War God for Hire- Gladiator David Burke (bookreader TXT) 📖

but delicate and shy. The thought of some gladiator pawing at her because she was a slave sent for his pleasure was enough to make him lose it. He felt a surge of power within himself. And then peered deep inside.

Much to his shock, he was greeted by an image. It was the wheel, just like Hilde had described. It seemed so real. It was solid but yet it wasn’t. Real, but still in his head. He didn’t know how to be sure of anything, but he knew what he saw.

There it was: a massive wheel, far larger than a wagon wheel. The wheel and center were all one piece just as she had told him. Extending out from that center, there were six spokes, although one was much larger than the others. He certainly wouldn’t have imagined such a lopsided wheel, which only served to reinforce that this visualization was real, versus just a creation of his mind.

Of the other five spokes, two were medium-sized, and three more were slender, little more than rods. As he paid particular attention to all the details, he could see runes floating along each of the spokes. The large one seemed to have a red mist filling it while the others were all empty. There were also two tiny threads that extended out from the center, but he wasn’t sure what to make of those.

Kyle described what he saw to Hilde who simply said, “Just give me access to your core. Let me look for myself.”

A twinge of doubt crossed his mind. Giving someone access to his core seemed like a risky thing. Hilde hadn’t ever tried to hurt him or anything. Held back information, sure, but not hurt him. She might mock him, but was that enough reason to not trust the voice inside his head? That thought made him smile, of course.

“What happens if I give you access to my core?” Kyle asked slowly.

“Oh… you don’t trust me. I get it. You aren’t filled with nearly limitless power and able to resist me if I do something to you. Then let me be clear. Giving another being access to your core is exceptionally dangerous.

“I won’t lie or try to deceive you about this. If you are strong enough, that danger is mitigated, but at the moment my core is actually stronger than yours, so you could be made into my pawn. Except that our situation is different. I am already inside your mantle. My soul is bound to yours or whatever it is that a deity has,” Hilde said.

“Don’t you mean that you are bound to Krig? He and I may be similar, but I am not him and, to be blunt, I don’t intend to become him,” Kyle retorted.

A moment of silence followed. “Very well, then. I, Qua’ardet Flammaurorae, do swear upon my eternal soul to serve Kyle Hudson with absolute devotion under the bond between my people and Krig. Even should my one hundred years of servitude pass, I swear of my own volition to be faithful to Kyle Hudson until he either dies or obtains his full divinity.

“My life before his. My strength as his tool. My flame as his heat. My mind as his answer. My body as his balm.”

Kyle felt something settle over him. For a moment, he could see raw essence forming links around him and was afraid that he was being bound but then saw that the chains they formed extended deep into him, into that part where he had seen Hilde before. Their free end rested in his hand and he could feel the control was his.

He could sense Hilde much more clearly now. He knew without fully understanding that she had irrevocably bound herself to him under the terms of her oath. Her power and immortal soul fueled the bond and neither could exist if she broke the oath. It was an amazing act of servitude and trust, one which Kyle didn’t feel truly worthy of.

“Why?” was all that he could ask.

“My fate is already bound to yours, but now you never need doubt me. I am playful at times; it is my nature as a daughter of the flame. But that doesn’t mean I won’t burn brightest for you. And just so you know, that oath is more than I have ever given, even to Krig. You will likely be as he was and never avail yourself of some of it, but a celestial can always hope,” Hilde replied.

Kyle again basked in the feeling of the connection as well as recognizing that she spoke the truth. Her oath somehow gave him absolute surety about her words. “You may access my core.”

No sooner had he said the words than he felt the wheel he visualized was being turned and poked at. She wasn’t speaking to him, but he kept hearing her mumbling to herself, “No. It isn’t possible. How can this be?”

Eventually, once he felt her focus leave his core, she said, “This is unprecedented. You live hundreds of years and you assume that you have seen most of what Verden and the planes have to offer. But no. You, Kyle Hudson—or Krig, whoever you are—you are a unique wonder. You are mortal in that I can tell you have a core like a normal human, other than that you appear to have some connection to all eight types of mana, even if two of them are only thread thin.”

“What can I say, I’m one of a kind,” Kyle joked. Bragging was something of a shield for any situation that he didn’t feel comfortable in. So far it had worked out, because in his life on Earth his body had always been able to deliver on what his mouth promised.

“Okay, now if you were a human, we would have you go to an area where there was a high concentration of raw essence or, even better, refined essence. That would make it easier for you to draw it in. The