Author's notes:

About the language and notation:

The Baylon language is a predecessor to Latin, which is why it looks like Latin at a glance.

Mental communication is denoted by a < and ends with a >, so a mental communication will look like this: "< Who are you? >"

Some warnings:

This is erotic action adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

P.S. I haven't gotten an editor yet, so any mistakes are mine. Interested editors are welcome :)

P.P.S. While you're here anyway, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)

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Chapter 23 -- The Power of Pleasure

Wednesday, 21st of June 2000, Outside Malaga, Spain

"God, this is frustrating!" snarled Karen irritated. "Your explanation made perfect sense, so why can't I get it to work!?"

We were sitting on the floor in her room, as I tried to teach her how to detect energy lines as the first part of learning how to heal growing pains. As I had suspected, she did indeed know where the energy lines were located from her experience with Traditional Chinese Medicine, but she was having problems detecting or seeing them.

That in turn meant that she couldn't determine which energy line was the problem or locate the nerve centres to press on to guide the lines back into their proper place.

For me it was slightly puzzling. Karen had the knowledge and she had training in meditation that was required, but for some reason she couldn't make it all come together.

"You're trying too hard and thinking too much." I said with a smile to calm her down. "Take a deep breath, close your eyes and relax for a moment."

Straitening her back, she did as I told her, which made my smile a bit wider. Sitting cross-legged in a skirt and a tight-fitting top, while taking deep breaths that made her breasts stand out even more, she was extremely desirable to say the least.

"Now tell me what you can feel."

We sat in silence for a while, but then her full lips suddenly parted in a beautiful smile.

"You're looking at me." She stated without opening her eyes.

"Are you guessing, or can you feel it?"

"I can feel it."

"Good," I said, "Focus on how you can feel me looking at you."

She sat totally still as she concentrated, but then sighed. "I can't... it's just a feeling."

"Feeling somebody looking at you isn't 'just a feeling', Peach." I explained patiently. "It's an age-old instinct, telling you that another life force is concentrating on you. If you can feel me looking at you, it means that you can feel life force and if you can feel it, you can detect it."

"Oh." She said and went silent.

Guessing she was trying to figure out how she knew that I was looking at her, I leaned back against the bed and examined her with my mind just to make sure she didn't have any mental powers.

She didn't, as her mind was free of any mental patterns resembling a miniature Centrum Potentia, which was a relief after the surprise I had with Alice.

That settled, I concentrated on the Vis. A few heartbeats later, I could see the faintly glittering lines of energy in her body, where it wasn't covered by clothes.

Committing that sight to my memory, I closed my eyes as I recalled a picture of Yang Jia and compared the two women mentally. The lines were almost the same, but there was a subtle difference in the nodes, which was where two or more energy lines crossed. Karen's nodes transferred a lot less energy than Jia's and that was a problem, since it was the nodes that released the energy needed to use Vis, including the ability to see it.

I looked at her closed eyes and saw the same problem with the lines there. The energy level in the nodes was simply not high enough.

It was a common problem among people, who had never used Vis and one that I should had thought of before. Especially since I had had the same problem when I had started to learn Vis.

Satisfied that I had found the source of the problem, I started thinking about how to solve it.

The normal way to make the nodes transfer more energy was the one I had gone through, where years of training slowly opened the nodes, allowing more and more energy to pass through.

We didn't have the years it took to do that, so I needed to use another and faster method and there was only one of those: Forcing the nodes open by overpowering them with Vis.

Equivalent to opening a door by kicking it in instead of picking the lock, this method could only be used on people that had a lot of Natural Vis in them, since it took a lot of Vis to make it happen and required a skilled Vis user to direct the flow. The method was rarely used, since no matter how well it was done, the end result was never as good as years of training.

It was also never used on children, since there was a big risk that it could damage or even destroy the fragile energy lines that kids have, resulting in paralysis or death.

In times past, there wouldn't have been a problem with the right persons, but with the limited amount of energy there was now, it had become a lot more difficult and while I knew how it was done, I wasn't really an expert.

My mind raced as I went through the different possibilities, but in the end, there was only one realistic option and that was to have Karen generate the Vis. Once the Vis was generated, I could guide it and open the nodes. I could even add some of my own Vis to make sure there was enough to open the nodes if there was a problem.

Getting Karen to generate the needed amount of Vis wouldn't be easy, but at least it would be fun, since the only method I knew, involved sex and lots of it.

"You're thinking." Stated Karen and I discovered that she was studying me.

"Yes, I am." I answered with a smile. "We need a lot of Vis to do this and that means you need to generate it."

She nodded slowly. "I can always do some meditation."

I shook my head with a chuckle. "Peach, you need to generate a lot more than that and there's only one way to make you do it."

"Oh." She said, and a lovely smile started to spread on her face, as it dawned on her what I was talking about. "Oh! Sexual energy."

"Exactly. Lots of it."

The smile became a grin. "Sound good. Is it gonna be even better than last time?"

I thought it over, before I answered. "That depends on how you look at it as you'll only come once, but that orgasm will hopefully be the most mind-blowing experience you have ever had."

"I'm game." She said quickly.

"It'll be frustrating." I warned, but Karen crawled over to me and planted a kiss on my lips, effectively silencing me. The kiss was followed by another and longer, softer kiss, that sent shivers down my spine. Karen must have felt the same and started to unbutton my shirt, while I gently caressed her breasts through the top.

Reaching out with my mind, I carefully connected with hers and while the kissing continued, I started to receive information about her likes and dislikes regarding sex. As always, her sexuality was a complex matter that could change depending on mood, but right now she was submissive and wanted to be used sexually, without being degraded. She was also slightly envious of the way I had ordered Rita around and wanted to try that as well.

Armed with that information, I started to get a bit rougher on her tits and was rewarded with a moan. The moan turned into long groan, as I slipped my hand into her top, fondling the bare breast and enjoying the feel of her hard nipple under the palm of my hand.

Then I broke the kiss.

"Today you're going to do everything I say." I looked into her eyes. "Everything at all. Still game?"

"I'll be your slave for a day." She said with a grin and pulled her top off, releasing her beautiful breasts.

"Good."

With a smile, I pushed her backwards, making her fall flat on the soft carpet. "Play with yourself."

She looked at me with a stunned expression on her face. "What?"

"Play with yourself." I repeated sternly "I want to see you get really hot and excited.... But remember you're not allowed to come."

Karen was still hesitant, so I slapped her gently on a well-shaped leg. "Move it, Slave! And make it exciting to watch!"

I sensed a spike of lust from her, as she leaned her head on the carpet, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, before she started by stretching out and running her hands along her arms. Taking her time, her fingertips travelled along the skin of her upper body, down to her skirt and ran across her legs. Her breathing got deeper, and I heard more and more sighs.

It was an extremely erotic sight, and I could feel a tingling in my balls, as her hands start back up her body. They slid across her abdomen and then moved around the sides of her breasts, where her nipples were standing up tall. Her fingertips gathered under her breasts and raked the undersides. She sighed, and then her hands cupped her breasts, gently kneading.

"Ohhhhh," She moaned as she ran her fingers over her nipples. Her breathing was becoming ragged. I could see her nipples bend over and snap back as she dragged her fingers back and forth. Finally, she brought her thumb and fingers together over each nipple and started gently twisting and pulling. Her hips were rotating on the carpet as she got lost in the feeling.

After what seemed like an eternity, her right hand dropped away from her breast and brushed across her abdomen. Her fingertips started dancing around her pussy, still covered by her skirt. Karen was now sighing and moaning continuously. Her hand travelled further down her legs and lifted the skirt, giving her access to her panties. Without any hesitation, she slid her right hand under the panties, while her left returned to kneading her nipple.

"Holy crap." She mumbled as her fingertips reached her pussy and started to caress the lips. Unfortunately, I really couldn't see anything and since I didn't want to interrupt her play, I simply projected a need to remove her panties into her. A moment later, Karen stopped what she was doing, removed the restricting piece of cloth and went right back to playing.

Her pussy was glistening with juices as she teased herself, making a circular motion, that touched both the pussy and the clitoris, making her toes clench and shivers running through her body.

Her face was flushing, her body was moving, but the movement of her hand slowed down, and I realized, that if she had continued at the same pace, she would have come.

The scent of her wet pussy tickled my nose and if possible, made my dick even harder than it already was. Caught in my pants, it had also started to hurt a bit, so I opened them, freeing it from its prison. Relieved, I went back to watch Karen.

She had slowed down even more, but her fingers continued their dance over her clitoris, and her other hand lightly stroked her nipple. She was moaning with each breath, and her eyes were squeezed shut.

As I watched, she gradually slowed to a complete stop and then whispered. "Any more will make me explode."

"Good. Now come here and suck me."

Karen opened her eyes and smiled when she saw my stiff cock. Without saying anything, she rolled over, got on her knees, and crawled over to me.

Instead of going directly for my cock, she started by kissing me softly, our tongues slowly dancing against each other. Her hand found my stiff dick and her fingers lightly ran up and down the sides of the shaft. Wrapping her hand around it, she slowly pumped up and down, feeling it respond within her grasp.

Enjoying the feeling, I ran my hand down the smooth skin of her back, following the curve of her body until I reached her firm butt, caressing it. She murmured appreciatively into my mouth and her hand stroked my cock faster for a moment, before she broke the kiss and moved her head to kiss my neck, working her way to my chest, moving her body lower and backwards as she kissed.

That brought her butt out of my reach, so I went back to caress her back, as she kissed my chest, running her teeth across my nipples, while she tugged at my shorts. I lifted my butt from the floor and with a final tug, she pulled the shorts off, giving her better access.

I started breathing quicker in anticipation, as she moved further down, her wet tongue finding the head of my dick and licked all the way around it, her fingers still dancing on my hard cock.

I inhaled sharply at the sensation, as she wrapped her lips around the head and sucked lightly, her tongue making circles. Letting go with her hand, she dragged her wet tongue all the way down the underside until she reached my balls, where she started to lick again, while her hand resumed its stroking.

With a groan, I leaned my head back against the bed, closed my eyes and just enjoyed it.

Her hand and mouth changed position, as she cupped my balls with a hand and closed her mouth on my dick, lick and sucking.

A wet sound made me open my eyes and look at her. She had shifted her position, so her weight rested on her knees, enabling her to finger herself with using her mouth and other hand on me.

"Remember not to come!" I said sternly.

She responded with a little nod and a swirl with her tongue around the head, her hand pumping up and down in rhythm with her lips, as my cock disappeared in and out of her mouth.

Karen shivered and moaned as she hurriedly removed her fingers from her pussy and cupped my balls instead, while a finger rubbed my anus.

Groaning, I leaned my head against the bed again. It simply felt incredible and if she continued like this, she would have me coming in no time at all.

She started sucking harder and took more of me into her mouth as her juice covered finger gently penetrated my anus.

"Goddess!" I groaned as she started sliding her finger slowly in and out of me, matching the rhythm with her mouth. It felt awesome. "If you keep that up, I'm going to come."

Instead of slowing down, Karen gradually increased the speed, from time to time holding her head still with the head of my cock in her mouth, swirling her tongue around while continuing to stroke the shaft and slide her finger in and out of me, clearly searching for the male version of the internal pleasure centre.

Finding it, she began to rub her fingertips against it, while her mouth picked up the pace, her moist lips sliding faster over the head of my cock. Pleasure ran through my body like lightning, from the tip of my toes to the top of my scalp. The double pleasure I was receiving rushing me towards an orgasm.

My balls tightened, and I just had time to groan, "Coming!", before I exploded in her mouth, seeing stars as I did.

Swallowing, Karen continued her blowjob until she was sure I was done, before removing her hands and looking up at me with a grin. "Well, that sounded like a success."

"It was awesome." I assured her. "My ears are ringing."

"Good... I always wanted to try that, but most boys freak out about it." She crawled up and gave me a kiss before she sat down beside me with a sigh. "Damn, now I'm just even hornier than before."

Laughing, I reached out and caressed a breast. "It's gonna get a lot worse, Peach. Before this day is over, you'll be ready to climb the walls just to get off." I pinched her nipple lightly, causing her to moan. "Listen up, Slave."

Her eyes widened at that and I could feel her arousal going up a notch. "I've promised to go for a walk with Cyra and Zena, but that doesn't mean that you're off the hook. While I'm away, you're to explain to Alice and Rita that you're our sex-slave for the day and is not allowed to come."

Karen nodded slowly as she listened to me, her slanted eyes bright with excitement. I continued.

"Furthermore, you're to give both Rita and Alice at least one orgasm each, while I'm away. Understood?"

Karen smiled and nodded again. "Yes."

"Good." I stood up and got my pants back on. "Get dressed and go tell Alice and Rita about it."

"Yes, Sir." She grinned.

Before fetching the Twins for the afternoon walk, I had promised them, I got hold of Alice and Rita to explain to them the importance of Karen being kept aroused the rest of the day without having an orgasm. Both promised to do exactly that and from the spikes of lust I got from them, I was sure they would make a thorough job of it.

Then I took the Twins for a long walk, which they used as a chance to continue the lesson from the day before. Consequently, most of the time went with answering questions, explaining how telepathy worked and having them doing mental exercises, while we unhurriedly walked through the beautiful landscape of southern Spain.

The slow pace also meant that the walk took most of the afternoon and we returned to the house just in time to take a short bath before dinner.

I was rinsing my hair when I heard the door to the bathroom being opened. Looking out, I saw Karen closing the door after her and as she turned around to look at me, I could feel the lust emanating from her, growing as I opened the shower curtain.

"Rita sent me to help you." The beautiful Asian announced and quickly took of her shirt and t-shirt, revealing that she wore noting underneath. The sight of her gorgeous body sent a shiver of anticipation through me and caused an almost instant erection.

Karen's slanted eyes glided down my body and she wetted her full lips, when she saw the effect the sight of her had on my cock.

"Sound delightful." I chuckled and moved back in the cabin to make room for her.

Without saying anything, Karen stepped inside the cabin and then surprised me by pushing me against the wall, whispering. "I promised to clean you with my tongue."

Without waiting for an answer to that, not that I had any, she stared to lick the side of my neck, while her hands ran over my shoulders to my chest. Her tongue went to the other side of my neck, while she caressed my chest.

Leaning back against the wall, I closed my eyes as she ran her tongue and hands over my upper body, licking and caressing the skin. The blood pulsed through my body, making my cock throb as she avoided it. Then she turned me around to face the wall, while she licked, kissed and caressed my backside, working her way down to my butt, which got the same treatment.

It was extremely arousing, and my dick was almost hurting from being so hard, when she spread my legs and somehow managed to get her head in between them, so she could lick my balls, making me groan. Then she turned around and a moment later, the treatment became even better as the tongue moved from my balls to the underside of my shaft, licking and kissing as she moved towards the head, while her hands caressed my butt and legs.

Then she gently pushed me away from the wall and another shiver ran through me followed by a moan, when her soft lips finally closed around the head of my rock-hard cock and the tongue danced on the tip. The hands on my butt pulled me a bit closer and deeper into her warm wet mouth.

Opening my eyes, I looked to down and discovered, that Karen had managed to crawl between my legs and were now sitting with her back against the wall of the shower, with her hands in my hips, looking relaxed as her lips and tongue caressed the head of my hard cock. There were no fast movements or bobbing of the head, just the glorious feeling of being inside her talented mouth. It felt so good, that I automatically started to move my hips, but Karen held on, preventing me from moving as she slurped away on my cock.

When she was sure I wasn't going to move, a hand travelled from my hips to the shaft of my dick, playing lightly with her fingers over the sensitive skin. I shivered as the fingers ran down the shaft, ending at my balls, which got a featherlight massage, before the fingers went up the shaft again.

I was just about to close my eyes again, when I heard the door open and close again, followed by the sound of the lock being turned. Karen continued her oral sex, and suppressing a moan, I turned my head to see who it was.

At the same time the shower curtain was pulled aside and there was Alice, dressed only in her black kimono. It was open at the front, revealing that she was naked underneath.

The smile on her face widened a bit when she saw us. "For once I hope, I'm disturbing something."

She discarded the kimono and stood there in all her glorious nakedness.

"You... are." I groaned as I reached out and dragged her in for a kiss.

Alice kissed me back eagerly and then moaned into my mouth, as Karen's hand left my hip and found her friends pussy. The blonde kept kissing me as she spread her legs, giving Karen room to work.

Breaking the kiss, I asked. "Have she been good?"

"Oh yeah." Answered Alice as she nodded. "While I was looking through..." She moaned and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Karen's hand moving up and down. "... my school assignment, she was under the table, licking and..." She moaned again. "...fingering me to an orgasm."

It was a testament to Karen's skills, that even while fingering Alice, the lips and tongue on and around my dick didn't slow down one bit.

Taking a step back, I pulled my cock out of Karen's mouth and ended exactly where I had planned: Right behind Alice's well-shaped butt. A little push between her shoulder blades, made her place her hands on the wall for support, bending slightly forward, since Karen couldn't move.

My wet dick slipped into between her buttocks, slid over her anus and forward until it touched Karen's hand and Alice's pussy lips at the same time.

I felt Karen's hand move to my dick, giving it a slight tug, before she guided it right to the entrance of Alice's pussy. Reaching around Alice's upper body, I took hold of her breasts, fondling them while pressing forwards with my hips, pressing my dick into her, groaning as her pussy stretched out to envelop my hard dick.

"Oh, fuck yes!" Groaned Alice and from the touch of fingers against my dick as it slid into her, I guessed that Karen had found Alice's clitoris.

With another groan, Alice pushed backwards towards me with her hips and started the rolling move of her hips, she was so good at, taking me further and further into her, while massaging my cock with her trembling pussy until I was buried to the hilt in her.

Having enough of being passive, I took a firmer hold of her tits and slammed my dick into her, making her yelp. Then I did it again. This time she was prepared and moaned instead, pressing back against me. The sensation was indescribably delicious. I pulled back just a bit, and then slid back in all the way, getting an extra shiver, as Karen's hand slid over my balls. A moment later I could feel the tip of her tongue on the shaft, as she licked Alice's clitoris.

Picking up the speed a little, Alice, Karen and I moved together smoothly, with Alice meeting my thrusts in perfect rhythm, while Karen licked her and gently fondled my balls and shaft every time I pulled back.

Alice's breath quickly became deeper as both Karen and I worked on her, and her pussy started to tremble around my dick. Removing my hands from her breasts, I told hold of her hips and started to pound her, slamming into her hard and fast.

"I'm gonna come!" the tall blonde muttered, remembering to keep her voice down despite the excitement. "So... good."

Her pussy spasmed around my dick a few times and then clenched as she came in an orgasm, that sent shivers through her body and almost made her fall. Only my hands on her hips and the support Karen gave her, enabled her to keep standing as I kept moving steadily back and forth through her orgasm.

"That was wonderful." Declared Alice when she had gotten her breath back. Her eyes sparkled as she gave me a kiss, before dragging Karen to her feet and gave her a kiss as well. "I'm going back to cooking now." She stepped out of the cabin. "Have fun, you two... just don't take too long... Dinner will be ready soon."

"Yes, Mam." I said with a smile, reached out to take of Karen's neck, firmly forcing her sown on her knees again. She got the none so subtle hint and a moment later she was sucking and licking my dick again, while Alice dried herself and took the kimono back on. I knew that I would have to save the orgasm for later, but that was no reason not to enjoy Karen.

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Dinner was even better than usual, as Alice, Cyra and Zena had outdone themselves and created a variety of Spanish dishes for everybody to try. There were Spanish omelette, fried potatoes with hot sauce, both boiled and grilled octopus, grilled fish, devilled eggs, garlic prawns, small meatballs, black rice, and Spanish style bread, served with red wine for the adults and hibiscus lemonade for Cyra and Zena.

Everything tasted fantastic and the many small dishes made for a fun evening around the table, as everybody talked (or signed) while eating whatever they fancied.

As had become tradition, we retreated to the terrace after dinner, where I told the next instalment of the Trials. This time, there were no puzzles or riddle for the women to solve, as it was pure action.

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The heroes continued their travel to Kerma and meet with the Egyptian Viceroy, Seni. After solving a mystery at the court in order to get the information they need, they discover some of the abducted people are being held by a spider worshipping group, who plan to sacrifice them to their god, while others have been sold to merchants from the Bhārata region, the huge and fertile landmass between Persia and the Far East.

Teaming up with five warrior-priestesses of the lion-headed warrior goddess Menhit, who also had some of their people taken, they fight the spider worshippers and manage to free the prisoners, destroying the spider worshippers in the process. After dismantling the spider temple, the hero's travelled to the coast and sailed towards Dilmun, which was the nearest Atlantean (Baylon) outpost.

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Most of the action-filled chapter was filled with the description of Power being used in combat and as I had judged a few descriptions as being too bloody or graphic for the Twins, I filled the gabs with Ars Mentalis tricks, that the Twins actually had a chance to learn later on. It worked as a charm and the Twins were high fiving each other as I described the tumbling of the temple walls.

As always, the last part was less action-filled as it was meant as giving the listeners a chance to relax and when I was finished, Cyra and Zena was yawning.

Alice put the Twins to bed, and then we took some time just relaxing in the living room, drinking the last of the red wine, while we talked.

It was clear, that people were more tired than I had anticipated and if I were to open Vis nodes later, that had to change. However, since we weren't in a rush, I decided to cheat a bit and projected sleepiness into the women, causing them to fall asleep on the big sofa.

When all three of them were soundly sleeping, I sat down next to them and used an Ars Mentalis trick to make sure, that they were having some extremely erotic dreams, before I entered a meditation to relax a bit.

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There's something immensely erotic about seeing women sharing pleasure with each other and this time it was no different, as I watched the naked Alice and Rita go to town on an equally naked Karen. What did make it different from most other times, was that Karen was bound to the bed, spread eagled, so Alice and Rita had free access to her body.

An access they had delighted in for a long time now and as a result, Karen's lovely face was a mask of pure lust, mixed with frustration and delight, as Alice caressed her breasts, licking the stiff nipples, while Rita with deliberate slowness licked her pussy and caressed the soft inner thighs.

Small ripples ran through Karen's body each time Rita's tongue slid over the Asians clitoris, making her draw air through clenched teeth.

My position gave me an excellent view of Alice's well shaped behind, her wet pussy glistening temptingly between her legs, sending out an invitation I couldn't ignore.

Walking closer, I kneeled behind her, running my hands over her smooth buttocks before I leaned in to lick her.

Alice groaned and pressed her ass back against my face, as my tongue parted her lips and explored the edge of her opening. Taking my time, I savoured the taste and feel of her, licking the lips, sucking them gently into my mouth one at a time, as my tongue played.

"Fuck me." I heard Alice say. "I need your dick in me."

"Your wish is my command." I answered and stood up. Almost my itself, by dick found the soaked area between her legs and I dragged it back and forth her slit a few times, feeling her juices spread over the head.

Alice grunted and pressed backwards with perfect timing and groaned as the tip entered her.

Taking a firm hold of her hips, one hand on each side, I thrust forward and shivered as the sensation of being inside that warm, tight, welcoming tunnel ran through me.

A heartbeat later, it became even better as I started to slide in and out of her.

"Oh yes," Alice moaned. "So good!"

I could feel her pleasure starting to build, reminding me that I needed to set up the Vis Trap before the women started to come.

Shifting my focus, I slipped into Vis meditation and sent my senses into Karen, where I carefully created a Vis link between all the three women, with Karen as the focus. That would direct most of the energy from the orgasms into the Asian.

I followed it up by weaving another pattern, that would direct any free energy in the room into her as well. Not that I thought that it was needed with the limited amount of free Vis in this day and age, but it was the way I had been taught to do it and with my lack of experience in this particular technique, I didn't dare changing the procedure.

Suddenly the hair on my neck tingled. The kind of tingling sensation that only occurs when there was a lot of energy near me.

As fast as I could I retracted my senses from Karen and was hit by the sensation of Alice's pussy contracting around my dick as she expertly fucked herself on my dick, moving her hips in small circles, while rocking back and forth.

It felt fantastic, but the tingle in my neck was still there, so I looked around the room.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary, so I concentrated on Vis and a few heartbeats later, a glittering river of energy became visible as it slowly flowed through the room.

I was stunned. A few days before, the Vis had been barely detectable and now it was overflowing!

"Oh fuck! I'm coming!" Alice hissed, picking up the speed.

That simple statement was followed by a low howl from Karen, and I knew that she couldn't hold it back anymore. Especially not as I could hear Rita moaning "Me too."

Screams of joy filled the room as Karen, Rita, Alice came at almost the same time, and I could feel Vis Vitae flow from Alice and Rita into Karen. That activated the Vis trap I had set up and the glittering energy from the river of Vis that flowed through the room, entered the young woman, like water running into a hole in the ground.

The world around me disappeared, as I focused on Karen and quickly disbanded the patterns that directed Vis into her, before I started to guide the energy through the lines of her body, only to realize that the amount of Vis was magnitudes higher than I had expected.

After having been teased for a whole day, her natural energy combined with the added energy from the two other women had been just enough to open the nodes, but with the added energy from the surroundings, it had become a lot more than was needed or wanted.

Unfortunately, I needed to use that energy, since that much power would wipe out her energy lines and leave her paralyzed for the rest of her life, if I just left it there.

Carefully I guided the energy through the nodes in Karen, forcing them open as all three women slowly came down from their orgasms.

There was no way one person could contain that amount of energy for long, so I withdrew from the energy-flow. I gasped as I could once again feel Alice's quivering pussy around my dick but ignored it long enough to reach out with my mind and force the women into a deep sleep. That would make sure they didn't move, giving me time to use the energy.

The feeling of my dick sliding out of Alice's pussy, as she fell sleeping on the bed, made me shiver.

The slight distraction almost caused me to lose control of the energy flow, but I caught it just in time as I inserted myself into the flow once more.

The problem was that the self-affecting Vis powers I normally use didn't consume much Vis, which is why they're excellent for combat. Unfortunately, it also made them useless right now.

The only type of Vis powers that really used a lot of energy, was healing powers and since all three women was in excellent condition, there wasn't anything major to heal.

Fortunately, that didn't stop me from using a high-powered healing power to heal some of the minor things, that tended to plague athletes.

Studying the women with all my senses, I tried to get a feel for their energy pattern, but the amount of Vis in the room simply outshone their natural energy patterns.

That was another problem, I never thought I would encounter, but one I would work around, since I had a good feeling for their patterns from the times I had healed or examined them.

Instead of using their natural energy patterns, I used some of the energy patterns from memory, as I constructed Karen's using Jia's pattern as a base, combined with the differences I had detected when I examined her earlier, and then powered the pattern, using a healing power called 'Salamander'.

Besides taking an enormous amount of energy, the salamander power was complicated and took a long time to work, at least compared to Ars Mentalis healing, but if done right, it quite literally worked wonders. Given time and energy enough, it could regenerate almost anything according to the personal pattern, including re-growing lost limbs and organs.

Karen's body started to glow slightly in the dark as the pattern took effect, indicating an overflow of energy, so I reconstructed the patterns for Rita and Alice, using Verina's as a base and removed the Baylon part from it before I directed the flow into them, using the 'Salamander' power again.

That gave me a slight respite while the energy worked, and I shook my head to clear it a bit, as I looked at the three women.

Even with the insane amount of energy I had just used, all of them were still glowing. A clear sign that their body contained much more energy than they could handle, and I needed to get rid of the excess energy before somebody got permanently hurt.

With a sigh, I created a loop of power and then gently eased my way out of the energy flow.

The Twins were the only other people in the house, and I needed to connect them to the healing pattern as soon as possible.

A little while later, Zena and Cyra were sleeping soundly on the floor at the end of the bed, while I weaved the healing pattern of Vis into their bodies, careful not to damage their immature energy lines. Again, I was using Verina's energy patterns as a base, but this time I recalled the pattern from when she and I started to train, so I had a pattern that corresponded with their age.

Thankfully, the only part of the body the Salamander power couldn't affect was the brain, so I didn't have to worry about accidently destroying their mental powers.

Having two more bodies helped, but it still wasn't enough, and I was almost out of ideas, when I remembered that while I couldn't use my own life energy to heal myself, I most certainly could use the energy from the ley line. Even if that energy was currently trapped inside somebody else.

With a sign of relief, I tapped into the energy as I for the first time ever spun the salamander pattern inside myself. With the training and experience I had, my body could sustain a great deal more energy and gradually the glow faded from the women's bodies, while I kept adjusting the patterns in everybody to ensure that nothing went wrong.

Eventually, the power had come down to a level, where I could relax a bit and just let the Salamander pattern work, so I eased out of the energy flow and leaned back against the bed with a sigh a relief. It had been a close call.

"Is it done?" asked Karen suddenly.

Surprised I turned my head and looked at her. Two beautiful brown slanted eyes were looking at me and while they were lightly glazed, they were open.

Then I remembered that her natural defenses were much greater than the others, which must have caused her to wake up earlier.

Smiling slightly to her, I shook my head a little. "Not completely, no... but it's getting there, so please don't move."

Karen smiled back. "Okay... eh..." She glanced at Alice without moving her head. "I can see the energy... She's almost glowing." Her eyes returned to me. "So are you for that matter."

That statement alone showed that the technique had successfully opened her nodes, since that was the only way, she could see the glow of Vis.

"I know... it's due to excess energy. It'll go away soon enough." I glanced at the bed and smiled slightly when I realized Karen couldn't see the Twins from where she was laying.

"You didn't mention this earlier, so what went wrong?" She asked, reminding me that she was just as intelligent as she was beautiful.

"Too much energy." I answered with a slight shrug. "I had to divert the flow, so your energy lines weren't damaged."

"Oh... " She paused. "Do you think that you can untie me? It's kinda uncomfortable to lie like this."

I thought it over as I studied the three women. The energy wasn't completely used yet, but that would take a long time, since there really wasn't left to heal in the women. However, I could just seal the healing pattern with the remaining energy locked into it. That way the pattern would continue to work for a few weeks before it ran out of energy and dispersed.

"One moment." I told Karen and eased into the energy-flow again.

Since most of the energy was used now, it didn't take long to anchor the patterns on Rita and Alice, but as Karen was awake, it complicated matters a lot.

I reached out with my mind, connected with hers and a moment later, she was sound asleep again, so I sealed the rest of the patterns and stood up on shaking legs.

A sudden thought made me look out of the window, while concentrating on Vis. Two wide rivers of energy snaked through the landscape and crossed paths at the point where the house was located, creating a nexus of power that engulfed the whole house, as well as the cave I had been meditating in.

"Tits of the Goddess!" I cursed to myself. "Dragon lines!"

Just as a body has lines where the energy is running, so does the Earth and while these have different names depend on the culture, I knew them as Dragon Lines.

Normally, Dragon Lines were almost undetectable, but there were a few events, that made them flare with energy and when they did that, they could provide an enormous amount of power.

One of these events was the summer solstice and apparently, that was today, despite it being celebrated in two days.

Still thinking about the solstice, I carried Alice, Rita, and the Twins back to their own beds one by one and then untied Karen. For a moment, I considered carrying her to her own bed as well but decided that I was simply too tired to do that and just covered her with a blanket instead.

That done, I walked outside, poured a glass of wine, and sat down in sofa by the pool to think.

Dragon Lines doesn't move much and the fact that there was a Dragon Line Nexus right where I had meditated couldn't be a coincidence: I must have known it before I sat down to meditate, and it was most likely the reason why I had chosen to meditate here instead of somewhere else. The twice-yearly solstices had provided me with enough power to continue meditating long after I should have woken up due to Vis-starvation.

I drank some of the wine. It could be nice if I could remember the events that led me to enter the trance, but at least now, I knew why I had chosen Malaga.

The wineglass was almost empty when Karen came out. With her hair ruffled and dressed only in a t-shirt and a skirt, she looked both sexy and adorable. "Hey... Room for one more?"

"Hey there and sure." I moved a bit on the sofa and a moment later, she was laying next to me, resting her head on my shoulder, with a satisfied sigh.

"Comfortable?" I asked with a chuckle.

She wriggled a bit, but then seemed to find the right position and settled down, before saying "Now I am." Followed by a yawn. "That's funny. I couldn't sleep before, but now I'm really, really tired...." She looked at the sky, where the early morning had started to show. "Crap... it's almost morning! Aren't you tired?"

"Yes, but not enough to sleep just yet." I lifted the almost empty wineglass. "This helps and so do you."

"Thanks." She lifted her head a little to look at me. "Now that the nodes are open, is there anything I should be aware off?"

"A few things." I said with a nod and explained how and why using too much energy to heal others would drain a person and eventually kill the healer.

"Well... shit... I better not do that then!" Karen mumbled and was silent for a moment, before she frowned. "But you heal people, so how... oh" She interrupted herself with a chuckle. "Art of the bedchamber! That's how you got the energy to heal, right?"

"Right." I said with a nod. "Unfortunately, a woman only releases a limited amount of Vis during sex, no matter how many times she comes, so even that has a limit."

Karen was silent for a moment, before saying "So, if every woman release energy during orgasm, the more women you have, then more you can heal, right?"

I nodded again, causing her to laugh. "Damn, that's the best excuse for having multiple girlfriends I have ever heard!"

"Well, unless I actually show them Vis healing, no woman would believe me." I said with a smile.

"Good point." She looked thoughtful. "How about too much energy?"

"Nothing to worry about. Unless you know how to do it and actively try to make it happen, it's not going to occur."

"But... Earlier you said that there was too much energy and you had to divert it. So, where did it come from?"

With a small sigh, I explained it to her. Luckily, Dragon Lines and the related concepts were still in use among people doing acupuncture and Karen accepted it with a nod, before saying. "What did you do with it?"

"I used it for healing, since that is the most energy demanding activity I could think of. So, the bruises you guys got from playing beach volley yesterday should be gone tomorrow. With the amount of Vis I used, I'm pretty sure that any scars will be almost gone within a few weeks and your hair will grow faster for a while."

"Nice!" Karen said with a smile, but then got serious again. "I saw two glows at the end of the bed and since everybody else was in the bed, that had to be the Twins... what were they doing there?"

"Damn, you're perceptive." I said with another chuckle. "Well, I needed somebody to heal and the four of us wasn't enough, so I got hold of the Twins... Don't worry... They were sound asleep and didn't see anything."

"Hmmm... How much can you heal?" asked Karen speculative.

"Not their muteness, if that is what you're asking," I said. "Vis can't heal the brain."

Again, Karen nodded her accept of my explanation. "Shame."

She stretched comfortable and chuckled as her hand landed in my lap, causing my cock to grow hard almost immediately. "Still horny?"

"Well, I'm the only one of us, that didn't get to come tonight."

"Oh... right." With a smile, she unbuttoned my shorts and released my cock from its prison. I shivered as she let her fingers play lightly from bottom to the top. "Let's do something about it then... Everything else would be unfair."

Sliding further down in the sofa, she rested her head on my stomach and used her hand to pull the foreskin back, before closed her soft lips around my dick. I groaned as her tongue made a swirl on the tip at the same time as her hand continued to play on the shaft, using her nails to add some extra teasing.

It felt wonderful and I closed my eyes in pleasure, as she sucked on the head, played with her tongue, and used her hand to caress me.

I had expected her to continue, but after a short while she stopped.

Raising herself up on one elbow, she swung a leg over my body and got on top of me. A hand went between her legs and steered as she slid the head of my cock in between the lips of her pussy.

Apparently, she hasn't bothered with panties when she dressed.

"Ummm..." she gasped as started to rotate her hips, taking me a little bit deeper with each rotation. "I swear, that dick of yours is magical!"

With a chuckle, I held her hip with one hand and used the other to dive under her t-shirt and play with her breasts by gently massaging her nipples rubbing the palm of my hand in a circular motion over first one breast and then the other. Her eyes were closed, and she had a dreamy look on her face.

Karen pulled her hips up a bit then slammed herself down, completely impaling herself on my hard dick. I could feel her pussy contracting around my dick.

She shivered and opened her eyes. "One moment."

Without waiting for an answer, she took her T-shirt off, before she lay down with her nipples boring into my chest and her mouth right alongside my ear. Her breath came in short bursts.

As she straightened her legs to lie more comfortably on me, her hips moved and changed the angle of my dick inside her.

It wasn't really a position that allowed me to do much, but at least my hands were free, so I caressed her smooth, silken skin, while she fucked me slowly, using only small movement of her hips to make me slide in and out of her.

She continued that way for a while, but then rose up on her elbows and a heartbeat later, our mouths found each other, and we kissed deeply and passionately.

Without breaking the kiss, Karen started to move faster, grinding her clitoris against me as she moved back and forth on top of me, stroking my cock with the velvety moist sweetness of her sex.

It was a sweet ride, and I could feel her lips turn back in a smile, as I gasped at the feeling.

A heartbeat later, it was my turn to smile while kissing, as she made small noises of pleasure every time she moved, and I could feel the pleasure building inside her.

Not that I would last much longer myself. The feel of her kisses, her body against me, with her breasts sliding over my chest every time she moved and the way her pussy massaged my cock, was adding up to an orgasm.

A moment later, Karen groaned as she came, her body shaking. Somehow, she managed to keep moving even as her pussy clenched rhythmically around my cock.

That made me come as well, the feeling so intense that the world swam for a moment and for a while, I was aware of nothing but the fiery pleasure that ran through me, as we kept kissing.

Karen kept fucking and kissing me though our orgasms and I kissed her back, hugging her tightly at the same time, while her hips kept moving slowly until I was completely spent.

Then she stopped kissing me and collapsed on top of me with a smile.

It took some time before either of us moved, but finally I broke the silence with a "That was... amazing!"

Karen giggled. "I think I disagree, but only because amazing is an understatement." Rising up on her elbow again, she gave me another kiss. This time it was short and sweet. "I feel like falling asleep like this, but we better move into our bedrooms."

Looking at the morning sky, I agreed.

--------------------------

Thursday 22nd of June 2000, Outside Malaga, Spain

As I had been awake most of the night, I had expected to sleep late, but with the Salamander power still doing its work in my body, I woke up after only a few hours of sleep.

On the bright side, the Salamander power had done wonders. The aching muscles, the almost permanent exhaustion and the feeling of weakness was gone.

I could even see it in the mirror when I brushed my teeth. Some of the lost muscle mass had been restored, the skin had a healthier colour and there was a sparkle to my eyes again.

Feeling alive, I walked up to the kitchen to get something to eat, but otherwise, it was a quiet morning. Alice and Rita were working on their assignments and Karen had taken Zena and Cyra to the shops in town, since it was their turn to cook.

With Rita and Alice being occupied, I spent an hour putting the new leather straps on the scabbards for the sword and knives. Working with leather is not really something that I like, but was one of the many practical skills, I have picked up out of necessity over the years. Mostly to be able to make these kinds of repairs myself.

The result wasn't perfect, but it was functional and at least it was better than before.

That done, I placed the weapons on the top shelf of the closet, took my drawing pad and walked into the garden to do some sketches.

Because I just wanted to relax, I let my imagination run wild, fusing past and present as the figures started to take form. Karen became an Eastern Scythian horse archer, firing her bow as she galloped across the steppes.

Due to the Twins' fondness for the story, I drew them as two Feminae Bellum trainees, helping Inquisitor Captain Kaeso Maximus in the battle against the Baylon ambassador and the Madjay in the necropolis of Waset.

Rita became an Egyptian noble woman, relaxing in her garden by the Nile in Pi-Ramesses, and Alice became a priestess from Albion (or Britannia as the Romans later called it) in front of the Northern Anchor. A quick search of the knowledge from the women revealed that a part of it was still standing, and that it was called Stonehenge now.

I was still working on the last one, when I heard two sets soft footsteps on the tiles behind me. Recognizing them as belonging to Zena and Cyra, I looked up, expecting to see happy faces.

Instead, they were looking like they were on the way to their own execution, as they headed for the table next to mine, carrying some books.

"You two look gloomy. Didn't the shopping trip go well?"

They nodded and placed the books on the table.

"< Mom is watching >" Cyra said mentally and wrote something on a piece a paper, before she handed it to me.

It wrote "Mom discovered that we haven't done our Math homework yet, so we have to do that before we're allowed to cook."

"Well, you better get to it then." I said with a smile, but then remembered something. "Wait a second... you're on vacation... Why do you have to do mathematics?"

They glanced at each other and then shrugged, before Zena wrote some more and showed it to me. "We didn't do well in math last year, so we have to train even when on vacation."

There wasn't much I could say to that, so I just nodded and went back to the drawing, while they sat down at the table with huge sighs and opened the books.

We all worked in silence for a while, but then Zena asked mentally "< Ivan, do you know what the square of 16 is? >"

"< Yes, but why don't you just calculate it yourself? >"

"< 'Coz it takes like forever without a calculator! >" Zena sent back with a sigh. "< I hate math! >"

That surprised me. Most Baylon Mentats were extremely good at mathematics. At least the part of mathematics that is connected to geometry, since Mentats can easily imagine the mental figures and, as Telepaths, the Twins should be able to do the same.

"< Can you explain to me how you normally do it? >" I asked.

Zena paused for a moment and started to explain. It didn't take long for me to realize that the way they calculate now was a lot more abstract than my method. In theory, the method they used were faster than the one I had learned, but it also relied on root learning of squared numbers.

Something the Twins clearly haven't learned.

The Baylon way for multiplying large numbers relied on geometry and was based on the fact, that the area of a square is the same as the sides multiplied with each other.

As an example, 16 squared were the same as the area of a square where the side length was 16. A square is a figure that you can manipulate in several ways, without affecting the area. Divide the figure in two, place the two halves end to end and you have a rectangle with the side length of 8 and 32, but with the same area as before. Do it again and you have 4 and 64. Next time it's 2 and 128, and finally 1 and 256. Since the area never changed, that meant that 16 squared, or 16 times 16, were 256.

I sent the explanation along with the mind-images to the Twins, who thought it over and then asked "< What if there's an uneven number? >"

I showed them the method to do that with mind images and the explanation, before I said "< Try it a few times and send the mind-images to me while you do it >"

They did as I asked and while it went slowly in the beginning, they soon got hang of the visual system and the images started to come faster and faster.

"< Oh, My God! This is SO much easier! >" said Cyra after a little while. "< Why don't they teach that? >"

"< This method is easier for you two, because you're Mentats. Not many others will find it easy. >" I sent with a mental chuckle. "< And besides, it's so old that it has most likely been forgotten by everybody else than people who study ancient Egypt >"

"< Fair enough >" Zena thought, but then added "< Do you have any other methods that works that way? It's really a lot easier to work with those mind-images! >"

I looked over at the house and spotted Alice in the kitchen window, before I said "Yeah, but then come over here and I'll explain verbally and with drawings as well as the other way."

They got the meaning immediately and came over to me with large smiles.

As they sat down, I sent. "< And before we start, try to use the Scientiam techniques I taught you two days ago. It really makes it a lot easier to remember >"

"< Will do >" said Cyra and then blinked as she saw the drawings I had been doing. "< WOW... they're so COOL >"

Zena smiled widely as she looked as well. "< They're really good... Can we look? >"

Thinking that they needed a break, before we started with the mathematics, I nodded. "Sure."

They fuzzed over the drawings for a while, pointing out details to each other as they went from drawing to drawing.

It took more time that I had expected, so finally I said, "Girls, we need to start, but here's a deal. If you use the Scientiam techniques I taught you and focus while we go through this, you can have the drawings."

Zena looked at me slack jawed. "< Really? >"

"Yes."

"< Deal >" they sent in unison.

The great advantage by teaching Mentats is that you can send mind-images along with the explanations, which not only eliminated any chances of being misunderstood, but also made it faster than normal teaching. Even then, the Twins were exceedingly fast learners and I discovered that their level of education was extremely high. They might be struggling with the math they were doing, but they would have been highly regarded scholars in most places in the old world.

That they were mute was actually an advantage in this situation, since it had forced them to learn sign language. As a purely visual way of communication, it had trained their ability to visualize and as the Baylon Mentat method to calculate anything was based on geometry and mental images, that just added to their speed of learning.

The basic of Baylon Geometry was covered in no time, so I moved on to Baylon mental mathematics and explained how that related to a lot of the other mathematics. That included the normal geometry since I could see from their books, that the rules written down by Euclid of Alexandria were still in use.

The best part was that both girls had an almost constant expression on their faces, as if they had just understood how something really worked and as we progressed, they started to smile, have fun, and ask good questions.

Most of the questions were about how to use the mathematics in real life, so I took them for a little walk in the garden around the house and had them calculate everything I could think of. From the area of the lawn, the volume of the swimming pool, the angle of the sun chairs to the speed of a flying bird.

When we came back to the tables, the Twins went back to the books and solved the problems almost as fast as they could write, while I finished the last drawing and by the time Alice came out to see what we were doing, we were done and were relaxing in the shade.

"I hope they didn't make you do all their work." She said with a smile that hid the seriousness of her tone of voice.

"Not even close." I answered while both Twins started to sign. "And besides, I don't know the methods they were using."

"Oh." Alice said absently as she looked at what the Twins were signing. Then she blinked in surprise. "Ivan taught you a new way to do math and it was fun!?"

They nodded in unison and Cyra signed again.

"Okay." Said Alice and translated for me. "They want me to give them something to calculate." She looked over at the Twins again. "15 times 16?"

Zena rolled her eyes, wrote 240 on the paper and showed it.

"Correct," I said, "What about 42 times 256?"

Alice looked at me like I was insane, but the Twins closed their eyes in concentration for some time. Zena opened her eyes a heartbeat before her sister and then wrote 10752 on the paper, while Cyra nodded in agreement and Alice looked on in disbelief.

Chuckling at Alice's facial expression, I said, "Brilliantly done, girls! 27 squared?"

Cyra smiled and didn't even look concentrated as she took the pen from her sister and wrote 729.

"Well done... You want more?"

Alice looked at the Twins in wonder as Zena nodded eagerly.

"Okay... What is the square root of 36 times the square root of 144?"

Both Zena and Cyra frowned as they thought it through, but then smiled and looked concentrated for a few heartbeats before they wrote 72 on the pad.

I nodded as I projected pride and both girls smiled back. "Good. We calculated that there was 2000 cubic feet of water in the pool, but how much water would it contain, if it were 20 feet long, 15 feet wide and 8 feet deep?"

Zena stared into the air as she built the mental images and then wrote '2400 cubic feet.'

"Well done." I said with a smile and looked at the stunned Alice. "Satisfied?"

"Are you insane?" Alice laughed and gave both girls a hug. "That's fantastic!" Her blue eyes bored into me. "That goes for you too, Ivan."

"Nah... They did the work, so the praise goes to them."

Alice opened her mouth to say something but closed it again with a slight smile and nodded, giving the Twins an extra hug, before she stood up. "Good job, girls. You can go cook now!"

Both Twins pumped their arms triumphantly, high-fived each other and then ran off towards the kitchen as fast as they could, completely forgetting everything else, including the fact, that the books were still on the table.

As soon as the Twins had disappeared into the kitchen, Alice walked over to me and gave me a big hug, along with a soft sensual kiss.

"I've said it before..." She said when our lips had parted again. "You gotta be some kind of wizard with kids. How did you do that?"

"We all learn in different ways." I said and explained how the geometry method worked, ending with. "They just needed to imagine what they were doing, instead of trying to remember the result."

Alice thought it over for a moment. "I understand the method, but it just seems... complicated."

"That's because you've already learned another method." I said with a smile.

"True... " She hugged me again. "Are you sure, you're not a teacher? You sound like one."

"Oh, I've taught kids before; but that method is way I learned it."

"Ah." She chuckled. "Then please tell me, what is... ehhh.... 5467 times 7178?"

While the question was clearly meant as a joke, I could feel my brain speed up as the rectangle was formed and manipulated until the answer was there. Translating the result to English took a few heartbeats more. "Thirty-nine million, two hundred forty-two thousand, one hundred and twenty-six."

She looked wide-eyed at me. "I was joking!"

"Well, you got your answer." I kissed her soft lips. For a moment, she kissed me back, before gently pushing me away. There was a smile on her face as she said, "Stop it... You make me lose control."

"It that a bad thing?"

"No, but I'm afraid that your knowledge skills are wanted elsewhere. Rita needs your help with some Ancient History stuff, and you've been out here for hours on end." Taking hold of my shoulders, Alice turned me towards the living room. "Off you go, before I rape you."

Laughing softly, I walked to the house.

Rita and Karen were sitting in the living room and almost as soon as I stepped inside, Rita looked up at me with a smile. "Ivan, I need your help, please."

"Yeah, Alice mentioned that." I said as I walked over to her. "With what exactly?"

"Our talk about Egyptian Poetry gave me an idea." She turned the laptop and showed me a picture of Egyptian hieroglyphs. "Yesterday, Mr. Robinson, my ### A word I didn't understand###, sent the whole ancient history class an email with this picture, asking what it says or what it is. The first three to answer the mail wins a signed version of Mr. Robinson's book and I would really like to have it. It's an awesome book." She looked at me. "Do you by any chance know where it's from?"

I looked at the writing on the screen as I translated in my head. I vastly preferred the Egyptian cursive writing that the scribes used at that time, but I had learned how to read Egyptian hieroglyphs as well. As it turned out, it was a part of an old poem I had heard a long time ago, but never seen written down.

"Well, I don't know where it's from, but it's a poem."

"Really? What does it say?"

I could have translated directly, but according to Rita, only a few was able to do that, so instead I pointed at the screen. "The signs there mean 'to grab' or 'seize'. That one means 'day', so the first little bit of it probably means something like 'Seize the day'."

Rita raised her eyebrows. "If you're right, that's kinda impressive. "

"Naaah, I just have a good memory," I said with a grin. "Which is what reading hieroglyphs is all about!"

Karen poked Rita in the side. "Com' on. Search for it."

"Easy now, girl." Said Rita with a smile and looked at me. "Any other signs you recognize?"

I pretended to think and pointed at the screen again. "That sigh is 'holiday' and the next means 'to hold', so the first line has to be something like 'Seize the day. Hold holiday.'"

Rita nodded and went to work on the computer. A few heartbeats later, she grinned. "Found it and you're right. It is part of a poem or rather a Harper's Song written around 1160 BC and goes like this:

So seize the day! Hold holiday!

but seize the day as it passes!"

Karen blinked a few times. "That's actually quite beautiful... not to mention fitting for a vacation."

That caused Rita to lean over and give her a quick kiss. "Honey, for one that have no clue about history, you sure seem to enjoy old poems."

"I like poetry... not history." The Asian shot back, as she sneaked a hand behind Rita's neck and dragged her in for a soft, tender kiss.

The sight of them kissing and the talk about poetry made me think of another verse of the same poem and with a smile, I softly said:

"While the lady alive in your heart

but have joy, joy, joy, and pleasure!"

Rita stiffened and broke off the kiss as she looked at her computer screen and then at me. "You're kidding me!?"

"What?!" said Karen before I had a chance to say anything.

The brown-skinned girl sighed. "Ivan just quoted an entire verse from the same poem... From memory!"

"Well, I heard it before." I said defensively, inwardly cursing my inability to shut up. "The part you read to us made me remember the rest."

That caused Karen to laugh. "That's pretty good."

Rita nodded. "Yeah, but I would give almost anything to have your memory... That would make studying such a breeze."

Karen nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it would help a lot." She tilted her head. "Which reminds me, that you still need to show me how to help the Twins when they have growing pains."

I almost laughed. I had been so caught up in opening up Karen's power nodes, that I had completely forgotten why we were doing it in the first place. Controlling myself, I nodded. "Yes. Do you have time now and is there somewhere private where we can train? I really don't want to be disturbed."

The Asian stood up with a smile. "Yes. There's a place not far from here."

"If you're going to the waterfall," said Rita. "I'll fetch you when it's time for dinner."

"Deal."

'The waterfall' proved to be a little secluded cove in a small forest ten minutes' walk from the house, where a small stream fell into an equally small pool, before it kept running downhill towards Malaga and the sea.

It wasn't really worthy of the name 'waterfall' and according to Karen, nobody ever came there because both the waterfall and the pool was too small to bathe in.

I found it peaceful and like so many other places with undisturbed natural beauty, it had a good deal of positive Vis, making it perfect for our purpose.

Teaching Karen how to guide energy lines into their right positions were a lot easier now she could actually see them and to my pleasant surprise, she remembered most of the explanations from the day before. Coupled with the knowledge about energy lines she already had from her acupuncture background, she mastered the technique a lot faster than I expected.

That made it twice in a day, that I had underestimated people in this age, and I realized, that their extensive schooling made it a lot easier for them to grasp abstract concepts than most people in the ancient world.

Instead of going back to the house at that point, Karen started to think out loud, connecting the concepts of Vis healing with the Qigong meditation style she already knew and had practiced for years. I wasn't quite sure what she meant, so she demonstrated it and to my surprise, her take on it came astonishingly close to a slow form of Vis combat meditation.

For a moment, I wished that I had never opened her nodes, but it couldn't be undone, and I didn't feel like wiping her mind or killing her for being smart, which was the only other alternatives.

Accepting the inevitable, I gently guided her as she worked out how to use the flow of Vis in the body to hit harder by releasing a minute amount of Vis in the strike or kick.

At least it was supposed to be a minute amount, but like most beginners, including myself as a kid, she spent way too much energy in the strikes, wasting most of it.

It did work, however, and she blinked in surprise as the small tree she had used as an imaginary opponent broke. "Holy crap! Did you see that?"

"I saw it." I told her reassuringly. "Nicely done."

Karen sent me one of her perfect smiles and leaned against another, and bigger, tree as she looked at me. "Nicely done?! This is like Bruce Lee's One Inch Punch!"

Since I didn't know who she was talking about, I reached out to connect with her mind to find out.

For once, I didn't bounce of her mind shield and discovered that the Bruce Lee she was talking about was a famous Martial Artist, who could deliver a brutal punch from a short distance. Using the flow of Vis in her body, Karen was certainly capable of doing the same, but she needed training. Using that much Vis with each strike would eventually kill her.

While I was thinking, Karen suddenly looked at me with a speculative expression in her face. "Wait a minute. You're not surprised.... You can do the same, can't you?"

"Yes." I answered, not really wanting to go deeper into that subject, as there was a far more useful skill she had to learn. "But it's not my favourite skill with Vis."

As I had hoped, that caught her attention. "So, what is your favourite skill?"

"I'll explain end then show you afterwards." That made her nod, so I continued. "The Vis in your body flows in a steady stream, following the energy lanes like a river through a flat landscape. However, it flows slowly because the energy lanes are wide enough to allow the energy to pass easily. As you grow better at cultivating the Vis in the body, the amount of Vis increase, thus making the energy flow faster, just like a river if the amount of water was suddenly increased."

Karen nodded again. "That makes sense."

"Good. To continue with the water picture, faster flowing water makes more interference than slow moving water. The same goes for Vis and when you detect Vis, what you're really seeing is the interference, so faster moving Vis is easier to detect. Vis leaving the body is far easier to detect, because it has left the energy lanes and thus creates a lot of interference with the surroundings, like a river turning into a waterfall." I paused. "With me so far?"

She nodded with a smile. "Yes, and Alice is right, if you're not a teacher, you really should be one, coz you can explain things, so they make sense."

"Thank you... Now with some training, every Vis user can purposely widen or narrow the energy lanes, making the flow of Vis slower or faster as desired. The last part is the fun part." I send her a smile. "Hold out your hand."

She did, and I placed my palm against hers. "This feels normal, yes?"

"Yes."

I removed the hand and with a brief concentration, I removed the widening of the energy lanes and touched her palm again. Karen almost jumped as she could feel the energy.

"Holy.... " She exclaimed, looking at my hand. "That's like getting a pleasant electric shock! It makes my skin tingle!"

"Yes, now stand still." I slid the hand down her arm, onto the chest and over her breasts. The nipples hardened in an instant and she moaned. "Feels great!"

I widened the channels again, slowing down the Vis in the body and making the feeling disappear. "That is my favourite skill. Not only because it feels good, but because it makes it much harder to detect the use of Vis."

Karen nodded shortly but didn't answer right away, and I almost see her brain working on what I had said, Finally, she asked. "The Vis in the body moves faster, when we're agitated, right?"

"Yes, but only the positive kind of agitation. That is why sharing pleasure with a person who's really excited always feels good. Negative feelings will make it move slower."

She chuckled. "So that's why sex with you is always so freaking good! My skin tingles by your touch and having you in my mouth or inside me, is even better."

I blinked in surprise a few times as nobody had ever told me that before. However, there was a good possibility, that the reason for it was that it hadn't felt that way before. With the lessening of positive Vis in the world, people were less used to the feel of a Vis flow than they were in Ancient Times and could be more sensitive to it now.

"You didn't know." She stated when she saw the expression on my face.

"No, I didn't, but as you said before, it makes sense." I said, impressed with the speed which she had put it together, proving once again that she was incredibly smart.

"Yes." She said with a pearly smile and stretched. "We can explore that later. Now I need some food. I'm hungry and tired."

That brought me back to why we were in the clearing in the first place. "Why do you think you're so tired in the middle of the day?"

"Oh Crap!" She said with a sigh after thinking about it for a moment. "I used Vis to argument my strike. I guess that's the same as using Vis to heal someone... which you told me yesterday was a bad idea."

"It is... for more reasons than the most obvious, which is your untimely death." I said with a sigh and gave her the same speech I gave Cyra and Zena about keeping extraordinary abilities a secret, less people will try to kill or control you, finishing with, "However since you have figured it out, I need to teach you two more things before we leave here."

"The Art of the Bedchamber?" she asked with a grin, making me smile. "Tempting, but no, that would take years. I was thinking more in the line of how to absorb Vis and how not to let out that amount you just used."

"Ah... okay."

Fortunately, it didn't take more than a couple of hours for her to understand and use the two new techniques, though it surprised her how much time it took to absorb the little Vis there was in the surroundings.

"Okay, I now understand why you're using the Art of the Bedchamber." She said with a sigh and leaned back to lay on the soft grass. "This takes forever."

"Yes, and this area is even one of the better ones." I said, admiring her curves. She was a tempting sight. "Giving other people pleasure is a much better way and you're lucky that you like women, because in general, women release a more Vis when they come, than men do."

She turned her head to look at me, but at the same time, we both heard someone walking through the grove and a moment later, Rita came into view, walking in our direction. Wearing a short yellow summer dress, she looked lovely and sexy at the same time.

Karen laughed softly and fastened her lovely, slanted eyes on me. "I see a test subject."

"Only if you can sit still and not join in." I said with a wink. "You need to concentrate."

"I can do that." She promised as Rita stopped right next to me.

"Dinner will be served in half an hour." The brown beauty said, looking from Karen to me and back again. "You two looked relaxed. Are you done with the teaching?"

"Almost." Said Karen lazily. "Only one or two things left."

Since Rita was standing so close to me, I reached out and let my hand caress the soft skin of her lower leg, projecting lust into her as I slowly slid my hand up her leg.

Shivering slightly, Rita shifted her stance to allow me better access and I took advantage of it by sliding my hand to the inner thighs as I continued upwards.

"What're you..." She started, but I interrupted her. "Quiet, Dark Angel. Just enjoy it."

Biting her lips, she nodded and then shivered as my fingers reached her pussy, brushing against the thin cloth covering it. At the same time, I reached out with my mind and connected with hers. Images flashed through my mind and in most of them she was being used as Karen had been used the night before, just with more orgasms.

I groped her fabulous butt for a while, watching her squirm every time my fingers came near her pussy. Then I used my other hand to turn her, so her front was towards me, making the angle less awkward. Rita sighed happily as I pulled down in her panties, got my hand inside them and stoked her naked and wet pussy.

The happy sigh turned into a moan as my thumb found her clitoris and drew circles around it, while my middle finger parted her nether lips and effortless slid into her wet pussy.

"Yeah... Mmmm..." Rita mumbled as her hips started to rock back and forth, making my fingers slide slowly in and out of her slick opening.

"Support her." I said with a wink to Karen, who were looking at us with lust in her slanted eyes.

The Asian nodded, stood up gracefully and a moment later she embraced Rita from behind, ensuring that the brown beauty wouldn't fall when she came.

"Oh yeah." Groaned Rita, as Karen used the opportunity to fondle her breasts.

I inserted a second finger into Rita's pussy, feeling it contracting around my fingers. Removing my thumb, I lifted the short dress and licked my way up her thigh. Curling my fingers a little, I found her pleasure zone and started to steadily massage it, while my tongue found her clitoris, tapping it lightly. Her scent filled my nostrils making me even more horny along with the taste of her on my tongue.

"Shit!" Hissed Rita and shivered again. A moment later, her hand found my head, pressing it against her. "Fuck, this is good!"

Despite the limited room, I managed to suck her clitoris into my mouth and massaged it with my lips, causing another groan and a bucking of her hips.

I made my tongue stiff and started to lick her clitoris, while slowly increased the tempo of my fingers, making her shake all over, until she lifted a hand and bit into her knuckles as she came. Her beautiful long brown legs shook, but Karen supported her, keeping her upright.

Removing my mouth from Rita's pussy, I said, "Now, Karen."

She nodded slightly and closed her eyes, not letting go of Rita.

I could feel her opening up for the Vis, but it wasn't quite enough and most of it evaporated into the landscape around us.

Karen must have felt the same because she mumbled "Sorry."

Rita shook her head. "No, that was awesome. Nothing like surprise sex from two gorgeous people!"

I laughed and stood up, painfully aware of my erection. "We were talking about something else, Rita. Bear with us for a moment."

She nodded, and I looked at Karen. "Let's try again... and this time, focus a bit more. You were almost there."

Without waiting for a response, I opened my pants, causing my rock-hard cock to spring forth.

Then I guided Rita backwards, until her back was against a three. "I want to fuck you, Dark Angel."

With a wide smile, she spread her legs as far as she could. I stepped in between them, squatted slightly to get the angle right and pushed into her, holding her hips still with my hands.

It was an awkward position, and it didn't allow me to penetrate her deeply, but it was enough for me to slowly fuck her, making her moan as I moved in and out of her.

My hands wandered from her hips, up the sides of her torso until I nestled each of her lovely firm breasts into my hands. As I kneaded them softly, she groaned in pleasure and her head fell back against the three, while a soft gasp slipped from her lips.

Leaning forward, I kissed those lovely lips, getting another moan from her as she responded by kissing me back, gently biting my lower lip.

At the same time, she lifted one leg and wrapped it around me, enabling me to go deeper into her wet pussy.

She broke the kiss with a gasp. "Fuck, it feels sooo good!"

I agreed and continued to fuck her slowly for a while, enjoying the feel of her body against mine and her pussy around my cock, as it steadily went in and out of her.

Her orgasm started slowly this time, as her body started to shiver while her pussy quivered around my pumping cock.

"Ohhhh! I'm coming again!" She moaned. Her arms encircled me, and she pulled me into a hug and a kiss, her pussy clamping down on my cock before she screamed into my mouth.

I had almost forgotten about Karen but discovered that she was standing next to me with her eyes closed as Rita came and this time, she was successful in absorbing some of the Vis Rita emitted.

The Asian was smiling as she opened her eyes again and I gave her a nod. "That's the way."

"Oh yeah!" agreed Rita with a smile, causing Karen to laugh. There was lust in her laughter, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that seeing Rita and I had turned her on.

I took a step back, retracting my cock from Rita's still pulsing pussy.

"Hey." The dark beauty protested with a grin. "I was using that!"

"Turn around."

Faster than lightning, she did as I said, leaning against the tree with her legs spread and her butt pointing at me. I didn't waste any time but pushed the dress and panties aside and buried my cock in her waiting pussy.

"Yes!" Rita exclaimed as I slid to the bottom in one long stroke. "Fuck me hard!"

Taking hold of her hips with my hands, I did as she asked, slamming my dick into her fast and hard.

Rita gripped the tree tightly as her body shook under my assault and her breath came in gasps, timed with the rhythm of my skin slapping against her beautiful firm butt.

"Ohhhhhhh! I'm coming!" she cried.

"That was the plan." I managed to say as I once more felt her pussy tighten around my cock just before she came again, her body shaking wildly. I continued to move through her orgasm, but then her legs gave away and she ended up sitting against the tree, panting for air.

Karen's arms encircled me from behind. "My turn... now!"

I nodded and relaxed as she gently pulled me down to the ground.

She must had removed her panties while Rita and I was going at it, because she simply placed a leg on each side of me and sat down, using a hand to guide my cock into her tight wet pussy.

"Ooooooooooh yessssssssss," she groaned as her hot pussy eased down around my shaft, enveloping my cock in hot pulsating flesh. Then she began slowly lifting until I was nearly out of her before pushing my shaft as deep into her pussy as it could go.

Karen quickly picked up the speed and the intense sensations her tight pussy was giving my shaft were just too much for me and I knew I would come soon.

She moaned when I warned her, but didn't slow down, so I focused on the treetops above our heads for a while, trying to starve of the orgasm long enough for her to come as well.

It didn't take long before her pussy tightened around me ever more and she began to slam down on me harder as her body shook.

"I'm coming!" She hissed through clenched teeth and slammed down two times more, before she shook all over and softly cried as the orgasm overtook her.

Karen sat still for a moment, only moving her hips in slow circles. The feeling of her inner walls massaging my dick made me groan.

With a giggle she leaned down to kiss me. "Close?"

"Very."

"Good." She said with a wink and kissed me passionately before she whispered. "I can feel the energy in your dick. It makes my pussy tingle!" as she resumed the kiss and increased the pace of her hips. The feel of her lips against mine made it almost impossible to concentrate on not coming and I simply gave up, enjoying the feeling of being in her.

"Ummmmmm!" Karen groaned into my mouth, her hips moved in a circle on my cock and her pussy spasmed as it reacted to the sensation. Small orgasms soared through her body as she climbed towards her climax.

It felt sensational. The need to come slowly overtook me and with a firm grip on her hips I held them still, while using the ground under my feet to pound her fast and hard, groaning along with her as I felt my release building quickly.

Suddenly she stiffened and then screamed into my mouth as the orgasm rippled through her, making her trash on top of me. The feeling triggered my own orgasm. It felt like it started all the way down in the toes, moved upward until it reached my balls and I exploded in her contracting pussy with a moan, setting her of once more. It was one of those orgasms that seemed to last forever and when it was over, my ears were ringing for the intensity.

"God, that was good." Mumbled Karen and gave me another kiss, before she quickly rolled off me, being careful not to spill our juices on the clothes.

I nodded. "It was fantastic."

"Oh yeah." agreed Rita with a smile as she slowly stood up, rearranging her dress to look presentable. "However, we really need to go get dinner, before they come looking for us."

With a sigh I stood up as well.

----------------

As always, the dinner was delightful, with good food and pleasant company as we talked and joked around the table. After dinner and the clean-up, we moved to the terrace, where I told the next part of 'The trials of the Inquisitor', again sending subtle mind-images of the scenes in the story to help the listener's imagination along.

The heroes were on the way to the Atlantean outpost in Dilmun, but on the way, they had to dock in Portum Aeris (Baylon: Copper Harbour), the biggest city in the copper rich region of Megan and a frequent stop for the ships sailing the trade route from Egypt and Kerma to Dilmun or Bhārata.

For once, there wasn't any supernatural creatures to fight, but the intrigues among the merchants more than made up for it. The group got caught up in one of those conspiracies and were framed for crimes committed by other people, forcing them to solve the crime to prove their innocence.

I had the Twins, and the three women help solving the crime from the clues in the story. Not only did it give me a nice break in the storytelling, but they had a lot of fun doing it and proved their intelligence by being faster than most other people I had told the story.

After they had solved the crime, the heroes were allowed to leave, so they boarded the ship again and sailed to Dilmun. There they entered the Atlantean trading post, where most of the people they had managed to free, were sent to Atlantis along with their loved ones by a magical portal that took them there instantly.

Though less touching than some of the other scenes in the story, it was still a sentimental scene as it played on both the joy of having succeeded in freeing some of the abducted people and the sadness of saying goodbye to some of the people the group had fought alongside.

As the other times, where I remembered being touched by it, the women and girls in front me had tears in their eyes, while they smiled happily, and I lowered the pace to give them time to gather themselves. That was really the end of that part of the story, but due to the speed of which they had solved the crime, the evening was still young and instead of stopping, I continued with the next part.

The Inquisitor, and a few others who were still missing their loves ones, sailed to Dvārakā, a city-state in the Bhārata region. I described the wonders of that city, the big and richly decorated palace, the officers mounted on elephants leading cavalry marching in the city streets, flanked by tall buildings.

Fortune favoured the group this time, as they quickly discovered, that while half the missing people had been taken south to Cinnamon Island, several of the missing people was for sale at the marked and instead of making a fuss about it, the group simply bought those they could find, greatly helped by the mind power of the Atlanteans.

However, the last merchant was not only immune to those mind powers, but he also sensed that something was wrong and rallied some of the other merchant against the group. Outnumbered, the group hurried to free the remaining prisoners and then fought a running battle through the city to get to their ship. Once there, they quickly set sails towards Lothal and Cinnamon Island.

Telling two parts of the story had taken a bit longer than I expected and when I finished the last part, the Twins looked more asleep than awake. The same could be said about Rita and Karen and I guessed that the Vis-training as well as the outdoor sex had taken its toll on them.

So, we all just went to our beds to get a good night's sleep.