The Final Phase

Chapter 1. Let's Begin

"Welcome apprentice."

The wizen old sage wore a face of solid stone. Not that I would have wished for a more animated reaction to my entrance into the Federation Tower. If anything I wished I could crawl back onto my scratchy hay-filled mattress rather than be standing in front of a fully fledged Sage of the Demi-Mage Federation.

Still, it wasn't as though I'd tried to avoid this moment. It was just that I never believed I would test so well or even gain acceptance into the Federation at so young an age. At twenty eight years old I was the third youngest apprentice to ever enter the Federation.

My name, at least before I became "Apprentice", is Den Ryne. I am the son of a well placed merchant baron and his darling, if highly over protective wife. My father was originally from Shrenel in the north and my mother hails from the seat of the Federation, Malcul. The result is my tall stature and fair skin, from my father, and my large eyes and long fingers, from my mother.

Growing up in my father's warehouse kept me fit and strong and well versed in many trade languages. The testing for entrance into the Federation comes for every man and woman when they reach their twenty fifth year but most applicants are turned away out right or told to wait for results. Waiting three years for news of my application was not so stressful as I doubted very much that I would ever be granted the privilege of becoming a Demi-Mage.

In truth as I lay on my bed in the warehouse manager's quarters I was far from contemplating anyone arriving at my door. The naked body pressed against my own flesh was currently the subject of my early morning thoughts.

Melanie was a sweet girl who worked for my father's good friend and fellow merchant, Daro Bakka, as a serving girl in Bakka's largest tavern. Soft auburn hair silhouetted a pretty if plain face and her breasts were pert if small. Our love-making the night before had been half glazed in drink and as I lay there contemplating how exactly I would wake her, she stirred beside me.

"Good morning."

She smiled up at me and squeezed herself against me in response.

Suddenly I became aware of my own nakedness as she pressed my cock between her thighs. I was already hard and she knew it. A wicked little smile found her lips as she slowly lowered herself between my legs.

I could not help but gasp as her warm mouth encased my member and she signed through my cock in pleasure as I gently began guiding her head up and down on my loins. She set to with her tongue, wetting me considerably before applying suction. I was just starting to clear the morning mist from my ecstasy filled mind when the warming softness of Melanie's mouth disappeared.

Looking down I discovered she had not vanished but stationed herself above my quivering cock and with an impish grin she lowered herself onto me. My gasp at her talented mouth was improved upon as her tight pussy sheathed my man-sword. She was tighter than I had remembered from the night before but there were several explanations for that, none of which I cared the least about as she slowly fucked me.

Her pussy muscles rippled over my dick, squeezing and messaging me as she rose and fell. Soon I was thrusting my hips to meet her descent. She rode me slowly at first but after a time her bouncing began to become more insistent as so too did my own thrusts as I sensed my own cumming.

She raised up, nearly coming off of me before slamming herself down so hard that I was momentarily pinned to the scratchy mattress by her hips. I could feel her hot cum coating my cock as her pussy muscles gripped me like a vise.

It was all I could do to keep from cuming deep inside her but my father's bedding rule echoed loudly inside my head.

"No bastard children boy! If you can't control where you spark life than you'd be better off just cutting off any chance of birthing a child!"

Having no wish to cut off my own flesh I waited for Melanie to finish her orgasm and as she relaxed I gently lifted her completely off of me, rolled on top of her a placed my cock on top of her still trembling pussy lips. Three quick pumps with the underside of my cock spreading her vaginal valley and I felt the stirrings of my "spark's of life". Grunting once I nearly launched myself toward the girl and whether she saw me coming or not her mouth received my cock just in time to catch my morning load.

She swallowed all but the last few drops which she cleaned up with a petite finger. I rolled off of her, spent and found her rising and dressing not at all insulting. She had a job after all and Bakka tolerated her visiting my bed just as long as it didn't cut into her time at the tavern.

Melanie was gone without much more than a flirtatious smile that seemed redundant and I was just pulling on some breeches when a knock came to my door. I had thought it Melanie, forgotten something, and so threw open the door with a cocky smirk that melted promptly at the sight before me.

Standing on my doorstep was a stunningly beautiful woman adorn in the silver and scarlet half-plate livery of the Demi-Mage Federation. Her long black hair was tied back into a elegant series of braids giving her features a sharp almost predatory appearance. Dark blue eyes stared into my own lighter shade with piercing scrutiny.

"You are Den Ryne."

It might have been a question from anyone else but from the raven haired vixen standing before me I could only gap in response. She did not react to my lack of reaction instead nodded curtly and handed me a rolled parchment bearing the seal of the Federation.

Now, less than an hour later I stood in the inner sanctum of the Federation's tower in front of the man that would be my instructor for the next seven years. It was a daunting vision of my future standing before me.

Sage Meilo was a tall man like myself but showed signs of the eastern Yulici tribes in his darkly tanned skin. Now as his dark eyes assessed me as he waited for me to acknowledge his greeting. Suddenly realizing I had yet to respond I quickly bowed my head and mumbled a "thank you". As my eyes rose to meet the Sage's he spoke again.

"You are from this moment forward a member of the Federation. I would hear from your own lips the knowledge given to you upon entering this tower."

My mind skipped back to the moment I stepped through the entrance of the tower and the spell cast on me by a senior Demi-Mage.

"It is a spell of learning." The Demi-Mage assured after he had finished. " You will absorb the contents of the tomes in your summoning chamber. Whenever you have need of the knowledge within those book it will instantly be called to your mind. Also, the tomes in the greeting hall carry basic knowledge you will need to call forth to prove to the Sage your worthiness."

"What would you ask of me my Sage?"

Sage Meilo cracked a faint smile at my readiness.

"Tell me of the Phases and their limitations."

My mind nearly exploded at the avalanche of facts assaulting my mind but soon it began to clear and I felt the information sort itself into manageable bites. The words felt natural despite my never having read them or heard them before. I began to speak the secrets of the Federation.

"There are eleven 'Phases' or realms separated by thin streams of space named the Curtain. We live in the seventh Phase known as the Humados, with six Phases of lower power beneath us and four Phases of superior power above us."

"Good, good. Now about the limitations of summoning?"

I had never heard the words before in my life but as I spoke them they came as though well practiced speech.

"Limitations in summoning are straight forward my Sage. Only beings of lower powered Phases may be brought through the Curtain by a being of a more powerful Phase but it is impossible for any more powerful being to pass down through the Curtain."

"Right," Sage Meilo nodded, "it's one way traffic as it were. Only goes up."

"But we can pull less powerful beings into our Phase."

"Correct apprentice. And why would we do that?"

My own words stunned me even as I spoke them.

"In order to increase our own power and make ourselves more desirable to those beings in the superior Phases."

"And why would we want that apprentice?"

"So that we gain a chance to move beyond this Phase and join our betters."

"True, true apprentice." Sage Meilo finally moved aside to reveal the climbing chamber, a chamber that moved through magic to different levels of the tower to deliver Demi-Mages. "And what will be your first exercise this day?"

Now came time for me to be well and truly stunned.

"I will be going to my summoning chamber and summoning from the first and lowest Phase, Marchados, one creature for each of the three growth exercises."

"Good." Sage Meilo moved toward a hallway and his own study I presumed. "And you will report to me in the morning your progress."

"Yes Sage." I bowed at his backside before moving to the climbing chamber.

The smooth ride was not as soothing as I would have liked but then it was my first time "climbing" as it were up forty or so stories. The chamber rotated once, a sensation I was not keen to experience again anytime soon and I was facing my very own summoning chamber.

It was a clean room, well stocked with many tomes that all tried to assault my mind at once, all clamoring for my memory to cast them. It took a few hours before I was in control of my own thoughts again and suddenly I felt the need to begin my training.

As though I had done so all my life I gently took up a crystal rod and raised it above my head, spoke an incantation of protection over myself and set the rod down again. Reaching into a carefully marked jar I found a small pinch of Curtain powder. With practiced ease I drew my first ever summoning gate and with awe fascination I watched as the Curtain pulled back to reveal the Phase of Marchados.

Now each Phase was home to one race of sentient beings and the natives of Marchados, the Marchion, were the weakest beings in all the Phases. They were small of stature with large, delicate ears and cute little noses. Never taller than a man's shoulders, they rarely looked intimidating and were quiet timid as a rule.

My first test, that of opening the Curtain correctly, having been completed almost as if by somebody else, I gazed out on the scene before me. Marchions' crowded here and there and many were moving about just as the city surrounding the Federation Tower would be. As I watched them my mind automatically began to gauge the power levels or each individual Marchion that passed before my eyes.

"First method of growth." I was surprised to hear myself speaking out loud but immediately my eyes sought out the most powerful Marchion I could find.

A largish male strode before me, all but brimming with power. Though only because of the weakness of his surrounding brethren was I able to discern him at all. Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves I sank back into my mind and pulled forth the runes that would transport the cocky Marchion into my summoning chamber.

He squeaked in alarm when his world was suddenly blurred away and replaced by my quiet book-filled chamber. His turquoise eyes snapped every which way until they settled on me and grew very wide and his slightly blue tinted face lost much of its color.

When his mouth moved to speak I reflexively threw out a translation spell that was contained in one of the many tomes surrounding us. His high pitched voice became only a little more recognizable.

"You! Youz it id! Iez saen it id!"

"Greetings Marchion." I was amazed at the calm in my voice even as I gazed at a creature from another Phase I had just pulled through the Curtain.

"Greet it id! Noz ios Marcheelaun!"

"Yes," I nodded and would have shaken my head at the apparent ease with which I was communicating with such a strange creature if he hadn't been watching my every move, "I am Human. The Seal of Choice has been cast. What will you choose?"

Without offering a follow up of chittering the Marchion attacked, or rather attempted to attack me head on. He bounced off of my protective barrier and went spinning into the far wall. His head made a cracking sound when he landed but he managed to raise himself up and make a second go of it.

The continued strangeness of my almost instantaneous instincts had yet to wear off and as he hurdled at me I simply, without thinking, grasp the crystal rod and raised it to meet his charge. The Marchion struck the rod and shattered into a million shiny pieces that completely covered me for a moment and then disappeared completely.

The sensation of gaining power through the destruction of another being was both exhilarating and terrible. I felt his power coursing through my veins and my mind suddenly had more room for the many tomes surrounding me to fill. It took another hour before the tomes stopped jostling for space in my memory. Finally settled I opened the Curtain yet again.

This time I instinctually sought out not the most proud or violent but searched the Marchion market place for a softer, weaker being. I found her quickly, an older Marchion well passed her prime and as I stared at her with eyes that could see right through her I could tell she had only a little time left as it was. As gently as I could I brought forth the runes from my mind and laid her softly on the floor of my chamber. Almost purple eyes stared up at me in awe and her mouth moved but no sound came.

"I am Human. I offer you the Seal of Choice. Which will you choose?"

Her round eyes did not but grow wider as she attempted to take in everything around me. Finally she spoke up in a soft voice that was far less harsh on my ears. My translation spell was less clumsy this time and so her words came out clearer.

"I am Guura, mazter Huuman. I chooz you mazter Huuman."

With her pronouncement my arm moved on its own, grasping the crystal rod and gently touching it to the old Marchion's forehead. She did not shatter, instead she seemed to glow momentarily before breathing a great sigh and disappearing into the rod. I could only watch as the glow that had been Guura passed up through the rod into my grasping hand and suddenly I was filled with far more power than the shattered warrior had given me.

I felt my mind expand yet again and more information tumbled in seeking to fill the sudden space. It took much longer than before for the tomes to calm their mad rush into my mind and I know not when but at some point I fell fast asleep.

Upon awaking I had a momentary panic waking up in a strange place sitting up of all positions. A light knocking on my door had awoken me and the insistency of the knocking finally brought me out of my fog. Standing up I reach the door and opened it a crack. There stood my raven haired escort from that morning.

Her half-plate livery was gone, replaced by a silk tunic and stockings in the same silver and scarlet colors of the Federation. She held a basket in one hand and a goblet in the other. As I opened the door her surprise was evident as her dark blue eyes grew wide. I had not looked at myself at any point that day but I was sure since she had seen me newly squeezed by Melanie my current state of dishevelment could not have been the reason for her staring.

"Can I help you?"

She blinked in surprise and then those eyes were unreadable again.

"Yes, you are Apprentice Ryne correct?"

"Um, you do know you escorted me to the tower this morning right?"

Only just a hint of color rose to her cheeks and I found the effect quiet alluring. She covered her embarrassment well as she simply gave me a curt nod and handed over the midday meal.

"Here is your meal. Good fortune on your efforts."

"Wait!"

But she was too fast for me and was gone down the climbing chamber before I realized I wanted to know her name. Sighing, I closed my door and settled down to a nice meal of dried meats, a nice soft cheese and some hearty cider that came from the goblet itself, always filling to the brim once finished. Somewhere in the many tomes in my room was the resting spell for the goblet and it had happened to make it into my growing memory banks. Speaking the spell I left the basket outside my door and placed the goblet in a small cubby hole that seemed especially built for just such a purpose.

Sitting once more I raised the crystal rod a second time and slightly changed the protection the rod provided. It was somewhere in my mind now, the reason for the order of such practices. If I had attempted the third test first I might have destroyed my own mind with the growth. As it was I was more than a little apprehensive as I pulled open the Curtain and revealed the Marchions to my eyes for the third time.

This growth would not consume a Marchion, at least not in theory. So that much was a comfort. The idea of what exactly I did have to do was beginning to become unsettling at the least.

The largest type of growth among the three, Conquest and Assimilation being the first two, was called Melding and called for the Demi-Mage to join with the being it summoned in a physical manner in which a power spark is conceived. Now procreation with lower powered beings is physically impossible however the momentary spark that accompanies the joining of two sentient beings can be absorbed by the stronger being and is much the same as Assimilation in that regard.

The danger of the Melding technique is that if the Demi-Mage is not careful he or she can actually absorb physical characteristics of the lesser and vice versa. So my plan was for the Marchion I chose to be appeasing to my eyes, which would not be too hard as they are, like all of us sentient beings, very similar anatomically speaking. Also she had to be weak enough for me to be in complete control so that neither of us ended up with the other's nose.

I spotted her almost as soon as I opened my eyes to the Marchados Phase. Beautifully young, just entering her mating cycle, she stood just too my elbow and had almost green blue skin. Pretty dark hair with bright, happy eyes and she even had some curves to her otherwise petite frame. Little pert tits poked out through her one piece robe and her small hips even had a little curvature that made me almost want to strip off her clothes just to see her tight ass.

My suddenly lust filled mind was running through more fantasies than I could ever have dreamed up on my own and I suddenly realized I was seeing just exactly I could do with this unknowing Marchion should I so choose.

Something about it repulsed me and the images and ideas instantly ceased. Taking a deep breath I steady myself and before I could get back on my earlier thought process I brought forth the runes and gently stood her before me.

As I was seated on the floor looking directly forward brought my gaze to where a human would have a navel. Marchions have no navel, their young are born through tubes that only grow for the birthing event and then the tissue dies and falls off only to grow again when the female is with child so the only physical signs of birthing on a Marchion female is the pain experienced behind her eyes.

My third and final growth subject was stunned silent by her sudden appearance in my summoning chamber and her pause gave me time to cast the translation spell to near perfection this time around. I decided she was too stunned staring down at me with round, frightened eyes, to speak first so I took a breath and spoke my piece.

"I am Human. I offer you the Seal of Choice. Which will you chose?"

Now how the Marchions' were ever told of their three choices the answer was not in the tomes in my chamber but all three seemed to know exactly what I was talking about and had an answer ready. This young vibrant beauty before me had her answer ready but I do not believe she ever thought she would ever use it. Of course I was expecting anything but what she answered.