Chapter 60 - Garden of Eden

After all that I’d seen over the past month and some change, I didn’t consider myself someone easily impressed. For a mage who’d learned to wield various systems of magic as easily a man drew breath, the grim mundanity of Earth Bet - outside of the murderous supervillains and semi-competent superheroes - was quickly losing whatever luster it originally had, and I actually found myself itching to finally leave it all behind and explore the wider multiverse. Invictus would hold up fine without me, and I would make sure they had the tools and power to continue to be Unconquerable.

But our new base…

I had to admit; it was probably the second or third most beautiful work of art I’d ever seen.

The path up to the main floor wasn’t a path so much as it was a doorway that led into a small, dimly lit room. In the middle, surrounded on all sides except the front by knee-high safety rails, was a circular platform of marble, with black, swirling runic symbols emblazoned in the stone. The middle of the platform was slightly raised compared to the relative smoothness of the rest of it, and when stepped on, well…

It lifted.

The runes glowed with an arcane blue light, a work of magic that I hadn’t seen from the Grimoire, and the platform shot up fast enough that Cassie and Amy would have stumbled if I hadn’t been there to keep them steady. There had been the initial belly yank of an elevator’s ascent, despite it being a stone platform, but the speed hadn’t been just for show. Within moments, we’d reached a similar small space as the one below, and before our very eyes, the only door in the room swung open, letting in beams of lights, and we had stepped into what felt like the palace of a Grecian king. 

The ‘platform room’ was at the end of a massive corridor lined with thick marble pillars encircled by vibrant green vines and moss. Lights hung high up on the ceiling, bathing the hallway with a soft golden glow, and the walls were decorated by beautiful, masterful carvings of monsters and heroes from ancient times - the likes of Jason of the Argonauts holding the Golden Fleece victoriously overhead, and Hercules wrestling the Nemean Lion down to the ground, choking it out with nothing but pure might.

I’d only vaguely recognized the etched scenes, but it was, surprisingly, Amy who called the artistry out as we walked.

“Oh,” She paused, staring up at yet another mural. This one was different from the others we’d seen, however - mainly because each etching seemed to glow with a subtle, viridian green light. A faint  feeling of… not necessarily wrongness, but change seemed to emanate from it; a feeling that was certainly mystical in nature, going by everything else we’d interacted with in this place.

It depicted a woman with long, flowing hair littered with flowers, dropping beads of liquid from a bottle into a large, kettle black cauldron. Around her, as if fleeing from the woman, were a mass of what looked to be little piggies.

“Whose this?” Cassie asked curiously, sidling up beside the frizzy-haired brunette.

“Circe,” Amy murmured, her tone considering as she surveyed the etchings like a certified art critic. Her arms were folded beneath her chest, eyes wide with wonder and curiosity. “She was a minor Goddess in Ancient Greek mythology - an enchantress, and a witch. This mural shows when she turned Odysseus’ men into swine.”

“A witch, huh?” Cassie glanced back at me, waggling her eyebrows conspiratorially, before reaching up and throwing her arm over Amy’s shoulder. “Heh, this has to be fate! If I’m the Sorceress and Jay’s the Archmage, then where does that leave you in our throuple? Little hint - I’d totally let you turn me into a piggie.”

Amy, her cheeks reddening from the sudden close proximity, raised her brows in question. In spite of herself, a small, amused smirk formed on her lips. “Are you calling me a witch again, Cass?”

The hacker froze. “Uhhh… oink?“

“Enchantress works just as well for someone as pretty as you. Witch, enchantress, goddess - you can pull any of those titles off, Ames.” I smoothly slid in, pulling Cassie out of the fire - both metaphorically and literally. She pouted as I effortlessly picked her out by the back of her hoodie and placed her at my side, allowing me closer to both Amy and the mural of Circe.

Amy’s smirk melted away, replaced by a quivering, barely contained smile. “I- … thanks. You’re a dangerous man, Jason. I don’t know how you say adorable crap like that with a straight face.” Her doe-like gaze stayed glued to mine for only a few moments before she jerked her head away, staring intently at the wall.

I smelled the spicy, cinnamony heat on the air, and it was enticing. Dimly, I wondered how long I could give this girl before my self-control broke and I claimed her lips and body for my own. It was hard, since she already felt like my girlfriend.

Just Jason problems, I guess

Cassie snorted. “You should’ve seen him when he and I first met. Two days in and he’s walking around my bunker in his friggin’ underwear, drinking up all my coffee.” 

“Somehow I can picture it.” Amy shook her head, curly locks of brown hair nearly whipping me in the face. “What a perv. You know, that kind of behavior is why Circe turned these men into pigs in the first place.”

“Harlots. Sleazeballs. Horndogs!” Cassie nodded viciously, as if she wasn’t the most perverted motherfucker in the room.

But as they talked, I found my eyes flickering back up to the etchings. Did nobody else see the glow?

I dialed Hidden Intuition up higher, curious to see if there’d be any hints-

This mural is enchanted. This corridor has a lack of doors. This mural is a magical door.

… God damn it.

“Point. I’m an incorrigible, perverted freak and you should all be scared.” I shrugged, grabbing Cassie by the wrist and tugging her towards me. She let out a quiet, surprised yelp, but her trust in me was unshakable - her body didn’t fight back in the slightest, and with a comfortable, familiar ease, I had her ass pressed flush against the front of my thigh, my arm wrapped possessively around the front of her slim chest. 

Amy stared, wide-eyed, while Cassie turned beet red, wriggling back against my hold.

“What the fuck-“

“We’re gonna test something out, and Cass,” I began coolly, looking down at the suddenly meek hacker, “I want you to pay close attention to the mural, and Amy’s hands. Focus on your training, and how it feels when we start using magicka. You won’t see anything without Second Sight, but try to feel for the magic. Okay?”

She swallowed, her eyes flashing back up to the carvings. A glint of determination shone brightly in their depths. “O-okay. The tug and spin was crazy, but I’m liking this!”

What a nerd.

“Amy,” I addressed the confused girl, my voice becoming stronger as Force of Spirit coalesced around my tongue. She perked up, her focus zeroing in entirely on me and my commanding tone. “You mentioned wanting to learn how to harness Ghyran, right? That means you need to get used to magic.”

It took her a moment to reply, tongue flitting out to lick her dry lips. “I assume this is the ‘Jason Black’ way of telling me to do something potentially stupid.”

My smirk was all the answer she needed.

“Jay-“

“There’s some sort of arcane enchantment on this mural,” I gently cut her off, gesturing with a slight tilt of my head to look back at the wall. When she did, I continued speaking quietly, “I’m going to grant you access to the Green Winds, okay? The sensation is going to be unique, but I’m gonna walk you through it. Whatever kind of magic this is, it’s nothing big or scary; it’s just a… puzzle. A hidden door. And you, my little enchantress, are gonna crack it.”

And I knew that, while unexpected at times, the Grimoire wouldn’t give me something outright hostile or destructive against me and my own without an explicit warning. Honestly, that was the only reason I was comfortable leveraging this discovery into a bit of a teaching moment. Everyone loved magical secrets, even the depressed freckle-faced healer with sister issues.

I wanted to cultivate that.

She sighed. “… Fine.”

“Yeah?” I murmured, unable to hide the smile in my voice.

Amy tossed me an unamused glare, but the smirk on her lips lessened its baleful edge. “While I know that I’m not as much of a dork as you two, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to learn magic. What girl wouldn’t be?”

Wrapped around my arm, Cassie nodded sagely. “Facts.”

“And with Ghyran- I think I can find a way to make it supplement what I’m already looking into. The way you created life with a swing of your hands, Jason… it was honestly awe-inspiring. Plants and nature, they’re living, breathing creatures too, and my powers want to create amazing, fantastical things with them. With humans as well, but for once, they’re not nudging me solely in that direction.” 

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, in through her mouth and out through her nose. “I know what I want to do with my powers and my life now, and no one - I mean no one - will be able to control that. Control me. It sounds fucking insane to say, but… I want to be a witch.” 

There was a strength in her eyes; flinty and sharp, still prone to breaking if battered against too hard, but I wasn’t here to tear Amy down… I was here to build her up. Granting anyone access to the Winds was something that I’d battled with for the longest time, because the Aethyr wasn’t something you could just use with a bit of teaching; it was living, it was breathing, and it fucked you up if you abused its power.

But wasn’t I here to guide both of these girls? I was now a user of Qhaysh, and I’ve channeled the Winds of Magic day by day without trouble. I smelled Aqshy on the breeze when someone became angry. I sensed the corrosive miasma of Shyish when dead bodies lurked in the area. With my Second Sight, I could even see the Winds themselves, ever flowing through this world because of me.

If anyone could make sure Amy’s path remained safe to travel, it was the one who brought the Winds to Earth Bet.

“Gosh you’re so cool and pretty…” Cassie mumbled, staring at Amy with sparkles in her eyes. 

She blinked owlishly, and just like that, the blush was back. “Um- Thank you.”

“Close your eyes now. Raise your hand up to the mural, touch it, and relax.” I instructed her, and obediently, she followed my orders. Closing her eyes, Amy reached up with both hands and slid the tips of her fingers against the marble engravings. The viridian glow didn’t react to her touch, but neither did I expect it to. Whatever magic was here, it followed the entire etching of the mural.

‘Now for the hard part.’

Transferring a portion of my mana, magical energy, magicka, MP - whatever you wanted to call it - was easy; I just activated Power-Granting Deal, gathered my magic, and shoved it in like I’d done with Cassie. The result was the recipient possessing more potent mana then what they’d get purely with the Standing Stone, since it siphoned directly from my ridiculous mana pool. 

For the Winds, though…

First, I closed my own eyes and reached out for the Green Wind. In the corridor the magic was sparse, but I could smell the fresh floral scent of something lurking beyond the wall - and though it trickled out like water beneath the cracks of a door, there was a steady amount of Ghyran pooling around our feet. Not as much as when I’d performed my mountain-birthing spell, but enough.

I grasped at those swirling green eddies, and immediately, my soul reached out and touched something flickering inside of Amy. Power-Granting Deal was a piece of magic that went more off of intent than anything else, and even though I wasn’t completely aware of how to establish that link, the Grimoire seemed well-versed in bridging the gaps in my knowledge.

The Green Winds that I were connected to shifted, outside of my control, and suffused the air around Amy. In the back of my mind, at the very edge of my magical awareness, I felt my connection to Ghyran flicker and fade ever so slightly. It took conscious effort on my part to loosen my hold on the magic, but at the same time, I knew that it was a connection that I would be able to strengthen again with time.

I wasn’t closing myself off from the Lore of Life, I was sharing it, and that realization was all I needed to fully push the Deal through.

The connection was instantaneous.

“Woah,” Amy gasped, her eyes fluttering open in wonder. There was a glassy, unfocused look to her honey-like gaze, and she stared dazedly at the mural of Circe - and her hands, which shone with the earthy green glow of Life. “Jason, I-… I feel it, at the tips of my fingers. I can’t see the magic, but the etchings, they feel warm. I smell something, too! It smells like…”

“Flowers?” I whispered, keeping my voice quiet so as to not disturb her first interaction with Ghyran. It was a heady sensation, becoming attuned to the Winds and feeling them for the first time. Even with one, I was sure it was damn near overwhelming.

“Yeah. Like fresh grass after mowing the lawn, or- or mulch. I feel it on the mural, yeah, but there’s so much more coming from behind it. I almost feel like I can reach out and grab it if I tried to…”

I clicked my tongue.

“Not yet,” I chided, reaching forward and lightly grabbing both of her extended hands with one of mine. She blinked, her eyes sharpening into focus as she went to look at me, but a single shake of my head had her attention returning to the mural. “Until I tell you you can do so, do not freely play with Ghyran; if abused or harnessed incorrectly, it can do irreparable damage to your body and mind. Just keep that warmth in your hands.”

Amy frowned, confused. “But-”

“I’ll explain it all in time. For now, Amy of the Green…” A crooked, roguish grin twisted my lips, and I slowly, softly, began gliding the tips of her fingers against the magical etchings. The green trail of energy turned a sparkling silver on contact with Amy’s Ghyran-shrouded skin, and at the back of my mind, it felt like some sort of itch was being scratched. “You’re doing perfect. My magic - the magic I’ve just given you access to - is the key to opening whatever this is. Just trace the mural.”

The newbie witch didn’t respond, a glare of absolute(ly adorable) concentration on her face as she began gliding her fingers through the looping grooves in earnest.  

“I don’t smell flowers or mulch or anything, but the more I focus, the more I feel something. Like… your magical werewolf pheromones, but less overpowered and sexy,” Cassie whispered quietly, her own gaze glued to the wall. “What is this, the frickin’ Room of Requirements?”

“It’s a defense mechanism, and a pretty tricky one at that. The other rooms are probably hidden by the same magic, and we just… didn’t notice at first.” I responded, letting Amy’s hands go.

“Huh. I wonder why the garage door didn’t have one too, then.”

It was a fair question, and one I did not have the answer to.

“No clue. Probably ‘cause tracing a mural that big would take too fuckin’ long.” I chuckled, wrapping my arms around Cassie’s waist. She leaned back against me with a pleased sigh, gripping my hands tightly with her much smaller ones. We watched patiently as Amy traced each and every curved groove of the mural, from Circe’s long tresses down to the squiggly tails of Odysseus’ men.

When her finger slid past the last bit of green energy, turning it silver, something clicked.

“Crap!” Amy flinched back as the mural suddenly shone brightly with that same silver light - only it was tangible now, casting shadows across the smooth floor. 

It didn’t last long.

Before our very eyes, the section of the wall covered by the carving of Circe and the pigs suddenly began lowering, and the sound of stone grinding against stone echoed through the corridor. As the wall moved, marble slowly made way for dark, gleaming bronze. It was a large door, reaching at least nine to ten feet in height by the time the mural had completely disappeared into the floor. 

Above it was an elaborately decorated archway made of the same limestone as the rest of the walls, and carved into said arch with the same green energy as before were the words-

“Botanical Garden…”  Amy whispered, her eyes wide. She looked back at me and Cassie, nearly breathless with both excitement and disbelief. A freckle-splattered smile dimpled her cheeks. “I- Did I do this? I did this, right? With magic. Holy shit, I did fucking magic.”

“All hail Amy of the Green, Enchantress and Witch~” Cass sang happily, a proud grin on her lips. She wriggled out of my arms before lunging forward, practically glomping the excited brunette. “I’m so frickin’ proud of you!”

Amy giggled - actually giggled - as she only just barely caught the pint-sized missile, wrapping her arms around the small of Cassie’s back and snuggling her burning face into the shorter girl’s shoulder. At her feet, lying abandoned, was her thick-covered botany book, which I idly pulled into my hand with a tug of Aethyr and dropped into my Inventory.

The entire process had been simple, but the fact that it was my Amy who’d done it filled me with an overwhelming sense of pride and affection.

I stepped forward as they separated, and Amy’s head tilted up to look at me. With her pale, freckled skin still flushed with embarrassment and excitement, and her soft, unpainted pink lips tilted up in a radiant little smile, it didn't take much nudging from my libido or heart to take the initiative and do something I’d been wanting to do for a few days now.

Amy is overjoyed. Amy is excited. Amy is staring at your lips.

My hand reached forward and lightly, yet firmly, gripped her chin. Amy flinched at the sensation, her eyes widening and glazing over in that very particular way it did whenever she took a look into someone’s biological makeup. Beside us, in the corner of my peripherals, I saw Cassie smirk excitedly and take a long step back, her visor lighting up to record.

What a voyeuristic little bitch… but I appreciated the quick thinking. I wouldn’t mind looking back on this later on.

My gaze warmed and then heated, and the rough pad of my thumb slid against Amy’s bottom lip. The sensation brought her out of her power-induced gaze.

“J-Jason…” she breathed uncertainly, a near whine in her soft voice. Amy’s face was becoming redder and redder, and I could hear the beating of her heart grow faster. This girl was a bona fide kissless, touch-starved ultravirgin - the same way my Cassie had been before I swooped in and took her body. In some primal, more base part of my brain, the knowledge that this girl was experiencing the things she was experiencing because of me… it felt better than good.

It felt amazing. 

“We both know you did well, Ames…” I whispered low in my throat, smirking at the way that my voice seemed to send a tremoring quake down her spine. “But I'm selfishly using your accomplishment to do what I’ve been wanting to do for a while. You cool with that?”

My lips were so close to hers now; I could feel the way she was trying to hold her breath, and the sweetly fruity scent of one of Cassie’s more expensive perfumes. My body was touching hers now, her large, pliable chest squeezing against the top of my abs, and as Amy tried to stutter out a response, she stepped backwards - only to stop against the wide, towering bronze of the door behind her.

Amy feels nervous. Amy feels excited. Amy feels trapped. Amy is aroused. Amy wants this a lot.

I didn't want to push too hard too fast, but as my left leg slid forward, bunching her summer dress up between her thighs, I felt a warm, sticky moisture-

“Mm-mmh… Please, Jason- it’s embarrassing…” 

She was definitely whining now. Even then, she didn’t look away; Amy’s wide, doe-like eyes were almost glistening with tears, fearful and scared and anxious, but behind that innocent fear was a fire. A desire. A yearning so deep that it almost eclipsed my own. Her lips trembled, her stifled breathing coming out in deep, heavy pants, and I felt her hands trail up the sides of my tank top, grabbing for my skin.

“Tell me what you want, Amy. Use your words.”

“…” Her gaze flickered away, the embarrassment too much for her to handle, and it just so happened that she looked directly at a blushing, hyper-fixated Cassie. Her thick, pillowy thighs squeezed against my leg reflexively, but her fellow girl only gave her an encouraging, if jerky thumbs-up. 

“Y-You got this!” The hacker stage-whispered, her own legs pressed together. She grinned sleazily. “Go for the ears, girl!”

“Look at me.”

Amy’s attention flitted back to me immediately, her warm breath coming out in pants as her senses became overloaded. The wetness against my knee was becoming consistently more and more damp, and the strain in my sweatpants was getting to the point where it was nigh uncomfortable. I couldn’t tell whether it was due to my increased sexual drive, or if this demure gazelle thing was cranking at my prey/predator kink.

Either way, I’d need to control my hunger.

“Cassie is watching,” Amy murmured between desperate, needy pants. “I want her to watch, I want you to, um, kiss me, but this is all just… really new and embarrassing. Don't bully me or I’ll- I’ll turn you into a pig.” 

Her fingers pressed into my sides again, a movement that was synched with the squeezing of her thighs, and I felt her shiver as her powers slid against my body. It was an empty threat, doubly so since Immutable Form made me immune to polymorph, but it was clear by her small, satisfied little smirk that Amy was attempting to regain a bit of ground and sidle into her new role.

“So fucking cute,” I chuckled, my hand moving from her chin down to her neck. She gasped, whatever confidence found in her ‘threat’ snuffing itself out due to the new sensation, but I was done playing games. I, very lightly, gripped the sides of her neck and pressed forward with everything - my chest, my legs, the aching, rigid hardness in my pants…

And finally, my lips.

“MMFF-“

Amy’s fingernails tore through my tank top, digging directly into my skin as I captured her soft lips with my own. Her mouth was hot, her tongue pressing against the back of her throat fearfully, but I wasn’t an inexperienced kisser; I immediately took control. One hand firmly holding her neck while the other reached down to grab a big, overflowing handful of her fat, freckled ass, I picked Amy up and pressed myself flush between her legs as my mouth completely dominated hers.

I didn’t hold back.

My tongue, wet and heavy with aphrodisiac-laden drool, scraped itself against every square inch of Amy’s wet, submissive mouth. She tried for only a moment to fight back before her salivating pussy jerked roughly against my turgid bulge and she was screaming into my lips, sucking drunkenly on my tongue as an orgasm was ripped forcibly from her body. I couldn’t tell if it was because of my magical fluids or whatever feedback she was getting from her powers, but the sight of her going cross-eyed and insensate from pleasure was enough to nearly push me over the edge.

God I wanted to ruin this girl.

“Haaa…” Amy breathed into my mouth, her lower body twitching sporadically against my hips. Our lips and tongues separated with a loud, wet ‘smack’, and she buried her burning face into my neck. “U-unfairrrr. If- mmh… If I can’t use my powers, you can’t either.”

Even though her embarrassed voice was muffled against my skin, I still heard every word. My eyebrows raised, and I massaged the dimpled ass cheek that I’d just been squeezing. “What, you were actually going to turn me into a pig?” 

Amy’s head lifted at that, and she shot me a tired, glassy-eyed glare. With drool still leaking down her freckled, sweaty chin, the sight was the furthest thing from intimidating. “No, doofus; your saliva. I… I scanned its properties when we were m-making out.”

Oh?

“And what’s the conclusion, doc? Am I gonna live? My mouth feels alright, but lil’ Jason’s kinda worrying me.” ‘He’ twitched in agreement, warm and snug against the sticky fabric of Amy’s panties, and the brunette’s baleful glare fluttered as a hoarse moan escaped her swollen pink lips.

“You’re actually horrible,” she groused, biting her bottom lip. “I thought about copying its effects and reversing them on you, but it didn’t feel right. I was - am too, uh, horny. And sensitive. My lips, and my thighs…”

There was the quiet pitter-patter of feet to my right, and both Amy and I broke eye contact to look. Cassie eased forward, her visor deactivated and replaced by the most obvious ‘I want something’ look of flustered, false innocence. I eased Amy down, stealing one last squeeze of ass meat before letting go.

Cassie is horny. Cassie is amazed. Cassie wants-

She twiddled her thumbs together, her hips swinging side by side as she avoided both of our gazes. “So, uhhh… I know that was your moment and everything, but I’m feeling a bit left out, and I really frickin’ wanna smooch-“

Surprisingly, it was Amy who acted first.

MWAH!

The kiss was as sudden as it was clumsy. Amy was clearly the more inexperienced of the two, but she was the one with the aphrodisiac still flowing through her system, and Cassie was the bottomest of all bottoms. I leaned against the door, arms crossed and a satisfied grin on my face, as I watched Amy dig her fingers into Cassie’s short black bob and tilt her head back to deepen the kiss. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Amy was the dominant one in the exchange, but I was.

“Looks like Cass just talks a big game,” I snorted as they separated, both girls flushed and breathing heavily. Cassie’s eyes were squeezed shut, her hands squeezing the sides of Amy’s soft, fluffy waist. 

“Zip it, Jay! I’ve gotta cherish this moment…” the hacker breathed, hugging Amy by the waist and burying her face into her cleavage. With her petite body, she was at just the perfect height. “Ahhh… Frickin’ paradise! I love you with everything in me, babe, but big woman boobies- they’re unmatched, surpassed only by your super scary dick. I am blessed by the Gods to have both in my life.”

Amy let out a shaky sigh, a wide, quivering smile on her lips. “This is so fucking weird.”

“You regrettin’ it?” I tilted my head, amused.

Her fingers froze where they’d been sliding through Cassie’s  hair, and she threw me an offended look. “Don’t even joke like that. This is weird, being with the both of you… but-“ she swallowed thickly, shaking her head. “I’m so fucking happy. I’m scared and anxious too, but… I'm happy. For once, I’m just happy.”

And horny. Hidden Intuition added as my eyes glanced over her bunched up dress. 

But I’d pushed as much as I wanted to push her today, and we’d made it over a huge hurdle - our first kiss. Everything else would come with time.

I just needed to make one more thing clear.

“Happy enough to officially become our girlfriend?”

There was a sudden silence after I uttered the question. Cassie stopped nuzzling into Amy’s boobs, pulling her head up and glancing over at me with a surprised, overjoyed grin on her face. 

Amy froze, and a myriad of emotions passed over her face.

Amy is happy. Amy is scared. Amy is ecstatic. Amy is anxious. Amy is self-conscious. Amy wants this more than anything in the world. 

Well go ahead and stroke my ego, why dontcha?

It didn’t take much time for her to weigh the pros and cons. “What kind of question is that? Yes, of course I fucking am. Yes!” 

I wasn’t sure how she moved as fast as she did, but in between one blink and the next, I suddenly had a freckle-faced missile with a fat ass flying into my arms with enough force to make me step backwards. Only, I’d been leaning against the bronze door, so when I stepped backwards on reflex to better catch my brunette witch, my elbows crashed into the metal with a resounding, metallic bang.

In a battle between a ten foot bronze door and my elbows? My elbows win, low diff.

SLAM!

The door flew open in a blur, crashing into the wall on the inside of the room, and I, with Amy in my arms, stumbled backwards into the ‘Botanical Garden’.

I fell onto moss-covered cobblestone, angling my landing so that all of  Amy’s weight slammed against me instead of the ground. The air was rich and warm with the scent of moist, rich soil and sweet-smelling flowers, and from above, separated by what appeared to be tempered glass, rays of golden sunlight shot down and brought with it a natural brightness that lit up the room.

And the room was humongous, I noticed as I looked around in awe. It looked like we’d stepped from Zeus’ palace into the home of Demeter. Honestly, it felt more like a small park than it did something as tiny and specialized as a garden. 

Smooth, carefully sculpted cobblestone covered in leaves and moss led down into a grassy, circular field surrounded by small hedges and trees. On either side of said path were small pools of crystal clear water, burbling and happy with frogs and fish, and beyond those pools were several plots of rich, fertile soil - empty, save for the colorful flowers that wrapped around their edge. These plots took up the vast majority of the room, occasionally separated by vases of different flowers or small trees.

What really caught my attention, however, was the large, spherical doo-hickey that baked beneath the evening sun towards the center of the room. It stood on a slightly raised platform of bronze and stone, unlit candles dotting the ground beneath. My first thought was that it was an orrery, a tool used to chart the courses of planets, but… There were no planets? It was mostly just a large, transparent orb surrounded by bronze rings of various sizes.

Interestingly enough, there was Azyr surrounding the device. The Blue Wind wasn’t nearly as present as the Green, but I felt the unmistakable crackle of electricity against my skin as I reached out with my magic. 

Something to study later.

Further beyond, on its own quaint-looking balcony, past sculptures of men and women long gone and irrelevant to me, were towering marble columns covered with greenery and beautiful white flowers. Tempered glass kept one from leaping off, encasing the room in its entirety, but the view wasn’t anything to write home about - it was just the city in the distance, slightly obscured by hills and trees.

If this was what one room in my self-dubbed Mystical Palace looked like, then I couldn’t even imagine the others. 

“Woahhh…” Cassie stepped in after Amy and I’d gotten back onto our feet. Her cheeks were still flushed from earlier, but it was clear that the sight of this nature paradise had forcibly tamed the horniness. “Okay, this is so much better than the Room of Requirement. How the fuck does something like this even fit?”

“Magic.” 

“Magic…”

My response was teasing, but Amy sounded legitimately enamored as she walked down the cobblestone path. Her hands glided against the pillowy bulb of an adolescent tulip that stuck out from the side of the pathway, and that one touch had her stopping in her tracks to crouch down and stare, besotted, at that one lonely flower. The amount of Ghyran that saturated this room was nearly drowning with its thick potency, and I knew for a fact that the newly-instated witch could feel it, too. Any Life magic cast here would be powerful.

After a few more seconds of stroking the petals of the tulip, Amy looked back at us, a smile so wide on her face that it forced her eyes closed. “Now that I’m also your girlfriend, Jason… Can I shamelessly ask you to buy out Lake Street Garden Center?”

Her eyes opened, and this time, they almost seemed to glow with determination.

“There’s so many things I want to experiment with, so many herbs I read about in my book that I wanna grow. Different strains of marijuana, reagents to make medicines, poultices, potions, I- … Guys, this is literally the greatest workspace ever.” 

She was breathless as she stood up, jogging forward and spinning around to get a better look at everything at once. With her black summer dress swishing gently around her thighs, and her long, messy brown hair flying through the wind, Amy actually looked like one of those Disney Princesses she empathized with so much. Her pale skin glowed beneath the golden rays of sunlight, and her freckles gave her face a cutely innocent appeal.

Cassie stepped up beside me, just as dazed by our witch’s beauty and happiness.

“We kill anyone who makes her cry, right? Like, Sith Lightning, Final Fantasy Super Nova ultimate attack combo level of destruction.” She whispered, clenching my hand tightly. Despite the aggressiveness of her words, the hacker couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

My response was instant. “There's no question there - you know this. I’d destroy entire worlds for my girls.” And I would, too. Call me a horrible person; sure, I probably was if I ever got around to doing something that horrible, but that realization wouldn’t stop me. If it ever came down to the people I loved and the rest of the world, the rest of the world could eat a dick.

Cassie smirked and stood on the tippy-tops of her toes to pat me on the head. “Trust me, I know. That’s why I love you so much.”

I blinked, glancing down, but she’d already flitted out of my grasp. 

Giggling, Cass skipped backwards down the cobblestone path and gestured me forward. “Hurry up, let’s look around before we go and crack open the rest of the murals! I wanna see what the heck this weird globe thingy does!”

Probably nothing without Azyr, but I couldn’t refuse my girlfriend. Girlfriends. Two, now.

'And people say luck ain't real.'

It was with a fond, happy sigh that I stepped forward to join them in our very own Garden of Eden.

______________________________________________

A/N:

We get some Amy development, their first kiss, and we uncover a secret part of the base!

So, as you can see here, all of the main 'big' rooms of the base - the armory, the greenhouse, the library, etc - are all hidden behind magical carvings in the wall that you can only unlock by using magic yourself. Or, in this case, magic from Jason. It's the perk's way of providing innate protection to the base, not realizing that Power-Granting deal lets Jason give out his magic.

Of course, by unlocking these murals and just leaving the doors there, the magic is no longer necessary. I just thought it would be a cool feature.

This chapter was pretty thick with development, so not much was accomplished except Amy finally getting her garden! But next chapter, we're going to go through the other rooms more quickly, and then get to advancing the plot more.

I'll see you guys next time! Hope you enjoyed the bit of spiciness there.