It took me a few minutes, but after explaining the benefits, then showing them how good I was at disassembling and cooking Wyverns, the flock of magical beasts agreed to ‘buy’ some properties. Many of them had collected ‘treasures’ from all over Lorthon, which included some shredded armor, broken weapons and random gemstones… Most of which were relatively useless to me personally, but I suggested that they should offer them as payment in order to entice people to come to their territories.

Although I gave them a fancy speech about how they would own the land and be able to rent it out to humanoids, most of them didn’t actually understand what I was talking about. There were a few craftier ones out of the bunch though.

Encindia looked a lot like a three meter tall red-feathered crow. The flames were mostly just to show off and she didn’t use them constantly, or she would obviously run out of mana. Although she did know some simple Fire Spells, her abilities were mainly physical.

Compared to the creatures in Luna’s little garden, the Phoenix seemed weak. However, power is relative. She was strong enough to hunt for food in the Fourth Ring of Lorthon and then return to her nest, high above the clouds. In fact, every one of those flying brats was strong enough to be considered a monster. Fortunately, they could be reasoned with and controlled through the prospect of ‘lethargy’.

Not everyone wants to struggle for survival their entire lives. Most don’t have the choice, but when given the option, it’s hard to resist the temptation that ‘retirement’ brings. I had only been on that planet for fourteen or so years, yet I was already starting to get exhausted. It wasn’t hard to understand that some ancient aerial beasts would want to become overlords of their own territory, to have minions to do their bidding and have an even greater power above them, as a sort of assurance.

Most of them already had flocks, but there were others like Encindia, the two Draconic Treants and that angry pterodactyl that were total loners. Rather than choosing to live on the outskirts and ruling over territory, they asked for permission to just roam around.

I told them “You can kill and eat people in self-defense, but you aren’t aloud to go out of your way to kill anyone… I would suggest avoiding Amber though, because you all look really tasty.”

Obviously they heeded my advice, because Amber has that effect on ‘people’. I guess I’m not a person though, since I was always attracted to the fiery feline…

“Amber, I missed you.” I whispered in that fluffy left ear of hers, as the two of us were cuddling together on that golden beach. There was a chilling breeze constantly blowing the sand around, but the two of us were beyond needing to worry about ‘normal’ temperatures. It allowed us to have some peace and quiet however, since everyone was either in their homes or far away, in the tree-villages and tree-cities of New Hithu.

The tigress purred and rubbed her head against my face, then she murmured “I missed you too Michael…” Although we can just communicate telepathically, speaking has its uses. Definitely uses up a lot less mana.

We had both taken off all our armor and left it on the sands in the distance. Thus, the two of us were completely naked; our most comfortable state. She suddenly turned around and faced me, then pushed my right shoulder, forcing me onto my back. Without much warning or even giving off a hint of her intentions telepathically, she was already grinding her genitals against mine.

“Hehe~, it’s only been a few minutes and you’re already ready for more?” I smiled at her and grabbed her ass, squeezing tightly. She responded by clawing at my chest and biting onto my left horn, growling fiercely right next to my ear. Then two huge flaming purple wings erupted from her back and caused the whole area to heat up dramatically.

I snickered, whispering “I see you’ve been practicing while you were gone…” Then I thrust inside of her, while stroking the base of her fluffy tail with my chitinous right hand. She trembled for a moment, before lifting her head up and roaring, while breathing out a massive purple flame. I used my right hand to grab her left breast, moving the pitch-black fur out of the way in order to reveal the tiny pink nipple. When I pinched and twisted it, she glared at me and bit down onto my left shoulder. She licked up the fresh blood that leaked from the wound, while purring happily.

Although a human or regular animal would most likely die after coming into contact with my blood, for Magical Beasts or the bestial Tribes of Lorthon… I was very tasty. Hell, my flesh and blood was Amber’s favorite snack. But the problem was that it wasn’t very energy efficient to constantly have her eating me all the time, so sex was the only occasion she had to devour my ‘meat’.

“Michael… I love you. I want you inside of me…” She growled, as she bit off a chunk of flesh from my left shoulder, swallowing it with a grin on her bloody maw. It wasn’t a one-sided feast though. After all, I’ve always had a particular fondness to tiger-meat.

The main difference between the two of us however, was that I enjoyed the pain, while she cried out in agony. She liked dishing out damage, but hated being on the receiving end. I sunk my teeth into her thick forearm, though those needle-like hairs got in the way at first. Yet, after coming into contact with my saliva, they melted down into pure, concentrated mana. It was pretty damn intense, but I was used to it. Then her blood touched my tongue and I felt my heart start racing. If I had to describe the taste of the hair, blood and meat combined, I would liken it to an ice-cold strawberry slushy, followed by a steak cooked in teriyaki sauce, then some wasabi-covered sashimi slices.

Of course, as soon as I finished eating my meal, she started punching me in the face repeatedly in order to vent her frustration. I responded by getting up off the ground, with her still ‘attached’ to my body, they I jumped into the ice-cold and extremely shallow lake. Those fiery wings turned the water into steam, creating a pretty powerful explosion, but then they got put out.

I continued thrusting inside of her, as we wrestled around underwater. Our blood dyed the boiling water red, while all the fish in the vicinity were flash-fried by the heat. My body was actually pretty comfortable though. I used the mana I stole from Amber to regenerate my wounds swiftly, while she unconsciously did the same with the mana she stole from me.

Our bodies had reached the point where just having sex would damage the environment… Eventually I pinned her up against that golden pyramid, pressing her face against it, as I grabbed her tail and pushed my waist forward.

Amber purred “Michael, I love you… So much… My life… Was worthless without you.”

“I love you too Amber…” I nibbled on her left ear a bit, then whispered “But you were never worthless…”

She rebuked “Not worthless, worth less. Without you, my life a lot, rauw~! A lot less enjoyable and interesting.”

“Pft~, sorry, I shouldn’t have expected the prideful Spirit of Fire to ever be self-deprecating.” I snickered and hugged her tightly from behind.

Amber growled “You know I hate it when you use those, stupid words I don’t understand!” Then she struggled out of my grasp and elbowed me in the mouth, busting my lip open. I moved back a bit, but then rushed forward and pinned her arms against the pyramid. She lifted her lower-body up and wrapped her huge legs around my back, pulling me back inside of her again and again.

Our mating ritual was a trial by combat. It wasn’t a Tiger Tribe thing, because they were usually extraordinarily lazy. The two of us were fighters. We were monsters who couldn’t get off without a whole lot of violence, gore and borderline cannibalism. Killing people and beasts, that was like foreplay to Amber… I guess I have to admit that I enjoyed it a lot too.

It was fun, it was always fun with Amber. I guess I just never really understood what her actual thoughts were though. I underestimated her, because she was young… And she was mine. Obviously I was wrong, but that’s a story for another time.