Eidolon Master: Tamer of Animal Women 2, page 1
Table of Contents
Title Page
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
End Notes
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Chapter 1
The late morning sun warmed my skin as I strolled through Asheville with my arm around Tala, my beautiful eidolon lover. We drank in the fresh air as we walked past families and groups of hikers struggling under heavy rucksacks.
It had been two days now since I’d returned from Fablewild with her after yet another successful temple raid, and I was still riding high on our victory. The raid on the Floating Temple was our most daring trip so far, although the reward had definitely been worth it. I couldn’t wait to get back to the dangerous life of being an adventurer in the magical land, but I have to admit, I was enjoying the feeling of relaxation that ran through me now that I didn’t have to be on constant high alert.
At least on Earth, there were no hideous monsters or flesh-eating plants. All I had to worry about here was avoiding the bears and the naked hippies who were known to roam the mountains.
Well, that and the crazy guy from the geocaching forum who was currently camping up there, determined to catch me as I traveled to and from Fablewild to reclaim ‘his’ portal.
I still couldn’t believe how much my life had changed in the past few days. A week ago, I was just a regular guy who’d quit his crappy job to pursue a passion for geocaching. Little did I know the box I’d found in the cache would actually turn out to be a portal that could transport me to a different world full of magic, danger, adventure, and treasure.
And beautiful spirit warrior women.
Not only was it the most fun I’d ever had in my life, but I was also getting rich from selling the artifacts I received as a reward for completing the temples. I now had enough money to pay my rent months in advance and to buy some cool new stuff for my apartment. If things carried on like this, I’d soon be able to move somewhere better, and I was well on the way to turning adventuring into my full-time job.
But I wouldn’t have been able to achieve any of this without Tala. She was the best prize I’d received in Fablewild.
I turned to my beautiful spirit warrior and smiled at her.
That was another amazing thing about how my life had changed. Now, I had Tala to protect, love, and fight alongside. In Fablewild she took on the form of a powerful wolf who appeared when I summoned her from the ring I wore. Here, she was an unbelievably sexy woman, and I was still blown away by how stunning she was every time I looked at her.
“So, what do you want to do today?” I asked her.
Tala turned to me and cocked her head to one side as she thought. She gave a low laugh, but there was a trace of sadness in it, too.
“What?” I asked. “Did I say something funny?”
“No,” she replied. “No, I’m sorry. It just still feels strange when you ask me about what I want. None of my masters have ever done that before. I’m so used to following orders and only being let out of the ring to be used as a weapon. It’s going to take some getting used to.”
“Well, get used to it,” I chuckled as I pulled her closer to me. “You’re with me now. I want us to work together, and to have fun. You’ve been trapped for so long, now I want you to have whatever you desire.”
“Mmmmmm,” she growled and bit her lower lip as her striking eyes met mine. “You’ve already fulfilled quite a few of my desires.”
“And I’ll fulfill some more later,” I whispered in her ear as I slapped her ass playfully.
Tala giggled, and I could feel her excitement as we carried on down the street. I was still amazed at how in tune our emotions were, and how much stronger our bond was since we’d started sleeping together. We could read each other’s emotions with perfect accuracy, and she could even speak with me when she was inside the ring.
“Seriously, though,” I continued. “After all the assholes you’ve had to put up with in your centuries of being an eidolon, you deserve to be happy. You deserve to have whatever you want, and I’m going to make sure you do. It makes me sick to hear about how badly most adventurers treat their eidolons.”
“Yes,” Tala sighed. “They do not respect us, or our ancient wisdom. Eidolons with red manas like mine are particularly prized because we fight so well, but our insights are often ignored. All eidolons have different abilities and special powers, and you know we are all valuable. But most adventurers are especially interested in eidolons who are good in battle. They’re after claws and teeth. Not wisdom or experience.”
I felt her sadness and her fury as if they’d been my own.
Tala was the Wolf of Dusk Eidolon, and it seemed ridiculously shortsighted of her past masters to treat her as little more than an attack dog when she could offer so much more.
I thought about Neoma, the eidolon we’d rescued after our last temple raid, and I wondered if she’d experienced the same suffering as Tala.
I’d seen two men fighting over Neoma’s ring, but they’d killed each other in the brawl, and I knew we couldn’t leave an eidolon to fall into the wrong hands, especially when I could treat her with the respect she deserved.
Tala had told me nobody in Fablewild history had ever been able to wield two eidolons at once, but I’d succeeded, though I still wasn’t quite sure how my power worked, or how dangerous it might be.
Neoma had collapsed from stress and exhaustion almost immediately after I’d summoned her from the ring. I’d put her to bed, and she’d been sleeping pretty much nonstop ever since.
Tala and I didn’t want to crowd her, so we checked in a few times a day but otherwise, we’d decided to let her wake up of her own accord. Then we could find out more about her, and try to explain to her how she came to be in Asheville rather than Fablewild.
“Do you think Neoma’s past has been like yours?” I asked.
“I would imagine so,” she said, and I could feel sadness radiating from her. “Eidolons don’t need to sleep very much, but given her exhaustion, I would say her previous master never let her have a moment’s rest. Eidolons are incredibly powerful, but we need to recharge, too. Many masters do not recognize this. You are different, Colton.”
I couldn’t help but grin at her words.
“Well, speaking of recharging, how does lunch sound?” I asked her to try and lighten the subject and take her mind off the assholes she’d dealt with in her past. “There’s a great Italian place around the corner from here.”
“It-alian?” Tala asked, and the unfamiliar word sounded awkward on her tongue.
“Oh, yeah,” I chuckled. “Sorry, I forgot you wouldn’t know what that is. It’s another country on Earth, and they cook really good food. You’ll like it.”
She’d enjoyed the takeout pizzas we had on our first night together, so I figured Italian was a safe bet. It was really fun introducing Tala to new food and new experiences, and I thought excitedly of all the places we could go together.
“If you say I will like it, then I know I will.” She smiled.
“Great, it’s this way,” I said as we crossed the road.
Actually, I was just assuming the food in this restaurant was great. It had always been way out of my price range before, but I didn’t have to worry about that now. I’d sold a small portion of my Fablewild temple loot to a local jeweler, and he’d paid me thirty-two thousand dollars for it. Plus, there was much more coming once he’d sourced buyers for the other gems I’d shown him. I was finally going to be able to spend money without worrying about every little penny.
I also wanted to properly celebrate our successful raid of the Floating Temple. We’d been too exhausted to leave my apartment the first day after we’d gotten back from Fablewild, and instead, we’d spent the whole day snuggled up on the couch together, eating snacks and takeout food. It was incredibly indulgent, but I’d still been worried enough about Neoma that I didn’t want to go too far away from her.
And besides, I thought Tala and I deserved a little relaxation after the shit we’d gone through in Fablewild.
We reached the Italian restaurant and were greeted by an elegant waitress. I saw her eyes quickly pass over my scuffed jeans and dirty sneakers, and then she took in Tala’s sporty leggings and crop top. She cleared her throat, but she led us to a free table nestled in a cozy corner anyway. I realized, if I was going to take Tala out for meals in these kinds of places, I’d probably have to get us some fancier clothes. Our clothes were perfect for temple raiding, but perhaps not for whe n I wanted to spend our hard-earned cash in a fancy restaurant.
We sat down and browsed the menu, which was full of locally-sourced ingredients, handmade pasta, and fresh fish. It was certainly pricey, but the food sounded amazing, and my stomach grumbled.
“What do the symbols say?” Tala asked as she looked at the unfamiliar writing on the menu.
“Ah, I forgot about that,” I said. “You know how you were saying you could teach me to read in your alphabet so I can do it more quickly in the temples?”
Tala nodded.
“Well, I think at the same time it might be a good idea for me to teach you our alphabet.”
“There are no temples to raid here,” Tala said. “There is not much point in me being able to read your language,” she added with a wink.
“But you’d be able to choose what you wanted to eat,” I laughed.
“Choose for me,” she said.
“You sure?” I chuckled. “I mean you’re pretty feisty. I wouldn’t want to get on your bad side if I choose something you don’t like.”
Tala kicked me playfully under the table.
“I will eat whatever my master chooses.”
I smirked but stopped myself from making a joke because the waitress came over and asked what we wanted.
I ordered pasta with meatballs for both of us, as well as a sampler platter with things like bread and olives to nibble on. I also got us each a cocktail. I chose something bold and spicy that I hoped Tala would like.
We passed the time until our drinks arrived talking about how crazy everything we’d experienced so far had been. I was glad there was no one sitting at the tables nearby because they’d have thought it was one hell of a weird date. With every other girl I’d taken out for a meal, we’d discussed our families and our childhoods, our jobs, our hobbies, and sometimes our hopes for the future. With Tala, I was talking about dangerous monsters, deadly traps, and priceless treasures.
“So, the artifact we get at the end of a raid depends on the route we take to get to the temple, and on the time of day, right?” I asked.
I was still trying to get my head around the crazy magical rules that governed Fablewild.
Tala nodded and pushed back a strand of golden hair that had fallen in front of her face.
“So the more dangerous the route, the better the artifact will be,” I continued. “And the tasks within the temples vary by the skills of the particular adventurer. So, basically, there’s no way of knowing what we’re going to face or what we’re going to get at the end of the trials.”
The wolf-woman nodded her head again. “But we know the temple will be dangerous, and we know the prize will be good.”
“It makes it difficult to plan what equipment to take, though,” I answered.
Until I got a magical bag to carry all my weapons and supplies without it getting any heavier, I had to be careful about what I took with me. Being overburdened in a temple was a bad idea because I often had to rely on speed and balance rather than brute force alone. But, obviously, I still had to bring enough weapons with me to be able to fight whatever vicious beasts the temple might have in store for us.
The waitress came over with our drinks and appetizers, and Tala sniffed the platter suspiciously. She bit into an olive and made a disgusted face.
“Those might take some getting used to,” I laughed as she wrinkled her nose. “They’re a bit of an acquired taste.”
“Are these a delicacy in your world?” she asked with confusion. “I mean, you get rich and these are what you order?”
“Not exactly,” I chuckled as I bit into some bread dipped in oil. “I was thinking we should go shopping this afternoon. There’s loads of stuff I’ve been wanting to get for ages to try and make my apartment a bit more comfortable, and it’s more important than ever now that there are three of us staying there. Hopefully, one day we’ll be able to move to somewhere bigger and nicer, but for now, I think we should try to make the best of what we’ve got. I need some new hiking boots, too. My old ones are falling apart, and I don’t want to die in a temple because of shitty footwear.”
I popped an olive in my mouth as I considered what else we should put on our shopping list.
“Perhaps we should also buy Neoma some basic clothes.” I tapped the table with a thoughtful finger. “I don’t know what she likes, but she was only wearing that slip dress, and she can’t leave the house like that. Can you help me with finding some things for her?”
“Of course,” she said.
Tala was trying to hide her uneasiness, but I knew she wasn’t entirely comfortable with Neoma. After centuries of being treated badly by her previous masters, I was hardly surprised she was worried about being replaced as my eidolon.
I reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
“I love you, Tala. And nothing is going to change that,” I said.
“I love you, too.” Although she smiled, I could still sense the tension in her.
I hoped she would relax soon and know I would never replace her.
I took a sip of my drink and watched Tala examining hers. She dipped a finger in the amber liquid and brought it to her mouth to taste it. As she licked her lips, I had a flashback to making love to her on the sofa in my apartment the other night, and my body grew warmer.
My vision of Tala’s beautiful body was cut short by our food arriving. I was ravenous, and by the way my eidolon eyed the steaming bowls of pasta and meatballs, I guessed she was, too.
“It turns out I like my master’s choice of It-alian.” She grinned after a few mouthfuls.
“I thought you might.” I smiled. The food really was amazing, and I made a mental note to come back here at some point. “So, what do you think we should do about Neoma?”
I saw a shadow of wariness cross Tala’s eyes.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Well, we didn’t really get a chance to speak with her before she crashed. We’re going to have a hell of a lot of explaining to do when she finally wakes up. Not only has she been transported to a different world, but she’s been summoned even though the person who possesses her ring already has an eidolon. You said that’s never been done before. Do you think she’ll understand it?”
“Even I do not fully understand it,” Tala murmured. “It is hard for many people to master one eidolon, but more than one is unheard of. And you do not seem to have suffered any ill effects at all, which makes me think it might be possible for you to use us both at once…”
She trailed off, and her icy-blue eyes met mine.
“It would make you an amazingly powerful adventurer,” she continued. “Definitely more powerful than you already are and almost certainly one of the most powerful in Fablewild. I think you should try it if she’s willing.”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “I hope she’s not too traumatized after her previous masters. Maybe she won’t want to work with us or share a master with another eidolon. Then what?”
“I had a bad time with previous masters, too,” Tala sighed. “I was reluctant to allow you to care for me at first, remember?”
“Yes,” I said, and I thought about how standoffish she’d initially been.
“And now look,” she went on. “I never want to be without you, and I am so excited to see what our future holds. I’m sure Neoma will wish to join us on our adventures and learn what the life of an eidolon can be like. What it should be like. No other master would have given her the choice.”
“Alright,” I said. “So once we’ve finished here, we’ll go shopping for some stuff, and then head back. Neoma didn’t look like she was going to wake up any time soon when I checked in on her earlier, but at some point, she will, and when she does we can try to explain the situation to her. Depending on what her answer is, we can either take her back to Fablewild and pass her ring on to someone of her choosing, or we can plan to all go on a temple raid. I’m missing the thrill of it already.”
“So am I.” Tala grinned.
“And I think we should aim to make the paths we take a little bit harder, too,” I added.
Tala raised her eyebrow at me, but this playfulness was undercut by the slight concern I could sense coming from her. I knew she was wondering if our success had gone to my head.
“No,” I laughed. “But we’ve completed three temples now, and I think we’re ready for a new adventure. If Neoma joins us, then it’ll be even easier to take a harder path. We could try approaching from the north this time, though I’m still not sure how late in the day I want to go. I’ve seen the kind of shit that lives in those jungles during the day, and I sure as hell don’t want to meet the night shift just yet.”
