His allies gone or in hiding. He was more broken mentally than physically from the constant barrage against his person. Each blow had left cracks and shrapnel.

He had his core being. That had been reestablished. What more to go with was uncertain. He was rebuilding himself slowly. Taking pieces from those around him and from the land itself.

Some didn't fit. Others would but had to be forced. It was a process and project that would continue for years. There was no easy solution. No quick fix.

He didn't want one. Each attempt to rebuild, revamp, and restore what he was in its own way a success. Even if he did come up with some flawed results.

The dragon's blood still charred his flesh. The faeries kept up their torture periodically, and at other times, he was given rest. The leash that enslaved him nourished him as well.

His patience unlimited. He would snap his cords eventually and be free from both of his temptresses. Though for one, if she held the leash the right way and in the right manner, she would be given willing and absolute servitude.

The Goddess left him wanting for her presence. The soft tone of her voice that normally prevailed and the rare moments of intense ever overbearing bell like peal. He had seen her use that in pleasure too few times.

He would never claim to be her perfect follower but certainly one of the most devoted. Her teachings had stuck, and unfortunately, he had fallen for that divine being. Did he claim to be worthy of the same feelings in return. No.

Is it wrong to love the divine and desire it as flesh?

Can you not do honor to both the physical and the spiritual?

The fairies mocked him in his crys of pain. One more above the others. Always from the side where he couldn't quite see her.

She knew where his Goddess had gone and what it would take to bring her back... or what it would take to follow her. The journey is not to be feared anymore. Just lacking a proper starting point... and to break free from the hand of his current captures.

The dragon's blood had instilled in him some otherworldly traits. They were about to rise to the surface. Each was strange and unusual.