PLANE
Chapter 7
Kate had found Alexis and was standing there amazed, watching as Alexis used that whip thing that she had seen her use the first time and had then chased her down which caused her to end up here.
All right, she might have been a bit angry, put out, and yes, overwhelmed about where she was now. But that had long since changed. She thought she was adjusting pretty well. Having a home to go to, someone to make love to, and to have him make love to her in return certainly helped. But she also knew if she stayed here she would get seriously bored far too soon and end up taking it all out on Castle. Even if it wasn't his fault.
But standing there watching Alexis practice using her weapon told her that she didn't want to be caught in a dark alley with her for an enemy. Hell, she didn't want to be caught anywhere with her for an enemy. Plus, what she was fighting against was seriously different. She could see them but could almost see through them and when Alexis stuck one it vanished.
When she had finally taken a break for some water Kate had intercepted her and watched a very sweaty Alexis drink her water. She was also breathing heavily. She clearly needed a break, not just for water.
After talking to her Alexis had agreed to cut her training a little short. She took a shower and had gotten dressed and now Kate was sitting with the three Monk Masters that were in this city. If she was going to do this, she needed all the information she could get. So she needed to know what they knew so she could make an informed decision.
.x{O}x.
"Well?" Alexis had been off to one side watching them talk but too far away to hear what was being said.
"Who knew there were so many different types of Monks! Something called Enlightened Fist, Sacred Fist, and yes, a Tattooed Monk. He had these big colorful tattoos on his arms, legs, chest, and back. Depending on what you wore you could cover them all but that was a lot of tattoos. And that's just those three. Then they gave me this thing." Kate held it up for her to see since she hadn't seen one yet.
"Did they tell you how to use it?" If they hadn't it sounded like she was going to have to do it.
"They did," Kate assured her. "I'm supposed to put it on the floor in my room with lots of space. Tap the center and stand back."
Alexis nodded. "Sounds about right. It's a 3D display disk. It will display whatever's in its memory for you to watch. It has a range limit, so if it was a Dragon for example, it would be reduced down to work within the limit of what it can do."
"OH! They said something about taking it home and watching it," Kate said. "And to come back if I had more questions."
"So Monk, huh?" Alexis knew Kate had arrived with a weapon so that made Monk an interesting choice. A Monk could use weapons, yes, but his training in them was limited. Monk was basically hand fighting class.
"Castle suggested Skylord, Windrider, Master Thrower, or Dragon Disciple as other options. He said being a master with a bow had its limitations. That it was how he lost his leg." Kate immediately regretted talking about Castle losing his leg.
"Yeah, I was just a little girl then. All I had was Dad. When they finally let me see him I was just old enough to notice that he was missing a leg. I cried for days. Slept in his bed, ate with him, and only left him to use the bathroom. Otherwise, I never left him. Kept him as close as I could. They couldn't take his other leg. I was going to defend him.
"I cried for still more days begging them to give him back his leg. Did you know Clerics can do incredible things? Bring you back from the dead, reincarnate you and bring you back as some random animal. Heal practically any wound no matter how grievous and ugly it looks. But grow a leg? Apparently that's something they can't do. Pissed me off so bad. I know it's irrational and all in my head, but I really hate Clerics. Just seeing one makes me cringe and want to know if they know what it's like to lose a leg and can't get it back. Because even today I'm more than willing to hack off a leg so they can find out." Alexis knew her blood was starting to boil and began breathing deeply to try and calm herself.
Kate understood her now. "And that's why you're a warrior. Out there hunting down Undead or anything else that's evil."
"Pretty much. …Dragon Disciple, huh?" Alexis looked at her while they walked.
"That was just one of Castle's ideas. He wants me to talk to Setheldath so she can explain it. Not sure riding a colossal Eagle is for me. Unless you have an idea or two." Kate looked at her since she would take all the help she could get.
"Well, Setheldath would be the person to talk to," Alexis replied. "I don't really know anything about it myself, so I can't be of much help there. Monk is mostly all Hands and Feet. Moving fast and showing off just how athletic you really and truly are.
"That Hurler is basically just that. The only real drawback I can see to that is what if you run out of weapons to throw? You can only carry just so many of them and the smaller it is, the less damage it does. And it takes you right back to the same problem Dad had. What happens when it gets in too close and you can't throw anything?"
"Good point. See, you're helpful." Kate put an arm around her, hugged her for a moment, and let go of her. "Any other ideas? I don't sing like you do. I do mess around with a guitar a little but I'm not really any good at it. That and I barely know what a spell is, let alone able to cast one like you can."
"Other ideas…" Alexis tried to think about that. It also had her stopping at a transport door and not opening it just yet. "We don't have weapons like you do. …Prime Material Plane, huh? We need to see someone. Hold my hand." Alexis reached a hand out that Kate automatically took. Alexis opened the door, selected where she wanted to go, and POOF, they were gone and arrived at their destination.
"What's this going to do?" Kate was watching this man taking a touch of blood from her. It wasn't really all that much and yes, it had hurt a little, but not now.
"We're going to find out if you have any latent abilities," he explained as he got his blood and left them.
Kate's head whipped around and she looked at Alexis. "My what?"
"On pretty much every Plane except the Prime Material Plane which can sometimes be called the Mundane Plane – meant as an insult – there are two different types of Wizards. Magic Users memorize spells from a book. The smarter you are the more spells you can memorize. The more powerful you get the more powerful your spells will get. Did you know we have a couple of Magic Users here that can cast a Wish spell. A real Wish spell. Word it right and supposedly you can wish for anything."
"Seriously!?" Kate stared at her in astonishment. This place just got even weirder.
"Besides a Magic User or sometimes called a Mage, there's also Sorcerer or Sorceress in your case. Instead of memorizing a spell they have that power inside them. They just need to learn how to bring it out of them and utilize that power. Once you have it it never goes away.
"He's going to analyze your blood to see if you have any Sorceress inside you that you haven't yet recognized. There's also one other type of power that I know about but don't really understand. It's called Psionics. Basically, it's the power of the mind. It's not Magic exactly as I understand it. It's different but can have the same affect. I don't know anything about it and we might need Dad to find someone who can teach you. If you have it."
.x{O}x.
They were still sitting there close to an hour later when their man finally came back. "She has Sorceress power in her but it is terribly weak," he reported. "Maybe with training she could cast an extremely weak spell, perhaps. Unless something changes it will never get better. I'm sorry. You're apparently from the Prime Material Plane so this is to be expected. You don't believe in magic so you have bred yourselves out of being able to use it."
"Well, it was worth a shot." Kate wasn't upset by that news.
"What about Psionics?" Alexis questioned him and they both watched him shake his head. "Well, you can't say we didn't try."
"There is a touch of good news. The reason it took me so long was I did a little research. There are a few options available to you that require your ability to actually cast any Arcane Spell of any strength. I'm not sure how you'll feel about some of them, but I wrote them all down for you with a touch of information about each." He handed a small scroll to Kate. "It's the best I can do."
"Thank you for all your help," Kate told him and left with Alexis.
"I'm going to go spend some time with friends. You know your way home or to where Dad is. Show him the list. Maybe it will loosen a memory he's not aware of." Alexis opened the door, pressed where she wanted to go, and vanished from Kate's sight.
Since the door closed automatically after each use she had to open it again to press where she wanted to go.
.x{O}x.
"Hi, babe!" Kate walked in and leaned down to kiss him. Then she handed him her little scroll. "Here, read this."
"What's this?" Rick took it but didn't open it just yet and waited for Kate to explain.
"Alexis had the thought that I just might be a hidden Sorceress," Kate began to say.
"Really!" Rick perked up at that idea. He hadn't even considered that so gave kudos to his daughter for even thinking of it.
Then Kate broke it to him, "I'm not," and saw his shoulders droop. "However, he said there was a tiny little touch of Sorceress inside me. Barely enough to cast an extremely weak spell. Then he did some research and found a list of options that require that I have the ability to cast even the weakest of spells." She pointed at the scroll. "That's the list he came up with."
Rick unrolled it to read it. "Before that Alexis took me to talk to these three Monk Masters. Enlightened Fist, Sacred Fist, and yes, a Tattooed Monk. You should have seen the Tattoos he had. WOW!"
"I promise to stroke with care and kiss each and every one of them," Rick told her and continued reading. "This says Dragon Disciple is one of them. Interesting. We may need to have a talk with Setheldath after all. And before you object, knowledge is power. The more knowledge you have the more knowledgeable will be your choice."
Kate frowned at him. "You just want me to grow Dragon wings."
"Yeah, wouldn't that be cool? Why ride a Dragon when you can do it yourself. Not to worry, I promise to be very careful and caress your wings with a loving touch." Rick smiled at her and looked the list over again.
"Wonderful, I suppose I'll have Dragon hide as well. Grow a tail, have claws six inches long." Kate held out her hand to even imagine such a thing. "Speaking of which, how's your back? I'm still really sorry I did that. I've never done that before. It was just…" She looked around to make sure they were alone. "A lot of the orgasms you give me were incredibly powerful." A few of them had had her whole body alive with electricity or something. Damn, some of them were strong.
"Sounds like I'm doing something right then and my back is fine. I had a Cleric heal them the same day. Nothing to it." Rick waved his hand at her. "The rest of this list, while rather short, doesn't sound all that appealing to me. Sounds like we need to talk to Setheldath. No time like the present." Rick got up and handed her scroll back to her so she could read it later.
.x{O}x.
Kate found herself in the same place she had gone Dragon riding from and listened to Castle call for her. It took him four times before either of them saw her in the distance. Finally she came in and landed and folded her wings back against her body.
She gave her head a tiny bow to him. "Commander."
"Background first," Rick said. "Kate, as you know, is from the Prime Material Plane and stated that she gets bored easily, so since her job there won't happen here, she needs something to do to keep her from getting bored. I was thinking warrior training."
"Admirable, so what do you need me for?" One was human and she wasn't.
"One option was Dragon Disciple. but since I know so little about it perhaps you could explain it to her and explain who would be training her."
"Very Interesting. A Prime Material Plane human has interest in becoming a Dragon Disciple. That is a first. Let me see. You will need to be any non-Dragon so can't be a Half Dragon already. You will need some knowledge about Arcane types of spells, have to be able to cast an Arcane spell that is not cast from memory, meaning in your case you would need to be a Sorceress, and you will need to know how to speak Draconic. The language of Dragons before you can even begin."
Setheldath eyed her. "Do you have any or all of these skills?"
"I don't know anything about arcane spells nor can I speak Draconic. But with some training I can do that and all the others," Kate told her.
"Very interesting." Setheldath raised her head and thought. Then she came way down and put her massive mouth right in front to Kate. Kate could feel her breathing on her. Yes, she was still a little scared. It was a mouth big enough to swallow her whole. Hell, it was big enough to swallow both of them whole let alone a mouth full of sharp teeth.
"Your skin will begin to change. It will slowly turn into scales, you will grow claws. Not large ones given your size. Since I will be doing the training you will be a Silver Dragon. You will gain a small breath weapon. You will gain the ability to see invisible creatures, and see in the dark. Your teeth will become sharper. Not longer, just sharper. You will become physically stronger.
"None of this will happen instantly save for your skin starting to change; that will start immediately. Your strength will instantly increase over time as well. It will take years for your skin to be completely transformed. It will also take years for you to finish growing wings. At first they will be barely larger than a Fairy but they will grow.
"Ultimately you will become a Half-Dragon. You can still mate with your human and bear him many strong children. They in turn will have Dragon blood in them because you will have Dragon blood in you," Setheldath explained.
Then she got in even closer and literally touched Kate with her nose. She backed off a little. "Your eye color will change and match my eyes." She moved back to an inch from Kate. "Should you break a Dragon law, that I will teach you, I will rip you to pieces and curse your name for all of eternity," Setheldath stated and stayed right where she was.
"Got it," Kate responded with a trembling voice and watched as Setheldath raised her head high.
"A Prime Material Plane Dragon Disciple. Very interesting indeed. You will need to be trained in hand to hand combat. We do not use weapons like a human does."
"One of my other options is Monk," Kate offered.
"A Monk Dragon Disciple, most interesting. As a Dragon I can expect to live eight hundred or more years. Should you reach the point that you become a true Half-Dragon you can expect to live half that long. I will allow you to train as a Monk while I train you to be a Dragon Disciple.
"Learn about Arcane magic and learn to speak Draconic and talk to me again. Prime Material Plane. Very interesting." Setheldath launched herself over the side and flew away.
"Well, that went well." Rick wasn't sure just what she was going to say to that idea.
"Speak for yourself. I was ready to pee my pants. Did you see the size of her teeth!?" Kate even reached out to judge once again just how big those things had been. Then she turned to glare at Castle because he was laughing at her.
"Keep it up, mister, and I'll tie you to the bed next time," Kate threatened.
.x{O}x.
Rick was back in his office and since nothing had changed much he was back to doing what he had been doing before Kate had arrived. Though Kate had stayed with him.
"Any thoughts?" Rick queried.
"I'm about as confused as I was when I first started. How long does this training last?"
"Technically, all your life. It will never stop. You'll constantly be trying to maintain your skills or learn new ones along the way." Rick changed topics a little. "What do you know about Monk Tattoos?"
"Just that they exist and have magic abilities that are supposed to help you," Kate replied. She needed to watch that disc she had been given.
"It sounds like you have some research to do. You know, you could open your own store. Be your own boss. Know any crafts? Have any cooking skills to open a restaurant? Go home and buy every form of entertainment you can find and bring them all back with you. Open your own movie theater. I know the Prime Material Plane has movies. You would be unique here. I don't know of anyone that shows Prime Material Plane movies. You might be a hit," Rick offered.
Kate rolled her eyes. "Or fail miserably."
"We really need to do something about your negative thinking." Rick grinned at her. "Perhaps you should be naked and ready to be tied to the bed when I finally get home. Whip some positive thinking into you."
Kate instantly felt her heart rate increase dramatically. She had only meant for this to be play. She didn't want to turn herself into a slut and call him Master. She really didn't. It was just…the last time had been so damn pleasurable. It was also so damn new and maybe that had something to do with it.
Kate offered an alternative. "Perhaps you should make soft, slow love to me instead."
"Count on it." Rick smiled at her and start to visualize just what he was going to do.
"Am I naked already?" He was looking at her funny. "MEN!" Yet she was falling in love with this one and she knew it.
