“If it’s stupid and it works, it isn’t stupid.” I had a goofy grin on as I said that, to Aegion’s mirthful chuckle.

“Ain’t that the truth.”

Honestly, the only problem with the harness was it made cuddling with Serondes a bit awkward. I couldn’t comfortably use his lap as a seat, I still tried as I ate though.

“So what now?” I asked between bites of leftover hydra. They were still fresh cuts from last night, but I could tell they were starting to go off a bit. I wouldn’t eat them for lunch, just jerky.

“We were just talking about that!” Awarthril eyed a hydra steak, pushing it away from her. “We’re going to spend a few days here, decompress from the fight, then keep going. The only question is, how long do we spend?”

“A week.” Serondes jumped in, shooting me eyes with promises of what, exactly, he hoped to spend the next week doing.

“Three days. Look, we might be Immortal, but Elaine’s got somewhere to be.” Awarthril argued back.

“Let’s just split the difference at five.” Aegion weighed in.

Kiyaya and Cordamo were both agreeing with their respective bonded Elf.

They turned to me, at a 2-2-1 tie.

“Why wait around at all?” I asked.

“Well, if our life is nothing but fight fight fight fight, it’ll drive us nuts. Make us lose touch with our elfanity. We need to deliberately relax after every fight, otherwise the weight of centuries of fighting without rest will crush us.” Awarthril kindly explained.

That made way too much sense. I was already flighty, jumping at shadows when I was the slightest bit intoxicated, and I was 20. I was already on track to be a bitter PTSD victim by 40, forget 400.

“I imagine you’ve never seen an Immortal lose it and go on a rampage.” Serondes added in. “Not pretty.”

I could barely imagine. Someone with thousands of levels, snapping and deciding to take as many people down with him as possible?

I resolved to work on my mental health, but deciding what was the right balance was hard. The longer we stayed here, the more time I had to snog Serondes, the later I’d get home. Kiyaya’s time limit was a ticking bomb in the back of my head, making me all too aware that I needed to level, and level fast.

Hormones, once again, decided the issue for me.

“Three days.” I voted. I could tell my thinking was somewhat muddled, my brain going into stupid overdrive every time I saw Serondes’s smiling face. I wanted to rebel somewhat against that feeling.

“Right, three days it is!” Aegion hopped up, going over to tend to his barrels. I wondered what the base of his beer was?

“Come on Kiyaya! Let’s go play, and leave the two lovebirds alone.”

Serondes and I locked eyes, as the elves gave us room to ourselves.

“Have you ever walked in a garden of glass?” Serondes got up, offering me his arm. I slipped my hand into it.

“No - why don’t you show me?” I said as we started to walk out of the castle.

Kiyaya and Awarthri were playing fetch, the elf throwing sticks at incredible speeds, with Kiyaya shooting after them almost as fast. Arm in arm, we pivoted, going in another direction. I didn’t say much, just looking at the handsome Serondes, as he forged a path for us. With every left step we took into the open field, Sand formed into shapes of wild and fantastical flowers and plants, each one different. With every right step, Lava surged, merging and transforming the Sand into wondrous glass creations. Serondes started to whistle, shaping and forming the glass, turning the rough cut into polished perfection.

It was a wonderful, grand date, and in the middle of the garden we’d traced out, it seemed like a good time and place to practice kissing some more.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 20]

[Mana: 412740/412740]

[Mana Regen: 275034 (+356755.875)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 91]

[Strength: 941]

[Dexterity: 1468]

[Vitality: 11166]

[Speed: 11166]

[Mana: 41274]

[Mana Regeneration: 41363 (+35675.5875)]

[Magic Power: 18178 (+340837.5)]

[Magic Control: 18178 (+340837.5)]

[Class 1: [The Dawn Sentinel - Celestial: Lv 420]]

[Celestial Affinity: 420]

[Cosmic Presence: 286]

[The Stars Never Fade: 1]

[Center of the Universe: 420]

[Dance with the Heavens: 420]

[Wheel of Sun and Moon: 420]

[Mantle of the Stars: 420]

[Sunrise: 344]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 345]]

[Radiance Affinity: 345]

[Radiance Resistance: 345]

[Radiance Conjuration: 345]

[Solar Flare: 1]

[Nectar: 345]

[Sun's Heart: 345]

[Scintillating Ascent: 313]

[Kaleidoscope: 345]

[Class 3: Locked]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 370]

[Pristine Memories: 217]

[Egg Incubation: 44]

[Bullet Time: 420]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 375]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 395]

[Persistent Casting: 291]

[Passionate Learning: 378]

Comments

Mike G.

Good chapter, thanks!

Satya Prateek

Why'd you have to be a creep Serondes :(

Anonymous

Hoo boy, here we go! Edit: * Ding * You learned the general skill "snogging ". * Ding * Snogging advanced to 2nd level (base)

Alexey Gladkich

There's that cliche joke: what's the difference between sexy, awesome behaviour and creepy behaviour? The answer: if you are rich and hot then it is awesome and sexy; if you are poor and ugly then it is creepy.

Alexey Gladkich

I wonder if after learning about Elaine's Oath and doing some blunders, Awarthril will come up and swear the Iona's protection Oath. It is so much in her character.

Sesharan

Bleh. Not a promising start, especially given that Awarthil apparently has seen enough of Serondes’s behavior that she felt it worth taking Elaine aside and knew what questions to ask.

Sean

Ah yes I recognize this one, it's called foreshadowing.

SelkieMyth

Yes, but this is Awarthril's natural protectiveness kicking in, NOT anything Serondes-specific. She'd ask the same of any woman starting to date anyone.

evyatar

When she returns to humanity would she find imperfections everywhere? Hopefully she would not spend to much time with the elves, at least her making out skills would be top-notch

evyatar

I was thinking… Elaine healing knowledge is foremost in humanity lands when we are talking about physical injuries, when we are talking about magical injuries she only has personal knowledge, she should find a healer elf or something and trade info sometime in the future

Alexey Gladkich

Hmm... definitely she should seek info on magic-based illnesses. Although, she gained quite a lot of insight during her class-up. It's just that magical-based poisons, diseases are rare and varied. To analyse and diagnose them properly she ought to have an analysis skill. Hopefully, she'll move [Sunrise] into her [Mystic] class and merge it with [Nectar] - to free a slot in her main class.

Marcel Ortlepp

Can she get pregnant with constant healing aktiv? Would a pregnant woman loose the Baby, like the dwarves lost the Metal implant, because her Image does not include it?

Alexey Gladkich

Definitely not. Baby is not a foreign object but a natural presence in her body.

adam1

Elfanity is a weird word... should be just elfity? They aren't elfans like Elaine is a human.

Malir Blackspear

Hoo boy. Hopefully these red flags will be false alarms. I know they aren't...

Addicted_Reader

Selkie really going to make all of Elaine’s relationships fail

Alexey Gladkich

Fail? Why? For immortals what does it mean failed / successful relationship? For Serondes / Elaine they have this big issue of her needing to spend time in Dead-Zone while he wants to travel and level up. Except that I don't see serious issues that cannot be resolved.

Lorcogoth

I am pretty certain Iona isn't around yet, from what the side story tells us the Remus Republic is long dead and no Healers are allowed past a certain level threshold because they will start creating Immortals. in addition Elaines Oath is known to a great many people, but the autograph is simply "the healer" which might be her trying to be obscure or it's her name becoming synonym for Healer.

Choboman

Elaine puts her hands under his robe to feel him up. Then Serondes puts his hands under her robe and she tells him no and that he's moving too fast. So then Serondes puts his hands on top of her robe and she is mad about it. But she had never told him he couldn't touch her - just that under the clothes was too much. I don't see how what he did was in any way wrong or creepy. She's got to be clear what the rules are or he's going to go over the imaginary lines.

Alexey Gladkich

She was pissed off because the Mistweave feels to her as if she isn't wearing anything. Touching under clothes and over clothes is the same thing for her. Not sure if that's the case for the Elves with their much stronger senses. Agree that it is common for people to misunderstand the boundaries as well as test them to some degree - so I don't see it as a long term or even short term issue.

Bbyh

Hmm, I wonder if elven arrogance and relationship boundaries mix well.

Choboman

TBH, I'm surprised that Serondes is attracted to her. All the elves are calibrated to think a super-high level of charisma is normal. Her 'human-level' charisma must seem mediocre in comparison. Also, for someone who lives for thousands of years, a 20-year old must seem like an infant.

Alexey Gladkich

They are surely under 500, not 1000+. And he with Elaine kinda consider a 500 year long relationship. In this scope, the age difference is not particularly important. For short-lived mortals, like humans, age difference is a big thing as lots of issues originate from effects of aging. One of things that Elaine noted, is that the Elves have the same mental age as her - surely because they are youngsters among Elves.

11037

I keep wondering if there's some nefarious reason why she's so attracted to these elves. Like maybe it's some passive skill affecting her mind. Or she's received her immortal curse and it's to find everyone attractive.

SuperiorFreak

Honestly, at this point, im starting to wonder if Elaine is under some sort of mind control effect. I mean, she had planned on going home ASAP, then all of a sudden she finds these elves and not only trusts them, but starts dating one? I don't know, it seems a little sus to me. Hell she trusted complete strangers with her reincarnated status, a secret she held for 20 years. Then suddenly she tells it to complete and utter strangers? Sounds like some sort of Elf "Like ME!" Aura. Certainly sounds like the sort of BS passive Elves would have.

Bridie

I had trouble getting though this one.

Thenais

“I imagine you’ve never seen an Immortal lose it and go on a rampage.” Serondes added in. “Not pretty.”“I imagine you’ve never seen an Immortal lose it and go on a rampage.” Serondes added in. “Not pretty.” you mean, like when elaine gets back and rase the town where her parents died ?

Cirvante

We're reaching critical levels of thirst here! Am I the only one who cringed at most of that? Maybe it would be more palatable, if she wasn't such a massive virgin. Maybe you could let most of that happen off-screen? It's so cringy ...

Joshua Little

Thanks for the chapter. Looks like this has sparked a lot of division. Hope everyone doesn't let it get them too worked up.

evyatar

Can she attack innocents with her oath? Or even murderers?

Lowe K. Lyesmith

It indeed very much is. Then again, that's still better than a totally written out passionate hugging session!

Benjamin Smith

Selkie hates mind control and has stated that there is definitely no mind magic on Pallos.

MurderByNumbers

Elves - epitome of beauty Human - not so much Elf - Hi, I'm hot af but I'm pent up. Mind if I slum it w/ you for a bit? Human - You sparkle.... what did you say? oh it doesn't matter you're hot..

Member of the Unseelie Accords

Honestly, I’m a grossed out by the thought of someone 200+ finding someone 20 years old (discounting her past life) attractive and reciprocating interest. Like I understand Elaine’s point of view being attracted (though I feel it’s been overdone) of being attracted to elves. But when there’s that large a life experience gap, just really awful.

SelkieMyth

It's why I've been deliberately vague on their ages. Maturity and "life experiences" wise, they're in pretty similar spots. Elves take longer to get there though.

EsZeus

Honest opinion: xD I disliked the sudden romance chapter. A whole one even

Tatiana Saturno

I somehow feel like he wants to still her egg.

Obran

Out of curiosity, is Serondes Peter Davidson?