It seemed his actions in the morning gathering had spread throughout the academy before his next class. When he tried to enter his next class, his first class with the other channeler level magicians, he was met by a small group of very ragged looking girls in black cloaks. They quite publicly begged him to take them as concubines like the other 11 girls he had claimed that morning.

He had a sinking feeling where this was going to go, but in the end decided it didn’t matter much, 5 more girls, witches this time, were sent to the tower to hide away from grasping hands. Before he separated from Sam and Verna he passed on instructions from Verna for the girls, to work on the glyph, he could do nothing for them if they didn’t know it inside and out.

His first channeler level class was on something called melded magic. It was a fascinating study about melding multiple runes to make a new effect. It wasn’t easy, most preferred to find a single rune which gave a similar effect then find enlightenment on it. However, Jace found the concept of melded magic fascinating because he could see how Kay’rin had made those colors appear in her light pillar. It made him ponder other effects he might be able to cause with melded magic, and he started to grasp that it was at the core of magic rituals. In the end he had to set it aside because he simply didn’t know enough about regular magic to really grasp it’s use.

Several men approached him during class to see if he’d let them use his seized harem. Jace turned them down immediately, earning him a bit of enmity right off the bat. This really was going to blow up to be something he couldn’t control he knew. He just wished he didn’t feel like he had knocked a bolder off a cliff.

His worries grew when he saw almost twenty girls in black robes waiting for him outside of the class after it’s ending. All of them appeared to have tried to make themselves look as attractive as possible for him in this brief meeting. In the end he accepted them into his “harem” as well. Though he was noticing the looks of the ‘fellow’ male students were starting to get a little ugly.

He was ambushed again by a group of girls when he reached his last class of the day. This group included a number of the girls with children. Of course raising children was detrimental to their studies and making new ones, so the duty was often given to slaves. These girls had all taken back their children in something that looked dangerously close to a revolt. He had no choice. He had decided to walk this path so he would accept them as part of his ‘harem’ as well.

He knew this was going to draw some terrible attention which he was correct. He was pulled out of an interesting class on the practical application of magic to speak to a cadre of wizards in the faculty. He was threatened mildly about the situation, but after he convinced them he had a huge sex drive they simply let it be, though he could almost hear the veiled threats to tone it down.

‘I would if I knew how.’ He muttered under his breath after leaving. He made his way back to the keep tower he lived trying all sorts of different magic along the way, It was a fun sensation to think about it and suddenly create a snowman with a wave of the hand. He had to admit that magic was very interesting. He had picked up an interesting tidbit that your magic strength was basically tied to how much you used it and your potential, so he was going to use it as much as he could. He needed as much strength as he could get if he was going to survive. He also thought he might have found a key to wielding the kindred blade a bit better in all those lessons.

Unfortunately, he still didn’t know exactly how to deal with the horde of women he was gathering. He had made some pretty audacious promises about their “growth” and wasn’t sure how to actualize it. He climbed the stairs, using them for training he actually jogged up them, and was forced to stop one floor short of his destination by a horde of naked girls offering to serve him in any way he desired.

Since most of these girls were witches he thought he detected Verna’s hand in this event and told them to dress how they pleased, and make themselves comfortable, and learn the glyph!

He entered his quarters to find Verna and Sam again dressed provocatively. This time they wore see through robes of some white material. Again he didn’t know where they got those, and they were erotic as all heck, but at the moment he had seen enough naked girls to last him a year. He was more worried about how to make good on his promises.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed when Sam stripped off her robe to cuddle up against his arm, the Sun had set and he had been taciturn all night wondering what he should do. Sam simply cuddled up against him, his eyes were wandering over her, and a random thought wandered through his head. He realized she probably had put on a couple of pounds. She was no longer that skinny drowned rat of a girl who was all ribs and bones and who looked like she was headed for an early grave. She looked like a healthy girl, one who was downright sexy in her own right. Not quite his type, he did prefer a more mature look and she still looked like a skinny teenager, but he probably would have turned his head had he seen her in a swimming suit on earth, as she now had a hips and her bust had grown rounder.

She was tracing a finger along his chest and then she spoke. “You aren’t going to try to make children with those women?”

“No”

“Then why did you take them in.”

He looked at her with a deep sadness in his heart that she still was asking that question. “Doesn’t anything about slavery seem wrong to you?”

She looked at him questioningly.

He sighed and started to talk about earth, slavery and human rights. The confusion only grew in her eyes; he knew he wasn’t getting through to her. Then he spoke. “That you don’t get it is what makes me saddest of all. You don’t even know the value of your lives. This world is sick.” He stopped speaking before he got angry.

“Sorry Sam, it’s not your fault. Let’s sleep.”

That night he fell asleep holding onto her, Sam thinking deep into the night about what he spoke about. She knew he was sad she didn’t get it. It broke her heart to know she was hurting him. And hoped to figure out a way to resolve it. Sometime deep in the night he started to thrash in his sleep. It was a nightmare. He was having those more and more often in the middle of the night. Oftentimes it woke her and she would hug him tight until he stopped thrashing. He was huge, and his skin was very hot, sweat soon covered him and she hugged onto his back hoping to help calm him. She heard him call for Jenn as he sometimes did and kissed his back, her heart breaking for him. Sometimes he called for her, strangely enough that didn’t make her happy, but sadder because all he had was her, Jenn he might never see again.

He had done so much for her. She had to find a way to do something for him as well.