章 22: The Warden and a Surprise
The next morning, Adam woke up around seven as he usually did. He found himself in an empty bed with only the torn of bed sheets and blankets from Leila's first night on it hap hazardly covering him. He rubbed his head as he yawned.
Seemed like even as a demon, Adam had physical needs like having to sleep or probably eat.
The air smelled faintly sweet like roses – Leila's signature scent. He blinked his eyes as he wondered where Leila and Nia was. He knew they were not in harm's way because as a Bond, he knew when Leila was taking damage.
So then where were they and what were they doing?
Adam got out of bed, running back his hair with his hand before looking into the mirror and wearing some new clothes. He tried to imitate Leila and how she could create clothes with her shapeshifting ability.
As with the last time Adam tried it, he could only make a plain looking shirt and pants, but this was enough to get around. That was when his nose twitched, faintly sensing the acrid smell of something burning.
An attack!?
Almost immediately, Adam dashed out of the room at blurring speeds, skidding to a halt in the kitchen.
Leila let out a small yelp of surprise as she saw Adam. She was almost bare naked, wearing only her revealing undergarments with his apron over it. The curvature of her figure was highly visible under the apron, and when she turned around, her bare back and butt showed quite nicely.
The fabled naked apron. A mythical sight that Adam thought he would never see in his lifetime. He closed his eyes and praised Hell for this blessing before sighing in relief that Leila was okay. And, as evident by Nia trotting to Adam and licking his knees, she was fine too.
"O-oh, my darling, you surprised me!" said Leila. She turned to face Adam and put her arms to her sides, as if to hide something behind her on the kitchen counter. Her lower lip twitched nervously as she smiled.
"Why are you up so early?" said Adam. "And what is that behind you?"
"N-nothing!" said Leila.
Adam tried to move to the right to see past Leila, but she scooted to block his vision. When he moved to the left, she moved to block him again.
Adam smiled and shook his head. "Did you try to cook, Leila?"
Leila paused for a moment before casting her eyes down in sadness. "Yes, my darling," she said, defeated. "But oh, this magic, this 'cooking', is so difficult. I ended up burning everything I put my hands on."
"Let me see," said Adam, and Leila slowly eased to the side to reveal a plate filled with the blackened, ashen remnants of what must have been some kind of meat and bread.
"Hmm," said Adam as he stared at it, smelling burnt everything.
"I'm so sorry, darling," said Leila. "You must be so disappointed in me. I am a princess that is supposed to excel in all things, and yet, yet, I cannot even do this-,"
"Stop that," said Adam gently as he stepped forward, wrapping his arm around Leila's waist before planting a soothing kiss on her forehead. "This is new to you, so of course you wouldn't know how to do it. But that doesn't matter. I'm not disappointed, Leila, I'm happy that you thought of me to want to do this for me in the first place."
"R-really, darling? You aren't disappointed?"
"No, silly, of course not," said Adam, and Leila nuzzled her face into Adam's neck with a sigh of relief.
"Still, I wonder what we should do about this," said Adam as he looked at the food while patting Leila's head.
"Cast it away," said Leila dismissively. "It is not fit for anything to consume."
Nia leaped up on the counter with a single graceful jump. She sniffed the blackened, burnt mess, and then wagged her tail as she opened up her mouth and literally vacuumed in all of the food, completely devouring everything.
Nia licked her lips as she trotted around in a happy circle before coming up to Leila and licking her hands.
"She likes it," said Adam. "No, she loves it, huh. She really sucked that thing up."
"How wonderful you are!" said Leila as she scooped up Nia in her arms, spinning Nia around while raising her up in the air. "You and my darling both know exactly how to cheer me up."
Nia barked excitedly, sensing the positive energy.
Adam smiled at the scene, starting to sort of see even more how this whole 'family' dynamic was starting to work.
==
Adam spent the morning dealing with his leave of absence. He went to the registration office and with Raum's shades on, he breezed through any difficulties with his hypnosis. Anytime someone said his application to take time off from school was too late or the reasons were not good enough or whatever, all he had to do was command them to do as he wanted, and it was done.
During this whole boring process, Leila and Nia took a walk together on a forest trail so that Leila could get a better sense of the area's 'leylines' as she called it, though Adam had little idea what those were. From Leila's basic explanation, it seemed that the world had its own flow of mana sort of like blood vessels in a human body, and knowing where the mana flowed through nature was good to find out spots to rest in.
Afterwards, Adam got Raum's message. He opened up his pocket mirror when it started to grow hot and vibrate in his pocket. Strange, glowing red sigils lined the glass surface, and though Adam had no idea what they said, when he saw them, he felt their meaning transmitting directly to him.
"Meet at the Axis at noon" was the message.
Adam regrouped with Leila and Nia and together, they fly towards the Warden's residence, though since Nia could not fly Leila carried her in her arms.
"Wow, this warden person lives pretty remotely," said Adam as he looked down from the sky, seeing only thick outgrowth of forest. This was a protected natural reserve area outside of the city proper, so there were zero signs of urban development anywhere.
Large streams and rushing waterfalls showed up notable landmarks, and Adam kept them in mind for keeping a sense of direction while flying.
"Where nature is untouched, leylines run with thicker mana," said Leila. "Where there are cities where nature has been razed, precious little mana flows, so most mages will make their ateliers in areas of nature."
"Atelier?" asked Adam.
"Bases," said Leila. "Workshops where they practice their magic with the necessary mana to fuel it."
"I see," said Adam.
"Occasionally, many leylines will criss-cross over a single rare point," explained Leila further. "This is called an Axis, and these spots are charged with incredible amounts of mana. Wardens that directly supervise territories will usually occupy an Axis."
"But how do you know where this Axis is?" said Adam. Throughout this whole flight, Leila had been leading Adam, looking down and narrowing her eyes as if seeing a path laid out for her.
"All beings whose bodies are saturated with magic have what is known as the 'Second Sight'," said Leila. "With it, you can see the flow of mana in nature, ghosts, spirits, and other beings that normally cannot be perceived."
"Guess I'm not used to my body enough for it," said Adam. "All I see are trees."
"Your sight will awaken in time, my darling," said Leila. "Anytime now, actually, with how fast you are growing."
"Let's hope so," said Adam. "I don't want to slow you down any."
Leila wrapped her tail around Adam's waist and drew him close while they flew. She kissed him, savoring the energy his lust gene infused body gave off, before smiling. "Never, my darling. You never slow me down. We are Bonded: we live side by side, heart by heart, soul by soul. And like that, we move forward together too."
Leila grasped Adam's hand, used to it enough that this time, she did it with no hesitation or hint of shyness.
Like that, Nia hanging from one arm and the other hand leading Adam, Leila flew forwards, and as Adam saw the determined look in her face, a face that looked forwards, ever forwards, he could tell that she had all the makings of a royal ruler.
==
About an hour out of the city, Adam saw the Warden's residence from above.
"What the? It's that?" said Adam, eyes wide.
He looked down to see an enormous mansion overlooking Crystal Lake, the main body of water that fed the streams and waterfalls in Rockhold City. The mansion towered at five or so stories high with austere, gothic style architecture with gargoyles, spires, and buttresses made of solemnly black and grey rock.
"Seems so," said Leila, nodding. "From here, we must travel on foot. That Atelier is incredibly fortified. No doubt, there are air defenses, not to mention the presence of multiple barriers preventing entry."
"Geez, I never even knew there was a fortress of death hidden right by the lake," said Adam.
"For good reason," said Leila. "One of the barriers around this atelier prevents those with no magic from perceiving it. Such a barrier is quite basic and routinely cast to prevent ordinary mortal interference, but still, it is quite impressive that this atelier is capable of sustaining so many barriers at such a large scale."
Leila narrowed her eyes. "Whoever this mage is, they are considerably powerful. If they become a threat, we must be prepared to fight with our lives on the line, my darling."
==
The path into the mansion was one that awed Adam.
After landing outside in the thick of the forest surrounding the lake, Adam, Leila, and Nia were immediately greeted by the presence of several dozen ghostly blue tongues of flame floating around them.
At first, Adam was wary, but Leila explained. "These are Will O Wisps. Rather weak elementals of fire that serve mostly as guides. They will lead us to the atelier, I presume."
Leila's presumption was correct. The wisps flickered, as if beckoning them to come forward, before floating slowly away, lighting up a path through the forest. While trekking through a rough trail winding through the woods, Adam could note that some of the trees had sigils carved out in their trunks.
"Inscriptions," said Leila as she looked at the sigils warily. "Written words that store magic in them. Probably spells to deal with intruders, but since the wisps are leading us, the inscriptions are dormant."
"Yeah, good thing, too, they seem pretty nasty," said Adam. Whenever he focused on an inscription, he could get a sense of how much mana was packed in it, and it was pretty impressive.
Not nearly as impressive as Raum's last Shadow Magic attack which definitely would have atomized Adam, but still strong enough to blow off an arm.
Eventually, the wisps led the group to the mansion's front gates. Two pillars with gargoyles staring down menacingly marked out the ends of the gate which itself was barred with black and tipped in spikes.
"I am not looking forward to meeting with whatever creepy old witch or wizard is behind these gates," said Adam.
"Neither am I," said Leila. "But together, darling, there is nothing we cannot overcome."
Adam held Leila's hand, squeezing it to remind her that he was there to support her. Nia walked slowly with her head low and her back arched, the fur on her neck standing menacingly.
The wisps flew away when they reached the gate, and the gate itself started to creak and groan as it slid apart automatically through some invisible force. When the gate fully opened, the gargoyles moved, turning their gazes away from the group and instead staring straight ahead.
"Those were golems ready to strike down threats. Deactivated now," said Leila.
"There's so many traps and defenses and whatever here," said Adam. "Whoever stays in this place must be one hell of a hermit."
The large double doors of the mansion opened up, revealing a nicely lit interior, and from it, a woman stepped out.
Not a haggard old wizard or witch of any kind with hunched back and pointed hat and warts. A stunning young woman dressed preppy with a formal blouse decorated with ribbons of expensive looking blue and gold and a long, pleated skirt that looked equally like it was made out of dollar signs.
The woman exuded an air of coldness with her white skin, pale blue, icy eyes and platinum blonde, almost white hair.
"No way-," began Adam as he stepped forward, equal parts confused and amazed. "You're the student council president!"
The woman blinked her pale blue eyes as she looked at Adam in recognition. "…Adam?"
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