After the bond was forged, Erik noticed some immediate changes. His body became stronger and stopped feeling so damn heavy. Next, a cooling sensation spread through his entire being.
He took a moment to marvel at the sensations he was feeling and then tried to open his eyes again. This time, he succeeded and looked at a world unlike the one he had known before.
The sky was blue, but the leaves overhead, while still green, sparkled with an otherworldly glow, casting a gentle light over the surroundings.
Erik sat up and felt his fingers trail through the slightly wet grass. He quickly realised that the damage to his soul had also dulled all his other senses, but more than that, he felt like his senses were now better than ever before.
While indulging himself in this new feeling, he suddenly noticed something peculiar. A seemingly middle-aged woman, whose beauty seemed to be only enhanced by her maturity, was looking at him with no small amount of curiosity.
She was short, probably 150 centimetres (4'11) at most and had red hair, but unlike the natural red-heads he had seen in his community, this woman's hair was as crimson as blood, matching her equally crimson eyes.
Her breasts were larger than one would expect from her diminutive stature, something that was made abundantly clear due to the mature woman's revealing clothing.
However, the most peculiar thing about her was that she had thin wings coming from her back, although she wasn't using them currently, as her feet touched the ground.
He quickly scrambled to his feet and scratched his head. He felt a little awkward when he realised this must be the mother who wanted to use him as a lab rat.
He looked around, looking for the woman he was now supposedly bonded with, but couldn't find anything, so he addressed the mature woman instead, a little unsure of himself, "You must be Elora's mother. It's a pleasure to meet you?"
Yet, he still spoke in English, which the woman didn't understand.
Her heavy breasts swayed as she chuckled at his awkwardness, "Fufufu, I have no idea what you're saying, boy, but I can see the fear in your eyes. Elora must have told you something about me. Well, don't worry. Since you are her protector now, you're family, and I don't mistreat my family."
Then she suddenly gained a cruel twinkle in her eyes as she continued, "But you should remember, you are only family by extension. If Elora ever has enough of you and wants a new protector, I'll be the first to rip you away from her."
Despite the woman's diminutive stature and distracting attire, Erik found himself strangely intimidated by her words, as though the world around them resonated with her and pure power flowed around them, giving credence to her voice.
He quickly nodded in response before realising he could actually understand her. Erik suddenly heard Elora's voice in his head again, "If you're wondering why you can understand her, it's because I'm translating. We'll work on teaching you the language later."
Then, she giggled, "And don't worry about her threats too much. She would never harm you without my consent. And I realize how that sounds, but I don't want you to be afraid of me. You and I are partners now. It's the world that should be afraid of us."
Erik felt somewhat calmed by Elora's words, although he still wondered if he could trust her. Regardless, he wondered where she was, so he said aloud, "Elora? Where are you?"
Both Elora's mother and Elora herself seemed to laugh at his words before he heard Elora again, "You can just talk to me in the same way you did before, so you don't need to talk out loud. As for where I am, why, inside you, of course!"
Erik suddenly imagined some rather unpleasant scenarios and shivered. After all, while limited, he had access to the internet back in his community and had been thoroughly corrupted by it.
He quickly heard Elora giggle with amusement, "Inside your soul, you pervert! But if you like those kinds of things, I don't mind experimenting…"
Erik quickly shook his head and replied, still out loud, "Nope! Not necessary!" causing Elora's mother to raise an eyebrow in surprise but remain silent as she seemed to prefer observing.
Elora sighed with exaggeration, "Fine, you spoilsport. I think I'd probably prefer to be the one getting stuffed anyway."
Erik blinked even as a slight grin appeared on his face. Suddenly, he imagined his future with this Elora might be even more interesting than he thought. If she looked anything like her mother, he was looking forward to it.
He quickly shook his head, clearing his mind of perverted thoughts and asked Elora hesitantly, "So… can you read my thoughts?"
He sighed in relief when he received a negative response, "No, but I can read your intentions. And the perverted intent behind those thoughts was clear!"
Erik coughed a little, still needing a little more time to lose his timidity. He then asked her, "So, are you stuck in my soul now? Can you leave it? What happened to your physical body?"
Elora giggled seductively, "Want to lay your eyes on my divine body, do you? Well, don't worry, you'll get your chance. I'm just working on repairing your soul right now. As for my physical body, it's currently been merged into yours."
She smiled confidently, "I'm sure you've already noticed your senses being more powerful than before. In fact, every aspect of your body should have been improved; this is one of the ways we fairies aid our protectors."
She continued with wryly pursed lips, "Another benefit is that my presence in your soul will enhance your affinity with magic, which, by the way, is very bad. Like, weirdly bad. I don't know if it's you or your species, but I'd be surprised if you could even feel the presence of aetherium in your current state."
She exclaimed in exasperation, "I can't even find a affinity!"
But then she continued enthusiastically, "Luckily for you, I'm here now! With my presence in your soul, you'll be flinging magic with the best of them! When I leave your soul, my body will also unmerge from yours, and we will be two separate entities again, although still connected."
Erik was still reeling from all the information. Still, one thing stood out to him, something that Elora had mentioned before. "What do you mean with magic and aetherium exactly?"
Elora giggled at his endearing ignorance, "We'll get to that later as well, just like our face-to-face meeting. For now, however, can you ask my mother to lead us to our home?"
Still being a little timid, Erik just nodded and decided to go with the flow for now, which was probably the smart thing to do anyway.
He relayed Elora's words to her mother, whose name he later learned was Morganae, and she led them through the forest and into a slightly darker but still eerily beautiful part of the forest.
With that, his journey into a new world began.
* * *
It was now seven years later.
Seven years of Elora and Erik travelling alone. As expected, Elora had been banished from the Enclave for betraying their traditions. Only Morganae's influence as an Enclave elder prevented them from being killed instead.
During these seven years, Erik learned many things, including the fact this wasn't Earth but instead another planet called Söl, something he had obviously suspected already.
He learned about magic, the universe as a whole, and even the most likely reason for him ending up in this place. When he first learned about that, he wondered what Earth would look like right now, but over time, thoughts of Earth became less and less frequent.
Even his desire for revenge had been forcibly suppressed because he simply had no way of returning to Earth. The ember representing his newly gained desire for power had now turned into a burning bonfire, mainly through Elora's work to shape him into the man she wanted as her partner.
* * *
In a large, luxurious hall located somewhere on Söl, heavy footsteps echoed. A 210-centimetre-tall (6'10") humanoid wolf casually trudged through it in an upright manner.
The creature had grey-silver fur adorned by patches of black in the form of lightning bolts. His eyes were the colour of amber and seemed to burn with a feral, indomitable will.
His body was clad in an ebony armour that appeared to absorb the light around it while his body moved with predatory grace. Sleek yet formidable, the dark plates clung to the creature's form, enhancing his presence.
The armour left the palms of his elongated, clawed hands uncovered while moving over the back of them to cover his claws in a metallic sheen.
His wolfish feet, however, were fully covered in metallic sabatons and were the source of the heavy metallic steps echoing through the hall.
Occasionally, the footsteps became muffled when the wolf stepped into puddles of blood gathered from the various bodies scattered around.
Some of them were burned with strange markings across their skin, others had gashes reminiscent of claws and yet others seemed to have died from heavy concussive force.
The wolf, obviously Erik, kept casually walking through the hall until he eventually reached a door and knocked on it with his free hand, "Open up, buddy. Your guards are all dead. Don't make this harder for yourself."