Chosen, Chapter 49: Sacred Bonds
Paths of the Chosen by Zurai
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Aidan
The Realms
Thirdday, 1st week of the 8th month, Godless Age 597
Dawn
Starchaser Village, Mistvale Highlands

Aidan's blood froze in his veins and his heart sank through the floor, but before he could turn away and flee from her rejection, Brighid grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a tight embrace. She rained kisses upon his shoulder, neck, and throat even as she sobbed and hiccuped. Aidan felt paralyzed by confusion; her reactions seemed utterly disconnected from each other. Not knowing what else to do, he settled on stroking her head and back soothingly.

Eventually, Brighid reined in her emotions and released him. She leaned back and picked up the box again, opening it and lifting out the choker with infinite care. She looked up at Aidan, tears still shimmering at the corners of her emerald eyes, and asked, "Will you hold my hair out of the way, my love?" Wordlessly, he reached behind her head and gathered her hair, lifting it to bare her neck. Slowly, with great care and precision, Brighid placed the leather collar around her neck and latched it behind her. He let her hair fall and slid his hands down to her waist while Brighid retrieved the tag and brought it up to her face. "This is very well-made, Aidan. What does the symbol mean?"

"I—" Aidan's voice broke, and he swallowed heavily. "I didn't trust myself to make anything too fancy, so it is just a stylized version of the first letter of my name."

The redheaded Paladin smiled brilliantly at him. Aidan felt a stir of arousal at the sight of the green leather band snug against her neck. Brighid leaned forward to brush her lips against his, then asked, "Will you fetch the pliers from the forge, my love?" He was out of the house in a flash, returning seconds later with the requested object in hand. Brighid threaded the tag onto the ring at her neck, then tilted her head back. "Twist the ends together tightly. I want to make sure this never comes off."

Aidan's heart and hands trembled at her declaration, and it took him a moment of fumbling to press the ends of the wire together and begin to twist. When he finished, his lover kissed him passionately. When they came up for air, Brighid asked, "This is the reason you made such a show out of taking my measurements in front of Siwan, right?" At his nod, she moaned softly and continued, "My Lord is cunning and devious. I thought you were only showing off. I love it. And I see that you achieved your Profession." Her gaze turned intense, a raging green bonfire of love and lust. "Please, may this little mare make a request of her Master?"

Aidan shuddered, arousal coursing through him at the sound of that word on her lips. Brighid's hands slid down his chest, over his belly, and into his pants. "Master, your mare begs you to claim her, all of her. She wants to be taken and used and reminded just what it means to be yours."

Aidan stood up and hooked his finger under the front of Brighid's choker, pulling her head towards his groin. "Service me," he commanded. Her response was immediate and frantic, tugging at his laces and yanking his pants down. Once she revealed his hardness, Brighid wasted no time, taking him in hand and swallowing his shaft. Aidan groaned and tangled his fingers in the disheveled mass of her flame-red hair, forcing her down onto him. Her tongue swirled around him and her teeth grazed his sensitive skin. After a long moment, he pulled out of her mouth and told her, "Breathe deep, pet. I'm going down your throat this time." She nodded jerkily and inhaled, then he pushed her gently back down. Brighid opened her mouth wide and tilted her head, and while he applied gentle pressure at the back of her head, Aidan allowed her to work at the problem at her own pace. It took her a few minutes, but soon, her lips kissed his groin around the base of his shaft while her throat rippled around his tip. Lust-filled green eyes blazed up at him as she smiled in triumph.

"Good girl," Aidan praised. "Keep that up, and your Master will reward you." She moaned; the vibrations of her tightly-constricting throat were exquisite. "Such a good girl, such a wonderful pet you are. You took to your training so well." He pulled out of her throat, allowing her two quick gasps of air before hilting himself again. "Two weeks ago, you were a fierce, fiery, independent warrior. Now look at you—kneeling at my feet, begging me to claim every inch of you. With that collar around your neck, I could make you lift your tail in the middle of the street and mount you in front of the whole village, and you'd only love me even more for it. Wouldn't you, pet?"

Again he pulled back to give her a chance to breathe, and between gasps for air, Brighid hissed, "Yes, Master! Any time, anywhere you want me. Fuck me in the middle of a fucking battle; I do not care! This collar means I am yours in every way." She plunged back down onto him of her own volition, her hands grasping his hips for increased leverage. Her head twisted from side to side, and she swallowed rapidly, causing her throat muscles to pulse and ripple around him. Brighid's eyes flicked back up to meet his, and Aidan grunted at the sight, smashing his pelvis against her lips with a powerful thrust.

"Fuck!" He exclaimed, "Here it comes, love! Swallow it all!" His cock jerked in her mouth as he hunched over her, pulling at her shoulder and head in time with his thrusts. Her throat and tongue went into overdrive, suckling and licking and swallowing all of his seed. After a few seconds, Aidan pulled himself free of Brighid's mouth, leaving both of them panting for breath. A final dribble of semen splattered against her breasts; he reached down and coated two fingers in his spend, then dragged them across her upper chest in the three strokes of a capital A. "I have claimed your mouth, your throat, and your tits as mine, by right of my seed freely given and willingly received. Now, turn around and present yourself to me, mare. I still have more to claim, and I have work to do this morning."

"Yes, Master!" She moaned, rising and turning in place on the bed, then sinking back onto her belly with her tail raised onto her back. She spread her rear legs for balance and tilted her rump towards him, eagerly exposing herself, and panted, "Please, Master, take me, mount me, claim your pet's fat, sloppy pussy with your Lordly cock. Shove it all inside me and make me cum all over you!"

Lubrication drooled in long, gel-like strands from her thick nether lips. Aidan dragged a cushion over, knelt on it, and aimed his tip at her entrance. Then, with a solid open-handed slap across one buttock, he thrust deeply into her. Between his new ring and Profession, he had lost none of his hardness after his first orgasm, and he set a harsh pace from the start. Aidan dug the fingers of his left hand into the front edge of Brighid's haunch, giving him extra leverage as he pulled out. He hissed in pleasure as her dextrous internal muscles clutched at him, then jabbed back in as deeply as he could go. He raised his right hand and brought it down sharply on her ass again, drawing a cry of pleasure from her throat. "Oh, fuck! Master, ride me, ride your pet mare, slap my ass and make me gallop for you!" Aidan bent over her back, pressing his belly against the coarse hairs of her tail, and fucked her as hard and fast as possible. He rolled his hips, rubbing his length across the bottom of her tunnel, and rained a series of slaps across both sides of her copper-furred rump.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Brighid sang, throwing her head backward and arching her back. "Oh, Master, cumming! Cumming on Master's big, fat, dick!" Her hips rolled and pushed back at him in time with Aidan's thrusts, filling the air with the sounds of flesh striking wet flesh. Then she convulsed, her head snapping forward as her inner muscles clenched tightly around him and began a now-familiar milking motion. Aidan gritted his teeth and forced himself through her tightly-gripping passage, plowing his way into her over and over again. In less than a minute, still out of breath from her last climax, Brighid cried out again, "Oh, Braihan! Master! Master, fuck! Going to cum for you again!"

Aidan felt the rising sensation of his own climax and growled at her, "That's right, cum all over me as I claim your eager little cunny, milk my seed into your womb!"

Brighid bucked back against him as his words registered in her over-stimulated brain, lifting off the bed to shove herself bodily onto his cock. "Yes! Claim my womb! Breed a foal on your pet mare! Again! Cumming again! Masterrrr!" It was all Aidan could do to push himself fully into her convulsing depths before he exploded.

Hardly even thinking about his words, caught up in the primal passion of their coupling, Aidan snarled, "Your cunt and womb are mine! By right of my seed freely given and gladly received!"

"Yours! Always yours!" Brighid babbled in return.

Even before his climax ended, Aidan managed to wrest himself from Brighid's desperately-grasping pussy and slid his tip up until it pressed against her upper passage. His balls contracted, coating her entrance with slippery semen, and he demanded, "Beg for it, my warrior-mare!"

Brighid, still in the throes of an intense orgasm, could only gasp and squeal for several long seconds. After a moment, though, she managed to force out, "Please! Master! Claim me everywhere! Fuck my ass, take me, tame me, break me to your saddle!"

Aidan let out a groan of raw lust. A part of him would never grow tired of watching and hearing this gorgeous, powerful creature begging to be his. He pressed himself against her, and after a moment, the head of his dick popped into her tightest entrance. Brighid's hands slapped the bed and she writhed beneath him, but before he could even consider asking whether she was in too much pain, she cried out, "Oh, fuck, how do you feel so good in my ass? You are splitting me in half, and I am going to come again!" Sure enough, the muscles in her rump flexed, and her ass squeezed tight around him, so tightly that Aidan was only able to burrow into her due to how thoroughly her thick, slippery juices coated him.

"You're a naughty little fucking pet, cumming so hard before I'm even fully in your ass!" He spanked her again, one quick slap across either side of her rump. Brighid ground herself back against him, desperately trying to force him fully into her.

"I am anything you want me to be, Master, please, please, just take my ass, please!" They both groaned as her passageway relaxed momentarily, allowing Aidan to slam fully into her molten-hot bowels. Acting on pure passionate instinct, Aidan focused on his tail, curving it up between his legs and thrusting its diamond-shaped, flanged tip between Brighid's frothy nether lips. "Yesss!" She crowed, and he cried out in feral pleasure as her muscles conformed themselves to the shape of his tail. He could feel her walls undulating against each flange! While his tail was not as sensitive as his dick, his mind nevertheless melted into a sea of pleasure as he started thrusting roughly. Brighid pressed her cheek to the bed, her torso writhing as Aidan pounded in and out of her ass and pussy simultaneously. Her hands stretched out behind her, desperately seeking to clutch at him, then shot out to her sides to slap and grasp against the bed's fabric. She clenched down on him as climax after climax thundered through her, twitching and jerking. At last, he could take no more, and he savagely thrust against her, stabbing his cock as deeply as it would go into her ass, and jabbing his tail into her pussy until he felt resistance against the tip.

"MINE!" Aidan roared as his seed filled her for the third time in an hour. "By right of my seed freely given and eagerly received!"

"Yours!" The words tore themselves out of Brighid's throat. "Always yours! I swear it! Body, mind, heart, and soul!"

"Thrice claimed and thrice confirmed, you are mine! Body, mind, heart, and soul!"

Aidan slumped over her back and wrapped his arms around her flanks, gasping from exertion. A prompt battered its way into his sight.

Congratulations! Your relationship with Brighid Fireheart has advanced from Companion and Loving to Soulmate.
While not an ancient oath, the passionate words you spoke to each other echo in your souls. Even as you have claimed her temporally, your soul has claimed her spiritually. From now until the end of your days, her soul is irrevocably bound to yours. The full consequences of this may never be known, but it is certain to have wide-ranging effects.

With his head resting against her back, Aidan panted, "Did you just get the same notification I did?"

Brighid nodded against the bed and confirmed, "Yes, Master. I do not think you can make me any happier than I am now. I love you, Aidan. Thank you for my gift."

With a sigh, he extricated himself from her and slipped around to her front. Brighid wearily lifted torso from the bed, wrapping herself around Aidan as he leaned back against her. "I love you too, Brighid, flame of my heart, love of my life. I can't imagine loving anyone more than I love you."

Congratulations! You have reached level 26 in Sex.
Congratulations! You have reached levels 9 through 11 in Dominance.
You are now an Initiate of Dominance; anyone with fewer levels in Dominance than you is more willing to listen to you and heed your words.
You have earned 250 experience points for advancing a Skill to Initiate rank.

 

 

Aidan
Late Morning

Aidan woke up with his head still propped up on Brighid's breasts, and her arms still wrapped around him. After kissing her awake, Aidan cooked a hearty breakfast; then they headed to the river for a bath. Brighid gave him a kiss and an apology before heading out to her forge to work. While the CLANG clang of her hammer rang out in the midday fog, Aidan decided to organize his inventory. He loaded the Handy Haversack up with all the coins, gems, and crafting materials from the Fetid Lair loot orb, plus the Summer Sword, a change of clothes, and some food. After some consideration, Aidan reached in to take the food out, but something caught his eye at the bottom corner of the inventory screen. He selected it and withdrew his hand.

It was a large, leather-bound volume, about an inch thick from cover to cover. Gilded letters cover the spine.

Congratulations! Through your Cunning Linguist Trait, you have learned to read and write Old High Asfarren.
Spellbook of Call Soul's Familiar. This book bears a ritual from a time and place far from where you found it.
Rarity: Mythic. Item Quality: Masterwork.
Effects: Reading this Spellbook will teach the reader the level 1 Animamancy spell Call Soul's Familiar. Time to read: 2 hours at 100% affinity, 60 days at 1% affinity. Chance to learn: 100% at 100% affinity, <1% at 10% affinity.

"New plan!" He exclaimed to the empty room and opened the book.

 

 

Aidan
Noon

Aidan blinked and shook his head, his mind swimming with new knowledge. He looked up to see the light coming through the window at a different angle, but it felt like only seconds had passed. A pile of ash vanishing on a non-existent breeze was all that remained of the spellbook. "One use only, huh?" He mused.

Congratulations! You have reached level 1 in Animamancy.
The esoteric school of soul magic, Animamancy deals with creating, destroying, consuming, and transmuting souls. A master animamancer was involved in the creation of the Gargoyle race.
You are now Unskilled in Animamancy.
Congratulations! You have learned the spell Call Soul's Familiar.
Call Soul's Familiar: Animamancy, level 1.
Every living creature is given a soul at birth—but not a complete soul. Somewhere, out in the infinite multiverse, another being has the other portion of your soul. This spell will call that creature to you to serve as your familiar.
Cost: 200 Concentration, 5,000 experience. Duration: Instantaneous. Casting Time: 4 hours.
Congratulations! You have learned the spell Ensoul Object.
Ensoul Object: Animamancy, level 1.
Through the use of this spell, you can imbue a soul into an inanimate object. The soul is tiny and is not self-sustaining, and the target will not be truly alive, but a clever caster can find many uses for this ritual.
Cost: 50 Concentration, 500 experience. Duration: Concentration. Casting Time: 1 hour.

Wow, Aidan thought, Animamancy spells cost experience? Pricey. That was a steep cost, especially to practice with, but if the higher-tier spells Animamancy spells showed as much increase in power as they did in Fire Magic, it would be worth it. Aidan could still hear Brighid working at the forge outside, so he decided to go ahead and cast Call Soul's Familiar; the curiosity was killing him. He used the ashes from the fireplace to draw a complex diagram on the floor, then knelt in the center and began to chant the words of the spell. The spell consumed all but the merest fraction of his Concentration, and within seconds he was entirely absorbed in it.

 

 

Aidan
Mid-afternoon

Aidan suddenly became aware of the world around him again. There was no more sound coming from outside; he looked around and spotted Brighid preparing a meal. Before he could say anything to her, though, a horrible ripping sound filled the air and what he could only describe as a tear in space opened directly before him inside the circle. Brighid whirled around, a large knife in hand, searching for the threat. Through the breach, Aidan could see a steamy jungle, full of dense foliage and humming with life, although the only light on the scene is the light traveling through the portal from inside Brighid's house. He could feel the heat of the faraway place and hear the songs of birds and insects thrumming and chirping in the night. It was strangely beautiful, and Aidan wondered how far away the jungle was, whether he could visit it in person.

Something rustled in the bushes, causing many of the night sounds to stop suddenly. The leaves shuddered and rustled some more, then, from just out of view, a tiny, frog-like creature jumped through the portal and landed in front of Aidan. He stared down at it, vaguely disappointed that his familiar wasn't something cool like a dragonling or a firebird. Or even a larger, more imposing frog. His thoughts were interrupted as a sleek, dark shape leaped from the bushes and through the rift, pouncing on the frog and swallowing it whole in one swift bite.

Aidan shouted and scrambled to his feet even as the rift sealed shut with a sound like a massive zipper. He stared at the spot where the frog used to be; there on the floor of Brighid's home was a small cat, bigger than a typical housecat but smaller than a bobcat. It was around two to two and a half feet long, not counting its foot-long tail. Its fur was a deep, midnight black with just the faintest tint of blue near the tips, and it bore faintly glowing silvery-white spots, much like a jaguar, although fewer in number. It sat down and looked up at Aidan, and he suddenly had an intense feeling of <hungry>.

"Are you... my familiar?" Aidan asked. The only response was a silver-eyed stare and another pulse of <hungry>. "That cost me 5,000 experience, so you better be." He fished a strip of meat out of his Haversack and held it out to the cat, which rose from its haunches and snapped the offered treat from his hand. Aidan jerked his hand back, startled by the feline's speed, then retrieved more meat. After devouring around a pound of food, the cat seemed satisfied, walking over to Aidan and twining around his legs. He reached down and very tentatively scratched it behind the ears, causing it to purr and push its head into his hand.

"Well, I guess I'm stuck with you either way. What should I call you, I wonder? Are you a boy or a girl cat?" In response, he received a flat stare which was so distinctly disdainful that he couldn't help but laugh and say, "Well, something tells me that you will scratch the hell out of me if I try to lift your tail and check. Let's try it this way: how do you like the name Riama?" The cat tilted its head at Aidan, staring at him with feral intelligence, then headbutted his hand looking for more scratches and pets. "I'll take that as acceptance! Riama it is!" With that, a new window opened in his mind.

"Well, I guess you are my familiar after all," he told the large, purring feline as he gave her the pets and head-rubs she demanded. "You're only level 1, but that just means you have room to grow, right? I wonder how I make your Abilities stronger, do they just go up with your level or what?"

"More importantly," Brighid cut in, "Why did I come in from a morning of hard work, wanting to spend some cuddle time with my Soulmate before dinner, only to find my floor covered with ashes and you chanting some strange spell, completely unresponsive, for the last hour?"

"Ummm, well, you see..." Aidan blushed and quickly explained the circumstances. Brighid, however, did not seem to consider his explanation a good excuse.

"So you read the spellbook, realized it made you completely zone out for two hours, then decided that spending four more hours casting a spell that takes all of your Concentration would be the best way to spend your time? Without even considering letting me know what was going on?" She glared at him, and Aidan saw the first signs of genuine anger in her face that he'd seen for more than a week. "I am supposed to be the reckless one. And that is not even counting the absolute mess you made of my floor! I may be wearing your collar at the moment, but I am not cleaning that up, mister.

"You can eat once the floor is clean again—if Riama and I leave you any." She pointed imperiously towards the door, and Aidan slunk out to retrieve the broom and dustpan from the forge. When he returned, cleaning supplies in hand, his brand new familiar was on the table eating small cuts of meat delicately from Brighid's outstretched hand.

Traitor! He thought at the cat. Riama looked over her shoulder at him, gave him a slow, utterly unconcerned blink, then turned back to her feast. Brighid, for her part, ignored him as she spoiled his familiar. "You are such a beautiful creature, so sleek and muscular and with such soft fur. Do not worry, your master may have a donkey's brain sometimes, but I will make sure you are fed and petted and given all the attention you deserved."

"What are you—are you trying to steal my familiar?! You're supposed to be unbreakably loyal to me!" Aidan spluttered at the redhead and the black-furred cat.

Brighid didn't even look at him as she fed Riama with one hand and stroked her head and neck with the other. "Riama is an intelligent being, not a pet or an object, so I cannot steal her. And I am not kidnapping her, either. If she prefers my company to yours, well, whose fault is that?" The loud, rumbling purr coming from the jaguar only added extra weight to her betrayal.

"How typical," Aidan grumbled as he swept. "I add a second female to my life, and instantly they both abandon me for each other. Next, you'll be conspiring against me. First, I'll have to make room for the cat on our bed, then I'll be sleeping on the couch, and before I know it, I'll be shown the door."

"Do you hear that, Riama? The donkey-brain does not even want to let you sleep on my nice, comfortable bed. Fortunately for you, it is my bed, not his."

At that point, Aidan conceded defeat and swept up the remains of his spell as quickly and efficiently as he could. Once he dumped all the ashes into the street outside and returned the broom and dustpan to their places in the forge, he sat down at the table. Brighid slid him a plate laden with slabs of thick, juicy meat. Riama, the furry little traitor, rubbed her head against Brighid's chest and lapped at her exposed skin. The centaur scooped the cat into her arms and cradled her against her breasts. Aidan gave them both his most injured look as he wolfed down his dinner. Once he finished his food and pushed his plate away, he briefly considered continuing the charade but discarded the idea. Instead, he told Brighid, "You're right, love. I wasn't thinking about anything but myself. I was too curious and too eager to learn and use the new spell. I am sorry. Will you forgive me?"

Brighid looked down at the cat nestled against her bosom and asked, "What do you say, Riama? Should we forgive him?" The astral jaguar looked back up at her for a few moments, then squirmed out of Brighid's arms. She walked over to Aidan, sat down on her haunches, met his eyes with her silver ones, and reached one forepaw out towards him. She placed the paw carefully on his forehead, then gave him a very definite push. The force she exerted was nowhere near enough to push him over, but Aidan rolled with it, toppling backward off the cushion and sprawling out on the newly-cleaned floor. Riama hopped down from the table onto his belly—which, given her not-inconsiderable weight, drove the breath from his lungs—then curled up and started to purr happily with a mental <elation of victory>.

Brighid giggled. "I am not sure whether that is a yes or a no, so I will say that we are reserving our judgment at this time. If my Lord continues to act like a self-centered colt, I may have to investigate just what a 'couch' is so that we can make him sleep upon it. If not, perhaps we may deign to allow him to sleep with us tonight. Fair?"

"More than fair," Aidan conceded and lifted an arm towards Brighid, beckoning her over to him. She knelt on the hard stone floor and laid down on her side with her torso facing him, snuggling into his offered embrace. She stroked the loudly purring familiar with one hand—<love. family.>—and kissed Aidan on the side of his neck.

"Of course I forgive you, Aidan. I understand your curiosity and would not even have been upset if you had just let me know. Just remember this the next time you decide to do something momentous without me, alright, my love?" He nodded and hugged her tighter.

 

Special thanks to Cenomy and Orange for their exceptional support on Patreon!

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