And yet another period of training. Now it was different. She had started to combine information from biological science and life magic even before, but now this has become a common practice. Darquan was a life-Bound - a special kind of being, closely linked to life magic, and his manner of work was precisely what she just started - combination of advanced science and well-practiced magic. Magical manipulation applied to biochemical reactions - this was awesome... this made transformations much more predictable, and at the same time allowed much more flexibility and imagination than conventional methods of molecular biology and bioengineering. Magic and science combined - this was true POWER. But why did it have to come with loss of freedom? Darquan's voice was calm, contrasting chillingly with the things he spoke.

"You will live and grow, absorb knowledge and skill - but this would make you surpass your mortal friends. You will lose them. Those you love, you will soon lose their love due to this development. They will not understant you. You will only pity them. They would lose your love - for you would be growing out of your past. Initiation would mean loneliness. Endless, tormenting loneliness. You will never be able to initiate your beloved ones, the initiation would not work. You would never be able to live with the mortals. Either they would consider you a deity, or they would hunt you the way they hunt leprechauns for pots of gold."

"But... would not my friends remain?"

"No. They will either envy you, or hate you. And for you they would gradually become inferior beings. You would be irritated at their slow thinking. You would be alone, take it for granted. Any new friends... they would turn away from you when they see your power with life magic. Do not try to start relations with normals, Rhaine. I have lost those dear to me. You would lose those dear to you."

At the end of the year, Darquan and his death-bound counterpart initiated them.

"And you did find the world of linkage?" Saelbain asked curiously. Vampiress smiled.

"Of course. Shalafi and I have done everything for this. Took us a few years though"

"What was it like, Rhaine? I know I seem ... nosy. But this is damn too new for me. I have heard of your kin, but knowing that you are one of them - that was surprising."

"I do not doubt it was hard to break off," Saelbain grinned. "This Trance of yours sounds addictive."

"It is. Few of us are able to break it. At least during first years, when we hunger for it... when it becomes everything. I would compare it with... intellectual orgasm if possible. Hope this doesn't shock you," she smiled, looking at the bronze-colored chitinous scales of Baatezu.

"It doesn't. Some people get such pleasure from bloodshed. In some way this is similar to your trance - probably this is the same for everyone who is touched by their Destiny."

"**** with this Destiny! Sael, I have no inclination to be dissolved and turned into a mindless force of creation in Lerdann. Do you really think this power, this Trance doesn't do a **** thing to us? It wipes our personality, destroys us from within. The more you use your power, the more you get... and the more this magic takes over you. Eventually you become nothing but magic. It devours you. Sometimes it's worth to create a cult to worship you - just to avoid this."

"But you didn't. I would have sensed that in you"

"Sometimes direct divine interference is enough."